tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post8326051094148791493..comments2024-03-28T17:44:11.289+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: Why is Earth a better place than Heaven for theosis/ spiritual progression?Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-40094224616209273742014-04-03T18:25:59.709+01:002014-04-03T18:25:59.709+01:00Bruce N.,
Sometimes I am strongly opposed to some...Bruce N.,<br /><br />Sometimes I am strongly opposed to something and I am coerced into it or I am distracted and forget that I'm opposed to it or I am stressed by some other experience and my will to oppose that something is weak--so I end up undergoing that something and in the experience discovering that my will was wrong about it, it was a good thing after all.<br /><br />But in the eternities, my guess is that our wills are much stronger and more clear. They can't be muddled in the same way our mortal wills can. For the righteous, this is a blessing. Whatever resistance they have to temptation is greatly strengthened. But for the wicked, this means our will to reject some kinds of good is also much less shakeable.<br /><br />Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-27320588368922788532014-03-25T07:43:09.045+00:002014-03-25T07:43:09.045+00:00@Adam " in the eternities it may be that our ...@Adam " in the eternities it may be that our own will is also too present to us"<br /><br />Either I don't understand this, or I think I disagree! Could you explain 'will'?<br /><br />"for the classical God, even the demand for submission is incoherent."<br /><br />Yes - there is a tendency to simply what is, is at the extreme - but something similar applies to a dynamic and evolving God - in that (at least as people usually understand things) his demands seem arbitrary and optional - more like the demands of a King than of God. <br /><br />As we have often observed, paradoxes/ infinities lie in both directions!Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-25835962083166573042014-03-24T16:26:51.415+00:002014-03-24T16:26:51.415+00:00*There are problems with any conceptualization of ...*There are problems with any conceptualization of God - the one you describe is hard to imagine as a God of Love, and his omnipotence means that there is no real space either for human free will or for evil to operate - indeed, it is hard to stop Him sliding into the unknowable God of the other major monotheism who simply demands submission. *<br /><br />You could even argue that for the classical God, even the demand for submission is incoherent.Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-41726499989306735162014-03-24T16:25:12.980+00:002014-03-24T16:25:12.980+00:00I agree with this. But I also think that in the e...I agree with this. But I also think that in the eternities it may be that our own will is also too present to us, whereas on earth we have sleep and forgetfulness and various kinds of distractions and outside changes that make it easier to get a little distance between us and our sinful self.Adam G.http://www.jrganymede.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-65399848308302248532014-03-24T13:59:34.349+00:002014-03-24T13:59:34.349+00:00@August - If you can be bothered to search I have ...@August - If you can be bothered to search I have had extensive discussions on this matter. <br /><br />There are problems with any conceptualization of God - the one you describe is hard to imagine as a God of Love, and his omnipotence means that there is no real space either for human free will or for evil to operate - indeed, it is hard to stop Him sliding into the unknowable God of the other major monotheism who simply demands submission. <br /><br />However, I wholly accept that despite the ineradicable problems with the 'Philosophers God' of classical theology, there are many many example of Christians who are not deflected by these problems and who find ways around them. <br /><br />For myself, the problems of free will and evil are too great for me to tolerate when I know that there is a plain, concrete and literal way of conceptualizing God as Heavenly Father (i.e. the Mormon theology) which I find far more real and inspiring. <br /><br />But each to his own! We cannot possibly do more than approximate, after all.Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-76577172999717632692014-03-24T13:32:31.334+00:002014-03-24T13:32:31.334+00:00Your god ultimately must be very much like men. He...Your god ultimately must be very much like men. He is trapped by space and time and is such a limited being that I could become his friend. This line of thinking implies the difference between God and man is similar to the difference between an old man and a child, but the real difference is the difference between an eternal I AM and a recent creation just out of nothingness trying to have the eyes to see how to get closer, and therefore more real, to the I AM.<br />My God is the Alpha and Omega, the Almighty, All-knowing, Everpresent. There is no 'over there' where He his. We know he wants us to have life and have it more abundantly, and we know, due to the incarnation, His focus is very much here. More life, more complexity, and He wants to be 'all in all' i.e. we cannot approach His perfection ourselves, but He can indwell in us. God becomes man so that man can become God, and the more you know about God, the more you realize you can't know Him. He is beyond our understanding. We will have much more than friendship with Him- we will have a unity with Him that cannot be described in that word.Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.com