Conservative Friend

Friends,

There's a verse saying there are so many things God has done on earth in the lives of human beings that if we would find them out and write about them the books would fill the earth. Humanity made an effort to find and write about a small number of our human perceptions of the divine but then stopped thousands of years ago.  For an analogy imagine there are groups of good hearted people who thought, lived and taught for thousands of years that beyond the the earth, sun, moon and stars there's nothing but empty space with no other planets nor the 100s of billions of other galaxies and no universe and today they wonder why people see them as not relevant.   Where do we find the many other volumes about what God is perceived as doing with humanity that we need to form a more complete picture of

reality.  Maybe, since these volumes deal with what God is perceived as doing with people, we must walk throughout the earth listening to that of God in every person and write down some of what we hear (with permission).

According to James we are all made in the image of God.  So, there are

several billion of us with that of God to gather from.  Well meaning folks seem to see one single drop or at best a few drops in the ocean as if that one or few drops are the ocean and ask everyone to drink, fish, sail, surf, bath, wash and swim with that one or few drops when there is a real immeasurable ocean avaible.      

Friend, Tim

Tim,

I enjoyed thy post. 

When I think of G-d, I consider this world to be His image...as though he has stepped in front of some cosmic mirror and all that is here is Him.  And so - I'm trying to listen to the Earth - as I love nature  - to hear and see the facets of G-d there.  In this way it is easy to fall in love with Him over and over again.  And also I struggle to remember in daily living that of God in other people, that they in like measure are holograms of All That Is.  Tney are sometimes harder to love, no?    And so I suppose my answer to thy question is that the volumes about G-d are the people around us and the Earth upon which we walk for this season.

Hi Tim,

You got me thinking.

In the last verse of the gospel of John there is written:

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” [John 21:25 - NIV]

I sometimes envy those who were near Jesus at the time of his sojourn on this planet. They must have seen and heard so many other things that no ear in our world today has ever seen or heard of about Jesus. Nonetheless, the written account of the Man Jesus Christ in our space and time - his words, his deeds, his trials and tribulations as laid out in the bible are indeed remarkable and numerous. The historicity of these biblical accounts are widely esteemed and totally supported by the best of world scholarship and in many academic disciplines, i.e. what was written about the life of Jesus can be considered a ‘true’ account.

We are told that God is invisible and that no one has seen God in the sense that no human being has ever seen God. We are also told that there is One who is at the Father’s side who has made him (God) known to man. It is said that this ‘One’ was and is Jesus Christ – it is he, Jesus, who has made known his Father God to the world – made God perceptible to those who believe on Jesus the Christ.

Today I feel that I know God in a discreet manner and at the same time know that no one of us can know him totally or even near totally – God is too great, too immense and far beyond our finite understanding. But at least today, I feel that I know him a little and I do have a deep yearning to continue to know him better and better. In all of this, however, I know for certain that I could never have had any knowledge of God if it were not for the life and testimony of his Son Jesus Christ here on earth. It was he, Jesus, who brought me to knowing God. If it were not for him I would still be rambling around trying to figure out who God was  – or maybe worse - not even thinking about such things.

Summing up – for myself, to perceive God, to find him, to discover him – look at Jesus, get close to his story, listen to his words, contemplate his deeds – and pray.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6 – NIV]. For me – he was right.

God bless everyone with the knowledge of majesty.

George

Jenna at 08:12AM on Feb 17, 2010

Tim,

I enjoyed thy post. 

 

When I think of G-d, I consider this world to be His image...as though he has stepped in front of some cosmic mirror and all that is here is Him.  And so - I'm trying to listen to the Earth - as I love nature  - to hear and see the facets of G-d there.  In this way it is easy to fall in love with Him over and over again.  And also I struggle to remember in daily living that of God in other people, that they in like measure are holograms of All That Is.  Tney are sometimes harder to love, no?    And so I suppose my answer to thy question is that the volumes about G-d are the people around us and the Earth upon which we walk for this season.

Hi Jenna,

I always heard that taking a spoonful of honey can keep you healthy.  And from the good way you see that of God in and sustaining others, our fellow creatures and the earth I can see it has paid off.  I think I will take a spoon

full too. 

Friend, Tim  

George at 06:18PM on Feb 17, 2010

Hi Tim,

 

You got me thinking.

 

In the last verse of the gospel of John there is written:

 

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” [John 21:25 - NIV]

 

I sometimes envy those who were near Jesus at the time of his sojourn on this planet. They must have seen and heard so many other things that no ear in our world today has ever seen or heard of about Jesus. Nonetheless, the written account of the Man Jesus Christ in our space and time - his words, his deeds, his trials and tribulations as laid out in the bible are indeed remarkable and numerous. The historicity of these biblical accounts are widely esteemed and totally supported by the best of world scholarship and in many academic disciplines, i.e. what was written about the life of Jesus can be considered a ‘true’ account.

 

We are told that God is invisible and that no one has seen God in the sense that no human being has ever seen God. We are also told that there is One who is at the Father’s side who has made him (God) known to man. It is said that this ‘One’ was and is Jesus Christ – it is he, Jesus, who has made known his Father God to the world – made God perceptible to those who believe on Jesus the Christ.

 

Today I feel that I know God in a discreet manner and at the same time know that no one of us can know him totally or even near totally – God is too great, too immense and far beyond our finite understanding. But at least today, I feel that I know him a little and I do have a deep yearning to continue to know him better and better. In all of this, however, I know for certain that I could never have had any knowledge of God if it were not for the life and testimony of his Son Jesus Christ here on earth. It was he, Jesus, who brought me to knowing God. If it were not for him I would still be rambling around trying to figure out who God was  – or maybe worse - not even thinking about such things.

 

Summing up – for myself, to perceive God, to find him, to discover him – look at Jesus, get close to his story, listen to his words, contemplate his deeds – and pray.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6 – NIV]. For me – he was right.

 

God bless everyone with the knowledge of majesty.

George

 

Hello George,

Jenna brought up a good point in bringing up the things Jesus was and is doing in our fellow creatures and the earth as creator and sustainer.  I was only counting what Jesus did as creator in making each person in God's image, what he did physically with and for others in John's day, his sustaining of them and us, what he is doing in us today as the Light and will be doing tomorrow through his Spirit.  If we could have written more books than the earth could hold back 2000 years ago about what Jesus did other than what is in the Bible then just think what that number of books would be today with nearly 7 billion people that he is interacting with, guiding, comforting, helping, watching over, teaching and sustaining and many times is healing spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically.  When you look at Him as the creator and sustainer of all things and all at once there is no way to comprehend it.

Friend, Tim 

George at 06:18PM on Feb 17, 2010

Hi Tim,

 

You got me thinking.

 

In the last verse of the gospel of John there is written:

 

“Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.” [John 21:25 - NIV]

 

I sometimes envy those who were near Jesus at the time of his sojourn on this planet. They must have seen and heard so many other things that no ear in our world today has ever seen or heard of about Jesus. Nonetheless, the written account of the Man Jesus Christ in our space and time - his words, his deeds, his trials and tribulations as laid out in the bible are indeed remarkable and numerous. The historicity of these biblical accounts are widely esteemed and totally supported by the best of world scholarship and in many academic disciplines, i.e. what was written about the life of Jesus can be considered a ‘true’ account.

 

We are told that God is invisible and that no one has seen God in the sense that no human being has ever seen God. We are also told that there is One who is at the Father’s side who has made him (God) known to man. It is said that this ‘One’ was and is Jesus Christ – it is he, Jesus, who has made known his Father God to the world – made God perceptible to those who believe on Jesus the Christ.

 

Today I feel that I know God in a discreet manner and at the same time know that no one of us can know him totally or even near totally – God is too great, too immense and far beyond our finite understanding. But at least today, I feel that I know him a little and I do have a deep yearning to continue to know him better and better. In all of this, however, I know for certain that I could never have had any knowledge of God if it were not for the life and testimony of his Son Jesus Christ here on earth. It was he, Jesus, who brought me to knowing God. If it were not for him I would still be rambling around trying to figure out who God was  – or maybe worse - not even thinking about such things.

 

Summing up – for myself, to perceive God, to find him, to discover him – look at Jesus, get close to his story, listen to his words, contemplate his deeds – and pray.  Jesus said, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” [John 14:6 – NIV]. For me – he was right.

 

God bless everyone with the knowledge of majesty.

George

 

Hi George,

You speak my mind on the validity of the accounts of Jesus's life.  I've studied at least 3 full volumes of apologetics and several bits and pieces from other sources and they show at least 10 times the amount of evidence and close in time evidence to validate Jesus, the gospels and the new testament than for any other person of ancient history.  You probably already heard that an 85 ad dated manuscript of some verses of the Book of Matthew and a manuscript dated at 125 to 140 ad for the Magdaline Papryi verfying some of John's gospel have been found.  The 85 ad manuscript of Matthew is only about 20 years or less from the time of the original and the 125 to 140 ad manuscript of John is only about 25 to 40 years from the time of the original, close dating which has no comparison in ancient history and there are ton's more of evidence about this close to the time of Jesus and of the Apostles and their first direct disciples like Papias (John's direct disciple) 110 ad, Ignatius 115 ad, Polycarp about 150 ad, the letter of Pliny the younger 112 ad, tacitus 117 ad, a letter from clement of rome 95 ad, Justin Matyr 160 ad, Irenius 180 ad, etc... . 

Friend, Tim