Discombobulation
>> Thursday, April 2, 2009 –
Faith
grey skies. screeching baby. bickering kids. i wanna run away!
Enough of that...
I went to bed last night with questions and doubts flooding my brain, and am hoping you can help. I hate doubt.
I had a blog commenter who was basically challenging the idea that Jesus is God. I have a huge list of scripture that I feel strongly points to the idea of Jesus being God - in fact, I really can't see how scripture says anything different. BUT...then I started to try and figure out how things fit together and got all discombobulated. (wow, I can't believe my spell checker is okay with that word)
Jesus - flesh
God - the father - spirit
Holy Spirit - spirit
What's the difference between God the Father and the God the HS? It's easy for me to see Jesus as uniquely different because he is in the flesh. But God and HS? I don't understand how they're different. Can you help?
Is it sort of like...okay...there's the physical world in which Jesus fits. And there's the spiritual world in which God and the HS fit. Maybe God the father is like the spiritual "mind" or "brain" and the HS is more like the spiritual "hands" - getting the work done - the comforting, counseling, compelling, convicting, etc. Sort of like my physical brain and hands - they're both fully "Daiquiri", but I need them both. My hands are useless without my brain, and my brain can't get the (physical) work done without my hands?
Am I making sense? Does my question even make sense?
Jesus - flesh
God - the father - spirit
Holy Spirit - spirit
What's the difference between God the Father and the God the HS? It's easy for me to see Jesus as uniquely different because he is in the flesh. But God and HS? I don't understand how they're different. Can you help?
Is it sort of like...okay...there's the physical world in which Jesus fits. And there's the spiritual world in which God and the HS fit. Maybe God the father is like the spiritual "mind" or "brain" and the HS is more like the spiritual "hands" - getting the work done - the comforting, counseling, compelling, convicting, etc. Sort of like my physical brain and hands - they're both fully "Daiquiri", but I need them both. My hands are useless without my brain, and my brain can't get the (physical) work done without my hands?
Am I making sense? Does my question even make sense?
You know, one of my most frequent, passionate, and heartfelt prayers is, "Lord, help me to know the real YOU. Where I am in doubt, reassure. Where I am mistaken, correct. Where I am blind and deaf, open my eyes and ears. Even if it turns my life upside down because I have things so messed up...I still want the real you!"
I think that's why I pay such close attention to my moments of confusion. Is God trying to tell me something important?
That said, I'm totally okay with simply NOT totally "getting" God this side of Heaven. If he's small enough for my simple earthly brain to completely comprehend...well Heaven will be pretty dull! He's bigger than me. His ways are not my ways and his thoughts are not my thoughts...he is literally impossible to understand until I let loose these earthly chains.
Ack. I hesitate to even publish this post because I don't want to plant seeds of doubt or confusion. But hey...you're my friends right? My brothers and sisters in the Lord? Help me out, please! How do you make sense of our incredible, awesome, triune God?
I feel the need to just lay out the most simple and basic facts to just sort of ground myself:
~There is one God. He was not created. He always has been. There is no other god beside him - not of this world or any other.
~ God created everything. All that is, came from him.
~God created me. He knows everything about me. He loved me as his creation even before he loved me as his child...even while I was nothing but sinful.
~The basic nature of this world and every person in it is sinful. We could not fix our condition on our own. While in my sin, I was separate from God and living for myself.
~God fixed it for us. He came in the flesh, suffered, died, and was buried. He suffered and died as a penalty for ou sins. MY sins. The world is still sinful, but we can be saved. We can be close to God. We can be saved from death.
~If I only believe that I am sinful, that Jesus suffered and and died in my place, and that he rose from death...I can be spiritually re-born as God's child through faith. I dedicate my life to living for him. He is my Lord in every sense.
~ There is a place for me after I die. I will go to Heaven by God's grace and mercy.
I've heard the Trinity described like this:
The Father is the sun
The Holy Spirit is the heat
The Son is the light
The sun is the source of power
The heat comes from the sun, we can feel the heat, but not see it
The light is something we can see, it shows the reality the sun ("...if you've see Me you've seen the Father")
Hope this has helped and not it even more confusing! :-P
Girlfriend, we need to go to Florida TOGETHER for a break! That's what you need — time off.
I totally understand your frustration!
want my phone number? Can I have yours? ;-) Let's bring sanity to a crazy day.
I've struggled with trying to put the Trinity into words, too, but always end up with a mushy brain. When I get like that, God always let's me know that I'm thinking too hard, and reminds me that our relationship is more than, and simpler than, me trying to put something so much greater than human understanding into words.
I don't know if this helps you at all. But hey, this situation is good! You've posted your honest thoughts! Maybe someone out there needed reassurance, and by seeing a woman of faith, like yourself, with questions, let them know they weren't alone and that they're okay too. :-)
I guess I see the Holy Spirit's role as having a foot in both worlds - physical and spiritual. Is he the spiritual expression of God inside of us here on earth? As Jesus said, "No one COMES to the Father except through me," I wonder if no one EXPERIENCES the Father except through the Holy Spirit? I fear I may just be muddying the waters. And I'm in no way meaning to add to scripture, just wondering if there is a parallel.
Very though provoking question. Looking forward to more comments.
Neither the Father nor the son nor the Holy Spirit are tangilbe. But we have images that suit both the Father and the Son--we are made in GOd's image so necessarily we can tag God with some human physical characteristics. Jesus was a physical man. But the Holy Spirit has no image association. I like to think of the Holy Spirit as sound--what comes out of the mouth of the father and the son.In the beginning was the word...the Holy Spirit is the Word in my ear.
Just wanted to say that you have a good heart in not wanting to plant seeds of doubt by voicing your doubts. But I think its encouraging to know that others feel that way too. The problem is that when we feel doubt and question things, we think there's something wrong with us and we don't wanna say anything...but I think we all go through that. Every time I have been "transparent" with those tings, I have found others say, "Me too!" And it seems like now we know that we're not the only one, but that the doubts are simply a temptation that is common to man! Also - the bible says that the weapons of our warfare..cast down every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. THe doubt tries to exalt itself against what we know God is. And if He put that in the bible, then it is something we need to be aware of! Hope that all makes sense! Thanks for your honesty!