I'd agree with that, and that's precisely why only a living, thinking being could ever be a complete representation of "God's Word" on earth. Hence Jesus.
"God's will" is not set in stone (a rough approximation to it was, for a while, but IMHO it was never intended to be either permanent or definitive); it's a dynamic response to our changing circumstances. All the commandments, directives, etc. were only ever meant as stepping stones to getting us sufficiently in tune with God's will that we could start seeing situations through his eyes, and begin responding to them instinctively in a godly manner.
"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." - Jer 31:33, 34 - i.e. not on paper, where it needs to be read and interpreted via faulty intellect and innacurate grasp of the language used; but in our hearts and minds, hard-wired into the core of us, written in the human soul's native "machine code". That's the promise: that through surrendering our lives to God, our inate instincts will become godly.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." -Ezekiel 36:26 - The heart of stone being the ten commandments, and all the rigid laws that grew up around them over time, and the whole legalistic approach that assumes we can ever achieve what God wants for us by following a list of instructions. - The heart of flesh being Jesus, who first demolished the old practice of trying to shore-up the Mosaic law by just building more and more layers on top, by accelerating that process to its logical extreme and adding such inhumanly demanding layers that the end result was demonstrably unworkable; and then offered himself as a replacement; and then later sent the Holy Spirit as his permanent agent in the lives to show us the will of God in any situation, if we let him.
In other words, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever... Flexible! =:o}
Now my perspective as a Wiccan isn't too different: the Goddess and God are immanent, embodied in the universe, rather than defined by a text. Rather than being personified in an individual, however, they are expressed in everything - stars, weeds, women, volcanoes, dew.
As a worshipper of Sekhmet, the idea of surrender is also familiar to me. This is probably derived in my case from Buddhism - "I am of the nature to become ill"; Sekhmet is not a parent with the right to punish, but an expression of both sickness and healing, learning to be patient and to help others from our experience. Paul, what does surrendering to God mean for you?
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-05-04 12:59 am (UTC)"God's will" is not set in stone (a rough approximation to it was, for a while, but IMHO it was never intended to be either permanent or definitive); it's a dynamic response to our changing circumstances. All the commandments, directives, etc. were only ever meant as stepping stones to getting us sufficiently in tune with God's will that we could start seeing situations through his eyes, and begin responding to them instinctively in a godly manner.
"I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people." - Jer 31:33, 34
- i.e. not on paper, where it needs to be read and interpreted via faulty intellect and innacurate grasp of the language used; but in our hearts and minds, hard-wired into the core of us, written in the human soul's native "machine code". That's the promise: that through surrendering our lives to God, our inate instincts will become godly.
"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh." -Ezekiel 36:26
- The heart of stone being the ten commandments, and all the rigid laws that grew up around them over time, and the whole legalistic approach that assumes we can ever achieve what God wants for us by following a list of instructions.
- The heart of flesh being Jesus, who first demolished the old practice of trying to shore-up the Mosaic law by just building more and more layers on top, by accelerating that process to its logical extreme and adding such inhumanly demanding layers that the end result was demonstrably unworkable; and then offered himself as a replacement; and then later sent the Holy Spirit as his permanent agent in the lives to show us the will of God in any situation, if we let him.
In other words, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever... Flexible! =:o}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-04 01:51 am (UTC)As a worshipper of Sekhmet, the idea of surrender is also familiar to me. This is probably derived in my case from Buddhism - "I am of the nature to become ill"; Sekhmet is not a parent with the right to punish, but an expression of both sickness and healing, learning to be patient and to help others from our experience. Paul, what does surrendering to God mean for you?