Sorry I misspoke, this is also how I conceive of God, as the Ground of Being.
You are the second person to speak of God's Energies in this thread, which is surprising because I thought I had heard most commonly used words in theology.
It's far more common in Eastern Orthodox theology due to the theological work of St. Gregory Palamas, his chief opponent was Barlaam of Calabria, an Italian who joined the Orthodox Church and had been trained in Western Scholasticism. Gregory's theology triumphed in the East and the crucial distinction between God's Essence and Energies, and the Orthodox understanding of our knowing God in His Energies (though not in His Essence) remains a crucial aspect of Orthodox theology and spirituality.
Tell me, do you think God is personal, even if He is ineffable? Does He care about me and know I exist? Does God exist in a way that matters?
I definitely believe God is personal, though I do not mean that in any anthropological sense. Indeed, at the heart of traditional Christian theology is God as Trinity. God's "Personhood" is simultaneously the Three Hypostases of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What this means is that God's very Being is ontological relationship, ontological communion, ontological love. When St. John in his epistle says, "God is love" the Trinitarian understanding expands upon this to speak of God's Being as being God-always-loving-another; i.e. the Father always love the Son, the Son always loves the Father, the Spirit always loves the Father (et al). God as ontological relationship, ontological love is at the core of God as God
is. We speak of the perichoresis of the Trinity, the "inter-penetration" as it is usually referred to; however the Greek word is far more robust, it is the active movement, the rhythm and
dance of the Trinity. There is a Movement, the rhythm or dance of the Three perfectly moving, being, existing and sharing--loving--all within the undivided and one Being: God.
What that means is that to speak of God as love and as loving means that God has always been loving, and it has always been a love that goes out to another; that same love goes out to His creatures, to us. Thus when we say that God loves us, we are speaking of that same love God has in Himself; and ultimately our intimate participation in the same Triune love.
I know Jesus is a moral light and I wish He is Love incarnate, but I don't know if I can believe it anymore.
I don't know if anyone will be able to convince you. Nor will I necessarily try and convince you; the best I can do is speak of my own theology, my own convictions, as well as my own experiences. I can only say that I receive them by faith, and perhaps in many cases that probably means believing in something because I want to believe in it. Faith isn't something anyone can give you, though hopefully you'll at least find these discussions rewarding in some fashion.
That is lovely, and it always pulls my heart strings when people talk of the self giving love of God in Christ. I just don't know if it is true. I don't want philosophical arguments though, I just want something that holds up true in the age of science and reason.
That is largely going to depend on whether one assumes a rather absolutist empiricist and/or rationalist view. Is the universe always and entirely rational? Is the only reality an empirical one?
I don't believe that the universe is entirely or only rational, or that the only reality is empirical and observable. This doesn't mean that we have to relinquish our reason and critical thinking skills, but at least for me it is about being open and willing to participate in the world of faith. I've reconciled these things for myself in a way that I am satisfied with. Most of what I believe is pretty absurd, it is not always or usually all that rational, and I accept things as true which have no empirical, observant proof or evidence behind them--this is something I've learned to be comfortable with, as long as I don't act snooty or become a jerk toward others about it.
I hope God is Jesus-like.
As do I.
-CryptoLutheran
