Confused!

[koolist]

I'm doing a bible knowledge course for uni and I've come up against a little problem with one of the questions.

I have been given 5 statements and I'm asked to tell which staements are false.

One of the statments is that 'All that exists emanates from God' which is false in my answer booklet.

I'm wondering wether I have missed something because God created everything did He not? Therefore to say that everything emanates from God is another way of saying that He created everything isn't it?

Could someone help me out?

 

[HypnoToad]

I'm doing a bible knowledge course for uni ...

What is "uni"?

 

[Tinker Grey]

I hope no one minds me replying here. This seems more a philosophical question than a YEC or OEC or TE.


XianJedi,

"uni" I believe is University.

koolist,

While all Christians agree that God created somehow, and that God created all things ... I am not sure that this is what your question is getting at.

I recommend that you go back an see if there is a specific usage for the word "emanate".

In much philosophical work, there is a distinction between emanation and creation. Emanation is closely linked to a gnostic thought process.

IIRC, emanation means that the universe and other non-god things, like demi-urges, etc., exist as a by-product of God rather than by the direct intention of God.

Traditional Christianity rejects emanation and says that everything exists as a direct creative act of God.

So, without reading your book, my gut reaction is false.

HTH

 

[gluadys]

What tinker grey said. That is my recollection too.

 

[FallingWaters]

I hope no one minds me replying here. This seems more a philosophical question than a YEC or OEC or TE.


XianJedi,

"uni" I believe is University.

koolist,

While all Christians agree that God created somehow, and that God created all things ... I am not sure that this is what your question is getting at.

I recommend that you go back an see if there is a specific usage for the word "emanate".

In much philosophical work, there is a distinction between emanation and creation. Emanation is closely linked to a gnostic thought process.

IIRC, emanation means that the universe and other non-god things, like demi-urges, etc., exist as a by-product of God rather than by the direct intention of God.

Traditional Christianity rejects emanation and says that everything exists as a direct creative act of God.

So, without reading your book, my gut reaction is false.

HTH

Wow. Great answer.

 

[FallingWaters]

I'm doing a bible knowledge course for uni and I've come up against a little problem with one of the questions.

I have been given 5 statements and I'm asked to tell which staements are false.

One of the statments is that 'All that exists emanates from God' which is false in my answer booklet.

I'm wondering wether I have missed something because God created everything did He not? Therefore to say that everything emanates from God is another way of saying that He created everything isn't it?

Could someone help me out?

In the same vein as the previous answer,
I did a Google search for that statement and came up with one source:
Essential Theological Terms By Justo L. González
Search for the word emanate,
or read the left column on page 41.

It was the Platonists (and Neoplatonists) who held this view of monism.
They believed that since God is the source of all things,
there is no difference between creation and creator;
"all that exists emanates from God"
and therefore
everything is divine.

Now it's easier to see why that would be anti-Biblical.

 

[flaja]

God exists, but He is not a created being. Everything that was created comes from God, but everything that exists was not created.

 

[FallingWaters]

The operational word was "emanates".

 

[koolist]

Thanks guys for your replies. I understand it more clearly now!!

Yeah sorry uni does mean university. I'm too used to abbreviations and stuff!!

God bless!!

Koolist

 

[Jet_A_Jockey]

what about evil? It is something, although not exactly physical. The only solution I've come up with for that is He allows it to manifest in His creations, but does not create it Himself.

 

[gluadys]

what about evil? It is something, although not exactly physical. The only solution I've come up with for that is He allows it to manifest in His creations, but does not create it Himself.

Perhaps evil is not so much something as it is an emptiness, a lack of something. The term used in the NT for "sin" comes from archery and means "missing the mark" or "falling short".

It seems to me that the root of evil comes from a pride that says we can live without God, and that is nonsensical because God is the source of life. Trying to live without God is like trying to keep a stream of water flowing without a spring to provide the water. Eventually the watercourse runs dry.

Jesus provides the same image when he tells his disciples that he is the Vine and we are the branches. We draw our life from him. If in pride we try to live on our own, we simply wither and die.

We see the same thing in the great social evils of tyranny and war. This is the result of trying to establish an autonomous society of humanity governing itself, just as represented in the tower of Babel. And instead of life abundant for all, it becomes repressive and death-dealing.

Evil is not so much something in itself as the lack of what is good. As darkness is not so much something in itself as the lack of light.

 

[Jet_A_Jockey]

amen

 

[Floodnut]

I'm doing a bible knowledge course for uni and I've come up against a little problem with one of the questions.

I have been given 5 statements and I'm asked to tell which staements are false.

One of the statments is that 'All that exists emanates from God' which is false in my answer booklet.

I'm wondering wether I have missed something because God created everything did He not? Therefore to say that everything emanates from God is another way of saying that He created everything isn't it?

Could someone help me out?

The doctrine of "emanation" is false. God's creation is separate and distinct from Him. He created THINGS, STUFF, and MATERIAL, all of which is NOT HIM. That is the meaning of Creation. In the Christian and biblical theology, God is HOLY, that is "other than" or "set apart from" His creation.
If by emanation it is meant that the CREATION is a part of God, or an outflow of his essence, then NO, all that exists does not emanate from God.
In New Age Religion everything is a part of God, or everything is God, otherwise known as PANTHEISM.
That results in the notion that we are all gods, that Shirley McClain is God, and Adolf Hitler was god, and in fact still IS a god, or rather is God.

In the Bible God is set apart from His creation. The reason the statement in the query is false is due to the meaning of emanation.