- Oct 15, 2008
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Hey Everybody,
I haven't posted a thread in some time, but I got to thinking the other day about impassability, and I often wonder if most folks (myself most definitely included!) understand it and how it relates and works with the Lord and His Passion as well as His Life?
I think of the idea that God cannot be impacted by emotions or else it affects his omnipotence and His Godhead. If God can be moved by us, then he can be moved! What makes Him God is He cannot be moved! But at the same time, I got to thinking how radically different Love from God must be from our understandings of love. I know love is a complex topic, but I think there is an emotional element to love, and if God does not respond to us emotionally, then how are we to understand His Love?
I also think of the scourging, the crown of thorns, the pain the Lord suffered, His falling multiple times, the fierce hatred thrown at him and rejection, and ultimately the pain of crucifixion, and impassibility almost seems like it would make the Lord numb to those things? As a young boy and eventually, man, I always felt Christianity's power was in that Christ truly suffered like we do. There is an empathy in His Existence that we can grab onto. With Islam and Judaism, God is so "otherly." So apart. So "out there" beyond us. With Christ, it felt like He is truly among us. But I feel like impassability creates a distance. Did the Lord feel pain when He suffered through this Passion? Did impassability create a strength for Him not to hurt or emotionally feel the pain we would feel? Did the mockeries and awful things thrown at Him hurt? When the Lord cried for Lazarus, was that more for our benefit?
I guess this is a silly question and maybe one that is in Theology 101 for novices, but it has been in my mind. I don't imagine God being like Spock, a Vulcan with no emotions, but impassability makes that seem possible to me, that He is fully Human but the fact he is impassible puts a confusion about His feelings into it for me. Does anyone else wonder about this issue ever or understand it far better than this feeble me?
I haven't posted a thread in some time, but I got to thinking the other day about impassability, and I often wonder if most folks (myself most definitely included!) understand it and how it relates and works with the Lord and His Passion as well as His Life?
I think of the idea that God cannot be impacted by emotions or else it affects his omnipotence and His Godhead. If God can be moved by us, then he can be moved! What makes Him God is He cannot be moved! But at the same time, I got to thinking how radically different Love from God must be from our understandings of love. I know love is a complex topic, but I think there is an emotional element to love, and if God does not respond to us emotionally, then how are we to understand His Love?
I also think of the scourging, the crown of thorns, the pain the Lord suffered, His falling multiple times, the fierce hatred thrown at him and rejection, and ultimately the pain of crucifixion, and impassibility almost seems like it would make the Lord numb to those things? As a young boy and eventually, man, I always felt Christianity's power was in that Christ truly suffered like we do. There is an empathy in His Existence that we can grab onto. With Islam and Judaism, God is so "otherly." So apart. So "out there" beyond us. With Christ, it felt like He is truly among us. But I feel like impassability creates a distance. Did the Lord feel pain when He suffered through this Passion? Did impassability create a strength for Him not to hurt or emotionally feel the pain we would feel? Did the mockeries and awful things thrown at Him hurt? When the Lord cried for Lazarus, was that more for our benefit?
I guess this is a silly question and maybe one that is in Theology 101 for novices, but it has been in my mind. I don't imagine God being like Spock, a Vulcan with no emotions, but impassability makes that seem possible to me, that He is fully Human but the fact he is impassible puts a confusion about His feelings into it for me. Does anyone else wonder about this issue ever or understand it far better than this feeble me?