Survey: Which of these best describes God?

[Gisbertus Voetius]

1. God's life is one of bliss and goodness; a life of non-suffering apathy. (Apathy in the sense that passions or feelings do not affect reason and joy.) God's love is a gift-love: agape.

2. God's being and God's will are unconditioned. God cannot change, for he is perfect. God's love is God's willing the good. God does not respond to the good in a thing by loving it, but rather God's love for a thing is the cause of its goodness.

3. God is not "above all" but must be thought of as "in touch with all". The universe is not so much particularized as it is organic, where each entity is what it is because of its relation to other entities. God is then not so much other as he is within. God's love is his relation to others, rejoicing in their joy and sorrowing in their sorrow.

4. God is a community of three Persons. Instead of thinking of God in terms of his perfect being (the one divine nature) firstly it is better to begin with the economy of salvation (the three divine Persons). God's love is best viewed by the relations between the Persons.

5. God is related to the world as spirit is to body. God finds the world valuable and wants to reunite with it. Love is about the desire to be united with a lover, about finding a person valuable (and being found valuable), just because of who one is. God needs the world for its loving response and to make the world whole. Both of these are necessary to make God whole.

6. God can only be known by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's love is that he goes out of himself for the sake of the other. God suffered and died on the cross. A God who cannot suffer is a loveless being.

7. God's love has nothing to do with his being. God's self-communication in the form of self-abandonment for the sake of the other is a pure gift.

 

[Knee V]

I would say a combination of 1, 2, 4 and 6.

 

[5stringJeff]

3 and 5 are forms of pantheism - the belief that God is everything and everything is God. Therefore I would reject those two. Of the remainders, I'm not sure I'd really buy into any of them as written.

 

[Gisbertus Voetius]

I would say a combination of 1, 2, 4 and 6.

You are essentially a classical theist with a touch of Orthodoxy and Barthianism.

 

[Gisbertus Voetius]

3 and 5 are forms of pantheism - the belief that God is everything and everything is God. Therefore I would reject those two. Of the remainders, I'm not sure I'd really buy into any of them as written.

I think Panentheism is the better description of numbers 3 and 5. Unlike pantheism, panentheism does not mean that the universe is all God or that God contains the universe inside himself. In Panentheism God maintains a transcendent nature but at the same time is within the creation such that all creation indwells God but God is more than the sum of all things.

Anyway, the descriptions are not all inclusive (obviously) but may indicate an emphasis that associates with your own description? Or do you have your own?

 

[Silverlin]

If i had to choose one of them i would go with number 2. But if a had a greater choice than this i would go with my view.
God is incorporeal, divine, supreme, infinite Mind, Spirit, Soul, Principle, Life, Truth, Love.

 

[beehoney]

1. God's life is one of bliss and goodness; a life of non-suffering apathy. (Apathy in the sense that passions or feelings do not affect reason and joy.) God's love is a gift-love: agape.

2. God's being and God's will are unconditioned. God cannot change, for he is perfect. God's love is God's willing the good. God does not respond to the good in a thing by loving it, but rather God's love for a thing is the cause of its goodness.

3. God is not "above all" but must be thought of as "in touch with all". The universe is not so much particularized as it is organic, where each entity is what it is because of its relation to other entities. God is then not so much other as he is within. God's love is his relation to others, rejoicing in their joy and sorrowing in their sorrow.

4. God is a community of three Persons. Instead of thinking of God in terms of his perfect being (the one divine nature) firstly it is better to begin with the economy of salvation (the three divine Persons). God's love is best viewed by the relations between the Persons.

5. God is related to the world as spirit is to body. God finds the world valuable and wants to reunite with it. Love is about the desire to be united with a lover, about finding a person valuable (and being found valuable), just because of who one is. God needs the world for its loving response and to make the world whole. Both of these are necessary to make God whole.

6. God can only be known by the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. God's love is that he goes out of himself for the sake of the other. God suffered and died on the cross. A God who cannot suffer is a loveless being.

7. God's love has nothing to do with his being. God's self-communication in the form of self-abandonment for the sake of the other is a pure gift.

I'm inclined to go with 2 and 6. That's how i perceive Him to be.

 

[charvel]

6 mainly is how I would describe my God but there are elements in several choices here.

 

[Blackhawk]

1. is wrong because God clearly has emotions in the Biblical text. He is not apathetic.
3, 5, and 7 do not really need to be discussed because they are way off.

I do not see any problem with 2 and 4. 2 is kind of western view while 4 is more eastern in its perspecitive. I personally like 4 the best.

6 might have a problem. It matters what one means when they state that God suffers. Classical theology would state that Jesus Christ (God) suffered and died. But it would not state that the Father or the Holy Spirit suffer. Also it would not state that Jesus Christ in his divinity suffered but that his divinity took the suffering of his humanity as its own. I do not think anyone really understands or understood what that really means as far as the being of God. But since Christ is one person then one can say things like God suffered and died. If one wants more discussion read up about Cyril of Alexandria and the Nestorian controversy. But many contemporary scholars believe in a passible God. And since it is rather unclear it would nto be such a problem as 3,5, or 7.

 

[Seaioth]

God is Sovereign, Omnipotent, Omniscient, and Just to name a few... not on the list..

 

[justified]

Why would anyone try to describe God?

 

[Blackhawk]

Why would anyone try to describe God?

To know, love, and serve him more. The Bible describes God. Why do you think it is wrong to describe God?