Why is God so hidden? Why must we seek Him to Find Him?

[Neochristian]

Christianity actually goes into details saying that the Son of God is dual in nature ( fully human and fully God) and he is ofc the second person. we don't know reality at all in Christianity without the Trinity. then we have people like pseudo-dionysius getting all apophatic about it and saying that God is not Trinity. then we have a slipknot song saying "I am one, I am all, i'm above and beyond" and i'm just like ~nods~ then i'm like, 'God is not a devil!' then slipknot is all like "i'm not your devil anymore!" then i'm like, umm when I became a christian I also heavily listened to slipknot. funny enough at one point i thought they were the antichrist and threw away all their cds I owned.

I could get all Swedenborg on you and say that the more heaven we are the more in the image of God we are, and I don't even know if that would be what swedenborg would really say or if that is what noxy would. maybe it has a bit of jacob boehme to it. maybe we don't know how to talk about reality but we talk about it anyways. it's really fun, alan watts would prob say it is like birds singing, or maybe john... um the ruysbroeck one, would say that, I don't know.

did anyone notice how important souls are to God? they are so beautiful, what can you compare a personality to?

Because the word for soul in the bible is psyche, which is translated as mind?

 

[Noxot]

well origen was saying how the greek word for soul is linked to the word "cold" and how the minds fell away or as he would say "cooled off" but you know, steel is steel be it burning hot or cooled down. even if we fell away because of evil God turned it for the good. freedom means the possibility of evil. some say that God did not expect such to happen. he is pretty innocent, I would not be surprised. I dunno what it could mean though.

wait now I get it. wow yeah that makes sense, he denied himself and now bazinga, out came the feminine*

 

[Rick Otto]

Yes 'near' seems figurative but 'like' seem pretty straightforward. Perhaps near means like. If we are made in the image and likeness of God then how and why are we supposed to make a distinction between him and ourselves?

I kinda see a connection between this and the command. But one is about others and this is about God.

Right... implicit is being informed on the distinctions, and I mean informed, not just intellectually, but emotionally, in spirit,..with a good and solid sense of self,
The reason for the distinction depends on who you ask. I think Paul gave a pretty good one size fits all answer for questions about God's motive(s) in general, is at Rom9:22

] What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:
[23] And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

Works for me, anyway.

 

[Neochristian]

I mean, yeah. But that's not really an answer.


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[bhsmte]

The way I know Him now is nothing like I "knew" God when I was younger. But I would never have known Him like I do now if it were not for the years of 1. Praying 2.studying scriptures 3. taking notes about my experiences and comparing them to the bible and modern science...I could go on and on. What I am wondering is that if I had not done all of that over the last 20 years I might have no clue who He is or even if He even exists in the first place.

So why is it that God hides himself so cleverly? So much so that honestly nobody can really PROVE any doctrine because there is always a verse to debunk the theory.

Thoughts?

IMO, finding a God, requires a psychological need and desire to be in place, to find one. If we have a strong enough desire to believe something, our mind will find a way.

Also, if believing in a God is something that makes someone a better person, more power to them.

 

[Neochristian]

IMO, finding a God, requires a psychological need and desire to be in place, to find one. If we have a strong enough desire to believe something, our mind will find a way.

Also, if believing in a God is something that makes someone a better person, more power to them.

What about having already found God?

 

[bhsmte]

What about having already found God?

When did you find him?

 

[Neochristian]

I'm not sure. But the issue is whether there is a separation between God and those who have found God.


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[bhsmte]

I'm not sure. But the issue is whether there is a separation between God and those who have found God.


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If one claims to have found God, why would there be a separation?

 

[Neochristian]

That's what I'm asking.


I may have inferred from the other gentleman that there is always a separation. So this may be a misunderstanding that is my mistake.

 

[com7fy8]

The way I know Him now is nothing like I "knew" God when I was younger.

Shempster, I think we need to grow and develop for knowing God. And this can take time.

What I am wondering is that if I had not done all of that over the last 20 years I might have no clue who He is or even if He even exists in the first place.

I consider that it might not be mainly what you did, but how you were developing as a person, which had a lot to do with if you were coming to know God.

In my case, now, I find there is so much deeper than I know and experience, which is involved, in my being corrected, learning to be real in love, honest with God, not self-righteously judging or looking down on others.

I think the problem with proof of God may at least in part be what we are willing to accept as evidence.

I think I have seen how ones can make their own selves the dictators of what has to be evidence. And what they demand has nothing to do with knowing God.

 

[com7fy8]

the issue is whether there is a separation between God and those who have found God.

If one claims to have found God, why would there be a separation?

I may have inferred from the other gentleman that there is always a separation. So this may be a misunderstanding that is my mistake.

For all I know, you understood the person right; but this does not have to mean that what the person said is right

There are people who believe that all who are without Jesus are in sin, and sin is separation from God. But then, even if we trust in Jesus we are not perfectly without sin; and so, I suppose ones might understand that while we are with God, there is union but also a certain amount of imperfection and therefore separation; but even if we still have certain separation, this can be cured through correctional healing (James 5:16, Hebrews 12:4-11). We need how God corrects and cures us in His love, and with this we grow in how we know Him by becoming more and more maturely loving like He is > 1 John 4:17.

About if we have union with God, by coming to know Him, the Bible does say >

"But he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit with Him." (1 Corinthians 6:17)

So, I consider it is scriptural to believe that if we get together with God, we are not totally separate from Him. But our union is not perfect > we still need more correction and healing which strengthens how we are one spirit with Him. And how He is wins out in the union, to make us more loving while also becoming more and more strong against the effects of evil. We grow in this.

Therefore, becoming like Him is how we know Him . . . kind of like how "it takes one to know one". So, only studying and explaining intellectually is not really knowing.

 

[Neochristian]

Well put, good sir. I like the idea of sin as separation.


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[KTatis]

Nice thread and everything but y'all do know God is not hidden right...? In fact God is within you.

 

[The Cadet]

Nice thread and everything but y'all do know God is not hidden right...? In fact God is within you.

Only thing within me is a pit of deep spite.

 

[Davian]

Only thing within me is a pit of deep spite.

I fill mine with popcorn.

 

[com7fy8]

There is stuff that is impossible for us to deal with. But Jesus says, "The things which are impossible with men are possible with God." (in Luke 18:27) And Ephesians 4:31-32 says,

"Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you." (Ephesians 4:31-32)

So, in order to be with God, there are things we need to put away . . . things which can darken us and be very noisy in us so we do not experience Him in His gentle and quiet love.

"rather let it be the hidden person of the heart, with the incorruptible beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is very precious in the sight of God." (1 peter 3:4)

While we are busy with seeking pleasures and control, this can keep us away from being about pleasing our Heavenly Father; and so we miss out on how we could be sweetly and tenderly sharing with Him and each other. And there are things of unforgiveness and frustration and hurts and lusts which are a design play meant to keep us away from being deeply and nicely quiet with God.

 

[Rick Otto]

Only thing within me is a pit of deep spite.

That reminds me, the rent on your pit is almost due.

 

[Locutus]

I think I have seen how ones can make their own selves the dictators of what has to be evidence. And what they demand has nothing to do knowing God.

Who is "the dictator (for you) of what has to be evidence" for other gods?

 

[com7fy8]

Locates quoted me correctly in the above post, but I have edited my error to now say what >

I think I have seen how ones can make their own selves the dictators of what has to be evidence. And what they demand has nothing to do with knowing God.

Who is "the dictator (for you) of what has to be evidence" for other gods?

I simply believe that connection with God (1 Corinthians 6:17) is my evidence so I experience Him (Romans 5:5) > Hebrews 11:1, with Hebrews 11:6. I don't dictate this, but I find it in the Bible and my personal experience.