Ed Walsh
Puritan Board Senior
I almost put this in the Prayer forum but decoded on Spiritual Warfare instead. (In case you didn't get it, I am hoping for some prayer too)
Greetings beloved,
The modern mutualists have got me confused. Don't worry; I'm not in the least buying their God-in-process bull. But they (or maybe Satan) have caused me to wonder who or what it is that I've been fellowshipping with these past years. I delight in God; I sing Psalms to, pray to, and worship the God who loves me. But is it all one-sided? I don't think so, but my emotions tell a different story.
What does it mean when I am filled with the Spirit and with that joy unspeakable which is full of Glory? How can an unchanging God interact with mutable man? Driving in the car this morning, I cried out at the top of my lungs, "Oh Lord, I miss you, and I just can't seem to understand you at this time. Forgive me, I pray."
Don't get me wrong. I don't talk to God and get verbal answers. He doesn't speak to me like that. But He energizes the Word of God stored in my heart and fills me with praise and wonder at the One who Is what He Is.
I've been around the Bible and Reformed theology for quite some time. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the high-level achiever that many of you are. But given the divine aseity, immutability, impassibility, simplicity, and eternity of this magnificent, totally Other Being, how can He interact with man? I know that all things are possible with God, but can anyone explain how He communes with us?
Of course, Jesus comes to mind. He was everything and more than we could ever hope or imagine as a friend and Savior. A mighty God--and a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He prayed with strong crying, experienced incredible joy, anguish, temptation, and rejection by men, and endured the cursed death of the cross for us. But I don't understand how that could be the God of classical dogmatism.
I'm sure some will offer me theological and doctrinal statements of the case. And perhaps that is all I need. But I'm just not getting it right now, and it's driving me crazy. This perplexity of mind has been going on for nearly a week.
Thanks in advance for your help.
Greetings beloved,
The modern mutualists have got me confused. Don't worry; I'm not in the least buying their God-in-process bull. But they (or maybe Satan) have caused me to wonder who or what it is that I've been fellowshipping with these past years. I delight in God; I sing Psalms to, pray to, and worship the God who loves me. But is it all one-sided? I don't think so, but my emotions tell a different story.
What does it mean when I am filled with the Spirit and with that joy unspeakable which is full of Glory? How can an unchanging God interact with mutable man? Driving in the car this morning, I cried out at the top of my lungs, "Oh Lord, I miss you, and I just can't seem to understand you at this time. Forgive me, I pray."
Don't get me wrong. I don't talk to God and get verbal answers. He doesn't speak to me like that. But He energizes the Word of God stored in my heart and fills me with praise and wonder at the One who Is what He Is.
I've been around the Bible and Reformed theology for quite some time. And I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the high-level achiever that many of you are. But given the divine aseity, immutability, impassibility, simplicity, and eternity of this magnificent, totally Other Being, how can He interact with man? I know that all things are possible with God, but can anyone explain how He communes with us?
Of course, Jesus comes to mind. He was everything and more than we could ever hope or imagine as a friend and Savior. A mighty God--and a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He prayed with strong crying, experienced incredible joy, anguish, temptation, and rejection by men, and endured the cursed death of the cross for us. But I don't understand how that could be the God of classical dogmatism.
I'm sure some will offer me theological and doctrinal statements of the case. And perhaps that is all I need. But I'm just not getting it right now, and it's driving me crazy. This perplexity of mind has been going on for nearly a week.
Thanks in advance for your help.