Tag: Who is God?

Oh thou who changest not: God as pure act and a warning about imported metaphysics

One of the challenges with the EFS debate was the tendency by those critiquing Grudem Ware and others was to get frustrated with their failure to follow classical theist formulations. They would then accuse those who held to EFS of either being in outright heresy or straying into heresy.  The problem was that they ignored… Continue reading Oh thou who changest not: God as pure act and a warning about imported metaphysics

If God predestines, why bother with evangelism?

There was an old apocryphal tale of little Calvinistic churches that didn’t put up notice boards with service times because if you were part of the elect, then you were predestined to be at church at the right time. I am not sure if anything like that has ever really happened.  However, this has been… Continue reading If God predestines, why bother with evangelism?

What have we learnt about God and from God?

What we’ve learnt We started looking at “Who is God?” by seeing that we can end up believing all sorts of lies about God. These include that God is not love or that he could not love me, that God is weak, he lacks the power to act, that God is distant, unapproachable and so… Continue reading What have we learnt about God and from God?

How important exactly am I – when we demand too much in friendships

And now to Precosia.  In some respects, I find this the saddest of all the scenarios we have looked at.  Why do I say that? It’s not to diminish the seriousness of the other situations. However, I think that generally speaking we are more likely to get what is stake with the other ones.[1] When… Continue reading How important exactly am I – when we demand too much in friendships

Learning to Enjoy God – An Alcoholic meets the good God

When we came to Methuselah, the alcoholic, we intuitively went to Ephesians 5:18: “Don’t be drunk with wine, because that will ruin your life. Instead, be filled with the Holy Spirit.” Here we see that being filled with the Spirit is contrasted – not compared – with being drunk on wine.  I think that one… Continue reading Learning to Enjoy God – An Alcoholic meets the good God

The doctrine of God and a marriage on the rocks

Now we return to Tom, Gladys and Ethel. Tom had been giving Ethel lifts to home group whilst his wife Gladys stayed at home.  When we first met their situation, we talked about a gut instinct that things were wrong and that we weren’t getting to hear the whole story. Tom had admitted that his… Continue reading The doctrine of God and a marriage on the rocks

Love, holiness, relationships and rivalry

Remember Juliet? We met her at the coffee shop where she was looking longingly into the eyes of Romeo, her work colleague. In conversation, it comes out that When you talk with Juliet, she defends her relationship as follows. By the way, I’m not suggesting that she presents the following points in a neat, structured,… Continue reading Love, holiness, relationships and rivalry

Why does what we call God matter?

Throughout our look at who God is, we’ve kept coming back to the point that what we believe affects how we live. This means that when we talk about The Doctrine of the Trinity, belief that God is Sovereign or the question of Predestination, we’ve not just been engaging in an intellectual exercise. These beliefs… Continue reading Why does what we call God matter?

What is God called?

What’s in a name? Different names have different meanings.  My name means “loved.” My wife’s name, Sarah, means “princess.”  Generally speaking, though, we don’t tend to pick names primarily for a specific meaning associated with the child. Names are given based on how they sound or because there is a family tradition. For example, I… Continue reading What is God called?