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Bible Questions and Spiritual Discussion
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2nd Commandment
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I thought this was interesting. I've never heard a discussion like this about images and the 2nd Commandment. This was a free audio book download from Christian Audio a little while back. Here's one chapter:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/14207132/120228-Knowing%20God%205.mp3
J.I. Packer - Knowing God - I think this is Chapter 4.
It struck me how he described that any image of God is going to be incomplete and not a true representation. It certainly made me pause and think, what images in my mind or in my surroundings may I have set up? I'll have to have a look around.
What are your thoughts community? Is this new to you as to me?
Be blessed!
Continuing to learn every day!
John
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John T 02/28/2012 23:21 |
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Lanny Carlson
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02/28/2012 23:41 |
I have the download,
but I've never gotten around to listening to it.
I, of course, appreciated your saying,
"any image of God is going to be incomplete and not a true representation,"
because I've said that on these forums many, many times.
One of the things that first attracted me to Thich Nhat Hanh
was his distinguishing between concepts of things and things themselves.
For example, he says, I'm drinking a cup of tea.
I can tell you about it, I can describe how it tastes,
how it smells, what its chemical composition is,
but you still don't really know tea.
The only way to know tea is to take it and drink it yourself.
In other words, our words and our concepts can never fully embody the reality.
And we can apply the same thing to God.
We can try to describe God or use various ideas and concepts about God.
But the words can never be equated with God.
In fact, doesn't the Bible say,
"Taste and see that the Lord is good"?
We use words to talk about God, and to try to understand God,
but our words and concepts are never equal to GOD.
God is beyond human comprehension,
and as you say any words or images we have of God
are never complete or true representations of the reality of God.
I don't know if this is exactly what Packer is saying or not,
but it's my perspective on the issue.
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