Tuesday, October 20, 2015
Free Response
Question: Tozer says that "The word Necessary is wholly foreign to God" and that nothing is above him. By this logic, he is above sin, and if he is so, why did he have to send his son to die for us to conquer sin? This is a question that has always bothered me since I was little. Since God has all power, couldn't he just pay for our sins by other means, and have everything accomplished that needs to be without the loss of his son? It is hard to fathom this, but in the end, though we may never know why this had to be, it was God's plan, therefore it is perfect. One idea that stuck out to me in this chapter is the idea that even if everyone on earth were to become atheist, it would not change God in any way. It is a strange way of thinking because we tend to think how what we do will affect God and the image he has of us, but there is nothing we can do to change him. Another idea that stuck out to me is that God does not need to be defended. We forget this often times because we are learning the art of persuasion and debate so we can support our beliefs, and defend our religion. However, God does not need to be given an argument for, he is the argument for himself.
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Thank you, Jonny, for your thoughts. You've been thinking about a few things! To your first point, notice the language that you used: "Why did he HAVE to send his Son?" We certainly can say God doesn't have to do anything; he is totally free to do what he wants. But what is so amazing is that he WANTED to send his Son, and the Son WANTED to. We see this throughout John's Gospel (and elsewhere). The beauty and the marvel is that he did it in just this way, and based on what we know explicitly from the Scriptures, and what we can deduce from other aspects of God's character tells us that he loves us very much such that he took care of sin by UNITING himself to our nature. He identified us in every way, yet without sin (Hebrews tells us). He meets us where we are so that he might bring us to where he is. He values us. And I think it is helpful to remember that God's SALVATION is the continuation and perfecting of his CREATION. In the plan of God he made us to grow, develop, mature, and come to union with him. He did this through the Incarnation and our dynamic relationship with him. I think, too, it is a picture of how he truly does honor the freedom he gives us; there is a collaboration in some sense between his creatures and him, and he gives to grace to even achieve that. I suppose God could have done it some other way, but the way he did do it gives us more cause to praise him, I think. Thanks, Jonny.
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