Wednesday, June 24, 2009

always changing always the same

Let me get this right, I think I have this right.
God never changes, the big word is He is immutable, always the same.

But

Our God is clearly all about relationships.
Relationships by definition continue developing throughout time.
Developing in a relationship involves change.
So on at least one perspective God is always changing.

Before anybody panics I am not aligning myself with several mainline denominations that say that we (humans) decide who God is based on our interpretation of him therefore God is whoever we think he is at the time that we are thinking of him.
I'm also not advocating that with the proper interpretation we can know God absolutely. We can know enough of every aspect of who he is that we can be absolutely right regarding what everyone else should be told and therefore I can become a dictator of truth.
I do believe that God is everything we will ever need in our relationship with him therefore in concept he doesn't ever change, in that nothing is ever added to him to make him greater nothing can ever be taken away from him to make him lesser.
But he does change from our perspective.this idea to make some people very nervous, because if God doesn't change and why have I changed my opinion of him/definition of who he is the longer I know him.

Our perspective of God should in essence always be changing. If we are in a proper relationship with an almighty God than we should constantly be learning more about him.
I believe that by definition relationship is an ever-changing/growing point of contact in our life. A relationship that does not grow will eventually die and become a memory. That memory can be recalled for the sake of the story, reviewed by your self or others, or renewed sometime in the future by both parties.
I do believe there are multiple layers/levels of relationship but all of them involve some point of contact between individuals.
Those layers/levels of relationship are moved based on our growth within the relationship which is usually tied into various threads of time, experiences, emotions, physical connection, and proximity.
All of those aspects are also a part of our relationship with God. And so if we are developing our relationship with God Then our God keeps changing. It is one of the reasons why verses in the Bible "change" their meaning throughout our life as we reread them over time. The words have not changed, God has not changed, but our relationship to the God who wrote the words has changed. And the definitions of those words may have been adjusted based on many factors within our life and experiences.
When your relationship with God grows many times you find that words can not contain what you want to say when describing your relationship with God. Because over time we discovered just how Big He is, we just don't have the words to describe Him any more.

I think the results of this can be scary on two levels.

On one level people see God as unchanging. They believe theologically they have been taught the only right things regarding God's Word and the proper interpretation. Then they no longer have any need to go deeper with God, they only have to seek out others who are wrong and show them the right way.

On the second level people see God changing in their minds and being described differently throughout time, and make the decision that God is whomever they believe him to be. So in essence they become the definer of God and God is ever changing.

One takes away the desire for growth. Because either God is already known and there's no need to keep studying, or God is so great there's no way to ever know him so I will just do what I'm told by those around me.
The other takes away the desire for growth. Because God is whoever I want Him to be whenever I decide to think about Him, so I'm in charge and there's no need for me to grow in the knowledge of something out there when I'm in charge of it anyways.

I am of the opinion that God is way beyond what my little brain could ever contain. I like that about Him . I also believe passionately that God wants us to maintain a connection that is ever-growing not so that I know more about him but so that I love him deeper. And that the love motivates me to be effected in every area of my life by a relationship with the God of truth.
a relationship that is always changing with a God that is always the same.

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