On The Attributes of God...

The question of describing "who God is" is a critical matter in all areas of biblical teachings and practices. How you understand God can influence your faith. In orthodox Christianity, it is my firm conviction and belief that Scripture reveals God Himself as the Trinity: One God in Three Persons. I am sure that all of the conservative Protestant churches can attest to that. However, the main issue emerges when we try to explain and describe what God is.

It is my great concern that the congregation in the churches do not know their God well enough. As J.I. Packer said in his classical work, Knowing God, "Our aim in studying the Godhead must be to know God himself better. Our concern must be to enlarge our acquaintance, not simply with the doctrine of God's attributes, but with the living God whose attributes they are" (p. 21-22). As Christians know God better, indeed their lives and their minds are being transformed. 

The knowledge of God is ultimately gained by reading and studying the Word of God. The Scriptures attest to that in 2 Timothy 3:16-17, "All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work."  

When explaining and describing what God is, I am talking about His attributes: mercy, love, wisdom, knowledge, faithfulness, self-sufficient, righteous and so forth. 

In this generation, there prevails a great theological error surrounding the attributes of God, which is to elevate one of God's attributes over His other attributes. 

Most people would recognize the love of God as His attribute. Indeed, the apostle John said that "God is love" (1 John 4:8, 16). I believe in the love of God. I am also encouraged by the fact that God does love in action. Children in Sunday school would memorize John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." The Apostle Paul indicates the demonstration of God's love in Romans 5:8. 

The theological error does not consist in the fact that God is love, but when God's love is elevated more than His other attributes. "We believe that God's greatest attribute is love" is an erroneous statement of faith. The New Testament, especially 1 John, speaks about the love of God a lot. Don't make the mistake between emphasis and elevation. When John wrote his first letter, love is indeed the emphasis or one of the themes because that's one of the ways to know if one is a born-again Christian. However, do not equate emphasis to elevation. "...it should caution us not to take any one of these descriptions by itself and isolate it from its immediate context or from the rest of what Scripture says about God. If we did that, we would run the risk of misunderstanding or of having an imbalanced or inadequate picture of who God is. Each description of one of God's attributes must be understood in the light of everything else that Scripture tells us about God. If we fail to remember this, we will inevitably understand God's character wrongly" (Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. p. 159). 1 John does say that God is love, but it is theologically dangerous to narrow our focus of who God is on a single epistle and separate the knowledge of Him from the rest of Scripture. 

Indeed, I admit, the love of God is more appealing than the wrath of God. His loving attribute does affect us emotionally and spiritually. Yet the whole of Scripture does not submit to our emotions, for Scripture is sufficient and authoritative. Calvin warns us about this mindset in his Institutes, "The effect of the expression, therefore, is the same as if it had been said, that he is of infinite majesty, incomprehensible essence, boundless power, and eternal duration. When we thus speak of God, our thoughts must be raised to their highest pitch; we must not ascribe to him any thing of a terrestrial or carnal nature, must not measure him by our little standards, or suppose his will to be like ours". Or another version can be said like this, "lest we dream up anything earthly or physical about him, lest we measure him by our small measure, or conform his will to our emotion" (Calvin, John. Institutes of the Christian Religion. 3.20.40). If God's love becomes more appealing and the greatest attribute against the rest, we have worshiped the wrong God or only part of God. You can end up believing in the god of Rob Bell who wrote Love Wins, becoming a heretic and destroying the message of the Gospel. 

Have you ever sat down and reflected on what God verbally said about Himself? The authors of Scripture do describe His attributes in various places, but what does God say about Himself? Moses penned it down in Leviticus 19:2, "You shall be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy." Whatever happened to teaching and reflecting about God's holiness? Additionally, whatever happened to teaching and reflecting about God's immutability, wisdom, justice, wrath, faithfulness, knowledge, self-sufficiency and so forth?

In conclusion, it is indeed my concern that the congregation in the churches do not know their God very well. Rather, they only know one part of God. 

An (imperfect) illustration that can hopefully drive home my argument. You and your significant other have started dating. Both of you are in the honeymoon phase and love to be with each other because you found that this person is "compatible" with everything you love. Initially, you find that the other person is so kind, nice and loving. As both of you continue to know each other as a couple, you start to know the "bad" side of that person. You may realize that the other person is selfish, gossipy, arrogant and so forth. Perhaps you may contend with that person and still love him or her. After getting married, you start to realize that person is irresponsible, lazy, messy and so forth. Although you may not like his or her bad behaviors, you still love that person as a whole for who he or she is. You cannot just love that person when he or she is nice and loving. To truly love someone is to love that person as a whole even though he or she is not perfect. 

The God of the Bible is perfect and sinless. Scripture has already reveal everything we need to know about God. Though you may not like one of His attributes, God will not change according to your liking - consider His immutability (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19). Though we can continue to grow in the knowledge of God in this life, we cannot fully know God due to our sinfulness and our finite minds. Hence, I agree with the Reformed maxim "the finite cannot contain the infinite".  

To love God is to love Him as a whole being. To know God is to know Him as a whole being. To worship God is to worship Him as a whole being. "We must remember that God's whole being includes all of his attributes: he is entirely loving, entirely merciful, entirely just, and so forth. Every attribute of God that we find in Scripture is true of all of God's being, and we therefore can say that every attribute of God also qualifies every other attribute" (Grudem, Wayne. Systematic Theology. p. 179)

UPDATE (Jan 27, 2016): I was recently informed on the teaching called Open-Theism, where it teaches that God's love is the greatest attribute. Additionally, it teaches that the future is not settled, it is open; therefore, God does not exactly know the future, which denies the meticulous Sovereignty of God and God's omniscience. 

The Ease Of Mistrust

I sympathize with those who find it difficult to trust God in adversity. I've been there often enough myself to know something of the distress, despair, and darkness that fills our souls when we wonder if God truly cares about our plight. I have spent a good portion of my adult life encouraging people to pursue holiness, to obey God. Yet, I acknowledge it often seems more difficult to trust God than to obey Him.

God's moral will given to us in the Bible is rational and reasonable; the circumstances in which we must trust God often irrational and inexplicable. God's law is readily recognized to be good for us, even when we don't want to obey it; the circumstances of our lives frequently appear dreadful and grim, perhaps even calamitous and tragic. Obeying God is worked out within well-defined boundaries of God's revealed will' trusting God is worked out in an arena that has no boundaries, where we're always coping with the unknown. 

Yet it is just as important to trust God as it is to obey Him. When we disobey God we defy His authority and despise His holiness. But when we fail to trust God we doubt His sovereignty and question His goodness. In both cases we cast aspersions upon His majesty and His character. God views our distrust of Him as seriously as He views our disobedience. 

When the people of Israel were hungry, "they spoke against God, saying, 'Can God spread a table in the wilderness?...Can he also give bread of provide meat for his people?'" The next two verses tell us, "When the LORD heard, he was full of wrath...because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power" (Psalm 78:19-22, ESV). 

In order to trust God, we must always view our adverse circumstances through the eyes of faith, not of sense.

God's Decisions and Ours

"Romans 9 teaches the absolute sovereignty of God in the decisions he makes about the ultimate fate of human beings. That teaching naturally raises questions in our minds. As we have seen, Paul does not really try to answer these questions - at least from our perspective. For him it is enough to know that God has revealed himself as the one who determines these matters. We have no right to stand in judgment of what God does. We can judge him only by the standard of his own revelation, and by that standard, God certainly is "just." 

Nevertheless, Paul plainly believes in the reality of human decisions. We are not puppets or robots. Our decisions matter, and we are responsible to make the right ones - to accept Christ, to live holy lives, to love one another, and so forth. How can our decisions really matter if God decides everything? Theologians and philosophers have debated this issue for centuries. They have discovered no neat logical solution to the problem. We must be willing at this point to live with what we call an "antinomy," an unresolved tension between two clear truths. God determines what happens; I am responsible for what happens. Scripture teaches both, and therefore I am compelled to believe both, even if ultimately I can't explain their relationship. Many who have written on this topic use the term "compatibilism" for this general viewpoint. The term refers to the belief that absolute sovereignty and genuine responsibility are not contradictory but "compatible" with one another. I think this comes closest to the teaching of Paul in Romans and to the witness of the Bible in general."

The (almost) Transition Period

Spring semester of 2013 was over a week ago. My semester was tough. It brought me a lot of stress and tears. All the work that I had to go through in the end paid off. The trials I had to go through led me to persevere in my faith. Looking back, my faith in God strengthened.

As I wait for my final semester, with only one course to finish, my break has been very refreshing as I enjoy being close with God in reading His word and talking to Him. Additionally, I'm still taking Willingdon School of Bible. The course I'm taking currently is on the General Epistles. Because of my busy semester, I skipped two classes. At the same time, I'm very grateful to be catching up with the course as I listen to the lectures online. Also, I have to catch up on my textbook reading.

After today's Wednesday dinner at my church, I sensed the urgency to study Christian Apologetics again. After dinner, some of us crowd together and had a lot of discussions about science and cults and etc. With rather interesting discussions happening, they made me realize that my thinking and knowledge of science have gotten weaker. Just like an olympian that needs to cultivate in his/her training, so does the defense of one's faith need to be cultivated.

As a Christian living in a world where people are getting secular, it is very important for me to give reasons for my faith - why I believe in the existence of God. I hope for this break or transition period from the school world to the working world I would grab my resources and start studying again.

To Christians, please realize that you're aliens and strangers (exiles) in this world. Your citizenship is in heaven. At the same time, you have been appointed by Jesus Christ to spread the Gospel. At the same time, people will go against you. The world will hate you because it hated Jesus first. BUT...

Remember what Peter says, "Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? But even if you should suffer for righteousness' sake, you will be blessed. Have no fear of them, nor be troubled, but in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame." (1 Peter 3:13-16)

Remember what Paul says, "And the Lord's servant must not be quarrelsome but kind to everyone, able to teach, patiently enduring evil, correcting his opponents with gentleness. God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth, and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, after being captured by him to do his will." (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

Sing For Joy To The Living God

During my break from school, I was getting myself busy by updating the new songbook for my church, specifically for the Youth and Young Adult ministry. It's not normal for me to sit at home and do nothing. When I don't do anything, it's usually a break for me to relax and settle down from the business of school. Usually I take time and plan for the future by looking at jobs and praying about it.

The work (updating the songbook) that God gave me is almost complete. It took a very long process to collect 200 songs, adding and rewording tiny details of the lyrics, and discerning which key is best for every song and adding the chords.

This job was extremely tedious with lots of sweat and good eyes to spot errors. You need a lot of patience, especially when dealing with technological difficulties. Most of the time the lyrics or words of the song would shift to the next page, which would affect the rest of the songs as their lyrics would also go to the next page, so you need to go through the pages and fix that.

Choosing songs can be a tough job. I attend a small church, and my youth group has around 15-20 kids show up for every Sunday school. And our youth is room is just a simple room with couches and instruments. We do not need any hip and cool, rock and roll, and concert like worship. God does not need our worship, but our worship is about responding to God.

This afternoon, I was listening to Passion 2013 live broadcast, and +John Piper was preaching. I don't know what the main topic was, but he was talking about the joy of suffering for Christ. And Piper, again, gives a very deep statement that made me ponder for a while.

Our worship is the subjective echo of God's objective worth.

God is already infinitely worthy. He has this inherent worth. He doesn't need our worship to make Himself even more worthy or add to His worth. His glory is immense and far surpasses everything else in this universe and galaxy. Our act of worship is a subjective, inner, and personal response of God's already infinite worth, whether if you're singing, praying, studying, living...your life is worship (Romans 12:1-2).

I love how the Psalmist puts it, and I think it resonates with what John Piper stated.

How lovely is your dwelling place,

O LORD of hosts!

My soul longs, yes, faints

for the courts of the LORD;

my heart and flesh sing for joy

to the living God.

(Psalm 84:1-2)

Going back to choosing songs, I want to find songs that may be helpful for everyone in my church to sing. I'm also thankful for others who have suggested songs that we could sing together in such a way that the songs could teach us something, edify us, admonish us, and help us to respond to God's glory (Colossians 3:16-17).

To help my brothers and sisters out there that are having hard time finding songs, below are some links that you may find helpful and hopefully would increase your ministry by the grace of God.

http://www.worshiparchive.com/
http://www.ccli.com/
http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/
http://higherpraise.com/

Journey With Me (Day 1)

May 6th, 2011. 

The Time Has Come! Sitting on the airplane for almost 6 hours is another new experience. During the past 4 days, I have been preparing for this exciting trip that God had planned for me. In the beginning, I was so pumped up and feel ready for the trip. Little did I know, there were a lot of information that I had to take in. With all the details and information I need to store while I am on the trip, I feel overwhelmed and fearful because I totally don't know what to expect. It was very humbling. Although I do hope that my heart and mind are ready, I am not 100% confident and ready. But I know that God is with me and my family while I am away. Hope that this will be an awesome step of faith that I'm taking.

Four more hours until I land. My nerves are getting nervous and I just don't know what to say or think about but TRUST! Recently, I have been reading 1 Samuel and understanding and applying how the story relates to the New covenant. It has been a long time, but I am glad that I can refresh my memory.

Hope to update this everyday during my trip.

PS: I watched three movies and I really liked them.
PPS: I am sitting near Myra, Jen, Emily, Zach, Stefan and Megan.
PPPS: I miss DearBubbleSon.

Day 25 – Someone who fascinates you and why?

There are a lot of people in my circle of friends who fascinates me. However, I am asked to only choose one. I didn't have much thought and I immediately thought of Someone. His name is Jesus.

His life is very peculiar. Most of us know the story of Jesus, right? Speaking of Jesus, I had a spiritual conversation at SFU yesterday with someone who's not a student. I was talking to him about what he thinks about God and Jesus. He told me he  had some idea of who Jesus is. He shared with me that Jesus is like a "moral teacher". I agree. He was a teacher, but He was more than a teacher.

Jesus came down to earth, and born of a virgin woman named Mary. He was very bright and had great wisdom when He's young. He was a carpenter. He was in the wilderness for 40 days being tempted by Satan. He had great teachings. He was quite controversial and lived a counter-cultural life, but He didn't sin. Crowds wanted to find opportunity to arrest Him and kill Him.

Jesus IS God, who came down into human history. He walked on earth and lived a life like us. He still sympathizes with us. He healed the sick. He healed the blind and deaf. He went to the cross and atone for our sins so that we would find forgiveness of sin in Him and be reconciled to the Father. He was buried and was raised to life. Now, He ascended into heaven. All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Him.

Jesus is my Savior and Lord. It is by GRACE that I have been saved through faith. This is grace: Jesus did everything for me in which I cannot do and do not deserve. This is CRAZY! This why Jesus fascinates me! God would still love me even though I am a worthless sinner and ill-deserving of His grace and love.

His love is unconditional and powerful that it compels me to LOVE. This is love: He laid down His life for His friends...and died and shed His blood on the cross for my sins.  He suffered the wrath of God on my place. He is the whole reason why I am here today. Everything spoken in the Bible points to Jesus.

We are all sinners. We all deserve to go to hell. We all don't deserve grace and love. However, God still offers eternal life in Jesus. God still offers grace and love to us. God the Father still offered His Son as a sacrifice for our sins. Jesus substituted Himself on our place. Wow...I don't know what to say anymore.

Does Jesus resonate truth to you? Does Jesus fascinate you? Do you see that you are in desperate need of a Savior? You can also know Jesus as your Savior and Lord. You can also have this relationship with Him and get to know the living God. Without Him, then you have nothing worth living for because everything will fade and everything will become vain. You and I will die, and eternity is LONG time - depends on which two directions you are going: Road to Destruction or Road to Life.

John 1:1-5 "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made.In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it."

I remember posting this video in this entry, but my prayer is that the character of Jesus will continue to shine and illuminate the darkness of this world because He is God and He is the purpose of why I live:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yzqTFNfeDnE]