Hey, Last week was a difficult one to write out. So there are no formal notes but I thought I'd take a minute to update you on what we talked about last week.
-We discussed three pretty difficult topics. 1) eternity 2)the trinity 3) the problem of evil/purpose of creation.
1) Eternity: when we think of eternity we think of eternal life after we die. However, eternity suggests that there is no beginning just like there is no end. So for the sake of a better description, eternity is forever in the past and forever in the future with no end.
2) trinity. No one can wrap their minds around the trinity. We worship one God yet in three persons. When described in terms of material, it makes absolutely no sense. The best description seems to be the illustration of an egg. The egg has three parts and yet is one egg. However, if you remove the yoke...do you still have a full egg? No!! Nor is the yoke itself fully the egg. This is why understanding a Triune God in terms of material is useless. For we know that Jesus was fully man and fully God. He was not just part of God but all God. So we have three parts that are fully God yet distinct. The best way to describe the trinity is through relationship. In summary, there is no misunderstanding in the trinity, each glorifies the other rather than self. This type of relationship hinders competitiveness or insecure self-promotion. When God said "Let us create man in OUR image", this is the image he was talking about. The image of relationship...the image that is the nature of God.
3) Problem of evil. The problem is that we profess God is all knowing, all powerful, and everywhere at all times. If this is the case, he should be able to stop evil. If he is able, which we claim he is, and does not stop evil...then he cannot be good. First, we know that if God stops evil, that would mean putting an end to the world which he does in fact promise to do. He clearly has not yet done that but we trust that he will. When he does all impurity will be wiped from the Earth. Removing all impurity from the world means destroying the bodies of many of the people who profess this problem with evil.
Second, if God is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere always, then he had to have known that evil would enter the world. Some claim that this is another proof that God cannot be Good. However, I see this as a proof that he's better than we're capable of even understanding. We already described what the relationship of the Trinity was before the world began...it was perfect! It was in fact Heaven! It was so good that God wanted to share it...so he said "let us create others to share in this perfect love with us!"
-Now, God had to have known evil would enter the world. He created anyway, because his love is so great so massive and is available for all eternity. The thing that people claim should have kept him from creating is not eternal (evil). So God actually knew that we would suffer a little bit but that if we could just catch a glimpse of how awesome his love is, we would gladly suffer thousands of lifetimes more for an eternal perfect love relationship for which we were created.
-The analogy I used is that of a marriage. Why do a man and a wife decide to have children? Their love is so great that they want to create a family. The love between them is so great that they want to have a child to share that love with. You see God gives us the opportunity to create, and to understand why he did. Often, the same people who are mad at God for "creating a world of suffering" have children of their own. Did they not know that their child would enter a world of pain and suffering? Then are they not guilty of the same offense they are accusing God of committing?
-In Genesis 1:28 God said "Be fruitful and Multiply..." he said this because the more that share in his love the better. When we have a child we are not just creating a material being...God is allowing us to decide whether we will bring yet another spiritual being into the world to share in his perfect eternal love. And its worth it. Look at this life in the scheme of eternity that never began and will never end...its so so so so small. How many of these lifetimes would you endure for the sake of a never ending perfect relationship that God has promised. He never breaks his promises and he never will. When this world is over and we finally see the fullness of God's love, we'll understand how small our suffering was and we would volunteer to suffer it a thousand times more if it would mean resting in the love that is the purpose of our creation.
-When I think about having children of my own...i get excited. And honestly the thing that makes me tear up when I think about it is that I'll look at that baby. and I'll be able to see his/her mother in her. To be able to say, "you've got your mother's eyes", or "you've got your mother's smile" blows me away. We have children because the love we have with our spouse is so good...we want to share it. When God the Father looks at us...I know he sees Jesus...and that makes him so so happy. No matter how bad we mess things up, we will always be his children, we will always be in his image. He did not create us to suffer. He created us to rest in his love. His love which is so great that suffering is worth it. He did not create us to suffer. He created us in spite of suffering.
"How Great is the love the father has lavished upon us that we should be called the children of God and that is what we are. The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. Dear friends, now we are children of God, but what we will be has not yet been made known. But we know that when we see him we will be like him, for we shall see him as he is."
-We long for that day, when we see him as he is: the fullness of his love...and all suffering becomes sand that blows away in light of him.
