A Change of Focus

I am going to go away from the Christian Discipline topic for a while, simply because I haven’t had the time to study the next few topics I would like to write about. I have, however, been listening to some seminars on my iPod while working out the past week (it seems as though that’s the only time I have to “study”). Specifically, I have been listening to Christian Doctrine by Dr. Joel D. Biermann, who is the Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at Concordia Seminary in St. Louis.

I would like to share some interesting revelations (or, at least, revelations to me) about Christian Theology. What I will be writing will simply be from the perspective of what I understand about what Biermann is saying, and in no particular order. I tend to remember certain things better than others, and sometimes I will be listening, but not paying attention closely enough to remember everything.

First, the Simplicity of God.

We sometimes think that when we add up all of God’s attributes, such as omniscience, omnipotence, goodness, eternal, holy, just, love, etc. we get who God is. One other attribute that we often don’t think about is that God is simple. God is not the sum of His parts.

We must avoid making God into someone we understand. We can’t take the attributes of God and sum Him up using our understanding of those attributes. If we do that, we are making God in our own image. All the attributes do is point to aspects of God’s reality that we as humans encounter as He deals with us.

God is simply God.