ReformedBaptist
Well-Known Member
webdog said:
Well how 'bout it webdog, we agree! :thumbs: Amen my brother. If we look at Jesus we see God the Father, moved with compassion, anger, kindness, gentleness, joy, excitement, et.
:thumbs:
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Does God Have Emotions?
- Thread starter DHK
- Start date
Well how 'bout it webdog, we agree! :thumbs: Amen my brother. If we look at Jesus we see God the Father, moved with compassion, anger, kindness, gentleness, joy, excitement, et.
:thumbs:
Marcia
Active Member
TCGreek said:
Right, but we are not spirits or spirit beings. Angels are spirits.
If we were spirits, we would never have a body again.
I was in the New Age a long time and into Buddhism - the view there is that the body will one day be gone and we live as ethereal disembodied beings usually merged with the Source/Universe/God, etc. or our bodies are illusions that disappear (buddhism) since the self does not exist at all.
ReformedBaptist
Well-Known Member
Marcia said:
What do you think we are? How do you understand the Scriptures on this subject?
I believe that man is a "spirit being" much like that angels are.
Right now he is clothed with with a temporal body, that Paul refers to a tabernacle. It is temporary and someday will be replaced with a permanent body like the body of Christ.
"1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
At the resurrection our bodies will be like the body of Christ.
The difference now is that we have a soul. God does not have a soul; neither do angels. It is the soul that is the seat of the emotions. Animals have souls.
Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
--The word for "life" is nephesh or soul. As an animal can express an emotion, so does man. (Or perhaps it is vice-versa).
God is a perfect being with no imperfections. If his "emotions" are perceived to be on a supernatural plane, or as part of his character, they are more a part of the nature of God rather than emotion or feeling.
God is immutable, unchanging. He doesn't respond to us; we respond to him. He is the one that initiates.
When we consider his wrath or his love; he is 100% wrath; 100% mercy; 100% righteous; 100% compassionate; etc. He is not 50% love one day and 50% wrath the next. He fully wholly God all the time, never ending, immutable and unchangeable.
A child can manipulate his parents. As a parent I may say no to my child making a request for something. No ought to be no. But she, if she wants it bad enough, may plead, beg, nag, and even bribe (as in--I'll clean up the whole house for you....). And finally I will give in.
A parent can be manipulated by the child. Does the parent control the child, or the child control the parent?
Many think that they control God. If they are good, then God will be pleased with them and bless them. If they sin, then God will be angry with them. God will react according to their actions. This is not true. God does not react. He is immutable. He knows what is going to happen, and has known from eternity past. Nothing shocks him.
What can we say then? A finite mind cannot understand an infinite God.
Right now he is clothed with with a temporal body, that Paul refers to a tabernacle. It is temporary and someday will be replaced with a permanent body like the body of Christ.
"1 John 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
At the resurrection our bodies will be like the body of Christ.
The difference now is that we have a soul. God does not have a soul; neither do angels. It is the soul that is the seat of the emotions. Animals have souls.
Genesis 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.
--The word for "life" is nephesh or soul. As an animal can express an emotion, so does man. (Or perhaps it is vice-versa).
God is a perfect being with no imperfections. If his "emotions" are perceived to be on a supernatural plane, or as part of his character, they are more a part of the nature of God rather than emotion or feeling.
God is immutable, unchanging. He doesn't respond to us; we respond to him. He is the one that initiates.
When we consider his wrath or his love; he is 100% wrath; 100% mercy; 100% righteous; 100% compassionate; etc. He is not 50% love one day and 50% wrath the next. He fully wholly God all the time, never ending, immutable and unchangeable.
A child can manipulate his parents. As a parent I may say no to my child making a request for something. No ought to be no. But she, if she wants it bad enough, may plead, beg, nag, and even bribe (as in--I'll clean up the whole house for you....). And finally I will give in.
A parent can be manipulated by the child. Does the parent control the child, or the child control the parent?
Many think that they control God. If they are good, then God will be pleased with them and bless them. If they sin, then God will be angry with them. God will react according to their actions. This is not true. God does not react. He is immutable. He knows what is going to happen, and has known from eternity past. Nothing shocks him.
What can we say then? A finite mind cannot understand an infinite God.
DHK,
I agree with your take on the body of man, now and in glory.
Yes, God is immutable, and yes, his emotions are tied to his nature, but is it possible that our understanding of his immutability is somewhat lacking?
Notice what Zephaniah says:
"The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing." (3:17, NIV, emphasis added)
Now as a child of God and a reader of Scripture, I have to be that God taking delight in me is real.
Whatever we understand about God's immutable nature does not negate his ability to express genuine emotions.
Maybe the answer is in what you said: "What can we say then? A finite mind cannot understand an infinite God."
But I don't think we can deny God of the emotions Scripture shows he displays.
I agree with your take on the body of man, now and in glory.
Yes, God is immutable, and yes, his emotions are tied to his nature, but is it possible that our understanding of his immutability is somewhat lacking?
Notice what Zephaniah says:
"The LORD your God is with you,
he is mighty to save.
He will take great delight in you,
he will quiet you with his love,
he will rejoice over you with singing." (3:17, NIV, emphasis added)
Now as a child of God and a reader of Scripture, I have to be that God taking delight in me is real.
Whatever we understand about God's immutable nature does not negate his ability to express genuine emotions.
Maybe the answer is in what you said: "What can we say then? A finite mind cannot understand an infinite God."
But I don't think we can deny God of the emotions Scripture shows he displays.
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I believe that is where one speaks of the "impassibility" of God. Though He is immutable and transcendent, He is also imbassible, meaning that He is deeply involved in the affairs of mankind. Unlike the Muslim God, Allah, who stands aloof of mankind and totally disinterested, God is deeply interested and cares to the very extent that he knows the number of hairs on our head, knows when a sparrow falls to the ground, shares in our griefs and sorrows, etc.TCGreek said:
Perhaps it comes down to a matter of semantics. We define emotions as they relate to humans. That is why they are anthropapathisms. God's emotions are perfect, above understanding, part of his character and nature. It might be safe to say that his "emotions" however they are defined are "perfected" in their nature.
Marcia
Active Member
TCGreek said:
2 Cor 5 is about how our mortal bodies will be changed into a glorified body ("our dwelling from heaven" verse 2). We will still have physical bodies one day, so we are not spirit beings. A spirit being is disembodied.
Did not Jesus show Thomas the scars of nails in his body after his resurrection? Jesus' body was resurrected; his human body before death was not annihilated. A glorified body is still physical, it's just not mortal. We don't yet understand excatly what it is like, but it is our former body made new.
We will not be disembodied in heaven (after the resurrection of our bodies). Surely you do not believe this?
DHK said:
But it's still the same body, just made new. Jesus' body was resurrected; it was changed but not annihilated, and made new/glorified. So it will be for us. This is why we are not spirit beings like angels, and angels are called "spirits" in the Bible. Men have spirits (or souls or souls and spirits depending on your view) but we are not spirits as angels are.
Since becoming a believer, the bodily resurrection of Jesus into a glorified body, and our future of this based on Christ, has meant so much to me because of my past beliefs that the body was a denser form of energy, or an illusion (I had a mixture of beliefs on this); the "spirit" is always exalted in New Age thinking, which is one reason they love the word "spiritual" so much, and are into "spirituality."
One of the great things about Jesus is that he not only had a human body but this body was resurrected and made new, not destroyed or annihilated. He did not rise from the grave like a spirit being, disembodied, or in a body that appeared physical (a la JWs teaching), but it was the same body he had before death, but transformed. This is such a revolutionary teaching and idea, and totally in contrast with New Age and Eastern (and Gnostic) belief systems. It is something to really celebrate and rejoice in as a Christian!
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Marcia
Active Member
TCGreek said:
I was answering your question, and responding to the other 2 comments.
I was trying to explain why I do not think man is a spirit being, but a body-soul-mind unity. If we were a spirit being, our bodies would not be resurrected. Clearly, the Lord believes our bodies are important.
Marcia
Active Member
TCGreek said:
I assume one without a body - but that is only temporary, of course. That is the important point. I never denied that. We will have a resurrected body at some point and it will be forever. That is very different from those other views I was talking about. We will not be disembodied forever.
(I got a little excited on the bodily resurrection of Christ because of my past beliefs and that is how I feel about it).
It Is Possible!
Thus, if we are created in His image, and Jesus, the Son of God, could weep or display anger, than the evidence points to God having emotions. I feel good knowing that God has emotions, because I'd feel more comfortable serving a God who has the capacity to "feel!"
Shalom,
Pastor Paul:tear:
The Scripture tells us that God made man in His image! And, if this is factual, and I believe it is...than God must have emotions. Jesus, the Son of God, incarnate, displayed anger with the money-changers in the Temple, and He was deeply moved to tears when he heard that Lazarus had died.DHK said:
Thus, if we are created in His image, and Jesus, the Son of God, could weep or display anger, than the evidence points to God having emotions. I feel good knowing that God has emotions, because I'd feel more comfortable serving a God who has the capacity to "feel!"
Shalom,
Pastor Paul:tear:
