I learned recently that even a child who wonders how God can be everywhere at once is a theologian.
The Great Reset
- Thread starter Motar
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The source of that definition of theology avers that everyone who thinks about God is a theologian.
A desperate, final attempt to counterfeit God’s Great Reset accomplished through Christ.
An enemy (Matthew 13:25).
No one.
Sure, just like everyone who thinks about rocks is a geologist. That's somebody educated beyond their capacity for rational analysis, trying to appear insightful and producing instead pseudo-intellectual drivel. Theology is the study and analysis of the nature and attributes of the divine and how they're dealt with by individuals and societies, and a theologian is somebody well versed in that. Merely thinking about god doesn't cut it, that just trivializes theology as a scholarly discipline and the theologians who do it.The source of that definition of theology avers that everyone who thinks about God is a theologian.
If that source is a book, you could make better use of it as a doorstop.
Ah, that might explain it, a fundamentalist Christian college teaching inanities like Biblical inerrancy and premillennialism. I'd have expected a professional theologian, even one from DTS, to know better, but really credentials make no difference, it's still a fatuous idea.
Indeed. Particularly in a field so emotional and intertwined with sociopolitics, and one with a record of claiming that everyone is searching for its god, whether they know it or not.
This is exactly what I meant when I urged you to consider the motives and possible biases of bible scholars, Motar.
One of the most dramatic resets recorded in Scripture is that of Saul/Paul whom God transformed from a persecutor to Christ's apostle to the Gentiles.
"At this they (Sanhedrin) covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him (Stephen), dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison." (Acts 7:57-8:3, NIV).
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do'" (Acts 9:1-6).
"In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, 'Ananias!' 'Yes, Lord,' he answered. The Lord told him, 'Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.' 'Lord,' Ananias answered, 'I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.' But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.' Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again" (Acts 9:15-18a).
"Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, 'Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?' Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah ... When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. (Acts 9:19b-22, 26-28).
"They (Barnabas and Saul) traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 'You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. 'Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord" (Acts 13:6-12).
The Great Reset of God in Christ changes completely whom and what we are for good.
"At this they (Sanhedrin) covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him (Stephen), dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. Meanwhile, the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul. And Saul approved of their killing him. On that day a great persecution broke out against the church in Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. Godly men buried Stephen and mourned deeply for him. But Saul began to destroy the church. Going from house to house, he dragged off both men and women and put them in prison." (Acts 7:57-8:3, NIV).
"Meanwhile, Saul was still breathing out murderous threats against the Lord’s disciples. He went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem. As he neared Damascus on his journey, suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say to him, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' 'Who are you, Lord?' Saul asked. 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' he replied. 'Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do'" (Acts 9:1-6).
"In Damascus there was a disciple named Ananias. The Lord called to him in a vision, 'Ananias!' 'Yes, Lord,' he answered. The Lord told him, 'Go to the house of Judas on Straight Street and ask for a man from Tarsus named Saul, for he is praying. In a vision he has seen a man named Ananias come and place his hands on him to restore his sight.' 'Lord,' Ananias answered, 'I have heard many reports about this man and all the harm he has done to your holy people in Jerusalem. And he has come here with authority from the chief priests to arrest all who call on your name.' But the Lord said to Ananias, 'Go! This man is my chosen instrument to proclaim my name to the Gentiles and their kings and to the people of Israel. I will show him how much he must suffer for my name.' Then Ananias went to the house and entered it. Placing his hands on Saul, he said, 'Brother Saul, the Lord—Jesus, who appeared to you on the road as you were coming here—has sent me so that you may see again and be filled with the Holy Spirit.' Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul’s eyes, and he could see again" (Acts 9:15-18a).
"Saul spent several days with the disciples in Damascus. At once he began to preach in the synagogues that Jesus is the Son of God. All those who heard him were astonished and asked, 'Isn’t he the man who raised havoc in Jerusalem among those who call on this name? And hasn’t he come here to take them as prisoners to the chief priests?' Yet Saul grew more and more powerful and baffled the Jews living in Damascus by proving that Jesus is the Messiah ... When he came to Jerusalem, he tried to join the disciples, but they were all afraid of him, not believing that he really was a disciple. But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles. He told them how Saul on his journey had seen the Lord and that the Lord had spoken to him, and how in Damascus he had preached fearlessly in the name of Jesus. So Saul stayed with them and moved about freely in Jerusalem, speaking boldly in the name of the Lord. (Acts 9:19b-22, 26-28).
"They (Barnabas and Saul) traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, 'You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun. 'Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord" (Acts 13:6-12).
The Great Reset of God in Christ changes completely whom and what we are for good.
So you're not going to engage on the subject of whether or not a child asking how god can be everywhere makes him or her a theologian. Hardly surprising, you generally don't engage when someone takes issue with you, you just change the subject. I noted that you said you'd "learned" that such a child is a theologian, not merely that somebody had made such a claim, suggesting you just uncritically accepted it as true. It didn't occur to you to think about what theology and theologian actually mean, or look them up, there are dozens of dictionaries and encyclopedias online where you could have done so, to judge if such a child's question is consistent with them. If you had, you'd have found that it's not, and perhaps correctly concluded that it's a silly idea and the source of it is simply wrong.
The following are some of the ways Jesus honors children/little ones and their faith, DS:
“At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, ‘Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me“ (Matthew 18:1-5).
“If anyone causes one of these little ones-those who believe in me-to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea“ (Matthew 18:6).
“See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven. 11 [a] ‘What do you think? If a man owns a hundred sheep, and one of them wanders away, will he not leave the ninety-nine on the hills and go to look for the one that wandered off? And if he finds it, truly I tell you, he is happier about that one sheep than about the ninety-nine that did not wander off. In the same way your Father in heaven is not willing that any of these little ones should perish’” (Matthew 18:10-14).
[a] Matthew 18:11 Some manuscripts contain here the words of Luke 19:10: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”
On the contrary, Friend, I am not changing the subject but returning us to it.
How does the current Great Reset referenced below compare and contrast to God’s Great Reset in Christ?
www.weforum.org
The Great Reset
There is an urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve the state of the world, the World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative.
www.weforum.org
You raised the matter of a child being a theologian, and refused to engage when challenged on it beyond citing an unnamed authority for it. I was trying to find out what *you* thought about it, but apparently you didn't and won't think about it.
The first one might happen, though I doubt it will, the second is mythology and didn't happen.
In Philippians 2:1-11, believers are exhorted to seek to have the mind of Christ, DS. In posting what Jesus thinks of children and their faith, I am sharing my thoughts. My worldview is informed and inspired by His.
The Great Reset of God in Christ precedes and supersedes that of the current global resetters. God’s Great Reset in Christ is individually voluntary, spiritual, transformational and eternal. The current global reset is universally mandated, circumstantial, technological and temporary.
Why was the Great Reset initiated by God? Why is the current global reset in play?
The Great Reset
There is an urgent need for global stakeholders to cooperate in simultaneously managing the direct consequences of the COVID-19 crisis. To improve the state of the world, the World Economic Forum is starting The Great Reset initiative.
www.weforum.org
Yours is a valid observation, TB.
I will agree with you that if one accepts Christian theology, the coming of Jesus was indeed a great reset. A complete change in the paradigm of the relationship between humans and god.
The WEF's bloviations, not so much.
The WEF's bloviations, not so much.
I don't recall you posting anything about what Jesus thinks of children and their faith. And there is nowhere where he reportedly says that a child's question about how can god be everywhere qualifies the child as a theologian.
I think a better question is why do people believe he did. I know of no reason to do so, that all seems to me transparently a human invention, just like god himself is.