It is interesting. Right after penning the previous entry and lingering on the first Article of Religion, this song came to my head on my way home:
Our God is far greater than words can make known
Exalted and holy, he reigns from his throne
In infinite splendour he rules over all
Yet he feeds the poor sparrow
And he knows when they fall.
His power is great and will ever endure
His wisdom is peaceable, gentle and pure
But greater than all of these glories I see
Is the glorious promise that he cares for me.
Our God is far greater than words or Articles of Religion can make known... The way we perceive and understand things around us is limited and restrained by the human instrument. (see Immanual Kant's refutation of the watchmaker argument for God.) For example, the ideas I can express to you now is limited by my command of the English language, and further by the words available in the language itself. In the same way, everything I think, understand and put to words is limited by the fives senses, the mind, the emotions, the memory, etc.
If how I perceive is three-dimensional, God must be four-dimensional. He is greater than what words can express, yet he exists perfectly in our dimension, and we can understand him fully, but there will always be mystery. It is like how a three-dimsension box has a point aspect (a corner), a one dimension aspect (a line), a two-dimension aspect (a surface), and also a three-dimension aspect (the whole box). In this way, our understanding of him is perfectly true, but at the same time not complete.
Our God is far greater than words can make known
Exalted and holy, he reigns from his throne
In infinite splendour he rules over all
Yet he feeds the poor sparrow
And he knows when they fall.
His power is great and will ever endure
His wisdom is peaceable, gentle and pure
But greater than all of these glories I see
Is the glorious promise that he cares for me.
Our God is far greater than words or Articles of Religion can make known... The way we perceive and understand things around us is limited and restrained by the human instrument. (see Immanual Kant's refutation of the watchmaker argument for God.) For example, the ideas I can express to you now is limited by my command of the English language, and further by the words available in the language itself. In the same way, everything I think, understand and put to words is limited by the fives senses, the mind, the emotions, the memory, etc.
If how I perceive is three-dimensional, God must be four-dimensional. He is greater than what words can express, yet he exists perfectly in our dimension, and we can understand him fully, but there will always be mystery. It is like how a three-dimsension box has a point aspect (a corner), a one dimension aspect (a line), a two-dimension aspect (a surface), and also a three-dimension aspect (the whole box). In this way, our understanding of him is perfectly true, but at the same time not complete.
4 comments:
Hmmm... I agree with your postulation that our understanding of God is limited by our human understanding; however, I think that He transcends even the fourth dimension - usually associated with time - because He is immortal as well...
If He is truly an infinite God... it could very well mean that He's multi-dimensional, or nth-dimensional - which may explain why the Trinity can exist all at once in the same time and space... mind boggling stuff... : )
Hi,
I agree with you. (Even though I'm surprised you read the whole entry!) I used the three-dimension/ four-dimension only as an analogy. We perceive in dimensions more than three (if you count feelings, reason, spirit etc.), and God of course is more than four. But it makes for easier reading. :)
Yes it is mind-boggling. The fourth dimension of time is boggling enough for me..
Re: reading the whole entry... well, there are some blogs I read all the way through and there are others I just skim...
As for your blog, I try to make it a point to drop by on a daily basis to see what you've gotten up to... :)
Out of curiousity, why are you laying out the Articles of the Faith?
Erm, not sure actually. I think it helps me to focus on something apart from what is troubling me. There is something methodical and reassuring about going through the meaning and implications line by line.
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