{"id":16144,"date":"2017-11-06T09:45:03","date_gmt":"2017-11-06T14:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16144"},"modified":"2017-11-06T09:58:05","modified_gmt":"2017-11-06T14:58:05","slug":"god-as-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/?p=16144","title":{"rendered":"God As Us"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Images of God<\/p>\n<p>Monday, November 6, 2017<\/p>\n<p><strong>In the image of God they were created, male and female God created them. \u2014Genesis 1:27<\/strong><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/cH_LLGiE0f0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><br \/>\nThe Bible is filled with images of God, metaphors for the sacred. The biblical commandment to make no graven images of God obviously did not mean avoiding word-images. But it does mean that no one of these should be \u201ccarved in stone\u201d\u2014that is, made absolute.<br \/>\nYet within \u201ccommon Christianity,\u201d by which I mean what most Christians took for granted and shared in common not so long ago, male images of God have often been absolutized. God is \u201cfather,\u201d \u201cking,\u201d and \u201clord.\u201d Enshrined in the Lord\u2019s Prayer and the creeds, male images dominate much of Christian liturgy and hymnody.<\/p>\n<p>But the Bible includes many metaphors for God that are not male. Some are beyond gender because they do not image God in human form. God is like fire, light, a rock, wind, breath, spirit.<br \/>\nEven when God is imaged in human form, the person-like metaphor is sometimes female. Of course, most of the time the person-like imagery is male; both the Old and New Testaments [Hebrew and Christian Scriptures] come from patriarchal cultures. Given this, it is remarkable that the Bible uses female imagery for God at all.<\/p>\n<p>For example, \u201cEl Shaddai,\u201d one of the Hebrew names of God, is most often translated into English as \u201cGod Almighty.\u201d But its linguistic roots suggest that it meant \u201cbreasted God\u201d\u2014God as \u201cmother,\u201d not \u201cfather.\u201d Another example: God is \u201cwomb-like.\u201d Old Testament scholar Phyllis Trible convincingly argues that Jeremiah 31:20, in which God remembers Israel, should be translated, \u201cMy womb trembles for him; I will truly show motherly-compassion on him.\u201d<br \/>\nAnd (Richard here, with my own example) if we still miss the point, the prophet Jeremiah reminds us: \u201cFor YHWH is creating a new thing upon the earth: a woman [God] will seek and protect a man [collective humanity]\u201d (31:22).<\/p>\n<p>Gateway to Silence:<br \/>\nI am created in God\u2019s image.<\/p>\n<p>____________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>Intimate Theology<\/p>\n<h4>By <a href=\"https:\/\/utmost.org\/oswald-chambers-bio\">Oswald Chambers<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><!-- \/.col-12 --> <!-- \/.row --><\/p>\n<div class=\"clearfix\">\u00a0<strong>Do you believe this? \u2014<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?version=31&amp;search=John+11%3A26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">John 11:26<\/a><\/strong><\/div>\n<div class=\"row entry-meta\">\n<div class=\"col-sm-4\">\n<div class=\"top-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sharedaddy sd-sharing-enabled\">\n<div class=\"robots-nocontent sd-block sd-social sd-social-icon-text sd-sharing\">\n<div class=\"sd-content\">\n<ul><!--\n \t\n\n<li class=\"odb-share-whatsapp\"><a onclick=\"javascript:pageTracker._trackPageview('\/outgoing\/#print');\" rel=\"nofollow\" class=\"share-whatsapp sd-button\" href=\"whatsapp:\/\/send?text=: \" title=\"\"><span><i class=\"fa fa-whatsapp\"><\/i> <span class=\"share-label\"><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/li>\n\n\n--><\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><!-- .entry-meta --><\/p>\n<div class=\"top-rule\">Martha believed in the power available to Jesus Christ; she believed that if He had been there He could have healed her brother; she also believed that Jesus had a special intimacy with God, and that whatever He asked of God, God would do. But\u2014 she needed a closer personal intimacy with Jesus. Martha\u2019s theology had its fulfillment in the future. But Jesus continued to attract and draw her in until her belief became an intimate possession. It then slowly emerged into a personal inheritance\u2014 \u201cYes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ\u2026\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+11:27\">John 11:27<\/a>).<\/div>\n<section class=\"entry-content\">\n<div class=\"post-content\">\n<p>Is the Lord dealing with you in the same way? Is Jesus teaching you to have a personal intimacy with Himself? Allow Him to drive His question home to you\u2014 \u201cDo you believe <em>this<\/em>?\u201d Are you facing an area of doubt in your life? Have you come, like Martha, to a crossroads of overwhelming circumstances where your theology is about to become a very personal belief? This happens only when a personal problem brings the awareness of our personal need.<\/p>\n<p>To believe is to commit. In the area of intellectual learning I commit myself mentally, and reject anything not related to that belief. In the realm of personal belief I commit myself morally to my convictions and refuse to compromise. But in intimate personal belief I commit myself spiritually to Jesus Christ and make a determination to be dominated by Him alone.<\/p>\n<p>Then, when I stand face to face with Jesus Christ and He says to me, \u201cDo you believe this?\u201d I find that faith is as natural as breathing. And I am staggered when I think how foolish I have been in not trusting Him earlier.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Images of God Monday, November 6, 2017 In the image of God they were created, male and female God created them. \u2014Genesis 1:27 The Bible is filled with images of God, metaphors for the sacred. The biblical commandment to make no graven images of God obviously did not mean avoiding word-images. But it does mean [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16144"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16148,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16144\/revisions\/16148"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/co2mannatoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}