Nothing to Do - Part 2

Well I haven't done very well at doing absolutely nothing for 10 minutes each day of advent. In fact, I did not manage to do it for even one day. But I did find moments of stillness. Moments like sitting in Bible Study, abandoning the topic for the night, and just catching up with friends. All of us telling stories and taking a moment to belly laugh. It was nice to spend some time actually being present with people rather than rushing to accomplish one task or another.

Or like the few moments I steal in the morning as I walk my dog and play fetch with her. In all her puppy energy she bounds all over, trying to sniff every inch of surface area we walk. Each morning she reminds me that the simplest guestures can be the most meaningful. And each morning simply being near her helps to calm my mind and ease my stress.

I guess what I needed this advent season was not nothing to do but stillness.

How are your advent preparations going?

Does God Change?

On sunday, the disciple class I am a part of had a discussion about whether or not God changes. The discussion reminded me of an email conversation I had with a friend awhile back.

The basic question is this: Does God change?
But that questions quickly leads to others: If God can change does that mean God's not perfect, not all knowing? Can perfection be improved upon?

Does God change? Has God always been the same? Many people read the stories from the Old Testament and sometimes feel like they are reading stories about a God that is different from the New Testament. I often hear people characterize God as vindictive and judgmental in the Old Testament but as loving and forgiving in the New Testament. Sometimes the apparent difference can be so drastic that it can feel like we are reading about two different Gods.

In fact, this apparent difference is so strong that in the 2nd Century a theologian names Marcion decided that the God of th Old Testament was not the same as the God of the New testament. As a result he proposed that the entire Old testament be thrown out and we should only read the new Testament. This suggestion lead to the more orthodox church fathers coming together and stating that the books of the Old testament were in fact part of Christian scriptures. Yet, to many, it seems that God has changed and perhaps even learned from God's earlier interaction with humanity.

Let's assume for a minute that God has in fact changed. If that's the case, does that mean that God is not all knowing? Does that mean that God is all-powerful but with limited knowledge and understanding? Does that mean God makes mistakes and we as humans are subject to this all powerful God that hasn't really figured out what God's doing? That's a rather fightening thought. But can God change and still be all knowing? Can God change and yet still be perfect? I'm not trying to polarize the issue but it seems to me that if we are going to claim that God changes then we must be willing to claim that God is not all knowing or perfect.

Some have argued that God's tactics have changed over the course of human history but that God in God's self, that the nature of God, has not changed. Some argue that God used the discipline and interaction with humanity that was appropriate for what humanity as a whole was capable of understanding. So, the arguement goes, have we grown as a race, such that we were able to understand love and forgiveness at the time of Christ's ministry on earth but we were not able to it understand prior to that? Some have compared humanity to the life cycle of an individual human, that humanity as a whole has been able to comprehend things at different levels through out history and that our changing understanding necessarily affects our relationship with God. So when we were ready and able to understand forgiveness, God showed forgiveness.

Yet others have argues that God, and God's tactics have remained the same throughout the course of human history but that human perception has changed. Some argue that we are now able to understanding the love and forgiveness of God that has been there all along. Note that there is a subtle yet important difference between this belief and the one in the previous paragraph. In the previous paragraph the belief is that God's interaction changes based on our ability to understand. The perspective in this paragraph is that God's interaction with humanity does not change but our changing understanding allows us to better understand God, so God has not changed, we have.

It is an interesting question. Regardless of which way you answer it, it has large consequences for your faith. The teachings of the church claim that God does not change. God is. It's as simple as that, God does not change. God is the same now as God was at the beginning of creation, and will be the same at the end of time. However, the church does recognize that our understanding of God has changed through out history, but it has changed most profounding in the birth, life, ministry, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The person of Jesus Christ is considered to be God revealing God's self to humanity. With this new revelation of God we come to understand God in new ways.

But what do you think? Do you think the church's teaching is a satisfactory answer? Or does that seem insufficient? What do you think?