How do we come to know God?
Today we considered the question of how one comes to know God, or how our ancestors came to know God. Though initially we thought that we all come to know God through divine Revelation (that is, God telling us about Him), we realized it is not so: We come to experience the Divine (God) through reason and through life-experiences. The whole of creation is "speaking" to us about the Creator. The goodness that we see around is revealing the "ultimate source" of all goodness, namely God. They recocognised God as superior, all powerful, and all knowledge being. Some however, mistaking thought of many gods!
The Israelites were probably the first of all peoples who had a unique and personal knowledge of God. This they had through the help of their Patriarchs and then through Moses and the rest of the prophets. There we now can speak of a special revelation. There God revealed Himself as ONE God (as opposed to many gods), personal and loving. he is a God who creates, but doesn't abandon His creation to fate, but watches and takes care of it leading it to the "Sabbath rest".
In Christianity this fundamental knowledge of God is deepened, since God reveals Himself through His Son. We Christians know God best then through Christ.
Given below is a presentation of true and false ideas of God:
Review Questions
1. What are the divine attributes?
2. What are the main errors about God?
3. How do we know about the Holy Trinity?
4. What does it mean to be a child of God? (see, Jn 1:11-12)
The Israelites were probably the first of all peoples who had a unique and personal knowledge of God. This they had through the help of their Patriarchs and then through Moses and the rest of the prophets. There we now can speak of a special revelation. There God revealed Himself as ONE God (as opposed to many gods), personal and loving. he is a God who creates, but doesn't abandon His creation to fate, but watches and takes care of it leading it to the "Sabbath rest".
In Christianity this fundamental knowledge of God is deepened, since God reveals Himself through His Son. We Christians know God best then through Christ.
Given below is a presentation of true and false ideas of God:
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| Correct Ideas about God Think about each of the above characteristics of God... |
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| False Ideas about God Why are they false? |
Review Questions
1. What are the divine attributes?
2. What are the main errors about God?
3. How do we know about the Holy Trinity?
4. What does it mean to be a child of God? (see, Jn 1:11-12)
WRITE UP FOR INTERACTION AND DISCUSSION.
ReplyDeleteCourse: THE CHRISTIAN MYSTERY AND ITS CELEBRATION, IYM- TANGAZA COLLEGE; CUEA.
Fr. George Kocholickal SDB (Lecturer),
Blog address: http://homiletics2012.blogspot.com/
THE CHRISTIAN FAITH…… (Mystery of faith, our faith in God the creator.)
My understanding.
One thing that is undeniable is my stand in the following of God in my Christianity and catholic faith. But one would ask what I do believe in or subscribe to…and why? Faith is explained as the ability to listen to God’s word, act of inner illumination and inner movement to a point of feeling that there exists a higher being of ultimate power total authority and transcendence. The human race as it is had prior appeal to God in the very beginning of time in all their nativeness and roughness. As it were had not fully come around and humanity did believe in God. Way back before Christ God was acknowledged. Faith is etymologically derived from the Latin word AB + UDIRE meaning to listen. Man was not submissive parse but obedient to the Lord God giving him many names in their dialects and attributed certain occurrences to God.
Thus the mystery of faith in God is ours to believe and a gift to us and thus a process of coming home to roost, i.e. coming to know God. As is said to believe we must know and according to a class lecture by Fr. George Kocholickal SDB we came to know God through a process of awe, wonder and fear leading to a cause whose effect was unanswered questions that only could be arrived at through faith. The creation of the universe and all is in it is a classical scenario. There must be a maker of this world just as everything has a root thus man had only but wondered about the earth and aligned his thought to there being a being of unprecedented power who moulded this earth and he called him God.
Through creation everything we see and have as the core earth resources must have come from an intellectual powerful being leading to THEISM. Therefore humanity cannot fathom to the truth of God but we know of God through natural reason
The figured of what God Is like is define him as
INFINITE for God has no limitations or a boundary thus is perfect and complete. A being beyond our comprehensions.
ETERNAL for God has been there, is there and will be there for all we know. God is beyond our realm of time
HOLY for God is good and his intentions for humanity are good and virtuous.
SIMPLE for God has no parts and not limited by space.
PERFECT needs nothing is everything. He is mercy and justice.
SUPREME for he is the one and only God. None other is like him.
ALMIGHTY for God is all knowing and does all things.
FREE for God does what he wants and he neither consults nor depends on nobody.
Thus the following is not true.
AGNOSTICISM: This to any effect is blasphemous and heresy. God is about and around
NATURALISM: Nature could not have appeared from nowhere, God created nature.
ATHEISM: A hoax and unsupported notion. God is so much existent and even non-believers are at times moved by their conviction and moped up my inner welling of God.
INDIFFERENTISM: It really matters what we believe for a solid setting founded on truth and realities
DEISM: If God didn’t care about his work/creation then he would not have sent his son Christ Jesus, God lord and master. If God didn’t care about his creation earth would not be existing today.
DUALISM: There is no divide in God, he is good period.
POLYTHEISM: the concept of many other gods is for the man and not for the gods. I mean God is only one. He shares with no other purported gods his throne of sovereignty.
PANTHEISM: not all is God but all we are was done by God with his goodness and favour.
By Obalu Kelvin Odhiambo 10025y
thank you form the good work kelvin...,keep it up
ReplyDeletethe knowlwdge of God and experiencing of God in the OT.
ReplyDeleteSo after much reflection i have asked my self how i do have experience with God?....question would be is my faith that cemented to have knowledge of God the Father, the son and the holy spirit???
what is the pious nature of God??? is it true that to believe we must know???/ or to know we must see???
the teachings in light of the faith enlighten the human person me to be aware of GOD, who is Around us every single time. humanity cannot fathom the truth of God, its beyond us but God reveals himself to us through natural reason. we come to experience God in through his magnificent WAYS OF LOVE TO US HIS CREATION
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