Go WARRIORS!

Wow semester number 2 done. 1st year of seminary done. 3 more to go. If they are all like this it will be over before I know it. God was very good to me this year. I am alive. No ulcers. Its all good. I am looking forward to praying a lot in the next few weeks. I am now more comfortable with this whole seminary thing and I want to take it to the next level. I want to focus on preaching and other aspects of the program that I like. I also want to get close to some people that can mentor me whether that is at the school or in church. I am also praying for opportunity to participate more actively in ministry in some capacity.

I said a while back that I would respond to Brad's questions regarding Elaine's article that I had posted here. My primary objection is that her views are distinctly not Christian. Her understanding of Christ is not Christian and she rightly labels herself a heretic. She is right when she says that her beliefs are her choice. God has always allowed mankind to choose how they will respond to his self-revelation. However, God has also made it very clear that wrong response has serious repercussions both in this life and the life that is to come.

While Christ was on the Earth one question that he asked his disciples repeatedly was "Who do you say I am?" This issue obviously was important to Christ. What we say, think or believe about Jesus is important. He was more than a man who taught us what will happen after we die. He was more than a man who taught us how to be loving and compassionate. The views expressed in the Gospel of Judas by an unknown author have been rightly ignored by the community of believers. The Jesus of the Gospel of Judas is misunderstanding of who Jesus really was.

There was a lot of heated debate in the early days of the church regarding the identity of Jesus Christ. This was to be expected because then as now there were a lot of people trying to get in on a piece of the action. Paul mentions in his letters that there were many who preached Christ out of impure motives during his day. There continues to be many who also use the Gospel for their own purposes rather than to glorify God. Including Dr. Pagels who I suspect writes what she does because it makes money and gets her interviews on NPR where she will be celebrated for her intellectualism.

Creeds such as the Nicene served to clarify for the church what true Christian belief was. The beauty of the creeds is that they are simple, yet the truths that they affirm are difficult to understand and an offense to all who do not believe that Jesus Christ was God. The reality is that the creed is not capable of making anyone a Christian. However, only a Christian could ever affirm the content of a creed.

Enough rambling. Below I have posted a descriptive definition of God that I submitted for my Trinitarianism class. It contains my personal beliefs about God. Beliefs that I feel are distinctly Christian and likely offensive to Dr. Pagels.

I believe in one living Triune God who exists eternally in three coequal persons; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Each person of the Triune God is coequal in identity and activity. There are no other gods but the one Holy and Triune God. Although no one has ever seen God, He has revealed His eternal power and divine nature to all men. He is the creator of everything that is, visible and invisible, and He alone determines the purpose for which all things exist.

God the Father is the father of all of creation, and all of creation is dependent upon His care. Nothing can exist unless He wills that it exist. He alone determined the times and places that all men would be born and He did this so that they might seek Him. He is the One to whom all men will give an account upon the Day of Judgment. Nothing is hidden from His sight. In all of creation He has no equal. He alone possesses Knowledge and Wisdom. His Mercy and lovingkindness have no limit. He lives in unapproachable light, but is not far from any man.

Everything that exists was created by the Son Jesus Christ and in Him all things hold together. The Son proceeded from the Father and became incarnate among men. He was begotten not created and exists eternally with the Father and the Spirit. In His humanity He shared our likeness in every respect including bodily, emotionally, intellectually. In His incarnation the Son did not surrender any of His divinity but willingly and obediently submitted to the will of the Father. Through the shedding of His blood on the cross Jesus Christ reconciled all things visible and invisible to God. In accordance with the scriptures Jesus Christ rose from the dead providing the hope of resurrection to all men that believe in Him.

God the Holy Spirit exists eternally with the Father and the Son. He was not created. His activity in creation has been witnessed throughout the ages. The Holy Spirit possesses His own unique will but also submits to the will of the Father and the Son. In these last days He has proceeded from the Son and has been given the particular ministry of regeneration through which He illumines mankind to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. He is the teacher and counselor of all who believe. No one understands the mind of the Spirit but His work in creation and in individual believers can be perceived and understood. Through the Holy Spirit believers have access to the deep things of God. The Holy Spirit is given to all believers as a seal guaranteeing their salvation. All believers are commanded to walk in accordance with the Spirit and to be filled with the Spirit.

So there it is. The first time I have ever attempted something like it. Honestly it was really cool to put on paper what I believed about God.