1.) Who or what God is and how do we know?
2.) Who man is, and how he relates to #1. (I like the ungrateful bi-ped of Dostoevsky)
3.) How do we account for evil (man-made) and suffering (non man-made)?
4.) The question of eternity.
Those are my four big ones. Anybody got any thoughts?
Not right now. I'll sleep on it and let you know something brilliant tomorrow!
ReplyDeleteHere's mine:
ReplyDelete1.) I love a God that looks like Jesus. If I were to design a God, he would look like Jesus.
2.) Yep, the ungrateful bi-ped.
3.) Chesterton, "What's wrong with the world? I am." My big problem of evil isn't "out there." It's "in here."
4.) Again, Jesus. Eternity would be meaningless apart from him.
Ken, that is a tall order bro...centuries of philosophy have asked and the answers are legion. What is the question behind the questions?
ReplyDeleteThose are the 4 questions. I don't think there is a question behind them.
ReplyDeleteunless it's the question of the one and the many. I am not sure why that has been THE question of the centuries.
I am totally satisfied with your answers. Sometimes we avoid the simple answers because they seem, well simple. But that is the heart of the gosepl. There is a complex simplicity that is really beautiful. So, your answers are beautiful Ke:-)
ReplyDeleteWell, I slept on it and was going to say something a lot like what you said:
ReplyDelete1. God is The Creator, a spirit, my Lord, and His earthly body is in the form of Jesus.
2. Man, is in God's image but fatally flawed.
3. Evil (man-made) is there because man was too dense and selfish to realize how miserable life would be apart from God so he made a very bad choice. Suffering (not man-made) is a part of things because of evil. It serves its purposes which at times are to punish and always to drive us to the Lord.
4. Eternity: I crave it more every day because of the reality of the Holy Spirit. How do I know it's all real? Because he's a part of me. Not acknowledging Him would be like living my whole life in the house with Daniel but never acknowledging his presence.
Going back to something I said earlier, Ken, having worked with people for a while, would you not agree that usually when questions like this are put forth, there is something driving the question. I am not saying that you had a question behind the questions because you asked the questions having the answers that satisfied you. But someone who is looking at these things from a real desire to know has a question behind the question. Basically, you made 4 categorical statements pertaining to ontology, theology, antrhopology/theodicy, and eschatology. All I was saying earlier is that there is typically a driving question behind the questions. Those are observation questions, they don't really get down to the heart of the issues themselves.
ReplyDeleteBrad,
ReplyDeleteQuit trying to be smarter than I am. it is a futile effort.
So what gets to the heart of the issue?
The driving question behind those 4 questions is "What is the meaning and purpose of my life?" No one really asks the first 4 questions without first pondering his own existance as in Leo Tolstoy's Confession. The driving purpose of the initial question is only asked of one's self when their existance is challenged.
ReplyDeleteCogito, ergo sum.
ReplyDeleteDon't worry Rev, I do not for a moment ever believe that I am a third as smart as you are, I am just always curious as to what someone is really asking.
ReplyDeleteI think the question that gets to the heart of the issue is different for each person. For me it was looking at my life and asking, "is this all there is"
Anonymous quoting Tolstoy -- is that you, Cheryl??? Just curious! :)
ReplyDelete