What if the Bible told the story of a God who was all-knowing and all-powerful–but who could feel nothing? In a relationship with such a God, I’m thinking a conversation might go something like this:
“Hello, God… It’s me again… I need to talk to you about some things that have been on my mind.
The more I think about you, the more I realize that there is no limit to your understanding. When I look at the wonder of all that you have created, I sense that for all eternity we will only be exploring the outer edge of your immeasurable knowledge and wisdom.
Yet sometimes while thinking about the fact that your thoughts are so much higher than my thoughts, I find myself wondering whether you are moved by the waves of sadness, and fear that we feel as your created beings? While trying to understand you, I wish I knew whether you really care about the kinds of emotions that so often consume us.
But why am I telling you this. My guess is that you’re going to tell me that emotions do nothing but cloud the issues of truth, reason, and a well grounded faith.
I wish I could be more objective. But for now, I feel like I’m stuck with thoughts that are so entangled with the mixed feelings I have toward you. I know you understand. I just wish I knew that you cared. Thanks for listening.
Yeh, this post, like yesterday’s, probably sounds pretty weak…
I don’t really wonder whether God lack’s the capacity for emotion. Neither could I accept a theology that emphasizes one part of God’s character to the exclusion of anything we see in the personality of Jesus. According to the New Testament, the Son is the mirror image of his Father in heaven (Col 1:15). That leads me to believe in a God who is, at the same time, so infinitely great and personal that he can relate with Christlike emotion and heart to billions of people at the same time.
But does it bother me that I can’t understand that? Not right now. I just wish that, in all of my fact-filled considerations of the Father in heaven, I would always feel and express more of what I read below– than what I’ve written above,
According to David, a man after God’s own heart,
“The Lord is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. He will not constantly accuse us, nor remain angry forever. He does not punish us for all our sins; he does not deal harshly with us, as we deserve. For his unfailing love toward those who fear him is as great as the height of the heavens above the earth. He has removed our sins as far from us as the east is from the west.
The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust. Our days on earth are like grass; like wildflowers, we bloom and die.
The wind blows, and we are gone- as though we had never been here. But the love of the Lord remains forever with those who fear him. His salvation extends to the children’s children” Psalm 103:8-17 (NLT)
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