A_Short_Christian_Theology

Personal Theology Philosophy of Religion September 3, 2010 I believe in one God, who exists eternally in triune nature. That is to say, there is one God, yet He exists in three persons – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The three are eternal, identical in nature and attributes, equal in power and glory, and one in essence and being. I believe that God is personal, meaning that He is intimately interested in the processes of the universe, and the proceedings of humans. I believe God is perfect and infallible in every way, and will always remain to be. By this I mean that God is wholly devoid of all erring, failure, evil, depravity, or insufficiency of any kind. God is pure actuality, that is, He has no potentiality. If He had any potential that would mean He had room to improve or to decline in His perfection – that He could change. But He is, in fact, free from any susceptibility to fallibility or change. He cannot grow in His knowledge – he is omniscient. This means that He has perfect knowledge of all truths of all kinds, that is, all truths that correlate to actual reality, while also fully knowing of what could be, counter-factually. He cannot grow or decline in power – for He is all-powerful. He cannot grow or decline in His perfect wisdom; His perfect love cannot grow or lessen, His perfect justice, His perfect mercy, His perfect holiness, and so on. The point to be made is this – God is absolute, and as an absolute being is above, and indeed completely unsusceptible to any change or imperfection. God exists eternally as a spirit. However, about 2015 years ago, God the Son came to earth to offer a way for us to have the hope of living forever with Him in Heaven after we die. This was necessary because we, as sinful and depraved humans, have broken the rules God has placed for our lives on Earth. God has set certain standards, which must be followed. Yet because we are wicked and insufficient by nature, there is nothing we can do to earn the right to live with God in heaven, and escape eternal punishment for our sins in Hell. However, because of God’s indescribable love and mercy, He provided a way for us to take on His righteousness, and receive His gift of everlasting life in the existential presence of God, if we only accept His free gift by believing in His work on the cross. God the Son came to earth, without ceasing to be truly and fully God, was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of a virgin, Mary. In the Son’s incarnation perfect humanity and undiminished deity were united in one Person forever, without confusion of the divine and human natures. The Son was called Jesus Christ. Because of his undiminished deity, Christ remained perfect throughout His entire life, i.e. He never once sinned. Christ was arrested, out of envy and fear, underwent several illegitimate trials, and was sentenced to be crucified on a cross. Christ had conquered sin, and so conquered death, the ultimate penalty for sin. In Christ’s death, He became a substitutionary sacrifice for us all. He was then physically resurrected from the dead, and was seen alive by many before He returned to Heaven. Christ physically ascended from the earth into Heaven, and now sits at the right hand of the Father as Intercessor, Advocate, and High Priest for His people. As far as evidence for God goes, I believe any firm belief must be based, at least in a large part, on evidence. I think it is only logical then, that belief in a god must also be established in rational evidence. Yet I also am convinced that there is more involved than just the evidence. I think that faith plays a major role in the development or establishment of any belief or worldview system. As for myself, I look at the natural world around me – the trees and animals – and even the stars and the vastness of the entire universe, and I think there must have been an original cause for all of this. The physical universe cannot explain its own origin. It must have something non-physical to start everything. There has to be something outside the physical realm that explains an original cause for all that exists. When you see something such as a watch, lying in the woods, you don’t assume that it arrived there by chance with no cause, or that it has always been there eternally existing in and of itself. We would all assume that there was a designer who is responsible for the existence and workmanship of that watch. I see the incredible design of our world the same exact way. And I believe a perfect, non-contingent, self-existing, personal God is the only logical answer for this. I also recognize that there is a moral law, and that speaks to a moral law-giver, and I see in that the need for a non-contingent being, who explains everything we see and know of. If God does not exist, how then do we make moral pronouncements of any kind' Where does that morality come from' There are basically four fundamental questions in life – origin, meaning, morality and destiny, and I think that only God is big enough to provide a complete answer to all of these questions, and to explain the universe in its entirety. I believe that following God is the only way that truly makes sense from every vantage point, and in every aspect of life.