Affect & Effect in Existence.....
"Existence is the very nature of God. It is the thing that truly characterizes God and not us. If we did not exist, if we were never created, He would still be. If He were not, nothing would be. We have our being, our most constant predicate, from the One who alone constantly is.
God has no beginning, no middle, no end. There is no difference whatsoever between God at one point and another, because God does not exist within time. God does not exist merely forever, because He exists before forever begins and after it ends. He exists in a realm where questions of time cannot even be brought up.
To make a long tangent short, the complete otherness and pure existence of God requires that He be above everything and unaffected by it all, which is very difficult to maintain without error. Yet therein we will find the stability we seek."
~Michael Anthony Abril
Affected - adj.
- Acted upon, influenced, or changed.
- Emotionally stirred or moved.
- Infected or attacked, as by disease.
How arrogant are we in this world, somehow thinking that we can "affect" the long-term direction and shape the outcomes of this world and the events of this world??? Or how desperate can we be to develop a picture of God that is disconnected and "unaffected" by the world He created when in reality He loves us so much that He invaded the space-time continuum to become a man and "effected" our rescue from death and destruction by offering His own Life in exchange for ours....who loved us in action and sacrifice so much, so that He came to win us back???
It has occurred to me on my travels this past month that the struggle to understand God's eternality and existence and His "otherness" has left this world in a sense of hopelessness and despair and a worldview that is characterized at its deepest level by the Postmodern perspective that there is no truth and all that is considered truth is relative. And that we have so detach God from this world, so "otherize" Him in our feeble attempts to clarify Who He is that we are losing the deeper essence of His character......Love. If existence is His very nature....then Love is that existence.
Our hopelessness in this age of Postmodern thought is steeped in this belief....that there is no God, and if there is, He is "unaffected" and therefore we are still on our own.....adrift on this planet created by a God who has better things to do in the Universe than be "affected" by us and our little problems.
"They found grace out in the desert, these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest, met God out looking for them!"
God told them, "I've never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I'll start over with you and build you up again, dear virgin Israel.
You'll resume your singing, grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You'll go back to your old work of planting vineyards on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit oh, how you'll enjoy those harvests!
The time's coming when watchmen will call out from the hilltops of Ephraim:
'On your feet! Let's go to Zion, go to meet our God!'"
~Jeremiah 31:2-6 ( The Message )
Extreme Dreams, LLC
Kathy Douglas
President
10603 Grant Rd. Ste 110
Houston, TX 77070
Office - 281-890-5034
Fax - 281-890-0300
Cell - 713-398-7304
www.extreme-dreams.com/
www.indieextreme.com
www.indieextrememusic.com
www.exdevents.com
"Helping people enjoy the Journey as much as the Destination"
Visit my coaching journal at:
http://extreme-dreams.blogspot.com/
