The Independent God

"It is evident, by both Scripture and reason, that God is infinitely, eternally, unchangeably, and independently glorious and happy: that He cannot be profited by, or receive any thing from, the creature." -- Jonathan Edwards

I have a new gadget on my iGoogle page, that is Christian Quotes Past and Present. This one came on there today, and I thought I would comment on it. I love Jonathan Edwards, ever since I did a report on him in an Institute class a while ago. My thoughts on this quote:

The principle of what he is saying is that God is not made better by anything that we do for Him. God does not become more powerful if He has more people serving Him. God does not become less powerful if He has fewer people doing His will. He does not learn or know more things when we pray to Him. He does not improve when we praise Him more. He does not need us. God is already perfect in every way!

Here's the thing, we can take that idea and throw everything away, knowing that our actions aren't going to make God any better. Or, we can look at His independence, and realize that in spite of it, He still loves us and works through us! What a privilege that we can serve this absolutely perfect God, even though He doesn't need us to. He wants us to.

I will disagree with Edwards in a point. He says that God does is "independently glorious and happy." That is true, in that He does not need us to be happy. However, it is not true, in that, our actions do bring joy or bring sorrow to God. He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked; we can grieve the Holy Ghost; He is pleased when children obey their parents. Our actions do affect the happiness or grief of God - for the Bible tells me so.

It is true that God does not need us in order to be happy. However, He has chosen to tie His happiness with His creation's actions. We have the ability to bring pleasure or to bring grief to the Almighty, Independent, Eternal, Creator God of the Universe.

I think we ought to work on the bringing Him pleasure part. He is so worth it!

Just a thought...

Disappointed with Forgiveness?

Mark 2:3 And they come unto him, bringing one sick of the palsy, which was borne of four.
Mark 2:4 And when they could not come nigh unto him for the press, they uncovered the roof where he was: and when they had broken it up, they let down the bed wherein the sick of the palsy lay.
Mark 2:5 When Jesus saw their faith, he said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, thy sins be forgiven thee.

It's a familiar story. Jesus was becoming very famous among the people, and they could hardly get to Him any more because of all the people. Well, these four men came carrying a loved-one to Jesus, because they knew that He could heal him. There was absolutely no doubt in their mind that He could heal the palsy in this man.

They demonstrated their faith by bringing this guy down in his bed, through the roof to get to where Jesus was! (Glad it wasn't my house!) They went through all this work - getting through the people, opening up the roof, after having carried this guy from where he lived. All of that, they did, just because they believed that Jesus could heal their friend.

Then, they finally arrive; they get to where Jesus was. They get His attention, and Jesus looks over at them, after they had finally completed their mission. Their friend was about to get up and walk - they knew it!

"Son, thy sins be forgiven thee..."

"Um, Jesus, 'thy sins be forgiven thee'? That's not why we brought this guy to You. You see, he's paralyzed; he can't get up off this bed. He needs to be healed... Ok, now you're talking to these other people about whether or not You are Who You say You are... You've missed something here, Lord..."

(What? That's not in your version? Strange. Anyway...) I wonder if the four men were a bit disappointed at Jesus' first action in the situation. They came to get their friend healed, and Jesus was more concerned about the guy's sins.

Hmm... how often are we more concerned with the physical issues of life, and when Jesus addresses something else instead... do we get upset? Are we so caught up with our friend's palsy not being healed that we fail to rejoice in the fact that his sins were just forgiven?! Sometimes, like in this story, the friend will be healed, but if he's not, are you happy with what Jesus did for him? Or, would you think He missed the point if He didn't do what you wanted?

Just a thought... (with pictures today!)

Miss California - way to go

No, I did not watch the Miss USA pageant on TV! But, foxnews.com has an article about Miss California. She was asked about whether she believed in gay marriage or not. Her answer:

We live in a land where you can choose same-sex marriage or opposite. And you know what, I think in my country, in my family, I think that I believe that a marriage should be between a man and a woman. No offense to anybody out there, but that's how I was raised.

I'm going to forgive her for being soft, "I think that I believe..." and instead give her credit for speaking up against the sin of homosexuality. What I want to focus on is one of the responses of the co-directors of the pageant:

"As co-director of the Miss California USA, I am personally saddened and hurt that Miss California believes marriage rights belong only to a man and a woman," said Lewis in a statement. "I believe all religions should be able to ordain what unions they see fit. I do not believe our government should be able to discriminate against anyone and religious beliefs have no politics in the Miss California family."

I believe she meant to say that religious beliefs have no place in the Miss California family, or that politics have no place in the Miss California family. Sounds like she was trying to say that Miss California should not have said what she said. But, HELLO, she was asked that question by one of the pageant's judges! If it's not supposed to be a part of it, then why is the judge asking the question!? Was she just supposed to lie? Not answer the question? Turn into a spineless sheep and follow the judges lead?

Well, I know nothing about Miss California other than what she answered in response to that question, and I'm glad she stood up for what she believed. Who would have thought that Miss California of all places would have held that position?! And California turned down Proposition 8 too... hmm... maybe they're not AS far gone as I thought.

Anyway, just a thought... (no pictures!)