{"id":836,"date":"2008-07-29T12:36:24","date_gmt":"2008-07-29T12:36:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/07\/god_as_a_concep.shtml"},"modified":"2021-05-29T02:45:29","modified_gmt":"2021-05-29T02:45:29","slug":"god_as_a_concep","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2008\/07\/god_as_a_concep.shtml","title":{"rendered":"God as a Concept"},"content":{"rendered":"

As I was getting ready to eat my homemade Skyline Chili<\/a> for lunch, I was thinking about blogging and writing and life and what comes next on the blog. It occurred to me that I view God as a concept<\/em> more than God as a being<\/em>. I can’t exactly remember the tie in between all of that, but there it is nonetheless.
\nWhat I mean is that I think of God as a set of ideas to embrace – truth, integrity, love, grace, respect – rather than God the Father or Jesus my brother. I understand that I do have a relationship with Him and that He is real, but I tend to treat Him abstractly<\/em> rather than than relationally<\/em>.
\nThinking of God this way isn’t wrong as much as it’s incomplete. He is truth, integrity, love, grace and respect and more, but to leave it at that and forget that He’s both my Father and Brother strips my experience of Him of it’s intimacy. Following Him then becomes cold hard obedience or a philosophical exercise rather than loving submission or respect or … The flip side is to embrace the loving Father and forget that He is ruler and King with authority and, frankly, rules. It’s not an either\/or, it’s a both\/and.
\nAny of our relationships can become this way, and I suspect if I psychoanalyzed my relationship with my wife or parents I’d find some parallels here. That’s too much to think about over chili, though.
\nWhat are your thoughts?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As I was getting ready to eat my homemade Skyline Chili for lunch, I was thinking about blogging and writing and life and what comes next on the blog. 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The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. \"Not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles, papers and lessons"","block_context":{"text":"Articles, papers and lessons","link":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/articles-papers-and-lessons"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":979,"url":"https:\/\/salguod.net\/blog\/2009\/10\/romans_14_-_judgement_and_ownership.shtml","url_meta":{"origin":836,"position":1},"title":"Romans 14 – Judgement and Ownership","author":"Doug Schaefer","date":"October 7, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Romans 14:1-4 - I wonder, how would broader Christianity be different if we simply followed verse 1: \"As for the one who is weak in faith, welcome him, but not to quarrel over opinions.\" Verse 4 reminds us that we each must stand before God. 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