Q: My problem with God is his name. I grew up “in the church” and “God” was someone that I had to be good for. “God” became like a parent who only paid attention to me if I was “bad”. I am glad God has many names. I need a new name for God.
A: I realize this is not a question per se, but for some reason I was drawn to your statement. Your problem is pretty common. People have bad experiences all the time and sometimes those experiences color our ...
view or understanding of God. It is true that there are many names used for the God of the Bible. The truth is that no name will ever fully capture the fullness of God.
One name commonly used by follows of Christ to refer to God is the name--Father. I tend to like this name a lot because it helps me understand that no matter my situation or circumstance God will always be as close as a Father. He is the perfect Father without a doubt. I think one of the reasons I relate to this name, Father, is because I guess on some levels I have always longed for a closer relationship with my earthly Father. I don’t know if you can relate to this at all? I know of people who have had retched fathers and it is terribly difficult for them to refer to God as Father. However, to completely eliminate this name for God is to in some way lose an aspect of how God has revealed himself to us. The one thing I say to people that struggle with this name for God is that God wants to redeem and heal the brokenness that inhibits someone from experiencing him as Father.I only use the “Father” example to make the point that the names we use matter, and that if certain names are left out because of our difficult experiences or family history we run the risk of losing an important aspect or attribute of God.You said you needed another name for God. What name would you use? Would you use multiple names? Would these names reflect the revealed nature and character of God found in the Old and New Testaments?Lastly, God is not a cosmic cop waiting around to give us a ticket when we mess up. I recently read a book called “The Deity Formally Known as God” by Jarrett Stevens. I would encourage you to read it. He does a really great job with describing who God is and who God is not. Thanks for the question/statement!
Friday, February 1, 2008
God's Name?
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8 comments:
God the Father's name is Ahura-Mazda, He eminated a portion of His being that was miraculasly born of Mary as Jesus the Christ. In His almighty power, a seed can be planted in us by the Holy Spirit with which we can ascend to God the Father after we die, by accepting Christ as our savior.
I have to admit I am not really familiar with Zoroastrianism. I know a little about your religion in that it originated in ancient Persia and that Ahuramazda or the 'wise lord', is the supreme god of the ancient Iranians, whose cult was propagated by the legendary prophet Zarathustra.
Your post is a little confusing to me. So is Jesus Christ the Son of God and the second person of the Trinity?
For those reading this blog here is a little excerpt on Zoroastrianism:
“In a vision (more...), Zarathustra was ordered by a spirit named Good Thought to start preaching against the bloody sacrifices of the traditional Iranian cults and to give aid to the poor. Gradually, the prophet began to understand that Good Thought had been sent by the supreme god Ahuramazda, a name that can be translated as Wise Lord. Zarathustra sometimes addresses his god as Ahura, lord, and as Mazda, wisdom.
From the Gâthâ's, we learn that Zarathustra started to preach that Ahuramazda had created 'the world, mankind and all good things in it' through his holy spirit, Spenta Mainyu. The rest of the universe was created by six other spirits, the Amesha Spentas ('holy immortals'). However, the order of this sevenfold creation was threatened by The Lie; good spirits and evil demons (daeva) were fighting and mankind had to support the good spirits in order to speed up the inevitable victory of Ahuramazda. The believer could side with Ahuramazda by avoiding lies, supporting the poor, several kinds of sacrifices, the cult of fire, et cetera.
Zarathustra also warned the people that there would be a Last Judgment. At the end of times, angels were to lead all men and women across a narrow bridge, where they would be judged by Spenta Manyu (which is described as a beautiful maiden); the friends of The Lie would fall into a large chasm of fire called Worst Existence, but the followers of Zarathustra were to reach Paradise, which goes under the name of House of Best Purpose.”
I will let the reader sort this one out. However, I would like to say that Zoroastrianism is a completely different religion from Christianity. The person commenting is trying to absorb parts of Christianity in order to convince people to believe in Zoroastrianism. There are no similarities as I see it.
I am not a Zoroastrian, I am a Christian. I will admit to my views on things being quite, unique, I suppose. Basically, from what I have discovered from having looked at different religions, my belief system is kind of Marcionism, mixed with a tad of Manichism. From Manichism , I have only taken the notion of reconciling Christianity, Judism, Zoroastrianism, and Islam. The Jews and Muslums worship the same, law-giving god, Jehovah-Allah. God as demonstrated by Jesus is different. This God, the true God, Ahura-Mazda, having removed from Himself all wrath, anger, malice, ego, and hate, is the Almighty who sent His son, Jesus to deliver us from this existance, past the admitantly rightous, but harsh and judgemental, God of the old testament.
Do you see anything problematic with mixing and matching theology and different religions to suit your thoughts or desires?
At some point don’t you lose the integrity of all of these world religions by simply mixing and matching them?
It seems to me that on some level you have accepted Jesus as the Son of God. I wonder if you have admitted your need for him to save you from your sins and free you from the curse of sin and death. Jesus came into this world for the unique purpose of “seeking and saving” what was lost. Whether we know it or not, we are all lost and in need of his finding and saving grace.
Monotheism is a key tenant of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. However, Manichism holds to the idea of a constant battle between good and bad Gods, which is in stark contrast to the biblical picture of creation. And this belief is in direct conflict with Monotheism. I wrote a post on this Blog entitled Monotheism, you should check it out.
I am enjoying our interactions…
I find that there is a kernal of truth in those religions which I have "mixed and matched" as you put it. From what I have studied, Mani (no, he wasn't a prophet, the only REAL prophet was John the Baptist)attempted to reconcile the major monotheistic religions of his time. I have done that.
As for the integrity of said religions, I have kept the important elements, the "kernal of truth" as I stated it above. Yes, Jesus is my savior, having been sent from His Father, Ahura-Mazda, so that we may come to Him after we die.
Mani was in error in the Good God/Bad God thinking. The old testament god is not "bad" nor "evil". He is holy and just, but legalistic and wrathful, and not the father of our Savior, Jesus, the Christ. (Marcion hit this nail on the head. I am blessed by the Holy Spirit to have discovered that there was a movement eons ago that shared my ways of looking at things).
The Holy Spirit spoke through the leadership of the early church and condemned Marcion as a heretic. His movement died with him. If we are to be faithful to God, we should not be in the business of finding people to confirm "my ways of looking at things." It's not about us. It's about God and being faithful to God as he is, not to God as I think he is in my mind.
The early church was all about power. That's why wars were fought in the name of Christianity, that's why some of the early Christian sects were persecuted as badly or worse than any Wiccans, or any other religion that feels it's had its toes stepped on by Christianity. And I did not search Marcion's theology out, rather I believe that the Holy Spirit led me to it via a process much too long to bore you with here. I do not go about seeking to find people to confirm my ways of looking at things or to agree with me to boost my ego or make me feel better about myself. I have no need for that. I am comfortable and content in what God's Holy Spirit has revealed to me through Gnosis.
First, the Holy Spirit will not lead you to a belief that contradicts scripture. God is not confused and does not teach one thing to one group and another to a different group.
The early church about power? I don't know where you've studied history, but that is about as far from reality as it gets. The early church was persecuted by Rome for over 300 years. The medieval church is the one that led the crusades (crusades that were completely counter to the teachings of Jesus and denounced by Christians since). The early church, which rendered its judgment against Marcion, had no power. It had no buildings. It had no social status. Its leaders and even ordinary members were routinely rounded up and put in prison and put to death.
Gnosis, for those reading along, is the Greek word for knowledge and refers to the Gnostics who spoke of secret truths revealed to them - "truths" rejected by the majority of the Christian community. The teachings of Jesus and the church are shouted from the rooftops and available to all and able to be understood by little children. How different from the Gnostics who claimed secret, exclusive information.
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