Once, during a radio interview, I was taken aback by the interviewer asking, \u201cHow do we convince people that Jesus is god with skin on?\u201d
\nI admit I stumbled on that question. I could not get over the whole horrifying image of a visitor from another realm being disguised as one of us. (Readers who are familiar with the miniseries of V and the recent reboot know what I mean) I am waiting for someone to look at the imagery of the Holy Spirit descending as dove to call the HS \u201cgod with feathers.\u201d Personally, I prefer the imagery given by the character Yenta in Fiddler on the Roof. \u201cIf God was a person people would break his windows.\u201d Both of those images are interesting in what view of God is implied \u2013 God as secret visitor versus God as would be victim.
\nI agree with the Jewish theologian and philosopher Martin Buber who states that all of the terms we use for the doctrine of the Divine \u2013 monotheism, pantheism, panentheism, and even atheism \u2013 are not really about God. They are anthropological and sociological terms describing how human beings think about and worship the Divine. In short, these are words about us. Whatever definition about God we give is going to be incomplete because we are not Divine. Truly, we are tempted to fall into the trap of oversimplification.
\nThe terminology is the main reason we have difficulties with the orthodox christian doctrines of the Trinity. Unfortunately, there is more than one definition. The declaration \u201cThe Lord is one\u201d (Deuteronomy 6) is still difficult to imagine when we pray to Jesus \u201cas though to God\u201d (St. Justin the Martyr). These are best described as word images of God.
\nA word image tells something about the relationship between God and the person. We use word images to describe relationships with other people. \u201cHe is my rock.\u201d \u201cShe is my heart.\u201d These images do not describe the persons. They describe the type and depth of a relationship one person has with the other. Remember Thomas\u2019 declaration in John\u2019s gospel \u201cMy Lord and my God\u201d to understand this relationship between Jesus and his followers. It is very different than the vulgar statement\u00a0Thomas makes about touching and exploring Jesus\u2019 wounds. And the confession is a much better description than the equally vulgar \u201cgod with skin on.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Once, during a radio interview, I was taken aback by the interviewer asking, \u201cHow do we convince people that Jesus is god with skin on?\u201d I admit I stumbled on that question. I could not get over the whole horrifying image of a visitor from another realm being disguised as one of us. (Readers who […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4332,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n