Why is it vital that we acknowledge all of God’s attributes—not simply pick and choose the one’s we like?
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lak on April 4, 2011 at 9:09 am
True worship by the created of our Sovereign … the King of kings and Lord of lords … Almighty God … acknowledges and reverences Who He says that He is in totality. When we acknowledge all of God’s attributes we are less likely to make Him in our image which is idolatry.
micheal19711948 on April 9, 2011 at 3:31 pm
If we pick and chose these I believe we as is people limit Him.Then as a result he is less effect in our lives. We need Him and the attributes that are not acknowledge make Him not to be God,but something of our imagination.
Joshkyere on April 4, 2011 at 9:16 am
It is when we acknowledge God in his fullness that we can truly revere and worship him
zero_g on April 4, 2011 at 12:51 pm
I think this question assumes a complete and coherent understanding of all of God’s attributes, and a willful picking and choosing of those we like and don’t like. First off I am still growing in my spirituality and will never know the full awesomeness of His creation. Secondly, I base my current understanding of this awesomeness by the testimony from mere mortals, including myself.
So when I, for example, decide that I don’t believe that God and science intersect, as proposed in Genesis, I am simply picking and choosing what to believe or not from the Bible. I think this is what the question is getting at, and I don’t agree with the premise.
What do others think about the premise of this question? It appears to be a leading question which I find hard to answer.
tom felten on April 4, 2011 at 2:39 pm
zero_g, thanks for your thoughtful reply. All of us at times can be in danger of emphasizing one of God’s perfections in an unbalanced way—not acknowledging others that help us to better understand Him and His ways. For instance, in The Chronicles of Narnia, C.S. Lewis wrote, “Safe?” said Mr. Beaver.”Who said anything about safe? ‘Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.” For example, If we simply focus on God’s goodness—without acknowledging His holiness—we create a caricature.
daisymarygoldr on April 4, 2011 at 3:33 pm
zero_g, just like you I also find it hard to answer. In addition to tom felten’s response, I’m sure the answers by others will simplify this for us. To my understanding the Q is asking us to accept God in the sum total of all of His attributes that He revealed to us in His written Word. It means to consider His kindness and sternness, justice and mercy… He is the One who wounds and heals, kills and gives life. God’s wrath, terror, and fierce vengeance to punish sin are tempered with His love, grace, compassion, and patience He shows to us through Jesus Christ. To have a balanced view of God we must notice both His goodness and His severity (Romans 11:22). Hope this helps. Looking forward to your continued thoughts…
zero_g on April 4, 2011 at 7:26 pm
Thanks for the clarification. So I noticed the following attributes: good, holy, soveriegn, kind, stern, just, merciful, wrath, terror, fierce vengeance, along with love, grace, compassion and patience.
Acknowledging all of these attributes seems a lot like trying to acknowledge every part of a golf swing. Now that is surely not what was intended in the question, but rather I guess, to not ignore parts of the ‘swing’ you don’t like. Keeping the analogy alive, you need all the parts of the swing to make a shot.
I am not much a fan of a contemporary worship service, however it is an attribute of worship and I attend to take in all He has to offer. When we can see God in the parts we don’t care for, we have grown that much more.
cuddles on April 5, 2011 at 9:34 pm
It is vital to me as it helps me understand that the wrath of God is real. As a child I had a very simplistic understanding. I attended church and said my prayers and believed this kept me in Gods good books. As I matured and bad things happened my father explained that as Jesus suffered, we too would suffer. Their has been a lot of suffering in my life, I suffer from depression but knowing that God is with me in my suffering helps me get through it. I don’t like suffering though and when I see my sons suffering I see history repeating itself. I get tired and weary of it all, but understand it is part of life’s journey and that we shall be rewarded in heaven for our efforts. I am glad God is also patient because people have never been more lost than they are today so patience is a vital attribute.
tom felten on April 6, 2011 at 10:10 am
Cuddles, I’m praying for you. Depression can be a very difficult thing to deal with. Check out this video link for an encouraging message about how to deal with despair.
It seems to me that sometimes a wrong or imbalanced view of God can lead to darkness in our minds and spirits. For instance, if we continually view God as obsessing over our sin and viewing us with eyes only of wrath, we fail to experience the joy of His mercy and grace. May we all experience the hope of God today as the Holy Spirit fills us and guides us (Romans 15:13).
amberze on April 7, 2011 at 7:31 am
I think, that as christians its important for us not to put God in a box – deliberately or not. I recently have had a time of questioning some things God was doing in my life that i didn’t understand. I like to think that I’m pretty smart, have a good basis of God’s principles and am doing my best to follow his will for my life, however there was one issue that i just couldn’t understand and it had frustrated me for two years. But after some serious praying about it God showed me a new way of thinking, and revealed to me more about his character and will for my life. This reminded me that there is so much more to God then what I am aware of. If we only focus on a few aspects of God and don’t allow him to show us different aspects of him, then we limit our growth as mature christians. To only focus on the aspects of God that we are familiar and safe with, denies us from receiving new revelation about God. Although i understand the temptation to hold onto our beliefs that make us feel good, its also so important that we enter the unknown and let God challenge and teach us more about himself.
beth5108 on April 10, 2011 at 9:37 am
We need to grow in every aspect. If we only follow the ones we like we limit our growth.
vikki fr Philippines on April 10, 2011 at 11:41 am
Somehow this reminded me of this interview in the Christianity Today… Katherine Patterson wss asked about books being unsafe for kids…
“Well, don’t give them the Bible, then, because it’s certainly not a safe book. Safety and faith are different things. If you want everything to be safe, then you can probably just totally do without the imagination. If you’re so afraid of your imagination that you stifle it, how are you going to know God? How can you imagine heaven?”
We want to be safe. We want to in alliance with the Almighty but still have a bit of control and have our comfort. That’s why we pick and chose. Indeed blessed are those (fill in the Beatitudes)