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To: kosta50
God only gives blessings. He doesn't change. He lets His light shine on the just and the unjust… God is unchanging. So, either He always send love or wrath, not both. Our perceptions change depending on our spiritual state.

Very interesting, thought-provoking post. And one that provides a different perspective on many things, the decalogue for example.

I looked in Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith under "The properties of the divine nature."

Uncreated, without beginning, immortal, infinite, eternal, immaterial, good, creative, just, enlightening, immutable, passionless, uncircumscribed, immeasurable, unlimited, undefined, unseen, unthinkable, wanting in nothing, being His own rule and authority, all-ruling, life-giving, omnipotent, of infinite power, con-raining and maintaining the universe and making provision for all: all these and such like attributes the Deity possesses by nature, not having received them from elsewhere, but Himself imparting all good to His own creations according to the capacity of each.

5,977 posted on 01/15/2007 12:52:03 AM PST by D-fendr
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To: D-fendr; kosta50; Diamond; Blogger; annalex; Forest Keeper; Mad Dawg; xzins

"God is good, dispassionate, and immutable. Now someone who thinks it reasonable and true to affirm that God does not change, may well ask how, in that case, it is possible to speak of God as rejoicing over those who are good and showing mercy to those who honor Him, and as turning away from the wicked and being angry with sinners. To this it must be answered that God neither rejoices nor grows angry, for to rejoice and to be offended are passions; nor is He won over by the gifts of those who honor Him, for that would mean He is swayed by pleasure. It is not right that the Divinity feel pleasure or displeasure from human conditions.

He is good, and He only bestows blessings and never does harm, remaining always the same. We men, on the other hand, if we remain good through resembling God, are united to Him, but if we become evil through not resembling God, we are separated from Him. By living in holiness we cleave to God; but by becoming wicked we make Him our enemy. It is not that He grows angry with us in an arbitrary way, but it is our own sins that prevent God from shining within us and expose us to demons who torture us. And if through prayer and acts of compassion we gain release from our sins, this does not mean that we have won God over and made Him to change, but that through our actions and our turning to the Divinity, we have cured our wickedness and so once more have enjoyment of God's goodness. Thus to say that God turns away from the wicked is like saying that the sun hides itself from the blind." +Anthony the Great (251-356 AD)

Such a God hardly fits the Protestant notion of a bloodthirsty, Dagonesque monster demanding the personal satisifaction of the death on the Cross of His Son because He is offended by our sins.


5,995 posted on 01/15/2007 8:15:14 AM PST by Kolokotronis (Christ is Risen, and you, o death, are annihilated!)
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To: D-fendr
I looked in Exact Exposition of the Orthodox Faith under "The properties of the divine nature."

You got it, dear friend, and there were many before him who clearly understood that God is incomprehensible, unchanging and simple.

6,008 posted on 01/15/2007 9:12:52 AM PST by kosta50 (Eastern Orthodoxy is pure Christianity)
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