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To: betty boop; TXnMA; BrandtMichaels; hosepipe
Thank you so much for sharing your insights, dearest sister in Christ!

All I can add is that the Jewish mystics use the term Ayn Sof when speaking of God the Creator. The term literally means "no thing" and the point is that any word man would use to describe Creator-God would limit his concept by the word he used.

That insight has stayed with me for years perhaps to warn me away from superimposing my mental limitations onto God's revelations of Who He IS.

Truly, God the Father has revealed Himself in four ways: through the Person of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ, through the indwelling Holy Spirit, through His words in Scripture and through His Creation both physical and spiritual.

And so we can gather up testimonies, make observations about Him from His creation, compile His own words revealing Himself to us - whether Name or attribute - and yet we should stop short of presuming that we fully know or could ever fully know "Who God IS" - i.e. Ayn Sof.

Man is not the measure of God.

167 posted on 08/23/2012 8:37:41 AM PDT by Alamo-Girl
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To: Alamo-Girl; TXnMA; BrandtMichaels; hosepipe
And so we can gather up testimonies, make observations about Him from His creation, compile His own words revealing Himself to us - whether Name or attribute - and yet we should stop short of presuming that we fully know or could ever fully know "Who God IS" - i.e. Ayn Sof. ["No-thing."]

Man is not the measure of God.

Indeed, dearest sister in Christ. That's exactly the meaning I was trying to convey in Post #156. That's not to say that we should not "gather up testimonies, make observations about Him," etc. We want to understand Him. But it seems we need to be aware that He is not reducible to human categories of understanding.

This is an epistemological point. It's of concern to me, for man has the propensity to forget that his theories about anything are not the same thing as that to which they refer in Reality. No dogma can possibly encompass God as He IS in His fullness....

Instrumental reason cannot disclose who God IS. Only His self-revelation to us can do that, and that must necessarily be partial. For our minds are finite, quite puny, compared to the infinite Mind of God.

In short I completely agree with you, dear sister in Christ: We ought not to superimpose our mental limitations onto God's revelations of Who He Is.

I'm truly sorry if I've offended anyone by making such "philosophical" remarks. [My bad.]

170 posted on 08/23/2012 9:29:53 AM PDT by betty boop (We are led to believe a lie when we see with, and not through the eye. — William Blake)
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