Mystery is not an enemy. Answers are not the goal. For how
much do we know with certainty? How much about God is revealed? We have the
scriptures, through which our forefathers agreed upon some few tenants gathered
together into a creed, the Apostles creed, and later the Nicene Creed. We know
those things, however through them we have some dissension on meaning. We, for
the majority agree upon the hypostatic union of the son. We agree upon His life,
death, and resurrection. All this in great scope however is small in comparison
to the entirety of the Godhead and His nature. He expects us to marvel at His
complexity, to worship. He is beyond cosmic.
We have
studied the cosmos and know little. A hypercube is less complex than God. we
can state this confidently. We know God to be eternal and a hypercube to be
finite. Carl Sagan gave a fantastic description of how a hypercube, a
four-dimensional object, would appear to humans, three-dimensional beings. It
is only a mere shadow.
How
much are we to marvel then at the hypostatic union of the son, Jesus, and his
sacrifice for us? Something beyond cosmic power, “made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”
by taking the very nature of a servant,being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!”
Philippians 2:7-8 NIV
Great points. Your analogy to dimensional limitation of understanding God is quite on point! I have heard that used before in the last few years. I think it faithfully builds on the Patristic use of analogies.
ReplyDeleteYour discussion on the deep unknowable mystery of God makes me think of Gregory of Nyssa's discussion on God in the Darkness in his Life of Moses:
“What does it mean that Moses entered the darkness and then saw God in it? What is now recounted seems somehow to be contradictory to the first theophany, for then the Divine was beheld in light but now he is seen in darkness. Let us not think that this is at variance with the sequence of things we have contemplated spiritually. Scripture teaches by this that religious knowledge comes at first to those who receive it as light. Therefore what is perceived to be contrary to religion is darkness, and the escape from darkness comes about when one participates in light. But as the mind progresses and, through an ever greater and more perfect diligence, comes to apprehend reality, as it approaches more nearly to contemplation, it sees more clearly what of the divine nature is uncontemplated.
For leaving behind everything that is observed, not only what sense comprehends but also what the intelligence thinks it sees, it keeps on penetrating deeper until by the intelligence’s yearning for understanding it gains access to the invisible and incomprehensible, and there it sees God. This is the true knowledge of what is sought; this is the seeing that consists in not seeing, because that which is sought transcends all knowledge, being separated on all sides by incomprehensibility as by a kind of darkness. Wherefore John 1:18 says, ‘No one has ever seen God,’ thus asserting that knowledge of the divine is unattainable not only by men but also by every intelligent creature.
When, therefore, Moses grew in knowledge, he declared that he had seen God in the darkness, that is, that he had then come to know that what is divine is beyond all knowledge and comprehension, for the text says, ‘Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.’ What God? He who ‘made darkness his hiding place’ (Ps. 18:11)” (The Life of Moses, 2.162-164).
But, I do have a critique. Your use of the word "complex" for God is troublesome. I am a proponent of the traditional Christian stance on God's simplicity. Yes, God is absolute mystery, but because of his divine goodness and nature, we cannot say God is a complex being. If God were a complex being, then he would be a compilation of other things. God is God. God is simple. Augustine talks about God as Absolute One, meaning he is not composed of multiple things (De Libero Arbitrio). Because God is God, he cannot be composed of things other than God. God's nature is simple, and unified as ONLY God. But, being God, and being completely OTHER than creation, he is utterly different and therefore unknowable.