God

What Does “Pure Act” Mean, and Why Should I Care?

July 11, 2019 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Sometimes Christians talk about God as being pure act. While such language sounds good and wholesome, it is unlikely that even those who use the phrase know what it means. To define God as pure actuality is abstract, obscure, and strange.

And also very true.

God is pure act. If he was not, he would not be God and we would be of all people most to be pitied. For God’s promises may not be sure, his desires in process, and his goals merely a possibility.

The basic idea behind God’s pure actuality follows from God’s eternity. Since God exists eternally and so has no beginning, cause, or potentiality, then he is pure act (Thomas, Sum. Cont. Gent. 1.16). Let me try to unfold what this means. [Read more…] about What Does “Pure Act” Mean, and Why Should I Care?

Why Do Christians Worship Jesus as God?

April 7, 2018 by wagraham 5 Comments

Jesus stands at the centre of the Christian faith. Christians place their trust in Jesus and shape their life around him. They also worship him as God. And yet: Jesus was a Jewish person who lived during the first century in Palestine.

So how does this Jewish man become an object of Christian devotion and the centre of a faith to which billions of people subscribe? Put another way, how did intensely monotheistic Jewish men and women come to worship the man Jesus Christ? Added to this question, did early Christians (i.e., those in the first century) worship Jesus as God?

To answer these questions, we need to listen to the testimony of Jesus’ disciples or to a record of their testimony of Jesus. [Read more…] about Why Do Christians Worship Jesus as God?

Why God’s Unchangeability Is So Important

February 21, 2018 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Christians confess God to be unchangeable. He does not change or mutate. He is immutable. For many today, however, this doctrine seems archaic and odd.

Archaic because the doctrine is called “the immutability of God” and odd because God seems to change. After all, he creates the world, is sometimes angry, and at other times generous. Most of all, God entered into the world of change when he became man, when he became incarnate. The apostle John asserts, “the Word became flesh” (John 1:14).

But despite our perception of God changing, God does not change. Instead, we change and God consistently (read: changelessly) expresses himself towards us. (I wrote on this here). Even if all this is persuasive, you might still think, “So What? Why Does it Matter?” Here’s my answer: a changing god is not perfectly compassionate, comforting, or (conceivably) faithful. In other words, a changing god is not God. [Read more…] about Why God’s Unchangeability Is So Important

Can We Define Our Own Success?

December 12, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

Can you we define our own success? Many certainly try. Some, for example, find success in wealth and prestige, while others find it in living the minimalistic life. In both cases, success is determined by us: either the culture who affirms that being “rich” equals success or by the subculture that argues that living minimalistically equals success.

But can success really be something that we define individually? [1]

How should we define success? Can we define it as individuals or should we let the broader collective of humanity define it? To my mind, stating the question this way creates a false dichotomy. [Read more…] about Can We Define Our Own Success?

Does God Change?

December 4, 2017 by wagraham 2 Comments

There is a controversy simmering online about whether or not God can change. Some argue that God changes because he enters into history and appears to do something at one point and to do another action at a different time. God is angry with someone for sinning on Monday. Then he is happy with someone for obeying on Tuesday. The Bible seems to describe God changing.

So is the classical view that God is without change wrong?

No. God is unchangeable, and we should thankful for that! [Read more…] about Does God Change?

Put Worship First in Your Life

March 17, 2017 by wagraham Leave a Comment

“Heart” by Marit & Toomas Hinnosaar licensed under CC BY 2.0.

“Why do what you do?”

A simple question. But with a not-so-simple answer.

“What makes you happy or fulfilled?” might be another way to ask the question. Do you work to pursue material success or work out of a fear of failure? Do the long hours that you put into work find their justification because you have a nice home, car, and electronics? Does the pursuit of happiness in your marriage and family have some purpose behind it? Or is it arbitrary?

Another way to ask the question is “What’s your goal in doing what you do?” If you cannot answer that question apart from saying, “Well, family is a good thing” or “I need to work or else I won’t have money,” then I fear that you will have missed the mark in this life and will perhaps head into ruin. [Read more…] about Put Worship First in Your Life