My Thoughts

Monday, 03-22-2021

How does a finite human being, using his finite language, explain an infinite location and describe it with infinite language which he does not speak nor know?

Or

How does a finite human being, using his finite understanding and language, explain an infinite God, who partially reveals Himself in finite language, so finite mankind can understand an infinite being in that limited finite description?

When one reads “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit” in scripture, what infinite picture is visualized in the finite mind of mankind?

When Jesus left his finite body behind on the cross, what did his infinite spirit look like?   Did Yahweh (Jehovah) divide Himself up as a person referred to as God the Father, a second division known as a person called Jesus, and a third person revealed as the Holy Spirit?  Since God is Spirit (John 4:23-24), are there two Spirits, one called “Father” and the other called “Holy.”  If not, then is there only one Spirit who is both Father and Holy?  If one describes God as three persons who are the one God what finite picture usually develops?  Since such a creation would be a finite picture, it would not be the infinite God since it is a human finite drawing?  Would that not make our finite imagination close to being idolatrous?  We create that image in our mind but don’t transfer it to a piece of wood or clay.

Paul mentions a man he knew that was caught up (taken) to the “third heaven.”  Yet he was not allowed to tell what he saw.  Attempting to explain the infinite to finite humans kept his experience off limits (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).  Today, some say they have been to heaven, but rather than attempt to describe an infinite place, their explanations involve large finite mansions just off a finite street on a finite hilltop.

Jesus also speaks of Abraham’s bosom, the rich man, and Lazarus.  If this is as close to the infinite as we can get in a finite way, there are some problems with the passage.  Do Abraham, Lazarus, and others who are in Paradise hear the continual cries of those people who are burning in the torment section called Hades?  Is it possible for the suffering to talk across that chasm?  If so, it is difficult to think how happy one will be in Paradise if friends, neighbors, and loved ones are screaming their discomfort in the other location and pleading for help. When death comes and my spirit leaves this finite, earthly body, what will I see and how will I see it?  I do not have the answer, but I know the One who does.  My faith is in His ability.