4.1 Making and Begetting
In this chapter, the author states that many feel that theology is unnecessary to understanding God. Most feel that they know more about God because of personal experiences. The author says he agrees with that to some degree; however, he feels that one is very limited with only the personal experience and without what he calls a map, which is what theology would be as related to the Christian religion. Without theology, he believes that people will have a great many wrong ideas about God. Theology after all, is the science of God. Real Christian writings, he states, often reflect something quite different from the popular religions. It is more than just some more good advice. Christianity claims to tell us about another …show more content…
This makes God like a human father who begets a human son. He knows, however, that there is more to God than this. Here, the author acknowledges that Christians, like some other religions, believe that God is more than a personal God, but unlike other religions, Christians are the only people who offer some idea of what a being that goes beyond personality could be …show more content…
The new man, he affirms, is completely unlike the old man; he is a creature being transformed into something completely new. The direction in the flow of evolution was going to take a sharp bend. The Christian theme of the next step has already appeared. It is a change from being creatures of God to being sons of God. This has nothing to do with internal inheritance, but something that comes from the outside. The first instance of this process occurred about 2000 years ago in the form of Jesus Christ. The Author explained that the next steps differ from the previous ones, not only in the idea that it comes from the outside of nature, but also in that it is not done by sexual reproduction. Unlike the creatures of God, the sons of God can be voluntary. The sons of God are begotten by what the author calls a good infection — everyone gets it by his personal contact with Christ. A believer can be infected quickly — like a flash of lightning. If he wants, man can be taken right out of nature and turned into a
In this chapter, the author states that many feel that theology is unnecessary to understanding God. Most feel that they know more about God because of personal experiences. The author says he agrees with that to some degree; however, he feels that one is very limited with only the personal experience and without what he calls a map, which is what theology would be as related to the Christian religion. Without theology, he believes that people will have a great many wrong ideas about God. Theology after all, is the science of God. Real Christian writings, he states, often reflect something quite different from the popular religions. It is more than just some more good advice. Christianity claims to tell us about another …show more content…
This makes God like a human father who begets a human son. He knows, however, that there is more to God than this. Here, the author acknowledges that Christians, like some other religions, believe that God is more than a personal God, but unlike other religions, Christians are the only people who offer some idea of what a being that goes beyond personality could be …show more content…
The new man, he affirms, is completely unlike the old man; he is a creature being transformed into something completely new. The direction in the flow of evolution was going to take a sharp bend. The Christian theme of the next step has already appeared. It is a change from being creatures of God to being sons of God. This has nothing to do with internal inheritance, but something that comes from the outside. The first instance of this process occurred about 2000 years ago in the form of Jesus Christ. The Author explained that the next steps differ from the previous ones, not only in the idea that it comes from the outside of nature, but also in that it is not done by sexual reproduction. Unlike the creatures of God, the sons of God can be voluntary. The sons of God are begotten by what the author calls a good infection — everyone gets it by his personal contact with Christ. A believer can be infected quickly — like a flash of lightning. If he wants, man can be taken right out of nature and turned into a