glorycloud's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- question asked me by my friend Steve H. A question posed to me by my friend Steve H.- "Hey Jonny, a couple of questions for you: Have you ever encountered an explanation with a Scriptural basis for why God chooses to partner with human beings in His divine plan? Since He could accomplish everything on His own and doesn't really need us, what is His reason for using human vessels? This is a genuine mystery to me and I am curious whether you have ever heard an explanation. Second question: where do you discover new music? Do you scope out music sites or what?" When I read that question by my friend Steve it reminded me of something I was reading tonight at the Herrick District Public Library used books store (I had to cover for someone tonight at the book nook) in a book titled, "Theology As Discipleship" by Keith L. Johnson- "The first thing God's decision shows us that God creates us in order to establish a relationship with us. God is a personal God, and he made us as personal subjects so that we can relate to him within the context of the history he lives together with us. This means that we can be ourselves only by living together with God. After all, while we are made in God's image, we are not the divine image itself, and so we need to live in relation with God to be what we were made to be. We also need to relate to others. Because our relationship with God is shaped by his desire to adopt children, we live in God's image when we exist together with God's people . . ." pg. 63 "The fact that we have to be called, justified and glorified so that we can enter into this partnership means that Christ leads the way within it (Eph. 4:15). This is where discipleship comes in: we partner with Christ by following after him. Christ acts freely in line with God's eternal wisdom and divine will; we follow him in obedience by conforming our actions to his own. Our actions within the partnership thus are made possible by Christ's prior actions. This does not make our actions unimportant, as if we make no real contribution to the working out of God's eternal plan. No-just as Adam and Eve played an important role in God's plan to bring order in creation, so we have an important role to play in salvation history as we partner with Christ. In fact, because Christ acts precisely in order to lead us in our partnership with him, the production of our action is a central part of Christ's own work in salvation history. . ." pg. 74 "Theology As Discipleship" by Keith L. Johnson I recommend this book "Theology As Discipleship" by Keith L. Johnson in answering more in-depth the above question. The other night I was looking at a book in our library titled, "Trinitarian Theology for the Church: Scripture, Community, Worship" Edited By Daniel J. Treier & David Lauber and came across this that might shed some light on Steve's question- "The relational and social character of the triune God as an eternal community characterized by the giving, receiving and sharing of love is further developed by the concept of mission. The Christian tradition has maintained that God has a mission in the world and therefore speaks of the mission of God. However, in addition to the affirmation that God has a mission, let us also assert that God's very character as the one who loves from all eternity is missional. Love characterizes the mission of God from all eternity, and therefore God loves the world lavishly in Jesus Christ. Creation itself may be viewed as a missional act, a reflection of the expansive love of God, whereby the triune God brings into being another reality, that which is not God, and establishes a covenantal relationship of love, grace and blessing for the purpose of drawing that reality into participation in the divine fellowship of love. Creation forms the external basis and context of God's covenant with humanity in that God's act of creation always has in view the institution, preservation and execution of the covenant of grace, into which God has called human beings for participation and partnership. . ." pg 118 'God Is Love' essay by John R. Franke Check out also a book titled, "Becoming the Gospel: Paul, Participation, and Mission" by Michael J. Gorman. Also any theological work where they discuss the Doctrine of Man for example the book, "God Is Love: A Biblical And Systematic Theology" by Gerald Bray. SECOND QUESTION from brother Steve- I read each day these music sites- Pitchfork Tiny Mix Tapes Allmusic If I come across a music artist or band I usually go to YouTube and try to find the album or a song from the album to listen to to see if I like the music. I also go to National Public Radio NPR and listen to their program First Listen where they play new albums just released. I also listen to samples of songs at Amazon-MP3 samples. I have been listening to music for many years I know what I like I do not like. I tend to buy albums of the same artists or bands. 10:19 p.m. - 2015-11-24 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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