{"id":455,"date":"2011-04-02T14:31:53","date_gmt":"2011-04-02T18:31:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/?p=455"},"modified":"2011-04-02T14:31:53","modified_gmt":"2011-04-02T18:31:53","slug":"more-words-to-describe-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.renewaloffaith.org\/blog\/more-words-to-describe-god\/","title":{"rendered":"More Words to Describe God"},"content":{"rendered":"

A couple of days ago I started to write about words that people might use to describe God.\u00a0 I started with tyrant, policeman, <\/em>and stern judge<\/em>.\u00a0 Today, I would like to reflect on some positive words.<\/p>\n

All Powerful One – Without a doubt, God is all-powerful.\u00a0 There is nothing that is possible to do that God cannot do.\u00a0 So, the term “all powerful one” is an appropriate description of God.\u00a0 Yet, I must add that it is not a complete <\/em>description of God.\u00a0 One who is all powerful might be a tyrant but God is not.\u00a0 In addition to being all powerful, God is also all knowing and totally compassionate.\u00a0 God never acts for his own interest but for the good of his people.<\/p>\n

All Seeing One – God is present everywhere.\u00a0 Therefore, God sees and knows everything that goes on.\u00a0 God is the only one who sees everything and this gives him a wisdom that we do not have.\u00a0 When it seems that God doesn’t answer our prayers, I think that, sometimes it is because God does see everything and knows that something we think would be good for us, isn’t.\u00a0 The fact that God is “all seeing” is part of why we can part our trust in him.”<\/p>\n

Transcendent One – To be transcendent is to be beyond the ordinary.\u00a0 God is certainly not “ordinary.”\u00a0 God is not of this (physical) world as we know it.\u00a0 God exists beyond this world of ours.\u00a0 So, God is certainly transcendent <\/em>but I don’t think I would ordinarily use the term transcendent one<\/em> to describe God.\u00a0 Nothing wrong with the term but I guess when I think of ‘transcendence” it just doesn’t describe who God is to me.\u00a0 Is it possible to be “transcendent” without being God?<\/p>\n

Supreme Being – God is certainly the supreme being<\/em>.\u00a0 No one is above God.\u00a0 God is all powerful and all knowing.\u00a0 No one else has the same power or knowledge as God.\u00a0 It is important to note that God is not simply the supreme being because he is more <\/strong><\/em>powerful than us or because he knows more<\/em> <\/strong>than us.\u00a0 God is not simply greatly than us.\u00a0 Again,\u00a0God is all <\/em><\/strong>knowing and powerful.\u00a0 This is part of God’s transcendence<\/em>.\u00a0 God exists in a whole different way of being.\u00a0 This is part of the problem of talking about God.\u00a0 We try to use human words to describe God that don’t really capture it.\u00a0 (For more on this check out my paper, “Why Isn’t God Red?\u00a0 How Do We Talk About God.”<\/a><\/p>\n

Peace,<\/p>\n

Fr. Jeff<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A couple of days ago I started to write about words that people might use to describe God.\u00a0 I started with tyrant, policeman, and stern judge.\u00a0 Today, I would like to reflect on some positive words. All Powerful One – Without a doubt, God is all-powerful.\u00a0 There is nothing that is possible to do that …<\/p>\n

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