OCR Text |
Show Nature Of Diety Discussed Editor: The letter to the editor in the Nov. 20 Chronicle concerning the nature of God, written by William D. Nattres, was very interesting. His wit was only exceeded by his ignorance of a few important truths. Mr. Nattress would have us believe be-lieve that the idea of an immaterial God is a result of "modern reason and empirical logic." That is not true, because this peculiar concept of God was formulated in the Fourth Century A.D. when Con-stantine Con-stantine was trying very hard to get the theological factions of his time to agree on something, anything any-thing at all. The concept was formulated form-ulated by political necessity rather than by "modern reason and empirical em-pirical logic." One might ask Mr. Nattress to be more specific in his definition of God. The term "infinite God" is meaningless unless it is said in what way God is infinite. Mr. Nattress Nat-tress might believe that God is simply an idea, or just an emotion. He doesn't say specifically. What is God, Mr. Nattress? Whatever Mr. Nattress chooses to call God, we have the testimonies testimon-ies of Moses, the Evangelists, and the Apostles that the real God is an exalted Man. The Gospels say that before Jesus was born, He was a Spirit. It was this Spirit that the Old Testament prophets saw (Isaiah (Isa-iah 49:26, Matthew 22:41-46). We might say that this Spirit was energy, ener-gy, or that it was an emotion, or that it is an idea (a product of someone's mind). But these ideas of the nature of God are not consistent con-sistent with Scripture. Thus, one is led to believe that the Spirit of Jesus Christ before his birth really existed as some type of matter. This was the case during His life and after His death, as those who knew Him testify. According to Dr. Christiansen of the Institute of Religion, the L.D.S. Church does not believe in an an-thromorphic an-thromorphic God as much as they believe in theomorphic man. Contrary to the opinion of Mr. Nattress, a careful study of the evidence presented in the Bible concerning God determines the conclusion con-clusion of this letter, that God is real, and not imaginary. Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost, because He is God also, must really exist, and His influence and power is said to be apparent in the lives of men everywhere. ev-erywhere. Mr. P. M. Manx wrote an article in the Chronicle on November 17th, stating that we shouldn't quote Scripture to define God. Where else then in literature should we look, Mr. Manx, in order to define God? What would you have us quote, Mr. Manx, Mad Magazine? The Bible is a reliable source of information about God, just as a biography of a person written by those who knew him best is reliable. I hope that we will never become be-come like those mentioned by Paul in 2 Timothy 4:2-4, that we will not speak of vagaries, I do hope that we will learn to seek the truth seriously, sincerely, and humbly, so that we can find it. Richard J. Merrill |