Interacting with “Most Moved Mover”
1: Introduction
2: Hyper-Relationality
3: Sovereignty
4: Changeability
5: Temporality
6: Conclusion
I’ll actually conclude this series with another conclusion on some more thoughts in the next few days. This is just the conclusion to my paper, which you can download in full, here.
CONCLUSION
As A.W. Tozer once said, “A right conception of God is basic, not only to systematic theology, but to practical living as well.” Ultimately that is what this conversation is about: flesh and blood humans encountering a real, existential God who dips down into the stories of individuals. While some fear Open Theism dances to close to the edges of reasonable orthodoxy, it is that unreasonable dancing that will, hopefully, move Classic Theists from a “Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God” depiction of God closer to a hyper-relational Lover. Instead of viewing God as a wrathful housemaid who has found a nasty spider and is just waiting to fling it into the licking flames of the fires of Hell, may we take cues from the open view of God that paints Him as loving Creator who crafted beings after His own image with real freedom and beckons them to real partnership, yet respects human choice and risks rejection. May we appreciate the vibrant picture of a God who loves and beckons humans from their broken, destructive choices, while still carrying out His ultimate plans for cosmic restoration. Because in the end, maybe Western culture is emerging into post-Christendom not because of the God it finds in the Bible, but the one it encounters in the Holy Sepulchers on street corners each Sunday morning.
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