Re: [asa] Altruism and ID

Whatever organ we ascribe feelings to (we usually think of the heart), it
cannot be asserted of deity as such. But our Lord is not simply divine.
So, being fully human, I think he felt as we should feel if we were fully
aware, but aren't--at least usually. So he felt the widow's pain, and
removed it. But there is also more, as he once said, "There is none good
but God." Since he is fully God, there is overwhelming goodness. We must
contrast "Greater love hath no man ..." with "while we were yet enemies."
Dave

On Sun, 10 Jun 2007 18:53:52 -0400 "George Murphy" <gmurphy@raex.com>
writes:
----- Original Message -----
From: "D. F. Siemens, Jr." <dfsiemensjr@juno.com>
To: <gmurphy@raex.com>
Cc: <pvm.pandas@gmail.com>; <christine_mb_smith@yahoo.com>;
<asa@calvin.edu>
Sent: Sunday, June 10, 2007 5:56 PM
Subject: Re: [asa] Altruism and ID

> George,
> I thought you'd be the one to come up with something obvious: if Jesus
> were only human, we might say that he had great genes (if that be the
> cause of altruism). But he had the benevolence of the Godhead as well.
> Dave

Yeah, I thought of that. But here's another point, one that I was in
fact reflecting on a bit in my sermon on today's gospel, Lk.7:11-17, the
raising of the son of the widow at Nain. There - as in some other places
in the gospels about Jesus' dealing with sufferers - his response is
described with the verb splanchnizomai. (NRSV, "he had compassion for
her.") splanchnon is literally "entrails" or viscera, & the sense of the
verb I think is to have a "visceral feeling" for someone. & one would
have to ask if one can ascribe that in the full sense to God. Perhaps it
is only through of the Incarnation that God is able literally to have
com-passion with creatures.

Shalom
George
http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/
 

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Received on Sun Jun 10 19:29:24 2007