Do Orthodox Christians believe that God wants a personal relationship with the individual?
Upvote:4
Here is an exerpt from an article by Fr. Steven Kostoff's (OCA Priest and he is also a member of the adjunct faculty of the theology department at Xavier University in Cincinnati, where he has taught various courses on Orthodox theology) weekly articles on Orthodoxy that does justice to the topic theologically from an Orthodox perspective:
If I am not mistaken, the phrase "a personal God," fairly current in contemporary religious discourse, is meant to say something first about the nature of God, rather than our subjective or "personal" understanding of God. To paraphrase the French philosopher Blaise Pascal, we believe in "the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," and not the "god of the philosophers." The former is "personal" but the latter is "impersonal." This personal God is the God of the Scriptures Who is love and not the Unmoved Mover of the Greek philosophers. The God who reveals/shows/manifests Himself to persons so that a conscious and living relationship, ultimately based on faith, hope and love can be created, sustained, and ever deepened. A "personal God" means that God is concerned about, and engaged with the world and human persons. God cares about our lives and our destinies. "Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground without your Father's will. But even the hairs of your head are numbered." (MATT. 10:29-30) As the Russian elder, Macarius of Optina put it: "To hold the faith does not only mean that we believe God to be our Creator. It also means that we recognize His unceasing and detailed attention to our good .."
A "personal God" is not the God who remains aloof from the world, as if God is a cosmic clockmaker, who wound up the universe and now allows it to "run" on its own inherent laws free of providential care and engagement. (That would be the "God" of deism, the belief of many of the Founding Fathers of our country). "For God so loved the world ..." could only be said of a personal God concerned about the direction and destiny of the world - a world that exists because God "loved" it into existence. God desires that we will all be saved "and come to the knowledge of the truth." (I TIM. 2:4) This is the God that we worship in the Liturgy and that we pray to in our homes "in secret." We then extend our belief in "a personal God" to our "subjective" and "personal" relationship with God, based on the faith that we can "know" God in His self-revelation. That means through the Son of God and the Holy Spirit. Every human being has the potential to have a "personal" relationship" with the "personal" God of Christian revelation. One can believe that an impersonal deity exists, but one cannot relate to such a "God." We thus return to my initial point that the term "a personal God" is meant primarily to tell us something about the nature of God, and then by extension about our relationship with God. It does not mean a God that we "create' through our personal ideas or musings. At least that is how I understand the term as commonly used in contemporary religious discourse.
Full article: http://holycrossoca.org/newslet/0807.html
More post
- 📝 Who were the main Protestant precursors?
- 📝 Is the sign of the Cross as well as the crucifix a Catholic “trade mark”?
- 📝 How and when was h*m*sexual practice separated from "h*m*sexuality"?
- 📝 According to reformed theology, who or what will the saints reign over in eternity?
- 📝 Church Fathers on life beyond the earth?
- 📝 From a non-trinitarian perspective, how is love explained as an attribute of God?
- 📝 Why do some people get healed, and others don't?
- 📝 Do any denominations teach that humans exist before birth?
- 📝 Did the Community of Christ denounce the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 What was the point of the laws written to the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia?
- 📝 Did Saint Paul attend the council of Nicaea? Which other councils did he attend?
- 📝 How does Catholic sacramental theology explain the efficacy of the sacraments conducted by a priest who is in the state of mortal sin?
- 📝 How can the Son not know what the Father knows?
- 📝 Help with Verse Identification -- 'Jesus has not yet returned because...'
- 📝 What do Jehovah's Witnesses believe about evolution?
- 📝 According to Catholicism, is repeatedly visiting a Protestant church a mortal sin?
- 📝 Where does the Catholic church procure most of its Bibles?
- 📝 Why would God send a deceitful spirit?
- 📝 What is the significance of Eve being created as a "helper fit for [Adam]?"
- 📝 Did the Catholics or Orthodox suspend the Lenten fast during times of war?
- 📝 In Presbyterianism, what is the basis for a parallel between the office of deacon and Christ's priestly office?
- 📝 What is the argument AGAINST the position that only Paul's writings are applicable to the church today?
- 📝 How have Christians who affirm traditional sin doctrines handled 'pathological' guilt in their preaching?
- 📝 How do parables communicate the inspired word of God?
- 📝 What is the difference between Sola Scriptura and the belief in a closed canon?
- 📝 Why don't creationists teach a literal firmament anymore?
- 📝 According to Protestant interpretations of the Bible, is there justification for “disliking somebody”?
- 📝 What are the most common reasons that cause Christians to deconvert to atheism/agnosticism?
- 📝 Origin of La Madonna Del Gatto
- 📝 Where in the Catechism can one read about sins of omission?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 Do Orthodox Christians believe that God wants a personal relationship with the individual?
- 📝 What traditions believe that a woman's relationship with God must go through some man and how do they support it from the Bible?
- 📝 How do Christians who subscribe to the "religion vs. relationship" dichotomy make sure that their own relationship with God is genuine?
- 📝 Are there any groups of Christians who believe that all loans made with their money should be made without the expectation of repayment?
- 📝 Do Jehovah’s Witnesses believe that God equips humans today with the gift of prophecy?
- 📝 Do Christians believe that God chose to create the "best possible world" among multiple/infinite alternatives, by maximizing a "Goodness" function?
- 📝 How do Christians that believe in creatio ex nihilo answer the question of why human beings are not created with a perfect character from the outset?
- 📝 Are there any statistics that show how many scientists are Christians or otherwise believe in a personal God?
- 📝 Do Catholics subscribe to the "once saved, always saved" doctrine that many evangelical Christians believe in?
- 📝 Do Christians believe that Jews must still follow the Mosaic law?
- 📝 What is the basis for the idea that the Song of Solomon is about the relationship between God and the church?
- 📝 How does 1 John 2:19 fit with the teaching that Christians can lose their salvation
- 📝 How is the belief that Christians are both adopted and begotten sons of God reconciled?
- 📝 Which 20th-century Orthodox Christians said that the crusades were more oppressive than the Marxist anti-religious campaigns?
- 📝 Do Calvinists believe that God does not love the world, but only the elect?
- 📝 Do Calvinists believe that God is the author of evil?
- 📝 How do Christians that do not believe in inerrancy interpret the Bible?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for believing that God punishes Christians for disobedience?
- 📝 According to the doctrine of the LDS Church what is man's relationship with God
- 📝 Did the LDS believe that Christians are doomed to hell?
- 📝 How do Christians who believe in a witness of the Holy Spirit via thoughts & feelings respond to the claim that thoughts & feelings are unreliable?
- 📝 Do preterists who profess the two-age model believe that Jesus is still with us?
- 📝 Where in the Bible does it mention that God mourns with us when we mourn?
- 📝 Does the Catholic church believe that God really forgives by confession alone?
- 📝 How is it that Georgian Orthodox Church are in full communion with the Eastern Orthodox Church when they have a different biblical canon?
- 📝 What is the Biblical Basis of Eastern Orthodox Christians that the Holy Spirit proceeded from the Father alone?
- 📝 If according to the Jehovah Witnesses that "there was a time when God was alone," who was with God at John 1:1?
- 📝 What's the main logical basis that is put forth by those Christians who don't believe in the existence of God?
- 📝 Why do Jehovah's Witnesses believe that angels are doing the talking between God and mankind?
- 📝 Do Lutherans believe that the sacraments are necessary for salvation (similar to Catholics), and if so, how do they reconcile this with Sola Fide?