[This is the final session.]
We need a different relationship to the future.
Read Ecclesiastes 1. “Meaningless…” This is difficult passage to agree with. People quote it all the time, “There is nothing new under the sun.” McManus felt he was suffocating under the theological framework of this passage. He disagrees with Solomon here.
No, God is the God of the new. Everything he does is new. But outside of God, nothing is new. Outside of God, it is all meaningless.
We are uncomfortable with creating the future. But we are to live our lives connected with the Creator, and thus we are to create in him, because that is what God does.
McManus said that Noah saved the world. We don’t have to say that God saved the world through Noah. But we can just say that Noah saved the world. [Ummm…?]
Why are we waiting for someone else to create the future that God has in mind? We need to become the stewards of human potential. We need to redeem the image of God in each person.
What would happen if the world would know Christians as the epicenter of creativity?
When McManus came to Christ, something came alive inside of him. We have to set the human spirit free to live. People will die with their dreams dead inside them.
We have to do something creative so that the world will see. Human talent and the glory of God coexist.
We need to become the narrators of the human story. We need a revival of great storytelling. Avatar and Star Wars are being told as better stories than ours. But when people see themselves in THE story they will be captivated.
When we treasure the treasure inside each person, people will be drawn into our communities.
He makes all things new.
Thank you brother.
ReplyDeleteWarrick, an an artist myself, I can understand and appreciate why this thought is valid to an extent. Could you comment on how this view can lead to the undermining of God's omniscience/foreknowledge. On page 13 of the booklet titled: Resolution on the Foreknowledge of God: Reasons & Rationale, the following argument is noted:
ReplyDelete"A God who is learning billions of new certainties every
hour, and who is adjusting his plans continually to deal with these new certainties, is a different kind of
God than one who knows everything that ever was, everything that now is, and everything that is to be."
http://cdn.desiringgod.org/pdf/booklets/bgc_foreknowledge_booklet.pdf
Thanks.
Hi AT, I'm not sure I understand you. I don't think McManus was saying God is learning new things all the time, I think he was saying God is doing new things all the time. I'm not sure Open Theology plays into this. Am I understanding your concern?
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