Spiritual Journey Insights

  I believe in the Trinitarian view of God. [1] I affirm that the doctrine of the Trinity is crucial and it concerns who God is and whom we should worship and to whom we should pray. I believe that God eternally exists as three persons, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, and each person is fully God and there is one God. [2] I affirm that the Father is not the Son and the Father is not the Holy Spirit but they are distinct persons. Scripture is absolutely clear that there is one and only one God. The three different persons of the Trinity are one not only in purpose and in agreement on what they think but they are one,, in essence, one in their essential nature. I believe that the Trinity is eternal and there have always been three. The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and all of them have always been divine. The function of one member of the Trinity may, for a time, be subordinate to one or both of the other members of the Trinity but that does not mean he is in any w...

I believe that God is both immanent and transcendent. By this, I affirm that God is both present and active within His creation but superior to and independent of anything that He has created. [1] By divine immanence, we understand God’s presence and activity within nature, human nature, and history.       Jeremiah 23:24 emphasizes God’s presence throughout the whole universe. I believe that God is not limited to working directly to accomplish his purposes. God can use persons and organizations that may not be avowedly Christian to accomplish his purpose. [2] I believe that the implications of transcendence mean that there is something higher than humans and God can never be completely captured in human concepts.       Our salvation is not our achievement and there will always be differences between God and humans. In our relationship with God, there should be reverence. [1] Erickson, Christian Theology , 327. [2] Erickson, Chr...