Feeling Sorry For God

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● Mark 12:30 . .You shall love The Lord your God with all your heart, and
with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.

One of the aspects of love is empathy; which can be roughly defined as
emotional responses related to things like compassion, pity, and sympathy.

It isn't necessary to like God in order to comply with Mark 12:30, but it is
necessary to feel sorry for Him; i.e. feel God's pain whenever He's upset
about something; viz: to commiserate with God's sorrow.

I've had people actually tell me that God has no feelings; i.e. He doesn't get
emotional-- He's above all that. Well; I have no clue how anyone can read
the Bible and come to the conclusion that God has no feelings because even
in the Bible's very first book we find God in remorse.

● Gen 6:5-6 . . Now The Lord observed the extent of the people's
wickedness, and he saw that all their thoughts were consistently and totally
evil. So The Lord was sorry he had ever made them. It broke his heart.

And although God didn't particularly like the people whom Moses led out of
Egypt (Ex 32:9-10) at the same time, He commiserated with their suffering.
(Isa 63:9)

For some people; it's asking too much for them to commiserate with God
because they were born with defective amygdalae; which are portions of the
brain that trigger emotional responses.

The thing is; just as there are people who can recognize humor while at the
same time not be tickled by it, so there are people who can recognize
suffering while at the same time not be moved by it. Those kinds of
empathy-challenged people are often labeled callous, insensitive, and hard
hearted. The really bad cases end up labeled monsters because the horrific
things they are capable of doing to their fellow man are beyond humane
comprehension.

Seeing as how non compliance with Mark 12:30 is worthy of the sum of all
fears; then how are empathy-challenged people to have any hope of
escaping it?

Well; the answer to that is of course the Xmas story.

● Luke 2:10-11 . . I bring you good news of a great joy which shall be for all
the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a
savior

Webster's defines a savior as one who rescues. Everyone has seen examples
of rescuers-- lifeguards, firemen, cops, emergency medical teams, Coast
Guard units, snow patrols, and mountain rescue teams. Rescuers typically
get people to safety who are facing imminent death and/or grave danger
while utterly helpless to do anything about it.

● 1John 4:10 . . In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us
and sent His son to be the propitiation for our sins.

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It's been my experience that it's very difficult to sympathize with someone
while at the same time disliking them immensely.

BTW: Rom 1:28-32 lists malice towards God as a depravity. Whether or not
that's really true is of course left up to each individual to decide for
themselves.

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[Musicus]

Not necessary to like God in order to love Him? Hmmm. OK, well I have heard people say 'I love you, but I just don't like you right now'.

The only people I've heard say God has no feelings are those who are angry, or lost faith, or are not Christian.

But I agree that empathy is part of love.

 

[Waggles]

That empathy or caring about what God thinks is at the core
of sorrow and contrition.
It is because (hopefully) we come to realize that we have offended
a friend, a person we deeply care about, that we have remorse and
then repentance.
And repentance should lead to prayer and overcoming.

For me Jesus is a real person whom I can converse with and
share my life with; just like I would with a close friend.

Yes the fear of God is there, but through the Holy Spirit one
gains an intimacy with Christ Jesus on a par to personal
interaction.

 

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That empathy or caring about what God thinks is at the core of sorrow and
contrition. It is because (hopefully) we come to realize that we have
offended a friend, a person we deeply care about, that we have remorse

I was thinking about that very angle just today in regards to something
David said in one of his Psalms.

"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight, (Ps
51:4)

I'm usually "told" that passage means David's sins are none of our business;
i.e. they're between him and God alone. But I disagree. I think David was
saying his sins hurt God; i.e. his conduct let God down. They were friends;
and I truly believe that God has just as much right as anybody else to
expect His friends to be loyal. When God's friends break that trust, He feels
it.

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[Iconoclast]

[h=2]Divine Impassibility: Section 5[/h]

< 4. Confessional Theology | Table of Contents​

[h=3]5. Affirmations and Denials[/h]The discussion above enables us to make the following affirmations and denials concerning the confessional DDI.

1. We affirm the unity and analogy of Scripture, which states that unclear, difficult, or ambiguous passages are to be interpreted with clear and unambiguous passages that touch upon the same teaching or event (2LCF 1.9). We deny that the purported meaning of any text may be pressed in isolation or contradiction to other passages of Scripture.
2. We affirm the unity of Scripture and the analogy of faith, which states, “the true and full sense of any Scripture” (2LCF 1.9) must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the system of doctrine “necessarily contained” (2LCF 1.6) in the whole of Scripture. We deny that the purported meaning of any text may be pressed in isolation or contradiction to systematic theological considerations and that which is necessarily contained in the whole of Scripture.
3. We affirm that passages which speak of God’s being and essence must be given interpretive priority, not only because they are the less difficult and ambiguous, but also because what God is precedes what he is like toward us. The latter must be interpreted in a manner consistent with the former. We denythat passages which posit divine passions (i.e., what he is like toward us) take priority over passages which speak of God’s being and essence (i.e., what he is).
4. We affirm that the foundation for language about God is the reality of creation ex nihilo. This principle grounds the way of causality, which states that we may know something about the cause (i.e., God) from the effect (i.e., creation). We deny that scriptural language about God is equivocal, that is, for example, that love is predicated of God and man in a completely unrelated sense.
5. We affirm, in all scriptural language about God, both the way of negation, which states that he is that being who is infinitely unlike all other beings, and the way of eminence, which states that he is infinitely greater than the language and analogies used to reveal him, so that divine love is as different from human love as God is from man. We deny that scriptural language about God is univocal, that is, for example, that love stands in relation to God in the same way it does to man, albeit more perfect.
6. We affirm that all scriptural language about God is analogical, which states that divine love stands in relation to the divine nature in a mode proportionately similar (and proportionately different) to the way human love stands in relation to human nature. We deny that scriptural language about God must be either univocal or equivocal.
7. We affirm that some scriptural analogies with respect to the affections of God are anthropopathisms, wherein the thing attributed to God exists in him figuratively. We deny that every scriptural analogy with respect to the affections of God refers to something proper to God, wherein the thing attributed exists in both the Creator and the creature formally.
8. We affirm that biblical anthropopathisms signify that which is in God truly but figuratively. Anthropopathisms signify something that is in God, not according to the letter, but according to the design of the analogy, and in a manner consistent with the whole of Scripture and suitable to the divine perfections. We denythat anthropopathisms empty the scriptural analogies of meaning or fail to reveal something about the God who is.
9. We affirm that God is pure being without becoming. We deny that there is any becoming in God.
10. We affirm that, given what God actually is, infinite, simple, and immutable in perfection, we must also confess that God is infinite, simple, and immutable love. We deny that God has the potential to be other than infinite, simple, and immutable love.
11. We affirm that God is his essence and existence, and therefore cannot but exist as he eternally and essentially is. We deny emotional change in God, for that would involve a new manner of God’s existing, which would compromise God’s aseity (i.e., his necessary and independent existence).
12. We affirm that love (and all other affections proper to God) is not an accidental or relational property that God has, but what he is. Therefore, an emotional change in God of any kind would necessarily entail a change in the essence and existence of God. We deny that God has any accidental or relational properties, that is, properties that are distinct from his essence.
13. We affirm that only an impassible God is truly and fully “most loving” (2LCF 2.1). We deny that the confessional understanding of divine impassibility leads to a view of God that is cold and impersonal.
14. We affirm that God is impassible without qualification. We deny that God can, in any sense, undergo inner emotional changes of state, and that God is without passions merely in the sense that he is incapable of suffering, surprise, or being overwhelmed.
15. We affirm that God, who is his essence and existence, has no cause; his existence is necessary and therefore unchangeable. We deny that God can be his own cause, and that he is capable of sovereignly affecting his own emotional change of state.
16. We affirm that passages which speak of the arousal or pacification of God’s affections imply a change only in God’s external (ad extra) works. We denythat passages which speak of the arousal or pacification of God’s affections imply an internal (ad intra) change in God.
17. We affirm that all of God’s affections are infinite in perfection. Therefore, if God were to undergo an emotional change, that change would be either for the better or the worse. If for the better, then he must not have been infinite in perfection prior to the change, and therefore was not God. If for the worse, then he would no longer be infinite in perfection after the change, and therefore no longer God. We deny that it is an imperfection in God to be incapable of emotional change.
18. We affirm that God loves his creation, particularly his elect (John 17:23-24), with a view to himself (Rom. 11:36). His affection is therefore as immutable, fixed, and constant as his love for himself, however varied our experience of its effects may be. We deny that the triune God’s infinite delight in his own infinite perfection (i.e., his blessedness) undermines his ability genuinely to love his creation.
19. We affirm a real distinction among creatures, and the degree to which each is made to experience God’s love and participate in his goodness. We denythat the inequality among the external objects of God’s love (i.e., creation, humanity, the elect) implies a change or variation in God whose love is as immutable as his being.
20. We affirm that the confessional DDI supports and necessitates the free offer of the gospel and Christian missions (2LCF 7.2). We deny that the confessional DDI in any way hinders the free offer of the gospel or Christian missions.
21. We affirm that God has freely chosen to relate every creature to himself, that a creature may change in his relation to God, and that by virtue of Christ God graciously effects such a change in the elect without any change of relation in himself. We deny that a change in the creature can bring about any change of relation in God.
22. We affirm, in agreement with Chalcedonian Christology and the communication of properties, that “Christ, in the work of mediation, acts according to both natures, by each nature doing that which is proper to itself; yet by reason of the unity of the person, that which is proper to one nature is sometimes in Scripture, attributed to the person denominated by the other nature” (2LCF 8.7). We deny that the divine nature underwent suffering or change in the passion of Christ.
23. We affirm that the classical DDI as expressed by the 2LCF 2.1 is founded in the Scripture, “necessarily contained” (2LCF 1.6) therein, and therefore consistent with and essential to the system of doctrine delivered to us through special revelation. We deny that the classical DDI as expressed by the 2LCF 2.1 is a scholastic dogma founded in philosophical and metaphysical speculation based on natural theology.

24. We affirm emphatically, therefore, that the classical DDI as expressed by the 2LCF 2.1 is the teaching of Scripture. This is our Association’s confessional commitment.
Respectfully submitted,
ARBCA Theology Committee

 

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Disappointment can be defined as the emotion felt when one's expectations
are not met.

By the time most people are adults; they've no doubt undergone at least
one disappointing experience so it shouldn't be too difficult for them to
empathize with God's disappointments.

Frustration can be defined as exasperation; viz: the feeling of impatience or
anger caused by another's repeated disagreeable acts.

Again: by the time most people are adults; they've no doubt undergone at
least one frustrating experience so it shouldn't be too difficult for them to
empathize with God's frustrations.

I think God would sincerely appreciate a little sympathy from us for the
numerous disappointments and frustrations He endures in his dealings with
mankind.

I've heard it said that half of us go to funerals to honor folk we couldn't be
bothered with when they were alive, and then lie through out teeth when we
tell the family "I'm sorry for your loss."

Well; I suspect that most people don't give God even that degree of sympathy
let alone heart-felt, honest expressions. Humanity, on the whole, is
indifferent to God's feelings; far from tender and sensitive, humanity's
attitude towards God is thoughtless and cruel.

"When others are happy, be happy with them. If they are sad, share their
sorrow." (Rom 12:15)

I cannot think of even one valid reason why God should not be included
among others right along with everyone else in that category.

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● Hos 1:2a & 3 . .When Yhvh began to speak through Hosea, Yhvh said to
him: Go, take to yourself an adulterous wife, and children of unfaithfulness.
So he married Gomer; daughter of Diblaim.

God had a pretty good reason for ordering Hosea to marry an unfaithful
wife.

● Hos 1:2b . . Because the land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing
from Yhvh.

God was on the brink of dispatching Hosea to lay a guilt trip on His people
for their chronic failure to comply with the very first statute of the covenant
their ancestors agreed upon with Him as per Exodus 20:2-3.

But God didn't want Hosea's preaching to be more dispassionate barking and
threatening like Jonah's. However, in order for Hosea to convey God's
disappointment with His people effectively, it was necessary to put Hosea
through some of God's troubles so he could not only convey God's
disappointment, but also project it. Like it's said: one cannot truly know
what somebody is going through till they themselves go through it.

If some of you guys out there have never experienced the misfortune of a
two-timing girlfriend or an unfaithful wife, then you cannot even begin to
appreciate how God feels when His people cheat on Him. It hurts, and if you
don't think so; just ask somebody who's been there; or better yet, somebody
in it now.

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● 2Sam 11:27 . . The thing that David had done was evil in the sight of The
Lord.

The "thing" was David's tryst with Bathsheba and the subsequent
assassination of her husband via warfare.

Psalm 51 is David's prayer in regards to that thing; in it he said:

"Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight"

I'm usually "told" that passage means David's sins are private; i.e. none of
our business; they're between him and God alone. But I disagree because
the entire escapade is recorded in the Bible for all the world to take note so
it hardly qualifies as private and/or none of our business.

"Whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction" (Rom
15:5)

I think David was saying in Psalm 51 that his shameful conduct with
Bathsheba let God down. They were friends; and I truly believe that God has
just as much right as anybody else to expect better of His friends than He
expects from ordinary folk. When God's friends disappoint Him, especially
when they're disloyal and/or cause Him humiliation and embarrassment; He
feels it.

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Not necessary to like God in order to love Him?

For example:

● Matt 5:43-47 . .You have heard that it was said: Love your neighbor and
hate your enemy. But I tell you: Love your enemies and pray for those who
persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. He causes
his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and
the unrighteous.

. . . If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even
the tax collectors doing that? And if you greet only your brothers, what are
you doing more than others? Do not even pagans do that?

In other words: it isn't necessary to like one's enemies, but it is necessary to
remain civil with them. So, if someone out there has issues with God, I
highly recommend that they guard against letting those issues govern how
they treat Him.

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I honestly don't know how it's any more ridiculous to pity God than it is to
pity one's fellow men. In point of fact: I sincerely believe that God would
appreciate people taking an interest in some of His personal affairs.

For instance, how do you suppose God felt when His son was brutally beaten
and bloodied beyond recognition, nailed to a cross, and stabbed with a
spear? Do you really think God was somehow indifferent to all that and no
more disturbed by it than if the Romans had accidentally stepped on a
garden slug?

The Bible says that God loves His son. Well; in my mind's eye God's love for
His son is just as strong an emotional attachment as the love that ordinary
people feel for children.

Real love is a bonding agent. People unable to pity God are that way
because their hearts aren't knit with His; consequently they have no interest
in His feelings when He's upset.

Pity is in the Bible as a holy virtue. In point of fact, there are instances in the
Bible where God condemns people for their lack of pity; and those who have
shown no pity, will be judged without pity.

● Matt 5:7 . . Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

The koiné Greek word for "merciful" in that passage means: compassionate.
People who by nature are uncompassionate would do well to use the time
remaining to them to begin preparing themselves for the worst because
Heaven is a society where only caring people are allowed to remain.

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[oldethennew]

never 'feel sorry for Yeshua, but if you Love Him, you will share in His grief...

 

[seed_time_harvest]

I think when GOD came to earth In the flesh one reason I think Is because GOD loves righteousness and It wouldn't be right If GOD gave dominion of the earth to Adam and not allow Adam to do with It as he wished and when Adam chose to be disobedient,GOD being righteous set up a way for man who had not sinned like Adam to be justified by faith.

 

[Deade]

That was very clever of God, imputing sin to Adam's desendants so He would only have to rescue us once.

Rom. 5:12-14: "Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned: (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come."

Here is the justification:
Rom. 5:18,19: "Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life. For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous."

 

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● Matt 9:13 . .Go and learn what this means: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice."

In order to properly understand Christ's statement; it's necessary to go back
into the Old Testament from whence he got it.

● Hos 6:4-6 . .What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you,
Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.
Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets, I slaughtered you with the
words of my mouth; My judgments flashed like lightning upon you. For I
desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt
offerings.

Love that's like the morning mist is just a vapor; there's no real substance to
it.

In other words: God accepts Temple sacrifices when they're offered by
people who exemplify the milk of human kindness, and He fully rejects the
offerings of thoughtless clods and insensitive jerks, which is exactly what the
Pharisees of his day were. They were religious to their fingertips; i.e. they
knew, and they practiced, the letter of their covenanted law-- they dotted all
the I's and they crossed all the T's. But though they were so religious; they
lacked compassion. Their callous regard for a woman Jesus healed on a Sabbath
proves it. (Luke 13:10-16)

Maybe you never miss a Sunday of church attendance, and maybe you tithe
faithfully every week; but let me tell you something: God is rejecting every
last bit of your superficial worship if you are by nature indifferent to
suffering, need, and misfortune. You'd be better off spending Sunday
morning at a sports bar rather than wasting God's time at church.

● Mic 6:8 . . He has told you, O man, what is good-- and what does Yhvh
require of you but to love kindness.

Conclusion: Unkind people shall be judged with neither sympathy nor pity,
and then afterwards; slammed with cruel and unusual punishment. Fair's
fair.

● Jas 2:13 . . For judgment will be merciless to one who has shown no
mercy

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Victims of malicious pity in the form of cruel mockery and/or demeaning
comments deliberately intended to hurt their feelings, tear them down and
make them feel bad about themselves; and people in dysfunctional families
where courtesy, thoughtfulness, and respect for one another's feelings is
non existent; are sometimes conditioned by too much of that kind of
negativity to become sympathy-challenged; and to mistrust any and all pity
- even sincere, honest pity --as a knife to the heart instead of an expression
of good will.

That kind of conditioning is very difficult to overcome-- difficult, but not
impossible; at least not impossible for Christ's believing followers.

● Rom 8:11 . . If the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in
you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal
bodies through His Spirit, who lives in you.

At first glance that passage appears to be speaking of the body's future
resurrection, and it probably is; but it's also talking about the here and now
regarding the power of a supernatural benefit package called the fruit of the
Spirit. (Gal 5:19-25)

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The fruit of the Spirit as per Gal 5:19-25 wasn't a new revelation in the days
of the apostles. It was predicted many years before them in the Old
Testament.

● Ezek 36:26-28 . . I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I
will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I
will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful
to keep my laws.

An "heart of flesh" would normally be regarded in modern Sunday school
classes as a bad thing. Here in Ezekiel, flesh is juxtaposed with stone to
indicate that God is talking about tenderness; which can be defined as
gentleness, kindness, sensitivity, and deep affection; i.e. the warm, softer
emotions.

A heart of stone is a cold, dead heart like those massive granite monoliths in
Yosemite Valley. They feel not the slightest bit of pity for climbers who lose
their grip and fall. Nope, those big rocks just go on like nothing ever
happened; silent, indifferent, unconcerned, non grieving, uncompassionate,
and unsympathetic; i.e. they feel nothing: nothing at all.

● Col 3:12 . . As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe
yourselves with compassion

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