Comments on: Words about God http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god Contagious Thoughts, Mutating as Needed Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:43:00 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: Vance http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/comment-page-1#comment-75679 Vance Sun, 08 Jul 2007 05:41:47 +0000 http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/#comment-75679 Heidi, I love your analogy regarding your cat that would always look at your finger, instead of where you were pointing. Cats are frustrating because they want relationship (when they're in the mood), are very aware of what is going on, but are surprising dense about anything abstract. I was just reading in Matthew (16:5-11) where the disciples were worried about what they were going to eat, right after the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000. You can really hear the frustration in Jesus' voice. Heidi, I love your analogy regarding your cat that would always look at your finger, instead of where you were pointing. Cats are frustrating because they want relationship (when they’re in the mood), are very aware of what is going on, but are surprising dense about anything abstract. I was just reading in Matthew (16:5-11) where the disciples were worried about what they were going to eat, right after the feeding of the 5000 and the 4000. You can really hear the frustration in Jesus’ voice.

]]> By: VirusHead http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/comment-page-1#comment-50107 VirusHead Wed, 07 Feb 2007 22:01:04 +0000 http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/#comment-50107 That fits in a bit with the "shards" idea. I've always been fascinated with philosophical ideas about infinity and totality, but I've never gone deep enough into the mathematics to think that way. I do know that complexity can arise from the bottom-up... I think of strange attractors, quantum theory, fractals... statistical being. Still, there is something in me that wants to see the cosmic glue that holds stability and chaos in that interesting borderline space. I wonder if there could be anything "personal" about such being. That fits in a bit with the “shards” idea. I’ve always been fascinated with philosophical ideas about infinity and totality, but I’ve never gone deep enough into the mathematics to think that way. I do know that complexity can arise from the bottom-up… I think of strange attractors, quantum theory, fractals… statistical being. Still, there is something in me that wants to see the cosmic glue that holds stability and chaos in that interesting borderline space. I wonder if there could be anything “personal” about such being.

]]> By: Scooper http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/comment-page-1#comment-49971 Scooper Wed, 07 Feb 2007 03:46:13 +0000 http://www.virushead.net/vhrandom/2007/02/06/words-about-god/#comment-49971 Dr. Heidi, Changing out the metaphors is good for those with the literary skill. I do it, too, but I can't resist using metaphors from mathematics and the physical sciences, to which few people can relate. More people seem to react positively to exploring the meaning of Christian symbols by looking at analogous and complementary concepts from other religions - monotheistic and otherwise. With that preamble, I can say that I do have an explication of what it means to be made in "God's Image," but it relies on a theorem about subsets of infinite sets. The upshot is that being made in God's Image means (to me) that every human is in some sense infinite, which is what made it possible for God to become Incarnate as an ordinary human being (to "fit inside" as it were). It could just as well have been you. It's just that apparently God has planted you in this place and time, with your own destiny to fulfill. Dr. Heidi,
Changing out the metaphors is good for those with the literary skill. I do it, too, but I can’t resist using metaphors from mathematics and the physical sciences, to which few people can relate. More people seem to react positively to exploring the meaning of Christian symbols by looking at analogous and complementary concepts from other religions – monotheistic and otherwise.

With that preamble, I can say that I do have an explication of what it means to be made in “God’s Image,” but it relies on a theorem about subsets of infinite sets. The upshot is that being made in God’s Image means (to me) that every human is in some sense infinite, which is what made it possible for God to become Incarnate as an ordinary human being (to “fit inside” as it were).

It could just as well have been you. It’s just that apparently God has planted you in this place and time, with your own destiny to fulfill.

]]>