God is…

1. God is not a being; God is Being itself.

This is the central idea of classical theism, particularly in the tradition of Thomas Aquinas.

Consider the difference:

A tree exists.

A human being exists.

A planet exists.

God is the reason anything exists at all.

The first three are things that possess existence. God, according to classical theism, is not another thing possessing existence. God is the ultimate source of existence.

This is sometimes expressed as the distinction between beings and Being itself.

2. God’s existence is not the same as ours.

When we say that a person exists, we mean that a particular individual is present in reality.

We can distinguish between what that person is (their essence) and the fact that they exist.

Classical theism argues that this distinction does not apply to God. God’s essence and existence are identical.

God doesn’t have existence. God is existence.

This is an important part of Aquinas’s philosophy.

3. God cannot be adequately described through ordinary categories.

This is connected to apophatic theology, sometimes called negative theology.

The idea is that human language and concepts are inadequate to describe God.

We can say what God is not:

God is not a physical object.

God is not limited by space.

God is not one being among other beings.

God is not dependent on anything outside himself.

But when we try to say positively what God is, we encounter the limitations of human language.

A good church provides community, purpose, and opportunity. What a church does not provide is a true knowledge of God. Pastors preach opinions, and opinions change from pastor to pastor. God is mostly unknowable.

The End is Always Near!

The founding motives of a movement are baked into it for its entire lifespan. A movement cannot evolve beyond its original purpose.

Apocalypticism sees world history in the grip of warring forces, God and Satan, the spirits of truth and error, light and darkness … the old age has moved to its allotted end and the age of consummation is at hand, the age of the vindication of the elect and the redemption of the world.

Frank Moore Cross, Ancient Library, pg. 77

Christianity began as an apocalyptic movement. The world as it was known was about to end and be radically transformed by the coming of the Son of Man. The Faith does not make sense without that expectation. The end is always near, or the Church settles into stagnant dogma and tradition. However, the New Testament’s ethical teachings are less a handbook for ordinary moral living than instructions for how to conduct oneself in the last days.

For two thousand years, Christian predictions of the end have been wrong, yet the predictions keep coming. Christianity thrives on apocalypticism; without it, the movement loses its purpose.

The New Testament authors were wrong in their timing. They all expected the end to occur within their own generation. And what end exactly did they anticipate? It appears they awaited the end of Israel’s suffering and the end of the hostile world surrounding the Jewish people. It was a localized end—localized to the world they knew and lived in.

How did Israelite theology reach that point? Early in the Hebrew scriptures Israel worshiped YHWH. YHWH was more powerful than the other gods, and if Israel stayed loyal and obeyed him, he would protect them from their enemies and give them victory in their wars. Yet Israel was conquered, first by Assyria, then by Babylon. How could this be if YHWH is the most powerful? The answer: Israel was being punished by YHWH. He was using these other nations to discipline his own people. He had control over all the nations.

Good. But after the return from exile, after the second temple had been constructed, and after the Jews were living according to the law faithfully, there was still persecution. They remained under the thumb of the Greeks and then the Romans. What of this? God revealed the answer: a cosmic battle was underway. Spiritual forces of good and evil fought in the heavens. The persecution came down from the powers and principalities ruling in the skies.

This is the world into which Christianity was born. Jesus came as the apocalyptic Messiah. He came to radically change the world, restore his people, end death, and establish a good and glorious kingdom.

The problem is that did not happen. There is still death and suffering. If there is a kingdom with Jesus on the throne, it is not clear how that is manifest in our world today. For many Christians, the future hope has been reduced to an unfalsifiable claim about life after death not even found in scripture.

And so the apocalyptic expectation continues. On and on. The end is always near.

Eschatology in Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian Influence (Link)

Faith in the events beyond life on this earth is attested in the Zoroastrian scriptures from the very first, from the Gāthās. This faith developed and became central to later Zoroastrianism so that it colors almost all aspects of the religious life. It also seems to have had a deep impact on neighboring religions, notably on Judaism, and through it on Christianity and Islam, as well as on Manicheism.

Click here for the article.