When men adopt these wrong ideas of God and cherish them they are
fashioned after them in life and character. Here are the
stumbling-blocks which need to be removed before men, who think this
way, can be brought into sympathy with the Church of Christ. Man can
never come into personal loving relations with a Universal Substance
or Force, no matter how mighty it is.
Right Conceptions of God are necessary for the true worship of the
Almighty, for the exercise of proper conduct to our fellow men and for
the upbuilding of our own spiritual life. Never was there a time when
the great fundamental positions of the Bible, in regard to God, needed
to be more plainly stated than to-day. When men stand firmly upon
these positions a whole host of perplexities and anxieties will take
their departure.
The Christian Conception of God has been thus expressed, "God is the
Personal Spirit, perfectly good, who in holy love, creates, sustains
and orders all." The essential matters covered in this statement are:
1. The nature of God. He is the Personal Spirit (Exodus 3:14; John
4:24) who can enter into personal relations with man, and who hears
and answers prayer.
2. The character of God. He is perfectly good, pure and holy (Psalm
25:8; Nahum 1:7; Romans 2:4). Man may have perfect confidence, however
matters may seem to him to go wrong with his imperfect vision of the
world and the happenings in it, that there is a good God who governs
all in the interest of righteousness (Matthew 13:24-30,36-43).
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25