Love God and Love Neighbor
Matthew 22:36-40 Legacy Standard Bible
36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 And the second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Thanh Purpose of Life 40 years shallow, not seeking purpose.. everyon ha life call to live, all part of the plan figure out how to live a satisfying life. Every 18 yesrs, heath issues, doctor, High bp, Repirotize not much to priority work and heath, no extra notivation. Exite. favorite read Faith and encompase all areas of life ltak
Purpose: Discussion group exist for the mutual benefit participants.
Nothing is off topic for discussion.
- Try to focus on Book.
- keep it to an hour. 9:30
Forming, storming, norming, performing,
Help individual. Q: What do you hope to get out of this? Time to hang Need other men in our life Want to deeper in understanding God Catholic, Baptist, Unique ideas about God
I've lind, Live in darkness. I need light, I need truth to bring light into my mind and soul. Truth of the Bible, , Truth shared with Me throug men,
I'm grateful, all of you, each have have spoken "truth" into my life, On tech, Business, Spiritual etc...
God uses Heavenly Father, we are blined. guys
Blind: Need others
Context
- Title: Christian Faith is linked to Trinity (Three and Unity) . Delighting in Trinity is the beginning (introduction) to what to Christianity.
Observation
- Table of Content
- Tri Unity ( Father, Son and Spirit)
- Here be Dragon? Problems and dangers
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- Before Creation (Three are United)
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- Creation (Fathers Role)
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- Salvation (Son's Role)
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- Christian Life (Spirits Role)
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- Uniquiness of LORD (YHWH)
- Conclusion: Understanding Trinity brings about reformation of life
Meaning Application
"Here be dragons" (Latin: hic sunt dracones) is a phrase used to denote dangerous or unexplored, uncharted territories on, or similar to, historical maps. It signified unknown lands, often accompanied by illustrations of mythical beasts, warning travelers of potential perils. Modern Usage: Today, it is used metaphorically to describe dangerous, uncharted, or risky situations.
HERE BE DRAGONS?
According to the author... Q. What is the book about? A. Growing in our enjoyment of God "Seeing how the God's triune being makes all his ways beautiful" "..only when you grasp what it means for God to be a Trinity that you really sense the beauty... of God"
Q. What is the Christianity not about? What is Christianity about? P10 A: not primarily about lifestyle change A: Christianity is about knowing God. To know and grow to enjoy him is what we are saved for
Christianity claims that we can know God, because he has revealed himself. If he has revealed himself, we can understand him, know him, enjoy him, and grow with him.
Q: How does knowing God better practically change the man? A:
- Knowing the love of God is the very thing that makes us loving.
- Desiring God alters our preferences and inclinations
- Our desire drives our behavior:
- we begin to want God more than anything else, we want the things of God.
- Knowing God affects everything from
- how we listen to music to
- how we pray:
- it makes for happier marriages,
- warmer dealings with others,
- better church life;
- it gives Christians assurance,
- shapes holiness and
- transforms the very way we look at the world around us.
- The knowledge of this God turns lives around.
Spooky, Huh
` Q: How is Trinity seen as a problem and Oddity? A:
- Crazy ideas about the trinity (
- God is a mystery, (but can be understood)
- Trinity does not appear in the bible (but scriptural)
Q: What are illustration about the trinity used and the dangers of using illustration about the Trinity?
A:egg, shamrock leaf, shurbbery, bacon, thee states of H2O, three headed giant " I am never going to fall down in awe or find my heart drawn to a God so ridiculous. "
Q: In what ways is God a Mystery?
A: God is a mystery in that who he is and what he is like are secrets, things we would never have worked out by ourselves. But this triune God has revealed himself to us
Q: How is the Triune God different? God has revealed himself, we can understand the Trinity.
Q: Scriptural really? section... How does the author respond to "God is ONE" from Deuteronomy 6:5? Gen 2:4 Adam and Eve Two become One (echad) plurality in oneness
The Christian Distinctive
Athanasian Creed... To be saved Christian must worship One God in Trinity?
Q: What is essential for the Christian Faith?
Q: What makes Christianity absolutely distinct? from JW? Mormons? Protestant Buddist?
"For what makes Christianity absolutely distinct is the identity of our God. Which God we worship: that is the article of faith that stands before all others. The bedrock of our faith is nothing less than God himself, and every aspect of the gospel—creation, revelation, salvation—is only Christian insofar as it is the creation, revelation and salvation of this God, the triune God. I could believe in the death of a man called Jesus, I could believe in his bodily resurrection, I could even believe in a salvation by grace alone; but if I do not believe in this God, then, quite simply, I am not a Christian. And so, because the Christian God is triune, the Trinity is the governing center of all Christian belief, the truth that shapes and beautifies all others. The Trinity is the cockpit of all Christian thinking."
Can’t We Get Along with Just “God”?
Q: According to the author, why is just believing in God, our concept of god, not sufficient?
A: "[we] sculpt God according to our expectations and presuppositions, to make this God much like another"
"so used are we to fashioning God according to our assumptions "
"our minds simply rebel at the thought of a God who is not as we would expect"
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"The trouble is, the triune God simply does not fit well into the mold of any other God. Trying to get along with some unspecified “God,” we will quickly find ourselves with another God."
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"the triune God is a radically different sort of being from any other candidate for “God,”
Q: What are some candidates for “God.”
- Some are good,
- some are not.
- Some are personal,
- some are not.
- Some are omnipotent, some are not.
- in the Bible,
- Lord God of Israel,
- Baal,
- Dagon,
- Molech and
- Artemis
All are completely different. Q: What does Qur’an say about Allah?
explicitly and sharply distinguishes Allah from the God described by Jesus: Say not “Trinity.” Desist; it will be better for you: for God is one God. Glory be to Him: (far exalted is He) above having a son. 1 Say: “He, Allah, is One. Allah is He on Whom all depend. He begets not, nor is He begotten. And none is like Him.”
A: If we content ourselves with being mere monotheists, and speak of God only in terms so vague they could apply to Allah as much as the Trinity, then we will never enjoy or share what is so fundamentally and delightfully different about Christianity
##The Shocking Joy
And so it is my hope and prayer that .. the knowledge of Father, Son and Spirit will breathe fresh life into you.
Council of Yahweh 1 Kings 22:19-23 LSB
NOTE
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First Council of Nicaea (325 A.D.): Convened to address Arianism and the deity of Christ.
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First Council of Constantinople (381 A.D.): Addressed the heresy of Macedonius (denial of the Holy Spirit's divinity).
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Council of Ephesus (431 A.D.): Condemned Nestorianism as heretical, emphasizing the unity of Christ’s divine and human natures. c
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Council of Chalcedon (451 A.D.): Decreed that Jesus is both God and Man, rejecting Monophysitism.
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Second Council of Constantinople (553 A.D.): Condemned the "Three Chapters" and reaffirmed the first four councils.
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Third Council of Constantinople (680–681 A.D.): Clarified the nature of Christ's will (Monothelitism).
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Second Council of Nicaea (787 A.D.): Addressed Iconoclasm, ruling on the proper veneration of icons.
The First Ecumenical Council was held in Nicaea in 325 AD. It addressed the Arian heresy, affirming the full divinity of Christ. The First Council of Nicaea also produced the famous Nicene Creed, a definitive expression of faithful Christian doctrine to this day.
The Second Ecumenical Council occurred in the new imperial capital of Constantinople (now Istanbul), just north of Nicaea, in 381. It aimed to settle the ongoing debate about Christ’s nature and his relationship with the Father, which the First Council of Nicaea had not succeeded in concluding. This council also expanded the Nicene Creed to explicitly affirm the divinity of the Holy Spirit.
The Third Ecumenical Council of 431 was held on the Aegean coast of modern-day Turkey, in the city of Ephesus. It condemned Nestorianism as heretical, emphasizing the unity of Christ’s divine and human natures.
The Fourth Ecumenical Council occurred just twenty years after the third in 451 AD, held in Chalcedon (modern-day Kadıköy). This important council rejected Monophysitism, which asserted that Jesus Christ only had one nature, a divine one. Instead, it reaffirmed the orthodox teaching that he had two natures: fully divine and fully human. This doctrine emerging from the Council of Chalcedon is called the Hypostatic Union.
The Fifth Ecumenical Council in 553 is also known as the Second Council of Constantinople, because like the Second Ecumenical Council, it was held in the Byzantine empire’s capital city. This council reaffirmed the decisions of earlier councils and revisited the Monophysite heresy, aiming to reconcile Monophysite factions with Chalcedonian orthodoxy. The council did this by condemning certain writings of theologians considered to be leaning towards Nestorianism, which had been rejected by the Council of Ephesus (the Third Ecumenical Council).
The Sixth Ecumenical Council of 680-681 was the third council to be held in Constantinople. It confronted Monothelitism, the belief that Christ had only one will. The Third Council of Constantinople instead affirmed that Christ, as both fully divine and fully human, therefore had two wills, both divine and human.
The Seventh Ecumenical Council returned to Nicaea, the site of the first council, in 787. Unlike the preceding six councils, which settled various debates regarding the nature of God, the Second Council of Nicea mainly considered whether icons were acceptable in Christian worship. The council rejected iconoclasm, thus restoring the veneration of icons and affirming that the use of religious images was consistent with Christian faith.
To know the Trinity is to know God, an eternal and personal God of infinite beauty, interest and fascination. The Trinity is a God we can know, and forever grow to know better.
Introduction: Here Be Dragons?
- Some of us have an image of God that lurks in the back of our mind. Maybe it’s of a terrifying judge, a disengaged father, a micromanaging moral monitor, or even a warm and comforting friend. What ideas or images of God do you carry with you?
- Which back-of-the-mind image of God would you most like to dispel?
- What are some ideas or images of God you encounter in our culture that trouble you?
- What is your favorite biblical image of God? Why?
- What biblical images of God most trouble you? Why?
- Do you think we can ever arrive at a reliable understanding of God in this life? Why or why not?
- How might the idea of God as Trinity seem like an add-on to our understanding of God?
- While the word trinity never appears in the Bible, a Trinitarian pattern of speaking about God is woven into the New Testament and provides a lens for reading the Old Testament. What do you make of that? Can you think of other Christian doctrines that are like that?