Faith And Reason Blog - SINGULARITY: The Gospel of John & The Mind of God

Monthly Archives

March 2011
February 2011
January 2011

SINGULARITY: The Gospel of John & The Mind of God

by Debo Dykes

Posted on Mar 17, 2011 - 02:22 PM

SINGULARITY: The Gospel of John, and The Mind of God

By Deborah (Debo) Dykes

Scientists call the initial instant of creation, Singularity. The entire present universe that is, was contained in that singular, unimaginable, brilliant flash. Theoretically, we can take a snap shot of the first billionth of a second when matter particles and anti-matter particles destroyed each other in a brilliant flash.

For most progressive Christians, whatever else science will teach us, John, the Evangelist, claims in his Gospel that “in the beginning” in those initial instants, wisdom was active; intelligence was at work. The mind of God was ordering all things.

Progressive Christians consider the John tradition to have taken great interest in what was present when the world began. The John tradition makes the startling claim that no thing was created outside of the intelligence and the wisdom of the one who formed it.

The eminent biblical scholar, Gerhard Von Rad, has said that one very good way to understand what God meant when God told Moses that God’s name was “I am that I am”

can be translated as “I who cause to be” or, “I am the one who makes everything.”

Just as the Bible can be said to be the weaving together of a tapestry of revelations and traditions, progressive Christians can do some weaving of Biblical text and scientific text today, by looking at the first chapter of John’s Gospel.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

For the first century Jew, aware of Hellenistic Greek, “Word” would remind her or him

of the ancient wisdom that was with God from the beginning. There is an interesting shift here, because in Hebrew, the word “wisdom” occurs in the feminine. The Greek translation of the word, “wisdom” is “Sophia.” Perhaps, the intention of the authors of the Gospel of John was to see Jesus as this “word;” as this “wisdom.” It is considered, for progressive Christians, the eternal side of Jesus. It seems as if it is the author’s, or authors’, way of somehow connecting Jesus with part of the original creation story. This does not necessarily mean that Jesus was in the mind of God from the beginning. There is no way for us to know what was on God’s mind.

However, some choose to accept through the writers of the Gospel of John that it is through Jesus, God became present and lived among us, as one of us, human in every way. For some it is through Jesus that God was in ultimate relationship with humanity. For many progressive Christians, it is through Jesus’ raising awareness among people of the 1^st century of Rome’s domination system and oppression of the people that invited God’s presence and a relationship with humanity.

‘And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” John 1:14.Dominic Crossan, widely regarded as a leading authority on the words and life of Jesus of Nazareth, says that if you want to see the face of God living on the planet, you might look at Jesus. Jesus was full of everything of God. In the first century, if you want to venerate the relationship between God and God’s people, what more lovely and graceful picture could you think of or choose than the one of “an only son.”

Imagine for a moment, a king, a king full of grace and truth. And imagine, just for a moment, the king’s court, where there is a lot going on. Suddenly you see that the king is distracted; and, when you look at the source of this distraction, you see the King’s “only son,” in whom the king takes great pleasure, has entered the room. Of course today, and for progressive Christians, one could easily substitute the King for the Queen, and her “only daughter.”

Consider, here, instead of making the area of focus, literally, that of “a father’s or mother’s only child,” you could focus on how God FEELS about the child. Thus, the image is shifted to the RELATIONSHIP between the creator God and this human being, this child, this daughter or son, in whom we see and experience, the fullness of God’s grace and truth. In Jesus is seen the true nature of the relationship between God the Father, God the Mother, and God the child. And, we understand in that way, that grace follows upon grace, “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” It had to come in the form of concrete knowledge – it had to become incarnate.

So how do we form a relationship with God through the incarnate being of Jesus of Nazareth? Prayer is one method used to develop such a relationship. Now, on a personal note, I must have been 5, or maybe 6 years old. On Sunday mornings, during the Eucharist, I would stand on the kneeler next to my Dad as he knelt. (My mother played the organ.) I would watch him – his head bowed, his hands folded over the pew in front of him, his eyes closed. Then I would lean towards his ear and whisper, “Is it almost over?” Keeping his posture of eyes closed and head bowed, he would simply put his arm around me, not saying a word. I wondered what he was doing. Holding on to the pew in front of me, I would lean around in front of Dad, trying to see what he was doing! Then, I would squat down and pear up from beneath where Dad’s arms and hands were folded over the pew, peering from a dimly lit space between the dark wood floors and dark pine pews, I wondered what could he possibly be doing! Why was Dad so quiet and still? And yet, he knew I was there, next to him, wiggling and peaking and wondering. “Is he praying? Is this how we pray? And, why is Dad praying?

Within that singular instant of creation had God created human beings with the capacity for relationship with Godself? And, is the relationship through prayer? As a progressive Christian, I have discovered many methods of experiencing and expressing prayer in which I am deeply connected to God. Relationship with other humans, with all of life, with Godself, is God’s gift that is part of the totality of the human experience. God – fully present - not to be denied that which God causes - not to be denied the experience of being human – connects, restores, and renews all of life.

Comments

A prayer is a personal conversation with a Higher Being. It has been proven for ages that prayer gives strength and security to people who frequently do it. It’s good to have a deep relationship with a Higher Power for you to get the spiritual support you need. USA Wrestling Shoes

Submitted by Matt Bacon on Mar 20, 2012 - 01:55 PM

In my opinion who owns this excellent website does an admirable job in holding the site visitors interested. I’ve discovered lots of useful reading and this particular page is actually terrific. Hope to view a lot more opinions buy essays here in a while.

Submitted by Alexa on Mar 22, 2012 - 04:25 AM

Its really very best and useful site for all,I am using it from a long time,I really got many information from this site.
essay help | essay writing uk

Submitted by smith on Mar 22, 2012 - 05:12 AM

This web site is does offer some wonderful quality info for here to buy essays. Thanks for your time.

Submitted by Alexa on Mar 22, 2012 - 03:23 PM

Religion stuff is always a debate, we have about 200 different religions in the world if I remember it correctly, for some reasons it is said that it’s best living as a christian in relation with God, others are saying that everything happens because of the Universe not our faith and such, so it’s always a delicate matter when it comes to religion.

Submitted by Magento Developer on Mar 23, 2012 - 06:12 AM

an affordable SEO Company India with the strength of 80+ SEO professionals on its role and the trust of over 1000 clients has always kept its focus on selecting better and progressive ways to enhance the visibility of your company’s website on the best search engines of the World Wide Web. This has been our endeavor since our inception in 2006.

Submitted by Seo Service India on Mar 28, 2012 - 01:30 AM

Come to Lesliewatch store to check out the wide array of Movado Watches. If you want to shop for style then no one else could have been better than us. We bring you the quality products on which you can trust upon.

Submitted by Hamilton Watches on Mar 29, 2012 - 06:51 AM

To form a relationship with God we have to be sincere with ourselves first and choose what path we want to follow in our lives, I would always choose this path!

Submitted by rosacea treatment on Mar 30, 2012 - 04:14 AM

The Gospel of John & The Mind of God is another story though. I enjoyed this awesome reading so long. local SEO marketing Thanks!

Submitted by Steve waugh on Mar 31, 2012 - 01:43 AM

Breitling Watches Official Authorized dealer. Check our selection of stunning breitling watches. Order today and receive full factory warranty and free Shipping and Handling.

Submitted by breitling watches on Mar 31, 2012 - 03:51 AM

Thanks for write up Gospel. Here input sounds really interesting so far for me. By the way I enjoyed this tutorial. Thanks a lot!
http://www.seocompanyseomarketing.com/

Submitted by Robert Jakson on Mar 31, 2012 - 11:52 AM

Why the scientists are calling it Singularity? can anyone help in this direction please?

Submitted by Blinds on Apr 03, 2012 - 08:18 AM

I can call myself the same, a progressive Christian that I am now, I do hope to develop the relationship with God in the ways mentioned by you above.

Submitted by storm cases on Apr 04, 2012 - 03:30 AM

It’s a very informative post. I enjoyed reading this post and thank you very much for writing a bit about Gospel of John and the mind of God. cctv systems Thanks

Submitted by cctv systems on Apr 04, 2012 - 06:46 AM

I totally surprised to read this enjoyable reading indeed. You touches me published very useful explained about The Gospel of John & The Mind of God. connect with talent agents Thanks!

Submitted by Tait Soneer on Apr 06, 2012 - 07:54 AM

Very holy post! Your discussion about “The Gospel of John & The Mind of God” seems to me pretty outstanding. Thanks a lot.

Leopard Bikini

Submitted by Shelly Katrina on Apr 07, 2012 - 03:45 AM

I think so this post is very interesting and usefull for all us. We must follow this every time.
traffic accident compensation
car accident claim

Submitted by accident claims on Apr 14, 2012 - 03:57 AM

Your snap shots are extraordinary. I enjoy the article content, it gets your visitors attached to your blog site. I’m a scholar and I am right now attacked with term papers, dissertation writing research papers, book reports essays papers and other jobs. I absolutely want to compose my own works however some aid is always welcome. I intend to make use of solidwriters.com for my own final buy dissertation project . I discovered them through search engine . Will keep you posted on the results.

Submitted by Online Dissertation Writers on Apr 15, 2012 - 11:17 AM

Very interesting gospel indeed! It’s well write up my dude bcoz I’m amazed to read that educative conception. SEO company Thanks a lot!

Submitted by Robert Jakson on Apr 16, 2012 - 01:44 AM

I wish to say thanks to you with respect to your weblog. You’ve gotten a considerable amount of unique material therefore the site is worth finding out about. I am a student in Washington dc and I have got an crucial school assignment scheduled this month. I’m jammed as well as get writers block presently as I am studying. Simply need anybody to help
me revise the free article I ran across using the web anabolic steroids essay. That document meets my personal specifications nevertheless is written in an awful manner and there are sentence structure faults. Do you think I would proceed? I’m simply desperate for aid, thus almost any hint will be great.

Submitted by Timurcync on Apr 16, 2012 - 05:09 PM