I would really appreciate a little clarity on the use of the words ‘divine’ and ‘divinity’, at least as they are commonly used on this Forum. I’m always a little confused as to whether it means co-eternal, or omnipresent, or omnipotent, or what exactly.
Can a person pray to ‘God’? Or ask ‘God’ for forgiveness? Or should we direct ourselves to one of the different personalities?
Well of course there’s a lot more that I’m confused about, but I would be happy for now to know about ‘divine-ness’.
Thanks. Not trying to start a brawl, just a clarification of terms.
Dave, speaking as a trinitarian: When I pray to “God,” I always mean the Father: trinitarian Christians pray to God the Father, through the Son, in the Spirit. “God” here functions almost like a personal name.
When I say something like: the Father and Jesus are both God or the Spirit is God or the trinitarian persons are equally divine, I signify by “God” the divine nature or being. Here “God” is functioning more like a common noun.
Does that clarify?
Thanks Fr. Kimel.
I know that this is an OLD thread, but somehow I never followed it until tonight!
I would like to clarify something, Jason, concerning your statement that I insist “on worshiping less than God Most High by religiously worshiping a Son I don’t think is God Most High.”
Whereas, it is true that I don’t think the Son is “God Most High”, for “God Most High” denotes the Father alone and not a complex, three-part Being called “The Trinity.” However the fact that the Son is not one of Three in such a complex, does NOT imply that the Son is LESS DIVINE than God Most High.
No, the Son is no less divine than the Father, because the Father begat Him. Just as your son is no less human than you are, because YOU begat him. However, just as a human father has a position in the family which is different from that of his son (the father has authority). So the Heavenly Father has a position of authority regarding His Son. Jesus made this clear in His statements that follow:
John 5:30 "I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
John 8:28 Then said Jesus unto them, When ye have lifted up the Son of man, then shall you know that I am he, and that I do nothing of myself; but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.
The question should not be who is the Holy Spirit, but what is the Holy Spirit.
As I see it, the Holy Spirit is the very persons of the Father and of the Son which they can extend to any place in the Universe. Our “spirits” are confined to our bodies, but Their spirit exists everywhere.