Dear Doug Essay

I am happy to hear you are adjusting to college life. I’m sure it’s a big change, but at least you have found friends to help you with the transition. It is also good to hear that you have a diverse group of friends, even though you do not all agree on the same thing. It will be a really good opportunity for you to show them the Christian view and maybe question their own beliefs. So I saw your question from Nathan about if God created all of nature, everything would be divine. No, not everything is divine, but God did create everything. Divinity has characteristics specific to itself that are lacking in finite (human) beings, animals, and material things. For instance, none of these are omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotence (all-powerful), omnipresent (always everywhere), or immutable (non-changing). Therefore, nature is created by the divine (God), and is a work of His creative nature, but nature is not divine in itself. Human beings were created â€Å"in the image of God†, meaning that He provided us with the knowledge and gifted us the Holy Spirit, which gives us a â€Å"connection†, a relationship with Him. Now the question about the trinity is hard for everyone to understand. Since we as human are very visual and physical we try to understand that trinity in our own terms, but since it is something out of our nature we have a hard time grasping the concept that God is three in one. In the essay â€Å"Are all Religions One† by Douglas Groothuis he explains that there is one God (Deuteronomy 6:4), who eternally exists in three equal persons: The Father (Ephesians 1:3), the Son (John 1:1), and the Holy Spirit (Acts 5:1-5). The trinity teaches that there is one divine essence that exists in three persons, not that one person equals three. Also I do not think God is a human invention. If we believe that we exist because of matter and chance then how could we trust our own minds? There would be no reason to trust our own mind since there is no absolute truth. Also everyone has a sense of right and wrong, well again evil could not exist if there was no truth, and God is our truth. I think it is pretty hard to make say God is a human invention and then have no explanation for the creation around us. Last but not least you asked about what is the Christian view of God. The Christian view would be that Physical and non-physical things both exist, such as morality, minds, souls, and numbers. Also while physical things change, non-physical things do not. Therefore, Christians believe that God (non-physical) exist and is unchangeable. Along with that he is all knowing and all-powerful, creating the universe in which we live. God is not dependable on us, but we sure are dependable on him. I hope this helps answers some of your questions, have fun on your date night! Cannot wait to hear all about it. Sincerely,