seems pretty convenient to try to limit God's characteristics with a little known figure of speech, Anthropopatheia. Yet He created us in His image.
I have a few problems with this. Among which, I cannot find "anthropopatheia" in the bible itself.
I would suggest that this kind of doctrine is of human origin. Not of the Creator..
who am I, to cast God's characteristics in terms of what that I think that He should not be..
So these fall mostly within the category of “personification” which gives things which are not human traits that are human I suppose for the purpose of making it more relatable and understandable to humans.
This would rather be in the normal laws and usage of the language Koine Greek as opposed to the Bible being a Koine Greek language instructional. Since Koine Greek is a dead language it would take awareness of this type of thing to get at the meaning.
Is the Bible completely a human construct? Or does it have content inspired by God? Or is it divine revelation word for word? What you think as an answer there more dictates the answer you will get.
So these fall mostly within the category of “personification” which gives things which are not human traits that are human I suppose for the purpose of making it more relatable and understandable to humans.
and what is it to be human,
we are in the image of god --- what that means may be more of a factor
The reason behind the phenomenon you describe is that God is a fictional character whose attributes developed over time. Superman could not always fly. But after a while, he could. Same with Yahweh. He was originally a humanoid. He became Spirit when the plot dictated it. He was originally smart and wise. He became Omniscient when the plot demanded he be all-knowing. He was stronger than his enemies, but he did not become omnipotent until much later.
When you look at the earliest scriptures in light of the later plot developments, you can't make sense of them. So you invent figures of speech to make figurative that which was literal from the start.
As someone who's played AD&D- and, more to the point, someone who has RUN AD&D campaigns- (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons), one of the things a Dungeon Master (DM) has to account for is deities, beings characters worship. Now, in the classic versions, humans have statistics that range from 3 to 18, with 10 being average. So, someone with as great a natural ability as they could have would have a score of 18. (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.) So, an intelligence of 18 is a super-genius, a Sherlock Holmes or other extreme intelligence. A world-class weightlifter would have a Strength of up to 18 (we can discuss the exceptions another time.) You get the idea.
So, a character with an intelligence of 3 will frequently misunderstand things that the more-normal player might not, and certainly more things than the average character (Intelligence 10) would. Characters with an Intelligence of 18 understand things that those others can't even imagine. (Imagine Einstein and Sherlock Holmes discussing things with Newton, and Gilligan and Gomer Pyle walked in and tried to follow along. Just wouldn't work.)
So, deities have stats also, but theirs almost always start as low as 19, and go up to 25, all of it above what is expected for a character. In the game, deities all have limitations as well, but from the perspective of a human character, they don't seem to have any. A deity with an Intelligence of 25 (there are a number) thinks on levels far beyond the average GENIUS, let alone the average character.
If there's actually an Almighty God, one with the capacity to create the Universe and its laws to make an orderly universe, He would have an intelligence that would leave behind Intelligence 25 "deities" like nothing.
It is difficult to think like a deity with an Intelligence or Wisdom of 25. To think like one with an Intelligence or Wisdom of 8000 is far more difficult. I might not understand His emotions at all... except when He's making an effort to communicate on my level. (Raising a kid has taught me a LOT about that particular thing. )
The reason behind the phenomenon you describe is that God is a fictional character whose attributes developed over time. Superman could not always fly. But after a while, he could. Same with Yahweh. He was originally a humanoid. He became Spirit when the plot dictated it. He was originally smart and wise. He became Omniscient when the plot demanded he be all-knowing. He was stronger than his enemies, but he did not become omnipotent until much later.
When you look at the earliest scriptures in light of the later plot developments, you can't make sense of them. So you invent figures of speech to make figurative that which was literal from the start.
The idea of God as a social construct is plausible.
But back to the original question I really wasn’t aware that a figure of speech like that in general use at the time would limit God with respect to having emotions or not. I thought it was the opposite - that it was describing He could have them like we do.
Regarding Superman I would counter that Jerry Spiegel always had the vision of him flying but it was introduced developmentally with the comic story.
limited in knowing. Scary enough for humans.. I would suggest.. humbly of course.. knowing EVERYTHiNG is way overrated. Whose standard is this? mans or Gods?
Try this with students in a tutoring context. No, you do NOT know everything.. they hope that you do, but no, you do not.
But, you know enough, or not enough depending on what is needed..
Those that don't like circular reasoning, well, sometimes that is what keeps the world going around.. maybe it is good enough for now..
in all that twi stuff I went through and learned, I knew I didn't have anything like what was taught by in the bible, two different things I think, the bible's teachings and twi's teachings
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Nathan_Jr
I would suggest the the same. Any concept of God is born of and put together by human thought.
Exactly.
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cman
I think God has emotions...
it says things like he was pleased and that he loves...the others are there I'm pretty sure
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Rocky
Totally!
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chockfull
So these fall mostly within the category of “personification” which gives things which are not human traits that are human I suppose for the purpose of making it more relatable and understandable to humans.
This would rather be in the normal laws and usage of the language Koine Greek as opposed to the Bible being a Koine Greek language instructional. Since Koine Greek is a dead language it would take awareness of this type of thing to get at the meaning.
Is the Bible completely a human construct? Or does it have content inspired by God? Or is it divine revelation word for word? What you think as an answer there more dictates the answer you will get.
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cman
and what is it to be human,
we are in the image of god --- what that means may be more of a factor
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Raf
Unbeliever interruption:
The reason behind the phenomenon you describe is that God is a fictional character whose attributes developed over time. Superman could not always fly. But after a while, he could. Same with Yahweh. He was originally a humanoid. He became Spirit when the plot dictated it. He was originally smart and wise. He became Omniscient when the plot demanded he be all-knowing. He was stronger than his enemies, but he did not become omnipotent until much later.
When you look at the earliest scriptures in light of the later plot developments, you can't make sense of them. So you invent figures of speech to make figurative that which was literal from the start.
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WordWolf
As someone who's played AD&D- and, more to the point, someone who has RUN AD&D campaigns- (Advanced Dungeons and Dragons), one of the things a Dungeon Master (DM) has to account for is deities, beings characters worship. Now, in the classic versions, humans have statistics that range from 3 to 18, with 10 being average. So, someone with as great a natural ability as they could have would have a score of 18. (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.) So, an intelligence of 18 is a super-genius, a Sherlock Holmes or other extreme intelligence. A world-class weightlifter would have a Strength of up to 18 (we can discuss the exceptions another time.) You get the idea.
So, a character with an intelligence of 3 will frequently misunderstand things that the more-normal player might not, and certainly more things than the average character (Intelligence 10) would. Characters with an Intelligence of 18 understand things that those others can't even imagine. (Imagine Einstein and Sherlock Holmes discussing things with Newton, and Gilligan and Gomer Pyle walked in and tried to follow along. Just wouldn't work.)
So, deities have stats also, but theirs almost always start as low as 19, and go up to 25, all of it above what is expected for a character. In the game, deities all have limitations as well, but from the perspective of a human character, they don't seem to have any. A deity with an Intelligence of 25 (there are a number) thinks on levels far beyond the average GENIUS, let alone the average character.
If there's actually an Almighty God, one with the capacity to create the Universe and its laws to make an orderly universe, He would have an intelligence that would leave behind Intelligence 25 "deities" like nothing.
It is difficult to think like a deity with an Intelligence or Wisdom of 25. To think like one with an Intelligence or Wisdom of 8000 is far more difficult. I might not understand His emotions at all... except when He's making an effort to communicate on my level. (Raising a kid has taught me a LOT about that particular thing. )
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chockfull
The idea of God as a social construct is plausible.
But back to the original question I really wasn’t aware that a figure of speech like that in general use at the time would limit God with respect to having emotions or not. I thought it was the opposite - that it was describing He could have them like we do.
Regarding Superman I would counter that Jerry Spiegel always had the vision of him flying but it was introduced developmentally with the comic story.
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chockfull
Yes this makes it circular lol. We are humans in the image of God who has human characteristics. Lol
This is the perfect timing for the Killers performance of Human. With the lead singer in a bird costume.
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cman
more like linear imo, which can be just as limiting in knowing...
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Ham
limited in knowing. Scary enough for humans.. I would suggest.. humbly of course.. knowing EVERYTHiNG is way overrated. Whose standard is this? mans or Gods?
Try this with students in a tutoring context. No, you do NOT know everything.. they hope that you do, but no, you do not.
But, you know enough, or not enough depending on what is needed..
Those that don't like circular reasoning, well, sometimes that is what keeps the world going around.. maybe it is good enough for now..
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Ham
Does God have to know everything.. I would say no. He does not, unless He chose to. In which case I would have to agree.. hehe
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cman
knowing that you don't know is pretty smart
in all that twi stuff I went through and learned, I knew I didn't have anything like what was taught by in the bible, two different things I think, the bible's teachings and twi's teachings
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Ham
It really is kind of nice not having to know everything..
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