God talk

  The Soul, The Body and Their Capacities All of our capacities as human beings have remained intact although according to Herman Bavinck ‘deteriorated’. a.     Intellect; mental illness to geniuses b.      The will: We can do what we want to do- The great ones such as Alexander, Columbus, Galileo. c.       The feelings, the passions; love, hate, admiration (unregulated) d.      The body as an instrument of the soul; Paul calls the body flesh, body a prison for the soul (Plato); Bavinck mentions that there are 12000 illnesses in which the body denies its service to the soul.   That was in the 1920s, so the number has probably risen since then.     Reflection Everything about us survived the Fall but in a deteorated form.   We can see this in the corruption of the human race around every twist and turn.   Yet God keeps on blessing the human race by giving knowledge for cures and to make life better for everyone and yet on the other hand, although God pours his grace on nat

So what is the image of fallen human beings?  Follow me on this quest through the eyes of one of the greatest late 19th  and early 20th century theologians.  This quest is a real eye opener for me and it will also be for you. Now we move on to look at the following. 1.      Life or existence itself 2.      Soul and body and their capabilities 3.      Knowledge in the mind and holiness in the will (with scriptural proofs) 4.      Natural good and moral good   5.      Human dominion over nature We will now look at these sections individually and reflect on what Herman Bavinck the Master Theologian is explaining to us. Life and Existence Itself (1) So, after the Fall we deserved to die but this did not happen, God still poured out his love for the human race, Genesis. 4:2 “I have gotten a man child with the help of the Lord” Eve cried out””. At the same time however like the movement of the pendulum, “human life oscillates between Gods forbearance (patience) and his wrath “.    

  Bavinck in a nutshell says that sin wants to destroy everything.   God however has held evil and sin in check through punishments, pestilences, judgements, and devastations by natural forces. Bavinck uses Noah as an example of his time to show this (pages 148-149 Reformed Ethics, by Herman Bavinck edited by John Bolt) Bavinck then talks about how God in general has held back eternal and temporal death.   Though common grace is still a gift to the unregenerate (unsaved) so we can speak of natural theology, natural morality, and natural law. (page 149) This is an interesting sentence from the master theologian; “Natural humanity is outside paradise and not yet in the Kingdom of God, but also not yet in hell.” God is active in his forbearance (patience)not only passively “forbearing, suffering, allowing, or permitting.   It should also be understood as active… God causes us to exist, leads up and directs us” (page 150) REFLECTION Sin would have completely wiped out the whole