God talk

                                                                                                                                  Photo by Katie Hollamby from Pexels Bavinck with his incredible theological mind can make something trivial such as eating, drinking, sleeping and walking which he calls natural goods, as he says are neither good nor evil.   Then he goes on by saying that these things can become good and evil by the way they are used.   It all depends on the inclination… he gives the example of lust or laziness. On three concentric circles one has the centre ‘spiritual’ then the middle ring ‘moral’ and on the outer ring the natural.   Bavinck says that these have not been destroyed but weakened.   He goes on to say that moral good has also remained and some think that even Pagans can be saved.   The Pelagians, Socinians and the Jesuits would take this view about the virtues.   Against this he mentions Tertullian on sin: Sin is not only external but internal as well.   Wh

  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 “.