Sensus Divinitatis (2)

The beautiful sights you are seeing are from the Saguenay River near Tadoussac in Quebec, Canada.

Why am I posting pictures from Tadoussac ?

Well, many many years ago when I must have been around 4 years old, our family went sightseeing on this river.

And so this wilderness environment unfolded around me as our pleasure boat made its journey and impressed upon me something of a greater Being unlike myself (as much as one could say I had a sense of "myself" at the time).

I may have been slightly awestruck. The experience did present itself to me as an inescapable one, most definitely.

I am quite convinced that it was my first encounter with what the Bible speaks of in Romans 1:20 .

Now would that experience at the tender age of 4 or thereabouts have been sufficient to lead me to a true knowledge of God ?

I feel the best "true knowledge" imparted to me on that occasion was what was in fact true of myself from my birth : that which the Bible calls being "in Adam".

And so being "in Adam" I was potentially on the road to engage in the practices being denounced by the Apostle Paul in the immediate context of that passage.

After that experience at the age of 4 years I was irrevocably changed having been confronted perhaps for the first time with my lostness.

Salvation not by Works

[9] After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb.

They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands.

[10] And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb."

[11] All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God,

[12] saying:

"Amen!
Praise and glory
and wisdom and thanks and honor
and power and strength
be to our God for ever and ever.
Amen!"

(Revelation 7:9-12)

This morning in church we sang a hymn which contained this phrase "Salvation belongs to our God".

What does this mean ?

One thing it must mean is that its' antithesis i.e. "salvation belongs to US" is completely excluded.

What does that imply ?

It implies that we [man] cannot do anything to earn, keep or work for salvation.

Isn't that great ?

Isn't that wonderful ?

Isn't that why the multitude are singing and praising the Lamb who is on the Throne ?

Sensus Divinitatis (1)

I went to the Technorati web site and did a blog search on the words "sensus divinitatis".

I actually also set up RSS feeds to come to my Yahoo feed reader anytime a blog post appeared in the blogosphere which contained this tag.

And so recently the RSS feeder served me up the following little gem on the subject.

It from a chap called Felipe Fontes who is no doubt a Christian and lives in Brazil (nice place).

Therefore the post was naturally enough in Portuguese.

Having fed the link through Google Language tools here it is in the Queen's English :

I believe in God, sovereign not servant, perfect in all His ways, transcendent, totally other, but One who becomes related in a pact of love with His creation.

I believe that God created all the existing, visible and invisible things, in the land and skies, and that when creating all the things God meant its perfect intention in accordance with them.

I believe that to the man this meant that God has endowed man with His image and similarity, and this implies that man can know God and the reality that encircles him.

It also implies that we are endowed with the knowledge of the divine - "sensus divinitatis", and that all rationalizations and lies against reality are nothing more than the attempt to suppress and to refuse the knowledge of God who requires devotion.

I believe that the knowledge of God and of ourselves is determinative for all and any type of knowledge, and that the fullness of the truth only can come after the tried and true knowledge of God and of ourselves.

Therefore, there enters a clear antithesis : the wisdom of the world, and the wisdom of God.

I believe that the only safe source of knowledge is the Holy Bible, inerrant and autoritative revelation of God to man.

I believe that my knowledge is achieved by the correspondence with the meaning determined by God for something at its creation, when found through the special revelation of the Bible, and the general revelation actually experienced in my heart “coram Deo”.

Being thus, I know!

Thanks Felipe.

There are a number of things I like about Felipe's formulation.

First, I like his first paragraph and particularly the expression where he speaks of God as "One who becomes related in a pact of love with His creation". This really says a lot not least of which that God's relation to us as His creation is, if I may say it without wishing in any way to be irreverent, maintained by means of that same glue that holds the Trinity together - love.

Second, he speaks of God as One who "requires our devotion" . Nothing is added to Him by our devotion, of course. Devotion is our right and proper response as the created and dependent beings that we are.

Finally, almost in a throw away fashion he seems to have identified the ontology of that dichotomy which has come to be known in New Testament revelation as the "wisdom of the world" versus the "wisdom of God" (see 1 Corinthians 1:18-31).

Scarborough Fair

Are you goin to scarborough fair? parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine Tell her to make me a cambric shirt, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Without no seams nor needlework, then shell be a true love of mine Tell her to find me an acre of land, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Between the salt water and the sea strand, then shell be a true love of mine Tell her to reap it in a sickle of leather, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme And to gather it all in a bunch of heather, then shell be a true love of mine Are you goin to scarborough fair? parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme Remember me to one who lives there, she once was a true love of mine

"70 Years Later Guernica Holds Secrets"

"70 Years Later, Guernica Holds Secrets" by Paul Haven is an interesting article.

70 years or 92 years.

Spaniards or Turks.

What is the difference ?

Adam and Eve were the first to do a dirty and then try to hide it
(read Genesis 3:1-13).

Human nature has not changed since Adam and Eve has it ?

If proof were needed here is your proof and just in time for Armenian Genocide Memorial day.

What is the solution ?

Is it political ?

No.

The solution is spiritual, not political. Anything else is not totally but mostly a waste of time. In any case, I'm convinced it's a waste of MY time so I'll leave it to the "activists". And i may send them a cheque to help them out a little. Maybe.

But i would rather the activists and those who are the targets of the activists realise together for their own sakes and for the sake of the rest of us that God has provided the solution.

What is the solution ?

It's right there in Genesis, right after Adam and Eve have made a mess of it for all of us : it's in Genesis 3:15. It's often called the "Protoevangelion" which in Greek (the theological language of the New Testament and of Christians) means "the first gospel". It is the first preaching of the gospel or the preaching of the gospel in advance. "In advance of what?" you ask. It's in advance of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Do you see Jesus ? Do you see Him right there at the very begining of history ?

Here is Genesis 3:15. Here is Jesus.

See Jesus - "The Offspring of the Woman" :

"And I [God] will put enmity
between you [the Serpent] and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel."

Three Christians Killed in Turkey

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Nobel Laureates call for tolerance, contact and cooperation between Turks and Armenians : best proposals yet to be tabled by any party.

Blogger: User Profile: Scott Starr : I really like this guy's profile -- cool !

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3 Christians murdered in Malatya, Turkey

Deaths mark first known martyrdom of Turkish converts since founding of republic.

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My All Time Favourite Car : The 1976 Alfa Romeo GTV (Sprint)

I also managed to find the Al Pacino movie where this car was featured --- in seconds.

Amazing thing, this Google.

Here is what one reviewer wrote :

“I gave this film 3 stars for the calm, romantic, almost "haunting style" the film projects onto the viewer....and Pacino's 1976 Alfa Romeo GTV sports car, driving around those old streets of Italy rated 2 stars all by itself!”

That’s what I remember from the movie, as well; although, I think the reviewer was being a little bit too generous : I would give the car 3 stars and the movie none, to be honest!

Global Warming's Cousin : Eternal Warming

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