Summary of text reading week 3 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Summary of text reading week 3 - Essay Example Immanence and transcendence are concepts that cross various attributes or perfections of God, where two such attributes are goodness and greatness. Immanence is God’s presence and activity within nature, human nature, and history (Erickson p 329). Transcendence is God’s separation from and independence of nature and humanity (Erickson p 338). To over-emphasize immanence would lead to a concept of loss of an active God, or pantheism, they believe God could not have existed before the natural order. To over-emphasize transcendence could lead to deism, where God has no role in humanity. To catalog all the perfections of God would be impossible because, God is above total understanding. Soren Kiekegaard’s view stated in Erickson’s text on page 341: â€Å"God and humans are of a different kind, we cannot reach God by adding more information or works God is God.† However, Ryrie does name a few of God’s perfections in his text. God’s greatness can be seen in His creation; also His greatness is seen in the resurrection of Christ Jesus from the dead. The word omnipotence describes God’s greatness. Omnipotence does not mean that God could always do anything against His nature, for instance God could never sin, lie or deny Himself. The perfection of goodness is another attribute of God. God’s goodness can be described as the ultimate source of all that is good. Swindoll describes on page 187: â€Å"the goodness of God is particularly featured in His Son Jesus who identified Himself as the good Shepherd.† (John 10:11, 14). Two of God’s perfections as described by Ryrie are eternity and infinity. Eternity as described by Ryrie is God existing backward and forward without interruption (Ryrie p 41). Infinity described by Ryrie means God is in no way limited by the universe or limits of time-space. God’s perfection of omnipresence means that God is present everywhere with His whole being at all