D
djeter
Guest
***Man can have true knowledge of his Creator through his experience of creation, apart from supernatural revelation.
Man is severely limited in his capacity to know God without the help of supernatural revelation.
Man, as a fundamentally religious being, instinctively seeks revelation. In his acknowledgment of the deep mystery that encompasses him he looks for the will or the word of another to offer meaning, explanation, direction, help, assurance, salvation. This is evident in his endless and timeless pursuit of: fortune telling, horoscopes, channeling spirits, clairvoyance, magic, casting of lots, omens, oracles, signs, portents, interpretations of dreams. He seems to be aware at some base level of his limitations in and of himself, to understand the answers to the ultimate questions that haunt him.
In His divine wisdom, God chose to reveal Himself in ways that far surpass man’s natural ability to know Him. God teaches and leads the human race back to Himself patiently and mercifully like a Father training up child. God humbles himself to speak to us in our own human language. God speaks to us through both word and deed.
Faith is required of us to embrace this Divine Revelation, but this faith rests on the absolute authority of God as the One who is revealing. Faith and reason are complimentary and mutually beneficial in coming to knowledge of God. They both ultimately arrive at the same truth, but one through the supernatural help of grace and the other through our own natural efforts. In God’s plan of Revelation he willed that there be aspects that remain accessible to our natural power of reason in order to confirm us in our faith.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of Revelation.***
How do we know all this? A Fr. Young who has a parish in Maryland put this together. I thought it very clever and punched it up with some desperately needed formatting.
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/02/26/revelation-and-revelation-a-primer/
dj
Man is severely limited in his capacity to know God without the help of supernatural revelation.
Man, as a fundamentally religious being, instinctively seeks revelation. In his acknowledgment of the deep mystery that encompasses him he looks for the will or the word of another to offer meaning, explanation, direction, help, assurance, salvation. This is evident in his endless and timeless pursuit of: fortune telling, horoscopes, channeling spirits, clairvoyance, magic, casting of lots, omens, oracles, signs, portents, interpretations of dreams. He seems to be aware at some base level of his limitations in and of himself, to understand the answers to the ultimate questions that haunt him.
In His divine wisdom, God chose to reveal Himself in ways that far surpass man’s natural ability to know Him. God teaches and leads the human race back to Himself patiently and mercifully like a Father training up child. God humbles himself to speak to us in our own human language. God speaks to us through both word and deed.
Faith is required of us to embrace this Divine Revelation, but this faith rests on the absolute authority of God as the One who is revealing. Faith and reason are complimentary and mutually beneficial in coming to knowledge of God. They both ultimately arrive at the same truth, but one through the supernatural help of grace and the other through our own natural efforts. In God’s plan of Revelation he willed that there be aspects that remain accessible to our natural power of reason in order to confirm us in our faith.
Jesus Christ is the fullness of Revelation.***
How do we know all this? A Fr. Young who has a parish in Maryland put this together. I thought it very clever and punched it up with some desperately needed formatting.
payingattentiontothesky.com/2010/02/26/revelation-and-revelation-a-primer/
dj