God and emotions

[Hilde89]

I was just wondering something in regards to God and emotions. We are created in the image of God, but he can’t have mood swings like we have because he is absolute. What I wonder is if what we do can make him happy or sad. If it does how does that make/not make it relative? Does he become happy/sad about something eternally due to his pre-knowledge?

I know there must be something weird with my thought process but I am here to learn.

 

[_Locke]

You might find this article interesting -

God Without Mood Swings

 

[tonyrey]

I was just wondering something in regards to God and emotions. We are created in the image of God, but he can’t have mood swings like we have because he is absolute. What I wonder is if what we do can make him happy or sad. If it does how does that make/not make it relative? Does he become happy/sad about something eternally due to his pre-knowledge?

I know there must be something weird with my thought process but I am here to learn.

Not weird at all but perceptive! Your question is also related to divine immutability. We were told by Jesus to pray “Forgive us as we forgive those who trespass against us” - which implies that God responds to us according to the way we behave. This suggests that He is not static or unchanging. Nor can He be unmoved by the suffering of His children - or by their decisions: “There will be more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner…” Obviously the Creator is not excluded from the sorrow or rejoicing which occur in paradise.

There is no doubt whatsoever that God suffers because in His humanity he was reviled, scourged and crucified. The Good News brought by Jesus is that the Creator is not a remote deity but a loving Father who cares for all His creatures. He shares His power with us and makes Himself vulnerable as He did on the Cross, exposed to rejection and hatred - even for all eternity. God is love and love entails passibility, i.e. the ability to suffer, as well as to experience joy and ecstasy.

Yet all this does not make God relative because “In Him we live, move and have our being”.
God is beyond time and space but He acts in time and space. **God does not change **but change occurs **within **God. This is obviously a spatial metaphor but there is no other way to describe His spiritual transcendence. Although we cannot hope to understand fully the divine nature with our finite intelligence it seems clear that the richness of our existence must reflect to a limited extent divine power, glory and perfection. God is love and love is necessarily personal, creative and dynamic. To echo John Keats:

“That is all you know on earth and all you need to know…”

 

[Katholish]

Tonyrey, I am afraid that your attempted synthesis ends up making God mutable despite your assertion to the contrary.

This suggests that He is not static or unchanging.

It suggests nothing of the sort. If you deny that God is unchanging, you have denied the very essence of what it is to be God. If you admit of potentiality in God (which must be present if there is change), then there is an aspect under which he “is not”, and hence His essence couldn’t be being itself. God wills somethings contingently. He wills that we go to Heaven if we die in the state of Santifying Grace and wills us to Hell if we die in mortal sin, but this does not imply a change in God’s will, but only a foreseen contingency neccessary for free will.

Obviously the Creator is not excluded from the sorrow or rejoicing which occur in paradise.

It depends what you mean by the terms sorrow and joy. We only know of these things as passions, and as such, God cannot have them.

There is no doubt whatsoever that God suffers because in His humanity he was reviled, scourged and crucified.

We can say that God suffers, but we also understand that we do not mean that the divine nature suffers or that the Father suffers (which is a heretical statement).

God is love and love entails passibility, i.e. the ability to suffer, as well as to experience joy and ecstasy.

Love most certainly does not entail passibility, otherwise it could not be a divine attribute.

God does not change but change occurs within God.

I know that you admit this is a spatial metaphor and hence has weaknesses, but even in the sense that you mean it, it is a dangerous statement.

In general, we cannot sacrifice God’s attributes of immutability and eternity when trying to explain His attributes of Love and Mercy.

 

[Hilde89]

Yeah, I’m rather confused now.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I was just wondering something in regards to God and emotions. We are created in the image of God, but he can’t have mood swings like we have because he is absolute. What I wonder is if what we do can make him happy or sad. If it does how does that make/not make it relative? Does he become happy/sad about something eternally due to his pre-knowledge?

I know there must be something weird with my thought process but I am here to learn.

No mood swings with God from the Christian bible?

really…are you entirely serious?

 

[inocente]

I interpret “God is unchanging” as meaning that God’s nature and character never change, because He is eternally perfect.

He can be as happy or sad as He wants because when all is said and done, He’s God and who are we to tell Him?

 

[Katholish]

Yeah, I’m rather confused now.

As you mentioned in your original post, God is absolute. While we can never fully comprehend God’s nature, there are aspects of His nature which we can at least begin to understand. For instance, we know that God is eternal. This doesn’t mean that God exists for an infinitely long time, but that He is outside of time altogether. This also means that God is completely incapable of change of any sort. Whenever there is change, there is also time, because one could refer to a “before” and an “after” whatever change occured.

Because God is outside of time and completely unchanging, He cannot have emotions, or mood swings, or anything else like that. Sometimes we tend to forget this because we speak of God’s love, and when we experience love, it is largely as an emotion. However, true love is not merely an emotion, but is an act of the will whereby we will what is good for some object we recognize as having goodness. This is what we mean when we say that God loves, and we even go further and say that God is love itself, because ultimately He is the good that is willed and the source of all goodness in other things.

Your original question was whether what we do makes God happy or sad, and the answer is that if we think of happiness and sadness as emotions, then no, what we do cannot make God happy or sad, but if you understand that God wills what is good for us, and sees that we accept the good, He sees the goodness in our decision and that we love Him in return. If we choose evil which God hates, then He sees that we have willingly rejected His love. Since He is outside of time, however, as you hinted at in your post, He “forsees” all of the decisions that we make, and hence there is no change from Him not knowing to knowing our decision.

 

[Big_Dummy]

scripture plainly says we can greve the Holy Spirit, I think thats an emotion, right?

 

[spockrates]

Feeling happy about, pleased with, and love for one’s child seems to me to be genuine examples of true emotion:

As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water. At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and lighting on him. And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

(Matthew 3:16-17)

"The man with the two talents also came. ‘Master,’ he said, ‘you entrusted me with two talents; see, I have gained two more.’

“His master replied, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!’”

(Matthew 25:22-24)

 

[Katholish]

Big Dummy and spockrates,

The Sacred Scriptures often use emotional terms to describe the actions or intentions of God, however, these are not understood in an absolute sense, but are modes of expression used so that the Jews (and us) would be able to have some imperfect understanding and association with God’s nature which in reality is so far beyond our comprehension.

The Scriptures also talk about God’s face, arm, back, finger, etc, but of course we don’t infer from that that God has a body of some kind with these parts. They are merely modes of expression to help us visualize and comprehend God’s actions and intentions.

When a human-like term is used to describe God, we call this an anthropomorphism, and the Scriptures are filled with them. Lest you jump to the conclusion that I am trying to introduce you to a new form of heresy, here is the Catholic Encyclopedia’s article on Anthropomorphism which can confirm that these expressions from the Scripture are not taken literally in Catholic exegesis.

newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm

The point of all of this is that while God does not have emotions, there is emotional language used to describe God in the Scriptures because emotions are the only way in which we humans are able to comprehend certain kinds of actions and intentions.

 

[spockrates]

Big Dummy and spockrates,

The Sacred Scriptures often use emotional terms to describe the actions or intentions of God, however, these are not understood in an absolute sense, but are modes of expression used so that the Jews (and us) would be able to have some imperfect understanding and association with God’s nature which in reality is so far beyond our comprehension.

The Scriptures also talk about God’s face, arm, back, finger, etc, but of course we don’t infer from that that God has a body of some kind with these parts. They are merely modes of expression to help us visualize and comprehend God’s actions and intentions.

When a human-like term is used to describe God, we call this an anthropomorphism, and the Scriptures are filled with them. Lest you jump to the conclusion that I am trying to introduce you to a new form of heresy, here is the Catholic Encyclopedia’s article on Anthropomorphism which can confirm that these expressions from the Scripture are not taken literally in Catholic exegesis.

newadvent.org/cathen/01558c.htm

The point of all of this is that while God does not have emotions, there is emotional language used to describe God in the Scriptures because emotions are the only way in which we humans are able to comprehend certain kinds of actions and intentions.

Katholish:

If God does not have emotions, then is love *not *an emotion? or do you think that love is an emotion, and since love is used as an anthropomorphism, the Father does not *really *love the Son?



“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

(Matthew 3:16-17)

 

[Katholish]

Spockrates,

I tried to explain this in a previous post. Love for us is experienced in a different way because we are material beings. Love, as an emotion, literally involves a physical change in our bodies (as do all passions).

Sometimes we tend to forget this because we speak of God’s love, and when we experience love, it is largely as an emotion. However, true love is not merely an emotion, but is an act of the will whereby we will what is good for some object we recognize as having goodness. This is what we mean when we say that God loves, and we even go further and say that God is love itself, because ultimately He is the good that is willed and the source of all goodness in other things.