Schmemann

I agree with Schmemann when he said that man sinnned not because of food, but because of hunger or more specifically the lack therof. Man lost their hunger for God and because of that we fell away and left God. He uses food as an analogy in order to help us understand. Which I think was a brilliant idea for all of the foodies in the world who might not understand God. Everyone understamds food, and real food can help us understand spiritual food.

Chesterton

1. What is Chesterton saying here? In your response, be sure to include how he interprets or understands how MODERN people see the world and how that contrasts with how he is casting a vision for seeing the world.

Chesterton understood the modern view of the people as them rejecting repetition and seeing it as boring and uneventful. They look at the world almost like it's a radio, if there is constant change then everything is in order and the world is "working". But if it starts to repeat then something is wrong and the radio is dying or dead. While in God's eyes repeating something has the same meaning as when a child wants something to be repeated. When babies love something they want you to do it over and over and over again, it is almost the same with God. He loves things and because of his love for it he wants it to be repeated. That is how we should see the world.

2.  What does Chesterton mean when he writes that God is like the child who each day says to the sun and the moon "Do it again?"  Why is this so significant in our understanding of the created world?  How does this contrast with the modern view of scientific materialism?

As mentioned in the previous answer, a child when they find joy in a certain thing they want it to be repeated. Chesterton, when he compared God to a child was saying that God finds immense joy in watching the rising of the sun and moon, and never tires of it due to it's beauty. This shows that our world is not meaningless in contrast to the modern views of scientific materialism.

3.  How do you understand his statement. "It may be that He [God] has the eternal appetite of infancy; for we have sinned and grown old, and our father is younger that we"?

To me this means that we have been tainted by sin and therefore, we must suffer the affects of sin, which also means that we cannot see the world in it's full beauty. we see sin, and because it does not satisfy us we constantly want a change of scenery. While God can see the true beauty of things and appreciate it without tiring of it.

4.  How does Chesterton's vision of the world compare and/or contrast to the way you view the world? If we truly made it a point to train ourselves to see the world according to his vision, what do you think might happen as a result - in our lives and our interaction with the world around us?

I agree with Chesterton's vision because we tend to take things for granted, and if we could see things the way God sees them, then I think that we would be satisfied, and we would respect God's creation more and not ry to play God in creating "new" things.

The Incarnation

When Christ became incarnate, He literally took on the form of a human being, he left his Godly
form to help us, which shows that he loves and cares for us. He limited himself in order to save us, knowing that he would not readily be accepted. I think that Christ becoming incarnate shows us that we are treasured, Christ, the son of God came down to earth to die to save us, we are truly, truly loved.

Tozer ch 22 and 23

1).In his writing on God's sovereignty, Tozer says that God is "absolutely free...to do whatever He wills to do anywhere at any time...Were He less than free He must be less than sovereign."
(p. 108). How do you respond to this statement (return to the context)? Why do you think Tozer links God's freedom to his sovereignty?

I agree with Tozer. God is above everything, and he has no limits, he has absolute freedom. If God were any less free, then he, like us, would have boundaries. He would have rules to follow, and if there are rules, then there must be some higher order where the rules came from. Rules are given by those in power to those with less power. If God had rules to follow then it is implied that there is someone with more power than Him, and we know that God is the most powerful being ever. God's sovereignty implies total and complete power, which means no boundaries, and complete freedom.


2).Tozer uses the analogy of an "ocean liner" (p. 111) to try and elucidate (make clear) how he sees the interrelationship between God's freedom & sovereignty and the human free will. Does this analogy help you? Why or why not?

This analogy actually does help me, because it was always hard to understand how God gives us free choice even though he knows where we will end up. The destination is the end of this world, while on the boat we can do whatsoever we please, it is our choice. Once we reach our final destination, it is our choice to join God, or to stay on the boat, which is eternal death.


3).In the chapter, "The Open Secret", Tozer renames what he believes is the "most critical need" of the church of his time. To address this problem, he offers 6 imperatives or conditions that need to be met in order to experience a remedy. Do you tend to agree or disagree with Tozer on these points? Why or why not? Which of the six do you believe to be the most necessary? Why?

All are undoubtedly important, but I believe that the Second is the most important. In order to stand firm in our faith, we need to be fully committed to God, we need to give our life to Him. The Bible says that there will again come a time when those who follow Christ will be persecuted, and in order to hold firm to our beliefs we need a strong relationship with God, and by first giving our lives over to God, we can then build until we are solid in our Faith.