“He stooped — the ultimate Word became a single cell, and then a cluster of cells, and then visibly a baby, although still less than a pound, and then a child who kicked his mother from inside, delighting her immeasurably. He became a little child, and then, years later, He told us to copy Him in this demeanor — to become little children” (God Rest Ye Merry, p. 48).
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Hey Doug, please explain how the eternal Word can become a cell?
What a mystery. The Incarnation and the Trinity remain so difficult to ponder! Of course the Incarnation is a model for us: we, too, should yield ourselves in service to others.
Ron, I would be happy to explain that. If I could.
It’s quite simple. Take the limx → ∞f(x), ∑∞i = 1x, ∞∫√42 πr² f(x) dx, where x is the eternal Word, and f(x) is man’s history.
The most difficult thing for me is to understand how God has always existed. Then again, if we see time as something we alone are ‘in’, then time is the exception rather than the rule. Then it’s not so weird that God’s always been. The weird thing becomes the fact that we are NOT eternal. Once we get outside our confines, we will know how God is God.
Jon,
Joseph Campbell had an illustration that made it clear to me with his distinction between ‘Forever’ and ‘Eternal’; or ‘for all time’ vs the ‘eternal’.
Hold a ball or balloon in your hands. Imagine you are God and the ball or balloon is creation with all of history in it. From your perspective you can see all time at once, you are present everywhere at once at all times and you are also outside of time.
katecho, I knew 42 would be in there somewhere.
Timothy, that was very good. C. S. Lewis ‘eternal now’ is like that, I think. Joseph Campbell was an interesting figure, for sure. Merry Christmas!