Notes from the Catechism I was sitting in Church last Sunday and picked up the catechism. I was looking for guidance on the Eucharist, but I came across an earlier entry and this was the result:

To be created in the image of God means that we are free to make choices. We understand that without our free will, our love for God would be meaningless. We also tend to believe that God does not have free will. God has no choice but to act in certain ways. We see God as omnibenevolent, which limits the choices we believe God will take. We try to take away God's will.

It would seem that defining God limits him. This isn't a new idea. Almost every good theologian has recognized this flaw. However, God is limitless and ineffable. We can never fully understand God and therefore our definitions fail.

Does this mean that our definition of God as omnibenevolent fails? It has to. It can, at best, point to one theological belief about God, but it cannot define God, not even in the smallest amount.

When we attach broad labels to God we miss the importance of ineffibility. We make the mistake of treating God like a human being. This seems reasonable, since we are an image of God. Perhaps our sense of importance and racial ego has led us to believe that we are THE image of God, not merely AN image of God. This is theism, which is slowly dying in some quarters and being fiercely defended in others.

Our growth out of theism is a sign not of our understanding God, but our acceptance of God, leading to love.  ¶ 8:22 AM