Kristi
Sp
wrote:
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Hi, guys —
- If the angel Gabriel told Mary, Jesus was
to be called the Son of God, how can Jesus
be God?
- Also, if Exodus 20:4 and Psalms 115:4, 8 state you should not use idols or statues
in worship, not even for personal use or
for making them, why do Catholics do this?
- If God is just a title, like president and judge are, how can God be His Name?
- If God wanted us to know Him, why wouldn't
he tell His Name, like a person being introduced
to a new-found friend?
Kristi
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{
Why do Catholic use statues in worship, is
Jesus really God, and is the Holy Spirit really
a Person? }
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Mike
replied:
Hi, Kristi —
This is a common question; it's even in our searchable knowledge base:
https://www.AskACatholic.com/SiteSearch
There are a lot of quick answers there, so give it a try.
I searched the knowledge base for you and found these web postings that should help:
Hope this helps,
Mike
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Eric
replied:
Hi, Kristi —
God is not a name or
a title; it's Who He is. You are
a human, He is God, although God certainly
transcends any category.
He did reveal His Name to us. His
name is YHWH (blessed be his name).
This is usually rendered LORD
God (small caps) in most modern
Bibles, but it is really God's name
as revealed to us.
By tradition, however, it is not
used, so as to avoid using it in
vain and violating the Second Commandment.
As for images, check the links below.
Also note a few things. God commanded
some images to be made, so images
are not inherently sinful:
18 Make two cherubim of beaten
gold for the two ends of the propitiatory, 19 fastening them so that one cherub
springs direct for each end. 20 The
cherubim shall have their wings
spread out above, over in the
propitiatory with them; they shall
be turned toward each other, but
with their faces looking toward
the propitiatory."
(Exodus 25:18ff).
- God also commanded bronze serpents
to be made so that the people
might be healed. (Numbers 21:9)
- Solomon carved gourds and flowers
for the temple (1 Kings 6:18)
- and palm trees, too. (1 Kings
6:29).
This was pleasing to the Lord. What
the commandment forbids, then, is worshiping idols, not making images
per se.
- How can Jesus be God if he is
called the Son of God?
Simple.
- Can your son be called human
if you are human?
Of course. God begets God. Remember,
God is not a title or a name, but
a type of being. (though God transcends
the very category of being.) The
Son is a different Person than the
Father, and so it is possible for
one to beget the other, yet both
are God and together, with the Holy
Spirit
(a third Person), they form the Most
Holy Trinity, three Persons in one
God.
Eric
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Kristi
replied:
Hi, Eric —
Thanks for the reply, but the Holy
Spirit is His Active Force, not a
person.
- What does YHWH mean in English?
Many think that because His Name
in Hebrew was a Y, it was a J in
English.
- Did the Israelites ever had
idols?
- What did God think when they
made a golden calf at Mount Sinai?
Kristi
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Eric
replied:
Kristi,
You said:
Thanks for the reply, but the Holy
Spirit is His Active Force, not a
person.
Let me ask you a question.
I was once convinced of that until
I read the Scripture, 1 Corinthians
12:11:
11 But all these operations
the one and the same spirit performs,
making a distribution to each
one respectively just as it wills.
- How can an active force will?
The very definition of a person is
a being who can will. That's what
makes a person, a person; thus the Holy
Spirit is a person.
Also see John 14:26:
26 But the helper, the Holy
Spirit, which the Father will
send in my name, that one will
teach you all things and bring
back to your minds all the things
I have told you.
- How can an impersonal force teach
anyone anything?
Finally see Acts 5:1-11, the story
of Ananias and Sapphira. In Acts 5:3, Peter asks,
3 Why has Satan emboldened
you to play false to the Holy
Spirit and to hold back secretly
some of the price of the field?
The one that was defrauded was the
Holy Spirit. In Acts 5:4, Peter
says,
4 You have played false, not
to men, but to God.
So it was God that was defrauded.
The conclusion? That the Holy
Spirit must be God.
You said:
- What does YHWH
mean in English?
It's a name. It has no direct translation
or meaning. It is however related to the
verb to be.
You said:
Many think that
because His Name in Hebrew was a
Y, it was a J in English.
That's obsolete scholarship (19th century). All modern scholarship
renders it YHWH rather
than JHVH. What happened was that, in the
manuscripts, the word was written
with the vowels of Adonai,
which is the word that was read instead
of YHWH when the Scriptures were
read. (The vowels served as a
reminder to say Adonai.) Those
vowels mistakenly ended up migrating
to the English rendering of JHVH,
rendering it Jehovah.
(Say Adonai and Jehovah together
and see.) Thus Jehovah has the wrong
vowels and half the wrong consonants.
Let me ask you a question.
- Do you refer to your father by
his name?
No, I'd hazard to say you do not,
out of respect for him. Similarly,
we do not address God by His name.
Pagans thought that if they knew
a god's name, they could control that
god and get them to do what they
wanted. How disrespectful it would
be to address our God by His Name.
You said:
- Did the Israelites
ever had idols?
- What did God think
when they made a golden calf at
Mount Sinai?
Israelites worshiped idols, wrongly
of course, but as I said, God also
commanded them to make graven images,
including the bronze serpents, which
brought healing. Jesus compared himself
to these bronze serpents, prefiguring
His Crucifixion:
14 As
Moses lifted up the serpent in the
wilderness, even so must the Son
of Man be lifted up.
(John 3:14)
Eric
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Kristi
replied:
Eric,
Yes, but He used His Holy Spirit
to make things.
His Active Force is also His Will.
Read Genesis 1.
It doesn't mention the Holy Spirit.
I'll do a little more research.
Kristi
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Eric
replied:
Kristi,
You said:
Yes, but He used His Holy Spirit
to make things.
Well, yes, all the Persons of the
Holy Trinity are always involved
in every action of God.
They act in concert just as one contractor
might delegate another contractor
to do work, so might the Father have
delegated the person of the Holy
Spirit to make things.
You said:
His Active Force is also His Will.
Read Genesis 1.
It doesn't mention the Holy Spirit.
Sure it does. You just have to go
back to the Hebrew. It says,
"God's ruach was moving
to and fro over the surface of
the waters." Genesis 1:2
Ruach is a Hebrew word that
means breath, wind, or spirit. (The
translation active force is
not a literal translation
— it is a misleading paraphrase.)
It is the same word found in:
Note that the verse I quoted says
nothing about Jehovah. It says:
11 The same [holy] spirit performs,
making a distribution just as
it wills.
1 Corinthians
12:11
The willing is proper to the Spirit.
- Why would it say this if the
will is proper to Jehovah?
It says it, not he.
That proves it.
Again, a will is not a force. A will
is part of one's rational faculties.
You have a will.
- Do you have an active force that
is your will?
- Is your spirit not distinct from
your will?
Eric
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Kristi
replied:
Eric,
Genesis 1 says, his active force,
right?
He said let light come to be.
- If God Himself created everything,
where was the Holy Spirit?
John 1:2 says, 2 this one was
in the beginning with God.
His Holy Spirit isn't his son and
it's not a person.
Matthew 3:16 said it came descending
down as a dove.
- If God is the Holy Spirit too,
where did that Holy Spirit come
from (and/or) who said,
This is my son from
Heaven?
Kristi
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Eric
replied:
Kristi,
You said:
No, this is a terrible paraphrase.
The Hebrew word, ruach, means breath,
wind, or spirit.
Check out different translations. Yours
is the only one that translates it active
force.
You said:
He said let light come to be.
- If God Himself created everything,
where was the Holy Spirit?
Hovering over the waters, but I thought
you said God used the Spirit to create?
You said:
John 1:2 says, 2 this one was
in the beginning with God.
You're confusing the Word — Jesus
— with the Spirit. (John 1:1,
14)
You said:
His Holy Spirit isn't his son and
it's not a person.
But it wills! According to your own
translation! Only a Person can will.
You said:
Matthew 3:16 said it came descending
down as a dove.
Sure. And if you looked at Revelation
5:6 where Jesus is portrayed as a
Lamb, and if you took this out of context
and knew nothing else, you might
not think He is not personal, either,
but other verses suggest He is, just
as other verses suggest the Spirit
is.
In Genesis 18, three men visit Abraham.
They prophesy the birth of Isaac.
It seems that this was a revelation
of God, the Holy Trinity (verse 13,
verses 16-17, verses 22 and 33, and 19:1) so here
we have a epiphany of the Holy Spirit
where he appears in a personal form
rather than an impersonal one.
You said:
- If God is the Holy Spirit too,
where did that Holy Spirit come
from (and/or) who said, This is my son from
Heaven?
The Father said This is My
Son. I'm not sure what you
mean by, where did that Holy
Spirit come from.
- He came from Heaven in the form
of a dove; not what we would expect,
true, but who are we to tell God
how He is to appear, or make arbitrary
judgments about how He can appear?
So my point is don't take the dove
appearance out of context, and conclude
that the Holy Spirit must be impersonal (i.e. an active force and not a person) because He once appeared as an animal.
Eric
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Eric
followed up later:
Hi, Kristi —
Here is something that might help
you understand the Holy Trinity.
We know that God is Love (1 John
4:8).
Love, of its very nature, is
not selfish (1 Corinthians 13:5),
but is directed toward another person.
God exists from all eternity. If
God is love, then God must be loving
for all eternity, yet one cannot
love without another person to love.
This means that it is impossible
for God to be love without another
eternal person to love, thus it is
necessary for there to be more than
one eternal person in God. Otherwise,
there can be no authentic love, for
a solitary person cannot love (nor
can God, who is eternal, depend on
something not eternal, viz. creation,
to be Who He is.)
Eric
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