Poll: Does God Have Rules?

[pom2014]

Does God have rules he must follow himself?

 

[lforrest]

Where's the poll?

Anyways, How I understand it is God is capable of anything but will do nothing contrary to his purpose, So that he may be proven righteous. He is Holy and will not compromise his character.

I do not think he has rules, because rules are for those who are tempted to sin. What is sin if not defiance of God's will. He is Spirit and doesn't act contrary to his own will as humans may.

 

[aspen]

Yes. He acts by the rules of His nature. If he did not, He would be unknoweable

 

[OzSpen]

Does God have rules he must follow himself?

They are called the attributes of God:

• omnipresence,
• omniscience,
• omnipotence,
• immutability (i.e. unchangeable),
• holiness,
• righteousness/justice,
• goodness,
• love,
• benevolence,
• mercy,
• grace, and
• truth.

Oz

 

[StanJ]

I agree with Forrest...God has LAWS which convey His will. Rules are for organizations, not God.

 

[brakelite]

The only thing that limits God is His own nature of righteousness. For example, the Bible says He cannot lie. If He cannot lie, that means He cannot go back on a promise, unless the one to whom the promise is made doesn't meet the conditions. Then God is limited by our own stupidity, unbelief, unwillingness to accept what He has to offer...so perhaps not rules as such, but certainly God does have His limits...all governed by love.

 

[pom2014]

God has rules, laws, that he must himself uphold lest he becomes the enemy.

He cannot do anything he pleases as then the end would justify the means. That is the way of the enemy. He is bound by a strict code that he created for himself to be perfect (teleios).

Where's the poll?

Anyways, How I understand it is God is capable of anything but will do nothing contrary to his purpose, So that he may be proven righteous. He is Holy and will not compromise his character.

I do not think he has rules, because rules are for those who are tempted to sin. What is sin if not defiance of God's will. He is Spirit and doesn't act contrary to his own will as humans may.

Created the poll but it didn't save it.

 

[aspen]

I meant "knowable", btw

 

[JimParker]

No, God does not have "rules He must follow."

Who would judge God for not following rules?

Who would make rules for God to follow?

To whom is God submitted?

Rules are for people because people, if left to their own devices, would murder, lie, cheat, steal, rape, pillage, plunder, etc. etc. etc.

 

[pom2014]

So God doesn't have personal responsibility but we must have personal responsibility even though we were commanded by God to teleios like he is.

Convolution much?

 

[StanJ]

So God doesn't have personal responsibility but we must have personal responsibility even though we were commanded by God to teleios like he is.

Convolution much?

pom, if you're going to use Greek, give it some context, otherwise it is convoluted.

 

[pom2014]

Teleios (perfect) means to be the best you can be.

Jesus calls for us to be that kind of perfect like God is that kind.

How can God be perfect if he has no rules, laws or code that he places upon himself to remain perfect?

There must be some measure of rule that he imposes on himself. For if he imposes rules on us but not him he would be a hypocrite.

Like the father that makes rules of the house and then breaks them. What example does he set?

 

[aspen]

Rules dont stop bad behavior, Jim. An unfallen character follows perfect norms and is knowable because of the consistency

 

[StanJ]

Teleios (perfect) means to be the best you can be.

Jesus calls for us to be that kind of perfect like God is that kind.

How can God be perfect if he has no rules, laws or code that he places upon himself to remain perfect?

There must be some measure of rule that he imposes on himself. For if he imposes rules on us but not him he would be a hypocrite.

Like the father that makes rules of the house and then breaks them. What example does he set?

I think it means a lot more than that if God is teleios.

God doesn't need rules, He needs obedience and allegiance.

He is GOD, perfect and impassible, not subject to what we emotional human being use.

God is not LIKE any of us, but in some way we can reflect God in our lives, or at least Godly characteristics/traits.

 

[pom2014]

Ill have agree to disagree.

I see he has a code to live by. Which to what makes him good. Without a code he'd be a fickle and chaotic god.

 

[FHII]

I wouldn't say he has rules he "must" follow, but he does have rules he "does" follow. This is going to enrage people, but by human standards, he does bend the rules.

Its well known that heb 6 says God cannot lie. BUT on several occasions he did send lying spirits. He also sent strong delusions.

Another point is that when God got fed up with Israel he told Moses to stand aside so he could kill them all. Moses actually withstood God and reminded him what the Word said. God agreed! Now, he didn't kill them, but he did let them wonder in the desert for 40 years.

Overall, I don't think we should think too much on it. We can rest assured that his Word is truth and that he is faithful in keeping his promises.

 

[StanJ]

Ill have agree to disagree.

I see he has a code to live by. Which to what makes him good. Without a code he'd be a fickle and chaotic god.

No, God is God which is why He doesn't need a code. He IS LOVE and many other positive attributes assigned to Him in the Bible, perfection being one of them. That does not require He follows rules.

 

[aspen]

"We shouldn't think too much about it"?

I think this is a huge problem in Christianity today. It is also the key to achieving the ability to interpret the Bible literally all the time.

God can't lie even if the writers assassinate His character in place of their dammitable desire to make Him sovergn at the expense of His character.

Mans need for an all powerful God at the expense of his character leads to hypercalvanism the worship of the Bible over God.

There a good book called " why I am not a Calvanist" which explains exactly what I am talking about
Stan, how can God be knowable if He does not follow His own nature? I think you are confusing rules with punishment. Gravity is a law or more simply a rule we must abide by - no one is going to punish us for breaking the rules of gravity, but if we do not follow them we will cease to continue in our present form (death for example) god is the same - if He ceased to follow the rules of His own nature He would cease to be defined by His nature

 

[FHII]

Yes aspen, we shouldn't think too much about whether God must follow rules or not. Did you read where I expounded on that point? God's Word is truth and continues in every generation. We can take comfort in knowing he means and follows up on what he says.

Do you believe that the writers -- the prophets and apostles -- really assassinated God's character or do you believe that they were lead by his spirit and wrote it just as God wanted it written?

In other words, do you believe the bible is God's word?

What does Calvin have to do with any of this? Have you ever read his writings directly? I'm not talking a wikipedia article or biased church website article. ... have you actually read any of his books?

I have. And many would be shocked at the myths that exist about him. In short, hr wasn't a calvinist! Much in the same way Peter wasn't catholic!

 

[StanJ]

I think, you have me and FHII mixed up aspen?

Also BTW, I am NOT a Calvinist?