 | The Reverend Doctor Cathy Northrup was born in Ft. Meade, MD, and was raised in a variety of places in the United State and Germany, as her father was in Counter Intelligence with the Army. She graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Hamline University in St. Paul, MN, with a double major in English and Religion. She graduated from Georgetown Law Center in Washington, DC, and practiced law with the Federal Reserve Board for a number of years before attending Union Theological Seminaryin Richmond, VA. She graduated from Union, and served several churches in North and South Carolina, at the same time obtaining her Doctor of Ministry from Princeton Theological Seminary in Princeton, NJ. Dr. Northrup is currently the Pastor/Head of Staff of First Presbyterian Church, Wichita, KS. She is married and has two black Labrador dogs who were rescued from abusive situations. You can contact Dr. Northrup at cnorthrup@firstpresbywichita.org or by phone at (316) 263-0248, ext. 26. |
Religion
2009-08-01 12:16:00
Does God think?
Question: In Mark 8:33, our Lord rebuked Peter because he was thinking as a man and not as God thinks. I was reading this chapter this morning and for the first time I wondered, “Does God think? After all, He is all-knowing, all-logical, all-understanding…all-everything. I guess I have always thought, “God does.” Am I wrong?
Answer: You noted that a passage in the Bible caused you to wonder whether God “thinks” or whether God simply “does.” The passage you mentioned was Mark 8:33. In the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, the translation of that passage is “for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.” I believe this is a more accurate and helpful translation than the one you cited, or, perhaps, paraphrased.
But to get to the heart of your question, to say that God “thinks” is another way we anthropomorphize God. That is, in trying to understand God, we attribute to him human characteristics. The reality is that God is wholly Other than humanity; he is, as the Bible tell us, “spirit.” Therefore, we cannot simply anthropomorphize God in this way. God is; as God puts it, “I am who I am.”
