to love is human; to manifest it is divine.

1. Why do so many Christians believe that God suffers? What difference does it make?

The most obvious reason that Christians believe that God suffers is the western Trinitarian view of Jesus as the full incarnation of God. Traditionally many hymns, sermons, and theological works have referenced the “suffering of the cross” to God himself. This is one emerging debate that divides the modern, postmodern, and emergent views of “who was (is) Jesus.” Furthermore the question of “what is a Christian?”

This poses a problem with the view that Jesus was the full incarnation of God is that if God is capable of suffering then this means he is ever-changing, rather than unchanging. To suffer one must change and adapt to the pain. This does not fit into the “boxed” definition of God. This poses a rift in the concept of a loving God as well. One could logically argue or articulate that Jesus was the full incarnation of God and that the act on the cross was not suffering but love. However, this poses another issue in that love has an element of adaptation to it. Love is imperfect….In that love shows vulnerability to emotion and feeling. If the cross was an act of Love and Jesus was the full incarnation of God, then God would be changing. That is not the traditional view of who God is.

In reflection: the act of the cross is not love…. it is mercy. God is not love…..for love makes him vulnerable to human condition. I am not suggesting an apathetic impersonal deity. I am suggesting that God is beyond Love (at least our definition of it) Yes, we might use the phrase “God is Love” similarly to “God as Man” as a matter of convenience. However, it is my conviction that God is not Love, nor gender specific. God transcends our definitions and dogmas into a unknown but experiential collision of mercy and grace...

to love is human; to manifest it is divine...