The experience of God in His Transcendence is supposed to be complemented with the experience of God in His Immanence. The former understands God as "completely Beyond human reach"; the latter understands God as the "intimate all pervasive Being". The first is prone to objectify the experience in clear and distinct ideas about our relationship to God; the second prefers to describe similar experience. The former experiences God as cold and distant; the latter finds God an intimate all encompassing Force.

Stern objective legalism in religion which comes from the experience of the Transcendence, can be tempered with subjective personal flexibility which flows from the experience of the Immanent. The rigidity of community demands can be softened with a respect for the legitimate rights of the individual person.

Christians find the harmonious tension of the Transcendence and the Immanence in Jesus Christ. He reveals to us the "Completely Other", God the Father, not as an inexorable Force who punishes and rewards accordingly but a loving Father. He reveals also the Holy Spirit, the "intimate" Counsellor, Consoler and Guide who dwells in us. However, the Holy Spirit only reveals what He has heard from the Father and the Son.

But the Counsellor, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembering all that I have said to you. - John 14:26 -

When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth; for he will not speak on his own authority but whatever he hears he will speak and he will declare to you the things that are to come. He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. - John 16:13-15 -

So the experience of the Immanent cannot be subjective in the bad sense of the word. What the Spirit of God reveals conforms with the basic truths of objective revelation. A Christian, therefore, must discern whether what he/she receives is from God or from the Evil. Saint John tells Christians,

Beloved, do not believe every spirit but test the spirits to see whether they are of God; for many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit which confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God and every spirit which does not confess Jesus is not of God. - 1John 4:1-3 -

On the other hand, God the Father is not worshipped in ritualism nor obeyed legalistically for Christians "must worship Him in spirit and truth" - John 4:23-24 - We obey God the Father or the Transcendence because we love Him. If, out of love, we obey His laws which flow from His love for us, we will be perfected.

The subjective is tested by the objective; the objective is personalized by the subjective.

In a similar way, Jesus Christ holds together the demands of the community and the legitimate rights of the individual. The key to unlock this seeming contradiction is love. Love takes care of the needs of the individual in such a way as to build up the community. The community, on the hand, exists so that individuals can blossom to be full mature persons. Jesus said, "I came that they may have life and have it abundantly" - John 10:10 -

The most comforting result of the experience of Jesus Christ, God with a "human face" is the knowledge and experience of being loved and understood by God as we are: human beings with all our strong and weak points, with all our joys and sorrows, etc. God, having shared our human existence, tells us strongly in a way we humans can understand that He cares for us in all our joys and sorrows. Having experienced this, we are then able to communicate it to others: we try to love as God loves us. This experience is unique to Christians.

BY HIS GRACE BISHOP PAUL TAN CHEE ING, S.J.

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Sunday, May 24, 2009

I have through years of reading, pondering, reflecting and contemplating, the 3 things that last; FAITH . HOPE . LOVE and I would like to made available my sharing from the many thinkers, authors, scholars and theologians whose ideas and thoughts I have borrowed. God be with them always. Amen!

I STILL HAVE MANY THINGS TO SAY TO YOU BUT THEY WOULD BE TOO MUCH FOR YOU NOW. BUT WHEN THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH COMES, HE WILL LEAD YOU TO THE COMPLETE TRUTH, SINCE HE WILL NOT BE SPEAKING AS FROM HIMSELF, BUT WILL SAY ONLY WHAT HE HAS LEARNT; AND HE WILL TELL YOU OF THE THINGS TO COME.

HE WILL GLORIFY ME, SINCE ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. EVERYTHING THE FATHER HAS IS MINE; THAT IS WHY I SAID: ALL HE TELLS YOU WILL BE TAKEN FROM WHAT IS MINE. - JOHN 16:12-15 -