heheheh

According to a pillar of the Sydney Anglican Diocese, the bible does not allow for a distinction between knowing God and knowing about God.

What do you guys think?

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:16 PM

True or False?

Is this a poll? :)

lol

How unlearned of me. Let me change it to a more suitable forum speak :)

True!

Who’s the pill...er?

Gordon Cheng - 09 August 2007 01:23 PM

True!

Who’s the pill...er?

You are my friend. My source comes from a well known group of bloggers

Hi Geoff,

Romans 1 seems to be drawing on such a distinction ;

18The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.
21For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles.

The challenge for all of mankind is to make the distinction between head knowledge and heart knowledge. I can read a book about medicine - and learn lot of facts - but that does not make me a doctor.

Cheers, Kevin

So Kevin you would agree with Gordo on this? Those who know about God know him also?

Does this then mean you can know God but not be in a relationship with him?

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:16 PM

What do you guys think?

I guess you mean “guys” in the biblical sense - ie guys and gals? :))

The word “know” has different shades of meaning. I seem to recall Packer was distinguishing between knowing something *about* God, and having a right relationship with God.

Sometimes the Bible has used the word “know” in this latter, more intimate sense, ("Adam knew his wife").

I think Gordo’s statement “This is not a distinction the Bible allows” (or whatever he said) may have been a little dogmatic.

Angus Johnson - 09 August 2007 01:27 PM

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:16 PM

What do you guys think?

I guess you mean “guys” in the biblical sense - ie guys and gals? :))

No, I want no women discussing this topic. They should ask their husbands at home instead :)

But more the colloquial sense than biblical.

Now stop ripping apart everything I say :)

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:24 PM

Gordon Cheng - 09 August 2007 01:23 PM

True!

Who’s the pill...er?

You are my friend. My source comes from a well known group of bloggers

So you took a poll to find out if I’m a piller. Does that make you a poller?

Oh, and if I had a dollar for every poller who called me a piller, it’d be a thriller.

Angus ;

I guess you mean “guys” in the biblical sense - ie guys and gals? :))

Yes - but not ‘knowing’ each other - in the biblical sense !

Cheers, Kevin

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:29 PM

Now stop ripping apart everything I say :)

There’s a fine line between playful and annoying ... perhaps I’ve stepped over it. Back to lurking now. :)

Hi Geoff,

Even Satan has a ‘knowledge’ of God - but you wouldn’t suggest that he has a ‘relationship’ with Him. I see a division there - a ‘gap’ theory if you like.

By the way, I think you were misinformed - and did not fully understand what you thought you heard about Gordon being a ‘pillar of the Sydney Anglican Diocese”.

I believe he was actually referred to as a pillow of the Sydney Anglican Diocese. Like the initial post, there is a VAST difference between these two images.

Cheers, Kevin

I’m not keen on the ‘head’ v ‘heart’ distinction. How we define head and heart today is different to the way the words are used in the NT (and OT).

Even so, I agree there is ‘knowing about’ that results in rebellion, idolatry and judgment v ‘knowing him’ in the sense of knowing relationaly / intimately just as Adam knew Eve.

It seems pretty clear to me that people can have an extensive knowledge of the Scriptures, be well aquainted with doctrine but have no true knowledge of God. ie they have no relationship with God.

‘The man who loves God is known by God.’ 1 Cor 8.3

Geoff Chambers - 09 August 2007 01:16 PM

heheheh

According to a pillar of the Sydney Anglican Diocese, the bible does not allow for a distinction between knowing God and knowing about God.

What do you guys think?

I think that you’ve misquoted Gordo. What he said on the other thread was:

Gordon Cheng - 09 August 2007 01:12 PM

I draw no distinction between knowledge of God and knowledge about God. That’s not a distinction the Bible allows.

‘Knowing God’ is a different concept to ‘knowledge of God’. I suspect that ‘knowing about God’ and ‘knowledge about God’ are slightly different concepts too.

But getting back to Gordo’s original words. I’d have to say he’s right. ‘Knowledge of’ and ‘knowledge about’ are logically the same thing. But this is different to ‘knowing God’ in the sense that Geoff intended. For example, Christians necessarily think that Muslims have knowledge about God and knowledge of God (because Muslims accept the Gospels as scripture, except for the bits that they don’t like). But they don’t know God in the way Christians do, because they reject the important bits (Jesus’s death and resurrection).