***Welcome! Please visit the Welcome Tab to learn more!***
I'm learning so many amazing things! Did you know there is a Biblical Purpose for Mathematics??? Will you sit with me for a moment (even if you are number shy)? I'd like to invite you to get to know our Creator in this area. :)
Did you know that numbers reflect God in that they are 1) infinite, He is infinite and 2) They are absolute, He is absolute. Not too long ago, I learned that it goes even deeper than that!
When Mr. Booton (a Master Teacher in a Christian Heritage Academy) read Genesis 1:1 (God created the heaven and the earth...) he observed that God didn't create the principles of arithmetic. He explained that the 'principles of arithmetic aren't created because they are inherent in the nature and character of God.' You know and I know that God is not a created being. Did you ever realize that since He has always existed (and that before creation) He was able to count His thoughts, time, the Three Persons of the Divine Trinity, etc.??? This means that since God has always been able to count, the principles of arithmetic have always existed! Doesn't that fascinate you???
Mr. Booton's reasoning is quoted below:
"1. The idea of 'one' has always existed as an attribute of God's nature.
2. Since God is a Trinity, the idea of 'three' has always existed.
3. The idea of 'two' has always existed because there was a Second Person of the Trinity (Jesus Christ)."
Do you see how these ideas suggest the idea of counting forward and backward?
(Source: A Guide to American Christian Education by James B. Rose, Page 235)
"How much math is really needed in life?" is a question that was recently pondered in a group discussion. I have to admit, I've wondered that myself. But as I study the rudiments (the origin.... the beginning....) of mathematics, I see how important it is to try to understand and learn as much as possible because it reveals more about the character and nature of God. Numbers are important to God. Matthew 10:30 tells us that the very hairs on our head are numbered. Psalm 139:17 says that if we should try to count God's thoughts they would be more in number than the sand.
Mr. Gordon C. Olson is quoted:
"Evidently from the foregoing, it is proper to refer to the Godhead in both the plural and the singular.The plural is proper because there are three Personalities so distinct that They may perform specific functions and actions separately. And yet there is a profound unity among the Members of the Godhead. Evidently, this is a compound unity, as in Gen. 1:1 and 1:27, where the plural "Elohim" for God acted together in creation in such a manner that a singular verb could be used. We must, it appears, lean away from an elementary concept of unity into the realm of compound unity."
"The particular attributes of God from which arithmetic is derived are: Unity, which suggests the idea of one or of the unit; Trinity, which suggests the idea of counting- one, two, three; Endless duration of time, which suggests the idea of counting units of time to eternity past and to eternity future (i.e., counting forward and counting backward); Eternity of being, which again suggests the infinity of arithmetic; and Unchangeables, which suggests that each operation of arithmetic results in only one correct answer. (Unchangeables in arithmetic is called the closure property, which is reasoned from the fact that arithmetic presupposes the counting of real things, and is not a mental fabrication. It originates in the counting of the persons of the Trinity.) Both James 1:17 (which declares that with God there "is no variables, neither shadow of turning.") and Hebrews 13:8 ("Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and for ever.") are particularly powerful expressions of God's unchanging character."
(Source: A Guide to American Christian Education by James B. Rose, Page 235)
Great post Heather. I look forward to reading the one on the depression. Thanks for sharing the link on the Bible Principles group.
ReplyDelete