I got this catechism text from an Orthodox Priest who is also a clinical therapist with a doctorate in psychological counseling, his insight is DEEP in regards to theology with a psychological lens..
the most impacting point.
Embracing a God who can make mistakes.
He explains very simply that it is our OWN psychological baggage and control-freak tendencies that make is project them onto our own imagined conceptions of God. To be sure, God is real, but the concept of God most people harbor in their minds is purely imaginary and it is then no wonder that they have little experience with a real or true God(s) because they are to busy thinking about an intellectual construction of God(s) with their mind, and not feeling or experiencing God(s) directly with the capacities of their hearts.
He thus explains that "people tend to be nervous about the idea of a God who makes mistakes, but this is because our OWN need for control is so great."
It is not that God has to be perfect, it is that we humans always feel that WE ourselves have to be perfect, and when we naturally fall short, we then feel guilt and anger and fear. Naturally we project these feelings of inadequacy onto our God because we feel them ourselves. But reality is reality, and we have little actual control over that fact. That being said, what is so wrong with the idea of a God who makes mistakes? If God is truly omnipotent and All-powerful, is it not also in the free power of God to make mistakes?
We feel threatened by this idea not because it is foreign to God or because God has to be inherently perfect, but rather because we believe that we
ourselves need to be perfect, and this need for perfection is
anthropomorphically applied to God.
If God exists, His existence is not dependent upon our own belief, and further He is not limited by
our own limitations. He does not have to be perfect simply because it is
our own ideal, but rather much as we have to embrace life with all its mistakes and bad days which are entirely out of our control, so to do we need to relinquish the idea of a perfect God, and allow God to exist on His own terms, not our own..
deep as the waves as Redondo Beach man, got my head spinnin like 100 spokes!
