kuresu writes:
I may know my brother--I know who he is, what he is about, but do I truly Know him? When you make someone believable, it's just that--can this character be imagined to really exist, live, breath, and die?
And this, to me, is what seperates a believer from a non-believer. I look at it like this: There are three basic levels of
knowing.
1) Knowing
about someone. Someone perhaps like Carmelo Anthony. We know about Carmelo. Denver Nuggets hoopster. Wife with baby named LaLa. We have seen Melos likeness on T-Shirts and in the newspaper, perhaps. But how many of us have "met" Melo?
2) Meeting someone. Say we took it a step further. We "met" Melo one day. He interacted with us. Perhaps he only signed an autograph, but by definition he did something that let us know he was alive. Maybe an encouraging word. Maybe he even taught us how to shoot a jumper in the park. At any rate, at this point we can say that Melo is believable as a unique person--- not because of what we have read but because of what we had experienced in our encounter with him.
3) Day to Day- At this level, we would be close to Melo. We would be a team mate or even a family member. We would know the dudes favorite flavors, colors, hangups, and personality.
At this level and only at this level can the reality of the relationship be accepted--or rejected----based on an accurate choice.
Of course this all relates back to Jesus Christ who I believe to be Gods character. Were it not for the flesh and blood reality of Christ, God could never be experienced on a human level---nor could God really be known.
I believe that I am striving to reach the third level in my belief and knowledge of God.
Additionally, how could one ever get to level 3 without having experienced level 2?
God can only be anthropomorphic through Christ and can only interrelate with humanity this way, IMB.
Edited by Phat, : clarification..post expounded upon