Marie Hugershoff: Discussion Questions

1.If you had to pick two stories (narratives specifically, not just passages) from the Bible that best illustrate what God is like, which would you choose? Select one story from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament, then explain your choices.

For the Old Testament story I choose the story of Hosea and Gomer. I think this story expresses how loving, caring and forgiving God is. In Hosea Chapters 1-3 God expresses how the story of Hosea and Gomer represent God's relationship with Israel, but I think it also represents Gods relationship with all people. In the story of Hosea, God tells Hosea to marry a prostitute, Gomer. Gomer is unfaithful to Hosea, and sleeps with other men, and conceives children with other men. In the first part of chapter 2 of Hosea, he writes about what Gomer deserves because of her unfaithfulness, he writes about shaming Gomer in front of her lovers, and even leaving her to die.  But in the second part of chapter 2 God says that he will win her back. He talks about how he will forgive and protect Israel, saying "I will make you my wife forever, showing you righteousness and justice, unfailing love and compassion. I will be faithful to you and make you mine, and you will finally know me as the Lord" (Hosea 2:19-20). God promises to love and care for Israel, despite the fact that they were unfaithful and turned from him. God does the same for us now, even though we sin and we turn away from God, He always forgives us because of His unfailing love.

For the New Testament I choose the parable of the lost sheep. I love this parable so much, although it is simple, every time I read it I feel so loved by God. We are the sheep in the parable, and God is the shepherd who searches for us until we are found. This story shows how much God loves each of us individually, and that He rejoices when we join His kingdom.

2.What do you think Augustine's statement that "whoever denies the Trinity is in danger of losing his salvation; whoever tries to understand the Trinity is in danger of losing his mind"?

Augustine's statement that "whoever denies the Trinity is in danger of losing his salvation; whoever tries to understand the Trinity is in danger of losing his mind" I think is a very accurate statement. I would question if someone really knew God and understood the gospel if they denied the Trinity. I think that by denying the Trinity it would be very easy to not have a real relationship with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, because you are denying a huge aspect of who they are. As Micheal Bird wrote "To study the gospel- the God who handed over his Son, who raised him up again, and who sent his Spirit into our hearts- is to be propelled toward the study of God's triune being, his divine attributes, his actions of creation and revelation, as well the divine purpose and plan of all things." (pg91), so if someone were to say that they deny the Trinity, it would be safe to assume that they had studied the Gospel in some capacity to come to that conclusion. If by studying the Gospel you came to the conclusion that there is no Trinity, that means that you are misinterpreting the Gospel, which could mean that there are other aspects of the Gospel that you are misinterpreting, like salvation. The Trinity, although it is a very important, is a very difficult concept to understand because it is a heavenly concept that I don't think humans were meant to fully understand. So by trying to fully comprehend how the Trinity works and why God designed it that way, it would be very easy to go crazy.

Both stories you chose are great representations of God's love for his children. The story in Hosea is incredibly moving and breaks my heart that Israel is compared to a prostitute. Can you imagine how God must feel when His very creation wants little to do with Him and turns to other gods? It makes me want to love Him even more! He deserves all the affection we can give Him because as you point out in the lost sheep parable, he searches until we are found and rejoices when we join His kingdom!