Goal • First we looked at our understanding of God as Creator. Last week we explored the

notion of human sin. This week ask ourselves: How did God respond to human sinfulness? We believe that God entered into human history in a radical new way, leading us to a new future. Today we glimpse the beginning of this. We will see its fullness as we explore the person of Jesus Christ.

Agenda • Welcome/Housekeeping (5) • Prayer - The Shema & Glory Be (5)

Hear O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord alone!

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

• Presentation: Images of God (25) • Video: Images of God, Fr. Haase, OFP

• Discussion: (10) • What are my main images of God? • How has my image of God changed through in my life?

• Break (10) • Presentation: Evil, Original Sin, & God in History Part 1 (40) • Old Testament Passages Discussion: (15)

• What image does this passage give us of God? • What does God desire for His people in this passage?

• (if time) Large Group Discussion: Old Testament Images of God (5)

Housekeeping • Groups

• We have assigned groups that will be steady each week going forward • We’ll be adding new people as they arrive • We’ll be shifting people around a little to balance groups • Let me know if there are any changes you need made • Each group will occasionally be asked to bring potluck food to share.

• Oct. 28 Retreat • Oct. 28th RCIA Encounter Day Retreat….. RSVP (including carpool) via the link

in the recent RCIA emails. We’ll spend the day at Pt. Bonita YMCA Conference Center, in the Marin Headlands from 9am-5pm, including Mass and lunch. $15 dollars suggested donation per person for retreat. Complete the poll in the weekly RCIA email to help arrange carpools. Our topics will include the Holy Spirit and Prayer. The address is is: 981 Fort Barry, Sausalito, CA 94965.

• Allergies or Food Requirements?

Seeker

3October

17St. Dominic’s RCIA Program

The Christian Story: God In History

• Ongoing • Browse through the Bible Journey packets on the front table if you’d like some

extra introductory reading on various topics. • Make sure you’ve looked through the Participant’s Guide, Part 1 • Make sure you’re receiving weekly emails from me and have seen our RCIA

webpage. • Please make sure you sign in and leave your nametag behind when you leave

Handouts • Session Overview (this sheet) • Answers to your Questions • Slides: Images of God • Slides: God In History • Some Old Testament Images of God for Discussion

Preparing for next week (Topic: God in History, Part 2): • Reflection Questions:

• What are some individuals or groups or entities that place expectations upon you? What are those expectations? How do you know what they are? What would happen if you don’t meet those expectations?

• What is the difference in your mind between a contract and a covenant? • What do you imagine God expects of you? • Do you believe that God responds to you if you don’t meet certain expectations?

If yes, how would you describe what you envision, or experience, his response?

Questions and Answers: October 16, 2018Total questions: 72Questions answered: 16

Questions Asked on October 09, 2018 (Seeker 2)Question Importance Topic(s) Answer Expected

I don't believe in original sin. Convince me otherwise. Important Moral Reasoning/Sin

Questions Answered on October 16, 2018 (Seeker 3)Answers

I grew up in a family that DID not practice religion and focused on science as the creation of all things. I'm havingdifficulty reconciling the "POWER" I feel in my newfound interest in fatih and how to balance with a science-based upbringing. How have you helped people understand or be more tolerant of those that can relate to ahigher order (which I think I have and am here to explore). Thank you! (Importance: Important, Topics:Creation/Science)

It's true that many find it difficult to reconcile a scientific and a faith-based approach to the world. However, theCatholic faith tradition is very clearly supportive of scientific endeavors and ways of thinking about and exploring theworld around us. The Catholic faith understands that God gave humanity the gift of reason and that it should beaffirmed and used in proper relationship to all our other gifts (ie. love, freedom, faith, etc). In fact, the CatholicChurch and institutions that it has inspired and managed (ie. medieval universities, hospitals, the Vatican observatory,etc) have often been at the cutting edge of developing and applying the scientific method in order to betterunderstand the world and its physical processes, past and present. A Catholic priest first proposed the Big Bangtheory. A Catholic priest pioneered the study into genetic hereditary science. As we discussed in the Seeker 1 and 2sessions, the key to reconciling the religious and scientific ways of knowing is to recognize that they are askingdifferent questions about reality. Science asks what and how things are. Religion, in its authentic form, asks whythere is anything at all, what our purpose is, and who human and God are, and what most authentic relationship witheach other is. Clarifying the scope of these different questions and recognizing the dignity of both religion andscience are good ways to help people understand and be more tolerant of those who do, or do not, relate to a higherorder.

There is a subsection of Christians who do tend to reject science, and who expect faith to answer scientific questions,and therefore tend to do away with science when it doesn't suit them. It's easy for people to confuse their issues withthe views of all Christians. All Christian groups believe in creation (i.e., that God created the universe). SomeChristians, we'll call them "creationists," believe that creation took place as depicted in the Bible (e.g., the Earth isonly about 6000 years old). For creationists, theories like Evolution or the Big Bang are not possible, but for mostChristians the notions of Creation and Evolution are simply talking about different things. Pope John Paul II, inspeaking in an address to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences in 1996 acknowledged that the Church is not against theconcept of Evolution as long as it leaves room for God and Creation. God can use Evolution as a means of creation, butEvolution alone can't speak to the notion that God created out of love. Be aware that science has it's own limitations.Science can tell us something about the chemical reactions in the brain when we fall in love, but it can tell us verylittle about love itself. For me the limitations of science are best captured in a quote by well-known astrophysicistStephen Hawking in his book: A Brief History Of Time:Even if there is only one possible unified theory [governing theuniverse], it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universefor them to describe? The usual approach of science of constructing a mathematical model cannot answer thequestions of why there should be a universe for the model to describe. Why does the universe go to all the bother ofexisting? Is the unified theory so compelling that it brings about its own existence? Or does it need a creator, and, ifso, does he have any other effect on the universe? And who created him?

Images Of God

Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD alone!

Therefore, you shall love the LORD, your God, with your whole heart, and with your whole being, and with your whole strength.

Take to heart these words which I command you today.

Keep repeating them to your children. Recite them when you are at home and when you are away, when you lie down and when you get up.

Bind them on your arm as a sign and let them be as a pendant on your forehead.

Write them on the doorposts of your houses and on your gates.

shema yisra’el: Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Glory be to the Father and to the Son

and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning is now and will be forever.

AMEN.

The Glory Be

Images of God

Images of God• Why should we explore our image of God?

▪ We have different images of God• We seldom take the time to reflect on our image• We can easily focus on specific attributes and ignore others

▪ No one’s image of God is God• God is more than we can imagine• Our image grows throughout our life

▪ Our image impacts/is impacted by other areas of our life• Image of self, faith, world, work, family, etc.

▪ Sometimes our image of God is called into question• Traumatic events• Encountering the limits of our image can be traumatic

▪ Questioning our image can lead to growth

Our Image Is Connected To Other Images

• Our Image Of……Our self

• What we deserve• What we have to give

…Others• How we should treat others• The rights and dignity of others

…The world• How we treat the world’s resources• Optimistic or pessimistic outlook

Our Image Often Comes From…• Our Parents

▪ As the people charged with helping us grow• Those Who Represent The Faith To Us

▪ Teachers, priests, parishes, friends, etc.• Our Experiences

▪ Good and bad• Our Personality

▪ The way we see and approach the world• The Ways We Inform Ourselves

▪ Media, books, culture, etc.

The Bible

• Many Images Of God▪ We often focus on only a few▪ Not recognizing the growth throughout the Bible

• We Can Be Too Simplistic▪ Old Testament – God (Harsh, Punishing)▪ New Testament – Jesus (Nice, Unchallenging)

Our Image Of God IS Not GodGod transcends all creatures. We must

therefore continually purify our language of everything in it that is limited,

image-bound or imperfect, if we are not to confuse our image of God—"the

inexpressible, the incomprehensible, the invisible, the ungraspable"—with our

human representations. Our human words always fall short of the mystery of God.

Catechism of the Catholic Church - §42

Some Attributes Of God

• Love▪ God himself is an eternal exchange of love, Father, Son,

and Holy Spirit, and he has destined us to share in that exchange. (CCC §221)

• Goodness▪ All that is good participates in God’s goodness

• Knowing▪ Knows everything, and everyone…knows our true self

• Truth▪ “God….can alone impart true knowledge of every created

thing in relation to himself.” (CCC §216)

Dogma versus Heresy

“Dogma doesn’t make it all clear. Dogma pushes you beyond positions

that are too small…Heresies are where you settle for

something that is too tiny…Dogma isn’t giving you the answer,

it’s pushing you beyond the small answers…Dogma is provocative,

it makes you go on thinking.”Fr. Timothy Radcliffe

Former Master General of the Dominican Order

Recognizing Our Limitations• An Image of God that is Too Fixed

▪ Try to force the world to fit that image▪ Our faith is shaken when an experience doesn’t

fit• An Image of God that is Too Loose

▪ God asks or expects nothing from us▪ Anything goes

• Both Extremes Are Tempting, but Bad Faith

Rejecting God• Sometimes We Walk Away From God

▪ At least away from the God that we’ve created• Our Experience Of The World Doesn’t Match

▪ Therefore…God does not exist▪ Instead of…maybe I need to reflect on my image

of God• Sometimes People Walk Away From The

Image of God That We Or Others Present To Ourselves

Images of God▪ Is our image of God like ourselves? (or is

it shaped by a particular culture?)• Similar approach to the world as we have• Similar way we would solve problems• Similar limitations we have

You Are Not God

“You can safely assume that you’ve created God in your

own image when it turns out that God hates all the same

people you do.”Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird

Images of God• Is God Male?

• Old man with flowing beard, amidst a court of angels• Wisdom…• Male dominance…

As I watched, Thrones were set up and the Ancient One took his throne. His clothing

was snow bright, and the hair on his head as white

as wool.--Daniel 7:9

God Is Not Male or Female

In no way is God in man's image. He is neither man nor woman. God is pure spirit in which there is no place for the difference between the sexes. But the

respective ‘perfections’ of man and woman reflect something of the infinite

perfection of God: those of a mother and those of a father and husband.

Catechism of the Catholic Church - §370

Are Our Images Of God Growing?For we know partially and we prophesy

partially, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I

used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly,

as in a mirror, but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know

fully, as I am fully known. 1 Corinthians 13:9-12

How Our Image Changes• By Outside Initiative

▪ Significant experiences (positive and negative)▪ Influence of our culture▪ The movement of the Holy Spirit in our lives

• By Personal Initiative ▪ Personal reflection▪ Seeking knowledge▪ Entering into discussions

• We recommend taking the initiative!

Video: Fr. Haase, OFM• .

Discussion

• What are my “images" of God?

• How has my image of God changed throughout my life, if at all?

God In History

RCIA Seeker 3

Genesis 1-11 Review

▪ God creates in power and goodness ▪ Human beings in the image of God ▪ Harmony, i.e., no killing ▪ Warning us of limits (not testing us)

▪ Sin and division enter the world ▪ Through human free choice, not God’s plan ▪ Psychology of temptation

▪ Fixating on what we can’t have ▪ Placing negative motivations on God ▪ Desiring control (I determine what is good)

REVIEW: The Problem of Evil• If God is good, powerful, and all-knowing,

and if all God created is good,…..• Why is there evil and suffering in the world?• The Christian response:

• Evil is not on the level of God• Evil is the absence of good• Evil is the result of freedom, of sin.• The condition of love is the possibility of evil• Providence—God can bring out a greater good from

evil and sin.

Ever recurrent Reality

• Punishment• Arising out of our actions

• Result• Separated from God, not abandoned• At odds with each other

We all experience (every man & woman): • “the desire to incorporate the variety of life without

inhibition or interdiction.” • “instinctual, rebellious urges fueling that desire” • “cleverly concocting justifications”

Original Sin» Sin of the first humans, passed to all

humanity» Are Adam and Eve historical?» Are all humans born with personal guilt?» Consequences of original sin» Why we need a Savior» Baptism and Original Sin

QUESTIONS?

Genesis 4-11

• Sin, division, violence spread • Cain & Abel • Noah • Tower of Babel

Evolving Destruction

We can view Genesis 1-11 as

posing a question:

How will God respond to human sin?

A God of Relationship

Beyond Genesis 11 we get our answer:

God enters into human history in a radical way, offering a new future.

Genesis 12: The Call of Abram

The LORD said to Abram: "Go forth from the land of your kinsfolk and from your father's house to a land that I will show you. "I will make of you

a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I

will bless those who bless you and curse those who curse you.

All the communities of the earth shall find blessing in you." Abram went as the LORD directed him.

Genesis 12-50 Video

The Story Unfolds (Genesis 12-50)

• God enters into a relationship with Abraham & Sarah • Abraham has two sons Ishmael and Isaac • Only one with Sarah (Isaac)

• Isaac has two son Esau and Jacob • They quarrel with each other for primacy • Jacob tricks his father, getting the blessing

• Jacob wrestles with an angel • Becomes Israel • Has 12 sons, names of the 12 tribes of Israel

• Joseph left for dead or sold • Rises to prominence in Egypt • Due to famine, family ends up joining him in Egypt

The Story Unfolds

• Pentateuch (5 books, A.K.A., the Law, or Torah) • Refuge in Egypt turns to slavery • Story of the Exodus to within sight of Canaan

• “Historical” Books (Joshua – 2 Maccabees) • Settling in Israel and the time of Judges • Kingdom period (beginning with King David) • Division, destruction, exile, occupation, revolt

• In a historical time, but not a historical sequence • “Wisdom” Books

• Preserve and instruct, a way of life • “Prophetic” Books

• Calling the people (often leaders) back to God

TORAH (Pentateuch, or the Law)

HISTORICAL BOOKS

WISDOM PROPHETS

*Forming the world *Forming a people *Slavery in Egypt *Journey to Canaan

*Settling in Canaan, *Israel’s kingdoms *Division and exile *Post exile stories

*Wisdom for living *Turn back to God and God’s ways!

Genesis Exodus Numbers Leviticus Deuteronomy

Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 & 2 Samuel, 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Tobit, Judith, Esther, 1 & 2 Maccabees

Job Psalms Proverbs Ecclesiastes Song of Solomon Wisdom Sirach

Isaiah, Jeremiah Lamentations Baruch, Ezekiel Daniel, Hosea Joel, Amos Obadiah, Jonah Micah, Nahum Habakkuk Zephaniah, Haggai Zechariah Malachi

Old Testament Summary

• Story of God in relationship with a people • Story of a people struggling to remain faithful to

that relationship • Story of “forces”

• External: Struggling to dominate or eradicate • Internal: Fit in, take control, renew • Covenants, Land, King, Temple • Laws, Sacrifices, Festivals

• Many • Genres, Images of God, Expectations of God

Discussion

• Old Testament Images • Exodus, Proverbs, Ezekiel

• Questions for your group’s passage: • Re-introduce yourself to your group. • What image does this passage give us of God? • What does God desire for His people, in this passage?

Some Old Testament Images of God for Discussion NAB Genesis 11:1 The whole world spoke the same language, using the same words. 2While men were migrating in the east, they came upon a valley in the land of Shinar and settled there. 3They said to one another, "Come, let us mold bricks and harden them with fire." They used bricks for stone, and bitumen for mortar. 4Then they said, "Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the sky, and so make a name for ourselves; otherwise we shall be scattered all over the earth." 5The LORD came down to see the city and the tower that the men had built. 6Then the LORD said: "If now, while they are one people, all speaking the same language, they have started to do this, nothing will later stop them from doing whatever they presume to do. 7Let us then go down and there confuse their language, so that one will not understand what another says." 8Thus the LORD scattered them from there all over the earth, and they stopped building the city. 9That is why it was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the speech of all the world. It was from that place that he scattered them all over the earth.

NAB Genesis 45:4 "Come closer to me," he told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: "I am your brother Joseph, whom you once sold into Egypt. 5But now do not be distressed, and do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you. 6For two years now the famine has been in the land, and for five more years tillage will yield no harvest. 7God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. 8So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made of me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. 9"Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: 'Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come to me without delay. 10You will settle in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me-- you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own. 11Since five years of famine still lie ahead, I will provide for you there, so that you and your family and all that are yours may not suffer want.'

NAB Exodus 3:1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock…Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. 3So Moses decided, "I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned." 4When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, "Moses! Moses!" He answered, "Here I am." 5God said, "Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 6I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7But the LORD said, "I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. 8Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.

NAB 2Chronicles 7:15 Now my eyes shall be open and my ears attentive to the prayer of this place. 16And now I have chosen and consecrated this house that my name may be there forever; my eyes and my heart also shall be there always. 17"As for you, if you live in my presence as your father David did, doing all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and ordinances, 18I will establish your royal throne as I covenanted with your father David when I said, 'There shall never be lacking someone of yours as ruler in Israel.' 19But if you turn away and forsake my statutes and commands which I placed before you, if you proceed to venerate and worship strange gods, 20then I will uproot the people from the land I gave them; I will cast from my sight this house which I have consecrated to my honor, and I will make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

NAB Song of Songs 2:8 Hark! my lover-- here he comes springing across the mountains, leaping across the hills. 9My lover is like a gazelle or a young stag. Here he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, peering through the lattices. 10My lover speaks; he says to me, "Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! 11"For see, the winter is past, the rains are over and gone. 12The flowers appear on the earth, the time of pruning the vines has come, and the song of the dove is heard in our land. 13The fig tree puts forth its figs, and the vines,

in bloom, give forth fragrance. Arise, my beloved, my beautiful one, and come! 14"O my dove in the clefts of the rock, in the secret recesses of the cliff, Let me see you, let me hear your voice, For your voice is sweet, and you are lovely." 15Catch us the foxes, the little foxes that damage the vineyards; for our vineyards are in bloom! 16My lover belongs to me and I to him; he browses among the lilies.

NAB Proverbs 3:1 My son, forget not my teaching, keep in mind my commands; 2For many days, and years of life, and peace, will they bring you. 3Let not kindness and fidelity leave you; bind them around your neck; 4Then will you win favor and good esteem before God and man. 5Trust in the LORD with all your heart, on your own intelligence rely not; 6In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths. 7Be not wise in your own eyes, fear the LORD and turn away from evil; 8This will mean health for your flesh and vigor for your bones. 9Honor the LORD with your wealth, with first fruits of all your produce; 10Then will your barns be filled with grain, with new wine your vats will overflow. 11The discipline of the LORD, my son, disdain not; spurn not his reproof; 12For whom the LORD loves he reproves, and he chastises the son he favors. 13Happy the man who finds wisdom, the man who gains understanding! 14For her profit is better than profit in silver, and better than gold is her revenue; 15She is more precious than corals, and none of your choice possessions can compare with her.

NAB Hosea 2:10 Since she has not known that it was I who gave her the grain, the wine, and the oil, And her abundance of silver, and of gold, which they used for Baal, 11Therefore I will take back my grain in its time, and my wine in its season…16So I will allure her; I will lead her into the desert and speak to her heart. 17From there I will give her the vineyards she had, and the valley of Achor as a door of hope. She shall respond there as in the days of her youth, when she came up from the land of Egypt. 18On that day, says the LORD, She shall call me "My husband," and never again "My baal." 19Then will I remove from her mouth the names of the Baals, so that they shall no longer be invoked. 20I will make a covenant for them on that day, with the beasts of the field, With the birds of the air, and with the things that crawl on the ground. Bow and sword and war I will destroy from the land, and I will let them take their rest in security. 21I will espouse you to me forever: I will espouse you in right and in justice, in love and in mercy; 22I will espouse you in fidelity, and you shall know the LORD.

NAB Isaiah 43:1 But now, thus says the LORD, who created you, O Jacob, and formed you, O Israel: Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name: you are mine. 2When you pass through the water, I will be with you; in the rivers you shall not drown. When you walk through fire, you shall not be burned; the flames shall not consume you. 3For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your savior. I give Egypt as your ransom, Ethiopia and Seba in return for you. 4Because you are precious in my eyes and glorious, and because I love you, I give men in return for you and peoples in exchange for your life. 5Fear not, for I am with you; from the east I will bring back your descendants, from the west I will gather you. 6I will say to the north: Give them up! and to the south: Hold not back! Bring back my sons from afar, and my daughters from the ends of the earth: 7Everyone who is named as mine, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.

NAB Ezekiel 34:2b Thus says the Lord GOD: Woe to the shepherds of Israel who have been pasturing themselves! Should not shepherds, rather, pasture sheep? 3You have fed off their milk, worn their wool, and slaughtered the fatlings, but the sheep you have not pastured. 4You did not strengthen the weak nor heal the sick nor bind up the injured. You did not bring back the strayed nor seek the lost, but you lorded it over them harshly and brutally. 5So they were scattered for lack of a shepherd, and became food for all the wild beasts. My sheep were scattered 6and wandered over all the mountains and high hills; my sheep were scattered over the whole earth, with no one to look after them or to search for them…11For thus says the Lord GOD: I myself will look after and tend my sheep. 12As a shepherd tends his flock when he finds himself among his scattered sheep, so will I tend my sheep. I will rescue them from every place where they were scattered when it was cloudy and dark. 13I will lead them out from among the peoples and gather them from the foreign lands; I will bring them back to their own country and pasture them upon the mountains of Israel (in the land's ravines and all its inhabited places).