Introduction

Now on to the questions!

1-There are multitudes of reasons to Study God's attributes one I think that is most pround is that we need to know who God is to really know our own value and worth, which is of naught in comparison to the infinty that God is valuable and worthy!
- Tozer claims that if we study the Attributes of God "we will develope our faith" I will have to disagree with this! For apart from God we have no such Faith it is a gift given! by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is \the gift of God (Ephesians 2:8) But I see Tozer's point, by studying God's attributes He can grow and strengthen our faith!


2- Knowing God's attributes will take Him out of the little box we tend to put Him in and take Him out of when we need Him, and give Him His true place of Honor and Glory so we might better honor and Glorify Him


3- Honestly I am excited to dicuss each and every one of our Lord's Attributes, but particularly His Sovereignty, Because I am just amazed each and everyday by His workings! Though I know He does not cause us to sin, He knows each and everyone of the areas we fall short before we realize it!! From time to time He even allows us to fall into a particular pattern of sin to grow and strenthen us and to show us His glory so that we might give Him honor and praise!! Through all of our short comings that He knew we would have He still chose us from the Foundation of the world!!!



Ladies I am so thankful our Glorious Lord has given us this time together to pray for eachother, to fellowship with one another, (though oceans and many miles seperate) the Lord has brought us to this place to learn more about Him for us to strenthen and encourage one another through His word! I pray that we can all learn and grow from this! We serve a great and wonderful God!


May this bring Him all Honor and glory!

Does Everyone have their books?

I just wanted to verify that everyone has a book and is ready to begin. I thought that we would begin this week with the introduction. Read the introduction and skim over the study guide and questions for session one in the back of the book. Feel free to contribute whatever you wish any time this week. I plan to have something posted by Tuesday but this session's discussion will continue until the following Sunday. You have all week long to get this section done. I am looking forward to a great discussion with you all. I hope that you had great Thanksgiving holiday and are now ready to jump in with both feet. Talk with you all soon.

Chapter 10: God's Perfection

Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined. (Psalm 50:2)

As usual we seem to have underlined a lot of the same things so posting after you is either no fun because you have already stated the good stuff or helpful because you did a lot of the typing for me. Here are my thoughts.

I will start with the gains and losses which at first threw me like the study guide said it would but I loved this listing of our gains that have resulted in losses.

- Added numbers, yes, but lost fear. Multiplied schools, yes, but lost awareness of the invisible. Tons of literature being poured out, of course, but no consciousness of the divine Presence. Better communication, certainly, but nothing to communicate. Evangelistic organizations, yes, but the concept of majesty and worship and reverence has almost left us.

"And at last our gains may prove to be no more than losses spread over a larger area." pg. 181

"If we have only so much glory and we spread it thin, we have not gained anything." pg. 181

We then moved to the definition of perfection

- "the highest possible degree of excellence." That which is perfect lacks nothing it should have and has nothing it should not have.

I thought okay we are getting to the topic "God's Perfection" now but he threw me with

- "If perfection means the highest possible degree of excellence, then we cannot apply this thought to God at all. How can we apply "the highest possible" to God? Is there anything that isn't possible with God? As though God had been created and had done the highest thing possible, that He was as perfect as it was possible for Him to be? No, you can't apply that to God; that's only applied to creatures."

Is it just me or were you thinking where is Tozer going with this. He is posing more questions about God's Perfection than I had before I began reading. But when he went back to the infinitude of God and the no degrees in God the losses became clear. The loss of majesty! Thinking of perfection as it is applied to creatures.

- "God is not at the top of the heap in an ever-ascending perfection of being, from worm on up until finally we reach God. On the contrary, God is completely different and separate, so that there are no degrees in God. God is simply God, an infinite perfection of fullness,"

"To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal?" (Isaiah 40:25)

WOW! I too liked how he said "God is not limited in Himself, he is limited in us."

"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined" (Psalm 50:2)

What Honors God is Beautiful-this is where he talked about Theology being beautiful which I had never thought of it that way but I too loved his description of it as "the mind down on its knees in a state of breathless devotion, reasoning about God." That is beautiful.

Beauty Centers around Christ-I liked what was written in the study guide under this section.

- "Beauty centers around Christ because He Himself is God, the source of all beauty. Heaven is beautiful because Jesus is there. Our choice, the greatest choice we have to make, is whether we spend our lives seeking after beauty (seeking after Christ!).

Okay, now to the questions.

Our Gains and Losses

You already listed them. The one I believed we could add in today's culture was the increase in the availability of Christian literature.

No Awareness of the Eternal

I agree with what you wrote and I read Tozer in amazement of how accurate what he preached 60 years ago is to the church today.

What is Perfection

I answered this above I think.

No Degrees in God

1. Things are perfect and excellent contingent and relative to other things. God is not perfect or excellent in comparison. He is self-existent and absolute in His perfection and excellence.

2. I like how you wrote that all things are more beautiful in the light of his Glory and Grace!

What Honors God is Beautiful

1. I too loved his definition of theology and it amazes me.

2a. I think that the wrong concepts people have is applying what we think is wonderful and beautiful about earth to heaven and not going any farther in our thinking, to the "perfection of beauty" being there.

2b. By thinking and learning more about heaven and the perfection of beauty.

Beauty Center around Christ

"beauty" means in the presence of Christ. Our responsibility in regard to the mix of beauty and ugliness on earth should be to seek beauty-to seek Christ.

This book has truly raised my concept of God. This chapter just took it up another notch. I can't wait to get started on the next book and continue this journey till "my concept of God is worthy of God and can be noble and dignified; so it can be reverent, profound, beautiful."

Just Catching up

Ok, just so no one freaks out about this and thinks they are behind, Jana and I are posting our stuff for the last week of the first book. We only had the one week left before I left for England so we wanted to finish it up before we started the new book.
This is my stuff from the last week of the previous book.

"Chapter 10: God's Perfection"

First, I want to let you know the things in this chapter that I really like and really stood out to me. I had tons of underlining in this chapter. LOL
-I absolutely loved the section about losing the Majesty of God. This section really spoke to me. " This is the age of the common man and along with the common man has come the common god. But along with the common man, I say is the common god, and with it the loss of the whole concept of majesty." (p. 180)

-the section on losing a sense of worship and reverance was also really great. I loved this quote, "The modern Christian has lost a sense of worship and of course, reverance as well. He has LOST HIS ABILITY TO WITHDRAW INWARDLY AND COMMUNE IN THE SECRET PLACE WITH GOD IN THE SHRINE OF HIS OWN HIDDEN SPIRIT!"

-In the section on the No degrees in God, I was once again drawn back to the early chapters in the book. The thing that we really liked about God not extended into Space but instead God containing Space. I loved what Tozer says here, "Gd is not limited in Himself, he is limited in us. The inability of God to get through to us is not due to the imperfectino of the Great God, but the imperfection of the man to whom He is trying to give the truth."

-one of my favorite topics is theology. His definition of theology is spot on and should make us all shutter at how we really approach the subject. It seems to me that most people are either like.. blah boring old theology with old men and old books that I do not understand.. or they see it as some intellectual thing that is only for those who are smart or want to cause debate. I loved his defninition here. "Theology is a beautiful thing, beautiful because it is the mind reasoning about God. It is the mind down on its knees in state of breathless devotion, reasoning about God." Wow!

-Finally, the very last section of this chapter was very good. I love that he calls us out on our view of God and how we transfer that view to others. My favorite part was this, "What good is all our busy religion if God isnt in it? What good is it if we've lost majesty, reverance, worship-awareness of the divine? What good is it if we've lost a sense of the Presence and the ability to retreat within our own hearts and meet God in the garden? If we've lost that, why build another church? Why make more converts to an effete Christianity? Why bring people to follow after a Savior so far off that He doesn't own them? We try to promote religion, forgetting that it rests on the character of God. if I have a low concept of God, my religion can only be a cheap, watery affair. But if my concept of God is worthy of God then it can be noble and dignified: it can be reverent, profound, beautiful." Amazing!

Now I will answer some of the questions. I will label them under them subtitles.

Our Gains and Losses
Things Tozer listed as Gains were: increased church attendance, more people identifying themselves as Christian, growth in Christian literature, increased popularity of the Gospel, better communication, great strides in worldwide evangelism
Here are the things that I believe we could add in today's culture: television, radio, and internet evangelism, Mega Churches, The gospel being preached to the furthest ends of the earth.


No Awareness of the Eternal
1. Losses as defined by Tozer were: awareness of the invisible and eternal, consciousness of the divine presence and divine majesty, loss of reverence, loss of unity in the body, no moment of stillness, no Holy FEAR.
I believe this accurately describes some of the losses but I think there are many more than that. In fact, I believe some of the gains could actually be losses now. Because we have an increase in the number of people calling themselves Christians then we have a lost definition of what that word truly means. The expansion of radio, internet, and television evangelism has led to lots of false prophets and falst truth being propagated as Christian truth.

2. Tozer's definition of worship: the believers ability to withdraw inwardly and commune in the secret place with God in the shrine of his own hidden spirit.
I think this was a very accurate description of worship and I would venture to say that there is not much of that actually occurring in the average worship service. We have a lot of external appearance of worship but at the sacrifice of the internal experience of worship.

What is perfection
1. My own definitin of perfection would be: having no flaw, complete excellance. I believe his idea that it is a relative word means it sets a standard of measurement and since there is no degree or measurement to God it is hard to use it to describe him. It is comparitive to other terms... to what can we compare God?

No Degrees in God
1a. These words suggest comparison. We can not compare God to anything so that makes these words incapable of describing him.
1b. Because there is no other word. You cannot find the language that will tell what God is so God does the best he can, considering who and what we are, t make himself known to us. God is not limited in himself, he is limited in us.

2. Psalm 50:2 "Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath Shined" In the study guide he talked about why Zion was beautiful... because of the Shekinah Glory of God. Shekinah Glory is a Hebrew word meaning "he caused to dwell." All things are more beautiful in his presence or dwelling, in the light of his Glory. The farther away from his presence, the more ugly things will appear becasue we are not dwelling in him.


What Honors God is Beautiful
1. As I already stated, I loved his definition for theology. And yes, when I am doing what his definition states, I can not get enough of it. It is sad and tragic to me, that for so long, our churches have made it seem as though only leaders in the church should be worried about theology. Only those smart, really Holy people should care about that. That is so sad. Should we not all desire to be those Holy People. To truly KNOW our God.

2a. Some of the wrong concepts of heaven are: Streets of gold, crowns and jewels, mansions, no pain or suffering. It is like we are humanizing heaven. I mean will all those earthly treasures matter when I see Jesus! An eternity worshipping my Savior. It is not about my reward.. My reward was Jesus! My reward is that he saved a SINNER such as me.

2b. HOw do we bring ourselves back to the right concept? It comes down to whether we spend our lives seeking after beauty or ugliness.


Nothing bad is Beautiful
1. Quoting Tozer: "it is possible for an unholy thing to be pretty or attractive, even charming. But it is not possible for it be beautiful. Only that which is holy,can be beautiful ultimately." How can something be pretty, charming, or attractive, without being beautiful? I believe that Beautiful is a form of perfection. Pretty, attractive, and charming are human terms that are less than the perfection of beautiful. Being Holy is Perfection so anything less than perfection could be adequate but not be Holy.

Nothing Wonderful in the World
Tozer suggest that we are too enamored by the things of the world to draw close to God. I like what the study guide said about this. "That is why the world has nothing to offer us, becasue only God is beautiful and wonderful. We spend too much time and effort on mortal things, when God wants to GIVE US HIS PRESENCE!


Overall I thought this chapter was fabulous. Of course, it is things that we have discussed in conversation so it is something we already saw a need for. It was a great summary to the book and I can not wait to start the next one. I just read the intro and it is very similiar to this last chapter. Looking forward to seeing what you thought.

Getting Super excited!

Ok, ladies.. Our group is growing quickly. As people are added I will try to introduce them. But as we get bigger, I would like to see people introduce themselves. You do not need to give your whole life story but a brief intro and where you are located would be great. To the new people, you may want to scroll down and read the first introductions to get caught up.
Norma- is my mom. She is a woman of God and has been my example of faith for many years. She has spent countless hours in prayer over me. Even in those years when I seemed the most distant from her and her values, she prayed even harder. She has gone to war over the battle for my soul countless times. She lives in Eunice with my dad and is the church secretary. She has two other children (Marla-37 and Seth-22)but I of course am her favorite! LOL Glad you decided to join us mom.
Mrs. Jean- I have grown up in church around her for all my childhood. But if I told you her story I would only ruin it so I will let her tell you.. (I know she has no problem bragging on her Jesus..LOL) She also lives in Eunice and she is a woman of Great Faith! She is in LOVE with Jesus and it pours out of her. When you are around her, you can not help but Love the Lord! She has a passion for others and desires for all people to have a TRUE view of Christ and not some casual Christianity. I am so excited to have you join us!
Jennifer- as of writing this, she is not a listed author yet but will be. I met Jennifer at the first church we attended in Bossier City. Jennifer has been having a very tough year and God is doing a work in her life even as I type this. She has been tested and is constantly being tested but I know that God IS going to use this study to deepen her view of him and to help her to endure this hardship. Jen- I am so glad you decided to do this with us! Jennifer lives in Bossier with her daughter Shelby.
Aimee- my Cajun Proverbs 31 woman! Aimee has been somewhat of a spiritual mentor to me in many ways. We met also at the first church we attended in BC BUT God did not really draw us close until he drew us to a new church where they were attending. She is a woman after God's own heart. She is the first person to encourage and support but she is also going to be truthful. She seeks to encourage through biblical wisdom and she has always been my source for wise biblical counsel. She may not always say what I WANT to hear but she will always say what I NEED to hear! She is an example of training your children in righteousness and she is an example of submission and respect to her husband. Aimee is married to Allen and they have 3 children- Emily, Tanner, and Anna Grace. She is a home school mom.
Emily- Em, where do I begin. She is Aimee's daughter. She is in high school (home schooled) and a very bright and intelligent person. She is so much fun to be around and she always makes me smile. She is polite, and respectful at all times and her vast knowledge of the bible challenges me. She is a wonferful, helpful person and she is great at being the first volunteer. She is a great example to many other young people but mainly to her little sister (Anna Grace- kindergarten) who she absolutely adores. I still wish I could have stashed her in my suitcase and taken her with me to England... LOL Glad you are doing this with us Em!

I have a couple more people that we are waiting for responses from. I am getting super pumped about this! I just know that God is going to do something. His children studying more of him together and he will show up and meet with us! This is going to be so much fun!

We are tentatively going to begin the week after Thanksgiving. I ask that everyone just get their books for now and join me in praying that HE would illuminate himself on every page and that we would see HIM as he should be seen! I believe there is a reason we are doing this in the middle of a Christ commercialized season. Can we put our blinders on to the earthly stress of this season and can we be truly CAPTIVATED with HIM? Pray with me that we can become CONSUMED with his GLORY through this and that we can spur one another on as we grow in Truth together!

When should we start??

Ok ladies so I have been debating on when to begin. I am thinking the week after Thanksgiving. If you all would rather begin before that, I am fine with that too. I was just thinking about everyone elses need to get meals planned and such. So, which is best for you all? Start next week or wait one more week? I just did not want to start and then stop unless we absolutely had to. Just let me know.

Everyone has joined

Glad to see that everyone has figured out how to join this. I have had some interest from some people in Eunice (my and Jana's South Louisiana home town). I hope to get definite answers tomorrow. I just want to make sure that no one is feeling nervous or anxious about putting themselves out there on a blog page. To assure that you will have full privacy and the ability to share without fear, I am going to close the group after everyone is in place. I will have it set as a private blog so only those listed authors will be able to access it. If we choose to open it up to others for any reason, I will get everyone's permission first. I want this to be a place where we can feel free to share deeply and honestly what God is doing through this book. I am getting excited just thinking about it.

The Birthday Boy

This is my first blog ever, as you may be able to tell, so forgive me any rookie mistakes (like I think I should have had a cool blog name or something). Anyway, I just wanted to say hello and that I am really excited "now" about doing this. I began typing with the intent to apologize and back out. My reasoning was that with all that is going on in my life right now, on top of getting ready for Christmas, I just don't have the time to dig into this like I would want to. But as I began typing God began working on me. Thinking of all the reasons (aka excuses) I can't do this made me see why I really needed to do this. My excuses focused on the physical things that will be happening and that have to be done before the holidays and not on what the season is all about. The time that remains before the Christmas holidays is already slipping through my fingers and it is not even Thanksgiving yet. I am facing many trials this holiday season but I am determined to count it all joy and do my best to savor this beautiful holiday.

What better way than to spend some time really getting to know "The Birthday Boy".

The Lord is Magnificent

Ladies I just want to say I am so excited to be doing this!! I love Minot the town and the people here are great as a whole, but I have been missing the sisterhood that I had for what was such a brief time in Louisiana. Thankfully through God's sovereignty He is giving me what I needed it when I needed it. I am really excited to get started (my book should be here today)

The Attributes of God: Volume II with Study Guide by A.W. Tozer

Welcome to our online bible study across the ocean. This will be the place where we will post our answers to the questions and discuss the book more thoroughly. If there are specific passages of scripture or specific things in the book that really stand out to you please share that with us all. Currently we have 4 people participating. I would like to introduce you all to one another.
Me- I am Danielle Montgomery. For the first 24 years of my life I was known as Dani. In fact, if most people who have known me for many years do not even know my real name is Danielle. For my Shreveport/Bossier people, I am Danielle. And all of you know me so I do not need to further introduce myself.
Jana- Jana and I have been friends my entire life! We have been best friends since I was about 3 years old. We grew up in church together (her dad was our pastor and my dad chairman of the deacons) and spent most Sunday afternoons with one another. After college and marriage we never lived near one another. Then God finally chose to bring her to Bossier City where she lives now with her husband Jeremy and two beautiful kids, Brylee and Hudson. We were finally able to rekindle all those years that we had lost and God was doing a huge work in both of our lives regarding the way we view him and then we were shipped to England.
Tiffany- Tiffany was my neighbor at Barksdale AFB. She is a recovering computer gamer (love ya) and she is still a geek at heart. But she is in LOVE with Christ! When I first met her she was a "church attender" and now she is captivated with Christ and he oozes from her pores. She is a home school mom and now lives in Minot, North Dakota with her husband Steve and her 3 kiddos, Sarah, Luke and Jason.
Barb- My precious sister in Christ! Barb is a PRAYER WARRIOR! She is always the first one to be on her knees over the needs of others. She is also one of the funnest people I know (hard not to be with Steve for a husband). Steve and Barb do not have children of their own but I think deep down they KNOW that they have been a sort of parent to many of us. Barb is passionate about Christ and about ministering to others. I am so glad you decided to join us.

I look forward to the insight and revelation from each of us in this study. It is so amazing to me how God can use his Word to speak so directly to us in such different ways. This is going to be sooo much fun!