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Joseph Wolpert: Classical Christianity and Unity

God

Relying upon Jesus' description of God during his discussion with the Samaritan woman in John 4 - "God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship him in spirit and truth." (John 4:24) This excludes any hint of anthropomorphisms of God except in poetic and metaphorical terms.

In addition, God is viewed as being Principle. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus taught that God "...makes his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust" (Matt 5:45). Couple this quote with Paul's statement that "... God shows no partiality" (Rom 2:11) and the scriptural authority for the notion of God as unchanging principle is highly reinforced. "The fundamental basis of practical Christianity is that God is principle" (Meyer p 30)

Philosophically, Unity is in tune with Neo-Platonic teaching that God is Divine Mind and that all that exists in the phenomenal world has its origin in archetypal or divine ideas in God Mind.

"The real of the universe is held in the Mind of Being as ideas. The firstborn of everything in the universe is an idea in Divine Mind. In God Mind an idea is the eternal Word or Logos, the original, primary, or unlimited thought of Being. Ideas may be combined in a multitude of ways, producing infinite variety in the realm of forms. There is a right combination which constitutes the divine order. "(Ibid., pp 34-35)

In fact, this is how God creates - through ideation.

Looking biblically again, the creation described in Genesis 1 says:

"In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2 The earth was without form and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep; and the Spirit of God was moving over the face of the waters.3 And God said..." (Gen 1:1-3a)

In Unity thought, the only "creation" that can take place in which there are no "forms" is "thought". And just as an artisan can not make a table, chair, or nightstand without first having an appropriate "idea" in mind, so, the same is true for God.

"Creation is the original plan of an idea in Divine Mind. In the creative process Divine Mind ideates itself. God creates and moves creation through the power of Mind, through His idea or word, the universal creative vehicle. The vehicles of Mind are thoughts (ideas). God is thinking the universe into manifestation right now. Creation takes place through the operation of the Logos. The creations of the Logos are always spiritual, permanent, and incorruptible. The creative processes of Mind are continually operative; creation is going on all the time, but the original plan, the design of Divine Mind, is finished. The processes of Mind enter into all creations. God is eternally in His creation and never separate from it. Wherever there is evidence of creative action, there God is. His avenues of expression run in every direction." (Ibid., pp 39-40)