As to the poster you're speaking of, I believe I know which it is. It is a poster covered with the names of God and Jesus and the Holy Spirit. That is, it is covered with names specifically plucked from the bible. "Wonderful Counselor, the Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace, Emmanuel, God with Us..." and so on. The difference being that your poster is a quotation directly from the book that we as Christians consider to be God-breathed. Christianity Today seemed to be taking issue with people focusing upon the traits and characteristics of God instead of upon the whole of Him (which is entirely too much for us to fathom).
Yup, that's the poster.
I guess I feel like using terms/ideas that seem natural extrapolations from what's revealed in Scripture isn't a bad thing. Like, Luke has Jesus saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" so using imagery of Mother as well as of Father seems Biblically grounded. For example.
I agree that we cannot understand God wholly, and I do think that's important to keep in mind (I know I tend to create God in my preferred image), but I think that focusing on traits and characteristics can be helpful in coming to know God. And I think that the more ideas and images we have for God, the better an understanding we have -- I think sticking rigidly to one set of images really limits our understanding of God.
I think my favorite, aside from the cherry pie one which has stayed with me for years, is the one where a person stands up. The pastor/youth leader/whoever says "this is So-and-so. So-and-so is a child, a parent, and a doctor/nurse/pastor/whatever." The point being that although there are three (or more) facets to this person, they are still the one person. And I chose doctor/nurse/pastor as examples because these are jobs that are technically always on-duty (yes, pastors are in that group).
I remember coming up with an analogy (parent, child, some third occupation) like that when I was an adolescent trying to make the Trinity make sense.
Re: *frowns, thinking very hard*
Christianity Today seemed to be taking issue with people focusing upon the traits and characteristics of God instead of upon the whole of Him (which is entirely too much for us to fathom).
Yup, that's the poster.
I guess I feel like using terms/ideas that seem natural extrapolations from what's revealed in Scripture isn't a bad thing. Like, Luke has Jesus saying, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!" so using imagery of Mother as well as of Father seems Biblically grounded. For example.
I agree that we cannot understand God wholly, and I do think that's important to keep in mind (I know I tend to create God in my preferred image), but I think that focusing on traits and characteristics can be helpful in coming to know God. And I think that the more ideas and images we have for God, the better an understanding we have -- I think sticking rigidly to one set of images really limits our understanding of God.
I think my favorite, aside from the cherry pie one which has stayed with me for years, is the one where a person stands up. The pastor/youth leader/whoever says "this is So-and-so. So-and-so is a child, a parent, and a doctor/nurse/pastor/whatever." The point being that although there are three (or more) facets to this person, they are still the one person. And I chose doctor/nurse/pastor as examples because these are jobs that are technically always on-duty (yes, pastors are in that group).
I remember coming up with an analogy (parent, child, some third occupation) like that when I was an adolescent trying to make the Trinity make sense.