 Received As A Little Child
Luk 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.
(KJV)
The sequence G = Xi&q1&q2&q3,... would require that if L(G) is ever obtained by an Xi+1 we would require that the list of such virtues qi is finite. (For the non-principal ultrafilter of perfections is infinite).
We are told that only Christ has known His Father, so we may state that G = "a union of all qi" from Jesus' perspective. For us however that have not known the Father, we must turn to scripture and the gospel to give us a refreshing of our knowledge of the virtue to be found in God.
At some point we must have L(G) accepted in its simplest sense if the sequence of Xi is to terminate at G.
In order to "receive" the kingdom as a little child, we must strip away all prior assumption - our "x" that we accepted in our initial assumption of the gospel message L(G)&x = L(Xi)
If x is a virtue then G = G&x, else if x is merely positive then G&x = X1 say. If we never strip away our prior assumptions "x" from the acceptance of the gospel and scripture, then we will never be able to tend towards G in our sequence of Xi. We would merely tend towards "G&x".
Therefore we must understand the gospel without our own agenda - for it is not our tool, but our ultimate standard.
Notwithstanding in Jesus' day children were never given a place to speak amongst adults - they were essentially property and subject to being excluded. In Jesus' affirmation on the right of the child to hear His words He also humbled those that assumed to know what the agenda for the gospel should be, rather than note that the agenda, if ever it were - is to the saving of life rather than standing.
So far then we must note that if the gospel is to spread, it must be spread as L(G) with a correct set of virtues. We may only claim to know the character of G through the scripture; so preaching L(G) from a basis of simplicity to point toward the scripture is our calling. Conversely to teach virtue and ascribe it to the teaching in the gospel presumes we know God, whom we know only in part: It is a form of twisting of the gospel and there is no justification to separate out such initial "x" from the correct virtues in G if this is done.
We may assuredly place our trust in the gospel taught by Christ Himself, but we should be careful to search the scriptures to avoid being tossed by "every wind of doctrine".
In accepting L(G) as a little child, in all its simplicity is to understand that the gospel is of God's making and not of that taught by men. If anyone has an agenda, He should be avoided.
Non-believers I have spoken with state that they are not really "opposed" to the idea of God, but reject the bible on the assumption that it was not arrived at logically, or that it is all arbitrary! I do have the time to write here that they have no reason to believe that: I however could not keep their concentration if I was called to speak it!
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