Complexity and Simplicity
“God is “a Spirit, an incomplex Being . . . not composed of a series or of a multitude of thoughts, or of a multitude of words or creations, but . . . wholly, in one incomplex thought, God.” (Saint John of Kronstadt)
“…every element of the Christian faith is related to and bound up with other elements, in a wondrous pattern of complex simplicity.” (James R. Payton Jr.)
“In my years of following Christ, I have come to the conclusion that many Christians make finding God’s present will for us way too complex. We wrongly believe that it’s only possible for the most talented and the most gifted and the most spiritual to know the heart of God. But in reality, it’s much simpler than that. If we long to see God at work in our present, we merely need to grow in our daily longing for Him.” (Kasey Van Norman)
“The true wisdom, the true understanding of everything that is, is held by He who created everything that is, God the Father, and with His Son through Whom were created all things, and…His Spirit who dwells within Him…Christ made these revelations publicly, in the hearing of all, not in shadowy caves to a few select initiates, nor to only the most brilliant scholars who could comprehend some complex series of metaphysical arguments. Rather, He revealed the great hidden truths on which the world was founded, the mysteries of the Kingdom of Heaven, through parables, through simple analogies to everyday human life...” (Father Stephen De Young)
“We tend to make things overly complex…Christ gave answers in simple terms, the way He preached to us…most Church Fathers, educated in the classical tradition, said simple things simply and complex things clearly.” (Sacramental Living Blog, Metropolitan Phillip, Professor Anthony Gythiel)