God as Immanent and Transcendent These words describe

God as Immanent and Transcendent These words describe God’s Transcendence. How are these words different from things in our normal world? • To define immanence and transcendence • To explain why God is both immanent and transcendent • To evaluate evidence from the Bible that God is immanent and transcendent Eternal Unchanging All holy All knowing Infinite All present

God is transcendent means that God is completely beyond the world and different from it. We can’t understand God at all with our limited human minds. He is totally different from anything we can imagine or know. But God is also immanent means that God is very close to us, all around us. He is with us, knows us and looks out for us, all the time. God has to be BOTH immanent and transcendent. If God was ONLY immanent, he would just BE the world, and nothing more. He would not be the mysterious, other Being. If God was ONLY transcendent, we could not know him at all. He would be completely beyond us. We could never know his personal care for us. 1. Draw the picture that shows God as “transcendent”. Explain what this means. 2. Draw the picture that shows God as “immanent”. Explain what this means. 3. Explain why God has to be BOTH immanent AND transcendent. *Why would it be impossible to know God if he was only transcendent?

Look up Genesis 28: 10 -17. 1. Describe Jacob’s experience. 2. Was Jacob’s experience of God immanent or transcendent? Find a quote that shows that this is what Jacob thought. Explain what this quote says about God. (PEE). 3. What part of Jacob’s experience also suggests a God who is totally different and other? Write out the quote and explain it. *Draw Jacob and speech bubble what he realised as he woke up.

Think of words that describe how God is • Immanent (close to us) eg loving • Transcendent (completely different from us) eg all-holy

Write a prayer to God, using words that show both his Immanence AND Transcendence