Tsimtsum

The church is very familiar with the teaching of God’s omnipresence; the idea that God is everywhere. Theologically, a less than thorough understanding of omnipresence can lead a person to run the risk of tampering with a belief in pantheism and/or panentheism.

What does the Bible say about the presence of God in the world?

It is apparent that God cannot co-exist with man directly. God covers himself in a storm cloud when He must be in the presence of man. There is no place in the Old Testament where God is able to stand person to person with anyone without some kind of cover. It is interesting that God does long to be with people despite this exception to the rule of His omnipresence, which inevitably leads us to wonder whether God is truly unlimited in His abilities.

In an amazing book that I am thoroughly enjoying, titled, The Gospel According to Moses, written by Athol Dickson, the subject of God being limited is discussed with very convincing facts and scholarly opinions. Dickson speaks of the kabbalistic rabbis who taught about tsimtsum. (The Kabbalah is a collection of mystical rabbinic teachings.) Tsimtsum, or “withdrawing” is the subject of separation that was required in the creation process. God separated the light from the darkness, the water from the water, the dry ground from the seas, and the day from the night (see Geneis, chapter 1).

Why all this separation? And what about tsimstum with regard to God himself?

The Bible’s understanding of everything is that before anything, only God existed. God filled all that was, because God was all that was. And once the earth was formed, God limited himself in order to make room for His creation. Tsimtsum was required for God to allow creation to exist outside of His own existence (see Dickson, pages 40-41). Otherwise, everything would be God, hence pantheism, or God would permeate everything, hence panentheism.

“This does not mean that there are places where God is not present. It simply means God has different ways of ‘being,’ some of which are universal or omnipresent, and some of which are not” (Dickson, 42).

This year, my wife and I will celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary. For the first eighteen months, my wife and I only considered ourselves. We had nothing and no one for whom we needed to make room. I was all hers and she was all mine. Once our children arrived, we had to make room for them in our hearts and lives, and with our time and finances. Tsimtsum entered our marriage.

Once God decided to create, He would have to make room for His creation. Why? The answer is “free-will.” In order for creation to fully exist outside of God, God would have to allow for it to make its own decisions.

This subject is very important to me, because it helps me to answer the question: Why do bad things happen to good people? And even more important: If God is so powerful, why do bad things happen at all? The answer has to do with the ability to make a decision. If there were no options, there would be no such thing as free-will. Yet, free-will requires that creation has the option to do evil.

So, why doesn’t God just destroy all of the evil?

The Flood is the result of God imparting His perfect justice on the world. If everyone was punished for their sins, then everyone would be dead…again. God has chosen to limit even His perfect justice in order to impart mercy and grace upon humanity. This may be difficult to accept by many, but once we begin looking into our own lives, we quickly realize that none of us is perfect. And, unless we are perfect, God has no choice but to remove us from His presence, permanently.

This, once again, brings us back to the rabbinic teaching of tsimtsum, and God’s willingness to limit His presence in the world.

In His dust,
Johnny @ www.flocksdiner.com