Anxious Couple Spends Thousands, Blankets South Bay in Yellow Signs in Hopes of Finding Missing Pup

NBC Bay Area ^ | 2/27 | Brendan Weber and Scott McGrew

[RegulatorCountry]

As far as a convincing case in the Bible, I tend to think Romans 8 followed by I Corinthians 15. Sin came by man and by man came death. Ultimately death itself will be thrown into the lake of fire. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. God has given bodies as it has pleased Him, all bodies have their unique glory. Man, beasts, birds, fish. None of them died before man sinned. None of them will die when death is destroyed.

[Jamestown1630]

I appreciate your exegesis; I guess some people think that some forms of Life don’t have a spiritual body - even though all forms of life were made by the same Creator, from the same substance. I also like this:

‘Those who live according to the flesh have their minds set on what the flesh desires; but those who live in accordance with the Spirit have their minds set on what the Spirit desires.’

(As an aside, there’s a difference between a mere ‘wedding’ and a ‘marriage’.)

[RegulatorCountry]

If people were still as down to earth as once was the case when the agrarian life was most often the case, I suspect it would be harder to deny that the lesser creatures are also beloved of God and have hope beyond pain, suffering and death. I also think that glossing past Genesis tends to make some Christians lose their moorings as far as just why creatures die and just who subjected them to it, through no fault of their own. That knowledge and understanding would make Romans 8 much more clear. There is no doubt in my mind that the Apostle Paul accepted Genesis as literal. Jesus certainly did. Those who believe themselves too intelligent for what is deemed something of a fairy tale now due to apparent conflict with modern science are just too proud to accept something that might make them look foolish in the eyes of the world.

[Jamestown1630]

You write beautifully and thoughtfully. I agree that the ‘agrarian lifestyle’ brought, and still brings, many people more into contact with spiritual realities; but I don’t believe that it is always necessary.

Paul and Jesus may have taken Genesis literally - or may seem to have done, while speaking to others who did. I don’t know, I wasn’t there.

I don’t personally take it literally. I think it’s an elegant, symbolical representation of Creation, and of the beginning of mankind’s experience on earth.

Something I’ve read recently:

“God knows himself only as a thing! Before you shout blasphemy or irreverence, tarry a while and dwell on this premise.

Visualize space. It goes on and on forever and ever. If, in your mind’s eye, you retreat trillions of miles from the earth and draw a huge circle with the Earth as the center and say this indeed is all of space, what, then, is on the other side of your circle? The only answer is more space. Space as we know it, or infinite intelligence as we know it, or universal law as we know it ...cannot possibly have any limits or any boundaries. How is it possible for something which has no boundaries to know itself?

In order for it to know itself it must be able to say, “I am this”. And in order for it to say “I am this”, it must have boundaries, something finite, a thing. And that is exactly what the Universal Subconscious Mind [God] is doing. It is becoming things. It is seeking an expanded self-consciousness. And that part of it which has achieved the greatest self-consciousness which we are able to observe is the human being.”

-Three Magic Words, U. S. Andersen

I believe that all of creation is God experiencing Himself through his own creation. Genesis refers to our ‘fall’ into the beginning of self-consciousness – or, God, as he is ‘Being Things’.

It may have been, as Andersen states, “the beginning of error, evil, sin” - but it was the only way that we could begin to experience, learn, and progress. It was the beginning of our search for truth, a search given to us by God. He made himself Us, so that He could live and experience through Us; and in return for our trouble, he has given us eternal life. How could we not be eternal, when we are made of Him?

This will seem strange and a horrible distortion of beloved scripture, to many Christians. But it’s what I personally believe, and I think it’s a most marvelous gift. My apologies to anyone to whom it may be offensive.

-JT

[mitch5501]

Amen.Well said.

My wife and I spent three days and nights driving around in farming country looking for our lost heeler.We door knocked every house in the area and left our number.We even had a conversation with one farmer who had taken three shots at her but missed thankfully.We understood that farmers take a very dim view of stray dogs and bore him no ill will for shooting at her but it sure made for sleepness nights worrying.

We got her back eventually,without any wounds thank God.

I can certainly identify with these folks trying everything to get their pooch back and I also think God fully understands the love we have for our pets.

Our beautifull heeler 'Maddie' died years ago now.We still miss her,she was "as a daughter" to us.

[lysie]

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