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To: realpatriot71
Some word studies in Greek and Hebrew might help edify the anthropology of man. There is life in the body, soul and spirit of the believer. They are also not always cojoined.

Empiricism and rationalism have engrained many modern day thought processes into assuming we are not man without being a body and soul together.

Existentialism shares that concept, although it is not the case that when the body dies, that the soul ceases to exist. The soul of the unbeliever descends to the Torments, associated in ancient literature with Hades in the Greek or Sheol on the Hebrew as a deep place or the underworld. The soul and spirit of the believer today ascends to heaven, face to face with the Lord today in an interim body until the resurrection.

Your language is correct in that we are souls. We are also described as bodies and as reborn in the spirit, in a fashion similar to how God is known to us by three persons, yet they are one God. Anthropologically, the reborn man is composed of body, soul and spirit and while in fellowship with God, we are also indwelt by Him.

The significant verbage in the 'secret document' misplaced the spirit and the body, with regards to the believer. The believer in fellowship with God through Christ, is now adopted by God into a royal family in the Church Age, not mentioned in the Old Testament. The Church Age believer now by faith through Jesus Christ, is indwelt by all three members of the Godhead. The believer today is not able to have his soul attacked by demon possession, although postsalvation sins can allow the believer to slip out of fellowship with God and allow a situation to arise where demon influence occurs.

The 'secret document' implies a spirit is attached to the body and to an unbeliever witnessing or testing demonic activity, might indeed witness or understand a fellow unbeliever if that person becomes possessed by a demon to indeed prove a spirit is attached to the body. What it fails to explain is how Scripture already provides guidance on these issues from the point of view of a Living God.

It wouldn't surprise me if somebody in a position of governmental authority, seeking and maintaining their worldly power structure, believing in an empirical fashion, could easily be deceived by malevolently deceiving demons, identified as merely ET aliens, would study and conclude the contents of the 'secret document' and even further conclude that mankind is not prepared for exposure to such beings, and then conduct occultic conspiracy to avoid any public announcement of the phenomena. The first consequence of stepping out of fellowship with God is a level of arrogance acting independently of Him. All consistent with the entire UFO legend/myth/CT. (IMHO)
1,023 posted on 02/19/2004 7:56:52 PM PST by Cvengr (;^))
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To: Cvengr
I think you're ignoring a situation where "extraterrestrials" might be evil, but only according to our definition of such. IOW, they might be "neutral", as in evil in some cases, but not in others, yet still want to pursue whatever it is that they want to.

They may be a tribe whose function is unknown to us, or undesirable to us, sort of like the Indians upon the arrival of Europeans; fairly helpless and overpowered due to lesser technology.

1,027 posted on 02/19/2004 10:55:28 PM PST by Betwixte
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To: Cvengr
although it is not the case that when the body dies, that the soul ceases to exist.

This would be the case according to scripture.

The soul of the unbeliever descends to the Torments, associated in ancient literature with Hades in the Greek or Sheol on the Hebrew as a deep place or the underworld.

Sheol is the grave - you don't find the immortality of any "souls" within the the Bible. Eternal torments for immortal souls is a pagan concept that has nonethe less found it's way into Christian tradition until every Christian assumes it is so. Careful study of the scripture will show that the "soul" is the entire human, and when the breath of life returns to Him that gave it, the sould ceases to exist, except perhaps in the memory of the most high.

The soul and spirit of the believer today ascends to heaven, face to face with the Lord today in an interim body until the resurrection.

It's a nice thought, but inconsistant with scripture. BTW, where in the Bible is an "interim body" mentioned?

Your language is correct in that we are souls. We are also described as bodies and as reborn in the spirit, in a fashion similar to how God is known to us by three persons, yet they are one God. Anthropologically, the reborn man is composed of body, soul and spirit and while in fellowship with God, we are also indwelt by Him.

Reborn of the Spirit applies to the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives. There is nothing intrinsically "spiritual" in the human, as humans are not spirits, BUT as living souls, we are the temple for the Holy Spirit. This is the "spiritual nature of man" to know God, love God, and have God (read:Holy Spirit) live within our souls. Man is only "spiritual" in this sense by proxi - the indwelling of the Holy Spirit in the soul of the believer.

It wouldn't surprise me if somebody in a position of governmental authority, seeking and maintaining their worldly power structure, believing in an empirical fashion, could easily be deceived by malevolently deceiving demons, identified as merely ET aliens, would study and conclude the contents of the 'secret document' and even further conclude that mankind is not prepared for exposure to such beings, and then conduct occultic conspiracy to avoid any public announcement of the phenomena. The first consequence of stepping out of fellowship with God is a level of arrogance acting independently of Him. All consistent with the entire UFO legend/myth/CT. (IMHO)

We are in complete agreement here.

1,032 posted on 02/20/2004 8:18:15 AM PST by realpatriot71 ("But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise . . ." (I Cor. 1:27))
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