Posted on 06/20/2005 9:58:36 PM PDT by goldstategop
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
God is everywhere...even in Nature. Even in a burning bush, or the rainbow over the rockies. God exists in the breath you take and the beauty around you.
'If you want to treat a tiger reasonably, you must go back to the garden of Eden. For the obstinate reminder continued to recur: only the supernatural has taken a sane view of Nature. The essence of all pantheism, evolutionism, and modern cosmic religion is really in this proposition: that Nature is our mother. Unfortunately, if you regard Nature as a mother, you discover that she is a step-mother. The main point of Christianity was this: that Nature is not our mother: Nature is our sister. We can be proud of her beauty, since we have the same father; but she has no authority over us; we have to admire, but not to imitate.'
BTW, the rest of this paragraph is less relevant here but still interesting:
'This gives to the typically Christian pleasure in this earth a strange touch of lightness that is almost frivolity. Nature was a solemn mother to the worshippers of Isis and Cybele. Nature was a solemn mother to Wordsworth or to Emerson. But Nature is not solemn to Francis of Assisi or to George Herbert. To St. Francis, Nature is a sister, and even a younger sister: a little, dancing sister, to be laughed at as well as loved.'
If that isn't a responsibility for environmental stewardship, I don't know what would be.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
I find God in nature...are you going to tell me otherwise? I find God in my daughters laughter...are you going to tell me otherwise. I find God in my mom's battle with Cancer...are you going to tell me otherwise. I find God in the beauty around us.
(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
Depends upon how you look at the Scripture. If you consult how God describes His punishments upon man for violation of His Statutes, as for example in Leviticus 26, He places man at the effect of natural disasters AND personifies nature, thus:
32 And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.
33 And I will scatter you among the heathen, and will draw out a sword after you: and your land shall be desolate, and your cities waste.
34 Then shall the land enjoy her sabbaths, as long as it lieth desolate, and ye be in your enemies' land; even then shall the land rest, and enjoy her sabbaths.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
18 Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;
This is not to mention the plagues against Egypt, which were largely environmental as well. It's a recurrent theme in the Bible that Nature is at HIS command, and it will support us only as long as the children of Israel keep His Commandments and His Statutes.
Sharp as an orange.
Thanks!
Then came Genesis? I do believe Genesis came before the Egyptians.
Many people think that God is in everything. But according to the Bible, that is not correct. God is everywhere, but He is in only the believer, Christians, in the form of the Holy Spirit. We are all God's creatures, part of His creation, but only Christians are His children.
It makes no sense to speak of "worshipping" any thing that's not a sentient being or an abstract concept. You could appreciate such a thing, try to understand it, learn how to deal with it, but not worship it.
Nature, man, ever thing is/was a creation of God but creation it is not god.
God also allows free will and therefor God allows his creation to change to less then his perfect will for his creation
(IE evil is not a creation of God, but because free will is allowed by God)
"We are all God's creatures, part of His creation, but only Christians are His children."
As a Jew I would strongly disagree with your statement.
Hardly radical or incredible. Xenophanes of Colophon said much the same thing. So did the Egyptian account of the creation of the world by the pure will of Ptah, which is of predynastic origin, ie before 3200BC. The creation account in the Indian Rig Veda is similar: the universe was created by Purusha, "the being beyond all others".
The supposed exceptionalism of Genesis claimed in this article is simply not true, as any study of comparative mythology will show.
Ping!
Related to our prior discussion!
This is not a personal attack on Jewish people, it is a faithful following of the words of our Messiah. As you must know, we honor and bless the people that God chose to inspire and preserve His Word too. You are also the Nation who our Messiah came forth to mankind from.
Jhn 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
The sacrifices were ended in 70AD. The blood is no longer being sprinkled on the Seat of Mercy. The scapegoat is no longer being released. The sin of Israel is no longer covered by the Jewish sacrificial system mandated by God. The required sacrifices are not being made on the Altar of God.
At the crucification, the veil was ripped. The ultimate sacrifice took place on the cross. The sinless Son of God. The Messiah suffered and died just as prophesied in the Old Testament. The Seat of Mercy in the Holy of Holies was made available to Jew and Greek alike on that day.
Moses was instructed to construct a brass serpent and place it atop a pole. When bitten by asps, the Israelis were instructed to look to the brass serpent (symbolically representing 'brass=judged' 'serpent=sin') for healing. The cross of Jesus Christ has an even greater power to heal when we look to it for Salvation, for it cleanses us of all our sin and His resurrection assures us that we will have eternal life with our Creator based on our judged sin at the cross.
Repentance is a recognition of our need for forgiveness (no person can be called good). Salvation is what we receive when we recognize Jesus' finished work on the cross as His gift of forgiveness to us (we are made good by His judged body on the cross and we are washed of our sin by His shed perfectly sinless blood). Adam's blood was tainted by his disobedience, but Jesus Christ blood is cleansing because of His perfect obedience. Believers in Jesus are made right with God.
I pray that you come to know the Messiah. Until then, please keep an open mind, and study the Word of God diligently.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.