Posted on 11/28/2004 4:42:56 PM PST by Quix
Thank you so much for your post AG. Excellent!
That was exceedingly excellent!
And thank you for the encouragements, too!
Much agree.
THX.
Very blessed you'd think so. Helps make the tedium of clearing up the OCR stuff more than worth it!
LUB
Not sure if I count as a "rabid naysayer", but when it comes down to it, the "mathematical signature of God" even if true is extremely unimportant.
In all the vast diversities of personalities . . .
for those thousands of individuals for whom such fascinating finger prints of God provide
attractive clues;
attractive invitations;
attractive clues
resulting by Holy Spirit's use and drawing to Jesus therewith
in an eternal relationship with The Father via Salvation in Christ . . .
for those individuals,
such will not have been the least bit
UN-important.
I'm shocked that any earnest believer could imagine, much less, think otherwise.
I agree. People don't get suckered into the kingdom of God. Debate over mathematical theories is not the same as proclaiming the Bible (the Word of God) as the only infallible source of truth, and the clear way it points to Jesus Christ as the only hope of salvation.
"And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name." (John 20:30,31)
"For those who are such do not serve our Lord Jesus Christ, but their own belly, and by smooth words and flattering speech deceive the hearts of the simple." (Rom. 16:18)
"And I, brethren, when I came to you, did not come with excellence of speech or of wisdom declaring to you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified." (1 Cor. 2:1,2)
You don't need Bible codes to figure out who Jesus Christ is, or to recognize the glory of God. Just open the Bible to any page and read the plain words written there. Only the blind cannot see and need to look elsewhere for "proof".
Speaking as someone who believes in the inerrant divine inspiration of the Bible, I think this analysis is a load of crap.
I think you are being generous. :-)
I don't find either of your two statements logical or consistent with the facts.
When I read comments like this I'm reminded on the story of the rich man and Lazarus. You might recall that story ends with these words:
Then [the rich man] said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.' Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' (Luke 16)
If people will not hear the word of God ("Moses and the prophets"), no miracle -- even as great as someone coming back from the dead -- will persuade them to turn to God.
It's sad that the church has turned to carnival tricks to try convince people to "come to Jesus". Part of the problem is the common belief that "saving souls" is a purely human endeavor. Folks think if they just present the best argument that folks will fall down before Christ. But that's not how it happens. People only come to Christ when they have been made alive by the Spirit of Christ. They must first be "born again" in order to repent of their sins and have faith in Him. Human arguiments do not cause that to happen.
That's more than a bit like saying . . .
'I totally believe in and accept the wonderful the bond between oxygen and hydrogen but if I have to accept two molecules of oxygen to drink water, I won't drink a drop of it.'
Oh REALLY!
Cute.
No, actually it's more like 'I totally believe in and accept the wonderful the bond between oxygen and hydrogen but I don't need to accept your wacky theory about micro-minature, alien-technology, unseen Lego pieces in order to drink the water.'
What an interesting distortion of the facts.
What facts?
But don't you understand? The Holy Spirit needs help from eminent "mathematicians" like Grant Jeffrey with too much time on their hands.
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.