Posted on 03/21/2021 3:18:51 PM PDT by Roman_War_Criminal
it is interesting the number of ideas humans have had about that question
This ranges from the Sumerians believing that the gods created humans as slaves to till the land, to the Hindu belief that everything is god, to the Jainism belief that the universe was never created and will not be destroyed.
Your view seems more Epicurean or Deistic. Have you read those philosophies?
“If anything, our connection or soul if you prefer melds with the creator of this amazing universe.”
ok, so your view is less Deistic/Epicurean and more Hindu i.e. Sanatana Dharma - or maybe Pantheistic.
You can rest assured that it is not good enough...
What do we have but the bible to guide us in the ways of God???
If God/Jesus won't forgive me for prior sins and not acknowledge all the good I've done since, then I don't want the "clouds" in the sky. I can rot in purgatory while knowing I did good stuff and my heart is good and my conscience is clear. That's all I want on my dying bed.
I hear ya...There are billions who think just like you, and I was one of them...
And there are billions more who don't even believe in God/Jesus...
All we can do is plant and water and the rest is up to you and God...We would be remiss if we didn't warn you...
Perhaps there will come a time in your life where all seems lost and you have no where to turn, but to God...It's happened to a lot of us...Probably most of us...If you don't need Jesus he probably won't waste his time with you...
Mat 9:9 And as Jesus passed forth from thence, he saw a man, named Matthew, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he saith unto him, Follow me. And he arose, and followed him.
Mat 9:10 And it came to pass, as Jesus sat at meat in the house, behold, many publicans and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples.
Mat 9:11 And when the Pharisees saw it, they said unto his disciples, Why eateth your Master with publicans and sinners?
Mat 9:12 But when Jesus heard that, he said unto them, They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick.
Mat 9:13 But go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice: for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
It is not like it was a decade ago...Time is very, very short...
You're making this easy...
While Jesus upholds the law, no one else does, ever...If you demand that you be judged by the good you do or did you have to realize one thing...The rules are pretty tough...You can't do good in some things but be a little slack in others...If you have failed in ANY of the laws you are just as guilty as if you violated all the laws...And will pay the price accordingly..
The good/great news is Jesus does not judge with the law as the standard to be judged against for Christians...The law is no longer nailed to the door for us to read and follow...The law is now embedded into our hearts...And like you, we don't have to do good, we want to do good...And if we fail, we get back up and continue on...I don' know your motive but we do it because we love God and that's what he wants us to do...Maybe you're already saved and just bereft of anything the bible says...
Whoops...Sent this to the wrong person...Sorry...
I know this thread has mostly expired but in re-reading it last night I couldn't help but not only pray for A Navy Vet, but dwell on what his words expressed that no doubt many others probably think as well. Rather than reply in a private freepmail I am compelled to respond openly.
Navy Vet, I first of all salute your service - my husband is also a Navy vet (he served aboard the aircraft carrier Independence in the Mediterranean during the Viet Nam war) and my Dad was a lifer Air Force fighter pilot and instructor. I know firsthand the pride that comes from giving one's life to serve their country with honor. That kind of pride is well deserved and admirable - it spurs us to excellence in everything we do. But that's not the kind of pride the Bible tells us God "hates".
The Creator and Sustainer of all that is, was or ever will be doesn't want us to "grovel". He doesn't want our humiliation, He wants our humility and those are vastly different terms. To be humble before the Almighty is to recognize that He alone deserves all the glory and no one else because:
When the Apostle Paul wrote,
He was quoting the Old Testament Prophet Isaiah who was inspired by God to write,
Paul later wrote in his epistle to the Philippians, that it was Jesus Christ who:
Someone once said to me that he thought God was being pretty boastful bragging about getting all the glory, but the way I see it, He's being HONEST about it. God rightfully does deserve all the glory, honor and praise because without Him nothing would exist. We wouldn't be here, nothing would.
So, again, God doesn't want anyone to grovel before Him or humiliate himself. He wants us to be honest and humbly admit that He is Lord and God and without Him we could do nothing. Bending the knee is showing reverence and respect. It is admitting He is God and we are not. The Bible says, "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom.". Fear is another word for reverence. It's just being honest. The wonderful news is that God loves us and wants us to come to Him of our own free will. Jesus said,
Please forgive me for "preaching" but I just had to speak what's been on my heart. God bless you as you seek to know the truth. "Agnostic" means without knowledge. It needn't be a permanent condition.
Excellent post boatbums!
I’m reminded of a few verses where The Lord is actually attempting to nudge us sinners back to Him - to turn to Him.
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, and let us reason together,” Says the LORD, “Though your sins are like scarlet, They shall be as white as snow; Though they are red like crimson, They shall be as wool.
Ezekiel 18:27
But if a wicked man turns from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.
Isaiah 43:25
I, yes I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake and remembers your sins no more.
Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely pardon.
The Lord simply wants us to humble ourselves before Him. He knows more about us than we know about ourselves.
What could be better than the mercy of an Abba Father?
Please leave me alone. I’ve stated my beliefs many times. I’m not going to change them. Thank you for your concern.
I've also been thinking about those who deny that God desires a personal relationship with us - that He is an "impersonal" force. He's some nebulous superior being that zapped everything into existence and then went off somewhere else oblivious to what us puny humans might come up with on our own. It's the idea that "a god/God" is unknowable or impersonal.
But, I wonder, if those who think like that have done much searching to find out if their conclusion is reasonable. Why, if God was impersonal, did He create beings with an innate knowledge of a Creator or a universe where all of creation screams out design and order?
Now, if God desired to know and be known by His created beings in a personal way, how would He go about doing so?
I guess a good start would be to speak directly with someone and tell him about Himself, right? Yeah...He did that (see Adam, Eve, Noah, Lot, Abraham, etc.)
Another might be to appear in a form that humans can recognize and relate to. Yep...did that, too.
He could communicate directly with certain people and tell them specific things that were going to happen and explain how only a true God could do that and then those things DO happen exactly as He said. Ditto.
He could demonstrate His power through miraculous signs and wonders and rescuing those who believed in Him through insurmountable dangers. Seeing a pattern?
And if this god/God demonstrated that He wanted to be known by His creation by speaking to them, appearing to them, showing His power through foreknowledge and delivering them by miracles, then wouldn't that be evidence that He WAS knowable and desired to be known?
Anyway, just some things I have been pondering over lately. Your thoughts?
Beautifully said, m’Lady.
It’s hard to see what more He could have done to demonstrate to mankind that He’s interested in being reconciled with us.
Rom 8:16 The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Just the fact that God has made us his children shows he wants a relationship with us...
Thanks MHGinTN,
I’ve been away for work and haven’t been able to catch up, I appreciate your thoughts,
If I understand correctly 4D to me is time,
The spirit world operates in a bizarre manner, it’s like some quantum entanglement calculation where we lose locality and everything is interconnected and all communications exceed the speed of light and therefore time is meaningless null and void, and if true is this where the physical world butts up against the spirit world?
I *conjecture* this is where our time and space make up only 3 and one half of seven dimensions, with only half of time being experienced, where we go only in one direction, always forward and never back, it’s the number seven divided in half that we really exist in (with 12 dimensions and two times in creation and likely more or even an infinite number we cannot experience as created beings) again all conjecture but I suspect that people with insight from the Holy Spirit can see around the corner so to speak, because he is operating outside of our time and space and can offer warnings or alerts directly to us or via dreams,
I believe if we discern why the Tribulation begins, or what events on the Earth are or have changed it will unlock more understandings, I have some ideas I’ll share as soon I can get a free minute this Holiday weekend,
Thanks again,
When I use "4D" I refer to three variable expressions of dimension Space and one variable expression of dimension Time. Our body is limited in 4D spacetime coordinate system. But our spirit is not int he same coordinate system. We can make this presumption because the spirit continues to exist after the body is long gone, existing here with the Earth or in Heaven with The Lord, awaiting a resurrection body which is also not limited to the 4D coordinate system.
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