Posted on 09/24/2022 9:27:48 PM PDT by OneVike
“and then the fishys and the birds and the cows and the apes and finally Man and then ME!””
-————————Adam was alone-————
18 The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.”
19 Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the wild animals and all the birds in the sky. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. 20 So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds in the sky and all the wild animals.
But for Adam[f] no suitable helper was found. 21
When you even pot such a statement are you surprised that Christians will respond, or are you presuming they will? Such a characterization of God indicates you are sorely uneducated on Who God Is and what His Sovereign authority means. It also indicates you presume more than you qactually know.
If you are treading water out in the middle of the ocean and I come by with a boat and offer to rescue you from your imminent drowning or being eaten by sharks, would you presume me vengeful or capricious and reject my offer to pull you from the water to the safety of my boat?
My initial post on this thread was post number 2.
That’s really all I wanted to say, but one person with whom I’ve had interesting engagements in the past responded.
(and you are...?)
I am one who is concerned for your eternal destiny. If we were discussing this notion I would ask you if you believe you are made with a physical body, a soul/behavior mechanism, and a spirit, with the spirit and soul being in a greater dimensional variables UNiverse, not limited by the 4D of your physical body. I would seek to start there.
I think God has taken care of my eternal destiny.
But thanks very much for your concern :-)
"I’ve never bought-into the notion of a vengeful or capricious God, for instance; nor into the concepts of ‘vicarious atonement’ or some ‘salvation’ that takes place by faith alone. ... "I think God has taken care of my eternal destiny."
Well, I’ve figured it all out satisfactorily for myself.
I sincerely hope that you have, too.
Evil is a condition brought forth by sin and rebellion against God.
In that sense, it is not a created thing, like the Earth and stars. It is merely a side product of rebellion against the Creator. It is an example of separation from God, a view into what we call Hell.
I can agree with what I perceive that you are saying.
God laid out laws, and if we break them, we suffer. God set us up pretty well; the rest is all on us.
Evil is not a place or object but a qualitative description that describes actions (free will) with intent of the sentient being-human or otherwise. Real quick: An accidental death is not evil, someone plotting someone’s death is usually evil, if it is plotting the death of a serial murderer or someone like Hitler, Stalin not evil..
To me the atheist argument on this is a nothing burger-semantics with our limited language skills like kids saying if God is so strong can he make a rock so heavy even he can’t lift it
Yes, if we break them evil is a result. There is an enemy that wants or tempts us to sin. Evil is a consequence of something, not a created thing is what I’m saying. I am actually challenging the premise of this piece that evil is something that was specifically created. I see it differently than that. I think it is the result of something.
I disagree with what I sense as an implied personification of ‘evil’ as enemy, in your post. The only enemy we have is ourselves - or rather, our lower selves.
Otherwise, I agree.
The serpent that tempts is the enemy, even Jesus confronted him.
But that doesn’t personify evil as something that is a result of just the enemy. There is evil from the actions of man, in the case of Cain, there is no insinuation of influence outside himself. The sin of men can result in evil outside any influence of the enemy. But as for me, I do believe it is clear that there is an enemy existing.
Well, if you mean a devil or ‘satan’, I just don’t believe in it.
There’s no room in my concept of an all-encompassing God - in Whom I ‘live and move and have my being’ - for a lesser, rival little ‘god’. (And that is exactly what satan boils down to, for those who believe in it.)
We will just have to disagree on that. To me, It is too plain in the Torah and in the New Testament that rebellion exists not only in man but in the spiritual realm as well.
There may be lost, aimless entities in other realms and dimensions; but I don’t believe they have any power over us unless we allow it. And we allow it by believing in and fearing them.
I think most scriptural references to these are symbolical, but we can ‘create’ and give power to just about anything we fear - or love! - enough.
Anyway, it’s been very nice ‘talking’ with you.
And same to you…thanks.
Including evil and darkness.
And everything else.
Where you find life, you find death.
I wonder how many times Evolution came up with LIFE, only to have it die soon.
The primordial goo MUST have decided, somewhere way back in time, to evolve some way to REPRODUCE after appearing on the scene once again.
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