That's certainly a reasonable assumption. We are not here to stay, so to God the time we spend on earth could be irrelevant. Since what we do does not affect our salvation or perdition, it is what happens afterwards that matters.
Whether you take a fast train or a slow train is irrelevant. Those who were "predestined" to believe will believe; those who were not will not, right? The reprobate will remain reprobate whether they live 1 day or 100 years according to your Reformed theology.
Ps 139:13 : For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. Do you suppose that knitting included congenital birth defects, abnormally strong heart muscles, below average immune systems, etc.?
Does God make retarded people? God doesn't "make" us. Parents make us following God's laws of procreation. Thus whatever corruption the parents have they give it to their offspring.
Or, do you suppose that we are made physically equal and everything after that happens by chance?
God created the world good. Whatever imperfcetion and evil exists in it is because our ancestral parents rejected the Good and became evil.
I don't think we can have any idea how long Adam lived in sin
His entire life, of course. His sin changed his nature and made it mortal. Mortality (death) is evidence of sinfulness. It's not only what we do and think, it's our nature or essence. Even if he didn't sin any more, he wanted to. And Christ tells us that even a lustful thought is a sin.
In my church we DO celebrate the lives of the departed. Of course, we also feel sorry for ourselves at our own loss
Somewhere in the NT it says we should not love the world. Obviously so many seem to disregard it. We love God but we love our world too, sometimes more, don't we? True Christians should be delighted at their loss! We should be celebrating the departure of the loved ones, because if you love your neighbor as yourself you would delight in their heavenly rewards, and the joy of their loss would pale any residual sorrow for their absence.
I would venture to say that our sorrow is a seed of doubt we all have but are afraid to admit. It is also an indication of how much we love the world.
God obviously wants His children here for a time for His reasons
Pure speculation. God could be completely dispassionate as regards our stay here. In fact, the eastern Church teaches that God is indeed dispassionate when ti comes to mankind.
One of which is to fulfill the Great Commission
Oh yeah? So how much of your free time do you spend evangelizing non-Christians? Or do you try to "fit" it in your busy schedule of other "fun things to do?" What priority in your life does the Great Commission take in your free time? First, second, third, after the football game, after BBQ; do your vacations go all towards the Great Commission...c'mon FK, you know what I mean. It's all talk and feel-good stuff. We put God on the back burner all the time. But a Pharisee would make it sound like he lives, drinks and talks nothing but God.
If we're all dead, then who is going to do the work?
God doesn't need us to do the work. He already did everything. The world is turning around all by itself.
Plus, we have to stay alive long enough to make more future Christians
I though God made all the elect from before foundation of the world according to your theology. We can't make Christians! And if He wants more, He certainly can make more. We could all be engaged in populating the earth 24/7/365!
Here, mankind benefits from the commission of sin, since if we never die, no one goes to be in Heaven with God
I thought God created us for His pleasure in your theology. Who cares if we benefit or not? It's not about us, or is it on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
“God created the world good. Whatever imperfcetion and evil exists in it is because our ancestral parents rejected the Good and became evil.”
“His entire life, of course. His sin changed his nature and made it mortal. Mortality (death) is evidence of sinfulness. It’s not only what we do and think, it’s our nature or essence.”
Wow! That sounds sooo Augustinian. Almost like original sin leaning heavily towards total depravity. Now maybe we can move on to the “U” in T.U.L.I.P.
Total Depravity
Unconditional Election
Limited Atonement
Irresistible Grace
Perseverance of the Saints
Only someone who disregards Scripture could presume that God is dispassionate about His creation.
"Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." -- Hebrews 12:2
To paraphrase Goldie Hawn in "First Wives Club" -- "I'm an actress GOD! I've got ALL the emotions!!!"
Yes, but I don't see the point you are trying to make. I was asking you if you thought that the time of death for most/all people was random.
Does God make retarded people? God doesn't "make" us. Parents make us following God's laws of procreation. Thus whatever corruption the parents have they give it to their offspring.
Ah, so parents make us. I see. So, you don't agree with Ps 139:13? :) If not, then you won't like these either: :
Gen 4:1 : And Adam knew Eve his wife; and she conceived, and bare Cain, and said, I have gotten a man from the Lord. KJV
Isa 44:24 : Thus saith the Lord, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; KJV
Jer 27:5 : With my great power and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are on it, and I give it to anyone I please.
Acts 14:15 : "Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.
Acts 17:24-25 : 24 "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. 25 And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.
You get the idea. God is the author and maker of every life.
God created the world good. Whatever imperfection and evil exists in it is because our ancestral parents rejected the Good and became evil.
In general, I have no problem with this statement. However, it should be remembered that the first sin committed "in the world" was not by Adam or Eve, but by the serpent.
FK: "In my church we DO celebrate the lives of the departed. Of course, we also feel sorry for ourselves at our own loss."
Somewhere in the NT it says we should not love the world. Obviously so many seem to disregard it. We love God but we love our world too, sometimes more, don't we? True Christians should be delighted at their loss! We should be celebrating the departure of the loved ones, because if you love your neighbor as yourself you would delight in their heavenly rewards, and the joy of their loss would pale any residual sorrow for their absence.
Here is the passage:
1 John 2:15-17 : 15 Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For everything in the world — the cravings of sinful man, the lust of his eyes and the boasting of what he has and does — comes not from the Father but from the world. 17 The world and its desires pass away, but the man who does the will of God lives forever.
I agree with you that many Christians love the world inappropriately. However, while I think your purported Christian dealing with loss is fine for some, I do not think it Biblically wrong or sinful to feel sadness at the separation upon death. We will "miss" the departed. Paul said all the time how he missed being with the churches he had visited. There is nothing wrong with that. Here is the classic example:
John 11:32-36 : 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." 33 When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. 34 "Where have you laid him?" he asked. "Come and see, Lord," they replied. 35 Jesus wept. 36 Then the Jews said, "See how he loved him!"
There it is. Now, whether Christ had control over the destination of this man's soul or not, He clearly sets the example for all of us that it is perfectly right and proper to cry over the loss of a loved one.
FK: "God obviously wants His children here for a time for His reasons."
Pure speculation. God could be completely dispassionate as regards our stay here. In fact, the eastern Church teaches that God is indeed dispassionate when it comes to mankind.
I probably checked 5 online dictionaries, and they all had the same definition for 'dispassionate': "Devoid of or unaffected by passion, emotion, or bias." Love is an emotion. This would seem to paint the eastern Church into quite a corner. :)
Oh yeah? So how much of your free time do you spend evangelizing non-Christians? Or do you try to "fit" it in your busy schedule of other "fun things to do?" What priority in your life does the Great Commission take in your free time? First, second, third, after the football game, after BBQ; do your vacations go all towards the Great Commission...c'mon FK, you know what I mean.
Well, as I can objectively prove, I spend an INORDINATE amount of my free time right here :) witnessing my faith to dozens or hundreds of thousands of readers, some number of whom have not yet accepted Christ. I don't need a medal or anything, but I really do think it IS something that contributes. You can say the same thing.
FK: "Plus, we have to stay alive long enough to make more future Christians."
I thought God made all the elect from before foundation of the world according to your theology. We can't make Christians! And if He wants more, He certainly can make more. We could all be engaged in populating the earth 24/7/365!
Well, given my above, I have to admit that my word choice here was not optimal. :) I was thinking of the joke and not the theology. I maintain that God makes all of us through the mother and father of each child. God DETERMINES the elect, by name, from before the foundations, but He does not physically "make" us until conception, and thereafter.
I thought God created us for His pleasure in your theology. Who cares if we benefit or not? It's not about us, or is it on Tuesdays and Thursdays?
He DID create us for His pleasure, and you're right that it's not about us. However, apparently God DOES care if we benefit or not because we experience that He blesses us all the time. Plus, we have the Bible, which is clear on the matter. For example:
Rom 8:28 : And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.