I guess Adam may have been a boxer in a past life, a quick jab in and then back out agian.
On 5 Sep, 05:38, Adam <[email protected]> wrote: > There are some things that have worried and perplexed church-going > people for centuries. > For example. > Why does God remain silent? Why are prayers ineffective? Why does He > not interfere in men’s affairs? Why does He not prevent evil? Why does > He not punish evil doers? How does predestination work? Are people > saved by faith or works? > I am going to try to answer all these question in this article. > I will attempt to explain the reason for our existence as revealed by > the Bible. > I will also try to reveal the mind and purpose of God from the same > source and explain His two plans of salvation. > The Bible records that both Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit > and they eventually died. > The fruit contained drugs which had several effects on them both. > Their knowledge was increased because their eyes were opened and they > realised that they were naked. They became mortal and they became > selfish. So the fruit contained a mind-altering drug, a slow acting > poison that made them mortal and it changed their DNA structure to > produce the “selfish gene” (a description invented by atheist Richard > Dawkins). This selfish gene and the mortality would be passed on to > all their offspring right up to the present time. > These changes were not a punishment imposed upon the pair by God. They > were the natural consequences of eating a drugged substance. God did > punish them by imposing pain in childbirth upon Eve and hard > unfruitful labour upon Adam. The punishments were designed to show > them that their actions had caused pain to God and had made His work > unfruitful. > God’s purpose in creating mankind was to produce a race of people > willingly obedient to His word. He would then give eternal life to > this race of people and dwell with them on the earth. > This purpose has been delayed because of the sin of the original pair > in the Garden of Eden. > Sin may be defined as “the failure to love God and neighbour”. The > proof that we love God is if we obey His commands and if we obey those > commands (which deal with the fair treatment of other people) then we > love our neighbour. The two go together. Ignorance of God is also sin > because we can’t love or obey what we don’t know. > The selfishness which is a part of every one of us is what theologians > have called “original sin”. Some seem to think that we all bear the > guilt of Adam’s sin. This is rubbish. We are not guilty of Adam’s sin > but we do indeed suffer the results of it. The inherent selfishness in > our bodies is “sinful human flesh” and it alienates us from God. We > are all, then, classified as “sinners” by God and are doomed to die. > In fact it is necessary for all of us to die to destroy the selfish > gene within us all. This selfish gene is what is known as ‘the devil’ > in scriptural terms. So Christ destroyed the devil within himself by > his death. > After the disobedience of the first human pair God could have > destroyed them and started again with a new pair. But he did not > destroy them. He allowed them to procreate and bring about the human > race as we see it today together with all its imperfections. > After the flood God gradually reduced the lifespan of all humans to a > maximum of 120 years but He apparently did not want everybody to die > solely from old age. So He introduced many and varied ways of bringing > about their death. Old age, epidemics and accidents were just a few > ways of accomplished this end. There are also earthquakes and volcanic > eruption and tidal waves and stillbirths, etc. This great variety of > ways to die ensures that no one knows just how or when he will lose > his life. In the light of this it is wrong to say that God has given > us life. It is more accurate to say that God has lent us life for a > relatively short time to see if we can overcome our inherent > selfishness and treat our neighbours fairly. God has thrown us in at > the deep end to see which ones of us can rise above our nature. Even > the most primitive people know the difference between right and wrong > because we all have a conscience which will either justify or condemn > us on the day of judgement. > In the Old Testament the word ‘heaven’ generally means ‘the sky’ but > in prophecy it often has a symbolic meaning. It means ‘the place where > the seat of government is located’ and the ‘earth’ means ‘the common > people’ or subjects of that government. Thus God, being the supreme > ruler of the universe, dwells in heaven somewhere, and on earth the > various kings and governments also inhabit their local ‘heaven’. > In Paul’s day the seat of government was in Rome so when he wrote that > the gospel had been ‘preached to every creature which is under > heaven’, he did not mean that it had been preached in Japan or on the > American continent, he meant that it had only been preached throughout > the Roman Empire. > Almost one third of the Bible is devoted to prophecy but I am not > going to delve into it in this article except to say that Christ has > promised to return to this earth and set up a kingdom here with its > headquarters in Jerusalem. To help with the government of this kingdom > certain men and women have been chosen to rule with Christ. These > people are called ‘saints’ and they were predestined to be called to > this honour since before the foundation of the earth. This is the > extent of predestination in the Bible. After the call was answered, > the saints had the free will to remain faithful to their calling or > not as they chose. There is no predestination for sinners. We all have > freewill. The saints were each given the Holy Spirit which taught them > all truth and given at least one supernatural gift. The Holy Spirit > was passed on to saints by the laying on of hands by one of the > apostles. The call began when Christ started teaching but then ceased > with the death of the last apostle because there was no one left to > pass on the Holy Spirit. The church quickly became corrupt as the > apostles predicted and there has been no true church since. The whole > world is now in the darkness of ignorance and will remain so until the > return of Christ. > The saints who have remained faithful unto death will be resurrected > immortal at the return of Christ and be rewarded with positions of > authority in the kingdom according to their works. Those saints who > have fallen away from the faith have had their names removed from the > book of life, the Holy Spirit has been taken away from them and they > will not be raised at the return of Christ. > It is predicted that the prophet Elijah will return to Israel to > preach repentance to the Jews before the return of Christ. There are > indications that a new generation of saints will receive the call at > that time. Until that happens we sinners have been left to repent of > our evil ways and follow the dictates of our conscience to treat our > neighbours fairly. If we can do this then we will receive a favourable > judgement at the return of Christ and our names entered into the book > of life. At the end of the millennium all the sinners will be > resurrected and those whose names are not found in the book of life > will be thrown into the lake of fire, which is the second death. > Now the saints will be saved by faith (which produces works) but > sinners who may have no faith will be saved (or otherwise) by works. > So there are two different plans for salvation for two different > classes of people. No one can become a saint unless they are called by > God. It does not depend on man’s desire or effort but on God’s mercy. > Now, why does God not answer prayers? It is because God doesn’t listen > to sinners. Neither does he communicate with them. I have witnessed a > whole congregation pray for the recovery of a sick woman with no > response from God. > God does not interfere or prevent sin because everybody is going to be > judged by Christ at his return. It does not matter whether a person > lives a long or short time in this life. God knows the mind of man and > will judge fairly. This is a time of probation and opportunity. To get > things in perspective, we have to look at things from God’s point of > view. We have no rights before God. He chooses who He wants for honour > or destruction. Compared with the creation of the universe the nations > are as a drop in the bucket. > Now the church-going people have remained in ignorance for nearly 2000 > years because they have assumed that they, too, are saints and that > the New Testament refers to them. They have closed their eyes to the > fact that there are no Spirit gifts available today. This alone should > have told them something. Those money-grabbing fakes who claim the > gift of healing should go and empty the hospitals or shut up. > In trying to be brief I have perhaps not explained things very well > but I can elaborate if requested. > Adam. --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/minds-eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
