So in the garden it would have been
quite difficult for A&E to know that the serpent had said
something different from God?
Judy, you've hit it on the head!! A&E knew only
good but not evil. They have never been lied to before. They've never been
deceived. They would rather doubt what they heard than doubt another
creature of God. And what did the serpent look like? We're conditioned to
be wary of them. But was he more beautiful and approachable in the garden?
After the serpent spoke to Eve, Eve looked at the fruit and saw that it
was pleasing to the eye, good for food and desirable for gaining
knowledge. Adam was beside her the whole time and he didn't see anything
wrong until it was too late.
They didn't learn fear, shame and caution until
after. We're post-fall so we know to be wary of Satan's voice. And also
we've been told that he is skilled in deception. If you've watched
magicians at work or listened to condo salesmen, you know that the best of
us can be fooled some of the time.
What is the tree of life IYO and where
does one find it since mankind has been driven from the
garden?
It is Jesus Christ. One of his great "I Am"
statements in John is that he is the bread of life. John also spoke of his
as "eternal life". When we have him, we have life and we have it in
abundance.
What if it's the old flesh nature that
we are supposed to have reckoned dead trying to come alive again that is
shouting Nooooooooo? The demons are always working on trying to
raise that up again.
Then it must be dealt with. Suppression and denial
is like trying to keep balloons under water. It's far simpler to just
prick them. A lot of people like to tell us that our emotions do not
matter. They believe that if we know truth, then we will feel the right
way. That's simply not true. We should not follow our emotions but our
emotions do tells us when something is wrong. But we're not very good at
understanding what our emotions are saying and so can be mislead. Suppose
someone is depressed and has suicidal thoughts. Telling him that suicide
will send him to hell may help a little. Telling him that God loves him
and he should not feel this way may help a little. So would changing his
brain chemistry with medication. But shouldn't we also try to figure out
why he feels the way he does?
Why would one assume that Terry or any
of those who are not into the "Christ event" would be ignoring these
things which is in effect staying in
the prison house of unforgiveness with that strongman in charge as though
the Holy Spirit were mute.
We speak convincingly of what we have experienced.
Those who have been forgiven much can speak convincingly about
forgiveness. Those who have been loved extravagantly can speak
convincingly about extravagant love.
What do you call "striving to enter
His rest" Caroline - and how does one accomplish this? Those who
perished in the wilderness didn't make it did
they? How can we be sure
that our outcome is different? Don't forget that this warning is in
the New Testament and was written - after the "Christ
event".....
How indeed? If you reread Hebrews 4, it is saying
that God has offered us rest but some will rebel against it and refuse to
enter. The writer's advice to us is not to harden our hearts when we hear
God's voice telling us to enter. It is by faith that we enter his rest. We
don't earn the right to come in as if we're co-saviours. The invitation is
open.
