Yes, people do use being human as an excuse.
Humanity has been broken for so long, and the story of what we were made to be
(and what we will be in Christ) has become so obscured, that they think of
fallen humanity as the only humanity. To be truly human is
to show with all our being what God is like,
How does "being human" in and of
itself effect this since God Himself is not human? God is a Spirit (John
4:24)
to be God's regent-servants in the world he
has made, to live in intimate relationship with God as we
were created to do.
There is just one way back
to "intimate relationship with God" - Things can never revert back
to what they were before the fall. Jesus did not come to recondition the
old. He came to introduce the new. In the garden Adam and Eve were not
indwelt by the Holy Spirit.
When God made us, he said "very good".
When he completed his work in
Genesis he said "very good" - are you forgetting how many generations ago that
was? Today we are born into a fallen creation as fallen creatures
......
Jesus is truly
human, and through his life, death, resurrection, and ascension,
we are being restored.
Jesus is not the same as the rest
of humanity - He came from heaven. John the Baptist points this out
early on (John 3:31) "He that cometh from above is above all; he that is of
the earth is earthly and speaketh of the earth; he that cometh from heaven is
above all and what he hath seen and heard, that he testifieth". Paul expounds
on this further in 1 Cor 15:42-50.
If humanity is just going to be extinguished,
there is no such thing as salvation. Think of it: you are animated by the Holy
Spirit already
now.
Salvation is not about saving some
old wretched fallen nature Debbie; we are actually "saved from the wrath
of God" by being conformed to the image of Christ and the Holy Spirit indwells
us to help bring this about. The body is changed at the last trump and even
that will not be the same, it is a "transformed body"
We will have bodies, Judy, although they will be
different. We will not be ghosts or angels.
Did I ever say we would be ghosts
or angels? Why does it have to be from one extreme to the
other?
We will still be human. What could we be other
than human, and be ourselves?
As we have borne the image of the
earthly we will bear the image of the heavenly - but it doesn't happen by
osmosis and there are lots of "ifs, ands, and buts" IOW it didn't all happen
at the incarnation and it necessitates our cooperation.
There is going to be a new earth, too. You might
want to reference a previous thread in which David and I talked about the
body, salvation, and resurrection.
Joy - Debbie
Debbie writes:
1. We are not saved to be something other than
human. To be truly human does not mean to be
sinful and broken.
What do you mean by "truly human"
Debbie? It's been my experience that ppl usually bring out "after all
they are human" as an excuse
for continuing in sin when they
are threatened by someone they think may be setting the standard too
high.
You can't be talking about the
human body because we all know that "flesh and blood" cannot inherit God's
Kingdom (1 Cor 15:50)
So what are you saying
here... What is your spin?
judyt
