This general resurrection of the dead that Jesus prophesied about in John 5:28-29 must be the same resurrection recorded in Revelation 20:11-15 through Revelation 21:1-8. In both resurrections, the dead are judged according to their good and bad works. Only the dead stand before God because He will not yet have recreated their good works into new humans at that time. The book of life will be opened where God has recorded His new names for all His future humans whom He will recreate to live on His recreated earth. Other books will be opened which will have recorded all of the good and evil works of the dead. At that judgment, God will recover all of His good works that He put into man and collect them into a general pool from which He will create righteous men to live on His righteous, recreated earth. All of the evil dead will be cast into the lake of fire. Thus, in this general resurrection, God will absolutely and completely separate all that is totally righteous from all that is totally evil.
The main difference between those saved by grace and the recreated humans will be that those saved by grace will already be enjoying a new life with God in heaven while the recreated humans can only reside on the new earth. In addition, humans saved by grace will retain most of their former identities and personalities that they had on the old earth while the recreated humans will lose their former identities and personalities because God will have recreated them from a pool of recovered good works as He sees fit to recreate them. Matthew 16:24-27; Mark 8:34-38; Luke 9:23-26.
Revelation 20:13 reveals that God will raise the dead from three different places called the sea, death, and hell. If unrepentant sinners go only to hell when they die, then the Bible could only state that. Revelation 20:14 teaches that both death and hell will be cast into the lake of fire to be destroyed. God promised in I Corinthians 15:26 that He would destroy death. God will also destroy hell because the lake of fire is called the second death. In addition, God will have emptied hell of all its dead which will show that hell has already served its purpose. All of this shows that the second death must eliminate the first death. Revelation 21:1 reveals that the sea from which some of the dead were raised will also be eliminated by a manner not specified. Revelation 21:5 provides God's assurance that He will make all things new. Since God created all things in the first place, then this promise can only mean that God will recover every good element He has ever created as Colossians 1:20 and Romans 11:36 relate. Since God recovers and cleanses all of His good elements that have been temporarily subject to being sullied by sin and uses them to recreate a new earth and mankind, then this can only mean that the dead whom God casts into the lake of fire must be totally evil as Revelation 21:8 describes them as being.
Whether lost souls after death go into the sea, death, or hell depends solely upon the judgment of Christ. Christ is the sole and final judge in all matters as John 5:21-22 and 27 clearly teach. God allows believers to recognize sin when they see it, but Christ never allows believers to make final judgments about any person. Matthew 7:1-2; Matthew 7:20. Christians must recognize that God has appointed Christ alone to be the final judge and leave it at that. This means that whenever believers make such final judgments, they must put themselves in the place of Christ, and that can only be a sin. Hebrews 9:27.
Wednesday, August 30, 2017
Tuesday, August 29, 2017
Commentary on John 5:21-29 part one
In verse 24, our Lord clearly equates death with original sin. When God cast Adam and Eve out of the garden of Eden, they lost all direct fellowship with God. Since that day, all humans have been born with a deadness of spirit and soul; that is, no consciousness of God. No consciousness of God results in sins committed and spiritual death. Genesis 2:17; Genesis 3:23. Spiritual death has nothing to do with physical death. Actually, physical death always results in a person's soul and spirit being returned to God for judgment. Psalm 115:16; Hebrews 9:27. Physical death actually only symbolizes God's ability to create and recreate.
In verse 24, Jesus taught that any person who is physically alive but spiritually dead can be made alive forever by putting their faith in Him. Jesus refers here to the "born again" experience of John 3:3-8. By His phrase "and believeth on Him who sent Me," Jesus meant that a person must put his faith in the Father and the Son in order to receive the "everlasting life" which results from God removing all sin from the believer's soul and spirit and recreating his soul and spirit to have direct fellowship with God. In a sense, all "born again" believers spiritually return to the garden of Eden. Jesus further taught that all "born again" believers never receive any "condemnation" whatsoever from God's judgment. In other words, God never separates them from His fellowship again. God may punish them to correct them, but He never again separates them from Himself. In verse 24, Jesus refers to all believers ever saved by the grace of God including Old Testament saints, Church Age saints, and Tribulation saints.
In verse 25, Jesus taught about both a future and a present event. Jesus meant that in a present event God can raise a believer from spiritual death to spiritual life. But Jesus also meant that in a future event, God will raise the dead from their graves to a recreated life on the new earth. Jesus refers to this future event further in verses 28 and 29. By His phrase, "all that are in the graves shall hear His voice," Jesus could only mean all humans who ever lived who were not saved by grace since all die and go to some form of a grave. Jesus further taught that all whom God raises in this event will be judged by God to receive a "resurrection of life" for good works and a "resurrection of damnation" for their evil works. This future resurrection has nothing to do with salvation by grace through faith since no good works are required to receive this spiritual salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9. In addition, all "born again" believers will be safe in heaven with God when this future resurrection occurs as Revelation 20:4-6 teaches.
In verse 24, Jesus taught that any person who is physically alive but spiritually dead can be made alive forever by putting their faith in Him. Jesus refers here to the "born again" experience of John 3:3-8. By His phrase "and believeth on Him who sent Me," Jesus meant that a person must put his faith in the Father and the Son in order to receive the "everlasting life" which results from God removing all sin from the believer's soul and spirit and recreating his soul and spirit to have direct fellowship with God. In a sense, all "born again" believers spiritually return to the garden of Eden. Jesus further taught that all "born again" believers never receive any "condemnation" whatsoever from God's judgment. In other words, God never separates them from His fellowship again. God may punish them to correct them, but He never again separates them from Himself. In verse 24, Jesus refers to all believers ever saved by the grace of God including Old Testament saints, Church Age saints, and Tribulation saints.
In verse 25, Jesus taught about both a future and a present event. Jesus meant that in a present event God can raise a believer from spiritual death to spiritual life. But Jesus also meant that in a future event, God will raise the dead from their graves to a recreated life on the new earth. Jesus refers to this future event further in verses 28 and 29. By His phrase, "all that are in the graves shall hear His voice," Jesus could only mean all humans who ever lived who were not saved by grace since all die and go to some form of a grave. Jesus further taught that all whom God raises in this event will be judged by God to receive a "resurrection of life" for good works and a "resurrection of damnation" for their evil works. This future resurrection has nothing to do with salvation by grace through faith since no good works are required to receive this spiritual salvation. Ephesians 2:8-9. In addition, all "born again" believers will be safe in heaven with God when this future resurrection occurs as Revelation 20:4-6 teaches.
Monday, August 28, 2017
The Nonconsciousness of Unreality
The calculation 2+3=6 constitutes a false system even though every element of this system is a true and real element. We know the system is false because it is useless and means nothing. The false system equals nothing.
The idea of nothing identifies the falsity of the system. Consciousness can use the real idea of nothing to identify falsity, but it cannot tell us what falsity is. The idea of nothing cannot be false. It is a true and real idea just as all of the other symbols in the false system are. But this seems to make the useful and real idea of nothing equal to falsity which is useless. The useful cannot equal the useless. In order to identify falsity, we imagine the idea of nothing and falsity to be equal, but they cannot be equal. Actually, every symbol in the false system must be true and real except the falsity for which no symbol exists.
We know the system is false, and yet we cannot identify this falsity without using a real idea. Even falsity itself seems to equal a real nothingness. All of this rumination raises the question: Where is falsity? It can nowhere be found in reality. In thinking below the level of the real idea of nothing, we find falsity nowhere and at no time. We can create no symbol for falsity because every symbol would merely equal the real idea of nothing. The closest we could get to such a symbol would be the phrase "minus zero." What does "minus zero" mean? No one knows. To consciousness, it means absolutely nothing. Absolute nothingness equals chaos. It nonexists nowhere and at no time. It nonexists below the real idea of nothing.
Many false systems exist in the world. They are all useless and equal to the real idea of nothing in consciousness. Usefulness equals reality, but uselessness indicates chaos. The real idea of nothing proves to be useful to identify the useless, but below the level of uselessness nonexists absolute nothingness. We cannot be conscious of absolute nothingness. Even when we think we can be conscious of it, we can actually only be conscious of the real idea of nothing. Nonconsciousness equals the unreal. This condition can only mean that everything of which we can be conscious must be real.
How did this nonconscious unreality invade reality to cause false systems to exist? No one knows. This is a mystery even to God. II Thessalonians 2:7. But it all started when Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven. Lucifer never created anything. Lucifer merely stole some of God's good ideas and misused them to invent false and useless systems. Somehow, Lucifer brought a nonsconscious unreality; that is, absolute nothingness into reality in order to distort it. Unreality always equals a nonconscious distortion of reality. This fact accounts for all the false systems of the world including those called sin. Analyze any false system and one will find that it always comprises God's true and real ideas that have been distorted by a falsity of which one cannot be conscious except as seeming to be equal to the real idea of nothing. Ezekiel 28:15.
The idea of nothing identifies the falsity of the system. Consciousness can use the real idea of nothing to identify falsity, but it cannot tell us what falsity is. The idea of nothing cannot be false. It is a true and real idea just as all of the other symbols in the false system are. But this seems to make the useful and real idea of nothing equal to falsity which is useless. The useful cannot equal the useless. In order to identify falsity, we imagine the idea of nothing and falsity to be equal, but they cannot be equal. Actually, every symbol in the false system must be true and real except the falsity for which no symbol exists.
We know the system is false, and yet we cannot identify this falsity without using a real idea. Even falsity itself seems to equal a real nothingness. All of this rumination raises the question: Where is falsity? It can nowhere be found in reality. In thinking below the level of the real idea of nothing, we find falsity nowhere and at no time. We can create no symbol for falsity because every symbol would merely equal the real idea of nothing. The closest we could get to such a symbol would be the phrase "minus zero." What does "minus zero" mean? No one knows. To consciousness, it means absolutely nothing. Absolute nothingness equals chaos. It nonexists nowhere and at no time. It nonexists below the real idea of nothing.
Many false systems exist in the world. They are all useless and equal to the real idea of nothing in consciousness. Usefulness equals reality, but uselessness indicates chaos. The real idea of nothing proves to be useful to identify the useless, but below the level of uselessness nonexists absolute nothingness. We cannot be conscious of absolute nothingness. Even when we think we can be conscious of it, we can actually only be conscious of the real idea of nothing. Nonconsciousness equals the unreal. This condition can only mean that everything of which we can be conscious must be real.
How did this nonconscious unreality invade reality to cause false systems to exist? No one knows. This is a mystery even to God. II Thessalonians 2:7. But it all started when Lucifer rebelled against God in heaven. Lucifer never created anything. Lucifer merely stole some of God's good ideas and misused them to invent false and useless systems. Somehow, Lucifer brought a nonsconscious unreality; that is, absolute nothingness into reality in order to distort it. Unreality always equals a nonconscious distortion of reality. This fact accounts for all the false systems of the world including those called sin. Analyze any false system and one will find that it always comprises God's true and real ideas that have been distorted by a falsity of which one cannot be conscious except as seeming to be equal to the real idea of nothing. Ezekiel 28:15.
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
The Test part three
God would never use mankind to test the value of His Love only to lose a part of mankind forever. Ecclesiastes 3:14. That would be unfair to man, and God is never unfair. In addition, God could never consign humans to hell forever because that would mean that the Devil would have succeeded in permanently ruining the goodness that God originally put into man. God would lose good systems that are based on His eternal set of Perfect Ideas. In other words, the value of the Living Word of God would be in doubt since God could not preserve good systems based on that Word. God must overcome all doubt and fear within His creations or suffer permanent attacks against His very Being. Satan's rebellion put this doubt and fear into God's creations before He created man. But Jesus' victory over sin and the Devil was absolute and complete. This means that God must recover and recreate every good thing that He created in the first place. Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 21:5.
But this question remains. How can God recover and recreate the goodness that He put into unrepentant sinners when they have no faith that overcomes doubt and fear? II Thessalonians 3:2. The answer is that God proves the absolute and inviolate power of His Love in two ways. First, God proves that His Love can give faith to the repentant sinner so that God can save him by grace. Second, God proves the absolute power of His Love by never allowing sin and evil to ruin and destroy any of the goodness that He has put into man. God has given man a free will that he can use to avoid sin, and so God punishes man for sin. But God also knows that because of man's weakness, sin has become unavoidable in man's life. God cannot permanently punish man for sins that he cannot avoid. That would be unfair, and God is never unfair. Genesis 18:25.
God tests His Love for His good systems called humans by never allowing sin to destroy any good element of those systems. Satan has wagered that if he can subject the goodness that God has put into man to the grossest filthiness of sin and evil, then he can ruin and destroy a part of God's created goodness which, in turn, will demonstrate a weakness in God's eternal Ideas on which His creations were based. This means this test must be absolute and thorough. God must allow Satan to subject man to every form of horror imaginable in order for God's Love to pass this test. Man must suffer temporary sorrow and pain because of sin. But Christ has removed every permanent effect of sin forever; that is, the eternal separation of the goodness of man from God. Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-8.
God did not leave man alone to try to pass this test by himself. Had God done so, then Satan would have succeeded in destroying a part of God's goodness and thus would have begun the destruction of God Himself. God became a man so that, as a perfect man, He could take on every evil that Satan had ever put into man on Himself on a cruel cross and separate Himself from His Father and then restore that separation in man's place so that all mankind could be reconciled to God. Christ suffered man's separation from God and then the joy of man's reconciliation to fellowship with God either by salvation by grace or by His recreation of man from a recovered pool of God's good elements that He put into man. Job 19:25-27; Matthew 27:46; I Corinthians 15:20-26; Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 21:5.
Total evil has become a part of man's being only in the sense that germs can make a man sick. Total evil is foreign to man's being. Total evil never repents under any circumstances. Revelation 9:20-21. A man can become temporarily rebellious toward God, but if God can bring him to repentance, then this will show that he became rebellious only because of weakness. This event happened to the Apostle Paul. I Timothy 1:13. God will separate total evil from the being of man and consign it to the lake of fire forever. Revelation 21:8.
But this question remains. How can God recover and recreate the goodness that He put into unrepentant sinners when they have no faith that overcomes doubt and fear? II Thessalonians 3:2. The answer is that God proves the absolute and inviolate power of His Love in two ways. First, God proves that His Love can give faith to the repentant sinner so that God can save him by grace. Second, God proves the absolute power of His Love by never allowing sin and evil to ruin and destroy any of the goodness that He has put into man. God has given man a free will that he can use to avoid sin, and so God punishes man for sin. But God also knows that because of man's weakness, sin has become unavoidable in man's life. God cannot permanently punish man for sins that he cannot avoid. That would be unfair, and God is never unfair. Genesis 18:25.
God tests His Love for His good systems called humans by never allowing sin to destroy any good element of those systems. Satan has wagered that if he can subject the goodness that God has put into man to the grossest filthiness of sin and evil, then he can ruin and destroy a part of God's created goodness which, in turn, will demonstrate a weakness in God's eternal Ideas on which His creations were based. This means this test must be absolute and thorough. God must allow Satan to subject man to every form of horror imaginable in order for God's Love to pass this test. Man must suffer temporary sorrow and pain because of sin. But Christ has removed every permanent effect of sin forever; that is, the eternal separation of the goodness of man from God. Job 1:6-12; Job 2:1-8.
God did not leave man alone to try to pass this test by himself. Had God done so, then Satan would have succeeded in destroying a part of God's goodness and thus would have begun the destruction of God Himself. God became a man so that, as a perfect man, He could take on every evil that Satan had ever put into man on Himself on a cruel cross and separate Himself from His Father and then restore that separation in man's place so that all mankind could be reconciled to God. Christ suffered man's separation from God and then the joy of man's reconciliation to fellowship with God either by salvation by grace or by His recreation of man from a recovered pool of God's good elements that He put into man. Job 19:25-27; Matthew 27:46; I Corinthians 15:20-26; Colossians 1:15-20; Revelation 21:5.
Total evil has become a part of man's being only in the sense that germs can make a man sick. Total evil is foreign to man's being. Total evil never repents under any circumstances. Revelation 9:20-21. A man can become temporarily rebellious toward God, but if God can bring him to repentance, then this will show that he became rebellious only because of weakness. This event happened to the Apostle Paul. I Timothy 1:13. God will separate total evil from the being of man and consign it to the lake of fire forever. Revelation 21:8.
Saturday, August 19, 2017
The Test part two
Suddenly, iniquity was found in Lucifer. This evil seemed to come from nowhere because it actually came from nowhere. Evil comes from the abyss, from absolute nothingness which non exists nowhere and at no time. How Lucifer's fall could happen remains a mystery, even to God. II Thessalonians 2:7. This mystery does not diminish God's omniscience one iota because God possesses an infinite knowledge of His positive Ideas. Nothing can be known about absolute nothingness. It is a kind of anti-knowledge. One can speculate that when God created His positive creations, then perhaps He also inadvertently non created, as a kind of balance, a nonexistent abyss. Isaiah 45:6-7. In some mysterious way, the abyss can generate negative consciousnesses which can infect God's positive creations. Perhaps, Lucifer became infected with one or more of these demons. Jesus encountered these demons often in His earthly ministry, and He always threw them back into the abyss. Jesus did at one time inject some demons into some swine, but He also knew that even the swine would not tolerate their presence. God does not know how these demons get into His positive creations, and therefore, He does not know how to ban them permanently by an arbitrary command. God could issue such a command, but since the nature of the demons is to be disobedient, they could always simply come back. However, God has devised a plan through the fall of man to test His Love Himself and so prove its infinite worth that He will then be able to cleanse and recreate His universe to a state so pure that all negative consciousnesses will be permanently banned from ever being able to enter into it. II Peter 3:12-13; Revelation 21:3-5; Colossians 1:15-20.
Three aspects of man's being exists. On the highest level, man can be loving and self-sacrificial, like Jesus. This condition constitutes that part of man which still remains in the image of God. On a lower level, man has been made weak by the injection of sin into his being. This weakness causes sins to become inevitable in his life, and he often finds himself confused about what is good and what is evil. On the lowest level of man's being, he deliberately chooses to be evil. This is the level of deliberate rebellion against God. This is the serpent in man. God cursed the serpent and the ground. God never forgives total evil. Like the Devil himself, total evil must be separated from God forever and cast into the lake of fire in the ground.
God's project is to restore man wholly to the image of God by rescuing him from his weakness by salvation by grace or his recreation. God will also separate total evil from man's being and consign it to the lake of fire. God has accomplished this victory over evil in man by His shed blood and water on the cross, and by His descent into hell which is the consuming fire of God. Repentant sinners become saved while on earth by the grace of God through their faith that the shed blood and water of Christ will cleanse them of all sin so that God can recreate their souls and spirits. Christ left all of the sins of mankind behind in hell when He rose from the dead. This means that when God consigns unrepentant sinners to hell, His purpose is to separate their original goodness from their sins by using His consuming fire so that He can recreate a pure, righteous human race to live on a recreated earth. Jesus rose from the dead to prove that sin and the Devil can never destroy His Love or His Being.
Faith always overcomes doubt and fear. God has compassion on man's weakness for sin because of his doubt and fear. God's heart goes out to man because he is helpless to save himself. So in His Love, God became a man Himself to gain the victory over sin for man and in his place. Repentant sinners become saved because God gives them the faith that Jesus has in Himself. Unrepentant sinners become recreated because of Christ's faith that hell could not hold Him. Both are saved by Christ's resurrection from the dead. I Corinthians 15:12-23.
Three aspects of man's being exists. On the highest level, man can be loving and self-sacrificial, like Jesus. This condition constitutes that part of man which still remains in the image of God. On a lower level, man has been made weak by the injection of sin into his being. This weakness causes sins to become inevitable in his life, and he often finds himself confused about what is good and what is evil. On the lowest level of man's being, he deliberately chooses to be evil. This is the level of deliberate rebellion against God. This is the serpent in man. God cursed the serpent and the ground. God never forgives total evil. Like the Devil himself, total evil must be separated from God forever and cast into the lake of fire in the ground.
God's project is to restore man wholly to the image of God by rescuing him from his weakness by salvation by grace or his recreation. God will also separate total evil from man's being and consign it to the lake of fire. God has accomplished this victory over evil in man by His shed blood and water on the cross, and by His descent into hell which is the consuming fire of God. Repentant sinners become saved while on earth by the grace of God through their faith that the shed blood and water of Christ will cleanse them of all sin so that God can recreate their souls and spirits. Christ left all of the sins of mankind behind in hell when He rose from the dead. This means that when God consigns unrepentant sinners to hell, His purpose is to separate their original goodness from their sins by using His consuming fire so that He can recreate a pure, righteous human race to live on a recreated earth. Jesus rose from the dead to prove that sin and the Devil can never destroy His Love or His Being.
Faith always overcomes doubt and fear. God has compassion on man's weakness for sin because of his doubt and fear. God's heart goes out to man because he is helpless to save himself. So in His Love, God became a man Himself to gain the victory over sin for man and in his place. Repentant sinners become saved because God gives them the faith that Jesus has in Himself. Unrepentant sinners become recreated because of Christ's faith that hell could not hold Him. Both are saved by Christ's resurrection from the dead. I Corinthians 15:12-23.
Wednesday, August 16, 2017
The Test part one
All Lucifer needed was to form a crack in God's armor, and he would be on his way to destroying God and appropriating all of God's Ideas to his own misuse to invent false systems as laws by which he would rule the universe. If Lucifer could have caused just one of God's good Ideas to become permanently filthy with sin, then he could prove that something was wrong with God's Ideas and thus His very Being. God's Infinite Set of Ideas corresponds to the Word of God which, in living form, is the Lord Jesus Christ. John 1:1. Lucifer's success would cause a crack in God's damn that would eventually widen into a flood that would wash God out of His universe. But from the rebellion of Lucifer to the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ, Satan has failed. Ezekiel 28:18; John 8:39-40, 44.
God has created absolutely everything, mental and material. Doubt and fear are ideas and feelings which emanate from God's Infinite Set of Ideas which He uses to create good systems, such as mankind. Doubt and fear within fallen man become objectified as ideas within his mind and as the physical feelings of emotions. God knows how to use doubt and fear as ideas in good systems to benefit mankind. Satan misuses doubt and fear to terrify mankind in his attempts to separate man permanently from God's Love. God knows how to use doubt and fear to elicit faith in man toward God. Should Satan succeed, that would become the crack in God's armor that would eventually cause the downfall of God. God's Being has thus been tested through the fall of mankind. Genesis 3:8-11; Job 1:6-12; Job 13:15; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 22:42.
God welcomes this test of His Being. God created man for the very purpose of testing His Being. God has perfect faith in Himself that Satan cannot touch His Being, but God must prevent Satan from injecting doubt and fear as a permanent fixture into His creations. God has proven that His Love for mankind always conquers false systems made actual by Satan's injection of doubt and fear into mankind. God uses doubt and fear to prove the eternal value of His Love. Satan misuses doubt and fear to try to destroy God's Love. Should God refrain from this test, then Satan's misuse of doubt and fear would become a permanent fixture within God's creations. God will not allow this circumstance to happen. God has allowed His Love to be tested in order to eliminate Satan and his false systems from His creations forever. I Corinthians 13:8. Mankind had to fall so that this test would be a real one, but where man failed, God as a man, succeeded. This is the reason why God's Word refers to His gift of faith to man as being the same faith that Christ has in His Father. Acts 26:18. God deliberately allowed Satan to inject doubt and fear into His good system called man, thus causing good and evil to be joined together. But God's action was part of His plan to eliminate sin and evil permanently from all of His creations and prove the eternal value of His Love by becoming a perfect man Himself. Genesis 3:14-15.
God has created absolutely everything, mental and material. Doubt and fear are ideas and feelings which emanate from God's Infinite Set of Ideas which He uses to create good systems, such as mankind. Doubt and fear within fallen man become objectified as ideas within his mind and as the physical feelings of emotions. God knows how to use doubt and fear as ideas in good systems to benefit mankind. Satan misuses doubt and fear to terrify mankind in his attempts to separate man permanently from God's Love. God knows how to use doubt and fear to elicit faith in man toward God. Should Satan succeed, that would become the crack in God's armor that would eventually cause the downfall of God. God's Being has thus been tested through the fall of mankind. Genesis 3:8-11; Job 1:6-12; Job 13:15; Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 22:42.
God welcomes this test of His Being. God created man for the very purpose of testing His Being. God has perfect faith in Himself that Satan cannot touch His Being, but God must prevent Satan from injecting doubt and fear as a permanent fixture into His creations. God has proven that His Love for mankind always conquers false systems made actual by Satan's injection of doubt and fear into mankind. God uses doubt and fear to prove the eternal value of His Love. Satan misuses doubt and fear to try to destroy God's Love. Should God refrain from this test, then Satan's misuse of doubt and fear would become a permanent fixture within God's creations. God will not allow this circumstance to happen. God has allowed His Love to be tested in order to eliminate Satan and his false systems from His creations forever. I Corinthians 13:8. Mankind had to fall so that this test would be a real one, but where man failed, God as a man, succeeded. This is the reason why God's Word refers to His gift of faith to man as being the same faith that Christ has in His Father. Acts 26:18. God deliberately allowed Satan to inject doubt and fear into His good system called man, thus causing good and evil to be joined together. But God's action was part of His plan to eliminate sin and evil permanently from all of His creations and prove the eternal value of His Love by becoming a perfect man Himself. Genesis 3:14-15.
Thursday, August 10, 2017
The Purpose of the Word of God part four
Matthew 19:3-9. Some teach that God never allows sin. But the Bible reveals in several places that under certain circumstances God does allow sin. In answer to the Pharisees question about divorce in Matthew 19:3-6, Jesus affirmed God's original commandment in Genesis 2:24 that the only true marriage was between one man and one woman. In verse seven, the Pharisees then asked Jesus why Moses had allowed divorce in Deuteronomy 24:1-4. Jesus' answer in verses 8-9 is very significant. Jesus said specifically that Moses gave that commandment because of the hardness of men's hearts. Moses wrote Genesis so he knew God's original commandment. God simply allowed Moses to contravene His original commandment because His people wanted it that way. One cannot escape the logical conclusion. God allowed Moses to allow his people to commit the sin of divorce in this circumstance. The answer to the question of why God sometimes allows sin is simple. Sometimes, God allows sin that proceeds from man's weakness in order to teach men that the regular practice of sin never results in fulfillment or satisfaction in life. Sin never provides peace for the heart. Sin can only cause trouble and destruction.
Sometimes, God allows sin for the same reason that a mother may allow her sons to smoke cigars that she knows they stole from their father because she knows they will get sick on their stomachs and be in misery. That misery will be her punishment of them and her lesson to them. The main reason God allowed Babylon to conquer Judah was because most Jews practiced idolatry. But in Babylon, the Jews soon became sick of idols because Babylon was full of idols that they had to worship day and night. God punished them by giving them too much of what they wanted. Jeremiah 16:13.
In Deuteronomy 17:17, God prohibited riches and wives to the future kings of Israel. But in II Samuel 12:8 and I Kings 3:13, God allowed them to have both. God did this because He wanted Solomon to write Ecclesiastes where Solomon confessed that all of the riches and women that he had enjoyed had only resulted in a life of jaded boredom and emptiness. God meant the book of Ecclesiastes to be a warning to all who would seek a life of the pleasures of sin that they will find no peace in the end but only misery. Peace and joy can only be found by serving God as Solomon concluded at the end of his book. Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Many suppose that sin causes great distress to God. But in a general sense, this is not true. Sin did cause God great distress for about the 15 hours that Jesus suffered, from the garden of Gethsemane to His death on the cross. But Jesus left all that sin behind in hell when He rose from the dead. Such scriptures as Psalm 2:4 and Acts 17:30 show that God holds complete confidence in Himself that He can handle the problem of sin. Jesus displayed complete confidence in Himself in John 17:4 that He could defeat sin and death when He declared His work to be finished before He ever started it. Jesus did the same in John 16:19-22 where he assured His disciples that even though they would sorrow over His death, they would surely see Him again. Jesus displayed no weakness or fear by the first part of His prayer in Luke 22:42. Jesus merely demonstrated by His first statement, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me..." that He was under the temptation to fall into fear and doubt. But in His second statement, "...nevertheless not my will, but thine be done," He revealed that He had immediately overcome this temptation by His complete faith in His Father. Jesus had to overcome every possible temptation faced by man in order to be that perfect sacrifice for man's sins that hell could not hold. Hebrews 4:15. Jesus actually endured the cross for the joy of defeating Satan and rescuing man from sin and death. Hebrews 12:2.
Sometimes, God allows sin for the same reason that a mother may allow her sons to smoke cigars that she knows they stole from their father because she knows they will get sick on their stomachs and be in misery. That misery will be her punishment of them and her lesson to them. The main reason God allowed Babylon to conquer Judah was because most Jews practiced idolatry. But in Babylon, the Jews soon became sick of idols because Babylon was full of idols that they had to worship day and night. God punished them by giving them too much of what they wanted. Jeremiah 16:13.
In Deuteronomy 17:17, God prohibited riches and wives to the future kings of Israel. But in II Samuel 12:8 and I Kings 3:13, God allowed them to have both. God did this because He wanted Solomon to write Ecclesiastes where Solomon confessed that all of the riches and women that he had enjoyed had only resulted in a life of jaded boredom and emptiness. God meant the book of Ecclesiastes to be a warning to all who would seek a life of the pleasures of sin that they will find no peace in the end but only misery. Peace and joy can only be found by serving God as Solomon concluded at the end of his book. Ecclesiastes 12:13.
Many suppose that sin causes great distress to God. But in a general sense, this is not true. Sin did cause God great distress for about the 15 hours that Jesus suffered, from the garden of Gethsemane to His death on the cross. But Jesus left all that sin behind in hell when He rose from the dead. Such scriptures as Psalm 2:4 and Acts 17:30 show that God holds complete confidence in Himself that He can handle the problem of sin. Jesus displayed complete confidence in Himself in John 17:4 that He could defeat sin and death when He declared His work to be finished before He ever started it. Jesus did the same in John 16:19-22 where he assured His disciples that even though they would sorrow over His death, they would surely see Him again. Jesus displayed no weakness or fear by the first part of His prayer in Luke 22:42. Jesus merely demonstrated by His first statement, "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me..." that He was under the temptation to fall into fear and doubt. But in His second statement, "...nevertheless not my will, but thine be done," He revealed that He had immediately overcome this temptation by His complete faith in His Father. Jesus had to overcome every possible temptation faced by man in order to be that perfect sacrifice for man's sins that hell could not hold. Hebrews 4:15. Jesus actually endured the cross for the joy of defeating Satan and rescuing man from sin and death. Hebrews 12:2.
Wednesday, August 9, 2017
The Purpose of the Word of God part three
God Himself has put contradictions into His Own Word. But God's contradictions are actually paradoxes which indicate higher truths. Jesus revealed Himself to be wholly God and wholly human at the same time, a paradox indicating a higher truth that humans cannot understand but which Christians accept by faith. God put a direct contradiction into Proverbs 26:4-5. But this paradox indicates a higher truth that believers must be guided by the Holy Spirit as to whether or not to answer a fool in a particular situation. In fact, the entire Bible teaches that believers must be guided by the Holy Spirit in seeking God's truth. One should not read the Bible like a newspaper. One should read the Bible with prayerful dependence on the Holy Spirit to guide one to its truth. John 15:26; John 16:13. Sometimes, the Bible teaches truth directly and sometimes indirectly. That which the Bible teaches directly in John 16:13, it teaches indirectly in Proverbs 26:4-5.
In order to defend the inerrancy of the Bible, some contend that the Bible speaks only truth. The real truth is that the Bible makes many statements that are not true. The Devil's statement to Eve in Genesis 3:4 was nothing but a lie. Solomon's statement in Ecclesiastes 1:2 cannot possibly be true. All is not vanity. This is the philosophy of nihilism. God allowed much of the Bible to be written from man's point of view. The Bible is inerrant in that it accurately records how Solomon felt at the time he wrote this. Psalm 137:9 merely records how the poet felt at the time he wrote this psalm. Much of the Bible inerrantly records all the errors that men can make in how they feel and act. One should always pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit whenever one reads God's Word. The Bible accurately describes man's condition in order to show us that we are helpless sinners in need of a Savior.
God wrote the Bible for believers, not unbelievers. Whenever a sinner reads the Bible with his heart open to its truth, the Holy Spirit will convict him of its truth. Rebellious sinners will never see the truth in God's Word.
God certainly inspired the whole Bible as II Timothy 3:16 relates. But this verse also states that God gave the inspiration, not necessarily that he directly inspired every writer. Acts 23:25-30 contains a copy of a letter written by a heathen Roman soldier to Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. It is significant that this letter contains an ingratiating lie that this soldier wrote to Felix. The soldier told Felix that he rescued the Apostle Paul from a mob because he was a Roman citizen, when in fact, he did not learn that Paul was a Roman until after he had rescued him. Yet, God allowed this letter to be included in His Word when Luke wrote Acts. God must have included this letter, not just for historical purposes, but to demonstrate the subtle cleverness to which humans sometimes resort when they sin. The Apostle Paul directly quoted two pagan poets in Acts 17:28. The book of Ezra contains copies of letters from the enemies of the Jews to Persian kings, and copies of letters from these kings to the Jews. The Bible contains other such examples. All of this goes to show that God gave His inspiration of His written Word in His Own way. The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its teachings about the lost condition of mankind and his need for a spiritual reconnection to fellowship with God. Certainly, the Bible "...is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:...," just as II Timothy 3:16 teaches.
The written Word of God cannot be the whole Word of God. God knows that the Bible is limited in scope by the limited understanding of man. The purpose of the Bible is to reconnect fallen man to fellowship with the Infinite Living Word of God. John 1:1-14 teaches that God's Infinite Word is the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 147:5. Proverbs 3:19 teaches that God used His wisdom when He created everything. Hebrews 11:3 teaches that God used His Word when He created everything. God's Wisdom and His Word is infinite. This means that when God spoke everything into existence, He structured and planned it all by His use of mathematics and the laws of nature derived from His Infinite Word. God based all His creations on good ideas and systems derived from His Infinite Set of Perfect Ideas which is the Lord Jesus Christ. God's Infinite Consciousness and His Infinite Set of Perfect Ideas are one and the same. John 10:30. Everything is real, and every part of it reveals some aspect of the Infinite Word of God. Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:19-20.
In order to defend the inerrancy of the Bible, some contend that the Bible speaks only truth. The real truth is that the Bible makes many statements that are not true. The Devil's statement to Eve in Genesis 3:4 was nothing but a lie. Solomon's statement in Ecclesiastes 1:2 cannot possibly be true. All is not vanity. This is the philosophy of nihilism. God allowed much of the Bible to be written from man's point of view. The Bible is inerrant in that it accurately records how Solomon felt at the time he wrote this. Psalm 137:9 merely records how the poet felt at the time he wrote this psalm. Much of the Bible inerrantly records all the errors that men can make in how they feel and act. One should always pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit whenever one reads God's Word. The Bible accurately describes man's condition in order to show us that we are helpless sinners in need of a Savior.
God wrote the Bible for believers, not unbelievers. Whenever a sinner reads the Bible with his heart open to its truth, the Holy Spirit will convict him of its truth. Rebellious sinners will never see the truth in God's Word.
God certainly inspired the whole Bible as II Timothy 3:16 relates. But this verse also states that God gave the inspiration, not necessarily that he directly inspired every writer. Acts 23:25-30 contains a copy of a letter written by a heathen Roman soldier to Felix, the Roman governor of Judea. It is significant that this letter contains an ingratiating lie that this soldier wrote to Felix. The soldier told Felix that he rescued the Apostle Paul from a mob because he was a Roman citizen, when in fact, he did not learn that Paul was a Roman until after he had rescued him. Yet, God allowed this letter to be included in His Word when Luke wrote Acts. God must have included this letter, not just for historical purposes, but to demonstrate the subtle cleverness to which humans sometimes resort when they sin. The Apostle Paul directly quoted two pagan poets in Acts 17:28. The book of Ezra contains copies of letters from the enemies of the Jews to Persian kings, and copies of letters from these kings to the Jews. The Bible contains other such examples. All of this goes to show that God gave His inspiration of His written Word in His Own way. The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its teachings about the lost condition of mankind and his need for a spiritual reconnection to fellowship with God. Certainly, the Bible "...is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:...," just as II Timothy 3:16 teaches.
The written Word of God cannot be the whole Word of God. God knows that the Bible is limited in scope by the limited understanding of man. The purpose of the Bible is to reconnect fallen man to fellowship with the Infinite Living Word of God. John 1:1-14 teaches that God's Infinite Word is the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 147:5. Proverbs 3:19 teaches that God used His wisdom when He created everything. Hebrews 11:3 teaches that God used His Word when He created everything. God's Wisdom and His Word is infinite. This means that when God spoke everything into existence, He structured and planned it all by His use of mathematics and the laws of nature derived from His Infinite Word. God based all His creations on good ideas and systems derived from His Infinite Set of Perfect Ideas which is the Lord Jesus Christ. God's Infinite Consciousness and His Infinite Set of Perfect Ideas are one and the same. John 10:30. Everything is real, and every part of it reveals some aspect of the Infinite Word of God. Psalm 19:1-4; Romans 1:19-20.
Tuesday, August 8, 2017
The Purpose of the Word of God part two
Those who try to discredit the written Word of God point to scribal errors and contradictions to show that God makes mistakes and therefore He cannot exist. But God allowed mistakes in the Bible simply to show man that he makes mistakes. None of these mistakes detract one iota from the message to man from the Infinite Word of God. But corrupted manuscripts come from a deliberate attempt to distort the Word of God and should be thus discarded. Many people exist who are unwilling to admit that they make even slight mistakes. People exist who would argue with a stop sign. The Bible word for these people is "froward." God allowed the mistakes of the scribes to show finite man that he makes mistakes even when writing the Word of God. In order for man to learn where to look and where to go, he must first learn who he is and where he is. To this extent, even the mistakes and errors in the Bible indicate the inerrant and infallible nature of its message to man. Psalm 12:6-7.
Much of the Bible man simply cannot understand. Many of the doctrines of the Bible extend far beyond man's ability to comprehend. Such doctrines as the Triune nature of God, of how Christ could be 100% God and 100% man at the same time, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the seeming contradiction between predestination and the free will of man exhibit just some of these transcendent doctrines. God knew man could not understand these doctrines, but He had to tell man the truth or He would look small. Wisdom begins when a man asks God for wisdom. The first act of wisdom happens when a man realizes that he must separate that which he can understand from that which he cannot understand. The Apostle Paul displayed this type of wisdom in Romans 11:33-34, and king David in Psalm 131:1. Theologians have divided Christianity into many denominations because of foolish efforts to understand some of these incomprehensible doctrines. Christians should simply accept these transcendent doctrines by faith and obey the Word of God that he can understand. Only God can understand transcendent doctrines. James 1:5-6.
The Infinite Word of God encompasses not only the written Word of God but also the entire infinite scope of the wisdom and creative power of God. John 1:1-5; Genesis 1:3; Psalm 19:1-8; Romans 1:19-20. All of God's creations extend from His infinite set of Ideas within His Infinite Consciousness. This means all of God's creations belong to Him. Not one of God's creations can ever fail or be lost because that would indicate some flaw in His original Idea. Christ is absolutely perfect. False systems invented by Satan misuse God's good ideas and can sully them with filth but can never ruin them. God holds all power to cleanse, recover, and recreate every one of His ideas that Satan has stolen. Romans 11:36. The fault in false systems lies in the way these systems are assembled, never in the good ideas that compose them. 2+3=6 comprises good ideas but its falsity really equals the good idea of nothing which, in turn, indicates absolute nothingness. The false systems called sin emerges from absolute nothingness and returns to absolute nothingness. The story of the maniac of Gadara illustrates this truth. God will thoroughly cleanse and recover His entire creations, including all humans, by using His blood, water, and fire and throw only the filth into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:5, 8; Revelation 22:11-12.
Much of the Bible man simply cannot understand. Many of the doctrines of the Bible extend far beyond man's ability to comprehend. Such doctrines as the Triune nature of God, of how Christ could be 100% God and 100% man at the same time, the virgin birth of Jesus, and the seeming contradiction between predestination and the free will of man exhibit just some of these transcendent doctrines. God knew man could not understand these doctrines, but He had to tell man the truth or He would look small. Wisdom begins when a man asks God for wisdom. The first act of wisdom happens when a man realizes that he must separate that which he can understand from that which he cannot understand. The Apostle Paul displayed this type of wisdom in Romans 11:33-34, and king David in Psalm 131:1. Theologians have divided Christianity into many denominations because of foolish efforts to understand some of these incomprehensible doctrines. Christians should simply accept these transcendent doctrines by faith and obey the Word of God that he can understand. Only God can understand transcendent doctrines. James 1:5-6.
The Infinite Word of God encompasses not only the written Word of God but also the entire infinite scope of the wisdom and creative power of God. John 1:1-5; Genesis 1:3; Psalm 19:1-8; Romans 1:19-20. All of God's creations extend from His infinite set of Ideas within His Infinite Consciousness. This means all of God's creations belong to Him. Not one of God's creations can ever fail or be lost because that would indicate some flaw in His original Idea. Christ is absolutely perfect. False systems invented by Satan misuse God's good ideas and can sully them with filth but can never ruin them. God holds all power to cleanse, recover, and recreate every one of His ideas that Satan has stolen. Romans 11:36. The fault in false systems lies in the way these systems are assembled, never in the good ideas that compose them. 2+3=6 comprises good ideas but its falsity really equals the good idea of nothing which, in turn, indicates absolute nothingness. The false systems called sin emerges from absolute nothingness and returns to absolute nothingness. The story of the maniac of Gadara illustrates this truth. God will thoroughly cleanse and recover His entire creations, including all humans, by using His blood, water, and fire and throw only the filth into the lake of fire. Revelation 21:5, 8; Revelation 22:11-12.
Monday, August 7, 2017
The Purpose of the Word of God part one
Absolutely, the King James Bible exists as the only inerrant and infallible Word of God in English. Eminent scholars translated the KJB into English from the Greek Received Word of God which is also inerrant and infallible. The KJB Old Testament was derived from the Masoretic Text which was painstakingly copied by Jewish scribes for centuries. The history of the true Word of God can be traced from the Jewish scribes and the New Testament scribes through the Antioch Church to eastern Europe and Italy and finally to England where it was translated into the KJB in 1611. All other putative versions of the Bible were derived from corrupted manuscripts which came from Alexandria, Egypt. All of these corrupted manuscripts either distort the Bible or leave out much of it.
Most scholars from the Independent Baptist movement hold the KJB to be inerrant and infallible because they maintain that there can exist no contradictions or mistakes in it. They are right to hold that God cannot make mistakes or contradict Himself, but they are wrong to maintain that there exist no mistakes or contradictions in the Word of God. God allowed mistakes and contradictions in His Word precisely because it is inerrant and infallible. The Word of God is inerrant in its inexhaustible description of the being of man, and is infallible in its holy message to man. The purpose of the Word of God is to reconnect the consciousness of each individual person to the Infinite Consciousness of God. In other words, the purpose of the Word of God is to restore fallen man to a state of fellowship with God. God directly connects fallen man to a state of grace when they believe in Jesus, and God reconnects the rest of mankind to Himself through a recreation of the earth and mankind. To accomplish this purpose, the Bible must be absolutely inerrant and infallible.
The written Word of God is finite in that it accurately describes the finite consciousness of man in his fallen condition. The Word of God is also infinite in that it infallibly reconnects the consciousness of mankind to the inerrant Infinite Word of God, the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. Anything that is finite must contain mistakes and contradictions. This is the nature of being finite. God allowed errors by man in order to supply man with an accurate and infallible description of his complete fallen nature.
Adam and Eve died spiritually when God cast them out of the garden of Eden. God cast them out on the same day that they sinned. They died on that day because they lost fellowship with God, but God also protected them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in a lost condition. God's description of the physical deaths of man was not a part of this punishment. God simply informed man about his physical death after a life of hard work. Had man remained in the garden and eaten of the tree of life instead of the forbidden tree, then his physical death would have been a perfectly natural and serene event in which his spirit would return to heaven to be with God instead of death being the fearful event it is today. Man fears physical death because he knows that he exists in a state of spiritual death. He fears physical and spiritual separation from God forever. In his exit from the garden, man became a separated, finite creature subject to sin in his spirit, soul, and body. For this reason, God allowed man to put mistakes and contradictions in His written Word in order to teach man who and what he really is, a fallen creature. The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its teachings. Genesis 3:19-24; Genesis 2:15-17; Psalm 116:15.
Most scholars from the Independent Baptist movement hold the KJB to be inerrant and infallible because they maintain that there can exist no contradictions or mistakes in it. They are right to hold that God cannot make mistakes or contradict Himself, but they are wrong to maintain that there exist no mistakes or contradictions in the Word of God. God allowed mistakes and contradictions in His Word precisely because it is inerrant and infallible. The Word of God is inerrant in its inexhaustible description of the being of man, and is infallible in its holy message to man. The purpose of the Word of God is to reconnect the consciousness of each individual person to the Infinite Consciousness of God. In other words, the purpose of the Word of God is to restore fallen man to a state of fellowship with God. God directly connects fallen man to a state of grace when they believe in Jesus, and God reconnects the rest of mankind to Himself through a recreation of the earth and mankind. To accomplish this purpose, the Bible must be absolutely inerrant and infallible.
The written Word of God is finite in that it accurately describes the finite consciousness of man in his fallen condition. The Word of God is also infinite in that it infallibly reconnects the consciousness of mankind to the inerrant Infinite Word of God, the Holy Spirit, the Son, and the Father. Anything that is finite must contain mistakes and contradictions. This is the nature of being finite. God allowed errors by man in order to supply man with an accurate and infallible description of his complete fallen nature.
Adam and Eve died spiritually when God cast them out of the garden of Eden. God cast them out on the same day that they sinned. They died on that day because they lost fellowship with God, but God also protected them from eating from the tree of life and living forever in a lost condition. God's description of the physical deaths of man was not a part of this punishment. God simply informed man about his physical death after a life of hard work. Had man remained in the garden and eaten of the tree of life instead of the forbidden tree, then his physical death would have been a perfectly natural and serene event in which his spirit would return to heaven to be with God instead of death being the fearful event it is today. Man fears physical death because he knows that he exists in a state of spiritual death. He fears physical and spiritual separation from God forever. In his exit from the garden, man became a separated, finite creature subject to sin in his spirit, soul, and body. For this reason, God allowed man to put mistakes and contradictions in His written Word in order to teach man who and what he really is, a fallen creature. The Bible is inerrant and infallible in its teachings. Genesis 3:19-24; Genesis 2:15-17; Psalm 116:15.
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