A Philosophical and Spiritual Conversation with Betty part one

 Betty: I saw a ghost last night, and it really scared me.

The Philosopher: What did it look like?

Betty: It was whitish grey, and it had the shape of a human but without a face.

The Philosopher: Why did it scare you?

Betty: It was so unreal.

The Philosopher: But what you saw was real.

Betty: You mean ghosts are real.

The Philosopher: No, ghosts are not real, but what you saw was real.

Betty: I don't understand.

The Philosopher: You saw something that was partly white and partly grey, did you not?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: Was it translucent; that is, could you partly see through it?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: And it had the shape of a human figure?

Betty: Yes

The Philosopher: Then everything you saw was real.

Betty: But the ghost was not real.

The Philosopher: The ghost was not real as a combination of your experiences, but each experience that composed that combination was real.

Betty: What do you mean?

The Philosopher: You have seen white before. You have seen grey before. You have seen shapes of human figures before, and you have seen things that are translucent before.

Betty: So the ghost comprised elements of my past experiences, all of which were real experiences. But the ghost may have been merely an hallucination, a product of my mind.

The Philosopher: But if your mind is capable of producing ideas and representations of your past experiences, then aren't those ideas and representations just as real as were the past experiences?

Betty: What do you mean?

The Philosopher: If you took a picture of yourself with a camera, would not that picture be just as real as you are?

Betty: It would seem so.

The Philosopher: If your mind can take pictures of your real experiences and transform them into ideas and representations, then aren't those ideas and representations just as real as are your experiences?

Betty: That would seem logical.

The Philosopher: Then it matters not whether you had an hallucination or whether you saw an optical illusion of light and shadow. In either case, you saw a combination of real ideas or experiences that in combination you called a ghost.

Betty: But why did I call it a ghost?

The Philosopher: Because your mind was trying to make a combination that is not real, real.

Commentary on Colossians 1:20, Revelation 4:11, and Revelation 21:5

 

Colossians 1:20 clearly teaches that God will reconcile all things to Himself in the earth and in Heaven. Colossians 1:16 clearly teaches that God created all things in Heaven and in earth whether they be invisible thoughts and emotions or visible material objects. In other words, God created all things that are real because His Infinite Consciousness makes them all real. There is no reality behind the appearances. The appearances are reality. Absolutely everything of which consciousness can be conscious must be real. All systems which are said to be unreal, such as ghosts or unicorns, nevertheless always comprise the elements of reality. All of the basic, irreducible elements that compose every true or false system must be real, whether thoughts or material objects. Since God created all things, then He created all living human systems from basic, irreducible elements. If any living human were ever cast into the lake of fire, then that living human would become spiritually dead and lost from God forever. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8. Therefore, in accordance with Colossians 1:20, God must someday resurrect and reconcile all living humans to Himself whether they go to Heaven, or He recreates them to live on His new earth.

Revelation 4:11 also clearly teaches that God created all things for His pleasure. If any living human that God created and loves were ever cast into the lake of fire, then that event could never cause a loving God to have pleasure. Such an event would cause eternal grief to God which would contradict Revelation 4:11. In fact, Revelation 20:11-15 clearly states that God will cast only dead humans into the lake of fire. This fact can only mean that every human system contains a living nature and a dead nature. Matthew 12:33-35. In Christ's final Judgment in the end of the world, He will use His fiery wrath against evil to dissolve every human system confined to the regions of death in order to separate their living natures from their dead natures. I Corinthians 3:11-15; II Peter 3:9-13; Psalm 75:3. Because God can only save living humans who repent and return to faith in Him, He will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in the Lamb of their own free will. God will resurrect all of these living humans from the dead for Him to recreate to live on His new earth. All living humans are forever alive to God. Luke 20:38. All living humans will be reconciled to God whether by His grace or by His resurrection from the dead. Revelation 5:11-14; Colossians 1:20; Revelation 20:5; John 11:25; John 5:28-29.

Revelation 21:5 clearly teaches, "...Behold, I make all things new..." Since all living humans must be a part of God's creations, then God must resurrect and recreate all living humans from the regions of the dead in order to create all things new. God cleanses and recreates the souls and spirits of all believers saved by His grace the moment they repent and believe in Christ. II Corinthians 5:17; Ephesians 4:24; Colossians 3:9-10; John 5:24; John 3:7-8. But "born again" believers will retain their fleshly natures which will cause them to sin. But God will cleanse them and forgive them as they daily repent. God will create spiritual bodies, like that of Jesus, for all believers saved by grace. I John 1:8-9; I John 3:2; Matthew 27:51-53; Revelation 20:6. In the case of Church Age saints, God will cleanse all of the unrepentant sins of the fleshly natures of these saints upon their repentance at the Rapture of the Church, and He will bring spiritual bodies from Heaven to give to them when they resurrect from the dead. Ephesians 5:25-27; II Corinthians 5:1-5. All saints saved by grace will live with God in Heaven. I Peter 1:3-5. God will literally "make all things new."

The World and the Word

                                The Ultimate Trump Card

Many of Jesus' healings and teachings while He walked the earth were symbolic of future events. The maniac of Gadara symbolized the very worst that Satan can do to humanity during the Tribulation period. The Tribulation period will be a time when total evil takes control of the world, and all humans will suffer terribly from war, famine, and insanity. God will allow the Devil to do his very worst to humanity in order to prove, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that God's Love can never fail. The maniac of Gadara symbolized the very worst that the Devil can do to humanity, and yet, that spark of the image of God still left in the maniac ran to Jesus to worship Him. Just as Jesus cast all of the total evil of the demons out of the maniac, so He will cast all total evil out of His world, and He will save the living image of God in all humans. The fact that Jesus returned the maniac to his right mind and sent him back to his people to witness about Jesus, so God will recreate all of the living souls and spirits and bodies of all humans to be righteous. Luke 8:26-39. God can use even the Devil to accomplish God's Will.

Jesus taught that He did not come to destroy the law but to fulfill it. Matthew 5:17. His Almighty Love fulfilled the law. Romans 13:8-10. The law is rigid and cold. A person can force himself to obey the law without loving anyone. The Pharisees and the Sadducees demonstrated that fact when they criticized Jesus for showing love and compassion on the Sabbath. Jesus tried to teach them that love trumps the law. Jesus taught them that David disobeyed the law when he ate the shewbread, but his love trumped it when he gave some of it to his fellows who were hungry. Jesus taught them that the priests in the Temple sometimes disobeyed the law, but they were blameless because they did it in a way that showed their love for God. Jesus informed those rigid and uncaring Pharisees and Sadducees that love can always be shown on the Sabbath, and to prove it He healed the man with the withered hand. Matthew 12:1-14.

One of the most profound statements that Jesus ever made is found in John 7:24. If a human adheres to the image of God within him and lives according to the love and compassion that God put into him, then he will be prone to make righteous and loving judgments in his dealings with others.

If a human realizes that the law was meant to show that he is a sinner in need of God's salvation, then that person will be likely to come to Christ when he hears the gospel to repent and believe and receive salvation by grace. Romans 3:20; Galatians 3:24; Romans 10:17. When living humans confined to the regions of death see the Almighty Love and Majesty of Christ in that great future worship service, they will choose of their own free will to repent and believe in the Lamb. Christ will save them by resurrection and recreation to live righteous lives on His new earth. Revelation 5:11-14; Revelation 20:5; Revelation 21:1-5; Matthew 5:5. God's Almighty Love never fails to trump total evil. I Corinthians 13:8.

The World and the Word

                                   The Ultimate Trump Card

God's Almighty Love for His creations happens to be His trump card that He will play to capture and eliminate every evil play of the Devil. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Proverbs 10:12; I Peter 4:8. This constitutes the central theme of the Bible (KJB). The significant message of Proverbs 10:12 is that God's Love "covereth all sins," not just some sins. I Peter 4:8 states that God's Love "shall cover the multitude of sins" which can only mean the entire, finite set of sins that the whole human race will commit. God intends to save from evil all of His creations that He loves. Romans 8:18-23; Colossians 1:15-23; I Corinthians 15:20-28; I Timothy 6:13; Revelation 21:5. God's Love effected His higher and lower forms of salvation through His self-sacrifice, burial, descent into Hell, and His immaculate resurrection from the dead. John 3:16. The sins and evil of every human nailed Jesus to the cross. But Jesus prayed from the cross that His Father would forgive every one of them. Luke 23:34. Since Jesus and His Father are One, then His Father could never fail to give to Jesus anything for which He would pray. John 10:30.

God's Almighty Love cannot fail. I Corinthians 13:8. God will save and recreate absolutely everything He has ever created and loves. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Revelation 21:5. If any living human were to be ever cast into the lake of fire, then that living person, created in God's image, would be lost from God forever. God's Almighty Love cannot allow that to happen. God will reconcile His entire creation to Himself. Colossians 1:20.

Many believe that salvation by grace happens to be the only form of salvation. Salvation by grace is a free gift. Ephesians 2:8-9. Those who hold to this view contend that if a person rejects God's gift of salvation by grace, then that person will be lost from God forever. This view is wrong for two reasons. First, this view supposes that the puny will of humans can block the Almighty Will of God. God will not give His glory to another, and therefore, He will not allow anything to check His Will. Isaiah 42:8. Jesus prayed that His Father's Will be done on earth to the same extent that He will do it in Heaven. God's Will is to fill Heaven with recreated humans saved by His grace, and therefore, His Will must be to fill His new earth with all other recreated humans. Matthew 6:10; Revelation 21:5.

Second, those who believe that God only saves by grace forget that God's Love, His Will, and His Intellect are all Almighty. Psalm 147:5. God can certainly devise a plan whereby He can cause every living human He has ever created and loves to repent and believe in the Lamb of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14; Isaiah 45:20-25; Luke 1:37; Luke 3:6; Matthew 19:26; John 11:25. Since God's Almighty Love and His Almighty Will have declared in His Word that He is "not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," then God must save all living humans with a higher and a lower form of salvation. II Peter 3:9. Who can thwart the Almighty Will of God?

The World and the Word

                                  The Ultimate Trump Card

God promised all Israelites who were faithful to Him and kept His commandments that He would give them the land that He promised Abraham, and He would love them and bless them above all people forever. Deuteronomy 4:40; Deuteronomy 7:9-14; Genesis 17:6-8. God always keeps His covenants. Psalm 89:34. These verses constitute a prophecy that can only be fulfilled following a general resurrection and recreation of the world as recorded in II Peter 3:10-13 and Revelation 21:1-5. These prophecies can only mean that recreated Israel will rule the world, and New Jerusalem will be the capitol of the world. Revelation 21:24 clearly states that "the nations of them that are saved" will walk in the light of New Jerusalem. These saved nations can only be the same people recorded in Deuteronomy 7:14. These people can only be those that God has given a lesser form of salvation because all people saved by grace will have their home in Heaven. Psalm 86:9 also prophecies that God will raise the living souls and spirits of all humans He has ever created to worship Him in a future world.

Jesus Himself prophesied that God will someday effect a general resurrection of the good and living natures of all humans from their graves, and He will condemn the evil natures of all humans. John 5:28-29. God loves every living soul and spirit that He has and will ever create and that He puts into every human. God can never lose anything He has ever created. Ecclesiastes 3:14; Psalm 111:7-8. God promised Eve that she would be the mother of all living. Genesis 3:20. God informed all humans that all living humans remain alive to Him and that He is not the God of the dead. Luke 20:38. God will raise all living humans back to life from the regions of the dead. Revelation 20:5. God will cast only the spiritual dead natures of humans into the lake of fire. Revelation 20:11-15. Jesus taught that God will purge only the evil that the Devil planted and that God will save forever all that He has planted. Matthew 15:13; Matthew 13:36-43; Matthew 13:47-50; Matthew 3:10-12.

One day in the future prior to the final Judgment of Christ, God will cause all living humans confined to the regions of death to repent and believe in Christ the Lamb of God of their own free will. Revelation 5:11-14; John 11:25. Every human is a system with a living nature and a dead nature. After their repentance and faith in the Lamb, God will dissolve every human system confined to the regions of the dead in order to separate their living natures from their dead natures. II Peter 3:10-13; Psalm 75:3; I Corinthians 3:11-15. God will use His fiery wrath against evil to effect this dissolution and separation. Hebrews 12:29; Deuteronomy 32:22. God will recreate all of His raised living humans with new bodies to live righteous lives on His recreated earth. Revelation 21:5. All resurrected, faithful Jews will enjoy the greatest blessings from God, and they will live in the nation that rules the world. All other nations of resurrected, living humans will be required to travel to New Jerusalem at times to worship God. Psalm 86:9. God's final Judgment and resurrection constitutes God's lesser form of salvation of all living humans not saved by grace. All living humans who become saved by grace while still alive in the flesh will enjoy God's greatest form of salvation which will be a home in Heaven forever. I Peter 1:3-4.