Salvation
Salvation:
1. the act of saving or protecting from harm, risk, loss, destruction, etc.
2. the state of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
3. a source, cause, or means of being saved or protected from harm, risk, etc.
4. Theology. deliverance from the power and penalty of sin; redemption.
I grew up with the 'Four spiritual laws' and the 'Roman road' as means of leading someone to salvation...but I'm wondering if it's much simplier. I can't imagine God with a clipboard and pen checking off the steps to salvation like some ToDo list of sorts.
John 3:16 tells us God wants us to have 'eternal life'.
John 17:3 tells us 'eternal life' is knowing the one and only true God.
What if the 'prayer of salvation' is...
God, I want to know you.
Isn't that truely what God is after...a relationship with us. Doesn't he affect all else (i.e. the above definitions of Salvation) through that 'one on one' relationship?
Why God hates sin.
A good friend Got divorced this year and and somehow found the daily email service of 'divorcecare.com'. For the past several days they've been going on like a 5yr old asking for another piece of cake about how God hates divorce. They've probably said 'God hates divorce' thirty times in the past 4-5 daily 'inspirational' emails...but they never say WHY God hates divorce and the implication is always that the divorced person failed to meet some holy standard of God.
Today I had enough and sent the following email to my friend...
For the past several days these folks go on and on about how God hates divorce…BUT THEY NEVER TELL YOU ‘WHY’ GOD HATES DIVORCE. They make it seem like God has this holy standard and, if you divorce, you’re not meeting that standard…you’re a failure, a scumbag and not worthy. BULLSHIT…mankind isn’t worthy from day one (i.e. there is NO ONE righteous (in right standing before God), no not one – Rom 3:10)…and God certainly isn’t kicking us while we’re down…that’s the outcome of the holier than thou SELF-righteousness (i.e. I’m better than you) of man. So…God doesn’t hate divorce because it doesn’t meet his holy righteous standard…
GOD HATES DIVORCE BECAUSE IT HURTS YOU…AND HE LOVES, CARES FOR AND ACCEPTS YOU UNCONDITIONALLY AND DOESN’T WANT YOU TO SUFFER…AND HE HATES THE BASTARD THINGS THAT HURT YOU AND CAUSE YOU SUFFERING.
That’s why God hates divorce…or any other sin for that matter.
Ok…now I feel better…geez, a guy can only take so much….please return to your normally scheduled programming :)
Rick
Container vs Contents...an illustration
This is a jar...more specifically a Ball brand mason type jar.
This is a jar of blackberry jam.
What's changed?
At our family table we don't ask for the jar of blackberry jam, we say "pass the jam".
The identity of the jar is changed by the contents.
If our body is (present tense) the temple of God
If Christ is (present tense) our life.
How does that change how we see ourselves and others?
Knowing God
It seems 'eternity' is ALL about getting to know God (i.e. John 17:3)...not knowing about God like you would study a subject but knowing God like you know your best friend, parents, brother or sister. I'm all for it...knowing God seems like a really good thing but for the tiny problem of God being spirit.
God is spirit...and we must 'worship' (i.e. relate to) Him in spirit and truth. So...how does a person seemingly restrained by the five senses relate to a being beyond the five senses?
I'm beginning to understand it starts with knowing a few things about ourselves. For the most part we see ourselves as physical beings with a mind, will and emotions. Is that who we really are? Are we just the sum total of the following?
mind: The human consciousness that originates in the brain and is manifested especially in thought, perception, emotion, will, memory, and imagination.
will: The mental faculty by which one deliberately chooses or decides upon a course of action:
emotions: A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes
emotions: A mental state that arises spontaneously rather than through conscious effort and is often accompanied by physiological changes; a feeling
body: The entire material or physical structure of an organism
Is this equation complete?
mind + will + emotions + body = a person?
What's missing?
If God is spirit and He created man in His own image, then mankind is spirit. If we are spirit, we can relate on a spiritual level or dimension to God (who is spirit).
It seems the above formula is rather a composition such as...
Man is spirit, who has a soul (mind, will & emotions) and lives (for now) in this container called a body.
We can relate to God because the core of who we are is the same as who He is...Spirit. It's going to take a while for me to start seeing myself as a spirit who has a soul and lives in this container called a body.
I think it helps to see ourselves and God occupying the same space too. Col 3:4 tells us Christ IS our life. 1 Cor 6:19 tells us our body is the temple of God...the implication is that God lives within us...not outside us or up in the sky somewhere. So maybe the beginning of this knowing God lies with our knowing where God is...and He's with us and within us...and He is us.
priorities...
No thing, person, place or event is more important than knowing God more intimately.
John 17:3
implications of perfect love
Just go with it....
So, as I read the bible it says God is love (1 John 4:8) and from what I understand about God he's perfect, so God must be perfect love as defined (although not fully) in 1 Cor 13.
So...
God is patient, God is kind, God does not envy, God does not boast, God is not proud, God is not rude, God is not self-seeking, God is not resentful, God pays no attention to a wrong suffered, God does not rejoice at injustice or unrighteousness but rejoices when right and truth prevails, God bears up under anything and everything that comes and is every ready to believe the best of every person, God's hope is fadless under all circumstances, God endures everything without weakening, God never fails.
Continuing on...
Does perfect love (ie God) exist in the kindom of God? Kinda a silly question I know...but hang with. Answer: 'Yep'.
Where is the kingdom of God? Luke 17:21 says it 'is' (present tense) within you (every single solitary person...he was talking to the pharisees ya know).
So...by default 'perfect love' or 'God' is (present tense) within you (every single solitary person).
Does evil, hate, selfishness, accidents, illness, death, separation, fear, any kind of mental of physical disease or ailment, mistakes or trouble, etc exist in the kingdom of God?
Answer: no...although you might wanna stop and consider the implications of that for a moment.
Does anything involving the five senses (ie taste, touch, sight, sound, smell)exist in the kingdom of God?
Answer: no - God is spirit...just check out the fruit of the spirit (love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness & self-control)...all the fruit are outside of the realm of the five senses.
Here's the application part....
How would it change you if you looked past all the non-kingdom of God stuff of people, even the really bad people like Osama or bastard that just cut you off and the jerks that abuse their kids AND focus solely on the perfect love (ie God) that exists within them that they may or may not have woken up the reality of yet.
How would focusing on the reality of the perfect love that resides in all people change how you relate, respond and interact with folks?
How would your focusing on that reality of perfect love within others change how they respond to you?
Spend some time with those two questions.
ok...
Sure there would be instances where you turn the other cheek to Osama and he cuts of your head...but what if the cutting off of your head doesn't end your life...it just breaks/ends the container of your life. What if the separation we fear when a loved one dies doesn't really exist because we are all spirit and just because you can't see spirit doesn't mean it's not there (like God yes?). Maybe our fear of death is really a fear of separation (ie we fear being separated from those we love and the world of the five senses. What if we didn't fear death because we understood that to really live we must die...like a seed of a mustard tree (Mark 4:29-31)...once the seed gives birth to life it no longer exists...try diggin up the roots of any plant and finding the seed.
Maybe Osama cuts off the heads of a million folks and never changes...but maybe others change as a result.
Well...to go on...
How would it change the world of the five senses if we all began to live as though perfect love (ie the kingdom of god) existed in every person and physical death wasn't the end (ie separation) but a change of manifestation (from physical to spiritual)?
If all the worlds problems stem from the absence of perfect love (ie chaos, disease, hate, war, hunger, physical & mental illness, need of any kind) what would change if perfect love began to manifest itself through the lives and death of people?
Would we need any worldly system of govenment if perfect love governed all? Would we need countries, borders or money? Would we need hospitals or doctors of the mental or physical kind? Would disease fade away? Would anyone be hungry, thirsty or in need? Would there be accidents or mistakes?
Maybe the second coming of Christ is the manifestations of Christ in every person and the new heaven and the new earth is what that manifestation brings about.
2 Peter 1:3 For His divine power has given us (past tense) everything (not just somethings or a few things) we need (not want) for life and godliness, through personal knowledge of Him (ie knowing him...perfect love) Who called us (draws us to him) by and to His own glory and excellence (virtue).
I wonder...well...really wonder...dont' you.
