3946	Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle	on: January 31, 2010, 11:17:56 AM
Quote "In fact, we are powerless over His love for us, and when we are completely powerless over anything coming to or against us, the best approach is to surrender all resistance." I am very encouraged by your response. I normally do not get too much direct communication from people about these matters like i used to. Its just a time in my life that God is teaching me something i guess. Like going away into the desert. Cause i dont think there is anything normal in this christian life. I agreed with you until this last statement. As you know i think that we all have a certain way of expressing ourselves. I think its because God has made us all to think different so that we are all gifted to fit one another in community. Although we have a tendency to have these ideas that we consider very powerful to us there may be some things that hold us in our minds to feel comfortable in our place in community that is not altogether a reality. In other words our problem at the core is that we believe we can think and do something as a matter of how we appear when we explain what we believe. I dont think we are that good and trying to balance ourselves in facing the troubles of this life. Heres my pre supposition on this. Our deep problem is defined by our propensity in our general depravity to find comfort in a more complex universe of forming these trust issues in how we feel in our community with one another. In other words instead of depending on the idea that we must get our behavior to match our belief ....i mean in a balanced.. as we natually desire to do as a matter of performance and acceptance, we are actually teaching ourselves that our performance can not be done correctly if we have the power in ourselves to do it.  I mean unless you are given to the paradigm that you respond to backwards thinking. So that i find that where ever the majority falls on this issue between who is teaching passivity... that is in this disagreement between Calvinist and Armininist then i get interested on another level. I am not arguing here that the universe of ideas is a balanced view , but i am arguing that people do not want "to do" what they naturally design their particular culture "to do" as a matter of performance. Do i think Calvinist can play on both sides? Of course!Because it is almost near impossible to remain consistent with the simplicity of the gospel.!Let me make this dogmatic statement... your only passive when you as an individual do not decide for yourself what ever you are empowered to do whether it is rite or wrong...and for the sake of those around you.  I hope we can continue this discussion.I hope we can discuss this power of desire... i mean ... in this matter of going in reverse... from experience to real free choice.... cause i like things backwards too. From the position of Narnia.
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3947  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 30, 2010, 05:04:54 PM I felt led to write this.Here you have a renewed desire to learn more about reformed theo. So you decide that you need to learn the confession. So you go to this class and instead of your normal teacher you got really good news... its Christ Himself. So He begins to teach you and then He gives you a book... its about Himself... its the Bible and He says to go home and start reading the book. And so the next time the class meets then He is asking if that assignment was done. Then He begins to teach again and while teaching He ask this question... When you read your bible, did i get your attention? Then you answer ... well Jesus i learned a lot about you but on a scale of 1 to 10 i say my attention was about a 5. Then Jesus says well thats good and you say but i want to know this stuff so that i have a 10. I ll tell you what Jesus .. .i am going to go home and put some work into my bible study now. And when i come back next week i just know its going to go up. So you put the work into it ... looking up the words and then you cross reference the verses. Then you come back the next week and Hes asking you the same question. But every time He ask you then you say the truth about it. So you tell Him well it wasnt a 10 but i learned a whole lot about You. You ask Jesus... what is my problem? ... how come i dont get a 10 in knowing that You got my attention? Well Jesus says ... cause your focusing on your head and when you talk to me theres not much for me to respond to. The facts are important because you can know how to talk to me. I did not give you this book because i want to know you better... I gave you this book for you. Jesus says theres not special language ... theres nothing hidden in the text that needs to be uncovered.. its rite there in front of you and you have my Spirit. But let me show you for your sake how to get my attention. Go into my little prayer book and learn it. Its rite there.. all the attention you want and more. Jesus says ... i want you to focus on these Psalms when you pray and worship me. Then you will get my attention. Then you will know what the 10 is. Then He says.. .not only will I get your attention but the Spirit will teach you what ever you need to know and you will not be deceived. Now He says when you come back next week i wont need to ask you did i get your attention.    Reply Quote Notify

3948  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 30, 2010, 11:25:46 AM We say that salvation is in God alone. That is it was determined in the counsel of God before the creation of the world. The Father determined to place His love on His own by sending the Son to act as the perfect man so that He might be the righteousness of His elect. The Son sent the Spirit so that that righteousness might be made clear to His elect. Salvation is a timeless reality. The image of the Father transcends the truth of what is the father image. I mean in speaking in today's language. Because we have been identified with Christ we have seen the Father. So that all of the communications that we enjoy come out of this covenant paradigm that the Father is always faithful.. eternally loving and always kind. Our father image is determined upon these communications. What do we mean as it applies to us that we know this security as a real source of comfort from any other connection in this world? I mean if God has loved His own from all eternity is there any connection to looking past this life in connecting to a real source of comfort as He has spoken to us from eternity? Obviously we are what we think ... i mean ... we have a tendency to simply look at this security in lite of all of these earthly connections. But we are people who have received a gift that is not of this world. We have received the gift of grace. If we are caused to think ... feel and act a certain way it is going to be in these eternal communications as distinct from the voices that present themselves to us in this world. Our salvation is in God alone.. our security is in God alone. For our salvation and honor depend on God alone! So that we find there are two worlds in our minds view of reality.  This is why we are what we think because we experience a struggle with these two different communications. Look this is very distinct.. that is death and life. That is there are two states that we exist in. We not only find that we have opposition in our thought life but we have opposition in all areas of our souls and bodies. We are our own enemy.. i mean.. how we define enemies is how we determine is the image of our own enemy to ourselves. This is why when we rise up to look at our God that distinction becomes a real communication to us ... we are enlightened bout ourselves! How do we gain a clear enough understanding in order to be able to measure this corruption that dwells in our hearts. We are all different so that if we think that there are a multitude of ways to examine the extent of this corruption we are deceived. I mean that grace saves us from dealing with ourselves in full knowledge of all of our corruptions. Because we are only able to understand reality as we see God. We must process this communication from glory to glory. This is why the call of God is clearly a timeless call from the past. We go beyond this world in the father image! Christ leads us to the Father and we cry abba father. We must know the Father in order to know the things that are freely given to us. Now then being caught in between these two worlds .. on the one hand we experience the reality of our corruption... but God is greater than our corruption because God is eternal. If the Father is greater than our corruption then that communication comes from eternity past as a matter of dwelling in this paradigm of grace as a call that His redemption applied to us is the communication that our past sins have no power over us. Listen to me.. the reason that we are encouraged to focus on Christ is because the more we focus on Christ the more we are going to be like Christ ... that is the more we are going to find that we are not required to be molded to what we were like in our past!I am talking about as we stand in between these two worlds the kind of power we have available to view ourselves in lite of the image of Christ is that by which that other mold has no hold on our thinking. So that there are highs and lows in our experience. We are not mindless robots who walk around in a higher spiritual experience. But we sometimes find the reality of this world so distasteful and fading away that we find even if we are in a place that we are somewhere else in our minds! I am thinking here that there is a secret confidence that transcends the experience of time and space. I don t think that it is linked directly to our intrinsic view of what we know ourselves to be. But its the real self in experiencing His life in a profound way in us. Thats why grace is soooooooooo amazing.    Reply Quote Notify

3949  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 30, 2010, 09:58:37 AM We are all caught up in the culture that we live in. In a sense our communicative image is what we tell ourselves is the truth. So that our mouths lead us to create our safe understanding of having the answers in finding agreement in this cultural image. God is much greater than a specific definition of reality. The weight of any argument is only as heavy as its value. This is why the apostle considered every thing that he had attained ... even his training to not define His real identity. He hated himself in a good way that was represented by considering all these cultures in this world lost for the sake of Christ. Because just like little children we mimic what that culture molds us to think that we are more important than we are. In order for us to be of help to one another Christ must become a Person to us. Just because we have all of these freedoms to create cultures as a matter of the expression of our personal freedoms in this scientific age ...yet this world can mold us to communicate this other message to one another in our avoidance of the supernatural. In the church we have been given a much greater power than the expression of our value of our freedom by our mirroring our own free expression. That which we have come from. Because when we are identified with Christ we set aside our childish gods. We have been saved from these cultures and their power to mold us. These gods of the mind are like disjointed thoughts and phantom expressions as the image of a god. I believe that we need to express before God what we hate. Because when we come from any culture we have this tendency to love something we have not given enough attention about ourselves that form our expressions of what is reality. In a sense everyone has a record they play that has a dis connective function in sharing in the life and community of one Spirit. We must go beyond the mere systems of dogma and hate the very tendency in us to use it as a means to increase our value! I will not be ruled by anything not even my self deception. Calvin says we are little god makers. That is .... if we havent been extended in our worship... in our prayer life... in our meditation to hate... now listen to me... we live our lives in our prayers in community! There is no reality that does not produce that reality in the use of these means. We live in the means before God. So that the means determine the reality! That is we must be drawn out of ourselves to have a proper hate of ourselves if we are going to have any self control in this matter of our pride of education.. our pride of anything in this world. Jesus said we got to go the extra mile... little god makers do not go the extra mile.    Reply Quote Notify

3950  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 30, 2010, 08:49:20 AM "The Holy Spirit, replenishing the sweet singers of Israel with spiritual truth and holy love, anticipated in this way much of the necessity that should be felt in Christian times. I am not here discussing the important, though still debated point as to the use of psalms in the Christian public worship. My object is to show the spirituality of the Israelitish Church as evinced by its inspired and invaluable psalms. They describe the eternity and omnipresence, the majesty and condescension, the justice and mercy of God in a strain of the most fervid devotion. They sing of repentance and faith, of joy in God and delight in God’s law, with an ardour beyond which it is impossible to go. They depict Christ’s royal reign and His union with His Church; the anointing with the oil of gladness (Ps. xlv. 7); the receiving of gifts for men (Ps. lxviii. 18); and the supreme dominion with which Christ was to be invested by the Father with a tenderness, unction, and joy to which no other words are equal. And those psalms which are called “new songs” anticipate the full millennial glory. "George Smeaton Reply Quote Notify

3951  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The Personality and the Procession of the Holy Spirit G. Smeation on: January 30, 2010, 08:41:55 AM In the 51st Psalm also David prays: “Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me” (Ps. ii. 11). David had grievously sinned, and in that psalm, which contains the expression of his repentance, he penitently prays that the Holy Spirit may not be taken from him. Previous to his fall he must have tasted the joy of God’s salvation, and possessed that free Spirits when he pleads with such a vehement desire for the Spirit’s restoration. Here, for the first time, we have the epithet HOLY connected with the Spirit of God. He is not only the Spirit of wisdom and the Spirit of power, but the Holy Spirit. And in another psalm He is designated the GOOD Spirit. “ Thy Spirit is good: lead me,” or “let Thy good Spirit lead me into the land of uprightness” (Ps. cxliii. 10). He prayed that the same good Spirit that had always led him might lead him still. We cannot depart from the usual meaning of the expression “THY SPIRIT,” as alluding to the personal Holy Ghost. The unction and fragrance of the Spirit with which the Psalms are replete lead me to notice, before leaving this portion of our survey, that it is an utter misconception to represent the Old Testament religion as more fed by mundane hopes than by the influence of the Holy Spirit. It is to lose sight of all the numerous expressions of joy, rapture, and praise with which the Psalms abound from the first to the last, and to pervert the plainest evidence, to affirm, as Cocceius and his school affirmed, that there was neither sonship nor the spirit of adoption in the Old Testament Church. That is to ignore the Abrahamic Covenant, and Christ’s divine presence with His Church, and merely to fix all attention upon the intermediate and transitory Sinai Covenant. But the Psalms to which we are adverting, when considered as the actual expression of praise for the Israelitish Church, as well as a legacy handed down to us in the Christian Church, sufficiently refute that view. No book of a similar kind was prepared for the New Testament Church. The Holy Spirit, replenishing the sweet singers of Israel with spiritual truth and holy love, anticipated in this way much of the necessity that should be felt in Christian times. I am not here discussing the important, though still debated point as to the use of psalms in the Christian public worship. My object is to show the spirituality of the Israelitish Church as evinced by its inspired and invaluable psalms. They describe the eternity and omnipresence, the majesty and condescension, the justice and mercy of God in a strain of the most fervid devotion. They sing of repentance and faith, of joy in God and delight in God’s law, with an ardour beyond which it is impossible to go. They depict Christ’s royal reign and His union with His Church; the anointing with the oil of gladness (Ps. xlv. 7); the receiving of gifts for men (Ps. lxviii. 18); and the supreme dominion with which Christ was to be invested by the Father with a tenderness, unction, and joy to which no other words are equal. And those psalms which are called “new songs” anticipate the full millennial glory. Remove Reply Quote Notify

3952  Forums / Break Room / Re: Bread Kills on: January 28, 2010, 07:37:34 PM Whats the percentage of people who eat bread... like 90 hummm this is a trick.       90 percent of the people have eaten meat too... ok put the item you dont like in the space of bread. Reply Quote Notify

3953  Forums / Main Forum / Re: A thought outside of the box on: January 28, 2010, 05:28:17 PM This is thinking outside the box. I am gender neutral here. I think when it comes to personal salvation we all stand before God as individuals. So that sometimes we put people into our box. So this becomes very important to how we think not just a matter of performing for one another. The story of Joseph and Mary were one of two people trusting in God to make rite what looked like a mess. Mary treasure the things of Christ in her heart. Joseph trusted the angel and did not put Mary away. It took great faith on both their parts. Just think if one of them would have betray the other in this purpose to bring Christ into the world. I am sure God would have worked anyway. These are very simple points of common bond that today have turned into a very complex and difficult institution. Unfortunately we do not have the bible to declare out allegiance to Christ for us like He did with these saints. But my point is that sometimes we over look the simplicity of why a marriage can go through so much and yet the two people grow together in the midst of the worse trials. The first real test is for both partners to be real Christians. Because everything that transpires after that is determined on that very simple paradigm. But at the same time i dont think it always looks like one or the other are true believers. I mean some people can go through very difficult trials and approach them in a very different manner. But i think we always need to keep in mind that a covenant breaker is a very simple determined reality. And in being gender neutral here it is not surprising in this day and age if that is a common occurrence. I mean that a person is most deceived at trying to live the christian life. Because that is the reason that they have no desire to live like a christian.  The reality is that only Christians know the difference... i mean... after living with the person for awhile. I do not think we can approach this thing in a shallow manner either. A lot of questions need to be answered. If there is a lot of questions then there are simple answers when it comes to the nuts and bolts of salvation. But if a person is deceived about salvation then that is the reality of an unbeliever. I am talking about the ongoing issue as to the use of the means. This is why you cant mesh the marriage together so that one person covers for another. I mean the christian partner sanctifies the unsaved partner but there is a lot of grief in this process. My point is that there is a reason to fight the good fight of faith. This is why what looks like a negative situation has this kind of mark on it. What makes a person who is a christian so focused on God? Well its the grief. So that the believer who fights is saving the marriage. I mean not fighting openly but fighting with faith. This is why you need a prayer life that is extremely open before God. One of the things people do is they look at the reactions.. they look at the outward behavior and they get all caught up in being pleasing in some ways. I mean to balance the problems by making the person an idol. What we need to see is that Satan comes with brute force. He doesnt come as a nice guy. I mean.. maybe at first but then He turns on His victims.  The thing is that we do exactly what we should not do in our natural selves. This is why in a situation like being unequally yoked we should be very open before God in a private way. I do not think the desire of the unbeliever should be fulfilled... i mean in lifes direction...that would be disastrous.    Reply Quote Notify

3954  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 28, 2010, 03:33:47 PM The christian is not sinless but He regards Gods grace as a matter of great importance. This is why there is a certain connection to the redeemed self and our vows. Because a heart of gratitude is a heart that cannot find a reason to deserve to even be regarded as good. I think this is parallelism in the Hebrew text. I mean if we praise God for His goodness that is one thing.... its a good effort. But if we move further to see grace as the cause of praising Him then we will see that our praise is not enough nor is it soon enough. In other words Gods goodness is so much greater than our sin that we feel that our sins overwhelm us. I think that this is a reality. So that our vows are caused to be faithful because praise is timeless as is grace. Thats why understanding Gods covenant love for us is so important to how we regard each other in the keeping of vows. We are not doing it out of a sense of responsibility but our of a vision of the greatness of God. So that vows and praise in regard to the greatness of the faithfulness of God are one and the same. Because God is in control not only of creating but in the beauty of this ongoing created order.In other words since God can be depended upon to be most worthy of His work in creation and in our lives then our sins do not match His goodness. There fore we praise Him ... because He is not only worthy but He is more than worthy. When we are overwhelmed our temptation.... when we fall into sin... when we feel that there is no end in sight God is still better than the strength that sin has gained over us. If we are to be consistent in our view of our position before God we are going to need to quit playing the i am good enough game. Because we must see that this universe is not centered around our ability to be the example. We are made to praise God above our problems... we are made to worship God because we have been redeemed. When we sin God gets the glory for taking care of our sins. So that His position of not being praised soon enough or great enough is that He regards His Son as the only man to be lifted up as worthy. When we regard His Son as greater than our sin then our hearts will be lifted up above the power we experience as a result of seeing sins power and out of the forgiveness we will be extended in our praise for Him. Because He who is forgiven much regards God much.    Reply Quote Notify

3955  Forums / Politics Forum / Re: Father of the Chirstian Right explains where it went wrong. on: January 28, 2010, 03:04:01 PM The Republican party has never ruled from the right. There was only one time where that was close. That was in the Regan yrs when Newt let a small group to move things to the rite. But we will never see that come true because there is a lot of programs that people cannot do without now. But its really more accurate to say the Republican middle have molded what we have today. Reply Quote Notify

3956  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 28, 2010, 01:12:34 PM This is the American rational self over the history of this country. I am no historian but there are general tendencies that have brought us to the problems that we are encountering in todays spiritual journey. We start with the idea of Victorianism... a purely divided life style.. that is a public self and a private self. The view of oneself in this present society has this historical molding. That is what is represented as the desire in our longing for the true experience. What springs from the Victorian mold is the longing for freedom on a purely human level. And you come to the conflict between the powers that represent this idea that evil can be controlled by the sheer effort to kill that desire to a longing for any kind of free expression. So that you have the private going public. Thus we have a departure from all the norms of the past generation for the sake of individual expression. In both of these evils the tendencies to shallow religious experience are predominate. The very old ways are covered over... pre Victorian and pleasure is expressed in this reaction... whether in private or as a new model for the public expression of pleasure. At the same time we have the re introduction of all of the old literature to the American society. Before the Victorian age we have remnants of a balanced worship style. We had the equal expression of two sides to this religious American experience. That is we had Armin ism and Calvinism side by side. I do not think any society experiences equal treatment ... there is always the declension of what is a true expression. Now then with the introduction of Reformation motif we have material that is the nexus for a new view of the American worship experience. But there is this new desire to live through the lives of those in the past. There are all kinds of expressions that are within this model. THere is the seventh day reformation movement.. there is the family model movement.. there is the movement to have a focus on the non essentials at the ex-pence of the doctrines of grace... there is the focus on the creed aspects of worship at the expense of the Holy Spirit.. there is  a movement within the church at the expense of living lowly before God to create the truth model through meetings and numbers and committees as counsels rather than the focus on the lesser of the church in the matter of the use of the means ....and there is a focus on the books as the caboose that moves the train. Now then we come from these very distinct identifications to the age of this multi identification. The old voice was a clear distinct adversity expressed in two generational cultures ... the new voice is this expressions of all kinds of cultures. I believe that what is at the center of this tendency to be molded in this kind of reactionary religion is either the neglect of one thing over another or a total denial of the importance of history... along with a misunderstanding of the work of the Spirit.  We are dealing in this day and age to have minds clutter with all kinds of good things but are subjectively unable to understand the difference between the temptation to hold some things that are true but we do not exercise discernment as to the personal nature of our applications. This is why the word of God takes precedence over every other application in our discerning. In other words we create the reality by holding onto the determinations from the past in our reactions in the present.  A clear mind is not necessarily a theologically trained mind. A clear mind goes beyond the word to the Person. Because all applications in this life that we make are either genuine or they are produced through a reactionary process of a cluttered mind. We must see that Satan is the angel of light. In other words He uses the light to confuse the mind. It is terribly important that we begin to distinguish in this meta physical realm in order to understand the life lived by the Spirit. The question is .. are you experiencing the Person through someone elses sanctification... or are you growing in these personal illuminations?     Reply Quote Notify

3957  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 28, 2010, 12:06:27 PM I cant draw a parallel in the abuse argument to Joseph... because it is not in the text. Although the reality of a persons identity is his humanity. There is a need to have a real understanding of these tendencies...  in lite of what transpires through the time of grace. I do not think we can determine how we are going to approach the subject in a rational way...  in this self reflection ... in this matter of the importance of these principles that we apply to ourselves that fit the healing determinations that are necessary to balance our own ability to reason with a sense of all things equal. Because we are born with these predispositions that hang around in our minds in a child like way. I think thats what makes us all complete different. I mean the evil is not in the tendency the evil is in the excess. Because of the creative abilities in this image of God...  in the most personal way... through the Spirit .. we have this whole work in us in our imaginative skills as well. Birth of a disposition is original in the sense that we are all taught through this process of birthing that new view in our particular disposition. I think that we neglect this aspect of humanity when we ignore these tendencies to view everything as a matter of moral behavior rather than this understanding of this imaginative use of all of meeting these inner needs that are born from a proper desire. Our natural reaction to pain is through the imagination. Ignoring this aspect of rational wholeness is to usurp the authority that God has as the eye of the soul. This is why the gospel leads us to the depths of the reality of the individual and that brings them into their place in this world. Because our view of reality determines our terms in our relationship with God in which we draw conclusions based upon a purely one dimensional paradigm. I think rational process is this healthy balance in the soul in this three dimensional process. I mean the third dimension is one thing we never consider.If we are encourage to seek him so that we can find Him.. then in finding Him we have this relationship in which it becomes a communication of reality that is the determinate connection to who we are in our confidence of the future. The prophets spoke of things in the future that they themselves could not understand. What was communicated to them was these future events. In other words in order for them to have a true purpose in this world they received communication of future events as that by which they were formed in their view of this birthing of new life. This was the connection to the promises of the means but was formed in them the reality of the ends that brought about this new disposition. This is the purpose of the experience of this communication. On the one hand they experience this reality of the imagination... the function of the mind.. and the necessary needs to the emotions. This was Gods engaging them in their whole being.  It was not a purely intellectual view ... i mean... as a matter of experience... in going through the eyes of another man... or being child like in being connected to the individuality of their purpose in this world. God sort of expands these very practical and holistic origins of each person and creates in them to purpose this life through this confidence in future events. We can draw almost parallel conclusions between prophetic utterance and illumination and a clear understanding of self and its connection to this its individuality before God.      Reply Quote Notify

3958  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 28, 2010, 11:52:45 AM Let me expand on this. If we can look at one big self... that which is the most worthy objective rational view of all of mankind in looking at the greatest future ability of the unity of every individual self as working parts of an organism then we would find it in Gods presence ... in His glory... in His visitation. This is the meta physical longing of everyone in this universe! This is christian unity at its best. So that we are required to know that desire and its function is not purely an accumulation of spiritual experiences that mature the function of that greater individual growth. This is an imagination and is purely two dimensional. The power of desire is its originality from one day to another.  This is the metaphor for this holistic maturation of this time balance in the words as the representation of this ongoing visitation of God Himself to the seeker. If we could have a true creation of the universal self in this matter of connecting to the rational self in an organism we would find it in the real presence of God! Because in God all things are set in order! So that when God visits then our future events bring about the most real connection to His communication through those people and the events... which is that by which the self is connected to this holistic desire! We begin to be aligned to the beauty of God in the self expression of our purpose in future events to be in line with the unity of Gods good gifts through others! This is why we magnify God above books ... people... a purely two dimensional existence.We must get to the point where we have become transparent before God in our seeking Him. Not in the sense of getting through any real thing that is in between us an God but finding the self in this third dimension. There are references to this experience by the Psalmist ... "Your love is better than life or lead me to the Rock that is higher than I." That is there is this communication where we hear God say i made this circumstance for your pleasure in a rather supernatural way in using others to bring unity to all the pleasure that you are experiencing in finding that Christ has indeed given us that comfort.  This is God entering in a more than normal way in our communication of future events. This is rational because where ever Gods presence is .. that is the only rational existence of all things considered. I mean... not just rational in the sense of a intellectual logical conclusion. Reply Quote Notify

3959	Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle	on: January 28, 2010, 11:21:24 AM
I cant draw a parallel in the abuse argument to Joseph... because it is not in the text. Although the reality of a persons identity is his humanity. There is a need to have a real understanding of these tendencies...  in lite of what transpires through the time of grace. I do not think we can determine how we are going to approach the subject in a rational way...  in this self reflection ... in this matter of the importance of these principles that we apply to ourselves that fit the healing determinations that are necessary to balance our own ability to reason with a sense of all things equal. Because we are born with these predispositions that hang around in our minds in a child like way. I think thats what makes us all complete different. I mean the evil is not in the tendency the evil is in the excess. Because of the creative abilities in this image of God...  in the most personal way... through the Spirit .. we have this whole work in us in our imaginative skills as well. Birth of a disposition is original in the sense that we are all taught through this process of birthing that new view in our particular disposition. I think that we neglect this aspect of humanity when we ignore these tendencies to view everything as a matter of moral behavior rather than this understanding of this imaginative use of all of meeting these inner needs that are born from a proper desire. Our natural reaction to pain is through the imagination. Ignoring this aspect of rational wholeness is to usurp the authority that God has as the eye of the soul. This is why the gospel leads us to the depths of the reality of the individual and that brings them into their place in this world. Because our view of reality determines our terms in our relationship with God in which we draw conclusions based upon a purely one dimensional paradigm. I think rational process is this healthy balance in the soul in this three dimensional process. I mean the third dimension is one thing we never consider.If we are encourage to seek him so that we can find Him.. then in finding Him we have this relationship in which it becomes a communication of reality that is the determinate connection to who we are in our confidence of the future. The prophets spoke of things in the future that they themselves could not understand. What was communicated to them was these future events. In other words in order for them to have a true purpose in this world they received communication of future events as that by which they were formed in their view of this birthing of new life. This was the connection to the promises of the means but was formed in them the reality of the ends that brought about this new disposition. This is the purpose of the experience of this communication. On the one hand they experience this reality of the imagination... the function of the mind.. and the necessary needs to the emotions. This was Gods engaging them in their whole being.  It was not a purely intellectual view ... i mean... as a matter of experience... in going through the eyes of another man... or being child like in being connected to the individuality of their purpose in this world. God sort of expands these very practical and holistic origins of each person and creates in them to purpose this life through this confidence in future events. We can draw almost parallel conclusions between prophetic utterance and illumination and a clear understanding of self and its connection to this its individuality before God.    3964  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 26, 2010, 05:07:37 PM 3.  Brethren, We Have Met to Worship Public domain Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God; Will you pray with all your power, while we try to preach the Word? All is vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down; Brethren, pray, and holy manna will be showered all around. Brethren, see poor sinners 'round you slumbering on the brink of woe; Death is coming, hell is moving, can you bear to let them go? See our fathers and our mothers, and our children sinking down; Brethren, pray and holy manna will be showered all around. Let us love our God supremely, let us love each other, too; Let us love and pray for sinners, till our God makes all things new. Then He’ll call us home to Heaven, at His table we’ll sit down; Christ will gird Himself and serve us with sweet manna all around. Reply Quote Notify 3965  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 26, 2010, 04:38:23 PM Our community both in the world and in the church are determined to mirror our doctrine. Because we are made to live above this worlds standard. We are made to think and live as if we are special to our Father. Because our God has lifted us up and He has loved us with an everlasting love. This is why we do not have a deep need to be loved as we live out our lives in this world by the worlds standards. Our Father is most gracious and kind to condensed to us in Christ. For Christ has taken our grief and our sins so that we might seek this glorious translation of victory and pleasure that is ours by seeking Christ! How has He changed us to be so focused on Him? How has He made us to see that seeking Him is so central to our being united to Him? He has lifted us up from our struggle. Here we have this new living example of all that this world cannot offer. Because of the pain and scorn we experience in this world we need a new vision of His love for us. If we are to be lifted up in praise and adoration then we must look on Him! Because those who love Him will praise Him day and nite. There will be a sense of glory in going to Him in prayer! But He will draw us into our Fathers bossom by our persistence in giving Him all the glory. He is saying to us.. come and praise me.. dont stop...praise me no matter what. Because praise is the heavenly balm for all of our troubles. This is how we come to love Him. If we are to have any kind of extra ordinary relations with the Love of God we are going to find it in being lifted from wailing into dancing. If we are going through the extra ordinary struggles that are in our nation now then we need to be lifted up once more. Do you remember when you we made to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory? Oh.. when you went to the house of God with rejoicing in your heart? Oh in this most miserable world we are not tied down in our spirits to its powers! Let us seek Him once more and find that we are filled with greater joy than when our barns were filled to overflowing. Reply Quote Notify 3966  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Romans and the Flesh Monster. on: January 26, 2010, 01:44:25 PM There is something about this world that is very painful to face. The truth is that we are all born into a very uncertain and dangerous set of experiences both on the inside and out. The bible calls this being spiritually blind. We could compare it to living in a dream world. So that if we are to find any consolation in this world we are going to find in when we come face to face with our determination to go against everything that is real. The problem is not that we can achieve a level of certainty in this matter of connecting in relationship to one another but we actually are born to take sides against all that is real. We are attracted to those who love sin and since we find a connection there we find all of our satisfaction in these relationships. These relationships are bigger than our ability to reason that we are making it harder to draw closer to reality. This is what the bible terms the hardening of the heart. The truth is that men love democracy because they like to feel satisfied with the majority. But God is not democratic. We live in confusion of what is satisfying in all of these connections to others in this complex dream world. Our view of ourselves is tied to our worth in trying to find our way as we search out in one uncertainty to another. The bible calls this living a life of chaff... blowing in the wind. If we could have a world where there is no opposition then we would oppose all that is real. Because there is only two views of ourselves. We regard opposition in this multiple fashion that has this complex uncertainty as we feel guilt... pain... and fear. In order for us to avoid these paradigms of sinking deeper and deeper into despair we teach ourselves that its ok to find relief even if it has certain promises that we will be much better on the journey. Most of the confusion that we have in this world is in taking these long drawn out searching s for truth as a matter of finding relief. On the one hand there is this intense hatred for opposition as if we have a head ache and someone is just making it pound by their insistence.  Because the truth is we either love what is worthy of our focus or we hate it. The only other option is a slow process to great confusion. This is why we have so much of an odd attachment of being skeptics in this world. Because anyone who is in a state of confusion regards opposition to truth as a primary disagreement about process rather than in kind. Confusion is to feel a sense of loyalty to truth in lite of this need for acceptance at the moment. Acceptance is fleeting and that is why it buttresses our comfortable need for another moment. But the truth is that we are born into continual opposition. There is no such thing as living in a state of neutrality. That is the state of the world... a dream world.      Reply Quote Notify 3967  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 26, 2010, 12:07:29 PM In this American culture we get into a fashionable hierarchy that has not been seen in the history of the world. We have come to this as result of Gods providence in the power of the resurrection of Christ. We see a lot of depravity in this world... but at the same time the levels of freedom enjoyed by individual saints as far as the personal effects of the gospel have actually grown. So there is this tendency to over emphasize aspects of producing a fashion of the real thing. It is a matter of understanding the nature of the simplicity of the gospel and how it is in its most vibrant epistemology. This is why we have this dichotomy that has developed in this country as we have expanded the knowledge of the gospel as the buttress of that tendency to be fashionable. I mean if you have a complex understanding of all the good things that come as a result of the post cross experience then there is a lot more to be mesmerized by. Its what is fashionable as much as creating a new clothing line. And these things are tied to the historical motif of these different American denominations. With the nexus of the high points being the Great Awakening. And i think that there is this tendency to try to create a better kind of religious worship experience because of that modern day fashion to be scrupulous about the past generations. After all the machine of American religion is more organized and fluent than any other time in the history of the world. But we must understand that a mere intellectual knowledge of the complexity of the gospel is the introduction of more profound and greater tendencies to be in error. We are dealing here in this epistemology as that by which God works in a holistic way but instead we have these hybrid systems that have produced a generation of these distinct religious systems but have lost the simplicity of the gospels power. And i am not talking about the romantic notions of finding solace in non denomination... i mean that is another hybrid. I have personal experience in all of this . And i also have a running tab on how proficient men can be as a result of this kind of tendency. There is nothing that scares me more than to think that i can design a kind of epistemology that has a flavor of the gospel but it focuses on paradigms that do not bring healing. I mean the gospel is not something that we just use in the sense that we are playing tennis and we bat the ball back and forth to see who is the victor. The gospel is the power of God and it stands by it self... it does not need anyone to make appear it better than it is already. So that in a sense God still uses these imperfect fashions to bring people into the kingdom. And we find that men express their personal power of pride by their ability to not judge the other man on these non essentials of the faith but in having this approach to finding unity the focus is entirely fashionable. What i am saying is the gospel is much bigger than finding a true definition of unity. The gospel itself is set apart from all other fashions as the only truth and thus unity is established by that power. The gospel has already fashioned the absolute rule of Christ. This three pronged American fashion show has been ingrained in the generations of Americans as a result of these distinct differences between baptist... presbys... and charismatics. I have got to say rite here that there is unity in the agreement of these different confessions but that is not the total mission to find unity. Because the gospel not only produces the unity in an intellectual sense but it produces the paradigm of all that is experienced in that community. And this is why its simplistic designs are so difficult to understand. I will further explain these problems as a fashion show and not the true gospel.            Reply Quote Notify 3968  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: geneaology on: January 26, 2010, 11:05:20 AM http://www.ted.com/talks/tom_wujec_demos_the_13th_century_astrolabe.html This is an interesting lecture on why it was important for people to understand the consolations and the position of the planets. The astrolabe is a small instrument that mirrors the heavens. Reply Quote Notify 3969  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 26, 2010, 05:21:50 AM Quote And anyone who loved God in those times would have been given a deeper understanding of the sacrificial system, even though not as clear as is available to us now. I appreciate your intellectual approach and the depth of your thinking.   But i couldn't help wondering, given my own background, if you have ever smoked pot. . .    :-) Actually.... i was raised to be an athlete. I spent most of my waking hours training and playing. i enjoyed playing different sports up to my thirties. In my twenties I was determined to transform the whole approach that i had in life. That was my first exposure to Calvinism.. .hehe. Although ive had a lot of experience being around people who puffed on the ganja...growing up in miami.. i actually have never even been drunk. But i can assure you that i have other weaknesses but i was never motivated by harshness. I ve had a very colorful life as well.... and i guess you could compare meditation on scripture like being high..so i guess i have been high for most of my adult life.. purposely neglecting some things for the sheer joy of experiencing these meta physical realities ...oh those spiritual highs!....hehe. Like SB says we are all beggars telling other beggars where to find bread. Hope you stick around...i ve been here about 5 yrs... seen a lot of people come and go.      3971  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 25, 2010, 09:53:02 PM Let me respond here because this life is not really a matter of changing a course through a specific word or thing that we repent of. Confession ally speaking we are really dealing with a kind of holistic approach to christian sanctification. In other words the vehicle through which we produce change is through the means that seem to produce this prolonged struggle the brings us into a profound personal relationship to all of these different paradigms that are offered in the promises of God. This is why we must get back to the idea that men come and go but the word of the Lord stands firm forever. I mean.. .the idea that there is life and death... not really corrupt creation verses the word. There is something here... a principle of the ot economy that is further explained in Romans 9 - 11 in which the apostle makes a very important distinguishing separation between Gods covenant people and the reprobate  who are among Gods people. The history of redemption is about how God has condescended to man. So that salvation is seen in God alone. In other words even tho that process of the unfolding of redemption in which the natural gifts of men .. the darkness of knowledge of the early saints .. and a rational look at the historical primitive conditions ... we must ask how they were able to have a level of security that befits a true understanding that God was a covenant keeping God. My argument is that they understood that salvation was of God.. so that in a sense that security that we experience post cross was the same salvation that they experienced. I think it is terribly important to cross our ts and dot our I s if we are going to understand the nature of this security. Because if we create the paradigm that God was somehow desperate with these rebels then we are creating an irrational approach to the level of security that was available to the OT saint as opposed to the NT saint. Look... lets get to our roots here... salvation has always been by grace alone .. through faith alone ... in Christ alone. So that in order for us to balance our understanding of Gods ot salvation we must see the place of the ot law.. the kind of repentance required and level of security enjoyed by the elect Israel. Now we come to the modern day view of these ot saints. We can create the impression that they were given the excuse that they were able to sin more and get forgiven more in their primitive conditions than we are in our scientific society. So that we have two options.. either we can create the picture that the OT saint was a rebel and he needed the prophets to set him straight ... that is by bringing the law before him as if it was in between that saint and God. But believe it or not ... if you really consider and meditate on the ot Psalms and Proverbs you will find that they had a greater understanding of security than we do. And the prophets role was not as predominate as we make it seem. The Prophets were speaking to the whole covenant community and their harsh words were not toward the remnant. I am saying ... the spirit of encouragement is the predominate spirit.Because of the value of the nature of Christ work... that is the realism in the structure of Gods church.    3974  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Be Gentle on: January 24, 2010, 01:47:45 PM Let me make some general observations here. As you know we believe in Christ because He determined to shed His love on us from all eternity. And this is the mark of the true undeserved. That we are objects of divine love out of a determination of free grace. There is no such thing as a self determined saint! So that all communication to us of the truth leads us to rejoice in one God Man. All other language is that language that is marked by strife. Now then our security is being under the divine voice of our great Shepherd. We are protected from the intrigues of men. What is the intrigues of men? They are those developed ways of communication that men place themselves as having authority that God has not given them. These are attractions that draw men into this relationship of subservience or slavery. That being the trap that brings a saint to trust in men and not in God alone. That language where there is a web of leaders of followers who are dominated by the strife of deceit and malice. That is what are the intrigues of men.. who determine to create an identity of others in community by the strife of tongs. So that a saint is caught into the trap of being scorned by others in that web of deceit. Or the party of the Pharisee. We are those who take refuge in God alone. Our obedience is marked by an uncommon trust and a search for the truth that leads us to that one thing! That pure worship of God, seeking His face as the most cherished obligation that we have in our struggles with the wicked... the world and all that is in it ... and the flesh. But we are men who have this deep awareness that unless God protects us then we are going to be handed over to our opposition. The work of being a believer is by a divine mandate to wage war. So that we are given by grace to live in a realm where we experience an uncommon peace being shielded from real adversaries. It is never a clear cut understanding of who belongs on which side. This is why we may be subject by the voice of our Shepherd that we are to carry a big thorn in bringing into our own bosom an enemy of that which we cherish the most! Because Christ said that even members of those nearest to you may be set against what you are determined to carry out in that language that is very distinct in its ability to work. We must ... i mean as a matter of avoiding those situations and things that will work to bring us under some kind of false appearance of the righteousness of Christ to hold onto that way we have been taught up to now that is the way of grace. If we have been given this intense fire to love Christ let us wage war against this opposition. I am not thinking of individuals ... i am simply trying to further apply the practical mandate of the biblical world view ... or thinking thoughts after God. Dont take this out of context.. let God be God. Reply Quote Notify 3975  Forums / Politics Forum / Re: The incredible shrinking economy on: January 24, 2010, 11:12:25 AM I agree with  you RR... centralization has gone over the line. The idea of decentralizing is the same idea as the local incorporation from communities to little cities. The only hope is to make the states ...Providences. Then we can have a revitalization of the constitutional structure because decentralization is best to address this new predominance of multi cultural ism quasi big brother imperialism. The two realities of the ot monarchy... a united kingdom and a divided kingdom. It is more practical .