I Wish I Could Remember
Submitted by A Blessed One on June 14 1999 at 19:04:12
In reply to metaphysics Submitted by F.O.D. on June 14 1999 at 15:28:22
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I wish I could put together the notes and passages that I learned in college regarding Satan. In a nutshell, a couple of professors (at a Southern Baptist College) espoused the view of Hell being a creation of man. There was a great deal of developmental history put forth to demonstrate the origins of hell. Likewise, there have been a lot of distortions regarding the nature of Heaven. When looking at the proposed nature of Satan, it seems to me, IMHO, that man has created a large portion of what we currently understand as Satan and his origins to explain evil and calamity. I would not be so bold as to propose that Satan does not exist, but if he does, I would propose that we are will find one day that we have been severely wrong about him and his activities. I am not nearly as concerned about the role of Satan in the less tangible aspects of man's lives. Whether the Earth is 1000 or 10,000,000,000 years old is of no consequense in the lives of humans and their following of God's will. What is of consequense is the manner in which we love and raise our children. I despair at the notion of those that rally for creationism but refuse to spend eevn minimal time teaching and loving their children. As far as evolution is concerned, I find the proposal laughable. I agree with you in the probability of evolution with regard to selective adaptation. However, I am left nothing left amused at the notion of shifting across species. Every time I hear someone espousing that creation took six literal days, I am compelled to ask if God wore a Timex or a Seiko. If, afterall, we feel worthy to constrict the Creator of all the universe to our comprehension of time, I would suppose we also feel worthy to constrict Him to the use of mechanical devices to track it. All of this said, I return to the point I have tried over and over to tell one believer after another: If we would live with our fellow man as Christ demonstrated in accordance within God's perfect will and providence, the issues of times beginning and end would be supurfulous to the point of disregard. Should we be surpised when the inhabitants of multimillion dollar churches two blocks away from shanties spend their time debating the concepts of pre, post, and a-millinialism. Should we be surprised when believers more obsessed with their own material gain than the well being of the community's children spend their "study time" discussing how long it took God to create the Earth. Baptist speak of the great commission "to spread the gospel to the corners of the Earth". I personally think the great commission was to take care of the widows and orphans. The Bible speaks of man's surprise at those they thought would be in Heaven (and are not)and those they thought would not (and are). When I see the misfeasance and nonfeasance of the "body of Christ", that passage is quite understandable. While I am on my rant, let me add this also. I don't think pedophilia and homosexuality (a semantic impossibility) are curable, nor do I think we will eradicate promiscuity. But, I do think if the church were demonstrating the love and concern of Christ, those behaviors that the church finds so abhorant would be greatly lessened. The church paints these actions as illegitimate, the manifestations of false imaginations, and as evil; however, if the church is going to remain so remiss in it's demonstrtion of Christ's true love, how will man ever learn of God's legitimate love, how will man ever learn new thoughts to replace those false imaginations, and how will man ever know of the good that can supplant the evil. These "societal ills" are, to me, the direct result of a loss of the message and love of Chist by the church. I have rebuked those who would praise my raising Blessing because I don't feel it Holy to accept praise for doing that which is right. That said, the following is not to toot my own horn, but to demonstrate the point of the effect of the loss of Christ's message. When I first met Blessing, he had not been exposed to unconditional love or to responible adults. His expressed attitudes then were of the desire to never have children because he didn't want to pay child support, that anything that makes a person's body feel good was OK, that hitting in a burst of rage was not only OK but required, that one's word was an instrument to gain advantage, that the church was a playground, and that commitments were temporary gestures. Today, after having been exposed to unconditional love and responsible adults, his views are dramaticly different. Today, he looks forward to raising a family. He says he wants children to teach and love to maturity. He feels there are limits to the use of one's body to make oneself feel good. He knows that hitting is a last resort after all other less violent means of conflict resolution are exhausted. His word is sacred to him to the point that he gets distressed at the notion of being late somewhere (a problem for a habitually tardy me). Church is now a place of prayer and worship for the God who created him and the Saviour who redeemed him. And as for commitments, he is a dedicated friend and son. How did this happen? Am I saint? hahaha The reason for the change in him is that he was exposed to myself and others who are dedicated to children (not just their own kids, but children). He has seen the love parents and children can share. He saw a man who was sexually attracted to him use restraint and allow him to mature spiritually, and who was willing to explore the physical, emotional, and spiritual realmifications of using one's body for purely carnal pleasure. He has seen restraint in the face of insults and threats as well as the use of corporal punishment under only the most extreme of circumstances. He has seen peole who have the perfect peace of Christ. And he now knows there is a person who would die to protect him. Most of all he knows that the people who have demonstrated these things to him are nothing more than weak flawed humans like him. He knows that it the love these people feel and the guidance of the Holy Spirit that gives them the resolve to do right and to supress their lower beings in order to aspire to higher purposes. If the presence of only fifteen or twenty earnest people can bring about that change in a jaded child in just three years, how much could a body of millions of believers trying in earnest to follow the Holy Spirit's guidance and to demonstrate Christ's love do toward changing a jaded society. I hope one day we will have an awakening and see just that. OK OK OK, I'll stop now. It's so nice to be able to post on matters of substance in a forum where flames will not be considered debate that I have a hard time cutting off. I have so many little happies that have occurred in the last few days, I'm about to bust a gut to go post them on BC, but unfortunately, everytime I bring the site up I am overwhelmed with feelings of hurt and anger. It is as though I've lost a friend. I guess I'm better off just burying that corpse and moving on with life. LOVE ABO |