March 17, 2006

Raiders of the Lost Arc Welder
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Opalys and meself are pretty much on the same page methinks. Oui? ... oui.

Farlas...
"The part about "When I was naked ye cloathed me" is referring to the works done by Christians. The unsaved may do these things, but He doesn't recognize it because it was not for Him. When a born again believer does something, it is as if he is doing it for the Lord. When an unsaved person does it, he is just doing it. It has no sway on getting you into heaven or not. It is done in vain."
I dont think you picked up on what exactly I was on about (hell even I dont know what I'm on about most of the time). The passage of the sheep and goats shows that God expects people to do good deeds as naturally as breathing, not because they will get rewarded but because its the right thing to do. Dont let your left hand know what the right is doing. In truth an Atheist who does an good deed is (possibly) more unselfish than a Christian who does a similar good deed, for with the Christian there is an underlying selfish eye to rewards in the next world.
The Sheep in the passage also never recognised the "presence" (for want of a better word) of God in other people, they did it because it was right and correct to love everyone. They also did it without the realisation of the good they do.
Its a mentally difficult thing to do, but do it we must!

What you do say is correct, faith does play a central part in deliverence (no not the movie).
However faith without love is....
"Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing."
and/or
"Though I bestow all my goods and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing."

Any deed done in love is following Christ. A person who has never heard of Jesus yet leads a life of love and good deeds is unknowingly following Christ. Though of course it does make life easier if we have a knowledge of God's guiding hand.

'Course if we were to be judged just by what we do or dont do we would all be done for. Jesus bought us alot of leeway. But to avail of this we have to show the same leeway to others. Whatever you bind on earth consider bound in heaven. If you choose not to forgive someone...fine! Just means you are gonna be hit with no forgiveness for sins you do to others.

We - you, me, everyone, all believe we live in the most important of eras. We dont.
There is nothing new under the sun.
Wars, plagues, famines, murders, invasions.... all have happened before, all will happen again. Its no sign of the end. Its just a sign we are a bunch of animals.

Getting back to Deliverence etc
A slight contradiction if I read what you wrote correctly. A person in a remote area of Africa, say 1900 years ago. Lets pretend in meditation he figures out there is only one God. He still will have no knowledge of Jesus as only though oral telling can he discover what happened in Jerusalem.
Yet you said it was only though Jesus can we be saved.
So either he is damned because of geoography and therefore no knowledge of Christ.
OR is it.....
"Being saved through Jesus" is a way of saying you are saved by the presence of Love in you life. He might not have heard of Jesus, but as long as he lives his life with love to his neighbours then he will get to the father through Love, through Jesus.

And so to rap it up, its Love that saves, without it, faith will avail you nothing.

End of the world etc one thing you can bank on its not going to happen the way any of think it will. The Messiah was believed to be a second King David, an earthly king to right wrongs of Israels oppressors. When the Christ came, He showed us how narrow our view of what the Messiah would be.

"I also believe in the continental drift theory, so the earth would have been a bit more concentrated to flood." - Still requires the same amount of water to flood no matter how to arrange the landmass. Unless the circumference of the earth shrank.
T-Rex were carnivorous, their teeth are those of a predator. For meat slicing. Besides there were other bigger predators than T-rex, he was just the best known.
Big foot prints, large leg bones... hmmm looks to me like how the fossils in China proved the existence of Dragons... not the Komodo kind.

Mountain size depends on where you come from. There is a mountain outside my home, but Ill bet if anyone from Tibet came to look at it they would laugh and say its not even a hill... more of a bump.

"I still think there were sons and daughters of Adam and Eve. " but it never said there was any other sons or daughters. We cant just wish them into existence. I dont wish things into existence but view what is said in a diferent light.

"It is a harsh view, but since God can't tolerate imperfection, it must be so"
If I can have a less harsh view of this does that not mean I am more mercyful, more loving than God?
"Which one of you fathers would give your hungry child a snake if the child asked for a fish? Which one of you would give your child a scorpion if the child asked for an egg? As bad as you are, you still know how to give good gifts to your children."

Anywho better head off :) Ash Nazg...

Yeah its good to exercise the ol' grey matter. It may not be important to have things correct and precise, its more important to keep searching, questioning and trying to understand it all.

Just thinking again about that mountain of meat the Ark would need to carry. To say it would need to be huge is an understatement. Not to mention how to stop it going stale. Thats an even bigger mountain of salt. Fresh water? That a major lake in a LOT of barrels till all the water courses are desalinated.
Or could it be Noah was say a farmer in the Black Sea Basin (collaborated by the Gillgamesh epic) when it Flooded. God tells Noah to build a boat and put all his animals onboard. Noahs world floods and he sails away to safety in a God Ordained built boat.
Makes sense, fits the picture, doesn't contradict the Bible.
Slan

And have a great St Patricks Day!!!!



Ohh next topic.... The Ark Of The Covenant. Has it been found, and was it also an ancient egyptian battery/capacitor?