Tuesday, May 13, 2008
ENLIGHTENMENT LADDER COMPANY
GOOD MORNING TO ALL… as I read the first comment on yesterday’s blog I see that the enlightening part of the ladder must have been the rungs that were under the water. I must say it was a comical commentary but also shows the depth at which the reader chose to understand what was said. Now if a person had taken the time to study what was written in 1 Samuel 16 and then back tracked a little to the beginning of chapter 15 they would have been able to see that Saul had already sinned and lost favor as king of the Israelites before the fact of the spirits. Here in is where the statement which I made yesterday comes into affect ((that he was using the evil spirits to try to get the characters involved to react to change to recognize his powers as the ultimate and trust him. Instead they chose to trust the physical; and met with terrible ends….. And…God uses both good spirits and evil spirits to teach and demonstrate his powers.))))) But this, the reader obviously didn’t choose to understand. The lord knows your heart and he does not cause you to sin…. Yet he also knows, you can not hide your true self from him. Maybe I should not use the word evil maybe I should water it down and say good and bad but all in all the words interchange. If there was no right and wrong there would be no need for heaven and hell. If there was no right or wrong you would have no reason to have a mind and as they say that all would be a no brainer, and that would detract from the reason we are here….. To glorify God and every victory that we have over the evil in life is a glorification unto God. So if you choose to believe that your sin is Gods’ fault, if that is the meaning you get from yesterdays writing, maybe one needs to look a little deeper instead of just hurrying to get out and reading that which one can’t miss.
May God Bless you all!!
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12 comments:
Contagiouse1, I was going to post a comment to saul and christian but having read your latest blog you said what I was trying to say only better.
SNAP! YEOOOWWW! SPASH! BLUB BLUB! COUGH, WHEEZE! GASP! Oh man just when I thought I had found a way to escape personal responsibility I end up back here in this pothole. Something must have been wrapped around my leg. Well at least it has quit raining and my re-entry got rid of some of the water. What is this? An article about “Enlightenment Ladder Company”. Hmm. How could I have been so dumb to miss that about my namesake? Backtrack huh? Wow this is interesting. I wonder how it all turned out? Guess I’ll read on in the Bible a while to see how it ends. Here it says “God tempteth no one with evil” but I just read where God gave him an evil spirit. Must be a contradiction. I better get back to the article to see what else I missed. Well I was in a hurry to get out. Didn’t want to drown. God is not responsible for my sin! I better go back and read a little deeper, I was sure I read that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Let’s see. Spiritual before physical, God made man of the dust of the earth then gave him a spirit. What did I miss now? Death is a separation of body and spirit yea that makes sense. Battery with two positives, positively not. Everything with beginning and end, well mostly. I did read of a King of Salem who had no beginning or end, Melchizedek I think was his name. We tend to praise and elevate our physical /material surroundings as gods. That’s the truth. Outside in a lightning storm, redundant nope, just plain stupid! Had a friend who did that once. Left a wife and two kids. Must have been hard for the son to see his dad go like that. Maybe he had more faith. Col. 1:16-17 improperly used, sure was. God made all things alright, tangible things like sun, moon, plants, animals and man. But evil? Never seen any of that stuff. Seen plenty of results of evil thoughts and actions though. God clearly stated the lines of right and wrong, Amen to that. Ah here it is I knew I had read it. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart. Seems to me that if God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that he chose the physical rather than the spiritual God is to blame. Contrary to our modern day beliefs and theory that if God does these things then how can we trust him. Don’t see anything modern about that. But it makes sense that if God causes me to do something for which he will punish me, where is the justice in that? Modern theory calls that entrapment. All things are possible. I was reading the Bible the other day and it said that it was impossible for God to lie. Something must be impossible or did God lie? I wonder, can God make a rock bigger than he can lift? Maybe I will have to ask that fella with the broader understanding than most to explain that for me.
impressive writing i must say or could it be classified as missguided criticism? i apologize for the undirected concepts of wht i have written. never ever did i say that God causes us to sin!! i just made the simple statement that he created it just as he created day and night. if he created all things then and unto all things he has given the power over their own thoughts put the distinction of good and evil right and wrong who in the world created the distinction???????????? who created the definition?????? WHO made the possability to exist???you? ME??? those possabilities were in existance before man was created friend!!! or did they just fall off of the truck at your feet in that dearly flooding pothole!!! i didnt claim that due to the evil spirits those men sinned or were evil i STATED THAT THEY HAD ALREADY SINNED AND LOST THE FAVOR OF THE LORD!!!! as far as the lighting storm and your friend ... sorry about his passing but i am definitly sure that he wasnt in the middle of his yard glorifying God maybe the water is deeper than you might have thought or the last rung is at the very bottom.
Dear Sir,
I am kinda perplexed here. I thought you had desired to encourage your readers in a spirit of love. yet here in this post you totally grind Saul under the heel of blind rage and glaring closed-mindedness. And do not use the age-old excuse of a child "Well he started it first!" What Saul requested in the comments 2 posts back, was some help understanding your points, help I might add, which was not forthcoming. Then to get you and possibly Fred to read his requests, he had to resort to showing his frustration. And you tear him down because you view it as a personal attack!?! For shame. That is neither encouraging nor done in love.
Christian
Friends it is my turn to sincerely apologize to Saul and every one else. It is true and Christian I want to thank you for correcting me in my actions. There is no justification for the way I responded and you are correct about the way I wrote the comment. Please except my apologies and I will be working on an explanation of what I have stated. I love and enjoy all my readers and hope the feelings are mutual and that through love and peace we can bridge our differences
sincerly
contagious 1
hello ya'll. saul, with all that babbling you lost me. Hope you will forgive my simple mind. :)One thing that stuck in my simple mind was about the lightning storm. I have been out in lots of lightning storms and it wasn't to glorify God, allthough I did, and I'm still here.:)aslo how can you see something that is invisable?? As to "trusting God" it seems to me like,(correct me if I'm wrong, this is just what i see you saying)you are looking for a reason not to trust him. God is in controll. Does HE make you do what you do? No, but He knows what you are going to do before you do so He has planned acordingly. Hope this helps you in your pot hole.
Saul, Saul, I have been reading and enjoying this blog and your humorous style of writing your comments. Contagious1 is certainly zealous for what he has found. I admire that. In time his knowledge will catch up to his zeal and then he can be a real force for good, I hope. If I may be so bold I will step in and try to explain what he has said so you can get out of the pothole and onto other things. The passage in Colossians 1 does say that God created all things. God also set the standard for what is right and wrong; see Exodus 20 and the giving of the Ten Commandments as an example. And while the scriptures do say that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart we must understand that he did not do it against Pharaoh’s will. In other words God knew that the plagues would attack Pharaoh’s pride and his belief system. In so doing Pharaoh would be stubborn and harden his heart. It was Pharaoh’s own choice to harden his heart to the will of God. Now on to King Saul. Saul had indeed already sinned against God when God took away His spirit and the kingdom. Again it was pride that was wounded and instead of repenting he sought evil ways to set things right. Saul acknowledged his sin in I Sam. 15:29 but did not repent of it. When God took away His spirit from Saul it left a void in his life. Saul chose then to fill that void with evil and so it is said that an evil spirit from God was with him. Jesus taught a similar truth in Luke 11. He has just cast out a demon and then is questioned by the Pharisees. The cast out demon could find no new dwelling place so he returned to the man he had been cast out of. He found the place clean and empty so he sought 7 other demons to come dwell with him. The man had not filled the void left by the demon with anything. It is said in the case of Saul that God sent them but we must understand in light of the passage in Luke and considering other Bible truths that he allowed them to come. Now Saul your point from James 1 is well taken in that God tempts no one with evil. As anonymous pointed out in a comment on an earlier post, Satan is the author of evil not God. Satan is the tempter. God is totally good so it is out of the realm of His character to create evil. He does not force it, only allows it.
I hope that I have accurately represented what contagious1 was trying to say. I am sure he will let us know if I have misrepresented his ideas.
Now Saul why tarriest thou, arise and be on thy way praising God.
Dear Sir and Fred,
I would like to point out something which I think all of us have hinted at.
Sin and evil are NOT created. What, then is sin/evil? I John 3:4 states that "sin is the transgression of the law." The Old Testament also is filled with examples of kings and people who sinned/did evil in the sight of God. Proverbs 14:34 says that "sin is a reproach to any people." Sin we see here, is both a transgression of the law and something to be ashamed of. And therefore, by implication, sin is a product of one's choice and actions. This also means that neither Proverbs 16:1-4 nor Colossians 1:16 is refering to God creating evil/sin.
Some points to remember:
1.) God created all of this world as pleasing to Him (Genesis 1).
2.) Sin does not please God (Ezekial 18:20; Romans 3:23; Romans 5:19-6:1; James 4:4).
3.) Because God created man with choice (Genesis 2:7) does not mean that God created him to sin nor sin for him. Each person on this physical plane starts life with the same opportunity to wholly follow God as Christ did (Hebrews 4:15). But we, beings of choice, soon choose to follow our fleshly desires (James 1:12-17) and put ourselves at enmity with God (Romans 8:7).
4.) God, no matter how much we sin, loves us (not the sin) (John 3:16) yet there will come a time of judgement wherein God will destroy those disobedient to His will no matter how much He loves them (II Thessalonians 1:7-9; II Peter 3).
5.) No one, be he God or man, is responsible for my sin (Ezekial 18). Each are responsible for their own sin (Ezekial 18) and for laying a stumbling block in front of another (I Corinthians 8).
Christian
It has started to rain again and my pothole has turned into a babbling brook. Good thing Ananias helped me out when he did. In answer to Fred's question about trusting God I must say that he is incorrect. I trust God and am not looking for ways to not to trust Him. I might also add that I would not purposely sit out in a thunderstorm and make a trial of God to see if He would or would not let lightning strike me.Thunderstorms may also contain hail and God told Israel though Moses not to be out in the hail (Exodus 9) Many thanks to Ananias for the elucidation.
Contagious1 I would gladly except your apology accept the affect would not be the desired effect(::)
Saul I don't go out and stand in a lightning storm to see if I get hit either but I'm not afraid to be out in one. When it's my time to go I will go wheather inside or outside.
your last post confusess my simple mind. could you explain?
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