Attention Queenam,
Christianity IS a religion. It is not something other than a religion. All the general critiques that are applied to religion MUST be applied to Christianity.

Queenam, would you send your own child to hell. Say your child was disobedient over the span of 100 years (upper bounds of human life expectancy) would you send her to be tortured for 1,000,000,000 years (let’s just call that eternity)?

Does the punishment seem fit? A 100 years of doing wrong leads to 1 gazillion years of torture? But God loves you? I’m sure you wouldn’t do that to your own child, but God would do it to you.

Yeah, sounds about right.

anonymous // February 28, 2009 at 12:15 pm

God’s ways are not our ways nor are his thoughts our thoughts.

Your arguement might sound oh so very logical to you, but at the great white throne judgement you will wet your pants when you are sent to the lake of fire-as you deserve.
***********************************

Some God. You can have him. cheeeeeeeeupse

This was perhaps the first promise listed in the Bible.

Genesis 2:16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

2:17 But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

This promise was a warning. Dont eat of that tree or you will die (both spiritually and physically).

Man disobeyed. Since Adam was our federal head as pointed out in 1 Corinthians 15:22 everyone has an appointment with spiritual death or separation from God.

1 Corinthians 15:22 reads For as in Adam all die….

In Romans 5 we read
Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Rom 5:14 Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.

Rom 5:15 But not as the offence, so also [is] the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, [which is] by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.

Rom 5:16 And not as [it was] by one that sinned, [so is] the gift: for the judgment [was] by one to condemnation, but the free gift [is] of many offences unto justification.

Rom 5:17 For if by one man’s offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

Rom 5:18 Therefore as by the offence of one [judgment came] upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one [the free gift came] upon all men unto justification of life.

Rom 5:19 For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

Rom 5:20 Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:

Rom 5:21 That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

One man sinned and passed on the sin nature to all men, and so it is appointed unto men once to die..

The Scriptures teach in Ezekiel 18:4 & 20….The soul that sinneth, it shall die.

Now the question is have these promises (warnings) been kept or not?

Do we know of anyone who has died?

Soon after Adam sinned he was cast out of the presence of God – he was separated from God- he died spiritually. Some 900 years later he died physically.

Is physical death a blessing? To those who are suffering from illnesses it sure is!

Can one get away from keeping the appointment with spiritual death or the appointment with physical death?

Think about it?

So Anonymous I should be sent to the lake of fire as I deserve? Really? What have I done besides allude to the fact that your God is a prick. Looks like you are too. Until you develop the ability to think for yourself, you deserve each other…haha

Question: Can one get away from keeping the appointment with spiritual death or the appointment with physical death?
a- Has anyone who has lived not died?
b- Will everyone die physically?
c- Wont everyone die spiritually?

Answer:
a- Enoch (Genesis 5:24) & Elijah were both translated to heaven without dying. They are a prefigurement of the believers who will be translated to heaven without dying at the rapture.
b- Everyone will NOT die physically according to 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 which reads
Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
15:52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.

In this verse Paul teaches that some believers will not die but will receive incorruptible bodies at the time of the rapture , at the same time that the dead believers are raised to receive their incorruptible bodies.

This truth is reiterated in I Thessalonians 4:16-17 which reads For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: Then we which are alive [and] remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord

c- No everyone wont die spiritually. cf John11: 25-26Believers will not appear at the great white throne judgement spoken of in Revelation 20

20:5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This [is] the first resurrection.
20:11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.
20:12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is [the book] of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
20:13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
20:14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
20:15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire

It is noteworthy that all the above verses taken together corroboarates the teaching Jesus gave in

John 5:28-29 thus
28Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
. 29And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.

It is important to note that all the dead are not raised at the same time. Those that have done good (i.e trusted I God’s provision for salvation) will participate in the the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil(i.e trusted I God’s provision for salvation), unto the resurrection of damnation.

Note this principle of good and evil (trusting and not trusting) is first presented in Genesis 4 in the story of Cain and Abel (cf Hebrews 11:4; I John :9-12 & Jude 11.

Is it moral to deceptively post under many names?

@GP

“In this verse Paul teaches that some believers will not die but will receive incorruptible bodies at the time of the rapture…………”

Can you point me to the exact place in the Holy Scriptures where it teaches this doctrine of a “rapture”, whatever that is supposed to mean?

@ Robin Hood

I have given you the proof texts for the rapture above.

You will not find the word rapture in the Bible, just as you will not find the word millennium. However, the term is not as recent as you suggest. The word “rapture” evolved from the Latin verb rapio to snatch or sieze by force as it is used in the Latin Vulgate translation of the Bible. Its a very old term and a very old doctrine.

The concept of the rapture is very clear from the proof texts I quoted in 1 Cor 15 and 1 Thes 4. In both of these verses the idea of being suddenly snatched away is expressed.

I do not have my Strong’s or Vines here with me, so I cannot look up and give you of the bat the list of other NT verses where ‘rapio’ is used in the Latin version, or where the equivalent word is used in the Greek.

If a God appear before me tomorrow I would get a heart attack… GP I want your emergency number just in case…

AAAAAAAAAAAghhhhhhhhhhhh

http://www.thegodmurders.com/id91.html

An interesting court case prosecuting God for the murders of every man, woman, and child he has killed in the bible.

A truly loving God indeed.

In a previous post, I noted that one can trace the idea that God wants to fellowship with man. Here are a few of my notes on the such a trace for interested serious Bible students, who read these posts, AND UNDERSTAND WHAT IS WRITTEN, even though you do not post any comments.

In Rev 21: 1-3 we read….And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying “ Behold the tabernacle [ or dwelling place] of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God himself shall be with them and be their God.

This scripture teaches that one of the results of the Lord’s second coming is that God will have his longest and dearest desire. The desire to dwell and share an intimate and close and special fellowship with mankind [1Jn 1;3]. The fact that God desires to fellowship with mankind is no secret, and one can easily trace this desire throughout the Bible as God interacted with Adam, Cain, (though un-seccessfully) and Enoch, who became a picture or type of the saint who at Christ’s second advent will be translated without seeing death and a picture of all believers whose removal at the rapture will provide for them an escape from the rigors of the tribulation period . “ For God has not appointed us [ all believers] to wrath, but [ has rather appointed us] to obtain salvation by [ or through ] our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us , that , whether we [are] awake or sleep [dead in Christ] at his coming, we should live together with him [ for ever].[1 Thes 5: 9&10].

God maintained a close relationship with the Patriarchs and even in his deepest and darkest days we read [in Genesis 39:21&23 ] about Jacob’s imprisoned son in Egypt for 13 years that THE LORD WAS WITH JOSEPH.

God abode [or tabernacled] with His people during their wanderings in the wilderness , signaling his presence in the pillar of cloud in the day and the pillar of fire at night. He demonstrated his presence to be and empower them for victory at the beginning of the period of the conquest of Canaan by appearing as the “ Captain of the Lord’s Host ” as recorded in Joshua 5: 13-15.

The period of the Judges was characterized by extreme wickedness and this period was well summarized by the comment that …..”in those days there was no king in Israel ; every man did that which was right in his own eyes [ Judges 17:6 &21:25].” Even then God did not desert his people and at the interface of this period and that of the kings God sought out an obedient child whom he could use and tells us of this boy in 1 Sam 3: 19 that …..THE LORD WAS WITH HIM. In the period of the kings God’s presence filled Solomon’s temple until he was forced to leave.

In the period of captivity God was with Daniel in the lion’s den and in his long service among wicked enemies as he served under five different administrations. God was with the three Hebrew boy’s in the fiery furnace [Dan3:24&25]. The Lord was clearly with the prophets before and during the exile. He was so involved , that when Jehoiakim sent men to kill Jeremiah ……the Scriptures records God’s personal involvement by telling us in Jer 36: 26 …. BUT THE LORD HID HIM !!

After the exile God found a man called Ezra of whom it is recorded in Ezra 7:10 that he had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it , and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements. This same man confesses in Ezra 7:28 that God was with him …..in the words “ I was strengthened as[ or because ] the hand of the Lord my God was upon me……”. He later reports in Ez 8: 22, that …. “ The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him”. In chap 8: 31, we are told that…”the hand of our God was upon us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy , and of such as lay in wait by the way.”

Nehemiah records a similar experience in Neh 2:4b, &8b , 20, 4:20b, 6:16b and in Esther God was with his people as seen in Esther 2:15, 4:14 & 5:2.

We say all this to demonstrate that Scriptures records and provide adequate proof which attests to the fact that God has ably and diligently persisted in his desire to fellowship with men, even though we have been most unworthy of his interest. Psalm 23: 6 puts it thus …..” Surely goodness and mercy shall PURSUE ME ALL THE DAYS OF MY LIFE….. Pursue is following earnestly in an effort to catch up with some one who does not seem to want to be caught. That is the meaning of follow in that verse. That this is true is seen in Romans 5:8,10 and also 1John 4;9-10.

The New Testament opens with the announcement that the virgin’s child shall be called Emmanuel or GOD WITH US. And in John 1: 1 we are told that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. God wanted to be with us so badly that he came to stay on earth in the form of a servant and in the likeness of men[ Phil 2:7],so that one day [Phil3:20] he could change our vile body ,that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body….

God sent his Son to die so that HE MAY FELLOWSHIP WITH US……what condescension!!
God sent his Son to purchase our redemption so that HE MAY FELLOWSHIP WITH US!!
God came to be us because we could not go to Him…..we didn’t want to be with him while we were yet sinners , Christ [ GOD] died for us[ Rom5: 8 ].

When we were yet sinners he offered up his own Son [ Romans 8: 32 ; Hebrews 9: 26
God came to us in the person of His Son , but when God came to his own they received him not. So he offered us the same opportunity. He set his people aside temporarily and came to us Gentiles and offered us the same opportunity. How He longs to be with us. He sent his Son to procure the means of bringing us back to Him [1 Peter 2: 24]

GOD WANTS TO BE WITH US –HE WANTS TO BE WITH YOU….DO YOU WANT TO BE WITH HIM? What ever your decision …. THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST IS IMMANUEL !!

no criticism of GP allowed?

Here is another note from one of my talks to illustrate the purpose of checking the Greek or Hebrew and doing word studies in an attempt to determine what a particular Bible text is saying.

NT readers of the Pauline epistles will often be confronted with the term “adoption” and the concept or the doctrine of THE ADOPTION OF SONS, and the fact that believers have been declared in Romans 8:18 as joint heirs of Christ. not because of our own merit, but because the exalted Christ has exalted us to this position.

The word adoption in the New Testament is translated from the Greek word (huiothesia) which means “the placing of an adult son” and refers to the formal act of recognizing the maturity of an adult son. The word is found in five New Testament passages: Rom. 8:15,23: 9:4; Gal. 4:5; Eph. 1:5. The believer is never called brephos or baby boy in the NT.

The believer is, however, called (teknon), a child which is growing up but which is still under parental care. Hence John 1:12, “…to them gave He power to become the sons (teknoi) of God.”—should strictly be children, as John always use the word teknon.
..
But a Christian is also in union with Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is called (huios), “an adult son”. So, in union with Him, we are said to be adult sons also, although we may be only babies (brephos) or (teknon) by experience.

To the people living in the predominantly Greek and Roman culture of the 1st Century A.D., the word (huiothesia) would bring to mind the ceremony of toga virilis, in which a 14-year-old boy went through an investiture ceremony with the adult male members of his family. At this ceremony, speeches of challenge to the youth would be made, and offerings would be made to the gods. Then, the boy would stand in the center of the group and take off the child’s garment that he wore (the toga praetexta). A new adult man’s robe, or toga, would be placed on him. This was the toga virilis, the “robe of a man”.

At this time, the 14-year-old was given adult privileges and responsibilities. He could conduct business in his own name, could buy and sell property, could marry, could vote in the Assembly, and in many other ways could carry on as an adult citizen. Of course, he was not mature enough or wise enough to exercise all of the privileges he had; and he was not experiences enough to live up to all of the responsibilities. But the seriousness of his position as a citizen was impressed on him; and if he was intelligent and hard working, he would grow up to be an adult having integrity and character.

Application: The spiritual use of the word “adoption” signifies the placing of a newborn child, in the spiritual sense, into the position of privilege and responsibility attached to an adult son. The question arises as to why a naturally born child needs to be adopted. Are we not, after all, “born again”? It is here that the true meaning of “adoption” comes in; because in the New Testament, “adoption” refers to a positional advance. The new believer is advanced positionally to his majority, even though at the time of salvation he is spiritually immature, a “babe in Christ”.

Because spiritual adoption takes place at the moment of salvation, there is really no period of childhood experience recognized for believers. The Christian has been placed into the privilege, liberty, and duty of a full-grown adult. Spiritual adoption imposes the same way of life on all children of God. This requirement is reasonable because the Christian life is to be lived in the sustaining and upholding power of the Holy Spirit. And this provision is available as much for one person as for another.

Therefore, the word “adoption” means that from the very first of our Christian lives we have full provision, the freedom to have a relationship with God on an adult basis, and the freedom to serve Him.

There is also a future aspect to “adoption”, that of our ultimate placing as adults in eternity, as shown in Romans 8:23. There we will have the resurrection body, we will see Christ face to face, and we will have no Sin Nature or human good. So we will be able to function perfectly in Christ, as adults in maturity.
Consequently, because the sense is often lost in translation and also because of semantic shift it is necessary to study the use of words in the original language to fully understand what a particular text is saying in the English versions of the Bible.

Bush Tea

I keep harping on techniques for studying and learning because I have been trying to learn or study or teach most of my life. I have found that embracing certain techniques makes life so much easier.

The night before I took finals in my first degree in Chemistry, during a study break in the library at Cave Hill I noticed a book on one of the shelves that I had never seen before.

On opening the same and looking at the introduction I was amazed to read that the reader stressed that there were only 5 reactions in Organic Chemistry.

He then listed them as
electrophilic addition,
electrophilic substutution, nucleophilic addition ,
nucleophilic substitution and rearangement.

And I wondered why no one in all the years I had been exposed to Organic Chemistry had not taught me that and simplified my life.

Since then as a learner and teacher I have sought to get and share such information because it helps students to grasp concepts more easily.

So it is with Bible Study. I thank God that at age 16 I was exposed to persons who taught me certain techniques and the concept and need to outline a passage.

Here is J Vernon McGees outline of the book of Phillipians. It certainly makes Philippians much easier to comprehend.
Chapter 1-The Philosophy of Christian Living.
Chapter 2- The Pattern of Christian Living .
Chapter 3- The Prize for Christian living, and
Chapter 4 The Power for Christian Living.

Instead of Prize in chapter 3 I prefer PURPOSE
Here is McGee’s expansion on this outline for chapters three and four

Chapter Ill. PRIZE for Christian Living (Key verses: 10-14)
1.Paul Changed His Bookkeeping System of the Past, vv. 1-9
2.Paul Changed His Purpose for the Present, vv. 10-19
3.Paul Changed His Hope for the Future, vv. 20,21

Chapter IV. POWER for Christian Living
1.Joy – the Source of Power, vv. 1-4
2.Prayer – the Secret of Power, vv. 5-7
3.Contemplation of Christ – the Sanctuary of Power, vv. 8,9
4.In Christ – the Satisfaction of Power, vv. 10-23

You might have noted, that in the 1000 plus post on the purpose of life, to which I contributed very little, that when I did, I quoted Philippians 9-15 or so as my PURPOSE for living.

The dire consequence of man’s sin in the Garden of Eden is explained by Paul in Romans 5:12-19, where we get in Paul’s discussion an important New Testament analysis of Adam’s act of sin, and another important contrast between Adam and Christ with respect to their actions.

The nature of the act: Adam brought sin and death into the world, but Christ brought righteousness and life (Romans 3: 22, 24-25).

The place of the act: Adam’s act occurred in the garden (Genesis 3); Christ’s occurred on the cross (John19).

The reason of the act: Adam acted in disobedience (Genesis 3:6); Christ acted in obedience (Luke 22:42). Romans 5:19 teaches that “As by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.

The results of the act: In the case of Adam, there was condemnation; in the case of Christ it was justification. For Adam there was immediate judgment upon himself, imputed judgment on his posterity and eternal judgment upon all the unsaved. In the case of Christ there was immediate justification, imputed righteousness and eternal life available to all who would come to God by Him.

The relationship of the act to law and grace: In the case of Adam, the law served to demonstrate the seriousness of his act; in the case of Christ, grace served to demonstrate the much more of his act (Romans 5: 9,10,15,17,20.)

The scope of the act: In the case of Adam it abounded, in the case of Christ it abounded much more. Christ’s act had a greater effect than Adam’s. It could atone for sin. It could reddem mankind

To complete this contrast we must note that 1 Corinthians 15:22 teaches that as a consequence of Adam’s sin, all men are appointed to die. But the consequence of Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross has now given all men the potential to benefit from everlasting life.

Also in 1 Corinthians 15:45 Paul writes quoting Genesis 2:7, “The first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam (that is Christ) was made a life giving spirit.”

In commenting on these contrasts Scofield asserts that “Adam is a contrasting type of Christ (1 Corinthians 15:45-47; cp. Romans 5:14-19). (1) The first man Adam was made a living soul (Genesis 2:7), i.e. he derived life from another, God. “The last Adam was a life giving spirit.” Far above deriving life, He was Himself the fountain of life, and he gave that life to others (John 1:4; 5:21; 10:10; 12:24; 1 John 5:12).

(2) In origin “the first man [was] of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from Heaven” (1 Corinthians 15:47). And

(3) each is the head of a creation and these also are in contrast; “in Adam all die….in Christ shall all be made alive”; the Adamic creation is “flesh,” whereas the creation is “spirit” ( John 3:6).

God’s response to man’s fall was to seek out Adam and Eve in love and grace (Genesis 3:8-13; Romans 5:8; 1 John 4:9-11). When Adam and Eve heard the sound of God’s accustomed approach into the garden in the cool of the day, they realized that fellowship which had previously been a joy was broken, and the prospect of meeting God was now one of terror so they hid themselves.

In effect God asked Adam, “Why are you where you are hiding?” The estranged Adam answered that he was afraid, was naked, and had therefore hid himself from God because he sought to avoid contact with God. This was the natural result of spiritual death.

Rather than confess his sin, Adam blamed his wife and God for his predicament, by stating that it was the woman whom God had given him that was the cause of his plight. Eve quickly learned the trick of fallen nature-“passing the buck” and blamed the serpent for their sordid state.

The tragedy of the failure of the fall and Adam’s disobedience occasioned the immediate institution of the Adamic Covenant. In this atmosphere of gloom, defeat and rebuke, God in his mercy, tempered punishment with hope, and in His grace he pronounced the divine blessing of the first promise of a universal Savior in Genesis 3:15, as he simultaneously imposed and pronounced the following sentences (or promises) upon (a) the serpent (Genesis 3:14-15), (b) Woman (Genesis 3:16), (c) Adam (Genesis 3:17-19), and (d) the ground (Genesis 3:14 19).

“As to the book called the bible, it is blasphemy to call it the Word of God. It is a book of lies and contradictions and a history of bad times and bad men.”

[Thomas Paine, writing to Andrew Dean August 15, 1806]

“I do not believe in the creed professed by the Jewish Church, by the Roman Church, by the Greek Church, by the Turkish Church, by the Protestant Church, nor by any Church that I know of. My own mind is my own Church. ”

[Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason]

When God breathed the breath of life into Adam he was created with a qualitative difference in existence from the animals, because he was given the ability to commune and interact with God.

However, when man fell as a result of sin this relationship was marred. Man died spiritually and was separted from God. Later, he would die physically.

God then had to institute a way whereby He could give man back the life God intended-the qualitative existence of life in a right relationship with The Giver of Life which he had initially.

God thus promised him a solution in the Savior, and clothed him (symbolically with Christ’s righteousness), before removing him from the garden for his protection.

The Adamic Covenant or promise is perhaps the second major promise in the Word of God, in addition to being a prophetic word of judgment and deliverance. This answer to man’s sin “conditions the life of fallen man, conditions which must remain till, in the kingdom age, “the creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Romans 8:21).

The elements of the covenant are:
(1) The serpent, Satan’s tool is cursed (v 14; Romans 16:20; 2 Corinthians11:3,14; Revelation 12:9) and becomes God’s graphic warning in nature of the effects of sin-from the most beautiful and subtle of creatures to a loathsome reptile.

The deepest mystery of the cross of Christ is strikingly pictured by the serpent of bronze, a type of Christ “made sin for us” in bearing the judgment we deserved (Numbers 21:5-9; John 3:14-15; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
(2) The first promise of a Redeemer (v.15)
(3) The changed state of the woman (v.16), in three particulars: (a) multiplied conception; (b) sorrow (pain) in motherhood; (c) the headship of the man (cp. Genesis 1:26-27). Sin’s disorder makes necessary a headship; it is vested in man (Ephesians 5:22-25; 1 Corinthians 11:7-9; 1Timothy 2:11-14).
(4) The light occupation of Eden (Genesis 2:15) changed to burdensome labor (3:18-19), because of the earth’s being cursed (3:17).
(5) The inevitable sorrow of life (v.17).
(6) The brevity of life and the tragic certainty of physical death to Adam and all his descendants (v.19; Romans 5:12-21).
More on this later.

@BU Family… Please forgive me for this. But…

@GP, with relation to your six (so far) messages today (2009.03.03.1213 (785 words), 2009.03.03.1244 (586 words), 2009.03.03.1305 (384 words), 2009.03.03.1429 (340 words), 2009.03.03.2018 (737 words) and 2009.03.03.2130 (375 words)… (Wow!!! 3207 words. Who would dare claim to be so worthy?)

The only bit of your immediate above language I resonated with is simply this:

@GP: “The night before I took finals in my first degree in Chemistry, during a study break in the library at Cave Hill I noticed a book on one of the shelves that I had never seen before.

GP… With all due respect, this is what is known as serendipitous discovery.

This is what /can/ happen when people are given the freedom to think for themselves. To discover for themselves…

No study guide required, although the euphoria of understanding quantum uncertainty truly cannot be stated in words…

@BU Family: Please do note that it is a common technique of those trying to deceive to overwhelm an information channel containing knowledge with noise.

It could reasonably be concluded that our “friend” GP is practising this technique, here and now….

@Observer of Observer…

1. My name is spelt “Christopher Halsall”. It is not difficult to get right. (So why do so many get it wrong?)

2. I take great pride in saying exactly what I mean. Saying what I have to say using my own name. And, separately, never posting any language under any other alias.

3. Observer of Observer et al. I *dare* you to do the same.

GP discredits himself by posting under many names and praising his own writings !

LOL

Wonder why he thought I was Chris Halsall?

Could it be he thought only computer savy Halsall could have found out his pathetic tricks?

No prizes for guessing who is “observer of observer”

LOL

Anyway, sounds like some cages have been rattled.

posts take time here…

When God promised in Genesis 3:15, to put enmity between the serpent and the woman, between his seed or offspring and her seed or offspring, He specifically promised that among her progeny, that there would come a male representative who would one day be the Deliverer from sin by delivering a lethal blow to the head of Satan, thereby effecting a complete reversal of the serpent’s temporary coup in the garden. The serpent, however, would never be able or permitted to do more in retaliation, than nip the heel of this male descendant of Eve.

The enmity between Satan and mankind is fascinating, because God is here stating that Satan’s ally in the Garden (Eve) will, in the future, become his adversary. Satan’s defeat will come from Eve, the one Satan deceived. We must recognize that the enmity is specifically related to Eve, rather than Adam, because she was beguiled and deceived. She was guilty, even though she was beguiled. Adam knew exactly what he was doing. (1Timothy 2:14) Thus she will produce the Christ-child. No physical father is mentioned in this statement for this is the first intimation of the Virgin birth-a promise ultimately fulfilled as described in Matthew 1:18,21; Luke 1: 27ff .

It is noteworthy that the word “seed” does not mean the whole human race or Eve’s children per se, because Cain, Eves first child, is defined, in I John 3:12, as “of the evil one.” This is because by natural birth mankind is on the devil’s side (John 8:44; 1 John 3:8a; 10). But God places a supernatural “enmity” against Satan through regeneration or salvation, so that now, the seed are those that have faith in Christ, faith in the promise of Christ as given in the precious promise of this verse. We will learn later that the seed are those that have faith in Christ, and in the promise of Christ, first enunciated in Genesis 3:15.

The phrase “he will crush (bruise) your head” narrows down to One who will destroy Satan- the “seed of the woman”. This is revealed to be Jesus in Hebrews 2:14 which states, “Since the children have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity so that by His death he might destroy him who holds the power of death- that is, the devil.” “Crushing the head” signifies total defeat (Cp. Joshua 10:24). The “striking of the heel” refers to the Cross, as the nail was pounded through the overlapped feet of our Lord.

One aspect of the fulfillment of the promise about the enmity between the serpent’s seed and that of the woman’s seed is the general conflict of the ages, in which all those who are of the devil hate and seek to destroy those who have the spiritual genotype or seed of Christ. (1 John 3:9,12-
13). This is seen in the conflict endured by Abel, Noah prior to the flood, Isaac and the Philistines, Moses with Pharoah, Mordecai and Haman, Daniel and the three Hebrew boys and their fellow courtiers. The fulfillment of this conflict in New Testament times was seen in the hostility which Jesus endured from his countrymen, which culminated on his death on the cross. The fulfillment of this conflict in New Testament times has been seen too, in the trail of blood shed from the establishment of the early church till today.

Jesus predicted that believers would also have to endure this intense enmity in passages such as John 15: 18-21; 16:1-3; 17:14, and prayed for us in John 17, and sent the Holy Spirit as a comforter to help us to endure this enmity. The apostle John also discusses this enmity in 1 John 3:1b; 8-13; 4:5-6. Because the fulfillment of this conflict in New Testament times is so very real, believers ought to get busy really loving each other. This is one of the significant roles this aspect of this promise should have for God’s children today.

The curse on Adam was the curse on the ground resulting in his light occupation in the garden being changed to burdensome labor. Although man would have adequate food, he would have to fight the ground for it. The inevitable sorrow of life, the brevity of life and the tragic certainty of death to Adam and his descendants was also added. The ground would now bring forth thorns and thistles and as man tilled it, he would have to sweat when he works. From that time onwards, work became debilitating. All who garden know about this curse very well. The curse of toil was also for man’s sake, primarily in terms of maintaining his respiratory and cardiovascular systems in top shape. Life for most people is nothing more than work, getting enough to eat, having and raising children, bearing pain, and facing death. But, more than just this is available. Because God has kept His promise of Genesis 3:15, mankind has hope!

The phrase “to dust shall you return” means separation from God as well as physical death. Man’s spiritual separation from God results in physical death, and probably explains mankind’s fear of death, and perhaps clarifies the pious rage that rises up inside mankind when he views the death of his kind. Man’s fear of death is not an unreasonable fear since it seems that man, as originally created, was not designed to die physically, but to pass from time to eternity without physical death in the same manner as Enoch and Elijah did. This is very evident to those who have attended or performed post mortems on several elderly persons. It is very common to find perfect structures at such examinations of several organs of the body, with no degenerative signs in the major organs to explain death by so called “natural causes”. This is implied too, in my view, by the phrase “pass from death unto life” as used by John in John 5:24, and 1 John 3:14. That physical death only entered because of sin after the fall is very clear to me.