God doesn't have to ask your permission about anything. He said He will burn BILLIONS in Hell fire forever and He certainly will.
Biden - It's not Easter! It's Transgender Day!
- Thread starter rockytopva
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
oh, it's not as if it is all bad out there. We see God's mercy all around too....the rain that falls on the just and the unjust, the sun rises each day, people are allowed to live out there lives generally, children play, there is food to eat mostly, and a roof over people's heads generally, they grow their food and have feasts and sing songs to celebrate happy events. It isn't all bad everywhere all the time. But we err if we think He exists to spoil mankind. He doesn't exist for us, we were created for Him, by Him.
But just please put away the rose coloured glasses and behold both His goodness AND His severity. This world is more wicked than we even know and deserving of the judgment that is coming when His longsuffering ends. The wrath we see now is a taste of what is to come and proves that the Lord is capable of wrath, that it is part of who He is, His nature....He is a consuming fire...... just as goodness is part of who He is too. We sure do need a balanced view.
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
Wow. Fantastic post. What a great question. (questions)
There is certainly evidence of a creator in creation itself.
Although it seems to only be recognizable by those
who already believe in the existence of God.
Those who don't believe in a creator God, look to science for answers.
And frankly, the biblical answers aren't that compelling.
Were we in fact formed from the dust of the ground? Did animals talk before the Fall?
The entire universe was created in six 24 hour days? Light was created on the first day,
but all the heavenly bodies not until day four?
Where is this creator God? We can only speculate.
The Bible says he spoke with Moses and others.
And that he sent his Son to walk among us.
The Church in the west, the Latin speaking Church collected a book for us.
Which they kept out of our reach for centuries.
Now that we have it, no one can agree completely on what it says or means.
The western Church also provided Creeds, so we have some basics to agree on.
And we are still arguing about what they mean.
So, here we are. Believers and unbelievers elbow to elbow in this world we have.
With that backdrop, I'll take a shot at your wonderful question.
"WHY do YOU think we were made?"
I take the view that God is our Father. We were made in his image.
I saw something when I was at a Target store the other day.
Somewhat of an epiphany for me. A confirmation of my view.
There before me was a toddler and her tall father.
The toddler was exploring things on the lower shelves were she could see and reach.
Father wanted her to see something on his level.
So he picked her up and raised her up to see things the way he could see them.
I saw us as that toddler down at ground level. But if we trust God, our Father,
He will raise us up to see things from his perspective.
It is for a father and child relationship that we were made.
Much more to say about this. But I will leave it there for now.
Again, thanks for your post.
/
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
What does he consume?
Wood, hay and stubble? (yes)
Malachi 3:2 NIV
But who can endure the day of his coming? Who can stand when he appears?
For he will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap.
/
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
I agree.......all the more reason to understand that it's not all about us. And it takes nothing away from our personal responsibility....else we would have to call the Lord unjust. Man-centred, humanistic gospels just don't fly.
Job 2:10
But he said unto her, Thou speakest as one of the foolish women speaketh. What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil? In all this did not Job sin with his lips.
1Pe 5:6
Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
St. SteVen said:
How is it that I should "behold both His goodness AND His severity"?
Pretty easy to skate around that.
There will be trouble in this life. I won't blame God for that.
And certainly he is able to exalt us when we humble ourselves.
Even Jesus told us not to take the high seat, but to be promoted at the proper time.
Where is the severity?
Job 2:10 NIV
... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” ...
1 Peter 5:6 NIV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,
that he may lift you up in due time.
/
How is it that I should "behold both His goodness AND His severity"?
Is that the KJV?
Pretty easy to skate around that.
There will be trouble in this life. I won't blame God for that.
And certainly he is able to exalt us when we humble ourselves.
Even Jesus told us not to take the high seat, but to be promoted at the proper time.
Where is the severity?
Job 2:10 NIV
... Shall we accept good from God, and not trouble?” ...
1 Peter 5:6 NIV
Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand,
that he may lift you up in due time.
/
Fortunately for all of you, we at The Little Church of What O'Darby Believes have this all figured out!
God is both omni-creative and relational, the Supreme Artist and the Supreme Parent.
God created the supernatural and earthly realms both as an expression of His creativity and as an expression of His wish for genuine relation and communion.
Genuine relationship and communion is possible only with beings who grasp the difference between good and evil, can appreciate God's perfection, and desire relationship and communion with Him.
Such beings must have genuine free will, which carries with it the potential and pretty much the inevitability of evil.
This potential is playing itself out in both the supernatural and earthly realms, as God knew it would. There is no "war," merely good and evil in inevitable but necessary conflict.
Those who exercise their free will to turn to God will be able to enter into His kingdom and enjoy eternal relationship and communion with Him.
Because even those who turn to God will inevitably be less than perfectly holy, God established His plan from before the creation that they could be made fully eligiible for His kingdom through His own atoning sacrifice in Christ.
Voila, pretty neat and tidy, it seems to pastor O'Darby and his cult-like followers. We haven't quite figured out how UFOs fit into the picture, but we're working on it.
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
How about this?
John 10:10 NRSVue
The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy.
I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.
/
St. SteVen
Well-Known Member
Dramatically off-topic, but: I was reading Origen, one of the most educated and profound thinkers of the early Christian centuries, and was surprised to find an analysis of whether the moon, stars and other heavenly bodies are things or living beings. To my astonishment, he concluded they were living beings. This was 200 years after Jesus. I think we forget how primitive these times were.
A lesson for modern-day literalists, perhaps.
Who created the thief to kill steal and destroy? Why does the weapon formed against us not prosper against us?......Who formed the weapon? Who gave the devil permission to sift Job? Why did Jesus say to Pilate you would have no power over me except it be given by God? We need to see the sovereign hand of God in all things. This is why we are to fear God and not man and devil.
Psalm 111:10
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
There will be BILLIONS in Hell Fire, forever and ever, who choose to learn this the hardest way.
10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom;
There will be BILLIONS in Hell Fire, forever and ever, who choose to learn this the hardest way.
I'd like to venture an answer to this one -- and please forgive me for re-characterizing the question a bit into "Why does John (who surely wasn't in the room at the time) report that Jesus said to Pilate you would have no power over me except it be given by God?
I'm re-characterizing the question for a reason. Whether John recounted this colloquy because (a) he relied on a trustworthy source who overheard it; or (b) God told him; or (c) John made it up to make a point, will matter to my answer. I happen to favor (c). So here we go:
John 19:7-11:
The Jewish leaders insisted, “We have a law, and according to that law he must die, because he claimed to be the Son of God.”
When Pilate heard this, he was even more afraid, and he went back inside the palace. “Where do you come from?” he asked Jesus, but Jesus gave him no answer. “Do you refuse to speak to me?” Pilate said. “Don’t you realize I have power either to free you or to crucify you?”
Jesus answered, “You would have no power over me if it were not given to you from above. Therefore the one who handed me over to you is guilty of a greater sin.”
The key here is the word "therefore." The "lesser" sin is acting on authority granted by another, and the "greater" sin is acting, as the Jewish leaders did, without any grant of authority from anyone. That was John's point. It fits with his general approach that the Jewish leaders had lost their authority through their rejection of Jesus.
Ronald David Bruno
Well-Known Member
Maybe if they stayed inside the house all year long and then came outside to be visible on that day and the rest of us could stay inside on that day, that would be fine.Biden's proclamation
A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024 | The White House
On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives. I am proud that my...www.whitehouse.gov
A Proclamation on Transgender Day of Visibility, 2024
On Transgender Day of Visibility, we honor the extraordinary courage and contributions of transgender Americans and reaffirm our Nation’s commitment to forming a more perfect Union — where all people are created equal and treated equally throughout their lives.
I am proud that my Administration has stood for justice from the start, working to ensure that the LGBTQI+ community can live openly, in safety, with dignity and respect. I am proud to have appointed transgender leaders to my Administration and to have ended the ban on transgender Americans serving openly in our military. I am proud to have signed historic Executive Orders that strengthen civil rights protections in housing, employment, health care, education, the justice system, and more. I am proud to have signed the Respect for Marriage Act into law, ensuring that every American can marry the person they love.
Transgender Americans are part of the fabric of our Nation. Whether serving their communities or in the military, raising families or running businesses, they help America thrive. They deserve, and are entitled to, the same rights and freedoms as every other American, including the most fundamental freedom to be their true selves. But extremists are proposing hundreds of hateful laws that target and terrify transgender kids and their families — silencing teachers; banning books; and even threatening parents, doctors, and nurses with prison for helping parents get care for their children. These bills attack our most basic American values: the freedom to be yourself, the freedom to make your own health care decisions, and even the right to raise your own child. It is no surprise that the bullying and discrimination that transgender Americans face is worsening our Nation’s mental health crisis, leading half of transgender youth to consider suicide in the past year. At the same time, an epidemic of violence against transgender women and girls, especially women and girls of color, continues to take too many lives. Let me be clear: All of these attacks are un-American and must end. No one should have to be brave just to be themselves.
At the same time, my Administration is working to stop the bullying and harassment of transgender children and their families. The Department of Justice has taken action to push back against extreme and un-American State laws targeting transgender youth and their families and the Department of Justice is partnering with law enforcement and community groups to combat hate and violence. My Administration is also providing dedicated emergency mental health support through our nationwide suicide and crisis lifeline — any LGBTQI+ young person in need can call “988” and press “3” to speak with a counselor trained to support them. We are making public services more accessible for transgender Americans, including with more inclusive passports and easier access to Social Security benefits. There is much more to do. I continue to call on the Congress to pass the Equality Act, to codify civil rights protections for all LGBTQI+ Americans.
Today, we send a message to all transgender Americans: You are loved. You are heard. You are understood. You belong. You are America, and my entire Administration and I have your back.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim March 31, 2024, as Transgender Day of Visibility. I call upon all Americans to join us in lifting up the lives and voices of transgender people throughout our Nation and to work toward eliminating violence and discrimination based on gender identity.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-ninth day of March, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.
JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.
Rella ~ I am a woman
Well-Known Member
I fully agree with this.
And also this. There are too many "scientists" who dont and mess up everything from man being 13.8 billion years old to full evolution of everything.
While science may be necessary in part for some things, it falters on everything it cannot
explain
The only person we are told was formed from the dust in the ground was Adam. NOT even Eve. So were we. NOOOOO because we each came from the inside of a womans body that was designed by God when He pulled her from Adam.
And technically... (hold onto your hat) ( another belief I firmly hold is Adam was not the first man. Genesis 1: 26 ( using KJV as it is the most accepted here and dont want people thinking another translation got it wrong)
26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
27 So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.
They were created at basically the same time.
Genesis 2 : 7 And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
This was a single man..... not a couple. This single man God brought all the animals for him to name to find him a help meet 20 And Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found an help meet for him.
So since there were evidently no dogs, Adam did not have a best friend... therefore
enter Eve.. 23 And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.
So the first couple were to tend the earth. Adam was given a paradise. But was the only one made of dust of the ground.
The serpent did. Parrots do. Others???? no idea.
Exactly a point of mine. Light was created on day 1 but the sun on the 4th ... 96 hours later.
After things were made to be growing.
They claim entire creation took 144 hours. Makes one wonder why it took God so long?
I say creation was done in 6 creation periods. Remember in Genesis 2 :4 These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
In the "day" singular... " generations" any generation for anything is longer then a week.
There is something wrong here...
3rd Heaven
Yes, a definite possibility. There certainly is a reason. The bible just does not say.
Rella ~ I am a woman
Well-Known Member
His wish for genuine relation and communion...
Does He have no relations and communion with His heavenly angels?
You may be right but seems like it is quite an intricate set up for a handful of centuries in relation to eternity on only one planet.
UFOs..... = demonic
Just a side question. As I am one of free will believing how do you explain the following (See the emphasized text)
Romans 9 NRSVUE
Romans 9
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition
God’s Election of Israel
9 I am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience confirms it by the Holy Spirit—2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that I myself were accursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my own brothers and sisters, my own flesh and blood.
4 They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;
5 to them belong the patriarchs, and from them, according to the flesh, comes the Christ, who is over all, God blessed forever.[a] Amen.
6 It is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all those descended from Israel are Israelites,
7 and not all of Abraham’s children are his descendants, but “it is through Isaac that descendants shall be named for you.”
8 This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.
9 For the word of the promise is this: “About this time I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.”
10 Nor is that all; something similar happened to Rebecca when she had conceived children by one husband, our ancestor Isaac:
11 even before they had been born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose of election might continue,
12 not by works but by his call) she was told, “The elder shall serve the younger.”
13 As it is written,
“I have loved Jacob,
but I have hated Esau.”
14 What then are we to say? Is there injustice on God’s part? By no means!
15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
16 So it depends not on human will or exertion but on God who shows mercy.
17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I may show my power in you and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.”
18 So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.
God’s Wrath and Mercy
19 You will say to me then, “Why then does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”20 But who indeed are you, a human, to argue with God? Will what is molded say to the one who molds it, “Why have you made me like this?”
21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?
22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath that are made for destruction,
23 and what if he has done so in order to make known the riches of his glory for the objects of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory—
24 including us whom he has called, not from the Jews only but also from the gentiles?
25 As he also says in Hosea,
“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’ ”
26 “And in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they shall be called children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, “Though the number of the children of Israel were like the sand of the sea, only a remnant of them will be saved,
28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth quickly and decisively.”[b]
29 And as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left descendants to us,
we would have fared like Sodom
and been made like Gomorrah.”
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What then are we to say? Gentiles, who did not strive for righteousness, have attained it, that is, righteousness through faith,31 but Israel, who did strive for the law of righteousness, did not attain that law.
32 Why not? Because they did not strive for it on the basis of faith but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33 as it is written,
“See, I am laying in Zion a stone that will make people stumble, a rock that will make them fall,
and whoever trusts in him[c] will not be put to shame.”
Last edited:
BarneyFife
Well-Known Member
I kinda thought Christ's point was: "You're just My Father's puppet (so to speak); these other clowns should know better."
Not as scholarly an interpretation, to be sure, but...
It's interesting to me that John is also the recounter of another time when Jewish leaders wanted "their law" favored/expedited, in chapter 8.
.
Last edited:
Of course, the creation includes the supernatural realm as well. For all you or I know, there have been numerous other creations prior or contemporaneous with this one. I assume God's creativeity and relationality are infinite. Ours may be a specific creation with specific types of beings for a specific divine plan.
I doubt God sees any of it as intricate at all. And we don't know that it's only on one planet. What theology doesn't suffer from this "defect"? Many of the most popular strike me as little more than silly cartoons.
Certainly a theory, but it just doesn't fit the facts of the phenomenon. Someday I'll describe my 1971 daylight disk encounter in the company of an arch-skeptic who just about wet his knickers. I suppose demons, if there actually are any, could use any phenomenon for demonic purposes, but "demonic" as an explanation for the phenomenon itself just doesn't fit. I just went through this exercise with a couple of wackos who ascribe vast bodies of human experience to the demonic in order to preserve their cartoon Christianity, so I'll leave it there.
The beauty of being me is, I don't have to explain it. If you are suggesting it inevitably supports Calvinism, this is not the only reading. My theology does not compel me to harmonize the unharmonizable Bible. My explanation for a considerable amount of what Paul says is: Paul really had no more idea about the ontology of Christianity than me, you or the people I have on Ignore.
Similar threads
