duality of light and dark

[ironhide]

What is there to say about the relationship between the concept ›dark‹ and ›light‹


Is it a constant war ( as I have sometimes heard in my local church) ?

Should every individual embrace a balance with dark and light in them? Or just aim for the light.

what is dark and light? Does other concept correspond with them? Like: dark-left-below-woman(historically)-matter. VS light-right-above-man-spirit.


I would like to hear it from a christian stand point, and if the answer will be about other religions or no religion at all, or philosophically. Can you please connect them with Christianity somehow.

 

[Disciple]

Light and darkness are ccontrary to each other, they cannot mix, If you try to mix just a little darkness into light then all turns to darkness. Take the night sky for example, there are many great lights up there (i.e; stars, the moon) but the the whole sky turns to darkness because they cannot be mixed. Life is all about light and darkness, God created light and darkness on the first day, and divided them too (Genesis 1:3-4) And on the third day He created the stars moon sun & planets (Genesis 1:14-18).
As you can see here there are two kinds of lights: one is our spiritual, the other is physical
The light he created on the first day (vs. 3) was his Son Jesus Christ our Savior,
the darkness he created was sin & evil.
To live in the Light is everlasting life, to live in darkness is death.
You can't live in darkness and light because they are contrary to each other (because God divided them.
With love,
devon.

 

[tomwebster]

devon,
Your analogy should be just the opposite, if you are in a completely dark room and light a candle the room the room will no longer be dark. Light always conquers the dark.

 

[Disciple]

Light does conqour it but at the same time you cant mix em

 

[aspen]

Darkness is not a force; it is the absence of light. In the same way, evil is the absence of good.

Dualism is foreign to Christianity - it gives far too much credit to the Devil and to evil - as if it they were apart of an equal, opposing force. Instead, evil is the result of a misuse of creation.

Adam and Eve misused creation and it was called sin. They were tempted to do so with a lie - basically, "God is trying to hold you back" - "misusing creation will give you power". Ironically, rather than teaching them the difference between good and evil - eating the fruit limited them to only being about to choose between lesser good choices - or "evil" choices. It took Christ sacrifice and the sanctifying work of the HS in our hearts to teach us how to love again, which consequently destroys all notions of dualism because selfless love chooses the good choice every time. We were created to love in the first place, unfortunately we got sidetracked in the business of making judgments about things - something we were never created to do. Christ teaches us a third way - loving radically, which brings us back to the Garden - a perfect relationship with Him and our brothers and sisters

 

[Disciple]

It is written.. 'A little leaven leaveneth the whole bread.'
A little bit of darkness corrupts the whole person.

 

[Nomad]

Adam and Eve misused creation and it was called sin.

No, Adam and Eve disobeyed a direct command given to them by God and it was called sin. The Greek and Hebrew words used by the Scriptures to denote 'sin' essentially mean to "miss the mark or goal." That's exactly what Adam and Eve did. When God commanded them not to eat from the tree, he set a mark or goal which they missed through disobedience. The Scriptures nowhere equate the first sin with the 'misuse of creation.'

 

[aspen]

No, Adam and Eve disobeyed a direct command given to them by God and it was called sin. The Greek and Hebrew words used by the Scriptures to denote 'sin' essentially mean to "miss the mark or goal." That's exactly what Adam and Eve did. When God commanded them not to eat from the tree, he set a mark or goal which they missed through disobedience. The Scriptures nowhere equate the first sin with the 'misuse of creation.'

We are saying the same thing. God commanded Adam and Eve to use creation in a certain way and they chose to misuse it. Do you think I am trying to diminish their sin? I am not. Instead, I chose my wording to illustrate the fact that sin is not a force, it is choosing a lesser good.

 

[Nomad]

We are saying the same thing. God commanded Adam and Eve to use creation in a certain way and they chose to misuse it. Do you think I am trying to diminish their sin? I am not. Instead, I chose my wording to illustrate the fact that sin is not a force, it is choosing a lesser good.

No, we're not saying the same thing. A factory dumping waste into a river is an example of 'misusing creation.' Adam and Eve transgressed God's will and command. That's the definition of sin, that is, missing the mark God had set for them. What Adam and Eve did has nothing to do with the 'misuse of creation.' Also, sin is not "choosing a lesser good" either. Sin is choosing what is completely contrary to God's will. There's nothing good about it.

 

[aspen]

No, we're not saying the same thing. A factory dumping waste into a river is an example of 'misusing creation.' Adam and Eve transgressed God's will and command. That's the definition of sin, that is, missing the mark God had set for them. What Adam and Eve did has nothing to do with the 'misuse of creation.' Also, sin is not "choosing a lesser good" either. Sin is choosing what is completely contrary to God's will. There's nothing good about it.

Sorry Nomad - we created sin by misusing God's creation. God did not create sin - if He did, He would no longer be good.

Factories that pollute are sinning, as well.

Evil is not a force - believing that it is a force is committing the heresy of dualism.

 

[[email protected]]

No, we're not saying the same thing. A factory dumping waste into a river is an example of 'misusing creation.' Adam and Eve transgressed God's will and command. That's the definition of sin, that is, missing the mark God had set for them. What Adam and Eve did has nothing to do with the 'misuse of creation.' Also, sin is not "choosing a lesser good" either. Sin is choosing what is completely contrary to God's will. There's nothing good about it.

I think there was a great more involved with A & E than 'missing the mark'.

'Missing the mark' is error. What they did was naked disobediance and rebellion.

I understand your use of the phrase, however.
I used to embrace that phrase myself until I came to understand that in God's eyes, sin is much much more than bad target practice.

God understands error. He hates sin. Hates it.

Sorry Nomad - we created sin by misusing God's creation. God did not create sin - if He did, He would no longer be good.

Factories that pollute are sinning, as well.

Evil is not a force - believing that it is a force is committing the heresy of dualism.

Evil is not a force? I got hold of some bad chili the other day. What it did to me was pretty wicked. :lol:

 

[calbhach]

Ephesians 5:8 - For at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light

Light and darkness can never, ever mix. We should always strive for the light. :)

 

[Disciple]

Agreed, cant have one foot in and one out.

 

[aspen]

Calling sin a misuse of God's creation does not lessen it's affect on us or God. Misuse of creation leads to death. I chose the term because it is more descriptive, not to lessen the penalty or water down the doctrine.