As GodsGrace has stated, your post here is quite
convoluted, i.e. complex and difficult to follow. I want to pick up a few of your points to show that some of the difficulty is your theology that is biblically questionable.
- 'Therefore, just as God is "I am", we too are what and who we are...and this is simply the telling of it, unfolding as if we are reading it for the first time - because "we are."' You might know what this means, but your communication of it is not plain. Please give us an unpretentious statement of what you are trying to say, but without frills of this kind of language.
I may have to take them one at a time:
Understanding just what "
I am" means, is key. With God "
I am" for our use here, means that He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. But that is a translation of God's timeless reality, into the timeline of this created world which exists apart from God.
If you can grasp that reality, and then if we are of God and begin to walk in the spirit, we will come to view things from His perspective. This is what is meant by "
He must increase, but I must decrease", and "
the world is passing away." In that "
new" existence we, by walking in the spirit, we walk less in the world of time, and more in the timeless realm of God. In which case, we are less "I was", I will be", and more "
I am."
Now, consider that "
before the foundation of the world" "
I am", meaning Christ, and realize that if we are "
in Christ"...we too are "
I am" just as He is "
I am", or as I said before, we "are."
Alternatively, we remain within the bubble of created time until the end when all shall awaken before God. Thus, we are urged to "
rise up" to "
awaken" from our "
slumber."
'Just as we read from left to right, it is natural for us to view salvation, election, and evangelism, as the result of what we do through the course of time'. No, salvation is not what WE DO. Salvation is a free gift of God (
Rom 6:23;
Eph 2:8).
I was not referring to salvation (salvation was the object, not the subject), but rather to how we are inclined to see things as the world see things, because it is all we have known since birth. My point was, that if we are born [again], not into this world, but out of the world and into the kingdom of God, why should we continue to look at all things as we once did? We should rather look at all things anew, and as God does...which is timeless.
Again, alternatively we can remain within the bubble of created time, and catch all of what I am saying "
in the twinkling of an eye" when "
all are changed." But if we say that we are already changed but have not changed, then we kid ourselves, and we will have to wait until the end, even though there is no need to wait.
'Just as God "is", we "are."' The God who 'is', is the eternal, uncreated Lord God of the universe. We 'are' does not refer to an uncreated human being. It is not 'just as' God compares with beings who 'are'. God is set apart from all humanity. See Ps 90:2.
As I said, if we are "
in Christ" and "
it is no longer we who live, but Christ who lives in us", then we should also say, "
I am." To do otherwise is to deny Christ.
'when we are compelled to do good words, to evangelize and to "go and make disciples" of all men...it is who we "are."' Not at all! We do these things because Christians are born from above and have eternal life NOW and want to be obedient to their Lord and Master. It has nothing to do with the 'are' of our being, but with obedience to the One who has saved us.
You again are addressing the "object" of the discussion instead of the "subject." My point was that because we are who we are, we will do what we will do. But none of what you refer to here changes who we "
are."
'God has given us this "time" to be who we are, to choose, and to be true to Him and to ourselves: This is us "judging the world" in real time.
1 Corinthians 6:2'. I'm not as sure as you are that this 'judging the world' happens now while Christians are on this earth.
Better then not to speculate.
Please write in plain concepts and clear language that are not submerged in 'spiritual' vocabulary that you have used in this post. The opposite of convoluted is straightforward and understandable.
It is the world that speaks in tongues, but I am now speaking plainly, not always to the understanding of those who see it as foreign. The alternative is more parables.
