In Reply to: Re: Bible Questions posted by FRED on February 27, 2006 at 05:10:32:
Hey, Fred!
Sorry I haven't been able to respond yet (as I said I would last week). I said I'd try to respond THIS week, and I will. This isn't my "bigger response" I said I was formulating an answer for--but I felt I must repond to ILTB's allegation, because of your normal response to a silly doctrine, and the subsequent condemnation you received.
"Ilovethebible", as you pointed out, did confirm your stereotypical fear of unreasonable answers. Please forgive him/her. He/she then passed judgement on you, just as you pointed out--an "all-or-nothing-right-now-because-I-said-so!" judgement. I did not agree with it, or the manner in which it was stated, and apologize fir the rest of us who are praying for you and trying to give you "an answer of the REASON of the hope that is in [us]", with meekness and reverence toward God, as well as toward you as His creation, whom He loves.
My theology, if I had to name it, would be something like "thief on the cross" theology--the most important thing is, in ecclesiastical/theological terms, is "soteriology"--"how is an idividual saved" is the question, and the example of the answer to the question per each individual is, "quite simply".
In other words, the true God who DOES exist APART from ALL wierd false interpretations of Him, does not require a whole lot of theology/religious understanding to promise an individual that he will in fact, be "with Jesus" in Paradise"; that day, or any other day.
That said, I'd say that God IS BIG ENOUGH to deal with your hardest questions, as well as your understandable anger, confusion, despair, or other troubling emotions of yours--you have yours, and I once had mine--and they were just as tough for me as yours are for you.
I now have a satisfaied MIND (as well as the rest of my being.
Give me a chance, as well as the other sincere Christians humbly trying to help you on this board, and overlook the rest; OK?
I'll proceed, just not today--busy, busy! I'm looking for work, have some doctor appointments, etc. Please bear with me.
I differ from ILTB in that I say that God does NOT require any IMMEDIATE agreement with ILTB's beliefs as a whole, but WILL ANSWER you. There are some conditions, such as seeking with your whole heart, being reasonable, and so on; of course, and some answers you might not like.
Some you may.
For instance, the OT wasn't originally written in chapter and verse. It said something about the existence of giants. THEN, AFTER a "full stop", as the Brits call a "period", ANOTHER NEW TOPIC IS TAKEN UP. They are NOT sequential just because one statement follows the other.
"There were giants in the land in those days", written right after it talks about groups of people who DID seek after God and were called "sons of God", versus WHOLE CITIES of people who DID NOT, whose ungodly men then went after the Godly women in the "God-seeking group" and succeeded in impregnating them WITH PURELY HUMAN BABIES, does NOT negate the logic that:
1. Demons are fallen angels,
2. Fallen angels are spirits,
3. Jesus defined a "spirit" as a being who "has no flesh and blood, as you see that I have", when he appeared to the disciples post-resurrection and spoke to "doubting Thomas",
4. a "non-flesh and blood" being would NOT have male genitals, required for procreation,
5. ERGO: doctrine of "demons having sex with human women and producing offspring" OF ANY KIND is a bogus and silly doctrine, and finally,
6. Your God-given brain REELING at the absurdity of that Scripturally unfounded idea was NORMAL, and justified.
Gotta' go for now! My wife's going to Mexico with her daughter and granddaughter, tomorrow. I have to get some prescriptions together, to see if what she can get for me in Mexico will be cheaper than the deductibles here in Houston.
Later in the month, we might both go down there to get our teeth worked on, etc. My step-daughter had four molars pulled or filled, several other teeth worked on, and all her teeth whitened for only $230. Wow. Cheap!