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Question that I seem to be thinking about

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Deborah-Leigh:


 

Everything, every, thing, is relative, (all expressing out of Absolute God )

Relativity, by definition has therefore variables, by contrast to Absolute.

The Matrix of life is in dramatic convolution experience that eventually opens up to the unified field of consciousness. Love your enemy as yourself. Do unto others as you do unto yourself.

Arc

Wonone:
I just caught up with this amazingly intense, sincere, insightful and heart wrenching thread. What a blessing you are BT Forum. What a treasure trove! And to think that you are my sisters and brothers, well ... wow! Peace to you all! -- It is interesting how the thread turned from lilitalienboi16 question 'does being chosen not necessarily mean you are an overcomer then?', to the 'free will'. Was it by accident?

In my experience there are a number of train stations one must pass, in one's journey from the Free Will end of the town to No Such Thing on the other side of the town. One of the last stumbling blocks I faced was the question, But why does God ask us to make choices, even  threatening dire consequences, if He has already predetermined the outcome? In other words, to paraphrase RogerH, What is the point?

What helped me was the realisation that despite God's predetermination, at the time of me facing the choice, the will of God is unknown to me, being at that moment a matter of the future. (And Kat would rightly quote James 4:14, 'you do not know what tomorrow will bring' (ESV)).

Plus, I feel free to make my choice! For me, at that moment, it is a current, live and real life and death matter. Definitely not something predetermined or forced upon me. For 'my' choices in such a context, I believe I am accountable to God, as well as to myself and society. The fact that even my choices are predetermined, and my later discovery of its predetermination, simply does not enter into the equation at that moment.

Somebody, to me decisively, quoted Ray: 'True, circumstances beyond our control, which we do not see or even perceive, do cause us to MAKE a choice, but ... BUT, IN OUR OWN HEART AND MIND, WE MAKE THE CHOICE -- not someone else or something else.' And again: 'But "it's all GOD" Who is ACTUALLY doing it, isn't it? NO, YOU, ACTUALLY, ARE THE ACTIVE PARTICIPANT WHO IS DOING IT! God merely brings about the circumstances that INFLUENCE AND CAUSE YOU TO DO IT!' -- The key, I believe, is in the fact that we do not know next moment (it is hidden from us), and our perceived sense of freedom.

One day we will be like Him! There is something that is being formed 'in us' or that God is making 'of us', and it is not our physical shape.

To him who overcomes I will give of the secret manna, and I will give him a white stone, and on the stone a new name, of which no one has knowledge but he to whom it is given (Rev 2:17 BBE). Talk about unique, individual experience! 'Only the one who receives that name will know what it is' (Rev 2:17 NIrV).

Our 'new name' will signify our experience of evil, our victory over evil, and our becoming like God by being no longer tempted by evil. But the big question is, What goes into that name? How is our character chiselled out, if the course is predetermined by God? I am persuaded that it is our choices that play a crucial part in the formation of our 'new name'.

I love chess. One of the training facilities offered by one chess site is the option to play through a chess game between two grandmasters and guess what one grandmaster played in a particular position. You win or lose points according to your choices. After you make your choice, grandmaster's choice is revealed and you are able to compare and learn, and get ready for the next move.

Two interesting parallels emerge. 1/ I am, as the game progresses, given my score, reflecting my choices (my level of play). 2/ Never do my choices alter the course of the game (that was played many moons ago). In other words, it is a 'preset course' that I am 'running'.

Another two parallels should be noted. 1/ I do not become a GM (grandmaster) after a series of, say, five in a row GM moves, simply because soon after I also make second rate moves plus some blunders! 2/ The 'future' becomes the 'present' after I have been given GM choice in that particular situation.

Every day in all our lives the will of the Master is being revealed in the actual unfolding of the events. What was an enigma only a few moments earlier is resolved in the actual events that pass into history. For David history was but an unfolding of the mighty acts of Yahweh (Psalm 111). The task for us is, I believe, to learn the will of God in the daily flow of the events which (as they become the history) reveal the will of God.

My choices are actually 'me' because they define who I am in I Am. The fact that we all along the way experience deception (as my 92 year old Dad would say, We face deception from Genesis to Revelation) is the very spice of life in the experience of evil ordained by God in love.

Our choices are all important, not for the sake of the ultimate salvation (which was not left to us to decide) but in forming our unique, heavenly name (or character). I believe Kat was on the money when she said, 'These experiences that we are having by living and making choices builds within us a character... it will produce all of these unique individuals that will make up a glorious family as a[n] outcome'!

None of these analogies are fullproof, but the idea of a 'guided tour' comes to mind. We go on a predetermined tour, but we have an experience of our own.

Deborah-Leigh:
Hi Wonone,

Time and future can well be hinged together by as you say, "the will of God, is unknown...being at that moment, a matter of the future." This can be supported by the Holy Spirit who prays for us in groaning sounds we do not understand.

God neither ventures backwards or forwards but is pivoted AS, Sovereign unchanging, changelessness.

In the words of Paul, God creates a time called NOW. Jesus points to having no care for the future as even the sparrows and hairs on our heads are accounted and highly valued.

The secret manna and white stone is given in the chamber of ALONENESS I dare to say, where time has stopped. Ray's paper, PRAYING BY GOD'S RULES http://bible-truths.com/praying.htm brings to light,  that Jesus made such communion with Abba, alone, not on parade or supported by fellowship.

God approved approval is best.

How else could Ray have written :

I Believe that the Holy Scriptures are God's Authorized Biography, and 

I Believe that the Lord Jesus Christ is God's Authorized Autobiography http://bible-truths.com/Creed.htm


You say that you are persuaded that our choices play a crucial part in the formation of our 'new name'. Of course. Our PREFERENCES for this or that have finally to focus on preferring only God all the way and in every matter of choice set before us before our name converges with His, as in the life of Christ, who Ray reveals is the Autobiography of the Biography.  8)

To be like HIM offers no handles to hang anything upon, no safety ropes, just free fall, fall for God.   Ray's "creed",  likewise offers no formulas, no directives, no judgements and no sentiments. Just plain straight talk that closes any door to assumptions or speculations.

As HE IS, so are we, in the world.

For me, Time is just a sentiment for those who want to argue, resist or refuse the passage of time being swallowed up into Eternity.  :)

Arc

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