> General Discussions
Repent! The End Is Near..
Dave in Tenn:
Watchman, forgetting prophecy for a moment, perhaps one of the 'national sins' that the US needs to repent of is the myopia we tend to have, and the pride it engenders. Had the 'two towers' fallen in some other place--like Lisbon or Amsterdam--what would have been our response? They fell where they were as part of the purpose of God. Where they were was the recognized city at the center of the "world" in 2001. The repercussions are global, though not as strong elsewhere as 'here' where it happened...just as they are not as strong to most people in Tennessee as they are/were to people living in NYC at the time. Trust me, if the repercussions were not global, we have a way of making them so. I know my country. The president misquoted the scripture, and probably misapplied it as well. "Those who aren't for us are against us" is NOT what Jesus said.
lareli:
--- Quote from: Kat on February 12, 2014, 08:29:06 AM ---
Mat 24:37 But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
v. 38 For as in the days before the flood, they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark,
v. 39 and did not know until the flood came and took them all away, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.
Christ says here very precisely that nothing unusual will be happening in the world when He returns, no great tribulation, to worldwide economic collapse, nothing out of the ordinary will led up to His return.
--- End quote ---
Hi Kat, I have to disagree with you here but also agree in a way because whats "unusual" will vary from person to person..
Christ didnt say nothing unusual would be happening in the world when He returns. In the days of Noah people were carrying on as if nothing unusual was happening, true. But that doesnt mean nothing unusual was happening. It says that the world was utterly corrupt, and all the world was filled with evil. BUT, as you pointed out, people were carrying on as if nothing was wrong. Marrying, eating/drinking, etc.
Im sure you are familiar with the boiling frog theory. Drop a frog into a pot of boiling water and the frog will immediately jump out because it senses the danger. But put some frogs in a pot of room temperature water and heat it up very slowly and the frogs will stay there until the water boils and they die because they dont feel anything unusual happening to the water temperature.
Consider this, I have children who have never known an America that hasnt been at war. They know no other reality. Even to those of us who have lived most of our lives in an America that wasnt at war, the water has been boiling or increasing temperature for so long that we, at times, dont notice, consider or care about it.
Whether or not a financial collapse of the world economy or a 3rd world war or both are in our near future, and whether or not those events usher in His return, you can be certain that a lot of people, maybe even MOST people will not care as long as it doesnt directly effect them. Why? Becaue the love of many has grown cold in my opinion. As long as they dont cut the power to our reality TV and take away our fast food or tell us to stop sleeping around... no one will stop to consider what is happening to someone else in some other part of the world.
I mentioned in another thread that in 2012 alone the US spent over 700 Billion Dollars on destroying other countries and destroying other peoples lives. Drone bombing innocent civilians and babies. By the UN's own estimates it would only cost about 30 Billion a year to eliminate world hunger from this planet. This statistic should make people want to vommit BUT instead people are carrying on, marrying, eating/drinking as in the days of Noah.
On a side note: Albert Einstein was quoted as saying something like "I dont know with what kind of weapons a 3rd world war will be fought... but I know that the 4th world war will be fought using sticks and stones." When I think about the likelyhood of a 3rd world war in our future, I consider that it will most likely be a nuclear war and that if Christ doesnt return and cut those days short than no flesh would be saved.. (I know theres a verse for that but you'll have to forgive me.. Im a lazy man :-[) OR it could be a quick, decisive war followed by better days.. I dunno no one does.
Kat you did say in your post that you believe Christs return could be near yes? If I may ask, what are the reasons you believe this?
lilitalienboi16:
Great post by Kat and good responce largeli. You are both making excellent points and I think you were right to point out that just because people were acting as usual doesn't mean nothing unusual was going on. Perhaps people become so desensitized to the unusual that they begin accepting it as usual or normal.
Either way.. only God knows the exact time and day. We as the body of Christ should be always watching that we don't be caught unaware and always striving to finish the race.
thewatchman:
Rick...you do know those aren't literal towers, right? If the first part of the scripture is symbolic, then the rest of the scripture is as well.
If you believe that God will save all, then you cannot believe in a huge world wide catastrophy. How will this help people repent? Fear? Fear is not a very good seed to plant to bring true repentance.
Dave,
America does not corner the market on ungodliness. Yes, it is far from perfect. But I don't believe that God wants to punish America anymore than any other country. Catastrophies elsewhere would suggest that. It is Americans who think they are the centre of the universe and New York the preeminent city. An englishman would say London, a chinese would say Beijing.
We need to realise that our beliefs need to come into line with God's nature itself. He will never act outside of it, If what we believe something that does not fall into line with his nature then what we believe has to change. We cannot shape God into a warped version of what WE believe. He said to Noah he would never do that again. I will take him at his word. 8)
indianabob:
Correct, It wasn't the third person of the trinity. The holy (set apart for God's purpose) spirit is not a person as we think of a person. The Lord Jesus was/is a person, a man.
As far as we understand at this time God the Father, the creator is not a "person". In point of fact the Bible is not clear about how we are to view or define God the uncreated creator of all things.
The holy spirit as I understand is God's will and mind and power in action in the physical or other realm. It is not given for us to know what God is. We need only to know God's will for us and even that in a limited manner.
Many if not most of these descriptions are for the benefit of men's partial understanding and are not meant to explicitly define the true facts of God's existence.
John 1:1 says that the "logos" is God and God is the "logos". So as far as we need to know God thinks; then God's thoughts or God's "logos" or God's will causes things to happen.
For example God's word, "logos" caused Adam to exist. God's "logos" walked in the garden of Eden, perhaps in the form of a "theophany" appearing like a man or as a vision or in a
dream. All of these forms of communication with or within the human realm are caused by God's power, God's desire and will.
God can make you think a thought by direct communication with your brain. God does not need to vibrate molecules of air to cause us to "hear" a sound. God can bypass the ear and put the thought, the sound, the vision directly into our mind.
It is all of God. There is no separate spirit of God that God uses the way we use our tongue to communicate. God IS SPIRIT or an invisible something we cannot describe any other way. The spirit "ruach" or "pneuma" or breath of God is just a euphemism to convey that we really don't know what it is that God uses to influence events in the physical world.
There is one God the Father and one son of God, the Man Jesus the Lord and savior. Every other manifestation of God is still just God. (not some third person)
Respectfully offered, correction invited. Indiana Bob
--- Quote from: Dave in Tenn on February 12, 2014, 01:22:25 PM ---
--- Quote from: Rick on February 11, 2014, 10:33:38 PM ---Dave, you confuse me when you said third person of the trinity ? God is not a trinity from what Ray said, unless I missed something. There is no trinity, no hell and no free will.
Peace and love to all. :)
--- End quote ---
Then I guess it wasn't the third person of the Trinity Who came at Pentacost. ;)
--- End quote ---
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