choir loft Posted December 20, 2023 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 6 Topic Count: 69 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 1,209 Content Per Day: 0.38 Reputation: 329 Days Won: 0 Joined: 08/23/2015 Status: Offline Birthday: 10/10/1947 Share Posted December 20, 2023 (edited) SIN makes humans different from every other creature in creation. It isn't intelligence or social organization or space travel. All these things are subject to scrutiny of one sort or another. The similarities between humans and animals are too numerous to ignore. Other than open hostility toward the One who created us, there isn't any other difference worth noting. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. (Ecclesiastes 3:19) Indeed there is NO component of the average human that survives physical death. A human dies the same as any sick dog or cockroach. Nothing of the human survives physical death. There is no 'human spirit' that is claimed or worshipped in American culture today. There is no such thing as eternal torment - hell. The basis for the doctrine of hell rests in the assumption that there is an everlasting component of humanity. There is no evidence of this either physically, philosophically or Biblically. If the human doesn't exist beyond death then everlasting torment is impossible. Only when this quality is assumed <falsely> does the possibility become rational to the point of discussion. According to Genesis 3 the eternal component was lost and/or removed from humans due to SIN. This eternal component is called "the Image of God" in chapters 1 & 2. Once lost the indwelling Image of God, which enables immortal life, isn't mentioned again in scripture until Colossians 1:15 where it is specifically defined and named as the spirit of Jesus Christ. It's also called the 2nd birth - the birth of the spirit of God. If there were no necessity for this immortal spirit, then it would not have been necessary for God to die on the cross. It would not have been necessary to proclaim the Good News. The Good News is that God has decided to remove the curse of death upon those who do not have the immortal Image of God and to give it to them. This is why the resurrection was so exciting to those who first witnessed it. This is why those who preached eternal life were so excited about it. This is why so much is written and rewritten about it. For if there is no such thing as eternal life given to man who didn't have it in the first place, then the whole gospel message is an absurd lie. Consider then, that to which we are called and invited...to participate in the greatest miracle upon earth since creation itself - the gift of the Image of God to man - the gift of the 2nd birth - the gift of God Himself, Jesus Christ. For if the eternal component of man had NOT been lost, there would be no necessity to be born AGAIN. that's me, hollering from the choir loft... Edited December 20, 2023 by choir loft punctuation Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts