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Showing content with the highest reputation on 02/16/2017 in all areas

  1. Reminds me of one often-repeated phrase that kept going around LEADERSHIP when "a Pivot Point in History" was disseminated, but before it was abandoned by that selfsame leadership. "What God knows, He knows. What God doesn't know, He doesn't know." In case you don't recognize it, that's an EVASION, and different people said it to me like it actually provided information. So, as you see it, that's what it means. What does THAT mean, and why is God Almighty limited to your definition?
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  2. We're looking at this from an entirely different question-which means, to me, your question phrases like a trick question. Isaiah 57:15a For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity Isaiah 46:9-11 9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, 10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do it. So, we start from there. God "inhabits eternity" and "declares the end from the beginning." What does that mean, and what implications does that have on our concepts of God Almighty? Is God even Almighty? Psalm 147:5 Great is our Lord, and of great power: his understanding is infinite. I John 3:20b God is greater than our heart, and knoweth all things. We have some parameters here concerning God's knowledge. He knows all things, and understands all things. He knows the end from the beginning and inhabits eternity. What does all of that mean together? The conclusion we've been drawing is that God Almighty is more than 3-dimensional. Rather than existing moment-to-moment as we do, He "inhabits eternity" by existing in each moment simultaneously, so to Him, there's a perpetual present (or past or future.) Events that are in the future to us are ancient history to Him. That is consistent with Him "inhabiting eternity", "knowing all things", having an "infinite understanding", and "declaring the end from the beginning." Other models with a lesser god lack an explanation that covers the verses.
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  3. Like Sonny Boy Williamson said: Don't Start Me Talkin', I'll Tell Everything I Know. Warning! Link contains "The Devil's Music".
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  4. Not really, but since you asked nicely, I'll give it a shot. A centrifuge spins. The purpose OF a centrifuge is to use the force of the spinning to separate substances. If you had, say, water with several kinds of sand and clay mixed into it, placing the mixture in a centrifuge would separate them, with the densest to the "bottom" (the outside of the spin), and each of the others in a layer, in order of density, separating all of them from the water. Then each is now all of one thing, whether sand, or clay, or water, and can be addressed apart from the others. If one left the container sitting out for very, very long periods of time, gravity might separate them as well-but the wait is very, very long. As I considered the end-times, it occurred to me that they function as an intensification of the process by which souls determine their orientation, whether towards God or away from God. The process will be compressed in something like a 7-year timeframe. That's a life's decisions and actions squeezed into 7 years. That's why I considered it like a centrifuge. It will speed up the process, and do what was already happening- just a lot slower. As you can see, the same process, just a lot slower- happens day by day, decision by decision, right now.
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  5. It's come up that if God's perception is limited strictly to the present- as some have suggested- then all He can offer is a general hope that everything turns out all right. (No, it's not been posted ON THIS THREAD, but I've read this suggested.) God gives prophecies of things to come. If God is not already aware of them definitely coming to pass when He issues them, then He's deceiving people by leading them to believe He's giving them 100% reliable information. I trust none of us here would suggest that God DOESN'T know a prophecy will come to pass when He issues it. The promise in Genesis 3:15 is one of the most famous ones, and it was about 4000 years (more or less) after it was issued, perhaps, when it came to pass. If God ONLY knew things 4000 years in the future, I'd find that a little silly. He PARTIALLY knows the future? He PARTLY knows the end from the beginning? That would be injecting opinion- or, as vpw called it, "private interpretation." We trust God 100%, or we SHOULD. God knows the future, and gives prophecies. We can trust them 100%. It's been noted that the God who doesn't know the future is a more accessible God, perhaps a more "warm and fuzzy" God because He's in the same boat as the rest of us- He doesn't know what's going to happen any more than WE do. He can comfort us, but not offer us security or confidence. In short, trading "God is Loving" (which they embrace) for "God is All-Powerful" (which they reject.) I can empathize with those seeking answers while rejecting their impassioned attempt to find answers as having sought the WRONG answers. No, I think that was entirely on-topic.
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  6. Oh, and for the benefit of those (or one) who don't see the benefit of it, I'm going to ask a slightly self-serving question. Are others of you appreciating my posts on this thread to date? The ones about what God knows, of course, not the ones about rudeness. If you are, please say so.
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  7. Actually, I've posted some things, and others have posted some things. In some things, we've agreed, and in some we have not. We call that "discussion." Personally, I'd prefer more posting at the moment from the others, but I am responding to what they posted, and they are responding to my posts. We STILL call that "discussion." If my posts-which ARE including the verses- are too long for your taste, sorry, you won't find my posts to your taste. They ARE perfectly serviceable posts, and OTHERS are gaining benefits from them. My posts ARE appreciated by others, and if you really cared about the topic, you might receive benefits from them, especially since I answered a number of your questions. As for you, you've been a veritable one-note orchestra for several pages. If that's not "soap-boxing", then nothing is. If you don't understand that, then YOU'LL get nowhere in this discussion. You'll waste the time of the posters, and gain little or nothing from what IS posted. Actually, once or twice is "reminding." The systematic reposting of the same thing over and over with no other posting is "spamming." I had responded to you and said I WILL get back to you eventually, and you insisted on repeating the question ad nauseum. That's not "reminding". I've given this some thought, and I've made the following conclusion. I actually was done with page 3, didn't see anything I needed to respond to on page 4, and was thus next to approach page 5, and your original question. So, I was GOING to address it DIRECTLY. (I've addressed its subject already, but not phrased as a direct answer to you.) However, I've considered, and I find the continual hectoring to be discouraged. If I respond to what's acknowledged to be only there to be a TRAP, I don't give benefit to the other posters. I MIGHT be able to teach you something. However, at this point, I'd be rewarding you for poor manners, and I see no benefit for anyone to do that. So, I will not be addressing your question after all. That's a specific change of mind as the direct result of the poor manners you've evidenced the past few pages. (In other words, if you had not been so persistent in rudeness, I WOULD have addressed it, and have reconsidered DIRECTLY because you did so.) I can't control your posts, neither of content, intent or style. I don't, however, have to ENCOURAGE your posts or anyone elses, especially when I see poor behaviour. I don't wish to encourage it, and you can't FORCE me to post to your satisfaction either. I asked you nicely to exercise common courtesy. You refused. You DEMANDED-repeatedly- I answer your question. I am NOW refusing. You are free to throw a tantrum over it all you want. It's NOT going to benefit the other posters, however, and they'll hardly welcome it. If you want to make a SPECIFIC on Moses and the overseers, feel free. If you're going to play coy, then feel free as well. I'd address a SPECIFIC, but not grammar-school games. (You are free to throw a tantrum over THAT as well.) Actually, we WERE going to see a post on it (one post is not a discussion, posts from several people are a discussion) on it within the last 24 hours. Now we won't be seeing one.
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