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Friday, March 3, 2006
PREDESTINATION 4
Given the nature of God as Love, both the eternal plan of God and His every action must be in keeping with Divine Love. "There is no variation or shadow due to change"
(James 1:17).
Thus in Ephesians 1:9-10, God's true predestined plan is expressed: "For He has made know to us in wisdom and insight the mystery of His Will, according to His purpose which He set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in Him, things in Heaven and things on Earth".
Because GOD IS LOVE, His eternal plan is to bring ALL creation into the oneness of Love's expression, the Body of Christ!
Because GOD IS LOVE, the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ is a predestined possibility and function of the Divine LIfe!
Thus, ALL Creation is predestined, foreknown, justified and glorified according to the nature of God as Love and the freedom that Divine Love gives us as finite beings to choose!
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 8:02 PM EST
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
PREDESTINATION 3
Both Predestination and Free Will are to be understood in light of the revelatory significance of the Christ Event: that True God and True Life is Love (1 John 5:20). All else follows from this First Principle established by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ!
Predestination and Free Will are not antithetical. They are logically inter-dynamic aspects of Divine Life as Love.
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Updated: Friday, March 3, 2006 7:59 PM EST
Tuesday, February 14, 2006
PREDESTINATION 2
The decision to abide in the Spirit of our true predestined essence (Love) is that alone which can bring real life, peace and joy to us.
In this way, "God works for good for those who love Him". And, the good works that God does in those who choose to abide in Him are the predestined consequences of our acceptance of His Life as Love in us.
The fact of our predestined essence as Love gives meaning to the phrase, "those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son". God's foreknowledge of each and every individual being is based upon our original, created essence and its destiny and freedom as Love!
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Thursday, February 2, 2006
PREDESTINATION 1
It is written, "We know that in everything God works with those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose. For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, in order that He might be the first-born among many brethern. And those whom He predestined, He also called; and those whom He called, He also justified; and those whom He justified, He also glorified." (Romans 8:28-30)
The meaning of this passage is:
Given the nature of God as Love (1 John 4:16), God has created and called all beings for the purpose of expressing this Love that God is.
We are in this way "predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son", the perfect incarnation of Divine Love.
We have the personal freedom, that God in His nature as Love gives us, to decide whether to abide in the Spirit of Divine Love and enjoy the fullness of true life (salvation) or to betray our predestined essence (Sin) and thus suffer terrible, destructive consequences (Evil).
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Thursday, January 19, 2006
REINCARNATION: HEAVEN AND HELL
Reincarnation does not negate a true understanding of the Bible's teachings concerning Heaven and Hell.
Given the God of Love that we perceive in Jesus Christ, Hell cannot be an eternal destiny awaiting individuals who have failed to receive Him.
Because God is Love, He will not cease reaching out for the lost children, the lost sheep of His fold (Luke 15:3-7). God's plan for the fullness of time is to bring all of reality into the Body of Christ Love (Ephesians 1:10).
Heaven and Hell are both experienced in intensity and degree to the extent that we come closer to or fall further away from the Spirit of Divine Love in the salvific reincarnation process of resurrection to full and true life!
When has an individual had sufficient opportunity to be saved and lived long enough to be judged? What is just and fair about some persons having the opportunity of many years while others have but a few? What of those who die in infancy or during childhood? What of those who suffer severe disabilities and other hardships? (ETC.)
Only something like a Christian understanding of reincarnation can give us a portrait of reality entirely consistent with the God of Love that we see in Jesus Christ!
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
REINCARNATION: THE QUESTION OF RESURRECTION
Complete resurrection from death to life is accomplished only in Jesus, who alone possesses the fullness of Life. We participate in His total victory through our faithful releasement into His Spirit of Divine Love.
Resurrection is the process in which we are being made increasingly alive by the power of His Spirit.
It is the salvific process of the Body of Christ in which we are being raised from death to true life in Him.
Reincarnation is the way of the resurrection process.
Yet, this does not negate true personal identity. For, the spirit of each individual is eternal, the very breath of God (Genesis 2:7). As Paul declares, the body of resurrection is a spiritual body (1 Cor. 15:44).
The concept of reincarnation does not necessitate an essential soul-body dualism in which the spirit is good and the body is evil. In a true Christian understanding of reincarnation consistent with Divine Love, the aim is not escape from a body perceived as evil, but the transfiguration of our total being into Christlikeness.
The spiritual and physical are not antithetical, but integral aspects of reality. Neither does the immortality of incarnated souls and the mortality of their co-ordinate physical expressions necessarily imply such.
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Sunday, December 25, 2005
REINCARNATION: THE QUESTION OF GRACE
Salvation is the process of sanctification by the Spirit (2 Thess. 2:13) in which we are being changed into the likeness of the Lord "from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor. 3:18).
Salvation is certainly a matter of God's ever-flowing grace and not something that can be ours through the exercise of our own power (Ephesians 2:8). Yet, faithful acceptance of God's grace does not rule out the necessity for works (James 2:17).
The false antithesis between grace and works is resolved with the realization that the works evident in the lives of those who are being sanctified in the salvation process are the works of the Spirit. For, every good thing is an act of God (Matthew 19:17).
Thus, reincarnation need not be viewed as a karmic process of self-righteousness, but as a process of salvation in which the Spirit of Christ brings us to His bossom through our faithful acceptance of His graceful efforts!
An understanding of reincarnation that is grounded in the Christ Revelation that God is Love is not inconsistent with a true Christian understanding of Divine Grace.
Karmic consequence is not the result of self-works. But, it functions with regard to our receptivity of God's enabling Spirit. Grace is fundamentally necessary for there to be salvation, but, grace must be freely received. It must be acknowledged and accepted.
Free Will and Grace are the two poles of the salvific process!
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Friday, November 25, 2005
REINCARNATION: THE QUESTION OF HERESY
Is reincarnation a viable Christian option, or is it antithetical to the Revelation of God in Jesus Christ?
To begin with, Scripture itself does not exhaust Truth, because Jesus Christ IS the Truth (John 14:16). If we want to understand the true nature of God, and therefore Life, we must look to Jesus (1 John 5:20). We are called to follow the guidance of the Lord's Spirit as it endeavors to lead us "into all the Truth" (John 16:13).
When we cast our eyes upon Jesus, we see that God is Love (1 John 4:16). Christ Love is True God and True Life (1 John 5:20). Reincarnation need only prove consistent with the image of God that we see in the person of Jesus Christ in order to be seen as a viable expression of our Faith.
True Heresy, therefore, is not so much an extra-canonical belief as it is the refusal to allow the Spirit of Christ to lead us into the fullness of Truth, into new understandings of reality entirely consistent with the Revelation of Jesus Christ that God is Love!
Heresy is the act of closing ourselves off from the shepherding guidance of the Spirit of Truth.
It is a false, antichrist presupposition that the Holy Spirit has nothing more of consequence to say to us. Paul warns us of the very grave dangers in quenching the Spirit of Truth (1 Thess. 5:19).
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EST
Saturday, October 22, 2005
THE QUESTION OF KNOWING
Knowledge as True Understanding is rooted and grounded in Ultimate Reality (God) as Divine Love.
Thus, in Christ (Love) is Truth and in Antichrist (anti-love) is all manner of falsehood, delusion, confusion and perversity.
There is no true knowledge possible outside of the Holy Circle of Divine Love!
Only through the lens of Divine Love can we truly see and understand the essential dynamic structure of reality!
God is Love; whosoever abides in Love abides in God, and God abides in that person (1 John 4:16)
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 2:47 PM EDT
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
THE QUESTION OF FAITH
What is real faith? It is not simply believing in the reality of an historical event: that something existed, exists or will exist somewhere in Space-Time.
True faith in Jesus Christ as True God and True Life is the result of a dynamic correlation between the historical event of Jesus' resurrection and our personal experience of Jesus' resurrection power alive in us!
What is disclosed to us is the divine nature and power of Love. Real Faith arises from and is grounded in Love.
Thus it is proclaimed: whosoever abides in Love abides in God, and God abides in that person (1 John 4:16).
Our faith in Divine Love as Ultimate Reality and True Life is based on the Earth-historical event of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.
Here, Love Incarnate overcomes all evil and its consequence, death. Thus, it proves to be the divine power of Life itself!
However, such a faith can only be justified for us if the power of this same event is experienced in our own lives.
In order for faith to be other than empty hope, the miraculous resurrecting, healing and transfiguring power of Divine Love must become our personal experience.
This ongoing correlation between historical affirmation and experiential confirmation is absolutely necessary on the journey to Truth!
What is confirmed is the wholeness that is by divine grace realized in us as we continue to release ourselves to the Spirit of Divine Love.
In this unity of the Spirit of Christ, we discover that we are constituent parts of the universal body of existence whose fundamental, fulfilling essence is Compassion!
God is Love; whosoever abides in Love abides in God, and God abides in that person (1 John 4:16)
Posted by Ravenangel (copyright@2003-2006)
at 12:01 AM EDT
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