1 Corinthians 2: 4-5; 11-16:
("And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God."
"For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.")
Why is it that people misunderstand the Bible and the things of God? Many non-believers mock Christians and say: "The Bible is legends and fairy tales. Who believes that stuff is true anyway?" They demand evidence of God's claims that can only be understood with the five human senses. But that's the PROBLEM!
God's truth (The Bible) which explains the questions of life: Why are we here? Who I am? What is my purpose? Where am I going? can only be revealed to the hearts and minds of those who "humble" themselves and receive it from God Himself. God reveals it to man through His Holy Spirit!
Martin Luther said "man is like a pillar of salt, like Lot's wife. He's like a log and a stone. He's like a lifeless statue which uses neither eyes nor mouth. Neither senses nor hears unless he is enlightened, converted, and regenerated by the Holy Spirit." Unless a man comes to the knowledge that he is a sinner who is spiritually bankrupt and in need of a Savior from his sin, he cannot receive the Holy Spirit. We must place our trust in Jesus Christ who said He was "the way, the truth. the life."
Once we do this, God seals us with His Holy Spirit enabling us to "have the mind of Christ." Ephesians 1: 13-14 states: " And you also were included in Christ when you heard the message of truth, the gospel of your salvation. When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession—to the praise of his glory."
John MacArthur has said: "To know in the human being is equal to the sex drive and the hunger drive. Isn't that interesting? The drive to know. Listen, if you want to know that bad, here it is. If you'll commit your life to Jesus Christ, He'll plant within you the resident truth teacher (the Holy Spirit) and you'll know the truth and the truth shall make you free. Free from what? Free from the quest of the truth. You will have found it. You'll be at rest." In summary, spiritual truths from the Bible can only be understood once someone has placed their faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior from their sin and the penalty of it. He then seals us with His Holy Spirit which helps us to understand the Bible and get rich meaning from it. The Holy Spirit then lives and dwells within each believer teaching them spiritual truths from His Word. Until a person does that though, he will remain in his natural mind. Trying to seek out truth without any divine revelation or understanding. The things of God will remain "foolishness unto him" because they are spiritually discerned.
You said that the holy spirit lives in you and teaches you spiritual truths from His word. Did he teach you that Adam and Eve were created as immortal beings? If they were created immortal, what was the purpose of the Tree of Life which existed in the garden of Eden? When Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, god kicked them out of the garden so that they wouldn't eat from the Tree of Life and live forever. So, if the purpose of the Tree of Life was to give them immortal life, why was it in the garden if they already had immortal life?
ReplyDeleteI brought this up to a bible teacher after he told me Adam and Eve were created immortal. After I asked him what the purpose of the Tree of Life was, he then changed his argument and said that Adam and Eve had the potential to be immortal. Do you feel that way too? If so, that means that Adam and Eve weren't created immortal, but had the possibility of being immortal. Having said that, this means that Adam and Eve were going to die whether they sinned or not. So again, what was the purpose of the Tree of LIfe in the garden, when those who lived there were already immortal?
Great Question!
ReplyDeleteIn Genesis 2:9 it says:"And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life was also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil."
So we see 1) The tree of life; 2) The tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Okay, so your question was about the Tree of Life.
The tree of life had special properties to sustain life. It was placed in the center of the garden, where it must have been observed by Adam, and its fruit perhaps eaten by him, thus sustaining life.
Genesis 2:16,17 says: "And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”
Given that Adam and Eve obeyed God and did not eat of the forbidden tree, they would have lived to be immortal. Because every other tree sustained life and they could "eat of them freely," as God had said.
So in a sense I would agree with that teacher, that they had the 'possibility' of being immortal, but their disobedience to God's clear command proved otherwise.
Interestingly, in Revelation 22:2 we see the Tree of Life appear again. But this time, it's purpose isn't to sustain life, but to simply enrich heavenly life, make it more full and satisfying!! "In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." (Rev. 22:2)
The Eng. word "therapeutic" comes from the Greek word translated 'healing" here.
Good that you said they had the possibility of being immortal, which means they were not created immortal. Now we see that sin did not cause death, as the bible says it did, it already existed as Adam and Eve would have died had they not had the life-sustaining fruit.
ReplyDeleteThis also can mean that diseases, pestilences, etc. were not caused by sin as those too already existed. This means that the world was not perfect before sin. So what exactly did sin change? It just caused them to be kicked out of a garden where they couldn't sustain their life by continuing to eat fruit, as death was already in the world.
So the tree of life in heaven is there to enrich heavenly life, to make it more full and satisfying? Really? You need that in heaven? So I suppose if you didn't eat from the tree of life while in heaven, you wouldn't be as fulfilled and satisfied as the others who have? So there could be people there more joyful and fulfilled than others....in heaven....in the glorious presence of the creator??
ReplyDeleteAndy,
ReplyDeleteA reply to your second response: I believe there are degrees of enjoyment in Heaven. The Bible says there will be rewards for believers according to the work they have done here. In heaven, you will WANT to eat of the trees! There will be no "not" eating! Sin will be put away and we will perfectly follow God!
Andy,
ReplyDeleteA reply to you first response: "That's a darn good question!" I've tried to answer that the best I could! BUT, SIN did already exist as you said! Satan and His angels had sinned! And Because Satan "tempted" Eve in the garden using his own evil purposes thus deceiving her, it allowed from sin to come into the world through her disobedience. Sin does cause diseases, pestilences, etc. The world was perfect before sin! God had every purpose that it would be perfect! We can't shift the blame off ourselves on this one!
If we do, we are only doing the exact same thing Adam and Eve had done since the fall! "Then the man said, “The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:12) Eve passed the blame on the Devil: "And the LORD God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
We always want to excuse our sin!!! It needs to be confessed and repented of before God!
There will be degrees of enjoyment in heaven? That means that some people will be enjoying it more than others. Is that the idea of heaven, that not everyone there is equal, that there will be something equivalent to a lower class, middle class, and upper class in heaven in terms of their enjoyment? :D
ReplyDeleteThen, people will have regret in heaven, wishing that they would have done more work in order to get a better reward.
Where is heaven anyways? Does it exist right now?
lol! You crack me up man!!
ReplyDeleteRegrets in Heaven? Nope! Maybe at the judgment for believers before they enter Heaven: "their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."
There will be no more curse, regret will only be experienced by those who didn't accept Christ as their Savior! Revelation 22:3-"No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him."
Wait a second...so Satan was in heaven and sinned? Does this mean that others can sin while in heaven? I mean, if an angel sinned, can't humans? They did before when everything was perfect....remember Adam and Eve?
ReplyDeleteNow, I guess Eve wasn't surprised to be talking to a serpent? What is up with that?
When sin happened in heaven thru satan, did it cause diseases, pestilences, etc. in heaven? If not, why did it do it on earth? As in earth, so as it is in heaven?
Also, did sin cause the universe to go out of whack, where galaxies are colliding into each other, planets being bombared with asteroids, etc.? If so, why did sin on one planet cause the whole universe to get distrupted? What if there is life on other planets? Our sin can cause them grief too? That doesn't seem fair.
This is just my belief....can't be dogmatic about it: But Heaven probably exists in the third heaven. The apostle Paul was caught to the third heaven and experienced the Paradise there (2 Cor. 12:1-4)
ReplyDeleteThe first heaven is the earth's atmosphere; The second is interplanetary and interstellar space; and the third is the abode of God! Where Heaven is! It does exist right now!
"their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."
ReplyDeleteWhat is the purpose of this? If they made it to heaven, isn't that the reward? What is the purpose of embarrassing other people who may not have done near as much as someone else? Who cares about rewards in heaven? What will you do with them, put them on your mantle over your fireplace to show off to your friends?
So, can we see heaven with a telescope if we look in the right place? I'm not sure where the abode of god is.....
ReplyDeleteI'm familiar with earth's atmosphere, and interplanetary, interstellar space, but not so much the abode of god.
Andy,
ReplyDeleteYou have a lot questions! I will not be able to answer them all! Just letting you know! I can only answer from what God has shown in His Word.
Sin will not be possibly in Heaven. I showed you the verse that says the curse will be removed! Remember: Satan and his angels will be tossed into the Lake of Fire for all eternity!
When Satan sinned along with His angels, they were immediately cast down like lighting when they tried to ascend to the throne of God! Ezekiel 28:16- "Through your widespread trade
you were filled with violence,
and you sinned.
So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God,
and I expelled you, guardian cherub,
from among the fiery stones. "
Of course we can't see Heaven with a telescope! God is called the Lord Most High, and "Though the Lord is on high, Yet He regards the lowly; But the proud He knows from afar." (Psalms 138:6) It's beyond our capacity!
ReplyDeleteI do have a lot of questions. You said you can answer only what is shown in His word. How do you know "His word" is true? How do you know that all other religious documents are not true? How did you know to follow this one and not one or more of the many others?
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of rewards is to serve the Lord here on earth more faithfully! There is nothing wrong with that motivation! Heaven will be the greatest reward, but we didn't earn that, Jesus did! And so, we will cast our crowns before Him, giving Him all the glory for having received anything! I couldn't possibly know what the rewards actually are. They may not be physical, but may be a chance to do more for God or something!
ReplyDeleteThe Bible is true! I have posted this on my blog: http://rippster4christ.blogspot.com/2011/04/can-we-trust-bible-absolutely-we-have-5.html
ReplyDeleteThe other religious documents clearly err in historical facts, scientific facts, prophecy, etc. Check out that link: It shows how the Koran has mistakes, how writings of Confucius and Buddha contradict. The Bible is an anchor!
Click on the one that says: Evidence for the Trustworthiness of the Bible when you get into that link.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think the bible has contradictions?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.infidels.org/library/modern/jim_meritt/bible-contradictions.html
Biblical prophecies are vague. How can you tell if they were fulfilled. You know how many interpretations I've heard of for the prophecies in Revelations? Hundreds! They are sooooo vague. So are the prophecies in the old testament.
Not so, the prophecies described about Jesus in the Old Testament are in detail. They were fulfilled in His life to a "T". The link you sent a horrible examples of contradictions. Remember, people had different accounts of Jesus life (matthew, mark, luke and John) But they never outright contradict each other.
ReplyDelete