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Neanderthal75 -> RE: one god or one true religion (5/24/2008 12:21:45 AM)
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quote:
ORIGINAL: terryjohn I believe(sic) God has left all men of all cultures, races and languages enough information by which they may know there is a God who requires righteousness from them. Hence, as Paul says, they are without excuse. Now in Israel God has set up a beacon of light, not solely for their own benefit, that all the nations may see and know the greatness of God. And yet, we see that God has gone one step more and come and dwelt in Christ that all men may know beyond a shadow of doubt that God lives. Hence, we then see all men desiring to know God but are incapable of drawing near simply because they either do not know Chirst or are unwilling to accept God could love them so much as to send His own son, or more importantly come in Christ Himself. You could say that, simply because men can not come unto the Father but by Christ, does not actually mean men do not have a saving faith in God. However, rejecting Christ could do more harm than not knowing about Him simply because no one told you about Him. You could also say that we may be better off not telling men about Christ, least they reject Him and thus com-mitt the greater unforgivable sin. Nevertheless, knowing Christ is all important and those who know Him can not keep quite about the truth in Christ. As for religion, no one who is born of the Spirit of God can ever again be religious for why be religious in an attempt to get closer to God when God says He has come to live in us? Does not scripture say somewhere that those born of the Spirit are undefinable becasue they are like the wind that no one knows where they come from? Religion is no substitute for not knowing God's love in Christ. Religion is by definition related to bondage and it is what pagans practice. Hey Terry, I just wanted to ask you to clarify something for me: you used the phrases '..dwelt in Christ..' and '..come in Christ Himself'. These statements would seem to necessarily imply that Christ is not really God, but a manifestation of God. This flies in the face of many Scriptures including one of my faves, Isaiah 9:6-in which the Messiah is called '....the mighty God, the Everlasting Father..' Gen. 18-19 has the God of Abraham, Issac, and Jacob, literally having lunch with Abraham, with two of His angels sitting to 'table' with Him. Jesus told us that God the Father is a Spirit and that we must worship Him in spirit-John 4:24. The Gospel of John, the declarative book in which the Being and Person of Christ is clearly defined as God. Proof is provided from Christ's own lips in John 8:58, when Christ cited Exodus 3:14, in His being the Great I AM. So.....I will look forward to read your reply to my points, hoping that it was merely the turn of a phrase which went wrong on your part. Cheers
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