Originally posted by Wildfire
Well, to my proposed question: is this world we are living in today paradise/ the garden of Eden? No, far from it. And to those who are still somewhat interested in prophecy, I hope you come over to the future forum and read whats happening in the world, while we are all still in it.
God bless,
Wildfire
Wildfire,
Since I am unable to post in "christians only" sections anymore, I can't come to the future forum to engage you, so, I'll have to do it here.
One question I have to those in the future forum.
Does the Bible tell us Who today is authorized to proclaim infallibly that a particular "current event" is the fulfillment of prophesy?
You? Me? RollinThunder? Hal Lindsay? Tim Lahae? All of us?
What does the Bible actually say aout that topic?
Now to answer yours about the garden of Eden.
I find no scripture that prophesies that one day every individual on planet earth will be free from sin and suffering, in fact Scripture testifies the exact opposite.
In Rev. 22:2, on "the new earth," we see the "Tree of life" that yields fruit every month, the "leaves" of which are "for the healing of the nations" (Rev. 22:2). This teaches us that in the new earth, "the nations" are in need of continual healing. If there is No Garden of eden, even on the new earth, where is it gonna be?
The "garden of Eden" you are looking for today is our "heavenly" inheritance, not some earthly biological paradise.
Christ functions as a preist on behalf of "sinners" on earth forever.(Psalms 110:4)
This means sinners will forever be able to enjoy the ministries of forgiveness in Christ.
The Moment sinners cease to exist on earth, Christ ceases to function as a priest on their / our behlaf, and scripture testifies the exact opposite.
The Gospel, which sole purpose is to be preached to sinners who dwell on earth, is "everlasting". It has no "use by" or "expiration" date. (Rvelation 14:6)
The Moment sinners cease to dwell on the earth, the "Everlasting Gospel" ceases to have a purpose, scripture again testifies the exact opposite.
It seems that some people (such as yourself I believe) will never be satisfied with anything less than a fleshly utopia that is characterized by absolute "behavioral errorlessness" throughout the entire universe (except for in hell). In contrast to this
carnal desire of how the universe should be, God says that He created "vessels of wrath fitted to destruction" in order "that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy."
The world in which we live is not "the best of all possible worlds" for the wicked. But it
is the best of all possible worlds, "to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose" (Rom. 8:28).
YBIC,
P70