WHY does GOD choose TO reside in SECRET?

[Vicomte13]

All of that doesn't exactly seem like God loves us. As you said at the start of one paragraph, it seems more that he doesn't care about our suffering. Like believing we are loved is just a desperate attempt by us to understand why we are here when he already set us up to fail.

No, he loves us. But these bodies we cherish are not "us", and they are not what he loves, or preserves. The "us" that he loves is the spirit that animates us. We are not our bodies and minds. We ARE a spirit, we HAVE bodies. To us, the body is primordial. To God, they're not important, and he breaks them all, in his time, to get the spirit out.

It's more positive than you see, IF you remember that the SPIRIT is the thing that is essential. If you focus on the material, on the living body, on the avoidance of pain and the like, then the reality of God is quite Kafkaesque and the future is very bleak for all. If you get out of the corporeal and remamber that we are spirits, then things are pretty bright.

 

[Radrook]

It was not at all the same thing.
It's fun being the judge, isn't it?
I withdraw my case now and take my leave.

I was going to ask you how it is different.

 

[Radrook]

No, he loves us. But these bodies we cherish are not "us", and they are not what he loves, or preserves. The "us" that he loves is the spirit that animates us. We are not our bodies and minds. We ARE a spirit, we HAVE bodies. To us, the body is primordial. To God, they're not important, and he breaks them all, in his time, to get the spirit out.

It's more positive than you see, IF you remember that the SPIRIT is the thing that is essential. If you focus on the material, on the living body, on the avoidance of pain and the like, then the reality of God is quite Kafkaesque and the future is very bleak for all. If you get out of the corporeal and remamber that we are spirits, then things are pretty bright.

If we are spirits then why place us in a material body?
Spirits were created to live in the spirit realm.
Material beings were designed to live in the material realm.
The resurrection isn't described as a release of a spirit from a material body.
It is described as a transformation.

 

[Vicomte13]

If we are spirits then why place us in a material body?
Spirits were created to live in the spirit realm.
Material beings were designed to live in the material realm.
The resurrection isn't described as a release of a spirit from a material body.
It is described as a transformation.

The resurrection is the RETURN of a human spirit to a body, which without it is just dust.

God created material bodies out of dust. He breathed life into each. Breath and spirit are the same word.

When we die, we ex-spire - the spirit leaves.

"Father, into you hands I commend my spirit." And with that, he breathed his last. With the last breath leaves also the spirit. The body remains, but the man is gone. The body returns to the dirt, but the spirit continues. At the resurrection, the spirit goes back into the body and once again become a "breather" - a living soul.

 

[Radrook]

The resurrection is the RETURN of a human spirit to a body, which without it is just dust.

God created material bodies out of dust. He breathed life into each. Breath and spirit are the same word.

When we die, we ex-spire - the spirit leaves.

"Father, into you hands I commend my spirit." And with that, he breathed his last. With the last breath leaves also the spirit. The body remains, but the man is gone. The body returns to the dirt, but the spirit continues. At the resurrection, the spirit goes back into the body and once again become a "breather" - a living soul.

Some Christians understand that sprit to be a force which animates the body which becomes a living soul and nothing more. Others imagine that the soul itself is a spirit. Others confuse both with the breath of life. All three are separate things with distinct meanings. None are spirit entities or beings which were infused into a human body.

 

[Vicomte13]

Some Christians understand that sprit to be a force which animates the body which becomes a living soul and nothing more. Others imagine that the soul itself is a spirit. Others confuse both with the breath of life. All three are separate things with distinct meanings. None are spirit entities or beings which were infused into a human body.

The word "soul" in English is the translation of the Hebrew word "nephesh", which means "breather". A "soul" is a body and spirit bound together. The spirit is the breath of life, from God. When the body dies, the spirit leaves and goes on, the body turns back to dirt. The "nefesh" ceases to be, because there is no more breather, until the resurrection.

 

[Radrook]

The word "soul" in English is the translation of the Hebrew word "nephesh", which means "breather". A "soul" is a body and spirit bound together. The spirit is the breath of life, from God. When the body dies, the spirit leaves and goes on, the body turns back to dirt. The "nefesh" ceases to be, because there is no more breather, until the resurrection.

I understand that you understand those concepts those ways. But I also understand that others do not view them in those ways.

 

[Vicomte13]

I understand that you understand those concepts those ways. But I also understand that others do not view them in those ways.

I know that most do not understand things that way at all. I think that the only way that we know anything about these things at all is because we've been told, either through divine inspiration or through Scripture. For my part, I have read the Scripture on the matter with exacting precision, and what I state about breath, and nephesh ("soul") literally meaning "breather" is true by the language.

It is because of what the language says, when examined in detail, that has caused me to chuck the traditional understanding and use of "soul" to mean a detachable spirit, and to use the Biblical terms precisely as they are used in the Hebrew and the Greek.

To me the linguistic precision is important, because it clarifies everything and lacks the contradictions and confusion in the traditional beliefs.

That is what I do, and why I do it, and why it doesn't agree with traditional views. It's also why I talk about it whenever it comes up, to try to share the illuminating clarification. I don't think that truth is determined by tradition or by democracy, but by, well, Truth.

 

[Hishandmaiden]

For me, I think God resides in secret because He does not want everyone to find Him, only those who loves Him.

If God is seen more directly, no one will dare disobey Him. How to tell the hypocrite from the sincere believers?

 

[Radrook]

For me, I think God resides in secret because He does not want everyone to find Him, only those who loves Him.

If God is seen more directly, no one will dare disobey Him. How to tell the hypocrite from the sincere believers?

The Israelites were treated to a spectacular display of his power via the Ten Plagues, at the Red Sea, at Mount Sinai and still disobeyed him.

Exodus 20:18 ►
New International Version
When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance


Exodus 32New International Version (NIV)
The Golden Calf

32 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before)' data us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

2 Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” 3 So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. 4 He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.

 

[Vicomte13]

If God is seen more directly, no one will dare disobey Him.

I've seen direct displays of God's power and existence. I still sin.

 

[user385]

Why doesn’t God talk to all believers audibly today? Would that cause harm? Jesus walked the earth and talked with people audibly. It did not hurt them. I know that God has good reasons for why He does everything the way He does. There are times when I wonder what exactly I should do next or what I should say. It seems as though He was speaking in an audible way to at least some prophets.

 

[YouAreAwesome]

Why doesn’t God talk to all believers audibly today? Would that cause harm? Jesus walked the earth and talked with people audibly. It did not hurt them. I know that God has good reasons for why He does everything the way He does. There are times when I wonder what exactly I should do next or what I should say. It seems as though He was speaking in an audible way to at least some prophets.

He can't/wouldn't because we own the earth and must invite Him into it. Any extreme miracle must break through the doubt and spiritual powers working against Him. The more we pray and desire Him the easier for incredible miracles.

 

[more4less]

God is a spirit, and since sin had came in. We had lost our ability to know when He is present. The fruit had blinded us from seeing Him and start us to focus more at the natural rather than the spiritual. At first Adam did not know that Eve was naked, until he had eaten the fruit. But at first he just saw her spiritual nature, but afterward, he noticed her physical features. He is around us. but in order for us to see Him, we have to awaken a part of us that has fallen asleep.

Romans 1:20
For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.

Hebrews 11:27 By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the king’s anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible.