My Child Of God Philosophy

by Zechariah 9 Replies latest jw friends

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  Zechariah

  THE CHILD OF GOD COMES OF AGE

  This is the whole story as I have been inspired to know it

  We are helped in our understanding of God by relating or analogizing him to other things that are similar we know better. In attempting to do that I have come up with a theory and philosophy that mankind is God's child. God fathered mankind by creation and not anyhow biologically. This is not individually but collectively beginning with his creation onward to today. In order to accurately and justly evaluate God in any way we must raise our perspective to account for God's glorified status in being everlasting, all powerful, all knowing, and the source of everything we need.

  The following is some conclusions to be drawn from this analogy.

  An individual man can be likened to a single cell in the body of all mankind. The death of a single cell put into perspective is no more to the Creator than that. He has allowed such to take place in the process of training his child. As a beating destroys cells on a child's behind it serves as a lesson and tool for correction for the parent. Therefore the parent and God does not spare the rod of correction or the child will be spoiled. The child as a whole will not die. Mankind has continued to live and to grow despite the individual death of some of its cells. The empathy of the creator (Jesus Christ) created by his living as a man on earth motivated him to make provisions for all men who believe (individuals) to be resurrected to new life. (heavenly life I believe)

  The Creator intentions toward his child is precisely the same as ours towards our children. He wants his child to grown to be a self sustaining, independent adult who may one day have children (his own creations) he is proud of.

  The past six thousand years of mans existence has been the childhood years of mankind. At this present stage in mankinds history he has finally reached the beginning stages of his adult manhood. In the Bible we are encouraged by inspiration of God to train up a boy in the way that he should go so that when he reaches adulthood he will not turn aside from it. God has raised his child similarly and the development of his child followed the same stages as our own human children. These stages are:

  1- Infancy :The infancy stage of mankind is the period before the flood. It as with any child is a period of discovery for a child where he struggles to discover himself and wonder on a very basic scale who and what he is and what is the full relationship he has with that in his entire environment. During such a period an infant needs close personal attention from his parents. Mankind was first given such personal attention by means of a covering cherub in the beginning. During Infancy a parent cleans a child up when they soil themselves. Such occurred during the flood period where the gross wickedness in the earth was thoroughly cleaned by God. Period covered was approx. 4029BC - approx. 2000 BC.
  (the flood)

  2- Toddler:This stage is where the child is mentally mature enough to begin some real training. He understands and communicates well enough to be taught. The laws given unto Moses became our tutor or training wheels that we can lean upon to keep our balance. Such training wheels were pretty restrictive and prohibited free movement. Period covered was approx. 2000BCE( the flood) - 33AD.

  3- Adolescency:This stage was when the training wheels were removed. This was the Law being abolished after it has served its purpose of teaching us to safely ride (beneificially live life). Now with the training wheels off we had unlimited freedom by force to go anywhere we want. So in effect all things are lawful but not all things are beneficial. We still needed guidance. The holy spirit became our parental oversight and our teacher during this stage. The period for this stage was approx. 33AD-1799AD

  4- Teenage: This stage was one just prior to mankind becoming an adult. It is for the purpose of training and affording increasing freedom and responsibility. Man beginning at the time of the Industrial Revolution began to recieve preMillenial knowledge earmarking Christs coming and the last days of an old system of things (Satan's). He is given a sizeable allowance (advanced knowledge) in order for him to learn how to start to live as an adult. As with most any teenager mankind at this point and ever since began to think he knows as much as his father. He often makes himself believe he could do better on his own and becomes cruelly and unjustly critical of how he was raised. The period for this stage was approx. 1799AD-1914AD.

  5- Early Manhood: The final stage before man becomes a full grown adult. This period is what is known as the Millennial Reign of Christ. Under the guidance of Christ at his second presence those who submit to it become members of his body and grow for one thousand years towards spiritual perfection. This means simply that they will by that time become completely equipped for every good work.(self reliant) The time of Christ second presence earmarks the event when the spirits of men will rise to meet Christ in the air (consciousness raising/ Christ consciousness) . The collective body of Christ will become the temple to which pilgrimages are to be made if any nation is to prosper. This meaning simply that all governments are to be in relative subjection to God so that he can begin to bless them. Essentially this appears to call for some sort of world cooperation . (UN?) That is well on the way. The nations will be gathered together by advanced communication to the Battle of Armaggeddon to solve the common problems of mankind.

  The first Revolution to take place under Christ's rulership is the Battle of Armageddon which is a spiritual battle " Good against Evil." Under Christ's direction his angelic forces will and have been doing since 1914 warring against wicked spirit forces to conquer them so no man has to die.

  Rich millennial blessings that the Bible has prophecied about have already begun to happen. The beginnings of the technology promising an end to sickness, crime, war and death have already begun.

  It has never been God's intention to ever wrestle away rulership from man by destroying all earthly governments as JWs expect.. He has foretold in the Bible that only the nations who do pilgrimages to Jerusalem will prosper.

  Zechariah
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  Navigator

  It seems to me that your entire analogy is based on a false premise, that life on an imperfect earth in a perishable body of flesh is God's idea. A more likely scenario is that we were created perfect, whole, and complete (in God's image) and that we decided to do our own thing, or at least dream that we were doing our own thing, separate and apart from our creator. In other words, "Please, Mommy, I'd rather do it myself". Of course we needed a place to do it and so we created this planet. After all, doesn't the book of John say that it was the Son(Logos) that made it all. We are all part of that Sonship. And then some of us came down to play. "And the Word became flesh". The problem is that we have forgotten that we are playing. I do agree with your analogy that we are all cells in the mind of God. However, these cells are imperishable. Do you really believe that our Creator can lose part of Himself/Herself? If God had made this planet, it would be perfect and it certainly is not. If God had created these bodies of flesh that we inhabit, they too would be perfect and imperishable. They certainly are not. The writers of Genesis sensed the source of the problem. We tried to surplant God. We exchanged "life" for knowledge. Maybe God planned it that way. In any case, we have been playing in the garden for a long time. We will certainly get called home for supper. You can bet that it will be a better place than a "paradise earth". Perhaps Mommy sent one of our brothers (Jesus) to remind us that it is time to come home.
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  link

  I have nothing but the deepest respect for those contributors to the board who have the courage to put their honest beliefs, theories and opinions forward for the inspection of infidels like myself. To me they make fascinating reading and put a whole new perspective on the way I view things myself.

  The problem is that I have such an open mind that things have a habit of quickly falling out of the bottom of it.

  If I were ever worthy enough to comment on the content of these articles I would just say that, for me, they are spoiled by attempting to attach credibility to them by quoting such things as dates and time scales from our current calendar. The writings are pure speculation and for this reason do not need or deserve to have so called facts attached to them.

  As ex-jws in good standing will well know; facts only get in the way of beliefs.

  link
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  Zechariah

  Link,

  Thanks for the compliment. You should understand that the entirety of what I have written is but my opinion. The dates given are approximations arrived at from historical landmarks. They are such landmarks like the flood of Noahs day, Jesus death, and the French Revolution. All these are history fulfilled and not prophecy. I always invite everyone to test my utterances to see if their from God (true). This all is how I am inspired to believe things to be.

  Zechariah
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  link

  Zechariah,

  You have nicely highlighted the exact point that I was making.

  Nobody knows even the approximate date of the flood, we have a little better idea of the date of Jesus death and we know the date of the French Revolution.

  The well known Watchtower trick is to put all the known data and all the unknown data into a box and give it a good shake. Then, lo and behold, we find all the unknown data has changed into known data and, as in your example, we know the date of the flood and precise timing of Jesus death

  Since you are using the time of the flood you have to know approximately when it happened and as far as I can see the only way you can do this is as I have indicated here.

  This is only my personal opinion and apart from the attaching of dates, I like your discussion.

  link
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  Zechariah

  Navigator,

  You are believing my whole analogy to be based on a false assumption. In reality this belief is based on many false assumptions of your own.

  You have falsely assumed God would not and did not create man to be perishable.

  You are falsely assuming that I am implying that mankind being the earthly Child of God is a denial that he has other heavenly children of an imperishable nature. Surely I believe that the earth is but a temporary residence for the training of spirit creatures who pass through it. Most all my posts speak to that.

  How can you so easily dismiss all God has done in creating man because you want to believe that God never intended him to be perishable? You want to use the scriptures to back up your distorted viewpoints and yet totally dismiss it when it does not say what you have chose to believe.

  You must be refuting the Biblical account that God created man from the dust of the ground and blew into his nostrils the breath of life. Certainly it was his pure intent to create a perishable creature. Your misconception does not change the facts.

  In an effort to make yourself right and to devalue my philosophy you are jumping all over the place with false assumptions and distortions of my point of view.

  You are assuming because I speak of Gods child I am denying Christ as its maker. You from all the things I have said in this post and others know that I believe Christ to be the manifestation of God in the created universe. Essentially then he is God. I have no objection in appropriate circumstances to speak of them as one and the same.

  The fact remains that the question is whether the father or the son would create something physical. Was not Jesus and Adam perfect men? Were not they physical beings subject to physical death? The answer is yes to both. The gift of freewill God granted man implies the potential of making mistakes. Without that potential man could not be perfect. Perfect does not mean what you say it does. That is clear.

  When you class something as perfect you have to understand a perfect what? The scriptures identify the exact sense of the word perfect. It encourages Christians that the man of God will be made fully competent (perfect). Completely equipped for every good work. This is what God intends for mankind in its adult future. They will be completely equipped to take care of themselves. Of course the key to that competence is trust and dependence on God.

  Zechariah

  Edited by - zechariah on 17 October 2002 14:9:26
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  Navigator

  Zechariah

  You are correct in assuming that I do not believe the literal account in Genesis about the creation of man. And no, I do not believe that God would have created something perishable. Nor do I believe that Adam was perfect. The account is an allegory and edited extensively by various Jewish editors. If you believe that God created something subject to illness and death, then I would suggest that your God is too small. I regard Jesus as a wayshower, a teacher, a brother, a spiritual master. Was he the Son of God? Of course he was! But then, so are we all! Did he not say, "The things that I do shall ye do also, and greater things shall ye do..." Jesus was special in the sense that he came remembering who and what he was. His mission was to help us remember. The idea is best expressed in this passage from A Course In Miracles.

  "Listen-perhaps you catch a hint of an ancient state not quite forgotton; dim, perhaps, and yet not altogether unfamiliar, like a song whose name is long forgotten; and the circumstances in which you heard completely unremembered. Not the whole song has stayed with you, but just a little wisp of melody, attached not to a person or a place or anything particular. But you remember, from just this little part, how lovely was the song, how wonderful the setting where you heard it, and how you loved those who were there and listened with you. "

  "The notes are nothing. Yet you have kept them with you, not for themselves, but as a soft reminder of what would make you weep if you remembered how dear it was to you. You could remember, yet you are afraid; believing you would lose the world you learned since then. And yet you know that nothing in the world you learned is half so dear as this. Listen, and see if you remember an ancient song you knew so long ago and held more dear than any melody you taught yourself to cherish since."

  "Beyond the body, beyond the sun and stars, past everything you see and yet somehow familiar, is an arc of golden light that stretches as you look into a great and shining circle. And all the circle fills with light before your eyes. The edges of the circle disappear, and what is in it is no longer contained at all. The light expands and covers everything, extending to infinity forever shining and with no break or limit anywhere. Within it everything is joined in perfect continuity. Nor is it possible to imagine that anything could be outside, for there is nowhere that this light is not."

  "This is the vision of the Son of God, whom you know well. Here is the sight of him who knows his Father. Here is the memory of what you are; a part of this, with all of it within, and joined to all as surely as all is joined in you. Accept the vision that can show you this, and not the body. You know the ancient song, and know it well. Nothing will ever be as dear to you as is this ancient hymn of love the Son of God sings to his Father still."

  "And now the blind can see, for that same song they sing in honor of their Creator gives praise to them as well. The blindness that they made will not withstand the memory of this song. And they will look upon the vision of the Son of God, remembering who he is they sing of. What is a miracle but this remembering? And who is there in whom this memory lies not? The light in one awakens it in all. And when you see it in your brother, you are remembering for everyone." P. 416, Ed 1, ACIM.
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  Double Edge

  Very thought provoking and facinating thread .... Kudos to all above
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  A Paduan

  It seems to only include the reality based Judeo-christian experience of "God" though.
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  Double Edge

  It seems to only include the reality based Judeo-christian experience of "God" though

  Is there any other? (just kidding....come-on, really, I'm serious that I'm kidding )