God's Grand Purpose for His Creation?

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God's Grand Purpose for His Creation?
Charlie:
..He has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His grim pleasure which He purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment--to bring a few believers in Heaven and earth under one head, even Christ, and to consign the rest of mankind to hell until the forevers of the forevers. In Him only you few Christians were chosen, according to the plan of Him who works all things according to His holy and loving purpose that His creation will be forever divided between a small minority of winners and a vast majority of losers.
(Eph.1:9-11 According to traditional religiosity.)
And again, ladies and gentlemen for your inspiration and edification we read--
Christ is the Image of the Invisible God, the Firstborn over a few believers. It was for Him that a few things were created, a few more things in Heaven (which are invisible) and a few less things in earth (which are visible.) A few thrones and powers and principalities also were created by Him and for Him. All else was created to burn in hell unto the eternities of the eternities. He is before all things and in Him a few things hold together, whereas all else even now is in process of utter destruction that will never cease occurring for all eternity. And Christ is the head of the body, the church, who is the only born from the dead so that in a few things He might have the supremacy, whereas in most things evil and pain will exercise supremacy until the forevers of the forevers. For God was pleased to have all of His limited fulness dwell in Christ, and through Him to reconcile a few people on earth to Himself (and no creature in heaven, for nothing in Heaven need be reconciled) by making a small degree of peace through His cross. (Colossians 1:15-20--According to mainstream religiosity.)
Well, this is how many folks entrenched in the good news of endless hell for billions would demand that we understand these Scriptures. Is it not?
Just to make you smile... :o)
Love to all--
Charlie
Andy:
Dagnabbit, Charlie.....
....... if your paraphrases of the interpretive gifts of Traditional Religiosity weren't so incredibly right on the money, I would not feel so guilty for laughing so danged hard!
Furthermore, it is NOT at ALL gratifying that your post induced me to involuntarily spit Sprite all over my keyboard.
Thanks a lot pal!
Andy :o)
Charlie:
Glad to join with you in sprinkling a little (spriteful) joy today, bro!
In EVERYTHING give thanks, right? :o)
Love,
Charlie
Tony:
Charlie, I think you're on a roll...or is that a Bagel?
Good post comrade.
Yes, for God so love the few, the proud, the self made believer, that He gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever could, in and of themselves, muster up the faith all by themselves to believe, God would then be blackmailed into making it so they would not perish.
John 3:16 according to ET friends.
Tony
Charlie:
.....And we mustn't forget John 3:17, moreover which saith--
"For God indeed sent His Son to condemn most of the world. Yet he came in the hopes that a few in the world would save themselves by wise and timely choices which would obligate Him to grant them their just reward of eternal life."
I also love the Calvinistic version of Romans 11:32 that states:
"God has committed only the elect to disobedience so that He might show mercy to only the elect."
(Does this come across as nonsense? Well, you have to be in the elect to understand this one. Sorry about that! :o)
Charlie
Mike:
105 BILLION PEOPLE AND COUNTING...
"...he has made known to us the mystery of His will...to bring ALL...together under one head. (Eph 1:9-10).
Well, for starters, how many people have ever lived on this earth? One of the latest scientific estimates says there have been 105 billion births since the dawn of the human race (See reports below).*
But remember...the mystery of our Father's will...to bring ALL...together under one head!
"Who then can be saved?" they asked. Jesus said: "ALL things are possible with God." (Mk 10: 26-27)
Here are some more astonishing that reflect on God's saving power: in 1999, the world population reached six billion for the first time. It has tripled in my own lifetime.
Today's world population is around 6,162,400. This could rise to ten billion by 2054 and as high as 11 billion by 2093 (U.N. estimates). Our world neighbors are increasing as I type this by 15,180 an hour - while 6,130 die, giving an overall increase of 9,049 an hour, on average. Worldwide, each minute 253 people are born each minute, 102 die..and the population goes up on average by 151.
But even today, when an estimated 100,000 people become Christians each day, this is relatively small figure when you realize that the world population goes up by 217,184 a day (U.N. estimates).
Remember, only a tiny percentage of all the people who have ever lived have fully heard - let alone understood the glorious Gospel...or even heard the name of Jesus, or seen a single Bible verse.
Yet...glorious truth...because of Calvary, the day will come when EVERY knee will bow and EVERY tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:10, 11).
The Greek language used here implies glad reverence ...not forced obedience.
Oh, wonderful Father...oh, dearest Abba...I'm lost for words! My heart leaps at the thought of your power, for you will have ALL men to be saved (I Tim.2:4). "For as in Adam ALL die, so also in Christ ALL shall be made alive!" (1 Cor. 15:22).
Doesn't your heart leap with praise for the glories to come? Yet, sadly, many sincere evangelical friends don't share this wider hope. Only this week, a missionary wrote me from India, quoting from Tom Rainer's book ("The Effective Church")..where Tom writes: "More than half the people who have ever lived are alive today. We must fervently believe that they are really lost before we can intercede effectively for them."
Really? And lost...forever? I'd go crazy if I really believed that. I prefer to believe the Bible. And Tom also has his figures wrong. It's a myth that "more than half the people who have ever lived are alive today."
Missions often quote this fable...perhaps as a way to somehow motive (numerically) people to "give, to go and get the job done." Surely, the only motive must be love. Population experts in fact believe that only 5.5 per cent of all people who have ever lived are alive today...though even that figure is a fairly large one when you think about it!
........................
* Sorry to bomb you with figures, but some folks like them. Demographic expert Carl Haub in Washington says that back in the 1970s, someone claimed that 75 per cent of all people who had ever lived were alive at that moment. This "ridiculous" little factoid has had a long shelf life. He adds that the at the dawn of agriculture, around 8000BC, the population was around 5 million.
This slowly rose to around 300 million at the time of Jesus...but that's only 0.0512 per cent year.
Life was short...and infant mortality high: perhaps 500 in fact deaths per 1,000 births.
By 14 AD, the population of the Roman Empire, from Spain to Asia Minor, was around 45 million.
By 1650, it had risen to 500 million. The dreaded Black Plague may have begun around 542 AD - it is believed that half the Byzantine Empire in those dark ages was destroyed by the 6th century, a total of 100 million deaths.
By 1804, the world population reached 1 billion...then two billion by 1927 (123 years later), then 3 billion in 1960 (only 33 years later); soared to 4 billion in 1974 (only 14 years later); 5 billion by 1987 (13 years later); and 6 billion by 1999, (12 years later).
Wow...that's enuf statistics, eh?
But isn't is amazing to realize just what a loving, powerful God we have? ALL mankind will know that I, the Lord, am your Saviour, Your Redeemer, the MIGHTY ONE of Jacob. (Isaiah 49:26).
Bless you, Charlie,
Mike
Charlie:
It's either universalism or agnosticism, isn't it?
Hey Mike,
That was a thought-provoking post for sure! It's great hearing from you.
The figures you've presented only underscored to me once again, why a rational person with a (normal) conscience cannot buy into traditional religiosity's "glad tidings" of ET-ism. For unless one can hope that God has a GOOD purpose for all the myriad populations of people who have known only sickness, sorrow, hard labour, poverty, squalor, injustice, oppression and ignorance --then agnosticism is the only position a rational human being CAN adopt. I.E., "If there is a God, then He hasn't shown up yet, so we need to shelve this 'God' business until he clearly shows up and make the best of what has been handed to us."
Whaddayathink?
Hope to see more posts from you, bro!
Love always--
Charlie
Mike:
Well done, Charlie. You managed to neatly sum up my torrent of statistics in seven words! (It's either universalism or agnosticism, isn't it?")
Although multiplied billions of people in history never heard of His love in this life...isn't it amazing to read (in the New Living Bible) that "some day they, too, will share in God's. For God has imprisoned ALL people in their own disobedience so He could have MERCY on EVERYONE.
"Oh, what a wonderful God we have! How great are His riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible for us to understand His decisions and His methods!" (Romans 11:25-26).
And bless you, Charlie and the great army of liberated messengers who are even now heralding the Father's heart of the love for all mankind.
Your friend from afar,
Mike
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