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spiffy
Feb 1, 08 - 11:05 AM |
Godly fire
Hi, This is an excerpt from The Consuming Fire of Universal Reconciliation (by Ed Smith): "In recent months, I've tackled the problem of why God seems so stand-offish, even to us christians. I've concluded that the full presence of God could not be borne in our fallen bodies. I have felt that presence burn even when the burning was pleasant to me. There have been times when His closeness left me with no strength in my body so that I could not stand. The O.T. talked about how no one could see God and live; I believe it. His full glory would be too much for us and burn our flesh away from our spirits." I think this is a well thought out and accurate assesment, except for one important detail. Mr. Smith appears inferentially to assume the position that evil resides within the physical flesh while the spirit is free to receive God. Seems important to me to suggest that it is actually our spirit itself infecting the mind(assuming a trichotomy) or our soul itself (assuming a dichotomy)which fragmentally contains that sort of evil which is damaging to a face-to-face relationship with God, and not our body. God's pure righteousness is a roaring flame to the root cause of evil, not evil itself, which is only a manifestation of a deeper, spiritual cause. I believe the view of spirit as the receptacle or bearer of the raw material of evil provides a much more coherent determinant for our lack the perception of God in a close relationship. I tend to take the position that it's important that Christian universalism (or true theology of any stripe) be availed of the most true and accurate apology possible, to the glory of God and His message of the salvation of all. |
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Ed Smith
Feb 2nd, 2008 - 11:25 AM |
Re: Godly fire
>>>>Mr. Smith appears inferentially to assume the position that evil resides within the physical flesh while the spirit is free to receive God. It was certainly not my intention to infer that flesh itself is inherently evil while spirit is inherently good. But I do think our flesh is a limitation, being still unredeemed. And this is why "we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body." (Romans 8:23) But we need not be discouraged while we await the redemption of our bodies, for "if Christ is in you, though the body is dead because of sin, yet the spirit is alive because of righteousness." Romans 8:10 While it is not the case in general that flesh is evil and spirit is good, our new birth in Christ has not yet been realized in the flesh, so we await resurrection. I believe our new birth has taken place in our spirits and our minds are somewhere in between, so that "though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day." (2 Cor. 4:16) And so, "the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the spirit is life and peace." (Romans 8:6) Blessings, Ed |
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spiffy
Feb 2nd, 2008 - 3:25 PM |
Re: Godly fire
Hi Ed, Thanks for clarifying, my misunderstanding. God bless. |
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Ed Smith
Feb 2nd, 2008 - 3:43 PM |
Re: Godly fire
Thanks, Spiffy. That article was actually based closely on an informal email I wrote Mike a long time ago. I should probably look it over again and consider editing some things. Ed |
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