What Does the Second Coming Entail?

That you accept his invite you mean? Strange contortion of the English language that. Someone offers to give you something and you not accepting it is a term and condition of them offering it?Somehow or other you have managed you contrive a situation where you are able to accept things that you do not beleive (which is not what accepting is). Or accept things "for the sake of argument" (which is not what accepting is either)Edited by iano, : edit titleEdited by iano, : typo

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1 John 1:5 "God is light and in Him there is no darkness at all”

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In the Bible (as in life), light corresponds to goodness and darkness corresponds to evil. God has no darkness in him and so it is impossible for him to do something evil. The thought cannot occur to him - for there is no darkness in him to suggest the thought as there is in us.He can hate evil. But his hating is not like most of our hating - which stems from darkness. Some of our hatred gives a bit of a hint though. Take the acts of a paeodophile. We hate them because they are evil acts . It is not dark to hate evil in this case"God cannot break his own rules" is a poor way of expressing it. God doesn't have any rules for himself, he just IS the way he is. His rules for us stem from the way he is. Better were it said that God cannot act in a way which is inconsistant with who he is.Edited by iano, : change unlike to like

In the context of what overarching principle Legend? That it is the word of God only means that man didn't make it up. But that isn't a context - that only means that what's written comes from GodBut I applaud the advice to Larni - something which this tired old evangelist forgets to mention at time. Do read it all. You can pre-suppose that if it is the word of God then inconsistant it will not be. Apparent inconsistancy can be laid aside for a time using the simple technique known as "pointing the finger at my own limitations in getting it and not supposing there to be an inconsistancy because of those limitations"

Does Bob own the Gas Co too? I'll pass on your analogy if you don't mind Ringo. We'd have to get into discussing the workings of utility companies and the rights of the consumer to manage their own account as they see fit otherwise

It can be one or the other. You presuppose one - and one which paints you in the best..er..light. Surprise, surprise! I was responding to your post where you said "if you take the whole of the bible as the true word of God, then that's the only conclusion I can come to about God". You started your reading on this presumption and I offered a further bit of advice as an outworking of that basic assumption, ie: if you hit apparent inconsistancy assume the problem lies with you. Here you hopped out of "bible as the word of God" and switched "to mangled old myth". Did I miss a step somewhere?ps: I don't take the Quran to be the word of God thus am highly unlikely to try and form views about God from it.ps: Any ideas about how one reads the bible "in context", the advice you offered to Larni. Simple one for you: what is the context of the Bible? Globally like.

An invite is an offer. It does not have to be accepted. You must accept an invite in order to excercise the rights it offers you. Hopefully we can agree on that much The location of the nightclub at the top of a skyscraper is not a catch. It is where it is and is not a condition placed upon your acceptance of the offer. And you have to be brought to it - you cannot make it up there by yourself. To step outside the analogy for a second: patently if you die then someone is going to have to bring you to heaven - you haven't a clue how to get there yourself.The person issuing the invite also includes a way for you to get there. All that happens is that the invite needs to be accepted and that issue will be taken care of automatically. Its part and parcel of the whole gig.Back to acceptance. From an earlier post to you

The bits you think are interesting are interesting and the bits that you think are mangled old myths are mangled old myths. YOU is a dominant feature in your analysis You mean Christians-who-do-not-beleive-it-to-be-the-inspired-word-of God Christians? But lets avoid off topic no true Christian stuff can we? The no-true-God-inspired angle. But why would God need edumicated people to record what he wanted them to write. 1 John apparently uses only 200 different words indicating its authors lack of education (and making it a more difficult book to interpret directly) whereas Romans is the work of a scholar.No matter. "I love my mummy" is a true statement even if spoken by an uneducated 4 year old.

You mean his dogma that the bible isn't the word of God isn't a dogma?

This presupposes a non-assuming person. The Bible says there are none. And it is only your disbelief which supposes that there is such a beast. Horns of a dilema? A word in your argument I have been fortunate. Things happened to me and THEN I went to find out what happened. The Bible describes it exactly, the Quran doesn't. Which to believe? The pre-disposition informs the context in which it should be read. No problem in that per se. But pre-dispositions can vary. So which predisposition do you recommend Larni draws his context. And why? I wonder what he would make of the Old Testaments Psalm 22 in general, verse 16 in particular...geopolitically speaking

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ASV: For dogs have compassed me: A company of evil-doers have inclosed me; They pierced my hands and my feet.

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BBE: Dogs have come round me: I am shut in by the band of evil-doers; they made wounds in my hands and feet.

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DBY: For dogs have encompassed me; an assembly of evil-doers have surrounded me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

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KJV: For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

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JPS: For dogs have encompassed me; a company of evil-doers have inclosed me; like a lion, they are at my hands and my feet.

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WBS: For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

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WEB: For dogs have surrounded me. A company of evildoers have enclosed me. Like a lion, they pin my hands and feet.

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YLT: And to the dust of death thou appointest me, For surrounded me have dogs, A company of evil doers have compassed me, Piercing my hands and my feet.

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Sounds for all the world like a pilot going down in flames Is this your parachute?

You ever heard of a non-assuming person?

Don't know about that. But whatever about the NT writers making the facts fit the OT story it would be a bit difficult for the OT Psalmist to make up the NT times crucifixion - seeing as folk in OT times hadn't invented that form of execution yet.Figaro outo

"I am light and I remove my light. What has been left behind? Darkenss. That which I, by removing myself have 'created'. It is my light to do with as I will. I am under no obligation to shine it anywhere in particular. It is not evil not to shine it.""I call to a man through conscience in order to work against sin working in him. When I silence my call those men will follow the call of sin. I have no obligation to call them - so it is not evil to stop calling them."God being light and good dispels darkness and evil - that which occurs when his light and goodness are removed. And he can use evil to achieve his plan simply by knowing when to permit it to have its way. Using evil to achieve a good is not evil. Its genius.Edited by iano, : No reason given.

Doublespeak? Hardly. Man wants to do evil for he is a slave to sin. God holds him back from total free expression then wallop! - God lets go his hold for a moment and man rushes headlong towards evil - and goes and crucifies Jesus. Mission accomplished. Utilising mans/satans evil to work for good.Elsewhere, the purpose of the law is not that sinful man is expected to obey it. He cannot obey it as he is. So man breaks the law time after time. God can reveal to man that he is a sinner due to the very fact that man breaks the law (sins). The more man sins the stronger the conviction that he is a sinner is when that fact is revealed to him. And so a man can be saved (for salvation requires us to be convicted (or convinced) that we are sinners). Another case of using evil (our own sin) to achieve a good (man being saved from his sin)Like I said: GeniusEdited by iano, : attribute quote

I know I suggested recently that I was happy for you to keep on splashing banner headlines across the page whilst I would decide on the column inches underneath (your sub-editor to my Editor as it were). But I didn't mean you to take it literally!God brings evil. Whats the problem with that? God removes his restraint and a young car driver goes out and gets pissed, speeds through the city and runs a red light - ploughing into a pedestrian. God has brought anothers evil to bear on the pedestrian.Where's the problem? Its a pretty mis-guided Christian who doesn't. That's not to say that one has to struggle everywhere. May I presume you do not struggle anywhere with your worldview?