• Embed Doc
  • Copy Link
  • Readcast
  • Collections
  • 1
    CommentGo Back
Download
 
Deism is defined as the following: The belief, based solely on reason, in a Godwho created the universe and then abandoned it, assuming no control over life,exerting no influence on natural phenomena, and giving no supernatural revelation.Is God simply the great wind up watchmaker or a constant companion, closer thaneven a brother, and help in times of need? You must decide to believe either Godand his word or men and what they have said about God, based on their limitedknowledge of him. So-called Catholic Saint, Gregory of Nyssa (331-396) "Taughtthat the Creation was potential that God imparted to matter its fundamental lawsand properties, but that the objects and completed forms of the Universe thendeveloped gradually, under their own steam, out of primordial chaos." Gregory'sidea was that of constant progress. (And he was one of the most influentialpersons in the making or development of the trinity. Gregory said that the HolyGhost came from the father and then proceeded from the son as the intermediary orgo between, as according to the New Catholic Encyclopedia Volume 15 Page 301. Thiswould limit the Holy Spirit to the new Testament only. This contradicts the factthat King David (1000 B.C.) spoke by the Holy Ghost/Spirit and that both John andJesus had the Holy Spirit in the womb of their respective mothers, prior to theirbirths). The platonic philosophy was that stability is perfection and change isfor the worse. In contrast, Gregory described the ideal of human perfection asconstant progress in virtue and godliness. In his theology, God himself has alwaysbeen perfect and has never changed, and never will. Humanity fell from grace inthe Garden of Eden, but rather than return to an unchanging state, humanity's goalis to become more and more perfect, more like God, even though humanity will neverunderstand, much less attain, God's transcendence. This idea has had a profoundinfluence on the Eastern Orthodox teaching regarding theosis (Definition ofTheosis literally, the condition or the state of deity. It's the process of aworshiper becoming free of hamartía ("missing the mark" or sin), being united withGod, beginning in this life and later consummated in bodily resurrection) or"divinization". Gregory thus shared Origen's conviction that man's material natureis a result of the fall and also Origen's hope for ultimate universal salvation.Saint Augustine (353-430) painted an even clearer picture. He taught that theoriginal germs of living things came in two forms, one placed by the Creator inanimals and plants, and a second variety scattered throughout the environment,destined to become active only under the right conditions. He said that theBiblical account of the Creation should not be read as literally occupying sixdays, but six units of time, while the passage `In the beginning God created theheaven and the earth' should be interpreted: As if this were the seed of theheaven and the earth, although as yet all the matter of heaven and of earth was inconfusion; but because it was certain that from this the heaven and the earthwould be, therefore the material itself is called by that name. Augustine likensthe Creation to the growth of a tree from its seed, which has the potential tobecome a tree, but does so only through a long, slow process, in accordance withthe environment in which it finds itself. God created the potential for theheavens and earth, and for life, but the details worked themselves out inaccordance with the laws laid down by God, is that picture. It wasn't necessaryfor God to create each individual species (let alone each individual living thing)in the process called Special Creation. Instead, the Creator provided the seeds ofthe Universe and of life, and let them develop in their own time. In all but name,except for introducing the hand of God to start off the Universe, Augustine'stheory was a theory of evolution for the life on Earth. His views were influentialthroughout the Middle Ages, and followed by such as by Saint Thomas Aquinas in thethirteenth century and William of Occam (in the fourteenth century). Aquinassimply quoted Augustine's teaching on the subject of the Creation and theinterpretation of Genesis; but as he was one of the highest authorities in theChristian Church at the time, and has been one of the most influential since, thisamounted to an official Catholic Church seal of approval for the idea that God hadset the Universe in motion and then rested. If one can believe that there is aAlmighty God with unlimited power, why then limit him and contradict his word? It
 
would like saying that three is only one God yet he is three separate persons andstill somehow yet one. Wait, that is the man made (Via Tertullian in 200 A.D.)trinity. Apostle Paul who was himself baptized by faith in the name of the LordJesus in Acts 22:16, said these words. "As ye have therefore received Christ Jesusthe Lord, so walk ye in him: rooted and built up in him, and established in thefaith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lestany man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men,after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." (Colossians 3:6-8) Now weread from Hebrews 11:1-3. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, theevidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Throughfaith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that thingswhich are seen were not made of things which do appear. Genesis chapters 1-2. 1:1In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. 1:2 And the earth waswithout form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spiritof God moved upon the face of the waters. 1:3 And God said, Let there be light:and there was light. 1:4 And God saw the light, that it was good: and God dividedthe light from the darkness. 1:5 And God called the light Day, and the darkness hecalled Night. And the evening and the morning were the first day. 1:6 And Godsaid, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide thewaters from the waters. 1:7 And God made the firmament, and divided the waterswhich were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: andit was so. 1:8 And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and themorning were the second day. 1:9 And God said, Let the waters under the heaven begathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so. 1:10And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters calledhe Seas: and God saw that it was good. 1:11 And God said, Let the earth bringforth grass, the herb yielding seed, and the fruit tree yielding fruit after hiskind, whose seed is in itself, upon the earth: and it was so. 1:12 And the earthbrought forth grass, and herb yielding seed after his kind, and the tree yieldingfruit, whose seed was in itself, after his kind: and God saw that it was good.1:13 And the evening and the morning were the third day. 1:14 And God said, Letthere be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night;and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: 1:15 And letthem be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth:and it was so. 1:16 And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule theday, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 1:17 And Godset them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth, 1:18 And torule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness:and God saw that it was good. 1:19 And the evening and the morning were the fourthday. 1:20 And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creaturethat hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament ofheaven. 1:21 And God created great whales, and every living creature that moveth,which the waters brought forth abundantly, after their kind, and every winged fowlafter his kind: and God saw that it was good. 1:22 And God blessed them, saying,Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let fowl multiplyin the earth. 1:23 And the evening and the morning were the fifth day. 1:24 AndGod said, Let the earth bring forth the living creature after his kind, cattle,and creeping thing, and beast of the earth after his kind: and it was so. 1:25 AndGod made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, andevery thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it wasgood. 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and letthem have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, andover the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing thatcreepeth upon the earth. 1:27 So God created man in his own image, in the image ofGod created he him; male and female created he them. 1:28 And God blessed them,and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, andsubdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of theair, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. 1:29 And God said,
of 00

Leave a Comment

You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...
acts2and38

If one had the Holy Spirit in them (By belief and baptism in Christ Jesus) they would say God was alive and near God to them. If not, then he would seem far away, as they are cut off from him.

reply12 / 09 / 2009
You must be to leave a comment.
Submit
Characters: ...