Posts Made By: Brien Stratton

Rebellion of Spirit Creatures

There is another factor to consider. Our original parents were not the only ones to rebel against God's rule. But who else was in existence at the time? Spirit creatures. Before God created humans, he created a higher form of life, great numbers of angels, to live in the heavenly realm. They too were created with free will and also with the need to submit to God's rule.-Job 38:7; Psalm 104:4; Revelation 5:11.

The Bible shows that rebellion first broke out in the spirit realm. A spirit creature wanted total freedom. He even wanted humans to worship him. (Matthew 4:8, 9) This spirit rebel became a factor in influencing Adam and Eve to rebel, claiming falsely that God was withholding something good from them. (Genesis 3:1-5) So he is called Devil (Slanderer) and Satan (Adversary). Later, he induced other spirit creatures to rebel. They became known as demons.-Deuteronomy 32:17; Revelation 12:9; 16:14.

Humans, by rebelling against God, gave themselves over to the influence of Satan and his demons. That is why the Bible calls Satan "the god of this system of things," who "has blinded the minds of the unbelievers." Hence, God's Word says that "the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one." Jesus himself called Satan "the ruler of this world."-2 Corinthians 4:4; 1 John 5:19; John 12:31.

To be continued.....

Brien

Two Issues

Satan raised another issue that challenged God. In effect, he charged that God was mistaken in the way He created humans and that no one would want to do the right thing when put under pressure. In fact, he claimed that under test they would even curse God. (Job 2:1-5) In this way Satan called into question the integrity of the human creation.

Therefore, God has permitted enough time for all intelligent creatures to see how this issue as well as the issue of God's sovereignty would be resolved. (Compare Exodus 9:16.) The eventual experience of human history would reveal the truth about these two issues.

First of all, what would time reveal regarding the issue of universal sovereignty, the rightness of God's rule? Could humans rule themselves better than God? Would any system of human rule apart from God usher in a happy world free from war, crime, and injustice? Would any eliminate poverty and provide prosperity for all? Would any conquer sickness, old age, and death? God's rule was designed to do all of that.-Genesis 1:26-31.

Regarding the second issue, what would time reveal as to the worth of the human creation? Was it a mistake for God to have created humans the way he did? Would any of them do the right thing under test? Would any people show that they wanted God's rule instead of independent human rule?

To be continued.....

Brien

What Has Been the Result of Rebellion?

REGARDING the issue of God's right to rule, what has been the result of all these centuries of human rule independent of God? Have humans proved to be better rulers than God? If we judge by the record of man's inhumanity to man, surely not.

When our first parents rejected God's rule, disaster followed. They brought suffering upon themselves and all the human family that came from them. And they had nobody to blame but themselves. God's Word says: "They have acted ruinously on their own part; they are not his children, the defect is their own."-Deuteronomy 32:5.

History has shown the correctness of God's warning to Adam and Eve that if they moved out from under God's provisions, they would deteriorate and eventually die. (Genesis 2:17; 3:19) They did move out from under God's rule, and in time they did deteriorate and die.

What happened afterward to all their offspring was as Romans 5:12 explains: "Through one man [Adam, mankind's family head] sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men." So when our first parents rebelled against God's overseership, they became defective sinners. In harmony with the laws of genetics, the resulting imperfection was all they could pass on to their offspring. That is why all of us have been born defective, prone to sickness and death.

Many centuries have passed. Empires have come and gone. Every conceivable type of government has been tried. Yet, over and over, dreadful things have happened to the human family. After six thousand years, one would think that humans would have progressed to the point of establishing peace, justice, and prosperity earth wide and that by now they would have mastered the positive values of kindness, compassion, and cooperation.

The reality, however, is just the opposite. No type of human government ever devised has brought true peace and prosperity for all. In this 20th century alone, we have seen the systematic murder of millions during the Holocaust and the slaughter of over 100 million in wars. In our time countless numbers of people have been tortured, murdered, and imprisoned because of intolerance and political differences.

To be continued.....

Brien

The Situation Today

In addition, consider the overall condition of the human family today. Crime and violence are rampant. Drug abuse is epidemic. Sexually transmitted diseases are pandemic. The dreaded disease AIDS is affecting millions of people. Tens of millions of people die of hunger or disease each year, while a small number have vast riches. Humans pollute and pillage the earth. Family life and moral values have broken down everywhere. Truly, life today reflects the ugly rulership of 'the god of this world,' Satan. The world he is master of is cold, ruthless, and thoroughly corrupt.-2 Corinthians 4:4.

God has allowed enough time for humans to come to the peak of their scientific and material progress. But is it genuine progress when the bow and arrow have been replaced by machine guns, tanks, jet bombers, and nuclear missiles? Is it progress when people can travel into space but cannot live together in peace on earth? Is it progress when people are afraid to walk the streets at night, or even in the daytime in some places?

What Time Has Shown

What the test of centuries of time has shown is that it is not possible for humans to direct their own steps successfully apart from God's rule. It is no more possible for them to do that than it is for them to live without eating, drinking, and breathing. The evidence is clear: We were designed to be dependent on our Creator's guidance just as surely as we were created to be dependent on food, water, and air.

To be continued.....

Brien

By permitting wickedness, God has once and for all time demonstrated the sad results of misusing free will. And free will is such a precious gift that rather than take it away from humans, God has allowed them to see what its misuse means. God's Word speaks the truth when it says: "It does not belong to man who is walking even to direct his step." It is also truthful when it says: "Man has dominated man to his injury."-Jeremiah 10:23; Ecclesiastes 8:9.

God's permission of human rule for six thousand years forcefully illustrates that man is unable to stop suffering. At no time has he done so. For instance, in his day King Solomon of Israel, with all his wisdom, wealth, and power, could not straighten out the misery resulting from human rule. (Ecclesiastes 4:1-3) Similarly, in our day world leaders, even with the latest technical advances, are not able to eliminate suffering. Worse yet, history has shown that humans independent of God's rule have increased suffering instead of eliminating it.

To be continued..... (one more)

Brien

God's Long-Range View

God's permission of suffering has been painful for us. But he has taken a long-range view, knowing the good results that will come in the long run. God's view will benefit creatures, not just for a few years or a few thousand, but for millions of years, yes, for all eternity.

Should the situation ever arise at any future time that someone misuses free will to call into question God's way of doing things, it would not be necessary to grant him time to try to prove his views. Having already allowed rebels thousands of years, God has established a legal precedent that can be applied throughout eternity anywhere in the universe.

Because Jehovah has permitted wickedness and suffering at this time, it will already have been amply proved that nothing that is out of harmony with him can prosper. It will have been shown beyond doubt that no independent scheme of men or spirit creatures can bring lasting benefits. Hence, God will then be fully justified in swiftly crushing any rebel. "The wicked ones he will annihilate."-Psalm 145:20; Romans 3:4.

From the booklet-Does God Really Care About Us?

Brien

The book of Revelation (12:7, 10, 12) specifically mentions Michael in connection with the establishment of God's Kingdom and links this event with trouble for the earth: "And war broke out in heaven: Michael and his angels battled with the dragon, and the dragon and its angels battled. And I heard a loud voice in heaven say: 'Now have come to pass the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ, because the accuser of our brothers has been hurled down . . . On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea.'" Jesus Christ is later depicted as leading the heavenly armies in war against the nations of the earth. (Re 19:11-16) This would mean a period of distress for them, which would logically be included in the "time of distress" that is associated with Michael's standing up. (Da 12:1) Since the Son of God is to fight the nations, it is only reasonable that he was the one who with his angels earlier battled against the superhuman dragon, Satan the Devil, and his angels.
In his prehuman existence Jesus was called "the Word." (Joh 1:1) He also had the personal name Michael. By retaining the name Jesus after his resurrection (Ac 9:5), "the Word" shows that he is identical with the Son of God on earth. His resuming his heavenly name Michael and his title (or name) "The Word of God" (Re 19:13) ties him in with his prehuman existence. The very name Michael, asking as it does, "Who Is Like God?" points to the fact that Jehovah God is without like, or equal, and that Michael his archangel is his great Champion or Vindicator.-From the book-Insight on the Scriptures

Brien

People seem to like this topic, so I will post more info on it:

Factors to Recognize. To understand the matter of foreknowledge and foreordination as relating to God, certain factors necessarily must be recognized.
First, God's ability to foreknow and foreordain is clearly stated in the Bible. Jehovah himself sets forth as proof of his Godship this ability to foreknow and foreordain events of salvation and deliverance, as well as acts of judgment and punishment, and then to bring such events to fulfillment. His chosen people are witnesses of these facts. (Isa 44:6-9; 48:3-8) Such divine foreknowledge and foreordination form the basis for all true prophecy. (Isa 42:9; Jer 50:45; Am 3:7, 8) God challenges the nations opposing his people to furnish proof of the godship they claim for their mighty ones and their idol-gods, calling on them to do so by foretelling similar acts of salvation or judgment and then bringing them to pass. Their impotence in this respect demonstrates their idols to be 'mere wind and unreality.'-Isa 41:1-10, 21-29; 43:9-15; 45:20, 21.
A second factor to be considered is the free moral agency of God's intelligent creatures. The Scriptures show that God extends to such creatures the privilege and responsibility of free choice, of exercising free moral agency (De 30:19, 20; Jos 24:15), thereby making them accountable for their acts. (Ge 2:16, 17; 3:11-19; Ro 14:10-12; Heb 4:13) They are thus not mere automatons, or robots. Man could not truly have been created in "God's image" if he were not a free moral agent. (Ge 1:26, 27)) Logically, there should be no conflict between God's foreknowledge (as well as his foreordaining) and the free moral agency of his intelligent creatures.

Brien

A third factor that must be considered, one sometimes overlooked, is that of God's moral standards and qualities, including his justice, honesty, impartiality, love, mercy, and kindness. Any understanding of God's use of the powers of foreknowledge and foreordination must therefore harmonize with not only some of these factors but with all of them. Clearly, whatever God foreknows must inevitably come to pass, so that God is able to call "things that are not as though they were."-Ro 4:17.
Does God know in advance everything that people will do?
The question then arises: Is his exercise of foreknowledge infinite, without limit? Does he foresee and foreknow all future actions of all his creatures, spirit and human? And does he foreordain such actions or even predestinate what shall be the final destiny of all his creatures, even doing so before they have come into existence?
Or, is God's exercise of foreknowledge selective and discretionary, so that whatever he chooses to foresee and foreknow, he does, but what he does not choose to foresee or foreknow, he does not? And, instead of preceding their existence, does God's determination of his creatures' eternal destiny await his judgment of their course of life and of their proved attitude under test? The answers to these questions must necessarily come from the Scriptures themselves and the information they provide concerning God's actions and dealings with his creatures, including what has been revealed through his Son, Christ Jesus.-1Co 2:16.

Brien

Predestinarian view. The view that God's exercise of his foreknowledge is infinite and that he does foreordain the course and destiny of all individuals is known as predestinarianism. Its advocates reason that God's divinity and perfection require that he be omniscient (all-knowing), not only respecting the past and present but also regarding the future. According to this concept, for him not to foreknow all matters in their minutest detail would evidence imperfection. Examples such as the case of Isaac's twin sons, Esau and Jacob, are presented as evidence of God's foreordaining creatures before their birth (Ro 9:10-13); and texts such as Ephesians 1:4, 5 are cited as evidence that God foreknew and foreordained the future of all his creatures even before the start of creation.
To be correct, this view would, of course, have to harmonize with all the factors previously mentioned, including the Scriptural presentation of God's qualities, standards, and purposes, as well as his righteous ways in dealing with his creatures. (Re 15:3, 4) We may properly consider, then, the implications of such a predestinarian view.
This concept would mean that, prior to creating angels or earthling man, God exercised his powers of foreknowledge and foresaw and foreknew all that would result from such creation, including the rebellion of one of his spirit sons, the subsequent rebellion of the first human pair in Eden (Ge 3:1-6; Joh 8:44), and all the bad consequences of such rebellion down to and beyond this present day. This would necessarily mean that all the wickedness that history has recorded (the crime and immorality, oppression and resultant suffering, lying and hypocrisy, false worship and idolatry) once existed, before creation's beginning, only in the mind of God, in the form of his foreknowledge of the future in all of its minutest details.

Brien