"If God always stepped in to eliminate every problem ...."
God cannot do that. Why? God voluntarily limited himself in one area: his children. Why? Because of Love. In order that his children could be part of his own creation work, co-creators, and therefore inheritors of his work and his love, he gave a part of himself to us, in the form of free will. It's not that God had to choose that. He chose, freely, because of Love. A Father limits himself if it means his son or daughter are given the opportunity to become truly one with him by playing a part in the work, even if that part is tiny, miniscule. Thus, God cannot (or rather, will not) make us love him. Rather, he gives us the free choice, while always working to bring us to the place to make the RIGHT choice, because He knows, our choosing to love him is the path for our own greatest happiness. Thus, he is always motivated by Love. For US. Truly for US.
Thus, God's work and will are accomplished only by this formula: God's responsibility (What God can and must do) + Human responsibility (what you or I can and must do) = Fulfillment of God's Plan.
God sets up his plan, predestines us to do what we must, so that the plan is fulfilled, but then he steps back and let's us choose. If we fail, then he extends the plan, and sets up someone else in our place, to do what we could not. And if that person fails, God sets it up again, and chooses another person, and predestines them, and so until someone does it right. THis is why the providence of salvation takes so long. Not because of God or Christ, but because he deliberately incorporated our role as a necessary and integral part of the work.
God set it up this way, as a JOINT PROJECT, out of Love. In order that when the Creation is complete, we as his children actually had a hand in completing and perfecting it. He did this so that we are not simply spectators, or servants, but actual children, small individualized expressions of His own nature. Even if our portion or responsibility is 0.00001% and our Father's is 99.99999%, he set it up like this because of Love.
God put Himself in that sort of position, because of love, unselfish love. And that's the reason God cannot simply reach down or reach in and make evil go away. We humans had a role in creating Evil, and We humans have to play a role in cleaning it up. God will do 99.99999% of the heavy lifting, (more like the Father does 98% and Christ does 1.9999%) but each of us must also do our (symbolic) 0.00001% in order for the thing to work.
THAT is why God had to recruit Noah, then had to recruit Abraham, then Moses, then the Israelites. He had to get them to do 0.00001% to set up the situation where he could bring Christ Jesus. Then, God still has to recruit his saints, and recruit you and I to do our tiny, miniscule portion or responsibility (which essentially to believe and then put that belief into action) so that things can unfold properly. We are finally at the point today where God's 98% and Christ's 1.99999% have been perfectly fulfilled, and our accumulated human 0.000001% (accumulated through the works of all the righteous people and saints in history and righteous and saints living today) has reached the point where the 100% has been locked in.
THIS is why the Cabal is being destroyed now, and THIS is why the great awakening is happening. God's been working on this project for many more thousands of years than we can imagine.
We are standing at the completion point of all God's providential work in human history, since the fall of Adam and Eve and the recruiting of the first champion, Abel.
We are that blessed. We stand in a generation that all our descendants will call truly Blessed. Because we are the one's overseeing the final Brick in the completion of God's CITY of restoration providence.
Each of us is far, far more blessed than we can imagine. To be here, alive, now.
"If God always stepped in to eliminate every problem ...."
God cannot do that. Why? God voluntarily limited himself in one area: his children. Why? Because of Love. In order that his children could be part of his own creation work, co-creators, and therefore inheritors of his work and his love, he gave a part of himself to us, in the form of free will. It's not that God had to choose that. He chose, freely, because of Love. A Father limits himself if it means his son or daughter are given the opportunity to become truly one with him by playing a part in the work, even if that part is tiny, miniscule. Thus, God cannot (or rather, will not) make us love him. Rather, he gives us the free choice, while always working to bring us to the place to make the RIGHT choice, because He knows, our choosing to love him is the path for our own greatest happiness. Thus, he is always motivated by Love. For US. Truly for US.
Thus, God's work and will are accomplished only by this formula: God's responsibility (What God can and must do) + Human responsibility (what you or I can and must do) = Fulfillment of God's Plan.
God sets up his plan, predestines us to do what we must, so that the plan is fulfilled, but then he steps back and let's us choose. If we fail, then he extends the plan, and sets up someone else in our place, to do what we could not. And if that person fails, God sets it up again, and chooses another person, and predestines them, and so until someone does it right. THis is why the providence of salvation takes so long. Not because of God or Christ, but because he deliberately incorporated our role as a necessary and integral part of the work.
God set it up this way, as a JOINT PROJECT, out of Love. In order that when the Creation is complete, we as his children actually had a hand in completing and perfecting it. He did this so that we are not simply spectators, or servants, but actual children, small individualized expressions of His own nature. Even if our portion or responsibility is 0.00001% and our Father's is 99.99999%, he set it up like this because of Love.
God put Himself in that sort of position, because of love, unselfish love. And that's the reason God cannot simply reach down or reach in and make evil go away. We humans had a role in creating Evil, and We humans have to play a role in cleaning it up. God will do 99.99999% of the heavy lifting, (more like the Father does 98% and Christ does 1.9999%) but each of us must also do our (symbolic) 0.00001% in order for the thing to work.
THAT is why God had to recruit Noah, then had to recruit Abraham, then Moses, then the Israelites. He had to get them to do 0.00001% to set up the situation where he could bring Christ Jesus. Then, God still has to recruit his saints, and recruit you and I to do our tiny, miniscule portion or responsibility (which essentially to believe and then put that belief into action) so that things can unfold properly. We are finally at the point today where God's 98% and Christ's 1.99999% have been perfectly fulfilled, and our accumulated human 0.000001% (accumulated through the works of all the righteous people and saints in history and righteous and saints living today) has reached the point where the 100% has been locked in.
THIS is why the Cabal is being destroyed now, and THIS is why the great awakening is happening. God's been working on this project for many more thousands of years than we can imagine.
We are standing at the completion point of all God's providential work in human history, since the fall of Adam and Eve and the recruiting of the first champion, Abel.
We are that blessed. We stand in a generation that all our descendants will call truly Blessed. Because we are the one's overseeing the final Brick in the completion of God's CITY of restoration providence.
Each of us is far, far more blessed than we can imagine. To be here, alive, now.
Well said. The 40,000 foot view!
<cheesy grin>
Nice write up