Posted: Wed May 11, 2005 3:13 am
yes i have read those... Jesus says we wont marry or be given in marriage, Adam and Eve did not marry and were not given in marriage, they were created by God to be together, marriage is something of this fallen wolrds understanding, it is our way of trying to understand the relationship God intended a man and woman to have, so in essence Adam and Eve were created married to each other, they were created as complements of each other, in love with each other, only together under God are they one whole.
it is tricky of course to understand the Bible, and i do not understand most of it, but i do think that i understand this perhaps a little closer to how it is then some do... God said, and Jesus resaid this in the NT, so its in Old and New, that God created man and woman to be one, also God never changes, if God knew that the best way to do things was how he set it up in the Garden of Eden, then as he doesnt change and knows everything, that is how it will be in Heaven, Heaven will nto be the same as Eden, because for one thing, there was only Adam and Eve in Eden, and there will be more people in Heaven, there are however the main key elements, being with God, paradise and so on.
Also as for the angels, the Bible refers to cherubs or cherubims in several spots i believe, and i dont believe it gives them a sex or an age. also just because the Bible doesnt say there arent women or children angels that doesnt mean there arent, if they Bible said there are none, then there would be none, but it doesnt say that.
as far as children go... i imagine that delivering a message of God is a big deal and responsibility and so on, just as we dont believe it is right to send our children to our job, perhaps they didnt send their children to do theirs, you would not stick a child into a postal truck and have him/her deliver the mail... the Bible doesnt say this doesnt exist and it doesnt say it does, we do not know.
the same goes for women, and also understanding the time and culture, would a woman have been listend to? a woman who was just property? probably not... but i dont know, and no one does, it doesnt say they dont exist, it doesnt say they do, we do not know.
also Jesus says we will not marry or be given in marriage and that we will be like the angels in Heaven, i am not sure but i would imagine different Bibles saying this in different ways, but we do not know in what respect it is saying we will be like the angels in Heaven, i think it is more about law, marriage is a law, to be given in marriage and to marry is a legal thing... i do not believe the angels have the us constitution or any such thing to follow.
i also do not believe we will have the 10 commandments in heaven as we have htem here, there will not be a need of them as they would serve no purpose, there will be no evil, we will not wish to sin and we will not sin, sin is gone, no need for 10 commandments... once again there is no giving in marriage or marrying done between Adam and Eve, there truely is no ceremony or wedding in Genesis, there is the creation of Adam and Eve and it talking of Eve as being Adam's wife, in a way Adam and Eve being created married/in love/one flesh. i feel however that wife is a term for us to understand the relationship, the closest thing we have to that relationship is marriage, but all of our relationships and all we do suffers in this sinful world, our relationship in marriage is not what i believe Adam and Eve initially had, nor what we will have in Heaven.
i think the most important things to realize are that God is love, adn that God never changes... it would hurt too many people so much to not be with their loved one, to not have their children, why should an early death cause someone to not have these gifts from God? i beleive God allows us all to have these gifts, as he loves us all. God never changes, the Bible states simply that man and woman were made to be one, God never changes, man and woman will always be meant to be one... i
i feel that if you truely accept waht the Bible says then in order to see Heaven you can look back at Eden to get an idea of what it will be like, because Eden is the paradise God made and knew was right, adn allowed us to be in, giving us the choice to sin or not, not making us do either, i believe he would have allowed us to stay in the garden forever had we not sinned, otherwise it doesnt make much sense to have created the garden at all, the whole point is that God lets us choose and act out or own will, despite the fact that he knows everything and is all powerful, he loves us and lets us choose ourselves to love him or not. if God doesnt change then what he decided is right in teh beginning is what will be right in the end.
i do not believe that God created things just to destroy them, i do not believe that God created the complexity of childbirth and of so many thigns just to throw them away. that makes no sense to me, if God acted on his knowledge of all things, then this world wouldnt exist at all, he would just put the people in heaven that will go there and anyone to hell that may go there, i of course cannot truely say what God would do, and im worried having said this as it could be very wrong to say... i just cant see God setting up things based on his knowledge to allow us a tortured existence on this fallen earth, and then destroy this earth and change everything completley, that totally invalidates his creation and this life, if what he created is not what will be, then why did he create it, if wea re so changed in Heaven we are not ourselves, Heaven is the earth made new, God's paradise made new, eden made new, sin gone forever, and the beginning of our true lives, and of being truely ourselves.
in some respects this world is more important than the next, because it is here that we can choose to follow and love God, however it is in the next life that we truely and fully get to expand and grow that relationship and so on, yes in ways we can develop our relationship with God here, but i think we are all hoping to and expecting to have even more of a relationsip with God there, to actually be able to talk to Jesus and so on... if God is love and all the things he says, then clearly he didnt create us just to have a tortured life and then throw it all away... when in the NT it talks about Abraham and Elijah? is it that come to Jesus in the Garden and so on, they are still themselves recognizable as such, and God is the God of the living, they are alive and are themselves, the same people they were here. i do not believe our sins are who we are... i hate my sins, and i hate myself so much for doing them and i just hate myself, i cannot believe that this is who i really am, that all these sins are who i am, i do not want to sin yet i continually do so, so what am i... i do not believe we can say what one is, one is a complex combination of their intent and actions and so many other things.... when you get angry at someone and go off.. is that really who we are? i hope not... and i dont think it is.... i used to think everything was easy, and perhaps in simple words it is, it is easy just accept Jesus, it is easy just love God, it is easy just go to work go home sleep, repeat... no, nothing is easy, i hate myself for having told people that it was and making htem feel bad for having a hard time with things, nothing is easy, this life and everything in it are so hard i dont think we can even realize how hard it is, these are the hardest and worst times of our existence... perhaps things will be hard in Heaven, such as figuring out new art or music styles or soemthing, but not hard in the same way, and it will be enjoyable in Heaven, being with God and everyone else there, living our lives forever, worshiping God, being with our complement/soulmate falling/growing deeper in love with that one person forever, being with our children, our parents, our families, our friends, and God forever, all worshiping God and interacting with Jesus forever... sounds wonderful... reality is so hard... yet reality is so wonderful, Heaven, God, Jesus, love, this is reality, not this world and the sin in it...
it is tricky of course to understand the Bible, and i do not understand most of it, but i do think that i understand this perhaps a little closer to how it is then some do... God said, and Jesus resaid this in the NT, so its in Old and New, that God created man and woman to be one, also God never changes, if God knew that the best way to do things was how he set it up in the Garden of Eden, then as he doesnt change and knows everything, that is how it will be in Heaven, Heaven will nto be the same as Eden, because for one thing, there was only Adam and Eve in Eden, and there will be more people in Heaven, there are however the main key elements, being with God, paradise and so on.
Also as for the angels, the Bible refers to cherubs or cherubims in several spots i believe, and i dont believe it gives them a sex or an age. also just because the Bible doesnt say there arent women or children angels that doesnt mean there arent, if they Bible said there are none, then there would be none, but it doesnt say that.
as far as children go... i imagine that delivering a message of God is a big deal and responsibility and so on, just as we dont believe it is right to send our children to our job, perhaps they didnt send their children to do theirs, you would not stick a child into a postal truck and have him/her deliver the mail... the Bible doesnt say this doesnt exist and it doesnt say it does, we do not know.
the same goes for women, and also understanding the time and culture, would a woman have been listend to? a woman who was just property? probably not... but i dont know, and no one does, it doesnt say they dont exist, it doesnt say they do, we do not know.
also Jesus says we will not marry or be given in marriage and that we will be like the angels in Heaven, i am not sure but i would imagine different Bibles saying this in different ways, but we do not know in what respect it is saying we will be like the angels in Heaven, i think it is more about law, marriage is a law, to be given in marriage and to marry is a legal thing... i do not believe the angels have the us constitution or any such thing to follow.
i also do not believe we will have the 10 commandments in heaven as we have htem here, there will not be a need of them as they would serve no purpose, there will be no evil, we will not wish to sin and we will not sin, sin is gone, no need for 10 commandments... once again there is no giving in marriage or marrying done between Adam and Eve, there truely is no ceremony or wedding in Genesis, there is the creation of Adam and Eve and it talking of Eve as being Adam's wife, in a way Adam and Eve being created married/in love/one flesh. i feel however that wife is a term for us to understand the relationship, the closest thing we have to that relationship is marriage, but all of our relationships and all we do suffers in this sinful world, our relationship in marriage is not what i believe Adam and Eve initially had, nor what we will have in Heaven.
i think the most important things to realize are that God is love, adn that God never changes... it would hurt too many people so much to not be with their loved one, to not have their children, why should an early death cause someone to not have these gifts from God? i beleive God allows us all to have these gifts, as he loves us all. God never changes, the Bible states simply that man and woman were made to be one, God never changes, man and woman will always be meant to be one... i
i feel that if you truely accept waht the Bible says then in order to see Heaven you can look back at Eden to get an idea of what it will be like, because Eden is the paradise God made and knew was right, adn allowed us to be in, giving us the choice to sin or not, not making us do either, i believe he would have allowed us to stay in the garden forever had we not sinned, otherwise it doesnt make much sense to have created the garden at all, the whole point is that God lets us choose and act out or own will, despite the fact that he knows everything and is all powerful, he loves us and lets us choose ourselves to love him or not. if God doesnt change then what he decided is right in teh beginning is what will be right in the end.
i do not believe that God created things just to destroy them, i do not believe that God created the complexity of childbirth and of so many thigns just to throw them away. that makes no sense to me, if God acted on his knowledge of all things, then this world wouldnt exist at all, he would just put the people in heaven that will go there and anyone to hell that may go there, i of course cannot truely say what God would do, and im worried having said this as it could be very wrong to say... i just cant see God setting up things based on his knowledge to allow us a tortured existence on this fallen earth, and then destroy this earth and change everything completley, that totally invalidates his creation and this life, if what he created is not what will be, then why did he create it, if wea re so changed in Heaven we are not ourselves, Heaven is the earth made new, God's paradise made new, eden made new, sin gone forever, and the beginning of our true lives, and of being truely ourselves.
in some respects this world is more important than the next, because it is here that we can choose to follow and love God, however it is in the next life that we truely and fully get to expand and grow that relationship and so on, yes in ways we can develop our relationship with God here, but i think we are all hoping to and expecting to have even more of a relationsip with God there, to actually be able to talk to Jesus and so on... if God is love and all the things he says, then clearly he didnt create us just to have a tortured life and then throw it all away... when in the NT it talks about Abraham and Elijah? is it that come to Jesus in the Garden and so on, they are still themselves recognizable as such, and God is the God of the living, they are alive and are themselves, the same people they were here. i do not believe our sins are who we are... i hate my sins, and i hate myself so much for doing them and i just hate myself, i cannot believe that this is who i really am, that all these sins are who i am, i do not want to sin yet i continually do so, so what am i... i do not believe we can say what one is, one is a complex combination of their intent and actions and so many other things.... when you get angry at someone and go off.. is that really who we are? i hope not... and i dont think it is.... i used to think everything was easy, and perhaps in simple words it is, it is easy just accept Jesus, it is easy just love God, it is easy just go to work go home sleep, repeat... no, nothing is easy, i hate myself for having told people that it was and making htem feel bad for having a hard time with things, nothing is easy, this life and everything in it are so hard i dont think we can even realize how hard it is, these are the hardest and worst times of our existence... perhaps things will be hard in Heaven, such as figuring out new art or music styles or soemthing, but not hard in the same way, and it will be enjoyable in Heaven, being with God and everyone else there, living our lives forever, worshiping God, being with our complement/soulmate falling/growing deeper in love with that one person forever, being with our children, our parents, our families, our friends, and God forever, all worshiping God and interacting with Jesus forever... sounds wonderful... reality is so hard... yet reality is so wonderful, Heaven, God, Jesus, love, this is reality, not this world and the sin in it...