Re[2]: Cute Fable - good point!

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On Thu, 28 Sep 1995 08:58:37 -0500, you wrote:

>>And christian religions that do not believe in new birth and
>regeneration of the Spirit have the tendency to likewise uphold
>intellectualism above spirituality, although they say the two are one
>and the same (check out the RCC for example).  How can they know what
>is truly spiritual if they do not even comprehend new birth of the
>Spirit?

So philosophies (consider the root here) are spoken of as vain, by
Paul.

>The wise of this world seek for wisdom and won't find God in it.

Before I read this thread, I was praying about this subject earlier
today. God spoke to me regarding the accountability of ALL MEN for the
gospel. Their insatiable hunger for wisdom is their own testimony
against themselves in steering clear of truth for the sake of mystery.
People approach light but resist it when its effects will alter thier
lives, that is when the science is no longer *vain*.

>Check it out!  Education is natural.  That does not make it bad.  It
>just makes it outside the whole realm of the Spirit of God.

Amen! 

>The Corinthians could have been professors, but would still have

>If you're notcareful you'll have all requiring grade twelve before
>they can be saved.

Not entirely irrelevant is the dry and powerless condition some
oneness churches have arrived at, where they prefer to teach doctrine
classes before baptizing and describe the Holy Ghost experience as
though it were a needed stigma, required to distinguish the
Pentecostal.

We notice the development of baptism catechism requiring days and
weeks of prayer and fasting before baptismal candidates could be
immersed, as early as the date of the Didache.

>It's like saying there are GOOD sinners and bad
>sinners.  But they're still sinners, and sentence of death is still
>upon their lives simply because they are not born again into the new
>creation.  

Rather, as you are saying, some suppose that it is their opinion which
is wrong. This goes back to gnosticism. This is no doubt why we have
some churches where there are quite a large number of "seekers".
Emphasis is on teaching sinners to have a right opinion of God. IN
fact, I believe that it is a right opinion of the "righteous" that
they really desire in these carnal situations.


>Whatever I can have without God will not help me know Him.  That which
>is spiritual cannot be experienced by unregenerate people.  Education
>is not spiritual.

No, but it deals with a spiritual side of man, IMO. Whatever
distinguishes man from animal as a thinking, reasoning, and conscious
being, this is "spiritual" in some respect. We ought not be ashamed of
high culture, nor consider it a "natural" impediment to salvation.
While this is the effect in practice, it would not be so without
spiritual powers of wickedness enforcing blindness. The Moslem ideal
of learning for example, to bring the street kids out of crime, is
"spiritual" IMHO, and it works.

Studying the scripture is a HIGH profession, and Bro. Blume, we
appreciate your encouraging all of us to do it more devotedly.

>>In fact, I seem to remember something about "My people
>>are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected
>>knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to
>>me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget
>>thy children" (Hosea 4:6).
>
>Wow, brother!  Did you ever take that out of context!  Knowledge of
>God's Law is certainly not the knowledge of education.

Yeah, if a degree from LSU would get us to heaven, the preachers in
Louisiana would be on welfare.

>Jesus said we shall KNOW THE TRUTH and the TRUTH shall set us free.
>That is what Hosea referred to.  Not carnal knowledge, but knowledge
>of the things of God!  You won't get that in a university.

Actually, to continue in the word, makes disciples "in deed". Only the
knowers of the truth can be considered "doers" of of the truth. Thank
God for the TRUTH! Praise JESUS!

>God's law is so simple that a *fool* (educationally witless) will not err therein,
>thus discriminating carnal intellectual knowledge from
>spiritual knowledge.  

Get down, Bro!

>God takes pleasure in our highly developed intellects?  

You don't think He's just a little jealous of our extraordinary savy?
:)


--
The Whole Gospel to the Whole World    -   Life Tabernacle UPC
"Preaching the Kingdom of God, and teaching those things which concern the Lord Jesus Christ,
with all confidence, no man forbidding ... " - Acts 28:31