Chapter 21 Political Talk73-75
73. God's three plans and our seven missions
God created man to have an object of love, the object of his love, the object of his love, and let people give glory to God. Because of man's limitations, he has three great and unified forgiveness and salvation plans.
1. One man sinned (Adam ate the forbidden fruit against God's will), and all the world sinned and owed God's glory. The wages of sin is death. God wants people to understand how to get lost without God. People do not experience the loss without God. They do not know the real beauty of the garden of Eden and will not give all the glory to God. Satan is just a tool of God's plan.
2. One man suffers (Jesus) and makes atonement for all. However, over the past two thousand years, mankind has not completely returned to God. Christians account for only nearly one-third of the world's population. Even Christians have not really been saved. Almost all the Nazis who slaughtered Jews are Christians. People forget the lesson of Jesus and continue to follow the path of Adam. Under the effect of the fruit of wisdom, they unilaterally develop material civilization for physical enjoyment. God wants mankind to understand that without God's spiritual civilization, they can't be happy.
3. When the time comes, God reveals the new gospel to make people righteous, sanctified and glorified. Sanctification refers to the continuous spiritual development in Christian life. The Holy Spirit lives in believers, points out sin to them and changes their character. People develop towards divinity, rebuild the communication with God, and finally give all the glory to God.
Late Christians had seven missions.
1. Believing in God is the only explanation of the origin of mankind and the universe, the first driving force and the cause of all causes. Our confidence is to believe what we cannot see, and the return of confidence is to see what we believe. We get righteousness through faith and grace. In the face of objective reason, we can meet infinite God only through the flight of faith.
2. Love, Jesus wants us to love as ourselves, but this is very difficult to do. The operable thing is not to oppose anyone, including those who are hostile to us. In this way, we will reduce the trouble of calculating people and the grievances of being calculated. We are really brothers all over the world.
3. Preaching the gospel is the great mission left by Jesus. Like St. Paul, we should be moved by the Holy Spirit, gain power and be the witness of the Lord to preach the gospel to all the people all over the world and bring all the people to the Lord.
4. Prayer is talking with God. It can be very formal, such as reciting the continuous prayer from the prayer book, or informal, such as thinking of God at the moment of stopping at the traffic light. Prayer can be silent or vocal, private or public.
The main purpose of prayer is to think of God and maintain communication with God every day.
5. Accept the test and choose. Do not be surprised that the test of fire has come upon you, but rejoice, for you have suffered with Christ. Since your faith has been tested, it is more precious than the gold that can still be broken by the test of fire. Today's patience and trust is God's preparation for sending you out for a great cause in the future. Everyone who is greatly used by God first has a special waiting period. The forty years of Moses, the three years of Paul and the thirty years of the Lord are all excellent examples. Therefore, rest in peace and accept the time and place arranged by God with gratitude.
6. Perform miracles. The important miracles in Christ's life are: Virgin pregnancy, resurrection and ascension. The Bible is full of miracles, including the miracles of sharing the sea, and the miracles of fire falling from heaven and walking on the sea. Of course, in a sense, any interaction between God and man is a miracle. May the Holy Spirit give us the power to do miracles.
7. Leadership. In the name of father, son and Holy Spirit, we will make everyone believe in God, praise God, glorify God, and rebuild the garden of Eden on earth.
74. The only way to eliminate hatred
Hatred spreads everywhere
"People never know who they hate." James the diplomat Lowell
Today, hatred is everywhere, as if it surrounded us. Place names such as East Timor, Kosovo and Sarajevo, as well as names such as Neo Nazis, skinheads and white supremacy masters, have been deeply imprinted in our minds. The recent terrorist attacks on the United States and the attack on Afghanistan have once again brought a sad picture to our minds.
Danielle, the widow of the late French President Mitterrand, recalled her young days and said: "at that time, everyone yearned to live freely in a society of mutual trust, close to each other as brothers, and live peacefully in a prosperous and powerful world." She sighed: "after half a century, we have to admit that we have encountered many setbacks."
The tide of hatred surged again, and the way of venting became more and more blatant. Nationalism has risen in the past decade, and all parts of the world are no longer integrated into one village, but divided into different villages. Each village has a strong national consciousness, and everyone is wary of each other. Because of mutual distrust, the possibility of conflict has greatly increased. In Canada, five skinheads killed an elderly Sikh, a sign that the country known for its tolerance of foreigners is resurgent. In Germany, extremist attacks on foreigners increased by 27 percent in 1997. More than 6000 children in northern Albania are trapped at home because their parents are afraid that their children will be shot and killed by their enemies. "In 1998, a total of 7755 hate related crimes were recorded, more than half of which were based on racial discrimination," the FBI said. As for the rest of the crimes, some are caused by prejudice. The offender is either biased against the victim's religion and ethnicity, or discriminates against the disabled. In addition, xenophobic incidents are rampant. The victims are mainly refugees living in foreign countries. At present, there are more than 21 million of them.
Fear inspires hatred
"Hatred and fear are inseparable. We hate everything we fear." – Cyril, a literary critic Connolly
Many sociologists believe that hatred is rooted in people's subconscious and is difficult to get rid of. As the Bible describes, "sin is born to men and women", just as it describes "sin" in the Bible. (Psalm 51:5) thousands of years ago, the creator examined imperfect people, "seeing that man has great sins on earth, all he thinks about all day long is evil." Genesis 6:5
Prejudice against others and discrimination against others can incite hatred. All this happens because people are not born perfect and only pursue their own interests. (Deuteronomy 32:5) governments in the world cannot change people's minds by legislative means to eliminate prejudice and hatred. In our days, hatred has provoked countless conflicts, which undoubtedly involve many factors, mainly social and economic.
Renew ideas and change attitudes
"It must be voluntary for hostile ethnic groups to effectively change the current situation." – Foreign correspondent Maggie
What can promote people to renew their thoughts and change their attitudes automatically and spontaneously? Experience has shown that the word of God, the Bible, can exert great power to urge people to correct their mistakes and eliminate hatred. "The word of God is alive and powerful. It is sharper than any two edged sword. Even the soul and spirit, joints and bone marrow can be pierced and separated, and even the thoughts and plans in the heart can be recognized." – Hebrews 4:12
The teaching of Jesus Christ has great power. It can not only inspire people, but also move people to act according to their conscience. Many people are deeply moved by Jesus' teaching and resolutely change their lives. They put this wise advice of Jesus Christ into practice: "continue to love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you." Matthew 5:44. They try to renew their thoughts and character and keep malice and hatred out of their mind. They realize that imperfect tendencies can play a powerful role in rooting and growing the seeds of hatred in their hearts. So they take positive action to turn hate into love. "Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer; you know that no murderer has eternal life in him." – 1 John 3:15
God intends to uproot hatred in the near future when the kingdom of heaven rules the earth. Jesus taught us to pray for this kingdom. He taught his disciples to pray, "our father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, and your will be done on earth as in heaven." At that time, people were no longer ignorant and prejudiced. On the contrary, everyone broadens their horizons, seeks truth and pursues justice. Then God "will wipe away all tears from [human] eyes, and there will be no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, no more pain." – Revelation 21:1-4
Now there is irrefutable evidence that we are living in the "last days", and we can be sure that the harmful hatred will soon disappear from the earth 2 Timothy 3:1-5; Matthew 24:3-14. In the new world promised by God, everyone will treat each other sincerely and sympathize with each other, because human body and mind will become perfect Luke 23:43; 2 Peter 3:13
75. How far are humans and animals
Humans don't seem to know who they are, evolutionist Richard "For a long time, philosophers have been exploring different levels of human nature, but it's strange that they still have different opinions on the essence of human nature," Leakey said The World Book Encyclopedia said: "humans, apes, lemurs and spectacled monkeys belong to the primates of Mammalia."
The facts show that man and beast are two different things at all. People have love, conscience, moral concept, spiritual need, sense of fairness, compassion, sense of humor, creativity, concept of time, self-consciousness and aesthetic vision, but animals do not have these characteristics. People not only care about the future, but also pass on the accumulated knowledge from generation to generation. Even if people die, there is hope to live again.
Some people try to coordinate the characteristic differences between humans and animals with the help of evolutionary psychology. Evolutionary psychology is a mixture of evolution, psychology and social sciences. "Evolutionary psychology is based on simple assumptions." Robert the evolutionist "Like other organs, the intended purpose of the human brain is to pass on genes to the next generation. If people want to fully understand the feelings and thoughts generated by the brain, they must be based on this assumption," Wright said In other words, our whole life is completely dominated by genes. From the thinking activities of the human brain, we can see that the purpose of life is nothing more than to have children and carry on the family line.
According to evolutionary psychology, "human nature is generally selfish and tends to pursue self-interest by all means." "Moral animals" commented: "natural selection requires men to have sex with different women." According to this evolutionary concept, women's sexual intercourse in some cases can also be regarded as a natural phenomenon. Even paternal love and maternal love are said to be planned by genes in order to ensure that future generations can live. This view emphasizes that the key to ensuring the longevity of the human family is to pass on genes to future generations.
On the other hand, the Bible shows that the purpose of God's creation of man is not to have children. We are made in the image of God, enough to reflect his attributes, especially love, justice, wisdom and power. When we combine the unique characteristics of human beings, we will understand why the Bible puts human beings above animals. The Bible clearly shows that God not only put the desire for eternal life in the heart of the people he created, but also determined to create a new world of justice in which people can enjoy infinite life Genesis 1:27, 28; Revelation 21:3, 4.
To determine who we really are, theory alone is not enough, because our view of the origin of mankind can affect our life and our basic view of life and right and wrong. After Darwin's origin of species was published in 1859, "The world immediately became morally corrupt, and the public no longer believed in God. Those in power and power believed that the idea of eliminating the weak and retaining the strong was conducive to their rise. In this competition, those who were strong and unyielding, cunning and cunning must be better than those who were weak willed and credulous. They concluded that people, like Indo wild dogs, were just social animals, and it was natural for big people to act like wild dogs and bully others." (historian wells)
The Bible calls Adam the first man "the son of God" (Luke 3:38), and beasts never deserve such a reputation. However, the Bible points out that people and animals have many things in common. "God made man out of the dust of the earth and blew life into his nostrils, and he became a living man with a spirit named Adam." (Gen 2:7), "all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air that God made of the earth." (Gen 2:19) the human body is humble and has a body derived from dust with animals. However, people have the vitality blown by God, which is spirit. People can be described as half animals and half gods.
Your whole life is about eating, drinking, sleeping, giving birth, and having no other purpose. Do you like this all your life? In addition to maintaining life and succeeding generations, is there any other purpose and significance of life? Is the universe we live in empty, chaotic and meaningless? It's no use denying that there is God. People still continue to look for the meaning of life. Born with spirituality, we are destined to struggle hard all our life to be in harmony with the universe we live in.
Huxley, a well-known supporter of evolution, wrote: "I absolutely agree that there is a huge gap between man and beast, because only man has the gift of speech, speaks clearly and logically." The connection between man and other primates is clearly broken. In the known universe, the human brain is the only organ capable of self understanding. What we think and do is wonderful. Memory is undoubtedly a wonderful feature of the human brain. In addition, no animal has ever worshipped God, and the innate religious tendency is the most powerful driving force in the human brain.
Robert the evolutionist Wright was outspoken: "what is the function of humor and laughter? Why do people repent on their deathbed? What is the function of sadness? What is the use of sadness for genes when people are dead?" Elaine the evolutionist Morgan admitted: "the four major doubts caused by humans are: 1. Why do they walk with their legs? 2. Why do their fur fall off? 3. Why do their heads become so big? 4. Why do they learn to speak?" His standard answer to these questions is: we don't know yet.
In the book "left brain specific apes", the author points out that he aims to "outline how humans evolved over time. Many conclusions are inferred from several ancient teeth, several old bones and stones". The thought of evolution also makes people doubt whether human life is sacred or not. If we don't believe in God and think we are just higher animals, why can we say that human life is sacred? Just because we have been lucky in the process of evolution, is it fair that we regard people more important than cats and dogs? The theory of evolution assumes that people come through natural selection, and the morality based on this assumption is cruel. Those who are strong and unyielding, cunning and cunning are bound to surpass those who are weak willed and credulous.
Evolution tries to find the answer from the creatures on earth, but refuses to consult the creator in heaven. On the other hand, the Bible explains why we try to avoid doing bad things, and why only humans are deeply distressed by death. Although we are not perfect (from the dusty body, like animals), we have the image of God and his vitality (spirit). As long as we use spiritual power to overcome physical power, restore communication with God, believe in God, love God, and give glory to God. As the Apostle Paul said, killing the body with the Holy Spirit will lead to eternal life.