APPRECIATION - The Holiest Vibe! (God is Appreciation, God is Gratitude, God is Thankfulness, God is

reply to post by Akragon


Then God would be evil.
There was war in Heaven, Michael fought the dragon and the dragon fought back.

Originally posted by jmdewey60
reply to post by Akragon

 

Then God would be evil.
There was war in Heaven, Michael fought the dragon and the dragon fought back.

edit on 24-1-2012 by jmdewey60 because: (no reason given)

I don't believe the "war in heaven" actually happened...

Who or what can oppose its creator?


The devil?

reply to post by Akragon


I agree with Akragon most. I'm presenting my own philosophy which is why I didn't want this in the Religion / Theology section but the Mods moved it here anyway.

I'm just showing you how some Bible verses support this idea of living in Appreciation.

reply to post by Akragon

I don't believe the "war in heaven" actually happened...

Who or what can oppose its creator?


The devil?

Not literally, of course.
It only makes sense (to me) if you have a universe not created By God.
Notice the first attack is made by Michael, the the dragon fights back, then Michael prevails.
The problem with trying to interpret this (again, to me) comes from thinking this dragon is the same one mentioned earlier. Think an anti-typical dragon which the seven headed dragon takes its type from. The seven headed dragon is a symbolic designation and is seen playing a negative sort of role to where without divine intervention, it would have put an end to the child. That was on the earth, while the dragon Michael fights is in the heaven, different dragon. The heavenly dragon is the universe, which is symbolizing the natural order of things where you have things like entropy, where if it was allowed to take its natural course, would have put an end to the child even if it had escaped the earth dragon.
I should add this little bit of interpretation which is fundamental to understanding my above interpretation, the child which a lot of people would automatically take to be the baby Jesus is actually the infant church, so by inference, us.
Chapter 12 of revelation is split up into four main sections and those in turn are each made of at least two parts. The chapter is using symbolism in a overlapping sort of way which was a device common in apocalyptic literature at the time Revelation was written, which was their method of creating this feeling of continuity. Such as they have a starting point with one main character, then it introduces a second character and describes its relationship with the first one, then goes into the second character interacting with a third character. Then after resolving that conflict it can go further into the second character by itself, then that is shown to be transformed by the earlier encounter, then this modified character can have another and different sort of interaction in a new scene, with the first character who in the meantime has also been changed. The idea is to recycle the symbols to keep a familiarity, in this case you can tell which is the ideal good and which is the ideal bad, and then once that is established, those symbols can be applied to signify someone completely different but with that same moral aspect. So, in the case of the war, this is an establishment of the nature of the dragon motif by bringing up a mental image familiar to the reader which is the concept of the Cosmic Warrior, which to us seems inexplicable, since those old religions which emphasized that concept have gone into obscurity over the intervening centuries.

reply to post by jmdewey60


It is way too ambiguous. Some people see it is literal, others as symbolic, and then there are so many interpretations of this...


These verses however are POSITIVE, and LOVING, it is more literal and UNambiguous:

"Always rejoice; unceasingly pray; in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you." - 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

"Every creature of God is good, and nothing to be rejected, with thanksgiving being received, for it is sanctified through the word of God and intercession." - 1 Timothy 4-5

He is the master of the Universe, thats all they need to know.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000

He is the master of the Universe, thats all they need to know.

By exertion of effort, such as the example in Revelation 12, where the one like God (Michael) goes to war with the dragon (the residual after-effects of the earlier creation of the universe).

Also, you are no one to speak, seeing how you believe that Satan rules the world.

reply to post by jmdewey60


How does this relate to whether or not God is everything? I don't really see the connection here...

This thread is about appreciation and I don't see many anyone appreciating anything here.


I appreciate the diversity of all of your responses however. I just think it would be more awesome to see more appreciation here, if you want...

reply to post by arpgme

How does this relate to whether or not God is everything? I don't really see the connection here..

We appreciate that God did not create evil since that is just something already in existence as part of the nature of the universe created by no one who is ascertainable. People are showing their lack of appreciation by indirectly cursing God by blaming Him for evil. Proper appreciation for God would be to recognize that: thanks to God, we can live in this universe, despite its flaws (or what seem to us as flaws in that it causes us to die, which is not something people like).

reply to post by jmdewey60


Well I disagree, but I appreciate your free-will to believe whatever you wish. I appreciate all of the diversity and different beliefs and opinions of this world.