A TRILOGY ON METAPHYSICS AND THE HUMAN SOUL   
              (Dedicated to the Honor and the Glory of God)   
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                A SHORT TREATISE ON THE REALITY OF GOD   
      
      
   God is the ultimate reality. He has spun the universes into existence   
   and has created all other beings. As humans, we too had our beginning   
   from God. Like Plato and Socrates, I believe that we pre-existed in a   
   spiritual realm prior to being born into this world. Unfortunately the   
   church fathers, with the exceptions of Origen and Augustine, rejected   
   this view as an overreaction to the heresies of gnosticism and   
   neoplatonism that threatened to subvert the Gospel. How do I know of   
   this pre-existence? I have very faint memories of a spiritual existence   
   before being born into this world. My children spoke of this of this   
   existence when they were small. I have heard of other 2-4 year old   
   children being able to talk of their own pre-existence in the spiritual   
   realm prior to their earthly birth, when carefully questioned about it.   
   One couple I know of had three boys who each spoke of having been with   
   God and the angels prior to birth without any prompting from their   
   parents when they were small. Evidently as people age and develop,   
   these memories are overlaid with countless earthly memories and are   
   largely forgotten.   
     One may ask why are we here and forced to leave that spiritual realm.   
   I believe that the answer lies in the fall of Lucifer from Heaven along   
   with a third of the angels. It is my own belief that human spirits were   
   originally intended to be part of Lucifer's cadre in the spiritual   
   realm. Once Lucifer fell, there was no further need for our existence   
   in the spiritual realm, since we had been created to serve Lucifer in   
   carrying out his heavenly responsibilities. Lucifer's disobedience led   
   to our own eventual banishment from Heaven, even though we were not   
   involved in his revolt against God. God in His infinite mercy has   
   brought us to this world to perfect our redemption. He is bound by His   
   own spiritual laws in the eternal realm, but at the temporal level, He   
   can rewrite our destiny through His plan for our redemption. Had not   
   Adam and Eve disobeyed God, this plan would have been much simpler and   
   salvation would have been universal for all mankind. When that couple   
   listened to Lucifer rather than obey God, suddenly salvation became   
   much more difficult. Man had chosen sides and was no longer just an   
   innocent bystander thus bringing condemnation on all mankind who was to   
   be born on earth from that time forward.   
     Man himself had sinned against God and lost his opportunity for an   
   easier salvation. To put it in the vernacular, man really blew it. Now   
   man's disobedience had to dealt with in a manner satisfying God,   
   fulfilling the new parameters now required for our salvation and permit   
   our return to the spiritual realm (Heaven) after leaving this earthly   
   sojourn. Christ, the second person of the Godhead, came to earth in the   
   form of a man to die a sacrificial death for our redemption so that by   
   believing in Him and on His death, we can be redeemed and made new   
   spiritual beings fit for His kingdom. Through Christ, the Holy Spirit   
   creates us anew and we are reshaped into His image, no longer designed   
   to follow after Lucifer and his entourage.   
     Praise be to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit for their gift of   
   salvation through the Son's loving sacrifice of Himself on the cross,   
   the Father's willingness to send Him and the Spirit's perseverance in   
   causing us to believe.   
     Some have a difficult time grasping the concept of the Trinity. The   
   Trinity is the three distinct, separate, yet simultaneously occurring   
   dynamic states in which God exists and through which He expresses   
   Himself. It may be easier to understand the Trinity by the functions   
   they perform. The Father is the Creator of His creation. The Son   
   controls the interface relationship between the Creator and His   
   creation. The Holy Spirit permeates the creation carrying out the will   
   of the Father and the Son.   
     Others may ask how does God create worlds and universes, i.e. this   
   temporal existence. I believe the new physics gives us an insight into   
   God's methods. The big bang which began our universe was caused by a   
   large quantum fluctuation. These fluctuations are believed by some   
   cosmologists to be power spikes in a tremendous quantum field of   
   incredible intensity. Since there are undoubtedly many of these power   
   spikes, and at the top of each powerful enough spike is a created   
   universe, there are probably many overlapping sister universes to our   
   universe in existence at this very moment. They are separated from each   
   other only by the different quantum time value that each universe   
   possesses. Thus we can not see or sense them nor can they see or sense   
   us. You may ask how does God fit into the overall scheme of these   
   things. I truly believe that the energy that creates and drives this   
   quantum field issues forth from the mind of God even as He speaks the   
   Word. The beauty of God and His methods is that while we may seem far   
   removed from where God is, He is only a prayer away. He loves us and   
   cares for us, who believe on His dear Son, and longs that all mankind   
   will come to a saving faith in His beloved Son; but God wants our love   
   freely given and not given through coercion. He gives us His Holy   
   Spirit to guide us and lead us into paths of righteousness for His   
   namesake. All that is required of us is simple faith in our living Lord   
   and Savior Jesus Christ.   
     I look forward to the day that I return to the spiritual realm from   
   which we have come and can worship, adore, praise and glorify Him   
   forever. Our Lord made a way back where there was no way, so that we   
   may dwell with Him and enjoy Him forever. Praise be to God that He has   
   not left us nor forsaken us, but through His death established His plan   
   for our salvation when we come to believe on His shed blood.   
   Hallelujah, God is truly great and greatly to be worshiped in spirit   
   and truth.   
      
      
   In awe of the Living God,   
   Richard E. Franing   
      
      
      
      
      
      
                         AN INTERPRETATION OF GENESIS ONE   
      
      
     I've decided to take a shot at this one, so you folks need to get the   
   stake ready along with the rope, wood and matches because I'm about to   
   reveal my pet theory concerning the first chapter of Genesis. In second   
   Peter 3:8, we find the following in the RSV version: "But do not ignore   
   this fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years   
   and a thousand years is as one day." This is a way of saying that God   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)