A TRILOGY ON METAPHYSICS AND THE HUMAN SOUL   
   (Dedicated to the Honor and the Glory of God)   
   --------------------------------------------   
   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. This pre-existence is at   
   the purely spiritual level. The soul is not created until physical conception.    
     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. All quantum phenomena   
   is created by God. The    
   physical is the result  of  an outpouring of the spiritual, though not in a   
   pantheistic way. 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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)