CommuniChristi.

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………………………….posted June 2011.

Some people seem concerned about ~the oneness~ of God; I am not.

I have a document under secular tab ~Omnipotence vs. Eternal~   It is a bit messy; I prefer it remain that way as I do not want to appear arrogant in writing the absolute final word on Prime Cause.

None of us can know Prime Cause with any certainty, yet if we look at the laws of physics & nature; then assume a consistency to process, some things look far more probable than others.

I hold an absolute controlling omnipotence & eternal have certain irreconcilable inconsistencies.

Given a choice, be omnipotent or live forever, Prime Cause would be smart enough to choose eternal.   If you are eternal, why would you need omnipotence?  Especially if said omnipotence negates the condition eternal, which it seems it most probably would.

Eternal is an eternal living process, not an absolute controlling omnipotence.

In sum; I do not find Islam’s absolute indivisible oneness of God to be particularly interesting, the claim its Allah entity is absolutely omnipotent even less so.  More importantly, I do not believe it viable in practical terms; this unsound foundational assumption may be why Islam is always dysfunctional.

The condition eternal would seem to require perpetual motion which in turn requires constant interaction to stabilize the natural imbalance between an uneven number of poles.  This makes any uneven number off three or above to be interesting, yet if simplicity equals reliability then the fewer the number of poles the better. Christian theology posits the Father, Son & Holy Spirit in a dance of continuous love around each other; each always giving to each other.  This living process of perpetual motion seems consistent with the dynamics of physics, nature & sociology.

Trinity is a mutually interactive living process, which truly can live forever. If you have achieved eternity, you do not need absolute control or omnipotence, you only need to enjoy & ~best manage~ the dance.

Note… we have not found a ~oneness~ anywhere in physics, nature or sociology. The Hadron collider search for the God particle, presumed to be singular, could be looking in the wrong place.  Any even number reduces to two, which is balance, stasis or stalemate.  The only possible eternal dynamic would seem to be in uneven numbers of three or more.

An absolute oneness would be whole & complete in itself; it would have no need to create this universe or any other.  A Tri-polar dynamic however must continuously create in order to sustain itself.  Even in my Gods I find self interest to be more reliable than pure altruism.

Lastly, my preference for eternal over omnipotence is based on the evidence from multiple levels.  Our bodies are a war zone between pro-life & anti-life bacteria, the kill rate being in billions of micro-organisms daily.  Evolution produced many species which just didn’t make it. If God planned every leaf & sparrow, his detail work is sloppy. While Deism proposed an immutable order underwritten by Newtonian physics, we have since discovered black holes, asteroids & planets wandering around unattached & lost.

Further, the deepest concern of mans religions is that we too could easily be cut adrift & become lost.  Original Sin, mans hunger for more than he can have; central to the Bible is yet another item on my sloppy in the detail list.  It is hunger for more which drives mans development in all fields of endeavor, from art, to economics to science.  It is our hunger for more which makes us seek to know God.  Thousands of years ago we almost became extinct; the most successful species on the planet almost didn’t make it.  If we hadn’t wanted it enough, we would have failed as did other human precursors like Neanderthal man.  Some ask ~why is sin so pervasive & powerful~  Original Sin, the hunger for more & more, may be one of the key drivers which permits us to exist; which makes our relationship with sin somewhat interesting.

While animals respond to concrete benefit or threat; man experiences the world in abstract concepts.  He responds positively toward abstract good which has no concrete form.  He likewise responds negatively, preventatively, perhaps violently toward perceived threats which not only lack concrete form; but comprise no immediate danger. I have sat in a gathering of Muslims who were blindly terrified of some force which could come from anywhere at any moment, & have calamitous & irreversible consequence if it did.  What is clear & present danger; a clear physical threat or that which is deeply believed to be real? If we did not have the ability to respond to ~perceived~ danger, we would not have the ability to respond to ~perceived~ good.  We would not be able to respond to the ~non-concrete~ goodness of Christ for instance.

The whole of the Bible is a continuous engagement with the challenge of sin.  Prescriptions included eviction, throwing Adam out on his ear; carpet bombing, the flood: selected surgical strikes, Sodom & Gomorrah: animal sacrifice in atonement, washing & food rituals intentionally purifying; living in strict compliance with moral law; putting sin on the head of a scapegoat & driving it into the wilderness.  Only when sin proved obdurately immune to these various & serial prescriptions, did Christ sacrifice himself for us as full & final atonement.

Where sin seems essential to human existence, not only is it not possible to cure it; but, from the perspective of a living species, any cure would be highly undesirable.  Christ’s sacrifice for us accepts we will always be sinners; thus it is a management instrument not a cure.  Rather than touting Christ as a free cure; we needs ask how sin management might be properly exercised.

Our sins are forgiven in Christ’s sacrifice for us; on this I agree.  Where emissions of carbon monoxide, sewerage & sin are by-products of human existence, they have to be processed & retired somehow less we foul our own nest.  Of more interest to me is the terms & conditions of that amortization. Many Christians present forgiveness in Christ as an unconditional open cheque, yet such has no application in any other part of our lives.  Nor can we look to the terms & conditions as they were understood in the time of Christ; a low technology world of 600 millions with low environmental impacts per capita.  We needs define terms & conditions for an overpopulated high technology world with significant per capita environmental impacts.

Everything would seem to support an eternal process, for which we needs be deeply grateful, but there is little to support any absolute controlling omnipotence.

The fate of man, at least his immediate & medium term future, seems very much in our own hands.  Instead of offering open cheque forgiveness Christianity needs to address best practice management of Christ’s gift.

Islam believes in prayer, washing & food rituals; throwing stones at the devil, plus living by strict Sharia edicts. Been there done that in the Old Testament; did not work there & it will not work for Islam either. Only in Christ’s Crucifixion & Resurrection are we saved.

……… …………………………….

On the growth of sin.

Development theory attests what I have long held to be true; that large concentrates of population do not increase innovation & discovery on a flat line per capita rate, but the per capita rate increases.

Per capita consumption of food remains the same, but per capita growth of knowledge & discovery increases relative to the scale of the population concentrate.

I believe the two by products of sewerage & sin behave similarly.  Sewerage is emitted at the same per capita rate regardless of population concentrate, while per capita emissions of sin increase relative to the size of the population concentrate.  In sum, sin increases ~pro-rata~ to the rate of human development, while sewerage increases pro-rata to population mass.

This explains the Old Testaments endless obsession with Babylon; a developing society famous for its increase in per capita rate of sin.

It also explains the fall being dated to the time of transition from hunter gatherer to agrarian developer builder.  This is when it became apparent that every advance of man led to a per capita increase in sin; so moving sin from its historic rating of small change to instead become a big ticket item.  Man does no solve his problems, rather every advance of man ~trades up~ to new & bigger problems.

The human knowledge base has now reached critical mass & will self perpetuate inexorably.  Yet every advance of man leads to a pro-rata increase in sin.

Of two things I am certain; the growth of knowledge has a secure future, as does the pro-rata growth of sin. As Christianity specializes in sin management, Christianity has a secure future also.  Knowledge has not made the Christian faith irrelevant, but rather made it more relevant & essential than ever before.  The more knowledge grows the more sin grows, the more essential Christian ~sin management~ becomes.

As stated in other works, in a reaction to the shock horror of the fall, the Bible first addressed sin as a disease in need of cure.  It is only when serial prescriptions failed, that the matter was reviewed.  This review culminated in the coming of Christ, who took ownership of sin as a condition in need of management.  This change of perspective from disease to ~condition~ has become the faiths standing approach to sin.

Many are overwhelmed by the sheer scale of sin in our times, yet early Christian societies faced the daunting question of sin from a position of limited resources to devote to a solution.   Today the sum of all sin has certainly increased, but resources to devote to a solution have increased proportionately.  We need not be disheartened by the scale of modern sin; when the relativities remain the same as they always have been.

………………………………….

Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus:  Whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, through the forbearance of God; To declare, I say, at this time his righteousness: that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus (Romans 3:24-26).

If you Repent and Put Your Faith in Christ’s Sacrifice to Save You, You Can be Saved TODAY!

We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.) (2 Corinthians 6:1-2).

For we are made partakers of Christ, if we hold the beginning of our confidence steadfast unto the end; While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation (Hebrews 3:14-15).

Please Don’t Wait, God’s Invitation of Grace WILL NOT Last Forever:

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Ken Maynard.    email…. communichristi@gmail.com Webb… http://www.communichristi.org.nz

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