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From: rxfranin@apgea.army.mil (Richard Franing)
Subject: Easter's radical ontology
Message-ID: <1995Apr7.124639.18127@apgea.army.mil>
Sender: Richard Franing <rxfranin@apgea.army.mil>
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Date: Fri, 7 Apr 95 12:46:39 GMT
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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, I believe that we pre-existed in a spiritual realm prior to being
born into this world. Unfortunately the church fathers, with the exception of
Origen, rejected this view in 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 could speak 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 questioned about it. As people age and develop, these
memories are overlaid with countless earthly memories and are largely for-
gotten.
  One may ask why are we here and forced to leave that spiritual realm. I be-
lieve 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 re-
sponsibilities. 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 salva-
tion 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.
  Man himself had sinned against God and lost his opportunity for an easier
salvation. To put it in the venacular, man really blew it. Now man's disobed-
ience had to dealt with in a manner satisfying God, fulfilling the new para-
meters 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 re-
deemed and made new spiritual beings fit for His kingdom. Through Christ, the
Holy Spirit makes 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 wil-
lingness 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 fluctua-
tion. These fluctuations are believed by cosmologists to be power spikes in a
quantum field. Since there are undoubtedly many of these power spikes, and at
the peak of each powerful enough spike is a created universe, there are proba-
bly 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 cannot 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 be-
lieve on His dear Son, and longs that all will come to a saving faith in His
beloved Son, but God wants our love freely given and not 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. 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 in truth.


                                          Richard E. Franing






























































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