@ghost-of-a-duke saidI suppose one that believes in reincarnation would except that, but I contrast "karma" with the biblical concept of the "reap and sow" principle.
Ah, but we are all subject to karma, believers and unbelievers alike. In this context belief during one incarnation is less important as one may go on to be a believer in the next.
They are not the same thing. But that's a whole other argument.
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@SecondSon
Ghost wrote:
Sonship however has spoken of man being the same 'species' as God (his word) and comes on the back of Witness Lee stretching the trinity to encompass a 4 in 1 deity, which included man.
SecondSon replied:
That is problematic.
But there is this; for the first time in eternity the DNA of man, in the person of Jesus Christ, is sitting on the throne in heaven.
Yes, there is a Man on the throne of God forever and ever.
This is Jesus Christ our Savior.
I think it extra biblical to suggest that man, the creation of God, is made a member of the Godhead. I find that nowhere intimated in the Bible.
We would agree. I certainly agree.
God will always be the giver, and man the receiver. Forever. Albeit there is the mystical union between man and God.
I am happy with this last word on this post.
Witness Lee never said man was now made part of the Godhead. [My bolding]
J. S.'s Misrepresentation of Brother Lee's Teaching
Stated succinctly, J. S. charges Brother Lee with espousing and propagating “the greatest and worst blasphemous heresy,” “the devilish heresy that man will become god (or God).” As quoted in the foregoing section, Brother Lee clearly and emphatically teaches that “the Godhead is unique” and that “He is the only One who should be worshipped.” Recall Brother Lee's balanced word that, on the one hand, the New Testament reveals that “the Godhead is unique and that only God, who alone has the Godhead, should be worshipped” and that, on the other hand, the New Testament reveals that we, the believers in Christ, have God's life and nature and that “we are becoming God in life and in nature but will never have the Godhead” (emphasis added). In speaking of deification—the process through which the believers are constituted with the Triune God to be made God in life and in nature—Brother Lee says that man becomes “God in life and in nature but not, of course, in the Godhead” (emphasis added). Of course, the Godhead is unique. Of course, we will never have the Godhead. Of course, God alone is worthy of worship. Of course, the believers will never become an object of worship. Of course, the believers will never be made God in the sense of having the Godhead. “Never have the Godhead” —this crucial phrase deserves the attention of every honest reader of Brother Lee's materials.
See The Truth Concerning the Ultimate Goal of God's Economy
https://www.ministrybooks.org/SearchMinBooksDsp.cfm?id=140102CDEA
@secondson saidNo, I think they are pretty much the same. It all comes down to consequences.
I suppose one that believes in reincarnation would except that, but I contrast "karma" with the biblical concept of the "reap and sow" principle.
They are not the same thing. But that's a whole other argument.
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No, I think they are pretty much the same. It all comes down to consequences.
The oldest book in the Bible Job - a long poem about how consequences to a good man were NOT what are usually expected.
In a sense this is the first dilemma that the Bible deals with - "Why does it sometimes happen to people not according to the law of karma (as it were) ?"
In Job God turns a comparatively righteous man over to the Devil. He suffers terribly as a result. Three friends of renown wisdom come to consul Job. After saying nothing for seven days straight they each spend the next 30 plus chapters arguing with Job. He simply HAD to have done something wrong for which he is getting bad karma (as it were).
To them Job simply HAS to be suffering because of some unrighteous things he has done. They cannot accept that the law of consequences is not doing the typical thing known to men.
This book of Job is suppose to be older then Genesis. It wrestles mightly with the question ' Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people? '
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@sonship saidOr perhaps more importantly, why did God feel He had anything to prove to the devil?
It wrestles mightly with the question ' Why do BAD things happen to GOOD people? '