I've been thinking or pondering, that is, what it is that perfectly underscores His perfection and the impossibility of the 'end' result of all this, human history and life as we know it, as anything less than utter, well, perfection.. Doesn't that imply that the 'end' result can only be the utterly best one possible?
..And, as to His perfection, what was/is His intent in all this? (His intent concerning life as we presently know it / all human history and future,etc).
He is perfect (surely? or He too would fade...? impossible for God, true God, not to be perfect, surely?) And perfection makes no mistakes, so what is it, that is His intent? for all this? This life, history, etc of planet earth as it has unfolded? and which is without a doubt, "according to His will".
...like a twofold formula? His Perfection = His Perfect intent = ? (something, the perfect word? is eluding me..)
='s Proof Positive, Perfection does not equal loss of any, does not equal 'eternal' suffering for any..
Because it is aLL His Perfect and Pure intent that is working out and being worked out.. :icon_joker:
Oh Marie, I, too, have been PONDERING God's Glorious Plan to bring all to be with Him for all eternity. I'm absolutely (well as much as any finite being can be!!!) convinced that we need to know the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth regarding just WHAT man was BEFORE the creation of the world and WHY God created man... He had need of no one and no thing.
Your thread has encouraged me to get back to studying, digging deeper to connect some more dots for my book "Out of Love, For His Glory, God created man in His own image and likeness" I do have some ideas, but they are radically different from all of the current teachings... and I don't have sufficient Scriptures to support my ideas.
Well, it seems a pondering I will go... blessings on all your efforts to know God and I pray you experience His great love, grace, joy - anna (aka onething, seekfirst, watch/pray) My middle name is Anne... I wish it were Anna... I can so identify with Anna of Luke 3:36-38a (except I'm not a widow) and long to be Anna of Luke 3:38b ...and spake of Him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
QuoteWell, it seems a pondering I will go... blessings on all your efforts to know God and I pray you experience His great love, grace, joy - anna (aka onething, seekfirst, watch/pray) My middle name is Anne... I wish it were Anna... I can so identify with Anna of Luke 3:36-38a (except I'm not a widow) and long to be Anna of Luke 3:38b ...and spake of Him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Hi Marie God bless you sis , love the things you share :HeartThrob:
Hi Ann One Thing , my middle name too :) Do you know Ann and Anna and Anne are all forms of Hanah
name meaning Hannah = "grace"Strong's H2584 - Channah Of Hebrew origin חַנָּה (H2584)
Anna = "grace"
Strong's G451 - Anna you your are Blessed sister with Gods grace !! :girlheart:
Pro 22:1 A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Me and Becca's middle names are both Ann too. :HeartThrob:
Quote from: lomarah on May 25, 2013, 01:55:51 AM
Me and Becca's middle names are both Ann too. :HeartThrob:
Thank you for that Holly Ann :banana:
:cloud9: It's funny, the use of both of my names conjures up two different types of memories/feelings. My Mom would use my full name when she was getting after me for something but also when she was being tender and loving and spoke it like I was her most precious possession. :HeartThrob:
Quote from: lomarah on May 25, 2013, 07:00:03 PM
:cloud9: It's funny, the use of both of my names conjures up two different types of memories/feelings. My Mom would use my full name when she was getting after me for something but also when she was being tender and loving and spoke it like I was her most precious possession. :HeartThrob:
thanks for sharing Lomarah ...I am getting to know you as Holly Ann because of your sharing your memories/feelings... Being you are a mother, and from what I've been able to perceive, a very loving mother... you very probably really, really know that no matter the tone of your mother's voice, that she did/does love you. So much like our heavenly Father... the Perfect Parent chastising those whom He loves...
Quote from: rosered on May 25, 2013, 01:38:01 AM
QuoteWell, it seems a pondering I will go... blessings on all your efforts to know God and I pray you experience His great love, grace, joy - anna (aka onething, seekfirst, watch/pray) My middle name is Anne... I wish it were Anna... I can so identify with Anna of Luke 3:36-38a (except I'm not a widow) and long to be Anna of Luke 3:38b ...and spake of Him to all that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.
Hi Marie God bless you sis , love the things you share :HeartThrob:
Hi Ann One Thing , my middle name too :) Do you know Ann and Anna and Anne are all forms of Hanah
name meaning Hannah = "grace"Strong's H2584 - Channah Of Hebrew origin חַנָּה (H2584)
Anna = "grace"
Strong's G451 - Anna you your are Blessed sister with Gods grace !! :girlheart:
Pro 22:1 A [good] name [is] rather to be chosen than great riches, [and] loving favour rather than silver and gold.
Thanks Marie for this challenging post... I began looking into the word "perfection"...
Thanks Rosie... yes, I knew that Anna=grace, but your post has encouraged me to look again at the importance of the word "name" as well as the meaning of the names in the Scriptures plus Marie's OP triggered a search of my zillion papers (print outs, etc.) and now I'm in the midst of seeing a great connection between God's Name and God's Perfection... for starters I found this interesting commentary on Psalm 8:1 O Lord, our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! who hast set the glory above the heavens.
===============================================
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
...
The Psalmist gives vent to his admiration of God's manifested perfections, by celebrating His condescending and beneficent providence to man ...
Ps 5:11 ...let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because Thou defendest them; let them also that love Thy NAME be joyful in Thee.
Ps 7:17 I will praise the Lord according to His reighteousness; and will sing praise to the NAME of the Lord most high.
=============================================
also found several hymns based on worship and praise of God's name/perfections... well I did say "starter" this can grow and grow...
Anna you are so sweet. :cloud9: And yes she always had the best of intentions for us. She was a very good mother. I was very blessed. :HeartThrob:
Quote from: OneThing on May 26, 2013, 12:00:00 AM
... well I did say "starter" this can grow and grow...
OneThing, what I quoted gives me a "starter," to expound just a bit on God's Plan. I see people on this thread wondering what the Big Mystery is. As ever, look to Genesis! If we subscribe to the idea that everything in that Book illustrates a spiritual truth, I propose that Genesis One shows us Involution and Evolution, as animals reproduced (fruit of the womb), and plants reproduced by bearing seeds (plant whose seed is within itself). Those seeds also contained the beginning of the mature plant. It's like a hologram, where you cut the photo in two, and still get the whole, but done in reverse. It's like a fractal, where the macrocosm of the fractal is the same as the microcosm, repeating patterns to infinity.
I see it as a clue to coming Perfection, not just the best that can be, but BETTER than the best, best can be. Our present world/cosmos is like the seed, the soon-coming Kingdom is the mature plant.
My mind knows but a fraction of the Mind of God. I can contemplate the basics that I have been able to perceive e.g. there is one Holy God who is Spirit, and He wrought creation through His Spiritual Christ, and from Him proceeded forth His Christ to become a man who lived amongst men.
The utter perfection involved in the image portrayed by such words is wondrous to contemplate but its full workings yet distant in entirety to my mind, only in summary - Perfection with a preordained result.
I discover the great Heart of God through Christ Jesus and the Love He pours out on mankind – then I begin to "understand" in a fuller way. I can know God through the heart rather than through the mind.
So while over half a century may have claimed me in earthly years, by God's grace I gain access to understanding Him because I choose to lay aside my complicated physical mind and adopt the openness and trust that a child has in the mother. I have found that God's grace is so bountiful that He has waited for me to love Him - for a love not given freely by choice is not a love desired by the God who is Love.
Peace and Joy.
Hubby and I had two children, a boy and then two years later a girl.. He named our son (for the most part) and I named our daughter (for the most part). And I named her "Anna" after the prophetess you've mentioned..
I love the name because although I'm not a widow, and don't want to be! but my favorite thing is the quiet times of pursuing God's Presence.. (which I suppose is true of many of God's children!)
To me the Perfection of God, also shows His pure intent.. in that He's Perfect and therefor can make no mistakes.. therefor this world as it has unfolded is not mistake but is all part of His work He is accomplishing. And which is being accomplished in every heart, surely a great purpose?.. This life and world is implicitly working to accomplish the intent He is accomplishing.. Is doing His work in every heart (and mind).. surely?
Quote from: marie glen on May 28, 2013, 07:38:45 PM
I named our daughter (for the most part). And I named her "Anna" after the prophetess you've mentioned..
We also have a daughter we named after the prophetess Anna.
Anna Grace.
Anna means Grace.
So I sometimes call her Gracey Grace.
Quote from: marie glen on May 28, 2013, 07:38:45 PM
I love the name because although I'm not a widow, and don't want to be! but my favorite thing is the quiet times of pursuing God's Presence.. (which I suppose is true of many of God's children!)
To me the Perfection of God, also shows His pure intent.. in that He's Perfect and therefor can make no mistakes.. therefor this world as it has unfolded is not mistake but is all part of His work He is accomplishing. And which is being accomplished in every heart, surely a great purpose?.. This life and world is implicitly working to accomplish the intent He is accomplishing.. Is doing His work in every heart (and mind).. surely?
:HeartThrob:
Ah the sweetness of pursuing the presence of God in a quiet time.
Yes God wants us in his presence.
That is his ultimate purpose.
The world and it's imperfection is certainly no mistake, but rather part of the plan.
It will bring out the glory of God's love and grace in the fulness of time.
:HeartThrob:
"Gracey Grace" that's so cute!
Perceptions of Perfection: I see God creating life in a state of Perfection and then asking that life to have patience and learn properly in His own good time. But I see that life being swayed by the bauble of power held out to it – and to me that is what is often called the time of: "The Fall". Some take it literally in a physical sense – that requires so much faith that I am reluctant to say I take it in a parabolic sense.
I see life created by God in a creation which is non-physical as yet, and when man grabbed at power he fell, and fell so far that the same original genesis laws acted upon matter and man was able to take on human bodies of flesh for his redemption.
While those who take this literally have my highest regard, I believe the parabolic version is acceptable to many of the world today who are unable to see a flaw in the results of physical science. And God wants His children to turn to Him through His Saviour.
..interesting... I think that's what the gnostics believed.. I confess I'm much more literal :smile: believing in the plants and animals and seeds which produce after their kind.. and God said "it's all good!"
I also believe the "lion will eat straw" (once again) "like the ox, the bear will graze with the cow" and "every one will abide under their own vine and fig tree and no one will bother them.."
I'm partial to a Word of God that folks can get their teeth into.. just call me a down to earth sorta gal.. I think the idea of a floaty reality is an offshoot of one of those first untruths "surely.. you won't... die..?" which is lodged so very firmly in the human psyche, even though God said "dust you are and to dust shall you return" ...The lower part of the earth, being not a 'hades' but the dust of the grave.. And resurrection from it, as literal too.. :girlheart: not a place where souls are, like is read into (is it?) 2 Peter, which says "by the Spirit Christ preached to those awaiting the judgment while Noah was building the ark" the judgment being the flood, the time he preached via the Spirit, was while the ark was being built.. not that Christ descended to a burning 'hell' or even a 'hades' shadowy realm of the dead.. wo-ooo.. Nope, no belief in ghosts for this gal! But good and evil, which is also life and death, true and untrue..
..and I don't know if I'm right or wrong, but i have the thought some UR folks like the floaty and metaphor for answers to questions and challenges people ask..
peace and blessings..! :Peace2: :HeartThrob:
marie glen I think you were referring to 1 Peter.
1 Peter 3:19-20 "By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; (20) Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water." (KJV)