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An Unlimited Triune Creator God

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jshurley04

New Member
Friends of the BB, I have been teaching our SS class over the past few months about the basic doctrines of the faith. We have been teaching on God the Father and how He is unlimited by our perception of time and space. How we believe that the scriptures teach that God is actively present at this moment in our present as well as our past and our future.

In other words, in God's reality, I am typing this post at the exact moment that Moses is facing Pharoh, while John is on the Isle of Patmos and while Christ sits on the throne of David at the conclusion of the Tribulation and the Millinium Rule of Christ. In God's reality, all this is happening at this moment.

We also teach that once a person dies all hope is lost for his eternal salvation. We cannot pray them into salvation after the fact of their physical death. But we also say that God is actively present and working at this moment in time past.

My question is this, If God is an Unlimited Triune Creator God that is not limited to our time and space while being actively present and working in time past, why do we NOT pray for those who have died before us for God to work in our past and their present that God is active in at the same time, to bring them to salvation or some other change in their lives?

I know that this sounds rather off the wall, but I have been pondering this these last few hours and would like some of you giants of the faith to help guide me in this consideration.

Thanks
 
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Allan

Active Member
jshurley04 said:
My question is this, If God is an Unlimited Triune Creator God that is not limited to our time and space while being actively present and working in time past, why do we NOT pray for those who have died before us for God to work in our past and their present that God is active in at the same time, to bring them to salvation or some other change in their lives?

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Simple.
Time with God is eternally present (encompassing past and future). But God set forth His creation bound in time that it will reveal His plan and fulfill His purposes. Therefore though all time consists in His presense they are still played out exactly in the manner He knows and has set forth to be done IN a timely manner.

This is a VERY poor illistration but it is much like playing chess (in a sense). You know what will happen before it happens, you set up the peices, and see it play out (if your good enough :laugh: ) before you AS YOU PLAY in time. Your visualizing the game in your head was kinda outside of time because you were looking forward at what would transpire). However the rules state you can not go back and redo a move.
God set up His own rules that once He created that which He planned it would continue untill ALL was fulfilled, there was no turning back. Thus the reason for the verse (it is appointed unto man once to die, and then the judgment - and MANY others about God fulfilling His plan).

Maybe it helps, maybe not. But it is only a quick answer. Remember the chess portion is a very poor ananolgy since God is not man but hopefully you can see the gist of its meaning.
 
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Amy.G

New Member
To add to Allan's post, God is outside of time and space, but we're not. We have to play by the rules that God has made. He placed us in this physical 3 dimensional 24 hour day world. We have to live by the physics which God has set in motion.
As Allan said, "it is appointed to man once to die, then the judgement." That's God law and we have to follow it.
 
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npetreley

New Member
Amy.G said:
To add to Allan's post, God is outside of time and space, but we're not. We have to play by the rules that God has made. He placed us in this physical 3 dimensional 24 hour day world. We have to live by the physics which God has set in motion.
As Allan said, "it is appointed to man once to die, then the judgement." That's God law and we have to follow it.
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Not me. I'm not following any law where I have to die. I'm a rebel. A villain. A lawbreaker. A.... aaarrrrrgghhhhhh....
 
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skypair

Active Member
jshurley04 said:
My question is this, If God is an Unlimited Triune Creator God that is not limited to our time and space while being actively present and working in time past, why do we NOT pray for those who have died before us for God to work in our past and their present that God is active in at the same time, to bring them to salvation or some other change in their lives?
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God is not limited in time but we are. In hell, the awareness of God is there also -- that there is a place created that those who rejected Him could live free of Him forever. But there will be a heightened awareness that they were willingly deceived and would have chosen God had they been honest.

Do you realize that all of them will be taken out of that hell -- given new bodies -- to appear before Christ? What a relief! He DID die for all mankind's sins! They will not suffer for sins in eternity -- they will be recompensed for their good works as found in the book of works (Rev 20:13-15). And the "lake of fire" is a spiritual place -- not eternal physical torment (2nd death could only mean physical death since the soul and spirit continue). So spiritually the suffering is as one who is "burning" as when one loves another but is unrequited (1Cor 7:9).

skypair
 
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jshurley04

New Member
What??

skypair said:
God is not limited in time but we are. In hell, the awareness of God is there also -- that there is a place created that those who rejected Him could live free of Him forever. But there will be a heightened awareness that they were willingly deceived and would have chosen God had they been honest.

Do you realize that all of them will be taken out of that hell -- given new bodies -- to appear before Christ? What a relief! He DID die for all mankind's sins! They will not suffer for sins in eternity -- they will be recompensed for their good works as found in the book of works (Rev 20:13-15). And the "lake of fire" is a spiritual place -- not eternal physical torment (2nd death could only mean physical death since the soul and spirit continue). So spiritually the suffering is as one who is "burning" as when one loves another but is unrequited (1Cor 7:9).

skypair
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Dude, what on earth are you talking about in reference to the O.P.?

This question concerns the matter of prayer for those as they live in times past, not as they are dead in their sins now. Or for that matter, for those activities of the past as they presently happen in their time line. Why can't we pray for those things? Why do we only pray for things associated with our current time and our future time and not our time past as it is currently present for them at that time.
 
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