Well, I guess I can use the insult rendered in this post, completely irrelevant to the topic, to try once more to instruct you in a proper understanding of Scripture.
The topic will be whether men had eternal life or not in the Old Testament.
Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 "And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 "But of the fruit of the tree which
is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 "And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 "And when the woman saw that the tree
was good for food, and that it
was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make
one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 "And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they
were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons."
Here we have the Fall, Alan, and what I would suggest to you is that man was a physical being who did not have eternal life. Most feel he did, and that he lost it (died spiritually) when he sinned, and that is what his descendants have tried to get back.
Nothing could be further from the truth. Sounds good in a sermon, I know, and it tickes the ears of novice Bible Students who want people to think they actually know the Word of God, but did you ever notice...
Genesis 3:22-23 King James Version (KJV)
22 And the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil: and
now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever:
23 Therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken.
That he was thrust out of the Garden so that he would not have "everlasting life?" Had they not sinned they would have live, physically...forever.
Now, something already mentioned to you, and ignored, is that men did not have "life" prior to the Cross. A few passages to support that:
John 3:9-15 King James Version (KJV)
9
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be?
10 Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things?
11 Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
13
And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
14
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up:
15
That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.
I asked you before...if Christ had to be lifted up that men might have everlasting life...why do you teach that men had everlasting life before? That is what you do when you say, in direct contradiction to the Lord's teachings, that men received the Spirit of God in the Old Testament.
Nicodemus' question is "How can men be born again? How can they be born of water and of the Spirit? And the clear answer is Christ had to go to the Cross.
This took place when God sent His Son, not before:
John 3:16 King James Version (KJV)
16 For God so loved the world,
that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
When did He give His Son?
Galatians 4:4-6 King James Version (KJV)
4 But when
the fulness of the time was come,
God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
5
To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
6
And because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts, crying, Abba, Father.
When were men redeemed from the Law? We can see right here that it is when Christ came that they were redeemed from the Law, so how is it that you have the Atonement occurring in the Old Testament?
Furthering our look at the fact no man had eternal life prior to Pentecost and the receiving of the Spirit:
John 6:49-53 King James Version (KJV)
49
Your fathers did eat manna in the wilderness, and are dead.
50
This is the bread which cometh down from heaven, that a man may eat thereof, and not die.
51
I am the living bread which came down from heaven:
if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.
52 The Jews therefore strove among themselves, saying,
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
53 Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you,
Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you.
Did Moses eat of the flesh of Christ? Not according to Christ. He ate manna and is declared dead. Not passed out of existence, simply not having received eternal life through Jesus Christ yet.
But these are hard things to digest (pun intended), especially if one is steeped in the traditional teachings of men.
Again I point out to you that no-one had received life because they had not received the Spirit of God in the Ministry of The Comforter:
John 7:38-39 King James Version (KJV)
38 He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
39 (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive:
for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)
Scripture states The Spirit was not yet given, you say He was.
And you say to me...
I don't know much at all about The Holy Spirit
and I DON'T WANT TO KNOW",
If you can show how my doctrine differs from what is written...do so. I have shown how your doctrine is the exact opposite of Scripture.
Continued...