In the comments of my last post, I had a request to make a full post on something we were discussing. It has been a while since someone actually asked me to blog on a topic, so I am glad to oblige. We were discussing human potential, for lack of a better simplification: what can people become? I believe, as an integral part of my faith, that human beings have the potential to become like God. The scriptures show us that the Savior taught us in Matthew 5:48 to do so, "Be ye therefore perfect, as your Father in Heaven is perfect."
To be clear, we can never become Heavenly Father. We can never be him, no more so than I can become my father here on Earth. I can follow in my Heavenly Father's footsteps, take his guidance and teaching, and in the course of eternity I have the chance to become a god. I believe it, but I admit that even as I write it, I struggle to comprehend it fully. It was the last great stumbling block for me in accepting my faith. Yet again, I read the scriptures to find that in John 10:34 Jesus quoted Psalm 82, when he said, "Is it not written, ye are gods, and children of the most high?" In other words, he made it plain that he understood and believed what human beings are, and his teachings reflected that.
Human beings, simply put, are therefore gods in embryo. No, we will not become gods in Earthly life. Mortal life is a testing ground, a chance to learn and grow - in a simpler way, like school is to a child - before we reach beyond this life into the next, into eternity. To those who question the possibility of becoming a god, I ask a few questions (and have asked them of many and have not found a satisfactory answer short of what I believe): what do we do after we die? Do we reach our full potential in life, and in death we can never grow? If we can grow in eternity, then at what point do we stop growing? If we are not held back, then why can't we reach a point where we are a god?
The most typical answers are blunt: because that's just not true, because that's not possible, or because that doesn't make sense. I know because I had the same answers to those questions once upon a time. But then there is a simple follow up question: if God wanted us to know that we could become gods ourselves, how would he tell us? Or better yet, what more could he say than is said in those verses already quoted?
I agree that it sounds quite amazing, even beyond reason. But everything is possible with the Lord. And he wants everything for his children. So what can we become? His children in every sense of the word, since that is what we are.
When I look at history and mythology, I see so much that clearly came out of this truth: the pharaoh's of Egypt believed they became gods (and some believe their gods were in fact early pharaohs). Greeks had stories gods and demigods that seem clearly linked with the idea of the human potential to become a god. Many cultures had divine kings who were believed to be gods among their people.
So many Christians have come to believe that Christ taught of a monotheistic religion. It is true that God the Father is one being, but Jesus Christ is another being, and also a god. The Spirit is another god. At the very least, Christianity is a belief system centered around a triumvirate of gods. In truth, though, there is a clear message in the gospel: we can be all He wants us to be, which is to become gods. What an amazing opportunity, and what a great goal. I know I am a long way from being worthy to even be considered for such a lofty state, but knowing what I can be helps me believe more in myself in this life, which really improves my state of mind. Each trial is a chance to learn and grow, and if I follow the guidance of the Spirit - which comes direct from the Father - I can get closer to what my Heavenly Father wants me to be.
-- Robert
P.S. My post about potential kept coming to mind as I wrote this, and I see my calling to become a professor as very linked to helping people find their full potential. I hope I can help people realize all they can be in that process.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
21 comments:
'I ask a few questions (and have asked them of many and have not found a satisfactory answer short of what I believe): what do we do after we die? Do we reach our full potential in life, and in death we can never grow? If we can grow in eternity, then at what point do we stop growing? If we are not held back, then why can't we reach a point where we are a god?'
What do we do after we die ?
We continue our existence in another dimension ! in heavens or hell depending on what kinda life we lived
Do we reach our full potential when we die ?
No only our full basic knowledge we re still changing even there
If we can grow in eternity ,than in what point we start growing?
There's no such point as long as we exist on earth or in eternity we grow our existence is our growing a human or even God who cannot be better cannot exist even our holy God the one the most important grows and changes and becomes smarter (thats why its impossible to not be like him)
If we are not held back, then why can't we reach a point where we are a god?'
I think you're meaning of God is changed in this question if you're talking about the meaning of God used by the Shinto religion which is comparible with the greek meaning of the Word demon which describes a strong spiritual entity both Good and Evil the first step in becoming that is our deadth a end of our live
So what do you think about my answers ?
How do you like it ?
start should be stop growing
My meaning of god does not change, per se, I just know that there is one God the Father, one God the Son, and one God the Spirit. We just rarely refer to them in that way exactly. They are each a god. Notice throughout the Bible where the references to him say "The Most High God". There are even references to lesser gods in the Old Testament, but they are so subtle as to go unnoticed. My point is, why refer to God the Father as the Most High God unless there are other gods? He is our spiritual father and he directed our creation here on Earth that we might have the chance to experience mortality, after which we can achieve a higher state that we might otherwise have been able to. I just wanted to be clear on that point: the confusion in the Bible is that God does not only refer to God the Father. In fact, much of the Old Testament refers to Jehovah, who is Christ and which the writers of the New Testament knew to be their God on Earth when he was among them. Translation has lost much of the richness of the original language on this point.
As for your idea that we can keep growing, and there is no logical reason that growth should stop, you seem to have understood my beliefs quite clearly. That is what I believe, as do others of my faith. I am interested to hear your perspective on it, as such thoughts are most often met with confusion or even anger by many Christians. I wonder where you came to understand what you believe, if you do believe we can become gods.
Thanks for the interesting discussion, too, by the way.
it is I thought althought we use diffrent names we talk about the same while You call this beings Gods I called Demons don't worry the meaning of it is exactly the same the same goes with the japanese Shinto understandment in fact I discovered it because of these teachings that were 'registered' in the Anime called Tenchi Muyou which Im found of and wanted to copy it but in Polish realities which lead me to the creation of that story that I wanted you to read I done some research 'scientific' one on the Anime's backround and I saw that Kajishima Masaki made a symplization of the Shinto faith and the culture of Japan the Royal planet of Jurai is the mirror of how Japanese like to portray themselfs or would like to but can't do that do political correctness So of course I created a planet that mirrored Poland as well or more exactly couple of worlds that mirror real places and parodize them both the Original anime series and my own story are Satirical themed ! also in Tenchi Muyou the Shinto religion was used as Juraians were Gods from heaven guarding earth in reality Jurai conquered Earth (or probaly just Japan) Anime hints out that emperror is a Juraian althought not precisly and you need to read threw the lines !
I mimicked the same while using the bible so I created an Alien civilisation which was ruled by God and existed in other dimension the civilisation is so evolved that it allows to bring dead people back into a society created from GODS or DEMONS as you like who than continued or lived a life similiar to their earth ones (eating,drinking working growing, having sex etc etc fulfilling all the needs normal humans have )
while at first it was suppose to be a backround an Ideal utopia I done some other research and started to create the real image once I thought about I understood that althought I was reffering to my fiction my fiction emulated a real society or a real concept of society that could be even proven in Bible because once I simplized God to Philosopher and a ruller I started to understand some of his motives and that the translation missunterprets him sometimes ! thats when I understood that !
that a mortal can become a GOD (I use the term Demon to signifise the fact that this is a being that evolved from us spiritual being being once a mortal and a God as God the master but its basically the same I use the old Greek meaning of Demon and not the traditional Christian meaning of that word were in Christian Demon means servant of Satan in Greek means a physical immortal being a material being not a ghost under the greek meaning of the word Demons are also these entites who serve God not to mention that I belive that God utilizes most of the real Fallen angels as well)
Paradoxally My faith is a Christian
Roman Catholic !
You can call me Educated Christian as my faith !
althought whenever Im asked about my faith I say that Im beliver in God
so you can call me Gods follower as my faith as well!
If you want I can give the chapter from which its started ! I think now you understand why Im still reffering to that story everything I talked about was connected to my story in which I written some of private philosophy !
By the way I written this story while 16 years old and only minimilly edited its content ! so hows that ! Im also 22 years old as of next month adleast so you never expect to learn that haha !
It's not too surprising, actually. I wrote my first novella when I was in high school, and my second book by the end of college. They were awful, mind you, but still I wrote them. I never published my third book, but instead all but quit writing fiction, and I really haven't written much of anything organized since.
So what was that Novella about ?
Something interesting ?
At first it was just an exercise in writing for fun, but then I made it about prejudice based on cultural bias. It was very simplistic, though.
oh Sounds interesting
Don't worry. It wasn't. :)
So is there anything you want to ask me ?
Nothing comes to mind today, but I've been dealing with a crashed server at work, so my mind is somewhat sidetracked. Feel free to keep commenting or asking more questions.
So whats a CEO exactly ?
and what did you study in Georgia University ?
CEO stands for Chief Executive Officer, and is commonly used to refer to the top manager in a company. I am not CEO of my company, though something I checked on google might've interpreted it that way. I am company president, though I am stepping down when I return to school to get my doctorate in business, focused on entrepreneurship.
I studied accounting as an undergraduate (my first college degree) at the University of Georgia (strangely, I think Georgia University might actually be a different school, but even if it is not, UGA is never called by that name). In my master program I focused on entrepreneurship, finance, and consulting, so I would say my degree was in small business financial consulting. My main role in my business at present is managing the finances: credit approval, disbursements, collections, and reporting. I've managed other areas over time, so I have a good perspective of the whole business, but I as I said, I am withdrawing so I have limited my role here.
Hope that answers your questions.
I studied Economy and Adminstration at school 'LICEUM' (thats the type of school) Similiar to High School or in that age period ! I passed my MATURA EXAM and was in the third place at my school so thats quite good, I was also studing Information Technology !
I must admit the School system here is diffrent than the US one ....
you said you're withdrawing but to were ?
I am headed to Texas Tech University to pursue my doctorate, which is a terminal degree (if you know that term). I believe the Germans have a similar degree with a very different use in their system, from what my German classmate explained to when I saw him last. Because I'm headed back to school, though, I can't still work in my current business.
Im Polish not German I think you still need to explain it to me !
Poland is the most pro American country in Europe but its system is diffrent Germany and USA share the same social system model so of course a German knows what are you talking about !
I know you're Polish, but I imagine you might have heard more about Germany's educational system than ours, living next door.
What more would you like to know?
Next door huh ? it wasn't always a nice neigborhood hahaha
Germany and Poland have a unique relationship in EU its the only UNION together with NATO were former mortal enemies work peacufully together !
Im curious what German think about Poland and Poles ! well here Germany is currently considered as an ally with a sinistar past for most of our existence Poland and Germany were enemies its quite interesting that todays Germany is more open for Poland than the same country just a century ago !
still althought we coexist for over a tousand years we only now are begining to understand one another ! due to belonging in the same Social and Military aliance and world order I think if EU wouldn't exist that wouldn't be possible GERMANY always wanted to rule Europe and thanks to EU it finally does leaving military conquests unnecesary !
Well, I suppose Poland is learning to appreciate the phrase "keep your friends close and your enemies closer" in a whole new way. I realize Poland and Germany have a wrothful past, but I simply meant that it was more likely that you would know about their education system than to know much about the US. Typical Americans know very little about foreign education systems in my experience, even that of our neighbors Mexico and Canada, and certainly don't know a lot about European systems. It's interesting to hear about the relationship between Poland and Germany. I find it somewhat peculiar how much France and Germany come down on the same side of an issue today when they used to battle over a neighboring province for centuries.
Both France and Germany come from the same civilisational circle these countries are the source of the modern day capitalism of course Germany,France,Portugal,Spain,UK were rivaling for the first place in decision making in western world these countries were rivaling with each others since their creations ...In truth Poland might consider Germany the great adversary but Germans viewed Poland as nuisance rather than an actual enemy Poland for them in these days was a strange barbaric countries where Tatars were always fighting with some Noblemans and were the king had no actual power in fact they might considered these teritories as stateless and probably thats why most Germans didn't viewed Poland as a nation but more like an ideology you know even today Poles are not considered an ethnic minority in Germany and all Poles are treated as Germans in Germany althought today its more like Germans of Polish origin and Polish culture in Germany is not forbidden any more !
Technically Poland was isolated in the same way Japan was so of course in these time with exception of German population that lived in Poland not much Germans knew what kinda country Poland is most cities in Poland where build and given german administration DANZIG considered itself a city allied with Poland althought it belonged to the Hanslatic league as well..Poland was Mystical country too Mystical for its age the Civilisied world was just developing the pre modern Capitalism In Poland a new world order was being created the one that will start exist only in the XX Century ! LIBERTY AND FREEDOM LIBERUM VETO (IM FREE TO NOT ALLOW)
The first one was in fact handed by us to you !
Grece and the Rome are the ancients sources for Europe a source for USA from which it was born was in fact POLAND !
Voting and elections the basic rights of freedom in democracy where invented in Poland !
Post a Comment