I was forced to change my
email address when my service program glitched and would only allow me to receive,
but not send. Unable to send my address book to the new email system I’ve jumped
through all kinds of hoops, including manually inserting some of the contacts. As
I’ve scrutinized the names in the list I’m surprised by some of the contacts listed
that I have no idea who they are, much less how the wound up in my address
book. I now have a different understanding of how the Apostle Paul could so
easily dismiss the names of all the people he’d baptized. Knowing his
priorities, Paul said, “For Christ did not send me to baptize, but to preach
the gospel—not with words of human wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied
of its power” (1 Cor 1:17 NIV).
1 comment:
Gail;
-----This reminds me of the Lamb’s Book of Life. Revelation 13:8 says our names were written into that Book before the foundation of the earth. Revelation 3:5 shows us that names can be blotted out of that Book, too. (Oh my!) Only one place in the Bible have I found names definitely being recorded into a book because of someone’s doing or state of being. That’s in Malachi 3:16. But this was a book of remembrance. Into it were recorded the names of those who spoke to one another and thought upon the name of the Lord. And Revelation 20:15 indicates that God has a library, not just a book, saying, “…and books were opened.” So I find it reasonable to think the Lamb’s Book of Life as written before the foundation of the earth contained the names of every human conceived.
-----At conception has the soul sinned? The Bible says we were all born into sin. I have no idea what proportion of folks think that means we were conceived sinful. I don’t agree with them. I reason the Bible’s comments about our being born into sin have a definite possibility of meaning that we are conceived into a realm where sin so abounds that we’ve sinned even before birth. Sure, the combination of mommy and daddy’s DNA has produced at least one error. But that was not the conceived soul’s error. That was error of happenstance, as far as the newly conceived soul is concerned. The error happened as much to him as the eventual burglary of his home will happen to him.
-----If this is right, then what name of the soul dying before birth is written in the Book of Life? Most often its parents will not have yet named it (we had Rachel and Erin named at least a month before their birth.) I wonder if it is the new name on the white rock those who overcome will receive (Rev 2:17?) Anyhow, I reason a perfect soul has been conceived into an imperfect body for existing in a wicked world. Then, with the exception of one, the soul has committed his own sin before birth (not all those sweet little kicks in the womb actually come from a sweetly proceeding little heart.) Like some ancient philosopher once said (I forget his name), “Every child is born a barbarian for its parents to civilize.” At birth all children but one have come forth sinful.
-----The Lord knows everyone who is righteous. He knows not the unrighteous. Jesus and His Father talk about us using our names when we talk about Him using His name. At some point in time of the temporal life of most individuals, they will commit to not washing their robes in the blood of the Lamb. This is a big mistake which gets their names blotted out of the Lamb’s Book of Life. I doubt you’re more forbearing than is God, so I am going to guess you are less efficient. You haven’t blotted the names of those you don’t know from your book of addresses, but God does not let names He doesn’t know hang around in His Book.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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