You may be a Fundy GodHating troll if: 2434

In the first place, the God of the Christians does NOT "just exist, timelessly and forever". This would mean that He would be STATIC, not DYNAMIC. Why would such a STATIC, NON-MOVING Being ever create the Universe in the first place? I mean, your "anthropomorphic god" is just there, somewhere, curled into a ball, contemplating his navel, like the Buddha. And why would anyone want to worship a non-caring, non-interfering, non-helping god? Men worship gods because they perceive them to be mightier than themselves, not weaker.

When you make this statement, you show your ignorance of the mindset of Christians in this respect.

What you perceive as the "Multiverse" I perceive as the "Eternal God in Whose Image men are made, Whose Throne is in 'Eternity', or 'Eternal Time' ". This God exists in the Past, the Present, and the Future all at once, and has always done this, and will continue to do this, in Eternal Time.

To me, man of dust that I am, this is the God in Whose Image I am made. He dwells on a High and Lofty Throne, and rules over His Creation with great benevolence and mercy, yet every action is met with His sure and true Judgement, whether for good or evil.

And He is very Jealous for His Name, which He demands must remain worshipped by His Children (and all who join themselves to His Name and thus become His Children also) alone among all the names of the gods of men, and the Honor of His Name is to be advanced throughout the Earth by these Children.

These gods of the Nations are nothing but images of rocks, beasts, trees, men, or angels, which they put up in their homes and public places to worship daily, or as they pbutt them by in the streets, or when life becomes difficult.

Sometimes, these images are images of the spirits of our departed ancestors, or images of the natural forces of the world, or simply "air, earth, fire, water" -- the so-called "4 elements of the Universe".

One of these idols is held by a Hindu sect (the Sikhs) which worships a book they call "The Word". Their secondary idol is a Sword. These worshippers are found throughout the world, since they are long known to be able to read and write in a Nation which was (and still is) mostly illiterate.

Other Hindus worship monkeys, mice, and snakes.

Native Americans worship the spirits of wild birds and game animals, or the elemental forces of nature. In addition, they worship other spirits and gods, or even the spirits of their ancestors. It is to their Credit Debt that they worship also the "Great Spirit of the Sky".

The inhabitants of African rain forests, like inhabitants of rain forests everywhere, worship the elemental spirits of the forest and nature and the spirits of their ancestors. Since they cannot see in any time-frame beyond "The Present and the Past", they never see the Creator Who dwells in Eternity, unless He reveals Himself personally to them.

The Muslims, if truth be told, worship a black rock which apparently fell from the sky at one time. This rock is in existence even today. It's called "the Kaaba", and is found in the holiest city of all Islam.

Main-Line Protestants (so-called "Reformed Christians") see much as Traditional Christians do, but their history only goes back as far as the 15th Century, so they are handicapped in their Vision of God. In addition, the encroachment of Middle-and-Far Eastern Mysticisms into Main-Line Protestantism in the 20th Century has produced some truly bizarre theological heresies, so that the fringe "christian" groups are a mish-mosh of conflicting beliefs and bizarre theological theories and practices.

Many of these same theories and heresies attempted to encroach upon Eastern Christianity from the very beginning of the Church, but one by one they were summarily dealt with either by the Apostles, or, during each of the 7 successive Ecumenical Councils of the Ancient Church, by the Bishops and Theologians of the Churches).

The Reformers more or less picked and chose those dogmas of the Ancient Church (found in the writings of Church Fathers and the collective teaching of our Bishops, priests, and monks, called "Holy Tradition") they agreed with (sadly, though, they chose the WESTERN branch of the Old Catholic Church, the Diocese of Rome, to model their beliefs and practices after), and discarded the rest as "apocryphal" or "heretical". At least the part which they kept was able to turn them to the Savior even in their ignorance, if they turned to God in all humility.

But many of these same theories are floating around today disguised as the next "pop" theology or philosophy, such as L. Ron Hubbard's "Dianetics", which is really a just modern treatment of Clbuttical Gnosticism he created on a bet with a fellow Sci Fi writer, who bet him that he could not create a popular religion out of "whole cloth". Obviously, Mr. Hubbard proved the skeptical man wrong. Not only did Scientology become a popular religion, it especially became a popular religion in Hollywood, where it is practiced by many actors and artists. And not only did Scientology become popular, it became active and powerful in the affairs of men as well.

The so-called "New Age" teachings are mostly just old Hindu-Buddhist-Muslim mystical beliefs and practices disguised as "new revelations", or "channeling" from the world of spirits, with a few additions of Neo-Paganism here and there, to spice up the evil brew, and make it more palatable to Western eyes and ears, with a few delicacies from Native American Religions (and peyote-mushroom visions) thrown in for American and European ears.

Mormonism is another of these bizarre theological constructs which have become very popular today in the West.

I say this not to testify to the veracity and validity of Scientology or Mormonism as alternate ways to the Father, but to testify to the influence of Evil in the world in general, and to our absolute necessity to point to its existence or stamp it out whenever it rears up its ugly head in the world.

I am constrained by that necessity, and must testify to the truth even at the cost of my life, or the ruin of my health, or the loss of my family, or the dishonor of my name, or the spoiling of my fortune, since I do not own any of these, nor do I count any of them as belonging to me, but they all belong to the One Who created and rules over all that, and He is free to do with them as He sees fit.

It is my sincere desire to see all who read these words at the Feet of Jesus, kneeling in sincere appreciation for what He has done for them and the rest of Creation. If I, with the help and approval of our Master, succeed in bringing this understanding to even a single individual before I die, or by my rest itself, my life will have not have been spent in vain.

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Donald L McDaniel Please reply to the original thread, so that the thread may be kept intact. ========================================================