While so many have seen Christ and have heard His testimony, so many remain skeptical, indifferent, even hostile to Him. Is there something about the spiritual condition of the witness that precludes awareness of personal vulnerability and peril? In Scripture, faith is the spiritual posture that produces such awareness. What is faith, MHz?
In it's most basic term it is reading some Scripture and deciding if it is true or not. True in the literal sense as that is how the words are written.
Joh:20:27-29:
Then saith he to Thomas,
Reach hither thy finger,
and behold my hands;
and reach hither thy hand,
and thrust it into my side:
and be not faithless,
but believing.
And Thomas answered and said unto him,
My Lord and my God.
Jesus saith unto him,
Thomas,
because thou hast seen me,
thou hast believed:
blessed are they that have not seen,
and yet have believed.
Faith is based on that event, it either happened literally or or didn't. If it is a literal event then all other events described as being literal also have to be literal of the book is not true. That being said failing to have the book install faith before a person dies means they will go to sleep like everyone else and the will wake up sinless at the Great White Throne and that is when all wrath is past. For the ones that have faith the book is factual they would also go to sleep but be awakened on the 1st day of the 1,000 year reign and in that 1,000 year period they would be witnesses to a series of events that are literal in nature, including a person being alive for a 1,000 continuous years.
For what is is worth my faith was there before I started to read the book for myself and over the next 20 years I learned by reading and that was more of a confirmation that the book was true and that was by it's complexity and the story that eventually emerged after putting a great many pieces of a puzzle together. Pieces that could not have been designed by 40 random writers. The quickest way to introduce that concept is to compare Ge:1-3 and Re:20-22 as being a complete story by itself. How we got here and what will happen when this earth ends.
The ones that are alive for the trumps get to have proof shown as the judgment that comes on the day of return will see the seperation of believers from those who are not. One group is alive for the 1,000 years and the other group is awake in death and in that period of time they are given the proof that they need to come to the realization of who is the strongest one of the two that demand worship or death. Since they are already dead because of God that answer is there so when they are before God at the Great White Throne they are believers rather than 'rebels'.
Re:7:9:
After this I beheld,
and,
lo,
a great multitude,
which no man could number,
of all nations, and kindreds,
and people,
and tongues,
stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb,
clothed with white robes,
and palms in their hands;
Re:7:10:
And cried with a loud voice,
saying,
Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne,
and unto the Lamb.
Re:7:13:
And one of the elders answered,
saying unto me,
What are these which are arrayed in white robes?
and whence came they?
Re:7:14:
And I said unto him,
Sir,
thou knowest.
And he said to me,
These are they which came out of great tribulation,
and have washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Coming up with a meaning for that after I started reading is knowledge gained after having faith. The bit below was written out about 12 years after 1988 and it was put down about as fast as I can type and the time it covers is about as long as it takes to read it. I didn't have faith before it but I certainly had enough faith after to pick up the book to 'find out more'. That was reading the NT and by the end I knew there was a plan but pretty slack on having any references that explained it in any detail. Bit by bit that was expanded on as I chatted with others about the book. That was a completed task before I ever made any post here and it is stronger even after 'listening to the alternatives'. Here is how it all began.
I started of with the Lord's Prayer and just as I was about to start my plea I got a vision that I was outside my body and saw myself, from the back and above, in a kneeling position with a mist a very short distance in front of me that obscured any further view.
I heard myself say "Master, I don't feel so good." A large hand came out of the mist and completely enclosed my body. This happened in a 'twinkling of an eye', I found myself enclosed in this hand and it scared me to no end because I struggled to be free of it's grasp but found I could move not even one little bit. This feeling of being scared lasted only for the briefest of moments.
What replaced it was the most peaceful feeling I have ever experienced, bar none, and to be quite truthful have not experienced that 'level' of peace since.
As soon as this wave of peace (meaning I was in the company of someone who cared for me much more than my words will ever be able to describe) overcame me the hand loosed it 'grip' on me and it opened and I found myself sitting on this palm facing the ends of the fingers and seeing further forward than that.
In front was a hallway, very tall and the walls were black. The walls were not smooth, but rather, had many indentations and sharp corners at these indentations. There was a faint light at each of these 'corners' and that was the only way I could tell the walls were not smooth, the rest was pitch black, I could see neither floor nor ceiling, only these faint corners.
We were moving down this hallway at a leisurely rate and as I was feeling very 'relaxed' I was going to change my sitting position so I had my hands behind my back and then I could lean back and rest on them. As I was leaning back one hand seemed to miss the expected surface that would support it and I ended up rolling to one side. I looked back to see what had 'gone wrong' and I observed a great hole in the palm of this hand. I immediately burst into tears and said with alarm "You've been hurt!"
I heard not a word but my tears left me and I spent the next few moments crawling around the hand, much like I did on the school-ground equipment when I was a small child.
This hallway had corners in addition to the indentations in that it was not straight as we have halls. We came around one corner and off to the right I could see a faint glow of light some distance down this other smaller hallway.
I asked "What's down there?" A voice (rather deep but very 'soothing') answered "You're not ready for this, but I will show you."
Off we went down this other hallway going around gently curving corners and the light got brighter with each corner we passed. In very short order we came out on a dusty,earthen path and I could see a sky. This path was rather narrow and had grass growing on either edge.
On the grass to the left there were several rabbits hopping around, a few bounds then they would stop and nibble the grass, a few more bounds, another nibble. Our presence did not disturb them in the least.
Just behind the rabbits, only a few yards from the path, was what I would best describe would be a three-wire barbed fence, not in the best of repair as the wire sagged a bit between the posts and none of the posts stood up properly but were tilted a bit at various angles.
A bit of distance from this was another fence made of planking, much like you would find around any farm that kept horses or cows, and behind were some farm buildings, house and small barn made of the same wood as the plank fence.
All the wood was very weathered but the condition of the buildings and fence would not warrant paint as this would be a waste because of their condition.
As I looked over at this scene I noticed several dogs in the yard. There was much running and yelping and much dust from all this activity. I could not determine if this activity was caused by our presence or not and if, in fact, the dogs were playing or it was a somewhat more serious matter they were involved in. The circles they made were small and done in quick fashion so in the short time I observed them they completed many circles.
The path we were on also had the gentle twists and turns like the hallways we had just came from did. We continued down this dusty path and came around another corner and came to a stop. The path ended here and was replaced by a large open space covered in lush grass, a short distance from us I could see gently rolling hill. I could see far enough to see three or four 'rows' of these hills, one behind the other. Very beautiful and serene but what was most astounding about these hills was that they were completely covered by people, standing so closely together that not one more person could have stood with them. There was a small open space between where the path ended and this large crowd stood, which is how I knew the grass was so lush.
On this grass, about midway between the end of the path and where the crowd started stood two people, one man, one woman. As remarkable as this whole scene was I was still even more astounded to see not one strand of hair on any of their heads, not one anywhere.
The two in front spoke no words but it was quite plain they were pleased to see 'Him'. No words were spoken to any from 'Him' either.
We turned and went back from where we had come from. Back into the little hallway till we turned left at the larger one.
We continued down this for some distance until we came to a doorway that was on our left.
I heard a voice say "This is a safe place for you."
The door opened and I went inside to a circular room about 50 steps in width. The room was decorated in many shades of brown and the 'outer wall' had shelves that went way round all filled with books. The middle had furnishings that matched the colors of the bookcases.
The door closed and I was alone.
I stood for a moment and went to the door and opened it just a crack. What I felt was sheer terror, and quickly re-closed the door and felt the terror was gone, as long as the door remained closed.
What was outside was not only terror but evil in that it had nothing good planned for me should I be foolish enough to open my door and go into the passage on my own.
It ended at that point.
