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Re: imagining the future






>From: "J. Marie Hall" <fionaeval at yahoo_com>
>Reply-To: "J. Marie Hall" <fionaeval at yahoo_com>
>To: over-the-rhine at actwin_com
>Subject: imagining the future
>Date: Tue, 13 Aug 2002 19:07:25 -0700 (PDT)
>
>
>but as i read, i couldn't tell for sure what you meant
>by "the future."  in terms of ushering in the kingdom
>of god, do you think christians will live on earth in
>world peace before the second coming?


I don't think that world peace will actually happen until after the second 
coming but that doesn't mean we aren't supposed to work toward it now.  I 
think that if the church is expecting one man to come along and magically 
transform the world into to paradise then it is even more out of touch with 
reality then I see it as being at present (and that's saying a lot).

>as for the kingdom of god being in us, there is a sort
>of barrier for the time being at least--sin.  >

Yes, but this is where atonement and reconciliation enter.  Remember how 
Nicodemus entered the kingdom?  Jesus was talking to his own disciples when 
he told them this, not your average run of the mill foul mouthed beer 
guzzlin' sinner (oops, I'd better be careful).  The Kingdom of God has been 
imparted to or implanted in all the redeemed.  There is no barrier expect 
for our choice to withold it from the outside world.



>>After all, at this point it's the only way we are going to possibly 
>>survive.

>this is where you and i might be different.  i'm tired
>of trying to save myself and have us all "survive."    i
>think survival is the mentality that keeps us from
>having hope.  or saving anything :)

O contrare.  I think the need to survive is why we need hope in the first 
place.  Maybe all of your basic needs are perpetually taken care of, but my 
existence tends to lean toward the precarious end.


> >You know,
> >the lion lying side by side the with the lamb and all
> >that (which I think is
> >a definate metaphor and not literal which is maybe
> >why some people can't
> >imagine it happening in the world that we know).

>i think of that as the biblical union (bride and
>christ...once he comes back) bringing out
>reconciliation b/w the law and spirit, truth and
>grace...the ot and the nt.


I think of it as stronger nations not trying dominate weaker nations and 
also as the ability of the individual to allow both peace and judgement to 
reign in their own soul.  In other words, to discern when someone needs to 
have their ass kicked because they are about to do evil and when someone 
deserves mercy as a victim of circumstance, for instance.

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