Antihistamine for the soul

One of the most frightening experiences in my life was taking care of friends' cockatiels or budgies over 34 years ago. Our oldest daughter was not quite a year old at the time. Even if it was a lot of years ago, I feel as if it was only yesterday. I came into the living room and she was sitting happily on the floor with a face so puffy that she looked like a small Buddha statue. There are many people who get their lives in danger if they eat certain foods or if they are stung by an insect. Some people can get very sick physically when they eat pizza or drink cow's milk. Others must avoid all wheat products, even if bread is a staple food. Wheat has always been important to human and animal life. So important in fact that Jesus referred to himself as the bread of life. (This metaphor of bread has been understood at all times.) Even so, this staple food can be a source of agony for some people and even put their lives in danger. However, there are far more dangerous allergies that we may not be aware of.

Have you noticed how some Christians react to "the work of God"? It seems as if her intellectual arteries are constricted, her brain is in cold shock and every thought is delayed. The reason for this reaction is that for many Christians the life of Jesus ends on the cross. Worse still, they perceive the time between the birth and death of Jesus as a ritual fulfillment of the old covenant and time of the law. But the crucifixion of Jesus was not the end, but only the beginning! It was the turning point in his work. That is why our immersion in the death of Jesus, the
We experience with baptism, not our end, but the turning point in our lives! Some Christian leaders and teachers have recognized this problem, that many people - like a car in the mud - stop their own salvation and their life in the faith no longer goes on. They follow some hair-raising ideas of how to live a life with Christ. This life is reduced to worship with gospel music and reading Christian books. At the end of their lives - they think - they go to heaven, but what they will do there, they do not know. Please do not misunderstand me: I have nothing against gospel music, the reading of Christian books or generally against worship and praise. But redemption is not the end for us, but only the beginning - even for God. Yes, it is the beginning of a new life for us and for God it is the beginning of a new relationship with us!

Thomas F. Torrance had a great passion to find out who God is. This probably stemmed from his interest in science and his high regard for our founding fathers. In his quest he discovered the influence of Greek pagan dualism on Church doctrine and our understanding of God. The nature of God and the action of God are inseparable. Like light, which is particle and wave at the same time, God is a being with three parts. Every time we call God "you" we testify to his nature and every time we say that God is love we testify to his actions.

Interestingly, natural science has proven that pure white light is created from the perfect combination of pure red, pure green and pure blue light. These three are united in white light. Even more: science has also discovered and proven that the speed of light is a reliable constant in the universe. The life's work of Athanasius, a church father from the 4. Century, culminated in the Council of Nicaea and the formulation of the Nicene Knowledge of Faith. Athanasius took a stand against the prevailing doctrine of Arianism, the idea that Jesus was a creature who is not always God. The Nicene Creed is still a fundamental and unifying creed for Christianity over the past 1700 years.

Treaties and alliances

Following his brother Thomas, James B. Torrance explained our understanding of covenants when he made the difference between a treaty and an alliance clear. Unfortunately, the Latin translation of the Bible, which was more influential in the Church's teaching than even the translation of the King James Bible, created a problem on this subject when she used the Latin word for contract. A contract has certain conditions and a contract is only fulfilled if all conditions have been met.

However, a covenant is not subject to any specific conditions. However, he has certain obligations. Every person who gets married knows that life is no longer the same after they are married. Participation and participation are cornerstones of a covenant. A contract can include making and delivering decisions alone, but a covenant needs a commitment from both parties in order for it to come about. So it is with the new covenant that came into being through the blood of Jesus. If we die with him, we will be resurrected with him as a new person. Even more: These new people ascended to heaven with Jesus and are enthroned with him at the right hand of God (Ephesians 2,6; Colossians 3,1). Why? For our benefit? No not true. The benefit to each of us depends on God's plan to unite all creation with him. (This could cause another allergic reaction. Am I suggesting universalism? No, certainly not. But that's a story for another time.) There is nothing we can do to show God's love by the grace of salvation It is expressed that salvation is not the end but the beginning. Paul emphasizes this in Ephesians, among other places 2,8-10. Everything we did before our salvation, consciously or unconsciously, made the need for God's undeserved grace indispensable. But once we have accepted this grace and become part of Jesus' birth, life, torture and death on the cross, we are also part of his resurrection, the new life in and with him.

Guided by the spirit

Now we can no longer just stand by and watch. The Spirit moves us to participate in Jesus' work to accomplish His "project" for mankind. It is living proof of the incarnation - God's incarnation in Jesus - that God not only invites us, but sincerely desires that we work with him on earth. Sometimes this can be very hard work and it does not even exclude long and torturous persecution of people and groups. Allergies are caused when the body no longer knows what is good and acceptable and what is harmful and therefore needs to be fought off.

Fortunately, the cure can be fast and effective. I do not remember what we did exactly when my daughter looked like an air balloon. Whatever it was, it helped her recover quickly and
had no side effects. Interestingly, she did not even notice what happened to her. The Bible assures us that a true God is deeply involved in our lives, even when we do not notice it. When he lets his pure, white light shine into our lives, it suddenly changes everything and we will not be the same as before.

Creed of Nicaea

We believe in the one God, the Father, the Almighty, who created everything, heaven and earth, the visible and the invisible world. We believe in the one Lord Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son, born of the Father before time: God from God, light from light, true God from true God, begotten, not made, of one being with the Father; through him everything was created. For us humans and for our salvation he came from heaven, became flesh through the Holy Spirit from the Virgin Mary and became man. He was crucified for us under Pontius Pilate, suffered and was buried, rose from the dead on the third day according to the scriptures and ascended to heaven. He sits at the right hand of the Father and will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead; there will be no end to his rule. We believe in the Holy Spirit, who is Lord and gives life, who proceeds from the Father and the Son, who is adored and glorified with the Father and the Son, who spoke through the prophets and the one, holy, catholic1 and apostolic Church. We confess the one baptism for the forgiveness of sins. We await the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come.

by Elmar Roberg


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