The tree of life.

Response to jaigner

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RE: God's pronouncement of Creation as "good" was never revoked.

Human beings are no longer good.

†. Gen 6:5-6 . .Yhvh saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. Yhvh was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was saddened.

†. Gen 8:21 . . Every inclination of his heart is evil from childhood.

†. Mtt 19:17 . . There is none good but one, that is, God

†. Rom 3:10 . .There is none righteous, no, not one

People are so bad that it is now necessary for them to undergo creation all over again in order to live at peace with God.

†. John 3:3 . . Jesus testified: I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born from above.

†. John 3:5-6 . . Jesus answered: I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.

Undergoing creation all over again isn't optional; no, it's a must.

†. John 3:7 . .You should not be surprised at my saying you must be born again.

RE: The KJV, maybe in its only helpful point, gets this one right by calling it "flesh,"

According to your opinion of creation, flesh is good; yet Jesus testified that flesh cannot enter the kingdom of God. In point of fact, nowhere in the Bible is flesh reckoned a good thing. On the contrary, flesh is always reckoned a bad thing.

†. Rom 7:18 . . For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwells no good thing

†. Rom 8:8 . . They that are in the flesh cannot please God.

†. Rom 8:12-13 . . Brethren, we are debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh; for if you live after the flesh, ye shall die

†. Gal 5:19-21 . . The works of the flesh are manifest, which are these: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, reveling, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

Human nature is not blessing-worthy, on the contrary, it is curse-worthy.

†. Eph 2:3 . . We were by nature objects of wrath.

RE: calling it "flesh," which is way more helpful than "sinful nature."

I disagree. The NIV put a handle on flesh by labeling it sinful nature; because in reality what the Bible's talking about when it condemns the flesh is human nature— as opposed to the nature of a meerkat, or a porpoise, or a heron —and it is a totally corrupt nature. Maybe Adam's human nature was "good" on the day of his creation; but that was no longer true after he ate the forbidden fruit. Something happened to human nature on that day. The next thing you know, a man up and murdered his kid brother; and you want to call that good? No, man's goodness was short-lived. Whatever goodness he had before the forbidden fruit incident went extinct on the day of his trespass; and man became his own God.

†. Gen 3:22 . . And Yhvh God said: The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.

†. Ps 82:6 . . I have said: you are gods

†. John 10:34 . . Jesus answered them: Is it not written in your law: I said, you are gods?

Are you a Baptist? You don't sound like a Baptist. It's none of my business of course what your religious preference is; it's just that no Baptist church I ever attended believed and taught your personal opinions about human nature.

C.L.I.F.F.
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2Pet 1:4 . . We have been given exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature

Is the divine nature eternal life or being immortal?

 

Response to percho

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RE: 2Pet 1:4 . . We have been given exceeding great and precious promises: that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. >Is the divine nature eternal life or being immortal?<

It's eternal life. Here's how it works:

Human life comes with a human's nature, just as coyote life comes with a coyote's nature, and opossum life comes with an opossum's nature, and bald eagle life comes with a bald eagle's nature. Every form of life comes with a nature specific to its own species which is why collies and german shepherds don't act, think, or feel like a night crawler.

So then, eternal life (a.k.a. the life of God) comes with a divine's nature so that its recipients can think, act, and feel like God; which of course has the effect of rendering the recipients quite sinless.

†. 1John 3:9 . .Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin; for His seed remains in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

†. 1John 5:18 . .We know that whosoever is born of God does not sin

C.L.I.F.F.
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