The Words Of God

By William Godwin, 1104 East 5th Street, Corinth MS 38834-3671: The United States

If you are alive on Earth when the first day of 2015 arrives, then you will know for sure that the 1,000-year Paradise or Millennium has begun . . . Going to hell has been softened even by Billy Graham to mean that we will be separated from the Lord God — but not in danger of burning — if we don't toe the company line.

   Whatever was first was created by God.  But Elohim has also used evolution to help develop life during the eons of the universe — approximately 21 billions of years.  Thus, creation & evolution work together & are not enemies . . . Cultures may seem to have erupted from nowhere 6,000 years ago, because that's when humans finally began learning to write.  In coded language, the Bible prophecies about the end of the world were actually predicting the fall of the Roman Empire.

   The Bible has some valuable teachings and some mistakes.  Yahweh isn't perfect, because beings who do not grow & learn & change are dead.  Since nobody chooses to be conceived or born, Adonai must save everyone.  And I don't want to be a parent unless the fetus gives its permission beforehand.  There's no satan or hell... Jesus accomplished universal salvation with his death & resurrection.  My job is now to stimulate thinking.  I have 3 hopes:  (l) that we develop our minds to the fullest possible extent, (2) that our worship be inter-racial & inter-faith and (3) that we work for democratic socialism in a world government.

   My line of thinking is called Deism, the study of God.  Deists such as the USA President Thomas Jefferson have accepted the reality of God, but all else is open to question.  The Bible says God is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-good-&-loving. Given the tragic condition of the world and its people, he can't be all of these things at once.  If God knows everything that will happen & has complete power, then the Lord causes all events and is not good and loving.  Either that or the Prime Mover stands by and watches evil flourish, which is the greatest possible evil.  However, since I know that God IS good and loving, then the Lord trudges imperfect, partly disabled, not possessing all power nor having full knowledge. There is no room for a devilish force.  Be assured that God has much more power & knowledge than anyone else & achieves far greater things than we do.  El Shaddai would keep all tragedies from happening -- if he could.  God is not everywhere at once because he fails so many times to succeed.  We should love God because he does the very best for us that is possible.  The 4 omnis cancel each other.

   There is no satan. If God allowed an evil angel to run free and wreak havoc for many centuries, then Jehovah would not be good and loving.  There's no hell, not even for Hitler.  Then, what is to keep us from misbehaving?  For one thing, we suffer punishments in this part of life before death.  Fear of hell is not very effective in this world.  And even if it were, fear of eternal punishment is a negative reason for good behavior.  A positive reason is that we and all other members of the human race will be happy if we behave.

________________________________________________________________________________