Shout for Joy
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Almost every person is aware that the material world in which we live (and of which we are a part) is not the only world. This very awareness is part of that other world, a world without boundaries, one in which we are not limited in time or in space. “But,” you say, “That is merely the mind at work, the imagination.”
But wouldn’t mean that the material is creating the non-material? That seems a bit difficult for me. If there were two realms then would it not be more reasonable for the non-material to be responsible for the material? After all, it’s the sphere you hold to be unlimited. I wouldn’t suggest that something like that is what Jesus had in mind when he was talking with Nicodemus (the Jewish scholar) about spiritual birth, but it does open the door to consider a sphere of being that is not material. That Jesus could perform miraculous signs led Nicodemus to acknowledge that God was somehow involved. But the question of being born again in order to enter the kingdom of God left him confused. So Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, a person cannot enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. Physical birth results in a physical being; spiritual birth, in a spiritual being” (John 3:5-6, Jesus, In His Own Words). I know that the expression “to be born again” has been used in connection with everything from used car sales to a new plan for vacationing, but Jesus was not speaking metaphorically. He was distinguishing between two realities, physical life as we know it and a new kind of life, spiritual. The first brings a child into our world and the second into the world best described as spiritual. Interestingly enough, as in physical life, so also in spiritual life — a person can’t experience the realm prior to being born into it. I encourage you to check it out because in both cases confirmation follows birth.
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AuthorRobert H Mounce Archives
January 2019
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