A former local Pastor of mine, walks into my place of employment. He is a friend and unofficial local, ministry mentor with a good sense of satire.
(Paraphrased)
Pastor
'Not too many people have a job where they can sit behind the computer all day.'
S&T
'I do not sit behind my computer all day, I chat with customers, I am doing ministry work, such as so and so. I appreciate your assistance.'
'Have you heard of software engineers?'
'If I was a professor, I would spend much of my day, behind the computer.'
Pastor: 'Yes, but not all of it.'
Saturday
The staff told me he was by today with his family to have coffee and I was out. The family asked where I was. I had talked with two of his daughter's when I was out leaving business cards at churches. (There is email follow up).
Good...
Friday
Man outside walks by and looks at our sign outside: 'Bibles!?' (Indignant? Surprised?)
Theologically, I heard the following for the first time as a child at Maple Ridge Baptist Church from the lead Pastor that was later a Theology professor at Trinity Western University.
God the Son, is the infinite, eternal and omnipotent God and therefore able to outlast finite sin against the infinite God.
At the same time, God the Son, as incarnate, (becomes) is the perfect finite human being and therefore able to serve as the perfect sacrifice in atonement. Only God the Son, Jesus Christ meets these qualifications, even while working within the Trinity as God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. Colossians 2: 9 notes that Jesus Christ, God the Son, is the fullness of deity in bodily form.
These are also premises in my view against annihilationism as no finite amount of time by the finite unregenerate in Hades (Luke 16) can pay the penalty for sin that only God the Son, Jesus Christ can cover. Therefore, everlasting punishment remains the more reasonable explanation within the lake of fire (Revelation 20) as opposed to annihilation. Those not in the book of life remain in sin, opposed to God in sin, by significant free will choice as secondary agents (God as primary cause) and also continually pay for sin (s).
To understand Aleister Crowley, or to come as close to understanding as the man would allow, one must start at his upbringing. Born Edward Alexander, Crowley found himself amongst some of Britain’s most evangelical Christians, the very opposite of the type of people he would attract later in his life. His father was a preacher, and at first, Crowley found himself entirely devoted to the religion, out of respect for his father. However, upon his father’s death when Crowley was just 11 years old, he began firmly eschewing all sense of Christianity. He would point out inconsistencies in the teachings of the Bible during study groups in school, and would outright defy all Christian morals by smoking, masturbating, and having sex with prostitutes. For his behavior, his mother referred to him as “the Beast,” a title which he reveled in.
OVERVIEW
Aleister Crowley
(1875—1947) author and occultist QUICK REFERENCE
(1875–1947),
a diabolist and a bad but prolific poet who claimed to be the Beast from the Book of Revelation. He joined the Order of the Golden Dawn, a group of theosophists involved in Cabbalistic magic, of which Yeats was a member.
From: Crowley, ‘Aleister’ in The Concise Oxford Companion to English Literature »
Subjects: Literature
Crowley’s father was an heir to a brewing fortune who became an evangelist for the Plymouth Brethren, a Nonconformist religious denomination. The younger Crowley, however, formed an aversion to Christianity early in life. As a student at Trinity College of the University of Cambridge, he began to use the name Aleister and gained a reputation for skill at chess. In 1898 he left the university without taking a degree. His own inheritance left him free to travel widely and to arrange for the publication of his writings. His first book of poetry appeared in 1898, and numerous books followed. ---
Mr. Crowley grew up in a Plymouth Brethren family, but after his Father's day and death, Mr. Crowley became firmly an antichrist.
I watched the Channel 4 documentary below which is interesting, although not exhaustive in the limited time presented.
This story to me is a classic example of a human being that takes disappointment with God, life and reality, that virtually all human beings experience (I certainly have had and do), in this sinful, tainted, fallen realm; to a rebellious extreme.
A classic negative example of life and end...
Reference
Hades: Luke 16, temporary spiritual realm for those that reject the atoning and resurrection work of Jesus Christ for sin and to everlasting life. The biblical, triune God is rejected.
The lake of fire: Revelation 20, the everlasting realm for those some persons, resurrected in sin and judged by God.
Both biblically presented with figurative, literal, language. Masters of Darkness: The Wickedest Man in the World (2002)
