Friday: Further Thought – Restoring Dominion
Read Ellen G. White, “Temperance and Dietetics,” pp. 202-206; “Discipline,” pp. 287-290, in Education; “Need for Self-Mastery,” Patriarchs and Prophets 73-74, in Counsels on Diet and Foods; “The Principles of Stewardship,” ibid. 111-113; “Sharing in the Joys of the Redeemed,” ibid. 348-350, in Counsels on Stewardship.
Image © Sally Weimer from GoodSalt.com
It’s so hard from our perspective today, immersed as we are in a greatly fallen world, to imagine what we have lost through the Fall. This evil world is all that we know and, were it not for the Word of God and how it reveals to us our origins and the origins of sin and death and evil, we’d simply take them for granted, as just part of life itself. Yet the story of the Fall shows us that, indeed, this is not how things were to be. Genesis said that Adam and Eve were to have dominion over the world; then, right after they had sinned, suddenly their relationship to the world changed because they changed, and the physical world itself changed as well. Suddenly the dominion they had enjoyed was lost, and the consequences became enormous. “The thorn and the thistle (Gen. 3:17-18), the aftermath of the Flood (Gen. 7:12), the desert and the wilderness, the groaning of the earth for deliverance (Rom. 8:19-22) are some of the word pictures the Bible uses to describe the effect of sin upon the world.”-Handbook of Seventh-day Adventist Theology (Hagerstown, Md.: Review and Herald® Pub. Assn.), vol. 12, p. 254. How thankful we should be for the plan of salvation, which will restore all that was lost and which offers us the promise of a future so much better than the past or the present.
Discussion Questions:
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To imagine what has been lost through the fall is a quote in the above paragraph and Is an accurate opinion. However I can not imagine what I never had, if I didn't first have it. I can have it described adequately and get a fairly good idea of what it was like but not as accurate as if I had seen it with my own eyes. That is a major failure as I see it. To embellish a picture is not a faithful reproduction. Our eco-system should not be made worse at least by what we contribute.
I see your point but because we see what we have today and we read what we had yesterday we can as the song says I can only imagine
When someone talks about a tasty dish our mouths water or about some event we say we wished we were there
So it is our senses can explore the unknown creating a longing desire to experience what was described to us
Loosely quoting our eyes our ears and our hearts can't imagine the things God had in store for us
Hope makes the future real
God will have great eternal and joyous experiences for us
Let's meet at Jesus feet
Did you read Patriarchs and Prophets? Page 73.1 righteousness by faith. "Apart from Christ we can not obey. Total dependence on Christ is the only way, like Able" page 73.2 "Faith without works is dead. By works faith is made perfect." The history of Cain and Abel does not destroy my understanding of righteousness by faith. It reiterates the saying, genuine faith produces good works. The Bible makes it clear that apart from Christ I can't live, with Christ I can live. Deuteronomy 30:19,20. Acts 4:12.
Seems to me that the closer I am to Christ the more I will serve Him. Why because I love Him. If you have problems with this read Steps to Christ pages 65-71. Also read Desire of Ages Chapter 17. Still problems read Romans then James then Hebrews... The Holy Spirit will put it all together for you. Trust Him.