(08/10/2016) Why Did GOD Cause...?

Today, the testimony granted the Apostle Paul as his experience of conversion, and the parable of the Good Samaritan are considered.  Points are shared on understanding the sacred operations and active presence of GOD that many mistakenly take to be the immediate cause, origin, and purpose for sacred events.  Divinity has even been accused and charged with cruelty, error, indifference, and prejudice against mankind on the basis of actions and interventions by GOD that necessarily admonish, correct, depose those having authority, punish, impose suffering, and provide more complete revelation.  While sacred outcomes always appear where there are oneness of intent and divine substance, diversity also may appear that continues oneness without sameness.  A fighter at “Yahoo! Answers” using the ID “Digital” (Level 3 with 2,401 points, a member since March 12, 2014) posted the following:


Why did God cause the Good Samaritan, who stopped to help Jesus on the Road to Damascus, to go blind for three days?


THE GOLDEN ARROW:  I verily thought with myself, that I ought to do many things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth.  Which thing I also did in Jerusalem:  and many of the saints did I shut up in prison, having received authority from the chief priests; and when they were put to death, I gave my voice against them.  And I punished them oft in every synagogue, and compelled them to blaspheme; and being exceedingly mad against them, I persecuted them even unto strange cities.  Whereupon as I went to Damascus with authority and commission from the chief priests,  At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me.  And when we were all fallen to the earth, I heard a voice speaking unto me, and saying in the Hebrew tongue, Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.  And I said, Who art thou, Lord? And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.  But rise, and stand upon thy feet:  for I have appeared unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of those things in the which I will appear unto thee;  Delivering thee from the people, and from the Gentiles, unto whom now I send thee,  To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me.  (Acts 26:  9-18, King James Version, KJV)


THE DOUBLE DAGGER:  The Loaves and Fishes (08/09/2016); The Testimony From Jesus (08/05/2016); Knowing GOD For Yourself  (07/13/2016); Saul of Tarsus (03/26/2014); The Nature of Scripture (03/27/2014); Sin Causes Death? (02/04/2014); Succession (02/05/2014); Why Jesus Used Parables (11/03/2013); Denying Baptism to Others (11/04/2013)
 

“Digital”, for mature Christian believers, the answers to your question (and others like it) are determined by the character, nature, and substance of divinity, and the fact that sacred operations must establish conditions, demands, and fixed patterns that reveal and show agreement among such features as sovereign authority, sacred events, divine law, promise, prophecy, eternal purpose, divine prerogative, sacred knowledge, the stipulations of covenant relationships, and the content of open vision.

The account of the Good Samaritan appears in Scripture as a parable (i.e., a brief narrative used for illustration, and object lessons), and is different from the testimony (i.e., words that are spoken in witness to divine operations, and provided as evidence in judgment) shared by the Apostle Paul on being called by Jesus to serve the ministry of Christ.

As a Pharisee, Paul was in a condition of spiritual blindness from the time he offered himself as a champion of the covenant of Moses, a defender of the culture and tradition of the Jews, and a promoter of the peculiar politics of assimilation and compromise with Rome that were dominant throughout the Temple community.  The High Priest was among the Sadducees who had condemned the Lord to crucifixion; and they appointed and officially commissioned Paul to serve as a destroyer of Christian belief.  In effect, Paul became chief of the secret police, the Lord High executioner, and a “killing judge,” who was on his way to Damascus to eliminate what he mistakenly took to be a great threat. 

There is far more to be said, carefully examined, and spiritually understood.  (For example, the holy writings make it clear, that Paul had been chosen, was gradually built up and edified through the Spirit of Prophecy, and endowed with a broad range of special experiences that together would have the same weight as multiple physical appearances of Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit.  Included were the conduct, devotion to Jesus, faithful examples, and powerful testimonies from the many believers he arrested, harassed, interrogated, imprisoned, and executed; experience of death, burial (3 days like that of Jesus) for Paul’s inborn spirit with resurrection and rebirth from divine DNA, so to speak; and realization of a new testament and a “new creation” by GOD through Christ.)  Even so, I trust this fragment will be useful.  Be it unto you according to your faith.

THE BLACK PHOENIX
Washington, DC