Not the rules to be saved, the rules for salvation have never changed.
Have they not? Because I was taught that the way to Salvation was through Jesus Christ, and to acknowledge that he was the only begotten Son of God and that
he died for our sins -- something he didn't actually
do until approximately AD 30.
So clearly the rules must have been a little different for the people who lived and died before that time.
Well he is very intelligent and he is working with free will beings that are born with a natural repulsion of the Christian God. So those things help him.
Last I heard, God's no dummy either... although creating beings with "a natural repulsion" to Himself --
twice (first the angels and then humanity) -- might not be the strongest argument for that.
Well He has revealed a great deal but hardly anywhere near everything about Himself.
Plenty of room for His "followers" to stuff Him in a box.
- His moral character is perfect and therefore never changes. Because ours has been corrupted by sin it can change fairly often especially if you are not being guided by His holy spirit
In spite of our natural repulsion to Him? Interesting.
Also, it should be noted that "perfection" is in itself, a weakness... it makes One predictable, which is the sort of thing the Bad Guy can easily exploit... which, paradoxically enough, makes it an
imperfection... funny how that works out... don't you think?
He has revealed His character in His son Jesus Christ. He has defined Himself in His word. Of course, it is not an exhaustive definition as I stated above.
Ah, yes... God defines the Universe; "His word" (the Bible) defines God;
We define the Bible.
In the end, who's really in charge?
- It is His description of Himself and it is confirmed when you get in a relationship with Him.
Unless you're wrong...but that's not possible, is it?
No, since He is a personal being as we are and He created language He is able to communicate many truths with language about Himself though as I stated above not exhaustively.
Unless He is
not a personal being -- unless we are forced, through the limitations of human conceptualization and launguage, to
view Him as a personal being.
Language is a human tool,and as such, is limited by human thinking. Your God is either too big for it, or too small to be "God."
While there is a good amount of poetry in Bible, He has communicated many of His truths through poetic language as well. Not poetic license however. Interpreting His word is bound by the same rules as interpreting any written text.
Right -- and I stand by what I said, based precisely on my experience in interpreting written texts.