Re: What will the mark of the beast be?

"Everything that happens on earth happens because God allows it. It is all a part of His plan. If it were all up to man, we would have destroyed this world a long time ago."

Catlin, 

To say: "If it were all up to man, we would have destroyed this world long ago." it appears you conveniently pick and choose where god is and where He is not. If He omnipresent, then he is everywhere, including within man himself. 

God, being the creator, created man... and man, in turn, creates... man also destroys. It is part of His plan, as you say, otherwise, he would not allow it.  Whatever man does then, god is behind it... god allows it... and is a part of it... we are destroying this planet because he is allowing it... god is allowing us to detroy Him, i.e. God is allowing himself to destroy himself.

Perahps, it will make more sense when you stop looking at god as a being an entity, as being someone like yourself. If you stop looking at God as a noun and begin looking at god as a verb, it is easier to accept the fact that God is also changing along with his creation. He is also free to allow himself to be destroyed... He is an ongoing process of creating and destroying... no need to bring in a devil that is in conflict with god... god is allowing it all to happen... god is the misery in this world as well as the beauty and the bliss...

It is, perhaps, within this context, that each of us human beings have an opportunity for growth of consciousness... we are responsible for destroying our liberties and freedoms so that we can come to really taste how prescious these qualities of living life truly are... perhaps, the momentum of the swinging pendulum is already moving towards the creation of a higher form of humanity... we just have to go through a bit of deep depression of misery to get there.

Cheers, turiya  -*-