Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #1

Man living in Garden of Eden in Days of God

At a certain time in history of the universe the Divine Creator made “from the dust of the ground” a human being. Just with dust man would be nothing so there had to be a spark or something special to bring the material to live. The “essence” of the being for man came  from God Who is the “Supreme Being” Itself.

Michelangelo’s painting of the sin of Adam and Eve (the Fall of Man) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The Eternal Spirit Who Is Who He is the Being in Itself made man in His own image by His Voice and by “a spark”, or particle, scintillated from His Divine Nature, giving the being life, having intelligent faculty and existence independently of the substantial organism with which it is associated.

Man felt lonely and got a partner, a mannin or woman, called Eve. Together they could sojourn freely in the Garden of Eden. In essence they where good and had the free will to stay good, by keeping to the ordinances of their heavenly Father.

Seventh day Day of rest for God

The Merneptah stele. While alternative translations exist, the majority of biblical archaeologists translate a set of hieroglyphs as “Israel“, representing the first instance of the name Israel in the historical record.

They too came to understand the days of God and how they should honour Him and respect His creation. For them the seventh day was also a day of rest where they could show how much they loved their Creator. We do not know whether the earth’s first population organised themselves by means of a seven day week. Whereas other periods of time or various calender units based on the time the earth takes to revolve once around the sun (the day, month and year) are based upon observable movements of stars and planets, the seven day week has no such basis-that can be found only in the explanation in Genesis. As the time passed days, month and years got names. A Rosh Chodashim (head of the months) came to exist next to a month of the salvation or Chodesh ha Yeshuah,  a month of redemption or Chodesh hageulah, a year of recompense and many others.

From beginning the stars, planets and man’s being may have been very complex and not understandable for man. Darkness and light made a difference for him giving him an idea of a time element. But the things man did not know seemed to worry them. Also the matter that That Holy Spirit they could not be seen made their mind weary. They started wondering how This Spirit could order days and demand them to take rest or have  period of inactivity, relaxation, or sleep, on a certain day and not to eat from a certain fruit-tree, calling it the Tree of knowledge of good and evil, which was going to bring life and death over man.

Organisation of days and food provision

In case man had decided to organise his living according to periods of seven days nowhere can we find proof that God said they would be punished for not resting on the seventh day. They had total freedom of choice about this. In fact, God gave no instructions about how the seventh day should be spent until after the nation of Israel had been brought out of Egypt (the Shemoth) and led miraculously through the Red Sea into the wilderness of Sinai. Being a large community, they needed a good and regular supply of food and water, but in desert conditions these were very scarce. The people soon complained, and wished they were back in Egypt. A further miracle brought them their food. Each morning around their camp

“there was on the face of the wilderness a fine, flake-like thing, fine as the hoarfrost on the ground” (Exodus 16:14).

The food was called “manna“, and could be collected for six days each week.

This was literally food which could be eaten. On the first five days each week any manna not eaten that day, but kept overnight “bred worms, and became foul”.
On the sixth day, if a double portion was collected, it would keep fresh for use on the seventh day when no manna was available. Moses asked them to eat that manna that day for that seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah God. Therefore they could not find any manna in the field. Take attention that Moshe or Moses says it was a ‘day of rest for Jehovah’ and not ‘day of rest for man’.
In this way the pattern of work and rest was enforced for the nation of Israel:

Exodus 16:25-26 NHEBJE  Moses said, “Eat that today, for today is a Sabbath to Jehovah. Today you shall not find it in the field.  (26)  Six days you shall gather it, but on the seventh day is the Sabbath. In it there shall be none.”

Six days of gathering and one day of rest: God’s activity in Creation thus became the example for His nation. For the first time in the Bible, the word “Sabbath” is used. It means simply ‘to cease‘ ( to bring or come to an end), and is used to describe the day when the manna discontinued falling down from heaven and the Israelites rested from their labours, as God had from His.

Laws to control the activity of the nation

In those days of Moses and his people shortly after the manna was first provided, it also was the moment in time that God gave through Moses laws to control the activity of the nation. Today those written rules are mostly known as the Ten Commandments by which people where told to have only One True Eternal Spirit God of Whom no graven images where to be made. Of the people was also demanded in the fourth commandment to remember the Sabbath day and to keep it holy or sanctified, which means to have it been kept apart, not being it the same as other days. Also it was told they could work six days but the seventh day they should take a Sabbath to the Lord their God. In it they had not to do any work .

Exodus 20:8-12 NHEBJE  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.  (9)  You shall labor six days, and do all your work,  (10)  but the seventh day is a Sabbath to Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work in it, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your livestock, nor your stranger who is within your gates;  (11)  for in six days Jehovah made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day; therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and made it holy.  (12)  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Jehovah your God gives you.

As for the manna, so for all of Israel’s activities the pattern would be six days of labour followed by one day of rest. We may not forget for man to be able to stay alive he had to work hard. Everything had to be done by hand. Labour was at first not a  physical toil done for wages, but was a necessary act for providing food. In the early days in the Garden of Eden there did not exist a difficult or arduous work or effort. they had not to strive or work hard for something, but when then opposed God, Adam and Eve had been disobedient to God‘s commandments, Jehovah sentenced them and their descendants to hard toil in order to produce their necessary food.

We also can find the Psalmist referring to such work which was done until the evening (Psalm 104:23). From the fall of man onwards the daily work he had to do became a constant reminder of his mortality; the certainty that he is “dust, and to dust (he) shall return” (Genesis 3:19).

Significance of introduction of Sabbath commands

God’s people experienced many wonders by God and by them they could survive. God freely provided their daily food, but they had to work to gather it, except on the seventh day. The difficulty of walking through the dessert and gathering food was to make them conscience of the punishments brought upon the world as a result of Adam‘s disobedience.

The day they had not to gather the food from heaven, they had to remember what they had received the previous days. That day of not to provide for their food they could contemplate and take more time to think about God. That day of rest, on the Sabbath, would give man time to meditate on God’s works and to let him identify himself with God, and with the completion of His creation, when He was able to review

“everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good” (Genesis 1:31).

Measures to bring man back to God

Though man could see all the wonders of God and they had received brains to create things themselves as well, they wanted more. God had given their mind to think and to make their own decisions. At one point in time they choose to go their own way, against the Will of God, and throughout history many times they went astray, but God always came back to them to help them out.

It was from that moment when Adam and Eve had revolted against their Maker that God had to take measures to bring them back to their senses and back to Almighty God, the Most High.

When Adam and Eve where expelled from the Garden of Eden and had created a family, their descendants also could not always follow the Way of God, wherefore the Elohim gave them more rules and regulations so that they could keep themselves on the safe path.

Man choose to create their own regulations and wanted to create their own calendars and wanted to say what to do what they ever wanted on whatever day. But for God not all actions of man were acceptable. He clearly told them what would be appropriate for man to do and what would be an abomination in the eyes of God.

Showing willingness to come to God

Throughout the ages lots went wrong and often God came back into the picture to guide His people back onto the right track. Already from the beginning of the fall of man God provided a solution for their sin, but first they also had to show they where willing to come to God again. Every individual has now the own choice to choose either to be for God or against Him, to follow His ordinances or to refuse the right to God to demand certain things from man.

In later writings we shall come to see how the promises of God for the solution against the fall of man became a reality which took away the many chains the people had gotten over them by the years.

In subsequent readings you shall, hopefully, come to see how a Nazarene man, called Jeshua, today better known as Jesus became the man who brought salvation and who is the embodiment of Israel. Those who follow that Nazarene man and call themselves Christian should know who that man is and what his teachings are, but also keep to his teachings, so that they can be part of the Body of Christ and be part of the (new or renewed) true and faithful Israel.

Finding difficulties to keep to God’s Laws

It took many centuries but God’s people Israel bounded to the Mosaic Laws often found it a burden, therefore the loving God foresaw also an abrogation of many laws. Jesus namely was to come to install the New Covenant between God and man, which would do away with, or annul, especially by authority given to Christ Jesus, several Judaic Laws.

Those who would embrace the faith of Abraham could make their choice for God sealed, not by worldly proofs, but by spiritual proofs. They would not have to have a real body circumcision but should be circumcised by putting on Christ in baptism, thus partaking imputatively of the literal circumcision of which Christ was subject under the law, becoming the children of Abraham, and heirs of the promises made to him.

Saul of Tarsus was called by Christ and became an apostle who taught the gospel of Christ and founded several churches in Asia Minor and Europe in the first-century world of the common era.

The Jew Saul of Tarsus took some time to come to understand God’s new ordinances but by the new light having come he made a testimony that we can face a world where there is neither Jew (believing descendant from Abraham’s tribe) nor Greek, Roman, or Goyim (gentile; a non-Jewish person or an unbeliever), but that all have the free choice to go their way. There would neither be a servant nor freeman, neither male nor female, or no distinction in the eyes of God, all being made equal and all having to make their own choice. And those baptised into Christ should all be one in Christ Jesus, liberated by him.

Galatians 3:27-29 NHEBJE  (27)  For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.  (28)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.  (29)  If you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to promise.

Children of promise made free

United in Christ Christians should not be barren any more having broken forth knowing they are brethren and sisters and as Isaac was, being children of promise.  Though still being born according to the flesh the mind we received can be used to come to knowledge and with the right insight making us to make the right choices. Those who choose to follow Christ Jesus are children of the free: by the freedom wherewith Christ has made us free.

Galatians 4:27-31 NHEBJE  (27)  For it is written, “Rejoice, you barren who do not bear. Break forth and shout, you that do not travail. For more are the children of the desolate than of her who has a husband.”  (28)  Now you, brothers, as Isaac was, are children of promise.  (29)  But as then, he who was born according to the flesh persecuted him who was born according to the Spirit, so also it is now.  (30)  However what does the Scripture say? “Throw out the handmaid and her son, for the son of the handmaid will not inherit with the son of the free woman.”  (31)  So then, brothers, we are not children of a handmaid, but of the free woman.

Those liberated by Christ should not take up the old burdens but should face the Saviour Jesus who is the new Genesis (New World), by who’s life we can see the embodiment of the new Exodus.

We should come to see that Jesus is fulfilling Israel’s history and  bringing it to a climax.

 

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Preceding articles:

Genesis – Story of creation 6 Genesis 3:13-24 Enmity and curse

Creation of the earth and man #3 Of the Sabbath day #1 the Seventh day

Creation of the earth and man #4 Of the Sabbath day #2 Days 1,7,8 and 50

Creation of the earth and man #5 Of the Sabbath day #3 Ceasing from the works of the flesh

Creation of the earth and man #6 Of the Sabbath day #4 Mosaic codes, Sabbaths and Sunday

Creation of the earth and man #7 Of the Sabbath day #5 Respecting the day on which Christ Jesus rose from the dead

Creation of the earth and man #8 Of the Sabbath day #6 If it be necessary to keep Sunday

Were Gentiles excluded from entering the synagogue?

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Additional reading

1. “Before” and “after” the Big Bang
2. Science, belief, denial and visibility 1
3. God giving signs and producing wonders
4. What is life?
5. Dying or not
6. Possibility to live
7. Blindness in the Christian world
8. A learning process for each of us
9. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
10. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
11. A prophet to restore
12. Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
13. With child and righteousness greater than the law
14. Entrance of a king to question our position #2 Who do we want to see and to be
15. Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh
16. Marriage of Jesus 10 Old and New Covenant
17. Hosea Say What?
18. Born to Shine not to fear!
19. Commemorating the escape from slavery
20. Days of Nisan, Pesach, Pasach, Pascha and Easter
21. Do we need to keep the Sabbath
22. Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called
23. In case you find contradiction between Old and New Testament
24. Together tasting a great promise
25. Deliverance and establishment of a theocracy
26. Glory of God appearing in our character – The Face of Moses and Law on Tablets of stone
27. Atonement And Fellowship 6/8
28. The Law of Christ: Law of Love

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Further related reading:

• Goy: standard Hebrew biblical term for a “nation“, including that of Israel =  Israelites and Gentile or non-Jewish nations
• Goy to the World
  Magazine article from: Moment …nations shall be of thee.” The Hebrew word God uses for “nations” is goyim. Yes, you ‘”tad right: God refers to the nation of Israel as goyim. The meaning of goyim, like the people it originally described, has come tar since those clays..
• Goy/Goi/Goyim/Goyym/Gentile/Gens/Gentilis: nation or people, commonly applied to non-Jews or stranger, whether merely a visitor (“ger”) or a resident (“ger toshab”), or proselyte
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  “Gentile” corresponds to the late Hebrew “goi,” a synonym for “nokri,” signifying “stranger,” “non-Jew.” In the Hebrew of the Bible “goi” and its plural “goyyim” originally meant “nation,” and were applied both to Israelites and to non-Israelites (Gen. xii. 2, xvii. 20; Ex. xiii. 3, xxxii. 10; Deut. iv. 7; viii. 9, 14; Num. xiv. 12; Isa. i. 4, lx. 22; Jer. vii. 28). “Goi” and “goyyim,” however, are employed in many passages to designate nations that are politically distinct from Israel (Deut. xv. 6; xxviii. 12, 36; Josh. xxiii. 4). From this use is derived the meaning “stranger” (Deut. xxix. 24; comp. II Chron. vi. 32 =”‘amme ha-‘areẓ”). As the non-Israelite and the nokri were “heathens,” “goi” came to denote a “heathen,” like the later “‘akkum,” which, in strict construction, is not applicable to Christians or Mohammedans (see below). In its most comprehensive sense “goi” corresponds to the other late term, “ummot ha-‘olam” (the peoples of the world). {Jewish encyclopedia article 6841 – goy}
• The Hi-Tech Shabbos Goy
  Magazine article from: Moment …centuries, the controversy took new form, when Jews hired “Shabbos goys” to perform tasks that were forbidden on Shabbat. While some…their heads in disapproval, others were too busy scouting out goys-for-hire for themselves. They also updated the halakhic..
• Non-Jewish Immigrants Forcing Israel to Choose between Being a “Jewish” State…
  Magazine article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs …tubes, you’re going to have five million goyim sitting in Eretz Yisrael. There’s no…about because these Jews will have a lot of goyim in their families — and boy, are we talking about a lot of goyim — and they’ll all end up in Israel..
• Israeli Religious Intolerance and Rejection of the Peace Process Alienating…
  Magazine article from: Washington Report on Middle East Affairs …considered Jewish by halakah and cannot be married at all.GOYIM AND SHIKSASZe’ev Chafets, associate editor of The Jerusalem…consider `Kike’ and `Hymie’ fighting words, talk about `goyim’ and `shiksas’ with blithe indifference. They assume that..

• Switch Off
  Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during the plowing season and harvest you must rest.

• Did Jesus teach the Law of the Old Testament to the Jews?

• A Case For Sabbath Observance

• Keeping the Old Testament Law

• Spiritual Sunday 1: The Infinite Grandness and Goodness of God

• Sabbath Day

• Sabbath (Dis)Comforts

• Thoughts on Keeping the Sabbath

• Is It Wrong To Work On Sabbath Day?

• A Date With God

• Rosh Hashanah A Day of Rest, Not the New Year

• Small Town Boy

• Children of the Free

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Related articles

• Blame Eve and the Serpents
• In Judaism, to be good or sinful is a matter of free will
• ‘Ex Machina’ film alludes to the story of Adam and Eve in the Bible, says priest
• Everything is a Miracle – reblogged – Part 2
• Inside Baseball: The DoD EHR
• Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called
• Pastor Wrinkles: Unintended Consequences Pt. 1

Theologians and a promised Spirit to enlighten us

Some two thousand years ago there was a man called Jeshua, today better known as Jesus, who claimed to be the sent one from God and to be bringing God’s Word. He used many old writings in his sermons which were considered writings from the ‘men of God‘ and part of the  Holy Scriptures. Though several theologians consider those Holy Scriptures as the (absolute) Truth in every part and whole, because they are breathed out by God Himself. (John 17:17; Matthew 5:18; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 1 Peter 1:23; 2 Peter 1:21) often they bring teaching contradicting what is said in those holy books.

Robert Kilwardby (c. 1215 – 11 September 1279) first member of a mendicant order to attain a high ecclesisatical office in the English Church [1352
fresco by Tommaso da Modena (1326–1379)- church of San Nicolò, Treviso]

Those theologians want us to believe they are the only ones who can understand the Scriptures because they have learned to do that. They also want us to believe that we should listen to their words otherwise we shall not be able to find God. Giving us that impression they forget that Jesus claims to be the one who shows clearly Who his Father, the Only One True God is and shows us the Only Way, Truth and Life by which one can come to be reconciled to God the Father, and that, the invitation to be reconciled comes from the Holy Spirit and not by human beings their ideas. (John 6:44, 14:6)

Joh 6:44-51 NHEBJE  No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up in the last day.  (45)  It is written in the Prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father, and has learned, comes to me.  (46)  Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.  (47)  Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes has eternal life.  (48)  I am the bread of life.  (49)  Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died.  (50)  This is the bread which comes down out of heaven, that anyone may eat of it and not die.  (51)  I am the living bread which came down out of heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

Joh 14:6 NHEBJE  Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.

It is by Christ Jesus that God is revealed to us when God is willing to let His Power come over us and guide us. though we may live in a world where it looks like God is absent, He is not . Throughout the ages Jehovah, the Only One True God has always being very involved.

Humankind should know that it is part of god’s attributes to Be, carrying the essence “I AM” in Him. Having Him always everywhere as an eternal Spirit, who cannot be seen by man or thy would die, God keeps revealing Himself constantly to mankind. Mankind has a hard time hearing, though. Even precious men of God sometimes lost track. Also for them at certain moments contact seemed to be broken.
Man should know that it is not always his ways which come true. Not always does God reveal Himself when and how we want. It might be annoying for us He does not follow always our timing, but God has His own timing for everything. We are just one tiny element in His creation. When we do not see, hear or do not feel any contact with Him it does not mean that  God is absent and silent. It might mean that you’re missing his communication to you.

According to biblical and historical accounts, God has revealed Himself in the past by many means (including physically and bodily). Though often man does not hear the Voice of God or does not see His guidance.

Job 33:13-14 NHEBJE  Why do you strive against him, because he doesn’t give account of any of his matters?  (14)  For God speaks once, yes twice, though man pays no attention.

We do not need the theologians to get to know God and to see what He has done. Jesus asks us to believe simply because of the things he has done and promises the Spirit. Like it was the Comforter of Holy Spirit Who came to teach the apostles everything, and reminded them of everything Jeshua had said to them, the Power of God shall also come unto us if we are willing to open our mind.

Joh 14:12-17 NHEBJE  Truly, truly, I tell you, he who believes in me, the works that I do, he will do also; and he will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father.  (13)  Whatever you will ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.  (14)  If you will ask anything in my name, I will do it.  (15)  If you love me, you will keep my commandments.  (16)  I will pray to the Father, and he will give you another Counselor, that he may be with you forever,  (17)  the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive; for it does not see him, neither knows him. You know him, for he lives with you, and will be in you.

Illustration of each of the 28 articles of the Augsburg Confession by Wenceslas Hollar.

Denominations, clergy, & seminaries are using systems of thought that drive their ideals. The many churches you can find in this world often put their aims and goals in the front-line and do place the words of Scripture in the way it suits them. Many may want you to believe those theological theories and many philosophies (even ones that attempt to be biblically based) must be very important and may not be put aside because  they drive everything that anyone ever does, writes, thinks or says. But in Christianity you should be driven by the teachings of Jesus Christ and not by human traditions nor by teachings of clergy, which most often or dogmatic teachings from their own denomination. They, who have taken time enough to study religions and to study the Word of God may guide you and help you to find ways to interpret the Bible, but the best guide is the Bible itself, and that you never should forget.

If the Scriptures themselves are unchanging, then why is it that different teachers seem to fall into different “camps” of interpretation?

you may ask.

Dr. Tony Garland writes:

There are numerous factors which contribute to these differences of opinion about what the Scriptures teach on secondary issues, but perhaps the largest influence has to do with how one reads the Scriptures. In particular, are the passages taken plainly at face value like normative communication? Or is some other interpretive lens imposed upon the text. Also: are distinctions which are found within the text accounted for or are they glossed over or worse, “spiritualized” in an attempt to find a deeper meaning or application which differs from that which the original author intended. Another influential factor concerns predispositions and biases which interpreters bring to the text. These predispositions and biases work to prevent the interpreter from accepting the plain meaning of the text – especially where it may differ from already-held ideas or beliefs.

The combination of these factors helps explain why the different theological systems came to be. Moreover, once certain aspects of one’s interpretive view have been established, other aspects of Scriptural teaching tend to follow. Thus, although there are many variations in theological positions, most tend to fall into one of several major categories such as Covenant, Reformed, or Dispensational. {Covenant, Reformed, and Dispensational Theology – What Do They Mean?}

What we can see is that several people had difficulties with previous teachings or interpretations of the Bible. Often they were confronted with powerful institutions against they wanted to react.

About the Reformed teachings it is said that they wanted to emphasize more strongly the belief that all Christian teaching and practice must find its origin directly in the Scriptures and should not be based upon tradition, though soon their teachings also embroidered on their own teachings and traditions.

Another aspect of Reformed Theology is a strong emphasis on what it sees as a cultural mandate for Christians to live actively in society and work for the transformation of the world and its cultures. Although sound in concept (believers are to be salt and light and oppose and expose works of darkness – Pr. 28:4; Mat. 5:13-16; Eph. 5:11), where this cultural mandate is taken to an extreme it can lead to an over-emphasis on social work and even the denial of Scriptural truth concerning the predicted apostasy of this age and the reality of the coming tribulation (Mat. 24:10-12; 2Th. 2:3; 1Ti. 4:1-3; 2Ti. 3:1) – in effect concluding that Christianity will reform the world rather than the Scriptural truth that the world will ultimately reject Christ ushering in a time of fearful judgment (Isa. 13:12; Jer. 30:7; Dan. 12:1; Mat. 24:21; Mark 13:19; Rev. 6; 7:14; 9:15; etc.). Influenced by this cultural mandate, the outlook of Reformed Theology is generally amillennial (there is no literal 1,000 year kingdom of Christ on earth: Rev. 20:4-7) or postmillennial (Christ returns after an indeterminate golden age where society yields to the reforming influence of Christianity). {Covenant, Reformed, and Dispensational Theology – What Do They Mean?}

By time also different theologies came into existence:

Generally speaking, one can divide theological reference tools into three broad categories.

Systematic Theologies – Seek to present theological material systematically according to specific categories that frame the discussion, e.g., the nature of God, the work of the Spirit, the essence of sin, etc.

Biblical Theologies – Seek to present theological material according to categories more directly related to those of the Biblical authors, books, and corpuses; seek to give special attention to the progressive unfolding of this theological material across Biblical history and the Biblical canon.

Historical Theologies – Seek to present developmnent of Christian theology throughout church history and spanning various theological traditions. Some are organized according to historical period while others are organized topically. {Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Theologies}

Understanding the Biblical use of the different terms was the debate point and the continued starting point of thinking by the Trinitarian Constantine doctrine which prevented a clear view and understanding for many clergy and theologians and their followers.

When people come to know Christendom better they over time shall become aware of differing interpretations, sometimes get to know these differing views their names (e.g., Covenant Theology, Reformed Theology, Preterism) and shall come to decide which opinion they would like to follow. Most important for their and your decision is to come to a choice about how to read and understand the Scriptures without doing violence to all that they teach.

Making a choice you also should consider if you want to be a disciple of Christ or a disciple of one or other theologian.

When you come to understand that humankind originally fitted within the universe as a divine agency, initially being designed by the Divine Creator to be a regent race on earth, but having drifted away from the Sovereign Maker, you have to wonder which way you want to go. With the knowledge that mankind’s current nature and ways are not now as the Creator originally intended we do have to take on our own responsibility and have to find out for ourselves what God’s intentions were and are and how we want to fit in in that Plan of God.

The church community which considers itself the only one true church, the Roman Catholic Church, certainly would not re-look her Nicean Creeds, nor would it by her call by Pope Francis I to get more unity in Christendom ever consider some or more of her teachings to being false teachings.

The Roman Catholic Church works diligently to acquire all sects, including Evangelicals, in the name of unity. Perhaps that comes as no surprise to those who are aware of 1994’s Evangelicals and Catholics Together. Yet, the more recent agenda of the Vatican comes as a result of Benedict’s declaration in 2010 that it is “time to revive the ecumenical spirit.” That statement was made on the 100th anniversary of the 1910 World Missionary Conference, which marked the beginnings of the modern ecumenical movement. More precisely, Benedict’s allusion finds its source in Vatican II, 1964 when Catholics began praying for “the soul of the ecumenical movement” (Christian Today). Thus, Pope Francis continues the rallying cry of unity; and, because of ECT, those who ascribe to the National Council of Churches and World Council of Churches lend their aid.

What you will NOT notice in this ecumenical “revival” movement is repentance from false teachings common to the Catholic Church and liberal Christian theology. {Time to Revive… The Ecumenical Spirit}

It is up to each individual to make the right choice, either to follow human beings who say of themselves they have the exquisite ‘knowledge of the theos’ because they have followed a university course in theology, or to follow the man who was sent by God and showed mankind the way to God, Jesus Christ.

The God of order and clarity let His son speak and do wonders in His name, so that we could see the works of God and could come to know God and could come at peace with Him. By keen powers of self-observation, we can tell if we are letting the flesh win or the Spirit win and can come to see if we are preferring to follow human tradition or are willing to give ourselves to the Words of the Bible, letting them to come unto us giving us biblical insight instead of human doctrines.

How far does one want to go about that ‘unity’ or an ecumenical church? What would be such ‘universal Church’ and how much would be allowed in the differences of believes? Would those people grouping together consider the different smaller groups still like sects?

Pope John Paul II

At first the Vatican did not give formal recognition to the existence of the ecumenical movement, which began with the Edinburgh Missionary Conference of 1910, and led to the foundation of the World Council of Churches in 1948. In 1960 the Roman Catholic Church established the Secretariat for Promoting Christian Unity and tried to jump on the boat, though it took until 1995 when Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Ut Unum Sint reaffirmed the Roman Catholic commitment to Christian ecumenism. Protestant and Orthodox Eastern observers were invited to the Second Vatican Council (1962–65), and the Decree on Ecumenism (1964) promulgated by that council encouraged new dialogues with Protestant and Orthodox churches. In 1999 Pope John Paul II also visited Orthodox nations and signed a joint declaration with the Lutherans on the doctrine of justification that resolved some of the issues that led to the Reformation in 1517.  We have seen already several mergers between individual churches and can see that such churches in several instances also put aside some of their original teachings or rules. Though we also have seen that some proposed mergers, like the one between the English Methodists and the Church of England, were rejected by their church-members. On the other hand we can find groups which under the terms of the full communion, can hold joint worship services, exchange clergy members, and collaborate on social service projects.

What is preferred, a unity with man, unity with Christ, unity with God or does one really want to come to a unity of faith?

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Preceding articles:

Gone astray, away from God

Necessity of a revelation of creation 11 Believing and obeying the gospel of the Kingdom of God

Necessity of a revelation of creation 12 Words assembled for wisdom and instruction

Necessity of a revelation of creation 13 Getting wisdom

Necessity of a revelation of creation 14 Searching the scriptures

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Additional reading:

1. Looking for something or for the Truth and what it might be and self-awareness
2. People Seeking for God 3 Laws and directions
3. Have you also been deceived
4. Finding and Understanding Words and Meanings
5. The Metaphorical language of the Bible
6. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
7. God’s forgotten Word 1 Introduction
8. Not following the tradition of man
9. Position of the Bible researcher
10. Out of Context: How to Avoid Misinterpreting the Bible
11. No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation
12. Missional hermeneutics 2/5
13. Missional hermeneutics 5/5
14. The Need to Understand Genre
15. Childish or reasonable ways
16. Manifests for believers #1 Sex abuse setting fire to the powder
17. Manifests for believers #2 Changing celibacy requirement
18. Manifests for believers #3 Catholic versus Protestant
19. Manifests for believers #4 Eucharist
20. Manifests for believers #5 Christian Union
21. Icons and crucifixes
22. Being Religious and Spiritual 5 Gnostic influences
23. Liberal and evangelical Christians
24. Souls and Religions with Nirvana and light
25. Missionary action paradigm for all endeavours of the church
26. The faithful God
27. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #15 Exposition before the Creator
28. People are turning their back on Christianity
29. Clergy not contributing enough to America
30. Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
31. Epicurus’ Problem of Evil
32. Christendom Astray The Devil Not A Personal Super-Natural Being
33. Wisdom Quote #21…..seeking within with Carl Jung!
34. Built on or Belonging to Jewish tradition #1 Christian Reform
35. Migrants to the West #7 Religions
36. Depression, Anxiety, Pressure and megachurches
37. Writers needed to preach to non-believers
38. Not true or True Catholicism and True Islam

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Additional readings from other websites:

1. Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Bible Introductions
2. Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Bible and Theological Dictionaries
3. Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Theologies
4. Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Lexicons
5. Key Bible and Theological Reference Tools: Atlases
6. Covenant, Reformed, and Dispensational Theology – What Do They Mean?
7. Are You a Disciple of Jesus Christ?
8. The (True) Theory of Everything
9. Time to Revive… The Ecumenical Spirit
10.  Why Is Modern Christianity So Wimpy?
11. Is Ministry Easier than Theology?
12. So, There’s This Thing Called the Protestant Reformation…
13. Christianity, Game of Thrones, and Reading Objectionable Content

14. Come Unto Me #3 – Awake, Arise…Be Strong

15. Lessons From the Jail #6 – Faith – The Cycle of Becoming

16. Choose who said this, Pope Francis or the heretic Eckhart: ‘I am changed into God because He makes to be one with Him.’ ‘The light of God will flood all souls and all will be in all.’

17. Does the Magesterium save the Trinity from Sola Scriptura?

18. Is God the Spirit of the world?

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• Scripture Verse Of The Week ‘Ephesians 5 verse 18 to 20′
• The heart of a father
• Restore My Soul
• Choices
• Choices
• On Tempting God
• Reflective Moment ‘A Paln To Restore’
• The Arsenal of Tools that God the Father Gives to His Royal Priesthood
• Today’s Word With Joel & Victoria Osteen – Stay In Sync
• The Beautiful Orchid

Genesis Among the Creation Myths

When we look at different myths about creation we can see that in several of them that though details may differ the essential lines of the stories or the elements of the astronomical and biblical accounts of Genesis are the same. For people it was found important to tell what happened in the past and by the years the stories grew. Having continents getting out of each other, spacing out by sees in-between people got estranged from each other and stories went their own way.

The Hubble Ultra Deep Field, is an image of a small region of space in the constellation Fornax, composited from Hubble Space Telescope data accumulated over a period from September 3, 2003 through January 16, 2004. The patch of sky in which the galaxies reside was chosen because it had a low density of bright stars in the near-field. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Those who want to analyse the beginning of the world will always come to a point where there shall be something which they are not able to place. Some of them may think that there is nothing that exists that they cannot analyse under the rules of science, say the Big Bang theory can only be explained by other theories that sound like faith. Honest and maybe agnostic scientist should come to realise that in the previous centuries it where humans who did not want to see what was really explained in the Bible being close to the theories they scientifically could find. Man has to agree that the Bible said it all a long time before science got there.
That the Big Bang theory proposes that the universe started from a singularity – a dense wad of matter that for reasons not yet known suddenly exploded outward in an immense pulse of energy and light, is in a way not contradiction with the void spoken of in the Holy Scriptures. Scientific consensus has pretty much decided that is how the universe we currently live in started, but they still cannot explain more or say what made the mass to have a black hole or an action taking place somewhere in time.
That time could be placed under the name of day or phase, but at the start there was not such an indication because light and darkness were the elements to be forming the differences in time. The book of Genesis wants to give the synopsis of Creation in a few sentences, saying it took six periods or phases of coming into existence. In the later books of the Bible it is indicated that people do have no idea about the space and about the time in God’s eyes. Time for God is totally different than for the creatures who can find darkness and light as elements dividing the space in countable or measurable units to give an indication of the now, before and after. The indication of that time also changed in the course of history, bringing it to seconds, minutes and hours, days, weeks, months and years which may be divided differently or follow another calendar. Man should know, according Scriptures, that for the eternal Creator our time indications are like nothing to hold on, because what is a day to an eternal Being when there was no sun to calculate a time period and when there is no beginning and no end to Its existence.

Book of Genesis, Ningpo Bible. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

The gods we may find in all the different myths are not self consistent and are not exactly creators of all elements. Though the God presented in the Scriptures and presented by the Israelites, the people of God or People of Jehovah, is One God Who was before everything and Who is responsible Himself for everything. The oral tradition brought the history of mankind and the Word of God from one person to the other. That it was penned later than other stories of the beginning of the world does not make it less believable or untrue. The way the story was presented had to bring understanding to all, educated and non- educated and it should have been able to tell it from one generation to another. Short lines were the easiest to get it recounted; told over and over again, making sure it got through time with the same lines. That not everything is exactly the same in the genesis stories we can find by the different cultures takes not away that we can see the ‘grosso mode similar line’. The perspective by which is looked at the beginning of the elements says a lot of the people but also can give an indication of the connection of the people with that Creator, having the Israelites having kept their relationship on good terms and seeing human being as major part of creation and as the only elements being in the image of that Creator, placing them more in the centre than in other cultures. For them it was also more important to know what their function is in this creation and where they stand opposite the Creator.
In the God’s People version of the beginnings of the universe the Elohim as Most High All-knowing Supreme Being wanted Him to be known and supplied a description of Who He is, who man is and why man existed and then allowed the people of that era to cast it into terms that they could understand rather than in terms that we would readily recognize in the 21st century.

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Preceding articles:

• Coming to the creation of human beings in the image of God
• Scripture about Creation and Creator Deity
• God, the Father, the Sole Creator of Heaven and Earth
• Something from nothing
• Means of creations
• Genesis 1 story does not take away an evolution
• The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

 

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Additional reading:

1. Creator and Blogger God 9 A Blog of a Book 3 Blog about Prophecy
2. Creator and Blogger God 6 For His people
3. Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #7 Prayer #5 Listening Ear

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Related articles

• One Hundred Years of Relativity (project-syndicate.org)
  Einstein’s theory not only describes our universe, from the Big Bang to black holes; it has also taught physicists the relevance of geometry and symmetry – lessons that spread from particle physics to crystallography. But, despite the similarities that Einstein’s theory has with other theories in physics, it stands apart by its refusal to fit together with quantum mechanics, the theory that explains the dominant behavior of matter at the atomic and subatomic scale.
• Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 March 2015 Psalm 27:10 (randyobrien50.wordpress.com)
  Can you imagine too that we’re already into March, and it seems like only yesterday we were singing Old Lang Syne, and wishing each other a Happy New Year. It’s already been a couple of weeks too since we were singing: ‘Mas in yuh mas! Play mas!’
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  And all of that was just to say my people that time is swiftly moving by and who knows what will happen, or when, so it is essential that we get our house in order, just in case…just in case Jesus returns unexpectedly and we’re not ready. The same way we’re seldom ready for Monday mornings. The big difference though is that we have something to counteract our Monday morning blues – our Monday Morning Battle Hymn.
• 1 Samuel 13 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
  The people of Israel see they are in trouble, and cry out to God.  Saul is waiting for Samuel to show up and seek the Lord about the situation.  When he doesn’t come as quickly as Saul expects, Saul takes things into his own hands and offers a burnt offering to the Lord on his own.
• The Word (carolynwebbrussell.wordpress.com)
  Secular scientists suggest that Big Bang Theory is different than creation that they are two different things. I’m not going to even bring up evolution because Darwin himself just thought it was a theory and didn’t even believe it.
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  I feel that if in the book of Genesis it is written that God spoke everything into existence. The sound of His voice, brought form to this world, hung the stars and called them each by name all in 7 days. All throughout the Bible it talks about how powerful God’s voice is. We read that it can make mountains tremble and so much more. So…what if when God spoke everything into motion at that moment that is when the “Big Bang Theory” happened. God created even that theory that scientists have come up with in trying to figure out all He created. As I study the voice and essential oils through science it keeps pointing me back to the fact that God is so much bigger than “science” because He created it all because He loves us so much.

aurorawatcherak

There are well recognized parallels between Genesis 1 and 2 and other ancient Near Eastern creation myths. Archeologists tell us that the Mesopotamian and Egyptian myths predate the Biblical account.

Oh, my! I’ve been wrong about this faith thing all this time! Thank you for setting me straight!

No, seriously – my faith does not rest on scientific or archeological research. I find the study of these things interesting, but the study of creation should never take precedence of the Creator.

Before the mid-19^th century it was possible to read the Old Testament in isolation and marvel at the creation stories in Genesis, to believe without equivocation that they were a unique special perfect revelation delivered to Moses during the sojourn in the wilderness.

Multitudinous discoveries over the last two centuries have challenged this view in deep and profound ways. Tablets were found dating from the mid-7^th century…

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The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

In the previous chapter The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods, I pointed to a first big mistake many people make. Lots of people do think there were more people involved in the creation of the universe. Lots of people make the wrong assumption by taking nouns for names and making objects in persons, as such making words being people, like they also make wisdom a person. For titles they also use them as names and make for something what can used for any body, like the adversary or satan, one specific person with such a name, as Satan.

One Creator

The first chapter of B’reshit, or Genesis, written on an egg, in the Jerusalem museum (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In the Bereshith, the book of the Beginnings or Genesis 1:1  is written that in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

Gen 1:1 בְּרֵאשִׁ֖ית H7225 be·re·Shit In the beginning  בָּרָ֣א H1254 ba·Ra created  אֱלֹהִ֑ים H430 E·lo·Him; God  אֵ֥ת

This Most High Elohim the Adonai, had a name and is the Only One True God, Former or Maker of heavens and earth. In many bible translations, mainly published after 1960, the ‘a’ and ‘the’ and capitals left away or interchanged, plus omitting the Name of God and replacing Adonai or Elohim with lord instead of Lord made it very difficult for readers to see the difference between the different Biblical characters spoken of, the Lord God Most High, the Lord of Lord of lords, the lord Jesus or any lord. Because of this many could not any more see clear between The God of gods and a god.

Isa 45:18 כִּ֣י H3588 ki For  כֹ֣ה H3541 choh thus  אָֽמַר־ H559 ‘a·mar- For thus saith  יְ֠הוָה H3068 Yah·weh the LORD

 

“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” (Genesis 1:1 ASV)

“For thus saith Jehovah that created the heavens, the God that formed the earth and made it, that established it and created it not {1} a waste, that formed it to be inhabited: I am Jehovah; and there is none else. {1) Or [in vain]}” (Isaiah 45:18 ASV)

“Before the mountains were brought forth, Or ever thou {1} hadst formed the earth and the world, Even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God. {1) Heb [gavest birth to]}” (Psalms 90:2 ASV)

It does not say “gods” created, but speaks of a Singular Person. About That Figure we are also told He or It is not a man but a Spirit.

“{1} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. {1) Or [God is spirit]}” (John 4:24 ASV)

The followers of Christ Jesus, Jeshua the Messiah, had like he had, only One God, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, Who is the heavenly Father of Jesus and us and is Only One. This One from the beginning later has given a new Adam by whom the world could start anew and all things could be as remade or reborn again.

“yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things, and we unto him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and we through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:6 ASV)

“Hear, O Israel: {1} Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: {1) Or [Jehovah our God, Jehovah is one]; Or [Jehovah is our God, Jehovah is one]; Or [Jehovah is our God, Jehovah alone]}” (Deuteronomy 6:4 ASV)

“That they may know that {1} thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth. {1) Or [thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art etc]}” (Psalms 83:18 ASV)

Created by speaking

The storyteller of the beginnings let us know that it was in a world of chaos were the earth was without order, and empty; and darkness  upon the face of the deep, that the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. There it was at the early beginnings of everything that God let His Mind go over things and used His Spirit to let it come to Power saying something. He uttered words and spoke, demanding that there would be something and it came to being. And every time He had spoken and had come into existence He looked at it, saw that it was good, and than went over to create the next thing. Only because the Maker allows something to be it can come into existence even gods come into being because God allows them to exist.

H853 ‘et  הַשָּׁמַ֖יִם H8064 hash·sha·Ma·yim the heaven  וְאֵ֥ת H853 ve·’Et  הָאָֽרֶץ׃ H776 ha·’A·retz. the earth
Gen 1:2 וְהָאָ֗רֶץ H776 ve·ha·’A·retz, And the earth  הָיְתָ֥ה H1961 ha·ye·Tah was  תֹ֙הוּ֙ H8414 to·hu without form  וָבֹ֔הוּ

“And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God {1} moved upon the face of the waters. {1) Or [was brooding upon]}” (Genesis 1:2 ASV)

H922 va·Vo·hu, and void  וְחֹ֖שֶׁךְ H2822 ve·Cho·shech and darkness  עַל־ H5921 ‘al- upon  פְּנֵ֣י H6440 pe·Nei [was] upon the face  תְה֑וֹם H8415 te·Hom; of the deep  וְר֣וּחַ H7307 ve·Ru·ach And the Spirit  אֱלֹהִ֔ים H430 E·lo·Him, of God  מְרַחֶ֖פֶת H7363 me·ra·Che·fet moved  עַל־ H5921 ‘al- over  פְּנֵ֥י H6440 pe·Nei the face  הַמָּֽיִם׃ H4325 ham·Ma·yim. of the waters
Gen 1:3 וַיֹּ֥אמֶר H559 vai·Yo·mer said  אֱלֹהִ֖ים H430 E·lo·Him And God  יְהִ֣י H1961 ye·Hi Let there be  א֑וֹר H216 or;

“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” (Genesis 1:3 ASV)

Jehovah God asked it to be there and it became there.

Gen 1:6 וַיֹּ֣אמֶר H559 vai·Yo·mer said  אֱלֹהִ֔ים H430 E·lo·Him, And God  יְהִ֥י H1961 ye·Hi Let there be  רָקִ֖יעַ

“And God said, Let there be a {1} firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters. {1) Heb [expanse]}” (Genesis 1:6 ASV)

In this way God spoke and everything came into being, but once it had started, having a beginning it received a cause. God being the Ultimate Power knows everything and brought to a cause the need to be sufficient, or adequate.

Today’s atheists, who like to use words like ‘rational’, ‘reasonable’ and ‘scientific’ in describing their beliefs, believe that the greatest beginning of all — that of the universe — had no cause whatsoever! Some admit it is a problem, but they claim that saying ‘God did it’ explains nothing because you then have to explain where God came from.

This is what brings the only dogma people should have. This brings up the only thing which demands a belief without a proof and without being able to see it. All the rest in the world and what we do believe can be proven and is available to our minds to be justified and unruffled. But to proof that there is that God Creator is almost impossible, though we being created in His image have elements of Him in us and have the feeling of His Power in us and can see it around us, in nature in things that happen. When looking around us we can see the complexity of our planet and how things are made up, which points to a deliberate Designer who not only created our universe, but sustains it still today.

Scientists are convinced that our universe began with one enormous explosion of energy and light, which we now call the Big Bang. This singular start to everything that exists which scientist are wanting to explain already for ages and of which their findings not ever were in contradiction to the Bible we can find it explained simply so that everybody could understand the beginning of the universe, the start of space, and even the initial start of time itself. The Bible had never the intention to be a thorough book of scientific explanation. It is meant to be a handbook for everybody. The Holy Scriptures want to present an easy to follow and easy to understand manual.

The Word given

The Word of God brought everything into being: heaven and earth, mountains and rivers, and every living thing. In the beginning, God called into existence by speaking, which is an uttering of sounds which forms words.

A big mistake of many Christians is that they consider those words to be different persons. they look at it as being a god person and another god person. They are mislead by misinterpreting the way the evangelist John looks at the creation of the world all together and looks at a new world he has seen come to into existence.

The apostle John, perhaps being the favourite young disciple of Jeshua (Jesus Christ), saw in Jesus the beginning of a New Creation in which Jesus is the 2° Adam, also created by the Word of God according to the Word God had given at the beginning of time. Namely, it was in the beginning God had spoken, had created the 1° Adam after He had made light (day 1), skies or heaven (day 2), put the earth into good shape having at His command the waters of the earth gathering together at certain places, forming seas and oceans, lakes and rivers, so that in other parts, the dry land became visible (day 3), after God’s further command, earth was made to produce all kinds of plants, grass, and trees, shrubs and flowers, each contained its own seed for further growth and reproduction, came the 4th day on which the sun, moon, and stars were created to shed light upon the earth.

By God His speaking there was set a time for day and a time for night, a time for the week, the month, and the year, and a time for each of the four seasons and soon after an other time was set to restore what that 1° Adam had ruined.

After God by His speaking had called for the seas to get filled with fishes and other water animals and to have in to the air above the earth flying animals on the 5° day he continued on the 6° day to created all the other animals, large and small, those that walk and those that creep or crawl on the earth. And towards the end of the sixth day, God putting His breath into a body which He made of earth and clay made a living soul. This was the human. This first man created being called Adam, which means first man of red blood. It was a man of flesh and blood made in the image of God.

Given to recognise

To this human being God granted high mental ability that one could think and reach one’s own conclusions. Jehovah God also gave the human the power of speech,giving them the possibility to create words, and He made humans superior to all other creatures of the earth which he could give names for himself and use them for himself.

This created being could be aware of that omnipresent Creator Deity and we too should by His works be able to come to recognise Who God is.

“For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, [even] his everlasting power and divinity; {1} that they may be without excuse: {1) Or [so that they are]}” (Romans 1:20 ASV)

Nobody has an excuse not able to come to see or understand creation and the Hand behind it, because everything around us declares the Hand and Work of God.

“1 «For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.» The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament showeth his handiwork. 2 Day unto day uttereth speech, And night unto night showeth knowledge. 3 There is no speech nor language; Their voice is not heard. 4 Their line is gone out through all the earth, And their words to the end of the world. In them hath he set a {1} tabernacle for the sun, {1) Heb [tent]}” (Psalms 19:1-4 ASV)

“Lift up your eyes on high, {1} and see who hath created these, that bringeth out their host by number; he calleth them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and for that he is strong in power, not one is lacking. {1) Or [and see: who hath created these? he that etc]}” (Isaiah 40:26 ASV)

All people, creatures of the Most High Maker, should have the feeling deep in them. They all, having some elements of Him, should have some feeling that there is that Maker, God Who doesn’t come and go. God lasts. He’s Creator of all you can see or imagine. He doesn’t get tired out, doesn’t pause to catch his breath. And he knows everything, inside and out. (Isaiah 40:28)

Though by time lots of people still did not come to know their God, Jesus having given His Word to reunite man with His good creation, made His Word, His Speaking or His Word of Promise, to become reality, having it come onto this world, being born some two thousand years ago. The child born out of the tribe of king David was that long ago, in the Garden of Eden promised Messiah. (see The very very beginning 3 Messiah’s total point of origination)

The Word, God and a god

“In [the] beginning the Word was, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a god.” (NWT)

“The Word was in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was a God.” (The New Testament in An Improved Version)

Or literally there is written in the book of books, the bible, which we consider the infallible Word of God:

Yah Chanan (#Jo 1:1-3): In the beginning the Word having been and the Word having been unto God and God having been the Word he having been, in the beginning, unto God all through his hand became: and without him not even one being whatever became.

Traditionally or total at the origin of all things, there was the Word, the expression of the Most High Elohim Hashem Jehovah. By that coming out of breath from His ‘Mouth’ all the creatures of the earth and the powers of nature where created and placed in the control of the other creature, called human.

Having the saying “the Word was a god” makes many Christians wanting to see that such word was not only just ‘a’ ‘god’ but ‘the God’. They transfer the title of any higher person, like Apollo, Zeus, Erebus, Gaea, Tartarus, Pharaoh, Moses, even angels, are called gods, to making Jesus from a god into the God.

People seem to forget that in the beginning the Word already existed, because the Elohim Maker of everything was already in existing. The Divine Maker is the Supreme Being without a beginning, meaning never born nor created. He had no mother, though several Christians want Him to have a mother like the many gods have their Mother Earth Gaea.

The Word was with God because it is something which comes into existing by using the Mind, and God used His Power, the Holy Spirit, to bring forth His thinking and His speaking. It was God’s Voice that sounded over all chaos and made order, because God is a God of order and not a god of disorder and not a god of confusion.

God His Voice bringing forth Words, had each Word of very high value and as such was His Word highly placed and as such being ‘a god’. But the evangelist John is not only talking of the beginning of the world in general. He sees the Old World and a New World. For him Jesus is the beginning of the New World, the New Creation. And Jesus is also brought forward by the speaking of God already at the beginning of the world, though he only came into being so many thousands of years later. That Nazarene man John and some others had followed as good disciples, he considered the 2° Adam and the long awaited promised Messiah.

As Jesus was the core-figure of the movement ‘The Way‘, a Jewish sect some two thousand years ago, John, Stephen and many others saw in him also a very special rabbi and prophet, a sent one from God, who might, by many, also be considered a god, like there where many gods honoured in John’s time and still now. Though we may not forget that a god is not at all the same as The God, the Creator of heaven and earth, Who was worshipped by Jesus Christ as the Only One God Who was greater than him (Jesus) and any other human being. Jesus was the son of God and not a god son.

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” (John 1:1 ASV)

“but when the fulness of the time came, God sent forth his Son, born of a woman, born under the law,” (Galatians 4:4 ASV)

“Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father doing: for what things soever he doeth, these the Son also doeth in like manner.” (John 5:19 ASV)

“Ye heard how I said to you, I go away, and I come unto you. If ye loved me, ye would have rejoiced, because I go unto the Father: for the Father is greater than I.” (John 14:28 ASV)

 

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Preceding post: The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

Next chapters:

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 1 Genesis 1:1-25 Creation of things

Readings from Scriptures: Story of creation 2 Genesis 1:26-31 Creation of man

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 3 Genesis 2:1-15 Story of Adam and Eve

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 2:16-25 Warning for Adam and Eve

The very very beginning 3 Messiah’s total point of origination

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 3:1-13 The fall

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 3:14-24 consequneces of the fall and solution

 

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Additional reading:

1. Pluralis Majestatis in the Holy Scriptures
2. How are we sure God exists?
3. Only one God
4. God is One
5. Challenging claim 4 Inspired by God 3 Self-consistent Word of God
6. Bible word of God, inspired and infallible
7. Bible power to change
8. Bible basic intro
9. Creator and Blogger God 1 Emptiness and mouvement
10. Does He exists?
11. Hashem השם, Hebrew for “the Name”
12. I Will Cause Your Name To Be Remembered
13. Lord or Yahuwah, Yeshua or Yahushua (Video)
14. Jehovah Yahweh Gods Name (Video)
15. Use of /Gebruik van Jehovah or/of Yahweh in Bible Translations/Bijbel vertalingen
16. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #2 Calling upon the Name of God
17. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
18. He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him
19. Jesus begotten Son of God #3 Messiah or Anointed one
20. Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
21. Experiencing God
22. Jesus and his God
23. Jesus begotten Son of God #11 Existence and Genesis Raising up
24. Titles of God beginning with the Aleph in Hebrew
25. Another way looking at a language #5 Aramic, Hebrew and Greek
26. Hashem השם, Hebrew for “the Name”
27. A look at evolution from a Christadelphian perspective
28. People Seeking for God 7 The Lord and lords
29. Lord in place of the divine name
30. Men as God
31. Fragments from the Book of Job #4: chapters 27-31
32. Bad things no punishment from God
33. Two states of existence before God

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The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

Nothing, none, something or more present

For many people the beginning of everything is a very big mystery. Some think there was just emptiness or a void or that there was darkness and only Chaos.  According to Greek mythology, the origin of everything, and the first thing that ever existed was Chaos. It was the primordial void, the source out of which everything was created, including the universe and the gods.

Plural form

For many there were gods who took care of everything coming into being. Also lots of Christians do believe that there were gods who created everything together.  The biggest mistake those so called Christians make, is that they believe that there was a God the Father, a god the son and a God the Spirit who together created the universe and everything around. They do not understand that The Creator is, was and always shall be the Most High Being and as such has not only the title of god, like any high being, but also speaks in the plural form with the Pluralis Majestatis or Royal We.

Speakers employing the “royal we” use it to distinguish their private life with their function, or when they are directors, editors, writers, etc., they use it to avoid the personal I or to represent a collective viewpoint. A person in function, like the Creator, the Maker and makers of things, creators of pieces (artists, theatre and film directors, choreographers, etc.), directors (bosses or managers of institutions, universities, schools, factories, industrial or technological sites), leaders of a Courtney or group (kings, queens, presidents, führers, popes, cardinals, priests, pastors, youth-leaders, club-leaders, cheerleaders) will use the plural form when they speak as creator, artist, director or in function.

Gods and Big Bang

16th century manuscript of Theogeny: “the genealogy or birth of the gods” poem by Hesiod (8th – 7th century BC) describing the origins and genealogies of the Greek gods, composed circa 700 B.C. It is written in the Epic dialect of Homeric Greek.

We may find people who believe in mythology where out of the void appeared Erebus, or an other god as the personification of the deep darkness and shadows and brother of Gaea (earth), Tartarus (underworld) a god, third in rank after Chaos and Gaea, preceding Eros (love), and Nyx (night).

There are a various amount of viewpoints on creation, but we want to stick to the one which is told by the Divine Creator Himself.
We, as Christians do believe in an eternal Creator divinity, and as such in a spiritual Supreme Being or eternal Spirit God, which had no beginning, has no birth and no ending, cannot die. That Supreme Being out of the darkness created “Light“. You might call it “Big Bang” or the “Supreme Light”, that does not matter so much, but important is that you can find yourself in accepting that from nothing something came into being and there came light.

All those who say that this or that was there or that the Big Bang was the first thing, should wonder how and out of what this big bang came into being. For sure they would say that “Before” the Big Bang there was Blackness, nothingness, something, void and should wonder what was the next thing “after” the Big Bang.

Crepuscular rays of light shining through clouds in the sky

In the knowledge that “one day” for God is in the eyes of man a “thousand years” we can think of it that there have been a long period over this coming into being from one element into the next one, because on the second day of God sky or celestial dome was created. It was or is what we do know as the wideness which includes the atmosphere and outer space.

Coming into being

The “void” or “emptiness” and the “atmosphere” came into being because that One and Only One God Who declared to be the “One that is the One Who is the Being” (The “I Am the I am” or “The I Am Who Is”): I am that I am Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה

3 Syllables Name: Je-Ho-Vah, by which the whole world should know God’s Name

He presented Himself with a tetragrammaton, a word with three syllables, which makes it unlikely the two syllable word Yahweh or Jahweh would be His preferred name. He said: “אני יהוה  ani Ye-ho-vah.” This is the famous tetragrammaton, or name of three syllables and four letters, which we write Jehovah Yehovah, Yehveh, Yeveh, Jhuh, Javah, etc. The letters are Y H U H or YHWH. The religious Jews never pronounce it, and the true pronunciation is utterly unknown, but when you ask a Jew how they  would pronounce it or speak yourself Hebrew you will find out that Jehovah is the right rendering of God’s Name of which God Himself says “That is my name – A name peculiar to myself.”

 אני יהוה הוא שׁמי וכבודי לאחר לא־אתן ותהלתי לפסילים׃

“I am Jehovah, that is my name; and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise unto graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8 ASV)

7  ስለዚህ የዕውሮችን ዐይን ታበራለህ፤ በጨለማው ጒድጓድ እስር ቤት ውስጥ ያሉትን እስረኞችን ታወጣለህ።

All people in the world should come to know the Name of God. He does find it important that His creatures should know Him by His Name and know that He only is the Most High ever. Probably shall find no other people called the same because God the Divine Creator said He is the only One with that Name, which may not be taken in vain.

‘That men may know that thou, whose name alone is JEHOVAH, Art the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:18 Lange)

Psa 83:17  (83:18) יבשׁו ויבהלו עדי־עד ויחפרו ויאבדו׃

“That they may know that {1} thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, Art the Most High over all the earth. {1) Or [thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art etc]}” (Psalms 83:18 ASV)

Exo 20:7  לא תשׂא את־שׁם־יהוה אלהיך לשׁוא כי לא ינקה יהוה את אשׁר־ישׂא את־שׁמו לשׁוא׃

“Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God {1} in vain; for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name {1} in vain. {1) Or [for vanity] (or [falsehood])}” (Exodus 20:7 ASV)

Later He reminded Moses of His great name and that He is the covenant-making and covenant-keeping God, who will absolutely fulfil His promises (Exodus 6:2-5). The name denotes not Who is the eternal existence and that unchangeable truth and omnipotent Power which give fulfilment to His promises.  It were as though He said, “I am Jehovah, for I am now to do what I have declared to be My purpose.” Compare, for further illustration of this name, Exodus 7:5 and Ezekiel 28:22.

Exo 6:2  וידבר אלהים אל־משׁה ויאמר אליו אני יהוה׃
Exo 6:3  וארא אל־אברהם אל־יצחק ואל־יעקב באל שׁדי ושׁמי יהוה לא נודעתי להם׃

“2 And God spake unto Moses, and said unto him, I am Jehovah: 3 and I appeared unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob, as {1} God Almighty; but {2} by my name Jehovah I was not {3} known to them. {1) Heb [El Shaddai] 2) Or [as to] 3) Or [made known]}” (Exodus 6:2-3 ASV)

 

Exo 7:5  וידעו מצרים כי־אני יהוה בנטתי את־ידי על־מצרים והוצאתי את־בני־ישׂראל מתוכם׃

“And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt, and bring out the children of Israel from among them.” (Exodus 7:5 ASV)

Eze 28:22  ואמרת כה אמר אדני יהוה הנני עליך צידון ונכבדתי בתוכך וידעו כי־אני יהוה בעשׂותי בה שׁפטים ונקדשׁתי

“and say, Thus saith the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I am against thee, O Sidon; and I will be glorified in the midst of thee; and they shall know that I am Jehovah, when I shall have executed judgments in her, and shall be sanctified in her.” (Ezekiel 28:22 ASV)

It was not at the creation that The Divine Creator would let His Divine name be known, but that does not mean it was not important not Him bringing everything to existence.

The world came to know Who had created everything and all people should be fully aware of that.

Jer 32:17  אהה אדני יהוה הנה אתה עשׂית את־השׁמים ואת־הארץ בכחך הגדול ובזרעך הנטויה לא־יפלא ממך כל־דבר׃

“Ah Lord Jehovah! behold, thou hast made the heavens and the earth by thy great power and by thine outstretched arm; there is nothing too {1} hard for thee, {1) Or [wonderful]}” (Jeremiah 32:17 ASV)

Already in the first book of Mozes (the Bereshith, the book of the Beginnings or Genesis) we are told that it where no gods but God alone Who created man in His image and how heaven and earth were created.

Gen 1:27  ויברא אלהים את־האדם בצלמו בצלם אלהים ברא אתו זכר ונקבה ברא אתם׃

“And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.” (Genesis 1:27 ASV)

Gen 2:4  אלה תולדות השׁמים והארץ בהבראם ביום עשׂות יהוה אלהים ארץ ושׁמים׃

“These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Genesis 2:4 ASV)

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Continues with:

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 1 Genesis 1:1-25 Creation of things

Readings from Scriptures: Story of creation 2 Genesis 1:26-31 Creation of man

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 3 Genesis 2:1-15 Story of Adam and Eve

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 2:16-25 Warning for Adam and Eve

The very very beginning 3 Messiah’s total point of origination

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 3:1-13 The fall

Readings from Scriptures: Genesis – Story of creation 4 Genesis 3:14-24 consequneces of the fall and solution

++

Additional literature:

1. I am that I am Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh אהיה אשר אהיה
2. God of gods
3. Only one God
4. Attributes to God
5. Titles of God beginning with the Aleph in Hebrew
6. Pluralis Majestatis in the Holy Scriptures
7. Trusting, Faith, calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #3 Voice of God #1 Creator and His Prophets
8. People Seeking for God 2 Human interpretations
9. Seeing or not seeing and willingness to find God
10. Being Religious and Spiritual 1 Immateriality and Spiritual experience
11. Being Religious and Spiritual 4 Philosophical, religious and spiritual people
12. Philosophy hand in hand with spirituality
13. The Divine name of the Creator
14. Hashem השם, Hebrew for “the Name”
15. Jehovah Yahweh Gods Name
16. God about His name “יהוה“יהוה
17. YHWH and Love: Four-letter words
18. Pure Words and Testimonies full of Breath of the Most High
19. A viewpoint on creation
20. The World framed by the Word of God
21. Creation gift of God
22. Creator and Blogger God 1 Emptiness and mouvement
23. Creator and Blogger God 3 Lesson and solution
24. Cosmos creator and human destiny
25. Did the Inspirator exist
26. Without God no purpose, no goal, no hope
27. Story of Jesus’ birth begins long before the New Testament
28. Are Science and the Bible Compatible?
29. Science and the Bible—Do They Really Contradict Each Other?
30. Science and Religion Harmonized (Once and For All…)
31. “Before” and “after” the Big Bang
32. Blackness, nothingness, something, void
33. Accommodation of the Void
34. Nothingness
35. How do trinitarians equate divine nature

+++

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