Jesus

First mention of a solution against death 7 Human sacrifice

July 7, 2016Marcus Ampe15 Comments

In the previous articles about the solution for man and offerings, we talked about the way human beings looked for ways to restore their relationship with God and how they wanted to please God with offerings.

The first human beings had the Tree of Life and the Tree of Knowledge, symbolizing potentialities or possibilities that God has made available to Man, who is free to choose and explore as much as he pleases, even to separate himself from God, like the Prodigal Son from his Father.

Man had made his choice and had to leave the Garden of Eden, trying to build up a decent life. Though now he had to work hard for everything and was aware he had disgusted or displeased God. First there was only the Most High Divine Creator of all things Who was above Adam and Eve and above all other living creatures, the plants and animals. There was no hierarchy.

The first story were we saw human beings ‘fighting’ for a place or rang order is the one of Cain and Abel. Slowly hierarchy entered the human system. From simple hunter-gatherer tribes to complex, modern industrial societies we can find a hierarchy which is loved by people. Some scholars argue that gender played a central role in the formation and functioning of stratification systems. They showed that women’s exclusion from social life placed them in an inferior position, resulting in lessened life chances and status. While women’s standing in social and economic life has improved over the past half-century, women are still restricted by gender roles and patriarchy. Rich literatures examine the impact of family structure, occupational segregation, devaluation of women’s work, and sex-based pay gaps.

We also can see that the colour of skin, the place of origin, became important to place people on a step of the ladder. One’s racial and ethnic background or ethnicity, also greatly came to influence one’s life chances. When not belonging to the troop it could well be that people saw the person suitable to be used as an offer to the gods.

Human life was looked at as something very special and was considered by many as the most valuable material for sacrifice. The killing of a human being, or the substitution of an animal in place of a person, has often been part of an attempt to effect communion with a god and participation in his divine life.

We may find two primary types of human sacrifice: the offering of a human being to a god and the entombment or slaughter of servants or slaves intended to accompany the deceased into the afterlife. The latter practice was more common.

The realisation of human sacrifice to the promotion of the earth’s fertility may explain why the phenomenon has been most widely adopted by agricultural rather than by hunting or pastoral peoples.

In a study published in Nature¹, Joseph Watts, a specialist in cultural evolution at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, and his colleagues have analysed 93 traditional cultures in Austronesia (the region that loosely embraces the many small and island states in the Pacific and Indonesia) as they were before they were influenced by colonization and major world religions (generally in the late 19th and early 20th centuries). {On Human Sacrifice (Article Nature)}

By mapping the evolutionary relationships between cultures, the team suggests that human sacrifice and social hierarchy co-evolved. Although societies can become more or less stratified over time, societies that practised sacrifice were less apt to revert to milder degrees of stratification.

Clearly there were different ways to look at the sacrificial bodies. They could be seen as something very special and very worthy but also as something they did not want in their community and found good enough to give to the gods. More than animal sacrifice human sacrifice helped to stabilize hierarchy, and conceivably, therefore, had a common role in the development of highly stratified societies that generally persist even today. Instead of killing the one in power a substitute was taken to receive for some time divine status and then was put to death. Sacral kings (considered to embody gods of vegetation) were sacrificed when their vigour declined, in order to prevent reciprocal effects on soil fertility. In various places in Africa, where human sacrifice was connected with ancestor worship or veneration of the dead, some of the slaves of the deceased were buried with him, or they were killed and laid beneath him in his grave.

There were also places were people thought the elements of nature, like the moon and the sun, needed human nourishment, which led to sacrifices in which thousands of victims perished annually in their rituals, like by the Aztecs. The Incas confined such wholesale sacrifices to the accession of a ruler.There were instances of human sacrifice in Peru and among tribes of North American Indians.

All human societies have been shaped by religion, leading psychologists to wonder how it arose, and whether particular forms of belief have affected other aspects of evolved social structure. According to one recent view, for example, belief in a “big God” — an all-powerful, punitive deity who sits in moral judgement on our actions — has been instrumental in bringing about social and political complexity in human cultures.

The network of small and island states stretching from Madagascar to Easter Island — challenges that theory. In these states, a more general belief in supernatural punishment did tend to precede political complexity, the research finds, but belief in supreme deities emerged after complex cultures have already formed ².

Joseph Watts, a specialist in cultural evolution at the University of Auckland in New Zealand, who worked on the study, wanted evidence to examine the idea that “big Gods” drive and sustain the evolution of big societies. Psychologist Ara Norenzayan at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, has suggested that belief in moralizing high gods (MHGs) enabled societies to outgrow their limited ability to police moral conduct, by threatening freeloaders with retribution even if no-one else noticed their transgressions^{3, 4}.

Watts says

“Austronesian cultures offer an ideal sample to test theories about the evolution of religions in pre-modern societies, because they were mostly isolated from modern world religions, and their indigenous supernatural beliefs and practices were well documented.”

The believers in moralizing high gods (MHGs) got in their system some people who got control by aligning themselves with those supreme deities and then making lists of things people could and could not do. We can imagine their way of getting more power by making the people afraid with ideas of suffering or torture (in the underground or hell) and by the possibility to become a target of offering. For centuries certain religious organisation or churches made their followers afraid of doomplaces and told them that they could buy themselves free from those torture chambers by giving money to their church. People could buy indulgences.

The granting of indulgences was predicated on two beliefs. First, in the sacrament of penance it did not suffice to have the guilt (culpa) of sin forgiven through absolution alone; one also needed to undergo temporal punishment (poena, from p[o]enitentia, “penance”) because one had offended Almighty God. Second, indulgences rested on belief in purgatory, a place in the next life where one could continue to cancel the accumulated debt of one’s sins, another Western medieval conception not shared by Eastern Orthodoxy or other Eastern Christian churches not recognizing the primacy of the pope. {Indulgence –
Roman Catholicism, encyclopaedia Britannica}

Certain faithgroups or churches wanted their believers to believe that offerings could reduce the the debt of forgiveness of sin. The offers could exist out of many gifts but also by the performance of good works in their life (pilgrimages, charitable acts, and the like) and if their offerings were not yet sufficient they would get a lesser penalty after they died, by temporarily suffering in purgatory instead of eternal suffering in hell. Indulgences could be granted only by popes or, to a lesser extent, archbishops and bishops as ways of helping ordinary people measure and amortize their remaining debt.

In different cultures an other way was less bloody, having the sacrifice taking place by going under water. Whilst in Mexico young maidens were drowned in sacred wells, others found it sufficient to have an immersion. As such we can find Celtic rituals. Whilst the burning of children occurred in Assyrian and Canaanite religions and at various times among the Israelites, it became a custom by the Israelites to be cleared of sins by immersion to enter a new life. John the Baptist as such came to immerse his cousin Jeshua, Jesus Christ, who was the long awaited Messiah. About 40 days after Jesus’ birth, his parents had brought the customary sin offering permitted in the case of the poor,

“a pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.” (Luke 2:24; Leviticus 12:6-8)

The offerings and human sacrifice legitimises political authority and social class systems, functioning to stabilize social stratification. It was also an ideal way to get rid of unwanted people or to take care that those who stood in the way could disappear from the scene.

In this way the Nazarene Jeshua an annoying person and possible peril for the security and peace in the Roman empire and in the Jewish community. Though it was not thought him to be an offer, several thought it better to give him away to be killed instead of the vigilant or robber Barabbas. Pilate knew that it was out of jealousy that the chief priests and elders wanted Jesus out of the way, i.e. being killed.

“Give us Barabbas!”, from The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, 1910

The man being called to be crucified did not have his roots in the right soil because nobody thought anything good could come out of Nazareth. (John 1:46; 7:41, 52) Although he was a perfect man and a descendant of King David, his humble circumstances did not impart to him any “stately form” or “splendour” — at least not in the eyes of those who were expecting the Messiah to come from a more impressive background.
Spurred on by the Jewish religious leaders, many were led to overlook and even despise him. In the end the crowds saw nothing desirable in the perfect Son of God.

Matthew 27:11-26 NHEBME (11) Now Yeshua stood before the governor: and the governor asked him, saying, “Are you the King of the Jews?” Yeshua said to him, “So you say.” (12) When he was accused by the chief priests and elders, he answered nothing. (13) Then Pilate said to him, “Do you not hear how many things they testify against you?” (14) He gave him no answer, not even one word, so that the governor marveled greatly. (15) Now at the feast the governor was accustomed to release to the multitude one prisoner, whom they desired. (16) They had then a notable prisoner, called Barabbas. (17) When therefore they were gathered together, Pilate said to them, “Whom do you want me to release to you? Barabbas, or Yeshua, who is called the Messiah?” (18) For he knew that because of envy they had delivered him up. (19) While he was sitting on the judgment seat, his wife sent to him, saying, “Have nothing to do with that righteous man, for I have suffered many things this day in a dream because of him.” (20) Now the chief priests and the elders persuaded the multitudes to ask for Barabbas, and destroy Yeshua. (21) But the governor answered them, “Which of the two do you want me to release to you?” They said, “Barabbas!” (22) Pilate said to them, “What then shall I do to Yeshua, who is called the Messiah?” They all said, “Let him be crucified!” (23) But he said, “Why? What evil has he done?” But they shouted all the louder, saying, “Let him be crucified!” (24) So when Pilate saw that nothing was being gained, but rather that a disturbance was starting, he took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, “I am innocent of the blood of this man. You see to it.” (25) All the people answered, “May his blood be on us, and on our children!” (26) Then he released to them Barabbas, but Yeshua he flogged and delivered to be crucified.

In the time before Jeshua the ancient temple courtyard was the altar for offering sacrifices. This foreshadowed God’s provision, according to His will, for a perfect human sacrifice to ransom the offspring of Adam. (Heb 10:1-10; 13:10-12; Ps 40:6-8)

This man, born in Bethlehem, at his immersion was proclaimed by God Himself to be the “Only begotten beloved son of God“. Nobody had managed to fully do the will of God neither could have brought a perfect sacrificial body in front of the Most Divine God. This time that man managed to put aside his will and managed to keep all the time to God’s Will. He was the living proof that man, if he wanted, could keep to God’s Commandments. Still to today there are religious groups in Christendom who want others to believe no man would ever be capable to keep God’s commandments, and therefore Jesus would have to be God himself. This idea makes of God a very cruel God Who imposed Laws to man which He knew they would never be able to keep. But God is a God of love and order Who does not asks more of people than they can endure or do. That what God asks of mankind Jesus managed to fulfil and by doing God’s Will all the time, not going against the Will of God, he was not at any time an opposer or adversary of God. Jesus him being a perfect human being made the sacrifice of his life acceptable in the eyes of God to be the best ransom that could be paid for making an end to the curse of death.

God even expanded the gift of Christ to mankind by declaring all those who have faith in Christ’s sacrifice, righteous on the basis of their faith. By believing in Jesus Christ and following his teachings, when they after their immersion try to keep to the commandments of God, they are viewed by God as sinless while in the flesh.

Romans 3:20-26 NHEBME Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight. For through the law comes the knowledge of sin. (21) But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the Law and the Prophets; (22) even the righteousness of God through faith in Yeshua the Messiah to all those who believe. For there is no distinction, (23) for all have sinned, and fall short of the glory of God; (24) being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Messiah Yeshua; (25) whom God set forth to be an atoning sacrifice, through faith in his blood, for a demonstration of his righteousness through the passing over of prior sins, in God’s forbearance; (26) to demonstrate his righteousness at this present time; that he might himself be just, and the justifier of him who has faith in Yeshua.

Romans 5:1-2 NHEBME Being therefore justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Yeshua the Messiah; (2) through whom we also have our access by faith into this grace in which we stand. We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

Differently than in other religions where every time a new sacrifice is needed, the blood of Christ is for ever and makes that no other sacrifices have to be made.

Romans 5:9-10 NHEBME Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him. (10) For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we will be saved by his life.

Romans 8:1-7 NHEBME There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Messiah Yeshua. (2) For the law of the Spirit of life in Messiah Yeshua made you free from the law of sin and of death. (3) For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God did, sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh; (4) that the ordinance of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. (5) For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. (6) For the mind of the flesh is death, but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace; (7) because the mind of the flesh is hostile towards God; for it is not subject to God’s law, neither indeed can it be.

References:

Watts, J., Sheehan, O., Atkinson, Q. D., Bulbulia, J. & Gray, R. D. Nature http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature17159 (2016).
Watts, J. et al. Proc. R. Soc. B 282, 20142556 (2015).
Norenzayan, A. Big Gods: How Religion Transformed Cooperation and Conflict (Princeton Univ. Press, 2013).
Norenzayan, A. & Shariff, A. F. Science 322, 58–62 (2008).

Please find also to read:

Preceding articles:

Gone astray, away from God

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 3

Forbidden Fruit in the Midst of the Garden 4

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

Necessity of a revelation of creation 5 Getting understanding by Word of God 3

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

Creation of the earth and man #17 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #1 In the image and after the likeness

First mention of a solution against death 1 To divine, serpent, opposition, satan and adversary

First mention of a solution against death 2 Harm or no harm and naked truth

First mention of a solution against death 3 Tempter Satan and man’s problems

First mention of a solution against death 4 A seed for mankind

First mention of a solution against death 5 Evil its law of death

First mention of a solution against death 6 Authority given to the send one from God coming out of the woman

Not trying to make the heathen live like Jews #2

Additional reading

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Creation of the earth and man #19 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #3 Beholding image and likeness of the invisible God

December 2, 2015December 2, 2015Christadelphians14 Comments

In the previous episodes we saw how the Elohim God created human being in God His image. Those created in the image of the Adonai have the same ruach or spirit as the other living beings of the universe, man possessing the same life capabilities as animals. But man has vanity, mortality and has to bear the consequences of his going in against his Divine Sovereign Maker. Though been modelled after a divine type, or pattern, man differs from other creatures, being in form and capacity made like to the angels, though in nature inferior to them.

In Jesus, then, raised from the dead incorruptible, and clothed with brightness as when he was transfigured upon the Holy Mount, {a Matthew 17:2.} we behold the image and likeness of the invisible God. When we contemplate him by faith, as we shall hereafter by sight, we see ‘A Mirror‘ from which the glory of Jehovah is reflected in intellectual, moral, and physical grandeur. He that would know God, must behold Him in Christ. If he be acquainted with Him as He is portrayed in the prophets and apostles, he will understand the character of God, whom no man hath seen, nor can see; Who chargeth His angels with folly, and before Whom the heavens are not clean. Jesus was the true light shining in the darkness of Judea, whose inhabitants “comprehended it not”. Through him, God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, shone into the hearts of as many as received him; to give them the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ; that so they might receive power to become the sons of God, believing on his name. {b 2 Corinthians 3:18; 4:6; John 1:5, 12.}

How consoling and cheering is it, then, amid all the evils of the present state*, that God hath found a ransom, who is willing and able to deliver us from the power of the grave; and not only so, but that “at the manifestation of the sons of God” {c Romans 8:17–25.}, when he shall appear in power and great glory, “we shall be like him; because we shall see him as he is”. {d 1 John 3:2.} Then will the saints be “changed into the same image from glory”, now only a matter of hope, “into glory”, as seen and actually possessed, “even as the Lord” himself was changed, when he became “the spirit giving life”, or “a quickening spirit”.

– Thomas, D. J.; Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 40–41). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Notes and quotes:

a: Matthew 17:2 (ESV): ²And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.

b1: 2 Corinthians 3:18 (ESV): ¹⁸And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

b2: 2 Corinthians 4:6 (ESV): ⁶For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

b3: John 1:5 (ESV): ⁵The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

* Present time or the time of the System of things

c: Romans 8:17–25 (ESV): ¹⁷and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.

Future Glory

¹⁸For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. ¹⁹For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God. ²⁰For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope ²¹that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. ²²For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now. ²³And not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. ²⁴For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? ²⁵But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

d: 1 John 3:2 (ESV): ²Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.

Preceding:

Creation of the earth and man #17 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #1 In the image and after the likeness

Creation of the earth and man #18 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #2 Assimilation of character

Additional reading:

+++

Listen: Just Jesus #297 with Daniel Whyte III (blackchristiannews.com)
We stand together proudly (chronicle.augusta.com)
Loving the Sinner (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
The Christ and Old Covenant of Promise Part 2 (ireport.cnn.com)
The Truth About The Roman Catholic Church (nowtheendbegins.com)
Jesus Christ is not REAL to most Christians (finalcall07.wordpress.com)
A Perfect Inheritance (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
Jesus Christ: The Word of God (frted.wordpress.com)
New Start (news.sosevents.org)
Hearing words to accept (christadelphians.wordpress.com)

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

August 22, 2015August 22, 2015Christadelphians17 Comments

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

The ordinances of the law of Moses are styled by Paul “the rudiments”, or “elements of the world”, which, in Galatians, he also terms “weak and beggarly elements, whereunto they desired again to be in bondage”. They evinced this desire by “observing days, and months, and times, and years”;(Galatians 4:3, 5, 9, 10) not being satisfied with the things of Christ, but seeking to combine the Mosaic institutions with the gospel.

Gal 4:3-5 The Scriptures 1998+ (3) So we also, when we were children, were under the elementary matters of the world, being enslaved. (4) But when the completion of the time came, Elohim sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under Torah, (5) to redeem those who were under Torah, in order to receive the adoption as sons.

Gal 4:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) But now after you have known Elohim, or rather are known by Elohim, how do you turn again to the weak and poor elementary matters,1 to which you wish to be enslaved again? Footnote: 1See v.3, Col. 2:8 & 20. (10) You observe days and months and seasons and years.

This was Judaizing, and the first step to that awful apostasy by which the world has been cursed for so many ages. When the Mosaic constitution, as “the representation of the knowledge and the truth”, had “waxed old” by the manifestation of the substance to a sufficient extent to nullify it, it “vanished away” by being “cast down to the ground” by the Roman power, and with it the law of the seventh day.

Even before its abolition, Paul expressed his fear of the Galatians, “lest he should have bestowed labour upon them in vain”, seeing that they were becoming zealous of the ordinances of the law. They seemed not to understand that the Mosaic economy was only a temporary constitution of things, “added because of transgressions, till the seed should come”; that when he came, “he redeemed them from the curse of the law, being made a curse for them”; and that therefore they had nothing to fear, nor to hope for from keeping, or transgressing its methods. They had got it into their heads that “except they were circumcised and kept the law of Moses”, as well as believed and obeyed the gospel of the kingdom, they could not be saved.

Mat 12:5 The Scriptures 1998+ (5) “Or did you not read in the Torah that on the Sabbath the priests in the Set-apart Place profane the Sabbath, and are blameless?

Therefore they “desired to be under the law”, and began to busy themselves about “keeping the sabbath”, and doing other works which Moses had enjoined upon Israel. Paul was very much distressed at this, and describes himself as “travailing in birth again until Christ be formed in them”. They had been delivered from “the yoke of bondage”, by putting on Christ; but by seeking to renew their connexion with Moses’ law, they were selling their birth-right for a mess of pottage.

“I say unto you”,

saith Paul,

“that if ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. For I testify again to every man that is circumcised, that he is a debtor to do the whole law. Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace”.

A partial observance of the law can do no one any good. If he kept the sabbath in the most approved manner, but neglected the sacrifices, or ate swine’s flesh, he was as accursed as a thief or a robber; for to one under the law it saith,

“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which axe written in the book of the law to do them”;

hence even the sinless Jesus was cursed by it, because he was crucified; for it is written,

“Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”

Gal 3:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) Have you suffered so much in vain – if indeed in vain?
Gal 5:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) You who are declared right by Torah have severed yourselves from Messiah, you have fallen from favour.

What hope then is there for Jew or Gentile of escaping the curse of the law, seeing that from the very nature of things connected with the present state of Jerusalem it is impossible to observe it, save in the few particulars of “meat and drink, or in respect of the sabbath” partially, etc. The observance of the seventh day was regulated by the Mosaic law, and the penalties due to its “desecration”, or “profanation”, are pronounced by it alone; but it is dear that the law being taken out of the way, or abolished, by Jesus, who nailed it to his cross, there remain no more retributions for the non-observance of its appointments; and therefore there is no transgression in working or pleasure-taking, or in speaking one’s own words on the seventh day.

On the first day of the creation-week God said,

“Let there be light, and there was light”;

so on the first day of the week “The True Light” came forth from the darkness of the tomb “like dew from the womb of the morning”. It is a day to be much remembered by his people, because it assures them of their justification “in him”, of their own resurrection to life, and of the certainty of his ruling or “judging the world in righteousness” as Jehovah’s king, when they shall also reign with him as kings and priests to God.

Rom 4:22-25 The Scriptures 1998+ (22) Therefore also “it was reckoned to him for righteousness.” (23) And not because of him alone was it written that it was reckoned to him, (24) but also because of us, to whom it shall be reckoned, to us who believe in Him who raised up יהושע {Jeshua} our Master from the dead, (25) who was delivered up because of our trespasses, and was raised for us to be declared right.

Rom 8:11 The Scriptures 1998+ (11) And if the Spirit of Him who raised יהושע {Jeshua} from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Messiah from the dead shall also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit dwelling in you.

1Co 15:14 The Scriptures 1998+ (14) And if Messiah has not been raised, then our proclaiming is empty, and your belief also empty,

1Co 15:20 The Scriptures 1998+ (20) But now Messiah has been raised from the dead, and has become the first-fruit of those having fallen asleep.

Act 17:31 The Scriptures 1998+ (31) because He has set a day on which He is going to judge the world in righteousness by a Man whom He has appointed,1 having given proof of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” Footnote: 1See 10:42.

Rev 5:9-10 The Scriptures 1998+ (9) And they sang a renewed song, saying, “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals, because You were slain, and have redeemed us to Elohim by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, (10) and made us sovereigns and priests to our Elohim, and we shall reign upon the earth.”1 Footnote: 1Dan. 7:18-27.

This day is also notable on account of the special interviews which occurred between Jesus and his disciples after his resurrection.

Joh 20:19 The Scriptures 1998+ (19) When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week,and when the doors were shut where the taught ones met, for fear of the Yehuḏim, יהושע {Jehsua} came and stood in the midst, and said to them, “Peace to you.”

Joh 20:26 The Scriptures 1998+ (26) And after eight days His taught ones were again inside, and T’oma with them. יהושע {Jehsua} came, the doors having been shut, and He stood in the midst, and said, “Peace to you!”

He ascended to heaven on this day, even the forty-third from his crucifixion; and seven days after, that is the fiftieth, being “the day of Pentecost”, the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the apostles, and the gospel of the kingdom preached for the first time in his name.
Power being in the hands of their enemies, the Christians of the Hebrew nation still continued to observe the seventh day according to the custom. Hence we find the apostles frequenting the synagogues on the sabbath days and reasoning with the people out of the scriptures.

Act 17:2 The Scriptures 1998+ (2) And according to his practice, Sha’ul went in unto them, and for three Sabbaths was reasoning with them from the Scriptures,

Act 17:17 The Scriptures 1998+ (17) Therefore, indeed, he was reasoning in the congregation with the Yehuḏim and with the gentile worshippers, and in the market-place daily with those who met there.

Act 18:4 The Scriptures 1998+ (4) And he was reasoning in the congregation every Sabbath, and won over both Yehuḏim and Greeks.

Act 19:8 The Scriptures 1998+ (8) And having gone into the congregation he spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the reign of Elohim.

To have done otherwise would have been to create an unnecessary prejudice, and to let slip one of the best opportunities of introducing the gospel to the attention of the Jewish public. They did not forsake the synagogues until they were expelled. While they frequented these, however, on the seventh day, they assembled themselves together with the disciples whose assemblies constituted the churches of the saints and of God. They ordained elders over these societies, and “taught them to observe all things whatsoever Jesus had commanded them”.

Mat 28:20 The Scriptures 1998+ (20) teaching them to guard all that I have commanded you. And see, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” Amĕn.

Act 2:42 The Scriptures 1998+ (42) And they were continuing steadfastly in the teaching of the emissaries, and in the fellowship, and in the breaking of bread, and in the prayers.

Act 14:21-23 The Scriptures 1998+ (21) And having brought the Good News to that city, and having made many taught ones, they returned to Lustra, and Ikonion, and Antioch, (22) strengthening the beings of the taught ones, encouraging them to continue in the belief, and that through many pressures we have to enter the reign of Elohim. (23) And having appointed elders in every assembly, having prayed with fasting, they committed them to the Master in whom they had believed.

In his letter to the Hebrew Christians, Paul exhorts them “not to forsake the assembling of themselves together”

Heb 10:19-25 The Scriptures 1998+ (19) So, brothers, having boldness to enter into the Set-apart Place by the blood of יהושע {Jeshua}, (20) by a new and living way which He instituted for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh, (21) and having a High Priest over the House of Elohim, (22) let us draw near with a true heart in completeness of belief, having our hearts sprinkled from a wicked conscience and our bodies washed with clean water. (23) Let us hold fast the confession of our expectation without yielding, for He who promised is trustworthy. (24) And let us be concerned for one another in order to stir up love and good works,1 Footnote: 1Mt. 16:27. (25) not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging, and so much more as you see the Day coming near.

Such an exhortation as this implies a stated time and place of assembly. On what day, then, did the churches of the saints meet to exhort one another so as to provoke to love and to good works ? Certainly not on the seventh day, for then the apostles were in the synagogues. What day then more appropriate than the first day of the week ? Now it cannot be affirmed that the saints were commanded to meet on this day, because there is no testimony to that effect in the New Testament. But it is beyond dispute that they did assemble themselves together on the first day of the week, and the most reasonable inference is that they did so in obedience to the instruction of the apostles, from whose teaching they derived all their faith and practice, which constituted them the disciples of Jesus.

To keep the first day of the week to the Lord is possible only for the saints. There is no law, except the emperor Constantine’s, that commands sinners to keep holy the first, or eighth, day, or Sunday, as the Gentiles term it. For a sinner to keep this day unto the Lord he must become one of the Lord’s people. He must believe the gospel of the kingdom and name of Christ, and become obedient to it, before any religious service he can offer will be accepted. He must come under law to Christ by putting on Christ before he can keep the Lord’s day. Having become a Christian, if he would keep the day to the Lord, he must assemble with a congregation of New Testament saints, and assist in edifying and provoking them to love and good works, in showing forth the death of Jesus, in giving thanks to the Father, in celebrating the resurrection of Christ, and in praising and blessing God. Under the gospel, or “law of liberty”, he is subjected to no “yoke of bondage” concerning a sabbath day. It is his delight when an opportunity presents, to celebrate in this way the day of the resurrection. He requires no penal statutes to compel him to a formal and disagreeable self-denial, or “duty”; for it is his meat and drink to do the will of his Father who is in heaven.

Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 17–20). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding article:

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

Additional reading:

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

August 6, 2015August 22, 2015Christadelphians9 Comments

Of the Sabbath day

On the seventh day, which was neither longer nor shorter than the days which preceded it, “God ended his work which he had made”; and because of this notable event, “he blessed and sanctified it”.

A day is blessed, because of what is or will be imparted to those who are commanded to observe it. The sanctification of the day implies the setting of it apart that it might be kept in some way different from other days. The manner of its original observance may be inferred from the law concerning it when it was enjoined upon the Israelites. To them it was said,

“Remember the sabbath day to keep it holy”.

If it be asked, how was it to be kept holy? the answer is,

“in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor any one or thing belonging to thee”;

and the reason for this total abstinence from work is referred to the Lord’s own example in that “he rested the seventh day”. The nature of its observance in the ages and generations, and the recompense thereof, is well expressed in the words of Isaiah:

— “If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words: then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord, and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father; for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” {Isaiah 58:13, 14.}

In this passage, the conditions are stated upon which faithful Israelites might inherit the blessing typified by the rest of the seventh day. They were joyfully to devote themselves to the way of the Lord. They were not simply to abstain from work, yawning and grumbling over the tediousness of the day, and wishing it were gone, that they might return to their ordinary course of life; but they were to esteem it as a delightful, holy, and honourable day. Their pleasure was to consist in doing what the Lord required, and in talking of “the exceeding great and precious promises” He had made. To do this was “not speaking their own words”, but the Lord’s words. Such an observance as this, however, of the sabbath day, implies a faithful mind and a gracious disposition as the result of knowing the truth.

Neither antediluvian nor postdiluvian could “call the sabbath a delight” who was either ignorant or faithless of the import of the promise,

“thou shalt delight thyself in the Lord, and ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed with the heritage of Jacob”.

Representation of Sabbat gatherings from the c... — Representation of Sabbat gatherings from the chronicles of Johann Jakob Wick. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A man who simply looked at the seventh day as a sabbath in which he was interdicted from pleasures, and conversation agreeable to him, and from the money-making pursuits in which he delighted, would regard the day more as a weekly punishment, than as joyous and honourable. Though he might mechanically abstain from work, he did not keep it so as to be entitled to the blessing which belonged to the observance of the day of the Lord. It was irksome to him, because, being faithless, he perceived no reward in keeping it; and

“without faith it is impossible to please God”.

The reward to antediluvian and postdiluvian patriarchs and Israelites, for a faithful observance, or commemoration of Jehovah’s rest from His creation-work, was

“delight in the Lord, riding upon the high places of the earth, and feeding with the heritage of Jacob”.

This was neither more nor less than a promise of inheriting the Kingdom of God, which is a summary of “the things hoped for and the things unseen”, or the subject matter of the faith that pleases God. When that kingdom is established, all who are accounted worthy of it will “delight or joy in the Lord”; and occupy “the high places of the earth”, ruling over the nations as His associate kings and priests; and share in the “new heavens and earth,” in which dwells righteousness, when Jerusalem shall be made a rejoicing, and her people Israel a joy. The knowledge and belief of these things was the powerful and transforming motive which caused Abel, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, etc. to “call the sabbath a delight, holy of the Lord, and honourable”; and to observe it as the sons of Belial cannot possibly do. But while this was the motive, even faith, which actuated the sons of God in their keeping holy the seventh day, Jehovah did not permit the faithless to transgress or desecrate it with impunity. We know not what penalty, if any, was attached to its violation before the flood; but its desecration under the Mosaic constitution was attended with signal and summary vengeance, as will appear from the following testimonies:—

1. “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak thou unto the children of Israel, saying, Verily my sabbaths ye shall keep; for it is a sign between me and you throughout your generations; that ye may know that I am the Lord that doth sanctify you. Ye shall keep the sabbath therefore: for it is holy unto you. Every one that defileth it shall surely be put to death; for whosoever doeth any work therein, that soul shall be cut off from among his people. Six days may work be done, but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord; whosoever doeth any work on the sabbath day shall surely be put to death. Wherefore the children of Israel shall keep the sabbath, to observe the sabbath throughout their generations, for a perpetual covenant. It is a sign between me and the children of Israel for ever; for in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, and on the seventh day he rested and was refreshed.” { Exodus 31:12–17.}
2. “Remember (O Israel), that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm; therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.” {Deut. 5:15.}
3. “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day mere shall be to you a holy day, a sabbath of rest to the Lord: whosoever doeth work therein shall be put to death. Ye shall kindle no fire throughout your habitations on the sabbath day.” { Exodus 35:2, 3.}
4. “And while the children of Israel were in the wilderness, they found a man that gathered sticks upon the sabbath day. And they that found him gathering sticks brought him unto Moses and Aaron, and unto all the congregation. And they put him in ward, because it was not declared what should be done to him. And the Lord said unto Moses, The man shall surely be put to death; all the congregation shall stone him with stones without the camp. And all the congregation brought him without the camp, and stoned him with stones, and he died; as the Lord commanded Moses.” { Numb. 15:32–36.}
5. “Thus saith the Lord; Take heed to yourselves, and bear no burden on the sabbath day, nor bring it in by the gates of Jerusalem: neither carry forth a burden out of your houses on the sabbath day, neither do ye any work, but hallow ye the sabbath day, as I commanded your fathers.… And it shall come to pass, if ye diligently hearken unto me, saith the Lord, to bring in no burden through the gates of this city on the sabbath day, to do no work therein: then shall there enter into the gates of this city kings and princes sitting upon the throne of David, riding in chariots and upon horses, they, and their princes, the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: and this city shall remain for ever. And they shall come from the cities of Judah, and from the places about Jerusalem, and from the land of Benjamin and from the plain, and from the mountains, and from the south, bringing burnt-offerings, and sacrifices, and meat-offerings, and incense, and bringing sacrifices of praise, unto the temple of the Lord. But if ye will not hearken unto me to hallow the sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the sabbath day; then I will kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched.” {Jer. 17:21–27.}
6. “Abide ye every man in his place; let no man go out of his place on the seventh day. So the people rested on the seventh day.” {Exodus 16:29, 30.}

From these testimonies it is clear that it was unlawful for servants in the families of Israel to light fires, cook dinners, harness horses, drive out families to the synagogues, or priests to the temple to officiate in the service of the Lord. The visiting of families on the sabbath day, the taking of excursions for health or for preaching, and conversing about worldly, or family, or any kind of secular affairs, was also illegal, and punishable with death. The law, it will be observed also, had regard to the seventh, and to no other day of the week. It was lawful to do all these things on the first or eighth day (some particular ones, however, excepted), but not on the seventh. On this day, however, it was “lawful to do good”; but then, this good was not arbitrary. Neither the priests nor the people were the judges of the good or evil, but the law only which defined it.

“On the sabbath days the priests in the temple profaned the sabbath, and were blameless”; {Matt. 12:5.}

for the law enjoined them to offer “two lambs of the first year, without spot, as the burnt-offering of every sabbath”. { Num. 28:9–10.} This was a profanation of the seventh-day law, which prohibited “any work” from being done; and had not God commanded it, they would have been “guilty of death”. It was upon this ground that Jesus was “guiltless”; for he did the work of God on that day in healing the sick as the Father had commanded him.

“The sabbath was made for man, and not man for the sabbath: therefore”,

said Jesus,

“the Son of Man is Lord also of the sabbath Day ”. {Mark 2:27.}

It was a wise and beneficent institution. It prevented the Israelites from wearing out themselves and their dependents by incessant toil; and revived in them a weekly remembrance of the law and promises of God. It was, however, only “a Shadow of things to come”, the substance of which is found in the things which pertain to the Anointed One of God. (Col. 2:14, 16–17)

14 by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This he set aside, nailing it to the cross. 15 He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in him.

Let No One Disqualify You
16 Therefore let no one pass judgment on you in questions of food and drink, or with regard to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath. 17 These are a shadow of the things to come, but the substance belongs to Christ. 18 Let no one disqualify you, insisting on asceticism and worship of angels, going on in detail about visions, puffed up without reason by his sensuous mind, 19 and not holding fast to the Head, from whom the whole body, nourished and knit together through its joints and ligaments, grows with a growth that is from God. {The Holy Bible: English Standard Version. (2001). (Kol 2:14–19). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.}

It was a part of “the rudiments of the world” inscribed on

“the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us”,

and which the Lord Jesus “took out of the way, nailing it to his cross”. When he lay entombed he rested from his labours, abiding in his place all the seventh day. Having ended his work, he arose on the eighth day, “and was refreshed”. The shadowy sabbath disappeared before the brightness of the rising of the sun of righteousness; who, having become the accursed of the law. delivered his brethren from its sentence upon all.

– Thomas, D. J. (1990). Elpis Israel: an exposition of the Kingdom of God (electronic ed., pp. 13–17). Birmingham, UK: The Christadelphian.

Preceding: Creation of the earth and man #2 Evil Angels and moments of creation

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Means of creations

March 12, 2015March 13, 2015Marcus Ampe19 Comments

In the different cultures habiting this planet we can find many symbolic narratives of how everything came into being. Lots of stories were created to give people an idea how the world might have began and how people first came to inhabit it.

Mythology is an important feature of every culture. Various origins for myths have been proposed, ranging from personification of nature, personification of natural phenomena to truthful or hyperbolic accounts of historical events, to explanations of existing ritual.

Concerning the myths telling about the beginning of the universe we have to notice that in most of them there is no mention of a ‘oer god’ or ‘primal god’. The primitive gods in the myths all seem to come from something, be it an egg or other element of nature. The rudimentary elements all seem to be ignited by some force or by a reaction to an action.

In most of the creation stories we can find the same element over and over again: first having disorder or chaos and than coming bit by bit more order and structure in things. Most of them seem to agree on the ‘dim’ past or the ‘darkness‘ and ‘chaos‘ there must have been. Only in moderner versions we notice the trend to come to a a static universe with a finite space but all seem to look at it as an unbounded (analogous to the surface of a sphere, which has a finite area but no edges). This spheric idea might perhaps brought the dust-ball, fireball or egg in some stories. people also have been intrigued with darkness and light, intrinsic luminosity or the brightness of an object or surroundings caught the eye and attention. For this reason also in many stories we can find several figures to be spoken of as being a light in this world. Also in Christianity we find such a referral to Jesus for example, him being the light in this world and him being a new creation. (About that light and New Creation later more.)

We always should remember that it are ‘Creation myths‘, stories trying to explain things we human beings can not understand yet? It does not mean that there would not come a time that we shall see more clearly in to the matter. Science develops and more and more people come to see further in history and start finding more out about creation, telling us how things began. We always should keep in mind that those stories about creation are told in metaphorical terms to explain our sense of who we are in the context of the world, and in so doing they reveal our real priorities, as well as our real prejudices. Our images of creation say a great deal about who we are.

Modern science has propounded many theories as to how the primieval gaseous substance evolved into the present harmony of the universe. These theories may be called scientific cosmogonies; and the account of the origin of the world given in Genesis, i and ii, is styled Mosaic cosmogony. {Cosmogony}

Scientists investigate cosmology with the tools of empiricism and rationality, but creation myths define human reality in very different terms. They were also written in pre-scientific times where the oral story to get most of the people a good idea was more important than the accuracy. Moses in the same way did not want to give a detailed explanation how everything exactly came into being. In a certain way is that not so much of importance for humankind or for how we cope with life. The Book of books is there to give mankind a guide, a manual for life, not a scientific study book.

While creation myths are not literal explications they do serve to define an orientation of humanity in the world in terms of a birth story. They are the basis of a worldview that reaffirms and guides how people relate to the natural world, to any assumed spiritual world, and to each other. The creation myth acts as a cornerstone for distinguishing primary reality from relative reality, the origin and nature of being from non-being. {Sproul, Barbara C. (1979). Primal Myths. HarperOne HarperCollinsPublishers. ISBN 978-0-06-067501-1, p. 6}

The Old Testament story brings us the founding-stone and in the New Testament the evangelist John tries to build further on it and continues in the lines of the First Creation, looking at a New Creation, in both instances having a voice out of darkness bringing light. Moses and John focus on that Voice, uttering words, and by bringing out the Word having the things or persons coming into existence. As such we hear that God spoke and it came into being. There was darkness and God spoke in the darkness and there was light. The Word of God sounded and heavens and earth came into being. In the same way God Spoke and the first living creatures came squirming through waters and earth. Wriggling elements started filling the world, in the air (heavens), on the ground and in the waters.

Science can only give a fairly dry description of the physical processes underlying creation. Science never has any intention to go looking behind the core element of what they can see. They are not primarily interested in looking for a godhead behind everything. They probably shall also not be able to come to the finest details of creation and to reveal God’s role.

Aker, an ancient Egyptian personification of t... — Aker, an ancient Egyptian personification of the horizon. Two lions symbolize ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’ with the sun-disk rising between the symbolic horizon between them. The hieroglyph for ‘sky’ spans across the top. Based on New Kingdom tomb paintings and the book of the dead. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Jesus also tried people to understand that God His Ways are not catchable for our limited human brain. He also wanted us to reassure us we should not worry too much about certain matters. It is good to investigate things. But by doing our research we may never forget the most important matter in life. Jesus also wanted to sooth his followers reassuring them we can trust The One Who is behind everything, and that He has provided for everything to be able to live and to be part of this creation and shall be fitting in the Plan of God.

Mat 6:24-34 NHEBJE “No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other; or else he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. (25) Therefore, I tell you, do not be anxious for your life: what you will eat, or what you will drink; nor yet for your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? (26) See the birds of the sky, that they do not sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of much more value than they? (27) “And which of you, by being anxious, can add one moment to his lifespan? (28) And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow. They do not toil, neither do they spin, (29) yet I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like one of these. (30) But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today exists, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, won’t he much more clothe you, you of little faith? (31) “Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What will we eat?’, ‘What will we drink?’ or, ‘With what will we be clothed?’ (32) For the Gentiles seek after all these things, for your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. (33) But seek first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. (34) Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

Too many Christians are loosing site of the essence of the Word of God, by going to deep into details, wanting to explain those things which are not essential for faith. We do not need to know exactly what came first and how and how it really looked like and what it had to eat or how it ate. It is sufficient to know Who was behind everything and how He let it evolve to come to the situations where it is today and how it shall still evolve in the coming years or centuries. We may not forget that after the prophesied Word War III or Armageddon there shall still be another thousand years, where we shall probably have to face a further evolution.

In the old times it was enough to tell in an easy way how things are. As such we get in Psalm 139 a description by the Psalmist’s own creation in his mother’s womb. A great deal is known about how babies form, and it is clearly through natural processes — but at the same time, Psalm 139:13 describes that God wove the embryo himself. But the Bible doesn’t tell us how God creates things, and Psalm 139:6 suggests that we couldn’t understand even if he told us.

Psa 139:13-16 NHEBJE For you formed my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother’s womb. (14) I will give thanks to you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful. My soul knows that very well. (15) My frame wasn’t hidden from you, when I was made in secret, woven together in the depths of the earth. (16) Your eyes saw my body. In your book they were all written, the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there were none of them.

God was and is everywhere. No human being, no animal nor plant can hide from Him. God is an all-knowing God without any limitations. We shall have to face our own limitations which are different for each of us.

Psa 139:2-12 NHEBJE You know my sitting down and my rising up. You perceive my thoughts from afar. (3) You search out my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. (4) For there is not a word on my tongue, but, behold, Jehovah, you know it altogether. (5) You hem me in behind and before. You laid your hand on me. (6) This knowledge is beyond me. It’s lofty. I can’t attain it. (7) Where could I go from your Spirit? Or where could I flee from your presence? (8) If I ascend up into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in Sheol, behold, you are there! (9) If I take the wings of the dawn, and settle in the uttermost parts of the sea; (10) Even there your hand will lead me, and your right hand will hold me. (11) If I say, “Surely the darkness will overwhelm me; the light around me will be night;” (12) even the darkness doesn’t hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness is like light to you.

We might even be limited to come to understand the deepest thoughts of the Creator, but being created in His image, The Creator wants us to get to know Him and has given us His Word, the Bible to tell us that He is The Creator God, the Elohim Hashem Jehovah Who is One and Who created all things (e.g. Isaiah 45:12, Hebrews 11:3), and why He created them.

Isa 45:11-13 NHEBJE Thus says Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands! (12) I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and I have commanded all their army. (13) I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make straight all his ways. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Jehovah of hosts.

God His word is there for us to receive enough information to continue. While many people would like to know more, that limited information in the Book of books is what God chose to tell us.

Having God’s Word we should be able to find the most essential things for life and should we able to find reasons enough to trust this Divine Creator. With those Words we should have enough building-stones to create our fortress of trust in God. those Words should take us and nit us a life of faith, worthy of the Divine Creator.

Heb 11:1-3 NHEBJE Now faith is assurance of things hoped for, proof of things not seen. (2) For by this, the elders obtained testimony. (3) By faith, we understand that the universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible.

Preceding articles:

Additional reading:

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Mythicism Making Christianity More Meaningful (vridar.org)
He sounds a lot like Thomas Brodie who as a continuing practicing Roman Catholic finds the truth of the Christ Myth adds a new dimension of meaning to his faith. So will those people who imagine that “mythicism” is a plot by angry atheists to destroy Christianity please come to their senses! Some of us really are more interested in exploring the evidence for the sake of understanding. (See also an earlier post of mine: Is the Christ Myth a Threat to the Christian Faith?)
Living by the myths (renewamerica.com)
When one thinks of myths, the mind typically races to those classical tales of the ancient Greek and Roman gods. In the Roman Pantheon were stories of the way the universe, the world, the gods and mankind came into existence. The story of Deucalion and Pyrrha is the Greek myth that supplants the biblical story of Noah and the Flood. Many scholars believe the reference in Genesis chapter 6 to the fame of “mighty men, men of renown,” and their many exploits may be the roots of much classical mythology.Often myths of old were an alteration of what God had actually revealed concerning himself. Distortion, perversion, and counterfeit are the ways of the deceiver, Satan.

However, myths are not exclusive to antiquity. Every culture has them and they are the means by which people seek to explain the world in which they live.
Accepting Scientific Explanations (venitism.blogspot.com)
If Adam did not literally exist, then he did not literally commit the first sin, thus there’s no need for Christ to die on the cross and the whole Bible collapses.This argument, which is indeed short-sighted, may well be the reason why hardline Christians cling so hard to Creationism in the first place and why the science-denial involved in it has become one of their two big emphases at present.
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The funny thing is that Christianity as a whole neither rises nor falls on a literal reading of Genesis–only fundamentalism/evangelicalism does. Their leaders have chosen to pin their entire religion on something this comically erroneous. The fight is not between atheists and Christians, or even between science and religion, but rather between those who understand and accept scientific explanations for our universe and those who deny and/or misunderstand those explanations. And there are Christians in both of those camps. Christianity itself isn’t the enemy; zealotry is. Indeed, we must not fall into the trap of thinking that Creationism is any sort of monolithic belief; even when surveys ask Christians what they think about the subject of evolution and the universe’s origins, a lot depends on precisely how the questions get asked. When asked questions in a way that doesn’t threaten Christians’ compartmentalizations of religion and science, they tend to fall along more sensible lines.
House of Cards and the ‘Old Testament’ God (stream.org)
Frank Underwood, after asking for a moment to himself to contemplate the priest’s message, looks defiantly up at the statue of Jesus and says that he rejects Christ’s offer because he sees it as weak and silly. Frank prefers the power-first-and-last “Old Testament God,” but only because he has molded Yahweh into his own perverted image. Like so many of us on a daily basis, Frank has created one straw-man version of God to like and one to hate, based entirely on his own craving for power and control.
Inhabiting Eden: Christians, Scripture, and the Ecological Crisis – Public Lecture to Discuss Faith-Based Environmentalism (prweb.com)
While ancient people, including the community that produced Scripture, understood their deep connection with and dependence on the natural world, recent generations have lost much of this wisdom. The environmental choices humans make do affect the future. She will explore paths to a renewed awareness of humans’ place on earth.
A Unification of Creation and Evolution (robertjrgraham.com)
When people say that “god created the heavans and the earth in six days and on the seventh he rested”, who can say how long one of god’s days is. Why are we so egotistical as to believe that his day is the same as our’s. We don’t know god (Most of us who believe in god do so because we want to not because we have proof.) but if there is a god why can’t his, her or it’s day be a thousand or a million or even several billion of our years.Chapter 2, verse 7 of the book of Genises states “then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” It does not state how long this took or what form the being we call man originally took. God’s image can be many things. We have no way of knowing. Additionally, although the bible is supposed to be the word of god, it was written by humans and therefore subject to human interpretation.

When we create something we start out with one thing and then add to it and alter it untill we finish and with some creations, such as a garden, we never finish adding to and altering it. Who says that god could not have started with one cell and through evolution added to it and altered it untill it became a human being. Who can say for sure that he, she or it is still not adding to and altering mankind. Who can say that god did not make us in such a way that we would continue to evolve without his, her or it’s intervention. Who can say that the process is finished.
Who Were The Real ‘Gods Of Eden’? (earthweareone.com)
The Sumerian scribes and their Akkadian successors inscribed clay tablets with a wealth of information about the gods. One such text, commonly known by the name of its hero, Atra-Hasis, describes the background to the creation of man, when the gods themselves were involved in the painstaking extraction of minerals from Earth:

“When the gods, as men, bore the work and suffered the toil – the toil of the gods was great, the work was heavy, the distress was much.”

Conditions were so severe that, after 40 periods of hardship, the gods rebelled against their leader Enlil. A council of the gods was then called, at which the god Ea (alias Enki) provided the solution:

“While the Birth Goddess is present, let her create a Primitive Worker, let him bear the yoke, let him carry the toil of the gods!”

The ensuing passages of the Atra-Hasis describe what appears to a modern-day reader as a cloning process, in which the goddess Nin-ti (‘Lady Life’) made fourteen pieces of ‘clay’ and impregnated fourteen ‘birth goddesses’.
anthropomorphic God or theomorphic humans (larrysmusings.com)
In the Vedic philosophy/religion of India, the atman, or spiritual monad (soul), is qualitatively like God’s spirit. It is eternal and imperishable. The atman can exist in the spiritual universe or in the material universe (as in this world). Quantitatively, the atman is infinitesimal when compared to God’s infinite Spirit, His infinite mystic power.So, too, we humans have bodies in the form of God’s. Per the Vedic teachings, we are, in our human bodies with one head, two arms, and two legs, in the form that God has. In Hindu religious art (both in paintings and in sculpture), Lord Krishna is sometimes depicted with 2 arms, and at other times is depicted with four arms – but always with one head, and two legs. Perhaps, this form is the most advantageous for consciousness to have experiences.

So we see that it is not just in Christianity that we are told that humans were created in the image and likeness of God. And, “in the image and likeness” encompasses both our spiritual component and our physical body.
The Old Testament: For and Against – A debate between Christopher Jon Bjerknes and Lasha Darkmoon (Part 1) (darkmoon.me)
Christopher John Bjerknes launches an all-out attack on the Old Testament and tell you why he thinks this is an evil and dangerous book. Bjerknes can be described as an unabashed and indeed virulent anti-Semite. He takes the line that the Jews themselves are an evil race, without any redeeming features, and that the Old Testament is one of the earliest manifestations of that intrinsic evil.
A Universe Not Made For Us – Carl Sagan on Religion [9:14] (ethicsvideolibrary.wordpress.com)
Carl Sagan begins with a discussion of the variety of creation stories and how most heavens and hells are simple extrapolations of our own politics. Instead, science is slowly discovering more about the world we live in. And it turns out, the universe is more different than anything we could have imagined and, ultimately, does not care about us or in fact could care.

How Many Persons Created the Heavens and the Earth?

February 23, 2015Guestspeaker23 Comments

It is commonly believed that the One who speaks as the Creator of all things in Isaiah chapters 44 and 45 is the triune God consisting of three Persons. The language of Isaiah 44:24 cannot possibly be reconciled with the popular idea:

“Thus says the Lord (Yahweh) your Redeemer who formed you from the womb: ‘I am the Lord who made all things, who stretched out the heavens alone, who spread out the earth. Who was with me?’” (RV)

The implied answer is, of course, that no one was present with the one Lord in the act of creation. Yahweh stretched out the heavens alone. The Hebrew word rendered “alone” means “in a state of separation, by one’s self” (Brown, Driver and Briggs, Lexicon of the Old Testament, p. 94). No one assisted God, the Father at the creation. Moreover, the Creator is one Person, not three:

“Have we not all one Father? Has not one God created us?” (Malachi 2:10).

Nowhere does the Old Testament speak of a Trinity of Persons in the Godhead.

Elsewhere in the Old Testament it is said:

“You, God, even You alone, You have made the heaven…the earth and all things” (2 Kings 19:15).

“You are the Lord, even You alone; You have made the heaven, the earth and all things” (Nehemia 9:6).

The Lord God is always distinguished from the promised Messiah. They are never said to be members of one Godhead.

English: a Venn diagram-like symbol for the Ch... — Venn diagram-like symbol for the Christian Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and the Holy Spirit) a so called monotheism but having a triune god (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

This simple information should prevent us from ever believing that Jesus, the Messiah, the Son of God, was present with the Father when the latter created the heavens and the earth. The idea that Jesus actually created the heavens and earth of Genesis 1:1 has been promoted by the Worldwide Church of God. Their teaching was that there are two members in the one “God-family.” Isaiah 44:24 (cited above) clearly states that ONE person alone created the heavens and the earth. Language has no way of expressing this more distinctly.

Trinitarians hold that the second member of the triune God was instrumental in the creation of Genesis 1:1. This, however, contradicts the statement that the one Creator was the Father (Malachi 2:10, cited above).

When Jesus came into being at his birth he enjoyed a unique communion with his Father. Thus he says,

“I am not alone, because the Father is with me” (John 16:32).

Jesus always speaks as a person distinct from his Father, exactly as every son is an individual separate from his father. The personal “I” of the New Testament never refers to the Father and Son together. So also in the Old Testament the personal “I” refers to one Person, not three.

Jesus prays that the disciples may be

“one even as we [the Father and I] are one” (John 17:11).

This is a unity of purpose and will. Jesus prays also:

“May they [the disciples] all be one as You, Father, are in me and I in You, so that they may also be in us” (John 17:21).

It is obvious from these texts that the Father and Son use the ordinary personal pronouns to distinguish themselves as any father and son would. It is thus beyond question that Jesus was not with the Father when the latter described His act of creation:

“Thus says the Lord [Yahweh], your Redeemer…I am the Lord who made all things, who stretched out the heavens by myself…Who was with me?” (Isaiah 44:24).

Jesus did not exist as a person when the Lord God created all things. God, the Father, was alone responsible for the creation of the universe. (The “us” of Genesis 1:26, in connection with the creation of man, probably refers to attendant angels, cp. Job 38:7.) Most believers in the Trinity no longer use Genesis 1:26 as a proof of the triune God.

Jesus came into being as the Son of God when Mary conceived him supernaturally. Luke is careful to tell us that it was because of the miraculous conception in Mary’s womb, not because of any so-called “eternal generation,” that Jesus was the Son of God:

“Holy Spirit will come upon you [Mary] and the power of the Most High will overshadow you, and for that reason the child conceived will be holy, the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).

If God, the Father (the Lord, Yahweh of the Old Testament) was alone the author of the creation, why does the belief that Jesus was an active agent in the creation persist?

The answer is that two creations have become confused in the minds of Bible readers. Jesus is indeed the mediator of the New Creation (Colossians 1:15-18). But he is not the creator of the universe. That creation is the work of the One God, the Father who acted alone when He stretched forth the heavens and the earth (Isaiah 44:24).

Unfortunately, one or two verses in the New Testament have been translated to give the impression that all things were made “by” Jesus. In fact the original states that all things were made “through” Jesus (see the margin of Colossians 1:16: “in him,” “through him” and “for him,” not “by him”).

Jesus was indeed the reason for God’s creation. The Father “foreknew” him from the beginning (1 Peter 1:20). In God’s great purpose Jesus was “slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8). But he came into existence as the Son of God at his conception (Luke 1:35). There is no biblical text to support the idea that the Son of God was alive before his conception (though a few verses in John’s gospel have been used to support the idea).

When Jesus prayed to receive the glory which he had with the Father before the foundation of the world, he was asking for the glory which had been reserved for him and which he would receive after his resurrection (John 17:5). Peter speaks of an inheritance which is “reserved in heaven for you” (1 Peter 1:4). That inheritance is, of course, the earth which Jesus has promised to the meek (Matthew 5:5) and which he will give them when he returns to establish the Kingdom of God. The same glory which was planned for Jesus from the beginning had also been given already (John 17:22) to the disciples, even those not yet born! (John 17:20). This glory is a glory which all disciples “have” even though they have not yet received it. Similarly Jesus “had” glory laid up for him with the Father long before his birth. In John 17 he prays to receive it.

Isaiah 44:24 should settle forever the question about who created the universe, and Hebrews 1:10 should be read with careful attention to the fact that the writer says he is speaking there of the inhabited earth to come (i.e., of the future):

“God did not subject to angels the world to come of which we are speaking” (Hebrews 2:5).

There is no contradiction between the two Testaments on this issue. Jesus will indeed be instrumental in laying the foundations of the coming new heavens and earth (Isiah 51:16). But the original creation is the work of the One God, the Father, alone (Isaiah 44:24).

Preceding articles:

The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods

Genesis 1:26 God said “Let us make”

Additional reading:

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For once, AmChurchSpeak makes an important point: Lent is a journey to Calvary… (denvercatholic.org)
For two weeks, the Letter to the Hebrews draws on images from the Old Testament to introduce us to that “great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God:” a mediator between God and humanity who “has been tempted as we are” and with whom we can “with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” [Heb 4: 14-16]. Here, the biblical author writes, we find that “great cloud of witnesses” in whose company we are enabled to “run with perseverance the race that is set before us” [Heb 12: 1] Here is “Mt. Zion … the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” to which we are brought through the mediation of Jesus, and where we join “innumerable angels in festive gathering” [Heb 12: 22].
The Liberation of the Triune God (derekzrishmawy.com)
One of the helpful emphases of the Reformed tradition is its acknowledgment of the continuity as well as discontinuity of Old and New Testaments. This comes through very strongly in Turretin’s Institutes and even makes an appearance in his doctrine of the Trinity. After a couple of clarifying questions, as well as a lengthy question devoted to proving the doctrine of the Trinity from New Testament Scripture, he moves on to try and demonstrate the revelation of the Trinity in the Old Testament. For while it is admittedly true that God reveals himself as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit with greater clarity in New Testament, that does not at all mean that we cannot see him revealed as such in the Old as well.
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There are a number of features worth noting in this treatment. The first is Turretin’s view of the Angel of the LORD, or the Angel of YHWH. As he makes clear in a number of places, Turretin views this as an appearance of the pre-incarnate Son. It is an appearance in angelic/human form that is, nonetheless, distinct from his incarnation in that there is no hypostatic union, but only concrete manifestation. Still, this is a thesis that Christian theologians have long appealed to in order to explain the way the Angel is both identified as a distinct agent who nonetheless is identified as the LORD somehow.
Learn From Christ (birdchirp.wordpress.com)
To prove that He was the Son of God by turning stones to bread was not necessary for Jesus or for Satan. Satan already knows all about Jesus Christ.
The Beauty of John’s Prologue (christianity201.wordpress.com)
The first 18 verses of John’s gospel (commonly known as the Prologue) represent a literary masterpiece of inspired Scripture. On the one hand, John’s introduction is so simple a child can understand it, yet it is also so theologically deep, the most intellectual scholars could never mine every detail held within its verses.

There have been many debates regarding the structure of John’s prologue. The most convincing in my opinion is that the first 18 verses are a narrative which summarize not only the entirety of John’s gospel but make a broad sweep of salvation history. The prologue begins in eternity before creation, declaring that in the beginning the Word already existed. It proceeds through the creation (all things were made by Him) and He is the source of all life and light. Then John skips over the majority of Israel’s salvation history and shows that a final prophet, John the Baptist, came to testify to the light. This light is the revelation of God Himself. He came into the world and was rejected by the world. Yet, those who received Him became the sons of God.

The prologue finishes by showing the culmination of Israel’s salvation in Jesus. The law (which was itself a grace given to men) came through Moses but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. Jesus has completely explained the Father. Jesus is the Father’s final word to man. – This culminates salvation history. So, we see that the prologue begins in eternity past and concludes with God’s final word of salvation and redemption.
The Day Son of God Jesus Preaches (brentkuhlman.wordpress.com)
Now is the perfect time for Jesus to flex His Son of God muscles. Pull out all His divine Son of God stops. Unload the whole enchilada of His almighty Son of God power to break the bonds of systemic oppression, bust Locusts and Wild Honey out of jail, overthrow the wicked Roman oppressors and establish a Son of God millennial utopian reign that would make all community organizers of the world jealous!
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You’re in charge of your own life. You’re in full control. The master of your universe.

That’s precisely why Son of God Jesus preaches. With Him the promised and long awaited kingdom of God has come! God reigns on the earth in Jesus. God is at hand! It’s Messiah Time! And it’s perfectly obvious then that you need a preacher – Against Your Wishes! Against Your Desires! Against Your Idolatry! Otherwise, … well, let’s just say it will all end hellaciously for you. You’d be held captive eternally – kept under lock and key — in Satan’s gloomy prison!
Names, Titles, and Characters of Jesus Christ (goodnewsnow.wordpress.com)
The Blue Letter Bible has published a page with information taken from the whole Bible about the God we worship, Jesus Christ. Seeing all the names, titles and other attributes with which he is labeled in both the Old and New Testaments and contemplating those titles and their meaning to me personally is a wonderful way to worship Him. Worshiping Him is what we are made for. Worshiping Him is what those who know Him will do for all eternity. These Name, Titles and Attributes allow practice in this life.

The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

February 21, 2015February 23, 2015Marcus Ampe60 Comments

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

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, Gae a, 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)

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

Additional reading:

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The Lord Protects (ectordzro.wordpress.com)
Who is like you oh believer, a person saved by the Lord? The Lord is your shield and helper means God helps you by protecting you. He being your glorious sword implies the Lord fights battles on your behalf in other to protect you, as you live in His spirit of excellence.
The Principle of Intellectual and Spiritual Freedom (circleofasiamission.wordpress.com)
In understanding the occult position, one will at once understand the position of the Yazdān traditions possessed by the Kurds; but it would not be realistic to understand the position of Blavatsky or the secret doctrine all at once. Her position is totally from the esoteric position, symbolical, astronomical, & philosophical.
All The Ways I Killed People As The Son Of Satan (kotaku.com.au)
Lucius is a sad-looking little boy. He’s also the spawn of Satan. The original Lucius pretty much followed the plot for The Omen: you’re the son of Satan, now go and kill everybody in your house one by one. Think Hitman, but as an evil demonic kid. Despite being somewhat fun, it felt very restrictive in that it only allowed you to use specific items on specific people in a pre-scripted way.
‘Satanic capital’ claims dismissed (bbc.co.uk)
In the most recent census, 17 people in Bolsover wrote Satanism as their religion.This suggested it had the highest concentration of Satanists in England and Wales.

But the Church of Satan believes many people had lied on their census forms because they “think it is funny”.
“The Devil Made Me Do It”: Savage Crimes Committed In The Name of Satan (madworldnews.com)
Satanism seems to be growing at a rapid rate. These “churches” are devoted followers of the devil, Lucifer, Satan, or any number of names. They include Luciferianism, Palladists, Our Lady of Endor Coven, and even Atheistic Satanism (people who believe in the devil, but not God). They choose a more materialistic religion that they feel embodies “the flesh,” claiming their religion champions individualism, epicureanism, secularism, and egoism, while propagating a worldview of naturalism, Social Darwinism, and Lex Talionis.

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Messiah For All

Presenting Jesus Christ our Saviour

Creation of the earth and man #19 Man in the image and likeness of the Elohim #3 Beholding image and likeness of the invisible God

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

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

Of the Sabbath day

Means of creations

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How Many Persons Created the Heavens and the Earth?

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The very very beginning 2 The Word and words

One Creator

Created by speaking

The Word given

Given to recognise

The Word, God and a god

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Of the Sabbath day

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One Creator

Created by speaking

The Word given

Given to recognise

The Word, God and a god

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