From the Bereshith its first chapters we can imagine that there was no ego till the animal stage. When man came into the picture there came a personal feeling direct the coarse. The first man or 1° Adam, felt lonely, though there was God and all His creatures. He wanted a helper and got it. She, being formed out of him, had everything she needed. But her ego started growing. she came to feel , like Adam did previously, that she was missing something. And she accused God of hiding things for her. As such she became the first accuser of God. We can say that’s the beginning of the original sin. She also tried to convince Adam to do like her. This meant that she convinced him that she was something and could do something.
“I am something. I am doing something. It’s I who can do it”.
God has given man a free will. He allowed them to make their own choice. For that reason He also let them know what He preferred or what He wanted. It were His mitzvah or commandments. Man could follow them or go against them. In the end man has chosen to go against God’s Wishes. Eve, contradicting what God had said, and the 1° Adam showed God how weak they were and by not listening to him brought over themselves the curse God had warned them for.
So God said, “Let’s see. Let’s see their little courage, and let them decide.”
Consequently, the situations that our all-loving and all-wise God leads us into are consistently like being “delivered to death.” However, this action toward us is “for Jesus’ sake.” In our continual impossibilities, Jesus has repeated opportunities to manifest Himself. Our heavenly Father places us in circumstances we cannot handle by our own resources. We cry out to the Lord, putting our hope and trust in Him. He faithfully goes to work in us. The result is
“that the life of Jesus [is] manifested in our mortal flesh.”
You can be light in some-body’s darkness. You can bring colour to some-one’s grey and dreary world. You can bring cheer to a soul that is saddened, joy to a heart that has been broken; hope to those who have lost their way in the fog. You’ve got what it takes to live the life that pleases God and blesses others.
I know you could ask why an other Christian blog when there are already so many. there are also many ‘antichrist-blogs‘ and even more atheist bloggers at work. In that wood of blogs it is not bad to have one blog more from a blogger who wants to use Blogger or Word Press to go deeper in a matter not many are interested in but is of utmost importance. This world needs much more bloggers warning for the coming difficult times and willing to bring a subject different than the mainstream subjects of the popular blogs, and willing to work or blog for Christ.
This world has become a dark place, literally and figuratively and man can use some beacons of light on this globe. In that darkness lots of people do think they are safest when they hold on to other people. Many do not see that Some One is holding out a stretched arm to pick them up out of the swamp and to guide them to dryer and better places.
There is so much to distract man that most people are lured away from God and do not feel interested in spending time at religious matters.
I did not want to get off on the wrong foot, because what I have to defend is too precious. Confronted with so much hate from certain Christians I not only wanted to show the love a Christian does have to have and have to show for others, but found it the utmost important that more people came to understand that Jesus Christ is the Way to God and not God himself.
To come to understand where mankind is at this moment and why there is so much sorrow we do have to look at the early beginnings of mankind. For this reason we have to look at the total beginning of the world. “The very very beginning 1 Creating Gods” should shed a light on the beginning of universe and the first human beings. In two different series we looked at the beginning of the world and the beginning of all problems in this world. From those articles people should come to see what happened at the beginning of mankind and how man himself got trouble over him.
In those articles we also showed how the Divine Creator took care that there would be a solution for what man brought over himself. It is that solution which is the main focus of this blog. It is namely a Saviour, a Kristos or Christ, which God promised and 2020 years that Messiah was born and offered himself up for the whole mankind. He gave his all soul for all other souls (= living beings). It was by not doing his own will, but by doing the will of his heavenly Father, the Only OneTrue God, that Jesus opened the Way to God.
When you know there has entered a tempter in the life of man and how man wants to go for certain choices it is clear how man could come in such problems. (see about the “First mention of a solution against death 3 tempter satan and man’s problems“) In fact we can see that there are still to many people who do not want to know about God and about solutions for a better life He has provided. Though I am convinced that when more people would come to know God and come to know the solution God has provided for, namely God His only begottenbeloved son, less problems would be in the world, because many more people would take on the right attitude which God wants them to take on.
Life may be going with ups and downs. Knowing that not many people do want to hear that Jesus is not God, I do know I am not presenting a preferred or much liked subject. As such I also do not count on so much likes and so many followers. But I do hope I can reach some hearts and can come to let people think harder about the subject of the trinity and the nature of God and of the nature of Jesus.
In 2015 this blog got 1 716 views from 1 226 visitors, presenting me with 20 likes and 30 comments, for 83 posts published.
In 2016 1 393 visitors came along to offer me 1 849 views with only 8 likes and 12 comments on the only 14 published (or new) articles.
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 HighDivine Creator of all things Who was above Adam and Eve and above all other living creatures, the plants and animals. There was no hierarchy.
Hierarchy (from the Greek ἱεραρχία hierarchia, “rule of a high priest”, from ἱεράρχης hierarkhes, “leader of sacred rites”); ranking of objects into grades, orders, or classes of increasing dominance or inclusiveness + specific type of social organization in which members are divided by status or especially authority – people on a “ladder”
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.
The region where the Austronesian languages are spoken spans over 200 degrees of longitude from Madagascar to Easter Island
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 animalsacrificehuman 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.
Aztec cosmogram in the pre-Hispanic Codex Fejérváry-Mayer—the fire god Xiuhtecuhtli is in the centre
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 transgressions3, 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}
A Catholic bishop granting plenary indulgences for the public during times of calamity. Note the almsgiving in the background. Wall Fresco by Italian Artist Lorenzo Lotto, Suardi, Italy, circa 1524.
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 NazareneJeshua 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 begottenbelovedson 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.
The story of the Eden Garden. The temptation of Adam & Eve by the devil. Pedestal of the statue of Madonna with Child, western portal (of the Virgin), of Notre-Dame de Paris, France Français : L’histoire du Jardin d’Eden. Au premier plan la tentation d’Adam & Eve par le Diable. Base de la statue de la Vierge à l’Enfant, trumeau du portail de la Vierge, Façade ouest de Notre-Dame de Paris. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We have no idea how long Adam and Eve had lived in unison with their Creator. But we are told that they themselves choose to go against God’s Will. It was their own choice to close their ears for God’s commandment not to eat from that tree. It was by their ownchoice of will that they made an irreversible act and created a different history for themself and, in fact, for all mankind.
Normally it was foreseen that they could live for ever in a paradise, but know, as God had warned them they had to face death. Now their days of life became numbered.
They had thought that in the day they were eating thereof, then their eyes would be opened and then they could be as wise and knowledgable as God. Having the same knowledge as God attracted them. They also wanted to have the same power as Him.
The metaphorical use of elements, like animals speaking, is often used in the Bible Books. Concerning Balaam the apostle Peter endorsed the account
2 Peter 2:16 NHEBJE but he was rebuked for his own disobedience. A mute donkey spoke with a man’s voice and stopped the madness of the prophet.
opening his ears, where previously his eyes were opened involving an occurrence with an angel.(Numbers 22:31) In later books of the Holy Scriptures references are made to the many lies which continue to live in this world. The lies Eve and Adam heard are like we may hear the lies of the false teachers (Genesis 3:4 vs 2 Corinthians 11:13) and want to follow them. The world may spread subtile or beguiling beliefs. (Genesis 3:1 vs 2 Corinthians 11:3,13) and get people seduced bringing them in danger of loosing their life (2 Corinthians 11:3).
After their own choice doing that act, Eve’s fall was disastrous.
1 Timothy 2:14 NHEBJE Adam was not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, has fallen into disobedience;
2 Corinthians 11:3 NHEBJE (3) But I am afraid that somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve in his craftiness, so your minds might be corrupted from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ.
Today in Christendom we still can see how people let their ears be tangled by human teachings, instead of listening to the Biblical truth, and accepting God’s Words for what they are and say. In the same way as the serpent beguiled Eve by its craftiness, so are many minds corrupted from the simplicity which belongs to Christ, the sent one from God. Lots of so called Christians keep to the false idea that Jesus has to be God because they do not want to believe that Jesus is the sent one from God, who as a man of flesh and blood managed to do what the 1st Adam and the 1st woman did not succeed, namely to put his own will aside and only doing the Will of god, his heavenly Father, the Only One true God of gods.
The selfish thoughts of Eve, represented by the serpent, led Eve away from the Elohim יהוה YHWH Jehovah God, in small steps leading to self-assertive independence. Today also there are the personal wishes to be in control of everything and there are still other people who desire to draw people away from God. The serpent, by its poison and its loathly form, is the natural symbol of such an enemy of man, the adversary of god or a satan. The insinuating slyness of the suggestions of evil is like the sinuous gliding of the snake, and truly represents the process by which temptation found its way into the hearts of the first pair, and of all their descendants. For it begins with casting a doubt on the reality of the prohibition.
‘Has God said?’
is the first parallel opened by the besieger.
Often we also hear others say
“What does it matter” or “There is no harm in it”
this is even more dangerous than by Eve, who was warned that there was something bad to happen. But now that message of the badness that can happen to us is also blurred by what happened in the garden of Eden.
The woman could have been protected from her serious fall if she had referred the matter to her husband, who had been given the place of headship. Because she ignored this she was deceived into deliberate disobedience to God. She saw the tree was good for food: it appealed to her taste. It was pleasant to the eyes: it appealed to her sight. It was desirable to make one wise: it appealed to her pride (See 1Jonn 2:16). she therefore trusted her own inclinations and ignored the word of God (v.6). Before consulting her husband she ate the fruit of the tree. {L.M.Grant}
Like doubt may have been filtered into the ear of Eve today we also see the reality of moral distinctions, the essential wrongness of the sin, being obscured by a mist of sophistication. Where often scholars say to the people they can not understand it because God is too complicated. But God is a God of order and a God of love, Who wants clarity and righteousness. He would not withhold something for certain people because they had no opportunity to study or to learn certain things.
Mankind came to see, like they were warned. There was the temptation. They could have chosen to let it pass, like later on Jesus did several times. Going against the Wish of God is called sinning. The promise of knowing good and evil was indeed kept, because God always keeps His promises. Though their minds were hoping for things which were not for them. Instead of their eating of the fruit making the sinners ‘like gods,’ it showed them that they were like beasts, and brought the first sense of shame.
Adam & Eve 02 (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Perhaps they now got more knowledge, but this knowing of good and evil was not such a blessing as they hoped for. Their ignorant innocence was changed into bitter knowledge, and conscience awoke to rebuke them. The first thing that their opened eyes saw was themselves, and the immediate result of the sight was the first blush of shame. Before, they had walked in innocent unconsciousness, like angels or infants; now they had knowledge of good and evil, because their sin had made evil a part of themselves, and the knowledge was bitter.
Before their act God had left them to do the things in the easy way, but now with the relation disturbed, them having questioning the power of God and His right to govern the world, got the admission to take care of themselves and the world themselves.
Before their sinful act they had not to fear God but now sin had broken familiar communion with God and turned Him into a ‘fear and a dread’. Hearing His Voice (asking them in what condition they were) but not answering or showing themselves, they brought up an excuse that they were afraid because they were naked, so they hid themselves.
Genesis 3:9-12 NHEBJE Jehovah God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” (10) The man said, “I heard your voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (11) God said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” (12) The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate.”
After eating of the fruit the man and mannin found they were no longer fit for God’s eye, and that made them hide from Him, forgetting that God always sees us and knows our thoughts and feeling of our heart. From all this, as shown in the previous part, it is thus the work of conscience which is to expose us to ourselves, like it did to Eve. Shame had come over man and it will not go away until God gives us the tools to take that shame away. If man’s shame was to be effectually removed, God must do it.
Adam and Eve tried to submerge such feelings of guilt by sewing fig leaves together to make aprons for themselves. Since that time people have resorted to every kind of artifice to cover up the guilt of their sins, perhaps these may be professed “good works” or religious ceremonies or observances, but all are ineffective. The fig leaves were so unsatisfactory to Adam and Eve themselves that when they heard the voice of the Lord God in the garden they hid themselves. So today our own consciences tell us that our efforts to cover our sins fail so badly that we are afraid to face God. But fig leaves and trees are only part of God’s creation: they can give neither protection from sin nor a hiding place from God. {L.M. Grant}
The Divine Creator of heaven and earth wanted His creation to know Who He is and wanted to be worshipped by them. When man revolted against HisWishes He had to make it clear to them that He is and always shall be the Most High. Loving His creation He knew that they were miserable in making the wrong choice. Therefore He provided a solution but demanded His creation to come to know Him better and to restore the broken relationship.
The whole world should come to see the necessity of a Revelation to make known the origin, reason, and tendency of things in relation to man and the world around him — An intelligible Mystery, and the only source of true wisdom; but practically repudiated by the Moderns.
Man in the world may have forgotten Who is behind everything, but it are the lovers of God who should bring them back on track and show the world the light of Christ and the Way to the Most HighSupremePower.
Man may be lost in the amount of things around him. He might consider him just an element in a universe about which we still do not know much. Though some may think they know a lot of that universe. When looking at it they may see the world or earth revolving upon its own axis, and describing an ample circuit through the boundless fields of space, a planet of the solar system bearing upon its surface a population of over a thousand millions subject to sin, disease, and death.
This orb of the starry heavens shines with a glory similar to that of its kindred spheres. Viewed from them, it is seen sparkling “like a diamond in the sky”; and with the rest of the heavens, declares the glory of God, and shows forth the handiwork of Him that did create it.
This celestial orb, which is a world or system of itself, is styled The Earth. It is the habitation of races of animals which graze its fields, lurk in its forests, soar through its atmosphere, and pass through the paths of its seas. At the head of all these is a creature like themselves, animal, sensual and mortal. He is called Man. He has replenished the earth and subdued it, and filled it with his renown. His crimes, however, rather than his virtues, have illustrated and distinguished him with an unhappy pre-eminence above all other created things. His heart is evil; and, left to its uncontrolled impulses, he becomes licentious, merciless, and more cruel than the fiercest beast of prey.
Such is the being that claims the independent sovereignty of the globe. He has founded dominions, principalities, and powers; he has built great cities, and vaunted himself in the works of his hands, saying, “Are not these by the might of my power, and for the honour of my majesty?” He repudiates all lordship over him, and claims the inalienable and inherent right of self-government, and of establishing whatever civil and ecclesiastical institutions are best suited to his sensuality and caprice. Hence, at successive periods, the earth has become the arena of fierce and pandemoniac conflicts; its tragedies have baptized its soil in blood, and the mingled cries of the oppressor and the victim have ascended to the throne of the Most High.
Skilled in the wisdom which comes from beneath, he is by nature ignorant of that which is “first pure, and then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy”. This is a disposition to which the animal man under the guidance of his fleshly mind has no affinity. His propensity is to obey the lust of his nature; and to do its evil works, “which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, sects, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like”. All these make up the character of the world, “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life”, upon which is enstamped the seal of God’s eternal reprobation. “They who do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God,” but “they shall die”.
Such is the world of human kind! The great and impious enemy of God upon the earth. Its mind is not subject to His law, neither indeed can it be. What shall we say to these things? Is the world as we behold it a finality? Are generations of men, rebellious against God, and destroyers of the earth, to occupy it successively through an endless series of ages? Are men to repeat the history of the past for ever? Is the earth always to be cursed, and sin and death to reign victorious? Who can answer these inquiries? If we survey the starry canopy, thence no sign or voice is given expressive of the truth. They declare the eternal power and divinity of their Creator, but they speak not of the destiny of the earth or of man upon it. If we question the mountains and hills, the plains and valleys, the rivers, seas, and oceans of the earth, and demand their origin, why they were produced, to what end they were created; their rocks, their strata, their fossils, or deposits, afford us no response. Turn we to man and ask him, “Whence comest thou, and what is thy destiny? Whence all tile evil of thy nature, why art thou mortal, who made thee, who involved thee in the wide-spread ruin and calamity on every side?”
Ask an infant of days the history of the past, and he can as well detail it, as man can answer these inquiries without a revelation from Him who is before all, and to whom is known from the beginning all He intends shall come to pass. So true is it, that, unaided by light from heaven, “since the beginning of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee, what is prepared for him that waiteth for him”; but, adds the apostle in his comment upon these words of the prophet, “God hath revealed these things unto us by his spirit … which things we (apostles) speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the holy spirit teacheth; interpreting spiritual things in spiritual words.”
To the Bible, then, all must come at last if they would be truly wise in spiritual things. This is a great truth which few of the sons of men have learned to appreciate according to its importance. A man may be a theologian profoundly skilled in all questions of “divinity”; he may be well versed in the mythology of the heathen world; be able to speak all languages of the nations; compute the distances of orb from orb, and weigh them in the scales of rigid calculation; he may know all science and be able to solve all mysteries,—but if, with all this, he be ignorant of “the things of the spirit”; if he know not the true meaning of the Bible; he seemeth only to be wise, while he is, in fact, a fool. Therefore, the apostle saith, “let no man deceive himself. If any man among you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a fool, that he may be wise. For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness. And again, the Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain. Therefore let no man glory in men”. If our contemporaries could only attain to the adoption of this great precept, “let no man glory in men”, they would have overleaped a barrier which as a fatal obstacle prevents myriads from understanding and obeying the truth.
But while God lightly esteems the wisdom of the reputed wise, there is a wisdom which He invites all men to embrace. This is styled “the wisdom of God in a mystery”; it is also termed “the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world which none of the princes of this world knew”. It is said to be hidden in a mystery, because until the apostolic age, it was not clearly made known. This will appear from the following texts: “Now to him that is of power to establish you according to the revelation of The Mystery, which was kept secret (χρόνοις αἰωνίοις) in the times of the ages, but now (in the time, or age, of the apostles) is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets made known to all nations for the obedience of faith.” “By revelation God made known unto me, Paul, The Mystery, which in other ages (former ages under the law of Moses) was not made known unto the sons of men as it is now revealed unto the holy apostles and prophets by the spirit, that the Gentiles should be fellow heirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel.”
Here is “the knowledge of God”, in which are contained “exceeding great and precious promises”, the understanding of which is able to make a man wise, and “a partaker of the divine nature”. Now, although these hidden things have been clearly made known, they still continued to be styled the mystery; not because of their unintelligibility, but became they were once secret. Hence, the things preached unto the Gentiles, and by them believed, are styled by Paul, “the mystery of the faith”, and “the mystery of godliness”, some of the items of which he enumerates; such as, “God manifest in the flesh, justified by the spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up in glory”. Thus an intelligible mystery characterizes the once hidden wisdom of God, and becomes the subject matter of an enlightened faith. This, however, is not the case with regard to religious systems which are not of the truth. Unintelligible mystery is the ultima ratio for all difficulties which are insoluble by the symbols of ecclesiastical communities, whose text of universal application is, that “secret things belong to God, but the things which are revealed, to us and to our children”. This is true; but, then, these things which were secret in the days of Moses, have been revealed by God to the apostles and prophets for our information.
– Thomas, D. J. (1848-1849/e-ed. 1990). Elpis Israel: a standard work of the Christadelphiancommunity and exposition of the kingdom of God with reference to the time of the end and the age to come, available at the Christadelphian bookshop.
Our Father In Heaven By: Joe Stowell (christianmotivations.weebly.com)
What do we know about God as our Father? According to Jesus’ prayer, we know that our Father in heaven is available and attentive to us. It is also clear that He provides for us. He forgives us and protects us from evil (vv.2-4).
Some Sins Indeed Result In Greater Judgment (planet.infowars.com)
, if Christians are guilty of the criticism of which they have been charged, isn’t that tendency in part the result of the way the Biblical narrative presents itself?
Man who raised God as son (wordignite.wordpress.com)
just like God had a plan for Joseph, God has a plan for each one of us. The plan does not need to be more than that He wants us to be upright and righteous. He wants us to be loving parents, loving husbands and wives. God wants us to follow the law – observe the commandments. But, just like Joseph, we may feel that we don’t have anything to contribute: that we are nothing but simple carpenters…we may feel insignificant, that we have nothing to offer. Still, God has a plan for us. God gives us dreams and speaks to us in our dreams.
Follow Me (heartfixxer.wordpress.com)
With Christ being alive and with us we can do all things if we trust in him. He has a place picked out for us in his heavenly kingdom, filled with God’s presence.
David “A Man after God’s own Heart | How God Chooses in 1 Samuel 16:1-13 (wordsforliving.org)
Some may wonder why we would even bother to spend time on a man who has been dead some three thousand years. The short answer to that is this: David achieved in his life something that God wants each of His children to achieve. David achieved something that many of us fail to accomplish. David became a man after God’s Own heart and a study of his life can teach us how to do that too.
Sermon: The Heart of God Seeks Unity (grantspasschurchofchrist.com)
The Civil War left a tragic aftermath of bitterness, hatred, and resentment in America. The wounds inflicted by the war were deep and painful. Though the guns fell silent, the angry recriminations went on. Many could not forget or forgive what had been done. Exchanges between former enemies rarely rose above the level of angry accusations and scornful denunciations.
Gospel, 21 March, Lent, Year B (jessicahof.wordpress.com)
Chrysostom adds that the Pharisees neither knew the fullness of the Law, neither did they do what it commanded, for it said that no man should be killed without being granted a hearing. But it is clear, from the testimony of Nicodemus, that not all the Pharisees were blind. He knew, from his own experience, the power of the words of Jesus, but he is silenced, as Peter will be later, by fear of the wrath of the Pharisees. Like us, he is weak and fearful. Authority on earth is a powerful thing and can drive us into silence. Can we summon the courage to confess Him in such circumstances?
1 Samuel 26 (asorensen.wordpress.com)
David knows good and well it is not God who wants him dead. So he calls on Saul to wake up and realize that he is listening to bad advice and direction from his men.
March 9 – peace (cohdailyprayer2014.wordpress.com)
Heavenly Father, help us purge ourselves of those attributes which make not for peace but which set the stage for war. Lord hear our prayer, and grant us your peace.
Vayikra after its opening word וַיִּקְרָא, which means and He called (christadelphianworld.blogspot.com)
For the Jews this Shabbat is the last of the Four Parashiot that have special Torah readings in preparation for Pesach (Passover), which is only two short weeks away! For Jews and Christians it should be the most important day of the year.
If you frequent enough Christian blogs and websites, you’ll soon discover that there is a perceived threat to Christianity in those people who claim to be either agnostic or atheistic in their view of the divine and faith. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
Promotional for wikimania 2008 banner to be added to websites and blogs (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We can find lots of atheist blogs writing against Christian Faith but also lots of blogs attacking Christian writers from other denominations than theirs. Certain church blogs or church websites are eager to spit on other church websites or to say other Christian websites or blogs are form the devil.
On the net we can find lots of sites which doubt the existenceof God and the existence of Jesus.
The typical response to this “threat” is to argue using logical reasoning and rationality to prove God exists, that Jesus is God, and that in order to live a fulfilled life, one must accept Jesus as savior and make that jump from no belief to full belief in Christ. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
Those who say Jesus is God are pushed in the corner by those who say there is no god and as such Jesus can not have existed, though they forget Jesus is a historical figure like Plato, Euripedes, and others have been historical figures. Though often less is written about them nobody doubt that they existed and that they have done what is said about them. Strange then when we have the Nazarene man who was killed because he was too much of a log jam. The impediment Jew, who was to troublesome for the Romans and for the Jewish higher class, priests and Pharisees, was much more spoken off in his time and afterwards than many other historical figures everybody long after their death still accept that they existed. So why doubting about Jesus Christ, whose real name was Jeshua from Nazareth, from the tribe of king David.
Being a Christian we should believe in him who was so many years ago a living soul on this earth. We cannot
fault the belief that Jesus is the way to truth and fulfillment.
Living in this world we can not ignore it and should see what is happening in it and how people are behaving. In this world we also do have to not only observed the world around us, interact with people on a personal level who don’t believe as we do,we shall have to make choice and have to decide how much we would like others to know about our own faith.
We can spent time listening to and reading on different viewpoints of current culture and philosophy, and as Rob Martin points out
the trend towards agnosticism and atheism in Western culture today is not just simply a lack of belief in Jesus. It is much more fundamental than that and requires a different approach than the traditional “believe in Jesus” rhetoric of the past 60 years. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
The trend toward agnosticism, atheism, and other forms of unbelief is gathering force, especially among the young. And churches simply don’t know how to counter it.
and presents in this book a fundamentally different approach to apologetics. It is true that theexistence or nonexistence of a deity or deitiesmay not be knownwithcertainty, that firstprinciples or absolutetruth is unattainableandthatonlyperceptualphenomenaareobjects of exactknowledge, but that when we look around us and feel in our inner-being we can feel the ‘instinct’ and have that only one divine doctrine: to believe that there is A DivineCreatorGod. And that is really the only doctrine we should speak of, because all other matters are spoken of in the Bible and can be checked and proven.
Rather than defending Jesus as God, he brings a perspective where in the argument starts, first, with simply taking the step towards believing in a god. His argument is that it is not necessarily so much the existence of a deity that so much prevents people from converting to Christianity but the deity that is so frequently presented as the Christian God. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
Problem with many atheists but also with many Christians is that they cannot see the difference between divine, divinity and the Most HighDivine. they also do not see to understand that there are titles being used in the world which may not be taken as name or as limited to only one individual, be it someone from this earth or some extraterrestrial being if there may be such beings.
Shane argues not from a perspective of a Christian who is trying to convince atheists to believe but from an agnostic who actually understands this perspective of skepticism and doubt and presents an argument that one can be a theist, even a Christian, and still be an agnostic. This is probably one of the most intriguing arguments that I’ve heard and it makes sense. From Shane’s perspective, there is a lot about believing in the divine and believing in the Christian God that is difficult to swallow from a purely logical and rational stand point. And, based upon some of the more “fundamentalist” arguments of needing to believe in certain literal interpretations of scripture, it seems that one needs to completely suspend their reason and logic in order to believe in the Christian God.
Christian Atheist (Peter Lumsden, d. 2007) (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We also do believe Shane is right, that there can be a theist and a atheist, both doubting about matters of religious views and wondering about the or a divine God. Shane also speaks about a Christian God but does not say what he thinks Christians believe to be God or does not specifies the sort of Christians he is talking about or “which Christian God”. The anabaptist writer Martin does not specify that either.
To Martin, Shane and us it makes sense and it is okay to maintain doubts and scepticism.
As a creature, literally one who is created, for me to be able to fully comprehend the Creator and all of the Creator’s reasons and plans and purposes would mean that I would need to be on the level of the Creator myself, which I’m not. So, it makes perfectly rational and logical sense to admit that there are many things that we do not know for certain. And, as Shane points out, this is where faith steps in. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
We not only should come to understand our limitations of knowledge, we also should come to live with the acceptance of our limitations and our restricted views on certain matters. For man this is not so simple as it looks at first site. We mostly want to have an high esteem about ourselves and do not want to have others see our limitations and shortcomings. We even less want them to point them out to us. We mostly are too pride to admitthatwehave limitations andstillhave verymuch to learn.
But we should not be ashamed that we do not know everything and that we do still have to learn a lot. Better is to admit that and try to learn more instead of confiding and to be happy with what we think to know already.
When going to start to look for reasons why and how to live, to look for the beginning of life, God and the matters or stories around God His son Jesus we do have to look at the beginning of the world and have to find our place in it.
According to Shane
the best path from atheism to Christianity is not in the immediate jump but to simply take the small step towards a “pure” theism, that being in the belief that there is a deity but that it does not need to be, specifically, the Christian God (or any specific god for that matter). {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
Undoubted we do have to find the Creator or the starting point first. When we want to know more about Jesus we shall also get to know what he believed how the world came into being, Who is behind everything and what is going to happen next. We shall have to look to the first cause.
Shane his primary argument for theism comes also from the idea of a first cause.
No matter your belief in the beginnings of the universe, at some point there is a first cause is Shane’s argument. Logically speaking, it is just as plausible to believe in a deity as a first cause as any other force.For me, Shane’s most powerful chapter was the trial between faith and reason. This was a very well written allegorical representation of some of the more classical arguments for and against theism with the pro-theist argument taking the perspective that the good of the universe greatly outweighs the bad as an argument for a benevolent deity. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
We could say we should first come to the knowledge about the beginning of the universe and about the well or not being a Divine Creator. But that are aspects we leave mostly to be examined by other webpages, because here on this platform we go already one step further, though at certain points we shall not be able to go around the facts to discuss the Creator Himself as well. But our main focus here on this site shall be on Jesus. Because he was already spoken of by the creation of man we shall not be able to skip this facet of his life, plus it will be also very important to brake with the very big misunderstanding of lots of Christians who want to believe in many gods having taken part in the creation (see later in the posting “The very very beginning”)
The onset of this site is not to go deeper into theism. For that there is “Stepping Toes” a.o..
To argue for a theism perspective rather than simply giving a defense for Christianity seems to work best for our post-modern/post-Christian cultural trend. With all the Christians out there who are giving Christianity a bad name in their efforts to re-Christianize society, in their rather prejudiced and unloving ways of interacting, and in their schizophrenic reading of the Bible with Jesus preaching one thing and the Old Testament preaching another, it seems best that if anyone is going to journey away from atheism towards theism, they should first take the relatively small step towards simply believing in a deity. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
Today we are too often confronted with Christians giving Christianity a bad name. They often give each other bad names and shout horrible things to Christians who do not believe the same as they. Often they also soon menace the other and threaten with hell, for them a place of damnation and eternal torture. Many people noticing that going on on the worldwibe web, start loosing their interest in the Christian community, considering them a bunch of little children fighting and quibbling all the time with each other.
Today on the net lots of things are presented as
rather matter-of-factly and “well, it’s obvious that…” A true skeptic and atheist would rankle at that kind of presentation and be turned off by it. Perhaps this is part of the problem with all apologetic literature in this post-modern era. Relationships are treasured over rationality and it is difficult to build a relationship with an author when all you have is text on the page. {Book Review: The End of Unbelief}
On this site are focus is only going to be mostly on one part of believe matter in the Christian Faith, namely on the person of Jesus Christ and what he said and how his followers have continued or not in the tradition of this Jewish Master Teacher and how by time several teachers used the teachings of that rabbi in a different way, altering what he said but also altering the person himself as well. We shall see that even the majority of Christians do not any more belief what God the heavenly Father said about His son and what the son himself said about himself and about his heavenly Father. that has become the whole problem of Christendom and making it so much more the difficult for people to find the true path, or the Way Christ Jesus prepared for them.
Do not worry when you have many doubts and question about Jesus and God, the Bible and what is going to happen to the world. If you are also troubled by the many different visions of the many denominations and are disgusted how certain church people behave, like the abusing priests, a.o., always do know that you are then looking at man, human beings with their own faults and limitations. Do not concentrate on their words as always having to be true. Compare all the sayings of people, churches, with what is really written in the Bible and listen to your heart.
By regularly reading the Bible you shall be able to find out a lot. All answers are in it. You just have to look in it, put all human doctrines aside, and believe the words written in the book of books.
We are pleased to find you here and do hope you shall join us in the quest for life, the Way, the path of Jesus Christ our Saviour.
True Image of Jesus Christ Revealed & It’s Not What You Ever Imagined! (therebel.website)
There are many images put before us that condition our minds about the appearance of Jesus Christ. Let’s take a look, Biblically and historically speaking, at what Jesus Christ would have really looked like.
How a 35 Year Old Jewish Lawyer Finds Jesus (therecoveringlegalist.com) Originally posted on Truth in Palmyra:
A….35 year old…..Jewish….lawyer…finds Jesus. If the emphasis on those three things seems a bit much, allow me to explain. We all know that the older one is, the more resistant one tends to be to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Most people, if not converted by 35 will not be.
Religious But Lost (altruistico.wordpress.com)
The man was lost. That is, he did not have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ. As a Pharisee, Nicodemus adhered to strict Jewish codes and laws, so he was certainly religious. But the problem of the lost person is not attitudes, conduct, or even character. We can change and control those through sheer determination, and many folks do. What people really need is a change of condition. We come into this world with a sinful nature that is bent away from God.
Atheists have more problems than just God (dvorak.org)
Christians who turn Atheist seem to think that getting rid of God is the cure for what ails them. That becoming an Atheist means that you have arrived at the Truth, But you haven’t.
A quick thought on labels (freethoughtblogs.com)
The previous discussion on the varieties of New Atheism had me thinking. We’ve already tried contriving a new label for those of us who think atheism should be broad and dedicated to more than just rejecting deities and intersectional — that was Atheism+.
Almost one in five Britons is now an atheist as a generational shift away from religion gathers force, a poll for The Times has found.
Experts said that the country was becoming more comfortable with atheism than with faith after the data revealed that public figures win approval for questioning the existence of God, while Christians are more than twice as likely as atheists to say that they struggle to speak openly about their beliefs.
Morer Questions For The Atheist. (debatepolitics.com)
Although the literal definition of “atheist” is “a person who believes that God does not exist,” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, 14% of those who call themselves atheists also say they believe in God or a universal spirit.
Stand Tall In Faith (mylordmyfriend.com)
There have been many challenges to the Christian Faith, down through the centuries, and there are likely to be many more before Jesus returns. There are numerous statement of faith, put out to counteract challenges, to the basic essentials of our faith.Jesus answered Peters confession, “That Jesus is the Christ, and the Son of The living God”Matthew 16 verse 16: Jesus declares that upon that Confession, the He is The Christ, He will build His Church.
That is the concrete slab of faith, what Jesus came to do and what He did through the Cross. One of the statements of faith, that was established, by the forefathers, to counteract, heresies and mysticism which tried to wrongly attach themselves to the Truth, about Christ Jesus was, The Nicene Creed. It is a wonderful statement of faith.
Christianity is under fire. Christian leaders are starting to recognize the signs of states trying to squelch the faith. After all, it’s happened before.
Messiah For All 