A Pondering Thought

@Matt85 Scripture? What good is that with indoctrination and without reason? So, I will give you two scriptures and you tell me what they mean.

Romans 1:20: "For his invisible [qualities] are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable."

Psalm 33:6: "By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, And by the spirit of his mouth all their army."

@SpudMuffin That's correct, Spud. Nor is he a fat ugly old sack of turd that, in his youth, was almost stunningly good looking. He isn't a mirror of our physical likeness.

@ShadowWorker The Bible refers to Adam being created as perfect. Perfection. Perfection means having great potential. In the eyes of a mother and father a child is born perfect. The number 7 represents completeness. The seven day week was modeled after God's creation. The number of man is 666, it emphasizes imperfection, incompleteness, three times. 6, 60, 600. The seventh day, the sabbath, or the rest, God's rest, is the time when God's purpose for man would have been complete. Until that time God couldn't be a part of our lives without a mediator. He couldn't be a part of imperfection, then sin. BUT. Upon death we are acquitted of our sin. (Romans 6:7)

Then, and only then, through that mediator and savior, Christ Jesus, can we enter God's day (period, time, not a literal 24 hours) of rest. Only then will his purpose for man be complete. Namely, that we are like him. Capable of deciding what is good and bad. Knowing that our creator alone makes that decision. He is the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. By the time man was created, the angels had already matured to that point. That's why it says they created us in their image. And we are like them deciding (knowing) what is good and what is bad.

Genesis 1:26: And God went on to say: “Let us make man in our image, according to our likeness

Genesis 3:22: And Jehovah God went on to say: “Here the man has become like one of us in knowing good and bad,

Isaiah 40:28: Have you not come to know or have you not heard? Jehovah, the Creator of the extremities of the earth, is a God to time indefinite. He does not tire out or grow weary. There is no searching out of his understanding.

John 5:17: But he answered them: “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working

Genesis 1:31: After that God saw everything he had made and, look! [it was] very good. And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.

Hebrews 3:16-4: For who were they that heard and yet provoked to bitter anger? Did not, in fact, all do so who went out of Egypt under Moses? Moreover, with whom did [God] become disgusted for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose carcasses fell in the wilderness? But to whom did he swear that they should not enter into his rest except to those who acted disobediently? So we see that they could not enter in because of lack of faith.

Therefore, since a promise is left of entering into his rest, let us fear that sometime someone of you may seem to have fallen short of it. For we have had the good news declared to us also, even as they also had; but the word which was heard did not benefit them, because they were not united by faith with those who did hear. For we who have exercised faith do enter into the rest, just as he has said: “So I swore in my anger, ‘They shall not enter into my rest,’” although his works were finished from the founding of the world. For in one place he has said of the seventh day as follows: “And God rested on the seventh day from all his works,” and again in this place: “They shall not enter into my rest.”

Since, therefore, it remains for some to enter into it, and those to whom the good news was first declared did not enter in because of disobedience, he again marks off a certain day by saying after so long a time in David’s [psalm] “Today”; just as it has been said above: “Today if you people listen to his own voice, do not harden your hearts.” For if Joshua had led them into a place of rest, [God] would not afterward have spoken of another day. So there remains a sabbath resting for the people of God. For the man that has entered into [God’s] rest has also himself rested from his own works, just as God did from his own.

@hippyjoe1955
The New Encyclopædia Britannica “Neither the word Trinity, nor the explicit doctrine as such, appears in the New Testament, nor did Jesus and his followers intend to contradict the Shema in the Old Testament: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord’ (Deut. 6:4). ... The doctrine developed gradually over several centuries and through many controversies. ... By the end of the 4th century ... the doctrine of the Trinity took substantially the form it has maintained ever since.” - (1976), Micropædia, Vol. X, p. 126.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia “The formulation ‘one God in three Persons’ was not solidly established, certainly not fully assimilated into Christian life and its profession of faith, prior to the end of the 4th century. But it is precisely this formulation that has first claim to the title the Trinitarian dogma. Among the Apostolic Fathers, there had been nothing even remotely approaching such a mentality or perspective.”- (1967), Vol. XIV, p. 299.

The Encyclopedia Americana “Christianity derived from Judaism and Judaism was strictly Unitarian. The road which led from Jerusalem to Nicea was scarcely a straight one. Fourth century Trinitarianism did not reflect accurately early Christian teaching regarding the nature of God; it was, onthe contrary, a deviation from this teaching.” - (1956), Vol.XXVII, p. 294L.

Nouveau Dictionnaire Universel, “The Platonic trinity, itself merely a rearrangement of older trinities dating back to earlier peoples, appears to be the rational philosophic trinity of attributes that gave birth to the three hypostases or divine persons taught by the Christian churches. ... This Greek philosopher’s conception of the divine trinity ... can befoundin all the ancient religions.” - (Paris, 1865-1870), edited by M. Lachâtre, Vol. 2, p. 1467.

Dictionary of the Bible “The trinity of persons within the unity of nature is defined in terms of ‘person’ and ‘nature’ which are G[ree]k philosophical terms; actually the terms do not appear in the Bible. The trinitarian definitions arose as the result of long controversies in which these terms and others such as ‘essence’ and ‘substance’ were erroneously applied to God by some theologians.” - (New York, 1965), p. 899.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia “The majority of NT texts reveal God’s spirit as something, not someone; this is especially seen in the parallelism between the spirit and the power of God.” - 1967, Vol. XIII, p.575.

@AkioTsukino If you think anyone is impressed with encyclopedias.... NOW THAT IS FUNNY!!!!!

@AkioTsukino Go look up Matthew 28:18-20. Notice how Jesus names all three in the rite of baptism? Some people go 10th grade 'research' and use encyclopedias. Too Funny!

@Renkon So why did we not make his main traits selfishness, lust and greed?

@SW-User May be we see them as bad traits and God being the embodiment of Goodness we envisioned divinity with God traits like Love, Kindness etc.

@Renkon The Greek gods did not have the traits of goodness, nor did the Roman pantheon.

@SW-User All of these concepts are confusing for the little ones. I remember trying to wrap my head around the idea of Hell and original sin when I was only 3. And this was presented to me at home by my Mum. God wants to burn everyone in Hell forever because we are all sinners (I didn't know what that word meant either) -- but of course, Mum couldn't or wouldn't really explain this.

@SW-User The rest of that - the whole crux of the Trinity - is that the 3 are only separate pieces of a whole. They are each distinct, yet each of the same origin. God, his Son and the Holy Spirit are one being.

I know, Catholic school nerd.

@Graylight Agreed. As the old hymn says "God in three persons, blessed Trinity".

I'm a protestant Christian private school theology nerd. 🤓

@SW-User You mean gassy in the spiritual sense, of course . . .

@ShadowWorker Examples of negative thoughts? Keeping in mind that we were made in his likeness, not his thoughts.

@AkioTsukino ..the 7 deadly sins... emotions...and thoughts. Thank you for making me..ponder longer.

@ShadowWorker
Likewise.

@Bellatrix2083 Todays ancient prayer or collect reflects on His pity ( graciousness) and mercy, rather than His power. That, with his goodness ,is his image.

@Graylight So Jesus got it wrong then, and you did,

@BlueGreenGrey Or they (mankind) only sees their own distorted reflection through a misinterpretation of the reality. So, in the Bible a demon pretends to be the "dead spirit" of Samuel, raised from the dead. We know it's pretense because 1. Samuel rejected Saul and wouldn't counsel him prior to his death. 2. The Bible says when you die your spirit and soul doesn't continue separate from your body. You have no consciousness. You're just dead. 3.The witch was subject to death for promoting this demonic deception.

Deus ex machina: they may recreate the deities and aliens in their own likeness but that doesn't mean they exist as such. Most deities that immediately come to my mind are created in the image of animals. Dragons, bears, tigers, eagles, etc.

@BlueGreenGrey
I know what you say is either true or false by testing it. If it can't be tested then I can allow or disallow trust (faith) in your claims so long as your additional testimony is trustworthy or not. The same with the Bible or anything else.


Ironically, I didn't ask myself that because I knew the answer from the Bible.

@Renaci
By knowing both good and evil do you intend to establish that there was evil prior to Adam's sin? There wasn't so God didn't "know" evil. All that God created he established was "good." Evil, or bad, didn't exist. The knowledge Adam coveted was the preference to decide for himself what was "good" and what was "bad" or "evil."

The footnote to Genesis 2:17 in the 1966 Jerusalem Bible puts it best: “This knowledge is a privilege which God reserves to himself and which man, by sinning, is to lay hands on, 3:5,22. Hence it does not mean omniscience, which fallen man does not possess; nor is it moral discrimination, for unfallen man already had it and God could not refuse it to a rational being. It is the power of deciding for himself what is good and what is evil and of acting accordingly, a claim to complete moral independence by which man refuses to recognise his status as a created being. The first sin was an attack on God’s sovereignty, a sin of pride.”