Perhaps it is a given, and we do not need to know these things to partake of his goodness, I believe this too. We overcomplicate by analysis what was really meant to be simple, that is, believing by faith. We learn disbelief and distrust later in life.
Merriam-Webster:
Ever wondered what is God? Ever wondered how God can be everywhere, see all, and hear all, all at once? If this sounds like a simple question, it probably is.Too simple to understand most of the time, that is why there is so much debate and different ideology, so many religions and doctrines. So many Gods.
In the beginning, before there was, there was God. Where? Everywhere, anywhere, there was no place that God was(is) not.
Genesis 1:2 said that God's spirit moved upon the face of the waters. Is this the image that we have in our minds from the paintings and artists renderings? No, it isn't.
We are limited in our imaginations to what we can see and touch, that is why dreams can be so vivid sometimes. We are witnessing in our sleep what our minds have seen throughout the day(s), and we put images that we can understand in the place of things that we can't. God encompasses everything, and therefore is so great that he cannot be seen, but this does not mean that he cannot be touched.
Is God in nature, is God in the trees that we see swaying in the breeze? Is he the wind? No, he is not the wind, God created these. Is he in these? Of course.
God created all things, the creatures that we will never see because they lie so deep in the oceans, and on this note, possibly the creatures we may never see beyond our horizons. Is God in his creations? Of course, God is everywhere.Why did God choose to become flesh? Why was he born as a baby and called Jesus? Why does this cause confusion between the oneness and trinity doctrines?
God became flesh because he was not embodied in a vessel, he had no fleshly body that he could just appear here and be seen by men, this body(vessel) had to be produced, or born, because God was too great to be contained. Remember, he is everywhere. Of course, men like to quote the bible as saying that god created man in his own likeness, therefore man was fashioned after what God looks like. Not true. Think of it like this, an image of something can be a painting, or a portrait, or a dream, as I explored above.
Genesis 1:27 tells us; So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. This doesn't tell us that he looked in the mirror, liked what he saw, and duplicated himself and his feminine look-a-like. On the contrary, it tells us that he created us from his image (visualization/imagination) ¿soul, spirit, ghost?. Colossians 3:10 says; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. This sounds like it is talking about his spirit, (this is the Holy Ghost part) or to the word, as I'll go into below.
The word image 'belem' is a difficult one for scholars to translate, going back to it's earliest roots describe it as to cut off, or as a cutting. Others say it is closely aligned with another Hebrew root word, 'ßlm' which translated means 'to be dark'. The suggestion here is that rather than "image" being attached to an animate object that we can understand, such as a shadow, silhouette or shadowy-outline, that it simply means 'to be dark'.
Clearly the most satisfactory translation of ßelem, to provide a parallelism with ÿlôm, is 'dream-images'. It is probable that ßelem has the same meaning also in Ps. 39.7. http://www.shef.ac.uk/bibs/DJACcurrres/Postmodern2/Selem.html Most, if not all, of the research for this article was done as an afterthought, or during compilation of this entry, so I will leave the suppositions up to you.
Is the holy bible the complete and total philosophy of God and his entire word and are we to take these written passages as an absolute interpretation of God's will? Are you kidding? Haven't we established that God is omnipresent and can't be contained/confined to a space, much less one as limited as a book? This is the passage I've heard most often quoted; "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it." John 1:1-5
John 1:14 Goes on to tell us "And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."
The bible is a guide, much as our present day laws are guides. This is what the bible tells us about itself:
"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." 2 Timothy 3:16-17
There are scientists, intellectuals, and other people (atheists, agnostics, philosophers) that consider themselves too learned to believe in such ignorance/myth as a God, or deity, but according to Psalms 53:1 ; The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.Even if I had some doubt or did not believe in God at all, based on this one verse alone, I would not utter these words. Why make an unprovable statement that may make me look like a fool?
As I've stated many times before, I believe in God, I believe in rainbows (God's promises), I believe there is an afterlife, and I believe that if God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that he is going to be much more lenient in judgement than we give him credit for. Does this mean everybody gets to go to heaven? Will people be going to hell? Unfortunately, there are some people that have been so corrupt, and committed such egregious acts, the bible states that hell has enlarged itself, in anticipation of the crowd. Isaiah 5:14; Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it. Isaiah 5:15; And the mean man shall be brought down, and the mighty man shall be humbled, and the eyes of the lofty shall be humbled.
Ok, so modern translators think that Hebrew words like 'sheol', simply meant the grave to the original inspired writers of the Scriptures. "Therefore SHEOL has enlarged itself" Either way, Job said he cried out from the belly of "sheol" (do we think he was alive in there?), this would be a miserable way to spend eternity, confined to a grave, all the while being aware of where we are, and in pain:
Peter in Acts 2:24; speaking on the day of pentecost said:
Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death: because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. 2:26; Therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad; moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope: 2:27; Because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.
When I happen to catch the news, and some of the horror stories that they sling out at us about the ongoing cruelty that humans commit, I am also glad there is judgement reserved for the worst of us, and we will reap what we sow.
I will stop with this passage from Proverbs 30:1-5; ... Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son's name, if thou canst tell? Every word of God is pure: he is a shield unto them that put their trust in him. Add thou not unto his words, lest he reprove thee, and thou be found a liar.
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