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Ok, thanks Enow. Due to the fact that that both positions cannot be true, God's visibility and invisibility, I don't believie that there are any theophanies of God. Regardless of what the Scripture 'appears' to say. I will always take such anthropomorphisms as figurative speech.I appreciate your candor in wanting to edify me, but do consider these rebuttals for how you are applying those verses to mean.
1 Timothy 6:14 That thou keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: 15 Which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; 16 Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
That is about Jesus Christ, the God Whom men have seen and we will see.
Colossians 1:15. He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
How can He that be the "image" of the invisible God? Would He not be invisible too?
I submit this to you that the use of the word "invisible" only means not presently seen. We see proof here about Jesus Christ.
1 Timothy 1:Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.
For your next reference, God's act in creation are the invisible attributes that has been clearly seen.
Romans 1:20. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without excuse.
Another one:
Colossians 1:16 For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:
So invisible does not mean God does not have an image but just not presently seen.
God is a Spirit is still referring to His omnipresence and in light of the Good News when He is in us, it should not be hard to fathom that Jesus was talking about God is not limited to a specific place of worship so that we can worship God the Father anywhere now as believers by coming to & honoring the Son in worship as per John 14:6 & John 5:22-23 & Philippians 2:5-13
No, the Bible contains truth, but without the quickening of the Spirit, what is written is dormant awaiting the bringing to Life. It is like Jesus dead on the cross prior to the resurrection.Satan misapplies Scripture, and rather than finding fault in the devil, you find the fault in the Bible?
That makes no sense to me.
There was a man named Charles Templeton, I don't know if you are familiar with him. He was an arena evangelist along with Billy Graham, and they both attendented seminary together. But while he was there, Mr. Templeton discovered that he didn't actually believe the Bible, and he left to do other things.No, the Bible contains truth, but without the quickening of the Spirit, what is written is dormant awaiting the bringing to Life. It is like Jesus dead on the cross prior to the resurrection.
A Bible on my mother's coffee table remained unread by any one all of the years I lived in her home. It never converted anyone. One must both eat His flesh and drink His blood, but even in that many will simply disagree with me or quote scripture without really taking their questions to God.
Quoting scripture does not make it the Word of God any more than paraphrasing what is in our heart makes it Not the Word of God. Without the quickening of the Holy Spirit, it can still be quite dead! When satan quoted scripture to Jesus it was definitely in error and had no Life in it. When a man who has received the Holy Spirit is quenching the Holy Spirit his Bible quotations may also be dead!
There was a man named Charles Templeton, I don't know if you are familiar with him. He was an arena evangelist along with Billy Graham, and they both attendented seminary together. But while he was there, Mr. Templeton discovered that he didn't actually believe the Bible, and he left to do other things.
But through his preaching, many thousands apparently responded the Word of God, even preached by an unbeliever.
This is an example of a man who later confirmed that he was an unbeliever, a man who was not alive in Christ.
The Word of God is simply that, whomever quotes it, I just don't see calling the Word of God dead in any circumstance.
I suppose now I'll hear all about making the Bible an idol again, not from you, I mean, but I get that sometimes on this forum. Believe it or not!
:)
Much love!
Ok, thanks Enow. Due to the fact that that both positions cannot be true, God's visibility and invisibility, I don't believie that there are any theophanies of God. Regardless of what the Scripture 'appears' to say. I will always take such anthropomorphisms as figurative speech.
I don't believe that 1 Timothy 6:14 is speaking of Christ, it could not possibly be doing so, by any stretch of the imagination. It is categorically speaking of God, for all these attributes are pre-understood from the Old Testament.
Sorry Enow, I am not one who interprets Scripture in a mystical manner, I do not believe that it is necessary on any level.
I believe in the supernatural, things that defy nature and physics, but not god-men, or God being seen in any form or dimension.
Again, I don't see it as being necessary in order to harmonize either, contradictory passages, or antithetical passages.
Agreed, Enow.Since both positions cannot be true, then ask Him for confirmation that your position is true. I already explained how He helped me to see the position that I do. Can you address those scripture that supports my position for how I am applying it wrong?
I had addressed your references, but I do not want this to be an argument, brother. Just a little motivation to ask Him to confer with you, regarding the scriptures for the application I have done for why I believe the way that I do.
I realize that only God would lead you to do this and so I leave His ministry to Him with His help, too, as you leave me to Him as well. We agree to disagree, but let's trust Him to show us otherwise as the Good Shepherd we know Him to be.
Agreed, Enow.
If sufficient, I will just say that there are enough passages, that I trust that you are aware of, that speak of God's transcendence. That is, he is outside the physical realm, he cannot be circumscribed in space and time, he cannot be quantified, he is larger than the universe, he is immutable (doesn't change in character or ontology), he is infinite, and he is not affected by the laws of physics.
Therefore, God does not have appendages, a corporeal frame, does not have blood running through his veins, does not need to cut his hair or toe nails, does not have a stomach, nor does he defecate, or blow his nose. He does not have blue eyes or green eyes, brown hair or red. A body requires gravity to function as designed, and God is outside a gravitational force.
Therefore Enow, no one has seen God, for there is nothing to see or he is too big to see (the former), he is invisible and resides in unapproachable light.
These are the axioms of God's attributes. We do not break these laws in our exegesis. But, when a passage appears to do so, we are obligated to use wisdom in interpreting the verse correctly. Meaning, we don't take the text hyper-literally. Just as Jesus said, 'eat my flesh, and drink my blood', or when he said 'cut off your hand if it offends you'. Or when Paul said that treating evil with kindness is like 'putting burning coals on the culprits head'. We do not take these expressions verbatim, we apply wisdom to understand what Jesus or the inspired author is attempting to convey.
This is the subjective part, where wisdom and prayer is required.
And thus, I personally do not go off into some mystical realm, of which not a single person can comprehend, and try to interpret the Scriptures from such a radical viewpoint.
God is divine and eternal, predicate number one.
Jesus came out of Mary's womb, from a seed, to a fetus, to a created infant, predicate number two.
These principle never change, their ontologies are established and not to be confused.
Enow, that is all that I can say, this is where all my exegesis begins and ends.
a diff subject to me, but fwiw there i would differ with you both, as imo "Easter" then becomes or has a chance of becoming Word. And by extension, even in the original once it is written down and not heard, a crucial element of exchange has been lost; it is merely that a kind of recording has been made, right? "Stay here for the present" requires context, iow.Let's expand it a little . . .
Quoting scripture does not make it the Word of God, according to amadeus.
Well, OK, you're right, I'm wrong here. Yes. Quoting Scripture does not make Scripture the Word of God, it's Scripture because it's the Word of God. Whether someone quotes, the devil, me, you, whomever, quoting does not make the Bible God's Word, because it already is quite apart from us.
so you say, but google has no probs finding itOnly one of these is in the Bible.
lemme know how much it varies even
i mean, any?
Ezekiel 18:20 Lexicon: "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself.
so you say anywayOnly one of these is in the Bible.
Well so then you have reiterated your position but you haven’t defended it. Care to explain what difference you see, or noI would think that you could see this isn't the way you quote it, and your quote adds meaning I don't see in the actual quote.
#130so you say anyway
google has no problem finding it tho
Well so then you have reiterated your position but you haven’t defended it. Care to explain what difference you see, or no
So, although I’m sure you don’t mean to, I don’t doubt your intentions, Jesus is denied here is a spiritual “father” when in other threads you are, I’m quite sure, anxious to forward Jesus as the father, correct? And also to forward that Jesus died for our sins as a sacrifice? Do whatever you want marks, but I suggest forgetting everything you know, because it’s crap anyway, and eat the manna bro#130
I know many seek deep spiritual meanings in the plainest words of Scripture, and I don't speak against that, only that we have to ask ourselves sometimes, Is it possible that God is actually trying to say just what the words say?So, although I’m sure you don’t mean to, I don’t doubt your intentions, Jesus is denied here is a spiritual “father” when in other threads you are, I’m quite sure, anxious to forward Jesus as the father, correct? And also to forward that Jesus died for our sins as a sacrifice? Do whatever you want marks, but I suggest forgetting everything you know, because it’s crap anyway, and eat the manna bro
No offense but you’ve changed the subject again to suit yourself, and you are not really replying to my post? And in that case that one will still be found to be a hypocrite imo, When the verses that they refuse to take literally are revealedI know many seek deep spiritual meanings in the plainest words of Scripture, and I don't speak against that, only that we have to ask ourselves sometimes, Is it possible that God is actually trying to say just what the words say?
But I know many who say, no, what's written isn't actually what it's saying. Make it all spiritual, that is the means to make it into anything you want. At least, so it seems to me.
Much love!