Category Jesus Christ

Implications of the Possession of the Image of God in Humans For Adam’s Choice to Disobey God in the Garden

God gave Adam and Eve everything they required for a happy, healthy, and upright life.

God gave Adam the necessary knowledge and abilities to pursue that happy, healthy, and upright life.

God maintained a close relationship with Adam, so that Adam would always know God, have no reason to forget either Who God was or what God had done and provided for him.

God provided a world and life completely free of corruption, and insulated from corrupting influences, as well as a warning against considering the engagement with a corrupting desire, should it arise. “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for in the day that you shall eat of it, dying you shall die.”

Th...

The Image of God in Humanity

God has no physical aspect, therefore Adam and Eve were not created to “look like” God in the flesh. (As Hebrews explains, when Christ came, God entered into a body “prepared for Me” that was created after the image of man. (Phil 2:6-8; Jn 1:14; Heb 2:17-18) Prior to Christ’s incarnation, God had no physical aspect whatsoever.)

Moreover, the writer stated: “So God created humankind in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female created He them.” Genesis 1:27. God created humanity as an whole, in the image of God. Male and female humanity is created in the image of God; the entirety of the species, in the maleness and femaleness as an whole, is created “in the image of God”, making a physical context of that image impossible...

What characteristics do you see in God as the creation account unfolds?

Attributes of God revealed in the Creation Account in Genesis

God pre-exists all material things: “In the beginning, God created…”

The universe did not exist; it had a beginning. “The heaven” refers to sky, outer space and beyond. “The earth” refers to the world.

The universe consists of all time, space, matter, and natural energy. All of these elements had a beginning; they did not and are unable to, exist eternally. They necessarily “came into being” at some point in past history.

God is necessarily personal. God necessarily thinks, feels, desires, knows, has abilities, values, plans, purposes, foresight, understanding, etc.

God is necessarily external to (outside of) the universe.

Therefore, God do...

Why is the God of the Old Testament so Different From the Message of Jesus in the New Testament?

Study texts:

Genesis 1 – 6

References to Jesus’ speaking about hell and about judgment, in their respective contexts

The letter to the Hebrews

Revelation 1 – 3; 11; 15-16; 19-20; 22 (read the whole book, but pay attention to the relevant content of these chapters vis a vis the proposition.)

References to Jesus speaking about hell:

Mt 5:22    But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Mt 5:29    And if thy right eye off...

Study Question:      Why is the God of the OT so different from the “message of Jesus” in the New?

“Why is the God of the OT so different than Jesus’ message in the NT? Is Jesus’ father the God of the OT? With all the revenge and blood sacrifice stuff?”

What is the main premise?

The God of the Old Testament is different from Jesus’ message in the New Testament.

What is the conflict driving the premise?

That the God of the Old Testament is guilty of revenge and requiring of blood sacrifice, which are implied to be unrighteous in some manner.

What questions must be answered in order to answer the question above?

1. Is God in the Old Testament different from Jesus’ message in the New?
2. Who is God and what is God’s nature...

But the angel said unto him, ‘Fear not, Zacharias: for thy prayer is heard; and thy wife Elisabeth shall bear thee a son, and thou shalt call his name John.

And thou shalt have joy and gladness; and many shall rejoice at his birth.

For he shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink; and he shall be filled with the Holy Ghost, even from his mother’s womb.

And many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God.

And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of Elias, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.'”

Luke 1:13-17

13  ειπεν δε προς αυτον ο αγγελος μη φοβου ζαχαρια διοτι εισηκουσθη η δεησις σου και η γυνη σου ελισαβετ γ...

Zech 2:1-13:    “…another angel …said unto [the first angel that spoke to Z] run, speak to [Z] saying Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls…” “For thus says the LORD (YHWH) of hosts, “After the glory has he sent me to the nations who spoiled you, for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. For behold, I will shake mine hand upon them and they shall be a spoil to their servants, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion, for lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of you,” says the LORD …and many nations shall be joined to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people, and I will dwell in the midst of you and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you...

Yes, John the Baptist believed and knew that Jesus Christ was almighty God.

In the beginning of his ministry, John declared, “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Matthew confirmed that John was “he of whom Isaiah the prophet spoke saying, ‘The voice of one crying in the wilderness, “Prepare the way of YHWH; make His paths straight!”‘” John quoted God’s words through Isaiah the prophet that the One whose way was to be prepared, was YHWH, the almighty God.

Indeed, John told the crowds, including the religious hypocrites who came comparably to those God described to Ezekiel in 33:32, that He Who was coming after John, was mightier, that He would judge and punish, and that John as God’s prophet was unworthy to carry His shoes...

Increasingly, Christians are debating whether the traditional belief is incorrect that Jesus was crucified on Friday. Some have embraced Wednesday, often resorting to what they have heard from others concerning the Jewish name of the day of the week. Others embrace Thursday in an attempt to reconcile the sole reference to “three days and three nights” in Matthew 12:40, where Jesus states, “For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale’s belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”

If we follow only the Bible, and begin with clear statements within the text, we can determine the necessary answer correctly and without resorting to speculative ideas about what may have been expected from Jewish traditions.

Firstly, the Jews co...

John 5:37-43:

And the One sending Me, Father Himself, has witnessed concerning Me. Neither His voice (sound) have you ever heard nor (a) glimpse of Him have you seen. And His word you have not abiding in you, that Whom He commissioned, This (one) you believe not. You search the Scriptures, that you suppose in them to have eternal life, and those are the testifiers (testifying ones) concerning Me! And you are not willing to come to Me that you may have life. Glory from people I receive not. However, I have known you, that you have not the love of God in yourselves. I have come in the name of My Father, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, that one you shall receive.”

“I have come in My Father’s name, and you do not receive Me...