For the record, I also believe Melchizedek was a theophany of YHWH - the Most High.
Sylvia
Who was the God of Abraham?
by cameo-d 101 Replies latest watchtower bible
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PSacramento
The writer(s) of the OT had their version of who they believed God to be, the wrote that it was his will and judgment for certian thinsg to happen, of course they themselves DOING those very things.
I will say this, at least the writers were "honest" in showing the Bad, the Good and the Ugly of not only their preceived God but of their people too.
I think that the ancient scripes did the best they could as per the orders of their high priests.
There was never a God of the OT and a GOd of the NT, it was the same God, the OT writers just saw God with a different set of "glasses" than what he really was, if you believe in the teachings of the NT and of Jesus that is.
The OT writers believed in a God of wraith and anger and jealousy and at times, Love and compassion, of course Jesus reversed those "qualities" saying that God was a God of love, compassion, a God that needs nothing from us other than our love for him and each other, a God of Grace and not of pain, but still a God of Judgement and even "wraith" though not the wraith that we think of.
The writers of the OT saw the God they wanted to see, perhapos what they needed to see, Jesus showed Us, or at least those that believe his word, the God that truly is.
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cameo-d
Quietlyleaving: "I can't help but notice that there are similarities between Jehovah and Zeus"
Yes, I think so. One of the things that strike me in the similarities is the way that Watchtower illustrations pose Jehovah on the throne; it looks very much like the visuals of Zeus.
This is believed to be a depiction of Yahweh:
I can't find a pic from a WT publication...but this is similar. They always depict Jehovah all duded up with a crown and gold trim and jewels, etc.
All these gods are ornate and seated on a power throne of being a dictator.
The god Abraham dealt with was depicted very differently.
In Genesis 18, Abraham sees God in the middle of the day. Three strangers approach him as he sits at his tent. In Gen. 18:13, one of these strangers actually claims to be god. According to the wording in the Septuagint, this god says "Can it be that a matter is impossible with God? In this season I will come back to you next year and Sarra shall have a son."
Genesis 18:33 reads that after he had finished speaking with Abram, "the LORD" departed. Some translations read "god" instead of Lord.
In the scenerio described here, Abraham sees three men. There is nothing striking in their descriptions as being different from any other ordinary mortals.
God does not wear a crown that we know of. Nor is he an unapproachable figure.
Religionists have said that man was separated from God by Adam's sin. How is it that god would continue to talk and visit with humans even after the Garden of Eden?
Or maybe these are all different gods?
Could it be otherworld beings of superior intelligence and power?
If you continue reading into chapter 19:29 it says "God annihilated all the cities and neighboring regions" (of Sodoma.)
Were the two other strangers also gods? They were the ones who did the actual destruction.
(Stranger speaking to Lot concerning holding off the jihad mission until Lot was out of city) Gen. 19:21 "I shall not be able to do a thing until you enter there."
There is no mention of chariots or wings; these angels/gods walk as an ordinary man.
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PSacramento
Cameo-d,
I have heard the argument that the " 3 men" that visited our good buddy Abe were the "trinity" of the NT, they were the "personification" of God, The Son and the HS.
They have been viewed also as Angels speaking for God as so many did in those days, or shoudl I say, they were angels that God spoke through.
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cameo-d
And you buy that story, PSacramento?
Does it really make any sense to you that the three strangers are "God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit"???
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PSacramento
Cameo-d,
I am not a trinitarian so I do NOT see the trinity in everything, that doesn't mean I am right and it doesn't mean I am wrong, just that I am open minded enough to see all angles and smart enough to admit that " I don't know".
I think that, just as God spoke through and Angel in the "burning bush" and Identified himself as God ( yet the angel was not God) then perhaps that was the case earlier on with Abe.
Of course that fact that there were 3 when one was enough, perhaps that means something.
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B-Rock
"Less filling"
"Tastes great!"
"Less filling"
"Tastes great!"
"Less filling"
"Tastes great!"
"Less filling"
"Tastes great!"
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cameo-d
PSacramento: "I think that, just as God spoke through and Angel in the "burning bush" and Identified himself as God ( yet the angel was not God) then perhaps that was the case earlier on with Abe."
Here's some info on the burning bush:
http://www.jehovahs-witness.net/watchtower/bible/175137/1/The-Burning-Bush
quote:
...leaders of Greek city states always consulted with the Oracle of Delphi before declaring war, Roman priests cut open animals and closely examined their guts for signs of godly approval, and medieval kings prayed for divine guidance before declaring war and/or obtained the approval of some suitably impressive clergyman after they assembled the army.
Often, of course, this was mere theatre, pure propaganda. The rulers decided what they wanted to do and then used ritual to confer divine legitimacy upon their decision in the eyes of the ignorant rabble they ruled. Just as often, however, the rulers were themselves as influenced by the superstitious rot as the ignorant rabble.
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