by PSacramento 40 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
Londo111- No no you didn't make things worse not to worry. The New Testament takes some barn yard swings at the Jewish people and it gets assimilated into everyday concepts about a culture and people that most know very little about.
A visit to your local Synagogue may prove enlightening and enjoyable. The Synagogue I have gone to in Encinitas Ca. has a beautiful floor to ceiling stained glass picture of Jacob's Ladder inspired by Marc Chagall. Very inspirational.
If we are human, then we are in the image of God,
Please, PLEASE, dear Londo (peace to you!... and I am not yelling, but only emphasizing, please understand)... do NOT perpetuate this falsehood! We are NOT in the image of God... not at ALL! That is the PROBLEM! Adham was made in the image of God. WE... have the image of Adham... AFTER he sinned! Let me show you:
"When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth." Genesis 5:3
"So it is written: "The first Adam became a living soul"; the last Adam, a life-giving spirit. The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual. The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven. As was the earthly man, so are those who are of the earth; and as is the heavenly man, so also are those who are of heaven. And just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man." 1 Corinthians 15:45-49
THROUGH the Holy One of Israel, the MOST Holy One of Israel made man in His image. That man sullied that image, however, and so was given another: a long garment of skin... to "hide" his "nakedness" (spirit beings are not "clothed" so, but have spirit bodies that do NOT hide what is INSIDE the vessel, "covered" by the garment - what's in the heart!). As the progeny of Adham, HUMANS... starting with Cain and Seth... are made in the image of these (Cain and Seth)... who were made in the image... of Adham (and not God!).
This [very] false teaching, that we are made in "God's" image... is one of the reasons "we" can't "see" God. By trying to see ourselves in HIM... we try to see Him... in US. Doesn't work that way. The ONLY image of God... is Christ:
"He is the sole expression of the glory of God [literally "the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine], and He is the perfect imprint and very image of God, who upholds and maintains and guides and propels the universe by means of this mighty Word's power [that "power" being the LIGHT... the ENERGY... that that One exudes! - John 1:3, 10]. After providing purification for sins [by means of HIS blood!], he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven, becoming as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs." Hebrews 1:3, 4
When we try to make it out that we are in God's image, we are completely missing the POINT: that God... is a SPIRIT. ADHAM was the man of flesh... as WE are, now... and it is in HIS image that we were made. The goal... is to return to the image Adham LOST... by going THROUGH the One who holds that image still: Christ, the Son of God.
I hope that helps. I hope you have ears to hear and get the sense of this truth, as well as to hear with the Spirit and the Bride say to you, if such has not yet occurred:
"Come! Take 'life's water'... which 'water'... holy spirit... is given by only One... the Divine Light of God (John 1:7, 8; 8:12; John 7:37-39), the Holy One of Israel and Holy Spirit, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischJah)... FREE!"
Again, peace to you!
YOUR servant (as I am servant to ALL "believers", those of the Household of God, Israel... and those who go with)... and a slave of Christ,
SA
Someone is missing dood-to-door service.... oh brother..
didnt you get enuf?
It is interesting that God said this to Noah long after Adam was dead.
English Standard Version (ESV)
6 "Whoever sheds the blood of man,
I find being elected only increases my humility.
Omigosh, dear Stephen (the greatest of love and peace to you... and I'm glad you commented, dear one!)... if people only knew! Many don't understand how the spirit works IN us, as well as that the manifestation is not always apparent/obvious to man... but always to ourselves and Christ.
It ain't easy being ch... cheesey! (Uh-huh... sum a'ya'll thought I was gonna say "chosen," didn'cha? Now THAT would have been a bit presumptuous, IMHO!)
Peace, and again, dear Chalam... thanks for the comment!
YOUR servant and fellow slave of Christ,
SA
Jacob's Ladder by modernist painter Marc Chagall
http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/marc-chagall/jacob-s-ladder-1973
It is, dear Chalam (again, peace to you!)... and I asked about it some time ago (you can imagine, others have referred to that verse!). I'm not sure you (or others) will "like" the response I was given, though (history tells me some won't) so I won't post it... yet... but, rather, exhort you to ask for yourself... and to put faith in what you receive. There is an explanation, dear one. Again, peace to you! YOUR servant and a slave of Christ, SA
I would love to see the Chagall work. It looks wonderful. I saw many Chagalls at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and MoMA in NY. This looks very powerful. If anyone else loves Chagall and is near NY, the Rockefellers commissioned a small chapel (truly tiny) in honor of Michael Rockefeller who was lost doing antanthropolical work in the South Seas.? The church used to be open to the public near Pocatino Hills, the Rockefeller estate. It is not far from Manhattan. It is something to see Chagall in a religious setting rather than a sterile museum gallery. All the windows are Chagalls. The light comes through with amazing intensity. Matisse designed the Rose Window.
It was one of my biggest finds living in the area. I know he did windows in Jerusalem, too. The color pallette appeals to me.
So I assume this is one of the wealthiest synagogues in the world or did Chagall have a personal link. I used to attend church with masterpieces of art and professional choirs. I knew nothing else so I took it for granted. Now I know what I had and hope to regain.
Coincidentally, I am presently reading Constantine's Sword about the church and antisemitism. I thought it a Constantine bio. While not a fast, easy read, I have learned so much across a whole body of work. The author had to be quite the craftsperson. Slow read but good.
AGuest,
I agree that Christ is the ultimate image of God, as the preexistent Logos, as the perfect man Jesus, as the risen Savior.
But in harmony with what Chalam said about Genesis 9:6, James 3:9 says, "With it we bless our Lord and Father, and with it we curse people who are made in the likeness of God."
James not the conundrum that our imperfect human nature produces. When certain humans committed atrocities such as the Holocaust, the Inquisition, and the Crusades, they were yielding toward their imperfect, fallen nature. Even so, many humans display divine qualities, otherwise they wouldn't be redeemable.
