High Five of the Day - He Lives: Just a thought, and I've said it before

David Heddle's blog continues to impress and inform. I really wish that people who continually get what Faith is wrong would really read and understand what it the Bible is saying Faith is instead of continually building and complaining about straw men they have imagined. I've argued much the same thing and if people will not listen to me, I hope they will listen to Dr David Heddle. He wrote:

I don't actually know what faith is. It is not simple intellectual assent--i.e., belief. The bible speaks of some who believe but are lost. Nor is it "blind." Hebrews 11 has the faith hall of fame, and lists people who did not need blind faith for they saw and spoke to god. Abraham's faith was hardly blind, with the exception that he had faith that God's promise of redemption would be fulfilled in his future. If blind faith was the ultimate virtue, Gideon (who demanded physical proof) would stand condemned--instead he shows up in Hebrews 11 as a faith hero. Faith (πίστις), I think, is closer to trust than to believe. As Grudem puts it, which works for me, it's coming to God and saying: "I got nothing."  

No, i don't think any one of us truly knows what "Faith" is. We learn and grow into it as we mature in God. This explains why Atheists constantly get this wrong.

He Lives: Just a thought, and I've said it before

Islam and Christianity A Common Word: A very simple question for Christians. (In What Sense Is God One?)

thegrandverbalizer refuses to accept Christian understanding of Christian doctrine. Instead, he prefers his straw men.

In what sense is God one? (Scriptural references are appreciated).

Let's take a moment and look at the whole passage:

⁴ Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one.^{[a] 5} Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (NIV)

1. Deuteronomy 6:4 Or The LORD our God is one LORD; or The LORD is our God, the LORD is one; or The LORD is our God, the LORD alone

⁴Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: ⁵And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. - Deuteronomy 6:4-5 (KJV)

kai tauta ta dikaiwmata kai ta krimata osa eneteilato kuriov toiv uioiv Israhl en th erhmw ecelqontwn autwn ek ghv Aiguptou akoue Israhl kuriov o qeov hmwn kuriov eiv estin

For example if I am part of the tribes of Israel and I hear it said to me 'Hear oh Israel the Lord your God the Lord is One'. (Deuteronomy 6:4)

What would I take away from that message? Would I have to have deep knowledge of theological and philosophy to understand this?

What if I was just a simple shepherd tending to my sheep?

So what does it say? Let us just ask what does the just plain person who was sitting in front of Moses, what did they hear? What did they understand? The Lord our God is one what? The Septuagint is of great help here. Recall Exodus 3:14


And God said (8799) unto Moses, I AM (8799) THAT I AM (8799) : and he said (8799) , Thus shalt thou say (8799) unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent (8804) me unto you.

kai eipen o qeov prov Mwushn egw eimi o wn kai eipen outwv ereiv toiv uioiv Israhl o wn apestalken me prov umav

And now compare John 8:58

  
Jesus said (5627) unto them, Verily, verily, I say (5719) unto you, Before Abraham was (5635) , I am (5748) .

eipen (5627) autoiv Ihsouv, Amhn amhn legw (5719) umin, prin Abraam genesqai (5635) egw eimi. (5748)

Egw eimi? In both Old and New Testament. Jesus is claiming to be the same being who spoke to Moses from the Burning Bush. Would someone from Moses time get that? I don't think so because it wasn't revealed until Jesus did it almost 1500 years later. What the Hebrews at the time of Moses understood was that God is one being. Jesus revealed more light as to who and what God is. Did Jesus reveal more info? Yup.

I and my Father are (5748) one.

egw kai o pathr en esmen. (5748) - John 10:30

Hmmmm. Jesus used the same terminology for "oneness" as in Deuteronomy 6:4. Jesus makes a distinction between His person and the Father's person, but He makes not distinction in God's being or essence.

Cf. D. Block, has a book "How Many Is God: An Investigation into the Meaning of Deuteronomy 6:4-5," I thought this was a curious title for a book. A bit presumptuous. For example why not title the book 'How Many Beings is God: An Investigation into the Meaning of Deuteronomy 6:4-5."

After all if the Tri-Theist are going to keep coining new phrases, employing sophistry and clever semantics why presume anything?

Again with the Tri-Theist. We Christians - all of us - whether you accepts the distinction of person in the Godhead or ignore it - we all agree that God is one being. The Muslims are correct on that point. 

Why presume that God's being is 'one'? I really want to know on what basis do Christians say that God's being is one?

Why presume that God's person is :"one" as thegrandverbalizer does? The Bible doesn't. Yet the Qur'an and the Bible agree that God is one in being. 

If words have meaning what do they mean by that? Curious Muslims (and those searching for truth) want to know.

I want to know why thgrandverbalizer thinks that Christians are twisting words. We all instinctively make a distinction between  "being" and "person". No one answers the questions "What are you?" the same as the question "Who are you?" They are different categories and not the same. Here is another important point. I think that the Trinity is important but it's not a litmus test for orthodoxy. I mean there will be countless people in heaven who put their faith in what God revealed to them and not have as much of the big picture as we have today. For example, Neither Abraham, Moses, nor David knew that the Messiah's name would be Jesus, but they knew that God would provide such salvation and they trusted God for that. Neither did they know about God being triune in person. Yet we'd be stupid to think they didn't make it into heaven. 

³⁹ These were all commended for their faith, yet none of them received what had been promised, ⁴⁰ since God had planned something better for us so that only together with us would they be made perfect.- Hebrews 11:39-40

Islam and Christianity A Common Word: A very simple question for Christians. (In What Sense Is God One?)

Septuagint Info


StudyLight.org

Scripture4All - Interlinear Hebrew Old Testament

Related articles

• Humility Like Moses' (delooo.wordpress.com)
• "What Jesus Does" ( Jude 9, HCSB ) by Carley Evans (via Grace Partakers) (thechristiangazette.wordpress.com)
• Assurance, Examination, and Community (apologus.wordpress.com)
• This Weeks Torah Portion - Matot (Tribes) (terri0729.wordpress.com)

Leviticus 16: Day of Atonement

Leviticus 16: Day of Atonement

Ten Minutes to Cover the Testimony to the Atonement in Hebrews

I think the key to understanding particular redemption (aka limited atonement) is to look at how Jesus' substitutionary atonement works looking through the lens of the Old Testament sacrifices on Yom Kippur. The Book of Hebrews does a great job of explaining the correlation. Jesus not only acted as high priest on behalf of those who are saved but He is also the lamb sacrificed. James White did an awesome job on the Dividing Line expounding on this point. It's mind-blowing how God set up the sacrificial system to point to what Jesus ultimately did for us and completely fulfilled the requirements for us in himself. I really enjoy hearing Dr. White explaining this very important point.




Ten Minutes to Cover the Testimony to the Atonement in Hebrews

Real Jesus, Knowing the real Jesus

I have been pointed to this particular website that alleges that mainstream Christianity distorts Jesus' person, message, and life. I disagree. This website should have a response.


What if the image of Jesus that you have been given was completely out of touch with reality? 

Yes

Would you want to know the real Jesus?

Yes

Have you considered that for almost 2,000 years mainstream Christianity has carefully crafted the image of Jesus that has been given to the public? 

Yes, I've considered that. It's not true.

Have you considered that this image might have been crafted for a specific purpose, a purpose that might be in complete opposition to Jesus' purpose for coming to Earth? 

Watch how the article spins against the Bible.

Consider the characteristics of the mainstream image of Jesus:

Are these really what the Bible says about Jesus?

• Jesus is portrayed as being remote, distant, far away in some heaven where most people cannot reach him. In fact, access to Jesus is controlled by the official church.

• Jesus is residing in a remote heaven, and he apparently has had nothing to say to humankind for 2,000 years—no new revelation has been forthcoming (or at least hasn't been accepted by any mainstream church).
• Jesus is portrayed as being perfect, which actually means that he is pictured as a non-entity with no personality or human characteristics.

The writer of Hebrews disagrees.

 ¹⁴Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. ¹⁵For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ¹⁶Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. - Hebrews 4:14-16

⁵For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, ⁶who gave himself as a ransom for all men—the testimony given in its proper time. - 1 Timothy 2:5-6

We can go to Jesus without going through anyone else. These verses destroys those contentions. I'm not saying that people don't teach these things but it's not Biblical.
What is the main message spoken between the lines of this official image? It is that Jesus is not accessible to you and that he is nothing like you. Yet the real message is that YOU can never be like Jesus!!!

No we can't be like Jesus. Jesus is God. Yet Jesus is like us. He knows because he experienced human existence

¹⁶For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. ¹⁷For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for^[a]the sins of the people. ¹⁸Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted. - Hebrews 2:16-18

This is peculiar because Jesus went out of his way to portray himself as a human being like us, generally calling himself the "son of man" to establish a connection between himself and all people.

Jesus is a human being but He is also God-made-flesh. "Son of Man" is not a reference to His humanity but to his deity. See the Book of Daniel to see what the term meant to the Jews who heard it in the first century and where it came from.

He also said that "The kingdom of God is within you," meaning that we do not need an external church and its hierarchy in order to establish a personal connection to Christ.


This not right. The Kingdom of God is not in the hearts and mind of anyone but those who are living for God. This is quoting Luke 17:21 out of context.  The NIV reads:

 ²⁰Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, ²¹nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within^[a] you."

 ²²Then he said to his disciples, "The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see it.

Footnotes:

1. Luke 17:21 Or among

The New American Standard Bible says:

 ²⁰Now having been questioned by the Pharisees ^(A)as to when the kingdom of God was coming, He answered them and said, "The kingdom of God is not coming with ^(B)signs to be observed;

 ²¹nor will ^(C)they say, 'Look, here it is!' or, 'There it is!' For behold, the kingdom of God is in your midst."

Second Coming Foretold

 ²²And He said to the disciples, "^(D)The days will come when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, and you will not see it.

Cross references:

1. Luke 17:20 : Luke 19:11; Acts 1:6
2. Luke 17:20 : Luke 14:1
3. Luke 17:21 : Luke 17:23
4. Luke 17:22 : Matt 9:15; Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35

The text says that the Kingdom is among us but it does say that we don't need a church to get to God. We can go to God through Jesus. The point of the church is not to be our mediator with God. 

And most importantly, he said that we can do the works that he did, even greater works.

Jesus did say that we can do what he did  and greater but he did not say that we could do it apart from Him.


For those who are willing to question the official image, the conclusion is clear. The official image is meant to make you dependent upon an outer church and its human hierarchy, preventing you from discovering Christ within yourself. 

Christ is not within you by default.  You can only come to Jesus if you are drawn by the Father. (John 6:44)

The reality of what Jesus taught and did is that he came to Earth as an example, not as an exception. 

The Bible tells us that all have sinned and fallen short of God's standards, but Jesus. He was without sin. 

Jesus does not want to be elevated to some superior status that sets him apart from us. He wants us to see him as an example who came to show us that we have the same potential that he demonstrated.

Jesus claimed to be God and said

 ²³But he continued, "You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. ²⁴I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins."- John 8:23-24

You can't get higher than that.

The real message of the real Jesus is that we too have the potential – an inherent potential given to us by God, a potential that no power on Earth can take away from us (unless we let them) – to manifest the Christ consciousness. WE TOO CAN BECOME THE CHRIST! 

Okay here is the heresy. There is only one Christ. One Lord.  One Messiah. One Annointed One. Not me. Not you. Only Jesus of Nazareth. It is only By him we are saved!

Through the Christ consciousness we then become the open doors for the power of God, as Jesus demonstrated. We too can become sons and daughters of God, letting God work through us and bringing his kingdom into manifestation on Earth.
As Jesus said, "The kingdom of God is at hand!" Let us simply walk away from the official fraudulent image of Jesus and embrace him as our brother, teacher an wayshower. Let us take back our power to be who we really are and become instruments for bringing a better society into manifestation, a society built on the reality of Christ rather than the many illusions of anti-christ.

These are the words of the Anti-christ. Jesus DID NOT teach this. What did Jesus say?

 ¹⁶"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. - John 3:16-17

Real Jesus, Knowing the real Jesus