This post takes me back to the questions that Matt asked last fall? These questions are my personal matters of faith and the logical reasons for that faith.
I have written previously on this blog, that God doesn’t require “blind faith”. “Blind faith” would be defined as; Belief in something, without supporting evidence for that belief.
Thus, my faith is built on evidence. My faith hinges on logic and reason. My faith is, like Jacob’s faith, a struggle that goes on between God, man, and me. (Genesis 32:28)
Therefore, I identify more with Israel than I do with Abraham. Abraham is, to me, the exception that proves the rule, but Israel was always looking for an angle, something to put himself in a better position to receive God’s blessings.
This is how I have felt through my faith struggles. I seem to be reaching a point, where I can say that I have accepted man and God, on God’s terms, instead of mine.
With respect to Jesus the person, the terms for Him are important to understand our questions and help in answering the underlying question, of “Is Jesus God?”
- What does it mean to say that Jesus is the Son of God? And how does God have a Son? I have written about this in two recent posts 1) Romance, Pride, Jealousy, Deceit, Marriage, and God, and the follow-up post; 2) Family (Part Two), so I won’t spend a lot of time here. Suffice it to say, that the Yahweh/Jehovah (see “2” below to find the explanation for name variations and why these variations occur) is a Unity of individual Spirits that are known individually as Holy Spirit, Father, and Son. Each individual within the Trinity always seeks to bring honor and glory to the others in the Trinity. I do not believe that Jesus is the physical progeny of the Holy Spirit and Father. But rather, God’s physical creation of the family as a Unity is symbolic of the relationship that exists between the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son. Is that clear enough?
- What is a “messiah”? (Follow the hyperlink for detailed analysis.) Messiah was a term for any person who was anointed by God’s command and choosing and it applies to prophets, priests and kings.
· King Saul was God’s anointed (messiah). God selected him and directed Samuel to anoint Saul 1Samuel 10:1.
· David was anointed (messiah) by Samuel also in 1Samuel 16:12, but still Saul was anointed by God. The fact that David had been anointed did not reverse God’s anointing of Saul, so here we had two messiah kings of Israel.
· Samuel was anointed (messiah) as prophet.
· Moses and Aaron were anointed (messiah) as priests of God.
· The psalmist writes of a “super” messiah in Psalm 45:7 “You love what is right and hate what is wrong. Therefore God, your God, has anointed you, pouring out the oil of joy on you more than on anyone else.” the point that is made here is that, this anointed king will receive an anointing that will be unrivaled among mankind. Therefore, this “Anointed” will be the culmination of the prophecy from Genesis 3:15, “From now on, you and the woman will be enemies, and your offspring and her offspring will be enemies. He will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” - Why or how does the name Jesus, equate to the name Joshua from the Exodus story in Numbers 13:1-16? If you follow the hyperlink noted above it gives the details for this name transliteration. It is a very simple answer and it is similar to the answer for how Yahweh’s name appears in the New Testament, the meaning of Yahweh/Jehovah is translated into the Greek equivalent of “I Am”, rather than being transliterated into the same Greek sound or phonetic equivalent (I have written about this extensively in these posts; 1) How well does Yahweh know Jesus? (Answer to anonymous; Part 1) and 2) How well does Yahweh know Jesus? (Answer to anonymous; Part 2). So, essentially there are two ways to translate words from an original language to an alternate language. You can carry the meaning over, or you can carry the sound over, but you cannot do both, unless there is a very close similarity and development of the two languages, e.g. Spanish to Portuguese. Matt, my blogger friend in Japan, will probably relate to these ideas, because he has seen this in action while living in Japan. I also was there in 1989, and I found that my first name, David, would always be pronounced “Day-bee-doe”, because the Japanese would transliterate the phonetics as best as possible. Japanese don’t hear the phonetically hard “v”; furthermore the Japanese language cannot have syllables that end in consonants. The transliteral solution is found by changing the hard “v” to “b” and adding the vowel sound “ē”, incidentally Japanese must also add the “ō” to the last syllable to make the “d ō” sound. All of this occurs, because the name is transliterated rather than the actual meaning of my name, being translated. How many people know what “David” (דָּוִד,) means? Well, that would be my name if it were translated.
- Is Jesus the Creator of the Universe? Well, this one is straight out of Colossians 1:16-17 “Christ is the one through whom God created everything in heaven and earth. He made the things we can see and the things we can’t see—kings, kingdoms, rulers, and authorities. Everything has been created through him and for him. He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.” I don’t have any problem with this. Yes, I understand what is described in the nature of God.
- 1. The Father is executive. He is the planner. He sets the vision. His will be done. He administrates the purpose. He is the Captain of the ship. He is the General of the Army.
2. The Son is the labor. He is the active. He fulfills the vision. He completes the will of the executive. He is the XO for the Captain of Ship. He is the Cavalry and Infantry and Armor of the Army.
3. The Holy Spirit is the material supply chain. He produces & provides the power. He is the materiel supply line. He delivers the fuel to the Armor. He delivers ammunition to the Infantry. He provides counsel and support to the wounded. He is the Navy Corpsman & Army Combat Field Medic.
Jesus is the active and visible side of Yahweh. He is the Creator.
But, all human endeavors follow the example of God, in one way or another, whether it is Civil Government or Corporate Enterprise or Team Sports or Domestic Family or Military Defense. We always follow the principle established by the Father, Son, & Holy Spirit.
God bless,
DSM
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3 users responded in this post
DS,
Thanks, before reading this I understood the transliteration concept but never really applied it to a language I wasn’t studying, or languages in general (esp. in a Biblical context).
Heh, I have a friend here named Dave aka Day-bee-doe. I think the closer Katakana transliteration may have been Day-bu (Deibu) but that sounds too close to ”debu”, which is the deragatory term for a fat person.
I like your explaination of the Trinity. The more theology I read about it the more I understand the nature of uncreated universal truths that necessarily flow from a Triune God. Morality, love, truth ect… are all undeniable, eternal and permenant because they serve as foundations for the Unity of God. Whereas in Modalism, and other forms of monotheism, you have a God whose character is contingent on nothing so that all truth is arbitrary.
Anyways, good post, thanks again.
I am eager to provide this analysis, because it helps to solidify my understanding on these issues. To explain these things as you have asked is a real blessing to me. I deeply appreciate the questions that you asked last fall. I keep these things in my mind and try to work through my understanding as I go about my day’s activities, and that is one reason it takes me some time to respond. I feel these things in my soul.
However, because I have not, previously, expressed the knowledge, which relates to my belief, I must go through a mental organization of various theoretical concepts & empirical knowledge, as well historical book knowledge. Furthermore, I have my wife asking me to verbalize my goal. She is a grounding rod for me. I tend to chase knowledge to no purpose, instead of chasing knowledge to KNOW purpose. She puts me back on track. I need to answer simple purpose questions for her. If my answer is less than clear to me, it’s a good indicator that I need to stop wasting time and play with the kids, or her more likely.
The name issue is something we don’t consider often. As an American of European descent, I have always been intrigued by Native American names. The Native American names are almost always translated, not transliterated. My name, “David”, would be “Beloved”, if this practice had been followed from the Hebrew to English. I wonder how this would have affected my ‘self-image’ as I was growing up. “And at Defensive Corner, for the North Moore Jayhawks, is Beloved Martin #31.” Or my dad; “That’s my Beloved son, who made the ‘touchdown-saving’ tackle.”
And the Trinity issue is extremely important for disciples of Jesus to understand. I am afraid that too many believers in Jesus’ divinity, don’t understand what exactly, they believe. It is daunting to sit down with a Muslim, who is vehemently monotheistic, and explain how One God equates to a Father, Holy Spirit, and Son. The confusion for the Muslim is usually magnified by the power of three, in the disciple of Christ.
The nature of the three individuals of God, also explains another issue for which most Christians are uncomfortable in discussing. The fact that God can forgive ANY sin is, quite simply, the Amazing Grace story that opened in Oklahoma City movie theaters yesterday, March 26, 2007. God can take a morally filthy character, the man who was an exploiter of human misery, i.e. the 19th Century slave trader, William Wilberforce, and transform him into an abolitionist who is instrumental in the toppling of an evil commerce of slavery, in both the UK and US. Jesus the Messiah can transform Saul the Jewish Pharisee and murderer of Steven, into Paul the Apostle and evangelist to the gentile ‘dogs’.
Yet, Jesus tells us in Mark 3:28-29, “I assure you that any sin can be forgiven, including blasphemy; but anyone who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit will never be forgiven. It is an eternal sin.”
Let me say it…, Nuance & Paradox of God. I am advocating a Theology of Nuance.
God can forgive any sin and blasphemy except blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.
There are NO “hard and fast rules” with God.
Innocence is not determined by strictly following God’s Law and guilt is not determined by “technically” breaking God’s Law (Mt 5:27-30 & Mt 12:1-14). We are disciples of a God who demands a very loose Theology of Nuance.
I want to explain how my understanding of the individual character functions for the Trinity, will shed light on the Father’s inability to forgive blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Look below at the description for how the Father, Son and Holy Spirit function. I had this in the post, that we are now discussing.
1. The Father is executive. He is the planner. He sets the vision. His will be done. He administrates the purpose. He is the Captain of the ship. He is the General of the Army.
2. The Son is the labor. He is the active. He fulfills the vision. He completes the will of the executive. He is the XO for the Captain of Ship. He is the Cavalry and Infantry and Armor of the Army.
3. The Holy Spirit is the material supply chain. He produces & provides the power. He is the materiel supply line. He delivers the fuel to the Armor. He delivers ammunition to the Infantry. He provides counsel and support to the wounded. He is the Navy Corpsman & Army Combat Field Medic.
Now let me make a point from carnal brutality and violence of war. In war, Navy Corpsman & Army Combat Field Medics, will always have insignia on their helmets and arms, indicating their role and position in the battle. They are never supposed to be targeted by combat personnel, nor are they ever supposed to be exploited for combat purposes. It is an “unforgivable” sin to target non-combatant medical personnel. It is also an “unpardonable” sin to use them, hospitals, and ambulances for combat functions. This is in our human psyche. We feel it in our bones. It makes emotional sense, even while we cannot explain it rationally.
This is from God.
This is the design of our Creator.
The Holy Spirit is utterly defenseless in our spiritual battle with the demons and our adversary, Satan.
Just as when the Navy Corpsman steps onto the battle field where mortars are going off just a few meters away, he does not take up a rifle, because he has a nobler calling. So long as he is in an ambulance with a bright Red Cross, he is without protection. So long as he has a bright Red Cross on his helmet and arm band, he is acting as the symbolic equivalent God’s Holy Spirit.
When you take aim on the Army Combat Field Medic, you are shooting at the symbolic representation of He, who is the “Breath of Life” in the nostrils’ of “Adam”, i.e. Humankind. Genesis 2:7
“And the Lord God formed a man’s body from the dust of the ground and breathed into it the breath of life. And the man became a living person.”
What do you have…, if you take aim at the very “breath of life”? Your heart is beyond repair.
God bless,
DSM
Good stuff. Also, if it the Holy Spirit’s role is to counsel and woo people to Christ then, it would seem, there would be no hope for those that berate the call and the Caller.
On a loosely related note, here’s a quote from Lewis:
”[Christians] believe that the living, dynamic activity of love has been going on in God forever and has created everything else. And that, by the way, is perhaps the most important difference between Christianity and all other religions: that in Christianity God is not a static thing — not even a person — but a dynamic, pulsating activity, a life, almost a kind of drama. Almost, if you will not think me irreverant, a kind of dance.”
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