Theology of Nuance; Struggling with God and Man and Overcoming

(Part Two)

The family, and how it is a symbol for the unity of God.
There is so very much in this thesis.
If…, this is true, it could help us to understand why the family is threatened by so many temptations.

Consider just a few things that the world can offer us to break the husband’s unity with his wife.

• workaholic/careers threaten it
• pornography threatens it
• blogging threatens it
• infidelity threatens it
• Sports and Recreation threatens it
• Alcohol and chemical dependency threatens it
• Motorcycles threaten it
• Hotrod cars threaten it
• Anything that we can imagine threatens the unity of the Wife and Husband

As a symbol, Satan might see the family as a physical representation of God’s nature.
Therefore, when Satan succeeds in breaking the unity of families, he might view this as a victory over his enemy, God.
It explains Jesus’ words against divorce in Matthew 19

• ·3 Some Pharisees came and tried to trap him with this question: “Should a man be allowed to divorce his wife for any reason?”
• ·4 “Haven’t you read the Scriptures?” Jesus replied. “They record that from the beginning ‘God made them male and female.’
• ·5 And he said, ‘This explains why a man leaves his father and mother and is joined to his wife, and the two are united into one.’
• ·6 Since they are no longer two but one, let no one separate them, for God has joined them together.”

Note that Jesus does, in-fact, make use of the same language that is recorded in Deuteronomy 6 about Yahweh being One.

This passage in Deuteronomy is difficult for many Christians to understand or explain. But, in the context of a family, we may see a clearer picture of what the Lord intended by the statement found in this Old Testament passage. Look again, and compare/contrast the wording from the old 1901 American Standard Version to the King James Version.

• ·4Hear, O Israel: Jehovah our God is one Jehovah: ASV
• ·4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: KJV

ASV is a more accurate interpretation of the Hebrew text. The name “Jehovah” that is used by the American Standard Version is carried over from the original German translation, instead of spelling it phonetically.

Therefore, just as the spelled name “John” in Dutch or German is pronounced “Yon” and “William” is pronounced “Villhelm”, we see why Jehovah could alternately be pronounced “Yahweh”. With these differences understood, the ASV is far more accurate in showing that ‘Yahweh is one Yahweh’ or ‘Jehovah is one Jehovah’.

There are three individuals (Holy Spirit, Father, and Son) but only One Yahweh.
The Family of Yahweh may be the most simple way to understand & explain the nature of God.

As an analogy, we might consider personal examples of very strong, even “unified” families. If one is insulted then all are insulted. If you honor one family member then all are honored.

My wife often teaches a weekly Ladies Bible class, people will approach me at worship and tell me how “wonderful” and “inspiring” she is to them. This is an honor to me. I feel 10′ tall, when people tell me about Molly’s gift and the encouragement that she is to them. Molly is an extension of David, therefore I am being complimented, when I receive praise for my wife.

This is not so difficult for us to understand. How many mothers & fathers will beam with pride, as they see their son throw a game-winning touchdown pass or hear their daughter play a flawless piano recital.

We, as parents, know that when our daughters and sons are recognized for special honor, we ourselves are honored.

The underlying Unity between the wife-mother, husband-father, & son/daughter is present in the Trinity. When we accept God’s Holy Spirit, offered by Jesus Christ, we obtain the power to overcome the devil’s scheme to break up the unity of family.

We must accept our role in the symbol of Marriage & Family, however, because when we accept this mission, we have the unique position of fighting the devil on God’s terms, i.e. the terms of Holy Unity, instead of fighting him on his terms, i.e. self-gratification (a.k.a. pride).

*_____*

Back to the scenario that I laid out in my preceding post, concerning God’s creation plan and Satan’s diabolical scheme, it involves some supposition from scripture and from life experiences.

I may be wrong or right.

But, one key debate that I faced was not addressed in the comments to the post. The issue was about Satan’s creation timing. The common supposition is always that Satan was created at the same time that the physical universe was created. But, this cannot be supported by scripture. It is not mentioned, when the devil was created.

The typical texts from Isaiah or Ezekiel or Revelation do not state anything about Satan’s origination. But, since no one has mentioned these passages I won’t go into them now.

But, if I am wrong please show my error, by writing and posting.

Nevertheless, the creation described in Genesis 1 and 2 is a physical creation of the Cosmos. And we needn’t presume that all spiritual beings were created at the same time as the physical Cosmos.

Furthermore, I might point out that the use of the term “time” is utterly useless prior to the physical Cosmos, because time is inextricably linked with space and matter, which are not spiritual, but rather, are carnal.

I will pick-up again later. The time is late for a physical being such as I am.

(TO BE CONTINUED)

God Bless,

DSM

There have been some issues, about which I have written, in many small snigglet-sized thoughts, through many of my essays, but have never addressed directly.
The nature of the family is one such issue.

All human cultures have at their basic civil organization (a.k.a civilization), the family.

The “family” is, in my opinion, the government of humankind, in its most elemental form, and is designed to be so, by the Creator.
God has imbued the institution of “family” with His holy nature of union.

I am convinced that the family is a holy & symbolic representation of the relationship, which exists in Yahweh our God. You may recall that I have written about this in other essays in the past.

While many disciples are reticent to say this, my wife among them, I am comfortable in saying the Trinity represents all positions in a loving and functional family.
Holy Spirit, Father and Son, are symbolically represented by mom, dad, and child, respectively.

I hope to receive opposing opinions on this.
And to the opposing argument, I recognize that Holy Spirit is never referenced as “mother”.
I further recognize that Holy Spirit is always referenced by the use of the masculine pronoun, “he”.
However, I am not saying that God is anything physical.
“Religious” people who think it wise to rewrite the bible, and thus remove all gender from the scriptures, which references God, bemuse me.
However, to be fair, those who think that God is a physical man (”He”) also bewilder me.

I should be clear on what I am saying.

Jesus the Messiah was a physical man, but he is no longer a physical man. (If you have questions about this look at 1 Corinthians 15:35-58, specifically note verses 49 - 50; “49 And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. 50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.”)

If you are reading this, and you are reluctant to consider the notion that the “family” is a physical symbol, which represents the holy Spiritual relationship with and between the individuals who compose the Trinity of God, then imagine this scenario for a few minutes.

1. The almighty Creator, who is made up of three separate and distinct individuals, determines that “He” wants to share & participate in love (Agapē) with a created being.
2. However there are preexisting created beings, which are not invited to participate in this union between Creator and creation.
3. These preexisting created beings are spiritual, but are not participants inside the holy union of the Spiritual Creator.
4. As the Creator completes His plan for a new type of creation, which is not an exclusively spiritual nature, some of those beings, which were created before the new creation, become jealous about the interlopers, who are designed “in the image of the Creator” and for the purpose of union with the Creator.
5. The chief executive officer (CEO) of the created spiritual beings is given a responsibility for the new creation and the divine reflections, which inhabit it. This “prosecutor/constable” is also given the power to imbibe the physical creation, however this power is available only through the consent and will of the corporeal beings.
6. For an unknown price, a certain corporeal being agrees to grant the “constable” the use of its body and form, for the purpose of interacting directly with the divine copies.
7. The jealousy of the spiritual CEO comes to culmination, as the constable/prosecutor of the created spiritual realm actually encourages the divine images to forsake their betrothal with the Creator. The constable engages in an act of legal “entrapment”.
8. As the Man and Woman take the forbidden fruit, they fulfill the constables hope and dash the Creator’s great dream of a marriage between God and humanity, or more properly the Son of God and mankind.
9. The Almighty God & Host of Heaven, Yahweh, has been thwarted by an unholy alliance between a created spirit, Satan, and created corporeal, the Serpent.
10. All Humankind are dupes for the dope of the spiritual war that rages.
11. The dope of the spiritual war, is pride. And Adam and Eve took it in. They breathed these fowl emanations into their hearts and minds before the fruit ever touched their lips, even before the fruit was plucked from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. They doubted the love (Agapē) that was promised by the Creator.
12. The Creator, however, knew everything before it ever happened. And, He had a plan for the renewal of the marriage vow between humanity and Himself. (THE CREATOR CANNOT BE THWARTED. Because, LOVE NEVER FAILS. ·

1 Corinthians 13:7,8: Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love will last forever,…

(TO BE CONTINUED)

God bless,

DSM

Ezekiel 36:26-27 “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you; and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep mine ordinances, and do them.”

There is irony in mankind requiring a “heart of flesh” from a spiritual God. And it speaks to the masks that are in Sacha Baron Cohen’s characters and
Thomas Merton’s “false selves”.
We hide our true self behind a “heart of stone”; a heart that feels no…

• pain, shame, compassion, love, empathy, sympathy, & mercy

But, it rather feels far too much…

• self-pride, self-righteousness, sanctimony, arrogance, hatred, rage, contempt, derision,

Do you remember that Old Testament story of Jacob receiving his “new name”?

Genesis 32:24-30 This left Jacob all alone in the camp, and a man came and wrestled with him until dawn. When the man saw that he couldn’t win the match, he struck Jacob’s hip and knocked it out of joint at the socket. Then the man said, “Let me go, for it is dawn.” But Jacob panted, “I will not let you go unless you bless me.” “What is your name?” the man asked. He replied, “Jacob.” “Your name will no longer be Jacob,” the man told him. “It is now Israel (he, who struggles with God), because you have struggled with both God and men and have won.” “What is your name?” Jacob asked him. “Why do you ask?” the man replied. Then he blessed Jacob there. Jacob named the place Peniel—“face of God”—for he said, “I have seen God face to face, yet my life has been spared.”

I know, that you know what it means to struggle with God. I think also that you have been knocked “out-of-joint” as well.
This passage is, again, another nuance and paradox.
Why is this story in the bible?
Why does it say that Jacob struggled with God?
Why does it say that God couldn’t win the match against Jacob?
Why does God bless Jacob, as a reward for the wrestling match?

These are profound questions to a confusing paradox.
I will admit that for many years I have hated this passage, with painful contempt. It flies in the face of everything in my carnal being. It is simply not logical.
Jacob should not wrestle with God!
God should not wrestle with a man!
God should punish Jacob for impudence and audacity!
God should flip him over and pin his shoulders to the ground with a mere wink!
Jacob should fall flat on his stomach and worship God and beg for pardon!

Israel? Your name will be “Israel,” because “you have struggled with both God and men and have won.” Maybe he won against “man”, but there’s no way he could win against God.

Right?
How, God?

How am I supposed to cope with this story in the bible?

Please, tell me that there was a transcription error, something is wrong. Right?

Well, I have come to a point in my life, where I am beginning to accept more of the paradoxes of God. I am not a shill for a fraudulent snake oil salesman. I am simply beginning to understand that God’s grace is far greater than my jaded experience (a.k.a carnal nature) will allow.
This is what I see from the event with Jacob and God.

• 1. God does not punish us for struggling with Him
  2. God expects the struggle.
  3. God cherishes the struggle.
  4. God respects our struggle.
  5. God understands our struggle.
  6. God freely grants us the opportunity to struggle.
  7. God’s only requirement is that we not “give-up” our struggle.

I know that God can pin my ears back. But, God doesn’t want to do that. The same is true with Jacob.

This exact event occurs in my house every week. My son and daughter love to “get me down.” And we wrestle around in the floor until I am out of breath or until it’s time for a bath. (Which tends to coincide with regularity.) I struggle with my kids and enjoy the struggle, because I love them.
Yes, I am sometimes hurt by our struggles and sometimes they are hurt by our struggles.
But, so long as they are willing to come back and not give-up, our wrestling will build strength, character, love and trust.

• What happens if I pin my son or daughter on the ground with no effort and no struggle?
• Will they trust me more?
• Will they respect me more?
• Will they love me more?
• What happens if God pins Jacob to the ground?
• What happens if God pins me to the ground?
• What happens if God pins you to the ground?

I don’t think that I am taking this too far. God could beat us if that were his purpose.
But, we know what his purpose is now. Don’t we?
Through Jesus Christ, the Father’s purpose is to “seek and save” John 3:17 “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn it, but to save it.”

Jesus could have pinned our ears back. But, the goal was more in line with a 41 year-old dad wrestling with his 3 and 7 year-old on the living room floor.

Finally, the issue of the mask and the name, Jacob was the name that he was given at birth. He moved around behind it, and operated with it as a defense to protect him from the world. But, it was replaced with God’s name.
I know the purpose of the name in this context.
When one “knows” our name, it will allow them to control us. This was an important point to the people of Jacob’s day. And it even continues in the modern day as well.
It is not thought of in these terms anymore. But, less than two generations ago, children were taught that it was disrespectful to use an elder’s “Christian name.” We should instead use the proper title with their surname. Remember?

This “name issue” gives control to a person.
When Jacob told God his carnal name, he granted authority to God. God subsequently changes his name, to “Israel.”

Revelation 2:17
“Anyone who is willing to hear should listen to the Spirit and understand what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Everyone who is victorious will eat of the manna that has been hidden away in heaven. And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. (Emphasis added)

The new name was “a blessing” to Jacob, it is a blessing to all who give God authority. Israel was blessed to not have to hide behind the mask of Jacob. Jacob treated people with contempt, just as “Borat” does.

God bless,

DSM

(The words here and below that are posted in small gray text have been added because of an editorial request of my wife)

Well, here we are again. This is a follow-up to last weeks’ posting on symbols and God.

The issue of symbols in communication is necessarily implied. All communication is symbolic. These letters are symbols, put together in a certain order to represent abstract ideas or concrete things in reality. So, you see it is not so extraordinary to talk about God using various symbols to represent and convey deeper meanings.
However, the issue is so very important, necessarily because it is absolutely fundamental to humanity and God.
Humanity is different from all of creation by one simple & tangible principle. We have language for communication. This truly sets us apart. Animals communicate by various means, but none have language.
This measure is basic and it includes sign language, spoken oratory/auditory, and written pictographical/alphabetical.
I believe that this issue of language and Symbology is a key to human sin. Sin begins as a breakdown of trust in the thoughts and feelings that are conveyed by our symbols of language. Let’s consider some questions to see if you can understand my point on sin and language.
What is the purpose of language? Is it not to accurately convey thoughts from one to another? I might refer you back to an earlier posting on Quantum Mechanics to get to the idea of our space & time dimensional universe.
Symbols allow us to communicate across time, whether it is days, years, or even aeons.
They allow us to communicate across vast distances in space, whether the symbols are exchanged between a husband and wife separated by a war, oceans and continents or between NASA mission control and the astronauts in a spacecraft.
Our thoughts are formed and exist primarily in a Spiritual realm, but we must convey them or transfer them across a physical dimension and into another Spiritual mind and heart. The goal of our communication by language is to create a unity of mind between one another.
This, hope for unity, results in pain if our thoughts are rejected by those with whom we try to create the union. We may become defensive and perceive the rejection as an attack. Sin at this point is beginning to become manifest.
There are a lot of obstacles to overcome in this transference of thought and feelings.
And still, all the while these thoughts and feelings are being carried into and across the very domain of our enemy, and God’s “would-be” rival, “the prince of the air”, “the prince of this world”, Satan.

To communicate with you, I must take my thoughts and convert them to symbols that we mutually understand. When you hear or read these symbols, an idea or thought is created in your mind. That thought, in your mind, if communication is done correctly (My wife corrected me on this point and I concur, so I want to include this caveat. “Perfect” communication is not possible in our 3D universe, therefore, the idea of “correctly done communication” is only in a perfect world, e.g. Heaven.) , will perfectly match the thought that I had in my mind.
Good communication is very cumbersome in our universe.
How often do you misunderstand your spouse, children, employer, etc?
How often does your spouse, children, employer, etc misunderstand you?
You get the point.
Now we need to deal with another element of communication, which is deceit.
If we are in agreement, that the purpose of language is to accurately convey thoughts from one to another, what does this imply about deceit? (I know that I am presuming that we will agree on the above point, but if you would like to debate the point, I am certainly willing to listen to the other side of the issue. That being, that the purpose of language is not to accurately convey thought, but rather inaccurately convey thought or obscure thoughts. Please post an alternate view if you can support it.)
Nevertheless, I will presume that we are attempting to accurately convey thought. Thus, when we read John 8:44 we see why I believe that deceit is the foundation of all sin. And, it’s not that deceit has necessarily occurred in-fact, but that there may become a presumption that deceit has occurred.
44 For you are the children of your father the Devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning and has always hated the truth. There is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies. 45 So when I tell the truth, you just naturally don’t believe me! 46 Which of you can truthfully accuse me of sin? And since I am telling you the truth, why don’t you believe me? 47 Anyone whose Father is God listens gladly to the words of God. Since you don’t, it proves you aren’t God’s children.”

Also, when we read the account of the sin of Eve and Adam in Genesis 3, we see that the communication was working effectively, until they were persuaded, by Satan, that God was using language to inaccurately convey thought or obscure truth, e.g. “You won’t die!” the serpent hissed. “God knows that your eyes will be opened when you eat it. You will become just like God, knowing everything, both good and evil.”

We should not presume that people are trying to deceive us, as Adam and Eve did concerning God. We should give our fellowman the benefit of the doubt and always assume the best. Also, we should never attempt to deceive as the serpent did and neither should we ever encourage any to presume the worst of others, as he did. (My wife asked a very good question on this point. “Should they have assumed Satan to be a liar? If so, then this becomes a paradox. My answer to this point almost made it into the original post, because I recognize the “seeming” paradox. However, we have four (4) potential options to resolve this problem. There are only four options of which I am aware that will adequately address all of the data for this problem. When we apply logic to the puzzle, we may resolve the “paradox” more easily.

1. We may assume that our Creator is lying and Satan is telling the truth.

   With option 1, which Satan implies is the answer, we do have a Creator who is all-knowing [omniscient], but who is not all-good [omnibenevolent], because he is deceitful, paranoid and suspicious of others. This does not fit my experience with God. But, even more to the logic issue, if I believe this about God, it robs me of Joy. I am forever looking over my shoulder for an all-powerful God who knows everything, but is mean, hateful and paranoid. This is how many live in our world, but it is not a joyful existence and it is not logical to give oneself over to a belief that may or may not be real, but will certainly lead to my despair, as I try to “outwit” my idea of a capricious God.

2. We may assume that Satan is lying and the Creator is telling the truth.

   With option 2, which I advised, in the original post, as being not acceptable, we do have an all-knowing and all-good Creator, but Satan is the deceiver. This option is a good possibility, but for one salient point, the devil doesn’t work independently of carnal beings. Satan tempts God’s creatures to do his bidding for him. The serpent certainly has culpability in these unfolding events, but the words spoken through him were not his words. Furthermore it is not necessary to accuse him of deceit. The man and woman could have said ‘You are ignorant of the facts Mr. Serpent, because God has told us that we should not eat.’

3. We may assume that Yahweh is ignorant of the facts concerning the tree, but Satan has the full knowledge. With option 3, logic must immediately rule against this. The created being, Satan, cannot possess more knowledge than the Creator.
4. We may assume that Satan is ignorant of the facts, while God has complete knowledge. Only option 4 meets the logic and the standard for glorifying God. Furthermore, in the New Testament book of Jude, we find this curious admonition and rebuke from Jesus’ brother in verse 9; “But even the archangel Michael, when he was disputing with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare to bring a slanderous accusation against him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’” It is not in our purpose or job description, to condemn or bring charges of accusation. Interestingly enough, that job description is reserved for one being in creation, Satan. His very name means “accuser.” From wikipedia; “Satan, from the Hebrew word for “accuser” {Standard Hebrew: שָׂטָן.}

[I want to briefly relate a true story about a businessman with which my company once had dealings. We had done a project for the man and after submitting the invoice he attempted to negotiate the cost of the invoice, but because he and I had already agreed to the price for the work, I refused to revise the invoice. After six months had passed someone asked one of the officers of my company about this other gentleman's company. The response was, paraphrasing 'Well, I think John Doe is having financial trouble, because they haven't been able to pay a little invoice that we submitted.' The businessman got word that my company was telling people that he was having money trouble. He called us and expressed anger that this supposition was being told to others. The simple answer to him was this, 'Mr. Doe, either I can tell them that you are having money troubles or I can tell them that you're a thief. You should tell me now, what answer should I give the next time someone asks.' The response, as I recall was silence followed by a check within the week. The man realized that he had been granted the benefit of the doubt, but his pride was so big that he would have preferred to be thought of as shrewd, deceitful and "more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made", rather than being thought of as an honest man who is struggling with finances.]

I don’t know if this response is common, however, I do know that this response brings glory to God. It allows the person the option of making the honorable decision, albeit after-the-fact, because it does not condemn them at the outset of the event.

I believe that the moral choice taken late is better than the evil choice condemned prematurely.

The symbols that God uses are all intended to reveal truth. And everything in our physical creation is symbolic and represents something deep and more real in the realm of heaven.
What does the ocean reveal about God?
What do the mountains reveal?
What do the trees tell us?
What do the stars and constellations say?

God is wild and fearless. He’s no stranger to risk. He is passionate. Yet, he is peaceful. And He is an adventurer.

What does marriage tell us about God? What does motherhood tell us? What does childhood say? What about fatherhood?

God is romantic and nourishing. God is vivacious and exuberant. God is strong and faithful.

The symbol of marriage is used for God and Israel many times in the Prophets, with God as husband and Israel as an unfaithful wife. You should read Hosea. Look at Jeremiah 3:1ff, “If a man divorces a woman and she marries someone else, he is not to take her back again, for that would surely corrupt the land. But you have prostituted yourself with many lovers, says the Lord. Yet I am still calling you to come back to me.”
And Ezekiel 16:15-17, 15 But you thought you could get along without me, so you trusted instead in your fame and beauty. You gave yourself as a prostitute to every man who came along. Your beauty was theirs for the asking! 16 You used the lovely things I gave you to make shrines for idols, where you carried out your acts of prostitution. Unbelievable! How could such a thing ever happen? 17 You took the very jewels and gold and silver ornaments I had given you and made statues of men and worshiped them, which is adultery against me.

I don’t want to labor the point by giving too many passages, as background for my point. But, the simple point is made that the Church is called the bride of Christ. We are married to the savior. This is the symbol that God himself has chosen for our relationship to Jesus. Why do you suppose this is portrayed to us so vividly? Why has God instituted the union of marriage from the beginning? Is marriage only a convenient means of propagating our species?
This could have been achieved by many other equally effective means. So, why did He chose marriage and why the method of “union”?
My belief is that Unity is represented throughout the New Testament books and it is intensely portrayed by Jesus’ final prayer before the passion, John 17. Unity is the word. Union is the symbol of marriage, in our wedding bands. The two shall become one flesh.
God is three in the Trinity, the Father, the Holy Spirit, and the Son. My contention is that That God teaches us by His symbols. The marriage is also a symbol for Yahweh’s divine relationship, which exists within God. The Father is one with the Holy Spirit and both are unified to Jesus the Son.

Finally, in this symbol we see the Father choosing the bride (the Church) for Jesus the Son. The Father, by the sacrifice of the Son and the nourishing/nurturing power of the Holy Spirit (the Mother), sanctify the Church and make her holy for marriage to Jesus.

These are the symbols that I believe are revealed in God’s plan for our redemption.
I know that many will feel that I have taken the symbols too far.

But, I am convinced that the reason why Satan attacks our families, so relentlessly, is because it is the perfect carnal representation of Yahweh’s holy nature. And so long as our families remain true and sound, it is an affront, an insult to Satan, who could never take part in the divine nature, as humanity can. Satan is proud and angry that we mortal humans have caught the eye of the creator.
And the devil resents the fact that our creator loves us so passionately and so romantically that He will, literally, move heaven and earth to see that our wedding to Jesus takes place.
This life that we slog through is nothing less than the cosmic & heroic love story of all eternity.
We are God’s captivating love.

Symbols of God…

God bless,
DSM

This post will break new ground for me, as being one of pure speculative opinion without any supporting documentation whatsoever.

Obviously, I do not lack for opinions, however, my general rule is that I give my views as I also provide substantial supporting data for my stated judgment on the issue in discussion.

Well, I guess even with this topic I will hold to my standards, that is if you think that common general knowledge, historical data, scripture and a preponderance of overwhelming circumstantial evidence reflects substantivly on ones opinion.

Symbology and/or semiotics being used by God is something that I have considered often, over the years. God uses symbols over and over through scripture. We cannot avoid the fact that God’s modus operandi is to provide a symbol to His servants, tell them the importance of the symbol, and then to provide the action that fulfills the reality that is to be represented by the symbol.
Sometimes God says that the symbol will be a reminder to Him (there’s something we need to discuss) and other times it’s to be a memorial to His servants.

The rainbow was an early example of this. God goes to war with humankind, all the earth, and then after the battle he hangs up His weapon of war, the bow in the sky. He won’t flood the earth again. He made a covenant and set a symbol that reflected the pact. (Genesis 9)

[Incidently, I too, CCWMAN (Concealed Carry Weapon Man), used to be at war with with my fellow man and God's creation. So, I need this symbol, it reminds me that I've hung up guns.

• 2Corinthians 5:18-20, 18 And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committedc unto us the word of reconciliation.  20 Now then we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ’s stead, be ye reconciled to God. 21 For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

I am not at war with all the earth any longer. God has reconciled me to you through Jesus Christ. God has reconciled me to all men and women who live on Earth. Is there a war when the Almighty Creator declares peace? No! I am Jesus Christ to the whole of humanity. Did Jesus lift his sword against men? Look at verse 20 again, "We are Christ’s ambassadors, and God is using us to speak to you. We urge you, as though Christ himself were here pleading with you, “Be reconciled to God!”NLT Emphasis Added]

We need God’s symbols. The plagues on Egypt were each symbolically set against deities of Egypt. We read in Numbers 33:4 that ‘Yahweh executed judgment upon the gods of Egypt.’ We will not go through the ten plagues in Exodus 7-12, however, suffice it to say that the Egyptians were highly religious and they were inclined to offer ritual homage to any deity that appeared to have the power to harm them by withholding it’s bounty.
Therefore, you can see the idea behind their worship. They wanted to stay in good with the natural powers that be. If they upset the natural order, then they could expect famines, diseases or such.
The reverse of this was just as true. Thusly, why would any Egyptian in his right mind, respect a deity who is invisible, has no home, no domain, no water, no grain, no land, no sky, and no name? Yahweh, after all means “I Am, That I Am”, (Hebrew: אהיה אשר אהיה, pronounced Ehyeh asher ehyeh). That sounds pretty silly, it sounds like Popeye, “I yam, what I yam!”, especially to people who have been around the block a few times, such as the Egyptians.

Anyway, back on point, Yahweh symbolically attacked the ten prime gods of Egypt. Symbols are big to our God.
Look at the Passover feast. Every piece of the feast has deep meaning to our Jewish brothers. They know the purpose of everything, down to the minutia. They know, because God told them down, to that same minutia.

What is the purpose of the Symbology? Why does God use symbols as he does? Well, on the Passover, He told the Israelites why in Exodus 12.

• 26 Then your children will ask, ‘What does all this mean? What is this ceremony about?’ 27 And you will reply, ‘It is the celebration of the Lord’s Passover, for he passed over the homes of the Israelites in Egypt. And though he killed the Egyptians, he spared our families and did not destroy us.’ ” Then all the people bowed their heads and worshiped.

So, it is about remembering. When the next generation is curious about the symbols, you will have a teaching opportunity for the kids. That makes sense. My kids are always curious. My kids always ask “Why daddy?” And there I go; I am able to teach a lesson. You will see the same thing in Exodus 13:14; & Dt 6:20 also.

God is obsessed with symbols.
Look at Joshua 4:3-7.

• 3 Tell the men to take twelve stones from where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan and pile them up at the place where you camp tonight.”
  4 So Joshua called together the twelve men 5 and told them, “Go into the middle of the Jordan, in front of the Ark of the Lord your God. Each of you must pick up one stone and carry it out on your shoulder—twelve stones in all, one for each of the twelve tribes. 6 We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future, your children will ask, ‘What do these stones mean to you?’ 7 Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the Lord’s covenant went across.’ These stones will stand as a permanent memorial among the people of Israel.”

‘Why daddy?’

Well, because…God has a plan. God knows us pretty well. God understands that we are natural, carnal, physical beings that often times need physical memorials to prompt our recollection of where we have come from and to where we are going.

God uses these symbols every time He speaks to us. His prophets use these same teaching mechanisms as well. There is an old church hymn “Come, Thou Fount of every blessing” that has the line “Here I raise my Ebenezer.”

‘Daddy, what does that mean?’

Well, sweetheart, in 1 Samuel 7:12, Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer (which means stone of help), saying, “Thus far has Yahweh helped us.”

It was another way of teaching us that God is a “ROCK” of help.

If you look back at my post from October 8
“What would Jesus do? …with Isaiah 20” you will see a very graphic display of God’s symbolism in this brief chapter. The portent involves Isaiah going around the countryside naked as a jaybird for three years. It was symbolic of what would happen to the nation that the Philistines had counted on, for protection from Assyria. The symbol implied that Philistine ‘Shouldn’t count on Egypt to protect them, because God would strip them bare and drag them away.’

(By the way, I don’t accept the sensitive interpretation of this passage that ignores the clear and obvious depiction of “…with buttocks bared, to Egypt’s shame.” Isaiah was naked. He was not wearing a loincloth.)

God uses the “Eucharist”, Lord’s Supper, or Holy Communion as an important emblem of disciples understanding of what Jesus the Messiah did for humankind.

• The bread is symbolic of the manna that Yahweh provided Israel in the wilderness, which gave them life.
• The bread represents the Lord’s body given for the atonement of all humanity.
• The bread also represents the Lord’s Body the Church, which is unified in Jesus Christ.
• The wine symbolizes the blood of the New covenant.
• The wine is an emblem of Jesus blood poured out by the Father, at the cross.

Which reminds me that we did not discuss Abraham’s offering of his son Isaac in Genesis 22. That episode is rich with symbolism and it represents point by point the sacrifice of Jesus.

The principal who initiated the offering on the mountain was Abraham; it was to be by his hand that Isaac’s blood was to be poured out. (Does this imply that the Father poured out Jesus’ blood?)

Isaac was a boy, but he was willing to give his own life to his father, (…just as Jesus would do for humanity?)

Oh well, this is enough for now. I will continue to build on this theme later.

If you think of other symbols you might post them. I know that I am missing a lot.

God speaks through symbols far more than we consider. We learn by Symbology. I may challenge your thinking a little as I conclude the point later.

God bless,
DSM

As a young man, I recall going to a church camp that was far different than the current “Jesus Camp” documentary.
One of the evening chapel devotionals was “secret”.
No one announced where or when the worship would take place.
It was incumbent on all who desired to worship Jesus, to find the time & place of the devotional by asking circuitous or oblique questions of people, as we went about our day’s schedule.
The exercise was intended to demonstrate, more accurately the nature of the 1st and 2nd century disciples’ commitment to Jesus.
We learned about the catacombs and the followers of the Way.
We learned about the true development of Roman Candles.
And we learned about the infiltration and syncretism of the pagan religious beliefs with Jesus’ teachings.
When Constantine made Christianity the state religion, the Churches resolve to be different from the world was weakened.
Lee Camp’s book, MERE DISCIPLESHIP: RADICAL CHRISTIANITY IN A REBELLIOUS WORLD, documents this development and argues that the modern western view of Christianity is erroneously viewed through a Constantine “cataract” and is thusly flawed by worldly and carnal conventions.

I pray for the believer’s in Riyadh, Baghdad, and Pyongyang.
Yes, they have it very tough.
But, they are free of the Constantine “cataract”, to which American Christians are blinded.

No, I would not want to suffer that way.
But, if God sees me as worthy of that, then I am blessed to be so honored. (Philippians 1:29; 1 Peter 2:20ff, 3:14)

At the same time however, those believer’s will never have to question their faith, as we in the USA do. Because, ‘They know whom they have believed and are persuaded that he is able to keep that which they’ve committed unto him against that day.’ (2Tim. 1:12)

What do you think? Did God really need to know if Abraham would be willing to offer up his son Isaac? Was this test meant to prove something to Yahweh or was it meant to prove something to Abraham and Isaac?
Who, after all, lacked the knowledge? Was it the omniscient God? Or was it his servants Abraham & Issac?
After this episode Abraham & Isaac never had to question their faith.
They were oddly blessed by this apparently oppressive test. Just as the disciples in Riyadh are blessed by the oppressive nature of the Saudi government.

I do not find any admonition in the New Testament for disciples of Yahweh to ‘Go find yourself a good beating for Christ.’
But, I do find the following admonitions:

Expect suffering.
Expect persecution.
Prepare your hearts and minds in advance for the spiritual battle that will occur within the realm of your physical bodies.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that you are now re-created in the image of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that just as the Holy Spirit raised the Lord Jesus Christ from death, you too will be raised to life.
Stand firm in your resolve, knowing that no temporal power exceeds the creative, re-creative, & eternal power of Jesus Christ.
Never give-in to the temporary fears that the World encourages.
Never give-in to the pride that you are God’s arm of judgment.
Endure, in faith, the suffering that the natural will confer upon you, because pain will be healed.
Accept, in faith, the heartaches that the World threatens & delivers, because joy will replace sorrow.

To these, above listed truths, it appears almost axiomatic for American Christians to say “That’s easy for you to say…”, meaning that we should expect to compromise on some things in the “real-world.”
However, I think it is instead, far more difficult to expound these tenets, because to ‘the natural’, these admonitions fly in the face of experinece, logic, & reason.

And, therein lies the truth of the attitude of too many American Christians, we are falling prey to the philosophy of the World or “the old World order.”
Christians must be ready to stand firm on these principles, otherwise they are not principles at all. They are lies and are an out-and-out humbug/fraud.

If we were given leeway to compromise on the Way of Christ, then “the Passion of Christ” should more likely be called ‘the Negotiation of Christ’.
The events of the Gospels would be far less dramatic.
And the sacrifice of the Lord would be far less noble.
We would not even be talking about the Gospel of Christ, because, when literally translated, Gospel means “the Good News” of Christ.
We would instead be referencing ‘the Good Deal’ of Christ.
This, it seems to me, is a profound difference.
If Jesus’ example, to us, were simply as a skilled negotiator, working on humankind’s behalf, between the Father and the devil, and if Jesus simply got, for us, the best bargain that he could, then the whole dynamic changes completely.

In a senario such as this, Jesus becomes just another broker.
He is simply working for the commision.
Jesus will get a cut. The Father will get a cut. And finally, the devil will get a cut.
Oh…, and humankind may find a “good deal” with Jesus behind curtain #3.
But, we should remember also that there are other brokers and other curtains in a scenario like this; Curtain #1 may have Siddhārtha Gautama, Curtain #2 may have Mohammed, etc. etc. ad infinitum, ad nauseam.
It is an interesting concept to consider, isn’t it?

We might, therefore, be wise to say “Show me the money.” Say it to academia. Say it to Hollywood. Say it to the State. Say it to Siddhārtha. Say it to Mohammed. Say it to Yahweh.

If it seems too impertinent to imagine ourselves addressing the Enlightened One, or the greatest Prophet of Allah or even the Creator himself with these words, then be reminded of this, we simply do not have to demand this, because God Almighty has already shown us the “money” when he provided the empty tomb of Jesus the messiah.

Nevertheless, with these things in light, we may begin to see an empirical difference between Jesus’ Way and the many religions of the World.
American Christianity becomes just another religion of the world.
Its adherents may compromise as need be, concerning all of the factory options (bells and whistles.)
With the “Bells and whistles” being roughly defined as things that ‘don’t work in the real world’ or those things that go against “common sense.”

When placed in proper perspective, if Christians make allowances for deviation from Jesus’ Way, with deference to “common sense”, then we have unavoidably admitted that the “real world” or “common sense” is over and above the Heavenly Kingdom.
This admission is utterly untenable.

War is incongruent with Jesus’ Way (Mt. 5:39 “But I tell you, Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.”)
The “real world” becomes a stage prop for Satan’s lie.
An ostensible Potemkin village used to trick gullible Christians into believing that there is more behind the façade of the “real world” than Jesus can offer with His unseen “Kingdom of Heaven”.
And in the WIZARD OF OZ, Dorthy was admonished to “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.”

So, here we (Christians) are again, right back where we started from.
We must decide ‘who do we trust more?’
Is it Jesus and His offer for a Kingdom of Heaven, or Satan and his doggedness for the “common sense” “real world”?
Individual Christians will decide.
There is no way around it.
And my decision will become evident by my actions.

DSM