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

Concerning your contention that the Hebrew personal name for God, i.e. Yahweh, was not used in the New Testament; you have not considered the fact Yahweh was not just a ‘personal name’, but it was also a “statement of being.”
And therefore, with an understood meaning, His name translates as it crosses language & cultural boundaries.
God’s answer is a statement to Moses question.
And it is understood to be God’s “raison d’etre.” God’s very existence is self-sufficient for all matters that Moses can imagine. “I am, that I am!” “That is enough!” by God’s perspective.

• Look at Exodus 3:14-15, 14 God replied, “I Am the One Who Always Is.*(Or I Am Who I Am, or I Will Be What I Will Be.) Just tell them, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’ ” 15 God also said, “Tell them, ‘The Lord,*(Hebrew Yahweh; traditionally rendered Jehovah.) the God of your ancestors—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.’ This will be my name forever; it has always been my name, and it will be used throughout all generations.

Now, if we start with the right premise we may stand a better chance at getting to the right answer, as you, quite appropriately, have stated.
Do we see, in the New Testament, the Hebrew words for “I am”? The answer is obviously “No”, but you wouldn’t logically expect to see the New Testament people speaking Hebrew in conversations, since the Jewish people spoke principally Aramaic in all daily activities.
This is an important issue.
It would be similar to future generations looking at our American language of 2006 and making the claim that “thou” did not exist in America in 2006. We might want to tell them ‘Hey, we use the word “You” in America of 2006, not “thou”.’ Good translation skills are in order. Right?

The Jewish people spoke Aramaic, because Babylonians, Medes, and Persians had ruled them for hundreds of years. Each of these nations spoke Aramaic. However, the Greeks crushed the Persians, Alexander crushed them, to be precise. The Jews had to learn a new language. And they did just that. Greek was the language of “Law and Commerce”, but Aramaic was still the spoken tongue in Judah. Then along came Rome, and you can guess what happens. A new language is introduced to the milieu.
Latin was just beginning to displace the previous two languages, i.e. Aramaic & Greek.
So, obviously, there are factors to the claim that you’ve posed. Is “Yahweh” mentioned in the New Testament or not?
The answer is “Yes”! Emphatically “Yes”!
Where then is Yahweh mentioned?
Well, since we know that the words that were put together by God mean “I am”. Those are the words we should look for.
Right?
God made a statement of His Being.
So, are there any statements of God’s being in the New Testament?
As you mention you should get out your Strong’s Concordance and look up “I am.” You will find it all over the Gospels.

Look at Matthew 22:32 and Mark 12:26-27

• Mark 12:26, But now, as to whether the dead will be raised—haven’t you ever read about this in the writings of Moses, in the story of the burning bush? Long after Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob had died, God said to Moses,* ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’* 27 So he is the God of the living, not the dead. You have made a serious error.”
• Look at Mark 14:62-63, 62 Jesus said, “I am, and you will see me, the Son of Man, sitting at God’s right hand in the place of power and coming back on the clouds of heaven.” 63 Then the high priest tore his clothing to show his horror and said, “Why do we need other witnesses?

Why do you suppose that the high priest tore his clothing? It is because the high priest heard “Yahweh” from Jesus lips. The high priest knew what it appears that you have misunderstood.

Look at the Gospel of John all through this gospel account we read Jesus telling us and His hearers that “I am.”

• John 6: 35, 41, 48, 51, Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. No one who comes to me will ever be hungry again. Those who believe in me will never thirst. 41 Then the people began to murmur in disagreement because he had said, “I am the bread from heaven.” 48 Yes, I am the bread of life! 51 I am the living bread that came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever; this bread is my flesh, offered so the world may live.” 58 I am the true bread from heaven. Anyone who eats this bread will live forever and not die as your ancestors did, even though they ate the manna.”
• Look at John 8:12, 18, 19, 23, 24, 28, 29, 30 12 Jesus said to the people, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t be stumbling through the darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” 18 I am one witness, and my Father who sent me is the other.” 19 “Where is your father?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Since you don’t know who I am, you don’t know who my Father is. If you knew me, then you would know my Father, too.” 23 Then he said to them, “You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not. 24 That is why I said that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I am who I say I am, you will die in your sins.”

John 8:24 is a perfect Aramaic and Greek translation of the “statement of being” that God made to Moses at the burning bush.

• John 8:28, So Jesus said, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man on the cross, then you will realize that I am he and that I do nothing on my own, but I speak what the Father taught me. 29 And the one who sent me is with me—he has not deserted me. For I always do those things that are pleasing to him.” 30 Then many who heard him say these things believed in him.

They heard Jesus make the claim of “BEING.” And many believed in Him. The I AM keeps telling us that HE IS. I hope that I have spurred you to reexamine what the conjoined Hebrew words Yahweh really means. Because, the New Testament is as full of the I AM (Yahweh) as were the writings tribal Hebrews.

I may continue this latter, but I think that you have enough information.

But, the paradox is undeniable, from a human stand point. Even if, one understands Yahweh to be a different entity than God/Jesus/Eloahim/Holy Spirit/Father/Dios/Theos/Deity/Trinity.

God bless,

DSM

This is an answer to an anonymous response I received a couple of weeks ago to my essay “And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name…”. The issues that the writer raised are very important, dealing with the identity of Yahweh and Jesus. I will be publishing this treatise in two separate posts because the information is extensive.

First, let me say that I am not disturbed by what I am characterizing as “God’s Paradoxical Nature.”
I don’t really believe that God is a paradox or that He contradicts Himself in any way or at any time.
I am quite happy with the nuance of God. This really gets to the “nitty-gritty” of my theses in this web log “Theology of Nuance.”
And it is my contention that God does not teach or demand issues of “black or white”, “right or wrong”, “good or bad” per se. If this sounds shocking or too much like heresy, then you should probably read on, because you will likely find that I am not really saying anything outside the bounds of what holy scriptures tell us. Don’t stop reading because you are offended, please.
In other words “good deeds”, done with wrong motives are not “good.”
Remember 1 Corinthians 13:1ff

• “If I could speak in any language in heaven or on earth but didn’t love others, I would only be making meaningless noise like a loud gong or a clanging cymbal.”

So, “right and wrong” are not just personal actions, but they are a matter of intent as much as deeds. Human or carnal wisdom tells me that ‘If one does such and such, then he is GOOD. But, if one does the antitheses of such and such, then he is BAD.’
God’s wisdom is therefore, different than carnal wisdom. It is “Nuanced” and appears, to humans, to be a paradox.
This issue is similar to a debate that I am having with a good friend on another of my essays. What is the value of a soul? My point to my friend is that the Creator of the soul is the only one who has the authority to determine the value of a soul.
Here, in this discussion, humans should not use the term “paradox”, with respect to the modus operandi of our Creator. Ultimately we are the “paradox” to God, because He is the standard.
But, for the purposes of our carnal nature, I am using and embracing the “paradoxes/paradice of our Creator” knowing that this is in-fact a paradox ‘in and of itself’.

Look at Luke 12:51-53, because this speaks to the purpose of Jesus and it is a paradox, that cannot be denied or ignored.
Can we say that there is no paradox between (Galatians 5:22-23)‘love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control’ and the following verses?

• (Luke 12:51-53)51 Do you think I have come to bring peace to the earth? No, I have come to bring strife and division! 52 From now on families will be split apart, three in favor of me, and two against—or the other way around. 53 There will be a division between father and son, mother and daughter, mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.”

Therefore, it is certainly a paradox to my carnal nature that Jesus/God was willing to give up His position as the creator of all things (Colossians 1:15-23) and lay down His life for us His creation. Read this passage and you too shall see the paradox to the wisdom of humankind.

• 15 Christ is the visible image of the invisible God. He existed before God made anything at all and is supreme over all creation. * (Greek He is the firstborn of all creation.)16 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. 17 He existed before everything else began, and he holds all creation together.
  18 Christ is the head of the church, which is his body. He is the first of all who will rise from the dead,*(Greek He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead.) so he is first in everything. 19 For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, 20 and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. 21 This includes you who were once so far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions, 22 yet now he has brought you back as his friends. He has done this through his death on the cross in his own human body. As a result, he has brought you into the very presence of God, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault. 23 But you must continue to believe this truth and stand in it firmly. Don’t drift away from the assurance you received when you heard the Good News.

Anonymous, I have a feeling from the explanation that you gave for the distinction between Eloahim and Yahweh, that you believe that these are either two disparate entities or that Yahweh was no different than the idol/gods of the many other Neareast city-states. The city-states possessed gods as their patron. (Incidently, I believe that this was Jacob’s plan in that wrestling match with the angel. Genesis 32:24-30 Jacob requests the name of God, so that he may possess God as his patron, just as all other families did, look at Gen 31:19 as Rachel stole her father’s household gods. I did not highlight this point in that essay, however one should take note; that God DID NOT tell Jacob His name, when asked. God’s name is not revealed until Moses asks, out of pure motives, at the bush that appears to burn. Why do you suppose God made the commandment about “Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain…”? God is warning the Hebrew people about assuming that they have power to “invoke” the name Yahweh to do their personal bidding. Yahweh does serve man…, but never for useless carnal pleasures as humans might be tempted to call on, for selfish desires.)
I do not believe that this can be supported by a biblical or an extra-biblical study of the several factors involved in your thesis.
Some of these critical factors are:

1. Knowledge of the culture for each of the writers of biblical text.
2. Knowledge of, or at a minimum, a familiarity with, the distinct languages that the biblical text was written in, as well as knowledge of the spoken languages of the individuals that are written about.
3. Knowledge of language translation processes.
4. Knowledge of literature types that are used by the human agents.

Look for the continuation in Part 2.

God Bless,
DSM

The Trinity of God is revealed throughout the scriptures from the beginning.

• Genesis 1:26 Then God said, “Let us make people* in our image, to be like ourselves. They will be masters over all life—the fish in the sea, the birds in the sky, and all the livestock, wild animals,* and small animals.” Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill

The passage from Genesis 1:26 uses the plural “us” for God. In the text, God is more than a single entity.

• Genesis 3:22 Then the Lord God said, “The people have become as we are, knowing everything, both good and evil. What if they eat the fruit of the tree of life? Then they will live forever!” Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill

The passage from Genesis 3:22 also uses the plural “we” for God. The text shows that God is a minimum of two entities.

• Genesis 11:7 Come, let’s go down and give them different languages. Then they won’t be able to understand each other.” Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.

The passage from Genesis 11:7 also uses the plural “let’s” for God. The NLT text uses the contraction “let’s” to stand for “let us” in the words that God uses. “He” again is a minimum of two entities.

• Genesis 18:1, 2, 3, 5 through 19:1 The Lord appeared again to Abraham while he was camped near the oak grove belonging to Mamre. One day about noon, as Abraham was sitting at the entrance to his tent, 2 he suddenly noticed three men standing nearby. He got up and ran to meet them, welcoming them by bowing low to the ground. 3 “My lord,” he said, “if it pleases you, stop here for a while… 5 Let me prepare some food to refresh you. Please stay awhile before continuing on your journey.” “All right,” they said. “Do as you have said.”… 8 When the food was ready, he took some cheese curds and milk and the roasted meat, and he served it to the men. As they ate, Abraham waited on them there beneath the trees.
  9 “Where is Sarah, your wife?” they asked him.
  “In the tent,” Abraham replied.
  10 Then one of them said, “About this time next year I will return, and your wife Sarah will have a son.”…13 Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, ‘Can an old woman like me have a baby?’ 14 Is anything too hard for the Lord? About a year from now, just as I told you, I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” 15 Sarah was afraid, so she denied that she had laughed. But he said, “That is not true. You did laugh.” …
  16 Then the men got up from their meal and started on toward Sodom. Abraham went with them part of the way.
  17 “Should I hide my plan from Abraham?” the Lord asked. 18 “For Abraham will become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth will be blessed through him. 19 I have singled him out so that he will direct his sons and their families to keep the way of the Lord and do what is right and just. Then I will do for him all that I have promised.” 20 So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard that the people of Sodom and Gomorrah are extremely evil, and that everything they do is wicked. 21 I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true. Then I will know.”
  22 The two other men went on toward Sodom, but the Lord remained with Abraham for a while…
  33 The Lord went on his way when he had finished his conversation with Abraham, and Abraham returned to his tent… 19:1 That evening the two angels came to the entrance of the city of Sodom, and Lot was sitting there as they arrived. When he saw them, he stood up to meet them. Then he welcomed them and bowed low to the ground. Holy Bible : New Living Translation. 1997 . Tyndale House: Wheaton, Ill.

This extended passage continues through chapter 19. But, you should notice that the context demands that we understand that “The Lord” from 18:1 is used to refer to all of the “men” or just one of the “men”. In other words “They” references “The Lord”, “Them” also references “The Lord”, “We“, again, references “The Lord”. The same is true for “I” and “me.”

I hope that you are still following me on this, because it is very important to understand the context of what the scriptures record. Perhaps you are concerned that the text interchangeably uses the term “men,” “The Lord,” and in Genesis 19:1 “Angels”. This is not that difficult to understand if “The Lord” employs “Angels” who take on the appearance of “Men”.

This very fact occurs over and over in the Old Covenant books as well as the New Covenant books. Consequently, we see in the above section of scripture an Angel who appears to be acting as the agent for the Father, an Angel who appears to be acting as the agent for the Son, and an Angel who appears to be acting as the agent for the Holy Spirit.

Before we conclude this section of Genesis, notice above, that in verse 21 the individual who is called “The Lord” remains behind to talk to Abraham while the other “two men” go down to Sodom. The one who remains behind, tells Abraham, “I am going down to see whether or not these reports are true. Then I will know.” But, when he, “the Lord”, finishes talking and leaves, in verse 30, he does not join the two other men/Angels in 19:1.

So, let us consider the options here.

1. He lied to Abraham and did not go down to Sodom to check things out for himself.
2. He did go down to Sodom, but he did it independant of the other two “lords” and the scripture failed to record that visit. However, he would’ve had to beat the other two Angels down to the valley, because the two who retrieve Lot and his family appear to be the only reconnaissance for Sodom.
3. He did go down to Sodom, but he did it by “Proxy” via the other two “Angels” who are also called “the Lord” in chapter 18:1.
   

We will continue the review of How God can be one and yet be multiple entities in tomorrows post.

Read the text and think about it.

DSM