Things intrigue me... prophecy is intriguing.. basically, it's not written so that Intellectual Theologians [IT's] can figure out what it's about, it's written so that when it happens you can't miss it.. In ancient Israel they had prophecy schools. Some kook didn't just jump up and start prophesying, and draw attention to himself in some giant self promotion scheme to get his stuff written down.. heck no, they had schools. A prophet would give a short term prophecy, and maybe some long term ones... if the short term ones came to pass, then they recorded the long term ones for us to read later on. It's a beautiful thing when you think about it... so what did they do in those schools? I believe that it had to be a lot of cleansing of their sprits by confession of sins. That would enable them to hear clearly from God and communicate it to us.... Confession and prophecy are tied together, it says Daniel confessed the sins of Israel and then he prophesied... what were the guys in the upper room doing when they were stuck there after Jesus ascended?? It says they were praying... my guess is there was a lot of confession and prayer, God can't take a sinful messed up human and give him power very well now can He, but if He can get a person to give up all the lies and get to the very end of wanting to do anything in their own strength, to just accept it that only Jesus' righteousness is of any use at all, well then He can give them some power to do miraculous things at that point... that is called Auricular Prayer, where you confess problems one to another, I learned what it's called on thetheologyweb.com before they deleted all my posts and I quit going there... Try to find a church that does that... gets together regularly as prescribed in James, confesses sins one to another, and is healed... heck no, they would rather get together on Sunday morning, announce who all is in the hospital and hope somebody can do something about it... Catholics confess but not exactly to one another, but I feel that they get blessed by that anyhow, they are good citizens... I've been prophesied to, it was a privilege every time, I've prophesied to people, it was a privilege to do so... none of that could occur until we had spent many hours in prayer and confession... it works fine... Jesus did all the work already, he paid for us, all we have to pay in return is to give him all the lies we've believed, all the trauma, all the rejection, all the unbelief that comes by way of trauma and rejection... he takes it on the cross and takes it to hell and it never returns to us.. it's not that complicated... but the IT's tell us that we just get all that done in a one time deal... or maybe at Baptism or whatever they can pull out of their asses... if that was true, why would James be telling us to get together... Likely, one could conclude that James was telling people to be doing the same things the prophet school attendees did, and the guys in the Upper Room, and what was Paul of Tarsus doing in the fourteen years he was away, what was Moses doing in his years in the desert... it says Moses was the most humble guy on the planet, it says literally that... and he lived to be 120 years without aging... pride is what ages us, makes us ill, makes us crazy.. pride is what we get rid of when we confess... I'm sort of waiting for the guy that wrote me the scathing rebuke and analysis at thetheologyweb.com to come over here and argue with me, not likely, he has a women's club to attend to...
Have you considered that you are not really getting the teachings of Jesus in the four pop gospels? Do you ever wonder why the source scholars call "Q" is not anymore extent...and not included in the popular versions? It's because "Q", like the gospel of Thomas, is about 180 degrees from the way theology evolved...the four pops being penned after Paul's escapades...by no one who ever met Jesus, save Mark, when he was a child. I sometimes appeal to the fraction of authentic sayings, lifted from "Q", and left fairly intact. The parable of the prodigal son, for example, is authentic, but for the jealous brother part added at the end. When you read the four pops, you are getting sound bytes...like watching Fox news. The news is slanted to fit the mental frame of the scribes...their level of understanding...their prejudices...their motives. Your faith that every word is dictated by the Holy Spirit and wholly preserved is unfounded. It's news. But it's really not "good news". If you do not want to be like God, you cannot be his servant. The reason you think equality with God is a sin is because you are still reeling from the venom of a snake bite. As a rule of thumb, whatever comes out of a snakes mouth is probably propoganda. Temptation, properly understood, is the wish to be different...to be unequal...to be separate...to be a plurality. Adam and Eve are the symbol of a mind that is already contemplating separation, differences, inequality and plurality. The Hebrew genesis story is a lie. The lie says God made beings that are unlike Himself...namely...man, beast, and every creeping thing. Rather, he created his Son...and only One...like from like. The Son is "as God". The temptation is to be "as gods"...plural...each one different from another. This sets off degeneration...devolving into man, beast, and every creeping thing. If you want to serve God, then you will help the unequal "things" understand equality, that they may return home. In this way, you are serving the Son of God...restoring his mind to wholeness [holiness]. If you do not include yourself in this wholeness, you are serving instead the anti-christ, and supporting the works of "the devil". Beware, and do not underestimate the devil's domain. There is talk of "one world government". Well, I've got new for you. There is already one world government, ever since the devil established a "new world order", founding the beginning of time. And chips are already installed behind your forehead. They are called "b.r.a.i.n.s"...and they serve as routers for the devils thought system. You may think you are thinking your own thoughts. Sorry. The brain is a processor that slaves for an insane thought system. At the base of this system is the concept of inequality. It's the "law" of the devil's "land". And if you believe it, like I said, you've already been bit by fangs full of venom. To "repent" is to change your mind...180 degrees from the way it thought before. So I thank you for noticing that I have repented from inequality with God. Inequality is the basis of all iniquity. Inequality is prerequisite the experience of specialness. Specialness is the basis of "pride", and pride is the domain of the devil. The domain of the devil is the realm of heirarchy. Rather, God created us equal. It is arrogance which says we are something different, something less, something unequal...something special. Here, compare Genesis 1:26 with Romans 1:18-23. See that the earliest traditions of "the way" exposes Genesis 1:26 as propaganda. Then God said, âLet Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.â Romans 1:18-23 "For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible manâand birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. " So you see, even the bible testifies against itself. The world begins with an attack on truth...all out war on the truth. Truth is the first casualty of war, and propaganda is a prime tool of war. Sorry...biblical genesis accounts are propaganda. The very first sentence contains disinformation. If you believe even the very first sentence, you have already been bitten by a snake. It is simply not true that "in the beginning, God made the heavens and the earth." That, my freind, is propoganda in support of the prodigal son, who splits into a plurality, and then makes man in the image of a plurality. That is why it says, "Let US make man in OUR image". You should know that God, *Our Father* does not make images, graven images, or replicas...for that is idolatry and fakery. Our Father creates only Reality...like from like. So it is all throughout the Kingdom of God...like from like from like from like....forever and ever. Christ!
Apparently, Nash's mind was so powerful, that when it devoted itself to what makes no sense, it drove itself mad. Truly, religion and politics cannot be understood. Not even *Our Father* understands them. Why? Because they are literally not understandable. Likewise, the "tree of the knowledge of good and evil" is also not understandable. It is full of religion and politics...oxymorons...enigmas...secrets...conspiracies...combinations of opposites. And when the Son of God thinks about it, and digests its "fruits"...it drives him mad...splitting his mind between opposing attributes...driving him out of his mind. And this makes for an internal conflict. The fallout of this conflict is called "man". Man is short for *many*...manifested in a powerful imagination. It's probably a good sign you felt that way at the bookstore. It seems you are developing an appetite for health food. Most of what's there is psychological junk food. If a person walked in there really hungry for the truth, he could surely sniff out the handful of books that could guide him to it. I don't really include the bible in that list. Admittedly, it has 40+ authors, each obscure by any standard. Today, the thirsty can do better than that. Christ!
Most of what's there is psychological junk food. --------------- Nice term. Thanks for putting a name on it.
I found this quote out there on the web... "In religion and politics people's beliefs and convictions are in almost every case gotten at second-hand, and without examination, from authorities who have not themselves examined the questions at issue but have taken them at second-hand from other non-examiners, whose opinions about them were not worth a brass farthing." - Samuel Clemens
When I read your two quotes - I do not think your conclusions follow. I do not see Romans controverting Genesis. I see it condemning those who should know God but do not glorify him or be thankful. It is a far stretch to come to the conclusion you do. If the bible lies from the first chapter - there is not point in reading it. You are then free to choose your own belief system. Which is what I suppose you have done. But I know in my heart that I am not God nor am I destined to be one. Oddly, I do not even want to be God because I respect and love my God too much. That is just a core feeling that I never really checked on before.
Well, this is what sin is all about. The denial of what is true, followed up by a justification why what is not true should be true. And this is how the world begins. The physical worlds justify the idea that we are separated from God...making it seem believable. But nothing can separate us from God. If you really believed this, you would no longer see the world, having accepted the atonement. More later. Christ!
So this is sin. This is what the "prodigal son" says to himself as he leaves home. It's not true. But damned if he isn't going to prove it's true. So he transforms himself into *many*. And the many, professing to be wise, became fools, "and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible manâand birds and four-footed animals and creeping things. " For this reason it was said that because of sin, "we have all fallen short of the glory of God". We "fall short" through a kind of shapeshifting transformation on a cosmic scale. Therefore, these "elohim" in the Hebrew genesis story...these are simply those who would be "as gods"...meaning, a plurality of gods...a multiplicity of wills...each going his own way. It is in the image of these gods that man, beast, and creeping things are formed. This is the original idolatry. Likewise, man forms his own idols out of clay. But this is secondary and derivative. Man simply mimics the idolatry of his maker, making graven images of what his maker had already graven. BuThe original idols were formed out of the "dust", so-to-speak, of matter. Thus, man is as much a graven image as the images he makes with his own hands. And what is an image but something imagined? And what is imaged/imagined but that which is not true? Therefore, to be as a man is to be "as gods". Man is, in fact, his own maker. This is a sin which he denies. Christ!
We really have no common ground. I believe the point of the bible is to describe the real God of the universe. And, that you can know who the real God of the universe is by seeing that he keeps the promises he made. You seem to believe the exact opposite. If you wish to prove your beliefs by showing the bible to be internally inconsistent, we can have a debate. So far, I am not in agreement with your interpretation. I suspect this will happen over and over.