Posted on 03/11/2010 6:49:14 AM PST by Colofornian
"And I, God, said unto mine Only Begotten, which was with me from the beginning: Let us make man in our image, after our likeness." (Moses 2:26)
The plural form of the expression "Let us make man" has long been an interpretive problem for commentators looking at the Old Testament through the lens of strict monotheism. Such scholars often explain the phrase by way of analogy to the "royal we" used by a king or queen in self-reference; however, this does not explain why it occurs only in the early chapters of Genesis and nowhere else.
A view consistent with LDS scripture is to imagine the setting for the verse as God addressing a heavenly council, for whom Jehovah served as spokesperson.
"The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world," the Prophet Joseph Smith described.
Since, for most Christian and Jewish commentators, the idea of a plurality of gods is unacceptable, a court of angels is sometimes imagined in place of a council of the gods.
President Spencer W. Kimball explained that "man," as used here, was not meant to describe "a separate man, but a complete man, which is husband and wife." In contrast, the Hebrew term "ish" specifically means the gendered term "man," and the specific woman gender is called "ishah."
Unlike earlier creatures, man and woman were made in God's image and likeness. The Prophet Joseph Smith made it clear that this phrase applied not only to the physical appearance of Adam and Eve, but also to their spiritual nature, which was, in the beginning, "innocent, harmless, and spotless, bearing the same image as the Gods. And when man fell he did not lose His image, but (only) His character, still retaining the image of his Maker. ... And through the atonement of Christ, and the resurrection and obedience in the Gospel, we shall again be conformed to the (full) image of ... Jesus Christ (Romans 8:29), then we shall have attained to the (full) image, glory, and character of God."
Moses 6:9 is more specific than 2:26 in saying that man was created "in the image of his (God's) own body." Joseph Smith spoke very plainly about the meaning of these words: "If the veil were rent today ... you would see (God) in all the person, image, fashion, and very form of a man, like yourselves."
A Jewish tradition records that Adam's likeness to God is so exact that Adam must be put to sleep so that the angels might worship the right person. Jewish scholar Jacob Neusner finds it "stunning" the rabbinical commentators took this idea so literally, affirming that even "the angels did not know man from God," stating, "I cannot imagine a more daring affirmation of humanity."
Biblical scholar Nahum Sarna says terminology employed in the scripture "serves to elevate the king above the ordinary run of men. ... All human beings are created 'in the image of God'; each person bears the stamp of royalty."
Moses 6:9? (Is there such a thing?) NO! Lds' Joseph Smith was given an Egyptian funeral document & said he could "translate" it. He came up with books of Moses & Abraham...
From the article: Moses 6:9 is more specific than 2:26 in saying that man was created "in the image of his (God's) own body."
Sorry...but the author just got done saying that BOTH Adam and Eve were made in God's image...if this "image" is physical, does the Mormon god have breasts? A womb? NO consistency whatsoever: Wherever Mormons want a literal physical image, they import it there; wherever it would otherwise describe an implausible physique of a Mormon god, "Oh, well, that Genesis word 'image' is a little less exact...yeah, even though the author of this column already wrote: A Jewish tradition records that Adam's likeness to God is so exact that Adam must be put to sleep so that the angels might worship the right person.
"The head God called together the Gods and sat in grand council to bring forth the world," the Prophet Joseph Smith described.
Since, for most Christian and Jewish commentators, the idea of a plurality of gods is unacceptable, a court of angels is sometimes imagined in place of a council of the gods.
Except that, out here in the real world, Christians are trinitarians who have no problem at all with this passage and similar passages that speak of God in both a unified and plural personhood manner.
Most of the Book of mormon is cribbed from a novel, stolen by JS Jr. from the home of a doctor, where he was hired to dig a well.
The mormons are good people, the kind of good people often taken in by charlatans. By their goodness, and faith they have redeemed the evil of their religion’s founders.
"Since, for most Christian and Jewish commentators, the idea of a plurality of gods is unacceptable..." Ya think?
Whose the "head God," Joseph Smith? Why don't you and other Mormons worship him? Why have you settled for a "lesser" god? Has the "head God" always been "God?"
Smith essentially answered this last question in a book later compiled by a relative of his...the book Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith...Smith said there wasn't any time where the gods didn't have a "father."
So even though the author of this article wants "Christians and Jews" to do the "imagination" -- imagine angles instead of gods galore -- it's actually Mormons who "imagine" no time when some father-god didn't precede a god.
"Who's your god, Mormons?"
"Elohim."
"Whose his god?"
"Well, that must be Jesus' grandfather-god."
"And did Elohim have a grandfather-god, too?"
"Per Smith in Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, yup."
"And did these 'grandfather gods' -- did they have father-gods, too?"
"Yup."
"Well, who is the ultimate Mormon god?"
"Well, if he exists, we don't know him, worship him, or pray to him."
"What do you mean if he exists? You mean to tell me there's NO ultimate, buck-stops-here authority for the Mormon gods."
"No."
"Then where do you get your priestly authority?"
"We don't know -- 'cause we don't know that god."
For those unversed in how the “book of moses” came into being, j.smith charlatan and money digger needed a new bit of revelation and BOUGHT some inspiration in the from of a 1st century funeral texts (book of breathings)
http://www.irr.org/mit/bhoh-pt1.html
I'm too lazy to look but isn't a council mentioned in the Book of Job when God lets the devil test Job's love for God?
Off to have my morning coffee ....
Please see majestic plural http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Majestic_plural
Wow lots of Anti-Mormon types on here. Looks like a bunch of copy/pastes from typical, old and tired anti-Mormon propagandist sites.
I dare you to put a little of that effort into finding out the other side of these and other issues from some place other than an anti site or trained parrot.
A couple of good starting places:
www.lds.org
www.fairlds.org
There are many others. Do you have the courage to re-direct some of that effort? You want truth right?
As a former mormon, I take issue with that statement. I know from personal experience that mormons are no better or worse than most. Some are thieves, pedophiles, conmen, and drunks, while there are non-mormons who are good honest Christians.
The mormon church sends out 55,000 missionaries daily to lie to people about the mormon religion being the ONLY way to salvation, and the goal of the mormon church is to convert every soul living or dead to mormonism.
Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer stated, "The powerful missionary spirit and the vigorous missionary activity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints becomes a very significant witness that the true gospel and that the authority are possessed here in the Church. We accept the responsibility to preach the gospel to every person on earth. And if the question is asked, “You mean you are out to convert the entire world?” the answer is, “Yes. We will try to reach every living soul.” Ensign, Nov. 1975, 97
So, The powerful missionary spirit and the vigorous missionary activity in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints becomes a very significant witness that the true gospel and that the authority are possessed here in the Church.....the more you send out the message the truer it becomes????? Obama sure believes that!
I fail to see how " By their goodness, and faith they have redeemed the evil of their religion’s founders." Joseph Smith was and is a charlatan and conman, today as always.
Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.” Genesis 1:26
Geneva Study Bible
And God said, {s} Let us make man in our {t} image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
(s) God commanded the water and the earth to bring forth other creatures: but of man he says, Let us make... signifying that God takes counsel with his wisdom and virtue purposing to make an excellent work above all the rest of his creation.
(t) This image and likeness of God in man is expounded in Eph 4:24 where it is written that man was created after God in righteousness and true holiness meaning by these two words, all perfection, as wisdom, truth, innocency, power, etc.
Wesley’s Notes
1:26-28 We have here the second part of the sixth day’s work, the creation of man, which we are in a special manner concerned to take notice of. Observe, That man was made last of all the creatures, which was both an honour and a favour to him: an honour, for the creation was to advance from that which was less perfect, to that which was more so and a favour, for it was not fit he should be lodged in the palace designed for him, till it was completely fitted and furnished for his reception.
Man, as soon as he was made, had the whole visible creation before him, both to contemplate, and to take the comfort of. That man’s creation was a mere signal act of divine wisdom and power, than that of the other creatures. The narrative of it is introduced with solemnity, and a manifest distinction from the rest. Hitherto it had been said, Let there be light, and Let there be a firmament: but now the word of command is turned into a word of consultation, Let us make man - For whose sake the rest of the creatures were made.
Man was to be a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth must be put together in him, and he must be allied to both worlds. And therefore God himself not only undertakes to make, but is pleased so to express himself, as if he called a council to consider of the making of him; Let us make man - The three persons of the Trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, consult about it, and concur in it; because man, when he was made, was to be dedicated and devoted to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. That man was made in God’s image, and after his likeness; two words to express the same thing. God’s image upon man, consists, In his nature, not that of his body, for God has not a body, but that of his soul. The soul is a spirit, an intelligent, immortal spirit, an active spirit, herein resembling God, the Father of spirits, and the soul of the world. In his place and authority. Let us make man in our image, and let him have dominion. As he has the government of the inferior creatures, he is as it were God’s representative on earth. Yet his government of himself by the freedom of his will, has in it more of God’s image, than his government of the creatures. And chiefly in his purity and rectitude.
God’s image upon man consists in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness, Eph 4:24; Col 3:10. He was upright, Ec 7:29. He had an habitual conformity of all his natural powers to the whole will of God. His understanding saw divine things clearly, and there were no errors in his knowledge: his will complied readily and universally with the will of God; without reluctancy: his affections were all regular, and he had no inordinate appetites or passions: his thoughts were easily fixed to the best subjects, and there was no vanity or ungovernableness in them. And all the inferior powers were subject to the dictates of the superior.
Thus holy, thus happy, were our first parents, in having the image of God upon them. But how art thou fallen, O son of the morning? How is this image of God upon man defaced! How small are the remains of it, and how great the ruins of it! The Lord renew it upon our souls by his sanctifying grace! That man was made male and female, and blessed with fruitfulness. He created him male and female, Adam and Eve: Adam first out of earth, and Eve out of his side. God made but one male and one female, that all the nations of men might know themselves to be made of one blood, descendants, from one common stock, and might thereby be induced to love one another. God having made them capable of transmitting the nature they had received, said to them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth - Here he gave them, A large inheritance; replenish the earth, in which God has set man to be the servant of his providence, in the government of the inferior creatures, and as it were the intelligence of this orb; to be likewise the collector of his praises in this lower world, and lastly, to be a probationer for a better state.
A numerous lasting family to enjoy this inheritance; pronouncing a blessing upon them, in the virtue of which, their posterity should extend to the utmost corners of the earth, and continue to the utmost period of time. That God gave to man a dominion over the inferior creatures, over fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air - Though man provides for neither, he has power over both, much more over every living thing that moveth upon the earth - God designed hereby to put an honour upon man, that he might find himself the more strongly obliged to bring honour to his Maker.
Scofield Reference Notes
The sixth day: (2) the creation of man (described Gen 2:7, 21-23)
[3] make man in our image
Man. Gen 1:26,27, gives the general, Gen 2:7,21-23 the particular account of the creation of man. The revealed facts are:
(1) Man was created not evolved. This is
(a) expressly declared, and the declaration is confirmed by Christ Mt 19:14 Mk 10:6,
(b) “an enormous gulf, a divergence practically infinite” (Huxley) between the lowest man and the highest beast, confirms it;
(c) the highest beast has no trace of God-consciousness—the religious nature;
(d) science and discovery have done nothing to bridge that “gulf.”
(2) That man was made in the “image and likeness” of God. This image is found chiefly in man’s tri-unity, and in his moral nature. Man is “spirit and soul and body” 1Th 5:23.
“Spirit” is that part of man which “knows” 1Cor 2:11 and which allies him to the spiritual creation and gives him God-consciousness. “Soul” in itself implies self-consciousness life, as distinguished from plants, which have unconscious life. In that sense animals also have “soul” Gen 1:24. But the “soul” of man has a vaster content than “soul” as applied to beast life. It is the seat of emotions, desires, affections Ps 42:1-6. The “heart” is, in Scripture usage, nearly synonymous with “soul.”
Because the natural man is, characteristically, the soulual or physical man, “soul” is often used as synonymous with the individual, e.g. Gen 12:5. The body, separable from spirit and soul, and susceptible to death, is nevertheless an integral part of man, as the resurrection shows Jn 5:28,29 1Cor 15:47-50 Rev 20:11-13. It is the seat of the senses (the means by which the spirit and soul have world-consciousness) and of the fallen Adamic nature. Rom 7:23,24.
Margin us
Gen 11:7
Margin dominion
Kingdom (O.T.). vs.Gen 1:26-28; Gen 9:6. (Gen 1:26; Zech 12:8)
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary
26. The last stage in the progress of creation being now reached-God said, Let us make man-words which show the peculiar importance of the work to be done, the formation of a creature, who was to be God’s representative, clothed with authority and rule as visible head and monarch of the world. In our image, after our likeness-This was a peculiar distinction, the value attached to which appears in the words being twice mentioned.
And in what did this image of God consist? Not in the erect form or features of man, not in his intellect, for the devil and his angels are, in this respect, far superior; not in his immortality, for he has not, like God, a past as well as a future eternity of being; but in the moral dispositions of his soul, commonly called original righteousness (Ec 7:29). As the new creation is only a restoration of this image, the history of the one throws light on the other; and we are informed that it is renewed after the image of God in knowledge, righteousness, and true holiness (Col 3:10; Eph 4:24).
Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary
1:26-28 Man was made last of all the creatures: this was both an honour and a favour to him. Yet man was made the same day that the beasts were; his body was made of the same earth with theirs; and while he is in the body, he inhabits the same earth with them. God forbid that by indulging the body, and the desires of it, we should make ourselves like the beasts that perish! Man was to be a creature different from all that had been hitherto made. Flesh and spirit, heaven and earth, must be put together in him. God said, Let us make man. Man, when he was made, was to glorify the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Into that great name we are baptized, for to that great name we owe our being. It is the soul of man that especially bears God’s image.
Man was made upright, Ec 7:29. His understanding saw Divine things clearly and truly; there were no errors or mistakes in his knowledge; his will consented at once, and in all things, to the will of God. His affections were all regular, and he had no bad appetites or passions. His thoughts were easily brought and fixed to the best subjects. Thus holy, thus happy, were our first parents in having the image of God upon them. But how is this image of God upon man defaced! May the Lord renew it upon our souls by his grace!
You want truth right?
______________________________________
Truth is found only in the Bible...
The cut and pastes of the mormons’ own words are not truth...
Regardless of the website...
much of the cut and paste originates from the mormons’ own sites...
Is it only truth to you if a mormon cuts and pastes the same words and passages from mormon lore that a non-mormon does???
Does the “truth” depend on the messenger or the content ???
The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool.
a council of the gods
I’m too lazy to look but isn’t a council mentioned in the Book of Job when God lets the devil test Job’s love for God?
________________________________________________
I’m not lazy but I’m not the one wanting to know...
:))
Here is a counter question, why did the lds have h.nibly learn Egyptian to translate the FOUND scrolls when by the writings of the lds canon the living prophet can translate any ancient text. It can not be for veracity as nibly was in the pay of the lds so there is no independent research to be had there.
Please also research smith's Egyptian Alphabet and Grammar of 1835 it is abjectly useless for the purposes promoted, i.e. a translation text book.
of “alphabet and grammar”
“largely a piece of imagination and lacking in any kind of scientific value” Iorwerth Eiddon Stephen Edwards CBE, FBA Keeper of Egyptian Antiquities at the British Museum
Facts, the Internet and modern research and archeology are destructive to mormon lore...
Facts, the Internet and modern research and archeology are destructive to mormon lore...
Facts, the Internet and modern research and archeology are destructive to mormon lore...
Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm
Posts arent showing up...
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.