Posted on 07/25/2010 1:37:12 PM PDT by betty boop
According to what the Bible says, he did just that. He made us human and he talks to us in a manner compatible with our human nature. He doesn't use a dog whistle because we can't heart it, unless he changes human nature to hear higher sounds. He doesn't use the Klingon language because we don't understand it unless he turns us into Klingons, etc.
No one said the creature does. The creature recognizes that he is human and that humans operate on a certain level. Short of changing what humans are, a communication with a human has to take place on the human level.
When you talk to a dog you don't have a philosophical discourse with him but communicate in the manner dogs, according to their nature, can understand and respond. It is not that dog "demands" of you to lower yourself to his level, it is the fact that he is a dog that demands communication on his level or he won't understand you.
That's what makes Christianity unique among monotheistic religions (it's not necessairly unique as far as all religions arecocnerned, just monotheistic ones). This allows Christians to relate to their God as a Person and form a personal fellowship.
GOODNESS KOSTA!
PLEASE SIT DOWN. Take a slow breath or three.
I AGREE with you!
Wholesale.
Okay, it took me a while to get off the ground and sit up again. : )
Much obliged.
LOL. Sure. No sweat.
This time.
LOL.
To one without "ears to hear" Scripture is just text on media like any other manuscript.
But to those of us with "ears to hear" they are not at all like common text on media because we know His voice.
My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: - John 10:27
Why do ye not understand my speech? [even] because ye cannot hear my word. – John 8:43
It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life. - John 6:63
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper [in the thing] whereto I sent it. - Isaiah 55:11
Where [is] the wise? where [is] the scribe? where [is] the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?
For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe.
For the Jews require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks foolishness; But unto them which are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.
Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. - I Corinthians 1:18-25
I hear you. :) I don't mean to make light of it, but every time I read about the voices I think of Laura Branigan's "Gloria" and the lyrics ♫ "Are the voices in your head calling, Gloria?" ♪
Not really. Thomas wanted hard (material) proof and wasn't "fired" for it. And Matthew (28:17) makes it clear that even some of Jesus' eleven remaining hand-picked disciples doubted the resurrected Jesus and he didn't make a big deal out of it.
Obviously the Jews must "hear" difference voices, and so do the LDS, and the Muslims, and so on. They all claim to know "the truth." Why should I believe you or anyone else's witness?
And if these "ears" are God's gift, A-G, then there is nothing I can do about it. I guess I am not on the list. But then again, it could be there is no list; just people ♪ "hearing voices in their heads" ♫.
I have been talking about reality and I know my reality, as I am sure you know yours. I suppose yours and mine and everyone else's is slightly different. None of us knows everything. To pretend to know the whole truth is a bit disingenuous in my book.
difference voices = different voices
Truly, doubting Thomas was an apostle, too.
But those who believe without seeing are blessed.
But Christians do share in the same Spirit and thus, share in the mind of Christ. Thereby we recognize one another, the body of Christ. Not that we agree on other things, we don't - but we all know Who He IS.
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also [is] Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many. - I Cor 12:12-14
And so are the merciful.
Then there would be one church, rather than many. Everyone makes his own Jesus.
They all have the same name they call on. But everyone has a different idea what he is.
And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all [things] he might have the preeminence. For it pleased [the Father] that in him should all fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, [I say], whether [they be] things in earth, or things in heaven.– Colossians 1:15-20
For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether [we be] Jews or Gentiles, whether [we be] bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. For the body is not one member, but many.
If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; is it therefore not of the body? If the whole body [were] an eye, where [were] the hearing? If the whole [were] hearing, where [were] the smelling?
But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him.
And if they were all one member, where [were] the body? But now [are they] many members, yet but one body. And the eye cannot say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. - I Cor 12:12-21
For ye are yet carnal: for whereas [there is] among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I [am] of Apollos; are ye not carnal?
Who then is Paul, and who [is] Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. – I Corinthians 3:1-7
He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am? And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed [it] unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven. And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. - Matthew 16:15-18
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. - Revelation 1:8
Because he hath set his love upon me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he hath known my name. – Psalms 91:4
Thank you A-G, as always. I hope you realize that, at a glance, many of the verses you provide are controversial, disputed, misinterpreted, not something an observant Jew would say, etc. But that a topic for another thread.
that a=that’s a
Given your . . . handling of . . . definitions . . .
I think
OBSERVANT JEW
would depend a lot on WHAT the observant Jew was Observant about and why, to what goal.
It's not my definition. I can only go by what the Jews say an "observant Jew" would say. Surely you don't mean to suggest the Christians know better, or have more authority to say what an observant Jew is?
I imagine an observant Jew would have much to argue with Christians concerning Scriptures. But as you say, that's a topic for a different thread.
Even if this were true, dear kosta, Jesus Christ Himself is not affected by this propensity of human nature to make things in its own image. For He is eternal Truth and, as such, immune to all untruthful imaginings regarding His Person.
Quoting my dearest sister in Christ, Alamo-Girl:
God the Father has revealed Himself in four ways: in the Person of Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in Scripture and in His Creation both physical and spiritual. And His revelations do not contradict each other.You wrote: "Even God cannot be what he is not by nature."
Well that may very well be so; on the other hand, the point seems moot, since you yourself confess you do not know who or what God "is." So how can you speak of His "nature?"
You wrote: "What cosmic life? Where in the cosmos do you find life except here on earth?"
So far, we know of no life forms in the cosmos other than on earth. But this is to miss the point: What if the entire cosmos were a single, dynamically integrated living system? It's an intriguing question, with an ancient heritage. And it is being reconsidered by certain theoretical biologists in recent times.
Here's a question I find interesting: Which provides the "largest model" of the universe — physics, or biology? Until very recently, it's been taken for granted that Newtonian physics is the "largest model," and biology is but a "special case" of physics. This supposition is due to the comparative rarity (as far as we know) of life forms in the universe.
But if biology were to turn out to be the "largest model," and physics then relegated to a "special case" of this model, this may indicate that the entire universal system is in some fashion alive, that the Creation itself is a living creature....
I have a friend, a Hungarian astrophysicist and theoretical biologist, who has written a book on this subject — The Book of the Living Universe, by Atilla Grandpierre of the Hungarian Academy of Science. [Now available in Magyar and German, but hopefully coming soon in English....]
Personally, I think my friend is really on to something here. The ideas are fascinating.
betty boop: Quoting my dearest sister in Christ, Alamo-Girl: God the Father has revealed Himself in four ways: in the Person of Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in Scripture and in His Creation both physical and spiritual. And His revelations do not contradict each other
That smacks positively of Modalism.
betty boop:You wrote: "Even God cannot be what he is not by nature." Well that may very well be so; on the other hand, the point seems moot, since you yourself confess you do not know who or what God "is."
Whatever God is—if he is—he is what he is, and the Bible (which you believe is the word of God) even says so! Even those who believe that God is an all-powerful, ominopotent being, realize that even God cannot be everything! Which shows that the whole concept is terribly flawed. So, your sophistry here is the only moot point.
betty boop: So far, we know of no life forms in the cosmos other than on earth. But this is to miss the point: What if the entire cosmos were a single, dynamically integrated living system?
Evidence, or random speculations?
betty boop: I have a friend, a Hungarian astrophysicist and theoretical biologist, who has written a book on this subject — The Book of the Living Universe, by Atilla Grandpierre of the Hungarian Academy of Science. [Now available in Magyar and German, but hopefully coming soon in English....]
Perhaps you friend could explain why stop at this universe and not just assume that this universe is only a single living cell in a living organ made up of hextrarillions of similar "cells" forming the organs of a "body" which is merely one among hextraillion other bodies, which also live in a universe that make up a single cell...and so on—you get the picture.
This is the opposite of enless reductionism, namely inflationism. And while it may be fascinating to some to engage in such apaprently endless speculations, to me it seems no different than an ant trying to figure out which continent he lives on while not even being sure what to make of my front yard. Good luck!
______________
betty boop: Quoting my dearest sister in Christ, Alamo-Girl: God the Father has revealed Himself in four ways: in the Person of Jesus Christ His only begotten Son, in the Person of the indwelling Holy Spirit, in Scripture and in His Creation both physical and spiritual. And His revelations do not contradict each other
That smacks positively of Modalism.
betty boop:You wrote: "Even God cannot be what he is not by nature." Well that may very well be so; on the other hand, the point seems moot, since you yourself confess you do not know who or what God "is."
Whatever God is—if he is—he is what he is, and the Bible (which you believe is the word of God) even says so! Even those who believe that God is an all-powerful, omnipotent being, realize that even God cannot be everything! Which shows that the whole concept is terribly flawed. So, your sophistry here is the only moot point.
betty boop: So far, we know of no life forms in the cosmos other than on earth. But this is to miss the point: What if the entire cosmos were a single, dynamically integrated living system?
Evidence, or random speculations?
betty boop: I have a friend, a Hungarian astrophysicist and theoretical biologist, who has written a book on this subject — The Book of the Living Universe, by Atilla Grandpierre of the Hungarian Academy of Science. [Now available in Magyar and German, but hopefully coming soon in English....]
Perhaps you friend could explain why stop at this universe and not just assume that this universe is only a single living cell in a living organ made up of hextrarillions of similar "cells" forming the organs of a "body" which is merely one among hexatrillion other bodies, which also live in a universe that make up a single cell...and so on—you get the picture.
This is the opposite of endless reductionism, namely inflationism. And while it may be fascinating to some to engage in such apparently endless speculations, to me it seems no different than an ant trying to figure out which continent he lives on while not even being sure what to make of my front yard. Good luck!
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