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Biblical characters to whom God revealed God-self in an immediat way?
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∙ 14y ago
God revealed Him-self in an immediate way to Moses. Moses was sent to tell the Egyptian Pharoah to release the Jewish people from their slavery. When Moses asked God, "When I go to the Israelites and say to them, 'the God of your fathers sent me to you,' if they ask me, 'What is His name?' what am I to tell them?" God replied "I AM who Am." Then He added, "This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you." (Exodus 3:12-14, New American Bible, Second Edition) God IS existence, "is-ness". He IS and all creation is of His making. "This is My Name forever, this is my title for all generations." (Exodus 3:15, NAB, second edition) By describing Himself as be-ing (existence) itself, God differentiates Himself instantly from all other "gods" who were worshiped at that time (and since then). The Jews understood the Name of God as being too hallowed and sacred to be spoken or written out: hence, the "YHWH" designation in Jewish, and the devoted "G--" in the written works of conservative Jews today. This summer (2009), Pope Benedict XVI declared that the word "Yahweh" (and its variations) no longer be used in any official Catholic texts; since the Jewish people, God's chosen people, hold His Name to be so Holy as to be unprintable and unspeakable, the Catholic Church's highest "servant of the servants of God" has joined in solidarity with the Jewish people in holding hallowed that name that God gave Himself. Nearly all Christians who understand the meaning of God's Name understand, also, that this is the only "Being" (a bad word to use for that which is not created) Who has ever claimed to BE "Is-ness" itself. In most Bibles, where the original text used the abbreviated "YHWH", the English text substitutes the word, "LORD" (initial and then small capitals). A note aside: In the 1980's, a computer company began an ad campaign with people holding up billboards and signs stating, "I AM", intending to indicate that these people were part of a new movement. Both Christians and Jews found this ad so offensive, that the company cancelled it quickly.
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∙ 14y ago
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If theres only one god why is there a god for every country?
Different countries and cultures have their own interpretations and representations of the divine based on their beliefs, traditions, and values. While there may be different gods in various cultures, some people believe in a single, universal god or divine presence that transcends borders and cultural boundaries. The diversity of gods reflects the complexity and richness of human spirituality and the ways in which different societies connect with the divine.
How does the Incarnation affect christians views of god?
In Christianity, the Incarnation refers to the second person of the Trinity, the Son, becoming fully human, while maintaining full divinity: Jesus the Christ is both true God and true human. The incarnation is believed necessary for the salvation of humankind. Therefore, while Christians believe in God as transcendent and totally other, they also believe that he is immanently present and intimately connected to us, collectively and individually. God has become man, so that mankind can become God - really, to be incorporated into Godself. Along with the belief of God as Trinity, the Incarnation is the belief that most starkly separates Christians from the other Abrahamic, monotheistic religions of Islam and Judaism.
What are some words that begin and end with the letter B?
Some words beginning and ending with B:(3) three letter word: babbibbobbub(4) four letter word:barbbibbblabblebblobblubbombboobbulbburb(5) five letter word:blurb(6) six letter word:baobabbedaubbenumbbedumbbicarb(7) seven letter word:bathtubbrewpub(8) eight letter word:backstab(9) nine letter word:bafflegabbeachcomb
How will God come back to save us?
The Gospel of Mark chapter 13 says that Jesus would return in the clouds with great power and glory, and that he would send his angels to gather his elect from the four winds.However, Mark also has Jesus say that this would happen while those to whom Jesus spoke were still alive, but this did not happen. If Mark got this wrong, we can not be sure about his description of how Jesus would return either.
Why should mankind believe in God?
The answer from God's word ,"God created this world, created this mankind, and even more founded the culture of ancient Greece and the civilization of mankind. Only God has been consoling this mankind, and only God has been caring for this mankind day and night. The development and the progress of mankind cannot do without God's sovereignty. The history and the future of mankind cannot escape from the arrangement of God's hand. If you are a real Christian, you will surely believe that the rise and fall of any nation and race is under God's arrangement. Only God Godself knows what the destiny of any nation and race will be, and only God Godself is in control of what course this mankind will follow. If mankind wants to have a good destiny and if a nation wants to have a good destiny, then all mankind has to fall down and worship God, and come before God to repent and confess their sins to God. Otherwise, mankind's destiny and destination will be an inescapable disaster.Look back to the age when Noah built the ark. Mankind was deeply corrupt, and they departed from God's blessings, no longer had God's care, and lost God's promises, living in the darkness without God's light. Then they all became licentious in nature and fell to the extent of being intolerable to the eye. Such mankind could no longer receive God's promises and were unworthy to see God's face and unworthy to hear God's voice, because they abandoned God, discarded everything God bestowed to them, and forgot God's words of instruction to them. Their heart became more and more distant from God. Subsequently, they became so fallen that they lost their sense and lost their humanity. They became more and more evil and then went toward death, falling into God's wrath and into God's punishment. Only Noah worshiped God and shunned evil. So he heard God's voice and heard God's charge to him. According to the charge of God's word, he built an ark and took in every living creature. Then, after everything was ready, God began the work of destroying the world. At that destruction of the world, only the eight members of Noah's family escaped the disaster and survived, because Noah worshiped Jehovah and shunned evil."from "God Is Sovereign over the Destiny of All Mankind"in The Word Appears in the Flesh
What is the meaning of love your neighbor as yourself?
In the Bible, in Leviticus 19, it says "Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against a fellow Israelite, but love your neighbor as yourself." The Christian New Testament recounts this in several places. In Luke chapter 10 for example, a man asks Jesus how he can obtain eternal life. Jesus asks the man what the law of Moses says. The man says, "You must love the lord your god with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind and love your neighbor as yourself." Jesus tells the man he's right, but the man probably doesn't want to waste unnecessary effort on someone who doesn't qualify as his neighbor, so he asks Jesus who is his neighbor. Jesus then tells the story of the "Good Samaritan" which shows that a neighbor isn't just someone who lives next door, but anyone who needs restorative help that you can provide.
Do newborn babies have a spirituality that is fundamental to their humanity and is this native spirituality 'of the devil'?
Do please be reassured that there is no part of the human makeup that is of "the devil", that's tainted by "the devil", or that is of "this evil world". You might be consoled to know that there is no devil, there is no real location called Hell, there is no evil world, and there is no eternal punishment, condemnation, or destruction. God's love is full and free; it comes with ZERO -- 'Attached Terms and Conditions' -- there is no small print that can be rebelliously dismissed or carelessly overlooked!This old 'Humanity-must- pay-for-its-defective-nature -with-death-and-divine-judgment' mythology is a later, provincial expression of humankind's first and most primitive cultural-religious story. The story arose from the notion that God - originally seen as a conclave of Gods or spirit-forces behind nature - may have His own agenda of need, or requirements, of which mortals should be aware. We mortals could then attempt to appease the God/Gods-of-Nature, so keeping the wolf from the door.This story has prevailed, in one mythological form or another, for many thousands of years. It has gradually been interpreted and developed into the present world's colorful collection of religious and cultural stories, each one purporting to set out 'God's requirements' of human beings. The reality, however, that God is not needy in any sense and exacts no requirements upon us.The human mind has always been capable of creating spiritual ideas and allegories, and of believing them to be real. As one race we have typically been over- ready to believe in anything by which we might somehow interpret or 'understand' our common life experience and find consolation in that. That is why our ancient spiritual ideas originated and why they quickly took root as our collective human mentality.In sum, a little like scientists, we contrived a theory to help us deal with life's mysteries and its vicissitudes. But, unlike true scientists, the great majority of us have never had a longing for our abstract theories and stories about life to be revealed as inaccurate and unsatisfactory. So, instead, we succumbed to the one rigid mentality that we had created, and clung on to it, holding it sacred for thousands of years, having convinced ourselves that our very survival depended on it.True scientists, however, have not sought to achieve a final result - to arrive at a fixed conclusion. Instead, they seek to go on making more and more theoretical progress. They actually want their mentality and their work to continue to evolve. That is the motivation and the joy of the scientist. The true scientist has that humble, simple and open faith from which flows an enduring drive, energy and joy. From the example of the Scientist, therefore, we learn a vital spiritual lesson.Humanity's collective and dusty, ancient notions about itself and its environment are dream-like creations that the human mind once imagined, and then fully accepted into existence. We unwittingly allowed our preconceived ideas to envelope and cloud our inner perception of ourselves and of human life.While that common mentality began to feel real to us and persisted so tenaciously, none of the underlying notions were true and accurate. They were misconceptions which we allowed to become age-old delusions. All the way through human history, we have in effect been allowing our most primitive cultural story to stand, and function, as our inner 'map' of Life. It has therefore only ever produced myths for us rather than a clean understanding of reality.Despite the resulting, persistent and negative Self-Image that Humankind has been carrying, there is, and there has been, no fault in our essential human nature. The human spirit is, and always will be, intact and whole. The truth is that we are made in the express Image of God. And, that is a Self-Image that truly becomes us.Nowadays, therefore, a good proportion of the population is awakening from that worn out dream which is, actually, now doing great harm in our world. Unless, globally, we can all allow ourselves a simpler and more open spirituality (through broader, more realistic and unifying religious contexts), one that is free to evolve with us, the current situation yet threatens us with extinction.The wonderfully good news is that, yes, we do all enter the world with an intrinsic, native spirituality, a pure spirit that is our true essence. Our native spirituality is absolutely fine. In fact, it is glorious. The only reason that we have lost the awareness of this glory is that throughout the generations we have been taught, even from earliest infancy, to spiritually delude and denigrate ourselves. And, as already explained, our delusions have been powerful and extremely resistant to the light of reason.To get a picture of what our native spirituality might be like, we can look at the experience of the newborn baby; we can learn to be 'mindful' - listen to our own hearts and souls; and we can review reliable common denominators across the wisdom given through all the world's works of scripture.A newborn baby has no preconceptions about anything; its consciousness is as yet sound and unstructured. It knows no boundaries: It does not have any idea of itself as anything separate from anything else. It may be aware of pain or discomfort yet still has no notion of need, not even of a 'need to survive'. Its carers would say that the baby is needy; but the baby itself does not know of 'need'. Grown-ups look at the baby as a distinct and separate individual (a little person) but the baby does not yet conceive of individuality or separateness of any kind. It does not know of "you and me", "here and there", "up and down", "hot and cold", "good and bad"...So, right at the beginning, the newly-conceived's experience is unified, its experience of everything being directly given via a whole consciousness (as yet undifferentiated/unstructured). This is a pure, unfiltered and original awareness of "Life, the Universe and Everything" or, as we say, "God".The baby, as yet, has no self-awareness; it does not yet distinguish itself -- as a body, as a mind, as a soul/spirit, or as any aspect of a self. It thus experiences its complete oneness with all-that-is. This 'spiritual' experience is absolutely raw/simple/essential -- unveiled and direct. At this 'zero' stage of mental development it knows no distinction between 'itself ' and 'GodSelf'. The baby experiences God because it is Divine: It is one-with-The-All, one with God. "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these" -- Jesus of Nazareth.In the New Testament, the apostle John explains (John 1: 12-13) that those who recognise and accept the self-disclosed spiritual identity of the man Jesus of Nazareth are, at the same time, realizing their own Divinity -- the truth that they too are conceived and born of God. The apostle Paul (in Acts 17:28) cites the Cilician Stoic philosopher Aratus, and other sages, saying, "We are his (God's) offspring". These are just one or two instances of the common denominators in the wisdom given across the world's various sacred writings. (Holy writings that originated in different historical eras and provinces.)As we grow up and become spiritually complicated, we quickly 'forget' our oneness with everything, our oneness with God. We forget that our accumulating human illusions, while being practically necessary or useful, are not our ultimate reality.However, an impression of ultimate reality remains in our cellular memory. And the ultimate reality itself is there hidden behind the useful, limited and mundane reality that we have since created for ourselves. Therefore, with much application, ultimate reality may finally be 'remembered' and realised in our experience by means of meditation (secular mindfulness may be one preferred route); art, films and literature; a broad study of spiritual wisdom; and research into and study of mysticism, both ancient and modern. Above all, there has to be a desire for this Self-actualization.It is not to angels that God has subjected the world to come, a world of peace and happiness for all. But there is a place where someone has testified:"What is humankind that you are mindful of them,a child of mankind that you care for her/him?You made them (flesh and blood) a little lower than the angels;you crowned them with glory and honorand put everything under their feet."In thus putting everything under humankind (Genesis 1:26-27), God left nothing that is not subject to them. Yet at present we do not see everything subject to them. But we do see Jesus, who was made lower than the angels for a little while, now crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.In bringing many sons and daughters to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the pioneer of their salvation complete through what he suffered. Both the one who makes people holy and those who are made holy are of the same family. So Jesus is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters. (A paraphrase of Hebrews 2: 5-11)By the time we all realise and experience who we truly are, the "world-to-come" will have come!If we believe in the existence of sin, wickedness and evil it is because we are still unconsciously living entirely within a relative and illusory reality where 'bad' and 'good' are only relative concepts. God is the All, and is Freedom and Love. Apart from God, nothing truly has existence. Sin, evil, the devil, and Hell are the creations of our limited, relational (relative) minds. They have no part in God, our ultimate reality.
