Monday, March 30, 2009

The Holy Spirit in the Old Testament

In this blog, I will be showing you that the Holy Spirit has always existed. This will tie into my blogs about the trinity.

"And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." - Genesis 1:2

So, here we have in the second verse in the whole Bible a spirit. But not just any spirit. It's the spirit of God. Already, we know God exists and He has a spirit just by reading the second verse in the Bible.

"And Pharaoh said unto his servants, Can we find such a one as this is, a man in whom the Spirit of God is?" - Genesis 41:38

"And the Spirit of the LORD began to move him at times in the camp of Dan between Zorah and Eshtaol." - Judges 13:25

"And the Spirit of the LORD will come upon thee, and thou shalt prophesy with them, and shalt be turned into another man." - 1 Samuel 10:6

"Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the LORD came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah." - 1 Samuel 16:13

"The spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life." - Job 33:4

The list goes on. The Old Testament talks about the spirit of God a lot. Not only that, but it talks about God's spirit as if it is distinct from God.

God bless.

Can God become a man?

Can God become a man? I will be examining some verses in the Tankah and showing you why I believe, indeed He can.

"And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God amongst the trees of the garden." - Genesis 3:8

God walking in the Garden of Eden?! You can't walk without feet! I believe that this is Jesus Christ walking in the Garden of Eden, because where else in the Bible does it say God walked amongst us? In the New Testament, and his name is Jesus. This totally goes against what Islam teaches. You will usually hear Muslims say "god cannot become a man". How dare they tell what there god cannot and can do.


"13 And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?

14 And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant?

15 And the captain of the LORD's host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." - Joshua 5:13-15.

This says that Joshua fell to his face and did worship to this person. You don't worship a man and you don't worship an angel. So who was this person? It was Jesus Christ! Also, did you also notice how this person commanded, yeah, commanded Joshua to take of his shoes because the ground he was standing on was holy? Where else in the Bible does it say someone took off there shoes because the ground they were standing on was holy? How about when GOD commanded Moses to? Just like this person (God) is commanding Joshua. When we are in the presence of God, we are surrounded by his holiness, correct? Why was the ground Joshua was standing on holy? Because he was around God! This person that Joshua saw is God incarnate, or best know as Jesus Christ!


"I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought him near before him." - Daniel 7:13

Riding on a cloud is something that only God does in the Old Testament. Not only that, but this verse says the son of man. Jesus will also return, riding on a cloud with angels in the glory of his Father.

"The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre, as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot." - Genesis 18:1

God appeared to Abraham? How? It even gives a location, meaning that God psychically and virtually showed himself to Abraham.

"Manoah said to his wife, "We will certainly die, for we have seen God." - Judges 13:22

Manoah and his wife saw God?

Do not think I am speaking blasphemy, because I am aware the Bible says God is not a man and that nobody has seen God. However, I haven't found any Bible verse that says God cannot become a man. And as for nobody has ever seen God, I actually agree. Nobody has seen God, in His full glory, in His full state, if you will. But God has indeed showed himself in some way or another. He does this by becoming a man or even an angel. It's like a mediator. The verses I gave above are good examples. But now, I would like to show you a couple of stories found in the Old Testament that appear to be saying that God literally appeared to people.

If we read Genesis 22, we see God commanding Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac. Abraham listens to God and is prepared to slaughter his son on an altar. When Abraham lifts up his slaughtering tool, we see an angel of the Lord coming down from Heaven and stopping him.

"And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me." - Genesis 22:12

This angel, who is speaking to Abraham clearly says "for now I know that you fear God, seeing you haven't withheld your son, your only son from ME." Why did the angel say this? God was the one who commanded Abraham to do this, yet the angel ME?

Let's now look at Exodus chapter 3.

This story is about Moses and the burning bush. We see in Exodus 3:2 that an angel was appeared to Abraham in the bush. In Exodus 3:4 we see God in the midst of the bush speaking to Abraham. Now, I am prepared to accept that an angel simply appeared to Abraham then God came right after that. However, I find it interesting why this stories involkes an angel in the first place. The rest of the story doesn't mention the angel, it is only a conversation between God and Moses. The angel appears, then God speaks. Very interesting.

Last, let's take a look at Genesis chapter 18.

This story says the Lord appeared to Abraham, and then three mysterious men showed up at his tent. First, isn't it interesting how there are three of them? Why not two, or one? Why three? And why does it say God appeared to Abraham in Genesis 18:1 then these mysterious men appear to him? And is God in the midst of Abraham and these three men? Because it doesn't mention God for a while in the story. Something interesting you might want to look at is Genesis 18:9

"And they said unto him, Where is Sarah thy wife? And he said, Behold, in the tent." - Genesis 18:9

These three men, are all speaking at once. Isn't that interesting!

Now, Genesis 18:13 is when God is seen in the picture again. For the rest of Genesis chapter 18, God talks about Sarah laughing and Sodom and Gomorrah being destroyed. It's interesting to note that while all of this was being said, these men were preparing to go down in the city. It seems God is speaking through these men, or these men are God. But I have heard much objections to this story. It says that 2 of these men went down to the cities while Abraham was still in the presence of the Lord. Tell me, where is the other one? Two walked away and the other was still with Abraham. The Bible does not say that the other one walked away too.

Is Jesus God?

There is too much New Testament evidence that Jesus claimed to be God. I will not be able to fit it all in here, so I will only give the best verses. But in this blog, I will show you why Jesus Christ, is none other than God in the flesh.

"Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and he saw it, and was glad." - John 8:56

"Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" - John 8:57

"Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Before Abraham was, I am." - John 8:58

Jesus first states that Abraham rejoiced when he saw His day. Who's day? God's day! Then, in the next verse, the Jews pointed out that Jesus wasn't even fifty years old yet. How could he have known Abraham? The Jews didn't take what Jesus said out of context. They knew what He was saying, this is why they said he isn't even fifty yet. But instead of Jesus rebuking them, or correcting them of what He said. He says "Verily, verily, I say unto you. Before Abraham was, I am!" Jesus was stressing this. And instead of saying before Abraham was, Yahweh, Jesus Himself was taking that title! It wouldn't make much sense to say "before Abraham was, Yahweh". Jesus was obviously taking that I am title for Himself. If Jesus was trying to correct Himself, He certainly didn't make it clear again. Jesus simply confirmed before Abraham was, He was.

Jesus made many "I am" statements. In fact, this is why he offended so many people and this is why the Jews wanted to put him to death. Because he was claiming to be God!


John 6:51:"I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever;"

John 8:23: And He said to them, "You are from beneath; I AM from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world.

John 8:12: Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, "I AM the light of the world. He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."

John 10:9: "I AM the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture."

John 10:11: "I AM the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives His life for the sheep.

John 10:36: "do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?

John 11:25: Jesus said to her, "I AM the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live.

John 14:6: Jesus said to him, "I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.

John 15:1: "I AM the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

John 19:2: Therefore the chief priests of the Jews said to Pilate, "Do not write, 'The King of the Jews,' but, 'He said, "I am the King of the Jews."'"


Not only was he claiming to be the "I am". But look at these verses, he was claiming to be divine in all of these.


"But of the Son He says, "YOUR THRONE, O GOD, IS FOREVER AND EVER, AND THE RIGHTEOUS SCEPTER IS THE SCEPTER OF HIS KINGDOM." - Hebrews 1:8

In this verse, the Father is calling the son, God!


"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God." - John 1:1

"And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth." - John 1:14


Conclusion: Jesus gave Himself all the titles of God in the Old Testament. Jesus forgave sins, while only God could do this. Jesus was acknowledged as God and did not rebuke it once! Jesus will return riding on a cloud, something only God can do, to bring judgment, something that only God can do as well. The evidence that Jesus was claiming to be God is overwhelming.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Why does the first cause need to be God?

In this topic, I will be talking about the first cause argument, why I believe it to be God and go over a few objections that I have talked about in my previous discussions.


For the sake of this topic, lets assume it is totally 100% proven that the Universe had a finite beginning. Just what caused it? Did it come out of nothing? Did something natural cause it? If you are on the side of logic, you will know that only nothing comes from nothing. Everything does not come from nothing. If you say that it had a natural explanation, then a naturally explanation seems to sound more supernatural than just simply saying God did it. And no, this is not a god of the gaps. I believe that God IS the best explanation for the first cause of the Universe. In order for a being to bring the Universe into existence, it would need to be outside of that which it is creating. Meaning it would be transcendent of time, space and matter. This "being" would thus not be made up of matter, not subjected to time (eternal) and omnipresent due to the fact that it is not made up of matter and has no space. What does this sound like to you? It sounds like what the Theist calls God. This is why I believe it to be God.

Objection: If everything that begins to exist, has a cause. Then wouldn't God need a cause?

Response: Remember the premises of the Kalam Cosmological argument. Everything that BEGINS to exist, must have a cause. God did not begin to exist, He is eternal.

Objection: Then how come God can be eternal and not the Universe?

Response: Because God is not made up of matter or subjected to time and space. There are many problems with an infinite universe which all have to do with time, matter and space. All of them would need to come into existence at once, and none of them can be infinite. But aside from that, the second law of thermodynamics states that things will decay go head towards choas in the Universe. This, is one problem with an infinite universe. God, not being subjected to any of this would have no problem existing forever.

It seems to me that God is the best explanation for the cause of the Universe. I do not speak of any specific god, even though I am Christian and I did mention Theism in this blog. I was just showing why a Theistic or Deistic God might be the god who caused the Universe. Aside from my faith and personal experience with what I believe to be the true god, the verse below is why I believe it to specifically be the Judeo-Christian God.

"In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth" - Genesis 1:1

This is quite an interesting verse. Already, the first verse in the Bible declares truth. That being that the Universe had a beginning. Whoever wrote this part of Genesis, knew it did and declared that GOD did it.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Why?

This blog is going to be dedicated to the ultimate philosophical question: Why? But specifically, I will be talking about the philosophy behind God and why things are the way they are.

First, I just want to say I am not putting God in some type of box. I do not understand God or how He thinks. I am however, basing what I say upon logic and the Bible.


Alright, lets talk a little bit about the fall of man. In one of my previous blogs, I discuss free will and the fall of man. I told why there was a tree, temptation, etc. But I want to get more deeper than that. I will not be focusing on the fall itself, but the results of it and why things are the way they are in the world.

Just how come God chose this path? How come He just couldn't start from new and create the world over again? Well, I believe He did due to free will. He will not violate our free will. He will not violate the path man has chosen, that being to be separated from God. If He were to just recreate the world, well, then what is the point in that? Wouldn't man just sin again if God gave free will again? The chances of that happening are very high. God being all knowing, knows that this path that we are going down, is the best path to go. Instead of making everything new, God chooses to rebuild it back up slowly. In this process, He is able to show and reveal Himself, in a beautiful and mysterious way to humanity. He allows these things for many reasons, I am sure.

I also went over this briefly in my "The problem of evil" blog. The Bible says God is good. God will allow evil, to bring out good. Think about. How can we tell the difference between good and evil if we haven't been exposed to any of them? God may allow evil to show that He is good and that He is to be worshiped as God, just like the Bible says. All of this may be His method on reveal His good nature to humanity. But the Bible also says God is also love. God does indeed show His love in the process. He became a man to die for the sins of humanity! But, if none of this happened in the first place (the fall) then He couldn't of demonstrated it like He did! It all ties in together. But ultimately, He will not violate our free will and He chooses to rebuild everything slowly, in a process that will ultimately show His goodness and love. It will ultimately, glorify Him.