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Tag: God

DOCTRINE – WHO SAYS?
GOD IS One and FIRST

Is God’s TRUTH not found in SCRIPTURE?

“How long will you waver between two opinions?
If the LORD is God, follow him.
1 Kings 18:21b CSB – the question of the Prophet Elijah to the sons of Israel and false prophets at Mount Carmel

It’s a great QUESTION Elijah asks of men ‘limping between two opinions’ [LSB].

Wouldn’t it logically follow to ASK the same QUESTION of TRUTH?

IF Yᵊhōvâ IS ĕlōhîm come to HIM — the Way, the Truth and the Life.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

GOD is first in my life. Do YOU have a problem with that?
Roger @ Talk of JESUS .com

God’s TRUTH

As a matter of fact,
- MOST people do have a problem with putting GOD and Jesus Christ FIRST and before all else.
- Many refuse to study TRUTH of what GOD has revealed for human creatures to consider.
Why Study GOD ?
- I have already provided an initial reason AND DEFINITIONS related to doctrine in a brief introductory apologetic.
a Brief Apologetic for Doctrine

“Have centuries of history defined by the word of Almighty GOD fallen into a bottomless black hole of godless futility?” – RH
- In my previous look at The LORD God I intentionally offered only QUESTIONS for YOUR consideration without reference quoting the Bible.
Theology always Begins with GOD

“Acceptable Doctrines of the Common Era include a PAN-THEON poised in aTheist theory, pagan myth and stone-cold idols of every egregious god and any false prophet. – RH
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SO NOW WHAT? (Do YOU have answers?)
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the QUESTIONS of doctrine-based Theology

What is God? – Q4 Westminster Shorter Catechism
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In case you haven't done your homework, I'll provide an introductory ANSWER HERE, although You'll have to READ the (9) Scriptural answers on your own [referenced in the link above] from which this DOCTRINE is rooted.
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Quest. 4. What is God?
Ans. 4. God is a Spirit,(1) infinite,(2) eternal,(3) and unchangeable,(4) in his being,(5) wisdom,(6) power,(7) holiness,(8) justice, goodness, and truth(9)
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WHY STUDY GOD?

IF God is all of this (and more), why would we NOT study more about the Almighty, Eternal and Good LORD, WHO IS the Creator of all things and initiator and sustainer of our own life?

Certainly YOU have more QUESTIONS about GOD
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Perhaps you have questions similar to those I suggested last time from DOCTRINE taught through the Baltimore Catechism, which was formerly and formally endorsed by the Roman Catholic Church *before this Common Era).
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* officially replaced by the United States Catholic Catechism for Adults in 2004 C.E.
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Who is God?

Why did God make you?
1. Q. Is there but one God?
  A. Yes; there is but one God.
2. Q. Why can there be but one God?
  A. There can be but one God, because God, being supreme and infinite, cannot have an equal.
3. Q. How many Persons are there in God?
  A. In God there are three Divine Persons, really distinct, and equal in all things-the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.
Source: https://sacred-texts.com/chr/balt/balt1.htm *

DISCLAIMER About Sacred-Texts – This site is .. about religion, mythology, legends and folklore, and occult and esoteric topics.

[*note this aTheist approach]
‘This site has no particular agenda other than promoting religious tolerance and scholarship.’
the Baseless questions of philosophers and scholars

Scholarship, teaching and atheistic claims as an ‘unbiased‘ or ‘scientific approach” to theological and anthropological QUESTIONS frequently lack the logic and truth they claim.
Roger@TalkofJesus.com

There is ONE GOD and one TRUTH.

“How long will you be limping between two opinions?
1 Kings 18:21b LSB

All of us have become like something unclean…

“Now I know this: that you are a man of God and that the word of Yahweh in your mouth is truth.”
1 Kings 17:24 LSB – witness of a widow in Zarephath of Elijah after the Prophet raised her son from the dead

Answers of TRUTH through Scripture

All Scripture
is God-breathed
and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness
2 Timothy 3:15 LSB – θεόπνευστος [inspired by God]

This is NOT to say that the BIBLE contains ALL TRUTH, but that those things revealed by the Lord God through Scripture are TRUE and reliable.

IF any man should claim some additional ‘truth,’ NOT found in the Bible, THEN this humankind creature made in God’s image imagines the unprovable (even IF its human claim is ‘science‘).

Are ALL truths EQUAL?

OF COURSE NOT!

What claim of man can stand against GOD?

The heavens declare the glory of God,

and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.

The instruction of the LORD is perfect..

the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy..

The precepts of the LORD are right..

the command of the LORD is radiant..

The fear of the LORD is pure,

enduring forever;

the ordinances of the LORD are reliable

and altogether righteous.
Psalm 19:1,7a,c,8a,c,9 CSB

The LORD Speaks!

בָרִים (Deuteronomy) 4:1 וְעַתָּה יִשְׂרָאֵל שְׁמַע אֶל־הַחֻקִּים וְאֶל־הַמִּשְׁפָּטִים אֲשֶׁר אָנֹכִי מְלַמֵּד אֶתְכֶם לַעֲשׂוֹת לְמַעַן תִּחְיוּ וּבָאתֶם וִירִשְׁתֶּם אֶת־הָאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה אֱלֹהֵי אֲבֹתֵיכֶם נֹתֵן לָכֶם׃

“Then the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice. – Deuteronomy 4:12

“The LORD spoke to you face to face from the fire on the mountain. Deuteronomy 5:4

“The LORD spoke these commands in a loud voice to your entire assembly from the fire, cloud, and total darkness on the mountain; he added nothing more.

He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS

Deuteronomy 5:22

Inerrancy of the Bible

inerrant /ĭn-ĕr′ənt/

adjective
1. Incapable of erring; infallible.
2. Containing no errors. Of or pertaining to inerrancy.
3. Without error, particularly used in reference to the Bible.
  - The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition •
“.. the Bible says that God’s words are the ultimate standard of truth.

If the entire Scripture contains the communication of God to humanity,

then it can be logically inferred that its contents will reflect the perfect nature of God.

The logical result of these truths is that God’s Word is without error in everything that it says.

Therefore, it is proper to call the Bible inerrant, infallible or a number of other terms that Christians use to describe its nature.
Source: Don Stewart :: Does the Bible Testify to Its Own Inerrancy?

True Witnesses of God’s Word

This was the appearance of the likeness of the LORD’s glory. When I saw it, I fell facedown and heard a voice speaking. He said to me,

“Son of man, stand up on your feet and I will speak with you.”

As he spoke to me, the Spirit entered me and set me on my feet, and I listened to the one who was speaking to me.
Ezekiel 1:28b-2:2 CSB

Then I heard a holy one speaking, and another holy one said to the speaker, “How long will the events of this vision last — .. While I, Daniel, was watching the vision and trying to understand it, there stood before me someone who appeared to be a man. I heard a human voice calling from the middle of the Ulai:

“Gabriel, explain the vision to this man.”

So he approached where I was standing; when he came near, I was terrified and fell facedown.

“Son of man,” he said to me, “understand that the vision refers to the time of the end.”
Daniel 8:13a, 15-17 CSB

a Voice from the cloud

After six days Jesus took Peter, James, and his brother John and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. Suddenly,

Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.

He was transfigured in front of them, and his face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light…

While he [Peter] was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said,

“This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased. Listen to him! ”
Gospel of Matthew 17:5b [vs.1-3,5]

Why study God through the Word of Scripture?

God-willing, we will study this question further NEXT in our look at Doctrines of the Common Era.

Our point today is that Truth comes from God and not from mankind (humankind, scientists and philosophers).

The Source of Truth is exclusive to God and what the Lord chooses to reveal to some or all of his mortal human creatures.

Believe in God and Know the Truth

You believe in God; believe also in me.
Gospel of John 14:1b NET

Jesus replied,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through me.
Gospel of John 14:6 NET

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
May 25, 2024
What God Hath Wrought 2
Paul’s Mission – 2 REPORTS
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A.D. 57

Previously:
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TO James and the Church:

And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Acts of the Apostles 21:19 – ASV – Paul’s account of his third mission to th

What God Hath Wrought

“Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed..” – Acts 21:20b ASV

James and the leaders of the church in Jerusalem then put forth a plan for Paul to prove his faithfulness to the LAW of Moses to the thousands of Jews in the Temple.

TO Jewish Worshipers including Proselytes in the Temple courts:

Followers of the Way of Jesus Christ are convinced, yet through the Spirit Paul will proclaim Christ to the larger multitudes of the Temple courts divided for Jews and separately set-apart areas for God-seekers among the Hellenists and pagans.

Acts of the Apostles 21: ASV

and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
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James, of course, does not receive the murmuring of those influenced by the anti-Christs among the temple leadership; however the issue at hand is for Paul and the Apostles to proclaim CHRIST TO JEW AND GENTILE ALIKE.
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The Lord Jesus had received the same sort of reception in the Temple as the Apostles do now.

John 5:

“You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; it is these that bear witness about Me; and you are unwilling to come to Me so that you may have life.
Gospel of John 5:39-40 LSB – witness of the Lord Jesus to the leaders of the Temple

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the only God?

“Do not think that I will accuse you to the Father; the one who accuses you is Moses, in whom you have set your hope.

“For if you believed Moses, you would believe Me, for he wrote about Me.
Gospel of John 5:46 – The Lord Jesus challenging leaders of the Temple

“But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe My words?”
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James knows how these same Temple officials some twenty ago had falsely convicted and then crucified his beloved half-brother, JESUS.

These will not believe Paul either.

Yet by God's grace some will believe the Apostle when Paul once again proclaims Christ in Jerusalem's Temple.
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What God hath Wrought through MOSES
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a Scriptural sample from the Torah from which PAUL or any of the Apostles could have preached on this or any day.
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מֹשֶׁה
מֹשֶׁה (mōšê), occurs 766x in 704 verses in the WLC Hebrew.

He said also, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses^H4872 hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

– Exodus 3:6

Then Moses H4872 answered and said, “What if they will not believe me and will not listen to my voice? For they may say, ‘Yahweh has not appeared to you.’”

– Exodus 4:1

So Moses spoke thus to the sons of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses on account of their weakness of spirit and hard slavery. – Exodus 6:9

Therefore the people contended with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.”

And Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”

But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to put us and our children and our livestock to death with thirst?”

– Exodus 17:2-3 LSB

the Tabernacle & the Temple

Now it happened, in the first month of the second year, on the first day of the month, the tabernacle was erected… He erected the court all around the tabernacle and the altar, and he put up the screen for the gateway of the court.

Thus Moses finished the work.

– Exodus 40:17,33 LSB

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of Yahweh filled the tabernacle.
40:34 וַיְכַס הֶעָנָן אֶת־אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד וּכְבוֹד יְהוָה מָלֵא אֶת־הַמִּשְׁכָּן׃
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Paul could have preached of MOSES and the Tabernacle. 

The Apostle could have witnessed SCRIPTURE recalling THE GLORY OF THE LORD filling the Temple during its dedication by Solomon.
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Paul legitimately could have asked Judea's leaders,
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‘WHEN HAS THE GLORY OF THE LORD EVER FILLED THIS TEMPLE REBUILT BY HEROD UNDER ROME? ‘

Yet Paul had no need to reiterate this truth that leading Jews under ROME seeking the Apostle knew all too well.

AND the Apostles knew all-to-well that ‘circumcision’ (the mark of the Jew) was NOT the real issue.

‘forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children..’
FALSE WITNESS against the Apostle to the gentiles, Paul.

Nor was Moses, against whom many had been stiff-necked.

περιτομή – Circumcision
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Earlier in Paul's missionary journeys:
(the matter settled by James and the A.D. 49 Council of Jerusalem)
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But some of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed stood up, saying, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them to keep the Law of Moses.”

Both the apostles and the elders came together to look into this matter.
Acts of the Apostles 15:5-6 LSB

ACTS 21

Then Paul took the men, and the next day, purifying himself along with them, went into the temple giving notice of the completion of the days of purification, until the sacrifice was offered for each one of them.

27 Now when the seven days were almost over, the Jews from Asia, upon noticing him in the temple, began to throw all the crowd into confusion and laid hands on him, crying out,

“Men of Israel, help!

This is the man who teaches to everyone everywhere against our people and the Law and this place;

and besides, he has even brought Greeks into the temple and has defiled this holy place.”

MORE false accusations and lies

This latest stirring of the CROWDS in ROMAN JERUSALEM resembles earlier riots and controversies ignited against the GOSPEL of JESUS CHRIST which Paul and many disciples of The Way have now proclaimed throughout much of Asia and Europe.

Paul, a Jew among jews, has abandoned an old Covenant broken by the Jews many centuries Before Christ.

“So circumcise your heart, and stiffen your neck no longer.
Deuteronomy 10:16 וּמַלְתֶּם אֵת עָרְלַת לְבַבְכֶם וְעָרְפְּכֶם לֹא תַקְשׁוּ עוֹד׃
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“Circumcise yourselves to Yahweh
And remove the foreskins of your heart,

Men of Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem,

Lest My wrath go forth like fire
And burn with none to quench it

Because of the evil of your deeds.”

Jeremiah 4:4
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NEXT God-willing, we will return to the controversy unraveling in the Temple.

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
May 10, 2024
What God Hath Wrought
Jerusalem, Jerusalem !

And when we were come to Jerusalem, the brethren received us gladly. – Acts of the Apostles 21:17 ASV

That’s it, really – the end of a THIRD MISSIONARY JOURNEY OF PAUL (and many other apostles and disciples of the risen Jesus Christ).
- THE END of a FIRST MISSION beginning back in A.D. 47 had been about fourteen years after his conversion before Christ.
  - 1400 miles through CYPRESS and skirting GALATIA.
  - Paul and Barnabas return to the church at Antioch, Syria to ‘report all that God had done.‘
- In ACTS 15, Peter, James, Paul and other leading men of the church meet to resolve issues of JEWS and GENTILES eating and worshiping together, after which apostles were SENT out to the churches.
- These apostles of a SECOND MISSION then departed from Jerusalem to SYRIA and GALATIA in A.D. 49,
  - then crossing into Europe (THRACE, MACEDONIA, GREECE & ACHAIA);
  - Paul returns to ASIA MINOR, establishing an important church in Ephesus.
  - Paul returns to Antioch, via Jerusalem, having travelled a distance of 2800 miles
The Connection of Christ’s Missions

A.D. 52 – Apostles’ Missions so far..
- A.D. 57
  - Paul is about to give an account of his recent 5-year, 2700 mile THIRD MISSION to the church in Jerusalem.
Prophesying the unseen future

previously, a prophesy in Caesarea

Acts of the Apostles 21:
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NOTE: Due to the seriousness of ongoing issues of the Church formally considering Paul's report from mostly Gentile Hellenist Roman cities, please consider the gravity of a more formal Scripture of the American Standard Version (revision of 19th c. English update of the A.D. 1611 King James Bible.) - RH
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More People, More Problems

18 And the day following Paul went in with us unto James; and all the elders were present.

And when he had saluted them, he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles through his ministry.
Acts of the Apostles 21:19 ASV
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Let us PAUSE here to consider what witness Paul has 'rehearsed' to this council of Jerusalem Elders. 

It's been some seven or eight years since James and and the leaders of the CHURCH SENT this Apostle to the Gentiles with specific anointing and instruction.
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The things which God hath wrought !
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FIRST: defining a verb made archaic to Common Era ears
Wrought [121x in the ASV]
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- Thus all the work that Solomon wrought for the house of Jehovah was finished. – 2 Chronicles 5:1a
- And thus did Hezekiah throughout all Judah; and he wrought that which was good and right and faithful before Jehovah his God. – 2 Chronicles 31:20
- And it came to pass, when all our enemies heard thereof, that all the nations that were about us feared, and were much cast down in their own eyes; for they perceived that this work was wrought of our God. – Nehemiah 6:16
But he that *doeth the truth cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, that they have been wrought in God.
Gospel of John 3:21 ASV [context John 3:19-21]
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* ποιέω - is the SAME word Luke uses as 'rehearsed' om ACTS 21:19  - ..he rehearsed one by one the things which God had wrought among the Gentiles..
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What hath God wrought, might Isr'l say
Author: Thomas Gibbons AD 1720-1785
Published in 4 hymnals
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WROUGHT ! archaic to Common Era worship perhaps, but having a GRAVITY of TRUTH required of Paul to make his case for the Gentiles to cultural Jews.

And they, when they heard it, glorified God; and they said unto him,

Thou seest, brother, how many thousands there are among the Jews of them that have believed;

and they are all zealous for the law: and they have been informed concerning thee, that thou teachest all the Jews who are among the Gentiles to forsake Moses, telling them not to circumcise their children, neither to walk after the customs.
ACTS 29:20b-21 ASV

James tells Paul why he must address many new believers providing truth and evidence overturning false accusations against the Way made by zealous Judeans.

What is it therefore?

they will certainly hear that thou art come.

Remember back in Caesarea?

Thus saith the Holy Spirit, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles. – Acts of the Apostles 21:11b ASV – prophesy through Agabus for the Apostle Paul

This leader of the Jerusalem church once an unbelieving Galilean Jew (biological half-brother of Jesus) suggests a plan for Paul to convince them.

Do therefore this that we say to thee:
- We have four men that have a vow on them;
- 24 these take, and purify thyself with them,
- and be at charges for them,
- that they may shave their heads:
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These purification rites relate to Levitical Law & ALSO required completion of a VOW to the LORD.
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and all shall know that there is no truth in the things whereof they have been informed concerning thee;

but that thou thyself also walkest orderly, keeping the law.

Clear PUBLIC evidence of TRUTH !

AND in true leadership form JAMES reminds of their decision already made earlier regarding GENTILE customs:

But as touching the Gentiles that have believed, we wrote, giving judgment that they should keep themselves from things sacrificed to idols, and from blood, and from what is strangled, and from fornication.

Paul receives their advise humbly (even knowing somewhat of the outcome), as the Apostle has been counseled by the Holy Spirit.

26 Then Paul took the men, and the next day purifying himself with them went into the temple, declaring the fulfilment of the days of purification, until the offering was offered for every one of them.

ACTS of the Apostles – To Be Continued…

What God Hath Wrought 2

Talk of JESUS . com

Comment on Scripture – Share the Gospel
April 26, 2024