John 7:38; “rivers of #living water will flow from within them.” The pineal(penuel,peniel) gland is located between our temples- (called *3rd eye). While the eyes perceive the physical world, the third eye sees the #true world—a #unified whole with an unyielding #connection to God. Pineal is a place of #meeting with God. Jacobs encounter with God at Peniel is very significant because it brought about a divine *shift in his life, thus, Peniel is a place of *divine shift. One of the oldest *visual depictions of Jacobs wrestling is in the illustrated manuscript the Vienna Genesis. Many #artists have #depicted the scene, considering it as a #paradigm of artistic #creation. In sculpture Jacob Wrestling with the Angel is the subject of a 1940 sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein on display at the Tate Britain. Jacob wrestling with the angel is described in Genesis (32:22–32; Hosea 12:3–5). The "angel" in question is referred to as "man" (אִישׁ) and "God" in Genesis, while Hosea references an "angel" (מַלְאָךְ).[1] The account includes the renaming of Jacob as Israel (etymologized as "contends-with-God"). In the Genesis narrative, Jacob spent the night alone on a riverside during his journey back to Canaan. He encounters a "man" who proceeds to wrestle with him until daybreak. In the end, Jacob is given the name "#Israel" and #blessed, while the "man" refuses to give his own name. Jacob then names the -place- where they -wrestled- Penuel (פְּנוּאֵל "face of God" or "facing God"- The account contains several plays on Hebrew names—Peniel (or Penuel), Israel—as well as similarity to the #root of Jacob's name (which sounds like the Hebrew for "heel") and its compound. The limping of Jacob (Yaʿaqob ), may mirror the name of the #river, Jabbok (Yabbok יַבֹּק , sounds like "crooked" river), and Nahmanides (Deut. 2:10 of Jeshurun) gives the etymology "one who walks crookedly" for the name Jacob. The Hebrew text states that it is a "man" (אִישׁ, LXX ἄνθρωπος, Vulgate vir) with whom Jacob *wrestles, but later this —“man" is #identified with #God—- (Elohim) by Jacob. In #symbolism, pineal represents the true #temple of god- which dwells #within us when we open our *eyes to him. 🙏
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Q:
Why did God wait approximately 20 years after the Church was established to begin writing the New Testament? Why such a long span of time? A: Normally when we discuss the penning of the New Testament, we do so in view of the fact that God inspired men to write about Jesus and His will for the Church within only about 20-65 years of the Savior’s death and resurrection. Perhaps even more impressive is the abundant amount of evidence for the New Testament’s first-century origin. Due to the volume of ancient manuscripts, versions, and citations of the New Testament documents, even many liberal scholars have conceded the fact that the New Testament must have been completed by the end of the first century. Whereas the extant copies of Plato, Thucydides, Herodotus, Tacitus, and many others are separated from the time these men wrote by 1,000 years, manuscript evidence for the New Testament reaches as far back as the early second century, which has led most scholars to rightly conclude that the New Testament is, indeed, a first-century production.1As Irwin H. Linton concluded regarding the gospel accounts: “A fact known to all who have given any study at all to this subject is that these books were quoted, listed, catalogued, harmonized, cited as authority by different writers, Christian and Pagan, right back to the time of the apostles.” Still, some wonder why God chose to wait approximately 20 years to begin writing the New Testament. Why didn’t the first-century apostles and prophets begin penning the New Testament as soon as the Church was established? The simple, straightforward answer is that we cannot say for sure why God waited two decades to begin penning the New Testament. [NOTE: Conservative scholars generally agree that the earliest written New Testament documents, including Galatians and 1 and 2 Thessalonians, were likely written between A.D. 48-52.] We could ask any number of things regarding why God did or did not do something: Why did God wait some 2,500 years after Creation and some 1,000 years after the Flood to write a perfect, inspired account of these events? Why did God only spend 11 chapters in the Bible telling us about the first, approximately 2,000 years of human history, and 1,178 chapters telling us about the next 2,000? Why did God discontinue special, written revelation for over 400 years (between Malachi and the New Testament)? There are many questions, even specific ones about the makeup of God’s written revelation, that we would like to know about that He simply has not specifically revealed to us. Having made that disclaimer, we can suggest a few logical reasons why God waited to inspire first-century apostles and prophets to pen the New Testament. First, the early Church had the treasure of the Gospel “in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:7). That is, the apostles were miraculously guided by the Spirit in what they taught (Galatians 1:12; 1 Corinthians 2:10-16). The Spirit of God guided them “into all Truth” (John 16:13). Also, those on whom the apostles chose to lay their hands in the early churches received the miraculous, spiritual gifts of prophecy, knowledge, wisdom, etc. (Acts 8:14-17; 1 Corinthians 12:1-11). Even though the Church was without the inspired writings of Paul, Peter, John, etc. for a few years, God did not leave them without direction and guidance. In a sense, they had “walking, living New Testaments.” When the miraculous-age ended (1 Corinthians 13:8-10),3 however, the Church would need some type of continual guidance. Thus, during the miraculous age, God inspired the apostles and prophets to put in permanent form His perfect and complete revelation to guide the Church until Jesus’ return (cf. 2 Timothy 3:16-17). Second, it was necessary for God to wait a few years to write the New Testament, and not pen it immediately following the Church’s establishment, because the books and letters that make up the New Testament were originally written for specific audiences and for specific purposes (though they are applicable to all Christians). For example, the epistles that Paul wrote to the church at Corinth could not have been written until there was a church at Corinth. If the church at Corinth was not established until the apostle Paul’s second missionary journey (ca. A.D. 49-52), then Paul obviously wrote to the Christians in Corinth after this time. Furthermore, since in 1 Corinthians Paul dealt with specific problems that had arisen in the church at Corinth (e.g, division, immorality, etc.), he could not have explicitly addressed these matters in detail until after they had come to pass. Thus, there was a need for time (i.e., a few years) to pass before the New Testament documents were penned. Although some may be bothered by the fact that God waited approximately 20 years to begin penning the New Testament through His inspired writers, we can rest assured that He had good reasons for this relatively brief postponement. Admittedly, God did not explicitly indicate why He delayed putting His last will and testament in written form. Yet, logical reasons exist—most notably, the fact that the documents that make up the New Testament were written to specific peoples and for specific purposes. The persons of the Trinity know one another exhaustively, and each understands the #thoughts and #actions of the others. In human beings, there are #hidden depths in our nature so that we cannot fully understand our own actions and motives. But God is #fully #known to himself. Much about God is mysterious to us, but not to him. One way Scripture describes God’s exhaustive self-knowledge is by saying that he is a #speaking God or, simply, that he is #Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (John 1:1) God is not only eternal, holy, all-powerful, and so on, but he expresses and shares those qualities -through something like human speech. In his eternal nature, he has the power to speak (the “Word”), and that power to speak is who he is: his Word is eternally with him, and his Word is his very nature. John identifies this Word with Jesus Christ in John 1:14. In Jesus, the Word became flesh. So the existence of the Word did not begin with Jesus’s incarnation. There are hundreds of references to the divine word in Scripture, in both testaments, as the means by which God reveals himself. Paul says, “by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.” (Rom. 1:18). Though God is clearly revealed to all, fallen people prefer to deny that they know him, as Adam hid from God in the Garden (Gen. 3:8). When people say they do not know God, it is not because God has failed to reveal himself, or that God’s revelation is not clear enough. Rather, their unknowing God is something they have done to themselves. And God’s revelation, is also his presence, the place where he meets with his people. God’s nearness to Israel is the nearness of his word (Deut. 4:7–8, 30:11–14). And God comes to be “with us,” Immanuel, in the person of his Son Jesus Christ, his living word to us (John 1:1–14) revealed through man’s internal conscience and the created order. Man is created in God’s image, meaning divine imprint marks him; man is sensus divinitatis, sense of the divine. Man cannot escape the morality embedded within his very makeup as a creature made to reflect his Creator.
The doctrine of the Trinity is the best explanation for all of the biblical evidence. There is only one God, but He exists eternally as three individual Persons and has revealed Himself as God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. This is different from the teaching of three individual gods because the three Persons of the Trinity are co-equal, co-eternal, interdependent, and always in complete agreement. There is one God who exists as three individual Persons. Thus, the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; however, the Father is not the same person as the Son, nor is the Son the same person as the Holy Spirit. This is sometimes complicated by the fact that God the Father is often simply called “God” in the New Testament. The first three verses of the Gospel of John give us an idea of how this works out: John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word . . . (We know from verse 14 that the Word is Jesus. In the beginning, He was already there.) . . . and the Word was with God . . . (At least two Persons are in view here: one called “God” and one called “the Word.”) . . . and the Word was God (The Word is distinct from God, yet He is also called “God.” The Word is divine in His essential nature.) John 1:2. He was with God in the beginning (After the essential identification of the Word as God, once again the distinction is emphasized—He was with God when it all began.) John 1:3. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made (Here, we see that the Word is actually the Creator. He made everything. In the Old Testament, we are told that God created everything--Genesis 1:1.) It is this kind of biblical information that led to the formulation of the doctrine of the Trinity. When “God” is spoken of in the Old Testament, most people probably think of God the Father, but it would be more accurate to think of “God the Trinity.” In the New Testament, we see how each Person of the Trinity assumed different roles in the redemption of lost humanity, but the different Persons are always in complete agreement, acting as one. Jesus is God, but Jesus (who is God the Son) is not the same Person as God the Father or God the Holy Spirit. https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/divine-revelation-god-making-known/ Starting as a small group of Jewish people in Judea, -The “word”- spread quickly throughout the Roman Empire. Despite early persecution of Christians, it later became the state religion. In the Middle Ages it spread into Northern Europe and Russia. During the Age of Exploration, Christianity expanded throughout the world; it is currently the largest religion of the world. Most of the first Christians were ethnically Jewish or Jewish proselytes. An early difficulty came from Within judiasm. There was the question if they had to "become Jewish" before becoming Christian. The decision of St. Peter, was that they DID NOT, and the matter was further addressed with the “Council of Jerusalem.” The doctrines of the apostles brought the Early Church into conflict with some Jewish religious authorities, and this eventually led to the martyrdom of SS, Stephen and James the Great, and “expulsion from the synagogues.” Therefore, there has always been a remenant of native jewish believers throught history.
"The entire trajectory of christian scripture points to God’s radically inclusive love for all of Creation. Since patriarchy and exclusion are embedded in the "worldview of the writers" of Scripture- especially the OT, just as many ancient text, we will be brought into conflict with various exclusive texts and the doctrines that have formed around them from a historical, cultural scope. However, This is perhaps the most faithful posture to engage scripture with- it is the posture of Jesus as he seeks to amend and raise the ethical standards of the time. Its how Peter and early Apostles engaged difficult questions in their contemporary context, and shifting their perspectives to* align with God. One of the primary ways that leaning into an inclusive understanding of God leads to spiritual reformation in an individual’s life is by calling us out of a dualistic way of interacting in the world. In #Acts10, when God speaks to Peter, telling him to stop thinking through the -lens- of “clean” and “unclean”, he’s actually being called out of a dualistic binary towards an integral way of viewing the world. Instead of seeing one group, kind, or class of people as the “in” group and another as the out, the Voice in Peter’s vision reveals God’s #true-heart: All things can and will be declared “clean”. There is -no longer- a -separation- between the clean and inclean, but in Christ, all are #integrated into #one new humanity. God’s plan of redemption is deeply and radically inclusive: God seeks to bring everyone into redemption.. god is the inclusive Creator of all who seeks to redeem all in the midst of all of our #diversity. The world is a beautiful rainbow of color, where absolutely everyone has a place."
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