neologist wrote:real life wrote:Hi Neologist,
Always good to hear your views. I can't say that I share your complete view of clergy, nor that it is supported by the Bible. However, that sinful men have often failed in their responsibilities as shepherds is unquestionable.
Would I have done any better? Probably not.
However, scripture does ordain positions of pastor, teacher, evangelist , prophet , apostle. Since these positions will always be filled by imperfect and sinful men, we only state the obvious when we catalogue their failings.
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More to the point of the thread, however, I have been wanting to ask you to consider John the Baptist's statement that he was preparing the way for Jehovah and making His paths straight. His statement , a direct quotation of the Old Testament referring to the LORD God is plainly applied to Christ.
Sorry to take so long. I've been running around Southern California, eagerly awaiting the birth of my first granddaughter after 8 grandsons.
Anyway, to answer your question about the representation made in John 1:23,a quote of Isaiah 40:3:
Because Jesus came to represent his father. "I have come in the name of my Father, but YOU do not receive me; if someone else arrived in his own name, YOU would receive that one" (John 5:43) "And he that sent me is with me; he did not abandon me to myself, because I always do the things pleasing to him." (John 8:29)
Now it's your turn to answer my question, previously asked: Who is the god of this world?
Hi Neologist,
Congrats on the new granddaughter! What a tremendous blessing. I know a family with 10 sons and just 2 daughters and I can imagine the excitement that must have been yours in California. It's a wonder you even came back.
To your question, of course, Satan is referred to sarcastically as the "god" of this world. Just as the idols of the Canaanites are referred to as "gods" because that is how the Canaanites approached them, as if they were a god. However, God's perspective on this:
Deut 32:17 They went sacrificing to demons, not to God,
Gods whom they had not known,
New ones who recently came in,
With whom YOUR forefathers were not acquainted.
And Paul says
20 No; but I say that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God; and I do not want YOU to become sharers with the demons.
21 YOU cannot be drinking the cup of Jehovah and the cup of demons; YOU cannot be partaking of "the table of Jehovah" and the table of demons.
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Is your point that some in the Bible are referred to as god , but that they are not God?
Not one of these "gods" however is referred to as the Almighty, as Christ is referred to; or as the Alpha and the Omega, as Christ is; or as the Eternal Father, as Christ is; or as the First and the Last, as Christ is; or as the Creator of all things, as Christ is; or as the Judge of the living and the dead, as Christ is.....and the list could go on and on where Christ is referred to in exactly the same terms as are used to refer to God.
The same cannot be said of "the god of this world" or any of the "gods" that men worship in place of the true God.
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God alone is referred to in Isaiah 44:24 This is what Jehovah has said, your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: "I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth. Who was with me?
But the New Testament makes it clear that Christ made the heavens and the earth.
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Again a clear reference to God ---
Ps 102:22 When the peoples are collected all together,
And the kingdoms to serve Jehovah.
23 On the way he afflicted my power,
He cut short my days.
24 I proceeded to say: "O my God,
Do not take me off at the half of my days;
Your years are throughout all generations.
25 Long ago you laid the foundations of the earth itself,
And the heavens are the work of your hands.
26 They themselves will perish, but you yourself will keep standing;
And just like a garment they will all of them wear out.
Just like clothing you will replace them, and they will finish their turn.
27 But you are the same, and your own years will not be completed.
-----is quoted in the New Testament as referring to Christ.
Heb 1:8 But with reference to the Son:......(first a separate scripture is quoted and then a second also referring to Him.....)
10 And: "You at [the] beginning, O Lord, laid the foundations of the earth itself, and the heavens are [the] works of your hands.
11 They themselves will perish, but you yourself are to remain continually; and just like an outer garment they will all grow old,
12 and you will wrap them up just as a cloak, as an outer garment; and they will be changed, but you are the same, and your years will never run out."
These references applied to both Jehovah God and Christ indicate the identity of Christ as Jehovah God; just as does the prophecy of Isaiah fulfilled by John as the one preparing the path of Jehovah.
Just as there are not two Alpha and Omegas, there are not two Gods, or God and god. They are One and the same.
Is 44:6 "This is what Jehovah has said, the King of Israel and the Repurchaser of him, Jehovah of armies, ?'I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.
Is 43:10 "YOU are my witnesses," is the utterance of Jehovah, "even my servant whom I have chosen, in order that YOU may know and have faith in me, and that YOU may understand that I am the same One. Before me there was no God formed, and after me there continued to be none.
11 I?-I am Jehovah, and besides me there is no savior."