The Body is a Temple?
John 2:19 Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days."
John 2:21 But the temple he had spoken of was his body.
1 Cor. 6 18-20 Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
More here: http://bible.knowing-jesus.com/topics/A-Believers-Body-As-A-Temple
Wednesday 20 July 2016
Sunday 20 September 2015
Genesis
It has been made apparent to me by a dear friend and committed Christian that my knowledge of the Bible is somewhat lacking. I have therefore decided to read it from beginning to end and record my thoughts and interpretations here.
I consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian with an open mind. I have never attended Bible study classes, and will inevitably expose my ignorance. Indeed, in many instances I will simply pose questions to which I will seek answers, and I will add to the posts as and when I find them. Please appreciate that any thoughts and opinions are my own, unless otherwise stated, and are definitely not intended to be controversial, sacrilegious or in any way offensive.
Genesis 1.26 'And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness' - why plural?
2.7 'and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life' - by focusing on the breath, one is reconnecting with God
2.9 'the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil' The tree of life is mentioned again: 3.22 '...lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Mentioned again: 3.24,
2.10 - 2.15 Implies Eden was located in the Middle East (the Fertile Crescent?)
2.21 'And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof' - describes a surgical procedure in which Adam was anaethetised. Moreover, 2.22 - 'And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman...' - seems to suggest DNA extracted from Adam is used to create woman.
2.24 'a man...shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh' - intercourse unites man and woman. Furthermore 2.25 'And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed' - prior to knowing sin, and therefore temptation, displaying one's body was innocent as couldn't elicit sinful behaviour.
3.4 'And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 3.5For God doth know that in the day ye eat [the forbidden fruit] thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' This is a very interesting. It could be construed as the point in which man developed a conscience, knowing right from wrong. The snake, metaphorically, represents temptation and Eve ultimately chooses wrong.
3.7 'And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked...' Again, I interpret this as the point where man develops a sense of shame. Animals don't care that they're naked.
3.8 'And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...' The fact that God's described as 'walking' suggests He has limbs, which if man is made in His image would make perfect sense.
3.15 'And I will put enmity between the and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' This is a fascinating sentence, which I do not understand. I will definitely investigate it, however I have heard it said that the snake represents Satan and also prophesises the coming of Christ.
3.16-20 God tells man that life will now be an endurance. This interests me as, when coupled with the fact that man now has a conscience and can choose right from wrong, life could become a test. However there's no promise of a possibility of a heavenly reward for Adam: 'for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
3.22 'And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil...' Again God refers to 'us', which again may reference the Trinity.
4.1-5 Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel. Abel's offering pleases God, whilst Cain's doesn't which makes him angry.
4.7 'If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.' This verse confuses me. The New International Version makes more sense - '7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.' - however it doesn't seem to be an exact translation!
4.8-9 Cain kills his brother, and then lies about it. TO ME THIS IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE: CAIN'S LIE DEMONSTRATES THAT HE KNEW THAT KILLING ABEL WAS WRONG, YET HE CHOSE TO DO IT ANYWAY.
4.11-15 Cain is punished: 4.12 'When though tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.' God places a mark upon Cain, so that he's distinguishable and to deter those who might kill him. What was it? Who was he afraid might kill him, given that the Bible only records there being three people on earth?
4.16 Cain and his wife have a son, Enoch. Then begins the geneology of Cain. If Cain married, then who was his wife? This implies there are other people on earth besides him and his parents, adam and Eve.
4.25 Adam and Eve have another son, Seth.
4.26 'And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.' Is this describing men praying to God?
5.5 'And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.' Life expectancy was clearly a lot longer in those days. Was this because he'd somehow imbibed some of God's energy? His descendents also lived extroadinary long lives too.
5.23-24 'And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.' Why did God take Enoch, what had he done to deserve such a privilege?
6.1-5 'And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they care children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' This is truly a fascinating passage: 1) Who were the sons of God? 2) God seems to have decided that man shall only live to be 120, which interestingly is about the absolute maximum one could expect to live to now. Given that life expectancy was much, much shorter until recently, I think that's worthy of comment.
Chapters 6-10 Noah's Ark
Chapter 11 Tower of Babel
Chapter 12 God promises Abram 12.2 'And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.' Due to famine Abram was forced to go to Egypt, where his wife, Sarai, pretended to be Abram's sister as otherwise it was likely Abram would've been killed as the Egyptians coveted her. Instead they furnished the pair of them with gold and livestock. However, God was angry and sent plagues to Egypt because of this, and the Pharoaoh, upon realising Sarai was Abram's wife, expelled them both.
I consider myself to be a non-denominational Christian with an open mind. I have never attended Bible study classes, and will inevitably expose my ignorance. Indeed, in many instances I will simply pose questions to which I will seek answers, and I will add to the posts as and when I find them. Please appreciate that any thoughts and opinions are my own, unless otherwise stated, and are definitely not intended to be controversial, sacrilegious or in any way offensive.
Genesis 1.26 'And God said, Let us make man in our image after our likeness' - why plural?
2.7 'and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life' - by focusing on the breath, one is reconnecting with God
2.9 'the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil' The tree of life is mentioned again: 3.22 '...lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live for ever. Mentioned again: 3.24,
2.10 - 2.15 Implies Eden was located in the Middle East (the Fertile Crescent?)
2.21 'And the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, and he slept: and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh instead thereof' - describes a surgical procedure in which Adam was anaethetised. Moreover, 2.22 - 'And the rib, which the LORD God had taken from man, made he a woman...' - seems to suggest DNA extracted from Adam is used to create woman.
2.24 'a man...shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh' - intercourse unites man and woman. Furthermore 2.25 'And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed' - prior to knowing sin, and therefore temptation, displaying one's body was innocent as couldn't elicit sinful behaviour.
3.4 'And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: 3.5For God doth know that in the day ye eat [the forbidden fruit] thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.' This is a very interesting. It could be construed as the point in which man developed a conscience, knowing right from wrong. The snake, metaphorically, represents temptation and Eve ultimately chooses wrong.
3.7 'And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked...' Again, I interpret this as the point where man develops a sense of shame. Animals don't care that they're naked.
3.8 'And they heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the cool of the day...' The fact that God's described as 'walking' suggests He has limbs, which if man is made in His image would make perfect sense.
3.15 'And I will put enmity between the and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.' This is a fascinating sentence, which I do not understand. I will definitely investigate it, however I have heard it said that the snake represents Satan and also prophesises the coming of Christ.
3.16-20 God tells man that life will now be an endurance. This interests me as, when coupled with the fact that man now has a conscience and can choose right from wrong, life could become a test. However there's no promise of a possibility of a heavenly reward for Adam: 'for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.'
3.22 'And the LORD God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to know good and evil...' Again God refers to 'us', which again may reference the Trinity.
4.1-5 Eve gives birth to Cain and Abel. Abel's offering pleases God, whilst Cain's doesn't which makes him angry.
4.7 'If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.' This verse confuses me. The New International Version makes more sense - '7 If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.' - however it doesn't seem to be an exact translation!
4.8-9 Cain kills his brother, and then lies about it. TO ME THIS IS OF GREAT SIGNIFICANCE: CAIN'S LIE DEMONSTRATES THAT HE KNEW THAT KILLING ABEL WAS WRONG, YET HE CHOSE TO DO IT ANYWAY.
4.11-15 Cain is punished: 4.12 'When though tillest the ground, it shall not henceforth yield unto thee her strength; a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.' God places a mark upon Cain, so that he's distinguishable and to deter those who might kill him. What was it? Who was he afraid might kill him, given that the Bible only records there being three people on earth?
4.16 Cain and his wife have a son, Enoch. Then begins the geneology of Cain. If Cain married, then who was his wife? This implies there are other people on earth besides him and his parents, adam and Eve.
4.25 Adam and Eve have another son, Seth.
4.26 'And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos: then began men to call upon the name of the LORD.' Is this describing men praying to God?
5.5 'And all the days that Adam lived were nine hundred and thirty years: and he died.' Life expectancy was clearly a lot longer in those days. Was this because he'd somehow imbibed some of God's energy? His descendents also lived extroadinary long lives too.
5.23-24 'And all the days of Enoch were three hundred sixty and five years. And Enoch walked with God: and he was not; for God took him.' Why did God take Enoch, what had he done to deserve such a privilege?
6.1-5 'And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them. That the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them wives of all which they chose. And the LORD said, My spirit shall not always strive with man, for that he also is flesh; yet his days shall be an hundred and twenty years. There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came into the daughters of men, and they care children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown. And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.' This is truly a fascinating passage: 1) Who were the sons of God? 2) God seems to have decided that man shall only live to be 120, which interestingly is about the absolute maximum one could expect to live to now. Given that life expectancy was much, much shorter until recently, I think that's worthy of comment.
Chapters 6-10 Noah's Ark
Chapter 11 Tower of Babel
Chapter 12 God promises Abram 12.2 'And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing.' Due to famine Abram was forced to go to Egypt, where his wife, Sarai, pretended to be Abram's sister as otherwise it was likely Abram would've been killed as the Egyptians coveted her. Instead they furnished the pair of them with gold and livestock. However, God was angry and sent plagues to Egypt because of this, and the Pharoaoh, upon realising Sarai was Abram's wife, expelled them both.
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