Hello fellow disciples.

Hello, my name is Matthew. I've always been a believer in God since I can remember. Have known there is a higher power. Became a Christian in early 2021 when first baptized. Do believe Jesus walked the earth. I've since been very involved in religious studies, and scripture dating back to known history. Ancient Egypt, and IFA became a focal point. Wondering if others here have knowledge of IFA? Olodumare (the holy spirit)? I'm especially fascinated by the Egyptians. For they worshipped quiet a few Gods. Come to determine these "Gods" were in fact Angels and do believe they did partake with society at the time.

Done light research into the book of Enoch. Mainly my knowledge is of the Watchers. Studied testimony such as 23 minutes in hell. As of recent I've been dealing with trials and tribulations that have severely impacted my life. Along the lines of John... This has not lessened my spirit in the trinity (father, son, holy spirit). In fact it has strengthened my faith. However I find my soul weakened due to these events. Yes, I do believe we as Gods creation embody both a spirit and a soul. The two being unique to the other? My belief is through discussion of scripture, faith, religion, spirituality, and divinity we can find further peace of mind and soul. As always I'm seeking to further my knowledge of all aspects.

There is a lot to share on my part, and even more to learn. Please feel free to ask any questions, and thank you God for guiding me to this online forum. Thank you Jesus for allowing us this day. Thank you holy spirit for giving and guiding us in knowledge. Thank you to the Angels who watch over us and protect of from evil. Thank you to the pastors who are true to their teachings. Thank you to the churches that remain holy. I feel humanity has entered very trying times. Religion being attacked, innocent being persecuted, such hatred, such sadness, such despair, such corruption, unimaginable thirst for profit no matter the consequences. The list goes on and on and on...

Hello Matthew and welcome to CC.

There is indeed, a lot in your introduction. It is a joy to hear you are a Christian and have been baptized. You indicate you believe Jesus "walked the earth", does that mean you believe Jesus is the son of God? Your intro is a little vague on this.

You have obviously done a great deal of study. I am curious, what is the basis of your are fascination with ancient Egypt and their gods? Are you a believer in IFA? Do you see conflicts between IFA and your Christian faith or do you find harmony there?

You raise many fascinating questions, most of which I could not begin to address but look forward to hearing more.

Welcome!

Wishing you a warm welcome to CC, Matthew! Nice big intro.... BAH DAH BOOM! .... We like that.

Genesis 6:4
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

Don't know much 'bout that. (Oysters have small brains.)

I find that it helps to remember Job (and Jesus, of course.)

Let us pray one for another, my friend, like in the old days of Paul and Silas.

Praise the Lord! Belief in the divinity of Jesus is so critical to our salvation and our walk with Him, as is the acknowledgement of the Holy Spirit (as you mentioned earlier?)

Seems they can be for a time, at least. I anticipate getting a glorified body someday! (I'm pretty excited 'bout that.)

Me too. Look forward to many fine and fascinat'in discussions comin' up (I will try to keep the cuss'in part to a minimum.)

Godspeed.

Absolutely. In this form God considered him to be his son. However it is it my belief that Jesus was the earthly incarnation of God himself. Left aside the attributes of wrath, disappointment, and vengeance for what humanity has done. A manifestation of God that only loved and cared for the salvation of his creation.
Personally I have long since been fascinated by the complexity, culture, and mysteries of the Egyptians. This was well before becoming more religious. These ancient religions are important to me because this history is mostly missing from scripture. The pyramids also play a substantial role in research of Nikola Tesla as well. My idol. The scientist/inventor who revolutionized our world. A lot of people have never even heard of!

For IFA I was sent into contact with a grand master in Nigeria randomly by fate. He taught me many aspects of the religion. My main connection with this religion is Olodumare. Concluding this religion was in fact worshipping and seeking the holy spirit, in the form of divination, a more direct contact. Ritual animal sacrifice is still practiced in some areas. I do not believe sacrifice to be of benefit anymore. The bible states.

1 Timothy 4:1 plus 1 Corinthians 10:18-21~ The Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons. Consider the people of Israel: Do not those who eat the sacrifices participate in the altar? Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything?
No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. You cannot
drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.

Thank you. Figured I'd get a lot of my recent life out in the open right away.

Genesis 6:4
“There were giants in the earth in those days; and also after that, when the sons of God came in unto the daughters of men, and they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.”

An area of concern I have is the exclusion of the goddesses in history. Hathor has been a research topic for me. Her daughter is more well known. Isis.

Don't know much 'bout that. (Oysters have small brains.)

Honestly me either. The topic I spent time on was the watchers.

I find that it helps to remember Job (and Jesus, of course.)

This is currently the chapter of bible I am on.

Let us pray one for another, my friend, like in the old days of Paul and Silas.

Ase. Ashe. Amen. These are the versions of amen throughout history.

Praise the Lord! Belief in the divinity of Jesus is so critical to our salvation and our walk with Him, as is the acknowledgement of the Holy Spirit (as you mentioned earlier?)

I believe the focus on Trinity is best. Praise Jesus for allowing us to live.

Seems they can be for a time, at least. I anticipate getting a glorified body someday! (I'm pretty excited 'bout that.)

An afterlife without the struggle of our worldly bodies afflictions, struggle of sin, and evil. Yes please.

Me too. Look forward to many fine and fascinat'in discussions comin' up (I will try to keep the cuss'in part to a minimum.)

Godspeed.

Me as well. Listen I'm a master technician. I think we all known the mouth a mechanic has. I would say fowl language is the least of Gods concerns at the point in time.

Thank you Magenta for welcoming me, and thank you very much for this post. I was looking for this!

I hope this is done knowing full well that Enoch is not an inspired book

Please explain more.

Never was unless it pointed directly to Jesus.

There is a lot that could be said about this, perhaps far too much to comprehensively encapsulate in one post.

Consider this: Enoch would have been quoted for centuries before the book of Enoch was even written. That's how oral traditions work

During New Testament times, without argument or qualification, a commonly understood body of books was in existence
which the Jews recognized to be the sacred and authorized Scriptures. Enoch was not counted among them.

Despite being clearly well-known during the development of the Hebrew Bible canon, 1 Enoch was excluded from
both the Tanakh’s formal canon and the Septuagint’s typical canon, and thus from the Deuterocanon’s writings.

Also, the Apocryphal and Pseudepigraphical writings were preserved in the Catholic Bible but not canonized in the Hebrew Bible due to a number of reasons, starting with their questionable authorship or authenticity. The Hebrew Bible, known as the Old Testament, was compiled before the Book of Enoch was completed. Also, during the time of these books being written, it is acknowledged their were no prophets. I italicized preserved above because even though Enoch was included in some Catholic Bibles, it was not considered inspired.

I realize some believe it to be inspired for a number of reasons, perhaps simply because fragments of the books (yes, plural) of Enoch were found with the Dead Sea Scrolls. However, the Dead Sea Scrolls contain all kinds of documents, not just Scripture. For instance, calendars, commentaries, songbooks, community regulations, and/or historical documents unearthed at Qumran should also not be considered to be part of the Bible. The Qumran library was much more than just Biblical manuscripts.

There is a start

These replies all come to a particular topic. Remember that these religions were established at the beginning of known history. Far far back. 4000-3000BC. Magneta you can say Enoch is not an inspired book, but it absolutely was. At some point in history it was decided to be excluded. This goes into the aspect of modification of the bible itself. What has been changed, and what has been lost, and who decided it was right to do so. Afterall according to scripture prophets no longer walked the earth. So who had the authority to do these things that was in fact directed by God himself? Of course this should be a thread in its own right as a lot can be said.

Welcome to this Christian family and you are set to meet a lot of adorables! Thanks also for your gracious offer of sharing. God bless you!

That is backwards. At some point some decided to include it.

Enoch was not included in the Hebrew canon.

Thank you for welcoming me.
I would have to research the where, when, and why more. You're very knowledgeable thank you for sharing.

hello Matthew and welcome.

To answer your question directly, yes the soul and spirit are different. God Himself has a soul and a spirit:

Matthew 12:18
18Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles.

Matthew 3:16
16As soon as Jesus was baptized, He went up out of the water. Suddenly the heavens were opened, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and resting on Him.

In like manner, people have a soul and spirit, as well as a physical body.

1 Thessalonians 5:23
23Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your entire spirit, soul, and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

The Bible is actually a bit confusing at times on this subject due to some interesting translation choices, but with enough study you can get to the bottom of it. Just know that the soul and spirit aren’t the heart or mind. As you can see below they are different things.

Matthew 22:37
37Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’

And again the spirit is not the mind or thoughts of a person, but the spirit can access thoughts. That’s how the Spirit of God knows how to pray for us.

1 Corinthians 2:11
11For who among men knows the thoughts of man except his own spirit within him? So too, no one knows the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.

Romans 8:26
26In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know how we ought to pray, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groans too deep for words.

You also may consider that a soul is actually a disembodied person fully capable of speaking, wearing clothes, and resting.

Revelation 6:9-11
9And when the Lamb opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony they had upheld. 10And they cried out in a loud voice, “How long, O Lord, holy and true, until You avenge our blood and judge those who dwell upon the earth?”
11Then each of them was given a white robe and told to rest a little while longer, until the full number of their fellow servants, their brothers, were killed, just as they had been killed.

I think that’s enough to get you started in the right direction in an otherwise confusing and highly-opinionated topic. Let the Bible have the final say on this despite what you hear from other religions or people. God bless!

Not in the currently accepted Cannon of Scripture. It is a big question mark. Bible seems complete without it.

Animal sacrifices were required by our Lord in 4000BC, but even then, they pointed to Jesus' then-coming Atonement (He came to earth 4000 years later.)

I don’t know if this helps, but God never actually requested/commanded a sacrifice from Cain and Abel in Genesis 4. However, it appears He nevertheless accepted Abel’s offering.