The Inciting Incident

[Depleted]

There is logic to storytelling. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. This is true for biographies and autobiographies, too. But what is "the beginning?"

The Inciting Incident. The thing that set the whole story going. That moment in time when "normal life" became so abnormal it had to be dealt with to go back to "normal." And "normal" is relative, since life never goes back to what it was.

Think back to any story you've read and you can pick out that moment. That inciting incident.
-- Two droids are launched in an escape pod.
-- A bear travels from deepest darkest Peru to Paddington Station.
-- A little girl finds an unusual wardrobe.

Now, what would you do if you had spent years of your life following a man who could teach beauty, heal the sick, bring back the dead, and then came back from the dead all because he says he is the I AM before Abraham? You've got to tell that story, right? How could you not? But what is the beginning? What is the inciting incident?

Matthew had to prove the lineage.
Mark started at the one who cried in the wilderness.
Luke started at Zechariah.

None of them was wrong. His story is all about lineage. His story is all about the prophets giving the prefix first, and a long line of prefix it is. A long line of prophets telling of his coming. Why not start where the prophet and I AM are related? That proves lineage and prophet.

Each of the gospel writers took years -- decades -- to incorporate what happened into their lives before writing. One took longer than the rest. John. And somewhere in those decades of absorbing all he had witness, all he had felt, and all that he knew, he came on this start. He came to where it really began.

His writing is the only one that starts before the beginning. I know the first three words are "in the beginning," however look closer. The next word is a past tense verb -- "was." So he started before the beginning -- the eternal.

John 1
[SUP]1 [/SUP]In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [SUP]2 [/SUP]He was in the beginning with God. [SUP]3 [/SUP]All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. [SUP]4 [/SUP]In him was life, and the life was the light of men. [SUP]5 [/SUP]The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

Now that's a great start to a biography! Normal life was blown away before it started, and, because of that, for some of us, our lives stopped being normal. They were always supernatural. Our lineage is I AM that I Am. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. He is the whole of the story!

 

[BeyondET]

Indeed, I like John's opening statement and rightly so this should be the beginning of the four gospels combined.

IMO, these four gentlemen who wrote their books were reading information from other writings as well as from so of the deciples themselves, Peter being one to come to mind possibly John and Matthew, yet each one taught to the folks they were speaking too in different styles.

95% of what is written in the gospel of Mark can be found in the other gospels, so in my opinion Mark was translating what was already going around, though Mark wasn't very good at dictatorship, quite often he crunched the story or spoke of a point in time than just merely paraphrased the rest of the time, his style of writing are quite different than the other three books.

 

[AKAP]

depleted, hello again: It is odd that you introduced this subject and with this introduction. I have been thinking of John 1 as I’ve done in the past, afresh, recently.

My text would be considered preaching..and it is little long winded. Well you can listen to it, or not…no worries

I have a different take of the 4 gospel reporters. I believe John’s report also starts as the others by their own way of introducing the gospel and the person of Jesus Christ to the reader. As Luke says there were many that reported it, and I guess we are not meant to have these to read today.

In fact I believe that Mark begins his report as John did, although John is a very poetic and a symbolic writer that has sometimes hidden meanings associated with his thoughts. May we cite Revelation, and then agree.

No, I believe John never wanted to go all the way back to Creation and for what purpose anyway? And I hope you excuse me, at least for the purpose of this conversation, that I’m not a ‘Jesus = God’ believer. Having said this, you can imagine what I have to say next.

The Greek word ‘logos’ is the English term for ‘word.’ It is an explicit, one language to another translation, that has never had a secondary (inferred) meaning in English as ‘Jesus’ in any shape or form. Even though the Greeks used it liberally it always stayed in the family meaning as plan, reason, and communique, message, sayings etc.; never into a person. In fact we always translate original foreign language into our own language, explicitly, as best as we can. This inference and secondary meaning would be bending the rules for another purpose it seems; wouldn’t you agree.

Therefore, applying my first point about ‘the beginning’ and the ‘normal’ application of the Greek term ‘logos,’ here is an easy-to-understand commentary of what John had in mind for his first two verses until and including the ‘famous’ 14[SUP]th[/SUP] verse- at least the first part, as most do not consider reading the words behind it.

From the start was (= what we heard was) the word (=God’s plan of salvation = gospel). It (the word) was with (= came directly from) him (=God), and it (word = gospel) was God’s word (= God’s plan of salvation=gospel) from the start.
It (=gospel) was (= what we heard) from the start God’s (word) gospel.

Now extracting for more clarity we get without losing meaning I get:

John 1:1-2: “From the start what we/I heard was the gospel of God. It came directly from God and this gospel was of God. This gospel was always from God.” (AKAP version)

Now John I believe was saying to us that he was writing on the genuine gospel of God and no part of it was not from God; or mixed with false statements. It was the real deal. There were many false gospels floating around during the time of Jesus. For example, there was a popular message of salvation for mankind that made Jesus the conquer of Rome to a establish a physical kingdom on earth.

John was emphatic and relentless to let us know this is the REAL message coming directly from God all of it 100%. Now reading other writing of John I can see this is typical of his style; much different from the other gospel writers.

Broadly writing from verse 3 we get:

Then John speaks of how God executed his plans alone and created/ brought everything in/into existence.
The John speaks of God bringing life to mankind and fallen mankind did not understand it was to restore them back to everlasting life.

Then John speaks about the carrier of God’s real message of salvation, John the Baptist. John first told us this gospel was genuine and now he is careful to tell us this genuine gospel message was delivered by God, through his personal messenger.
Then John says that God has always been in the world, creation and he was disappointed that people still did not believe his message of hope for mankind.

Then John (who is one for the dramatic) suddenly announces that the true message for mankind salvation (word) is not going to done by God alone; as it was not possible anyway. It was for the first time and last time to be executed in concern with God, by a human being (last Adam) called Jesus the Christ, his son.

His son would have the power of God (full of grace and truth) with him as he became (at his anointing) the joint executioner of the gospel. This last part is actually in John 1:14, although many folks forget to read past the word ‘flesh.’

BL: Jesus the Christ became the joint executioner of the gospel (word) with his Father.( ref: first part of John 1:14).

Bless you


In Christ, Always

PS an unrelated question: how do I get my real gender back? I’m in pink. Don’t get me wrong the color is great. Since day one, on this forum I’ve seen my handle in pink. I cannot remember selecting from any gender list at registration…

 

[TruthTalk]

There is logic to storytelling. Every story has a beginning, middle, and end. This is true for biographies and autobiographies, too. But what is "the beginning?"

The Inciting Incident. The thing that set the whole story going. That moment in time when "normal life" became so abnormal it had to be dealt with to go back to "normal." And "normal" is relative, since life never goes back to what it was.

Now that's a great start to a biography! Normal life was blown away before it started, and, because of that, for some of us, our lives stopped being normal. They were always supernatural. Our lineage is I AM that I Am. The Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. He is the whole of the story!

"Then God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be for signs and for seasons and for days and years; and let them be for lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light on the earth”; and it was so." Genesis1:14,15.

I wish my conversations/stories would begin with Jesus, the middle/tension was about Jesus, and the conclusion/resolve is about Jesus. Walking with Him in real time everyday would be a start God bless!

 

[Nehemiah6]

95% of what is written in the gospel of Mark can be found in the other gospels, so in my opinion Mark was translating what was already going around, though Mark wasn't very good at dictatorship, quite often he crunched the story or spoke of a point in time than just merely paraphrased the rest of the time, his style of writing are quite different than the other three books.

Regardless of what naturalistic and humanistic theologians and scholars might suggest, Christians need to be crystal clear that no matter how closely the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) resemble each other, each Gospel was written independently and UNDER THE DIRECT INSPIRATION of the Holy Spirit (as were all the other books of the Bible). Even Luke was directly inspired (Greek anothen = from above) not "from the very first" as translated.

King James Bible (Luke 1:3)
It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894
​

ἔδοξε κἀμοί, παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν (anothen) πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς, καθεξῆς σοι γράψαι, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε,

Strong's Concordance

anóthen: from above​

Original Word: ἄνωθεν
Part of Speech: Adverb
Transliteration: anóthen
Phonetic Spelling: (an'-o-then)
Short Definition: from above, from the beginning, again
Definition: (a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.

This principle is confirmed for us in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 (as well as other Scriptures).

One will notice that Mark has a very unique style which indicates that the Lord was always moving quickly and decisively without wasting time. Thus you find the words "straightway" and "immediately" repeated over and over again. Also (on a side note) the last twelve verses of Mark are genuine Scripture without the shadow of a doubt. For those who are curious please study The Last Twelve Verses of Mark by John William Burgon.

 

[BeyondET]

Regardless of what naturalistic and humanistic theologians and scholars might suggest, Christians need to be crystal clear that no matter how closely the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke) resemble each other, each Gospel was written independently and UNDER THE DIRECT INSPIRATION of the Holy Spirit (as were all the other books of the Bible). Even Luke was directly inspired (Greek anothen = from above) not "from the very first" as translated.

King James Bible (Luke 1:3)
It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus,

Scrivener's Textus Receptus 1894
​

ἔδοξε κἀμοί, παρηκολουθηκότι ἄνωθεν (anothen) πᾶσιν ἀκριβῶς, καθεξῆς σοι γράψαι, κράτιστε Θεόφιλε,

Strong's Concordance

anóthen: from above​

Original Word: ἄνωθεν
Part of Speech: Adverb
Transliteration: anóthen
Phonetic Spelling: (an'-o-then)
Short Definition: from above, from the beginning, again
Definition: (a) from above, from heaven, (b) from the beginning, from their origin (source), from of old, (c) again, anew.

This principle is confirmed for us in 2 Timothy 3:16,17 (as well as other Scriptures).

One will notice that Mark has a very unique style which indicates that the Lord was always moving quickly and decisively without wasting time. Thus you find the words "straightway" and "immediately" repeated over and over again. Also (on a side note) the last twelve verses of Mark are genuine Scripture without the shadow of a doubt. For those who are curious please study The Last Twelve Verses of Mark by John William Burgon.

Indeed and some of the people that was inspired to write that information and or share that was passed to them, some in scrolls some in verbal form, as like what is mentioned in the verse before the one you posted.

Luke 1:2
King James Bible
Even as they delivered them unto us, which from the beginning were eyewitnesses, and ministers of the word;

 

[Depleted]

Aka,

You lost me twice:

1. When you refused Jesus is God, therefore the purpose of your preaching is to convert us into believing in your pretend-god. You'll find no one here that gullible. I do hate that the new in Christ, (the real Christ), might pick up a couple of lies thinking it's truth from your tangent though.

2. When you said, "There were many false gospels floating around during the time of Jesus." Bupkis! No gospels, no letters remain from the time when Jesus was man on earth.

Honestly? I wouldn't believe anything you say after those two whoppers.

 

[LeeLoving]

AKAP, I think you're really missing it and (in my opinion) you seem to be approaching things from a gnostic perspective. If I'm correct I would advise you to be very careful with gnostic material as it is enigmatic and can keep you spinning in circles. The Word of God (the Bible) is sufficient.

 

[Zen]

-- Two droids are launched in an escape pod.

That wasn't the beginning of the story, though.

Incite
verb
- encourage or stir up (violent or unlawful behaviour).
- urge or persuade (someone) to act in a violent or unlawful way.

Maybe you meant evoke?

Evoke
verb
- bring or recall (a feeling, memory, or image) to the conscious mind.

 

[AKAP]

depleted: Wow, you are upset. I really misjudged you. You really fooled me as I've read some of your words before on different sites and I thought you listened to people, even if they go against your grain.

Sorry you were offended. I never wanted this to happen so I really want to apologize to you.

Have a great day, despite me

God Bless

 

[Zen]

depleted: Wow, you are upset. I really misjudged you. You really fooled me as I've read some of your words before on different sites and I thought you listened to people, even if they go against your grain.

Sorry you were offended. I never wanted this to happen so I really want to apologize to you.

Have a great day, despite me

God Bless

Hi, I just wanted to add this thing, it should really help you.

Hebrews 1:8
But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom.

Psalm 45:6
Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: the sceptre of thy kingdom is a right sceptre.

Father God said to Lord Jesus that He is God (a title), and that the kingdom is His. I hope it helps, I don't want you to follow gnostic teachings. Whatever you do, do not believe that Lord Jesus didn't come in the flesh--that is anti-Christ teaching.

 

[Depleted]

depleted: Wow, you are upset. I really misjudged you. You really fooled me as I've read some of your words before on different sites and I thought you listened to people, even if they go against your grain.

Sorry you were offended. I never wanted this to happen so I really want to apologize to you.

Have a great day, despite me

God Bless

If they go against my grain, I do. If they go against God, I don't.

 

[AKAP]

Thanks Zen for your encouragement.

If I may though, these two verses you have mentioned, of the same meaning, they are as many other verses, victims of rigid Aramaic and Hebrew languages and the ignorance of the Greek scribes. They did not to adjust for lower case words.

The Greek first manuscripts were translated and written as in the Aramaic and Hebrew. This meant the scribes translated all the words into Greek with all upper case, no space or commas, no delineation into Chapters and verses.

So the only way today or even before to know what should be capitalized or not is generally by the context. This is where more errors from retranslations got introduced. The scriptures were literally in the hands of the scribes after the originals were done. They made their own judgement of context.

Now in these two verses, let’s just use Hebrew 1:8, we have to find its context for meaning to know whether or not it should read ‘God’ or ‘god.’

This one verse is easy to discern. Look at verse 9 “You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness. That is why God, your God, anointed you rather than your companions with the oil of gladness." (ISV)

“That is why God, your God, anointed you rather than your companions with the oil of gladness." Thus, Christ cannot be the supreme God, because the supreme God does not have a God. Furthermore, Christ’s God “set” him above others and “anointed” him – after his baptism. This makes it abundantly clear that the use of theos here in Hebrews is not referring to Christ being the supreme God, but rather a man with great authority under another God.

So, But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever: a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom. Heb 1:8 (KJV)

So the meaning of Heb 1:8 says, and using the ISV for easier reading. “But about the son he says, ‘Your throne, O god, is forever and ever, and the scepter of your kingdom is a righteous scepter’”

Therefore Jesus is not God Almighty. As it says in the next verse, Jesus was anointed over his companions and of course God Almighty did not anoint himself.

Note: It was customarily from many hundreds of years ago, even before the Israelites, until the last hundred years or so, to call Kings and those in authority. a god.

Bless you

In Christ, Always

 

[LeeLoving]

AKAP, consider John 20:28-29

[FONT=&quot]28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”[/FONT]

 

[posthuman]

the true message for mankind salvation (word) is not going to done by God alone; as it was not possible anyway.

what?

it is not possible with God? God is unable to save, alone? He needs human help?

with God, all things are possible
(Matthew 19:26)

no Saviour exists besides me
(Hosea 13:4)

I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no Saviour.
(Isaiah 43:11)

in the city of David there has been born for you a Saviour,
who is Christ the Lord.
(Luke 2:11)

human help is worthless.
(Psalm 108:12)

​

but what do those facts above add up to?

 

[AKAP]

AKAP, consider John 20:28-29

28 Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed;blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”

I would answer you although my meanings most probably you will not suit you.

Scripture sharing and understanding is done in peace and for mutual edification.

I sense you are asking me not in this light

In Christ, Always

 

[LeeLoving]

Well, I was trying to show you that Thomas called Jesus Lord and God and that Jesus did not correct him.

 

[AKAP]

Well, I was trying to show you that Thomas called Jesus Lord and God and that Jesus did not correct him.

As I said I know what you have told me and I've explained by meaning many times to others. And you know what I get in return..anger, insults, threats, silence, re-attacks as in a lynch mob, except for a few that likes my comments.

I'm just getting weary of getting needless abuse.

You would think they would be civic-minded, at least

If you are really serious about exchanging scripture ideas and meanings for common understanding, if that were possible, then that would be ok. You know yourself better that me.

Bless you

In Christ, Always