New argument for Jesus being God

  • Christian Chat is a moderated online Christian community allowing Christians around the world to fellowship with each other in real time chat via webcam, voice, and text, with the Christian Chat app. You can also start or participate in a Bible-based discussion here in the Christian Chat Forums, where members can also share with each other their own videos, pictures, or favorite Christian music.

    If you are a Christian and need encouragement and fellowship, we're here for you! If you are not a Christian but interested in knowing more about Jesus our Lord, you're also welcome! Want to know what the Bible says, and how you can apply it to your life? Join us!

    To make new Christian friends now around the world, click here to join Christian Chat.

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,844
13,558
113
No, but neither "toilets".... :)
you should become more familiar with scripture.

Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
(Deuteronomy 23:12-14)

They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal.
Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
(2 Kings 10:27)

you think God created Adam full of decay & death, such that he had to keep eating from 'the antidote' daily lest he perish.
the scripture does not support this. you need to ask yourself why Adam spent his time making garments of fig leaves instead of eating from the tree of life. because he is stupid? or because he is wise?


you applaud yourself for spending your time denigrating Christ; Deutronomy 23 instructs us that you should take such rubbish outside of the camp and cover it.
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,844
13,558
113
Federal Headship implies the original sin doctrine. The original sin doctrine is contrary to the Scriptures. It is not just unScriptural.
it is not unexpected that someone who denies the Lordship of Christ does not understand scripture & hates right doctrine.
in Adam all die
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned
(Romans 5:12)

by the one man’s offense many died
(Romans 5:15)
 
Jul 24, 2021
494
78
28
Sorry had to truncate.
This statement, of yours, is a denial of Scripture: "By obeying Christ, we will avoid sin. Sin is a choice not a intrinsic quality of men. One is responsible for one's own actions (not this total depravity doctrine)"

Scripture clearly teaches, man's inability, in his present fallen nature.

It is implied in John 6:44 - No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. ..."
Consider a few verses up (Berean Literal Bible - more consistent with the greek)
John 3:36 The one believing in the Son has eternal life, but the one not obeying the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Free will is essential to obedience otherwise it is coercion.

Confirmed in the epistle to the Romans: Rom 1:20-23a
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, And exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man...
missing "and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."
Paul's talking about idolatry as an example

Consider verse just above for context of his example
Rom 1:18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Having been shown the truth, the people still drink from broken vessels.

Here is what God says
Gen 1:31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
A calvinist says man is totally depraved but God said it was very good. Are you comfortable with this mystery?

Proved by the results in: Rom 3:9-12
What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one: There is none with understanding, there is none that is seeking after God. They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

All of these Scriptures and many, many more prove the results of mankind's fallen nature. A spiritually depraved nature. As to the SIN nature being present in us - there is no better place to go than to Paul:
Consider the verse just below
Romans 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.
Paul was rebuking folks saying the Law made them special, like say unconditional election, and law ain't faith Galatians 2:16 .

I have stopped databasing calvinist tropes, but I came up with a new idea that needs to be tested. I would appreciate it, sincerely. Of course I will refute.

Rom 7:15-20 For that which I do I know not: for not what I would, that do I practice; but what I hate, that I do. But if what I would not, that I do, I consent unto the law that it is good. So now it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me. For I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me, but to do that which is good is not. For the good which I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I commit. But if what I would not, that I do, it is no more I that do it, but sin which dwelleth in me.

The sin nature, is so ingrained in our fleshly bodies, we must put off these bodies, in order that we may enter Eternity.
Consider verse just above
Rom 7:13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Paul is going through a thought experiment.

Consider verse just below
Rom 7:21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law
To understand the rebuke, one must know the Law, my words.

As for sin as nature, I point to wolves and dogs. Same species (with nuance) different temperament. Why? Training over generations animal husbandry.

Sin and inability, were not intrinsic in Adam at Creation but became a part of our makeup upon his fall.
Not Scriptural. That is conjecture. Not scientific. No evidence.
 
Jul 24, 2021
494
78
28
you should become more familiar with scripture.

Also you shall have a place outside the camp, where you may go out; and you shall have an implement among your equipment, and when you sit down outside, you shall dig with it and turn and cover your refuse. For the Lord your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and give your enemies over to you; therefore your camp shall be holy, that He may see no unclean thing among you, and turn away from you.
(Deuteronomy 23:12-14)
They also demolished the sacred pillar of Baal.
Then they tore down the temple of Baal and made it into a latrine, which it is to this day.
(2 Kings 10:27)
you think God created Adam full of decay & death, such that he had to keep eating from 'the antidote' daily lest he perish.
the scripture does not support this. you need to ask yourself why Adam spent his time making garments of fig leaves instead of eating from the tree of life. because he is stupid? or because he is wise?


you applaud yourself for spending your time denigrating Christ; Deutronomy 23 instructs us that you should take such rubbish outside of the camp and cover it.
Toilets in ... Eden? As with the Tree of Life in ...Eden?

Consider the consequence of the fall
Gen 3:23Therefore the LORD God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from whence he was taken. 24So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.
The tree's name is Tree of Life, not the gilgamesh's vegetation of eternal life. Tree of Eternal life I would agree, by Tree of Life, not so much. You are watching too many movies.

I am not applauding myself, just rebuking you. "antidote" "gilgamesh", fables?
 

posthuman

Senior Member
Jul 31, 2013
37,844
13,558
113
our God and Saviour Jesus Christ
(2 Peter 1:1)
I, even I, am the LORD, And besides Me there is no Savior!
(Isaiah 43:11)
case closed.

i don't really have time to continue wasting on willfull blasphemers of debased mind who only want to vainly wrangle.
 
Jul 24, 2021
494
78
28
it is not unexpected that someone who denies the Lordship of Christ does not understand scripture & hates right doctrine.
in Adam all die
(1 Corinthians 15:22)
through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned
(Romans 5:12)
by the one man’s offense many died
(Romans 5:15)
I guess I will have the last word.

Once again, a few verses up from 1 Corinthians 15:22
1 Corinthians 15:20But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept. 21For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead.
Jesus is showing contrasting degrees of obedience and the fruits thereof. Where is the inheritance of original sin?

Again, a missing verses
Romans 5:14Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.
Where is this federal headship defined? How was the original sin transmitted?
The notion contradicts Ezekiel 18:20
"The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him."
To paraphrase, own up to your own sins.

Bearing witness
Rev 1:2Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw.
There are the 2 witnesses - The knowledge of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. The Old Testament and the New Testament. The Tanakh and the Gospels. Call them how you will, there nonetheless 2 not 1.
 

awelight

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2020
1,629
490
83
69
Federal Headship implies the original sin doctrine. The original sin doctrine is contrary to the Scriptures. It is not just unScriptural.
Well, I am not going to bother, with the view you just put forward because to make the statement you have made, demonstrates a confused and unenlightened mind. I hope one day, you will be brought to light on this subject.
 

awelight

Well-known member
Aug 10, 2020
1,629
490
83
69
Sorry had to truncate.

Consider a few verses up (Berean Literal Bible - more consistent with the greek)
John 3:36 The one believing in the Son has eternal life, but the one not obeying the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him."
Free will is essential to obedience otherwise it is coercion.


missing "and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things."
Paul's talking about idolatry as an example

Consider verse just above for context of his example
Rom 1:18For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; 19Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.
Having been shown the truth, the people still drink from broken vessels.

Here is what God says
Gen 1:31And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.
A calvinist says man is totally depraved but God said it was very good. Are you comfortable with this mystery?


Consider the verse just below
Romans 3:19Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20Therefore no one will be justified in His sight by works of the law. For the law merely brings awareness of sin.
Paul was rebuking folks saying the Law made them special, like say unconditional election, and law ain't faith Galatians 2:16 .

I have stopped databasing calvinist tropes, but I came up with a new idea that needs to be tested. I would appreciate it, sincerely. Of course I will refute.


Consider verse just above
Rom 7:13Did that which is good, then, become death to me? Certainly not! But in order that sin might be exposed as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.
Paul is going through a thought experiment.

Consider verse just below
Rom 7:21So this is the principle I have discovered: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. 22For in my inner being I delight in God’s law
To understand the rebuke, one must know the Law, my words.

As for sin as nature, I point to wolves and dogs. Same species (with nuance) different temperament. Why? Training over generations animal husbandry.


Not Scriptural. That is conjecture. Not scientific. No evidence.
I am speechless, in your lack of spiritual discernment. There is much I could say here but what would be the point?
 
Jul 24, 2021
494
78
28
I am speechless, in your lack of spiritual discernment. There is much I could say here but what would be the point?
Here is the last thought, then. Doctrines unwritten in the Tanakh
Jeremiah 10:14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them. 15They are vanity, and the work of errors: in the time of their visitation they shall perish.

Matthew 5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

Are the doctrines of total depravity, triune godhead, federal headship etc... in the Tanakh? I hope you don't get too comfortable with these mysteries, the consequences are quite stark.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
did Adam decay before he sinned?

death entered the world through him - tho Woman was first to sin - and with sin, death.

did God originally create the earth full of decay? or is such corruption inextricably linked with sin?
why is the ground cursed, rather than Adam or Eve?
what is the extent of it? how does Romans 8 fit there?


is the virgin birth meaningless or is the virgin birth absolutely necessary?
decay is needed for digestion, so some level existed before sin. I do not know the level. It is also need for aging.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Adam did not decay before the fall - the Tree of Life sustained him.
The forbidden fruit was explained to Adam, not Eve. Gen 2:15-17
Eve was created after from the "rib" Gen 2:21-22
Eve ate first - did the sky fall? no. When Adam ate it, there was an effect.
Gen 3:6And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. 7And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
Adam brought sin to the world but Eve was deceived first.


Consider the rhetoric Ecclesiates 3:21, Who knoweth the spirit of man that goeth upward, and the spirit of the beast that goeth downward to the earth?
The answer per Ecc12:7before the dust returns to the ground from which it came and the spirit returns to God who gave it.
For the first 5 days, there was no Image of God until man came along. The body was the vessel of something Holy and was afforded glory (immortality at the Garden of Eden. )
Decay was prevalent in the first 5 days as shown by the fossil records. Eden was endowed with the Tree of Life and decay was rendered meaningless or moot with respect to man. The fall removed access to the Tree of Life, man became part of nature again where decay existed.


The earth means many things.
Consider the literal dirt of the earth.
Eden had fruits to sustain the body in abundance. This allowed Adam to commune with everything and most of all God. What hunter-gatherer tribe created any advanced civilization? None that I can think as It cannot because there is no leisure time to do other things. What about the modern society? Not a good situation either It is said that were are 10 meals from chaos if the logistical trucking system ever collapsed (based on walmart supercentres). We are seeing the failure of shipping system because of COVID ( JIT logistics - no storage). California is a seeing a drought that might last for years - the bread basket of the west( no storage of surface water were built because they thought climate change would render it useless) . The funny thing is all this stems from the knowledge of man. The dirt of the earth is cursed because we listen to the wisdom of man. We can not sustain the earth and sea and in turn it cannot sustain us.

Consider as ancestral soil from which we spring. Gen 2:7 the soul = breath of life + soil of the ground. The breath of life is God's (Gen 7:22, Prov 20:27, Isa 30:33). The soil is the remaining ingredient. The substance apart from God's breath is cursed. Consider Genetic Entropy: John C. Sanford (he is a Christian) He plotted the life span of all the patriarchs with time and found it followed a decaying curve. The DNA of mankind is slowly degenerating. Scientist say that we acquire ABOUT 40 mutations a generation - all of them detrimental (1 in 10000 is beneficial). Without the Tree of Life, mankinds genome will decay till we are extinct. The natural state of man.


Adam's physical world was 2 persons. The Spirit of God gave 1 condition to the Adamic covenant. He broke it because of Eve. We live with multiple distractions.
Romans 8:1-3 reiterates the yoke of Christ is light Matthew 11:30.
Romans 8:4-8 The covenant as per Mark 12:30-31 can only be fulfilled if we obey the Spirit of God. If you obey the man's doctrines, you will end up with 2 masters Matthew 6:24, hating one over the other. Considerations of the flesh (i.e. Adam and Eve with the fruit) can never ultimately fulfill your obligations to God. Render all Glory to God, the rest will fall in place.


Scripturally, Jesus is the Branch of Jesse (Isaiah 11) and Scion of David (Jeremiah 23:5).
The Branch of Jesse was from the mother Mary.
As Joseph was of Judah (Luke 2:4) but was forbidden (Jeremiah 22:30), the scionship came from God.
Legally and prophetically it was necessary.
He is the literal Son of God and the son of David (God smeared David and David begat Jesus)

As a conjecture, how else can you fit an intellect and power like the Word. You need a perfect body. The DNA had to be completely rewritten.
Bacteria are among the fastest reproducing organisms in the world, doubling every 4 minutes. If that did not die, Adam would been killed within hours.
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Would it not be better, to bring this back to a simpler understanding?

Sin was already in the Garden because the Serpent was present. Eve was aware of what God had told Adam and spoke it to the Serpent, therefore, we can logically deduce that Adam told her. So the Serpent was the source of the Temptation and lie. Eve broke the Commandment because she thought the knowledge of "good and evil" would somehow elevate Adam and hers standing to be more like God. Which she thought would be an improvement. Adam received that which was forbidden because he trusted in Eve, more than God.

Adam was the first created human and as such was mankind's Federal Head. What he would do, all humanity would do. Eve was created for Adam and as such, did not stand in this position. Thus, everything began to be judged after Adam fell.

The most notable and immediate consequence of the fall, was their fear of God. Combined with a need to blame the other for their error. Eve blamed the Serpent. Adam blamed Eve and God.
What exactly is a Federal Head ???
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Tertullian wrote in both Greek and Latin. https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14520c.htm

Ignatius a.d. 30–107
Since, also, there is but one unbegotten Being, God, even the Father; and one only-begotten Son, God, the Word and man; and one Comforter, the Spirit of truth; and also one preaching, and one faith, and one baptism;
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philadelphians Chapter IV

But the Holy Spirit does not speak His own things, but those of Christ, and that not from himself, but from the Lord; even as the Lord also announced to us the things that He received from the Father. For, says He, “the word which ye hear is not Mine, but the Father’s, who sent Me.” And says He of the Holy Spirit, “He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever things He shall hear from Me.” And He says of Himself to the Father, “I have,” says He, “glorified Thee upon the earth; I have finished the work which, Thou gavest Me; I have manifested Thy name to men.” And of the Holy Ghost, “He shall glorify Me, for He receives of Mine.”
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Ephesians Chapter IX

For if there is one God of the universe, the Father of Christ, “of whom are all things;” and one Lord Jesus Christ, our [Lord], “by whom are all things;” and also one Holy Spirit, who wrought in Moses, and in the prophets and apostles;
The Epistle of Ignatius to the Philippians Chapter I

Justin Martyr a.d. 110–165
For, in the name of God, the Father and Lord of the universe, and of our Saviour Jesus Christ, and of the Holy Spirit, they then receive the washing with water.
The First Apology Chapter LXI

Ireneaus a.d. 120–202
The Church, though dispersed through our the whole world, even to the ends of the earth, has received from the apostles and their disciples this faith: [She believes] in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them; and in one Christ Jesus, the Son of God, who became incarnate for our salvation; and in the Holy Spirit, who proclaimed through the prophets the dispensations of God, and the advents, and the birth from a virgin, and the passion, and the resurrection from the dead, and the ascension into heaven in the flesh of the beloved Christ Jesus, our Lord, and His [future] manifestation from heaven in the glory of the Father “to gather all things in one,” . . .
Against Heresies Book I Chapter X

The rule of truth which we hold, is, that there is one God Almighty, who made all things by His Word, and fashioned and formed, out of that which had no existence, all things which exist. Thus saith the Scripture, to that effect “By the Word of the Lord were the heavens established, and all the might of them, by the spirit of His mouth.” And again, “All things were made by Him, and without Him was nothing made.” There is no exception or deduction stated; but the Father made all things by Him, whether visible or invisible, objects of sense or of intelligence, temporal, on account of a certain character given them, or eternal; and these eternal things He did not make by angels, or by any powers separated from His Ennœa.

For God needs none of all these things, but is He who, by His Word and Spirit, makes, and disposes, and governs all things, and commands all things into existence,—He who formed the world (for the world is of all),—He who fashioned man,—He [who] is the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, above whom there is no other God, nor initial principle, nor power, nor pleroma,—He is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as we shall prove.
Book I Chapter XXII

Therefore neither would the Lord, nor the Holy Spirit, nor the apostles, have ever named as God, definitely and absolutely, him who was not God, unless he were truly God; nor would they have named any one in his own person Lord, except God the Father ruling over all, and His Son who has received dominion from His Father over all creation, as this passage has it: “The Lord said unto my Lord, Sit Thou at my right hand, until I make Thine enemies Thy footstool.” Here the [Scripture] represents to us the Father addressing the Son; He who gave Him the inheritance of the heathen, and subjected to Him all His enemies. Since, therefore, the Father is truly Lord, and the Son truly Lord, the Holy Spirit has fitly designated them by the title of Lord.
Against Heresies Book III Chapter VI

For with Him were always present the Word and Wisdom, the Son and the Spirit, by whom and in whom, freely and spontaneously, He made all things, to whom also He speaks, saying, “Let Us make man after Our image and likeness;” He taking from Himself the substance of the creatures [formed], and the pattern of things made, and the type of all the adornments in the world.
Against Heresies Book IV Chapter XX
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Clement of Alexandria a.d. 153–217
O mystic marvel! The universal Father is one, and one the universal Word; and the Holy Spirit is one and the same everywhere, . . .
The Instructor. Book I Chapter VI

Tertullian a.d. 145–220
In the course of time, then, the Father forsooth was born, and the Father suffered, God Himself, the Lord Almighty, whom in their preaching they declare to be Jesus Christ. We, however, as we indeed always have done (and more especially since we have been better instructed by the Paraclete, who leads men indeed into all truth), believe that there is one only God, but under the following dispensation, or οἰκονομία , as it is called, that this one only God has also a Son, His Word, who proceeded from Himself, by whom all things were made, and without whom nothing was made. Him we believe to have been sent by the Father into the Virgin, and to have been born of her—being both Man and God, the Son of Man and the Son of God, and to have been called by the name of Jesus Christ; we believe Him to have suffered, died, and been buried, according to the Scriptures, and, after He had been raised again by the Father and taken back to heaven, to be sitting at the right hand of the Father, and that He will come to judge the quick and the dead; who sent also from heaven from the Father, according to His own promise, the Holy Ghost, the Paraclete, the sanctifier of the faith of those who believe in the Father, and in the Son, and in the Holy Ghost.

But keeping this prescriptive rule inviolate, still some opportunity must be given for reviewing (the statements of heretics), with a view to the instruction and protection of divers persons; were it only that it may not seem that each perversion of the truth is condemned without examination, and simply prejudged; especially in the case of this heresy, which supposes itself to possess the pure truth, in thinking that one cannot believe in One Only God in any other way than by saying that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost are the very selfsame Person. As if in this way also one were not All, in that All are of One, by unity (that is) of substance; while the mystery of the dispensation is still guarded, which distributes the Unity into a Trinity, placing in their order the three Persons—the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost: three, however, not in condition, but in degree; not in substance, but in form; not in power, but in aspect; yet of one substance, and of one condition, and of one power, inasmuch as He is one God, from whom these degrees and forms and aspects are reckoned, under the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. How they are susceptible of number without division, will be shown as our treatise proceeds.
Against Praxeas Chapter II

The simple, indeed, (I will not call them unwise and unlearned,) who always constitute the majority of believers, are startled at the dispensation (of the Three in One), on the ground that their very rule of faith withdraws them from the world’s plurality of gods to the one only true God; not understanding that, although He is the one only God, He must yet be believed in with His own οἰκονομία . The numerical order and distribution of the Trinity they assume to be a division of the Unity; whereas the Unity which derives the Trinity out of its own self is so far from being destroyed, that it is actually supported by it. They are constantly throwing out against us that we are preachers of two gods and three gods, while they take to themselves pre-eminently the credit of being worshippers of the One God; just as if the Unity itself with irrational deductions did not produce heresy, and the Trinity rationally considered constitute the truth.
Against Praxeas Chapter III

But as for me, who derive the Son from no other source but from the substance of the Father, and (represent Him) as doing nothing without the Father’s will, and as having received all power from the Father, how can I be possibly destroying the Monarchy from the faith, when I preserve it in the Son just as it was committed to Him by the Father? The same remark (I wish also to be formally) made by me with respect to the third degree in the Godhead, because I believe the Spirit to proceed from no other source than from the Father through the Son.
Against Praxeas Chapter IV

Bear always in mind that this is the rule of faith which I profess; by it I testify that the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit are inseparable from each other, and so will you know in what sense this is said. Now, observe, my assertion is that the Father is one, and the Son one, and the Spirit one, and that They are distinct from Each Other. This statement is taken in a wrong sense by every uneducated as well as every perversely disposed person, as if it predicated a diversity, in such a sense as to imply a separation among the Father, and the Son, and the Spirit.

I am, moreover, obliged to say this, when (extolling the Monarchy at the expense of the Economy) they contend for the identity of the Father and Son and Spirit, that it is not by way of diversity that the Son differs from the Father, but by distribution: it is not by division that He is different, but by distinction; because the Father is not the same as the Son, since they differ one from the other in the mode of their being. For the Father is the entire substance, but the Son is a derivation and portion of the whole, as He Himself acknowledges: “My Father is greater than I.” In the Psalm His inferiority is described as being “a little lower than the angels.” Thus the Father is distinct from the Son, being greater than the Son, inasmuch as He who begets is one, and He who is begotten is another; He, too, who sends is one, and He who is sent is another; and He, again, who makes is one, and He through whom the thing is made is another.

Happily the Lord Himself employs this expression of the person of the Paraclete (Holy Spirit), so as to signify not a division or severance, but a disposition (of mutual relations in the Godhead); for He says, “I will pray the Father, and He shall send you another Comforter…even the Spirit of truth,” thus making the Paraclete distinct from Himself, even as we say that the Son is also distinct from the Father; so that He showed a third degree in the Paraclete, as we believe the second degree is in the Son, by reason of the order observed in the Economy. Besides, does not the very fact that they have the distinct names of Father and Son amount to a declaration that they are distinct in personality? For, of course, all things will be what their names represent them to be; and what they are and ever will be, that will they be called; and the distinction indicated by the names does not at all admit of any confusion, because there is none in the things which they designate. “Yes is yes, and no is no; for what is more than these, cometh of evil.”
Against Praxeas Chapter IX
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Origen a.d. 185–254
From all which we learn that the person of the Holy Spirit was of such authority and dignity, that saving baptism was not complete except by the authority of the most excellent Trinity of them all, i.e., by the naming of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and by joining to the unbegotten God the Father, and to His only-begotten Son, the name also of the Holy Spirit.
. . .
Nevertheless it seems proper to inquire what is the reason why he who is regenerated by God unto salvation has to do both with Father and Son and Holy Spirit, and does not obtain salvation unless with the co-operation of the entire Trinity; and why it is impossible to become partaker of the Father or the Son without the Holy Spirit.
Origen De Principiis. Book I Chapter III

But in our desire to show the divine benefits bestowed upon us by Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, which Trinity is the fountain of all holiness, we have fallen, in what we have said, into a digression, having considered that the subject of the soul, which accidentally came before us, should be touched on, although cursorily, seeing we were discussing a cognate topic relating to our rational nature. We shall, however, with the permission of God through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, more conveniently consider in the proper place the subject of all rational beings, which are distinguished into three genera and species.
Origen De Principiis. Book I Chapter IV

For the end is always like the beginning: and, therefore, as there is one end to all things, so ought we to understand that there was one beginning; and as there is one end to many things, so there spring from one beginning many differences and varieties, which again, through the goodness of God, and by subjection to Christ, and through the unity of the Holy Spirit, are recalled to one end, which is like unto the beginning: all those, viz., who, bending the knee at the name of Jesus, make known by so doing their subjection to Him: and these are they who are in heaven, on earth, and under the earth: by which three classes the whole universe of things is pointed out, those, viz., who from that one beginning were arranged, each according to the diversity of his conduct, among the different orders, in accordance with their desert; for there was no goodness in them by essential being, as in God and His Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. For in the Trinity alone, which is the author of all things, does goodness exist in virtue of essential being; while others possess it as an accidental and perishable quality, and only then enjoy blessedness, when they participate in holiness and wisdom, and in divinity itself.
Origen De Principiis. Book I Chapter VI

After these points, now, we proved to the best of our power in the preceding pages that all things which exist were made by God, and that there was nothing which was not made, save the nature of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; and that God, who is by nature good, desiring to have those upon whom He might confer benefits, and who might rejoice in receiving His benefits, created creatures worthy (of this), i.e., who were capable of receiving Him in a worthy manner, who, He says, are also begotten by Him as his sons. He made all things, moreover, by number and measure. For there is nothing before God without either limit or measure. For by His power He comprehends all things, and He Himself is comprehended by the strength of no created thing, because that nature is known to itself alone. For the Father alone knoweth the Son, and the Son alone knoweth the Father, and the Holy Spirit alone searcheth even the deep things of God.
Origen De Principiis. Book IV Chapter I.35

If the heavenly virtues, then, partake of intellectual light, i.e., of divine nature, because they participate in wisdom and holiness, and if human souls, have partaken of the same light and wisdom, and thus are mutually of one nature and of one essence,—then, since the heavenly virtues are incorruptible and immortal, the essence of the human soul will also be immortal and incorruptible. And not only so, but because the nature of Father, and Son, and Holy Spirit, whose intellectual light alone all created things have a share, is incorruptible and eternal, it is altogether consistent and necessary that every substance which partakes of that eternal nature should last for ever, and be incorruptible and eternal, so that the eternity of divine goodness may be understood also in this respect, that they who obtain its benefits are also eternal. But as, in the instances referred to, a diversity in the participation of the light was observed, when the glance of the beholder was described as being duller or more acute, so also a diversity is to be noted in the participation of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, varying with the degree of zeal or capacity of mind.
Origen De Principiis. Book IV Chapter I.36

Dionysius, Bishop of Alexandria a.d. 200–265
The individual names uttered by me can neither be separated from one another, nor parted. I spoke of the Father, and before I made mention of the Son I already signified Him in the Father. I added the Son; and the Father, even although I had not previously named Him, had already been absolutely comprehended in the Son. I added the Holy Spirit; but, at the same time, I conveyed under the name whence and by whom He proceeded. But they are ignorant that neither the Father, in that He is Father, can be separated from the Son, for that name is the evident ground of coherence and conjunction; nor can the Son be separated from the Father, for this word Father indicates association between them. And there is, moreover, evident a Spirit who can neither be disjoined from Him who sends, nor from Him who brings Him. How, then, should I who use such names think that these are absolutely divided and separated the one from the other?

(After a few words he adds:—)

Thus, indeed, we expand the indivisible Unity into a Trinity; and again we contract the Trinity, which cannot be diminished, into a Unity.

(From the Same Second Book.)

In the beginning was the Word. But that was not the Word which produced the Word. For “the Word was with God.” The Lord is Wisdom; it was not therefore Wisdom that produced Wisdom; for “I was that” says He, “wherein He delighted.” Christ is truth; but “blessed,” says He, “is the God of truth.”

(The Conclusion of the Entire Treatise.)

In accordance with all these things, the form, moreover, and rule being received from the elders who have lived before us, we also, with a voice in accordance with them, will both acquit ourselves of thanks to you, and of the letter which we are now writing. And to God the Father, and His Son our Lord Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
The Works of Dionysius. Extant Fragments. Part I Chapter IV
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
Cyprian a.d. 200–258
Finally, when, after the resurrection, the apostles are sent by the Lord to the heathens, they are bidden to baptize the Gentiles “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” How, then, do some say, that a Gentile baptized without, outside the Church, yea, and in opposition to the Church, so that it be only in the name of Jesus Christ, everywhere, and in whatever manner, can obtain remission of sin, when Christ Himself commands the heathen to be baptized in the full and united Trinity?
Epistle LXXII.5.18

Novatian a.d. 210–280
And now, indeed, concerning the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, let it be sufficient to have briefly said thus much, and to have laid down these points concisely, without carrying them out in a lengthened argument. For they could be presented more diffusely and continued in a more expanded disputation, since the whole of the Old and New Testaments might be adduced in testimony that thus the true faith stands. But because heretics, ever struggling against the truth, are accustomed to prolong the controversy of pure tradition and Catholic faith, being offended against Christ; because He is, moreover, asserted to be God by the Scriptures also, and this is believed to be so by us; we must rightly—that every heretical calumny may be removed from our faith—contend, concerning the fact that Christ is God also, in such a way as that it may not militate against the truth of Scripture; nor yet against our faith, how there is declared to be one God by the Scriptures, and how it is held and believed by us.
A Treatise of Novatian Concerning the Trinity. Chapter XXX.

Alexander, Bishop of Alexandria a.d. 273–326
Therefore, when the holy prophets, and all, as I have said, who righteously and justly walked in the law of the Lord, together with the entire people, celebrated a typical and shadowy Passover, the Creator and Lord of every visible and invisible creature, the only-begotten Son, and the Word co-eternal with the Father and the Holy Spirit, and of the same substance with them, according to His divine nature, our Lord and God, Jesus Christ, . .
Epistles on the Arian Heresy And the Deposition of Arius. Chapter I.7

Therefore to the unbegotten Father, indeed, we ought to preserve His proper dignity, in confessing that no one is the cause of His being; but to the Son must be allotted His fitting honour, in assigning to Him, as we have said, a generation from the Father without beginning, and allotting adoration to Him, so as only piously and properly to use the words, “He was,” and “always,” and “before all worlds,” with respect to Him; by no means rejecting His Godhead, but ascribing to Him a similitude which exactly answers in every respect to the Image and Exemplar of the Father. But we must say that to the Father alone belongs the property of being unbegotten, for the Saviour Himself said, “My Father is greater than I.” And besides the pious opinion concerning the Father and the Son, we confess to one Holy Spirit, as the divine Scriptures teach us; who hath inaugurated both the holy men of the Old Testament, and the divine teachers of that which is called the New.
Epistles on the Arian Heresy And the Deposition of Arius. Chapter I.12

Augustine of Hippo a.d. 354–430
Those holy angels come to the knowledge of God not by audible words, but by the presence to their souls of immutable truth, i.e., of the only-begotten Word of God; and they know this Word Himself, and the Father, and their Holy Spirit, and that this Trinity is indivisible, and that the three persons of it are one substance, and that there are not three Gods but one God; and this they so know that it is better understood by them than we are by ourselves.
Augustine The City of God Book 11 Chapter 29

The true objects of enjoyment, then, are the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, who are at the same time the Trinity, one Being, supreme above all, and common to all who enjoy Him, if He is an object, and not rather the cause of all objects, or indeed even if He is the cause of all. For it is not easy to find a name that will suitably express so great excellence, unless it is better to speak in this way: The Trinity, one God, of whom are all things, through whom are all things, in whom are all things. Thus the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and each of these by Himself, is God, and at the same time they are all one God; and each of them by Himself is a complete substance, and yet they are all one substance. The Father is not the Son nor the Holy Spirit; the Son is not the Father nor the Holy Spirit; the Holy Spirit is not the Father nor the Son: but the Father is only Father, the Son is only Son, and the Holy Spirit is only Holy Spirit. To all three belong the same eternity, the same unchangeableness, the same majesty, the same power. In the Father is unity, in the Son equality, in the Holy Spirit the harmony of unity and equality; and these three attributes are all one because of the Father, all equal because of the Son, and all harmonious because of the Holy Spirit.
On Christian Doctrine Book I. Chapter 5.5

Wherefore, our Lord God helping, we will undertake to render, as far as we are able, that very account which they so importunately demand: viz., that the Trinity is the one and only and true God, and also how the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are rightly said, believed, understood, to be of one and the same substance or essence; in such wise that they may not fancy themselves mocked by excuses on our part, but may find by actual trial, both that the highest good is that which is discerned by the most purified minds, and that for this reason it cannot be discerned or understood by themselves, because the eye of the human mind, being weak, is dazzled in that so transcendent light, unless it be invigorated by the nourishment of the righteousness of faith.
On the Trinity Book I. Chapter 2.4

And I would make this pious and safe agreement, in the presence of our Lord God, with all who read my writings, as well in all other cases as, above all, in the case of those which inquire into the unity of the Trinity, of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit; because in no other subject is error more dangerous, or inquiry more laborious, or the discovery of truth more profitable.
On the Trinity Book I. Chapter 3.5

All those Catholic expounders of the divine Scriptures, both Old and New, whom I have been able to read, who have written before me concerning the Trinity, Who is God, have purposed to teach, according to the Scriptures, this doctrine, that the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit intimate a divine unity of one and the same substance in an indivisible equality; and therefore that they are not three Gods, but one God: although the Father hath begotten the Son, and so He who is the Father is not the Son; and the Son is begotten by the Father, and so He who is the Son is not the Father; and the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but only the Spirit of the Father and of the Son, Himself also co-equal with the Father and the Son, and pertaining to the unity of the Trinity. Yet not that this Trinity was born of the Virgin Mary, and crucified under Pontius Pilate, and buried, and rose again the third day, and ascended into heaven, but only the Son. Nor, again, that this Trinity descended in the form of a dove upon Jesus when He was baptized; nor that, on the day of Pentecost, after the ascension of the Lord, when “there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind,” the same Trinity “sat upon each of them with cloven tongues like as of fire,” but only the Holy Spirit. Nor yet that this Trinity said from heaven, “Thou art my Son,” whether when He was baptized by John, or when the three disciples were with Him in the mount, or when the voice sounded, saying, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again;” but that it was a word of the Father only, spoken to the Son; although the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as they are indivisible, so work indivisibly. This is also my faith, since it is the Catholic faith.
On the Trinity Book I. Chapter 4.7

Some persons, however, find a difficulty in this faith; when they hear that the Father is God, and the Son God, and the Holy Spirit God, and yet that this Trinity is not three Gods, but one God; and they ask how they are to understand this: especially when it is said that the Trinity works indivisibly in everything that God works, and yet that a certain voice of the Father spoke, which is not the voice of the Son; and that none except the Son was born in the flesh, and suffered, and rose again, and ascended into heaven; and that none except the Holy Spirit came in the form of a dove. They wish to understand how the Trinity uttered that voice which was only of the Father; and how the same Trinity created that flesh in which the Son only was born of the Virgin; and how the very same Trinity itself wrought that form of a dove, in which the Holy Spirit only appeared. Yet, otherwise, the Trinity does not work indivisibly, but the Father does some things, the Son other things, and the Holy Spirit yet others: or else, if they do some things together, some severally, then the Trinity is not indivisible. It is a difficulty, too, to them, in what manner the Holy Spirit is in the Trinity, whom neither the Father nor the Son, nor both, have begotten, although He is the Spirit both of the Father and of the Son.
On the Trinity Book I. Chapter 5.8.
https://apostles-creed.org/confessi...theology/early-church-fathers-quotes-trinity/
 

TheLearner

Well-known member
Jan 14, 2019
8,193
1,577
113
68
Brighton, MI
No, but neither "toilets".... :)
Genesis 2:9
Then the Lord God caused all the beautiful trees that were good for food to grow in the garden. In the middle of the garden, he put the tree of life and the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil.

Genesis 2:17
But you must not eat from the tree that gives knowledge about good and evil. If you eat fruit from that tree, on that day you will certainly die!”

We know when they ate of that tree they sinned.
 

Adstar

Senior Member
Jul 24, 2016
7,582
3,616
113
Jesus is THE LORD..

People who deny Jesus is LORD don't know Jesus.. Simple..

1 Timothy 3:
{16} And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory."

Be assured people Jesus is The Mighty God..

And who was with the Hebrews as they escaped Egypt and travelled in the wilderness for 40 years??

1 Corinthians 10:1
4 "Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea; {2} And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea; {3} And did all eat the same spiritual meat; {4} And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ."