Wednesday 26 October 2022

Is "Christ" the only way? The Gospel of Thomas

Is "Christ" the only way?"



if we follow Jesus we are a man of light lighting up the whole world (Saying 24) like a city built on a high mountain (Saying 33)

we should be exclusively committed to the truth like the fisherman (Saying 8)

And he said, "The man is like a wise fisherman who cast his net into the sea and drew it up from the sea full of small fish. Among them the wise fisherman found a fine large fish. He threw all the small fish back into the sea and chose the large fish without difficulty. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear."

Jesus alone reveals the truth so the listener must obey him and serve him exclusively (Saying 38)

(38) Jesus said, "Many times have you desired to hear these words which I am saying to you, and you have no one else to hear them from. There will be days when you will look for me and will not find me."


no one else has the truth (Saying 39)

Jesus said, "The Pharisees and the scholars have taken the keys of knowledge and have hidden them. They have not entered nor have they allowed those who want to enter to do so. As for you, be as sly as snakes and as simple as doves."


anything outside of the Father will be uprooted (Saying 40)

 Jesus said, "A grapevine has been planted apart from the Father. Since it is not strong, it will be pulled up by its root and will perish."

The Pharisees (clergy) have nothing to offer us (Saying 41)

Jesus said, "Whoever has something in hand will be given more, and whoever has nothing will be deprived of even the little they have."

Jesus is the cornerstone (Saying 66)

Jesus said, "Show me the stone that the builders rejected: that is the keystone."

Jesus tells us we must worship the Father (Saying 15 and saying 27)




Jesus' teachings is the only way to overcome the precondition of sin, judgmental reasoning, and therefore, is a practical path to a higher civilization in the new millennium.

We must also make Jesus' teachings  religious principles a global reality. Love is the answer and his  teachings are the only way to a higher civilization based on reasoning lovingly.

Christ Jesus is the ONLY way to the Father. Don't be angry, don't be upset; figure this out through the fine tune and see the pattern narrowing down to one.

Christ is NOT divide.

God created both good and evil; light and darkness.

God KNOWS Jesus is the ONLY way you come INTO the Father's presence. If there was two ways, he'd say yet what confusion would there be in two when we know there is only one. Two ways out of this world, one leads to life the other to death. One is the narrow way the other the broadway.

"They will stand at rest by being solitaires."
 


A. Joining with other religions is not God’s way

Only one way, is narrow, few find it. Eph 4:4-6; Mt 7:13, 14
Warned that false doctrine contaminates. Mt 16:6, 12; Ga 5:9
Commanded to be separate. 2Ti 3:5; 2Co 6:14-17; Re 18:4

B. “Good in all religions” is not true

Some have zeal but not in harmony with God. Rom 10:2, 3
Badness spoils what else might be good. 1Co 5:6; Mt 7:15-17
False teachers bring destruction. 2Pe 2:1; Mt 12:30; 15:14
Clean worship demands exclusive devotion. De 6:5, 14, 15


"I will be who I will be" But who will He be? Exodus 3:14

I am that I am exodus 3:14





He existed before anything other than himself came into being. The Father is singular while being many, for he is the first one and the one who is only himself. Yet he is not like a solitary individual. Otherwise, how could he be a father? For whenever there is a "father," the name "son" follows. But the single one, who alone is the Father, is like a root, with tree, branches and fruit. (The Tripartite Tractate)

God told Israel that His Name was YAHWEH, meaning "I am that I am" or, more correctly translated, 'I will be who I will be' (Ex.3:13-15). This name was then slightly extended: "God said moreover (i.e. in addition) unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Yahweh God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob...this is My name for ever, and my memorial to all generations" (Ex.3:15).

Thus God's full name is therefore Yahweh God or "Yahweh Elohim".

The Old Testament was written mostly in Hebrew, and our English translation inevitably misses out a lot of detail when it comes to translating the Hebrew words for 'God'. One of the common Hebrew words translated 'God' is 'Elohim', meaning 'mighty ones'. God's "memorial", the Name by which He wants us to remember Him, is therefore



YAHWEH ELOHIM

meaning

HE WHO WILL BE REVEALED IN A GROUP OF MIGHTY ONES.

It is therefore God's purpose to reveal His character and His essential being in a large group of people. By obedience to His word we can develop some of God's characteristics in ourselves now, so that in a very limited sense God is revealing Himself in the true believers in this life. But God's Name is a prophecy of the time to come when the earth will be filled with people who are like Him, both in character and by nature (cp. 2 Pet.1:4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust). 


If we wish to be associated with the purpose of God and to become like God to die no more, living for ever in complete moral perfection, then we must associate ourselves with His Name. The way to do this is to be baptized into the Name - i.e. Yahweh Elohim (Matt.28:19). This also makes us the descendants ("seed") of Abraham (Gal.3:27-29) who were promised the eternal inheritance of the earth (Gen.17:8; Rom.4:13) - the group of 'mighty ones' ('Elohim') in whom the prophecy of God's Name will be fulfilled.

Monday 24 October 2022

Reason Hebrews 4:12 4 Maccabees 1

Reason Hebrews 4:12 4 Maccabees 1

Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is alive and exerts power and is sharper than any two-edged sword and pierces even to the dividing of soul and spirit, and of joints and [their] marrow, and [is] able to discern thoughts and intentions of [the] heart

Ac 10:29  Wherefore also, having been sent for, I came without saying anything against it. I inquire therefore for what reason ye have sent for me.

Ac 10:29  Therefore came I [unto you] without gainsaying, as soon as I was sent for: I ask therefore for what intent <3056> ye have sent for me?

logos: a word (as embodying an idea), a statement, a speech
Original Word: λόγος, ου, ὁ
Part of Speech: Noun, Masculine
Transliteration: logos
Phonetic Spelling: (log'-os)
Definition: a word (as embodying an idea), a statement, a speech
Usage: a word, speech, divine utterance, analogy.

[3056 (lógos) is a common term (used 330 times in the NT) with regards to a person sharing a message (discourse, "communication-speech"). 3056 (lógos) is a broad term meaning "reasoning expressed by words."]

reason, the mental faculty of thinking, meditating, reasoning, calculating, etc.: once so in the phrase  λόγος τοῦ Θεοῦ, of the divine mind, pervading and noting all things by its proper force, Hebrews 4:12.

 reason, cause, groundτίνι λόγῳ, for what reason? why? Acts 10:29 (ἐκ τίνος λόγουAeschylus Choeph. 515; ἐξ οὐδενός λόγουSophocles Phil. 730; τίνι δικαίῳ λόγῳ κτλ.; PlatoGorgias, p. 512 c.); παρεκτός λόγου πορνείας (Vulg.excepta fornicationis causa) is generally referred to this head, Matthew 5:32; (Matthew 19:9 L WH marginal reading); but since where λόγος is used in this sense the genitive is not added, it has seemed best to include this passage among those mentioned in I. 6 above.

logic--(derived from the word Logos, which see). A rational relation or connection between idea and expression. Logic in its strictest sense is the only accurate method of arriving at Truth. Any system of philosophy or religious doctrine that does not admit of the rules of perfect logic in reaching its conclusion from a stated premise, must be outside the pale of pure reason and in the realm of man-made dogma. Logic and Logos are almost synonymous terms, and the highest scriptural authority tells us that all things were made by the Word. Hence, the word of reason or the reasonable word is the very foundation of the universe. Therefore, to know accurately about the reality of things we must disregard all appearances as indicated by the five senses, and go into pure reason--the Spirit from which was created everything that has permanent existence.

4 Maccabees Chapter 1
13) Our inquiry, accordingly, is whether reason is sovereign over the emotions. 
14) We shall decide just what reason is and what emotion is, how many kinds of emotions there are, and whether reason rules over all these. 
15) Now reason is the mind that with sound logic prefers the life of wisdom. 
16) Wisdom, next, is the knowledge of divine and human matters and the causes of these. 
17) This, in turn, is education in the Law, by which we learn divine matters reverently and human affairs to our advantage. 
18) Now the kinds of wisdom are rational judgment, justice, courage, and self-control. 
19) Rational judgment is supreme over all of these, since by means of it reason rules over the emotions. 
20) The two most comprehensive types of the emotions are pleasure and pain; and each of these is by nature concerned with both body and soul. 
21) The emotions of both pleasure and pain have many consequences. 
22) Thus desire precedes pleasure and delight follows it. 
23) Fear precedes pain and sorrow comes after. 
24) Anger, as a man will see if he reflects on this experience, is an emotion embracing pleasure and pain. 
25) In pleasure there exists even a malevolent tendency, which is the most complex of all the emotions. 
26) In the soul it is boastfulness, covetousness, thirst for honour, rivalry, and malice; 
27) in the body, indiscriminate eating, gluttony, and solitary gormandising. 
28) Just as pleasure and pain are two plants growing from the body and the soul, so there are many offshoots of these plants, 
29) each of which the master cultivator, reason, weeds and prunes and ties up and waters and thoroughly irrigates, and so tames the jungle of habits and emotions. 
30) For reason is the guide of the virtues, but over the emotions it is sovereign. Observe now first of all that rational judgment is sovereign over the emotions by virtue of the restraining power of self-control. 
31) Self-control, then, is dominance over the desires. 
32) Some desires are mental, others are physical, and reason obviously rules over both. 
33) Otherwise how is it that when we are attracted to forbidden foods we abstain from the pleasure to be had from them? Is it not because reason is able to rule over appetites? I for one think so. 
34) Therefore when we crave seafood and fowl and animals and all sorts of foods that are forbidden to us by the Law, we abstain because of domination by reason. 
35) For the emotions of the appetites are restrained, checked by the temperate mind, and all the impulses of the body are bridled by reason. 

4 Maccabees Chapter 2
21) Now when God fashioned man, he planted in him emotions and inclinations, 
22) but at the same time he enthroned the intellect among the senses as a sacred governor over them all. 
23) To the mind he gave the Law; and one who lives subject to this will rule a kingdom that is temperate, just, good, and courageous. 
24) How is it then, one might say, that if reason is master of the emotions, it does not control forgetfulness and ignorance? 


Thursday 20 October 2022

what is the psychical body

what is the psychic body

44 It is sown a body of the soul, it is raised a body of the spirit; if there is a body of the soul, there is also of the spirit:--
45 Thus, also, it is written--The first man, Adam, became, a living soul, the last Adam, a life-giving spirit.
46 Howbeit, not first, is the [body] of the spirit, but that, of the soul,--afterwards, that of the spirit.
47 The first man, is of the ground, earthy, the second man, is, of heaven:
48 As, the man of earth, such, also, the men of earth, and, as, the man of heaven, such, also, the men of heaven;
49 And, even as we have borne the image of the man of earth, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.
50 And, this, I say, brethren,--that, flesh and blood, cannot inherit, God’s kingdom. Neither doth, corruption, inherit, incorruption.

psychic

5591 psyxikós (an adjective, derived from 5590 /psyxḗ, "soul, natural identity") – properly, soulish, i.e. what is natural, as it relates to physical (tangible) life alone (i.e. apart from God's inworking of faith).

5591 /psyxikós ("natural") typically describes the natural ("lower") aspect of humanity, i.e. behavior that is "more of earth (carnality) than heaven." 5591 (psyxikós) then sometimes stands in contrast to 4152 /pneumatikós ("spiritual") – the higher, spiritual aspect of humanity that develops through faith (4102 /pístis).

a. having the nature and characteristics of the ψυχή i. e. of the principle of animal life," which men have in common with the brutes (see ψυχή, 1 a.); (A. V. natural): σῶμα ψυχικόν, 1 Corinthians 15:44; substantively, τό ψυχικόν (Winer's Grammar, 592 (551)), 1 Corinthians 15:46: since both these expressions do not differ in substance or conception from σάρξ καί αἷμα in 1 Corinthians 15:50, Paul might have also written σαρκικον; but prompted by the phrase ψυχή ζῶσα in 1 Corinthians 15:45 (borrowed from Genesis 2:7), he wrote ψυχικόν.

b. "governed by the ψυχή i. e. the sensuous nature with its subjection to appetite and passion (as though made up of nothing but ψυχή): ἄνθρωπος (equivalent to σαρκικός (or σάρκινος, which see 3) in ), 1 Corinthians 2:14; ψυχικοί, πνεῦμα μή ἔχοντες, Jude 1:19 (A. V. sensual (R. V. with marginal reading 'Or natural, Or animal'); so in the following example); σοφία, a wisdom in harmony with the corrupt desires and affections, and springing from them (see σοφία, a., p. 581b bottom), James 3:15. (In various other senses in secular authors from Aristotle and Polybius down.)

Last of all Baruch appeared unto Jesus, a shepherd boy, son of Joseph and Mary, a child of Christology. twelve years. And Jesus remained faithful to the teachings of Baruch, in spite of the enticements of Naas. And Naas in wrath caused him to be "crucified," but he, leaving on the "tree" the body of Eden--that is to say, the psychic body or soul, and the gross physical body--and committing his spirit or mind to the hands of his Father (Elohim), ascended to the Good One.




"Now there is much investigation devoted by them to this subject, and it is the starting-point of schism and disagreement. Hence their doctrine is divided in twain, and one teaching is called the Anatolic, according to them, and the other the Italic. They [who get their teaching] from Italy, of whom are Heracleon and Ptolemæus, say that the body of Jesus was [originally] of psychic constitution, and, because of this, at his baptism the Spirit, like a dove, descended upon him--that is to say, the 'word' of the Mother from above, Wisdom--and united with his psychic [body], and raised him from the dead. This is, says the writer, the saying: 'He who raised Christ from the dead will vivify also your mortal bodies'--that is to say, psychic [bodies]. For the clay it was which came under the curse. 'For earth,' says [Moses], 'thou art, and unto earth shalt thou return.'

Tuesday 18 October 2022

Gnostic Teachings What are ghosts?

Gnostic Teachings What are ghosts?



An opening reading from the Gospel of Truth


What, then, is that which he wants such a one to think? “I am like the shadows and phantoms of the night.” When morning comes, this one knows that the fear that had been experienced was nothing.

Thus they were ignorant of the father; he is the one whom they did not see. Since there had been fear and confusion and a lack of confidence and double-mindedness and division, there were many illusions that were conceived by them, as well as empty ignorance—as if they were fast asleep and found themselves a prey to troubled dreams.

Either they are fleeing somewhere, or they lack strength to escape when pursued. They are involved in inflicting blows, or they themselves receive bruises. They are falling from high places, or they fly through the air with no wings at all. Other times, it is as if certain people were trying to kill them, even though there is no one pursuing them; or they themselves are killing those beside them, and they are stained by their blood. Until the moment when they who are passing through all these things—I mean they who have experienced all these confusions—awaken, they see nothing because the dreams were nothing. It is thus that they who cast ignorance from them like sleep do not consider it to be anything, nor regard its properties to be something real, but they renounce them like a dream in the night and they consider the knowledge of the father to be the dawn. It is thus that each one has acted, as if asleep, during the time of ignorance, and thus a person comes to understand, as if awakening. And happy is the one who comes to himself and awakens. Indeed, blessings on one who has opened the eyes of the blind (the gospel of truth)

Metaphysical meaning of ghost (rw)


ghosts--Thoughts objectified. They are nothing except mind projections.

What explanation is there for the appearances of ghosts?

13. The term "ghosts" is a name that is applied to error thought forms, phantoms of an unenlightened mind, resulting from distorted and misguided imagination. The meaning of the word ghost shows us the thing that it is intended to designate — an indefinite, unstable, foggy specter floating about in the realm of man's mentality.


Beliefs in ghosts are illustrations of the unreliability of an uncontrolled imagination. When the imagination becomes active, it forms mental images that correspond to negative thoughts. These mental images become mind projections, sometimes appearing as ghosts. Ghosts are very real to some persons, and they are actually seen; or the imagination of the persons tells them that they are seen, but they have no reality or power and can be denied away with a word of Truth.

Holy Spirit not holy ghost 

 At the outset let us clarify whatever mystery or confusion may lie behind the word "Ghost" in the expression "Holy Ghost" in the King James (Authorized) version of the Bible. In Shakespeare's day "ghost" was a current word for "spirit" and a spiritual adviser was called a "ghostly confessor". Holy Ghost and Holy Spirit are translations of the same original words. The strange notions which now attach to our word "ghost" are not what the translators intended to convey. Later translations uniformly render the words, "Holy Spirit

The Greek word for ghost 

5326. phantasma ►


Strong's Concordance

phantasma: an appearance, apparition

Original Word: φάντασμα, ατος, τό

Thayer's Greek Lexicon

STRONGS NT 5326: φάντασμα

φάντασμα, φαντασματος, τό (φαντάζω), an appearance; specifically, an apparition, spectre: Matthew 14:26; Mark 6:49. (Aeschylus, Euripides, Plato, Dionysius Halicarnassus, Plutarch, others; Wis. 17:14 (15).)

4151 pneúma

phantasma not pneuma

When the Lord Jesus said, "a spirit hath not flesh and bones as ye see me have," he did not mean to say that a spiritual body had not; but a spirit such as they thought they saw. "They supposed they had seen a spirit."  The word rendered spirit is properly φάντασμα, a phantom or mere optical illusion; and not pneuma, spirit. When Jesus walked upon the sea both Matthew (Matt. 14:26) and Mark (Mk. 6:49) make use of the same phrase as Luke, and say that the disciples when they saw him, "supposed they had seen a spirit, and they cried out for fear." In both these places the word is phantasma, and not pneuma.

Spiritual body is corporeal

Among the disciples of Jesus, Thomas stood for the head, representing reason and intellectual perception. Jesus did not ignore Thomas's demand for physical evidence of His identity, but respected it. He convinced Thomas by corporeal evidence that there had been a body resurrection and that it was not a ghost body that he saw, but the same body that had been crucified, as was evidenced by the wounds that Thomas saw and felt.

The soul 

Now, if it be asked, what do the scriptures define "a living soul" to be?— the answer is, a living natural, or animal, body, whether of birds, beasts, fish, or men. The phrase living creature is the exact synonym of living soul. The Hebrew words nephesh chayiah are the signs of the ideas expressed by Moses. Nephesh signifies creature, also life, soul, or breathing frame from the verb to breathe: chayiah is of life — a noun from the verb to live. Nephesh chayiah is the genus which includes all species of living creatures; namely, Adam man, beme beast of the field, chitu wild beast, remesh reptile, and ouph fowl, &c. In the common version of the scriptures, it is rendered living soul; so that under this form of expression the scriptures speak of "all flesh" which breathes in air, earth, and sea.

Writing about body, the apostle says, "there is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." But, he does not content himself with simply declaring this truth; he goes further, and proves it by quoting the words of Moses, saying, "for so it is written, the first man Adam was made into a living soul — εις ψυχην ζωσαν;" and then adds, "the last Adam into a spirit giving life, εις πνεύμα ζωοποιονν" (ICor. 15:44-45). Hence, in another place, speaking of the latter, he says of him, "now the Lord is the spirit — ο δε κύριος το πνεύμα εστίν. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are changed into his image from glory into glory, as by the Lord the Spirit — απο κνριον πνεύματος (2Cor. 3:17-18).

The proof of the apostle's proposition that there is a natural body as distinct from a spiritual body, lies in the testimony, that "Adam was made into a living soul;"showing that he considered a natural, or animal body, and a living soul, as one and the same thing. If he did not, then there was no proof in the quotation, of what he affirmed.

A man then is a body of life in the sense of his being an animal, or living creature — nephesh chayiah adam. As a natural man, he has no other pre-eminence over the creatures God made, than what his peculiar organization confers upon him. Moses makes no distinction between him and them; for he styles them all living souls, breathing the breath of lives.

Thus, literally rendered he says, "the Elohim said, the waters shall produce abundantly sheretz chayiah nephesh the reptile living soul;" and again,

"kal nephesh chayiah erameshat every living soul creeping." In another verse, "let the earth bring forth nephesh chayiah the living soul after its kind, cattle, and creeping thing, and beast of the earth, &c;" and "lekol rumesh ol earetz asher bu nephesh chayiah to every thing creeping upon the earth which (has) in it living breath" (Gen. 1:20-21, 24, 30), that is, breath of lives. And lastly, "whatsoever Adam called nephesh chayiah the living soul that was the name thereof (Gen. 2:19).


Quadrupeds and men, however, are not only "living souls," but they are vivified by the same breath and spirit. In proof of this, I remark first, that the phrase ''breath of life" in the text of the common version is neshemet chayim in the Hebrew; and that, as chayim is in the plural, it should be rendered breath of lives. Secondly, this neshemet chayim is said to be in the inferior creatures as well as in man. Thus, God said, "I bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh, wherein is ruach chayim spirit of lives" (Gen. 6:17). And in another place, "they went in to Noah into the ark, two and two of all flesh, in which is ruach chayim spirit of lives." "And all flesh died that moved upon the earth, both of fowl, and of cattle, and of beast, and of every creeping thing, and every man; all in whose nostrils was neshemet ruach chayim, BREATH OF SPIRIT OF LIVES" (Gen. 7:15, 21). Now, as I have said, it was the neshemet chayim with which Moses testifies God inflated the nostrils of Adam; if, therefore, this were divina particula aurae, a particle of the divine essence, as it is affirmed, which became the "immortal soul" in man, then all other animals have "immortal souls" likewise; for they all received "breath of spirit of lives" in common with man.

From these testimonies, I think, it must be obvious to the most unlearned, that the argument for the existence of an "immortal soul" in "sinful flesh," hereditarily derived from the first sinner, predicated on the inspiration of his nostrils with "the breath of lives" by the Lord God, and the consequent application to him of the phrase "living soul," if admitted as good logic, proves too much, and therefore nothing to the purpose. For if man be proved to be immortal in this sense, and upon such premises as these, then all quadrupeds are similarly immortal; which none, I suppose, but believers in the transmigration of souls, would be disposed to admit.

The original condition of the animal world was "very good."

Unperverted by the introduction of evil, all its constituents fulfilled the purposes of their existence. Begotten of the same power, and formed from the substance of a common mother, they were all animated by the same spirit, and lived in peace and harmony together. Formed to be living breathing frames, though of different species, in God they lived, and moved, and had their continued being; and displayed His wisdom, power, and handywork.

But, to return to the philology of our subject, I remark that by a metonomy, or figure of speech in which the container is put for the thing contained, and vice versa, nephesh "breathing frame," is put for neshemet ruach chayim, which, when in motion, the frame respires. Hence nephesh signifies "life," also "breath" and "soul" — Life or those mutually affective, positive and negative principles in all living creatures, whose closed circuits cause motion of and in their frames. These principles, or qualities, perhaps, of the same thing, are styled by Moses Ruach Elohim (Gen. 1:2), or Spirit of Him "who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen, nor can see" (ITim. 6:16), and which, when the word was spoken by "the Holy Gods" (Dan. 4:8), first caused a motion upon the waters, and afterwards disengaged the light, evolved the expanse, aggregated the waters, produced vegetation, manifested the celestial universe, vitalized the breathing frames of the dry land, expanse, and seas; and formed man in their image and likeness. This ruach, or spirit, is neither the Uncreated One who dwells in light, the Lord God, nor the Elohim, His co-workers, who co-operated in the elaboration of the natural world. It was the instrumental principle by which they executed the commission of the glorious INCREATE to erect this earthly house, and furnish it with living souls of every species.

It is this ruach, or instrumentally formative power, together with the neshemeh or breath, which keeps them all from perishing, or returning to the dust. Thus, "if God set His heart against man, He will withdraw to Himself ruachu veneshemetu, i.e., His spirit and His breath; all flesh shall perish together, and man shall turn again to dust" (Job 34:14). In another place, "by the neshemet el, or breath of God, frost is given" (Job 37:10).

Speaking of reptiles and beasts, David saith, "Thou withdrawest ruachem, i.e., their spirit — they die; and to their dust they return. Thou sendest forth ruhech, i.e., Thy spirit — they are created" (Psa. 104:30). And again, "whither shall I fly, meruhech, from Thy spirit" (Psa. 139:7).

From these testimonies it is manifest, that the ruach or spirit is all pervading. It is in heaven, in sheol, or the dust of the deepest hollow, in the uttermost depths of the sea, in the darkness, in the light, and in all things animate, and without life. It is an universal principle in the broadest, or rather, in an illimitable sense. It is the substratum of all  motion, whether manifested in the diurnal and ellipsoidal revolutions of the planets, in the flux and reflux of the sea, in the storms and tempests of the expanse, or in the organism of reptiles, cattle, beasts, fish, fowls, vegetables, or men. The atmosphere expanse is charged with it; but it is not the air: plants and animals of all species breathe it; but it is not their breath: yet without it, though filled with air, they would die.

GOD'S SPIRIT AND BREATH

The atmosphere, which extends some forty-five miles in altitude, and encircles the globe, is styled the expanse, by Moses; and the breath of God, in Job. It is a compound body, consisting when pure of nitrogen and oxygen, in the proportion of 79 of the former to 21 of the latter, in 100 parts. These are considered as simple bodies, because they have not yet been decomposed; though it is probable they have a base, which may be the ruach. This may exist free or combined with the elementary constituents of the neshemeh. Uncombined, it is that wonderful fluid, whose explosions are heard in the thunder, whose fiery bolts overthrow the loftiest towers, and rive the sturdy monarch of the woods; and in less intensity gives polarity to light, the needle, and the brain. These three together, the oxygen, nitrogen, and electricity, constitute "the breath" and "spirit" of the lives of all God's living souls.

Thus, from the centre of the earth, and extending throughout all space in every direction, is the Ruach Elohim, the existence of which is demonstrable from the phenomena of the natural system of things. It penetrates where the neshemet el, or atmospheric air, cannot. When speaking, however, of the motivity and sustentation of organized dust, or souls, they are co-existent within them. In this case, the ruach Elohim becomes the ruach chayim, or "spirit of lives;" and the neshemet el, the neshemet chayim, or "breath of lives;" and both combined in the elaboration and support of life, the neshemet ruach chayim, or "breath of the spirit of lives." Living creatures, or souls, are not animated, as physiologists and speculative "divines" erroneously imagine, by "a vital principle," capable of disembodied existence as the ghost of a man, or the

transmigrating spectres of other animal species; — ghostly things, the laws and functions of which in the animal economy physiologists are unable to discover; and theologists are non-plussed to prove the existence of from the word of God. On the contrary, "souls " are "made living " by the coetaneous operation of the ruach chayim and the neshemet chayim upon their organized tissues according to certain fixed laws. When the as yet occult laws of the all-pervading ruach, or spirit, shall be known, this subject will be understood; and men will then be as astonished at the ignorance of the "divines," and physiologists of this "cloudy and dark day," respecting "living souls," as we are at the notion of the ancients, that their "immortal gods" resided in the stocks and stones they so stupidly adored. This, however, is quite as reasonable a theory as that of "immortal souls" dwelling in the sinners of Adam's race.

The ruach chayim and neshemet chayim are lent to the creatures of the natural world for the appointed period of their living existence. But, though lent to them, they are still God's breath, and God's spirit; nevertheless, to distinguish them from the expanse of air and spirit in their totality, they are sometimes styled, "the spirit of man," and "the spirit of the beast;" or collectively, "the spirits of all flesh," and "their breath."

Thus it is written, "they have all one ruach, or spirit; so that man hath no pre-eminence over a beast; for all is vanity or vapour." "All go to one place; all are of the dust, and all turn to dust again" (Ecc. 3:19-20). And in the sense of supplying to every living creature, or soul, "spirit" and "breath," Jehovah is styled by Moses, "God of the spirits of all flesh'' (Num. 27:16).


We have shown that the spirit of man refers to the breath/life force within him, which returns to God when he dies (Ecc. 12:7). This means that his spirit is not moving around as a ‘ghost’, nor is it free to possess another person or animal so that the man’s personality is continued through them. We will each be judged for our own works (2 Cor. 5:10). If our actions and characteristics are a function of a previous person’s character, then this concept of God judging and rewarding us according to our works (Rev. 22:12) is made a nonsense.


The spirit returns to God at death, and all consciousness ceases. Any attempt to contact the dead therefore shows a serious misunderstanding of the ample Bible teaching concerning this (see Is. 8:19,20; Lev. 19:31, 20:6). The Bible is quite plain that people do not return to their previous houses or towns in any way after they are dead; there can be no such thing as a ‘spirit’ or ‘ghost’ haunting such a place after the person has died. A humble acceptance of this will lead us to discount all claims to have seen the ‘ghosts’ of dead people, haunting their old houses. Such experiences must at best be tricks of the imagination



Monday 10 October 2022

Know Thyself Biblical or Pagan

know thyself biblical or pagan




The Gospel of Thomas Saying 3 


(3) Jesus said, "[If] those who lead you [say to you, 'See], the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky [will precede you. If they say that] it is under the earth, then the fish of the sea [will enter it, preceding] you. And, the [kingdom of God] is inside of you, [and it is outside of you. Whoever] knows [himself] will discover this. [And when you] come to know yourselves, [you will realize that] you are [sons] of the [living] father. [But if you] will [not] know yourselves, [you dwell] in [poverty] and it is you who are that poverty."

The first part of this saying is about the location of the Kingdom the second part of this saying is about how to find the kingdom by self knowledge:


“Whoever] knows [himself] will discover this. [And when you] come to know yourselves, [you will realize that] you are [sons] of the [living] father. [But if you] will [not] know yourselves, [you dwell] in [poverty] and it is you who are that poverty.” 


Funk and Hoover write: "This phrase ['know yourselves'] is a secular proverb often attributed to Socrates.


it comes from the Temple of Apollo at Delphi
"know thyself" is one of the Delphic maxims and was the first of three maxims inscribed in the pronaos (forecourt) of the Temple of Apollo at Delphi according to the Greek writer Pausanias (10.24.1).[1]

Other sources attribute it to Phemonoe, a mythical Greek poetess. In a discussion of moderation and self-awareness, the Roman poet Juvenal quotes the phrase in Greek and states that the precept descended de caelo (from heaven) (Satire 11.27).

However, as I will show below this part of the saying is adapted from the 
Septuagint translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. I believe that the Lord Jesus adapted this saying from the Hebrew Scriptures the phrases "
Take heed to Thyself" "know, thou, for thyself" "If thou know not of thyselfoccur many times in both the Hebrew Scriptures and Septuagint.

"Know thyself" was the wisest maxim of the wisest philospher of the wisest pagan nation of antiquity. "Know thyself" is inculcated by all the prophets and Apostles of all the ages of Revelation. And while the wisest man of the wisest nation in theology taught as his first maxim that "the fear of Yahweh is the beginning of wisdom"and while the Saviour of the world taught that "it is eternal life to know the only true God and his son Jesus Christ whom he commissioned" both concur in inculcating the excellence and in teaching the utility and importance of self-knowledge (The Christian Baptist, Volumes 5-6 1827-1828 Edited by Alexander Campbell)

In Greek the phrase "know thyself" is "γνῶθι σεαυτόν" these two Greek words are used in the bible they are given Strong's concordance numbers G1097 G4572 γνῶθι σεαυτόν these two words are used together in the Septuagint (see below)
Septuagint
In Greek the phrase "know thyself" is "γνῶθι σεαυτόν" these two Greek words are used in the Septuagint translation of Job 5:27 and Song of Songs 1:8 






Job 5:27 Lo! As for this, we have searched it out––so, it is, Hear it, and know, thou, for thyself. Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible 

Job 5:27Behold, we have thus sought out these matters; these are what we have heard: but do thou reflect with thyself, if thou hast done anything wrong. (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

So 1:8 If thou know not of thyself, most beautiful among women! get thee forth in the footsteps of the flock, and pasture thy kids by the huts of the shepherds (Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible.)

8  If thou know not thyself, thou fair one among women, go thou forth by the footsteps of the flocks, and feed thy kids by the shepherd’s tents. (Brenton Septuagint Translation)

She should realise of herself where the place of shelter and rest is to be found, for it has been revealed unto her, and there is no need for her to wander blindly.


 {Ge 31:24 Ge 31:29 Ex 10:28 Ex 23:13 Ex 34:12 De 8:11 De 12:13 De 12:19 De 12:30 Cp. 1Sa 19:2 


LXX, Rotherham’s Emphasized Bible, or look at the King James Bible (1611) Ex 10:28 Ex 34:12 De 4:9 De 12:13 De 12:19 De 12:30). 


All of this shows that the ancient Greek philosophers must have read the Hebrew Scriptures and taken the phrase "Know yourself" from the Hebrew Scriptures.


Philo of Alexandria
Philo of Alexandria attributes the phrase "know yourself" or "know thyself" to Moses

Philo of Alexandria defines self knowledge or knowing yourself as "Take heed to Thyself."

Philo On the Migration of Abraham:

know yourself all your life, as Moses teaches us in many passages where he says, "Take heed to Thyself."{4}{#ex 34:12.}

"Dwell, therefore," says she, "O my child, with him," not all thy life, but "certain days;" that is to say, learn to be acquainted with the country of the external senses; know thyself and thy own parts, and what each is, and for what end it was made

Come, and at once abandoning all other things, learn to know yourselves, and tell us plainly what ye yourselves are in respect of your bodies, in respect of your souls, in respect of your external senses, and in respect of your reason

Philo's interpretation to know oneself is neither purely positive (as in Plato we must know ourselves as parts of the divine intelligible) nor purely neative (as in the tragedies we must know our own limitations) but a combination of both aspects we must recognize ourselves as non-being through which shines the true being of the Cause

Take Heed to Thyself

Deut 4:9  Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;

De 11:16  Take heed to yourselves, that your heart be not deceived, and ye turn aside, and serve other gods, and worship them;

Take heed to Thyself this is another re-occurring phrase throughout Deuteronomy, emphasising the personal responsibility (See Deut. 2:4; 4:9,15,23; 11:16; 12:13,19,30; 27:9.)

"Take heed to yourselves"— A personal instruction to every individual. In similar manner, on following the Lord's ascension into heaven, the apostles urged the people:
"Save yourselves from this untoward generation" (Acts 2:40). Earlier the Lord had
impressed the apostles with the fact of personal responsibility by an exhortation that
reaches down to our day: 'Take heed to yourselves..." (Luke 21:34).

set down in Scripture as an exhortation to all to take heed to their own individual conduct (1 Cor. 10:11).

Prov 4:23  Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it [are] the issues of life.

The Lord Jesus himself in the New Testament use the phrase “Take heed to yourselves” or  "pay attention to yourselves" see: 

Luke 21:34 “But pay attention to yourselves that YOUR hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon YOU (NWT)


And so does Paul: Acts 20: 28 Pay attention to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the holy spirit has appointed YOU overseers, to shepherd the congregation of God, which he purchased with the blood of his own [Son]. (NWT)


(1 Timothy 4:16) Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you. (NWT)


Tit 2:7  In all things shewing thyself a pattern of good works: in doctrine shewing uncorruptness, gravity, sincerity, (KJ)


And John use the phrase as well: 2Jo 1:8  Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. (KJ)


All of this shows that this part of the saying does not come from Pagan Greek philosophers but from the Hebrew Scriptures and the words of Jesus and the apostles. 

The phrase "Whoever knows [himself] will discover this" this teaching should not be foreign to you if you have been given the eyes to see it. Consider how this passage from Thomas spiritually aligns with what Paul wrote to the Corinthians. (1Cor 13:9)

For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10 but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11 When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12 Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
  
We must come to know our true self. Our true self is not the person of this world, but the one who was born of God. We are spiritually maturing and growing in knowledge of who we are. We may not be clearly seeing our true self (who is Christ) right now, but we will once we come to fully know and be our True self. We are God’s image that must become perfect like our heavenly Father this is our purpose to reflect the identity, character and glory and become the image of Christ, who is the true image of God. We can only do this in Christ where our true self (life) will be kept hidden in Christ Col 3:3, 4. So in this light real poverty is when we do not know our true self in Christ. The use of the term 'poverty' is meant for life outside of true knowledge This is spiritual poverty where our minds are lost in deception and our hearts feel homeless because we have not returned to our Father’s house 1Cor 3:16 6:19 Eph 2:20-22 1Pet 2:5. 

Finally, Jesus says, “you are that poverty” Paul says that nothing good could come from him Rom 7:18 He said that “Paul” had died and Christ now lived in and through him Gal 2:20. Paul knew that his true life was found when he had the spirit of Christ, which is the mind of Christ and not the natural or worldly Paul.

Paul rebuked Corinth for their inability to know whether they had the Christ-man developed within them: "Know ye not...that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (1Cor. 3:16). We must reckon ourselves dead to sin (Rom. 6:11). The Greek for "reckon" is that translated "impute" or "count", and which often appears in the surrounding chapters in Romans, speaking of how God "counts" us to be perfect. We must reckon ourselves as God reckons us. 


The Christ-man is first born at baptism, but it is quite possible for it to lie dormant or even die unless it is nurtured. Almost all of us have discovered the presence of our real spiritual man some time after baptism. The spiritual self is begotten by the word, leading to the birth at baptism (2Cor 5:17; James 1:18; 1Pet. 1:23); yet it is the word which makes the " man of God" perfect or mature (2Tim. 3:16,17). Note that the " man of God" here probably refers to our inner spiritual self, rather than just being an epithet for a believer. In this case, 1Tim. 6:11 records Paul speaking to Timothy's spiritual man: " Thou, O man of God, flee these things". "Man of God" was a term used to describe the Old Testament prophets; it is as if Paul is addressing himself to the word-developed man within Timothy. We must likewise relate to the spiritual man within our brethren.


Moreover, this is how we become “sons of the living Father” (compare Thomas 49-50), which is to become like Jesus himself our example. We must have the same faith as Jesus as well as the same self-control just as Jesus needed it to be saved, so do we Heb 5:7, 8 also in the gospel of John it is Jesus who empowered true believers, so #Ec 5:19, 6:2. He gave them the privilege, the liberty, the dignity, which refers to the legitimate entitlement to the position of being called and becoming the sons of God. Israel was once the son and the first-born, #Ex 4:22: but now the adoption of sons to God was open and free to all nations whatever. By believing, undeserving sinners can become full members of God's family.