Hi,"book of Genesis" questions. (Jesus, moral, Moses)

[Ronald]

De 6:4 ¶ "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one!
Mr 12:29 Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: ‘Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.

Both Y H V H and Yeshua, the testamony of two witnesses a fact is established. God is ONE!!!

But good Christians, don't believe God, He is that Old Testament God. And even if the word trinity isn't in the Bible, the word Bible isn't in it either and we all know there is a Bible. Follow the logic?

I don't, but this is the rhetoric espoused.

[Fluffy]

The first two simply seem to be problems with the translation itself. When people knew very little about what it was like outside of the Earth, it was commonly thought that everything out there was just "the heavens" and therefore this statement is just referring to the entirety of the universe in the way in which people from older times might have referred to it.

The second bit seems like a simple verb ending mix up I would say. Easily done especially if the mistake is in the oldest version. There's probably only a couple of letters differences between the singular and the plural of these words so a simple typo could explain it. Doesn't really work if you believe the Bible is, word for word, the Word of God.

[Linus]

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
Please define where the rest of the universe came from.

The word heaven is used in the Bible to mean a few different things. It is used for the "dwelling place" of God, and it is also used to mean the sky/space. I think when it says that God created the heavens and the earth it means He created space, everything in it, and the planet the we call earth. I hope I'm making sense.

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

4 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds
of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

Who is he refering to whence he says "Let US make man in OUR own image"?

To me, it seems as if this implying that there is one God, but several parts to that God. So it looks like God is speaking to...himself. And since there is more than one part to this God he would speak in the first person plural form, using words like us, we, our, etc.

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

2 the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the
breath of life, and so man became a living being."

What was the man he created BEFORE this?

And had God not already made man, as stated in Chapter 1, as in HIS image? How can he remake another man, if he had already made one?

Chapter 2 of Genesis is not a continuation of the story of the creation of man, it is more of a detailed retelling of the creation mentioned in chapter 1. It isn't showing that God created more men. It is showing, in a little more detail, sort of how God went about doing what He did in the previous chapter.

These are just my opnions, but still, I hope this answers some of your questions.

[standing_on_one_foot]

Originally Posted by Linus

To me, it seems as if this implying that there is one God, but several parts to that God. So it looks like God is speaking to...himself. And since there is more than one part to this God he would speak in the first person plural form, using words like us, we, our, etc.

It's interesting, you know, if you look at the Hebrew. If I'm reading it right (and I'm not too great at Biblical Hebrew, I'll be the first to admit, the grammar's different in a bunch of ways from modern Hebrew), when it says "And God said, etc," the verb used is for singular masculine, not plural masculine. Might just be God using a sort of royal "we" here. I do like the idea of God speaking to himself, though.

[_salam_]

Originally Posted by standing_on_one_foot

It's interesting, you know, if you look at the Hebrew. If I'm reading it right (and I'm not too great at Biblical Hebrew, I'll be the first to admit, the grammar's different in a bunch of ways from modern Hebrew), when it says "And God said, etc," the verb used is for singular masculine, not plural masculine. Might just be God using a sort of royal "we" here. I do like the idea of God speaking to himself, though.

I'm going to have to side with this explanation here because this is how it is with the Arabic in the Qur'an when God says We. It's a royal we. Also Arabic and Hebrew are very similar languages, they have many words that sound very similar or came from the same root word.

[cvipertooth]

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

Hi um here is my topic for today. I haven't really started posting again, but I would like to understand these passages in the book of GENESIS. I can still read


1 In the beginning, when God created the heavens and the earth,
Please define where the rest of the universe came from.

When the bible says heavens i think it's referring to the 1st heavens, like space. the rest of the universe, if you will. not heaven where god is. when a man looks toward the heavens, he isnt looking at God, he's looking and stars and the moon and other "heavenly" bodies. It says the earth just because that is where these events are taking place.

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

4 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. Let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and the cattle,
and over all the wild animals and all the creatures that crawl on the ground."
God created man in his image; in the divine image he created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them, saying: "Be fertile and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, the birds
of the air, and all the living things that move on the earth."

Who is he refering to whence he says "Let US make man in OUR own image"?

i think he's talkin father, son and holy spirit. if you notice in the new testament, jesus says that he and the father are one; and then later says that the father has always been and always will be. (These are not the exact words so if you wish to search them out i will provide reference) So if God the father was there at the creation, so was the son, and so was his spirit. hence, "us"

Now we shall move on to chapter 2..

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

2 the LORD God formed man out of the clay of the ground and blew into his nostrils the
breath of life, and so man became a living being."

What was the man he created BEFORE this? "?

Ah, great observation. This verse, along with the one in CH. 1, is a big part of the reason i am considered a "Theistic Evolutionist". The word, adam, in Hebrew, means made of clay. so when the Bible says adam, it is possible that it is referring to a group of people that should "be fruitful and multiply". not necessarily 2 seperate people. just like there were more than three wisemen at jesus's birth and there is not enough water on the earth to completely cover it. these are all things that have been accepted for easy sunday school use.

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

And had God not already made man, as stated in Chapter 1, as in HIS image? How can he remake another man, if he had already made one?

I think the Bible backtracks here a little bit. it goes back to where man was created and emphasizes on it, like an outline. it is not linear from Ch. 1. also, this allows for "gaps" in the "days" of creation. possibly millions of years.

[Watcher]

Great question Soul. I was just thinking of that not so long ago. The whole pluralized god thing is quite confusing.

[linwood]

Originally Posted by robtex

Genesis is the first book of the Torah which is a Jewish text. The Jewish religion has never acknowledged a trinity.

Nor have they acknowledged Jesus as pre-human

[Ronald]

Originally Posted by linwood

Nor have they acknowledged Jesus as pre-human

Those who are brave enough to read Revelations, I am the Aleph Tav/alpha omega.
and Ge.1 Bereshis bara Elohim et/Aleph Tav. I learned this from a Hebrew Teacher.
Col 1:15 Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: Aleph Tav.

[Linus]

Originally Posted by standing_on_one_foot

Might just be God using a sort of royal "we" here.

Im not quite sure I get your meaning here. Could you explain a little more?