Defend Christianity

Genesis chapter 1

Genesis chapter 1: Foundational understanding of the origins of the world and humanity. Genesis chapter 1: Foundational understanding of the origins of the world and humanity.- Opera News

HOW YO SEE GOD.
God can be seen directly by angels, though, because they are spirit creatures. (Matthew 18:10) Moreover, some humans who die will be raised to life in heaven with a spirit body and will then be able to see God.​—Philippians 3:​20, 21; 1 John 3:2.

How to “see” God now
The Bible often uses the idea of seeing figuratively, to represent enlightenment. (Isaiah 6:​10; Jeremiah 5:​21; John 9:​39-​41) In this sense, a person can see God now with “the eyes of [his] heart” by having faith so as to know Him and appreciate His qualities. (Ephesians 1:​18)
The Bible describes steps to build this kind of faith.

God’s qualities, such as his love and generosity as well as his wisdom and power, through his creation. (Romans 1:​20) After being reminded of God’s creative works, the faithful man Job felt as though God were right before his eyes.​—Job 42:5.

If you search for [God], he will let himself be found by you,” the Bible assures us.​—1 Chronicles 28:9; Psalm 119:2; John 17:3.

Since Jesus perfectly reflected the personality of his Father, Jehovah God, he could rightly say: “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father also.”​—John 14:9.

Live in a way that pleases God, and see how he acts in your behalf. Jesus said: “Happy are the pure in heart, since they will see God.” As noted earlier, some who please God will be resurrected to heaven and will thus “see God” there.​—Matthew 5:8; Psalm 11:7.

Did not Moses, Abraham, and others actually see God?
In accounts where it might seem that the Bible says that humans literally saw God, the context shows that God was represented by an angel or appeared by means of a vision.

In ancient times, God sent angels as his representatives to appear to humans and to speak in his name. (Psalm 103:20) For example, God once spoke to Moses from a burning bush, and the Bible says that “Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at the true God.” (Exodus 3:​4, 6) Moses did not literally see God, though, for the context shows that he actually saw “Jehovah’s angel.”​—Exodus 3:2.

Similarly, when the Bible says that God “spoke to Moses face-to-face,” it means that God conversed with Moses intimately. (Exodus 4:​10, 11; 33:11) Moses did not actually see God’s face, for the information he received from God “was transmitted through angels.” (Galatians 3:​19; Acts 7:​53) Still, Moses’ faith in God was so strong that the Bible described him as “seeing the One who is invisible.”​—Hebrews 11:27.

In the same way that he spoke to Moses, God communicated with Abraham through angels. Granted, a casual reading of the Bible might give the impression that Abraham literally saw God. (Genesis 18:​1, 33) However, the context shows that the “three men” who came to Abraham were actually angels sent by God. Abraham recognized them as God’s representatives and addressed them as if he were speaking directly to Jehovah.​—Genesis 18:​2, 3, 22, 32; 19:1.

God has also appeared to humans through visions, or scenes presented to a person’s mind. For instance, when the Bible says that Moses and other Israelites “saw the God of Israel,” they really “saw a vision of the true God.” (Exodus 24:​9-​11) Likewise, the Bible sometimes says that prophets “saw Jehovah.” (Isaiah 6:1; Daniel 7:9; Amos 9:1) In each case, the context shows that they were given a vision of God rather than a direct view of him.​—Isaiah 1:1; Daniel 7:2;

The Priest's Adjudication
Leviticus 13:1-59

And the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, saying,…
We have considered the plague of leprosy as an emblem of sin; the adjudication upon it will suggest thoughts concerning the treatment of sin. In this business the principal actor was the priest, who must be viewed as the type of Christ. The judgment in this case will be disciplinary rather than final; for when Messiah will come to judge the world at the last day, he will appear not as a priest but as a king. We are now concerned with the functions of the priest.

I. HE HAD TO EXAMINE THE SUSPECTED PERSON.

1. In this he proceeded according to the Law.

(1) He had his rules for determining the presence of the plague.

(2) So by the Word of God is our moral cleanness or uncleanness to be determined (Romans 2:13; Romans 3:20; 1 Corinthians 14:24, 25; James 1:22-25; James 2:9).

(3) Conviction is carried home by the Spirit of Christ.

2. When the case was dubious judgment was deferred.

(1) Meanwhile the suspected person was "shut up" (verses 4, 21, 31) that opportunity might be given for the manifestation of the symptoms. So are sinners "shut up" by the Law to the faith of the gospel (see Romans 11:32, margin; Galatians 3:23).

(2) At the end of "seven days" judgment was given; or, if the symptoms were not then sufficiently manifest, a second period of seven days was allowed, which was the final term. Could these periods refer to the dispensations of our probation? In this case the l***r must be taken to personate a class of sinner according to the type of his disease, whether proceeding from the "rising," or the "boil," or the "scab." In any case, a sufficient probation is given us in this world for the manifestation of our real character, which probation we should be careful to improve.

3. A leprous garment was treated as representing its owner.

(1) It had to be inspected by the priest for his judgment and sentence, as though it had been a person. In case the plague in it were not pronounced, it had to be "shut up" and examined again after the same intervals of" seven days" (verses 50, 54). The expense and trouble of this, particularly if it had to be brought from a distance, would be as much as the garment was worth, so that the Law is unaccountable unless it was intended to serve a typical purpose.

(2) Agabus the prophet made Paul's girdle emblematically to represent that apostle (Acts 21:11). The "owner" of a leprous house, obviously for the same reason, had to "come and tell the priest" (Leviticus 14:35).

(3) The washing of the garment in this case suggests the washing of regeneration.

II. HE HAD TO PRONOUNCE UPON HIM.

1. In some cases the verdict was an acquittal.

(1) If the suspected leprosy proved to be but a surface evil, the subject was pronounced clean (verse 6). Jesus does not mark as sins infirmities which spring not from an evil nature. The person acquitted, however, had to wash his clothes (verse 34). There is no person so faultless as not to need the laver of regeneration.

(2) If a l***r be "white all over," no proud flesh, no ichor, being visible, he is pronounced clean (verse 13). The virulence of the disease is over; God's mercy has reached him; the sinner is forgiven. But the marks of an old dissipation often remain after forgiveness. Though now clean, there can be no question that he had been a l***r.

(3) Another case is given. A l***r, supposing his disease gone, presents himself to the priest for his cleansing; but the priest, discovering "raw flesh," sends him away unclean; in time, however, he becomes cured, returns to the priest, and on the second application is pronounced clean (verse 17). This case is like that of the sinner whose repentance is not perfect, and at the altar he discovers that until he is reconciled to a brother whom he had wronged his gift cannot be accepted; the reconciliation made, he returns and finds the favour of God (Matthew 5:23, 24).

2. In other cases the judgment was "Unclean."

(1) When the plague is pronounced, as in cases of "old leprosy," deliberation was unnecessary; judgment came speedily (verses 10, 11). So with the openly wicked (Psalm 9:16; Proverbs 5:22; Proverbs 11:5).

(2) In all cases evidence must be clear. Time, therefore, was given for the plague to pronounce itself. So, before judgment could overtake the Amorites, their iniquity must be full (Genesis 15:16; see also Daniel 8:23; Matthew 23:32, 33; 1 Thessalonians 2:16).

(3) Jesus is unerring in his judgments. He is the faithful as well as merciful High Priest.

3. The sentence.

(1) The l***r has to dwell without the camp (verse 46). So must the open sinner be put out of the Church (see 1 Corinthians 5:11-13). Hypocrites and unbelievers, though in the Church in the visible part, are not recognized by God as members of the Church in the spiritual part.

(2) The l***r has to behave as an excommunicate seeking for the mercy of God. His clothes are rent to express extreme grief and sorrow. His head is bare, turbanless, to express deep humiliation. He put a covering upon his upper lip; had his jaw tied up with a linen cloth as a co**se, to express his state as that of a living death (see 2 Kings 5:7; Ezekiel 24:17), and he was to cry "Unclean!" (verse 45). When we confess that we are dead in trespasses and sins, and sorrow to repentance, there is hope for us in God.

(3) But as the garment that remains unclean after two washings, to save it from destruction must have the leprous piece rent from it; so if a "right hand" or "right eye" prevent us from realizing the benefits of redemption, they must be separated (verse 56). But if all efforts to save the garment fail, then its doom is to be burnt (see Matthew 5:29, 30; Matthew 18:8, 9). - J.A.M.

Regard Others As Better Than Yourself
Philippian 2:1-4
Therefore if you have any encouragement from being united with Christ, if any comfort from his love, if any common sharing in the Spirit,if any tenderness and compassion, then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love, being one in spirit and of one mind. Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others.

Saint Paul said to “Regard others as better than yourselves”. I think that’s a remedy. This is so against the culture stream, culture trend in our society. I want to be better than you always. I worked so hard so that I can be better than you, but Paul said “Regard others as better than yourself”. That is so against the stream of our modern thinking, but I think that’s the wisdom. I believe that’s the truth, and I think that it is something that we need to hold onto. How can we regard others better than yourselves? It is hard to do because whenever we tried to do that, we felt miserable. When you consider other people better than you, you feel miserable. Is Paul telling us to live with this miserable feeling? I don’t think so. Paul is saying that even when you regard others better than yourself, you don’t need to feel miserable. That’s not what should make you feel miserable. It’s the way how you see things, the world and your relationship with others. When others do well, we have two contradicting feelings and emotions within us. On the one hand, we are very happy for them if their children are going to an Ivy school or if their children are doing a wonderful job and they are doing very well, you’re really happy for them. On the other hand, you wonder, what have I been doing all this time? They achieved so much and look at me, I have only done this. Right there, if you’re not careful, you fall into self-pity and you start feeling miserable

The World We Live In
What beautiful advice for all of us. Regard others as better than yourselves. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit. Look not to your own interests, but to the interests of others. Let us reflect on that a little bit. What great advice. I think this is what we are supposed to live with. If we keep this advice, the world we live in will become a better place. Obama in his speech for the nuclear negotiation with Iran said, “At the end, the world will be a safer place, safer world, the better world.” That’s what we want. If we take Paul’s advice seriously, I think many of our relationships will become quite better. We know we live in a fragmented world, relationships shattered and broken, and I realized that we did not keep Jesus’ advice or Paul’s advice. We are tremendously influenced by the world unconsciously, without ever realizing how much we are controlled by the ethos and the thinking of the world. As Joshua shared, working 12, 15 hours a day, do you really think about what you are living for?

We are very much influenced and have to understand how much are we are influenced by the world. We can’t just let the world influence us. I think the world we live in is controlled by the power, everything is based on power. What is power? I don’t think that it’s just political power. For example, how rich you are, how popular you are, how well educated you are, how well you’re doing with your career, how attractive you are, what race you are or what gender you are. All of these things make up personal power. We live based on the power that we have accumulated for ourselves, and from there we try to build relationships with others with the power that we have. That’s why sometimes, you try to accumulate this power so that you can have the upper hand in your relationship.

Then you look down upon those who are less powerful and you’re very nice to those as powerful or more powerful than you. You know my friends intrinsically, power has a desire to control and even control our relationships. We are so deeply entrenched in the power-hungry world that we do that with each other too. Even among couples, they constantly have power struggles between each other. Even with friends there is power struggle. People who are enslaved by the power try to put others under you, under your control, and they don’t even realize they are doing it. They have this automatic assumption that “I’m better than you” or “I should be better than you”. No matter what, I’m better than you. They are not even aware of this assumption. Whether you’re a religious person, or even in other areas, people use that. Even in religion, they use that to gain the upper hand. “I’m better than you, at least in my faith, in my spirituality”, from that all kinds of prejudice begins: racism, sexism, ageism, classism, elitism, you name it. No matter how worthless a person may look, if we cannot uphold that person’s human dignity, I think that’s corruption. That’s corrupted thinking. No matter how shabby and how pathetic this person may look, if you cannot uphold that person’s human dignity, you have already corrupted your thinking.

Whether that person is a strong person, weak person, a waitress in a restaurant, or students in the airplane, no matter who they are, they all deserve your respect and human dignity .

False Humility
Let us consider a totally different scenario. Let’s say you feel that obviously you are better than the other person. You know, in terms of your singing ability, or in terms of your looks, or in terms of whatever, you obviously think that you’re better than the other person. How can I consider the other person better than myself? Do I fake it? Do I say “Oh, you’re better than me.”, do I fake it? Paul said, “In humility, consider others better than yourself”. Not in false humility. We all know false humility so well. We are fooled by false humility multiple times, to the point we’re not fooled by false humility anymore. So, regarding others as better than yourself is not about comparing yourself with others and seeing who is better, it is our attitude towards other people. It doesn’t matter who the other person is. We always, whether that person is a child, or poor and powerless, you always consider them as better than yourself. You put yourself under that person.

What is that called? When you put yourself under other people? What is that called? Servant. Exactly. That’s what a serving mentality is all about. He says in the four verses you read from verse five, he said, have the same attitude as Jesus, and then he showed what Jesus said. Who thought he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself, taking the form of a slave or servant, being born in human likeness and being found in human form. Paul boldly declares that Jesus took the form of a servant. I think that’s a radical statement. Our Lord, the son of God, took the form of a servant. As Jesus became a servant to save the world, to make the world a better place, Jesus asked us to be a servant. That is the way of the disciples. That is our journey. Our journey is not towards the power, to defeat and control the people. Our journey is a journey to the servanthood, where we put ourselves under others and serve them. That’s what our journey is all about. We are not the people. We are Christians. We are not the people to rule, but, to serve. This is our philosophy. This is our principle of living. This is what Jesus said, “You know that among the gentiles, those whom they recognized as their rulers lorded over them and their great ones are tyrants over them, but it is not so, among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you, you must be a servant. And whoever wishes to be first among you must be the slave of all. For the son of man came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life, a ransom for many”. My friends. This is a core of the gospel.

Be Humble
There are many good things in the Bible, but that is a core of what we believe. Core of the Gospel. If you lose this core of the Gospel, you lose being a Christian. If we lose this, we don’t know what it means to follow Jesus Christ. If you’re still trying to rule over other people and conquer other people, whether it’s personally, nationally, or globally, then what we are doing is not Christian living. That’s what’s going on in the world right now, so we have to sometimes go against the stream of this world. Don’t blindly follow what the world does, stand strong even though that is against the stream. People who think like that are corrupted in their thinking. They fell into the futile thinking and with futile thinking, you cannot do God’s work. My friends, regard others as better than yourselves. When you deal with other people, look at yourself. Do you have this automatic assumption showing that I’m better than you because I’m a man?, because I’m white?, because I’m more educated? Because I’m more powerful? Or because I’m richer? Do you automatically assume that you’re better than the other person? Catch it. Your influenced. You’re influenced by the world’s thinking.

Always regard others better than yourselves. Be kind to them. Be kind. Before they greet you, go first and greet them. Be nice to them. It doesn’t matter who, always treat other people as though you are their servant. Only strong people can do that, like Jesus. Only strong people can do that. Weak people try to pretend that they’re stronger, but confident people, the powerful, real strong people can kneel down and serve other people. We are not the slaves of power. We are the servants of love. We are not blinded by power, but we are awakened by the love. We don’t build relationships based on power, but on love. We are born again. We are born again by Jesus’ love. We are born again by Jesus’ teaching. The first thing about being born again is to be a servant. That’s the first thing, and that is the essence of our life. So when you have lots of power, be careful. Don’t make yourself greater than others with that, rather, use that, humbly, to serve other people and to serve God. Josh, that’s why you’re working 12 to 15 hours. Not just to accumulate power, but with that power, you can serve other people. That’s the essence of spiritual living,

Reflection
Without realizing it, have we become a slave to power? So many times we feel insecure because we don’t have enough power. Or, because we have so much power, we have become arrogant. Let us pray that we are not slaves or servants of power, but that we be servants of love. Let us pray that God fill us so that we may truly become servants of love to serve other people and God.

GOD IS ALL-SUFFICIENT AND LEAST-DEPENDED OF EVERYTHING!

Let no man imagine that God needs any of us. He was perfect--perfectly happy and perfectly glorious, long before wing of angel moved in space, or time even existed! God ever was and still is self-contained and all-sufficient. If He chooses to make any creatures, or to preserve or use any of the creatures He has formed--it is not because He needs them, or is in the least degree dependent upon them.

God is not served by human hands, as if He needed anything; because He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything else!" Acts 17:25

"Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket; they are regarded as dust on the scales! He weighs the islands as though they were fine dust. Lebanon is not sufficient for altar fires, nor its animals enough for burnt offerings. Before Him all the nations are as nothing; they are regarded by Him as worthless and less than nothing! To whom, then, will you compare God? What image will you compare Him to?" Isaiah 40:15-18

"Do you not know?
Have you not heard?
Has it not been told you from the beginning?
Have you not understood since the earth was founded?
He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in. He brings princes to naught, and reduces the rulers of this world to nothing!" Isaiah 40:21-23

"I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, for every animal of the forest is Mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills! I know every bird in the mountains; and the creatures of the field are Mine! If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is Mine, and all that is in it!" Psalm 50:9-12

"Who has ever given to God, that God should repay Him?
For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things.
To Him be the glory forever! Amen." Romans 11:35-36