Genesis 1:26 An interesting verse that is easy to debate over

a reply to: Boscov

Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.

a reply to: graphuto

Yes but God doesn't refer to himself as we in any other part of the Bible. The word was with God but the word isn't part of the Trinity. It's simply the word.

a reply to: Wanderer777

What!? What are you talking about? See the bolded verses ; I've given the rest for context.

John 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

2 The same was in the beginning with God.

3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.

5 And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.

6 There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.

7 The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe.

8 He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light.

9 That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.

10 He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not.

11 He came unto his own, and his own received him not.

12 But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name:

13 Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God.

14 And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.

a reply to: graphuto

Yes, one may hear the Word, but hearing is not enough alone. One must choose to believe or reject, and that comes from within. Faith is not given or received, it is manifested by free will, and so can be destroyed by free will as well. GOD gave us free will. HE gave us the ability to choose faith or rejection. HE allows us to choose. The Word of GOD falls on deaf ears without this choice.

a reply to: Boscov

I don't dispute what you're saying there. What I'm disputing is that you said you don't think we need the Bible.

originally posted by: DeadSeraph

originally posted by: Wanderer777
a reply to: DeadSeraph

Well Satan was in charge of the worshiping angels which was at least a third of the sum total of all the angels. It would make sense that a worshiping angel would have freewill.

Yet Michael opposed him, and wasn't of the same order of angels if tradition is to be believed. We also have accounts of the Nephilim that would seem to indicate angels had a great degree of free will.

Interesting to consider a being that could be in the very presence of God, creator of the very universe, and yet forsake that inheritance. It poses fascinating philosophical questions I'm not sure we are equipped to answer when we consider the level of intelligence angels are said to possess.

Yes but it was my understanding the fallen angels are the one's who mated with man. Also it mainly just says Michael cast the Satan out of Heaven and to the Earth. They were both archangels as well so it could have been that all the archangels have freewill.

To defy God in His presence has to take some serious guts. But that could be why God created him with freewill in the first place because he knew what would happen. Jealousy of man sprung up and boom the rebellion happened.

If the only people you ever discuss these types of things with, are those who believe like you. Then your world view becomes narrow and limited. The moment you close your mind to possibilities outside your personal belief system, you cease to look for truth, and only seek that which confirms your bias.
The beauty of ATS, and listening to others who do not believe like you is an incredible opportunity to broaden your understanding and perception of the world you live in. A "We're not in Kansas any more, Toto." type of thing...

Nevertheless, to your question.
It is commonly held, at least among fundamentalists, that this verse refers to the trinity. Nothing more, nothing less. From their perspective, there is no mystery whatsoever. They would probably refer you to John 8:58, as a supporting scripture. "Before Abraham was, I AM."

originally posted by: Klassified

If the only people you ever discuss these types of things with, are those who believe like you. Then your world view becomes narrow and limited.

This is a good point, but it's about time we Christians start getting on the same page with the Word of God as our only authority and source of truth regarding God.

a reply to: graphuto

Ultimately we won't, that is the goal. Not to say we won't need GOD, but we should progress past the beginners book, no insult intended. Find GOD within.

a reply to: graphuto

The word was still a part of God. It was not made into Flesh until that time. Jesus (The Word) came from God but he was not there until God created Him from the Word.
Genesis 13:15 For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever.

God speaking to Abram. Every other time talks it's I. Now if the Word was with Him and the Word was Jesus don't you think that he'd say "we" or "us" a bit more?

a reply to: Wanderer777

Sure, just about every other time He speaks it's almost always first person. But we have multiple scriptures that reveal to us the mystery of the Trinity.

We've showed you ours, now show us yours. What do YOU think He is referring to? With scripture to back it up, without any sort of exposition except that of your initial statement of belief.

a reply to: Klassified

Excuse me but I've explored many "truths" the world has to offer and with most things I do listen to another's point of view, but I have continuously been bashed on here for my faith and it gets rather annoying having to explain myself or defend myself to all the non Christians on this site. Don't get me wrong I love each and every one of you, but sometimes I'd like to just talk with other Christians. Especially when I'm stuck in a craphole and I can't even talk about religion with people out of fear for UCMJ.

a reply to: Boscov

The Bible is a history book/ instruction manual. Once you understand it to the best of your ability you must look within yourself and your own personal relationship with God and Jesus. The biggest thing we all need to get on the same page about is unconditional love. That was Jesus' biggest teaching. I love everyone unconditionally but it doesn't mean you have to agree with or even like the person. As long as you love everyone and don't judge and have Christ in your heart you're good to go.

Michael Heiser has a good 4 part talk on Genesis www.youtube.com... for anyone interested .He does go into the text and gives good reasons as to how and why we believers can look at the same text and understand it differently from one another and still be consistent .The Hebrew text is not like other languages and is very unique .Think about the fact that every letter they use has a meaning .We use letters to make words that will have a definition but the Hebrew alphabet is already full of definitions or are able to create a thought .

When two people thinking differently about something and they are both right and wrong at the same time .www.youtube.com... When looking at the OP's passage it just may be possible to find the Trinity or a heavenly host .It may be like some say that it's a Royal prerogative . People have a tendency of making the text say what we think it is saying either to discredit it or to protect Gods word .If a scientific challenge is thrust upon the believer then he some how feels that God needs them to defend it

a reply to: graphuto
John 3:8
He that committeth sin is of the devil; for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.

That shows Jesus was manifested in response to Satan.

Revelation 10:4
And when the seven thunders had uttered their voices, I was about to write: and I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Seal up those things which the seven thunders uttered, and write them not.

This one shows there's some things we are not meant to know.

Sometimes you have to figure things out on your own and piece the puzzle together. To me in my opinion this makes the most sense to me.

a reply to: Wanderer777

If you read it chronologically consider the words they use to describe the OT god, it's pretty straight forward.

When Genesis speaks about creating everything in the beginning, it refers to multiple gods. Later, when Adam and Eve are created, it uses the word that specifies YHWH.

It clearly states that there were a group of beings that were involved in the original creation of humanity. Later, the Abrahamic god created, specifically, Adam and Eve. There were already societies and people at that time (how else to you explain the cities and people Cane bummed around with?) and the descendants of Adam and Eve are the only people created by YHWH. The rest were created by the Elohim.

I don't follow your pantheon and have no stake in your religion so, when I read the bible (which I enjoy doing), I read it as a person would if they were trying to figure out your religion without any help from your religious institutions. If you were to drop the bible on an island that never heard of Christianity yet could read, this is probably how they'd interpret it.

a reply to: Wanderer777

You've quoted 1 verse of scripture, which is confusing and hard to understand at that. I quoted 5 or 6 different clear statement verses to backup my view.

Do you want to debate or do you want to try to get us to believe what you do, unscriptural as it is?

When you've got multiple clear statements that say one thing, and then one other verse that is seemingly contradictory or hard to understand, you must fall back to the clear statements.

a reply to: Cuervo

Blasphemy!

originally posted by: Wanderer777
a reply to: Boscov
The biggest thing we all need to get on the same page about is unconditional love. That was Jesus' biggest teaching... As long as you love everyone and don't judge and have Christ in your heart you're good to go.

Blasphemy or willful ignorance. The biggest teaching of Jesus is that the Pharisees and Jews were doing it all wrong, caught up in tons of man made rules, and following the letter of the law without faith. God is love, yes, but he isn't all lovey dovey like people who clearly don't know the Bible make Him out to be. (Maybe more accurate to say "wish Him to be") He is also just. And jealous. And angry!

a reply to: Wanderer777

As a Christian who attends church weekly, I believe the teachings of Jesus, but I keep an open mind about things. Whatever your beliefs are, I can tell you from my experience that the spirit of the Bible has been true (for me anyway). I've always said that if you choose to believe and adhere to its teachings, you will do nothing but be a better person and stay out of trouble. If you choose not to, well then all bets are off. Prison is an option for you.

Having seen things myself, and having friends who have had close encounters, I cannot rule out any other possibilities, either. I keep that to myself when I am around people at church, though.