Bible..questions...looking for answers

[domi]

This is taken from the life aplaction study bible NKJV hence where the page numbers r coming from, and this is my questions so far. (disregard n e Hany's or Tauntes i'm to lazy to go and see if I left n e in)

Genisis





Gensis 1
The history of Creation

1:26-27
26- Then god said let us make man in Our immage.......
27- So god created man in His own immage.......

I understand from prior quetioning that when god says us he refers to jeasus, god, and the holy spirit but why does he swich from creating people in their own immage to creating people in his own and his only. In enlgish this would be called an unparell construction. But i know that the bible doesn't follow grammer rules so i'll let that go.

1:6-8
7- God made this firmament from the watters that were above and below this firmament; and it was so.
8- And he called this firmament heven

However as we continue though this creation story we keep hearing about earth. that's the only thing i see about heven. Does that mean that heven is just a watter firmament. Not like swimming isn't fun but i would expect more then that.

Genisis 2
2:3 God blessed the seventh day and sancified it because in it he rested from all his work which he god had created and made.

Ok this, i find weird. After god created the erth he got tired and he had naptime? I find it hard to undersatnd.
A- God doesn't get tired.
B- God made all there new people and it's not like he's going to let them run free with no supper vision. My mom would never do that to me. Why would go do that to his creations?
C- God does so much more then that everyday and u don't see him sleeping then. Why sleep this time?

Genisis 3
the temtation of Man
3:20 And adam called his wife eve, because she was teh motehr of all living.

Is that what eve means?

Why don't we have the reason why adam was named adam...i want to know that one it would make sence wouln't it?

Genisis 4
Cain and Abel

Cain Murders Abel
4:4 And the lord respected able for his offering, but he didn't respect Cain for his offering....

What the heck? What makes cain's offering of fruit worse then Abels? Personaly i would have taken the fruit, at least that didn't feal n e pain. What's the differnce between the two sacrfices. They were both of equal labor to get amd were both origialy created by god. why why would god favor one over the other?( the explnation of it on pg 13 4:3-5 doens'st answer me)

After this god goes on to mark cain to protect him. Why? Talk about amazing love, and amazing confusion.

The Family of Cain

4:16- And then Cain took for him self 2 wives......

How come cain gets 2 wives. Now this would be called pilogomy, christans don't like that?
When did god change that practice?

4:23- Then Lemech said to his wives

"Adah and Zillah, hear my voice;
Wives of Lamech, Listen to my speech;
For i have killed a man for wounding me,
Even a yong man for hurting me.
if Cain shal be avened seven fold,
then Lamech sevnty-seven fold.

Ok what does this speech mean. Even with the explanation of seven fold it still makes no sence. And when do we hear about what he did? I dun see that.

5 The Family of Adem

Why do we keep hearing about how long these people lived n who they are? Is this of n e importnace somehow?

Genisis 7
The Great Flood
7:2- You are to take with you 7 of each of every "clean" amimal, a male and his female; two each of the amimals that are unclean, of the animals that are unclean, a male and his female, to keep the species alive on this earth.

What does god mean by clean and unclean? Is that free of sin and sinfull?

God convent with creation
8:20 Then Noah build a alter to the lord, and took every clean animal and every clean bird and offered burn offerings at the alter.

Does that mean that God told Noah to BURN THE ANIMALS?! poor babys

Why are the birds differnt then the amimals. God mentions them like they r two differnt speices. Are birds more speicial?

8:21And the Lord smelled a soothing aroma. then the Lord said in his heart " I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; never will i again destroy every living thing as i have done.

Is god in denial? Acording to samel 15-29 (pg 17 6:6,7) god DOESN'T deney his actions. What is going here?

Noah and His Sons
9:22And then Ham, the father of Cannan, saw the nakedness of his father, and told his 2 brothers outside.

9:25-27 Then he said;

"Cursed be Canaan;
A servant of servants
He shal be brethren."

And he said:

"Blessed be the Lord,
The God of Shem,
And may Canann be his servant.
May God enlarge Japheth,
And may he dwell in the tents of Shem;
And may Cannan be his servant."

This sounds like a compleatly unfair punishment.
Why is Noah punishing Cannan wehn as far as i can see from the passage he didn't do anything other wise then being the son of Ham, but it's not like he could fix that. Ham made fun of Noah not Cannan he wasn't even there he had nothing to do with it. Why even get him involed? And, if u are going to get him involed why don't u invole the rest of Ham's sons as well?


Genesis 11

The tower of Babel
11:1 Now the whole earth had one language and one speech.
10:5 From these the coastland peoples of the Gentiles were separated into lands, everyone according to his lauguage , acording to their families, into their nations.

What the heck? Did something change science that story in Genisi 10 that everyone speaks the same laugue now? Cultral diffusion...did i miss some big important part there?

11:7-9 Come, let us go down and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speach." So the Lord scattered them abroad from there over the face of all the earth, and they ceased building the city."

One that was relay mean of him to do that. What was so bad about the town coroperating to build a city in the first place? I see nothing worng with that.

Two even if he did scatter them everywhere on the earth to confuse them because everyone wouln't have the same laungaue wouln't it not work because " The WHOLE earth had one language and one speech"?

Genisis 17
17:10-11 And this is my covenant with you shall keep, between Me and you and your descendants after you: Every male child amoung you shall be cicumcised; and you shall be circumcised in the flesh of our forskins , and it shall be asign of the covenant between me and you.

Is there a specific reason that god chose circumcision as a symbol of a covenant? N e like symbolic thing about it? Cuz that's a kinda random choice.

17:15 Then God said to Abraham, "as for sarai your wife. you shall not call her name Sarai, but Sara shall be her name."

Any specfic, symbolic, reason for the name change? If there was a missed it. It's kind of weird that god would just Randomly change the name. What's the difference?

17-24-27
Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin. And Ishmael his son was thirteen years old when he was circumcised in the flesh of his forewskin. That very same day abraham was circumcised, and his son Ishmael;

n e spefic reason's why we r given the ages to when they were circumcised? is that going to be important later on?

Genesis18
The son of Promise
18:1-3 Then the Lord appeared to him by the terebinth trees of Mamre, as he was sitting in the tent door in the heat of the day. So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the groud.

This changes from talking about the Lord apearing to him to then having him see three men. Does this mean that the three men that he sees are the three manifestations of God, servants of the lord, or are they just three random men? If they are just three random men then why doesthe bible then go back to refering to the lord talking to Abraham and Sarah again after 17:13? Was the Lord there during this whole occurance in addition to the others?

Abraham Inercedes for Sodom
18:23-33

Isn't this whole conversation a relfection on god's change of mind after the distruction of earth durring the time of Noah?

Sodom's Depravity

19:24-26
"Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah, from the Lord out of the heavens. So He overthre those cities, all the plain, all the inhabitants of the cities, and what once grew on the ground."

There goes anohter city. Isn't that kinda adjest the deal that he made with abrhamn when he got mad and destroyed the planet? Or does that only apply to destroying the whole planet and not just a little peice of it?
_________________
I'm going back to the heart of worship and it's all about u Jeasus. I'm sry lord for the things i made it when it's all about u Jeasus.

-Heart of Worship

 

[Yeznik]

Here are some answers, I will try to get to the other ones at a later time.

However as we continue though this creation story we keep hearing about earth. that's the only thing i see about heven. Does that mean that heven is just a watter firmament. Not like swimming isn't fun but i would expect more then that.

I think you mean heaven, right? It would be referring to the sky. Remember, God separated the water from the earth, and after He released it ( Noah and the flood).

Ok this, i find weird. After god created the erth he got tired and he had naptime? I find it hard to undersatnd.

No, he is showing us an example in how to live life; God does not tire, nor take vacations in Hawaii.



Adam means man, Eve means woman. They are not like names.

What the heck? What makes cain's offering of fruit worse then Abels? Personaly i would have taken the fruit, at least that didn't feal n e pain. What's the differnce between the two sacrfices. They were both of equal labor to get amd were both origialy created by god. why why would god favor one over the other?( the explnation of it on pg 13 4:3-5 doens'st answer me)

It is what resides in the hearts of man that makes sacrifices acceptable to God.



And about the polygamy, and having several wives, is a very complicated subject. You have to look from a social and cultural perspective for that specific time and period. Society was different back then, than it is now.



About the clean and unclean animals, this passage doesn’t make sense in English, unfortunately a lot of passages don’t make sense in English. I recommend reading it in another language if possible. May be that will help you out.


Keep reading and asking!!! And never stop. God Bless you!!

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,
Wow Sis….great questions. When you have questions, its like a roller coaster hey? Hehehehe…..100 questions at the speed of a rocket!!! LOL. But seriously, you’ve asked really good questions, and because each question takes about a page each to answer, I’m going to divide it over 3 posts. In this post, I would like to address your first question about the Holy Trinity. Most of the information that I will post in Blue is an extract from the Book called “The Meaning of the Holy Trinity” by Fr. Abraam Sleman and you can get it in a pdf file on the net. The things that I post in Black are things that I wanted to clarify for you.

(From Domi)
1:26-27
26- Then god said let us make man in Our immage.......
27- So god created man in His own immage.......

I understand from prior quetioning that when god says us he refers to jeasus, god, and the holy spirit but why does he swich from creating people in their own immage to creating people in his own and his only. In enlgish this would be called an unparell construction. But i know that the bible doesn't follow grammer rules so i'll let that go.

“To speak about the Trinity (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is to speak in more details about the ONE God. Trinity is a clear view of the one God.”

God is far beyond the ability of human intelligence and imagination. It is impossible to embrace Him and His divine aspects in a limited conception made by our own minds. For His unique greatness and distinction from everything around us, it is difficult to speak of Him in terms of the human language. For this reason, we need the analogies to explain the divine issues. Our Lord Jesus Christ included many analogies, which are called parables, in His teachings. He never spoke to them without at least one illustration as St. Mathew said, “Without a parable He did not speak to them” (Matt 13:34).

The parable of “The True Vine” is a great analogy of the Holy Trinity. When our Lord Jesus Christ said, "I am the true vine” (John 15:1), He has gave us, a perfect example of the meaning of the Holy Trinity and has painted, by His words, a wonderful picture revealing many of the divine aspects of God, His manifestation and His relation to us.

The first thing that comes to mind when you thing about the existence of the vine tree, or any tree in general, is the root of the tree. It is for the tree its origin and invisible being. We can go further and say that the root is:

1- The father of the tree, including the branch, which bears the leaves and the fruits. This branch with all what it has can be called “the image” of the tree or the invisible being.

2- The source of its life and the processor of this life into all the visible being of the tree.

To sum up, there is no doubt that the existence of the true vine tree is originated from its root. There is no real tree without a root; otherwise it will be unreal, a mere word, thought or imagination. Also, there is a father for every one.

Christ is the true vine having the eternal divine origin. He is begotten from God the Father. The Lord Jesus said, “I came forth from the Father and have come into the world” (John 16:28).”

The dictionary (Encarta Dictionary) meaning of Begotten is “Produced” and the word Born has 2 meanings = To give birth (created) Or Developed from a particular source.

Therefore Begotten = Produced from the same essence and divinity of the father

If we explore the term “Son of God”, St John in his Gospel, Chapter 1, explains that the term Son =Word
and the Word= Logos = Logic.

So Christ is The Logic of God = Wisdom of God

“but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.” (1 Cor. 1:24)

“Then the Jews said to Him, "You are not yet fifty years old, and have You seen Abraham?" Jesus said to them, "Most assuredly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM.” (John 8: 57-58)

To say that the vine tree is there and know its qualities, you need another thing in addition to its root. The tree should have what reveals itself. You need to see “the branch” that carries the leaves and the fruit. Or in other words, you need to see “the image” of the tree. When you see this, you can say I see the tree; it is there and I know its qualities.

¨ The branch (the image) is one with the root of the vine tree. Also, the Son is one with His Father. The Lord Jesus Christ said, “I and the Father are one” (John 10:30).

¨ The branch (the image) of the vine tree, declares its real existence and its nature. We can say the tree is there because we see its branch (image) and we know the qualities of the tree from its branch (image) that carries the leaves and the fruits.

Also the Son declares the unique existence and God’s qualities. The Lord Jesus Christ said to Philip, “Anyone who has seen Me, has seen the Father” (John 14:9).

Christ is the Living Word of God
The Son is also called “The Word of God”(The Logos of God). The “Word” is the mean of communication. God spoke to us through His Son Jesus Christ. Everything, God would like to convey, or reveal to us concerning Himself, has been anifested in the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Living incarnate Word of God.

The image of the tree is its appearance. In the image, the tree reveals itself in a logic manifestation. The Lord Jesus Christ is “The Logos of God”. In Him, God is manifested and revealed in an understandable way. He is the Logic manifestation of God.

So the Christ’s Sonship here or God’s Fatherhood, is not in a biological sense but in a spiritual sense. Like the Tree (Father), the Branches (Son), and Fruits (Holy Spirit).

If the vine tree has a root and branch (image), are these things sufficient to say that it is a real tree? Absolutely, they are not. This tree could be an artificial tree having the exact shape of the tree unless it has a kind of life to be a real tree.

Every tree the Lord has planted has its own kind of life. This life proceeds from the root to its branch (image) and gives the tree its unique shape with a unique taste of its fruits. In the same way, to say that this God is a real living God we should search for the kind of life He has. God is Spirit (John 4:22, 2 Cor 3:17), He does not derive His life from another source. God is living by His Holy Spirit (2 Cor 3:18). And the Spirit of God is He “who gives life” (John 6: 63).

There is another really good analogy of the Trinity. Since God created us in his image and likeness we see an example of this in ourselves. For example, we have a body and a soul. You cannot see the Soul, yet it exist and is the source from which the Body lives. You can see the manifestation of the Soul through the Body. Your Soul which is different from your Body is part of you. You don’t say about your soul, that it’s a separate entity apart from you. Similar with the Trinity, we say, three persons in One. We don’t mean, three Gods in One but three different aspects (Hypostasis) of God. Just like for example the Soul and the body are different aspects of you. When you refer to your soul, you will say “my soul”, yet your Soul is actually you. So that’s why you see in Genesis 1, “Then God said, "Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth."So God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1: 26-27)

If you consider the sun, we can say it exists because it reveals itself by its own things that manifest its existence, which are:

1- The star that is called the sun.
2- The light, or the rays begotten from the star.
3- The heat proceeds from the star through its rays.

By these three essential things, the sun declares its existence and its effects. In the mean time, these three things are of the one sun and are of the same quality of the sun. If these three things of the sun were not there, we would say the sun is a mere idea and is not there.

I hope that answers your question about the Trinity. Please let me know whether any part is confusing, because the Trinity is not something easy to understand, and can never be fully understood by our human mind. It is part of the mystery of God and our limitd mind can never fully comprehend everything about our unlimited God. But I am more than happy to address with you anything with you about the trinity. The next post will be about the question you mentioned in Creation.

Love and blessings
erini

 

[domi]

ready ready ready.. Taunte found it for me... I miss taunte :'(

http://www.stmarystlouis.bizland.com/The%20Holy%20Trinity%20by%20Father%20Matthias%20Wahba.htm

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,

Ok here is part 2 about the Creation of the world. His Holiness Pope Shenouda explains Genesis Chapter 1 really well and its written in a book called, “So Many Years with the Problems of People- Part 1”. I’m going to post an extract from it which will explain things to you. It’s written in a question and answer format. So someone is asking the questions and Pope Shenouda is answering it.

1:6-8
(From Domi)

7- God made this firmament from the watters that were above and below this firmament; and it was so.
8- And he called this firmament heven
However as we continue though this creation story we keep hearing about earth. that's the only thing i see about heven. Does that mean that heven is just a watter firmament. Not like swimming isn't fun but i would expect more then that.
Genisis 2
2:3 God blessed the seventh day and sancified it because in it he rested from all his work which he god had created and made.
Ok this, i find weird. After god created the erth he got tired and he had naptime? I find it hard to undersatnd.
A- God doesn't get tired.
B- God made all there new people and it's not like he's going to let them run free with no supper vision. My mom would never do that to me. Why would go do that to his creations?
C- God does so much more then that everyday and u don't see him sleeping then. Why sleep this time?

1. How can the saying of the Bible that God created the world in six days coincide with the opinion of the geologists that the age of the earth is thousands even millions of years?



The days of creation are not Solar days as our days now. The day of creation is a period of time, not known how long, which could haven been a second or thousands or millions of years. This period was determined by the saying "so the evening and the morning were..." The evidences for this are many, among which are: 1. The Solar day is the period of time between the sunrise and its rising again or between the sunset and its setting again. Since the sun was only created on the fourth day (Gen. 1:16-19)., then the first four days were not solar days.

2. As for the seventh day, the Bible did not state that it has ended. The Bible did not say (so the evening and the morning were the seventh day), and thousands of years passed from Adam till now while this seventh day is still going on. Accordingly, the days of creation are not Solar days but unknown periods of time.

3. As a whole, the Bible said about all the creation and its six days:" This is the history of the heavens and the earth when they were created, in the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens," (Gen. 2:4). So the Bible summed up in the word (day) all the six days of creation...

Let the geologists say then whatever they want about the age of the earth; for the Bible did not mention any age for the earth that may contradict the views of the geologists. The way the Lord looks to the measurement of time is explained by the apostle as follows: "With the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day " (2 Pet. 3:8).



2. When was the Light Created?

The Book of Genesis states that God created the light on the first day (Gen 1:3), while it states that the sun, moon and stars were created on the fourth day (Gen. 1:14-18). What is the difference between the two matters? And was the light created on the first day or the fourth?

God created light on the first day as the Bible indicated. But, what light? It is the substance of light, the shining mass of fire from which God made the sun, the moon and the stars on the fourth day. On the fourth day also God established the astronomical laws and the permanent relation between these celestial bodies...

1. I have read in a book a criticism of the story of creation as mentioned in the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. How can the earth be part of the sun as the scientists say, while the Bible states that the sun was created on the fourth day after the creation of the earth? So how can the earth be part of something that was created later on?!



Scientists do not say that the earth was part of the sun and separated from it, otherwise the sun will be missing this portion.

What scientists say is that earth is part of the solar system and not of the sun itself. It was part of the Nebula; that fiery mass which was no doubt luminous. This Nebula is what the Bible meant by saying on the first day "Then God said, let there be light, and there was light."

Earth was part of this mass and separated from it. The earth gradually cooled down until its surface became completely cool and on the third day became fit to grow plants and trees on, using the light and heat radiating from the Nebula.

On the fourth day, from this mass God created, the sun, moon, stars, meteors and all other celestial bodies and regulated the interrelations and the movement of these bodies.

The sun, on the fourth day, remained as it is; a whole with the earth attached to it, but God set the relation between earth and sun, moon and other stars and planets through the astronomical laws.



1. In Genesis there are two stories about the creation of man, the first is in the first chapter where God created man; male and female, and the second is in the second chapter where Adam and Eve were created. Do these two accounts coincide with each other.



The story of making man is one story for the same man. The account is mentioned as a whole in the first chapter but in detail in the second chapter.

In the first chapter, the making of man was part of all the process of creation. Then the details came in the second chapter about how Adam was created of dust then God breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; how Eve was created from one of Adams'ribs. It also mentioned the feelings of Adam before and after making Eve and giving Adam and Eve their names.

The two accounts are integral; in the first you find the given blessing and the allowed foods and in the second you find how they were created, the names given to them and a hint about Paradise.



So to answer your question Domi, until now we are in the seventh day because “the Bible did not state that it has ended. The Bible did not say (so the evening and the morning were the seventh day), and thousands of years passed from Adam till now while this seventh day is still going on.” The bible in Genesis 2:2 tells you that God ended his work creating creation, so the word “rested” from all his work, does not mean that his work as God and father is finished but that his work creating creation is finished and he “rested” from working on the creation of the universe and world. You notice the word sanctifying of the Seventh Day, “Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made.” (Genesis 2: 4) So although his work in making creation is finished, he was blessing and sanctifying the earth and the universe to produce good things and until now God is blessing us and helping us to come closer to him.

From Domi

Genisis 3
the temtation of Man
3:20 And adam called his wife eve, because she was teh motehr of all living.
Is that what eve means?
Why don't we have the reason why adam was named adam...i want to know that one it would make sence wouln't it?

As Yeznik explained, the word “Adam” in Hebrew means “man”. So for example, you see the verse that says “Let Us make man (adam) in our image….” (Genesis 1:26). Here is a small extract from a website speaking about the word Adam:



"And The Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." (Genesis 2:7). The Hebrew for man is pronounced aw-dawm, from which Adam is derived. It's also related to aw-dawm-ah, which means red earth, or red clay - indicating the natural earth elements that composed Adam's body, and the body of every human being since.



Hope these explained things to you. Please let me know if you have any questions on this section. The next post will be about Cain and Abel.



Love and blessings

erini

 

[domi]

erini...u talk to much...can we take this SLOWER SLOWER I NEED SLOWER...i'm sry but i'm getting like a page on everything htis is getting mad complacated and mad confusing. I can only read liek 1 or 2 paragraphs and then i start not caring...can we take this slower plz? This don't apply to erini it aplys to everyone..this whole 20 responces at a time is just driving me insane. I'm not able to give each responce the attantion it needs. And the what pope shandowa says is just making it more confusing. Answer it in ur own words..not someone elses.

 

[Yeznik]

erini...u talk to much...can we take this SLOWER SLOWER I NEED SLOWER...i'm sry but i'm getting like a page on everything htis is getting mad complacated and mad confusing. I can only read liek 1 or 2 paragraphs and then i start not caring...can we take this slower plz? This don't apply to erini it aplys to everyone..this whole 20 responces at a time is just driving me insane. I'm not able to give each responce the attantion it needs. And the what pope shandowa says is just making it more confusing. Answer it in ur own words..not someone elses.

Alright, young lady, lets start with one question at a time. You asked a kizillian question, yes I said a kizllian, and we tried to respond. How about you choose your best question, one at a time and lets see what we can do?

 

[domi]

I like that method...i truely doo....reading all of them at once is so hard...i'll chose one when i get back form skool...GREAT IDEA!

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,



LOL I know where you are coming from Domi. Don’t worry about the long posts. The long posts are there for me to put my thoughts in order and they still come out a jumble LOL and it can be very confusing trying to read what I wrote. So anything that you find confusing in the post we will sort it out through private conversations as we did before.



Ok the next part of the post was about Cain and Abel.

Genisis 4
Cain and Abel
Cain Murders Abel
4:4 And the lord respected able for his offering, but he didn't respect Cain for his offering....
What the heck? What makes cain's offering of fruit worse then Abels? Personaly i would have taken the fruit, at least that didn't feal n e pain. What's the differnce between the two sacrfices. They were both of equal labor to get amd were both origialy created by god. why why would god favor one over the other?( the explnation of it on pg 13 4:3-5 doens'st answer me)
After this god goes on to mark cain to protect him. Why? Talk about amazing love, and amazing confusion.

Ok if we look at the actual verse, we notice two things. “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.” (Genesis 4:3). We notice that Cain offered an offering of fruits, but it wasn’t “first fruits”. What first fruits means is that the first fruits that grow from your hard work, he was supposed to offer it to God. Why is that important? Because it shows that you love and trust God. If you loved and trusted God, you would trust him to bless you with more fruits after offering the first fruits to God.



What Cain did, was he gave God from what was left over and kept the first fruit to himself. The evidence of that is when God said to Cain, “"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)



God can see the heart of the person and read their thoughts. God could see that Cain when he offered his offering did not do it with love. Because had Cain offered his offering with love, he would have “done well, his offering been accepted”. But there was a particular sin that prevented him from doing well and that sin was the sin of the self centre where he put his own desires first and God last and everyone else last as well.



So for example, imagine that you find a job and you receive your first pay check. Now imagine there is someone whom you love and rather than thinking about that person first, I spend the money on myself and give that person the leftovers. So it’s the same with God, if I really loved him, I would put him first.



You can see that the sin of the selfish desires took hold of Cain and he didn’t think it was a big deal to kill his brother. God even warned Cain of this when he told him, “….sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)



Abel on the other hand did everything out of love and gave the firstborn of his flock. The bible says, “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering” (Genesis 4: 4)



Now when Cain killed his brother Abel, there are consequences for his actions. God is complete Justice and also complete mercy. God is Justice and that’s why Cain had to take the consequences of his actions, but he is also merciful so God gave him something to help Cain survive while he lived on the earth.



Let me know if anything was confusing to you and we’ll discuss it through private conversations.



Love and blessings

erini

 

[domi]

Hi Domi,



LOL I know where you are coming from Domi. Don’t worry about the long posts. The long posts are there for me to put my thoughts in order and they still come out a jumble LOL and it can be very confusing trying to read what I wrote. So anything that you find confusing in the post we will sort it out through private conversations as we did before.



Ok the next part of the post was about Cain and Abel.



Genisis 4
Cain and Abel
Cain Murders Abel
4:4 And the lord respected able for his offering, but he didn't respect Cain for his offering....
What the heck? What makes cain's offering of fruit worse then Abels? Personaly i would have taken the fruit, at least that didn't feal n e pain. What's the differnce between the two sacrfices. They were both of equal labor to get amd were both origialy created by god. why why would god favor one over the other?( the explnation of it on pg 13 4:3-5 doens'st answer me)
After this god goes on to mark cain to protect him. Why? Talk about amazing love, and amazing confusion.



Ok if we look at the actual verse, we notice two things. “And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.” (Genesis 4:3). We notice that Cain offered an offering of fruits, but it wasn’t “first fruits”. What first fruits means is that the first fruits that grow from your hard work, he was supposed to offer it to God. Why is that important? Because it shows that you love and trust God. If you loved and trusted God, you would trust him to bless you with more fruits after offering the first fruits to God.



What Cain did, was he gave God from what was left over and kept the first fruit to himself. The evidence of that is when God said to Cain, “"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)



God can see the heart of the person and read their thoughts. God could see that Cain when he offered his offering did not do it with love. Because had Cain offered his offering with love, he would have “done well, his offering been accepted”. But there was a particular sin that prevented him from doing well and that sin was the sin of the self centre where he put his own desires first and God last and everyone else last as well.



So for example, imagine that you find a job and you receive your first pay check. Now imagine there is someone whom you love and rather than thinking about that person first, I spend the money on myself and give that person the leftovers. So it’s the same with God, if I really loved him, I would put him first.



You can see that the sin of the selfish desires took hold of Cain and he didn’t think it was a big deal to kill his brother. God even warned Cain of this when he told him, “….sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)



Abel on the other hand did everything out of love and gave the firstborn of his flock. The bible says, “Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering” (Genesis 4: 4)



Now when Cain killed his brother Abel, there are consequences for his actions. God is complete Justice and also complete mercy. God is Justice and that’s why Cain had to take the consequences of his actions, but he is also merciful so God gave him something to help Cain survive while he lived on the earth.



Let me know if anything was confusing to you and we’ll discuss it through private conversations.



Love and blessings

erini

Aclty for once that aclty made alot of sence. Except for the part where he didn't give god his frist furits and he gave god the left overes. I mean who cares lol I feal like Cain now lol.

If i had a job and i got my first pay check yes i would feal like I earned it and no matter how much i loved the other person i would spend it on my self first and then i would give them what's left over. I worked hard for that paycheck and I don't see n e problem with that. Sure if i gave them it first it would have been nicer and i see now why god respected Abel's offering more but i don't see why he didn't respect Cain's at all. At least Cain gave him something.

Sry i missed u this morning sis...hope 2 talk to u soon.

Love u
-Domi

 

[domi]

Alright, young lady, lets start with one question at a time. You asked a kizillian question, yes I said a kizllian, and we tried to respond. How about you choose your best question, one at a time and lets see what we can do?

Ight science Ernini my favorest sister in the world explained Cain and Abel to me...I Guss u can take the next one...and whoever explains it better gets a domi hug

I started a compitation GO GO GO!

lol

Hint...think to the point, explinatory, and acerate....

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,

Aclty for once that aclty made alot of sence. Except for the part where he didn't give god his frist furits and he gave god the left overes. I mean who cares lol I feal like Cain now lol.
If i had a job and i got my first pay check yes i would feal like I earned it and no matter how much i loved the other person i would spend it on my self first and then i would give them what's left over. I worked hard for that paycheck and I don't see n e problem with that. Sure if i gave them it first it would have been nicer and i see now why god respected Abel's offering more but i don't see why he didn't respect Cain's at all. At least Cain gave him something.

Let’s imagine together that there was a person whom you really loved. And this person gave you a present. But they gave you a present because they felt they had to and not because they really wanted to or out of their love. The first thing you would tell them, “If you don’t want to give me a present, then I don’t want it either”. So you would reject their present, because it would hurt you that they didn’t give it out of their love.

Now just because you rejected their present, doesn’t mean that you don’t love them. But it means that you will accept a present from them when they really mean it and it’s out of their love.

So when Cain was offering his fruits he didn’t do it out of love and God couldn’t accept it. And God told him that when he does it the right way (out of love), he will accept it. “"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)

The fact that Cain couldn’t offer the best of his fruits showed that he allowed his selfish desire to come first. Now why is that a problem? Well, it’s a problem because God loved Cain so much and blessed his hard work. The ground produced the best fruits not because Cain worked hard, but because God blessed Cain’s work.

So what does God blessed Cain’s work mean? Well, for starters, God gave Cain good health, the strength as well as the ability to think of the best ways to produce good fruits. All this comes from God. On top of that, God protected Cain’s hard work from worms, birds and other insects from eating his fruits. God also made sure that the ground that Cain planted in did not dry up from too much sun, etc.



Now to truly understand how much God loved Cain, let’s read a Chapter which talks about God’s Love:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

This is the type of Love God has for us. Do we return this type of Love to God? Did Cain have that type of love for God who loved him so much?

The problem with us as human beings is that we think we know best what will make us happy. We think that by putting ourselves first and God last, we can achieve all the desires of our heart. What we don’t realise is, when we put God first, he fulfils us more than we can ever imagine because he loves us and wants to achieve the impossible for us if we let him.



Love and blessings
erini

 

[domi]

Hi Domi,

Let’s imagine together that there was a person whom you really loved. And this person gave you a present. But they gave you a present because they felt they had to and not because they really wanted to or out of their love. The first thing you would tell them, “If you don’t want to give me a present, then I don’t want it either”. So you would reject their present, because it would hurt you that they didn’t give it out of their love.

No u got it all worng. I would except their present...then i would kick them out and tell them i never wanted to talk to them again lol. Then i would probly end up breaking it if i didn't like it...or i just might break it...ok...u have a point.

Now just because you rejected their present, doesn’t mean that you don’t love them. But it means that you will accept a present from them when they really mean it and it’s out of their love.

Of course..more presents for me lol (Don't wry Erni I get ur point)

So when Cain was offering his fruits he didn’t do it out of love and God couldn’t accept it. And God told him that when he does it the right way (out of love), he will accept it. “

"Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it."” (Genesis 4: 6-7)

I c...hmm.. I think god just might be less self centered them I am.

The fact that Cain couldn’t offer the best of his fruits showed that he allowed his selfish desire to come first. Now why is that a problem? Well, it’s a problem because God loved Cain so much and blessed his hard work. The ground produced the best fruits not because Cain worked hard, but because God blessed Cain’s work.

So what does God blessed Cain’s work mean? Well, for starters, God gave Cain good health, the strength as well as the ability to think of the best ways to produce good fruits. All this comes from God. On top of that, God protected Cain’s hard work from worms, birds and other insects from eating his fruits. God also made sure that the ground that Cain planted in did not dry up from too much sun, etc.

Yep now i get it..god defanilty shouln't have accepted his offering...ERNI U ROCK!!!

Now to truly understand how much God loved Cain, let’s read a Chapter which talks about God’s Love:

“Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13: 4-8)

This is the type of Love God has for us. Do we return this type of Love to God? Did Cain have that type of love for God who loved him so much?

The problem with us as human beings is that we think we know best what will make us happy. We think that by putting ourselves first and God last, we can achieve all the desires of our heart. What we don’t realise is, when we put God first, he fulfils us more than we can ever imagine because he loves us and wants to achieve the impossible for us if we let him.)

That was a great explination and a good lesson to be learned from the story of Cain and Abel...I figured there would be one...I dun think there's a bible story that doesn't have a point....Just needed my big sister's help.

I dun think Yenzik can compare to that lol..Sry Yenzik u still rock...We'll see what u can do

Love and blessings

erini

I LOVE U ERNINI!!!!!!!!!!! hehehehhehe. Hopefully i'll get to talk to u later...UR explnation rocks my socks so bad.....I swera erni I hope u like my bed cuz I'm going to kidnap u and chain u to it with some relay strong Chains lol. I hope to ttys.

LOTS OF LOVE
-Domi

 

[domi]

i think i lost erini What do we get to talk about next?

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,

LOL yes I did get lost in cyberspace and you had to send a search party LOL . Sorry sis with attending prayers during Pascha/ Passion week and also our Easter, I didn’t get the chance to reply to your questions. Ok the next part is about explaining the wives of Cain and how in the Old Testament they used to have more than one wife.

The Family of Cain
4:16- And then Cain took for him self 2 wives......
How come cain gets 2 wives. Now this would be called pilogomy, christans don't like that?
When did god change that practice?

To answer this question, you need to look at the beginning of creation of Adam and Eve. “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1: 27-28)

Well, the problem was that here was Adam and Even and they had children. In order to bring more children into the world, God allowed that brothers and sisters to marry at that time so that they can multiply. God also allowed that a person could have more than one wife, so that a population of the human race can begin.

Now you will also see that throughout the Old Testament, even after the earth was populated that God allowed that the Jewish people to have more than one wife. So that we can understand the reason why God allowed that, let’s look a little at the Jewish history in the Old Testament.

Although the Jewish people had periods were they were unfaithful to God, God always tried to remind them to be faithful to him by sending Prophets to them because the Jewish nation where the sons and daughters of Abraham. Why was Abraham special? Because Abraham had a deep relationship with God and God made a covenant with him. A covenant is a promise and a sealed agreement between two people. What did God promise Abraham?

Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice." (Genesis 22: 15-18)

So we can understand why the Jewish nation was a special nation because of the Covenant God made with Abraham. The problem with the Jewish nation was, that because of the fact that they had too many wars with various nations around them throughout the Old Testament, their population was always going down. So God allowed for the Jewish nation to have more than one wife throughout the Old Testament.

Now God loves everyone and wanted to bring all the nations to him. So after God made himself known to all nations and appeared in the flesh through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus taught us to go back to how it was in the Garden of Eden since now we don’t have a low population problem. In the Garden of Eden, Adam was created with purity and God created for him only ONE wife.

Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female,' and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."” (Matthew 19: 4-6)

Hope this explains things to you and if you find it confusing, we’ll catch up as per our usual chats to sort it out!

Love and blessings
erini

 

[domi]

Hi Domi,

Hi Erini

LOL yes I did get lost in cyberspace and you had to send a search party LOL . Sorry sis with attending prayers during Pascha/ Passion week and also our Easter, I didn’t get the chance to reply to your questions.

I did Erini i sent out this whole big search party looking for u and it worked. They said they found u praying and eating easter food. Nice to hear u confess to ur actions J/k I understand.

Ok the next part is about explaining the wives of Cain and how in the Old Testament they used to have more than one wife.

Indeed

To answer this question, you need to look at the beginning of creation of Adam and Eve. “

So God created man in His own image; in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. Then God blessed them, and God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it” (Genesis 1: 27-28)

Ok, That means that god made man in his immage and from the man he made female or ever and adam. God blessed his creations and told them to make preaty little babies and populate the earth..got it

Well, the problem was that here was Adam and Even and they had children. In order to bring more children into the world, God allowed that brothers and sisters to marry at that time so that they can multiply. God also allowed that a person could have more than one wife, so that a population of the human race can begin.

I guss that makes sence. I mean if that's what god wanted it must be ok. So why all the other information.

Now you will also see that throughout the Old Testament, even after the earth was populated that God allowed that the Jewish people to have more than one wife. So that we can understand the reason why God allowed that, let’s look a little at the Jewish history in the Old Testament.

That is a VERY god idea. Cuz god allowing people to have more then one wife after the earth is populated is kinda weird. does that mean that they were still aloud to mary their sisters and brothers or is that null and void?

Although the Jewish people had periods were they were unfaithful to God, God always tried to remind them to be faithful to him by sending Prophets to them because the Jewish nation where the sons and daughters of Abraham. Why was Abraham special? Because Abraham had a deep relationship with God and God made a covenant with him. A covenant is a promise and a sealed agreement between two people. What did God promise Abraham?

OOOOOO OOOOOOO OOOOOO I KNOW I KNOW I KNOW. God made a covanent with Abraham that he wouln't destory the earth any longer. Or was that noah? And then Abraham had to get circumsized as did the people after him as a sign of the covenment. I think that's right. I'm not sure. Mabye I dun know. lol

Then the Angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said: "By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son-- blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice."

(Genesis 22: 15-18)

Ok let me try to explicate this. The angel of the lord, in his second coverstaion with Abraham, told him that the Lord promises him that he will multiply his decendants and they shal be blessed because abraham obeyed god's word and didn't withold his son. Hmm..i guss what i said before was..ahh..worng.

So we can understand why the Jewish nation was a special nation because of the Covenant God made with Abraham. The problem with the Jewish nation was, that because of the fact that they had too many wars with various nations around them throughout the Old Testament, their population was always going down. So God allowed for the Jewish nation to have more than one wife throughout the Old Testament.

I c, but why would god want the jewish people to reproduce if they were sinning and it was the worng relgion n e way?

Now God loves everyone and wanted to bring all the nations to him. So after God made himself known to all nations and appeared in the flesh through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Jesus taught us to go back to how it was in the Garden of Eden since now we don’t have a low population problem. In the Garden of Eden, Adam was created with purity and God created for him only ONE wife.

Jesus said, “Have you not read that He who made them at the beginning "made them male and female,' and said, "For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh'? So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate."” (Matthew 19: 4-6)[/QUOTE]

I get it. Good explination sis. So why in Islam do they still alow u to have more then one wife..what's the reasoning behind that?

Hope this explains things to you and if you find it confusing, we’ll catch up as per our usual chats to sort it out!

Acltly it helped bunches. Mabye i should do what i did this time with all the responces u give me. Take it bit by bit and write my responces acordinly. I can't wait to have our chat to figure out the assorted kinks..it's the highpoint of my day. Ttyl sis. I love u

Love and blessings

erini

In christ
-domi

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,

here is the next part the family of Adam.

will be posting it soon

love and blessings
erini

 

[erinipassi]

Hi Domi,

5 The Family of Adem
Why do we keep hearing about how long these people lived n who they are? Is this of n e importnace somehow?

To understand why it was important, let’s look at the bible from the beginning. In the very beginning when Adam and Eve fell, sin entered the world. St Paul says, “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned--(For until the law sin was in the world, but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those who had not sinned according to the likeness of the transgression of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come.” (Romans 5: 12: 14).



So what St. Paul is saying that because sin entered the world, we were under judgement, but God loves us and wanted to take that judgement away and restore us back into his own image and likeness. God promised Eve in a prophecy that out of her children will come the Saviour of the world. We can see this when God was talking to the serpent and He said, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." (Genesis 3: 15)



So the record of the sons of Adam and who they are were important in showing that our Saviour would chose to come from that line. We see this in Matthew 1: 1-17.



After the fall, this image was distorted; the moral human nature was wounded, weakened and damaged by sin. A predisposition to sin invaded the human nature. It is written that Adam begot a son in his own likeness, after his image (Gen 5:3). In other words, Adam begot a son in his own ‘distorted’ image. Now as to why did the bible mention how long each person lived, you will notice that each generation lived shorter than the last generation. So For example, Adam lived 930 years…..he almost lived for a 1,000 years, then you see Mahalalel (Genesis 4:17) living 895, and then their age decreases every generation. This is a sign that sin is working in the human nature changing it and making it lose the nature of God. We see this when the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6: 3).



I hope this explains it to you….and we’ll catch up later



Love and blessings

erini

 

[domi]

Now as to why did the bible mention how long each person lived, you will notice that each generation lived shorter than the last generation. So For example, Adam lived 930 years…..he almost lived for a 1,000 years, then you see Mahalalel (Genesis 4:17) living 895, and then their age decreases every generation. This is a sign that sin is working in the human nature changing it and making it lose the nature of God. We see this when the Lord said, “My Spirit shall not strive with man forever, for he is indeed flesh; yet his days shall be one hundred and twenty years.” (Genesis 6: 3).

when we were first created us without sin. That's how adam was. Free of sin. But then adam and eve fell and had some sinfull nature in them. That was bad.They passed this sinfull nature down to their offsring and their offspring passed it to their offspring and so on and so forth and that's how we got to be sinfull. and everytime the sinfull nature is passed on we decrease in age.

I hope this explains it to you….and we’ll catch up later

See how great that works hehehe. Ur such an awesome sister

Love and blessings

erini

In Christ
-Domi

 

[domi]

*BUMP*

..again