Christianity 101

Tha:yo:nih

Tha:yo:nih

Member
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Hello;

A number of elements pertaining to Christianity are located in a standard of faith
called The Nicene Creed. It's widely available on the internet for anyone who'd like
to examine its contents instead of taking a walk in the woods with us.

Our creed-- if it can be called that --is homespun; so I'd advise against using it
for pulpit pounding because sure enough somebody somewhere will object to its
rough-hewn contents.

Buen Camino
(Pleasant Journey)
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01

Christianity began sometime in the dateless past prior to the existence of anything
in the cosmos with which human life is familiar.

● Mic 5:2 . . But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-- too little to be among the clans
of Judah --from you one will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel. His goings forth
are from long ago, from the days of eternity.

● 1Pet 1:18-20 . . For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver
or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you
from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish
or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world.

● Rev 13:8 . . All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-- all whose names
have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from
the creation of the world.

In other words: Jesus wasn't a last minute contingency thrown together and sent to
an unexpected train wreck, rather; he was designated, and scheduled, to die on a
cross prior to God creating even a single atom for the current cosmos, viz: Jesus'
crucifixion was factored into the grand scheme of things from the very beginning.
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● Gen 1:26-27 . .Then God said: Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.
So God created man in His own image, in the image of God did He create him; male
and female He created them.

Human life consists of a composite unity of two genders. However, it wasn't that
way at first.

● Gen 2:7 . .The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.

So at first there was only the male. From thence God constructed the female.

● Gen 2:18 . .The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make
a helper suitable for him.

The man's helper wasn't constructed from the Earth's dirt. She was constructed
with material taken from the man's body, viz: women are not a discreet species.
They are the flip side of the same coin, so to speak.

● Gen 2:21-22 . . So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and
while he was sleeping, He took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with
flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man,
and he brought her to the man.

● Gen 2:23 . .The man said: This is now bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh;

The point is: God has never yet created a second, a third, or a fourth human race
to inhabit the Earth, i.e. all human life-- whether Black, White, or Brown --owes its
existence to a common ancestor.

● Gen 3:20 . .The man named his wife Eve, because she would become the mother
of all the living.

● Acts 17:26 . . From one man he made every nation of men, that they should
inhabit the whole earth.

So then Christ isn't only a fellow man to the Jews; but to everyone all over the
globe because he too owes his human origin to that one and the same man whom
God created in the very beginning.
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03

● Gen 3:1-7 . . Now the Serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the
Lord God had made. He said to the woman: Did God really say you must not eat
from any tree in the garden? The woman said to the Serpent: We may eat fruit
from the trees in the garden, but God did say we must not eat fruit from the tree
that is in the middle of the garden, and we must not touch it, or we will die.

. . .The Serpent said to the woman: You will not surely die-- for God knows that
when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good
and evil.

. . .When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing
to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She
also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.

● Gen 3:13-15 . .Then the Lord God said to the woman: What is this you have
done? The woman said: The Serpent deceived me, and I ate.

. . . So the Lord God said to the Serpent: Because you have done this; cursed are
you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and
you will eat dust all the days of your life. And I will put enmity between you and the
woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will
strike his heel.

* The serpent is identified by Rev 12:9 & Rev 20:1-3 as hard rock music's favorite
bad boy the Devil and Satan.

Both sides of the aisle are pretty much in agreement that Gen 3:15 is the first of
many predictions related to Christ. Point being: he wasn't expected to drop down
out of Heaven like a peach falling from a tree, rather, he was supposed to enter the
human world quite naturally as Eve's biological posterity.
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04

● Gen 2:8-9 . . Now the Lord God had planted a garden in the east, in Eden; and
there He put the man He had formed. And the Lord God made all kinds of trees
grow out of the ground-- trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food. In
the middle of the garden were the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil.

The man was warned that fruit from the latter tree was unfit for human
consumption; and in point of fact; he was instructed to leave it alone.

● Gen 2:15-17 . . And the Lord God commanded the man: You are free to eat from
any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of
good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

In order for his maker's warning to resonate in the man's thinking; it had to be
related to death as he understood death in his own day rather than death as
modern Sunday school classes construe it in their day. In other words: the man's
concept of death was primitive, i.e. normal and natural rather than allegorical,
spiritual, and/or philosophical.

As far as can be known from scripture, mankind is the only specie that God created
in His own image, viz: a creature blessed with perpetual youth. The animal kingdom
was given nothing like it.

That being the case, then I think it's safe to assume that death was common all
around the man by means of vegetation, birds, bugs, and beasts going thru their
life cycles; so that death wasn't a strange new word in his vocabulary; i.e. God
didn't have to take a moment and define death for the man seeing as how it was
doubtless a common occurrence in his everyday life.

In other words; had the man not eaten of the forbidden tree, he would've remained
in perfect health; but the very day that he tasted its fruit, his body became infected
with mortality, i.e. he lost perpetual youth and began to age.

As we all know: the aging process is a lingering, walking death rather than sudden
death, i.e. mortality is slow, but very relentless-- it feels neither pain nor pity, nor
remorse nor fear; it cannot be reasoned with nor can it be bargained with, viz:
mortality didn't let up until the man's body was so broken down that he couldn't
continue.

● Gen 5:5 . . All the days that Adam lived came to 930 years; then he died.

FAQ: It's easy to see why Adam became stricken with mortality; but why us?

REPLY: Adam's walk on the dark side wasn't his alone, rather, it was shared by his
entire posterity as a unified community; which includes Eve because she was
constructed with material taken from Adam's body.

FAQ: Eve was constructed prior to Adam's rebellion. How then could he pass his
mortality to her via heredity if she was already existing before he did anything
wrong?

REPLY: The consequence of Adam's mistake isn't inherited, rather, it's attributed. In
other words: when Adam tasted the forbidden fruit, his entire posterity was
accounted as joint principals in the act.

● Rom 5:12 . .Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and
in this way death came to all men, because all sinned.
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05

● Gen 2:25 . . The man and his wife were both naked, and they felt no shame.

Webster's defines shame a number of ways but for our purposes it likely pertains to
an uncomfortable emotion caused by consciousness of impropriety, coupled with a
painfully awareness of one's self as the observation of others, i.e. embarrassment.

Some folks (in certain countries and/or certain jurisdictions) are able to get past
the element of shame and enjoy clothing-optional beaches and/or make some
pretty good money in the sphere of exotic dancing. (cf. 1Tim 4:1-2)

● Gen 3:6a . . When the woman saw that the tree was good for eating, and a
delight to the eyes, and that the tree was desirable as a source of wisdom, she took
of its fruit and ate.

The important note at this point, is that the woman was unaffected by the fruit--
she experienced no ill side effects and went right on as usual; feeling no different
about nudity than before. It wasn't till the man tasted the fruit that the woman lost
her innocence, and her normal feelings about exposing herself below the waist
became abnormal, i.e. what seemed okay before, all of a sudden seemed wrong.

● Gen 3:6b-7 . . She also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate
it. Then the eyes of both of them were opened and they perceived that they were
naked; and they sewed together fig leaves and made themselves loincloths.

Apparently the woman remained topless at first, i.e. this newly acquired perception
of decency-- a.k.a. the so called fallen nature --was revealed by its interest in
pelvic areas.

The fallen nature's feelings about decency are only that part of an iceberg that's
seen above water, so to speak. The larger part of an iceberg is out of sight below
water, and that part is far more dangerous than that seen above water.

● Gen 3:22a . . And the Lord God said: Man has become as one of us discerning
good and evil,

Discernment has to do with one's intuition, viz; with one's conscience. At first,
man's conscience functioned in sync with his maker. But the man's disobedie
ce was an act of rebellion, i.e. he began deciding for himself-- in accord with his
own thinking --what's good and what's evil, viz: man became a tin God.

FAQ: Why didn't the woman become a tin God of her own when she tasted the
forbidden fruit? Why the delay until Adam tasted it?

REPLY: It was apparently the true God's decision from the very beginning, that
were the fallen nature to come into the world, it would come via the actions of one
male working solo just as the divine nature would be made available to the world
via the actions of one male working solo. In other words: Eve was collateral
damage just as all the rest of us are. (Rom 5:12-21)

FAQ: What's so bad about people doing their own thinking and making their own
decisions based upon their natural intuition?

REPLY: The fallen nature comes with some rather unsavory baggage. No longer
loyal to his maker, Man is now the servant of a monster.

Mr. Serpent has the power of death (Heb 2:14) but that's not the worst of it. He
also has the ability to tamper with the human body and the human mind in ways
not easily detected. (e.g. Luke 13:16, Mark 5:1-5, and Eph 2:2)
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● Gen 3:16 . .Your desire shall be for your husband,

The Hebrew of that passage is apparently somewhat difficult as even the great
rabbis Rashi and Ramban were in disagreement how best to interpret it.

The Hebrew word translated "desire" shows up so infrequently in the Bible that it's
difficult to get a good feel for it. In point of fact, other than here in Genesis, the
only other places it's used is Gen 4:7 and Song 7:10.

I'm thinking the Hebrew word implies allure. In other words: Eve could be just as
immodest, just as daring, and just as provocative in private with her husband all
she wanted; but not in public for the eyes of other men.

The edict can be a bit frustrating for those women filled out in all the right places
because they typically yearn for their goods to be admired everywhere by
everybody; and the more revealing, and the more public, the better.

Well; I recommend that they satisfy that yearning while uncommitted because
marriage is a possessive kind of relationship wherein the wives' physical charms
should be considered off the shelf rather than remaining on display for others to
examine.

And then there's this:

● Gen 3:16d . . and he shall rule over you.

The hierarchy in marriage isn't a gender issue, nor a competency issue, nor a
strength issue, nor an intelligence issue, rather; it's specifically relative to seniority,
i.e. primogeniture. (1Cor 11:8-9 & 1Tim 2:12-13)

Simply put; Adam was created ahead of Eve-- in point of fact, Gen 2:18-20
suggests quite a bit ahead. This issue may seem a tempest in a teapot, but
seniority in the human sphere is significant throughout the Bible on its way towards
the supreme firstborn: Mr. Jesus ben David. (Col 1:15 & Heb 1:2)

Now, Jesus isn't the supreme firstborn by birth rank seeing as his ancestor Adam
beat him to it. But the position isn't set in concrete. It is in fact quite flexible and
thus transferable to someone younger, e.g. Ishmael to Isaac (Gen 20:11-12) Esau
to Jacob (Gen 25:23) Reuben to Joseph (Gen 49:3-4 & 1Chr 5:1) Manasseh to
Ephraim (Gen 48:13-14) and David to Jesus. (Ps 110:1 & Matt 22:42-45)
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07

● Gen 1:26-27 . .Then God said: Let us make man in our image, in our likeness,
and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.

Nobody in their right mind would entrust all life on earth to an amoral beast; which
is exactly what mankind would've been had God not created them like Himself, i.e.
industrious beings with a sense of responsibility.

NOTE: The introduction of the plural pronouns "us" and "our" into the narrative at
this point has given rise to some interesting speculation regarding the identities of
the antecedents.

Deut 6:4 says God is a singularity. But until the 'us" and the "our" of Gen 1:26 and
Gen 3:22 are positively identified; we must insist that God wears more than one
hat; and thus far those hats have been Himself (Gen 1:1) His spirit (Gen 1:2) and
His voice (Gen 1:3).

* God's voice is notable because John 1:1-3 tells of a divine being involved in the
work of creation called The Word; translated from a Greek noun that primarily
refers to speech.

The Hebrew word for "rule" basically means to tread down, i.e. subjugate;
specifically: to crumble off. In other words: the Earth was intended as a warehouse
of resources, and Man was intended to make use of them rather than just roaming
the Earth as a tourist and/or a glorified gardener.

I saw a pretty interesting bumper sticker some time ago that went like this:

We Are Not Above The Earth;
We Are of the Earth.

Well . . I respect Native America's cultural sentiment underlying that statement;
and must admit that I agree with it to a certain extent. But the creator decreed that
though Man is of the earth; he is very definitely above it too, and has the God
given authority to subjugate every living thing on the planet. According to Heb 2:5-8,
humanity is on track to dominate even more.

"It is not to angels that he has subjected the world to come, about which we are
speaking. But there is a place where someone has testified: What is man that you
are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him? You made him a little
lower than the angels; you crowned him with glory and honor and put everything
under his feet."

. . . In putting everything under him, God left nothing that is not subject to him.
Yet at present we do not see everything subject to him. But we see Jesus, who was
made a little lower than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because he
suffered death, so that by the grace of God he might taste death for everyone.

* My initial reaction, upon hearing for the first time that Christ was returning some
day to rule the world, was anxiety. I instinctively knew a face to face with him
would not go well because I had a lot to answer for.
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No one today has ever seen an ideal man. In point of fact, Adam and his wife were
the only two ideal people this world has thus far hosted. Everyone since those two,
including themselves, are damaged goods; plagued with built-in factory defects.

Thanks to Adam's indiscretion: (1) Humans are mortal, (2) Humans are intuitive
creatures instead of inspired creatures, and (3) Humans are tin Gods

The fourth chapter of Genesis introduces a new factor in humanity's association
with its maker, to wit: liturgy; and it appears to be man-made at first because no
mention is made of this as a mandatory requirement. In point of fact, history has
shown sacrificial practices of one kind or another are more or less a natural
inclination.

Anyway:

● Gen 4:1a . . Now, the man had relations with his wife Eve, and she conceived

And so the world-wide proliferation of a defective mankind began.

● Gen 4:1b-5 . . and gave birth to Cain, and she said: I have gotten a man child
with the help of Yahweh. And again, she gave birth to his brother Abel.

. . . Abel was a keeper of flocks, but Cain was a tiller of the ground. So it came
about in the course of time that Cain brought an offering to Yahweh of the fruit of
the ground. And Abel, on his part also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of
their fat portions. And Yahweh had regard for Abel and for his offering; but for Cain
and for his offering He had no regard.

Now, assuming Cain's offering was appropriate, then why did God reject it? Well;
Yahweh first rejected Cain before rejecting Cain's offering. So he's where we have
to begin looking for the problem: and we're not left to sleuth this on our own but
instead shown it outright.

● Gen 4:7a . . Then Yahweh said to Cain: If you do what is right, will you not be
accepted?

Now; the children's entertainer Mr. Fred Rogers might've liked you just as you are,
but God had some standards back then and Cain wasn't measuring up to them. The
thing to note is one's conduct effects the quality of one's liturgy, viz: mankind can't
get by on rituals alone in his association with Yahweh; not even by means of God
given rituals. (cf. Prov 21:27 & Isa 1:1-20)

● Gen 4:7b . . But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it
desires to have you, but you must master it.

Therein was the introduction of self control in one's association with their maker,
and to my knowledge has never been rescinded; not even for Christians.

● 1John 1:5-7 . . This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you:
God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with
him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in
the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood
of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

FAQ: How was Cain supposed to know what was right back then?

REPLY: His kid brother Abel was a prophet. (Luke 11:49-51)
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09

In the beginning, marriage between a man and a woman wasn't meant to be a
convenience, rather, it was an institution; nor was marriage meant to be voluntary,
rather, in the beginning it was insisted.

● Gen 2:20-24 . .The Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while
he was sleeping, he took one of the man's ribs and closed up the place with flesh.
Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib he had taken out of the man, and
he brought her to the man. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother
and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh.

In other words: in the beginning men and women weren't meant to go thru life as
lone wolves and recluses, instead; as couples.

Although a variety of birds and such mate for life; they are under no compulsion to
do so; whereas mankind's marriages are regulated by a divine edict requiring them
to remain unified; for example:

● Matt 19:4-6 . . Haven't you read? At the beginning the creator made them male
and female, and said; "For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and
be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." So they are no longer
two, but one. Therefore what God has joined together, let man not separate.

There are zealous folks at large insisting that people are living in sin when they get
married with no intention of producing children. But in the beginning, reproduction
wasn't mandatory, rather, it was a blessing.

● Gen 1:27-28 . . So God created man in his own image, in the image of God
created He him; male and female He created them. God blessed them and said to
them: Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it.

It's always best to regard blessings as benefits, approval, and/or empowerment
unless clearly indicated otherwise. And anyway, in the beginning women were
created for companionship rather than baby mills.

● Gen 2:18 . .The Lord God said: It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make
a helper suitable for him.
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A lot of things here going beyond "101" IMHO. I still remember being quite confused by Galatians when I was a new Christian, I think some of the topics covered here are well beyond what I would consider the basics.
 
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FAQ: How can Rom 5:12 be valid when the Bible says a man's children are not held
accountable for his mistakes? For example:

"The soul who sins is the one who will die. The son will not share the guilt of the
father, nor will the father share the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the
righteous man will be credited to him, and the wickedness of the wicked will be
charged against him." (Ezek 18:20)

REPLY: The secret to this is simply timing. According to Deut 5:2-4, Rom 4:15,
Rom 5:13, and Gal 3:17, the laws of God-- especially His codified rules and
regulations --are not enforced ex post facto, i.e. they aren't retroactive.

The good news (if it can be called that) is Adam's disobedience wasn't a sin unto
Hell; it's only a sin unto death. In other words; when Adam passed away, justice
was satisfied for his conduct in the forbidden fruit incident, and when his posterity
dies, justice is satisfied for them too; but of course justice isn't satisfied for their
own personal actions: those are another matter on track to be settled at the great
white throne event depicted by Rev 20:11-15.
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It's sometimes alleged that capital punishment isn't Christian; and to a certain
extent that's true because God introduced the death penalty right after Noah's flood
when as yet no Christians existed.

● Gen 9:5 . . But for your own life-blood I will require a reckoning: I will require it
of every beast; of man, too, will I require a reckoning for human life, of every man
for that of his fellow man.

That law is universal regardless of one's age, race, sex, gender identity, nationality,
culture, and/or religious preference. It applies to every family of Man and Beast; no
exceptions. And we can't lay the responsibility for enforcing it at God's doorstep
because He requires it to be enforced by mankind rather than Himself.

● Gen 9:6a . .Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed;

God requires an investigation into the death of a human being whenever it is
caused by another human being or by a member of the animal kingdom. If the
killing cannot be justified, the perpetrator has to be executed at the hands of
human beings: no exceptions.

The death penalty here in Gen 9:6 is mandatory only for murder; which Webster's
defines as: the crime of unlawfully killing a person; especially with malice
aforethought.

The key word in that definition is "unlawfully" because not all homicides are illegal,
e.g. national defense, home defense, self defense, law enforcement, crime
prevention, accidents, diminished capacity, etc.

* Murder wasn't prohibited because it's immoral, rather, because it demeans the
dignity of God.

● Gen 9:6b . . For in His image did God make man.

Apparently, were humanity lacking His image, people could go on safari and stalk
each other like game animals and mount human heads as trophies of the hunt.

The bottom line is: capital punishment for murder isn't immoral; au contraire,
capital punishment for murder is divine; and Christians should expect that if and
when they kill somebody, they are required to answer for it the same as everybody
else. (cf. Rom 13:1-4, 1John 5:16)

FAQ: Don't you think it's better to lock all murderers away for life rather than risk
taking the lives of those who are innocent?

REPLY: It is never better to disobey God. The first couple did, and you see what
that got them.

Resistance is on a scale with dark arts and the worship of Shiva and Vishnu.

"Has the Lord as much delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as in obeying the
voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed than the fat
of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and insubordination is as iniquity
and idolatry. (1Sam 15:22-23)

In war, commanders expect a percentage of casualties by human error and/or
friendly fire; and those kinds of casualties are usually factored in as acceptable
losses. But it isn't wise to turn off a war just because somebody might get hurt by
friendly fire. Mistakes happen; even under ideal conditions.

It's the same with the war on crime. Just because a percentage of innocent people
get executed for something they didn't do, is no excuse to get in bed with the Devil
and oppose God's edicts.

America's justice system, although far from perfect, has a pretty good batting
average. The overwhelming majority of people dead from executions fully deserved
what they got. Only a relatively small percentage are victims of error; and those
percentages should always be considered acceptable losses in any legitimate
endeavor to protect domestic tranquility.
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In the beginning; mankind was instructed to sustain himself with a vegan diet.

● Gen 1:29-30 . .Then God said: I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of
the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for
food.

After Noah's flood; God revised mankind's diet with permission to include meat.

● Gen 9:3 . . Everything that lives and moves will be food for you. Just as I gave
you the green plants, I now give you everything.

* Mankind isn't required to eat meat-- it's optional seeing as how Gen 9:1-3 is
clearly a blessing rather than a commandment.

Apparently the inclusion of meat in Man's diet after the Flood was intended
primarily as a source of natural supplements to make up for the human body's
gradually lessening ability to manufacture all its own essential vitamins; much the
same reason that modern vegans resort to synthetic supplements in order to avoid
contracting deficiency diseases.

According to an article in the Dec 10, 2013 Science section of the New York Times,
scientists believe that the early human body was able to manufacture all of its own
essential vitamins; but over time gradually lost the ability to manufacture all but K
and D.

That seems plausible to me seeing as how Noah lived to be 950 years old, but by
the time of Abraham, longevity had decreased considerably to 175; which the Bible
describes as a ripe old age at the time (Gen 25:7-8) and by David's time it was
down to 80 (Ps 90:10) so mankind's health was obviously a whole lot better back in
Noah's era than it is now.

Incidentally, the Hebrew words for "green plants" includes tender young shoots
rather than limited to established adults. An excellent example of a shoot is
asparagus. We typically harvest only the spears because the established adult isn't
very tasty.

However, mankind doesn't have permission to eat viable meat-- in particular;
active flesh suitable for grafts and/or transplants.

● Gen 9:4 . . But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it.

Life-blood speaks of meat that has not yet expired beyond recovery. This rule has
never been repealed, and remains among the list of primary laws imposed upon
Christians.

● Acts 15:28-29 . .You are to abstain from blood that's from the meat of strangled
animals.

A strangled animal still has all of its blood in it. The animal's heart may have
stopped beating, and it may be unable to breathe on its own; but the animal's flesh
will remain alive for some time by reason of the active blood still in its veins.

The prohibition against eating active flesh and blood is universal-- it was instituted
with Noah right off the ark long before organized religions began influencing
mankind's behavior, i.e. the prohibition applies to everyone, everywhere. (Gen 9:9
& Gen 9:18-19)
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● Gen 2:1-4 . .Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast
array. By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the
seventh day he rested from all his work. And God blessed the seventh day and
made it holy, because on it He rested from all the work of creating that he had
done. This is the account of the heavens and the earth when they were created.

Though the seventh day of creation was made a special day in Genesis, it wasn't
made a liturgical day until Moses' people entered into a covenant with God per
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy whereby they are required to
memorialize intelligent design by observing a 24-hour work-stoppage once a week,
a.k.a. the Sabbath Day.

NOTE: The Hebrew word translated "sabbath" has little in common with the number
7; it basically pertains to an intermission, e.g. hiatus, interruption, coffee break,
lunch hour, holiday, leave of absence, time out, pause, inactivity, rest, etc. There
are other covenanted sabbaths besides the usual day, e.g. the first & final day of
the Feast Of Unleavened Bread, Yom Kippur, The Feast of Trumpets, and the first &
final day of Sukkot. There's also a sabbath year. (Lev 25:2-7)

Anyway; there is a significant difference between the usual sabbath and the
creation's sabbath.

The usual sabbath is a calendar day and lasts at most only 24 hours. After that the
people are free to pick up where they left off with their daily lives and carry on.

However the creation's sabbath is unlimited. In other words: all the other six days
of creation were bounded by evenings and mornings; whereas the seventh day
wasn't bounded like that, to wit: the seventh day wasn't capped, i.e. God has yet to
terminate the creation's sabbath and pick up where He left off, viz: the creation's
sabbath is a perpetual rest as opposed to the covenant's temporary rest primarily
because the entire work of creation, from beginning to end, was completed in six
days and God left no unfinished business awaiting His return to work.
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● Gen 7:11 . . In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the
seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great
deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

(The Flood isn't dated relative to solar years; rather, to Noah's years. In other
words: let's say hypothetically that Noah was born in July. Had that been the case;
then the second month would've been August)

The ark beached exactly five months later for a total of 150 days at sea.

● Gen 7:24 . . The waters prevailed upon the earth an hundred and fifty days.

● Gen 8:3-4 . . At the end of the hundred and fifty days the water had gone down,
and on the seventeenth day of the seventh month the ark came to rest on the
mountains of Ararat.

At face value, those five months consisted of 30 days each; thus introducing us to
prophetic time keeping.

Prophetic months and years are sort of like baker's dozens and metric tons. Though
a baker's dozen isn't a dozen of twelve, and though a metric ton isn't 2,000 lbs;
they're both true values in their own way-- the same goes for mean solar time vs
sidereal time, and geographic north vs magnetic north.

As long Bible readers are aware of the use of such a thing as prophetic time, they
won't be tripped up when they run across it in prophecy; for example those below:

"And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God,
that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days." (Rev
12:6)

"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into
the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and
half a time, from the face of the serpent." (Rev 12:14)

Those two passages speak of a 3½ year period of exactly 1,260 days. Well, 3½
solar years adds up to 1,274+ days; which is almost fifteen days too many. But if
we reckon those 3½ years as prophetic time, then it comes out perfectly to 1,260
days.

12 months x 30 days each = 360 days.
360 days x 3.5 = 1,260 days.

* An especially important use of prophetic time is relative to Dan 9:25 --the date of
Messiah's official introduction to Jerusalem, a.k.a. the Triumphal Entry, a.k.a. Palm
Sunday (Zech 9:9 & Matt 21:1-12 )

NOTE: The Hebrew word for "Ararat" appears three more times in the Bible: one at
2Kgs 19:36-37, one at Isa 37:36-38, and one at Jer 51:27. The Bible always,
without exception, uses that word to identify the country of Armenia --never to
identify a specific geological feature by the same name. Folks that go about seeking
Noah's ark up on Turkey's Mt. Ararat are sort of like a blind man in a dark room
looking for a black cat that isn't there.
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● Gen 2:7a . . And the Lord God formed a man's body from the dust of the groun
and breathed into it the breath of life,

If the breath of life were atmospheric gases, it would be possible to revive a corpse
with artificial respiration; so I think we have to assume that it's an energy vastly
more powerful than anything found in nature.

● Gen 2:7d . . and Man became a living soul.

The Hebrew word translated "soul" isn't unique to human beings. Its first
appearance is at Gen 1:20-21 in reference to aqua creatures and winged creatures;
again at Gen 1:24 as terra creatures; viz: cattle, creepy crawlies, and wild beasts;
and yet again at Gen 9:10 to classify every living thing aboard Noah's ark.

Soul is somewhat ambiguous. It can be said that creatures are souls and also that
they have souls. But here in the beginning, nephesh (neh'-fesh) simply refers to
consciousness, individuality, and self awareness, i.e. sentient existence.

All fauna life was created sentient in the book of Genesis. However, I've yet to
discover a passage in the Bible indicating that flora life was created sentient, ergo:
flora life isn't self aware; flora life has no soul.

So then it's safe to say Man is a person, and it's safe to say that parakeets and
meerkats are persons too (in their own way) but it would likely be unwise to posit
that lettuce, saguaro cactus, and kelp are persons because it's necessary to be a
soul and/or have a soul, in order to qualify as a person.

According to Matt 10:28, the body and the soul are perishable. However; though
the body is perishable by any means, the soul is perishable only by divine means;
i.e. the deaths of body and soul aren't necessarily simultaneous, viz: the soul lives
on until such a time as God decides to give it either a thumb up or a thumb down.

● Matt 10:28 . . Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul;
but rather fear Him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell.

FAQ: If people are already a corpse when they pass away, then how is it their body
dies in Hell?

REPLY: The current afterlife has no effect upon the human body because for now
when people pass away, their bodies stay here rather than going there. But out
ahead in the future; the bodies of people down below in the netherworld will be
restored to life when called up to face justice at the Great White Throne event
depicted by Rev 20:11-15. Should the judgment go against them, their restored
bodies will be terminated yet once again by a mode of death akin to a foundry
worker falling into a kettle of molten iron.

FAQ: I've heard the soul is immortal. How then can it be destroyed per Matt 10:28?

REPLY: Jesus said one's soul can be lost, i.e. it isn't necessarily a permanent
possession. (Matt 16:26)

Well; the thing is: soul is that part of human life that made Adam a sentient being
as opposed to the mindless existence of cacti and sandstone, i.e. soul is the part of
human life that makes us all unique individuals, viz: one's self.

God has a soul. (Lev 26:11, Lev 26:30, Judg 10:16, Isa 42:1, Jer 32:41, Zech
11:8) So if it were possible to somehow destroy God's soul, then He would become
as wooden as carrots and turnips, i.e. God would no longer be a person, instead:
He'd be a vegetable.
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16

● Gen 8:20 . .Then Noah built an altar to The Lord; and, taking some of all the
clean animals and clean birds, he sacrificed burnt offerings upon it.

"clean" in this respect is specifically relative to liturgy rather than hygiene and/or
sanitation. Exactly how Noah was able to discern between the clean and the
unclean can only be attributed to his personal association with God seeing as how
the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy had not yet been penned.

A representative specimen from each species of clean birds and animals were
offered on Noah's altar. Apparently that was essential in order to effectively
dedicate the new world to God.

Although the unclean species of birds and animals benefited from this sacred
ceremony; they were not allowed to contribute themselves towards it.

Noah and his family benefited too; but seeing as how humans are basically unclean
(Gen 8:21) then even had one from among Noah's group volunteered to offer their
life, they would've been refused.

Now; this incident with Noah may seem trivial, but it permanently set the tone in
God's association with mankind; from thence requiring that any man selected for
human sacrifice would have to be very unique; and seeing as how it is impossible
for mankind to produce such a man on its own; then God would have to intervene
and lend a hand in such a way as to bring this man into existence as a clean man
right from conception and keep him clean throughout life till he's ready to be
offered.

Jesus is that man, and we have to wonder how God did it because Mary's baby
didn't come into this world of ours in divine flesh, rather, in ordinary flesh. (Rom
8:3 & Gal 4:4)
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● Job 14:14 . . If a man dies, will he live again?

It's believed by some that when people die, they cease to exist; sort of like road
kill. In contrast; Christian death is depicted as a nap, i.e. sleep.

● Dan 12:2 . . Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to
everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt.

For example:

● Matt 9:18-25 . . A ruler came and knelt before him and said: My daughter has
just died. But come and put your hand on her, and she will live. Jesus got up and
went with him, and so did his disciples.

. . .When Jesus entered the ruler's house and saw the flute players and the noisy
crowd, he said: Go away. The girl is not dead but asleep. After the crowd had been
put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up.

Also:

● John 11:11-44 . . He went on to tell them: Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep;
but I am going there to wake him up. Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his
disciples thought he meant natural sleep. So then he told them plainly: Lazarus is
dead.

. . . So they took away the stone and Jesus called in a loud voice: Lazarus, come
out! The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a
cloth around his face. Jesus said to them: Take off the grave clothes and let him
go.

Christianity regards death as sleep because it's not a permanent condition, rather,
it's temporary because folks who've undergone death don't cease to exist-- they're
merely on hold, sort of like the silence that musicians and singers observe when
they encounter a rest symbol in their sheet music, viz: the symbol doesn't indicate
the piece is over; its progress is merely paused for a specified moment and then
the performers pick up where they left off and continue.
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