Man Is Special

To further our discussion as started in the last few earlier postings--What is man that you are mindful of him. Man is a  separate creation of God from the rest of creation.. God did one more thing  than He did with the creatures created on the sixth day. He took him and breathed into him the breathe of life. A special endowment the creatures created on that day didn't get.
Man thus is able to fellowship in a relationship with his creator. This is something the animals don't have.
You may think your cat of dog is able to have this type of relationship with you-- his owner-- but it is not the same.
But.. get ready for the bad news. when Adam and Eve were given a simple request, they chose to disobey and use their free will to  act independent of what God had told them.
We can see that in the parent/child relationship on a lesser level.
But God still wanted to have a relationship with man. This is what makes man special and makes God take mind of him.
But since man-- Adam as our representative before God-- disobeyed, God had to , from the human standpoint of looking at things, set up a way man could get back in relationship with God without God brushing the act of disobedience away. In other words, God could not say, forget it. I will pretend it never happened. It happened and, if I may say, hurt.
I plan in a later posting to return to this. Let me leave you with this posting. A sort of cliff hanger.

Man In God's Image

So to  continue with the last posting, just what is man-- I shall say this..it was on the sixth day of the creation account man was created. It was the same day the animals were created, the beast of the field after their kind along with the cattle after their kind and the things that creep on the ground after their kind. But man was created special. God brewed into their nostrils the breath of life . Formed man of the dust of the ground. Gave him the image of Himself. Made him at creation a living soul. GAve him submission over the animals and the rulership. It seems He wan ted man to rule with Him and control the earth.

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Something happened. They disobeyed God when God told them about that tree they were supposed to eat the fruit of. ( it may be a symbol, but I am not ready to talk about that just yet.)
They lost, not the image of God. We still have that. They lost for all mankind the likeness.
But God so loved His creation that He had a plan. I will talk about that later.
For those of  you who like reading more about this or would wish to explore other books, I will have a link in the banner Here.
Enjoy the exploring.

The Show Begins

  Before there was anything, there was God. The first verse in Genesis states, in the beginning God created. He didn't need a big bang. All He needed was the spoken word. All came into being because He spoke it out.
   All the stars we see through a telescope-- all the things we see trough a microscope-- God made them by a word.
   The land we walk on--the air we breathe. All spoken into existence by God.
   The animals we see even us.. spoken into existence by God. 
    And humans are special. The Bible says God created Adam and Eve and blew into them life. This was a way of saying, God shared some of Himself with us. What is called the image. It is not physical. Since God is spirit, it was something to do with spirit.
    We read Adam and Eve had daily fellowship with God. They walked together, is the way the scriptures put it.
     Why we don't walk with God today will be covered in the next post.

A Look At The Assembly Called City Of God

 The other week I got a post card in my mail announcing a new church group was meeting at a near by school. They were attempting to get a following in the Santa Monica, CA area.
   I , being a analytical person, did some research.
   I found that they are a charismatic group. Anyone can call themselves charasmatic. That just means spirit lead. A charismatic group tends to be a bit free in form.
   A look at their doctrine of faith seemed to be in order. They do hold to the Trinity. They have separate statements for each person of the Godhead. They have a statement of hell and eternal life. A statement also covers salvation. There is one on the atonement.
   Okay. They look sound.
    The name they choose is one that won't pull many seekers. It brings to mind the book by Saint Augustine by the same name.
    They have a web site ( no one can survive in this internet age without one) but it doesn't say much. There is no place to get a statement of faith or information. There is a contact us link, but that is all.
    I would say, as I would any group, be careful and wise if you follow this movement. Their slogan is "disciples on a mission." You  would think they wouldn't want to hide their belief . You would think they would want to proclaim what they are and not have a person dig.
     In the later days men will be lovers of self
     Seeking out people to tickle their ears.
    This has been a look at the Assembly called City Of God.
     Reviewed 26 March 2014

It Is Called Ability Giving

       Last Sunday Pastor Joe of ACTS Church gave as his sermon a sermon on ability giving. This is not the same as the Tithe or Law giving. It is giving according to your ability to give. There is noi set level of giving attached to this. Just what you are able to give.
       Most of us think of giving as financi
al so ability giving is giving a portion of what youi are able to make this past week.
       If you are a writer than a portion of your check that you receive.. that portion that is a sacrifice for you. For giving for a Christian seems to be the equivalent of the lamb or dove offered to God in the days of old by the people of Israel.
       Or if you are able to sell a product this past week and have recedived the payment. A portion of that. According to your ability. It is called ability giving.
       The example of the widows mite in the days of Jesus is an ability offering. She gave of her ability. The rich people gave off the top and probably never missed what they gave. But the widow gave more  than off the top..
       Or if you do internet marketing and you get money from this type of business, give according to your ability.
        Remember, it is called ability giving.

Obama and the Recovery

    Are we in a recovery? Has Obama done what he promised? I think he promised to get us jobs and  bring us out of what he said was the worst economy since the great depression. And how would he know? He wasn't alive during the 1930's. And he really hasn't brought us a recovery from the 2008 recession. Not really.
    The Obama recovery plan has  produced an average GDP growth of 2.4 percent since the reported recession ended.
    Let us look at the third quarter of 2011. The U.S. economy grew at 2.5 percent.That gives us  nearly a trillion dollars lost to the GDP. It has cost us 10.5 million jobs (So much for putting America back to work to help a  failing economy.) More than 14 million people are unemployed. There are seven people who need a job for each job opening.
    So Obama wants to redistribute the wealth. He will redistribute it not to the middle class nor to the lower class but into the pockets of the financal elite.

     And he has told you what he wants to do.
     He has said "The one thing that we absolutely know for sure is that if we don't work even harder than we did in 2008, then we are going to have a government that tells the Amerrican people, "you are on your own. ...If you get sick, you are on your own. If you can't afford college, you're on your own. If you don't like that some corporation is pollutting your air or the air that your child breathes, than you're on your own" that's not the America I believe in. It's not the America you believe in."
    Sounds me me like entitlement. Since when do we have a right to attend College? Since when do we have the right to be waited on as a child, handed everything because we are not capable of earning our own.? When did we come to think that job creation came about by redistributing income?
    That is what the Obama people are trying to tell you.
    Marxist and communistic economies never transfer weath to the poor and middle classes. They tend to transfer it to government officials and their cronies. That is what seems to be happening at the moment under the Obama economy plan. If the economy of the U.S. can be weaken to the point of us being just another player in the new world order controled by the political/ financial elite than it seems Obabma will have been successful at reaching his goal. He will have his grievance against the "imperilist" America completed. He will have increased the financal debt, he will have the unchecked spending, the weaking of the dollar, the class warfare. We have seen it in the Occupy groups that are popping up.
    $4 trillion dollars was added to our national debt by Obama during the first three years of his administration.. Does that sound to you like he is helping our economy by creating jobs and bringing down the debt? He has promised to create three million American jobs. Where are they? And don't say he needs another four years to complete his plan.
    So to answer the question I started thius blog with, has Obama done what he promised? My answer is yes. But his promise to who??

People Study- Geographical Study, and Grammatical Study

  Relax now. It should get easier. At least when I use this method it seems to get easier. It is a study of people.  As I do the analytical study I run across people. The whole Bible is about people. This method is similar to your topical study only it is a person not a topic you are doing.
   The steps are simple.

• Collect all the passages in which the Bible character appears. This is useful in the study of  the gospels or when you go through Samuel, Kings, Chronicles.
•  Compare or classify the material
•   Construct or orginize the material

   It is not unlike the biographical reports you did in school. That is why I say this one is an easier one. It is not expecting you to do something you don't know how to do.  

  Also as you did your analytical study you ran across areas. Some of the place names have changed over the years but they are still there. You can trace the journey of the Biblical Character or you can use your maps at the back of your Bible to find the city or place spoken of. This is very important so I would suggest you don't skip over this.
 
  Another thing that can be done is a Grammatical Study. This is similar to your English teacher's request you do a diagram of the sentence. Each main statement is placed to the extreme left-hand side of the page. Subordionate clauses are placed above or below and indented. Co-ordinate clauses connected by and, but, either, or, neither, nor are usually main subjects. You should also be on the lookout for the two words therefore-wherefore.

   In essence this is another form of analysis. It has proved for me to be a great help in private Bible Study.

 Please feel free to leave me comments or remarks. 
 How am I doing? What should I clarify?
 Do you feel I am leaving anything out?

Analytical Method Bible Study

You are now approaching the Bible section to make a claim.

1.  In this approach you will be surveying the historical period and background of the book. With each Bible study method you will be going deeper. Ask of or by whom? At what time. Where? Use the Bible notes to research. You can also use your Bible dictionary
2. Now you survey the contents of the book itself starting the structure of an analytical chart. The chart will help you as a first step in outlining the passage. Title the paragraphs. Find the main divisions of the book. Look for the theme.
3.  You will be making a detailed study of the section paragraph by paragraph or chapter by chapter. To do this you will need to take notes of the text and making an outline, summery, paraphrase, charts and topical studies. This is why I say use a pad and a pen or pencil. Start a seperate page for each paragraph
4.  Now you are ready to formulate conclusions drawn from your anaylsis. Try to make statements about the book as a whole.

    Use your commentaries carefully. Just becasue it is written doesn't make it true FInd out about the author of the commentary. What is his method of Bible Study? What are his personal beliefs.
  Go to your Bible frist Make your detailed outline from your study. Then go to the commentaries. They are there for specilaized help not for final authority..