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"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should also have known my Father, and from henceforth, ye know Him, and have seen Him." John 5:46-47

"I am the way, the truth, and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should also have known my Father, and from henceforth, ye know Him, and have seen Him." John 5:46-47


In this quote I am even more confused. What I get from this passage is "You have to go through me to be with God." Does this mean I have to worship Jesus to be with God? If so then that kinda contradicts the 10 commandments which, what I understand, is the only thing God himself wrote for man.

So.. I don't subscribe to the "trinity" concept..I believe we are all "one", and it would be interesting to look into the translations of "holy ghost" and "holy spirit" to see what they might have meant to a Hebrew of that time also. I think this term has been badly misinterpreted, but that's just a gut feeling.. I would need to research it.

I suspect that the "Holy Ghost" is the emanation of the feminine divine (ie: The Comforter) as revealed in the dichotomy of the duality. The "goddess" so to speak.. I think this because it is such a horrid thing to malign the "Holy Ghost"... it would make sense to me that "God" would want to protect his wife from slander and hatred by deflecting her identity. Of course I am putting this in human terms.. and it is probably a whole lot more esoteric than I can express. I think Judaism has a better grasp on this than christianity somehow.

Which brings us back to the ancient concept of a "Holy Family", which runs through most cultures in some form.. God, Goddess and Divine Child. Patriarchal montheism has made "taboo" this concept.. but it's still there..below the surface of most modern religions.

"Jesus was careful to distinguish the two because He was God's Son by nature, whereas Christians are God's 'sons' by adoption. Simularly, the Father was Jesus's God because Jesus humbled Himself to become a man (Phil. 2:7) , whereas the Father is our God because we are by nature creatures."

The definite article "the" is not in the original, but is put in without authority by the translators, both of the common, and of the new version, in order to prop up the doctrine of the trinity and of the deity of Christ as we will notice further on; it should read as above, "a Son of God"; Christ is "the firstborn among many brethren," (Rom. 8:29), he is one among "many sons" (Heb. 2:10). He became a Son of God at his birth by creation as Adam was a son of God. Now we will notice the force of the "therefore" in the text. Read the text over again and you will see that the meaning is that because Christ was brought forth by the "power of the Highest," "not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man but of God," and under the overshadowing influence of the holy spirit, therefore he is called a son of God. This plainly implies that before he was thus brought forth he was not called a son of God; if the manner of his incarnation was the cause of his being called a son of God, as is clearly taught in this passage, then of course he was not called a son of God before his incarnation.

Now we return again to the main question. What is man? We have answered this question according to present appearances, and according to the traditions of men, let us now see what. the Bible says. In the context of the passages we have noticed there is no answer except in Psalms 144:3,4, where we are told that "Man is like to vanity; his days are as a shadow that passeth away;" an answer that applies to the present unfinished condition of man, and in Psa. 8, quoted more fully in Heb. 2. In Psa. 8, things that are not, are spoken of as though they were; the as yet unfulfilled purpose of God is spoken of as though it were already accomplished. We are sure of this because Paul makes it clear in Heb. 2, where the Psalmist is quoted and explained; this latter passage we will now notice particularly. Commence at the 5th verse. "For unto the angels hath he not put in subjection the world to come whereof we speak; but one in a certain place testified, saying, What is man that thou art mindful of him? or the son of man that thou visitest him? Thou madest him for a little while (see margin) lower than the angeles; thou crowndest him with glory and honor, and didst set him over the works of Thy hands. Thou has put all things in subjection under his feet. For in that he put all in subjection under him, he left nothing that is not put under him. "But now we see not yet all things put under him." In this last clause we have the enunciation of the same principle as in Rom. 4:17. The Psalmist quoted speaks exactly as though man had already received dominion, but Paul says, "not yet." Why then speak as though the work was already done? Because God "calleth those things that be not as though they were:" and herein is infinite comfort. These declarations of universal dominion for man; -"all in subjection under him"-seem almost to good to be true, especially when we compare them to his slavish condition now; and yet so sure are they of ultimate realization that God speaks of them as already accomplished; they must surely come to pass; and man instead of being the slave shall be the master of God's creation. But now let us read on a little further. "We see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus." Well what of that? What has Jesus got to do with the question, what is man? Jesus was pure, immaculate, unsinning; it is right that he should have dominion; he is worthy of it; but what has to do with corrupt, fallen, sinful man? Just this, Jesus is the pattern man of God's finished creation. He is the sample, the standard, after whom all the redeemed are to be fashioned. Hence we see the significance of this reference to Jesus. We see not yet all things put under man, but we see JESUS, the pattern man, and hence we can tell what man will be when he is finished. Suppose a man had the rough material to make a great number of machines; he first finishes off one of the machines and gets it perfectly adjusted in every part, as a pattern to go by in finishing the rest. You go into his factory and see this mass of material and you ask, "What are you making?" The artisan replies, "All this that you see is only rough material; come this way and I will show you what I am making," and he takes you to the machine he has finished off; "there," he says, "that is what I am. making." You would have no difficulty in understanding what he meant. You would see at once that the finished machine was a sample or pattern of what the others would be when the material was all worked up. So the apostle points to Jesus in just the same way. "What is man?" a poor, wretched slave of sin, corrupt and tending to corruption. Yes, that is true, but God intends to make him a noble lord of creation, perfect and complete in the image of God. But now we see not yet this great work accomplished except in the case of one individual, Jesus Christ. He has passed through the entire process of creation, and been finished, perfected; hence He is "the beginning of the creation of God." Now if you wish to know what man is-i.e., what is his destiny-look to Jesus the finished man, the only finished man, and you will see a perfect pattern of "the perfect man." To me there is blessed comfort in this. I am glad that the apostle points us to Jesus when we ask, "what is man?" Sad indeed would be the answer if we had to make it up from the degraded condition of man today. Not much better would it be if we had to accept the answer that modern orthodoxy gives; man is a being made perfect and immortal; but he lost that perfection, and now his destiny is an endless heaven or an endless hell, with the chances thus far in the history of the race about a hundred to one against the former and in favor of the latter. Such a view is sad in the extreme, and it looks as though man's maker had made a terrible mistake somewhere. But how blessed to turn from all this confusion and just "look to Jesus" for an answer to the question. "What is man?" i.e. mankind, the race; the answer is Jesus. He is the great representative man, the "Forerunner," the "Beginning," the "First fruit," and "if the first fruit be holy, the lump is also holy; and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

Thus the ever blessed Book gives us a grand and cheering answer to this greatest problem of life, what is man? It is an answer that at the same time brings comfort and hope to the believer, and reflect honor and glory upon the Creator. Jesus is the pattern. He partook of flesh and blood because the "children" (Heb.2:14), were in this fallen condition. He passed through all the experiences of sorrowing humanity that "having suffered, being tempted, he might be able to succor them that are tempted." "He was made in all points like unto his brethren, that he might be a faithful and merciful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." His perfection is the type of our perfection, for "we shall be like him." His triumph is the pledge of our victory. "For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive." "As by the offence of one judgment came upon all men unto condemnation, so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life." The human race is God's masterpiece, the crowning glory of his creation, and, as the sculptor takes a piece of marble and first gives it to an ordinary workman to block out the statue in the rough, and then with his own skillful fingers fashions the stone into a figure that almost seems to breathe and speak, so God, the Great Master Workman, gets man out in the rough first, using many agents to hew and hack the obdurate material; then he finishes him with an infinitely skillful hand, molding and fashioning him until He makes him the facsimile of himself, and pronounces him "very good." To use another figure, every human being is a rough jewel. God is the great Lapidary; and, as in the laboratory of nature, the black, unsightly carbon is transformed into a radiant, flashing diamond, so in the laboratory of grace, sinful, fallen man, under God's manipulation, comes at length to shine in all the glory of the divine image. "This is the Lord's doing; it is marvelous in our eyes." Man can reduce the diamond to carbon, but he cannot transform the carbon into diamond; God by his natural laws alone can do that. So man can degrade and debase himself, but to life himself he has no power. He must cry out, in utter self-despair, "O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me?" Then God lifts him from the "horrible pit," and brings him at last to "walk upon high places." But let me add that God is not obliged to wait until we are willing for him to work in our behalf. Even when we are stubborn and disobedient, God is dealing with us for our good, although we do not know it. Our very sins are made in the end the means of our training and discipline. Every Christian knows this by experience; it is also a clear teaching of the Bible. Read Jer. 2. Notice how God charges Jerusalem with their wrong-doing, notice how he "pleads" with them (verse 9), and sets forth the "two evils" they had committed. Then he asks, "Why is Israel spoiled?" and gives the answer in verse 19, "Thine own wickedness shall correct thee, and thy backslidings shall reprove thee," etc. How wonderful is God's way with man! Man by his perversity changes blessings into curses, but God alone in his goodness and might can transform curses into blessings. And so the work of God shall go on in spite of all opposing forces; for by God's power all opposition will not only be neutralized so that it shall not retard the divine purpose, but it shall be transformed into co-operation so as to advance his designs; and thus "all things" shall help toward the glorious consummation-the creation of man in the image of God. And the time shall come at last, when "there shall be no more anything accursed." Rev. 22.

The 10 commandments states "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Do not have any other gods before me." If this is so, then why preach the name Jesus instead of God?

There are more than a hundred verses of scripture that say there is but one God. He has manifested Himself in many ways, including in the man Christ Jesus, but God is one holy Spirit, not two or more. The idea of multiple gods can be traced back historically to its beginning with Nimrod, the enemy of God, in the book of Genesis, and has done nothing but cause confusion in people's minds. Unconfused Christians understand that the one God of the old testament is the same God who manifested Himself in Jesus in the new testament.

Which brings us back to the ancient concept of a "Holy Family", which runs through most cultures in some form.. God, Goddess and Divine Child. Patriarchal montheism has made "taboo" this concept.. but it's still there..below the surface of most modern religions.

I suspect that the "Holy Ghost" is the emanation of the feminine divine (ie: The Comforter) as revealed in the dichotomy of the duality. The "goddess" so to speak.. I think this because it is such a horrid thing to malign the "Holy Ghost"... it would make sense to me that "God" would want to protect his wife from slander and hatred by deflecting her identity. Of course I am putting this in human terms.. and it is probably a whole lot more esoteric than I can express. I think Judaism has a better grasp on this than christianity somehow.

sassyaquarius:
I am no christian, but I will say that the responses from the christians, as you can already see, will all be different...

What exactly does that tell you?

I can agree with you to a certain degree. The feminine aspects of the Holy Ghost are reflected all across traditional Christian spirituality in various ways. The Greek name Hagia Sophia, which means "divine wisdom", is in the feminine form. The Holy Ghost is called the "spirit of wisdom". The famous church in Constantinople is named after this.

am no christian, but I will say that the responses from the christians, as you can already see, will all be different...

What exactly does that tell you?

I guess this question also questions my own faith but...

The 10 commandments states "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; Do not have any other gods before me." If this is so, then why preach the name Jesus instead of God?

{I understand the trinity but I do not understand the need to divide what is one. That is what eludes me here.}