Looking for a Christian perspective of Genesis 3 vs 22

yadda, yadda, yadda! My goodness, quit trying to read Christian trinitarian into Hebrew scripture. "Let us make man in our image.....".remember that? If the King of England and the Pope, not to mention newspapers of the world can use the royal/editorial "we," why can't God use a divine "we?" If God is great enough to create the universe (Big!), when musing with the divine self, why wouldn't the language be more inclusive plural? After all, we are part of God's reality. And quit using the male pronoun when referring to God, you GUYS. Give them a break!! I personally have always thought that the scattered plurals in early scripture were an attempt by those authors to indicate that there was no gender into which God could be confined. If you're stuck with a male god, you're a long way from a complete understanding of what Scripture is trying to alert you to: The Creative Spirit of the Universe. As CS Lewis wrote, "your god is too small."

 

There is a passage of the Bible where God says that there are other gods given to various peoples on the earth to worship, but that the Hebrews should worship only him. Will get it on here in the next few days. I definatly believe God is talking to other deities in Gen 3 vs 22. If he is talking to angels is he indicating that they are just like him and therefore he is not superior?

 

Lets make man in OUR image... Who is the our and if they are two different deities which one were we created like?

 

The our are the different gods and we were created in their image. I thought I explained this but I guess it can't penetrate 21 years of indoctrination.

 

Okay let me get this clear God created the world with other Gods?

 

FALSE: That contradicts the Bible

 

No, nimrod. God created man in His image. But if he was one of many, it stands to reason that they were not dissimilar. You seem to be having trouble getting your head around this theory. Work on that, huh?

 

I, for one, would be interested in knowing which passage that is.

 

Now I know that the LORD is greater than all other gods, for he did this to those who had treated Israel arrogantly." Exodus 18:10-12

"Be careful to do everything I have said to you. Do not invoke the names of the other gods; do not let them be heard on your lips.
Exodus 23:12-14

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him?
Deuteronomy 4:6-8

Do not follow other gods, the gods of the peoples around you;
Deuteronomy 6:13-15

for they will turn your sons away from following me to serve other gods, and the LORD's anger will burn against you and will quickly destroy you.
Deuteronomy 7:3-5

the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.
Deuteronomy 11:27-29

and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, "Let us follow other gods" (gods you have not known) "and let us worship them,"
Deuteronomy 13:1-3

The LORD will drive you and the king you set over you to a nation unknown to you or your fathers. There you will worship other gods, gods of wood and stone.
Deuteronomy 28:35-37

If you violate the covenant of the LORD your God, which he commanded you, and go and serve other gods and bow down to them, the LORD's anger will burn against you, and you will quickly perish from the good land he has given you."
Joshua 23:15-16

Yet they would not listen to their judges but prostituted themselves to other gods and worshiped them. Unlike their fathers, they quickly turned from the way in which their fathers had walked, the way of obedience to the LORD's commands.
Judges 2:16-18

As they have done from the day I brought them up out of Egypt until this day, forsaking me and serving other gods, so they are doing to you.
1 Samuel 8:7-9

Now let my lord the king listen to his servant's words. If the LORD has incited you against me, then may he accept an offering. If, however, men have done it, may they be cursed before the LORD! They have now driven me from my share in the LORD's inheritance and have said, 'Go, serve other gods.'
1 Samuel 26:18-20

As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been.
1 Kings 11:3-5

Although he had forbidden Solomon to follow other gods, Solomon did not keep the LORD's command.
1 Kings 11:9-11

All this took place because the Israelites had sinned against the LORD their God, who had brought them up out of Egypt from under the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. They worshiped other gods
2 Kings 17:6-8

When the LORD made a covenant with the Israelites, he commanded them: "Do not worship any other gods or bow down to them, serve them or sacrifice to them.
2 Kings 17:34-36

Furthermore, Josiah got rid of the mediums and spiritists, the household gods, the idols and all the other detestable things seen in Judah and Jerusalem. This he did to fulfill the requirements of the law written in the book that Hilkiah the priest had discovered in the temple of the LORD.
2 Kings 23:23-25

That's just a small sampling, apparently I bore easily. It goes on and on and on... But what did we learn children?

1. The bible says there are other gods, but to be a child of the Christian God, you can't worship them. Very self-serving, but we knew that.

2. Nowhere, and I mean NOWHERE does it connect other gods to Satan. It simply says you will fall out of favor with God if you worship other gods (note: nowhere does it say FALSE gods, only OTHER gods. This could be a matter of which version of the Bible you use).

3. And nowhere does it say that other peoples will burn for an eternity for worshipping other gods. It references many times that there are other peoples who can and in fact WILL worship other gods and shall not find favor with the Lord. Which is cool, I wasn't looking for any.

So, what else ya working with?

 

Over 12 hours and no response. This is what I love about Christians (and I truly mean love, not being facetious). They get real quiet when you use their own text against them.

Happy day, people.

 

Zoomie, why do you take those verses so literally? The Jews were strongly monotheistic, and didn't understand those passage as you are now. What do you make of verses like:
--------

"Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: I am the first and I am the last, And there is no God besides Me." (Isaiah 44:6)

"Do not tremble and do not be afraid; Have I not long since announced it to you and declared it? And you are My witnesses. Is there any God besides Me, Or is there any other Rock? I know of none." (Isaiah 44:8)

"You are My witnesses," declares the LORD, "And My servant whom I have chosen, So that you may know and believe Me And understand that I am He. Before Me there was no God formed, And there will be none after Me." (Isaiah 43:10)


"I am the LORD, and there is no other; Besides Me there is no God. I will gird you, though you have not known Me" (Isaiah 45:5)

Thus says the LORD, "The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush And the Sabeans, men of stature, Will come over to you and will be yours; They will walk behind you, they will come over in chains And will bow down to you; They will make supplication to you: 'Surely, God is with you, and there is none else, No other God.'" (Isaiah 45:14)


For thus says the LORD, who created the heavens (He is the God who formed the earth and made it, He established it and did not create it a waste place, but formed it to be inhabited), "I am the LORD, and there is none else. (Isaiah 45:18)

"Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the LORD? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. (Isaiah 45:21)

"Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. (Isaiah 45:22)

 

Because as most of the fundies here who tell me my heathen ass is going to hell would tell you, "The Scriptures are not open to interpretation". You know, like the Phelps crew of Westboro Baptist Church. They just need to be reminded what is written in those scriptures from time to time.

Sorry, but that's total bullshit.

When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, "Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don't know what has happened to him."
Exodus 32:1-3

Latter day Jews were monotheistic. Pre-Christian Jews swung both ways.

 

I'm probably what you would call "fundy" and I wouldn't say "The Scriptures are not open to interpretation." In fact, there's actually a science of interpretation.

So the Jews of the past were either or? At what point did they switch to monotheistic? What about the Jewish religion?

 

Speaking as a former Jew (a Hebrew school graduate and my name happens to be Aaron btw) I think you still place too much emphasis on literal translation.

Before Christ, everyone who believed in the "One True God" was a Jew who believed the messiah was coming. After Christ was born (and for the most part, after he was crucified) those who came to believe that he was in fact the messiah became Christians. Those who still believed in the God of Abraham but that Christ was not the messiah were Jews. I know this seems both elementary and oversimplified but I'm not going to write a tome on theology here. In the simplest sense, Jesus was a Jewish Reform Rabbi who preached the word of the One True God as his father.

OTOH, let's call a spade a spade. If the Jews who escaped the Pharoah in Exodus lost their faith in God and wanted to worship other gods, wouldn't that be polytheism? And outside of the Jews (Pontius Pilate, primarily) who persecuted Jesus as a false messiah, I would call the subjects of Exodus the most prominent Jews in the Bible. They were "God's People" who thrived because their faith in Him was strong. And then after Moses returned, they renounced their false gods and thrived again. Right?

Your faith is what you want it to be. If I called myself a Christian, was baptized, washed in the blood of the Lamb, yet also believed in the Goddess Rhiannon, you might tell me that I would not be welcomed in the kingdom of heaven, but it would still be MY faith. Your beliefs are open to your own personal interpretation and those who tell you what to believe and how to act are the problem. Matters not if it is Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Pagans or those who sit in waiting for the mother ship to return wearing tinfoil hats.

 

God does not exist as One, but three. and that is why He is speaking that way in Gen 3 vs 22. Also He speaks this way in Gen 1:26 when God states, "Let us make man in our Image, and after our likeness:" God tells us, that He made all things alone and by Himself, so God can speak as One even when He is three. Because the three are one.
And if this were not the case, then God would be counterdicting Himself.
Also in II John 5:7 we read, " For there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: AND THESE THREE ARE ONE."

 

Without question there are other Gods, and many nations follow them, yet the Bible is quick to point out that they are all false Gods. The Bible is also quick to point out that no one gets to heaven unless they follow Gods Son. For it states that there is no other name given unto men to be saved, but the name Christ Jesus.

 

The debate was not whether or not there were false gods, only the existence of "other" gods within the texts of the Bible. JDFU once again shot down in flames and refreshingly silent.

I beleive I already stated this, nearly verbatim.

 

There is only one God and that is the God of the Bible.

Any other gods that people claim is nothing more than satan in another form.

THEREFORE, there are no other God's. Satan is not a God.



(When you wrote this post it was during finals. Not only did I have to study and take tests, but I also had to write many papers. Furthermore, I coach high school volleyball which takes up MUCH of my time. What do you do that allows you to be on the forums so frequent?)

 

And I have already proven that your statements are completely contradictory to biblical text.

 

“The First Commandment says,
‘You shall have no other gods before Me.’

That proves He isn’t the only God!”

That’s true. Man has always made false gods. An old adage says, “God created man in His own image, and man has been returning the favor ever since.” Hindus have millions of gods. Sometimes gods are made of wood or stone; other times man makes up a god in his mind. Whatever the case, making a god to suit yourself is called “idolatry,” and it is a transgression of both the First and Second Commandments.


WHAT I AM SAYING IS: YES, PEOPLE HAVE MADE OTHER "SO CALLED" GOD'S, BUT THESE GOD'S ARE NOTHING MORE THAN FALSE IDOLS AND SATAN IS THE ONE BEHIMD THEM.

THEREFORE, THERE IS ONE TRUE GOD AND HIS IMAGE IS JESUS.

AND THERE ARE MANY VARIOUS OTHER GODS AND SOURCE BEHIND THEM IS SATAN TRYING TO PERSUADE PEOPLE FROM THE TRUTH.

ULTIMATELY, THERE ARE TWO CHOICES JESUS OR SATAN AND THAT IS EXACTLY WHAT I SAID FROM THE BEGINNING! I AM SORRY YOU MISUNDERSTOOD WHAT I WROTE.