"Scripture Versus Science" on YouTube

The name of the game is marketing. A video trailer for my book, "Scripture Versus Science," has now been produced.
http://youtu.be/eMRuhvAj4F4

WHAT IS HEAVEN LIKE?

    Some physicists have been suggesting that there may be other universes co-existing with us. Would they be describing Heaven and Hell? To fit biblical descriptions, Heaven and Hell would need to be entirely spiritual in nature. For all descriptions of God and Heaven to be accurate, Heaven’s reality would have to exclude both time and space. (see chapter 4 of Scripture “Versus Science: Reconciling God’s Ancient Wisdom with a Modern World View”) It can probably be safely said that both are something completely different from anything we have experienced in this world. The Bible does contain hints of what we will find.

    The popular idea usually expressed is that St. Peter will meet us at the Pearly Gates. The probable source of this concept is Rev. 21:21 “The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.” The 12 gates of the heavenly city are made of pearls, but they will be guarded by angels, not Peter.

    (Rev 21:10-12 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates.)

In other words, we may not see the pearly gates when we die, but when the New Jerusalem appears at the end.

    The Book of Life will be opened to check whether we should be there, but that might also occur at the end.

    (Rev. 20:11-15 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books. The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them, and each person was judged according to what they had done. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.)

    You will commonly read or hear that everyone will get a harp. There is evidence that we will be spending a lot of time praising God. Psalms lists the harp as one of the instruments of praise. In Rev 15:2-3 (I saw what looked like a sea of glass glowing with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and its image and over the number of its name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of God’s servant Moses and of the Lamb) It has been claimed that we will be is constant worship of God, but this is not completely clear. It may be only the four living creatures and the elders who are in constant worship. However, we might also ask what constant would mean in heaven, since this indicated time.

    The only other reverence to harps in Rev indicates they are held by the living creatures and 24 elders. (Rev:5:6-8 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.)  

    Everyone dressed in white, indicating purity. This is consistent with the bible, mentioned a number of times in a variety of situations.

    We will receive “our” wings upon arrival. Doubtful. It appears that only a few angels and the four living creatures have wings. It would appear that even angels do not commonly have wings. Who/what does?

    Ezek 1:4-9 I looked, and I saw a windstorm coming out of the north—an immense cloud with flashing lightning and surrounded by brilliant light. The center of the fire looked like glowing metal, and in the fire was what looked like four living creatures. In appearance their form was human, but each of them had four faces and four wings. Their legs were straight; their feet were like those of a calf and gleamed like burnished bronze. Under their wings on their four sides they had human hands. All four of them had faces and wings,  and the wings of one touched the wings of another. Each one went straight ahead; they did not turn as they moved.

    Ezek 10:3-5 Now the cherubim were standing on the south side of the temple when the man went in, and a cloud filled the inner court. Then the glory of the Lord rose from above the cherubim and moved to the threshold of the temple. The cloud filled the temple, and the court was full of the radiance of the glory of the Lord. The sound of the wings of the cherubim could be heard as far away as the outer court, like the voice of God Almighty[a] when he speaks.

    Ezekiel’s descriptions are pretty interesting, and cherubim are certainly not quaint little sprite which shoots love arrows. They would be very frightening. Cherubim are mentioned frequently in the old testament, and there were two Cherubim mounted on the Ark of Covenant. Ezekiel indicates that the Cherubim have two wings, and the four living creatures have four, but he also indicates the two are the same thing. Any others?

    Isa 6:1-2 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, high and exalted, seated on a throne; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him were seraphim, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying.

    This is the only mention of Seraphim having wings.

    Rev 4:8 Each of the four living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around, even under its wings.

    Is there a Purgatory? There may be some justification of this concept in that The Revelation seems to indicate that all will be judged at the same time. However, experiential reports of those having had some kind of near death experience indicate that they went to Heaven before returning to life. It is clear, though, that everyone will be judged on the basis of their deeds while living. It is unlikely that family or friends can alter, in any way, a person’s fate while in this waiting period.

    I Thes 4:16 For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.

Rev. 20:11-12 Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens fled from his presence, and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books.

    “90 Minutes in Heaven”, “Heaven is Real” are two highly recommended books for those who want to understand what happens. The author of the former found himself standing and talking to family, friends, and those whom he had somehow touched. They were outside a city wall, and he returned to life before entering the gate. “Heaven is Real” is about a 5 year old who was taken up while is a critical operation, and sat in the lap of Jesus during the procedure. The things he told his father after return agreed with scripture, and they were things that he had not yet been taught prior to the experience.

    John 14:1-3 Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

    This passage relates to church being the bride of Christ. There are a variety of New Testament passages comparing bride/groom relationships to our relationship to Christ.

Rewards: What we do on earth will not get us into heaven – only our belief and faith in Christ will do that. However, it is clear throughout the New Testament that our work here will be rewarded in Heaven. What the rewards might be is not known, but I Cor 3:8 says, The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose, and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. This is only one reference to treasures in Heaven, although the bible never really says what the treasures are, and there are references to receiving a crown, perhaps the nature of which will indicate our works here.

    So . . . what do we know?

1    1.      Heaven has to be spiritual – no space, no time. 

      2.    St. Peter will not be at the pearly gate, it will be guarded by angels.             

3.      We may not see any pearly gates until the New Jerusalem is revealed. 
4.      If our name is not in the Book of Life we will not be admitted to Heaven. This book might not be opened until the end, though.
5.      Our deeds are being recorded, and might determine our Heavenly rewards. 
6.      It is unlikely that we will be wearing wings. 
7.      Will we be given a harp and will we be in constant worship? Scripture is not completely clear, so this is unknown. 
8. we are accountable for our actions, but no one can stand before a perfect and Holy God and plead admission on the basis of their actions. No matter how good our life may be, not one person goes to the grave as a perfect individual. It is only through Christ that we will be considered perfect by our Holy and Perfect God.                        

What happened to the Ark of the Covenant?

     In 1981 a wonderful and exciting adventure film hit the theaters – Raiders of the Lost Ark. The production was Lucas and Spielberg at their best as they expanded on a mystery arising in Jewish History. Unlike other societies at the time, the Israelites were instructed to never make and worship idols. Instead, they were to construct a box (ark) approximately 27 inches wide, 27 inches high, and 42 inches long. This box was to be covered with gold, and the stone tablets given to Moses were to be placed in it. This was to represent the presence of God among the Israelites.

     The Ark traveled with the Israelites, often going to war with them, until finally being placed in the inner sanctuary (Holy of Holies) in Solomon’ newly built temple. After this event, there is only one historic record of the Ark. All other mentions thereafter were in terms of its memory. This has led to many theories regarding its movement or presence.

     During the twentieth century an interesting theory was developed, and Raiders of the Lost Ark used this theory as the setting for the movie. According to this theory, one of the things that King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba (1 Kings 10:13) was a son. Late in King Solomon’s reign the son came to visit him, having replaced his mother as regent of Sheba. At this time Solomon gave his son the Ark of the Covenant to protect it from the conflicts raging across Israel. The one thing that could support this theory is the record that Solomon was drawn away from God late in his reign (1 Kings 11:9-10). There are, however, several problems with this theory.

1) The land is recorded as being at peace during Solomon’s rule.  He did have problems with Edom late in his reign, but that does not seem serious enough to threaten Jerusalem.

2. When the Solomon’s temple was dedicated, the Glory (Spirit?) of God occupied the new center of worship (2 Chronicles 7:2). It did not depart the temple until Judea was conquered.

3) Considering that Uzzah died after simply laying his hand on the Ark to stabilize it (2 Samuel 2:6-7), taking it from the temple and transporting it to Ethiopia (the assumed location of Sheba) would have been dangerous and life threatening to Solomon’s son and his party. Solomon would have known this.

4)  The ‘nail in the coffin’ for this theory, however, is found in 2 Chron. 35:3:  And he [King Josiah] said to the Levites who taught all Israel and who were holy to the Lord, “Put the holy ark in the house which Solomon the son of David, king of Israel, built; you need no longer carry it upon your shoulders.”  This raises a whole series of new questions. Why was it not in the Holy of Holies, where Solomon put it? Who authorized its removal? Why was it being carried around on shoulders? Most of all, considering point 3), why was it possible to remove it? No one was to enter the Holy of Holies except the Chief Priest, and he could only enter it once a year. He did so with great fear that, if one thing was done wrong, he would likely die in the process.

     Another modern theory has its origin on a summer day in 1795. A young man was exploring on Oak Island in the Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, Canada. He ran across a thirteen foot wide depression in the ground with associated definite evidence that someone had worked there. Thinking there might be pirate’s treasure buried there, he and two friends began digging.  It soon became obvious that they were digging down a refilled shaft.  At ten feet they hit an oak log platform. Below that the shaft continued.  They dug to 25 feet before feeling further digging was dangerous. Subsequently the shaft has been dug to about 100 feet, where it is “booby trapped” by tunnels to the ocean, causing the shaft to be flooded.  Probing has indicated a concrete chamber at 160 feet.  Obviously, there must be something of value down there, and the site became known as the Money Pit. During more recent years, however, a different theory has arisen. It has been theorized that, during the crusades, the Knights Templar found the long missing Ark of the Covenant, and this is the content of the chamber at the bottom of the Money Pit. It is, however, unlikely that, if the pit’s problems are ever overcome, the Ark will be found at the bottom.

     The legend within the Jewish community is that, when Jerusalem was being threatened by the Babylonians, some priests hit the Ark in a compartment under the temple.  Despite diligent searches, however, the ark has never been found. It seems more likely that the Ark was destroyed when the Babylonians destroyed the temple during the late sixth century BC. Ezekiel related a vision of God leaving the temple about the time that Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians (Ezekiel 10). It seems likely that he was no longer protecting the Ark when the temple was destroyed.  

     An intriguing passage occurs in Revelation 11:19. “Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple; and there were flashes of lightning, voices, peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.” Three possibilities come to mind.

1)      The Ark of the Covenant was modeled after an item in God’s heavenly temple.

2)      The Ark in the heavenly temple is a model of that created during the Exodus.

3)       The Ark in the heavenly temple is actually the spiritual remains of the one that had resided in the earthly temple.

Someday we will know the answer to this puzzle.

     Returning to Raiders of the Lost Ark, what will we find if the Ark was, indeed, hidden away and it is found? It is unlikely to be anything like that depicted - a pristine Ark containing sand. The Ark, itself, is apt to be completely disintegrated by now, but the stone tablets contained therein (1 Kings 8:9, 2 Chronicles 5:10) are likely to be remaining intact. Anything is possible with God, but after Moses broke the original tablets in anger, he was told to create new tablets (Exodus 34:1). This would most easily be done with slate.  This rock is stable and writing on its surface would be durable. Slate is metamorphosed shale, which originated from clay deposits. Thus, if the tables were decomposed, they most likely would be clay dust, not sand.  What would appear on them? Not Hebrew writing, because that was not developed until about 300 years later. Most likely the writing would be in Egyptian hieroglyphics, since Moses was educated in the Egyptian pharaoh’s palace. It is unlikely that God would be still protecting the Ark, but were I to find it intact, as in Raiders of the Lost Ark, I think I would probably be reluctant to open it!

Very significant archaelogical find!

The following appeared yesterday (26 Sept 2015) on Open Line Radio's facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/OpenLineRadio?fref=nf

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This week, the Temple Mount Sifting Project, part of the Emek Tzurim National Park in Jerusalem announced an exciting discovery. A rare 3,000 year-old seal dating from the time of King David and Solomon (1000 BC) was discovered by a young volunteer.

When the Muslim Waqf began to build a mosque beneath the Temple Mount several years ago, rather than carefully excavating the area for archaeological preservation, they bulldozed the space under Temple Mount then dumped hundreds of truck-loads of earth in a garbage dump. Archaeologist Gabriel Barkay, recognized there would be tremendous archaeological riches in these ruined diggings, so he transferred the debris to a nearby Emek Tzurim National Park and began the Temple Mount Sifting Project.

Since that time, under the direction of Dr. Gabriel Barkay and Zachi Dvira of Bar-Ilan University, trained archaeologist direct volunteers to carefully sift every bit of dirt and debris for ancient remains. Clay pottery, Roman glass, gold jewelry, silver shards, ancient coins, semi-precious stones, arrowheads, and seals have been discovered.

The significance of the new seal is described in a Jerusalem Post article: "The historical credibility of the biblical text regarding Jerusalem during the 10th century BCE has been hotly debated by archaeologists since the 1990s. However, recent finds from other excavations – including the Ophel (south of the Temple Mount,) the City of David and the Temple Mount Sifting Project – indicate that the descriptions found within the biblical text relating to Jerusalem may indeed be authentic. 'The discovery of the seal testifies to the administrative activity which took place upon the Temple Mount during those times,' explained Barkay." In other words, those who maintain that Jerusalem was a backwater, insignificant city, without an Israelite settlement, and certainly no Temple, have been proven wrong. There really was a Jewish Jerusalem with a Israelite Temple as far back as King Solomon.

In the City of David [the original part of Jerusalem settled by King David] there are terrific findings but especially significant are the bullae or the seals found there. Over 50 seals have been recovered but several have specific names of royal officials, mentioned in the Bible from the 7th century B.C. One bulla has the name "Gemaryahu ben Shafan," who is mentioned in the Book of Jeremiah as King Jehoyakim's scribe towards the end of the First Temple period (Jeremiah 36:10). Other bullae or seals found have Hebrew names from the First Temple period, including two ministers of King Zedekiah, the last king of Judah. "Yehuchal Ben Shela-mayahu" and "Gedaliah Ben Pashchur" are two of four ministers who unsuccessfully plotted to kill the prophet Jeremiah by throwing him into a pit (Jeremiah 38:1).
Here's the point: Archaeology keeps confirming the historicity of the Scriptures. This is crucial because if we could not trust the factual truth of the Bible, how could we trust the spiritual teachings of Scripture? But the Bible is true.

This little seal, 3000 years old, is just one more evidence for the reliability of Scripture. So we can agree with the Psalmist "The entirety of Your word is truth, and all Your righteous judgments endure forever" (119:160). Moreover, Jesus the Messiah affirmed the truth of God's Word when praying for His disciples. He asked His Father to "Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth"(John 17:17). Since the Psalmist trusted God's Word, and even more, since Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, recognized it as God's truth, shouldn't we trust it as well?

Is the Holy Bible really the word of God?

     Anyone with children born over the last half century is probably familiar with Dr. Seuss’ Horton, the elephant and his statement, “I meant what I said, and I said what I meant. An elephant's faithful one-hundred percent.”  Christians can accurately apply this statement to their Lord God, “The Lord means what He says, and says what He means. The Lord is faithful one-hundred percent.” This is absolutely true, and in the minds of many Christians this truth has been extended  to, “The Bible means what it says, and says what it means. The Bible is true one-hundred percent.” Let’s explore this a bit.

     Christians accept the Bible as being God inspired and containing God’s word as revealed to humankind.  Some go so far as to say every word must be true, and if one bible passage is questioned the entirety has been questioned. “If you can’t believe one passage, how can you believe anything in the Bible?” But there are inconsistencies within the scriptures, particularly in genealogies. For example, Matthew 1:8 says that Jehoram was the father of Uzziah. If we go to 2 Chronicles 22-26, we find that Jehoram was Uzziah’s Great-great-grandfather. How do we resolve such inconsistencies, yet still believe the Bible is God inspired and true?

     First of all, we might consider how God might have communicated his word to mankind. It seems unlikely that He stood by scribes or prophets, dictating what they were to write or say. It is more probable that He somehow revealed his message to them, and they had to put it into words. Over the ages writing styles change and word meanings change. Thus, translators must attempt to understand meanings of passages written a few thousand years ago. It is not always possible to be perfect in this attempt.

     Secondly, translation itself can be a problem. The earliest English translation of the Old Testament relied heavily on the Septuagint version as being the earliest known. The Septuagint is a Greek translation of the Hebrew scripture. It may also be noted that the written form of the Hebrew language was not developed until about 300 years after Moses. Therefore, if he wrote the Pentateuch, his writing would likely have been in Egyptian hieroglyphics.  Thus, the first five books of the English Bible could have undergone four sequential language translations: Egyptian to Hebrew to Greek to English.  This can be a serious problem, particularly when words with many meanings in one language are translated into a language having different words to specifically convey the various meanings.

     So, where are we? Is the Bible really God’s word? Can we rely on it as being true? Yes and yes. But that does not mean every word, phrase, and even passage must be true as we understand them today. It is the underlying message that must be true, and it is our task to understand this message, regardless of the translation we are reading.

     I have a more extensive discussion of this topic in my recent book, “Scripture Versus Science: Reconciling God’s Ancient Wisdom with a Modern World View.”

Jerry Coyne's book, "Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible" -- Misleading and Wrong!

Despite his claims, Jerry Coyne is wrong! The title of his book, "Faith Versus Fact: Why Science and Religion Are Incompatible," attracts attention, but it is an erroneous statement. Comparison of faith and fact is not equivalent to comparing religion and science, despite the title-implied equivalence. Furthermore, science and religion cannot be incompatible. The problem is: in both cases he is comparing apples and oranges.

Facts must be defined. For example, our entire mathematics system is based on ten units of one. From this one fact, every number imaginable can be built. While distances were once physically defined, for modern calculation more precision is required. All time and distance measurements are defined on the basis of electron movement in a Cesium 133 ion at 0 degrees Kelvin!
1 second = the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the Cesium 133 atom. (aren't you happy to know that?)
1 meter =  the distance light travels in 1 / 299,792,458 second
1 foot = 0.3048 meter
These are all defined facts, and all appropriate time and measurement quantities are defined from these definitions. Thus, for example, the speed of light can be measured and defined.

Faith, on the other hand, can never be defined. It is based on belief. Here is where Jerry Coyne's argument falls apart. One does not have to go far into his book to understand that he is really addressing the creation/evolution controversy. Although some attempt to present the creation scenario as fact, even they understand that creation is based on a belief. Evolutionists, however, attempt to convince us that evolution is a fact, whereas it is also based on no more than a firmly held belief.

Let us now moved into the scientific field, where defined facts do not exist, and to say something is a fact simply means all valid experiments to date have supported the appropriate theory (hypothesis). If, however, the next valid experiment disproves the theory, it must be abandoned and a new theory developed.

There are some so-called "facts" that can never be tested by an experiment (i.e. by scientific method). The Big-Bang theory of universe beginning is one of them. While this is being passed off as a "fact," in reality it is merely the currently most popular theory of origins.

Evolution is another example. In this case, there should be archaeological evidence supporting the theory, but to date none of the expected evidence has been uncovered. Therefore, the evolution theory is based solely on physical similarities and DNA similarities. These observations are to be expected if evolution is true, but they are not proof of evolution. They would be equally expected if everything was the work of a creator! Therefore, the evolution theory is just as much a strongly held belief as is creation!

Now, what about science and religion being incompatible? That, again, is comparing apples with oranges. The two basic operation systems are parallel approaches which may support each other or diverge, depending on the circumstances. Religion is based on faith in certain beliefs, whereas science is based on developing and researching theories. One can sometimes support the other and beliefs/theories can sometimes diverge. However, when a scientific theory has been thoroughly tested and supported sufficiently to be considered a fact (the speed of light would be an example), divergent religious beliefs must be altered appropriately, unless those holding these beliefs can create a valid and testable theory to disprove it. 

Religion can sometimes disagree with scientific theories since they are both approaches to life, but it MUST agree with validly tested scientific "facts." I have expounded further on the problems in "Scripture Versus Science: Reconciling God's Ancient Wisdom with a Modern World View."


 

THE HOLY TRINITY = ONE GOD

One God . . . or Three?

     I have touched on this topic in my book, Scripture Versus Science, and thought I would elaborate a bit here.

     Christians, Jews, and Muslims all believe there is one God. They differ, however, in how they interpret the nature of God. All three believe there is an afterlife, but their beliefs differ in how we achieve entrance to Heaven. Muslims believe they must earn entry through their actions. Jews believe they must obey all laws given them by God. Christians believe they can only achieve entry through a relationship with Christ which is sealed by the Holy Spirit. Herein lies a major problem. Both Jews and Muslims ask how we can say we worship one God when we obviously worship three Gods: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit.

     Arabs are the core of the Islamic faith, and they believe they are descendants of Abraham and Hagar’s son, Ishmael.  Jews believe they are the descendants Isaac, who God provided to Abraham and Sarah in their old age. Christians believe they are grafted into Abraham’s line through the unique dispensation of Christ. Since Abraham is a common denominator among the three faiths, I will base my explanation of the Christian view of One God on the book of Genesis from the beginning through Abraham’s life.

The Holy Spirit

     It is easiest to argue that the Holy Spirit is not a separate deity, but one attribute of God himself. In our modern society we might compare the relationship to a computer, which is made up of many individual components, yet operates as a single unit. We can remove any single component, but it cannot fulfill its function unless wired into the computer as a whole.  Perhaps the primary problem is that we have changed the name – Jewish scriptures consistently uses the term, “the Spirit of God,” whereas Christians use the term, “the Holy Spirit.”

     Genesis 1:2 says God created and “the Spirit of God hovered over the water.” Does this indicate that God creates through His Spirit? Later on we do read, “The Spirit of God has made me; the breath of the Almighty gives me life.” (Job 33:4)  We also see that the Spirit of God sometimes escorts. (Ezekiel 8:3, 11:1) God also places his spirit in whomever he pleases. Sometimes He might fill a person (e.g. Exodus 31:3, 35:31; Deut 34:9; Micah 3:8), and sometimes He may bestowing it only temporarily. (e.g. Numbers 24:2; I Samuel 10:10, 11:6, 19:23)

      Throughout the Old Testament it is obvious that God tends to work through his spirit, which Christians call The Holy Spirit. For us, a problem arises in that we cannot relate, since we cannot separate ourselves from our spirit and have it work semi-independently. Therefore humans have trouble understanding that the Holy Spirit is one component of a Holy God, and one with the Father. Following our computer example, perhaps the Father could be compared to the mother board, to which all components must be connected. 

The Son

     The idea that the Christ is also one with the Father and the Holy Spirit is a bit more difficult, but not impossible to comprehend. First of all, Elohim is a commonly used designation for God throughout the Jewish scriptures, starting with the creation story. I am not a Jewish language scholar, but I understand that Elohim is a plural designation. The verb associated with this word, however, is normally singular. Thus, right from Genesis 1 we see God presented as a single being, but one with multiple personified components. Adam and Eve walked and talked with God in the garden (Genesis 3:8-24), yet God told Moses, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20) Earlier, Jacob said, “. . . I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:30) Thus, the penalty of seeing God’s face was not something new presented to Moses. Many years later several prophets related seeing God on his throne, and it was a frightening scene.

     As we go on through Genesis, Cain talked with God (Genesis 4), Noah talked with God (Genesis 6-9), and Abraham talked with God (Genesis 12-18). In Genesis 18 Abraham greeted three men as though he knew them. In Genesis 19:1 we see that two of them were angels – who was the third? Genesis 18:33 says “when the Lord had finished speaking with Abraham” . . . How can this be? As we go through the Old Testament we periodically read of angels appearing on earth. Sometimes there is an attempt to worship them, an action quickly stopped by the angels, who said something to the effect, “don’t worship me, worship God only.” However, there is one being who DID accept worship, and this being was always designated The Angel of God. The Angel of God always appeared when there was an announcement of importance.

     Many years later The Angel of God appeared as a baby, a person we know as The Christ. He is fully God and one with the Father and the Holy Spirit – just as much as our voice and our spirit are one with our body. The difference is that He can operate fully and semi-independently in one of the three forms – we cannot. We certainly have different facets of our personality, but we can only exits and function as a whole. This is our reality and we have no basis for understand any alternate reality. We certainly cannot understand the reality in which God exists.