xjwsforChrist

Yet you can't escape Genesis 1:27,can you?

No need to escape at all, Char.

He did create man in His image. He created Adam... man... in His image.

Gen 1: 27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him (him, singular)... male and female he created them (them plural, when bringing in the female with the male... Eve being the female)

This is corroborated with Gen 5: 1-3, which speaks of Adam's line, and having created man in the image of God. That man being Adam (and Eve). Then we have the clear example that Seth is born in Adam's image.


There is no contradiction. But do you see a contradiction if man is being transformed into the image of Christ (who is the image of God)... if man is already in the image of God to begin with. How can a person be transformed into that which he already is?

Peace,
tammy

Nothing to escape, dear Char (peace to you!). Only to explain/clarify, where it apparently ISN'T clear, which I was permitted to do in my penultimate post directed to dear PSacto (peace to you, as well!). It's actually pretty simple, really, as are ALL things related to JAH: who He is, what He is, what He's done, what He will YET do... through Whom.. and who that One is, WHAT that One is, what that One has done... and what that One will yet do!

Sadly, though, simple is just... well... TOO simple... for many. If it doesn't sound all mysterious and "beyond" our comprehension, if it doesn't require years of studying at institutions of "higher" learning, celebrated by letters and degrees and published papers and accolades from MEN... then it just can't be from God. Nevermind that virtually all HE chose were unlettered and unlearned... were mocked and scorned BY the lettered and learned... or realized that such was of NO value in relation to the truth about Him...

Really, it's we who complicate it all. We who wish to be considered "high-minded"... rather than listening to His representative... who told us to humble ourselves before God so as to BE exalted (by that One).

I once asked why that was and my Lord's response was that most of mankind believe they will be able to excuse away their lack of faith in HIM... by saying, "Well, it wasn't CLEAR... so I couldn't SEE that it was simple! So, it's YOUR fault I didn't get it... because YOU didn't make it clear!" What they don't realize is that He did. NOT through a means we could SEE - through a means we can HEAR. If we only LISTEN. To the One He gave to TELL us.

Which is what I did so as to understand this verse. And, as always, it was... and is... simple. Truly. Such that even a young child could understand: they made man and woman in their image. Adam... and Eve. Because ADAM and EVE were supposed to make the REST of manKIND ("Be fruitful and MULTIPLY"). Which they DID, yes, but NOT in God's image. They made them... in their own image. They had to... because THEY no longer REFLECTED God's image. Rather, THAT image... had been COVERED... with "a long garment of skin."

Short, sweet, simple. Truth.

So the excuse that it isn't/wasn't clear... isn't going to fly. Because there is "face" to look INTO... so as to SEE... CLEARLY.

No one HAS to use that excuse, though, or ANY excuse. Because the "face"... and Door... is still standing open... waiting... and calling to all those wishing and thirsting to come to him.

May YOU, then, hear, dear Char... if YOU truly WISH it... when the Spirit and his Bride say to YOU:

"Come! Take 'life's water'... which is the blood, breath, and seed of God... HIS holy spirit... the life force/energy/essence that grants LIFE to any who partake of it... which spirit is poured out by and from the innermost parts of the HOLY Spirit... who the HOLY ONE of Israel and SON of God, JAHESHUA, the Chosen One of JAH (MischaJah)... FREE!"

Again, peace to you!

YSSFS of Christ,

Shellama

Well, what it says is "conform", which is:
having the same form as another, similar, conformed to

So we were predestined to have the same form as the Risen Christ, a spiritual body as Paul mentions before that passage.
Christ was risen and so shall we be with a body (spiritual) that conforms to His.

2nd Corinthians uses transform, or change, in every version that I have read. I think you are referring to the Romans verse maybe?

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2Corinth 3:18)


Peace,
tammy

Or Genesis 9:6

Mistranslations and false scribes mayhaps?

_________________
To fear me is to love me....

Yikes! I hope not, dear P (peace to you!) - LOLOLOL! Although, I'm not sure that I am the one sounding like a JW, here. Let's see.



I am not sure this is accurate. JAH did not release Israel because they were crying to be released. True, they wanted their load lightened, but I would wager that had that load BEEN lightened they would have stayed right there, most of them. They CERTAINLY showed that they preferred slavery over FREEDOM, though, by their almost immediate murmuring and complaining once released. Just like many today: they complain as to how their governments, religion, cultures, and customs enslave them... yet, they fight to KEEP such... and their association therewith... in place!



If they KNEW the Law, dear one, they wouldn't have had to HAVE it put in writing... ON STONE. There was no written Law BEFORE Israel's lack of faith, lack of love, hard-headed, hard-hearted, and stiff-neckedness CALLED for it. You justify your position by saying they wouldn't have known sin "in a concrete way." What does that mean, exactly? Either you know right and wrong... or you don't.

But no one is born KNOWING right and wrong, dear one, not even Christ (and note, Adham/Eve were not BORN). Even our dear Lord had to LEARN... to REJECT the bad and CHOOSE the good:

“Hear now, you house of David! Is it not enough to try the patience of humans? Will you try the patience of God also? Therefore JaHVeH himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. He will be eating curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, for before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you dread will be laid waste." Isaiah 7:13-16

In order for him to know HOW to choose, though, he had to know what WAS right and what WAS wrong. Which he LEARNED... from the Father. As each of US are supposed to learn: from our fathers. ADHAM was SUPPOSED to teach HIS children. But once he sinned, he could only teach them what he KNEW. Since he no longer knew JUST good... but good (life) AND bad (death)... what do you think he taught his children? His first two sons tell us: good (Abel; life) and bad (Cain; death).

Now, regarding who sounds like a "JW" here (LOLOLOL!), you quote:



I am not completely sure why you chose these verses. First, the extrapolated title is inaccurate and so misleading. These verses are not saying God is impartial in the way YOU seem to be thinking. They SHOW God's impartiality... as to the destiny of the HYPOCRITE - it is the SAME as that of the man who sins... and those who are without God when the time comes. Let me show you:

"Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things."

Paul is saying that since God's judgment falls upon those who practice the same things as those they judge... the same judgment MUST also come upon THEM. For God would not judge one person/group for practicing something, and not judge another person/group for doing so. Because... He is NOT partial.

But do you suppose this, O man, [c]when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?"

Here, he saying, as to those who DO so judge, but believe themselves having partaken of JAH's mercy through Christ, that it was that MERCY that led THEM to repentance... and a turning to Christ; they did not repent... OR turn... on their OWN. John 6:44 And so how can they judge others who have not yet turned? It's like the reformed whore: no longer whoring but now "reformed"... yet going around condemning her former "workmates." Rather than being merciful with THEM... as God was merciful with HER.

Is that former whore prohibited from telling her former friends what SHE now knows and has... and what their course may LEAD to? NO! That is not judging; that is her HOPING her friends receive the SAME gifts (and freedom) as SHE now enjoys. If one of her friends is still, say, practicing the looks and calls that once got HER "business," then should she not say to that friend, "Look, girl, if you REALLY want to get off the streets, you gotta stop standing on the corner! And, okay, maybe you're not on the corner anymore, but if you're STILL calling out to every potention John that drives by... how can you say you REALLY want out of the business??" IF, though, she deemed her former friends unworthy of even being TALKED to, of SHARING these truths (that similar conduct will get you similar results)... how can she say she LOVES her friends? If, then, she considered her former friends to be LESS than her, unclean in relation to her (perceived) new cleanliness... AND spoke to/treated them as if they were already CONDEMNED... THAT is judging.

A VERY good example of this is JWs: those who were once involved in all manner of "stuff" while in the world, now looking down on those they formerly knew, even considering them "unclean" and "unworthy." Or current JWs who are living double lives, engaged in all manner of worldly practices, while speaking ill again, shunning, marking, reproving, sitting in jugdment of, etc., as to others. Thinking that THEY are SO clean, that if they touch someone "unclean," they will be sullied. Rather than thinking that, perhaps, by means of THEIR cleansing through Christ... one touching THEM might become CLEAN! They think as they do... because they are NOT cleansed through Christ... and so judge... with the SAME judgment they actually have hanging over their OWN heads.

But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will render to each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, eternal life; 8 but to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress [e]for every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek, 10 but glory and honor and peace to everyone who does good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God."

If you notice, there is not only partiality on the part of God here, but literal BIAS. One group receives eternal life, the other "wrath and indignation." One, tribulation and distress... whether Jew OR Greek (so, again, no partiality as to the eventual DESTINY of those who do "evil")... but the other, "glory, honor, and peace."

So, no partiality between Jew or Greek... no. Put ABSOLUTELY partiality... even bias... between those who seek and do GOOD... and those who do evil. Absolutely. If what YOU seem to believe is true, though... there IS no one doing "evil."

12 For all who have sinned without the Law will also perish without the Law, and all who have sinned under the Law will be judged by the Law; 13 for it is not the hearers of the Law who are just before God, but the doers of the Law will be justified. 14 For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, 15 in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts alternately accusing or else defending them, 16 on the day when, according to my gospel, God will judge the secrets of men through Christ Jesus

YES! THIS is where God's impartiality comes in! It does not matter whether one is a Jew/Israel... and so UNDER the Law... or Greek/nations and WITHOUT the Law: if one DOES the things of the Law... they ARE the Law, whether they do so because they HAVE the Law (written)... or not. Jew or Greek, BOTH are pleasing to JAH. On the other hand, one that SINS... whether UNDER the Law... or without the Law... they will be judged/perish. Whether Jew (and thus under the Law)... or Greek (and so without the Law).

Bottom line: God is not partial. Whether one is Jew OR Greek, the DOER of the Law will be justified. And whether Jew OR Greek, one who does evil will be judge and/or condemned.

Now, the Law is a very large document. LOTS of "thou shall's" and "thou shalt nots". How can one EVER keep them ALL? No one can... except One. And by means of the blood of THAT One... anyone who wants to be set FREE from the Law, which is quite burdensome... CAN be. By accepting that blood, however, they also agree to be bound by ANOTHER Law... a NEW Law/Covenant. One that starts with loving God with one's whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neighbor as theirself ("neighbor" including one's own flesh - self, spouse, child, parent, sibling, relative, as WELL as friend, stranger... and enemy. Think "Good Samaritan").



If that where true, dear one, why would Christ say we (his Body) would BE like the angels... in the RE-creation? Why did he not say we are like them NOW?



That animals don't know better is just another indication of OUR ignorance of our beastly co-spirits, dear one. As well as perhaps you don't own a dog (LOLOLOL!). What you and many others call "instinct" will one day be shown to be obedience. Animals, dear one, hear the Voice of the HOLY ONE of Israel... just as they hear the voice of hte MOST HOLY ONE of Israel. When they obey... they live. When they disobey... they die. NOT because they are punished. JAH does not say, "Hey, rabbit, you'd better run or I'm gonna make that wolf kill you!" No. He says, "DON'T run for that bush, rabbit, because there is another wolf there. Run THIS way!" And if rabbit LISTENS... rabbit gets away unharmed. If rabbit doesn't ("Whad'ya mean? I ALWAYS get away when I hide under a bush! I'm heading for the bush!")... well, he becomes rabbit tartare.



Dear P... that is a WONDERFUL sentiment... and not a surprise coming from you, dear one... because YOU are full OF love. What else could come FROM you, my brother? But that isn't true, at least not any more. I am not trying to make you cynical, dear one - please, hold onto your very loving view as long as you need to. It is a GREAT hope and I wish it WERE true. Think of the glory to JAH if it WERE! But you are negating the truth: that just as their are children of God... there ARE children of another "man" who also sowed HIS seed in the "field" that is the "world." And they number far, far more than we, dear one.



YES! And we look for it... EVERYWHERE... and from EVERYONE... EXCEPT [with] God. Which is why we, as a SPECIES... LACK it to the great extent we DO.



Some of us... many of us... yes. All of us... no.



Some of us... a few of us... yes. All of us... many of us... no. We are much more self-PRESERVING.



It is a choice to them, as well, dear one. Else EVERY animal would exhibit the traits. EVERY dog would protect its owner; some do not - they run. Some TURN on their owners. Every lion would INSTINCTIVELY turn on and devour man. Some don't. Some even remember those who cared for and raised them as cubs... even after years of being separated from humans, living in the wild, and acquiring wild mates (who, although NEVER having had human interaction... are tame around humans because the MATE was).



Some of us, yes. MOST of us... not so much. Now, I realize that, given your military career and experiences you have seen more of the human "good" and "heart" than perhaps anyone else here. But you must realize that you saw it as to those you fought with... and against... and such folks usually ARE compassionate and self-sacrificing, etc. But they are only a FRACTION of the world's population... and a modern fraction.

We are unique among all of God's creatures in that regard and that is because, in Us, there is that part that is in His Image.

We are unique because we started OUT in God's image... but I want to share something with you. Do you recall these verses?

"The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling together;
and a little child will lead them.
The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain..."

They are from Isaiah 11:6-9

Do you recall WHY these animals will be able to live together, lie down together, feed together... without one harming the other... as man currently believes "nature" makes them do now? The account tells us:

"... the earth will be filled with the knowledge of JaHVeH
as the waters cover the sea."

EVERYTHING will know JAH, dear one... which is NOT case now. NOW, we profane JAH... man AND beast. THEN, however, it will be as the Psalmist wrote: EVERY breathing thing... spirit being, man, beast, plant... will praise JAH! Psalm 50:10, 11; 148:2, 5, 7-10; 150:6; Isaiah 43:20; Genesis 1:11, 20-22, 24

Your heart is good, dear P. It need to change in its HOPE in order to accommodate TRUTH.

I hope this helps!

Again, peace to you!

YSSFS of Christ,

Shellama

Again, "the word 'Adham' means 'earthling man' (as opposed to spirit man which, for instance, JAH and Christ are). This can MEAN 'mankind' as in the 'kind' that is earthling man...

As it does at Genesis 1:27 ("Let us make a being (one) in our image, thus male AND female (because that is what WE are)... but whose "KIND" is physical/earthly (and so the two will be separate... physically... but ONE... by means of a physical union... like our SPIRIT(ual) union...)... and at Genesis 9:6. In neither case does it mean "mankind" as in ALL of US, however... and we can know that as to Genesis 9:6 just based on LOGIC: not every human who kills another human... is killed BY a human.

Cain wasn't. Oh, but my Lord says the argument willl that THAT "law" was stated AFTER Cain. Well, he said to remind anyone who went there that David was after that... and he shed WAY more blood than Cain... by 100's of thousands... yet David's blood wasn't shed by mankind. To the contrary, he died an old man, in his home, in his own bed. As did and do many who shed human blood.

C'mon, dear ones... this really isn't rocket science...

It's like the words "holy spirit" and (the) Holy Spirit. God and god. Read and read. Truck and truck. Lemon and lemon. You must understand the CONTEXT. Which you can TRY to do on your own. OR... you can simply ask. One who was there. Simply. Ask. Do it. You can.

Peace!

A slave of Christ,

Shellama

No worries, Shel, though some may raise an eyebrow when one who writes screeds accuses one who merely wrote just seven words and a numerical Biblical reference of lacking simplicity!

But, hey, don't let accuracy stand in your way. Far be it from me to interrupt your flow. Do carry on...

SO true, dear one (peace!) - LOLOLOLOL! Would that I COULD just post:

"I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life"... or "Come to ME!" or "This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to HIM!"... and nothing more. One or all... and have (some) folks (FINALLY) go, "Okay NOW, I see! NOW, I get it!!"

Would that that were the case, dear one... because THEN I would know that they found what they were looking for (or rather, were found BY the One they were looking for). But since the few words tend to lead folks into thinking and beliefs that have absolutely NOTHING to do with truth... OR him... sometimes it takes many words to explain what IS simple.

SHOULDN'T need that, though, no, and so my Lord directs me to remind you of the others who wrote to Israel... prior to his physical presence AND after... how many THEIR words often were... and WHY.

Again, peace to you, dear one!

YSSFS of Christ,

Shellama

So, when I talk to Our Lord, and listen to Him, and he tells me different things from those your Lord tells you, would you say that I am talking with a different Lord from yours?

Just to clarify, even though I've repeatedly told you openly on the forum that I've been talking with Christ, to use your phraseology, since young childhood, you are still urging me to try listening and talking to Him.

A little odd, don't you think?

I think that depends on what you're saying... and asking... dear Char (peace to you!). Your question is quite curious to me and so before I respond more substantially I have ask as to how YOU mean "listen to him." Because the answer to THAT might have some bearing on the answer to your question. I also thought it... odd... to use your words... that you would state, at one point "Our Lord"... but then change it to "your Lord". Odd in that is seems you are accusing ME... of doing what you are in fact doing. I realize that perhaps you don't SEE that...



A couple/few things here, though: first, my understanding is that by "talking with" you mean praying to. That is not what I mean, though, and so we are not using the same phraseology, actually (something I've TRIED to explain to you on several occasions AND the thing you take issue with - YOU think you're saying "tomato" and I'm saying "tomahto"... when I'm not even talking fruits and vegetables, but meat).

Second, I was not aware that it was a crime to "continually exhort" one another to listen to/talk with Christ. Indeed, my understanding is that that is what we're supposed to be DOING, actually. Third, you do say that... indded, I am the one who pointed out that you HAVE but that for some reason you now feel the need to qualify that with words that indicate you don't REALLY hear... but, rather, "feel", "perceive," "believe", etc., and that he doesn't REALLY speak to you directly, but speaks "in effect," "in essence," "by means of," etc. Which is also not what I mean.

So, again, before I can respond to your question, I need to ask: how do you mean "listen" to him (Christ)?



That you STILL don't get what you're doing... and believe that no one SEES? Yes, I really do think that. VERY odd, actually.

I look forward to your answer.

Again, peace to you!

YSSFS of Christ,

Shellama

Yes Paul, that is my understanding. Those that are chosen will have the same body ( in the image of CHRIST). As the body belonging to Him it would only make sense.

Hope that is what you meant
Justmom