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41. The Curse of the Creators In our last post, we looked at the possibility that Adam and Eve bought into Satan's lie (belief?) that the fruit of the Knowledge of Good and Evil could bestow the ex nihilo power, the power to create out of nothing. So what was the result...other than their realizing they were naked? God curses them, right? Actually, no. God doesn't curse them. He curses the serpent. And he curses the ground as part of the man's punishment. A curse isn't even involved in the women's punishment. So what was their punishment? To the man, he says: "Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you..." To the woman, He says: "I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children." Man is a co-creator with God in bringing forth plants from the ground. Man plants and harvests, b...

40. The Fall of Man You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil. —Genesis 3:4 In our last post, we discovered that 2nd Temple Judaism * has Satan telling Eve that the power to create worlds resided in the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil. Whether or not he believes this himself, he certainly tries to convince Eve: He ate of this tree and created the world, but to you He says, Do not eat from it, so that you will not create other worlds. Everyone hates his fellow craftsman. Hurry and eat from the tree, before He creates other worlds, that will rule you. —Genesis Rabbah 19:4 (Jewish Commentary) In Genesis, we read Eve's response: When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate. —Genesis 3:6 The Hebrew word translated "wisdom" in ...

39. Lucifer's Revenge "Fear not, only be my vessel and I will speak through thy mouth words to deceive him." —Apocalypse of Moses 16:5 The ASA often claims there was no connection between Satan and the serpent in the Garden of Eden until Christian sources in the 1st century AD. But as you can see from the above quote, they've overlooked 2nd temple Judaism. The following is the oldest text to identify the serpent in the garden with Satan: But by the envy of the devil, death entered the world, and they who are allied with him experience it. —Wisdom 2:24 In another Second Temple text, Satan sees the Messiah and say, Truly this is the Messiah, who will  bruise me . —Pesikta Rabbati 3:6 Others describe the actual possession: He took the serpent as a garment. 3 Baruch 9:7*  Christianity confirmed Second Temple Judaism He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar an...

38. The Fall of Lucifer, part 4 The demons kept begging Jesus not to order them to go into the Abyss. " Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?" —Luke 8:31 & Matthew 8:29 “The Abyss...a place demons are terrified of (Luke 8:31) and where they know they will eventually be sent. This likely means it is another name for Gehenna or it is a bottomless pit in Gehenna. According to Rev 9:2-10, this pit is currently inhabited by some sort of scorpion men. Because it seems rather unlike God to randomly create creatures He then locks in an abyss to unleash on mankind during the Tribulation, it is my assumption that they joined Lucifer's revolt, and unlike Lucifer (who was free to wander the Earth), the scorpion men were punished immediately and locked in the abyss. Perhaps you've heard that Revelation's mythic imagery is symbolic for missiles, nuclear warheads, and other weapons of mass destruction because the apostle John lacked the vocabulary to de...

37. The Fall of Lucifer, part 3 "...the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." — Matthew 25:41b Just what happened at the Fall of Lucifer, beyond his being cast out of heaven? Likely, Gehenna (aka the eternal fire / lake of fire) was created. You won't see this word in English Bibles as it is always translated "hell." Get this: Sheol (Hebrew) / Hades (Greek) / Hell (Anglo-Saxon) = the land of the dead. They are the same place in different languages. Gehenna = Lake of Fire Gehenna / Lake of Fire does NOT = Sheol/Hades/Hell. Death and the Hades/Hell are thrown into Gehenna/Lake of Fire and destroyed. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. — Revelation 20:14 Hell (the Land of the Dead) is a temporary place where humans go when they die. Jesus even went there when he died (Luke 23:43). There is a chasm that separates the righteous from the unrighteous, and the pleasant side is sometimes called Paradise or Abraham's Bosom (Luke 16:1...

36. The Fall of Lucifer, part 2 You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God; you walked among the fiery stones. You were blameless in your ways from the day you were created till wickedness was found in you. —Ezekiel 28:14-15 In the phrase, "guardian cherub" (or "cherub that covers" depending on the translation), the Hebrew word translated "guardian" or "covers" means "to block" and "stop the approach." In Nahum 2:5, the same words is translated "defense" while describing the city's walls. So if this is a description of Lucifer, it means his job was to defend God's throne. Scholars differ on whether Ezekiel 28 (which starts out as a prophecy against the king of Tyre) shifts to a condemnation of Lucifer during his revolt. The use of words like "cherub" and one who walked in "Eden" and on the "mount of God" lend great credence to...

35. The Fall of Lucifer, part 1 For you have said in your heart: ‘I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God; I will also sit on the mount of the congregation On the farthest sides of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, I will be like the Most High. — Isaiah 14:13-14 In our last post, The Fall of Lucifer, part 1, we mentioned a possible parallel with the prophesied downfall of the Babylonian king and the fall of Lucifer. Just where did this idea come from? The Jewish Encyclopedia sums up the Babylonian myth of Etana: The brilliancy of the morning star, which eclipses all other stars, but is not seen during the night, may easily have given rise to a myth such as was told of Ethana and Zu: he was led by his pride to strive for the highest seat among the star-gods on the northern mountain of the gods ... but was hurled down by the supreme ruler of the Babylonian Olympus. The oldest version of this myth dates to over 1000 years before the...

34. Lucifer: What's in a Name? How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, morning star! — Isaiah 14:12 Name: Lucifer aka Satan Status: Fallen Angel and God of this World Rank: Commander of the Fallen Angel Army Though Lucifer is the most common name given to the fallen angel known as Satan, this is technically not his name. Lucifer is merely the Latin word for light-bearer, and in Latin versions of the Bible even describes Jesus. Some Protestant Christians, presumably ignorant of this, have accused Catholic Christians of invoking the name of Lucifer at the Easter services because they annually sing a song about Jesus inspired by 2 Peter 1:19 in Latin. 2 Peter 1:19 (Latin version): et habemus firmiorem propheticum sermonem cui bene facitis adtendentes quasi lucernae lucenti in caliginoso loco donec dies inlucescat et lucifer oriatur in cordibus vestris 2 Peter 1:19 (English version): we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close atten...

33. Cake or Death? "The Lord God commanded the man, “You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.”  — Genesis 2:16-17 After God creates Eve, He announces that everything he has created is "very good." What was God's first command to the human race? BEEP. Wrong Answer. Unless of course you answered: have sex. * Lots and lots of sex. Yup. Not kidding. Hover over Genesis 1:28. Who said God's rules weren't fun? Moving on. Before God created Eve, He told Adam that he could eat from every tree on the surface of the earth...save for one. This particular one was in the very center of God's garden. The garden which Adam was the gardener of. God explicitly warned Adam that the fruit of this particular tree would kill him. The Ultimate Cake or Death. Would you like cake (the fruit from any of these 10 15 trees + immortality) or death (the fruit...

32. The Lord of Death "...the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil." — Hebrews 2:14 The Wisdom of Solomon is a Jewish book dating to a time period referred to as 2nd Temple Judaism , the short-lived, but unique brand of Judaism adhered to by Jesus and Paul. God did not make death, and he does not delight in the death of the living. God created man to be immortal, and made him to be an image of his own eternity. Nevertheless through envy of the devil came death into the world....  — Wisdom 1:13-14 and 2:23  NRSV  &  KJV Whether you believe the Wisdom of Solomon is inspired or Deuterocanonical/Apocrypha, one thing remains clear: The Jews of Jesus' and Paul's day understood that God did not create death. Paul confirmed this New Testament Jewish belief in his letter to the church in Rome: Against its will, all creation was subjected to God's curse. Sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, and in this way death came to all people....

31. Lord of the Sabbath For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.  —Exodus 20:11 On the sixth day (the first Friday), God declared that his creation was "very good." Planet Earth was Eutopia,* a perfect world. On the seventh day (the first Saturday), God finished his work of creation, so he "sabbath on the seventh day from all his work." We often translate the Hebrew word "sabbath" as rested, though it more accurately means "ceased" or "desisted." At this point in scripture, barely chapter two, God defines himself as Creator of the world, his most magnanimous role, and establishes a 7-day week, and later (Exodus 20:11) would declare that on the 7th day all those in allegiance to him were to honor him as Creator by also ceasing from their own work every 7th day. Think about that for a second. God...

Sabbath Rest Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all their multitude. And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. —Genesis 2:1-2 Adam and Eve lived in the Garden of Eden, right? Actually...that's a presupposition. (Sneaky little devils, aren't they?) The Bible never says Adam and Eve lived there. It never says the garden belonged to them. In fact, it says the garden belonged to God and that Adam worked there. You were in Eden, the garden of God... — Ezekiel 28:13a The cedars in the garden of God could not rival it...no tree in the garden of God was its equal in beauty...all the trees of Eden envied it, that were in the garden of God."  —E zekiel 31:8-9. When God "rested" on the Seventh day, he was actually moving in, i.e. setting up residence in Eden, and making it His "dwelling place." [1] Note that the Bible uses dwelling and resting synonymously ...

30. Eve: Mother of all Living Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living.  —Genesis 3:20 According to an article in NewScientist (as well as many other researchers in human genetics), scientists can "trace back the DNA in the maternally inherited mitochondria within our cells" to what they call a "theoretical" common ancestor. They call her “mitochondrial Eve.” Naturally, the ASA claim mitochondrial  Eve lived "between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago" and that she was "was not the first human" but that "every other female lineage eventually had no female offspring, failing to pass on their mitochondrial DNA." In other words, EVERY single other woman was a #boymom and they and their descendants all became extinct, because everyone living today, male and female, can be traced back to "mitochondrial Eve." Okay. Sure. And in contrast to the Sumerian and other ancient legends where the gods created ...

29. Adam: Son of God "...Adam, the son of God." —Luke 3:38 In Jesus' genealogy (in Luke 3), Adam is said to be the son of God. This title is also applied to angels — Gen 6:2,4; Job 1:6, 2:1, 38:7; and Deut 32:8 (in the Septuagint and Dead Sea version). In the novel, Primoridum , it is this title being given to Adam upon his creation that fuels Lucifer's motivation to revolt against God. Note that in Judaism, the title "son of God" is never a title of deity. However, it is eventually a title that applies not just to Adam but the line of Jewish kings, from whom the Messiah, the  son of God would come. And it is a title given to all New Testaments believers (1 John 3:1-2). Yet in Greek mythology, a son of God was divine, or at lest part divine (usually the offspring of a god with a mortal). In 1 John 3:1-2, Christians are called "sons of God." If you are a Christian, what do you think of having a title that once belonged only to angels? Share you answ...

28. Imago Dei: The Image of God as Representative Shigir Idol the oldest known wooden sculpture in the world displayed in the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in Yekaterinburg, Russia. There is scriptural support for all four of the Image of God views being true (we and God have emotions and intelligence; we were created for fellowship; we were giving dominion over the earth; and we are God's representatives on earth). But which one is the correct definition to the question, "What does being made in the image of God mean ?" In my opinion, #4. The Image of God as Representation (we are His representatives/image-bearers. The Hebrew word, tselem (צֶלֶם) , translated "image" in Genesis 1:27 ("God created man in His own image") is the same word in Numbers 33:52 that refers to idols -- Then ye shall drive out all the inhabitants of the land from before you, and destroy all their  pictures, and destroy all their molten images..." In ancient times...

27. Imago Dei: The Image of God as Dominion "...Subdue [the earth], and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." —Genesis 1:28 This view sees us made in the image of God in that we share in His dominion over the earth. The featured image is of a sign for sale at a Renn Faire. It jumped out at me because this ASA sentiment is exactly the opposite of what the Bible says, hearkening back to the battle of the worldviews. We are to be good stewards of the earth. We are not to abuse or exploit its resources. But we are its lords. We have the God-given right to chop down a tree and build shelter from the elements. We have the God-given right to kill an animal for sustenance. We do not share equality with trees or animals. What difference does this distinction make? What role does it play in the war? We buy our oil from Saudi Arabia...a country that commits gross violations of human rights. A Saudi ...

26. The Image of God as Counterpart For thus says the high and exalted One Who lives forever, whose name is Holy, "I dwell on a high and holy place, And also with the contrite and lowly of spirit In order to revive the spirit of the lowly...  —Isaiah 57:15 Humans as God's counterpart implies that we are the relational partner for God, created for fellowship. What does that even look like? Think of a big wig CEO, like Mark Zuckerberg, gaming with the man who empties his trashcan. Or the President of the United States having lunch with the guy who cleans the White House toilets. And I don't mean a "cares for all humanity" fist-bump in passing for publicity photo. I mean, after a long day of work, the only think Mark or Mr. President WANTS to do is hang out with his janitor because they are best friends. Humans were created for fellowship with God, but not as His peers. He's the CEO. We are the toilet cleaner...though out job is not to clean toilets. Except for ...

 25. Imago Dei: The Image of God as Similarity The LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend. —Exodus 33:11 The focus on the Image of God as Similarity is on the physical and emotional similarities people have with God. Ancient Jewish sources hold to this interpretation:  2 Enoch 44:1–3: The Lord with his own two hands created mankind; and in a facsimile of his own face. Small and great the Lord created. Whoever insults a person's face insults the face of the Lord; whoever treats a person's face with repugnance treats the face of the Lord with repugnance. Whoever treats with contempt the face of any person treats the face of the Lord with contempt. (There is) anger and judgement (for) whoever spits on a person's face. 2 Enoch 65:2: And however much time there was went by. Understand how, on account of this, he constituted man in his own form, in accordance with a similarity. And he gave him eyes to see, ears to hear, and heart to think, and reason to...

24. Imago Dei Imago Dei,  Latin for "image of God." According to ReligionFacts.com , Christianity has been influenced by four definitions of how humans are the imago dei : (1) The Image of God as Similarity (We have emotions, intelligence, etc). (2) The Image of God as Counterpart (We are the relational partner for God, created for fellowship). (3) The Image of God as Dominion (We are like God in that we share in His dominion over the earth). (4) The Image of God as Representation (We are like God in that we are His representatives on earth). We will look at each of these definitions over the next four blog posts. Beyond Genesis 1:26-28, here are a few other verses describing humans as made in the image of God: Genesis 5:13, Genesis 9:5-6, Psalm 8, 1 Corinthians 11:7, and James 3:9. Photo Credit: Mud Man  CC2.0 / Hands CCO.