June 8, 2014 Sunday Sermon, Pentecost

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us.  Lord, cleanse us from our sins.  Master, pardon our iniquities.  Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.  Lord have mercy (three times).

June 8, 2014 Sunday Sermon, Pentecost

The Scripture

Psalm 119:12, 18

Blessed are You, O Lord: teach me Your Statutes.

Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.

Acts 2:1-11

When the day of Pentecost had finally arrived, they were all with one accord in one place.  Suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting.  There also appeared to them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat on each of them.  They were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them ability.

Devout men, Jews from every nation under heaven were dwelling at Jerusalem, as well.  So, when this was noised abroad, the multitude came together, and were confounded, because everyone heard them speak in their own language.  They were all amazed, marveling and saying to one another,

“Behold, aren’t all these who are speaking Galileans?  How does every one of us hear in our own native language?  People from Parthia, Medea, Elam, Mesopotamia, Judea, Cappadocia, Pontus, Asia, Phrygia, Pamphylia, Egypt, parts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome; Jews and proselytes; Cretans and Arabians?  We all hear them speak the wonderful works of God in our own language.”

The Gospels

Luke 11:9-13

Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and you shall find; knock, and it shall be opened to you: for everyone who asks, receives; and he who seeks, finds; and to him who knocks, it shall be opened.  If a son shall ask for bread from any of you who is a father, will he give him a stone?  Or if he ask for a fish, will he for a fish give him a serpent?  Or if he shall ask for an egg, will he offer him a scorpion?  If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?

John 7:37-52

On the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, “If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.  He who believes in me, as the scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.”  (But this He spoke about the Spirit, which they who believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.)

Therefore when many of the people heard this statement, they said, “Truly, this is the Prophet.”  Others said, “This is the Christ.”  Some said, “Shall Christ come from Galilee?  Hasn’t the scripture said that Christ comes from the seed of David, from the town of Bethlehem, where David was?”  So there was a division among the people because of Him.  Some of them would have taken him; but no one laid hands on him.

Then the officers came to the chief priests[1] and Pharisees; who said to them, “Why haven’t you arrested him?”  The officers[2] replied, “No man ever spoke like this man.”  Then the Pharisees responded, “Are you also deceived?  Have any of the rulers or of the Pharisees believed on him?  This people who do not know the Law are cursed.”

Nicodemus interrupted them, (he who had come to Jesus by night, was one of their members), “Does our Law judge any man, before it hears him, and knows what he has done?”  They retorted, “Are you also a Galilean?  Search, and see: for no prophet arises from Galilee.”[3]

John 8:12

Then Jesus spoke to them again, saying, “I am the light of the world.  He who follows me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”

John 15:26-27

When the Comforter[4] has come, Whom I will send to you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, Who proceeds from the Father,[5] He shall testify of me: and you shall also bear witness,[6] because you have been with me from the beginning.

John 16:7-15

“Nevertheless, I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I do not go away, the Comforter will not come to you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you.  When He comes, He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they don’t believe in Me; of righteousness, because I go to My Father, and you see Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged.  I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now.  When the Spirit of truth, comes, He will guide you into all truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatever He hears[7], He shall speak: and He will show you things to come.  He shall glorify Me: for He shall receive My things, and reveal them to you.  Everything that the Father has is mine: therefore I said, that he shall receive My things, and reveal them to you.”

John 20:19-23

The same day at evening, the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.”  And when He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side.  Then the disciples were glad, when they saw the Lord.  Then Jesus said to them again, “Peace be with you: as My Father has sent Me, even so, I send you.”  When He had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Ghost: whoever’s sins you remit, they are remitted to them; and whoever’s sins you retain, they are retained.”

The Homily

On the Day of Pentecost in 33 AD the coming of the Holy Ghost took place as recorded in Acts 2:1-11.  There is no more significant day in the life of The Church.  The Holy Ghost is the Father’s special gift to The Church, Jesus prayed and promised that this great gift would come, so the Holy Ghost proceeded from the Father exactly as John 15:26 declares.  In spite of the magnitude of this gift, it is either belittled by exaggeration, or by neglect.  This is a shame, for our lives depend on this gift, and we would do well to give it serious attention.

This coming of the Holy Ghost was attended by flames of fire resting on all of those present.  Later, when the Gospel spread, these flames were seen again as evidence of the presence of the Holy Ghost in the midst of The Church.  What can this possibly signify?  The flame, as with Moses, and in the temple for eight hundred sixty years is the visible Presence of God’s Glory, the Sh^ekinah, and now He is exclusively present in the midst of the assembled and united Church.  In 586 BC that Glory had departed from the temple, from Jerusalem, and from Israel.  In 4 BC a star of Glory appeared in the east.  It was the return of the Glory.  Later that Glory was unveiled on the Mount of Transfiguration.  Now that Glory is with The Church.  What could possibly be more important than that?

Along with these flames of fire resting on every believer present was the granting of Spiritual gifts: much more than fleshly human talents.  Man has two aspects: a physical material body and an immaterial spirit.  Talents relate to the human body, and all human beings have them.  Spiritual gifts relate to the human spirit in its communication with the Holy Ghost.  Every Christian has at least one Spiritual gift, which is to be used for the Glory of God.

Because of all these things, the Day of Pentecost in 33 AD is also the birthday of The Church: for without the coming of the Holy Ghost to organize, lead, and bless with His wonderful gifts, there would be no Church on earth.

Because of the promise of Luke 11:9-13 we may freely ask for the Holy Ghost to enter our lives.  When the Holy Ghost enters our lives He heals our blindness, so that we can see and understand the Gospel of Jesus in both heart and mind with all due humility.  People do not need expert knowledge of the Bible.  When they receive this gift of the Holy Ghost He will begin to patiently explain everything to them and lead them to reliable human teachers in due time.

Because the anniversary of the Day of Pentecost in 33 AD is so special, Kneeling Prayers are often said on this occasion.

The Kneeling Prayers

The beautiful kneeling prayers are especially devoted to Pentecost.  Here is one place you can find them.

http://full-of-grace-and-truth.blogspot.com/2009/06/great-prayers-of-kneeling-service.html

[8]

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[1] The chief priests were members of the Sadducee party and direct enemies of the Pharisees.  Their malice toward Jesus is so all consuming that here they temporarily become colleagues.

[2] Probably Levites, who inherited such duties since Moses.

[3] This is dubious: for Nahum was probably from Galilee, and Jonah as well.  If both Nahum and Jonah are from Galilee, then the Pharisees and Sadducees are living in direct denial of their own history.  Such is the force of malice, that it blinds the mind to truth.

[4] The Holy Ghost

[5] From the Father only

[6] The essential quality of good witnesses is that they report what they have observed accurately.

[7] From the Father, not from any random source

[8] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.

These meditations are not controlled by Creative Commons or other licenses, such as: copyright, CC, BY, SA, NC, or ND.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.

June 1, 2014 Sunday Sermon

... in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.  Amen.  Through the prayers of our holy Fathers, Lord Jesus Christ our God, have mercy on us and save us.  Amen.  Glory to You, our God, Glory to You.

O Heavenly King, the Comforter, the Spirit of truth, You are everywhere and fill all things, Treasury of blessings, and Giver of life: come and abide in us, and cleanse us from every impurity, and save our souls, O Good One.

Holy God, Holy Mighty, Holy Immortal, have mercy on us (three times).

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost, as it is now, was in the beginning, and ever shall be, world without end.  Amen.

All-holy Trinity, have mercy on us.  Lord, cleanse us from our sins.  Master, pardon our iniquities.  Holy One, visit us and heal our infirmities for Your Name’s sake.  Lord have mercy (three times).

June 1, 2014 Sunday Sermon

The Scripture

Psalm 119:18

Open my eyes, so that I may behold wondrous things out of Your Law.

Ephesians 1:17-23 (Paul’s Prayer)

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power, which He wrought in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that [world] which is to come: and has put all things under His feet, and gave Him to be the head over all things to the Church, which is His body, His fullness that fills all in all.

The Gospel

John 17:1-13

These words Jesus spake, and lifting up his eyes to heaven, said,

“Father, the hour is come; glorify Your Son, so that Your Son may also glorify You.  As You have given Him power over all flesh, so that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.  This is life eternal; that they might know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent.  I have glorified You on the earth: I have finished the work which You gave me to do.  Now, Father, glorify me at Your side with the glory which I had with You before the world was created.

“I have revealed Your name to the men whom You gave me from the world: they were Yours, and You gave them to me; and they have kept Your Word[1].  Now they know that everything You have given me is from You: for I have given to them the words which You gave me; and they received them, and know surely that I came from You, and they believe that You sent me.

“I pray for them: I do not pray for the world, but for them whom You have given me: for they are Yours.  All mine are Yours; Yours are mine; and I am glorified in them.  Now I am no longer in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to You.  Holy Father, keep through Your own name those whom You have given me, so that they may be one, as we are.  While I was with them in the world, I kept them in Your name.  Those whom You gave me I have kept, and none of them is lost, except for the son of perdition, so that the scripture might be fulfilled.

“Now I come to You; and these things I speak in the world, so that they might have my joy fulfilled in themselves.”

The Homily

Jesus prays for one thing for Himself in His high priestly prayer.  He prays that the Father would glorify both of them together: He prays that the light of the Sh^ekinah would be unveiled again in heaven.

Jesus prays for one thing for His disciples in His high priestly prayer.  He prays that they would be One: One with God the Father, One with Himself, One with the Holy Ghost, and One with each other.

Why does Jesus ask for these two things?  He has one reason.  He wants us to receive the fullness of His joy.  It is frequently said that joy is a decision: people decide to be happy.  This is true: happiness does not depend on our circumstances.  Nevertheless, there are two essential things necessary for real happiness.  One, We must in united with The Whole Christian Church on earth, with The Whole Christian Church in heaven, and with the Whole Consubstantial and Undivided Trinity.  Two, We must have a clear view of the Beatific Glory of Jesus, the Sh^ekinah.  Without these two things we can never truly be happy.

A little girl observed a donkey, “You must be a Christian donkey.  You have such a long sad face.”  Christians may be sad, but they ought to be filled with joy.  The reason that Christians lack joy is that they are so horribly divided and no longer seek the Beatific Vision.

Revelation 19:7

“Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.”

It’s time to get dressed, folks.  We have a wedding to attend.

We may ask for the Holy Ghost to enter our lives.  When the Holy Ghost enters our lives He heals our blindness, so that we can see and understand the Gospel of Jesus in both heart and mind with all due humility.[2]

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[1] God’s Law

[2] If you have been blessed or helped by any of these meditations, please repost, share, or use any of them as you wish.

These meditations are not controlled by Creative Commons or other licenses, such as: copyright, CC, BY, SA, NC, or ND.  They are designed and intended for your free participation.  They were freely received, and are freely given.  No other permission is required for their use.

False Science 2

This blog was sparked as a response to a theological discussion about the literal reality of Adam as a distinct person.

http://www.dts.edu/media/play/cultural-engagement-historical-adam-panel-faculty/

We do not criticize any of the speakers in this forum.  You are free to evaluate the discussion on its own merits.  What bothers us is that scientific ideas and terms are often thrown around in the sense of common knowledge.  In this specific instance the history related to Copernicus gets thrown around.  That happens a lot in contemporary society.  However, this creates a false impression about what science does or does not have to say about the issue.  In other words, our common knowledge is not common, it is filled with errors, and in many instances is no better than an old wives fable or urban legend.  Please, we can do better than that.

Our Response

Unfortunately, this pentalog is flawed by a weak understanding of science.  The history surrounding Copernicus and the heliocentric cosmology model is indeed unfortunate.  No one, other than God, knows the exact center of the cosmos; this locus is impossible to discover by measurement or observation.  Even if Big Bang (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang) is conceded for the sake of this discussion, it is still unlikely that the center of the cosmos can be found by mere man.

“There is little evidence regarding the absolute earliest instant of the expansion.  Thus, the Big Bang theory cannot and does not provide any explanation for such an initial condition; rather, it describes and explains the general evolution of the universe going forward from that point on (ibid).”

“There are generally considered to be three outstanding problems with the Big Bang theory: the horizon problem, the flatness problem, and the magnetic monopole problem (ibid).”

Fundamental to this discussion is the fact that we cannot really see beyond our event horizon (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event_horizon).  Obviously, Big Bang, as yet, has nothing to say about the exact center of the cosmos.  Since, we cannot see beyond our event horizon we cannot prove or disprove that God is “out there” by scientific means.  This requires that God, if He exists, penetrate our event horizon, which He did in the form of His Shekinah Glory, a fact attested by millions of credible witnesses over continual periods spanning hundreds of years.

Therefore, having set aside Big Bang as irrelevant and moot, we return to the original question of origins with this additional quote from wiki/Big_Bang.

“If the large-scale Universe appears isotropic as viewed from Earth, the cosmological principle can be derived from the simpler Copernican principle, which states that there is no preferred (or special) observer or vantage point.”

In the realm of multi-dimensional Cartesian coordinates and vector systems, the choice of origins, as well as other details, is entirely arbitrary.  One usually chooses one’s origins to simplify the mathematics of any given problem.  Calculations made from two differing points of origin must produce the same result, even though one may be very difficult to compute, and even more difficult to explain.  As the “Copernican principle” suggests, the two differing points of origin are relative to each other.  A heliocentric cosmology model yields simple elliptical path mathematics that anyone can understand: it is indispensable to discussion of our planetary system.  However, this does not at all obsolete our geocentric cosmology model, which is still in widespread use today and equally indispensable for things like star mapping: contemporary astronomy discussions are still filled with words like ecliptic.  Therefore, the debate over geocentricity versus heliocentricity is worn out.  We do not and cannot know where the absolute center of the universe is located, and we don’t much care.

What we do know is that the Shekinah Glory invaded our event horizon at least once.  Moreover, He did it in such a way as to establish Himself as the sole qualified expert to speak on all things creative.  He was there from before the foundation of the world, we were not there.  He clearly says that Adam is a single real person, that Adam’s flesh was divided somehow, mysteriously to make two distinct real persons: one retaining the name Adam, the other being named Life.  That settles that, but it is hardly the end of the story.

This Shekinah Glory explains to us in numerous places that He is always near, and everywhere: there is no sufficient reason ever to limit the range of that presence either inside or outside of our event horizon.

Finally, it should be abundantly clear to all students of cosmology that this Shekinah Glory appeared in the Bethlehem Star during the days of Herod the Great, on the Mount of Transfiguration a few years later, as tongues of fire on the disciples in 33 AD, and will doubtless come again blazing across the sky in great glory.

Merry Christmas,

Herb Swanson aka Augie

The Absolute Existence of God 3

Does God Exist?

Our insistence on the Absolute Existence of God, although a bit tongue-in-cheek, has drawn some comment in Facebook.  Here is the whole conversation.

BW Posts

“The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’  So, Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.  For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink.  Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him.  As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me.  This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate, and died.  Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.’ ”-John 6

HS Responds

“The indispensible evangelism text.”

JY Writes

“Hurray for cannibalism?!”

HS Replies

“That accusation was resolved centuries ago!?”

JY

“Yeah, in that if you eat the flesh of ones own species you are practicing cannibalism.  But hey if eating human flesh is your thing don't let me cramp your style.  All I ask is don't try and twist definitions and logic around to make yourself feel better.  Lying to yourself never helped anyone.”

BW

“Ravi Zacharias addressing a group of Christians said, ‘The anger with which they[Atheists] speak about God you would not speak against the Tooth Fairy.... Something in the back of their minds tell them – “He’s REAL and we’re ANGRY!”  Why use the time and energy to attack a God that “doesn't exist”?’ ”

“Why do you hate God [JY]?  Or if you won’t answer that, why do you hate the idea of God?”

JY

“Lol The idea that I would actually possess hatered towards a fictional being is absurd.  That being said the existence of your God in particular is a interesting one because wether I like it or not it's believers think it can tell me and others how to live by affecting public policy.  As I've already said, I find your traditions of eating the living flesh of your deity odd but I would never try and change anything about you or how you live.  That is something missionaries in Africa or Asia can't really say now can they?”

HS

“Since there are at least two distinct topics involved here, we need to separate them in order to make any sense out of the conversation.

For a thorough proof of the existence of God, please consult http://swantec.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-absolute-existence-of-god-1.html.  Look forward to the-absolute-existence-of-god-2, soon to come as well.  The clear, sure evidence for the existence of God is sufficiently manifest for all to see.  However, some folks want to pretend they cannot see it; in reality, they will not see it.  Denying the existence of God is a logic error on the order of denying that the sunrise took place this morning.

As far as the ancient claim of cannibalism is concerned, Christ’s outrageous sermon offended nearly everyone in earshot.  Evidently, Christ intended to offend those listening.  Many of His hearers had a cold, dead, rule bound idea of God; for these, God was nothing more than a set of demands (not the Ten Commandments, not even the other regulations handed down through Moses, [these were] extra manmade ceremonial rules).  God was no longer a person to them.  Christ demands that we consider what our relationship to Him is.

What is our relationship to Him?  If we were related to God as carnivore and kill, or as manslayer and victim to be devoured, the John 6 picture would indeed be too much to tolerate.  However, this does not describe our relationship to God.  Rather, He is Creator and we are creation, He is Groom and we are bride, He is Head and we are body, He is Vine and we are branches.  In all of these metaphorical relationships, the essential sustenance of life is passed from God to man, which is to say that it is eaten and drunk, without any event of kill or cannibalism.  Man cannot live without God.  Indeed, ‘Man cannot live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’

The relationship of Groom and bride is especially fascinating.  In the beauty and mystery of the marital, sexual relationship, bodily fluids are transferred between man and wife, and new life is created.  This is indeed wonderful, but it is not close to being cannibalistic.  It is not accidental that God calls this relationship, ‘one flesh.’  In redemption, we become one flesh with the Theanthropic (or Theandric) Person: we who are mere men, become men-gods through our relationship with the God-man.  Nor is it accidental that the woman is named Eve (or Zoe in Greek), which means life.

Since there is no direct role model other than these metaphorical relationships, humanity must be content with embracing this mystery of our relationship with God as something logically outside of our grasp.  The metaphors show the logical possibility of such relationships, but do not tell us directly how this plays out between God and man.  So, we must be content to accept them by faith.

There may have been some excuse for the cannibalism accusation in the first century.  Nowadays, it simply displays unbelievable ignorance.”

JY

“Firstly there is no conclusive evidence for or against god's existence.  Even as a atheist myself I understand that science is the study of the natural world and sense your god in particular is WAY outside the natural order it would be impossible to properly study or judge a being that can warp time, space, matter, and even the very laws that govern each at will.  ANYONE who claims to know or prove the existence or nonexistence of such a being is a delusional imbecile of the highest caliber.

What I will address however your arguments where science is involved.  How on Earth do you see the sharing of genetic material to make offspring and consuming the flesh of others to be equal?  You even throw in a marriage metaphor which btw makes it sound like eating a spouse is justified as you are ‘one in the same’.  To be fair in the natural world cannibalism is not very uncommon (albet rare for mammals like ourselves and less so for reptiles and insects).  We as humans tend to view it more taboo then murder, rape, or incest because of this wonderful thing called empathy which allows us to understand and conceptualize what we are putting another sentient being threw.  Hell thats why most vegetarians are who they are because they apply that to non-human beings.

Lastly I want to address the HUGE amount of mental gymnastics I see in your explanation.  Just because you or your church has decided that eating the flesh of Jesus isn't cannibalism doesn't mean it actually is not cannibalism.  If you want it not to be cannibalism then ask Websters to change the definition because your tradition still meets the current criteria.  Your opinions have ZERO weight behind them if all you have to justify yourself is philosophical bullshit that is meaningless to anyone who doesn't think exactly as you do!  You say humanity ‘must’ embrace this mysterious relationship with god when it simply doesn't.  How many billions currently live honest peaceful lives without giving your god a second thought?  Do you understand how insanely arrogant you sound when you say such things?”

HS

“It is difficult to believe that you read the proof of God's existence.  Science has nothing to say about this.  History is too large to put into a test-tube.  The Jews claim that their ancestors met continuously with a Person named I Am, over a period of 860 years.  If this claim were based on the observation of one Israelite, we might have cause to doubt the evidence.  If this claim were based on one occurrence, we might suspect illusion or delusion.  That several million people observed this Person, and built a nation in obedience to His commands is virtually indisputable.  That this nation was destroyed, only when this Person abandoned the Jews because of their sins, is remarkable.  The credibility of the documentary evidence is unimpeached (it is a credible diary, or logbook kept over many generations).  Numerous tests of personality are all met.  By your argument millions of Jews throughout history are, ‘delusional imbecile[s] of the highest caliber.’

With regard to ‘You say humanity ‘must’ embrace....’  We have no intention of coercing your conscience, or telling you what to believe.  You can, may, and will believe what you wish: it is a free country.  However, we did not attack you or intrude ourselves into your conversation.  Rather, you intruded yourself into our conversation and began to attack us.  Nevertheless, we welcome such uninvited involvement in the interests of pursuing Truth.  Having said that, there are unavoidable cause and effect relationships involved here.  You have chosen your own path, and you will (you must) live with the consequences of that choice.

As far as the cannibalism claim [is] concerned, this is just so much flogging of a dead horse.  The discussion lost philosophical importance over 1500 years ago.  I’m amazed that anyone thinks it is any longer important.  For example, see: http://www.academia.edu/787977/Eating_People_Accusations_of_Cannibalism_Against_Christians_in_the_Second_Century.  Notwithstanding the opposing claims of http://www.nobeliefs.com/communion/communion.htm, the argument is absurd.  If you wish to believe this sort of thing, it’s a free country, you may believe whatever you wish to believe.  That does not give you the right to lay this at our doorstep.  We do ‘understand how insanely arrogant you sound when you say such things.’

As far as the credibility of our arguments is concerned, we never intended to persuade you to begin with.  We know full well that, ‘A man convinced against his will, is of the same opinion still.’  You will continue to believe what you wish to believe.  Our arguments serve only one real purpose.  They serve to support those who already believe, and to encourage those who are seeking to believe.”

JY

“First of all I never attacked you and still haven't.  At most my ‘hurray for cannibalism?!’ was playful ribbing at best.  It was merely a joke.  It's the same way ‘zombie Jesus’ is mocking the similarities between the two.  If that offends you then learn to get a sense of humor; this is the internet.

Secondly the church does impose itself on others and you are LYING if you say otherwise.  If we had this conversation in Europe 400 years ago my very life would be in danger for sharing these opinions.  People In this very country have been burned alive for witchcraft in the name of your religion so don't you dare say Christianity doesn't force people into its way of thinking because it has and to a degree still does to this day via the fear of becoming ostracized or eternal hellfire.

Thirdly, this has nothing to do with science?  Why the f@&k not?!.  Thousand year old slips of paper written by desert nomads who had about as much traditional education as a modern 1st grader have more credibility then Math, Gravity, and other replicable experiments you yourself are able to do right this very instant?  Are you mad?!  If building cities, cultures, and keeping records is all one takes to legitimize a Deity then please explain the illegitimacy of the Hindu, Muslim, Greek, and Mayan gods because I would love to hear it.  Also this notion that because multiple authors wrote about something around the same time means thats actually the truth is absurd.  For thousands of years everyone on Earth thought the Sun revolved around the Earth and from the evidence they had that was a reasonable assumption however does that mean they still wernt under an illusion?  Of course they were, even if that explanation made sense and was excepted world wide it was still WRONG.  Please, all I ask is that you look at the world from not from one angle or even two but from five or six different ways.”

HS

“You could have fooled me.  It sure does look like an attack to me, looking at it from seven different ways.  You’re talking about my King.

Actually, it is scientifically correct to say that the Sun revolves around the Earth from the perspective of an observer on Earth.  The language of the ecliptic is still appropriate and useful scientifically.  It is equally, scientifically correct to say that the Earth revolves around the Sun from the perspective of an observer on the Sun (hard to accomplish in reality).  Scientifically we do not know, nor cannot find the absolute center of the universe, because our measurements are all relative to an assumed origin.  So actually, the idea that the Sun revolves around the Earth is not and never was wrong.  What is wrong here is your understanding of science.  The point of discussion always depends on the arbitrary choice of Cartesian coordinate systems.

Please don’t lecture me about what science can and cannot do.  I’ve given over 50 years of my life to the study and application of science.  That includes advanced studies in statistics, measurements, scientific method, and error evaluation.  The practice of science depends on the repetition and replication of experiments.  In terms of practical practice, no single scientist can handle an experiment lasting more than a month; the human memory is just not that good.  Hence, long experiments require extra controls.  Replication requires building a new apparatus, or at least tearing down the old one and putting it up again.  We all know what repetition is.  Repetition and replication are important because they expose error factors caused by unknown variables.  The study of this error leads to new discoveries.  It is simply impossible to replicate or repeat any sizeable event of history such as Slaughterhouse-Five (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut).  Science can be used as a tool to evaluate historic artifacts, but even this can be misleading, especially in the case of radiometric dating methods, which are notoriously inaccurate.  In such evaluations the experimental tests can be repeated, or replicated with differing apparatus until the artifact is consumed.  Since no one wants to see the evidence consumed, this sort of experimentation is usually restricted.  The artifact itself is far more valuable than any experiment that can be performed on it.  Science is a very small and limited tool, totally inappropriate for the study of art, history, literature, poetry, or music.  The best that science can do is pick away at minor peripheral details of these subjects.  Science must not be confused with evidence.  The studies of art, history, literature, poetry, and music all require evidence.  However, each of them also requires its own specialized principles of evaluation and controls for verification.  Science has nothing to say about any of this, because science is simply too small an instrument.

Now that we have created the seventh dimensional vector space that you require, let’s explore further.  By the way, are you equipped to handle the algebra and calculus of the seventh dimensional vector spaces you insist that we explore?  The artifacts involved are not thousand-year-old slips of paper; they are two thousand-year-old parchment (leather) and papyrus documents, some of which are almost perfectly intact (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaiah_scroll).  Other pertinent artifacts are five thousand-year-old monuments.  These ‘uneducated desert nomads’ mastered astronomy, invented alphabetic writing, built civilizations, developed the sciences of embalming and ceramics to unexcelled heights, mastered bronze and iron metallurgy, and had a command of mathematics that would stump most modern collegians.  Your idea of ‘first grade education’ is simply arrogant and ill informed.  We urge you to apply your own medicine and ‘look at the world from not from one angle or even two but from five or six different ways.’

The merits and claims of Hindu, [Muslim], Greek, and Mayan civilizations all hang on the artifacts they left behind.  Muslim civilization is late, only arising after 570 AD.  Science has no more to say about these civilizations than it does about Babylonian (Sumerian), Egyptian, Canaanite, Hittite, Philistine, Hebrew, Edomite, Syrian, Assyrian, Neo Babylonian, Medo-Persian, Greek, Roman, Christian, English, or American civilizations.  That’s nineteen different perspectives.  On which of these are you a subject matter expert?  Which of these civilizations has artifacts that disclose meeting with a Person named I Am, who is also called God?  If you really want to go there, produce the evidence and let us compare the credibility between the Old Testament evidence and the evidence of other civilizations.  You know where my evidence is found.  You made a claim.  Where is your evidence?

The church and christianity (please note that the capitalization is deliberate) have done some incredibly stupid and inexcusable things.  Please note the Christian New Testament claim that the Church has always been infiltrated by wicked people.  Moreover, becoming a Christian does not immediately remove a person’s sins, so real Christians also do stupid things (like continuing this conversation).  No, the arrest of Galileo, the wars of the sixteenth century, and the Salem Witch trials are not Christianity's brightest hour.  However, I do not sit in judgment of my ancestors, they were people of their times.

Let’s talk about water boarding.  Are you willing to accept your responsibility for the practice of this act in our civilization?  We may not condemn an entire civilization for the corrupt acts of a few.  We may not condemn the German people for Adolf Hitler.  We may not condemn the United States for the bombing of Dresden.  We may not condemn you for CIA water boarding.  And we may not condemn Christianity for Vladimir III.

As far as coercion of individuals is concerned, let’s talk about what God has done.  God created man with a free will, a perfect intellect, and uncorrupted emotions.  You have nobody to blame but yourself that your will is now enslaved to your pet sins, your intellect is less than flawless, and your emotions are so tangled up that you cannot even understand yourself.  You were made to be a free man, and because of Jesus Christ, you have the potential to be free once again.  It is irrelevant that people do or do not coerce you, or that you feel coerced.  God wants you to be free.  You are not free because you don’t want to be free.  You chose your own brand of slavery.  What are you going to do about that?

If you want to believe that Jesus Christ giving His life in a cruel Roman crucifixion for you constitutes an act of coercion against you, so be it.  I will never dissuade you, and I’ll never try.  I can’t stop you from feeling coerced either, you decided to be that sort of victim, and coerced you will continue to be, even if it’s only in your own mind.  Is your life in danger now?  Why not?

As far as other angles are concerned, what other angles did you have in mind?  It’s your move.

By the way, your jokes aren’t very funny.”

The Absolute Existence of God 2

Does God Exist?

Our insistence on the Absolute Existence of God is a bit tongue in cheek.  It is impossible for man to know anything absolutely.  Absolute knowledge belongs to God alone.  Nonetheless, how good is our evidence?

Suppose that we met today for the first time, shook hands, exchanged names, and walked away.

The Reality of Identity

What would you know about the reality of my identity?  I could have given a false name.  We would need some method for testing the populace for the probability of giving a false name under such circumstances.  Lacking that, let us just say that the odds are one out of two: I could be lying or I could be telling the truth.  Most likely, the odds are much better than this, because we commonly believe that most people avoid lying far more than fifty percent of the time.  We have begun with a very conservative statistic.

However, if in our meeting, I wanted to cash a check or make a credit card purchase from you.  You would normally require that I produce photographic identification: for example, a driver’s license.  For transactions that are more serious additional identification would be required: a birth certificate.  Even if such documents were easily forged and sloppily controlled, the odds of my identity being false would surely be one in eight or better, still a very conservative estimate.

If I continued in the community for any length of time, my check cleared the banking system or my credit card paid the debt.  You would become more confident in my identity: at least one in sixteen odds.  With each ensuing transaction, confidence in my credentials would go up.  If I remained in the community for forty years, conducting thousands of transactions a year, the likelihood of my identity being false would be too small to calculate practically: it would in effect become zero.  There would be absolutely no chance of my having a false identity.

Not only would there be absolutely no chance of my having a false identity, it would no longer matter.  My actions and character would have established my identity within the community, and it would not matter what people called me.  In fact, I may have gathered any number of nick or pet names.  I might be Sure-Shot on the golf course, Strikes at bowling, Sultan-of-Swat in the baseball league, Trout-Master while fly-fishing, and Bicycle-Grandpa to my grandson.  I would be known by my behavior, rather than by my credentials.  The odds of being accurately, well known would be one hundred percent.

The Reality of Existence

What would you know about the reality of my existence?  I could be a hologram, a “second identity,” an illusion, or a mirage.  Yet, you spoke with me and shook my hand.  Let’s be conservative and generous.  Let’s say that there is one chance in a thousand that I don’t really exist.

However, a friend comes along; he meets me too, shakes my hand, and speaks with me.  Neither you nor your friend use hallucinogenic drugs.  Both of you are of sound mind, and you concur that I in fact exist.  The odds of your both being wrong at the same time are now one in one million.  As this existence is confirmed day-by-day with more and more people throughout the community, the probable reality of my existence would become one hundred percent at a much faster rate than my identity.

If I were unusual looking, or became famous, it would become impossible for me to hide my existence or identity.  The community would know everything I did and every place I went at a considerable loss of my personal privacy.  Like a movie, music, sport, or TV star, I could not even hide from the ubiquitous eye of the community.  The odds of my existence would be overwhelming.

The Historic Scenario

Around 1446 BC an escaped murderer, a failure in life, a person of no reputation except that he used to live in the Egyptian royal household, until he disgraced himself, is wandering around in the Sinai desert tending his father-in-law’s flock, when he meets a very unusual Person at mount Horeb.  The man is named Moses.

What we first know of this Person is that He has the unusual appearance of a fire that burns, yet does not consume.  The fire talks, listens, carries on an intelligent conversation, sees and is seen, and otherwise demonstrates characteristics normally associated with personality.  This Person is finally introduced with the Name, Am, I Am.

At this point, there is no especial reason to believe that Moses is not hallucinating, except for the fact that Moses has not hallucinated previously, generally acts rationally, and knows how to survive in the desert.  Such desert survival usually requires the ability to distinguish mirage from reality, and otherwise avoid danger and deception.  If Moses were the sort of person who characteristically allows himself to hallucinate due to hydration, he would have died in the desert long before now.  The fact that Moses is still alive demonstrates that he has the sort of survival skills that we call street smarts nowadays.  Moses is not a tenderfoot or greenhorn; consequently, he is not easily deceived.

Moreover, this flaming personage claims to know Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and claims to be their God.  He has comprehensive knowledge of Israelite conditions in Egypt, and unveils His plan for their deliverance.  In pursuit of this deliverance, He gives explicit instructions, all of which come to pass.  In addition, He provides Moses with His indisputable credentials in the form of manipulation of creation.  A common inanimate wooden staff is changed into a living serpent and back again.  Then, Moses’ perfectly normal hand is turned leprous, and whole again.

It is becoming less and less likely that Moses is dealing with a hallucination, Who has identified Himself with a fraudulent identity.  This would require that Moses be in some deep dream or trancelike state, and is having a nightmare.  There is no evidence of such a nightmare taking place.  Sane people do not act based on nightmares, let alone have them actually become realities.  For the sake of argument, we conclude the odds that “I Am” is a false identity are less than one in eight; and the odds of a false existence are less than one in one thousand, from the perspective of a single observer named Moses.

The Mathematical Necessity

If you don’t agree with these probabilities, pick probabilities for identity and existence with which you are comfortable.  It does not make any difference what probabilities you assign unless to assign probabilities of one.  This is the assumption that Moses is absolutely, totally deceived in every detail all the time; yet, this is not a reasonable assumption.  Moses most certainly saw something and met Someone.  If you assume that Moses is absolutely, totally deceived in every detail; you will eventually need to assume that an entire nation involving millions of people over hundreds of years was equally deceived.  Such mass insanity is extremely unlikely.

However, if you allow any probability for reality of identity and existence, even if it’s only a chance of one in one hundred, or even one in one thousand, our proof will still stand.  The proof stands because it is exponential, and even odds of nine hundred ninety-nine out of one thousand vanish to nothing with the presence of millions and millions of other witnesses over a period of eight hundred sixty years.

The Ensuing History

In the following months, this Flaming-Smoking reality, named I Am, meets two and one half million Israelites, Pharaoh and innumerable Egyptians, fights and defeats these Egyptians, and leads these Israelites in a march around the Sinai desert for forty years.  He also establishes law and government in a form of worship centered on the Tabernacle.  In this period a following generation is born, also on the order of several million people.  These all witnesses this Flaming-Smoking presence, which we have elsewhere called the Shekinah Glory.  Throughout these forty years, the Glory not only leads, but feeds, and provides water for this hoard of millions.  Shortly after 1406 BC, the death of Moses, this unusual Glory, named I Am, leads Joshua and the Israelites across the Jordan River, then He miraculously attacks and demolishes the City of Jericho without the assistance if Israelite arms.

In due time national existence takes shape under Joshua, a system of worship is set in order, and the Israelites disperse to occupy the land on both sides of the Jordan.  Even so, three times a year worshipping adults assembled at the Tabernacle, first at Shiloh,[1] and later at Solomon’s Temple in Jerusalem.  We have no way of making an exact count, but after eight hundred sixty years, roughly twenty-one or more generations have passed.  In a populous, thriving, growing nation, an overall population in excess of fifty-four million people have witnessed the Glory three times a year, throughout their lives.  Moreover, the High Priest and his staff witnessed this Presence every day.  Even the division priests, who only served one month every year, beheld the Shekinah a minimum of thirty days a year, throughout their lives.

The Statistical Conclusion

By any realistic evaluation of the reality of identity and existence, the I Am is a one hundred percent statistic.  You do the math.  Especially in the case of the High Priest and his staff, the denial of the existence of I Am is an absurdity on the order of claiming that the Sun does not exist.  The evidence for the existence of God in the Shekinah Glory, Whose Name is I Am, exceeds the evidence for any other person in history.

“But the Lord [is] in His holy temple: let all the earth keep silence before Him.”[2]

“The fool has said in his heart, [There is] no God.”[3]

These statements are not so much wishful thinking on the parts of Habakkuk and David.  These are well-considered conclusions, based on well-established evidence.  The existence of God is certain.

Corollary One: The Creation

These texts and statistics concerning the Shekinah Glory do more than establish certainty of His identity and existence.  We noted before that, after a period of time, a person’s behavior does more to establish identity than any name.  This Person repeatedly shows His authority over Creation.  In doing this, He establishes Himself as an authority, fully qualified to speak about the details of Creation.  Moses was not present at Creation, and has no authority to speak about it.  However, I Am evidently was present at Creation, and has the only authority to speak about it.  As far as I Am’s veracity is concerned, we’ll just have to take His word for it, we weren’t there either.  That Moses was chosen for the honor of recording the facts of Creation through a conversation between friends is beside the point.

Corollary Two: The Nation

It is a strange fact of history that Israel-Judah are insignificant twin nations surrounded by enormous, powerful empires.  For the most part these empires could have easily squashed Israel like a bug.  Only one factor fully explains their existence over an eight hundred twenty year period.  I Am held them sacrosanct throughout that period.  When the eight hundred twenty year period came to an end, the prophets did not question the justice of dissolving Judah.  The prophet’s only question was, “How could God punish Judah with a dirty stick?”  God simply deserted Israel-Judah, because they had already deserted Him; consequently, they perished.

Corollary Three: The Canonicity of Scripture

We usually look at the issue of Canonicity from a human viewpoint.  How did human authorities decide what books to include in the Bible?  However, from the Shekinah Glory, two things are evident.  One, the writing of Scripture, that is its inspiration, is the result of the conversation between prophets and God: this conversation defines the meaning of the prophetic office.  Two, Moses commands the Levites to place the master copy of the Scripture beside the Ark in the Most Holy Place: this official act of laying up Scripture in the Presence of the Glory defines canonicity.  Nothing was accomplished without Divine supervision.[4]  Canonicity is a work of God, rather than an act of man.

Corollary Four: The Loss of Authority

When the Shekinah Glory abandons Solomon’s Temple in 586 BC,[5] all authority is taken away from Israel-Judah.  Jewish forces cannot defend the Jerusalem: it is overthrown.  They cannot protect the Temple: it is destroyed.  They cannot preserve the canonical Scripture documents, Ark, or Urim and Thummim: all are lost.  When the Jews return from Babylon around 516 BC, they are unable to replace the canonical Scripture documents, Ark, Urim and Thummim, or even some priests.  The Shekinah Glory will not return for over five hundred ten years.  The best they can do is rebuild the city, the temple, and scratch together a secondhand copy of the Scripture.  All this is accomplished by human strength alone.  There is no attendant Presence to bless their work.  The Jews weep over this reality because they realize that they have forfeited everything of real importance.  They continue to exist under foreign dominance until everything is finally destroyed in 70 AD.

The Shekinah returns around 4 BC and within a span of thirty-seven years establishes a new kingdom that will bring forth the fruit of God’s kingdom.  The Shekinah gives Himself to every member of this new kingdom when the Holy Spirit rests on each believer, beginning with the day of Pentecost.  This new kingdom is the true Israel of God.

Conclusion

Now apart from faith [it is] impossible to well-please [Him]: for it is necessary for the one approaching God to believe that He exists, and he becomes a rewarder[6] to those who seek him out.”[7]

“For our God is also a thoroughly destroying fire.[8]

We have sufficiently demonstrated that God revealed Himself as a person in many prominent locations, over long time periods, in the presence of millions of witnesses.  We have shown beyond reasonable doubt that God presented Himself as an historic presence with sufficient credentials and credibility to be an unquestionable authority on all matters of Creation and Revelation.  We showed that Moses received his information from conversations with his Friend.  We established that the pertinent information was recorded in credible historic documents and protected from harm.  QED

An Appendix: The Shekinah Glory

Shekinah, Ark, Urim, and Thummim

The mode of appearance of God’s presence [9] is not always clear in Scripture, but on at least one occasion in the life of Abraham (around 2000 BC) it is a “smoking furnace, and a burning lamp.”[10]  We then see God speak to Moses at the Burning Bush (around 1446 BC).[11]  Next, the Lord led Israel by a pillar of cloud and fire, as the Israelites cross the Red Sea and enter the deserts of the Sinai Peninsula.[12]

Eventually, this pillar settled on Mount Sinai at the giving of the law, took up residence in the Tabernacle, and more specifically was associated with the Ark of the Covenant.  At Sinai the Shekinah is perceived to be a terrifying apparition;[13] whereas, at the burning bush it was relatively innocuous.  In spite of this spectacular display, Moses himself is not afraid to approach God.  In this context, the Shekinah gives the Decalogue to Moses directly and personally.[14]

The presence of God at the Ark is dramatically, powerfully, and tragically revealed when Aaron’s sons, Nadab and Abihu are killed for offering profane fire, for God appeared “in the cloud upon the mercy seat.”[15]  The Shekinah and the Ark appear to be doing the same thing: namely, leading the people of God.[16] [17]  When Jericho is defeated, the ark is again in a place of prominent leadership.[18]  Even in defeat, Joshua approaches the Ark, for it was here that he met the appearance of God.[19]

The story of the selection of Achan follows,[20] but many details are left out.  The Scripture does not say, but we expect that, God “took” Achan[21] using the instruments of the ephod, the breastplate, the holy stones, with the Urim and Thummim.[22]  Many authorities see this as a casting of lots, like holy dice.  We think it more likely that the Shekinah, through the operation of the Urim and Thummim made the holy stones light up to reveal His will.[23]

When the story continues the Ark is again among the Israelites.[24]  However, they are quickly deceived and act without prayer.[25]  The Ark is referenced when Benjamin commits a lewd act.[26]  The Ark is consulted again in the days of Samuel when it is brought out to the battle camp during one of Israel’s many wars with the Philistines, and is captured by them.[27]  If we are not yet convinced that the Shekinah and the Ark are closely associated, we should be now, for Eli’s daughter immediately cries out, “The Glory is departed from Israel: for the Ark of God is taken.”  Then she dies.[28]

It indeed appears that the Ark is the sedan chair[29] of God, and its purpose is pageant like, intended to communicate to all observers that the King of the Universe is a flaming fire.

Nevertheless, the Jews are using it in a very superstitious way; they see it as a talisman that they control, rather than the Living God Who rules them.[30]  The Philistines evidently see the Ark in the same way, as a talisman; but are in for a great surprise when God acts from his throne to ridicule Dagon, and persecute the Philistines.  The Ark is shuttled from one Philistine city to another, and finally returned to Israel.[31]  At last, David brings the Ark to Jerusalem by a circuitous route, and there it dwells in a temporary tent.[32]  Finally, Solomon builds a temple for it.[33]  As soon as the Ark is set in the Most Holy Place, “the Glory of the Lord had filled the house of the Lord.”[34]  The Ark remains in the temple[35] until the time of the Babylonian Captivity (around 586 BC).  At this time, both the Ark and the Shekinah appear to be gone from Israel forever.[36]

The Necessity of Personality in the Shekinah

We embrace the idea that these revelations were relational.

“And the Lord spoke to Moses face-to-face, as a man speaks to his friend.  And [Moses] returned to the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not departed from the tabernacle.”[37]

We recall that Abraham was called the friend of God as well.[38]  Moreover, we believe that these warm, loving, personal relationships continued between the Shekinah and man down through the centuries.  Out of these friendships an eternal conversation developed.  Sometimes there were dreams or visions.  At times, there were spectacular events to report.[39]  Once in awhile, there was dictation.  Rarely, God did His Own writing.[40]  However, most of the time, the friends simply enjoyed the conversation, and the human partners to this great conversation kept diary or logbook records of it.  What the friends wrote, the Shekinah validated, the human partners witnessed, and Levites laid up the record master in the Holy Place.  Out of the complexity of friendship, others would eventually be drawn into the circle: the circle of God’s warmth, love, and friendship.[41]

The Return of the Shekinah

The Shekinah Glory reappeared around 4 BC in the Bethlehem Star,[42] and later at the Mount of Transfiguration.[43]  Then, in Acts, this same Shekinah is seen on the head of every Christian present,[44] and afterward at the opening of new Churches everywhere.[45]  It is abundantly clear that Jesus is the Shekinah.[46]  It is equally clear that He delegated this Shekinah to the whole Church, as He prayed that the Father would send the Holy Spirit.  The Father did send the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and the Shekinah was publically visible to all of the many witnesses present in the Temple on Pentecost 33 AD.  There can be no question from this that the Church of Jesus Christ is the rightful Temple of the Shekinah.

The Second Return of the Shekinah

“For as the lightning comes forth from the east, and blazes openly as far as the west; so also will be the coming of the Son of Man.”[47]

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory.”[48]

“And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.”[49]

When the Lord comes again, no one will miss it for He will blaze blindingly across the sky.  The Shekinah is not invisible.

---

[1] Joshua 18:1; 19:51

[2] Habakkuk 2:20, see also Psalm 11:4

[3] Psalm 14:1; 53:1

[4] Deuteronomy 31:24-26; see also 1 Samuel 10:25; 2 Kings 22:8

[5] Ezekiel 3:15; 26:16; 27:35; 28:19; Daniel 4:19; 8:17-18, 27; 9:3, 7-8; 10:2; 10: 9, 15; 12:8

[6] A wage-give-away-er, a person that bestows gifts of wages where none are earned

[7] Hebrews 11:6 our translation

[8] Hebrews 12:29 our translation

[9] We are not experts on the Shekinah Glory and undertake this brief overview only to establish the existence of God, as a well-known historic person or persons.  We now know Him as Trinity, Who is present completely everywhere in the universe.  However, it is not His ubiquity, which is in view here, but rather the fact that He revealed Himself as a person in many prominent locations, over long time periods, in the presence of millions of witnesses.  Our immediate purpose is to review this extensive Presence and bring it to the front of our contemporary attention and awareness.

By this excursus, we intend to demonstrate that there can be no doubt that God presented Himself as an historic presence with sufficient credentials and credibility to be an unquestionable authority on all matters of creation and revelation.  Moreover, we plan to establish that Moses did not write on his own authority, but as the secretary of God Himself.  Therefore, what Moses wrote about creation and revelation is not dependent on his necessarily limited human perspective, as well educated as he was, but depends on his direct access to the infallible mind of God.

Discussions of the Shekinah are easily located by those who wish to follow the subject farther: http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Shekhinah; http://www.gotquestions.org/ shekinah-glory.html; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glory_ (religion) ; http://www.biblehistory.com/tabernacle/TAB4The_Shekinah_Glory.htm; http://www.hope-of-israel.org/ glory.htm; http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/13537-shekinah; http://forums.catholic.com/showthread. php?t=693976; http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01721a.htm

[10] Genesis 15:17

[11] Exodus 3:2ff

[12] Exodus 13:21-22: The Shekinah is the Angel of God (Exodus 14:19).

[13] We are not free to dismiss this apparition as normal volcanic action.  It existed before Sinai.  It appeared in both large and small forms.  It moved over vast distances.  It spoke and its speech was heard at the very least by Moses and Joshua.  It occupied Mountain, Tabernacle, Temple, and Ark of the Covenant.  It sits on the Mercy Seat.

[14] Exodus 19:9, 16, 18, 20; 20:18; 24:10-11, 15-18; 33:9-11, 14; 34:29-35; 40:34-38; Numbers 9:15-23; 10:11, 33-36; 12:4-10

[15] Leviticus 10:1-2; 16:1-2

[16] Numbers 10:33-36; Joshua 3:3, 6, 8, 11, 13-15, 17; 4:5, 7, 9-11, 16-18

[17] Joshua also meet with the captain of the Lord’s host, who says things reminiscent of the burning bush (1 Samuel 4:19-22).

[18] Joshua 6:4, 6-9, 11-13

[19] Joshua 7:6, 10 (Though not specifically stated, this verse implies that God speaks from the Ark.), 12 (Scripture does not record that the Ark went into battle that day, as at Jericho, and here states that God will not be with them, because of sin.)

[20] Joshua 7:14-26

[21] The record repeats the verb, take, many times, all of them anticipating, if not specifically stating, that the Lord is the sentence subject, “the Lord takes.”

[22] Exodus 25:7; 28:4, 6-28, 30 (When the Urim and Thummim are mentioned, the breastplate is specifically called the breastplate of judgement).  We cannot now speak of the Urim and Thummim with certainty.  A reasonable model of the ephod and breastplate might be reconstructed from the detailed description.  But we possess no such detailed description of the Urim and Thummim construction.  So all pictorial and modeled representations are without authenticity and fraudulent.  Nor do we know exactly how they are used; only a few obscure references allow us even to guess at their operation.  What is clear is that God used them to show His will to His people, and to direct them in the correct decision path.  In much the same way that the Shekinah and Ark directed their movement, so also the Urim and Thummim directed their judgement.  So we conclude that Shekinah, Ark, Urim, and Thummim must be interactive and interconnected, but we cannot know exactly how.

[23] Deuteronomy 33:2: Urim means lights.  Thummim means completion, perfection.  The connection to “it is finished” is unmistakable.

[24] Joshua 8:33

[25] Joshua 9:14

[26] Judges 2:27

[27] 1 Samuel 3:3; 4:3-6, 11, 13, 17-19

[28] 1 Samuel 4: 19-22: She is in the pangs of childbirth, in travail, she screams, she gasps out the words with her dying breaths.  Ichabod is Hebrew and translates, “The glory is departed.”

[29] Its shape and construction closely resembles an Egyptian regal sedan chair.  Its clear intent is to proclaim God with a visible symbol.  Within the Greek notion of symbol, the thing symbolized is actually present.  This is early iconography; it is sacramental.

[30] Joshua 1:7; 22:5; 23:6 (Note that the Pentateuch or Torah is already Canonical by 1406 BC, at the time of Moses’ mysterious death and disappearance.)

[31] 1 Samuel 5:1-4, 7-8, 10-11; 6:1-3, 8, 11

[32] 1 Samuel 6:13, 15, 18-19, 20 (The men of Beth-shemesh understood that looking into the Ark was equivalent to looking at God), 21; 7:1-2; 14:18; 2 Samuel 6:2-4, 6-7, 9-13, 15-17; 7:2; 11:11; 15:24-25 (Here we see that the Ark and therefore the Shekinah are closely associated with the King.  But David is aware that he has become unworthy because of his sin and sends the Ark back to Jerusalem until he is certain of his forgiveness.), 29

[33] 1 Kings 2:26; 3:15; 6:19; 8:1, 3-7, 9, 21

[34] 1 Kings 8:10-11

[35] Although it evidently made excursions (2 Chronicles 35:3)

[36] Jeremiah 3:16 (It appears that the Ark is gone, never to return); Ezekiel 10:1 through 11:25 (These verses detail the horrifying even of the departure of God’s presence from Israel forever: especially 10:4, 18; 11:22-23.):  According to 1 Ezra 1:51 the Ark was carried to Babylon.  The departure of the Shekinah from the Ark makes the destruction of the Ark possible.  This seems to be supported by Jeremiah 3:16, and by Daniel, for Daniel agrees that the golden Temple goblets are in Babylon.  All mention of the return of the Ark is conspicuously absent until John makes a point of it in Revelation 11:19.  Not only are the Ark, Urim and Thummim absent, but there is no mention of fire or smoke or any other evidence of the return of the Shekinah.  See Ezra 6:15.  Do not despair, Christ is our Shekinah,

[37] Exodus 33:11 our translation

[38] Isaiah 41:8; James 2:23

[39] Exodus 8:1 through 11:10; 12:29-33; 14:21-28 for a few examples

[40] Exodus 24:12; 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1, 4, 28-29; Deuteronomy 4:13; 5:22;9:9-11, 15, 17; 10:1-5; Daniel 5:5, 22-28, 30-31; John 8:6

[41] For 860 years an entire nation clung to the fact that God is a Person or Persons and whose Presence was actually dwelling in their midst (Jeremiah 14:9).

[42] Matthew 2:2, 7-10; Luke 2:14 — We note that this is not a limited local event, but one that extended as far as Persia.  We should not miss the point of comparison between the Fire that led a nation, and the Star that led Persian astronomers.

[43] Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28; 2 Peter 1:17-19

[44] Acts 2

[45] Acts 10:46; 19:6

[46] What else could an expression like, “He is the effulgence of the [Father's] Glory (Hebrews 1:3),” possibly mean.  See John 1:4-5, 9, 14; 1 John 1:5, 7; 2:8-11

[47] Matthew 24:27 our translation

[48] Mark 13:26 our translation

[49] Luke 21:27 our translation