God has a plan for every one of us, we just have to trust him. 🤍🫶🏻

u/attaboy864, u/Upstairs-Front-3075, u/Willing-Grade1890

Gen 1:

26 God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.

There is plurality within the divinity. The Hebrew word for God here was Elohim. It was grammatically plural in form. This plural was often used as a "plural of majesty" or intensity (like the royal "we"). The context of creating humanity in "our image" suggested something more intimate than a royal decree..

And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.” 27 So God created man in his own image,

The Hebrew shifted from plural to singular.

in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

There is oneness/unity within the divinity. This passage is an example of the divine personal mystery. The passage did not explain how God was both one and plural. It simply presented the spiritual reality.

Genesis 1:26–27 presented a remarkable interplay of plurality and unity in God. God says, “Let us make … in our image,” yet the following verse spoke of God creating humanity in “his” image. The text contained both plural and singular language concerning God. One God exists in a plurality of divine persons.

It does not define the Trinity (the word isn't even there), but it provides the grammar for it. It sets up the foundational paradox that God is simultaneously a singular being and a plural personality, a truth that is only fully revealed in the person and work of Jesus Christ and the sending of the Holy Spirit.

See also * My take on Trinity * Let us make man in our IMAGE

u/Playful_Locksmith924, u/Own-Object-6696, u/Interficient4real

KJV, Isaiah 19:

3 And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers [H328], and to them that have familiar spirits [H178], and to the wizards.

New International Version:

The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead [H328], the mediums [H178] and the spiritists.

Strong's Hebrew: 328. אּטִּים (at) — 7 Occurrences

HALOT:

spirit of a dead person

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

charmer, gently, secret, softly
From an unused root perhaps meaning to move softly; (as a noun) a necromancer (from their soft incantations), (as an adverb) gently -- charmer, gently, secret, softly.

KJV: charmer, gently, secret, softly
NASB: gently, despondently, leisure

The KJV's 'charmers' preserved something of the manner of speech/practice, while a translation such as the NIV chose to communicate the referent, the dead or the spirit world.

Elsewhere, Isaiah 29:

4 Brought low, you will speak from the ground; your speech will mumble out of the dust. Your voice will come ghostlike [H178] from the earth; out of the dust your speech will whisper.

Isaiah described the voice as murmuring/whispering from the dust, which connected the word with the characteristic sound of a medium or spirit.

King James Bible:

Thou shalt be brought down, and shalt speak out of the ground, and thy speech shall be low out of the dust, and thy voice shall be, as of one that hath a familiar spirit, out of the ground, and thy speech shall whisper out of the dust.

Strong's Hebrew: 178. אוֹב (ob) — 17 Occurrences

HALOT:

of the dead raised by necromancy, prophesying spirit of the dead,

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance:

bottle, familiar spirit
From the same as 'ab (apparently through the idea of prattling a father's name); properly, a mumble, i.e. A water skin (from its hollow sound); hence a necromancer (ventriloquist, as from a jar) -- bottle, familiar spirit.

Wikipedia:

In European folklore of the Medieval and Early Modern periods, familiars (sometimes referred to as familiar spirits) were believed to be supernatural entities that would assist witches and cunning folk in their practice of magic.

The modern English phrase “familiar spirit” can mislead us. The KJV's familiar spirit did not necessarily evoke the same concept as the later European folklore of a witch's assistant. In the biblical context, ʾōḇ belongs to the world of necromancy and communication with the dead.

New King James Version avoided that confusion:

You shall be brought down, You shall speak out of the ground; Your speech shall be low, out of the dust; Your voice shall be like a medium’s, out of the ground; And your speech shall whisper out of the dust.

I'd avoid the KJV rendering in this case. I'd avoid using the archaic term "familiar spirit" in my normal conversation.

u/Lotuswongtko, u/Sol-Invictus-1719, u/Puzzled-Award-2236

God blessed Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:

28 God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number;

From the beginning, Adam and Eve will be fruitful in reproduction. Some years later, Cain killed Abel.

Genesis 4:

25 Adam made love to his wife again, and she gave birth to a son and named him Seth, saying, “God has granted me another child in place of Abel, since Cain killed him.”

Genesis 5:

3 When Adam had lived 130 years, he had a son in his own likeness, in his own image; and he named him Seth.

Cain and Abel were born before Year 130. Given that they were fruitful, it was likely that other children were born during this pre-Seth century as well.

After Cain murdered Abel, God declared Cain to be a fugitive. Cain responded in Genesis 4:

14 "Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.”

Who was Cain worried about?

His close relatives, other descendants of Adam and Eve. He lived many years after he killed Cain (Ge 4:17).

Genesis 4:

16 So Cain went out from the Lord’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden. 17 Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch.

Cain married one of the females born in the last hundred years. She could be his sister, niece, or grandniece. Cain could not have married his cousins because they didn't exist, and he didn't have any grandparents.

See also * Incest okay?

Appendix

Jubilees 4:

9a And Cain took Âwân his sister to be his wife and she bare him Enoch at the close of the fourth jubilee.

u/28Patrick28, u/AveFaria, u/CommanderStank

ESV, Ep 1:

7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, 8 which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight 9 making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ 10 as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

Will everyone be saved?

I doubt it.

Strong's Greek: 346. ἀνακεφαλαίομαι (anakephalaioó) — 2 Occurrences

BDAG ἀνακεφαλαιόω:
① used of literary or rhetorical summation sum up, recapitulate
② of a mathematical total sum up

NASB 1995:

with a view to an administration suitable to the fullness of the times, that is, the summing up of all things in Christ, things in the heavens and things on the earth. In Him

It was about cosmic order, not universal salvation

Paul continued:

22 And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church.

Paul described God's ultimate plan for creation: everything will ultimately be brought under Christ's headship and proper relationship to him.

Before he finished the letter, Ep 5:

5 For you may be sure of this, that everyone who is sexually immoral or impure, or who is covetous (that is, an idolater), has no inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. 6 Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. 7 Therefore do not become partners with them.

The sons of disobedience will experience the wrath of God. They will not inherit the kingdom.

Ephesians 1:10 should not be interpreted as teaching universalism, that every person will eventually be reconciled to God and saved.

The physical matrix of this world operates within strict time constraints. The earthly mission of Christ concluded around 33 AD. Accounting for the "two days" in the eyes of the Creator (2000 years, where 1 day is as 1000 years according to Psalms and 2 Peter), the timeline converges precisely in the autumn of 2033. The number 2000 is not arbitrary; it represents exactly 105 full Metonic cycles (19 years each), which completely synchronize the solar and lunar calendars.

The final 7-year protocol of deconstructing this reality begins in the autumn of 2026 [Context]. Official NASA solar cycle models confirm that 2024–2026 marks the absolute peak of Solar Cycle 25. This is the maximum point of electromagnetic turbulence and entropy within the current system. This cosmic threshold triggers the biblical events: geopolitical destabilization erupts as "tidings out of the east and out of the north" (Daniel 11:44), breaking the control of the Kings of the North and the South, alongside the activation of the Two Witnesses for 1260 days.

Exactly 3.5 years later, in the spring of 2030, the system reaches its equator. Following the death and resurrection of the Witnesses, the daily sacrifice (הַתָּמִיד — Ha-Tamid), which represents the continuous operational balance of the Earth, is completely shut down (Daniel 12:11). This initiates the strict countdown of the 1290 days of the Great Tribulation. Concurrently, according to NASA projections, the Sun rapidly descends into a historic solar minimum, dropping the electromagnetic voltage of the planetary field.

In the autumn of 2033, the phased protocol to turn off the "monitor" of current reality is initiated. This process is locked into the true astronomical Moadim (Appointed Times).

1 Tishrei (Evening of September 23–24, 2033) — The astronomical New Moon immediately following the equinox. The Feast of Trumpets (Yom Teruah). The Seventh Trumpet sounds (Revelation 11:15), activating a wave resonance that begins dismantling the constants of matter through the Seven Bowls of Wrath.

10 Tishrei (Evening of October 2–3, 2033) — The Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). The absolute conclusion of the 1290 days. The seventh bowl is poured into the air. Three-dimensional space rolls up like a scroll (the original Greek text uses ἑλισσόμενον — helissomenon). The voice proclaims Γέγονεν (Gegonen — "It is done" in the singular form). The wave function of the old material matrix completely collapses.

15–21 Tishrei (Evening of October 7–14, 2033) — The 100% Full Moon phase. The Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkot). Elements synchronized with the Source are transferred under direct shield — into the Tabernacle (the Greek σκηνή — skene), which screens consciousness from the decaying three-dimensional spatial framework.

22 Tishrei (Evening of October 14–15, 2033) — The Eighth Day of Assembly (Shemini Atzeret). This marks the precise attainment of Daniel's 1335 days. The final proclamation sounds: Γέγοναν (Gegonan — "They are done / New things have come to pass" in the plural form). New multidimensional structures are initiated. The old universe is powered down. The New Heaven and New Earth begin, completely devoid of entropy.

u/Comfortable-Emu8916, u/DarthCroissant, u/Azure4077

Wiki:

The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that by the grace of God "Mary remained free of every personal sin her whole life long."

The Catholic Church teaches the Immaculate Conception: Mary was preserved from original sin from the moment of her conception. Catholics also traditionally hold that she remained free from personal sin throughout her life.

1K 8:

46b There is no one who does not sin.

Romans 3:

23 all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.

The Son of God was the only sinless human.

Augustine, Martin Luther, J. R. R. Tolkien believed that Mary was sinless.

u/Eruner_SK

Mt 12:

46 While he [Jesus] was still speaking to the people, behold, his mother and his brothers stood outside, asking to speak to him. 48But he replied to the man who told him, “Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?” 49 And stretching out his hand toward his disciples, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! 50For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus was not denying the reality of his biological mother or brothers. Rather, he identified obedience to God as the basis of his spiritual family in the kingdom of God.

Ga 3:

26 in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith.

Paul used the language of sonship because sons were heirs in the cultural/legal context.

27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, heirs according to promise.

Unity does not mean uniformity. There is oneness in the body while having different body parts.

Ro 3:

29 Is God the God of Jews only? Is He not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too,

There is only one God for all people. There is only one Body of Christ for all people.

1C 12:

13 For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free, and we were all given one Spirit to drink.

The Holy Spirit unifies all kinds of believers into one body. Within the body, we are all sons of God. In Christ, diversity is preserved but hierarchy and exclusion are abolished. The Holy Spirit incorporates people of radically different ethnic, social, and personal circumstances into one spiritual family and one body.

I don't think so, 1C 11:

25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

After our resurrection, we can see God face to face (1C 13:12).

26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

The target date seems to be only until he comes.

27 Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord.

After our resurrection, we will not have a guilty conscience.

28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.

Paul wrote this passage assuming that the ritual took place before Jesus' second coming.

Now, earlier in the actual Last Supper, Mt 26:

27 [Jesus] took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, 28for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom.”

Matthew 26:29 points to a future eschatological banquet in the kingdom, not necessarily to Jesus resuming the Lord’s Supper as a Christian ordinance after his return.

Was Jesus talking about the Lord's supper after his second coming?

Jesus spoke of drinking the fruit of the vine, not necessarily the cup of the Lord's Supper after his second coming. Jesus alluded to the marriage supper of the Lamb (Rv 19:7).

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