Q&A: Journey through Christianity to Christ…

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Denise

Q:  Why do you refer to this as a journey through Christianity to Christ?

A:  Great question…so let me explain!

As many of us born in the USA and in various parts of the world, we’ve had Christianity, in its various doctrines and denominations influence a great deal of our lives, even without knowing or understanding many times the degree to which it has done so.

We can all read about the history of how Christianity began… see how often times it was a mandated belief or what one was forced to adhere to, rather than the “free will choice” that many hear about it being today.

Yet for me, I wasn’t introduce to “Christianity” and didn’t know a lot about it until I was about 9 years old.  I had friends that went to church on a regular basis and I had been a few times myself.. but it wasn’t a regular practice of our family to attend church… and surely wasn’t a practice I ever seen my Dad practice.

So it was my journey through that time in my life… through the introduction and participation in Christianity that I came to realize not only how far Christianity had moved away from what the bible stated that a “Christian” was… but how far away from those very teachings within the pages of my own bible, that I too had been, even without realizing it, been separated from God, the tree of life that I had free access to from my own beginning.

It was in returning to what I had known to do from my beginning… what had led me and guided me well before I ever heard from anyone else about God, Christ, or Christianity that I had to get back to…. because I had, without realizing it, “hearkened to the voice of another” who was not God in my own life….

So my journey through Christianity to Christ. as I call it is what took place… that did “reconcile me unto God”… to that which had been with me from my beginning… that had led me and guided me, and taught me what it was that I was to do and not to do, before I ‘hearkened to the voice of another’ who was not God…. that had caused me to separate myself from God…. as the bible illustrates happened with those in the beginning.

It is as I’ve shared many times over the years…. once you travel down a road… and you realize that you’re going in the wrong direction…. you have to turn around and go back the same way you came often times so that you can see where it was that you made the wrong turn… and so as not to repeat that again if you should ever be on that road again.  That is why I refer to this as the journey through Christianity to Christ…. because as I ventured down the road in Christianity…. realizing it wasn’t to be the path that I or anyone else was to be on, according to the opening pages of my own bible…. the journey included doing the same things that were done by Christ in those very pages to be “reconciled by God”…. ergo my journey through Christianity to Christ for reconciliation unto God!!

To that which I had with me and within me (God)  from my beginning… that had never left me nor forsaken me…. that I had “hearkened to the voice of another” about and in doing so… had caused an issue for myself between myself and God (that which is within me)… and I had to be the one to also reverse that process to correct it… with the understanding and knowledge of what had resulted in my life by doing so… so that I would never repeat that again!!

The first commandment with promise given by God to man was “thou shalt not” partake of the knowledge of good and evil from any other source… it was always to come from “within” (God) and what it is that we know we are to do…. or not to do… and to go against it… is always going to be what will cause issues within us….. It wasn’t to be so from our beginning!!  ♥

 

 

Posted in About Denise, Christian, Christianity, FAQ, God, Jesus, Reconciliation to God | Tagged , , , , , | 1 Comment

Sticks and Stones…..

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Denise

We’ve all heard that little saying… “sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me”… there are several variations of this saying.. and yes, I’m sure that many of us have not only heard it but said it as children as well… but the question we need to be asking is it not words that are breaking us?

What I’d like for us to examine is how conditioned and influenced we are to the words of another… and how the ‘acceptance” of others so influences our lives.  So many do things simply because of the opinions of others… or even what they think someone else might think about it.

Yet the question has to be asked… why would the opinion or view of anyone else about you… or about what you do be more important to you than the opinion and view you have of yourself or what it is that you KNOW about yourself?

Why do words that others say about us or to us cause us so much pain?  Why do they cause us to feel good about ourselves… or not good about ourselves?  What has caused us to value the views and opinions of others that the expense of ourselves??

Have you ever asked yourself why it is that you see the opinion or view of yourself through the eyes of another so much more significant to you than what you see of yourself and know of yourself?  Have you ever asked yourself why it is that the view of someone else or what you even think might be their opinion of you has so much power and influence in your life… that it will cause you to do something that you otherwise wouldn’t do… cause you to question what you’re doing or wearing or your own view of things???

At one time or other we’ve all found ourselves concerned with the “acceptance of others”… doing something because of the opinion of others… or what they might think or say about us if we don’t… but does that alter who we are?  Does that change who we know within us that we are?  Is allowing the opinion of others to influence what it is that we do, how we think and feel simply giving them power over us and influence in our lives to cause us pain… or even to “build us up”…. why would a person confident in who they are… what they know of themselves do so?

Is it because we are not confident in who we are… that we are so drastically affected or influenced by the opinions of others? Wasn’t it following the opinion and view of another that, according to the bible began the issues between man and God from the beginning?

Have we had so many writings and teachings available to us telling us that we are to know from within ourselves who we are.. .we are to hear that from the “mouth of God” to each of us… and not let anyone sway us from it… no matter who they are or what they say about us or even to us… or to others about us?

Isn’t that the message of the life of Jesus in the pages of our bibles?  Wasn’t it God that is recorded to have told people Jesus was His Son, in whom He was well pleased?  Doesn’t the bible tell us that this is what Jesus heard God telling Him as well?  Did Jesus allow the religious leaders of his day to convince him against that?  Did he allow the devil in the time of his temptation to turn him away from what He knew God said to him and about Him??

Did he change what he was doing because religious leaders or anyone else in his day say he was of the devil, that he was evil, to his face or even behind his back to others?  Did he do something other than what He knew He was to do when even his own disciples said He should… or was His example… to hear from God, to know within yourself who you are… and whether or not God is well pleased with you…. and not let anyone else… no matter who they are… what they say about you… claim to know about you… promise you… or even threaten you with…. turn you from what it is that you know from GOD (that which is within you)….

Be encourage to know who you are from within yourself.  Know yourself and to your own self be true…. don’t let the opinions or views of any other about you change who you are… cause you to do things other than you know you are to do or not to do… and remember… often times it’s the words that do break us… break our spirit, break our hearts, break our passions, and break down what we KNOW within ourselves….but why would we allow that has to be the question!!

What does God says .. what is it that you know within you….. we can’t serve two masters…. we were not designed to do so!! A divided house will not stand… and so many other passages and teachings have all been sharing this valuable lesson and profound understanding with us all…. so be encouraged… be who you are!  ♥♥

 

Posted in Bible, Faith, God, Knowing, Reconciliation to God, Unity | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

It Is the Doing that is difficult… not the knowing..

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Denise

Have you ever considered that it is not the “knowing” what to do that is difficult… we know what it is that we are to do and not to do… it’s the doing it that is the issue for most of us.

Think about it for a moment.. most of us know within a given second all sorts of things… we know what we like, what we don’t like, how we feel, if something is right for us or not in that given moment.. and even what it is that we know we are to do…. so it’s not the “knowing” that is the issue for us.. is it?  It’s the “walking in it” or “the doing of it” where the struggles begin… but why?  Have you ever considered that???

Think for a moment about something that you know you are to do… that you feel passionate about.. or that has come to you to do in a split second of time.  What is the first thing that usually happens??

Do you begin within yourself almost instantly of hearing other “voices” or “thoughts” that come to your mind of why you can’t do that, what someone else would think if you did, what it will mean to someone else if you do it, or that you can’t do it, or that it isn’t something you can do right now….. or so many others… right?

Yet even when all of that happens… does it change or alter what you “know”?  Does it mean that you don’t “know” what you’re to do and what is right for you in that moment… or that you shouldn’t be doing in that given moment???

No… the “knowing” is still there…. it’s the “doing” of it that is where the issues occur and yet I want to share with you something to consider about this and maybe why it is that this happens to all of us.. until we get to the point of being able to ‘control our thoughts” and understand where so much of this has come from within us as well.

See in the opening pages of the bible, we see that it records that man could freely partake and the instruction by God to man was not to partake of the knowledge of good and evil from a source outside himself.  The thing to pay attention to is that the bible states that man knew what it was that he was not to do…. and yet there was another “voice” that called that into question… a questioning of it set the whole thing in motion!!

Once that questioning took place… the man still knew what it was that he was NOT TO DO… that didn’t change.. .but he took of knowledge of good and evil.. right and wrong… from a source other than what was within him… that he already knew… and went against what he knew based on what someone else said (that other voice) as to what was good and evil, right and wrong for him and that altered his entire view of himself… and all that he did from that point forward….

The bible states that once the man partook of the knowledge of good and evil from another source outside himself…. everything in his life changed.. his view of himself… his view of others.. his view of his relationship within himself… he records being “afraid”… he starts blaming… all as a result of one key point…. the knowledge or “knowing” of good and evil, right and wrong, from OUTSIDE HIMSELF!!

So when we think for a moment on this… we can also see for ourselves that as a result of us all doing that ourselves… .taking of the knowledge of good and evil from outside ourselves… anything that we know to do from that point forward will always come into question within us… will be a struggle for us to carry out… and do.. for it will always be based on upon our own changed view of what is good and evil.. right and wrong… and that view will be the first struggle we all face WITHIN OURSELVES!

Many passages in the bible speak of the struggle to “overcome the devil” and yet when we look to what it is that the serpent/devil was saying in those times that was needed to be “overcome” or not “hearkened to” was to call into question what was already KNOWN that was to be done or not to be done.

That other “voice” will always be what calls into question what it is that is “KNOWN” within you… because we all have been so conditioned in our thinking and taught to do things based on the view of others of ourselves as well as our own world… that we can see why Jesus and so many other religious, spiritual, and philosophical teachings throughout the years have been trying to point us back to that which is “within”… to stop all the “hearkening to the voices of another”…. because until we do… it isn’t the “KNOWING” that is missing… or not there…. it is their FIRST… for without it there would be no “questioning” or struggling against it for anyone to have to “overcome”… to follow it and trust it.. right?

So no matter what you’re facing in your life at this moment… consider for a moment whether you “KNOW” what it is that you are to do or not to do….. and what you’re struggling with is what is coming against what it is that you know you’re to do or not to do….or if it truly is that you don’t know…. I’m sure you’ll find out as I have and many others have as well….that the “knowing” is there… it is the doing and overcoming the struggles and questioning, that is the “issue” for you….

Be encouraged today not to take on the idea of what is right and what is wrong… what is good or what is evil from any other… look within yourself for that knowledge…. and realize that all of this… is for our understanding… for us to gain wisdom and understanding… so that we do not continue to repeat the things that have brought so much pain and suffering into our lives and those around us as well!!  ♥

 

 

Posted in God, Knowing, Reconciliation to God, Unity | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

I Knew it…

Posted on July 10, 2012 by Denise

How many times has something happened in your life, or even in the life of someone else and the first words out of your mouth were “I knew it”.  How many times do you suppose that you’ve “known” something before it actually happened, or knew what the outcome was going to be beforehand?

What we often times don’t consider is just how much “knowing” that we do have within us, and as the bible itself has been telling us from its beginning… that we have been able to know what it is that we are to do and not to do from God from our beginning…. why aren’t we living by it and what causes us not to do so any more?

Think about it a moment with me… how is it that you knew within your own mother’s womb to kick, move around and even suck your thumb?  Do you ever consider that within every cell of your body there is a “knowing” as to what that cell is to do, how it is to do so, and it does so, living in harmony within your own body, bringing into being whatever it is that you are to be, without having any knowledge of God, without having to read any books or writings and most assuredly without having to have any other cell within your body dictating to it how it is to do those things that it knows it is not to do.

So if we are a collection of cells that within each have their own “knowing” the ability to know and to do what it is that is to be done…. then why would we as a “collection” of those cells not have those same abilities when the entire make up of what we are has those abilities?

Let’s move on a bit further… how was it that you learned to walk, to sit up, and to do so many of the things that we’ve all done from the time we’ve been born?  A “knowing” within that was triggered “as the time appointed of the Father” for it to happen?  Who told our bodies when to start the process of puberty, or all the changes that took us from a fetus within the womb to the adult that we are today?

It is because of that “knowing” that is within us…. that we all have… that all things have as well.  Ever watch an animal.. who lives not by any writings before its time… not by any mandate or dictates of knowledge of God, and yet they know within them what it is that they are to do, how to find what it is that they have need of, and they have nothing to trust in other than what it is that is within them….right?

So when you look back over the times in your own life where you just “knew” something… you might not have been able to explain how you knew it… or what basis you had for what it was that you “knew”… but none the less you knew it… didn’t you?

So what I want to share with you today is that we all have this “knowing”.  We all have the abilities within us to “know” not only what it is that we are to do and not to do… but what is right for us…and what is not in a given moment in time.  We also have the ability to learn from that “knowing” and to get back to the point of being able to trust it to lead us, guide us and make known to us whatever it is that we are to do in any given moment….. but to do that.. we first have to consider what it is that has caused us to move away from a total and complete trust of what is “within us” .. that “knowing” we all have!!

We also have to realize that living based on what is “within” is how all living creatures other than us humans live…. and have for a very long time…. and wonder why it is that we humans find it so difficult to do so ourselves.

So today, I’d like to simply encourage you to think about what it is that you “know” today.  What do you “know” about the situation you find yourself in today?  What is it that you know about where you are… what is it that you know about someone else in your life?

Then I’d like you to consider how it is that all things live… look around you and take a moment to consider animals, plants, planets, the entire universe and how it “knows” what it is to do and not to do!!

Embrace the “knowing” that is within you…. that you’ve had since your beginning… and reflect for a moment today on all those times in your life that you can easily recall when you “knew” it!!

Matthew 6:8b- ” for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Luke 17:21b: ” the kingdom of God is within you.”

Look into every great religious, spiritual, and wisdom tradition, and we find the same precept — that life’s ultimate truth, its ultimate treasure, lies within each of us as well as within all things….

“Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you”…. seek what is within you…. for that which is within you contains all that you have need of.. and it has been given to you before you have asked for it….

If you’d like to share some of those times you’ve had… feel free to do so… however.. the more important part for now is simply to reflect on them for yourself… consider the “knowing’ that is within all things… and embrace it within yourself!!!

Posted in Faith, God, Jesus, Knowing, Reconciliation to God | Tagged , , , | 5 Comments

A human being is part of a whole– Albert Einstein

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise
A human being is a part of a whole, called by us ‘universe’, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest… a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. – Albert Einstein
Posted in Compassion, Quotes, Unity | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

As it was from the beginning… Part Three

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise

Continuing from Part Two (Click Here to read Part Two)

Next we see in the book of Genesis, that God determines it is not good for this man to be alone, and causes a deep sleep to come upon him and took a rib from him and closed up the flesh instead thereof.

Reflecting back again to the book of Genesis for details, we see that it was God that formed up from the ground a listing of things and brought them to Adam to see what he would name them… and then we see that God brought the woman also to Adam and Adam also is shown to have said she was a listing of things (refer to the bible on these details) because she was taken out of man.

Not there is a lot more very profound points to explore in just this portion so far… but for now, let’s move on just a bit more and take a look at a few more points… so that we can see not only what it was that the man taken from the dust of the ground was told not to do or he would “surely die”….

Genesis 2:25:  And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed.

Now comes the record of another voice in the garden….

Genesis 3:1:  Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?

Now let’s see a couple of points in this verse before moving on… “the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field”… “which the Lord God had made”.  Now refer back just a moment to the “beast of the field” and where it is that they were formed from according to Genesis….

Now carefully look with me as to what the bible states happened next.  The serpent said to the woman, ‘YEA, hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden”?

The serpent spoke of what “God said” and posed it as a question to the woman.  Now bear in mind that according to Genesis when God gave the man taken from the dust of the ground the commandment “thou shalt not”… the woman was not made yet.  Yet that is not the point to pay attention to…. well not just yet anyway… but the serpent starts off inferring that he knows what it is that God has said but poses it as a question.

Genesis 3: 2: And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:

Genesis 3:3: But of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.

Okay, hold up here just a minute…. now we just seen from the bible what it was that God is shown to have told man before woman was made… so where does the woman get this information to share with the serpent…. and why is it added to?  (Just like a man to tell you something and get it wrong right ladies?  LOL)

Well let’s move on… we’ll come back to that part later… I’m sure… but the point here is that the serpent is trying to speak for God… look carefully…

Genesis 3:4:  And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:

Genesis 3:5: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.

Now we can go into a lot of various directions here.. but there is a consistency of lesson/message that radiates throughout the bible…”as it was from the beginning” that has been here right before our eyes, all the time that we’ve missed…. one that the prophets later on warn people about…. that Jesus said that man was to live by…… so what is it??

So let’s move ahead here… (but carefully examine all that the bible has to say on each point.. don’t miss anything)….

Genesis 3:9: And the LORD God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where [art] thou?

Genesis 3:10: And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I [was] naked; and I hid myself.

Genesis 3:11:  And he said, Who told thee that thou [wast] naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?

Now let’s review here a few key points…. the Lord God called unto Adam “where are you”? Adam response, I heard your voice in the garden and was afraid, because I was naked and I hid myself.

Now wait a minute… do you see that… Adam was in that same garden, naked and not ashamed before this happened and now …. he’s naked and afraid and hiding from God??

But look at what the bible says that God said next… “who has told you” that you are naked? Have you eaten of the tree that I commanded you not to eat?

Who has told you…. who has told you… this is the first thing that the bible said that God said to Adam….

So before we get into Adam’s attempt at the “blame game” to blame someone else for his own actions…. let’s look for a moment that the first thing that God questioned Adam about what “who has told you”……

Now… read along in Genesis and you’ll see the rest of what took place…. pay attention to those details… and then look at this passage…

Genesis 3:17: And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed [is] the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat [of] it all the days of thy life;

The first thing that the bible states that God said to Adam was that because he “hearkened to the voice” of another… he had let someone else who was not God tell him something and he followed the voice of another…. and went against what it was that he knew that God said for him to do.

Now as earlier pointed out, the bible makes it clear that it was God that spoke instruction and commandments to all things… including giving the first “thou shalt not” with a “promise” to the man taken from the dust of the ground… “ye shall surely die”.

The serpent spoke to the woman of what God knew… of what God said… and she was beguiled and did eat and gave to Adam and he did eat.

However, the point is that they both allowed someone else to tell them something about God, what God knew, what God said, and “hearkened to the voice” of one that was not God!!

In the moment that it says that they did so, their entire view of themselves changed.  They had been naked and were not ashamed before… and now was naked… afraid and was hiding themselves from God.

Do you see the profound message/lesson from the beginning of the bible that Genesis records for us and is echoed throughout its pages??

Man is to live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God…. man’s problems will always being at any point that he is finds himself hearkening to the voice of another, who is not God about what God knows, what God has said, and what it is that God would have them to do to be more like God…

This “tradition” of hearkening to the voice of another who is not God about what God knows, what God says, what it is that God would have one to do to be more like God… is the very thing that alters how man seen himself… how he sees those that are in his life, and will cause him to be afraid…. to the point that he will hide himself among the other trees in the garden even when God is calling out “where are you”…..

Man was to hear from God directly.  God reveals Himself…. blesses and gives instruction Himself to all that He creates from its beginning…. it is not until we hearken to the voice of another…. and let someone else convince us of who God is, what it is that God would have us to know, what it is that God says, or even what it is that we are to do to be more like God… that we take on the view of ourselves, as Adam did, and see ourselves from the point of what someone else has said and convinced us to do who is NOT GOD!

This is the way in which, “in the day” that ye do so, “ye too shall surely die”… for your life will be ever impacted, influenced, conditioned and your thinking and view of yourself, others around you, and the garden in which you were placed will be altered!

This “death” resulting from the hearkening to the voice of another, this tradition set up by Adam, is the very thing that the prophets said “all shall be taught of God” and the reason why Jesus is shown in the pages of the bible to have said to the devil in his own time of temptation… “man shall not live by bread alone, but by EVERY word that PROCEEDS from the mouth of GOD”… for that is how it was to have been from before the foundation of the world….. and when we carefully examine in the pages of the bible… all those commandments that God gave Jesus to share with His disciples… we see that each one of them helps break one free from the traditions that have been set forth as a result of having hearkened to the voice of another who was not GOD… and reconcile man back to God…. to hearing from God… to living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God to each of us…. so that one has “eternal life”…. “knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ”….

It was always to be God that reveals Himself… that blesses…. that speaks and gives whatever it is that one is to do or not to do Himself to His creation…. there isn’t any means by which one can have one’s total and complete trust in God other than by doing so….

What has been “hidden from the foundation of the world” was revealed by Jesus Christ so long ago…  the way it all started from the beginning…. outlined in the pages of the bible for anyone with the ability to read to see and know and hopefully not continue the tradition of man taken from the dust of the ground…. making the word of God (what proceeds from the mouth of God) of none effect by keeping that same “tradition” of Adam.

As we see outlined it all began when someone else in the garden began trying to speak for God, to tell God’s creation what it was that God knew, what it was that God had said to them was wrong, and what it was that would make them more like God….. it’s what the serpent in the garden did from the beginning… it’s what the devil is said to have tried with Jesus Christ…. and if we are ever going be able to “overcome the devil” and “cast out demons”… and not “surely die” … then it is going to have to begin with “man living by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God”… and if it is not and has not come from the mouth of God… or if some one else tries to tell you who God is, what God says on something, or what it is that God would have you to do or to know… or what it is that God says you need to do to be more like God…. don’t you “hearken to the voice of another” and repeat what Adam did!

It wasn’t to be so from the beginning…… ♥

Ask God, Hear God …. live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God to you….

 

Posted in Bible, Christianity, From the Beginning | Tagged , , , , | 5 Comments

As it was from the beginning…. Part Two

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise

Moving on from Part One…(Click Here to read Part One!)

In Genesis chapter 2 we see that God records there is no man to till the ground….so

Genesis 2:7: And the LORD God formed man [of] the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

Genesis 2:8: And the LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom he had formed.

Genesis 2:9 And out of the ground made the LORD God to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight, and good for food; the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

Genesis 2:15: And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.

So this man, formed from the dust of the ground, after God said there was no man to till the ground was put in the garden of Eden to dress it and keep it.  It was to this man taken from the dust of the ground…. that would later be told something once again very profound…..

Genesis 2:16: And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat:

Genesis 2:17: But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.

Now before we go on to see that it was God that seen that it was not good for this man to be alone…. let’s recap once again what we’ve seen thus far…

1.  This man was taken from the dust of the ground.

2.  This man was formed after God said there was no man to till the ground.

3.  This man was spoken to by God himself.

4.  God provided for this man what it was that this man would have need of, put him in the garden Himself.

5.  God gave this man the instructions of what he was to do and what he was NOT to do as well.

Notice what the man was instructed by God NOT to do was what?? Notice what God also told him would result?

Look carefully …. “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

This is the first “thou shalt not” in the bible… it is given to the man taken from the dust of the ground… and this is before God determined for this man that it was not good for him to be alone as well….

 

 

Posted in Bible, Christianity, From the Beginning, God, Jesus | Tagged , , , | 3 Comments

As it was from the beginning…. Part One

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise

As it was from the beginning, revealing what had been hidden from before the foundation of the world, it wasn’t so from the beginning…. are all passages that we’ve often quoted, read or heard and yet have we missed some of the most profound lessons/teachings that are shared in the opening pages of the book of Genesis??  Those that set the stage for so much of what is recorded in the rest of the bible?  Let’s have a look…..

The first thing that we can see from the opening pages of the book of Genesis is that it records that God created everything, blessed it and spoke to it Himself giving each element of it His instruction/commandment on what they were to do, what the purpose was for each, and what had been provided for them.

This was not coming to them, according to the opening chapter of Genesis from any other source other than God.  The provisions for each were created before they were… the waters before the living creatures that the waters would bring forth, the trees and the herbs that would be for food…. all that God knew that each would have need of, the book of Genesis records that God created before creating those that would have need of those things.

In the opening chapter of Genesis we see that after all living creatures were created, God then said “let us make man in our image and after our likeness”.  Then we see from this very same chapter, that this “male and female” created was given instruction as to what they were to do as well… what was given to them to be their food…. all from God directly.  No writings to read, or study… no preachers, teachers, pastors, or prophets… no man at all or works of man involved in any of this.  In fact, “man” in the creation was the last on the list of “created” … right before God is shown to have said “it is good”!

Genesis 1:28:  And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.

So it was God that not only blessed them, but spoke to them, giving them His commandments/instructions Himself as well as what it was that they were to do …

Genesis 1:29: And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which [is] upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which [is] the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

As it was from the beginning….. God Himself blessed all things that He created, and gave them instruction Himself as to what it was that they were to do, what had been given to them to be their food, and all that had been provided for them God told them He has provided for them Himself.

So before we move on to Part Two of what the bible tells us “as it was from the beginning”… let’s do a quick summary there of the key points to keep in mind…

1.  God is the one that created all things.

2.  It is God that blessed them Himself.

3.  It is God that spoke to each Himself giving them instruction as to what they were to do.

4.  It is God that told them what He has provided for them as well.

5.  The source for all things and what each would have need of was created by God, blessed by God, instructed by God, and provided by God Himself.

Matthew 6:8b: (Jesus to His disciples)…” for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.”

Click Here to Continue to Part Two!

Posted in Bible, Christianity, From the Beginning, God | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Lost, Dead, where to begin?

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise

We often hear people referring to those that are “lost”, the passages from the bible referring to “dead”, so I understand that so many look at these passages to mean “lost” or “dead” and relate them to “saved” or “unsaved”… but is that what they are really telling us?

Look from the beginning…. when God formed the man from the dust of the ground, it was this man who was told not to partake of the knowledge of good and evil from any source… and that in the day that he did so that he would surely die.

So to “die” or how one was told he would “surely die” was from the result of hearkening to the voice of another who was not God on matters pertaining to himself and God.

So if we carry that first “premise” throughout the pages of the bible… we see that what it means to be “lost” or “dead” is simply lost to what is within us… what it is that we are able to know from within…. what God has made known Himself, not as a result of hearkening to the voice of another.

When we look at what Jesus’ says regarding “eternal life” it is the means/way for man to know God, to turn from traditions of having hearkened to the voice of another about God, what God knows, what God would have someone to do or not to do from another who was not GOD to “knowing the one true God” for oneself and being “resurrected” (no longer dead) to have “life” etc.

There is no where that the “voices” in the garden (which when hearkened to regarding God, what God would have any of us to do, or knowledge of good (God) and evil…… leads to death)  are “silenced”…. so that no one can ever “once again get entangled in them and find the latter end worse for them than the beginning…..

The voices will always be there…. as we see from the bible. It was God that put them there.. and that it is the temptation that is “common to man”…. but it is about “eternal life”… “knowing the one true God…..” having escaped the pollutions of the world through the KNOWLEDGE of God and Jesus… that one then and only then face the “sorer punishment” or the “latter end is worse for them than the beginning”…. not before.

As we also see from the opening pages of the bible, that Adam did not face “ye shall surely die” until after he is shown to have been walking with God, being taught of God what it is that he was to do and not to do, and having known God from having God reveal Himself to him, but also for God himself to have spoken to him, taught him, and told him what it was that he was not to do before the “shall surely die” became a factor. 🙂

One that knows the “way” isn’t one that is lost… it is one that doesn’t know that is the one that can or will be lost. As Jesus is shown to have also said… those that are taught by God, and learn from Him will come to Christ…. all shall be taught of God… and as the bible has been telling us all along… it isn’t until one has heard from God, knows whatever it is that God would have them to do or not to do Himself…. and knows God and is walking with Him themselves, that they would then “surely die” partaking of the knowledge of good (God) and evil from another source… for that would be for them to choose to walk away from what it is that they KNOW they are to do … and to do so to them is “sin”… right??

It’s all based on “knowledge of God”… “knowing God”…. and Jesus’ commandments are the “way” for one to have “eternal life”… (knowing the one true God and Jesus Christ)… none of it is based on a “second-hand knowing” or a knowing as the result of having hearkened to the voice of another regarding God, or what it is that God would have one to do or not to do. That was always to proceed from the mouth of God …. and man was to live by whatever proceeded from the mouth of God … and not to partake of the knowledge of good (God) and evil from any other source .. 🙂

Ask God!

Posted in Bible, Christianity, Eternal life, God | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Traditional Values….

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Denise

Posted in About Denise, Christian, Christianity, Faith, Unity | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment