Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Man Could Have Been Made Solitary | Gen 2:18 | Ray | 49022 | ||
Hi Lionstrong, You have an interesting meditation. It makes me aware that we do not have all the answers to questions and makes me wonder how much we need to know and just how much will we come to know about His creation. Could it indeed be that Adam was made bisexual at the beginning? Could it be that God is both male and female but male in His image? In Genesis 1:27, Genesis 5:1, the mixure of man, him, and them, male and female, is difficult. It is good that Christianity recognizes "mankind", male and female, and that all are one in Christ. How does the new NIV fit it all in this mix of him, man, and them? Another question I have is about the first-born Cain, i.e.gotten one, and the significance of the marginal footnote in my NASB study bible. Genesis 4:1b, "I have gotten a manchild [Or, man,the LORD] with the help of the Lord." We know that this was not the Lord who was born, but rather that he was born with the help of the Lord. Here is where they became one flesh and where mankind became possible. We know that this "gotten one" of the first Adam was not God's son when we consider 1 John 3:10, "By this this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, NOR the one who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another; not as Cain, who was of the evil one, and slew his brother." I praise God for the second Adam, the one Man, Jesus Christ; the only begotten Son of God. From the heart,Ray |
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2 | Man Could Have Been Made Solitary | Gen 2:18 | Lionstrong | 49070 | ||
Dear Ray, Thanks for your thoughts. You write, “Could it be that God is both male and female but male in His image?” Let me respond: I learned a distinction between sex and gender from reading C. S. Lewis. Something can be masculine or feminine without being sexually a male or female. God wanted the earthly creatures with bodies to reproduce themselves and fill the earth. He made the means of procreation for these bodily creatures sexual. Now, God is not a sexual being because he does not have a body. He is spirit. He may be masculine, but he is not male. And if He is masculine, then his masculinity may be such because all of creation is feminine with respect to him. I think of Christ and the church. We (his people) are feminine with respect to Christ. He is the bridegroom; we are the bride. Now the church is made up of male and female persons, but this fact is irrelevant when we are considered as one body of believers. As a unit we are feminine with respect to Christ. God is neither male nor female, but he is in all respects personal. We are personal because we are the image of God. Our primary relationship is upward not downward; therefore as the image of our creator we are persons, which is something animals and machines are not. On the other hand, as we are made to live in the same environment as other earthly creatures, we therefore, are sexual, which is something God is not. However the point of my meditation, as Momma rightly mentioned, was to highlight the importance that God created man not to be alone. We were made to live in community, not in isolation. We were made not only to love God first, best and always, but also to love our neighbor as ourselves. Peace, |
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3 | Man Could Have Been Made Solitary | Gen 2:18 | Ray | 49132 | ||
Hi Lionstrong, C.S. Lewis in his "Screwtape Letter" showed that he knew a lot about spirits. I read that as required reading in college some forty years ago. However, I haven't read much more than that of his. But I believe that God is a Spirit, capital s and is different from the spirits. True, the spirits do not have bodies, nor given in marriage, nor do they procreate. But if God does not have a body, He sure does give the impression that He does. Heart, bowels, arm, hand, and finger come to mind just off hand. I don't think we can know too much about the sexuality of God, but I do know that He does not have an aversion to it. The procreation of the earth was one of the things included in the seven "good" days of His creation. Also, as we have been thinking of a time when this evidently was not available to Adam in the first chapter of Genesis, even though there were male and females there. It is not until Adam is still alone and in the garden that God had planted, that God determined that it was not good, (sufficient, satisfactory, see Amplified version) that Adam was alone. A single man can be an especially good and devoted worker for the Lord. He should be always available and eager to please Him in his life. But I think God wanted Adam to be of some earthly significance also in keeping the world going. I am glad that this man was good enough at that time that God wanted to arrange for duplicates. I see also in Genesis 2:23 that this man and woman were already one flesh. God took the rib out of Adam but evidently "this one" had been taken out of Adam also. Gen 2:23, "And the man said, "This is now bone of my bones, And flesh of my flesh; She [this one] shall be called Woman, Because she [this one] was taken out of Man." Verse 24, "For this cause a man shall leave his father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife; and they shall become one flesh. verse 25, And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed." God has no aversion to sexuality. And sexuality was not involved in the fall of mankind. Sexuality was involved in the penalty for their sin. Time of pregnancy and pain of birth were increased or multiplied.The question could be asked here, "Did Adam and Eve know each other before the fall?" If pain was increased what was it increased from? Or, "Who was Cain's wife?" It is here BEFORE chapter 4 and the birth of Cain, that Adam called his wife Eve, i.e. living; or life, because she was the mother of all the living. So it could very well be that there were children who were not included in the lists of mankind. But Cain was the first "gotten one" after the fall, with the help of the Lord. The Lord will be required and His will and sovereignty realized after the fall in regards to how much mankind grows in number. Not everyone will be able to have children. I have strayed from your topic as we sometimes are prone to do on the forum.:) I hope that my thoughts will be found to have some value. From the heart, Ray |
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