Christian Basics

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"How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?" (1Cor 15:35)

"The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in
dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is
sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is
also a spiritual body." (1Cor 15:42-44)

The Greek word translated "spiritual" is somewhat ambiguous. The thing to note is
that it doesn't always refer to things consisting of thin air; for example:

Spiritual gifts (Rom 1:11)
Spiritual law (Rom 7:14)
Spiritual things (Rom 15:27)
Spiritual people (1Cor 2:15)
Spiritual nourishment (1Cor 10:3)
Spiritual water (1Cor 10:4)
Spiritual rock (1Cor 10:4)
Spiritual counselors (Gal 6:1)
Spiritual blessings (Eph 1:3)
Spiritual music (Eph 5:19)
Spiritual understanding (Col 1:9)
Spiritual housing (1Pet 2:5)
Spiritual sacrifices (1Pet 2:5)

The folks united with Christ are on track to be given a body like unto his glorified
body. (Phil 3:20-21)

The thing is: Christ's glorified body is capable of dining upon ordinary foods and
beverages.

● Matt 26:29 . . I tell you: I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until
that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom.

● Luke 22:15-16 . . I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover with you before I
suffer. For I tell you: I will not eat it again until it finds fulfillment in the kingdom of
God.

● Luke 22:28-30 . .You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials; and I make
a covenant with you, just as my Father has made a covenant with me, for a
kingdom, that you may eat and drink at my table in my kingdom.
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● Gen 9:18-19 . . Now the sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem and
Ham and Japheth. These three were the sons of Noah; and from these the whole
earth was populated.

FAQ: From whence did Noah's sons find wives?

REPLY: Incest was eventually prohibited via the covenant that Moses' people agreed
upon with God per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. However; the
codified laws of God are not retroactive. (Deut 5:2-4, Rom 4:15, Rom 5:13, & Gal
3:17) That being the situation, then Noah's sons were at liberty to take their nieces
for wives; which really wasn't much different than Cain taking one of his sisters, or
Adam taking a woman constructed with material removed from his own body
because there just weren't any other women available in their circumstances.

I think we may safely assume people were a lots more healthy in that day than
now. For example: Noah lived to be 950 (Gen 9:2) and his son Shem, thru whom
Christ came, lived 600 (Gen 11:10-11) By the time of Abraham longevity had
decreased quite a bit as he survived only 175, which the Bible describes as a ripe
old age. (Gen 25:7-8) And by David's time, it had decreased to an average of 70
(Ps 90:10)

In comparison; in 1900 the average lifetime of an America man was around 47.
And I'd imagine the average American man would still be dying at that age, or
younger, were it not for the marvels of modern medicine. (I myself would've passed
away from appendicitis at 15.)

* The ancient peoples had some advantages. There was no such thing as processed
food. All their fruits, grains, and vegetables were 100% organic and usually always
fresh because they had no refrigeration. All their cattle grazed on pasture and none
were inoculated. All their water was 100% potable with no need for treatment
whether it be from rain, aquifers, creeks, rivers, or lakes. Their air and their soil
was not yet contaminated by man-made toxic materials. They had no electric
lighting so folks got to bed at a reasonable hour and awoke via circadian rhythm
rather than disturbed by an alarm clock. And without powered conveyances, a lot of
their travel was either on foot or by means of beasts. All in all; they were not only
stronger back then, but their speed of life was quite a bit slower than a modern
man's pace.

NOTE: Had people not practiced some measure of inbreeding back in Noah's day,
and/or had they died too soon, it would've taken forever for his generation to
populate the world per Gen 9:1.
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● Gen 9:20-21a . .Then Noah began farming and planted a vineyard. And he drank
of the wine and became drunk,

Christianity doesn't condemn alcohol per se, rather, it condemns over-indulgence
primarily because when folks become tipsy, they oftentimes behave contrary to
their better judgment: for example:

● Gen 9:21b . . and uncovered himself inside his tent.

Now; had Noah been able to bar the door to a private room, that would've been
okay. But he passed out naked in a tent, which likely used curtains for doors
instead of solid wood so people could easily barge in uninvited.

The Bible doesn't tell why Noah took his clothes off, but when a man's brain is
pickled, his thinking is somewhat pickled too, i.e. who really knows what the man
was thinking at the time. However; I kind of suspect that in his drunken stupor
crazy old Noah thought about getting naughty with Mrs Noah, but she apparently
fled the scene and got out of there to avoid being taken by surprise in bed with her
obscene husband.
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FAQ: What if Adam had eaten some fruit from the tree of life prior to tasting the
forbidden fruit?

REPLY: The tree of life doesn't work like a vaccine, rather, it's a remedy; portrayed
in the Bible as a treatment for whatever ails you. (Rev 22:2)

In other words: under normal circumstances Adam had no use for the tree of life at
first because he was already in perfect health. He was created in the image and
likeness of God, i.e. Adam was immune to the aging process: an advantage he lost
by tampering with the forbidden fruit when he was instructed not to.

● Gen 2:16-17 . . The Lord God commanded the man: You are free to eat from any
tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good
and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die.

Adam didn't pass away within 24 hours after eating the forbidden fruit. In point of
fact he continued to live 800 more years beyond the birth of his son Seth. (Gen 5:4)

So the death that Adam underwent due to tasting the forbidden fruit began with his
loss of perfect health, i.e. Adam's body became infected with mortality which, if left
untreated, is 100% fatal. Mortality is a lingering death that gradually broke Adam
down to the point where his body could no longer continue. Exactly how the
chemistry of any plant could be so rich in nourishment as to stop the human body
from falling apart is currently unknown.

NOTE: Eternal Life and Immortality are not synonymous, viz: not two ways to say
the same thing. They are juxtaposed in 2Tim 1:10 where the terms are connected
with a conjunction. They aren't connected with a verb, so that it can't be said that
eternal life is immortality, or vice versa; no, eternal life and immortality are two
distinctly different conditions; and having the first doesn't necessarily indicate
having the second because eternal life pertains to spiritual characteristics whereas
immortality pertains to physical characteristics.

For example: Jesus had eternal life when he was here (John 5:26) but he didn't
obtain immortality till his resurrection (Rom 6:9, Rev 1:18) Likewise, folks correctly
unified with Christ have eternal life here (John 5:24) but they won't obtain
immortality till their resurrections. (Rom 8:23-25, 1Cor 15:51-54)

The possession of eternal life is very crucial because Christians lacking eternal
life are also lacking unity with God's son, i.e. they are quite literally christless
Christians.

● 1John 5:9-13 . .We accept human testimony, but God's testimony carries more
weight because it is the testimony of God, which He has given about His son. . . .
And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His son.
Whoever has the Son has the life; whoever who does not have the life, does not
have God's son.
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● Gen 6:9 . . Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time,
and he walked with God.

● Gen 7:1 . . .Yahweh then said to Noah: Go into the ark, you and your whole
family, because I have found you righteous in this generation.

FAQ: The Bible says that there is none righteous; no: not one (Rom 3:10) How then
can it be said in Genesis that Noah was righteous?

REPLY: There's more than one tier of righteousness.

For one; there is sinless perfection (Rom 3:23) For another, there is subjection to
God's sovereignty and superiority (Gen 6:22) And there is a positional righteousness
available via faith rather than performance (Gen 15:6, Rom 4:1-16 & Gal 3:6-14)

* Of the three tiers, the latter is much preferred. (Phil 3:4-9)
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● Jonah 1:17 . . The Lord provided a great fish to swallow Jonah, and he was inside
the fish three days and three nights

FAQ: Was Jonah alive in the fish?

REPLY: Yes. (Jonah 2:1)

FAQ: The whole time?

REPLY: No; at some point in his nautical adventure Jonah went to a place called
sheol (Jonah 2:2) which is located at the roots of the mountains. (Jonah 2:6)

Well; the roots of the mountains aren't anchored in the tummies of fish, nor are
they anchored under the sea, rather: they're anchored underground deep in the
earth. So, the only way that Jonah could possibly be at the roots of the mountains
while simultaneously in the belly of a fish was for the man and his body to part
company and go their separate ways. This is not impossible because according to
Matt 10:28 people can, and do, exist as disembodied souls.

Also, the language of Jonah's prayer strongly suggests that his corpse was restored
to life, i.e. resurrected.

● Jonah 2:6 . . I descended to the roots of the mountains. The earth with its bars
was around me forever, But Thou hast brought up my life from the pit, O Lord my
God.

The Hebrew word for "pit" basically pertains to holes in the ground, but sometimes
speaks of putrefaction too, e.g. Ps 16:8-10 & Acts 2:25-31. In other words: had
Jonah's body been left inside that fish's tummy for much longer, it would've been
digested to oblivion.

● Matt 12:40 . . For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge
fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.

Now when you think about it; Jesus' remains weren't laid to rest in the heart of the
earth; and in point of fact they weren't even buried in the earth's soil. They were
laid to rest up on the surface of the earth, above the soil, in a rock tomb. So the
only way that Jesus could be up on the surface of the earth and down its interior
simultaneously was for he and his body to part company and go their separate
ways the same as Jonah's did.

Also: it was essential to get Jesus back up on his feet again before a fourth day to
prevent his body from being lost to rot. (John 11:39, Ps 16:8-10, Acts 2:25-31)

NOTE: Jonah 2:5-7 strongly suggests the prophet was already deceased via
drowning prior to the fish; which makes sense seeing as Jesus was deceased prior
to the tomb, viz: neither man was buried alive.
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● Gen 12:1-3 . .The Lord had said to Abram: "all peoples on earth will be blessed
through you."

That is highly regarded by quite a few Bible readers as a prediction related to
Christ. It was perpetuated in Abraham's son Isaac (Gen 26:4) and in turn Isaac's
son Jacob. (Gen 28:14)

* I prefer not to pursue that particular element of Christ's association with Abraham
for now-- only just enough to establish Christ's association with Israel as a
monarch.

In time, Jacob produced a son named Judah via his first wife Leah. (Gen 29:35)
Judah became the man thru whom the world would be given its ultimate monarch.
(Gen 49:10)

From Judah we get Pharez (Ruth 4:12) and Pharez eventually produced David.
(Ruth 4:18-22)

So the first prerequisite relative to the world's ultimate monarch is that he has to
be one Abraham's paternal descendants. Secondly he has to be one of Judah's
paternal descendants. And thirdly he has to be one of David's paternal descendants
because God promised David a perpetual throne.

● Ps 89:35-36 . . Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before me.

● Ps 132:11 . .The Lord has sworn in truth unto David; and He will not turn from it:
"Of the fruit of your body will I set upon your throne"

The New Testament verifies that Christ satisfies the paternal requirement.

● Acts 2:29-30 . . Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch
David, that he is both dead and buried, and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
Therefore being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him,
that of the fruit of his loins, according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on
his throne.

● Rom 1:1-3 . . Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David
according to the flesh.

* The Greek word for "seed" is a mite ambiguous because it can refer to spiritual
progeny as well as to paternal progeny; but in David's case; seed refers to paternal
progeny because (1) it's the fruit of his body and (2) it's of his loins according to
the flesh.
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Solomon was appointed the heir through whom David's monarchy would be
perpetuated.

● 2Sam 7:8-14 . . . Now then, tell my servant David this is what The Lord Almighty
says: "When your days are over and you rest with your fathers, I will raise up your
offspring to succeed you, who will come from your own body, and I will establish
his kingdom. He is the one who will build a house for My name, and I will establish
the throne of his kingdom forever."

● 1Chron 22:7-10 . . David said to Solomon: My son, this word of The Lord came to
me: "You will have a son. His name will be Solomon . . . he will be My son, and I
will be his father. And I will establish the throne of his kingdom over Israel forever."

There's a bit of a problem relative to the "forever" element of those passages due
to a curse back in the Old Testament leveled at a really bad king in Solomon's line
that reads like this:

● Jer 22:29-30 . . O land, land, land, hear the word of The Lord! Thus said The
Lord: Record this man as without succession, one who shall never be found
acceptable; for no man of his offspring shall be accepted to sit on the throne of
David and to rule again in Judah.

The bad king's name was Jeconiah (a.k.a. Jehoiakim, a.k.a. Coniah). Jesus' dad
Joseph was one of his descendants. (Matt 1:11)

It's commonly believed that Jeconiah's curse extended to Joseph, so that had Jesus
been Joseph's paternal descendant, the curse would've prevented him from
inheriting Solomon's royal legacy.

However, seeing as how adopted children inherit from their fathers the same as
paternal children; then had the curse extended to Joseph, it would have extended
to Jesus too whether he was virgin-conceived or not. In other words: seeing as how
Jesus got into Solomon's line by adoption, then of course he would've gotten into
the curse too because the throne and the curse were a package deal.

However; the wording "to rule again in Judah" indicates that the curse on
Jeconiah's posterity was limited to the era of the divided kingdom with Samaria in
the north and Judah in the south. That situation came to an end when
Nebuchadnezzar crushed the whole country and led first Samaria, and then later
Judah, off to Babylonian slavery.

When Solomon's ultimate successor reigns, the country of Israel will be unified, viz:
Christ's monarchy won't be limited to Judah within a divided kingdom, but will dominate
the entire land of Israel.

● Ezek 37:21-22 . .You shall declare to them: "Thus said the Lord God: I am going
to take the Israelite people from among the nations they have gone to, and gather
them from every quarter, and bring them to their own land. I will make them a
single nation in the land, on the hills of Israel, and one king shall be king of them
all. Never again shall they be two nations, and never again shall they be divided
into two kingdoms."
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It's been suggested that the genealogies listed in Matthew and Luke are both
Joseph's. However, in Matthew's genealogy, Joseph descends from Solomon,
whereas Luke has him descending from Solomon's brother Nathan.

Solomon and Nathan weren't distant kin. According to 1Chron 3:5 they were
siblings; both born of David & Bathsheba (a.k.a. Bathshua).

Along with that: there's a serious question about the listings of Shieltiel and
Zerubbabel. In Matthew's genealogy the two men are linked to David via Solomon.
In Luke's genealogy, they're linked to David via Solomon's brother Nathan.

Their respective descendants are different too. Zerubbabel's son is listed as Abihud
in Matthew's genealogy, whereas his son is listed as Rhesa in Luke's.

It's been suggested that Shealtiel and Zerubbabel are common names so we
shouldn't be surprised to find them listed in both genealogies. However, they are
listed as father and son in both genealogies, which we cannot expect reasonable
people to accept as mere coincidence.

Unfortunately, to date there exists no consensus among the experts how best to
resolve the confusion caused by the presence of Shieltiel and Zerubbabel in both
genealogies. Were we scientific in our thinking; we'd have to consider the data
compromised. So the situation with Jesus' genealogies is such that I think it best to
go about establishing his family history from a different angle.

NOTE: An inconvenient difficulty associated with the Greek manuscripts is their lack
of punctuation, for example comma, apostrophe, exclamation mark, period, colon,
semi colon, slash, parenthesis, bracket, quotation mark, and hyphen, etc.

What this means is: any, and all, punctuation you see in English translations was
selected and placed in their locations arbitrarily. In other words; translators don't
really know for sure if and/or where punctuation is supposed to go so they take an
educated guess which may, in some instances, be subjective instead of objective.
Caveat Lector.
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In the centuries leading up to Jesus' time, the land of Israel was conquered by
Nebuchadnezzar whereby Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed, and many of
the people were taken into slavery for a period of seventy years.

During those years the prophet Daniel predicted his people would return to rebuild
Jerusalem and the Temple; but not for keeps. The day would come when the city and
the Temple would again be destroyed; which they were in 70 AD by Titus. (This is all
too much to explain in detail so I'm just painting the broad strokes.)

Daniel also predicted that Messiah would show up and then be taken away prior to
Titus' destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple which, if true, means that Israel's king
has been here once before already.

Some of the Jews in Jesus' day were under the impression that their king was
supposed to be immortal (John 12:34) but Daniel predicted their king would not be
immortal. (Dan 9:26) That error in their thinking has led quite a few Jews even in
our time to dismiss Jesus as David's ultimate successor.

● John 7:31 . .When the Christ comes, will he do more miraculous signs than this
man?

Orthodox Jews circumvent that question by citing Deut 13:1-5 which says, in so
many words, that miracles are no guarantee that a prophet is working together
with God. In point of fact, some of Israel's top spiritual counselors were convinced
Jesus was trying to mislead the people. (e.g. John 7:45-49)

But still; the fact remains that according to Daniel, the king of the Jews has been
here once before already. So if it wasn't Jesus (a.k.a. Y'shua) then who else from
that era might be a likely alternative for us to consider?
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It was 1944 when I was baptized an infant into Roman Catholicism. In time, my
mother enrolled me in catechism classes where I went on to complete First Holy
Communion and Confirmation.

Well; I must've been either asleep or absent the day that the nuns talked about
Jesus coming back because it wasn't till 1968 that I found out Christ is returning
some day to rule the world.

My initial reaction was alarm because I instinctively knew that were I called on the
carpet for a face-to-face with Christ, it would not go well for me because I had a lot
to answer for. Having never read the Bible up to that time, I didn't know just how
close to the mark my instincts had been.

● Isa 9:6-7 . . For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government
will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, and Prince of Peace.

. . . Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign
on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice
and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will
accomplish this.

● Jer 23:5 . .The days are coming-- declares the Lord --when I will raise up to
David a righteous Branch: a king who will reign wisely and do what is just and right
in the land.

One of the things I have feared along with death is justice. With luck, it's possible
to escape justice in this world so long as God stays out of it, but luck will no longer
be a factor when Messiah takes the reins.

● Ps 2:7-10 . . I will proclaim the decree of the Lord-- He said to me: You are My
son; today I have become your Father. Ask of Me, and I will make the nations your
inheritance, the ends of the earth your possession. You will rule them with an iron
scepter; you will dash them to pieces like pottery.
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FAQ: Since when did the Jews begin placing men in positions of power by adoption?

REPLY: Jacob was the first. He took possession of Joseph's two sons Manasseh and
Ephraim, thus elevating them to tribal heads equal in position to his eldest sons
Reuben and Simeon. (Gen 48:5-6)

Jacob was no run of the mill patriarch. His spiritual name Israel means "he shall
rule as God" (Gen 32:28) viz: Adam usurped God's authority (Gen 3:22) whereas
our man Jacob was endowed with it. Therefore, I think it wise to assume that
Jacob's precedent is just as binding as the Ten Commandments.
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