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Okay, let's go back to the shema as Ron has quoted. The Lord our God (Elohim, plural) is one Lord. Why can't we leave it as is, strange and wonderful and unfathomable as it is to our mortal minds?

I'm not sure I understand what you are saying here, Kevin, because it seems to contradict what you are saying in other posts in this thread. Here you seem to be saying that Jesus had a good reason to not mention that a trinity exists and to not define the Holy Spirit. Yet in other posts you seem to be saying that it is necessary for us to believe that a trinity exists as defined by humans and that it is necessary for us to define the Holy Spirit as a "person" -- a definition that we process objectively as if we could analyze the Holy Spirit and put it into a definition of our own liking; and that if we don't believe these "approved" [non-Scriptural] definitions we are somehow aiding Satan's attacks on the trinity.

"The greatness of god is to us incomprehensible. 'The Lord's throne is in heaven' (Ps 11:4) yet by His Spirit He is everywhere present. He has an intimate knowledge of, and a personal interest in all the works of His hand." Education pg 132 (1903). She does not say, "by the Spirit He is everywhere present". She says "by His spirit". God our Father is OMNIPRESENT. There is no need for a third divine being. The Spirit IS the spirit of God the Father. "The FATHER gave his Spirit without measure to his Son, and we also may partake of its fullness." (Great Controversy pg.477) "For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith" (Ephesians 3:14). "The Father and the Son alone are to be exalted" (Youth's Instructor July 7, 1898 pr.2). When you sing "Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost" - you are not in accord with Scripture. I change it to "Praise Father and Son for the holy ghost" It fits with the cadence.

i see man in the beginning in full communion with God. after sin the glory and knowledge of that experience was still fresh in Adam's mind. he was keenly aware of what he had lost. i imagine his hungering and thirsting for God was very great. I imagine Adam grasping every blessing earnestly and taking hold of every communion with God by faith tho quench his longing for the presence of God he could now only enjoy by faith. Eden still glowed at the entrance, the angel was still standing there wielding heavenly fire people could go and witness it. The creation was still not so far from God. the oral tradition was strong. over the millennia the darkness over man has been deepening from the light shining so strong in those days. And the revelation of God has been growing brighter to meet the increasing darkness and deeper and deeper misapprehension of God. It seems as this permitted development of evil is deepening it is being met by a increasingly powerful display of the Character of God. God's plan and the timing of each revelation of God by the Power of the Holy Spirit is perfect, and meeting the needs of fallen man struggling in the grasp of sin. The Holy Spirit has been laboring in every heart from the moment Adam fell. The Old testament is filled with references to the Holy Spirit. In Psalms 51 David prays, Take not thy Holy Spirit from me, cast me not away from your presence. The ongoing tension between a purely unselfish and powerful and gracious God, and the small selfish and ugly mean spirited humanity has no rest. God is not willing for anyone to perish, he is working to save every soul possible in spite of themselves. When the Spirit comes He will reveal sin, and reveal Christ because Christ has returned to heaven, and reveal the judgement of God again sin because the leader of the rebellion against God has been fully exposed, and judged and cast out. It was by faith Jesus walked as a human being, constantly maintained and empowered by the work of the Holy Spirit that made His Father known to Him, and was the source of every victory and revelation of God's mercy in acts of Love towards man, and profound worship of God. God wants us to know the love expressed and held towards Jesus is the same Love he holds us in. By the same Spirit that empowered Jesus he Speaks the creation power of God in us to recreate us, and transform us, and inspire us. We are human and fallen, we struggle to comprehend God. He had made himself known and will increasingly make himself known that we may be filled and preserved and empowered by this Holy Spirit again as Adam was and even more so. From the last of John 17. We do not know what we shall be, but we know when he appears we shall be like him.

Not sure why you highlighted that particular word. That seems not to be a particularly relevant issue. At the time that was the name of the organization that was the highest denominational body, the same as now. If the reason is to highlight it to emphasize its qualitative meaning, the GC always has been an association, that is a collection of persons or organizations associating themselves together for a common purpose under a common name. If you are dwelling on the precise legal structure or meaning as if it was somehow different regarding the key point under discussion, again that is a temporal matter, an artificial distinction for the essential fact that we are still talking about the same fundamental entity, regardless of the legal form by which it is defined or organized. It is along the lines of those that get preoccupied/sidetracked by the Church as a corporation vs. being an unincorporated entity. Not really a matter of ecclesiastical significance. It is a human construct. A temporal tool by which we function in a civil environment of laws.

Now that she's now been cleared I think that little scare did its job. Minds were concentrated, early voting is up in some places and the campaign pulled out all the stops. We will see tomorrow night.

Enabled: You do not have to agree with me. I have never claimed to be correct in everything that I say and I am wrong at times. As to Moses and Saul, I would suggest that the sin was in what they did and not in their initial anger. By the way, I have never said that hate was a God-given emotion. Hatred differs from anger.

Because this is the very heart of the work of Satan. Studies in Mrs. White point out that she sees Satan as having 3 deceptions. Each deception is against a member of the Trinity. Everything he does is to shake loose the hold on the trinity. Satan does not need to convince all of us to become atheists, if he can weaken our understanding of the trinity he has inroads to getting us

Except that a comment like that would make the Holy Spirit a revelation to our objective like God the Father and God the Son is. The Holy Spirit is God revealing God's self to our subjective and needs to remain in this sphere.