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Verse 17 : The dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offsping, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ." These appear to me, to be the remnant.

The Son of God "created all things". Time is a created dimension. The Son of God EXISTED before "time" was created. There was "no time when the Son was not".

So far, what I'm hearing is that the word "Trinity" has no clear agreed upon definition. Therefore "God" (if "He" IS a Trinity - is NOT clearly understood as such). Folks who believe that God is a Trinity, do so because that is what they were taught, not because they clearly understand what that means. "God" - in the Greek, means "divine being" - divine as opposed to human. "God" is not a name. "God" is a type of being, with personal characteristics - characteristics we associate with personhood. Sentient will (as opposed to instinct), communicative, responsive to the actions and emotions of His created beings (whether spirit beings or human beings). Pronouns like he, him, his, and who are used to refer to "God". "God" has powers beyond those of human beings. He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and everywhere present. Yahweh, the "God" of Israel, IS the original and always existent divine being - one being, who beget a second divine being from Himself, before THEY created anything. The second being is also divine, and is therefore "God". Is this not what John wrote?

would that "removal" mean "removal from church membership," "removal from office," or "removal to an Adventist 're-education' camp"?

But the Trinitarian concept has one God, which is indicated by "me."

Be thou prepared ⏳

There are many things in Scripture that are hard to understand, and/or have not been clearly stated in fullness.: * Perhaps God wants us to spend some time and effort in study of some issues? * Perhaps, some issues are not as important as we make them to be. * Perhaps it is O.K. for Christians to differ on some points. * Perhaps [You fill in the space.} :)

JoMo: Good post. I am struggling to come up with a written definition that can be understood by someone like me! In other words, my struggle includes coming up with a written definition that I understand. Frankly my best understanding of the Trinity comes from an illustration that I would use with a child. "I have a three-stranded rope. Each strand is the same and not independent of the other two strands. But, the three combine to make one rope. It is only one rope that I have. I do not have three ropes." I understand why some reject the Trinity on the basis that they consider it to be a polytheistic set of three separate gods. That probably springs from our human concept of what a "person" is. For that reason, I do not like the word "person" used in doctrinal statements on the Trinity. Rather, I prefer the term "personal being." In considering the historic Church Councils, it is of value to understand what the issue was that the council considered. Three of the important issues were: * Is God the Father of the same substance (nature) as the so-called 2nd person of the Godhead? * To what extent was there a time when God the Father existed but the 2nd person of the Godhead did not exist? * To what extent was the 2nd person of the Godhead subordinate to God the Father. Classic Trinitarians, as I understand them, acknowledging that there have been those who do not so believe, answered the above issues in the following: * God the Father and the 2nd person of the Godhead were of the same substance, (nature), prior to the incarnation of Christ. * The 2nd person of the "Godhead, has eternally existed in the same sense that God the Father has eternally existed. From this standpoint, any Scriptural reference to a begetting is a reference to the incarnation. * The 2nd person of the Godhead, prior to the incarnation, was not subordinate to God the Father. As I have stated, I like to talk about a "personal being" as I want to get away from my human concept of a person with the connected implication of a polytheistic set of three gods. But, I really do not understand what this "personal being" is. I am unable to define it.

As the author of Hebrews puts it, faith is an “inner conviction of things we do not see” (Heb 11:1, my translation). It is through faith we understand that “the universe was created by the word of God” (Heb 11:3, ESV). Faith is more than just knowledge of facts. It is an inner conviction of […] The post The Role of “Faith” in Science (Faith and Science 5) appeared first on Jon Paulien's Blog. View the full article

For me personally the Bible and philosophical reasoning both point to a Creator and a relatively recent creation. I recognize that people who favor the scientific evidence can read Genesis in ways that differ from the traditional. But the best exegetical work on the Bible points to the idea that the ancients who wrote and […] The post Why I Believe in Creation (Faith and Science 4) appeared first on Jon Paulien's Blog. View the full article