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not get up and walk immediately to
its food. The tiny baby is helpless.
It has mind- but at birth there is
NO KNOWLEDGE as yet in its mind .
It
must be taught!
It
needs parents
to teach it! lt matures so very much
more slowly than other creatures!
Yet its potentiali ty is infinitely
higher! And for this higher pur–
pose, parental guidance and FAMILY
LIFE are NECESSARY!
God made cattle "according to
its kind ." He made "every winged
bird according to its kind." But he
made MAN after the God kind!
Man's Destiny
Now, incredible as it may sound to
those who do not UNDERSTAND the
revelation of God' s TRUTH- and
only an infinitesimal minority do–
Goo is a FAMILv!
Let me make this most wonder–
fu l truth of al l time PLAIN!
First, go back once again to the
very first words in God's revelation
of knowledge to us: " In the begin–
ning God created the heavens and
the earth."
God inspired Moses to write those
words in Hebrew, not in the English
words above. The Hebrew name
here translated "God" is
Elohim.
It
is a plural form used with a singular
meaning like the words
family,
group, team.
One family, but com–
posed of more than one person. One
group, but unless composed of more
than one person, it would not be a
group. One athletic team, composed
of two or more players besides a
number of substitutes ."
Almost no one today knows that
God is, actually, a divine FAMILY.
One famil y. That famil y is ONE
Goo.
A c lever Satan has deceived
people into almost every o ther
belief about God. Most have been
deceived into believing God is only
THREE persons- UMITING God to
three persons and. misrepresenti ng
the HOLY SPIRIT, which flows from
God a nd from Christ, to be a single
person.
Others think of God as ONE PER–
SON ONLY.
But notice, again, in the New
Testament, John 1:1-5, 14: " In the
beginning was the Word ." Sounds
simi lar to Genesis 1:1, doesn't it?
In Genesis 1:1, it is "In the begin–
ning Goo ... ,". meaning more
Febru•ry 1985
than one person forming ONE God.
In John 1, the English word
Word
is translated from the original
Greek word
Jogos,
which means
"word," "spokesman," " revelatory
thought," as a being or person.
The next words in John 1 are
" ... and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God . He was in
the beginning with God. All things
were made through Him, and with–
out Him nothing was made that
was made" (verses 1-3).
This " Logos" was a separate per–
sonage. H e existed "from the
beginning" the same as God. He
ALWAYS self-exis ted. He existed
with God. And he, also, was God.
They both coexis ted forever. "AII
things" (words elsewhere trans–
lated " the universe") were made by
Marriage is a physical
union but a divine
institution. Almighty
God ordained it! It
did not evolve!
It
is not
of man's devising.
him- the Word - the divine
Spokesman.
But now notice verse 14: " And
the Word became flesh and dwelt
among us, and we beheld His glory,
the g lory as of the only begotten of
the Father, full of grace and t ruth."
This, of course, is speaking of Jesus
Christ. In the human flesh, he was
begotten of God the Father, the
only one ever so begotten before
human birth.
At the time of this begettal and
human birth "the Word" became
the Son of God.
T he Father, from heaven, said of
J esus, "This is My beloved Son, in
whom
1
am well pleased" (Matt.
17:5). J esus, praying, ·caBed God
"Father"-Father and Son, a FAMI–
LY relationship. The Church, at the
resurrection to immortal SPIRIT
life, is to MARRY the resurrected
and g lorified Christ (Eph. 5:25-
28). So we have here a FAMILY rela–
tionship--father, son, husband and
wife. And the wife is to be com-
posed of born children of God.
In MAN, God is reproducing him–
self . Man has the supreme poten–
t iality of being actually born into
the divine God fami ly!
Do you real ize what that means?
Of course, God is composed of
immortal SPIRIT. Man, like ani–
mals, is composed in this life of
material FLESH- matter! But the
transcendent essential factor is that
God IS PERFECT SPIRITUAL CHAR–
ACTER! It is the supreme intelli–
gence, combined with holy and
righteOUS CHARACTER OF MINO,
that most importantly d istinguishes
God from every other living crea–
ture. No animal has this potential,
but it is the true destiny of MAN. Of
course God, too, possesses su–
preme, ALL-MIGHTY POWER. But
without right CHARACTER, this
power would be destructive and
dangerous!
What is this righteous spiritual
character?
It is that controlled abi lity, in a
separate independent entity, to
come to a knowledge of the true
and right from the false and, fur–
ther, to use the self-discipli ne to
will ahd to actually oo
th~
· right.
And how define right? By the spir–
itual law of God!
This necessitates that each indi–
vidual human be an independent
entity, with a mind of bis or her
own- with freedom of choice (free
moral agency) .
lt
requires MINO to
absorb KNOWLBDGE, to reason, to
think, to plan, devise, to draw con–
clusions, to will and to act.
Inanimate objects have no mind,
make no decisions, have no charac–
ter. Animals have instinct, but they
do not possess human-level con–
sciousness of self , do not absorb
knowledge from which to reason
abstractly. Animals do oot create,
question or decide whether to obey
moral codes.
Humans are born with MINOS.
Humans must be taught and learn.
The human mind can absorb
knowledge and reason from it–
think creatively, formulate plans,
make decisions, render judgments
and exercise self-discipline.
Man has the capacity to develop
righteous CHARACTER. This charac–
ter is not created instantaneously.
It develops through experience, and
experience requires TIME..A human
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