Land and Bible

People have said that I’m part of a cult. They mean it, of course, in a derogatory sense. These same people that derogatorily accuse me of being part of a cult believe that God is somehow a combination of three persons in one essence. They also believe that one of those persons of the three-person god also has a human essence (or nature). So, this belief system that accuses me of being part of a cult has for their god three persons in one essence, but one person in two essences.   Three persons in one essence, but one person in two essences. But I’m the one, supposedly, who is part of a cult with a strange belief system. And they don’t notice that in their definition of who God is, they have eliminated the possibility that Jesus the Messiah (Christ) is a real human person. Otherwise their description of their god would be three persons with two essences (a divine essence and a human essence). Wait, check that. Their description of their god should be four ...

Dear friend who believes in the “Deity of Christ”, I was once like you. I took it on authority, and thought that the Bible presented Jesus as a God-man. I knew Jesus was a human, but I thought there were a handful of biblical verses that also showed that Jesus is God, a Second Person of a Godhead that took on flesh. I now see that those handful of verses that I thought showed the deity of Jesus, don’t. To interpret those handful of Scriptures as evidence that Jesus is God does injustice to the Scriptures, and brings only confusion and contradiction. There are better ways to understand those handful of Scriptures. In a previous post I suggested Trinitarian translations and notes from the Book of Genesis. Below are selected translations and notes for Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. More translations from the prophets and the New Testament, Lord willing, are forthcoming. My translations and explanations are made tongue-in-cheek, although many of the comments...

Dear friend who believes in the “Deity of Christ”, I was once like you. I took it on authority, and thought that the Bible presented Jesus as a God-man. I knew Jesus was a human, but I thought there were a handful of biblical verses that also showed that Jesus is God, a Second Person of a Godhead that took on flesh. I now see that those handful of verses that I thought showed the deity of Jesus, don’t. To interpret those handful of Scriptures as evidence that Jesus is God does injustice to the Scriptures, and brings only confusion and contradiction. There are better ways to understand those handful of Scriptures. Over the last year a number of biblical texts have been presented to me to show that Jesus is God, and that God is a Trinity. I have translated some of those biblical texts, starting with a few texts from the Book of Genesis, in the way that my Trinitarian (or Deity of Christ) friends are reading them. In later articles I plan to post translations from other ...