Ringo writes:
So you lump us in with all the other creatures, do you? My cousins the chimps will be glad to hear that.
Of course. We and them were created beings, procreated from the originals. So were the animals, and for that matter the highest angels in God's kingdom are creatures of God.
Ringo writes:
Joh 3:3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
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Born again.
Problem: The word "again" is in none of the Greek manuscripts from which the NT was translated. Rather the correct wording is "born from above," as literally translated.
Ringo writes:
But in the father's eyes, his son was always his son.
Similarly, We are born the children of God. We are always His children, even if we turn our backs on Him. If we turn toward Him again, we are "born again" - our lives with Him begin again, as if we had never done wrong.
1. Not so with God. We were never sons of God. We were his creatures. The prodical was born of his father at his beginning. Not so with creatures of God who need to be "born from above by his spirit to become sons.
2. You're not factoring in other scripture we've shown you where it says you need to receive and believe to become sons/children.
3. You're not factoring in the context of John 3:3. Read the next verses where Jesus says that which is flesh is flesh and that which is spirit is spirit. He's clarifying to Nicodemus that one needs more than a fleshly birth. He needs that spiritual birth to get into God's kingdom. He says nobody will even see the kingdom without it, let alone be his children in the kingdom.
Ringo writes:
Gen 2:7 And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
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We are all "born of the Holy Spirit" when we are created (born). We all have God's spirit/life breathed into us. The only difference is in how we choose to use it - squander it like the prodigal son, or use it as it was intended.
In Psalms 104:30, in the context of the things God made this: "He sends forth his spirt and they are created." Both in Genesis one and here, we see that God's Holy Spirit is the agent he uses to create. So in creating Adam, it was the Holy Spirit who both did the creating and breathing in the life. God resides on his throne in Heaven. Not so with the HS. The HS is that multi-present member of the trinity that is sent in numerous areas of the universe simultaneouly to effect what God wants done. This includes both breating life breath into man and entering man at the "newbirth." This rebirth means God's Spirit actually enters into our bodies by this experience. "No you not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Spirit?" says Paul (It's a direct quote, but forgot where it's found. I believe somewhere I Corinthians.
Ringo writes:
Once again, I refer you to the prodigal son. By turning back to the Father, we accept the priviledges of being His sons. We were his sons all along, even if we repudiated Him. It is our responsibility to act like the sons of God.
1. Not so, as I've explained. You can show no scripture documenting that we were sons of God at creation and by procreation.
2. John 1:12 does not say we "turn back to the Father." It says, by specific implication to Jesus, that we must believe and receive the Father's son Jesus in order to become the sons of God.
Ringo writes:
And Jesus came to tell the Old Testament folk that they were doing it wrong.
No he wasn't. Why? Because he never ever instructed the OT folks to call him Father. He was referred over 6000 times in the original texts by his proper name Jehovah because that is what his name was. In the original manuscripts, reference to him and prayers to him were either that name or Elohim/god as to his status. Not so in the NT. In fact because he wanted Christians to refer to him as "father," he never inspired the writer of the NT to use the name Jehovah even once, though his status as "God" was allowed in reference to him in both OT and NT. That's what he is, i.e. a/the god.
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