I just want to touch on few points regarding the creation of dogmas out of the Bible. The Bible is not a dogmatic book. Although it could have been a much bigger volume, with many more books added to it, it is as it is today.
First, the (so called) Old Testament was written in the old Hebrew, which contained no tenses; only translations contain tenses to help the reader to better understand it; but with them also came man's theology. Both Arabic and Hebrew are very flowery languages, which use metaphors and poetic similes. The New American Standard Translation of the Bible (NASB) puts these expressions in a lyrical form, like a poem or a song. Psalms and many expressions the prophets used are also in that form. For example Isaiah 14 begins with "Israel’s Taunt" or a song of derision against not some fallen angel, but against the king of Babylon.
[Isaiah 14:3-9] And it will be in the day when the LORD gives you rest from your pain and turmoil and harsh service in which you have been enslaved, 4that you will take up this taunt against the king of Babylon, and say, “How the oppressor has ceased, and how fury has ceased! The LORD has broken the staff of the wicked, the scepter of rulers, which used to strike the peoples in fury with unceasing strokes, which subdued the nations in anger with unrestrained persecution. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet; they break forth into shouts of joy. Even the cypress trees rejoice over you, and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, 'Since you were laid low, no tree cutter comes up against us.’ Sheol from beneath is excited over you to meet you when you come; it arouses for you the spirits of the dead, all the leaders of the earth; it raises all the kings of the nations from their thrones.
That's just an example. Those who take few isolated verses and make a dogma out of them miss the message in its entirety.
A dogma: "How you have fallen from heaven, o *star of the morning, son of the dawn!"
*The Catholic Bible - Latin word for Lucifer.
*The Catholic Bible - Latin word for Lucifer.
The central message:
Maggots are spread out as your bed beneath you and worms are your covering. They will ponder over you, saying,’ Is this the man who made the earth tremble,
The central message is a poetic taunt directed at a king, a man whose corpse will be eaten by maggots.
[Psalms 104:4] He makes (Orig.) His angels, spirits the winds His messengers (orig.) His ministers flames of fire.[Hebrews 1:7] And of the angels He says, who makes His angels winds, and His ministers a flame of fire.
So, the figure in Isaiah 14 is not an angel, but was once in heaven as an angel even a Cherub. Adam was also like an angel, so were we. Our souls were in heaven before they were clothed with the earth's elements, just as it is written in Genesis 1:26-27 where God created human beings, which were by Him spiritually in heaven still; because Gen. 2 5-7 says that there was no man to cultivate the ground. Then God made (the physical) man Adam (human being) out of Adamah (ground). In the same way the king of Babylon was in heaven and his destiny was to be a king, but he corrupted himself on earth and was even ejected from his grave.
Unless the Holy Spirit enlightens us (John 16:13) leading us into all the truth we (on our own) will start making things up.
Satan is not a Cherub, but a Seraph and when he comes with God's wrath fire accompanies him. Fire, lightning, etc. But that does not mean that uniformly fire speaks of God's wrath and of Satan, no. The burning bush of Moses and the tongues of fire in Acts 2 speak of the many Seraphim angels which bring the supernatural in our midst. Therefore, before one makes a dogma one must know the Bible much better, but above all understand it with the gift of the Holy Spirit e.g., reading it through the Holy Spirit.
These were just a couple of examples. The point is that without any background information, re: the language, culture and history we would make up whatever we wish and too many already did.
Let's imagine that the Bible was written not by the Hebrew people, but the Russians and the Bible was written in Moscow at the Kremlin. Then you, an English, German or French speaking person would have to know a little of Russian, the Russian culture and their history, for indeed the Bible is mainly a history book. You could not just take the Russian bible as your own book and disregard its writers and its preservers.
Instead of Jerusalem it would be Moscow where God would have placed His Holy Name YHVH. Germans would like to have it in Berlin or the French in Paris, perhaps...
Instead of Jerusalem it would be Moscow where God would have placed His Holy Name YHVH. Germans would like to have it in Berlin or the French in Paris, perhaps...
We touch on the human psychology at which root is the self, self-identity and too often plain selfishness. This lack of sharing and appreciating someone else than just oneself causes blindness and even blind indoctrination.
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