Is God Magnanimous? - (as opposed to tyrannical)

[soberxp]

Acts 11:26 NIV
and when he found him, he brought him to Antioch.
So for a whole year Barnabas and Saul met with the church and taught great numbers of people.
The disciples were called Christians first at Antioch.

[

Do you believe there is any connection between Antioch and the Antichrist?

 

[Wick Stick]

The Cross of Christ, is the "atoning sacrifice for sin".......before Paul was called as an Apostle who later established the "Galatian" Church".
So, this means that Christ's Atonement, came before any Church, as its The Cross of Christ that birthed Christianity.

Yes, but why is that relevant?

This book was written to the Galatians. When it says "our" it's talking about the Galatians. That's all I said there.

 

[St. SteVen]

Do you believe there is any connection between Antioch and the Antichrist?

Both words start with "Anti"; other than that, no connection that I am aware of.

[

 

[soberxp]

Both words start with "Anti"; other than that, no connection that I am aware of.

[

Before the people of Antioch became Christians, they were Antichrist, basically everyone like this.

Anti och!
Anti Christ!

Anti:"Look! Och!Christ!"

 

[St. SteVen]

Before the people of Antioch became Christians, they were Antichrist, basically everyone like this.

Anti och!
Anti Christ!

Anti:"Look! Och!Christ!"

In a sense, I suppose.
Seems like a word game to me.

My cap has a bill.
A duck has a bill.
Therefore my cap is a duck.

[

 

[Wick Stick]

In a sense, I suppose.
Seems like a word game to me.

My cap has a bill.
A duck has a bill.
Therefore my cap is a duck.

[

Just don't try to bend the bill on that cap too far

 

[Lambano]

Preferably.
Should I wear protective gear to a worship service?

View attachment 66909
[

Okay, I cracked a smile with that (and this thread has special meaning to me based on my own history), but what DO you do with those experiences documented in the Bible where God showed He is not "safe"?

Run towards it, not away from it, a wise man once said.

 

[St. SteVen]

Run towards it, not away from it, a wise man once said.

Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

[

 

[Lambano]

Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

[

I like the answer, but I note that the Father himself didn't come.

Feel free to pick out some of the other unsavory events where God was less than magnanimous. Torching Sodom because they threatened to forcibly Gomorrah-ize a couple of his angels? Deciding he'd had enough of us and flooding the whole world? Having a bear maul some kids who were teasing one of his prophets about his male-pattern baldness? Snuffing Ananias and Sapphira for not making good on a church pledge?

Run towards it, not away from it.

 

[St. SteVen]

Jesus said, "If you've seen me, you've seen the Father."

I was just thinking about Abram and Hagar.
Hagar was met by the angel of the Lord when she ran away.
She survived the meeting.

Sometimes God allows silly human superstitions to make a point.
Abram set up to make a covenant by passing between the halves.
God took His precious time to show up while Abram had to keep the scavenger birds away. - LOL

I wonder about Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock.
Did God need to do that? Or was it compliance with a superstition?

[ cc: @Lambano

 

[Lambano]

I wonder about Moses hidden in the cleft of the rock.
Did God need to do that? Or was it compliance with a superstition?

Sounds more like He was trying to make a point.

This guy didn't get the message:

 

[Wick Stick]

Torching Sodom because they threatened to forcibly Gomorrah-ize a couple of his angels?

The death penalty seems appropriate for cases of rape. I might even argue that summary execution is magnanimous. He could have busted out the world's first woodchipper.

Deciding he'd had enough of us and flooding the whole world?

Early Genesis has several stories that appear to have pagan origins, but the author (editor?) inverted the story to make a point. This is one of them.

Having a bear maul some kids who were teasing one of his prophets about his male-pattern baldness?

Elisha cursed them. Like I said earlier, God is tribal. He takes sides with his own.

Snuffing Ananias and Sapphira for not making good on a church pledge?

Actually for "lying to the Holy Spirit," per the text. Standing up in the congregation and making a bald-faced lie is a bit more serious than reneging on a pledge. They had to be made an example of... though the death penalty still seems a bit much.

 

[pandaflower]

Hell would be a hard no on that one.

Does a magnanimous persona open Hell to receive humans? When it was first made for Lucifer and his fallen angels?

Religion,is a business.


"Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you. And he needs money!"

George Carlin

 

[St. SteVen]

"Religion has convinced people that there's an invisible man ... living in the sky. Who watches everything you do every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a list of ten specific things he doesn't want you to do. And if you do any of these things, he will send you to a special place, of burning and fire and smoke and torture and anguish for you to live forever, and suffer, and suffer, and burn, and scream, until the end of time. But he loves you. He loves you. He loves you. And he needs money!"

George Carlin

This a description of the tyrannical God the church has presented to the world.

[

 

[Hiddenthings]

God took His precious time to show up while Abram had to keep the scavenger birds away. - LOL

Can you see the lesson here SteVen?

Abram protected the covenant-victims from attack; he kept his part of the Covenant; he kept watch over it until death claimed him

 

[St. SteVen]

Can you see the lesson here SteVen?

Abram protected the covenant-victims from attack; he kept his part of the Covenant; he kept watch over it until death claimed him

What covenant-victims?

[

 

[Hiddenthings]

"And as the sun was setting" marking the end of Abram’s “day.”
"A deep sleep fell upon Abram" a figurative expression for death.
"And behold, a great darkness and terror fell upon him" literally, "a horror, a great darkness," representing the dread and shadow of Sheol, the grave.

 

[Hiddenthings]

What covenant-victims?

[

Another term for the animal sacrifices.

 

[pandaflower]

This a description of the tyrannical God the church has presented to the world.

[

And yet,it is derived from the Bible.

 

[Hiddenthings]

The Hebrew word bathar, meaning “divided,” appears in other scriptures such as Song of Solomon 2:17 and Jeremiah 34:18. It is connected to the act of splitting a covenant sacrifice into two parts. In ancient times, a covenant was sealed when both parties passed between the divided sacrifice, declaring the terms of their agreement. This practice is referenced in Genesis 31:44 (where the phrase “cut a covenant” is used) and more explicitly in Jeremiah 34:18-19. The purpose of this ritual was to highlight that the covenant was binding even unto death. Typically, both parties agreed that if the covenant is broken, the fate of the sacrificial victim falls upon the party who defaulted. Accordingly, Yahweh declared through Jeremiah concerning those who “transgressed My covenant and did not keep the terms of the covenant they made before Me, when they cut the calf in two and passed between the pieces… I will deliver them into the hands of their enemies, and their dead bodies will become food for the beasts of the earth” (Jeremiah 34).

Christ is our covenant victim, and the covenant we have with Yahweh through Him is binding even unto death. Paul explains: “For where a covenant is, it is necessary that the death of the covenant victim be involved, because a covenant is only valid once the victim has died; while the victim lives, the covenant is not in effect” (Hebrews 9:16-17,)

As the covenant victim, Christ “confirmed the promises made to the fathers” (Romans 15:8) and guaranteed their fulfillment. But what about those who break the covenant made with Yahweh through Christ? Their destiny is to be figuratively “cut in two” (Matthew 24:51; Luke 12:46).