Self-development, self-control, meditation, beliefs and spirituality
Do you have a concept of an ultimate or an alleged immaterial reality; an inner path enabling a you to discover the essence of your being? Are you looking into yourself to find the deepest values and meanings by which you or other people live? Do you want to get in touch with your spiritual side through private meditation, quiet reflection, prayer, yoga, repetitive movements, t’ai-chi, sitting quiet on a bench or a mountain, or even long walks?
Origin and coming into being
When we look at the world we can wonder how it all came into existence, believe either in a Big Bang, Darwin Theory, other evolution theories, many ideas of many people having brought forth many religions. We all want to explain things or require an explanation for everything? But the world is so complex and our brain so limited that hunman beings can not explain everything. They are not able to find an answer for everything. They may be smart but they are all limited.
Perhaps because we do know our limitation and that of others we are happy to agree with purpose-based explanations for natural states of affairs. We also sometimes like to link such purpose-based explanations to thinking that someone (e.g., a god) accounts for the purpose. Even young children have the intuition that purpose is best accounted for by someone willing that purpose to be. So, perhaps it is a part of human nature to accept purpose-based explanations which also supports belief in a God or gods. As such people made up gods and created many religionswhich are not just a quirky interest of a few, it’s basic human nature.
Brain in a vat. Famous thought experiment in analytic philosophy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Looking for answers in science
From the 1960s onwards more people started wondering and doubting all the behaviours around God and gods and tried to find more answers in science. There has been a desecularization in academic philosophy departments since the 1960′s, according to naturalist (that is, atheist) philosopher Quentin Smith. By the middle of the 20th century, atheism was the dominant view of mainstream analytic philosophy. By the second half of the twentieth century, universities and colleges had been become in the main secularized. The standard (if not exceptionless) position in each field, from physics to psychology, assumed or involved arguments for a naturalist world-view; departments of theology or religion aimed to understand the meaning and origins of religious writings, not to develop arguments against naturalism. Analytic philosophers (in the mainstream of analytic philosophy) treated theism as an antirealist or non-cognitivist world-view, requiring the reality, not of a deity, but merely of emotive expressions or certain “forms of life” (of course there were a few exceptions, e.g., Ewing, Ross, Hartshorne, etc.).
Naturalists
But realist theists were not outmatched by naturalists in terms of the most valued standards of analytic philosophy: conceptual precision, rigor of argumentation, technical erudition, and an in-depth defense of an original world-view. Naturalists passively watched as realist versions of theism, most influenced by Plantinga’s writings (God and Other Minds, in 1967 a.o.), began to sweep through the philosophical community, until today perhaps one-quarter or one-third of philosophy professors are theists, with most being orthodox Christians.
Several naturalist philosophers reacted by publicly ignoring the increasing desecularizing of philosophy (while privately disparaging theism, without really knowing anything about contemporary analytic philosophy of religion) and proceeded to work in their own area of specialization as if theism, the view of approximately one-quarter or one-third of their field, did not exist. Quickly, naturalists found themselves a mere bare majority, with many of the leading thinkers in the various disciplines of philosophy, ranging from philosophy of science (e.g., Van Fraassen) to epistemology (e.g., Moser), being theists. The predicament of naturalist philosophers is not just due to the influx of talented theists, but is due to the lack of counter-activity of naturalist philosophers themselves. A large number of publications advancing theism have come onto the scene by such philosophers as William Alston, Robert and Marilyn Adams, Peter Van Inwagen, Eleonore Stump, Nicholas Wolsterstorff, and Linda Zagzebski. Arguing for theism is no longer “an academically unrespectable scholarly pursuit.
Quentin Smith points out that in the past decade one catalogue of Oxford University Press, which is arguably the top publisher of contemporary philosophy, included 96 books on the philosophy of religion. 94 of these argued for theism, while the remaining 2 discussed both sides of the issue. I would add that since this time, with the advent of the new atheists, the publication numbers may not be as one-sided. Still, this is a radical shift that would have been unthinkable 60 years ago.
J.P. Moreland and William Lane Craig say that philosophy aids Christians in the tasks of apologetics, polemics and systematic theology. It reflects our having been made in the image of God, helps us to extend biblical teaching into areas not expressly addressed in Scripture, facilitates the spiritual discipline of study, enhances the boldness and self-image of the Christian community, and is requisite to the essential task of integrating faith and learning.
Oppression by religion
Sceptics have been around all the time. Fundamentalist we can find everywhere. Strange consequences may also be found. When religion is put onto people there is going on something wrong. For example when in Kentucky, a homeland security law requires the state’s citizens to acknowledge the security provided by the Almighty God this is imposing something on a whole community which is a matter of personal belief. The law and its sponsor, state representative Tom Riner, have been the subject of controversy since the law first surfaced in 2006, yet the Kentucky state Supreme Court has refused to review its constitutionality, despite clearly violating the First Amendment’s separation of church and state.
Dependence on God may be essential to come to the best form of living. In the end we shall get the best ‘political’ or ‘theocratic’ constitution or condition with the Kingdom of God. But as long as Jesus does not return we shall have to do it with human constitutions. In the Law of God, God demands people to make the choice and He does not force them. Though there are many people who want to force their ideas of Christianity, what to believe, what to chose and how to behave on others. It are them who do not allow freedom of mind, though they often call onto the constitution to say that provides for Freedom.
Saudi atheist “Jabir,” talking to Your Middle East:
Isn’t it a basic right for humans to believe or not believe freely! I know this is only a dream in Saudi, but it doesn’t change the fact that people will have different views and believes [sic], whether society will allow it or not.
Thanksgiving and Christmas
On Thursday in America they had Thanksgiving which nearly every year means it’s time for the ‘Religious Right’ to start carping about the so-called “war on Christmas.” The American Family Association (AFA) has released its annual “Naughty Or Nice” list of retailers. Traditionally, release of this list, which the AFA published on November 15, marks the beginning of the annual Religious Right whine-fest about the war on Christmas.
In Santa Monica, California, a large display depicting the nativity of Jesus had been erected for several years. Last year, an atheist group requested the right to use the space too, so city officials decided to hold a lottery. Atheist groups won most of the spaces in 2011, and there was some discontent over this – mainly, intolerant residents trashed the atheist displays. This year, the city has decided to shut down the forum rather than host any displays.
Lots of Christians do not recognise all the heathen elements in this so called Christian high-feast. Many even think it is an essential part of their faith and they can not come into a spiritual right state without celebrating Christmas.
Others do find that thankfulness is one of the distinguishing traits of the human spirit and therefore Thanksgiving should be the most important Christian holiday.
They may be right to point to the necessity to say thanks, and we realize we ought to be more grateful than we are. We furthermore perceive that we are indebted to (and accountable to) a higher power than ourselves — the God who made us. According to Scripture, everyone has this knowledge, including those who refuse to honour God or thank Him.
Indebted in a human being
Because Scripture tells us that the Creator of heaven and earth has given every part of creation something of Him and the knowledge of the Supreme being, we should not worry about forcing the knowledge of God onto others.
We are conscious that ingratitude is dishonourable by anyone’s reckoning. In case people willfully are ungrateful toward the Creator we do have to accept their choice to deny an essential aspect of our own humanity. The shame of such ingratitude is inscribed on the human conscience, and even the most dogmatic atheists are not immune from the knowledge that they ought to give thanks to God. Try as they might to suppress or deny the impulse, “what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown it to them,” according to Romans 1:19.
Every person born gets from the moment he or she can think a confrontation with everything what is around its person. He or she gets confronted with many ideas and questions about the ‘whys’ and ‘whats’. Each person while growing up shall come to think about existence. More than once in a person’s life the man or woman in question shall think about the reasons why he or she exist and what he or she comes to do or has to do on this earth. A question about beliefs and religion shall also arise.
In many people’s conception if you really can’t be religious, at least you should try to be spiritual. If you are not, then you must be a damned selfish materialist according to them. If taking the word ‘Spriutality’ literally as if you are spiritual you believe in spirits (not of the alcohol-laden type), to be averse to the idea that matter and energy are all there is to the universe. This would not translate into someone being a better, more moral and hence more contactable person.
Indicating someone who devotes part of her time and energy to cultivate her “spirit,” as opposed to just being concerned with “material” things is the better part of the spirituality. It is where we try to get into our life an extra sense. Naturally we are not born with the materialistic mind. We have it in our selves to think about more important matters than just the material ones. It is our wealth which brings our head on the roller-skates. We do not originally think of our life as a dichotomous enterprise in the course of which we have to provide material/energy food for our stomach to process, as well as an entirely different kind of nourishment for our “spirit.” Our mind, whatever the detailed explanation of how it works, is a product of our brain, and the two simply can’t be disconnected, upon penalty of the first one simply ceasing to exist.
The soul of a person is his being, his breath, his thinking. It is not an other sort of spirit being accommodated in a physical body. Without breath we can not survive. Without thinking we shall also not be able to survive, because the brain lets us take care of the thoughts to preserve our body (it is our soul). From the start of the existence we had to get to know it was important to breath, to eat and to drink. We learned we had to provide for nutrition. Nourishment , we learned did not exist only as a power supply, we learned bad food or malnutrition would bring us in problems. Strangely enough many people did not get to see that malnutrition on the psychical part also would bring a person in in-balance and in problems.
From the beginning it was also indebted that we should take care of cultivating and reflecting on our ethics, our way of behavement, certainly because we are not on our own in this world, so we should take care of the others around us. when born soon we learn to react to our environment. The people around our cot let us make certain reactions. We learn from them and we continue to learn from reactions others make in our life. We do have to learn behaving justly and compassionately toward our fellow human beings, and of nurturing our aesthetic sense through arts and letters. This learning process is so different by all that it makes some people more reflective than others, some more compassionate, some more inclined to read literature and go to art museums or concerts (the latter activities also of course greatly depending on one’s means and education, not just our natural propensities).
Odysseus in Dante’s Inferno says: “Fatti non foste per viver come bruti, ma per seguir virtute e canoscenza” (We were not made to live like brutes, but to follow virtue and knowledge). No matter if a person is religious or not, it is part of our nature that we have our brains to let us think about matters. Every person has the basic notion about compassion and ethics. We all have a feeling about manners and how to behave to get on in our society. For this reason some think an interesting human being doesn’t need to be either religious or spiritual. He just needs to be human. But this being human, according to us, just demands using the brains to think about everything to get the own soul in unison with the rest of the world. Spirituality is the way to get in line with the surroundings. Religion may help to get oneself sorted out and to have moral qualms.
Question of spirituality
Traditionally, many religions have regarded spirituality as an integral aspect of religious experience. Among other factors, declining membership of organized religions and the growth of secularism in the western world have given rise to a broader view of spirituality. {Michael Hogan (2010). The Culture of Our Thinking in Relation to Spirituality. Nova Science Publishers: New York.} The term “spiritual” is now frequently used in contexts in which the term “religious” was formerly employed; compare James‘ 1902 lectures on the “Varieties of Religious Experience”. {James, W. (1985). The varieties of religious experience. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. (Original work published 1902) + Gorsuch, R.L., & Miller, W. R. (1999). Assessing spirituality. In W. R. Miller (Ed), Integrating spirituality into treatment (pp. 47-64). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.}
Many people do come to an evaluation of a particular individual’s durable moral qualities. Virtues such as integrity, courage, fortitude, honesty, and loyalty, or of good behaviors or habits are questioned. Thought and excellences of character are being questioned.
The Bible defines character as any behaviour or activity that reflects the character of God. The Book of Genesis says that God created man in his own image. (Genesis 1:27) Though we are created to act in accordance to the will of our creator, we are given the freedom to expand, to rule the earth and to use our brains in the manner we would like to use it. But humans should know that Christian character can only be “Fruits of the Spirit” . (Galatians 5:22-23)
Looking for ‘luck’ people have wondered who or what was behind the creation and if they did need to come to a spiritual form to form themselves and to create happiness around and for them. Many people hoped to find peace for their mind in spiritual practices such as mindfulness and meditation. Nearly everybody looks for human fulfilment without any supernatural interpretation or explanation. Spirituality in this context may be a matter of nurturing thoughts, emotions, words and actions that are in harmony with a belief that everything in the universe is mutually dependent; this stance has much in common with some versions of Buddhist spirituality. Sometimes it looks like every human being wants to go into an individual battle with himself and with the ‘existence‘. It seems we want to go into a struggle with the issues of how our lives fit into the greater scheme of things. This is true when our questions never give way to specific answers or give rise to specific practices such as prayer or meditation. We encounter spiritual issues every time we wonder where the universe comes from, why we are here, or what happens when we die. We also become spiritual when we become moved by values such as beauty, love, or creativity that seem to reveal a meaning or power beyond our visible world. An idea or practice is “spiritual” when it reveals our personal desire to establish a felt-relationship with the deepest meanings or powers governing life. {Fuller, Robert C. Spiritual, But Not Religious. }
In broad terms “spirituality” stands for lifestyles and practices that embody a vision of how the human spirit can achieve its full potential. In other words, spirituality embraces an aspirational approach to the meaning and conduct of life – we are driven by goals beyond purely material success or physical satisfaction.
Spirituality is connected and particularly shaped to any individual. it can not be imposed by others onto some one else. The human mind wondering and putting ideas in a certain order, trying to coop with behavement according those thoughts, is individually-tailored, democratic and eclectic, and offers an alternative source of inner-directed, personal authority in response to a decline of trust in conventional social or religious leaderships.
Quest for the sacred
“Spirituality involves a search for “meaning” – the purpose of life. It also concerns what is “holistic” – that is, an integrating factor, “life seen as a whole”. ” writes Philip Sheldrake in “Is spirituality a passing trend?”. He continues: ” Spirituality is also understood to be engaged with a quest for “the sacred” – whether God, the numinous, the boundless mysteries of the universe or our own human depths. The word is also regularly linked to “thriving” – what it means to thrive and how we are enabled to thrive. Contemporary approaches also relate spirituality to a self-reflective existence in place of an unexamined life.”
The great wisdom traditions suggest the adoption of certain spiritual practices and it is this aspect of spirituality that attracts many contemporary people. Forms of
meditation, retreat, physical posture or movement such as yoga, chanting or prayers, disciplines of frugality and abstinence (for example from alcohol or meat) or visits to sacred sites and pilgrimage (for example the popular practice of walking the “camino” to Santiago de Compostela) are among the most common. The point is that spiritual practices are not merely productive in a narrow sense but are disciplined and creative. A commitment to the regularity of a spiritual discipline like meditation gives shape to what may otherwise be a fragmented life. Many people also experience their creative activities in art, music, writing and so on as spiritual practices. {Is spirituality a passing trend? Philip Sheldrake}
Spirituality integral part of life
Spirituality is actually concerned with cultivating a “spiritual life” rather than simply with undertaking practices isolated from commitment. It offers a “value-added” factor to personal and professional lives.
Spirituality also expands ethical behaviour by moving it beyond right or wrong actions to a question of identity. Senior Research Fellow in the Cambridge Theological Federation (Westcott House) Professor Philip Sheldrake says “We are to be ethical people rather than simply to “do” ethical things. Character formation and the cultivation of virtue then become central concerns.”
The world moves on and many forms of meditation and ways to come to spirituality have been created. Many forms of meditation, physical posture or movement such as many forms of yoga, disciplines of frugality and abstinence (for example from alcohol or meat) or visits to sacred sites and pilgrimage (for example the popular practice of walking the “camino” to Santiago de Compostela) are among the most common. People try to get their mind to settle inward beyond thought, to experience the source of thought or come to pure awareness. They do hope that they shall be able to come into a state of restful alertness, where their brain shall be able to function with significantly greater coherence so that their body can gain deep rest. The main concern for many is to experience higher states of consciousness at this critical time for humanity.
Every year people seem to come out with a new form of ‘coming to the own self”. The cocooning spirit wants to find a growing diversity of new forms of spirituality as well as creative reinventions of the great traditions.
Sheldrake says: “The language of spirituality continues to expand into ever more professional and social worlds – for example urban planning and architecture, the corporate world, sport and law. Most strikingly there are recent signs of its emergence in two contexts that have been especially open to public criticism – commerce and politics. Equally, the Internet is increasingly used to expand access to spiritual wisdom. So, on current evidence, spirituality appears to be less of a fad than an instinctive desire to find a deeper level of values to live by. As such, it seems likely not only to survive but to develop further into many new forms.”
Careful with spiritualist forms
As Christians, followers of Christ Jesus, we should look to the Master Teacher Jesus, how he meditated and found a way to honour his Father.
太極拳 / 太极拳 Taijiquan or T’ai chi ch’uan in Lanzhou
We should be very careful how we want of if we want to incorporate meditation forms or prayer practices from one faith tradition into another. The last few years we see that for many this seems so natural to them. Many people have a fear of other religions and a nervousness about incorporating any elements drawn from other faith traditions into their own religious practice. And they have good reason. But we must also see that certain forms can be un-connected from the religions where it is associated with. To our mind you may be doing yoga or t’ai-chi without being a Buddhist or without committing yourself to Buddhism or integrating Buddhism in your Christian Faith. The only problem is that we notice certain people doing that.
It is not because many Christians in many parts of the world have long looked to Buddhism and other Eastern religions for spiritual nourishment, that this would be acceptable in the eyes of God. Such a going away from the Biblical guidance has shown that many also abandoned their Christianity altogether. In several regions we can see more pagan rites are taken in to the worshipping and many other have already incorporated Zen meditation or Theravadan vipassana meditation into their Christian prayer.
Many find it hard to focus their mind, but God has also provided ways for them to come at ease. In His Word He provided enough information to come at peace with the own self. It also gives advice to come at peace with other people around you.
St. Francis de Sales, French saint and Bishop of Geneva, said: “If the heart wanders or is distracted, bring it back to the point quite gently…And even if you did nothing during the whole of your hour but bring your heart back, though it went away every time you bought it back, your hour would be very well employed.”
Each of us can take a moment in the day to just take time for him or her self. Taking a few minutes just to put all the happenings of the day in the collection box of our mind and to analyse everything what happened that day.
When it is difficult to get a moment of rest, wonder what is of hindrance. If you cannot silence your mind, take the opportunity to become aware of what your mind is going on about. Self-awareness is an important skill! Every bit of effort you put into meditation and mastering your mind is time well-spent, even though the process may sometimes seem slow. Meditation, taking time to think or to let your spirit wonder over thoughts, and prayer are very closely related in that they are periods of intense focus, however meditation can be a purely secular practice of relaxation, mind control, and self-mastery. Meditation techniques may differ from one culture to another. Often different meditation techniques are suited to different personality types. Some techniques are expansive and allow for the free flow of thoughts and their observation whereas some types are concentrative that involve bringing focus into one’s thoughts.
A liberating spirituality
Take the Bible in your hand and open it wherever it falls open and start reading there. See if you can find guidance in those text which came in front of your eyes. Next, try to take every day a moment to continue reading the Bible according a plan, for example each day one chapter of a Bible Book.
The Spirituality God has to offer in His Word brings ‘insight’ and shall after some time give you the ability to see things as they really are, attained through a process of self-observation. It means identifying one’s own nature, recognizing the bad elements and consciously eliminating them from the system. When you shall continue to read the Holy Scriptures you shall find that those Words shall be able to transform you. When you are willing to put aside all previously learned doctrines you shall see that the Word of God can set you free of rites and shall help to develop wisdom. The great surplus the Words from the Bible shall give is that it will change your thoughts from being negative to positive. Focusing more on within our self, letting the Word of Goddoing its work we shall becoming free of negativity, transforming yourself, your thoughts, and recognizing the negative thoughts, and changing them into positive and peaceful thoughts.
The Bible compass for life
The Bible shall set your mind free and give a spiritual feeling which brings you further on the road of self-development.
No one can control eradicate adversity in life but you can master the way you respond in regards to your thinking processes. Giving yourself in the hands of the Most High Supreme, shall offer you an open gate to a spiritual world where you shall be able to encounter many more souls with the same free mind. Those people having found the liberating power of the son of God, are prepared to come together too spirituality as Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
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Please do read:
- The Metaphilosophy of Naturalism by Quentin Smith
- A Year in Jail for Not Believing in God? How Kentucky is Persecuting Atheists
- ‘Tis The Season To Be Cranky: Religious Right Gears Up New Round Of ‘War On Christmas’ Claims
- The atheist’s Thanksgiving dilemma Whom to thank when there’s no recipient?
- Is spirituality a passing trend? by Philip Sheldrake
- Religion and spirituality
- Church sent into the world
- Unfair to characterize atheists’ activism as evangelism
- Casual Christians
- The truth is very plain to see and God can be clearly seen
- Life is too precious
- Soul
- The Soul not a ghost
- A Living Faith #5 Perseverance
- A Living Faith #10: Our manner of Life #2
- Seeing the world through the lens of his own experience
- If you have integrity
- Christmas, Saturnalia and the birth of Jesus
- Wishing lanterns and Christmas
- Christmas customs – Are They Christian?
- Newsweek asks: How ignorant are you?
- If we, in our prosperity, neglect religious instruction and authority
- To mean, to think, outing your opinion, conviction, belief – Menen, mening, overtuiging, opinie, geloof
- Doctrine and Conduct Cause and Effect
- The business of this life
- Quakertime
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Of interest:
- If you have integrity
- Choices
- It is a free will choice
- We have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace
- Not enlightened by God’s Spirit
- The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands
- No man is free who is not master of himself
- Only the contrite self, sick of its pretensions, can find salvation
- For those who make other choices
- Are Christadelphians so Old Fashioned?
- Quit griping about your church
- Unconditional love
- Your life the sum total of all your choices
- Choose you this day whom ye will serve
- Merry Christmas with the King of Kings
- Honour your own words as if they were an important contract
- Be like a tree planted by streams of water
- Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love
- Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked
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Related articles
- New Books in Theology, Philosophy, & Apologetics – November 2012 (greatcloud.wordpress.com)
Philosophy, archaeology and science are hot topics in Christian circles, perplexing many believers about how these issues relate to faith.
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Do people hold to a particular religion just because of an accident of geography? Is believing in Jesus as arbitrary as believing in Zeus? Why would God order the slaughter of infants or send people to hell? How do you know you’re really real, and not just a character in someone’s book? - William Lane Craig lectures against naturalism at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland (winteryknight.wordpress.com)
Dr. Craig was in Scotland to lecture at a physics conference, but a local church organized this public lecture at the University of St. Andrews. - “Indeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview.’” (insightscoop.typepad.com)
For too long, Mr. Plantinga contends in a new book, theists have been on the defensive, merely rebutting the charge that their beliefs are irrational. It’s time for believers in the old-fashioned creator God of the Bible to go on the offensive, he argues, and he has some sports metaphors at the ready.
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Theism, with its vision of an orderly universe superintended by a God who created rational-minded creatures in his own image, “is vastly more hospitable to science than naturalism,” with its random process of natural selection, he writes. “Indeed, it is theism, not naturalism, that deserves to be called ‘the scientific worldview.’ ” - Naturalism and science are incompatible (openparachute.wordpress.com)
Well, that’s what the Christian apologist philosopher Alvin Plantinga claims. And he has written a book to “prove” it - Where the Conflict Really Lies: Science, Religion, and Naturalism. Apparently its required reading for students of theology and the philosophy of religion. Probably because he declares there is a “deep concord between science and theistic belief, . . . . and deep conflict between science and naturalism.”
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all philosophies or ideologies are incompatible with science in the sense that science does not, and should not, a priori, include any of these ideological/philosophical presumptions. - An Imperfect God (opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com)
You often hear philosophers describe “theism” as the belief in a perfect being — a being whose attributes are said to include being all-powerful, all-knowing, immutable, perfectly good, perfectly simple, and necessarily existent (among others). And today, something like this view is common among lay people as well.
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Philosophers have spent many centuries trying to get God’s supposed perfections to fit together in a coherent conception, and then trying to get that to fit with the Bible. By now it’s reasonably clear that this can’t be done. In fact, part of the reason God-bashers like Richard Dawkins and Sam Harris are so influential (apart from the fact they write so well) is their insistence that the doctrine of God’s perfections makes no sense, and that the idealized “being” it tells us about doesn’t resemble the biblical God at all.
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As Donald Harman Akenson writes, the God of Hebrew Scripture is meant to be an “embodiment of what is, of reality” as we experience it. God’s abrupt shifts from action to seeming indifference and back, his changing demands from the human beings standing before him, his at-times devastating responses to mankind’s deeds and misdeeds — all these reflect the hardship so often present in the lives of most human beings. - Theism, Naturalism, and Morality (psychologytoday.com)
philosopher J.P. Moreland argues that there are several aspects of reality which naturalism is unable to account for, while theism can: consciousness, free will, rationality, morality, value, and a substantial human soul.
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The sense of guilt one feels for falling short of the moral law is best explained if a good God is the source or ultimate exemplification of that law. As Moreland puts it, “One cannot sense shame and guilt towards a Platonic form” (p. 147).
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Evolutionary explanations fall short because of what is selected for in evolutionary processes on naturalistic versions of evolutionary theory.
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the theist can offer a variety of reasons to adopt the moral point of view–the moral law is true; it is an expression of the non-arbitrary character of a good, loving, wise, and just God; and we were designed to function properly when living a moral life. - Believe It or Not (dedicatedtothegame.com)
Dr. Kim wants to know if the relationship in question is describable and thus knowable to us as we know other things. He frames his question in terms of a “pairing problem” to lay out how we think of causation. We must somehow be able to “locate” or identify events and objects in relationship to each other to establish a cause and effect relationship between them. He concludes that our understanding of causation requires some shared context. Space-time provides such a relational context for physical objects, but what of the immaterial, wholly separate divine substance?
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The knowledge of a separate substance could only be a direct knowledge. It must be a thing out of context, unextended. . Anything we can know about it is thus available only through “revelation”, “faith”, “intuition” – whatever you want to call pure, non-contingent experience, if such a thing exists, and so, as Kant says, our awareness of the other stuff’s existence must be the full extent of what we know about it. - Plantinga Reviews Nagel (maverickphilosopher.typepad.com)
What excites the theists’ approbation, of course, are not Nagel’s positive panpsychist and natural-teleological suggestions, which remain within the ambit of naturalism, but his assault on materialist naturalism.
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Materialist naturalism cannot explain belief, cognition, and reason.
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As for natural teleology: does it really make sense to suppose that the world in itself, without the presence of God, should be doing something we could sensibly call “aiming at” some states of affairs rather than others—that it has as a goal the actuality of some states of affairs as opposed to others?
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What is Reason? How Did it Arise? Nagel and Non-Intentional Teleology + Nagel’s Reason for Rejecting Theism
On the Nature of Christ
The Trinity as represented in a woodcarving in Saint-Urbain de Troyes
This is the doctrine of the Trinitarian section of Christendom, in opposition to which, another section believes that Christ was a mere man, begotten in the ordinary process of generation, and distinguished above his fellows by a pre-eminent endowment of the “virtues” of human nature, which fitted him to be an example to mankind. This (the Unitarian) view regards him as a teacher sent from God, and is in some sense the Son of God; but denies the essential divinity of his nature. Both these views will be found equally removed from the truth. The truth lies between.
Papyrus 69 or P. Oxy 2383 Marcion Gospel of Luke
The testimonies which teach the indivisible unity of the Deity, as the One Father, out of whom ALL things have proceeded, and who is supreme above all, even above Christ (I Cor. 11:3), are inconsistent with the Trinitarian representation of God. The supremacy and unity of the Father would not be affirmable if there were three co-equal personalities in His One personality—a doctrine which presents us with a contradiction in terms as well as in sense. Jesus emphasises the distinction between himself and the Father, in the following statements:—
“I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me” (John 5:30).
Again:—
“My doctrine is not mine, but His that sent me” (John 7:16).
Again:—
“It is written in your law that the testimony of two men is true. I am one that bear witness of myself; and the Father that sent me (the other witness), beareth witness of me” (John 8:17–18).
Again:—
“This is life eternal, that they might know Thee, the only true God, AND Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent” (John 17:3).
The persons of the trinity are identified by symbols on their chests: The Son has a lamb (agnus dei), the Father an Eye of Providence, and the Spirit a dove. – Fridolin Leiber (1853–1912)
But the Unitarian view, still more so. Joseph was not the father of Jesus. He himself repudiated his paternity, and was about to put away Mary, his betrothed, when an angel came to him with this message:—
“Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife. For that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 1:20).
This marvel had been previously intimated to Mary by the angel Gabriel, as recorded in Luke 1:35:—
“The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee; and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee; therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.”
The Unitarian evades these testimonies by denying the authenticity of the first two chapters of Matthew and Luke. The reasons for this denial are altogether flimsy and insufficient: nay, they are bad. The evidence in proof of the genuineness of the (by them) rejected chapters is more than decisive: it cannot be answered: it is irresistible. It leaves no room for doubt or gainsaying. There is the united evidence of all the accessible ancient MSS. and versions, supported by the recognition of the very earliest Christian writers, confirmed by the internal character of the chapters and the necessity for the event which they narrate, to explain the character and mission of Jesus of Nazareth. Against this, there is the merely negative fact that the disputed chapters are absent from the Ebionite gospel, which at the time of its production was pronounced a corruption; and from the Evangelium of Marcion, a gospel which he wrote to suit his own heathenish notions, and from which he recklessly omitted, not only the disputed chapters, but everything that interfered with his peculiar ideas.
Baptism of Christ – Francesco Albani (1578–1660)
The first writer who mentions the Ebionites is Irenæus, who speaks of them as a sect not only separated from the general body of Christians, but who opposed the doctrines preached by the Apostles, and rejected, not only the disputed chapters, but the greater part of the books of the New Testament, rejecting all the epistles of Paul, whom they called an apostate from the law. They only made use of a Hebrew gospel, which they called Matthew’s, but which differs from Matthew in many particulars besides the two chapters. Here is a sect which rejected whole books of authentic Scripture, because they were inimical to their notions. How can a reasonable man accept such a sect as affording guidance on the question of the authenticity of two particular chapters absent from their version, but present in almost all other MSS. throughout the world? Their “Matthew” was impugned at the time. It was proclaimed a corruption of the genuine gospel, while the “canonical” Matthew, as we have it, was never called in question. Epiphanius thus speaks:—“In that gospel which they (the Ebionites) have called the gospel according to Matthew, which is not entire and perfect, but corrupted and curtailed, and which they call The Hebrew Gospel, it is written” (and he quotes), “Thus,” says he, “they change the true account into a falsehood … They have taken away the genealogy from Matthew, and accordingly begin their gospel with these words: ‘It came to pass, in the days of Herod, King of Judæa.’ ” Origen alludes to it thus:—“It is written in a certain gospel, which is called, ‘according to the Hebrews,’ if indeed any one is pleased to receive it, NOT AS OF AUTHORITY, but for illustration of the present question” (and then he quotes). He afterwards quotes this as a specimen of the same gospel according to the Hebrews: “Just now my mother, the Holy Ghost, took me by one of my hairs, and carried me to the great mountain Tabor.” This absurdity, and another passage, quoted by Origen, prove that the text of the Hebrew gospel, read by Origen, was not the same as our Greek gospel of Matthew, with which its friends suppose it to be identical. It differed on many points besides the first two chapters. The absence of the first two chapters of Matthew from the Ebionite and Nazarene gospels is of no weight in view of their rejection of Paul’s epistles, which even the Unitarians accept. The omission is accounted for in the way the rejection of Paul’s epistles is accounted for; the two first chapters did not coincide with their notions, and therefore they struck them out. The Nazarene and Ebionite copies of Matthew’s gospel not only omit the first two chapters, but in several instances they contradict the other three gospels of Mark, Luke, and John, whereas the corresponding passages in our Greek copy of Matthew agree with them, which shows which way the tampering has occurred.
As to Marcion, he omitted the two disputed chapters: but he also rejected the whole of the Old Testament, both the law and the prophets, as proceeding from the God of the Jews, whom he regarded as the creator of this world, in contrast to a higher Creator. As to the New Testament, he made one for himself consisting of only one gospel, supposed to be compiled chiefly from Luke, and only ten of Paul’s epistles, which are altered from the received version in numerous instances, in order to make the text more pliable to his gnostic notions. People who quote him against the miraculous conception are bound consistently to follow him in these variations as well. He did not admit Christ to have been born at all. Consequently, be begins his gospel thus:—“In the 15th year of the reign of Tiberius, God descended into Capernaum.” He not only omits the first two chapters of Luke; he omits also the account of John the Baptist, the baptism of Christ, and his visit to Nazareth. He also omits part of chapter 8:19; 10:21; 11, part of verse 29, and all of verses 30, 31, 32, 49, 50, 51; 12:6, 28, part of verses 8, 30, 32; 13:1–5: altered verse 28, omitted from 29 to end of chapter: 15:11–32; 17, part of 10–12: whole of verse 13: whole of 17:31–33; 19:28–48; 20, from 9 to 18: also 37, 38; 21:18, 21, 22; 22:16, 35, 37, 50, 51; 23:43; 24:26–7, and verse 25 altered.
Those who quote Marcion as an authority in the case of the first two chapters, ought to accept him as such in all these cases. That they disregard him in these cases is a proof that, even in their opinion, his authority is of no weight.
The divine paternity of Jesus would stand an unassailable truth, even if the records of Matthew and Luke had no existence. These records are, however, invaluable. They are the circumstantial illustrations of a truth which, though the nature of the case, and the prophetic testimony necessitate it, we could not have so clearly and satisfactorily comprehended without them. They explain to us the appearance and character of Christ, and make us privy to the divine method of procedure, from its incipiency onwards, in the most wondrous work of God among men.
That Christ was an example in the sense of being “holy, harmless, and undefiled” is beyond doubt; but it is also true that he was a great deal more. The speciality of his mission is so plainly stated as to leave no room for the Unitarian doctrine of moral example. “Behold the Lamb of God which taketh away the sin of the world, ” said John the Baptist, on seeing Jesus (John 1:29). How did he take it away? The answer is in the words of the apostle Paul:—“He put away sin by the sacrifice of himself” (Heb. 9:26). Jesus himself had said, “I lay down my life for my sheep.” Paul also says to Timothy, in the second epistle, first chapter, tenth verse, “Jesus Christ hath abolished death, and hath brought life and immortality to light through the gospel”; a fact which is stated by Christ himself in this form, “God sent His Son, that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). Furthermore, Peter says, “There is none other name under heaven given whereby we must be saved.” (Acts 4:12). Salvation is thus directly connected with the first appearing of Christ, and with what he accomplished then; not on the principle of moral stimulus supplied, but in virtue of the essential result secured by the course he fulfilled.
Incarnation of the Virgin Mary with the Three-Une God- Giulio Cesare Procaccini, Incoronazione della Vergine (Getty Museum) about 1604 – 1607
Leaving both Trinitarianism and Unitarianism, we may find the truth in the Scriptures for ourselves. The simple appellation of “Son,” as applied to Christ, is sufficient to prove that his existence is derived, and not eternal. The phrase, “Son of God,” implies that the one God, the eternal Father, was antecedent to the Son, and that the Son had his origin in or “out of” the Father to whom he must therefore be subordinate in a sense inconsistent with Trinitarian representation. “This day have I begotten thee” is the language of Scripture, dearly pointing to a commencement of days. This view is confirmed by the statement of Christ:—“As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself” (John 5:26).
Christ, therefore, though now possessed of inherent life, had been invested with it; it is not in this case underived. It is only the Great Uncreate, the Father, that can say, “I am, and there is none else beside me.” Yet, though Christ’s is not an underived existence, it is more directly divine than the human. A man is an embodiment of his father’s mortal life-energy. Jesus was not born of the will of the flesh, but of God. He was begotten of Mary through the power of the spirit. This was the origin of his title, “the Son of God.” See the angel’s words to Mary:—“Therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God” (Luke 1:35).
But, though Son of God, he was flesh and blood. “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of THE SAME.… He took not on him the nature of angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham. Wherefore in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren” (Heb. 2:14, 16, 17). He was made sin for us, who knew no sin (II Cor. 5:21). As he was in character sinless, this could only apply to his bodily constitution, which, through Mary, was the sin-nature of Adam. As Paul says elsewhere (Rom. 8:3), “God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh.” “He was sent forth made of a woman” (Gal. 4:4), “of the seed of David according to the flesh” (Rom. 1:3). Jesus was “a man approved of God by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him (after his thirty years’ preparation) in the midst of Israel” (Acts 2:22). This is Peter’s description of him. Paul speaks of him as “the man Christ Jesus” (I Tim. 2:5). He was tried and disciplined as Adam was, but succeeded where Adam failed. “Though he were a son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered” (Heb. 5:8). This precludes the idea of his being “very God.” He was the Son of God, the manifestation of God by spirit-power, but not God himself. “The life was manifested, ” says John, “and we have seen it, and bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested unto us” (I John 1:2).
Again, in his gospel narrative (chapter 1:14), he says:—“The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth,” from which it is evident that Christ was a divine manifestation—an embodiment of Deity in flesh—Emmanuel, God with us. “God giveth not the spirit by measure unto him,” says the same apostle (chapter 3:34). The spirit descended upon him in bodily shape at his baptism in the Jordan, and took possession of him. This was the anointing which constituted him Christ (or the anointed), and which gave him the superhuman powers of which he showed himself possessed. This is clear from the words of Peter, in his address to the Gentiles in the house of Cornelius—(Acts 10:38)—“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed.”
This statement alone is sufficient to disprove the popular view of Christ’s essential Godhead. If he were “very God” in his character as Son, why was it necessary he should be “anointed” with spirit and power? He did no miracles before his anointing. He had no power of himself. This is his own declaration: “I can of mine own self do nothing” (John 5:30). “The Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works” (John 14:10). On Calvary, left to the utter helplessness of his own humanity, he felt the anguish of the hour and cried out, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” (Matt. 27:46). Before his anointing, he was simply the “body prepared” for the divine manifestation that was to take place through him. The preparation of this body commenced with the Spirit’s action on Mary, and concluded when Jesus, being thirty years of age, stood approved in the perfection of a sinless and mature character. After the Spirit’s descent upon him, he was the full manifestation of God in the flesh. The Father, by the Spirit, tabernacled in Christ among men. “God was in Christ,” says Paul, “reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them.”
The Lamb of God exhalted.- Cellar painting in Peace church in Schweidnitz (an Apocalyptic scene) – Photo Qasinka
When Jesus said, “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father,” he did not contradict the statement that “no man hath seen God at any time,” but simply expressed the truth contained in the following words of Paul:—Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15); “the brightness of His glory, and the express image of His person” (Heb. 1:3). Those who looked upon the anointed Jesus, beheld a representation of the Deity accessible to human vision.
Jesus declares things of himself which are held to sanction the idea that he existed as a person before his birth of Mary; such as that “he came down from heaven to give life to the world” (John 6:33); that “he proceeded forth and came from the Father” (John 8:42; 16:28); that he had “power to lay down his life and power to take it again” (John 10:18); that he “had glory with the Father before the world was,” and was “loved of Him before the foundation of the world” (John 17:5–24), etc.
It is evident, however, that we must understand these expressions in the light of the undoubted facts of Christ’s life and mission. These literal facts are that he was begotten of the Holy Spirit, and born a baby at Bethlehem (Luke 1:35; 2:5–7); grew up to be a man, increasing in wisdom with years, stature, and experience (Luke 2:52); remained the private and undistinguished son of Joseph the carpenter, until the power of the Spirit was shed upon him at his baptism (Luke 3:21–23): AFTER WHICH, he did the works and spoke the words recorded; that he was put to death through weakness (II Cor. 13:4); was deserted of the power of the Father when suspended on the cross; and that he was afterwards raised from the dead by the Father (Acts 2:24, 32; 3:15; 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30, 37, and so on).
Baptism of Jesus Chrits represented by a masterpainter from Lake Constance of 1466, with the Trinitarian idea of the Godheads – 1450 – Paris, Musée du Louvre, Département des Arts Graphiques
With these facts in view, we are enabled to attach the proper sense to statements which, in a naked and detached form, would appear to teach a personal pre-existence. For instance, when Jesus said to the Pharisees that he came down from heaven, he could not mean that the person standing before them had bodily descended from the clouds, as his words, literally understood, would have taught, and as the Pharisees appeared to have understood; he meant to say that his origin was from heaven. The “Holy Spirit” that came upon Mary—the “Power of the Highest” that overshadowed her, came down from heaven; consequently, the resultant man could, without extravagance, say he came down from heaven. The sense was literal as applied to the Power of the Highest that produced “the man Christ Jesus”; both at the stage of his begettal and the stage of his anointing on the banks of the Jordan, when the Spirit descended in bodily form and abode upon him; but not literal as applied to the man Christ Jesus.
When he said he proceeded forth and came from God, it was in the sense of these facts. He could not mean that as a person he had emanated from the very presence of the Almighty, but that the Father had sent him in the way disclosed in the record of his birth and baptism. John is described as “a man sent from God,” without meaning to suggest that John existed before he was born and sent.
When Jesus said he had power to take up his life after it should be laid down, he expressed the confidence that God would raise him. It was not power in the dynamic sense; but authority (εξονσια); he immediately adds, “This commandment HAVE I RECEIVED OF MY FATHER”; that is, the taking up of his life would result from the Father’s power and authority, exercised in accordance with the pledge given by the Father. Literally, Jesus did not take up his life; the Father raised him (see the references to Acts, three paragraphs back); but because it was the Father’s purpose, and because the Father spoke through Jesus (John 14:10), Jesus could appropriately say that he had power to raise up himself. An example of this style of language, in which what a person has a relation to in the divine purpose, is considered as under his control and referable to his power, occurs in Jer, 1:10:—
“See, I have this day set thee over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down, to build, and to plant.”
Literally, the prophet did none of these things, but was overpowered and slain, as nearly all the servants of God were; yet the things he predicted came to pass, and this is taken as a sufficient basis for the highly-wrought language above quoted, which imputes the result of Jeremiah’s predictions to Jeremiah’s individual operations.
Christ’s statement that he had glory with the Father before the world was, must in the same way be understood in harmony with the elementary facts of the testimony. The glorification of Jesus was a purpose with the Father from the beginning: and, in this sense, he had glory with the Father before the world was. This may appear a strained explanation; but a regard to the scriptural habit of speech will justify it, in view of the testified facts of the case.
The Lord said to Jeremiah (chapter 1:5):—“Before I formed thee in the belly I KNEW THEE; and before thou camest forth out of the womb, I SANCTIFIED THEE: and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.” Now Jeremiah did not exist before his conception. Yet these words would seem to teach it, if understood as those who believe in the pre-existence of Christ, understood the statements about him. As a purpose Jeremiah existed; his person was as clearly present to the divine mind as if he had stood before Him in actual fact. This is the explanation of words, which, rigidly construed, would imply Jeremiah’s pre-existence.
Look again at the words spoken of Cyrus, the Persian ruler, more than a hundred years before he was born (Isaiah 45:4):—“For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name; I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.” The same remark applies here: Cyrus was present to the divine contemplation as really as if he existed. Hence a style of language which would seem to assume his existence before he was born.
On the same principle, the purpose to raise a dead man is expressed by ignoring his death, and assuming his continued existence. Thus Jesus deduces the resurrection from the fact that God styled Himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, at a time when these men were dead. The Sadducees saw the force of the argument, and were silenced (Matt. 22:31–34). The principle of the argument is expressed in the words of Paul (Rein. 4:17)—“God who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not (but are to be) AS THOUGH THEY WERE.”
Anointing – Priestly Code the high priest is anointed
The words spoken of Jesus are of this order. When he said in prayer to the Father, “Thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world,” he did not teach that he existed from “he foundation of the world,” but that the Father regarded him with love from the beginning, and that, therefore, to the Father’s mind, he was present. In the words of Peter, “He was fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times.” (I Peter 1:20).
The same style of language is adopted with reference to Christ’s people: “He hath chosen US in him before the foundation of the world.” Literally, this would prove the existence of believers before the world began, for properly, a thing must exist to be the object of choice; actually, it only proves divine foresight. The glory which Jesus had before the world was, was the glory which God purposed for him from the beginning. Literally, he had not the glory referred to before the world was. What was the nature of that glory—the glory Jesus received in answer to this prayer? HE—the bodily Jesus—the body prepared —that which was evolved from the substance of Mary and made the subject of the anointing—was made incorruptible in substance, and the spirit shed upon that substance so abundantly, that it made him more luminous than the sun (Acts 26:13), and gave him power to bestow the spirit, and control providence in heaven and earth. Was Jesus possessed of this glory before he was born? Was he a body anointed with the spirit before he was the body prepared? Was he a real resurrected Jesus before Jesus of Nazareth was born in Bethlehem? Yet this was the glory he had with the Father before the world was. It was a glory he had in the Father’s purpose, but in no other sense.
In the same way are we to understand the words, “Before Abraham was, I am” (John 8:58). This was Christ’s answer to the incredulity excited by his statement, “Abraham rejoiced to see my day, and he saw it, and was glad.” The Jews thought he meant to insinuate that he was contemporary with Abraham, whereas he only meant to express the fact stated by Paul in the following words:—“These all (including Abraham—see verse 8) died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them AFAR OFF” (Heb. 11:13). It was this seeing of the promise of Christ “afar off” that made Abraham glad. It was the day presented in the promises that he saw, but, as they almost always did, the Jews mistook Jesus, and, as he was prone to do, he deepened their bewilderment by using another form of speech, which still more obscured his meaning, on the principle indicated in Matt. 13:11–15: a form of speech which in one phrase expressed two aspects of the truth concerning himself, viz., that he was purposed before Abraham existed, and that the Father, of whom he was then the manifestation, existed before all.
Jesus said, “I and my Father are one” (John 10:30). He could not mean, in view of all the testimony, what Trinitarians understand him to mean, that he and the Father were identically the same person (“the same in substance, equal in power and glory”), but that they were one in spirit-connection and design of operations. This is apparent from his prayer for his disciples, “That they may be one, EVEN as we are one.” The unity is not as to person, but as to nature and state of mind. This is the unity that exists between the Father and the Son, and the unity that will be ultimately established between the Father and His whole family, of whom Christ is the elder brother. When this unity is established, Christ will take a more subordinate position than he now occupies, in relation to the race of Adam. Paul says, “When all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto Him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all” (I Cor. 15:28).
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Robert Roberts. (1984; 2002). Christendom Astray from the Bible (On The Nature Of Jesus Christ p154–165). Logos Publications. (Re-edited by the Belgian Christadelphians (2011)
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Fragments from the Book of Job #2: chapters 12-20
Etymologically the name Job could be related to the Hebrew word for “enemy,” with reference to either Job’s attitude to God or his response to suffering. The name might also be a contracted form of “Where is my father?”
In Fragments from the Book of Job #1: chapters 1-12 we could find the blameless and upright man in character, blessed in family and possessions, whose life embodied the fear of God both for himself and on behalf of his family (1:1–5). But then the adversaries and Job’s three friends (Eliphaz the Temanite, Bildad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Naamathite) who came to offer sympathy and comfort, were trying to put the wrong doings from Job at the cause of his problems. These friends represent an oversimplified “orthodoxy,” based on a misreading of the wisdom tradition to the effect that all troubles are punishments for wrongdoing. Their “comfort” consists largely of applying this message to Job, urging him to identify his sin and repent of it. In so doing, these friends serve as a mirror for all readers who might be inclined to say similar things to people in distress.
An early engraving by Blake for the Book of Job
The book tries to to explain evil and placing the Universal deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient in it. Throughout the dialogue, Job tries to maintain that he is in the right while also arguing God’s character back to him in lament about why his righteousness and justice do not appear to be borne out in events on earth.
In the previous chapters a light is also shed on the wrong idea that there would be some after life. Job is aware that when we die it is finished and we become put in the ground not being able to do anything. We could look at death as Job describes it, namely as rest from the toil of life. ( Job 3:13–19) When we die we come into a state as if we sleep or as a hidden stillborn child, as infants who never see the light (Job 3:16). All cease from troubling, and there the weary can come at rest and be freed from each other and equal in the same position, to become dust. For man, when he is dead, perishes, and consumes away, what becomes of him? So man after he is asleep rises not, he shall not wake till the heavens be no more, nor rise out of his sleep. (Job 14:10-12) Therefore Job longs at a certain moment to be cut off of all his problems. so that he could rest from his suffering, knowing that he had not denied God (6:10). Job found his life unbearable on account of the empty comfort offered by his friends (6:14–30) and what he describes as the continued watchfulness of God (7:11–21).
Eliphaz wonders if Mortal Man can be in the Right before God. Jobs friends are arguing precisely that a righteous person can be in the right before God.
The friends assume that both Job’s circumstances and his response to them are indications that he is in the wrong before God and needs to acknowledge and repent of his sin. However, Job will insist not only that he is not guilty of some hidden iniquity but that it is God who ultimately has allowed and governed his circumstances. So he does not curse God’s name or accuse God of injustice but rather seeks an explanation or an account of his wrong doing.
Bildad wonders how it can be that when a man were blameless, he could show himself to be right before the God of justice (see 9:2)? And if shame and disaster are the fate of the wicked, how is it that the wicked so often appear to prosper in relative safety (see 12:6; 21:7)?
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Coverdale Bible
1535 by Miles Coverdale
Job Chapter 12
Job 12:2 Then (no doute) ye are the men alone, and wysdome shal perish with you.
Job 12:3 But I haue vnderstodinge as well as ye, and am no lesse then ye. Yee who knoweth not these thinges?
Job 12:4 Thus he that calleth vpo God, and whom God heareth, is mocked of his neghboure: the godly & innocent man is laughed to scorne.
Job 12:5 Godlynesse is a light despysed in ye hertes of the rich, & is set for them to stomble vpon.
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth and prosperite, & they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwel without care: yee God geueth all thinges richely with his honde.
Matthew’s Bible
1549 by John Rogers
Job 12:6 The houses of robbers are in wealth & prosperite, and they that maliciously medle agaynst God, dwell without care: ye God geueth all thinges rychely with hys hande.
Job 12:13 Ye with God is wysdome and strength, it is he that hath councell and forknowlege.
Job 12:14 If he breake downe a thinge, who can set it vp agayne? If he shut a thing, who wyll open it?
Job 12:15 Beholde, yf he witholde the waters, they drye vp: Yf he let them go, they destroye the earth.
Job 12:16 With hym is strength and wysdome: he knoweth bothe the disceyuer & hym that is disceyued.
Job 12:17 He caryeth awaye the wyse men, as it were a spoyle, and bringeth the iudges out of their wyttes.
Job 12:18 He lowseth the gyrdle of kynges, and gyrdeth theyr loynes with a bonde.
Job 12:19 He ledeth awaye the Preastes in to captyuyte, and turneth the myghtye vpsyde downe.
Job 12:20 He taketh the verite from out of the mouth, & disapoynteth the aged of their wysdome.
Job 12:21 He poureth out confusyon vpon Princes, and comforteth them that haue bene oppressed.
Job 12:22 Loke what lyeth hyd in darcknesse, he declareth it openly: and the very shadowe of death bringet he to lyght.
Job 12:23 He bothe increaseth the people, and destroyeth them: He maketh them to multiplye and driueth them awaye.
Job 12:24 He chaungeth the herte of the Princes and Kynges of the earth and disapoynteth them: so that they go wandringe out of the waye,
Job 12:25 & grope in the darcke without light, stackeringe to and fro lyke droncken men.
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Brenton Translation
1851 by Lancelot Brenton
Job Chapters 13-20
Job 13:1 Behold, mine eye has seen these things, and mine ear has heard [them].
Job 13:2 And I know all that ye too know; and I have not less understanding than you.
Job 13:3 Nevertheless I will speak to the Lord, and I will reason before him, if he will.
…
Job 13:6 But hear ye the reasoning of my mouth, and attend to the judgment of my lips.
Job 13:7 Do ye not speak before the Lord, and utter deceit before him?
Job 13:8 Or will ye draw back? nay do, ye yourselves be judges.
Job 13:9 For [it were] well if he would thoroughly search you: for though doing all things [in your power] ye should attach yourselves to him,
Job 13:10 he will not reprove you at all the less: but if moreover ye should secretly respect persons,
Job 13:11 shall not his whirlpool sweep you round, and terror from him fall upon you?
Job 13:12 And your glorying shall prove in the end to you like ashes, and your body [like a body] of clay.
…
Job 13:15 Though the Mighty One should lay hand upon me, forasmuch as he has begun, verily I will speak, and plead before him.
Job 13:16 And this shall turn to me for salvation; for fraud shall have no entrance before him.
Job 13:17 Hear, hear ye my words, for I will declare in your hearing.
Job 13:18 Behold, I am near my judgment: I know that I shall appear evidently just.
Job 13:19 For who is he that shall plead with me, that I should now be silent, and expire?
Job 13:20 But grant me two things: then I will not hide myself from thy face.
Job 13:21 Withhold [thine] hand from me: and let not thy fear terrify me.
Job 13:22 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: or thou shalt speak, and I will give thee an answer.
Job 13:23 How many are my sins and my transgressions? teach me what they are.
Job 13:24 Wherefore hidest thou thyself from me, and deemest me thine enemy?
Job 13:25 Wilt thou be startled [at me], as [at] a leaf shaken by the wind? or wilt thou set thyself against me as against grass borne upon the breeze?
Job 13:26 for thou hast written evil things against me, and thou hast compassed me with the sins of my youth.
Job 13:27 And thou hast placed my foot in the stocks; and thou hast watched all my works, and hast penetrated my heels.
Job 13:28 [I am as] that which waxes old like a bottle, or like a moth-eaten garment.
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Job 14:1 For a mortal born of a woman [is] short lived, and full of wrath.
Job 14:2 Or he falls like a flower that has bloomed; and he departs like a shadow, and cannot continue.
Job 14:3 Hast thou not taken account even of him, and caused him to enter into judgment before thee?
Job 14:4 For who shall be pure from uncleanness? not even one;
Job 14:5 if even his life should be [but] one day upon the earth: and his months are numbered by him: thou hast appointed [him] for a time, and he shall by no means exceed [it].
Job 14:6 Depart from him, that he may be quiet, and take pleasure in his life, [though] as a hireling.
Job 14:7 For there is hope for a tree, even if it should be cut down, [that] it shall blossom again, and its branch shall not fail.
Job 14:8 For though its root should grow old in the earth, and its stem die in the rock;
Job 14:9 it will blossom from the scent of water, and will produce a crop, as one newly planted.
Job 14:10 But a man that has died is utterly gone; and when a mortal has fallen, he is no more.
Job 14:11 For the sea wastes in [length of] time, and a river fails and is dried up.
Job 14:12 And man that has lain down [in death] shall certainly not rise again till the heaven be dissolved, and they shall not awake from their sleep.
Job 14:13 For oh that thou hadst kept me in the grave, and hadst hidden me until thy wrath should cease, and thou shouldest set me a time in which thou wouldest remember me!
Job 14:14 For if a man should die, shall he live [again], having accomplished the days of his life? I will wait till I exist again?
Job 14:15 Then shalt thou call, and I will hearken to thee: but do not thou reject the work of thine hands.
Job 14:16 But thou hast numbered my devices: and not one of my sins shall escape thee?
Job 14:17 An thou hast sealed up my transgressions in a bag, and marked if I have been guilty of any transgression unawares.
Job 14:18 And verily a mountain falling will utterly be destroyed, and a rock shall be worn out of its place.
Job 14:19 The waters wear the stones, and waters falling headlong [overflow] a heap of the earth: and thou destroyest the hope of man.
Job 14:20 Thou drivest him to an end, and he is gone: thou settest thy face against him, and sendest him away;
Job 14:21 and though his children be multiplied, he knows [it] not; and if they be few, he is not aware.
Job 14:22 But his flesh is in pain, and his soul mourns.
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Job 15:1 Then Eliphaz the Thaemanite answered and said,
Job 15:2 Will a wise man give for answer a [mere] breath of wisdom? and does he fill up the pain of his belly,
Job 15:3 reasoning with improper sayings, and with words wherein is no profit?
Job 15:4 Hast not thou moreover cast off fear, and accomplished such words before the Lord?
Job 15:5 Thou art guilty by the words of thy mouth, neither hast thou discerned the words of the mighty.
Job 15:6 Let thine own mouth, and not me, reprove thee: and thy lips shall testify against thee.
Job 15:7 What! art thou the first man that was born? or wert thou established before the hills?
Job 15:8 Or hast thou heard the ordinance of the Lord? or has God used thee as [his] counsellor? and has wisdom come [only] to thee?
Job 15:9 For what knowest thou, that, we know not? or what understandest thou, which we do not also?
Job 15:10 Truly among us [are] both the old and very aged man, more advanced in days than thy father.
Job 15:11 Thou hast been scourged for [but] few of thy sins: thou hast spoken haughtily [and] extravagantly.
Job 15:12 What has thine heart dared? or what have thine eyes [aimed at],
Job 15:13 that thou hast vented [thy] rage before the Lord, and delivered such words from [thy] mouth?
Job 15:14 For who, being a mortal, [is such] that he shall be blameless? or, [who that is] born of a woman, that he should be just?
Job 15:15 Forasmuch as he trusts not his saints; and the heaven is not pure before him.
Job 15:16 Alas then, abominable and unclean is man, drinking unrighteousness as a draught.
Job 15:17 But I will tell thee, hearken to me; I will tell thee now what I have seen;
Job 15:18 things wise men say, and their fathers have not hidden.
Job 15:19 To them alone the earth was given, and no stranger came upon them.
Job 15:20 All the life of the ungodly [is spent] in care, and the years granted to the oppressor are numbered.
Job 15:21 And his terror is in his ears: just when he seems to be at peace, his overthrow will come.
Job 15:22 Let him not trust that he shall return from darkness, for he has been already made over to the power of the sword.
Job 15:23 And he has been appointed to be food for vultures; and he knows within himself that he is doomed to be a carcass: and a dark day shall carry him away as with a whirlwind.
Job 15:24 Distress also and anguish shall come upon him: he shall fall as a captain in the first rank.
Job 15:25 For he has lifted his hands against the Lord, and he has hardened his neck against the Almighty Lord.
Job 15:26 And he has run against him with insolence, on the thickness of the back of his shield.
Job 15:27 For he has covered his face with his fat, and made layers of fat upon his thighs.
Job 15:28 And let him lodge in desolate cities, and enter into houses without inhabitant: and what they have prepared, others shall carry away.
Job 15:29 Neither shall he at all grow rich, nor shall his substance remain: he shall not cast a shadow upon the earth.
Job 15:30 Neither shall he in any wise escape the darkness: let the wind blast his blossom, and let his flower fall off.
Job 15:31 Let him not think that he shall endure; for his end shall be vanity.
Job 15:32 His harvest shall perish before the time, and his branch shall not flourish.
Job 15:33 And let him be gathered as the unripe grape before the time, and let him fall as the blossom of the olive.
Job 15:34 For death is the witness of an ungodly man, and fire shall burn the houses of them that receive gifts.
Job 15:35 And he shall conceive sorrows, and his end shall be vanity, and his belly shall bear deceit.
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Job 16:1 But Job answered and said,
Job 16:2 I have heard many such things: poor comforters are ye all.
Job 16:3 What! is there any reason in vain words? or what will hinder thee from answering?
Job 16:4 I also will speak as ye [do]: if indeed your soul were in my [soul’s] stead, (16:5) then would I insult you with words, and I would shake my head at you.
Job 16:5 (16:6) And would there were strength in my mouth, and I would not spare the movement of my lips.
Job 16:6 (16:7) For if I should speak, I shall not feel the pain of my wound: and if I should be silent, how shall I be wounded the less?
Job 16:7 (16:8) But now he has made me weary, and a worn-out fool; and thou hast laid hold of me.
Job 16:8 (16:9) My falsehood has become a testimony, and has risen up against me: it has confronted me to my face.
Job 16:9 (16:10) In his anger he has cast me down; he has gnashed his teeth upon me: the weapons of his robbers have fallen upon me.
Job 16:10 (16:11) He has attacked me with the keen glances of his eyes; with his sharp [spear] he has smitten me [down] upon my knees; and they have run upon me with one accord.
Job 16:11 (16:12) For the Lord has delivered me into the hands of unrighteous men, and thrown me upon the ungodly.
Job 16:12 (16:13) When I was at peace he distracted me: he took me by the hair of the head, and plucked it out: he set me up as a mark.
Job 16:13 (16:14) They surrounded me with spears, aiming at my reins: without sparing [me] they poured out my gall upon the ground.
Job 16:14 (16:15) They overthrew me with fall upon fall: they ran upon me in [their] might.
Job 16:15 (16:16) They sewed sackcloth upon my skin, and my strength has been spent on the ground.
Job 16:16 (16:17) My belly has been parched with wailing, and darkness is on my eyelids.
Job 16:17 (16:18) Yet there was no injustice in my hands, and my prayer is pure.
Job 16:18 (16:19) Earth, cover not over the blood of my flesh, and let my cry have no place.
Job 16:19 (16:20) And now, behold, my witness is in heaven, and my advocate is on high.
Job 16:20 (16:21) Let my supplication come to the Lord, and let mine eye weep before him.
Job 16:21 (16:22) Oh that a man might plead before the Lord, even [as] the son of man with his neighbor!
Job 16:22 (16:23) But my years are numbered and [their end] come, and I shall go by the way by which I shall not return.
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Job 17:1 I perish, carried away by the wind, and I seek for burial, and obtain [it] not.
Job 17:2 Weary I intreat; and what have I done? and strangers have stolen my goods.
Job 17:3 Who is this? let him join hands with me.
Job 17:4 For thou hast hid their heart from wisdom; therefore thou shalt not exalt them.
Job 17:5 He shall promise mischief to [his] companions: but [their] eyes have failed for [their] children.
Job 17:6 But thou has made me a byword amount the nations, and I am become a scorn to them.
Job 17:7 For my eyes are dimmed through pain; I have been grievously beset by all.
Job 17:8 Wonder has seized true men upon this; and let the just rise up against the transgressor.
Job 17:9 But let the faithful hold on his own way, and let him that is pure of hands take courage.
Job 17:10 Howbeit, do ye all strengthen [yourselves] and come now, for I do not find truth in you.
Job 17:11 My days have passed in groaning, and my heart-strings are broken.
Job 17:12 I have turned the night into day: the light is short because of darkness.
Job 17:13 For if I remain, Hades is my habitation: and my bed has been made in darkness.
Job 17:14 I have called upon death to be my father, and corruption [to be] my mother and sister.
Job 17:15 Where then is yet my hope? or [where] shall I see my good?
Job 17:16 Will they go down with me to Hades, or shall we go down together to the tomb?
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Job 18:1 Then Baldad the Sauchite answered and said,
Job 18:2 How long wilt thou continue? forbear, that we also may speak.
Job 18:3 For wherefore have we been silent before thee like brutes?
Job 18:4 Anger has possessed thee: for what if thou shouldest die; would [the earth] under heaven be desolate? or shall the mountains be overthrown from their foundations?
Job 18:5 But the light of the ungodly shall be quenched, and their flame shall not go up.
Job 18:6 His light [shall be] darkness in [his] habitation, and his lamp shall be put out with him.
Job 18:7 Let the meanest of men spoil his goods, and let his counsel deceive [him].
Job 18:8 His foot also has been caught in a snare, [and] let it be entangled in a net.
Job 18:9 And let snares come upon him: he shall strengthen those that thirst for his destruction.
Job 18:10 His snare is hid in the earth, and that which shall take him is by the path.
Job 18:11 Let pains destroy him round about, and let many [enemies] come about him,
Job 18:12 [vex him] with distressing hunger: and a signal destruction has been prepared for him.
Job 18:13 Let the soles of his feet be devoured: and death shall consume his beauty.
Job 18:14 And let health be utterly banished from his tabernacle, and let distress seize upon him with a charge from the king.
Job 18:15 It shall dwell in his tabernacle in his night: his excellency shall be sown with brimstone.
Job 18:16 His roots shall be dried up from beneath, and his crop shall fall away from above.
Job 18:17 Let his memorial perish out of the earth, and his name shall be publicly cast out.
Job 18:18 Let [one] drive him from light into darkness.
Job 18:19 He shall not be known among his people, nor his house preserved on the earth.
Job 18:20 But strangers shall dwell in his possessions: the last groaned for him, and wonder seized the first.
Job 18:21 These are the houses of the unrighteous, and this is the place of them that know not the Lord.
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Job 19:1 Then Job answered and said,
Job 19:2 How long will ye vex my soul, and destroy me with words? only know that the Lord has dealt with me thus.
Job 19:3 Ye speak against me; ye do not feel for me, but bear hard upon me.
Job 19:4 Yea verily, I have erred in truth, (but the error abides with myself) (19:4A) in having spoken words which it was not right [to speak]; and my words err, and are unreasonable.
Job 19:5 But alas! for ye magnify yourselves against me, and insult me with reproach.
Job 19:6 Know then that it is the Lord that has troubled [me], and has raised his bulwark against me.
Job 19:7 Behold, I laugh at reproach; I will not speak: [or] I will cry out, but [there is] nowhere judgment.
Job 19:8 I am fenced round about, and can by no means escape: he has set darkness before my face.
Job 19:9 And he has stripped me of my glory, and has taken the crown from my head.
Job 19:10 He has torn me around about, and I am gone: and he has cut off my hope like a tree.
Job 19:11 And he has dreadfully handled me in anger, and has counted me for an enemy.
Job 19:12 His troops also came upon me with one accord, liars in wait compassed my ways.
Job 19:13 My brethren have stood aloof from me; they have recognized strangers [rather] than me: and my friends have become pitiless.
Job 19:14 My nearest of kin have not acknowledged me, and they that knew my name, have forgotten me.
Job 19:15 [As for] my household, and my maid-servants, I was a stranger before them.
Job 19:16 I called my servant, and he hearkened not; and my mouth intreated [him].
Job 19:17 And I besought my wife, and earnestly intreated the sons of my concubines.
Job 19:18 But they rejected me for ever; whenever I rise up, they speak against me.
Job 19:19 They that saw me abhorred me: the very persons whom I had loved, rose up against me.
Job 19:20 My flesh is corrupt under my skin, and my bones are held in [my] teeth.
Job 19:21 Pity me, pity me, O friends; for it is the hand of the Lord that has touched me.
Job 19:22 Wherefore do ye persecute me as also the Lord [does], and are not satisfied with my flesh?
Job 19:23 For oh that my words were written, and that they were recorded in a book forever,
Job 19:24 with an iron pen and lead, or graven in the rocks!
Job 19:25 For I know that he is eternal who is about to deliver me,
Job 19:26 [and] to raise up upon the earth my skin that endures these [sufferings]: for these things have been accomplished to me of the Lord;
Job 19:27 which I am conscious of in myself, which mine eye has seen, and not another, but all have been fulfilled to me in [my] bosom.
Job 19:28 But if ye shall also say, What shall we say before him, and [so] find the root of the matter in him?
Job 19:29 Do ye also beware of deceit: for wrath will come upon transgressors; and then shall they know where their substance is.
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Job 20:1 Then Sophar the Minaean answered and said,
Job 20:2 I did not suppose that thou wouldest answer thus: neither do ye understand more than I.
Job 20:3 I will hear my shameful reproach; and the spirit of my understanding answers me.
Job 20:4 Hast thou [not] known these things of old, from the time that man was set upon the earth?
Job 20:5 But the mirth of the ungodly is a signal downfall, and the joy of transgressors is destruction:
Job 20:6 although his gifts should go up to heaven, and his sacrifice reach the clouds.
Job 20:7 For when he shall seem to be now established, then he shall utterly perish: and they that knew him shall say, Where is he?
Job 20:8 Like a dream that has fled away, he shall not be found; and he has fled like a vision of the night.
Job 20:9 The eye has looked upon him, but shall not [see him] again; and his place shall no longer perceive him.
Job 20:10 Let [his] inferiors destroy his children, and let his hands kindle the fire of sorrow.
Job 20:11 His bones have been filled with [vigour of] his youth, and it shall lie down with him in the dust.
Job 20:12 Though evil be sweet in his mouth, [though] he will hide it under his tongue;
Job 20:13 though he will not spare it, and will not leave it, but will keep it in the midst of his throat:
Job 20:14 yet he shall not at all be able to help himself; the gall of an asp is in his belly.
Job 20:15 [His] wealth unjustly collected shall be vomited up; a messenger [of] [wrath] shall drag him out of his house.
Job 20:16 And let him suck the poison of serpents, and let the serpent’s tongue slay him.
Job 20:17 Let him not see the milk of the pastures, nor the supplies of honey and butter.
Job 20:18 He has laboured unprofitably and in vain, [for] wealth of which he shall not taste: [it is] as a lean thing, unfit for food, which he cannot swallow.
Job 20:19 For he has broken down the houses of many mighty men: and he has plundered an habitation, though he built [it] not.
Job 20:20 There is no security to his possessions; he shall not be saved by his desire.
Job 20:21 There is nothing remaining of his provisions; therefore his goods shall not flourish.
Job 20:22 But when he shall seem to be just satisfied, he shall be straitened; and all distress shall come upon him.
Job 20:23 If by any means he would fill his belly, let [God] send upon him the fury of wrath; let him bring a torrent of pains upon him.
Job 20:24 And he shall by no means escape from the power of the sword; let the brazen bow wound him.
Job 20:25 And let the arrow pierce through his body; and let the stars be against his dwelling-place: let terrors come upon him.
Job 20:26 And let all darkness wait for him: a fire that burns not out shall consume him; and let a stranger plague his house.
Job 20:27 And let the heaven reveal his iniquities, and the earth rise up against him.
Job 20:28 Let destruction bring his house to an end; let a day of wrath come upon him.
Job 20:29 This is the portion of an ungodly man from the Lord, and the possession of his goods [appointed him] by the all-seeing [God].
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° Hades, the underground, Sjeool/Sheol = the grave or the place of : break down, corrupt, decompose, disintegrate, fester, foul, mold, molder, perish, putrefy, rot, spoil, a place where Jesus also went for three days.
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