Scientists tell us the universe has been here for 15 billion years. What has God been doing? Is this the first time He has done this? Will it be the last? God has placed in all His creatures a �reproductive imperative.� Each of His creatures, great and small, must reproduce �after his kind.� It is odd how man, who has the same imperative, and is made in the image of God, misses the point when it comes to what God is doing. God, also, is reproducing after His kind.

What are you saying, wopik? That human beings are created "after God's kind"? If so, that's not an accurate interpretation of the biblical phrase, "image and likeness." We are not "begotten" of God, but "made," a distinction made in one of the Creeds.

Phil --

C.S. Lewis said it well enough: "To beget is to become the father of; to create is to make. And the difference is this. When you beget, you beget something of the same kind as yourself - A man begets human babies, a beaver begets little beavers, a bird begets eggs which turn into little birds. But when you make, you make something of a different kind from yourself. A bird makes a nest, a beaver makes a dam, a man makes a wireless set....What God begets is God....What God creates is not God."

The word "God," then, can be used in the sense of the one Supreme Being, called "God the Father;" and in that sense, He is one, and there is no other. But the word "God" can also be used to describe a kind of being�a being begotten by God the Father. And there can be others of the same kind.

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We are not "begotten" of God...

"Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures" (James 1:18).

We all know what the infinitive to beget means:

"And Issac begat Jacob" (Acts 7:8).

If a man begat a hundred children...(Eccl. 6:3)

"Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been born of God, and everyone who loves the parent loves the child" (1 John 5:1, New Revised Standard Version).

"For whoever is born of God conquers the world" (1 Jn. 5:4).

"We know that those who are born of God do not sin, but the one who was born (begotten, kjv) of God protects them....We know that we are God's children(of God, kjv),.....(1 Jn. 5:18-19, NRSV).

Phil --

I do understand what you're saying. God did make us or create us, in the beginning.

But it seems to me that He created us to eventually be His begotten children. Christ is the first of the firstfruits of His creation. Jesus is the "firstborn among many brethern" (Romans 8:29).

The Spirit unites with our spirit(Rom. 8:16), to beget us, and we are finally and literally born again at the Resurrection of the dead and the coming of Christ:

"The Spirit itself bears witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ....that we may be also glorified together" (Romans 8:16-17).

We are heirs of salvation (Heb. 1:14).

"For it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory...." (Heb. 2:10).

To me, the analogy of human begetting and spiritual begetting are obvious. It doesn't mean I'm right; that's just my way of understanding God. Afterall, the Bible does use the "family" to help us understand all of this: words like father, son, beget, born, brothers, sons, heirs.

As C.S. Lewis says, "What God begets is God; just as what man begets is man" (Mere Christianity, Book 4, chapter 1).

I follow, wopik. And it is true that the Spirit begets divine life in us, transforming us into likenesses of Christ, who is the begotten Son. This is a work of grace, while for Christ, his Sonship was on the level of Being.

Good quotes by C. S. Lewis.

What would Jesus do? I see the bumper sticker
slogan and the bracelets. This might be an advance rather than a retrogression in thought as many bumper sticker slogans are bound to be. It is good that people are having this on their minds.
What would Love do? What would Awareness do?
What would Compassion do? The scripture quoted are good reminders of the Mind of Christ within. Thank you for posting them.
michael <*))))><

quote:

Originally posted by mysticalmichael9:
[qb] What would Love do? What would Awareness do?
What would Compassion do? [/qb]

Those are great focusing questions, Michael. I think just to pause and listen rather than acting out of automatic pilot brings an openness to the Spirit that allows creative possibilities to suggest themselves.