I came across this link today, loved the character breakdowns that tie into the events of genesis. I've studied Japanese, not Chinese but some kanji are the same, so I'll be looking into it in more detail.
I came across this link today, loved the character breakdowns that tie into the events of genesis. I've studied Japanese, not Chinese but some kanji are the same, so I'll be looking into it in more detail.
Thoughts?
http://www.cogwriter.com/china.htm
For corroboration's sake, another article from a different source (the pictographs are slightly different [for instance, the "garden" pictograph is more complex, than the one given on COGwriter's website], but there's definitely something to it): http://www.icr.org/article/genesis-chinese-pictographs/
I cannot read Chinese glyphs at all. Nor speak Mandarin nor Cantonese. So, I can't act as verification to the legitimacy of the claims. But I have seen Chinese Christians, who can read Chinese characters, preach on the topic (years ago on YouTube, a pastor named Kong Hee in Singapore before Chinese new year; the sermon is titled "God in Ancient China". However, before you go YouTube-ing away, the account I saw it from was an illegal upload [and they uploaded the whole DVD]. Kong Hee's actual / official YouTube channel only has clips of the sermon with a link to buy the whole DVD [though I can't access the website to buy it], apparently it used to be godinancientchina.com; but, for instance, a clip uploaded by Kong Hee himself on his official YouTube channel, offers enough verification that, yes, Chinese speakers, readers, and writers of Chinese pictographs agree with this idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyIOjvoIMqA
(side note: the concept of illegal uploads wasn't on my mind as something to look out for at the time; but it is a sin to upload videos with copyright, without permission, and to watch what has been illegally uploaded onto the web by others; it's piracy / theft. The maker is being robbed of payment for the content they created; so, word of warning to all who read this: don't make illegal uploads nor watch them. You become a sinner and make anyone who watches what you upload commit sin too).
Anyway, again, to refresh the point: they are Chinese speakers and readers attesting to these claims. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyIOjvoIMqA
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That said, I've always wondered about the Chinese people (which son of Noah they may have descended from). Because they are so populous, I always considered them to be descendants of either Japheth or Shem (the two who got a blessing from Noah, and what in particular Noah said in the blessing concerning them):
Genesis 9:26-27 (NIV)
26 He also said, “Praise be to the Lord, the God of Shem! May Canaan be the slave of Shem. 27 May God extend Japheth’s[a] territory; may Japheth live in the tents of Shem, and may Canaan be the slave of Japheth.”
Footnotes:
a. Genesis 9:27 Japheth sounds like the Hebrew for extend.
I'll read the other articles to see what Dr. Thiel (COGwriter) has found in his research about the Chinese people in Scripture. Before I read parts 2 and 3 however, I wanted to mention that I had crossed paths with a blog connecting a Far East people, descendants of Sinim, mentioned in Isaiah 49:12 to the word "sinicization" (to make something chinese). But that's all I've heard.
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Obligatory clarification about Genesis 9:27:
Canaan, mentioned above, is Noah's grandson (the one whom Noah cursed). He is not one of Noah's three immediate sons (Shem, Ham, Japheth), but a grandson. That's a necessary disclaimer to make because some people think having black skin, in and of itself, is a curse due to Ham's son—Canaan—being cursed. But none of the other sons of Ham were cursed (and neither was Ham himself cursed). Just Canaan. And yet, other sons of Ham have black skin too. So it's not black skin that is the curse.
Genesis 9:18 (NIV)
18 The sons of Noah who came out of the ark were Shem, Ham and Japheth. (Ham was the father of Canaan.)
Genesis 10:6 (NIV)
6 The sons of Ham:
Cush, Egypt, Put and Canaan.
Cush = Ethiopia Put = Libya Egypt, was already updated to its modern name in the NIV (in Hebrew, it is Mizraim / Mitsrayim) Canaan = the promised land, these people were driven out by YHWH, and their land is comprised of where modern Israel is today, plus parts of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria (clearly, Israel used to be bigger: http://www.ancient.eu/canaan/).
Ethiopia, Egypt and Libya still have very clear evidence that they are black / have more melanin in their skin. They weren't cursed. So being black isn't Canaan's curse.
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That said, I don't agree with the way the COG Writer (nor Kong Hee, in the "God in Ancient China" DVD) used the word "races" at the beginning of their writing/talk. There's only one race, the human race, one root, not different races / different roots. What there is many "different of" are nationalities and ethnicities. So far, that's my only objection :P.
Acts 17:26 (NIV)
26 From one man he made all the nations, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he marked out their appointed times in history and the boundaries of their lands.
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Posted: Tue Jul 19, 2016 4:54 pm
Frogsnack
After reading through all three parts:
As far as it relates to China, I'm walking away from this series agreeing with COGwriter about who the Chinese are (descendants of Japheth; thoroughly convinced because of the historical sources in Part 3).
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Corrections:
However, throughout this three-part series, Dr. Thiel made some remarks in passing about what they, as the “Continuing Church of God”, believe. Those side remarks stray from Scripturally-sound reasoning [it's incomplete, and errs] and I wanted to draw attention to three areas where he does, so that it doesn't throw off your understanding of the Scriptures—in case you do decide to read the other parts (or already have).
Starting with the area that needs the most Old Testament background in order to understand (and the most twisted statement I think I read throughout all this); as a result, the Area #1 will be the lengthiest:
► Area #1: He said that Idolaters of the past will not be condemned when it is God who withholds their understanding (and the way he seems to be using the word “condemned”, he's using it solely to reference the second death/suffering torment forever).
What he said, and I quote,
In Part 3 he
Furthermore, the Bible reveals that God has prohibited idolaters to have proper understanding:
And the rest of it he makes into a god, His carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, Prays to it and says, "Deliver me, for you are my god!" They do not know nor understand; For He has shut their eyes, so that they cannot see, And their hearts, so that they cannot understand (Isaiah 44:17-18).
They have no knowledge, Who carry the wood of their carved image, And pray to a god that cannot save (Isaiah 45:20).
Thus, is God going to condemn those who worship idols for what He has not let them understand?
Protestant and Catholic theology tends to say yes.
Those in the Continuing Church of God say no.
Unless the idolater has committed the unpardonable sin (which is unlikely) they will be judged as other uncalled people are.
Hence, the billions throughout history in Asia and Africa (and elsewhere) are not condemned to suffer forever for following practices they really do not understand.
http://www.cogwriter.com/china3.htm
...first of all, it is unstable to take those passages in Isaiah about blinding Israel's understanding (which was done as judgment for their constant rebellion and suppression of the truth) to say that, “the one who was blinded never understood—at any point—that idolatry was wrong to do and never received the slightest conviction, the slightest hint, from their conscience that it was a lie”. Or use such passages to imply that "lack of knowledge" means "lack of ever hearing about God". That's erroneous.
COGwriter quoted Isaiah; Isaiah was sent to prophesy against the Israelites. The idolatrous Israelites' “lack of knowledge” was due to rejection of knowledge (they long had the Law of Moses; they long had testimonies about God's existence, a whole religious system about God, albeit the religion itself in practice was deviant from what is written in the Law of Moses); their “lack of knowledge” a.k.a. rebellion / rejection of knowledge / rejection of the Law of God is what led to God withholding understanding, blinding their eyes, and deafening their ears in the first place (and other prophets witness to the same truth):
Isaiah 6:9-10 (NIV)
9 He said, “Go and tell this people:
“‘Be ever hearing, but never understanding; be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ 10 Make the heart of this people calloused; make their ears dull and close their eyes.[a] Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn and be healed.”
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 6:10 Hebrew; Septuagint ‘You will be ever hearing, but never understanding; / you will be ever seeing, but never perceiving.’ / 10 This people’s heart has become calloused; / they hardly hear with their ears, / and they have closed their eyes
Isaiah 30:9-10 (NIV)
9 For these are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction. 10 They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
Ezekiel 12:2 (NIV)
2 “Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people. They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, forthey are a rebellious people.
Hosea 4:6 (NIV)
6 my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge.
“Because you have rejected knowledge, I also reject you as my priests; because you have ignored the law of your God, I also will ignore your children.
Their eyes are closed because they are rebellious (not the other way around: they're rebellious because God just simply never gave them understanding; no, He gave it, they rejected it). Lack of knowledge = rejection of, ignoring of, God's Law. The Israelite's “lack of knowledge” is not the notion that the Israelites were unaware or didn't understand. They didn't want to understand—they rejected understanding—because if they accepted understanding that would mean giving up something worldly (giving up something thrilling to one of the five senses of their flesh [making idols, the thrilling-to-the-flesh practices that pertained to the idol(s), the culture of the idol, the fandom of the idol], thus giving up their culture/way of life [which is pleasing to the sight, taste, hearing, touch, etc, but because it was deviant from YHWH's Commands they have to give it up], or giving up something that appeals to the worldly lust for prestige and power, such as giving up the prestigious and powerful religious system they had built up because it was deviant, not in accord with the Law of Moses or the Prophets, thus not in accord with what is written. Their whole way of life had to be restructured / restored). They didn't want to do it. Okay, condemned to ignorance then, enter Isaiah, Ezekiel, Hosea, etc. I'm not giving you more revelation, and whatever understanding you had, I'm taking away).
Luke 8:18 (NIV)
18 Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what they think they have will be taken from them.”
They caused their own ignorance / lack of knowledge. They were aware of YHWH and willfully ignored Him, His Commands, His Wisdom, His Right-Ruling.
Jeremiah 6:19 (NIV)
19 Hear, you earth: I am bringing disaster on this people, the fruit of their schemes, because they have not listened to my words and have rejected my law.
Matthew 13:15 (NIV)
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 13:15 Isaiah 6:9,10 (see Septuagint)
Ergo, why the Holy Spirit (through John) expresses Himself similarly in the following (here too it's about a rejection of knowledge / of the truth):
John 3:18 (NIV)
18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
Coming under God's condemnation has always been about being in a state of disagreement with the truth / not accepting it.
What is the truth?
Psalm 119:43 (NIV)
43 Never take your word of truth from my mouth, for I have put my hope in your laws.
John 17:17 (NIV)
17 Sanctify them by[a] the truth; your word is truth.
Footnotes:
a. John 17:17 Or them to live in accordance with
Who is the truth?
John 14:6 (NIV)
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
John 1:14 (NIV)
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Not surprisingly why Jesus is called the Word of God. What does Jesus teach in favor of and teach against? Disobedience to what, exactly, does Jesus rebuke?
Matthew 15:1-9 (NIV)
15 Then some Pharisees and teachers of the law came to Jesus from Jerusalem and asked, 2 “Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? They don’t wash their hands before they eat!”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you break the command of God for the sake of your tradition? 4 For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother’[a] and ‘Anyone who curses their father or mother is to be put to death.’[b] 5 But you say that if anyone declares that what might have been used to help their father or mother is ‘devoted to God,’ 6 they are not to ‘honor their father or mother’ with it. Thus you nullify the word of God for the sake of your tradition. 7 You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you:
8 “‘These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 9 They worship me in vain; their teachings are merely human rules.’[c]”
Footnotes:
a. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 20:12; Deut. 5:16 b. Matthew 15:4 Exodus 21:17; Lev. 20:9 c. Matthew 15:9 Isaiah 29:13
Matthew 23:1-3 (NIV)
23 Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples: 2 “The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat. 3 So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach.
Matthew 5:19-20 (NIV)
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus, the Word of God made flesh, is the truth, teaches the truth (the written Word of God), the Commands of God and rebukes those who turn away from the Commands of God, what's read from Moses' seat. If you deviate from a Command of God, or from what Jesus said (which are all equivalent), thus set the least of the Commands aside, then you're in rebellion, rejecting the truth, lacking knowledge, like the Pharisees; persist in ignoring it long enough, you will be handed over to your ignorance, eyes blinded, ears deafened, no understanding. People who are living in a state of disagreement with the truth are under God's condemnation, even worse if they knowingly reject it after coming into the awareness / receiving the inner-conviction that it is the truth. And part of that condemnation (punishment) is withheld understanding / understanding taken away from you.
Isaiah 29:10-13 (NIV)
10 The Lord has brought over you a deep sleep: He has sealed your eyes (the prophets); he has covered your heads (the seers).
11 For you this whole vision is nothing but words sealed in a scroll. And if you give the scroll to someone who can read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I can’t; it is sealed.” 12 Or if you give the scroll to someone who cannot read, and say, “Read this, please,” they will answer, “I don’t know how to read.”
13 The Lord says:
“These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship of me is based on merely human rules they have been taught.[a]
Footnotes:
a. Isaiah 29:13 Hebrew; Septuagint They worship me in vain; / their teachings are merely human rules
Note: the parenthetical statements in verse 10 are Scripture, not mine.
That clarified (how the blinding of the Israelite idolaters was due to their rebellion / their rejecting God's Law / rejecting understanding, and not a failing to have had understanding delivered to them), let's continue with the second thing about that statement that is off:
In the Bible, even if you are a Gentile who never heard of YHWH / doesn't know YHWH, even if there is no judicial system stoning you to death, you can still get condemned to death—first death and second death equally—because you don't know God (lack of understanding does not help).
2 Kings 17:24-29 (NIV) [ignorant Gentiles; first death, mauled by lions]
24 The king of Assyria brought people from Babylon, Kuthah, Avva, Hamath and Sepharvaim and settled them in the towns of Samaria to replace the Israelites. They took over Samaria and lived in its towns. 25 When they first lived there, they did not worship the Lord; so he sent lions among them and they killed some of the people. 26 It was reported to the king of Assyria: “The people you deported and resettled in the towns of Samaria do not know what the god of that country requires. He has sent lions among them, which are killing them off, because the people do not know what he requires.”
27 Then the king of Assyria gave this order: “Have one of the priests you took captive from Samaria go back to live there and teach the people what the god of the land requires.” 28 So one of the priests who had been exiled from Samaria came to live in Bethel and taught them how to worship the Lord. 29 Nevertheless, each national group made its own gods in the several towns where they settled, and set them up in the shrines the people of Samaria had made at the high places.
Clearly, there is no such thing as, “God never sent me any warning / revelation”. He either sends a person to you to preach to you, and learn the easy way how to avoid God's wrath, makes you notice something in creation and learn the easy way that idolatry is nonsense (things I molded with my hand cannot be my Creator, because I took it and formed it, it did not form me) which is also learning the easy way, or He sends an attack on you and you learn the hard way how to avoid God's wrath (and He sends someone after the fact to explain what happened).
Note: when we were ignorant Gentiles, more often than not, we experienced attack from God / divine judgment (and thus divine condemnation/punishment), before we ever received divine revelation / understanding—either from God directly or from one His servants coming to explain / preach what it was exactly that we went through / are going through. Lack of preaching does not stop us from coming under His condemnation (punishment). It just leaves us in danger. [Relevant topic to read: {Do Good: A Man Reaps What He Sows}]
That said, other examples of "being unaware” and "being unaware" NOT saving you from punishment:
Luke 12:47-48 (NIV) [ignorant servants of God still punished]
47 “The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. 48 But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
2 Thessalonians 1:6-9 (NIV) [unbelievers / those who don't know God; second death]
6 God is just: He will pay back trouble to those who trouble you 7 and give relief to you who are troubled, and to us as well. This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. 8 He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. 9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might
If one doesn't know God, then one gets punishment—whether the punishment is everlasting [second death] or otherwise [temporary earthly judgment/punishment]. Not knowing God is not going to save you. Knowing Him, knowing the correct information, is the only thing that saves, ever—Old Testament and New Testament alike.
1 Timothy 4:16 (NIV)
16 Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.
Isaiah 5:13 (NIV)
13 Therefore my people will go into exile for lack of understanding; those of high rank will die of hunger and the common people will be parched with thirst.
Lack of information, lack of understanding, has you suffering punishment, suffering blows from God, not liberated from it.
And in light of all that, nothing explicitly suggests that God's standards for condemning people to death, is somehow different from how He will condemn to second death. COGwriter is relying on his own reasoning and not on Scripture to say that there is a difference. Because what I've quoted from the Old and New Testament suggests that what you do not know or what you are unaware of (not just what you reject, but things you don't know), will lead to your condemnation (punishment)—everlasting / second death, and the non-everlasting condemnation too.
There will be blows for whoever does wickedness, both for the one who knew it was wrong to do and the one didn't know it was wrong to do (Luke 12:47-48), for the Jew and the Gentile alike (that's not just New Testament revelation [i.e. Romans 2:9-10], but also Old Testament; what I didn't include, for brevity's sake, was the part in 2 Kings 17 (verses 6-23) where it mentions the israelites had been exiled for their Idolatry, thus the same reason the Gentiles are being mauled by lions in that same chapter. Here too then, we have an example of Israelites and Gentiles being punished/condemned for the same wicked behavior—idolatry—one knew it was wrong to do, the other didn't—still punished, still attacked by God. Interesting that both Israelite and Gentiles were being removed from their home country, exiles for both, Israelite and Gentile alike. Same standard).
Attack by enemy nations, exile, famine / starving to death, or attack by wild animals, these are the promised ways that YHWH said He would punish mankind (Jew and Gentile alike, judging by the above examples; we all suffer these):
Ezekiel 5:17 (NIV)
17 I will send famine and wild beasts against you, and they will leave you childless. Plague and bloodshed will sweep through you, and I will bring the sword against you. I the Lord have spoken.”
Ezekiel 14:21 (NIV)
21 “For this is what the Sovereign Lord says: How much worse will it be when I send against Jerusalem my four dreadful judgments—sword and famine and wild beasts and plague—to kill its men and their animals!
If preaching / speaking the Word of God doesn't work, and if how creation works isn't testimony enough of a Creator, then God resorts to His four judgments mentioned above—sword, famine, wild beasts, plagues, (akin to what YHWH spoke through Moses in Leviticus 26:14-39). There is no excuse. They're suppose to see that creation and natural circumstances are fighting them (so there IS something wrong in what they're doing; they should be asking, "Is my walk / existence in this life / interaction with creation, blameless? Or am I doing something wrong?").
Chances are they're not a blameless Job, but are in sin. And if in idolatry, then they're suppose to realize, “my idol / false notion of God isn't saving me from this”, and thus decide to abandon the idolatry / the false belief / the deviation from truth. Though some people are so stubborn that not even that will make them repent):
Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plaguesstill did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 2:21-23 (NIV)
21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
Same in the Old Testament:
Isaiah 1:5 (NIV)
5 Why should you be beaten anymore? Why do you persist in rebellion? Your whole head is injured, your whole heart afflicted.
Jeremiah 2:30 (NIV)
30 “In vain I punished your people; they did not respond to correction. Your sword has devoured your prophets like a ravenous lion.
And they're not receiving this punishment because God never gave them understanding, a whisper in the right direction, telling them their idolatry is wrong. They received it, but rejected it. Lack of knowledge / rejection of what God reveals is what provokes condemnation (punishment) in the first place.
Jeremiah 5:4-6 (NIV)
4 I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. 5 So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds. 6 Therefore a lion from the forest will attack them, a wolf from the desert will ravage them, a leopard will lie in wait near their towns to tear to pieces any who venture out, for their rebellion is great and their backslidings many.
Notice, there is no distinction made between who gets punished: both the uneducated (thus, ignorant, “lack of understanding”, possibly unaware of God's requirements) poor people, as well as the educated (informed of Torah) elite alike; they are both getting mauled by wild animals (one of God's four judgments that He sends).
Lacking awareness that idolatry is wrong (doubtful because if not preached to by man, you'll be preached to by the natural circumstances), will not save anyone from the punishment of being in idolatry in the first place and staying in it—even the ones inside of God's church / set-apart community of believers.
And the Biblical truth is, there will NOT be a lack of preaching. There is both verbal and non-verbal preaching constantly going on by the Creator and His creation (human and non-human alike) from the beginning:
Psalm 19:1-4 (NIV)
Psalm 19[a] For the director of music. A psalm of David.
1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. 2 Day after daythey pour forth speech; night after nightthey reveal knowledge. 3 They have no speech, they use no words; no sound is heard from them. 4 Yet their voice[b] goes out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens God has pitched a tent for the sun.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 19:1 In Hebrew texts 19:1-14 is numbered 19:2-15. b. Psalm 19:4 Septuagint, Jerome and Syriac; Hebrew measuring line
Thus in the New Testament:
Romans 1:18-25 (NIV)
18 The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, 19 since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. 20 For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.
24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.
Idolaters have no excuse. The notion of there being a Creator is evident in everything around us. The simple act of molding something with our hands: it is obvious that what we created did not give us life, because we were around before it, we created it, not it being around before us to create us. There's no such thing as an idolater who didn't know, just an idolater who suppressed the truth, the inner-conviction of the conscience silenced, given over to a reprobate mind for suppressing it for so long.
There's no such thing as non-Israelite idolaters in the past not receiving knowledge from God.
► Area #2: They think that nearly all individuals will be saved...
In Part 3, he
The Continuing Church of God teaches that God will ultimately give every individual an opportunity for salvation--and that nearly every individual will accept that opportunity. The vast majority of human beings ever born will ultimately be in God's family.
http://www.cogwriter.com/china3.htm
...that's false, i.e. Luke 13:22-27;
Luke 13:22-28 (NIV)
22 Then Jesus went through the towns and villages, teaching as he made his way to Jerusalem. 23 Someone asked him, “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?”
He said to them, 24 “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. 25 Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Sir, open the door for us.’
“But he will answer, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’
26 “Then you will say, ‘We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’
27 “But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from. Away from me, all you evildoers!’
28 “There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out.
Question: “Lord, are only a few people going to be saved?” Short Answer: Yes, few will be saved, even amongst believers who recognize me as Lord. It'll be hard. So make every effort to enter; only few will be able to.
As Peter corroborates as well.
1 Peter 4:18 (NIV)
18 And,
“If it is hard for the righteous to be saved, what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”[a]
Footnotes:
a. 1 Peter 4:18 Prov. 11:31 (see Septuagint)
Rewinding to Luke 13 for a second, keep in mind how “few being saved” relates to “a door getting closed in your face / door not opening”, and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” as I bring your attention to something else that is relevant to the “few being saved” reality found in Scripture: COGwriter / the CCOG are forgetting that Jesus' return is compared to Noah's generation (question: were most people saved back then? No. Only 8 people i.e. 1 Peter 3:20, and once that door closed, no one was opening it once God shut it i.e. Genesis 7:16-17) and Matthew 24:37-41, which compares Jesus' return to the days of Noah, repeats the same “weeping and gnashing of teeth” terminology that Luke's account does when saying few will get saved.
1 Peter 3:20 (NIV)
20 to those who were disobedient long ago when God waited patiently in the days of Noah while the ark was being built. In it only a few people, eight in all, were saved through water,
Matthew 24:37-51 (NIV)
37 As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 38 For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; 39 and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. 40 Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. 41 Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.
42 “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. 43 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. 44 So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.
45 “Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? 46 It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. 47 Truly I tell you, he will put him in charge of all his possessions. 48 But suppose that servant is wicked and says to himself, ‘My master is staying away a long time,’ 49 and he then begins to beat his fellow servants and to eat and drink with drunkards. 50 The master of that servant will come on a day when he does not expect him and at an hour he is not aware of. 51 He will cut him to pieces and assign him a place with the hypocrites, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
As it was in the days of Noah—the “suddenness” of judgment, as people go about doing the mundane tasks of earthly life, but also, once that door is closed, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, some people can't get in, most people are not getting in because they weren't diligent in their mission—as further evidenced by the parable in the chapter that immediately follows (Matthew 25), which also talks about Jesus' return (and here is where we get the door theme reoccurring); Jesus uses the parable of the ten virgins, all of them waiting for the bridegroom [Jesus], but not all of them were well-enough prepared to meet the bridegroom at the moment of His return, so they got locked out (again, the repeated theme of “closed door” in your face, I don't know you, in verses 11-12). Out of the 10 virgins, only 5 made it in. Does that sound like “most” are getting saved to COGwriter / the CCOG? So, all together: Luke, Peter and Matthew, agree: few are getting saved. Not “the vast majority” (though there will be many, they are few relatively speaking, in comparison to the billions of people that currently exist).
Matthew 7:13-14 (NIV)
13 “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
► and lastly, Area #3: as Garland brought to my attention a year or so ago [link], the CCOG rejects that the Holy Spirit is a person in the Godhead. Even though the Holy Spirit is referred to as both...
...the Father and the Son. Emphasis on verse 9,
Romans 8:7-9 (NIV)
7 The mind governed by the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. 8 Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God.
9 You, however, are not in the realm of the flesh but are in the realm of the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, they do not belong to Christ.
John 14:17 (NIV)
17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be[a] in you.
Footnotes:
a. John 14:17 Some early manuscripts and is
John 14:23 (NIV)
23 Jesus replied, “Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
Considering that the Holy Spirit is interchangeably called the “Spirit of God” and the “Spirit of Christ” in Romans 8:9 [Thus, is both the Father and Son], then, when the “we” of John 14:23 comes to dwell in us, but is referred to as the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, who is dwelling in us, that means that here too the Holy Spirit is being called the Father and the Son, and thus just as much a person as the Father and the Son; The Holy Spirit is the Father and the Son, living in us, coming to make His/their home in us. Different manifestation. But still Him.
Not Binatarianism because all three manifest at the same time in different places:
Acts 7:55 (NIV)
55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.
---
Concluding thoughts:
I went on a rabbit trail of clicking links that he would mention; there were others things I wanted to address, but I can't find the page (>_ Anyway, moral of the story: do not let your guard down with the CCOG. Test everything in light of the Scriptures, search the Scriptures to see if what they're saying is faithful to everything Scripture communicates (Acts 17:11; 1 Thessalonians 5:20-22). Find two to three witnesses in Scripture to establish a matter as doctrinal truth (2 Corinthians 13:1; Deuteronomy 19:15), and make sure the Scripture is making a direct, explicit statement of the claim they are trying to make because, at times, they're reading things into the verse that the verse doesn't explicitly say in the text itself (e.g. “well, if God withholds 'understanding' from idolaters, then that must mean that He's not going to condemn these idolaters to suffer forever for following practices they really do not understand.” The latter half of that statement is pure assumption / man's reasoning (not to mention they didn't understand Isaiah's audience at all and why they were being blinded), not something they read as an explicit statement from Scripture. Because, as detailed above in the spoiler tags, I found direct evidence stating that ignorance does not eliminate punishment/condemnation, but invites it, even on those who are not aware of YHWH. He will punish those who do NOT know God with everlasting destruction (lack of knowledge saves no one). No one is truly ignorant anyway, neither the Gentiles of the Old Testament nor the New Testament—all of creation is preaching non-stop, natural circumstances, God's judgments falling on us, and God sending servants with discernment to explain what happened. The COGwriter is not utilizing all the verses available on a topic to arrive at a doctrinal conclusion. Beware of that.
On the brightside, I do see accurate Scriptural truth scattered throughout COGwriter's articles (what delights me the most is that he accurately condemned people's distortions of Paul's writings [and the rest of Scripture] which they distort to justify living lawless lives and to arrive at lawless interpretations). But if you're not very familiar with Scripture be very, very careful about wading through their other articles.
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