Leilah:

Yeah men are gods alright. Especially in Nigeria.

Jagoon:

@wisekid
First of all i would like to remind you that God is a spirit being and not physical like you and me so the issue of penis does not even arise. Even though God created man in his own image to be like him. On the issue of man being God's enemy, that is also very far from the truth God loves us dearly as exemplified in John 3 : 16 which states that " for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that who so ever beleives in him shall not perish but have eternal life" So th issue of man being God's enemy does not arise. What is more apt is that man fell out of favour with God when he eat the forbidden fruit offered to him by woman. some have argued that the forbidden fruit as a sexual connotation, this might true. But i don't think it is right to blame the woman alone for man's fall. Adam as the man should have correcected Eve when she attempted to tempt him

Jagoon:


Men are like God and that's biblical, before some self righteous people decide to tear me apart based on that statement.

This statement if taken into proper perspective and the line of thought if developed could answer so many questions we human beings seek to know about ourselves, what we are, our purpose in life and what potential God has put in us.

Before I explain myself further let me back my statement scripturally

Genesis 1:26-27 says;
²⁶ Then God said, "Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the livestock, over all the earth, [a] and over all the creatures that move along the ground."
²⁷ So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them

From the above we can confirm that God created man in his likeness (for his own glory) even though God created man to be like him with immense powers and dominon over the earth,

God limited man this can be found well stated in Genesis 2:16-17

which states that;
¹⁶ And the LORD God commanded the man, "You are free to eat from any tree in the garden;
¹⁷ but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge for when you eat of it you will surely die."

From the above statement we can see that even though God created man to be like him (potentially), God restricted his knowledge there by his abilities, because the sole reason for creating man was to glorify God. But then man was led to eat of the tree of knowledge and he became knowledgeable.

Genesis 3:5-7
⁵ "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."
⁶ When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
⁷As soon as they had eaten it, they were given understanding and realized that they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and covered themselves.

From the above we can deduce that God created man to be very powerful creation like himself but he decided to limit man so as to keep man in check, however Man was Mis -led to eat from the tree of knowledge and he became knowledgeable like God. With this knowledge it was possible that man would get out of hand and start challeging God's authority because he as now become like God, what did God now do? the answer and the reason for God's action can be found in Genesis 3:22

which says;
"And the LORD God said, "The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil. He must not be allowed to reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life and eat, and live forever."

The implication of the above statement is that if man is allowed to live long enough with the potential God has put in man and the knowledge he has acquired, man could develop to being a God unto himself.

To avoid this God decided to limits man's life. There is a lot of credence to this statement, if we consider how much man as developed from the time of creation, from being mere hunters and gatherers man as developed and invented a lot of amazing things ranging from space travel to the internet, to telecommunications, to genetic engineering to so many other achievements that are too numerous to mention in this forum.

Despite all these achievements of Man there is scientific evidence that man is performing no where near his potential. A study of the human brain by scientist revealed that the average human being uses up only 5% of their brain potential throughout their lifespan and that even the most intelligent geniuses only use up 9% of their potential. This implies that if we are made to live much longer and we could use up more of our brain potential and would be able to achieve 10- 20 times more than we are achieving now.

Considering what man as been able to achieve with just 5% utilizaton of brain potential using up 100% could translate into real God like powers and you know what terrible things man could do with this powers.

NB: This post is in no way trying to diminsh the power of God over man or compare him to man, it primarily gives glory to God for being able to creat man with so much awsome potentials, it is also meant to celebrate man whom God has created for his Glory and to be like him, help us understand and appreciate who we are as human beings better and to stimulate intellectual discourse into this topic

Who is Man??

Genesis 2:17]

Genesis 2:17

Amplified Bible (AMP)
But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and blessing and calamity you shall not eat,
for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil,
for when you eat of it you will surely die.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)
except the one that has the power to let you know the difference between right and wrong.
If you eat any fruit from that tree, you will die before the day is over!"

[/quote]

Hmm, the latter obviously referenced from the above.

Well God hasn’t got a low or questionable self worth/esteem to feel threatened or endangered by Man at any time.

In the beginning God never had an issue with Adam becoming knowledgeable.

Man (i.e. Adam) was expected to approach, ask or question God on any matter whatsoever (i.e. Without exceptions, keep God in the loop at all time concerning issues)

It was kind of an open door policy set-up with a 24/7 direct access to GOD.

God get inundated or overwhelmed with questions? Nah, God doesn’t mind, He can handle it.

Remember the phrase? “If you don’t know, you better ask somebody”

That somebody to ask is/was GOD unfortunately Man (i.e. Adam) wasn’t keen on that idea.

On the face of it, the “limit” was for Man’s good (i.e. to protect Adam)

Remember the tree of the knowledge of good and evil possessed the power that enables one to experience the difference between right and wrong (i.e. good and evil)

One needs to have experienced (i.e. tasted something) pleasant and unpleasant in order to tell the difference between sweet and sour.

Eve was deceived. Adam? Oh no, he was not deceived by Eve or anyone for that matter.

Adam was impatient, wanted out and consequently made a conscious decision (i.e. choice) not to depend and/or rely on God anymore for information (i.e. knowledge)

Man (i.e. Adam) wanted to do it “his way” too akin to Frank Sinatra’s “I did it my way” song, consequently Man (i.e. Adam) opted for independence, self-reliance, sovereignty of his destiny etc so yielded (i.e. caved in) to the temptation.

That was an ill-advised move, a big mistake and unwise choice because from then on Adam will now have to be responsible and accountable for all decisions made and actions taken and face immediate or later consequences if any.

Eating the fruit of knowledge of good and evil triggered the good and evil know-how and the experience hurtled Man (i.e. Adam) into a jam and even present-day quagmire.

The blamelessness and enjoyment of not knowing what is good or evil lost.

Did y’all notice that no one stood up to be held responsible for eating the fruit? More exactly they were playing the blame game, pointing fingers at each other - Just as in some responses posted here.

Man (i.e. Adam) could have at least, be a man that he is/was.

When asked about eating the fruit Man (i.e. Adam) could have stood up, hold up his hands, confess (i.e. admit eating the fruit) and sobbingly say something like in the below lines:

“Boo-hu-ha-ha-ha Ha-ha . . .
God! Please!! Leave Eve out of this.
It’s me, I am to blame. I am sorry.
Please give us another chance;
it won’t happen again blah blah blah . . . ”

  [img width=240 height=390]http:///d38nup[/img] [img width=240 height=390]http:///c2qofn[/img] [img width=240 height=390]http:///dbcu4w[/img]  

You talked about "If we are made to live much longer and we could use up more of our brain potential and would be able to achieve 10-20 times more than we are achieving now"

Not entirely correct and so beg to differ – Without God’s OK, potentials doesn’t bud and come into flower.

It is God that gives and/or allow . . .

Methuselah among others had lived longer. Methuselah lived to be 969. Are we sure he used up more of his brain potential than those that lived less?
- We all know why Methuselah lived that long anyway, at any rate that’s for a different posting/topic.

How Bezaleel and Aholiab came about their unique gifts readily comes to mind

Exodus 31:1-6:


Exodus 31:1-6 Amplified Bible (AMP)

¹ AND THE Lord said to Moses,
² See, I have called by name Bezalel son of Uri, the son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah.
³ And I have filled him with the Spirit of God, in wisdom and ability, in understanding and intelligence, and in knowledge, and in all kinds of craftsmanship,
⁴ To devise skillful works, to work in gold, and in silver, and in bronze,
⁵ And in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood, to work in all kinds of craftsmanship.
⁶ And behold, I have appointed with him Aholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan; and to all who are wisehearted I have given wisdom and ability to make all that I have commanded you:

Just about closing and submitting this posting but you also mentioned " . . . Considering what man as been able to achieve . . ."

What is the use of achievement(s)? Where often they are centred around self glory that excludes God.

Bottom line is that the original idea was that Man do or be doing the right thing, at the right time whilst been on God’s right side (i.e. good side)

We are slowly but surely circling back to that point.

KunleOshob:


[size=12pt:
The whole world is one big mystery,

Man has not been able to understand who God really is or what life is all about,

there are a lot more questions than answers and we would never ever know.

I Believe God wanted it that way, but as human beings we would keep asking questions.[/size]

@KunleOshob

You talked about:
" . . . mystery . . . we would never ever know . . .
Believe God wanted it that way, but as human beings we would keep asking questions"

I have learnt from experience directly and/or indirectly and have stopped using the word "never"

It ties up God's hand and literally limits Him . . .

[quote author=Proverbs 25:2]

Proverbs 25:2

New International Version - UK (NIVUK)
It is the glory of God to conceal a matter;
to search out a matter is the glory of kings.

Contemporary English Version (CEV)
God is praised for being mysterious;
rulers are praised for explaining mysteries.

KunleOshob:


@Recognise

Your post is quite insightful, but it is quite obvious that man's true destiny and purpose is not very clear although there are several hints in the bible we still are not very certain and the church leadership has done more to confuse us than educate us cause they simply don't know and every pastor is pursuing his own agenda.

I am also aware that the bible we use today, passed down to us by the Vatican is just what they decided to canonize as "ordained scripture" there is evidence that other ordained scripture were deliberately left out by the Vatican at that time because they were considered books of higher spiritual value and this books can still be found in their archives today even though catholic faithfuls deny this.

I believe God revealed answers to our forbearers and the answer is still with us today albeit adulterated and concealed from us by a "privileged" few.

This is one of the reasons I don't subject my self to church doctrines anymore. Churches tell you what they want you to believe and not necessarily the gospel truth.

Recognise:

[size=12pt] @KunleOshob (m)



1) What did Man have in beginning?
2) What did Man lose before and/or without even stepping out of Eden?
2) What is the nitty-gritty, the bottom line, the core message, (i.e. crux) of Jesus Ministry whilst on Earth?
3) What was He proclaiming and explaining during his Ministry?

KunleOshob:

Another often overlooked hint in the bible that indicates man's compatibility with heavenly beings can be found in Genesis 6:1-4 which says:
   

   1 Then the people began to multiply on the earth, and daughters were born to them. 2 The sons of God saw the beautiful women and took any they wanted as their wives. 3 Then the Lord said, “My Spirit will not put up with humans for such a long time, for they are only mortal flesh. In the future, their normal lifespan will be no more than 120 years.”

   4 In those days, and for some time after, giant Nephilites lived on the earth, for whenever the sons of God had intercourse with women, they gave birth to children who became the heroes and famous warriors of ancient times.

Let us examine the evidence, even though most versions use the term "sons of God" to describe the heavenly beings that slept with the earth's women some other versions have used the term "angels" and "supernatural beings". What remains a fact is that they were from above i.e heaven or where God resides. It also tells us one thing that they are physical beings and NOT strictly spiritual as we have always been made to believe by the church. But that apart a crucial evidence is that they were able to sleep with women and reproduce. this is very revealing as anybody who did a little bit of biology would know that reproduction is NOT possible between different species since their DNA would not be compatible. This in otherwards mean that humans and these sons of God were of the same species with identical DNA. This i think is another scritural evidence about the reality of man and his likeness to God or other heavenly beings

slimfine:


Ummmmh, remember Noah's day fload? it whipped all those giants OFF!

jagunlabi:

MAN is GOD made flesh.We are all expressions of one consciousness,ONE GOD.We are all God expressing itself in transient physical forms.Without US there is no GOD,and without GOD there is no US.

KunleOshob:

So who came first? Man or God, or better still who created who iswe are one and the same?

KunleOshob:

What if men became god? As in develope god like abilities?

BRB

jagunlabi:

It is not a matter of man becoming god one day,man is already a god.It is just that the potential has been switched off all this while.
We have all the ability we need right now,we just need to know how to switch it back on.Man is a multi-dimensional being that is not limited by the laws that govern the universe.This is why the people in the know will tell you that there is nothing like miracles.