Title: 13
Author: Joe G
Last saved by: Paul J. Davey
Company: GDC

Clanking Chains		07-04-01-A.CC02-733 /

Corrigendum: Theophany cf. Body; “Min”: Lower Creatures Have Species, Homo Sapiens Do Not; Progressive Theology: Cosmology, Evolution, Environment

Corrigendum to MD02-251 / 2597: Theophany compared with Body
In Thursday night’s class I made a statement regarding the creation of the universe and, following the formal trial of Lucifer, that of the life forms noted in Genesis 1:9-27.  Summarizing the creative acts in the Garden I said the following and I paraphrase:
Man is not classified (in Genesis 1:26) as a species but rather is “made” in the image of God.  The verb ’asah means to create something according to a “pattern.”  The pattern is the “likeness” of God and refers to the soul.  Adam and Ishah’s physical bodies were created out of existing materials but there was no variety within the status of mankind.  Man is not related to amoeba but to God in the mechanics of creation.  God has a soul and man’s is in God image.  God has a body and man is created in God’s image.
I have been quizzed about this last sentence and rightly so.  One of the reasons I dread sending out notes is that sometimes things not completely thought out are in print and can’t be recalled.  I make corrections to the Lesson Notes that are posted on the Web site but on this occasion it must be done immediately.  When summarizing the creation passages Thursday, my intent was to note that our origin is not evolutionary but divine for it is said in Genesis 1:26, “Let Us make [hc*u* ’asah] man in Our image [<l#x# selem], according to Our likeness [tWmD= demuth].”
This refers to the soul.  The word “image” is selem and refers to a shadow image.  This is not an exact image but rather refers to a principle regarding the structure of the soul.  It does not refer to a body for God does not have a body.  It refers to the human soul whose essence includes (1) self-consciousness, (2) mentality, and (3) volition.
These attributes are a shadow of certain aspects of divine essence.  God has self-consciousness: He knows who He is.  God has mentality or omniscience.  God has free will: He makes decisions based on His righteous standards.  We are issued these characteristics but they are only a shadow of these perfect aspects of the essence of God.  Every person in the human race has a soul with the characteristics just noted.
The verb ’asah means to make something according to a principle, a model, or a plan.  This is brought out in the word for “likeness” which is demuth.  Our souls are modeled as a shadow representation of certain aspects of divine essence.  This is designed for us to resolve the angelic conflict.  We are created lower than the angels but we have the same free will as they have.  God granted both His angelic and human creatures with the same free will He possesses so that we might make personal and independent choices to either serve Him or reject Him.
So our souls are created by a pattern in “God’s image.”
Where things got off track is in the next sentence: “God has a body and man’s is created in God’s image.”
God does not have a body, but in the Old Testament, Jesus Christ does present Himself to mankind in the form of man in what is classified as a theophany.  My thinking had to do with this circumstance.
Jesus Christ is the Agent of the creation of our original parents’ bodies.  He was present in the Garden where He took the “dust of the earth” and created, first, Adam: rx^y* yatsar, to mold as a potter molds clay [“formed,” Genesis 2:7], and then, secondly, Ishah: hn*B* banah, to build or sculpt [“fashioned,” Genesis 2:22].  The end results were creatures that are classified as human but with two genders.  Nevertheless, they are both Homo sapiens.
Jesus Christ was present in the Garden with them during the process of their creation and afterward in His conversations with them in Genesis 3.  He was present with them in the Garden on a daily basis to teach Bible classes (Genesis 3:8).  He was present with them following the fall when He passed judgments against them and the Lucifer-indwelt serpent (Genesis 3:9-19.
These appearances are classified as theophanies: the physical appearance of Jesus Christ to members of the human race in the Old Testament.  Theophanies of Christ occur in three categories: (1) as an angel, called the “angel of the Lord” in numerous passages, (2) as a phenomenon of nature, for example the Burning Bush in Exodus 3:2, and (3) as a Man, for example, with Abraham in Genesis 18 and with Adam and Ishah in the Garden.
What I was thinking of when I wrote my heretical statement was the theophany of our Lord in the Garden during His creative actions on behalf of Adam and Ishah.  He took on the form of a Man.  In Scripture, every visible appearance of God to man is that of the second Person of the Trinity.  The events in the Garden obviously occurred before the hypostatic union and although He appeared to them in the form of a Man His status quo was undiminished deity.  Thus, the human race was created in the “image,” shadow-type though it was, of the Lord Jesus Christ in a theophany.
In the Incarnation, the Lord took on the “form of a bond-servant, being made in the likeness of men” (Philippians 2:7).  In the Incarnation, Jesus took on the same human characteristics that He originally created for Adam and Ishah in the Garden.  In the Garden, He assumed the form of a Man in His theophanies before Adam and Ishah.  Thus our original parents possessed the shadow image of that theophany.
I should have taken the time to develop this but in my summary statement what I was thinking was not written down and legitimate questions were appropriately asked.  This addendum has been distributed to the subscribers of Class Notes in an effort to promptly correct the error in writing and now orally this morning.
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	Man is separate from the beasts in that his is not classified as a min—a species—but rather made in the image of God and as such is superior to the lower creations.  This is elaborated upon by:
Botterweck, G. Johannes, Helmer Ringgren, and Heinz-Josef Fabry (eds.).  Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament.  Trans. Douglas W. Scott.  (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 1997), 8:290:
The Creation Narrative.  (min: 10 occurrences in Gen. 1:11f.,21,24f.)  The multiplicity of species is a predominating feature of the animal kingdom.  The system of the “seven-day schema [plan]” juxtaposes animals and human beings: the multiplicity of animals is contrasted with the “unity” of human beings, an opposition also indicated by the consistent absence of min whenever references are made to human beings.  Hence if min had something to do with the capacity of a living being to reproduce itself in a continuing sequence of generations, then the term would indeed be applicable to human beings.
Since this is not the case, however, greater attention needs to be directed to the background of this text.  There one finds the contrast between the world of humans and that of animals, and the concomitant moral and religious implications.  However, the content of this distinction is also of significance: neither the human being in and of itself constitutes a species of kind, nor does the multiplicity of human beings, races, and nations constitute a multiplicity of species or kinds.  Thus human “unity” is to exercise dominance over the multiplicity of animals.  Both the Flood tradition and several prophetic texts confirm that humans have what is basically a political mission as regards the world of animals.  Because of the relationship one can specify more precisely that this human mission is based on the similarity between human and divine “unity,” and correspondingly on the dissimilarity between human beings and animals.
	That mankind is traced back to a common human ancestor is boldly stated in Luke’s genealogy of the true humanity of Jesus Christ:
Luke 3:23 -		When He began His ministry, Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age, being, as was supposed, the son of Joseph, the son of Eli … 
	The citing of the various ancestors of our Lord continues for the next fifteen verses culminating with:
Luke 3:38 -		… the son of Enosh, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.
	Thus the Progressive instruction in the fields of cosmology and evolution places man among the animals, and birds, and fish, and creeping things as well as among the plants, insects, and amoeba.
	This sets up the erroneous concept of monophyletic origin of life as opposed to the polyphyletic origin of life as demonstrated by the diagram: “Polyphyletic v. Monophyletic Origins” (see visual).
	The philosophy that man originated by shear accident from the elements of the earth rather than by divine creation from these same elements spawns the idea of earth worship which is exemplified today by the environmentalist movement.
	The satanic triumvirate of evolution, environmentalism, and cosmology has developed into a modern version of the pagan religions of the past.  These three concepts have principles that constitute major branches of its theology.  The priests are scientists who “document” each area’s authenticity through junk science—“junk” in the sense that none is supported by proof.
	Progressive ideology provides the structure for “righteous thought and action” under the tenants of the priesthood’s proclamations.  If man is animal and no different from an ally cat then he may behave as one while observing the necessary sacrifices attendant to the rituals of sexual permissiveness.  When biological realities intervene to interrupt the ritual with responsibilities then sacrifice is offered in the form of the unwanted intruder.
	All of these things have emerged in a nation that is losing its soul and, as a result, its thought.  Consequently, the forces of the Dark Side gradually are overwhelming the forces of the Light.
	This need not continue.  Those who have the Light must faithfully cling to the promise of deliverance in times of national peril and by doing so the opportunity for favorable divine intervention is always available.
	Jesus Christ controls history and His observance of the Pivot’s progress enables Him to manage those who deviate from the Light in a way that not only glorifies Him but at the same time protects the faithful.
	Therefore, our job continues to be the consistent inculcation of truth under the ministries of the Holy Spirit while observing the current chaos without being disillusioned by it.
	The final example we will note is the propaganda produced by the environmentalist movement and specifically its obsession with what it followers refer to as “global warming.”
	An excellent commentary on the fallacy of this idea appeared recently in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch’s editorial page and National Review Online.  I repeat excerpts here to document the principle that any significant global warming that exists is due overwhelmingly to the ebb and flow of world weather whose major influence is not man but rather the sun.  Since this is true, then why is there such tremendous hysteria about the fate of the planet?

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