Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”
The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
“You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
- Genesis 3:1-5
“There are no doubt sufficiently profound distinctions between the ethical process and the cosmic process as it existed prior to man and to the formation of human society. So far as I know, however, all of these differences are summed up in the fact that the process and the forces bound up with the cosmic have come to consciousness in man . . . We have, however, no reason to suppose that the cosmic process has become arrested or that some new force has supervened to struggle against the cosmic.
“This idea that Evolution (personified) has finally come to consciousness in man and that Man is the paramount agent now in its further development has had tremendous influence throughout the world, and amounts to nothing less than a deification of Man! This enthronement of Man, and forced abdication of God are the ultimate goal of all non-Christian or anti-Christian systems—a great super-system of humanistic evolutionary pantheism.”
- John C. Whitcomb and Henry M. Morris, The Genesis Flood
And with mankind roaming the earth for a few thousand years, we have done one better than what the serpent suggested to Eve. Eve could not deny God existed. She had conversed with God in the Garden, but now, we have done one better than the serpent saying that we can be like God if we eat of the fruit. Now we have, in our delusion, become god, and God is out of the picture entirely.
Not really, we are delusional if we believe that, but they teach it in our schools. They say that we are a cosmic accident, but an accident with a consciousness. Because we can reason, use tools, and other important things, we are above all the other animals in the evolutionary chain.
Yes, we are special, but only by accident according to Darwin and company.
But to use real science and show how genetic mutations get us from Adam and Eve to the man of today, we have a lot of evidence. The evolution theory breaks apart in its own definitions and with no workable foundation cannot proceed under careful scrutiny. But if we are descendants of a true Adam and Eve, then the Bible may be correct in other things as well.
And we might have to give up being god. We might have to realize that God has existed since before time began. Oh, the horror!
Now do you understand why politicians, some “scientists,” and others that are hangers-on have no desire to really think this through? They do not desire to look at recent evidence that points to anything other than evolution.
They would have to give up being god.
Eve ate the apple. She handed the apple to Adam, and he ate of it. Thus, Adam was right there with Eve, and they both desired to be gods.
When a baby is born, almost all mothers find the baby to be “innocent,” but from a theological point of view, the baby is born with “original sin.” We are born with a sin nature. The baby only knows that he/she is tired, hungry, gassy, wet, “more than just wet,” and the classic “just wants to be held.” The baby cries. That is the only way for the baby to communicate, but the baby is demanding that needs must be met. It is a god unto itself, for it knows nothing else. Then the baby gets older and becomes aware that other humans exist. Their reaction can be of mixed responses. They can demand even more. It becomes a competition as to which human gets more attention. Our older son told his mother that he knew where babies came from… “You go to the hospital to get them, and you got the wrong one!” “Oh, I am so sorry, three-year-old, but you were not consulted when we looked through the catalog at the hospital.” He never explained what he meant; besides, he was three.
Being self-centered is the first sin we all share in committing, and for most, probably, it is the hardest of which to repent.
But repent we must. God is waiting. God loves us and wants to have a meaningful relationship with Him, if we can just slide off the throne and put Jesus in control of our lives. We simply open the door of our hearts, and Jesus does the real work. God is not pushy. He does not barge in. The reason why we have a consciousness, and we are at the top of the food chain is that almighty God created us that way, so that we could willingly choose God.
Soli Deo Gloria. Only to God be the Glory.
Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley 
The Deification of Man. Becoming Holy
What is Holy?
To be Holy is a condition that comes about after the purification of the heart and it is an acknowledgement of UNION of man with God and knowing God personally!!
[Matthew 5-8] “BLESSED ARE THE PURE IN HEART- FOR THEY SHALL SEE GOD”.
Being Holy is not a moral or an ethical term it is a ~ontological transformation~ divinely begotten when becoming ~part man part~ god beginning with Baptism testifying to the awesome presence of God in the body. (1 Corinthians 3 :16) Don’t you know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and who was given to you by God”? This union with God (part man part god) ) is also described as becoming a new creation or becoming a new Adam.
This is how Paul describes His personal experience, as being a new creation. (Gal 2:20) “So that it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” Paul admits that God (Christ) lives in him, making him this way – part man and part god- a god-man by His Grace, a way of being never seen on heaven or earth before. (Galatians 6:15) “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but a new creature”. So the heavenly Kingdom is NOT a “place” it is “a way of being”, begotten and experienced from this here life. (Luke 17:21) No one will say, “Look here it is”! Or, “There it is!” because the Kingdom of God is within you”. This is how the Apostles and the Saints did/do their miracles…it is not man that does them it is the God (Holy Spirit) within!
Most of the Apostles became Bihops after His resurection and after Pentecost! https://www.goarch.org/-/the-basic-sources-of-the-teachings-of-the-eastern-orthodox-chur-1
Lazarus the beloved friend of Lord Jesus became the first Bishop of Cyprus here for 30 years before dying a second time!
Lazarus video of Church and His resting place
http://www.cyprusisland.net/churches/church-saint-lazarus
TO BE AN ORTHODOX CHRISTIAN
Is to experience the Apostolic Faith …
https://orthodoxwiki.org/What_is_Orthodoxy
Greek Orthodox by country
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Orthodoxy_by_country
A SAINT IS A NEW CREATION ON EARTH
https://jameswiliamsblog.wordpress.com/2016/10/10/__trashed
God bless
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Thank you for your comments and introduction to Greek Orthodoxy, but there is an eternity of difference between the sanctification of the saints to become children of God and the evolutionary concept of not believing in God and setting yourself up as a god unto oneself.
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Thank you for writing my brother
Jesus Christ, the Second Person of the Holy Trinity,Who proceeds from the Father only (cf. John 15:26). became “incarnate by the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Mary and became man” (Nicene Creed)
God becomes man so man can become god by the Grace of God!
Greek Orthodoxy has a spiritual knowledge delivered by the Holy Spirit the day of Pentecost a spiritual knowledge a way of life (Divine Life) that leads to the mystical union with God and a return to His presence. Returning to His presence beginning with Baptism in essence describes a part take (union) with God that is also known as acquiring a Supernatural condition known as Sainthood, Salvation, the Overcoming of man’s mortality state, becoming a new creation or a new Adam, becoming “a god by the Grace of God”.
Christ will do it all for us as High Priest nd Mediador to His Father [Revelation 21:6]
THE CHURCH IS NOT A BUILDING IT IS THE BODY OF CHRIST (He must do it all for the Salvation of man)
[Ephesians 1: 22 – 23]
22 And he put all things in subjection under his feet. And this glorious Lord made him head of the Church, above all. 23 And this Church is his body, the complement of Christ, as a man and as the head of the Church; of Christ, who as infinite God fills everything with his omnipresent presence and grants everything to all his creations.
The Church created by the Holy Spirit the day of Pentecost was created to be the the Body of Christ. [ Colossians 1: 24] “Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:
He is the head of the Body the Church
Colossians 1: 18-23
18 And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence. 19 For it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell; 20 And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in earth, or things in heaven. 21 And you, that were sometime alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked works, yet now hath he reconciled 22 In the body of his flesh through death, to present you holy and unblameable and unreproveable in his sight: 23 If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and be not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, and which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister; http://orthodoxinfo.com/general/stjohn_church.aspx
How does Lord Jesus has preeminence in all things? (Hebrews 5:5) “Christ did not take the honour of being High Priest by Himself. God Himself gave this honour to Him. You will be a priest forever in the priestly order of
Melchizedek”. (Hebrews 4: 15) “Our High Priest is not one who cannot feel sympathy for our weaknesses. On the contrary, we have a High Priest who was tempted in every way that we are, but did not sin”.
He is the most Worthy indeed
He is worthy because He is Holy harmless who was made higher than the heavens.
Hebrews 7: 26-28
26 For such an high priest became us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens; 27 Who needeth not daily, as those high priests, to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins, and then for the people’s: for this he did once, when he offered up himself. 28 For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.
The Mystery of Baptism
Baptism is the introductory Mystery of the Church. It incorporates the person – of whatever age – into the Body of Christ, the Church, meaning that they can call themselves a Christian. https://orthochristian.com/91490.html
The Holy Mysteries or sacraments in the Orthodox Church are vessels of the mystical participation in divine grace of mankind.
WHAT ARE HOLY SACRAMENTS/MYSTERIES?
In a general sense, the Orthodox Church considers everything which is in and of the Church as sacramental or mystical. The sacraments, like the Church, are both visible and invisible. In every sacrament there is a combination of an outward visible sign with an inward spiritual grace. Saint John Chrysostom wrote that they are called mysteries because what we believe is not the same as what we see; instead, we see one thing and believe another. The sacraments are personal — they are the means whereby God’s grace is appropriated to each individual Christian. In most of the sacraments, the priest mentions the Christian name of each person as he administers the sacrament.
[A Kor. 4:1] LET a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God http://orthodoxwiki.org/Holy_Mysteries
Jesus did not come to teach philosophically but THERAPEUTICALLY. “You can not come to where I am going with sins”. [John 8:21] The term “Orthodox Psychotherapy” does not refer to specific cases of people suffering from psychological problems of neurosis. iI refers to people disabled because of sin from ever being able to having communion (PERSON to person) with God. http://www.johnsanidopoulos.com/2013/03/the-foundations-of-orthodox.html
GOD IS LIGHT AND THE SAINTS IN THE HOLY SPIRIT BECOME LIGHT https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezItFNpdnVY&feature=youtu.be
What Is the Orthodox Church? – Fr. Andrew Stephen Damick https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=95P744siC7U&feature=youtu.be
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Holiness is not a moral or an ethical condition it is an ONTOLOGICAL transformation testifying to UNION with God!
A SAINT IS A NEW CREATION ON EARTH https://wordpress.com/block-editor/post/jameswiliamsblog.wordpress.com/52
God bless
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Thank you.
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The Church of Cyprus here was the second Chrisitan Church created by the Apostles after the one in Jerusalem. Lazarus the resurected friend of Lord Jesus bcame the first Bishop of Cyprus for 30 before dying second time.
Names of the Seventy disciples https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seventy_disciples
Priesthood (Eastern Orthodox Church) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Priesthood_(Eastern_Orthodox_Church)
Everything begotenfor for the Salvation of man was delivered the day of Pentecost throught Revalation of God. Anything else that is man inspired is about to fail for it is impossible for man to provied the Heavnly Kingdom for any other men!
IERA PARADOSIS (HOLY TRADITION)
WHAT THE APOSTLES PREACHED AND THE CHURCH RECEIVED!
REmember mem in your prayers my friend
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