From: Jim Armstrong (jarmstro@qwest.net)
Date: Wed Jan 01 2003 - 14:18:21 EST
Rich - thanks for the extensive response. My questions were not quite as
naive as they sounded, but given their statement (and my newness on the
thread!), your answer was appropriate and appreciated.
A word of clarification is in order. Peter had written:
> ... He did share our human nature completely, but
> not to the complete exclusion of his divinity. This is underscored by
> the virgin birth and by his sinlessness.
> ...
> Peter
The point of my questions,
"Was Adam virgin-born? Did he have any chance to live as a sinless being?"
really resided in the second question and had to do with the attribution
of divinity.
The point - sinless may not equate to divinity unless (literal) Adam and
Eve were also divine prior to that fateful exercise of free will.
And of course (literal) Adam was better-than-virgin-born. But that just
reinforces my point above.
JimA
RFaussette@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 12/30/02 10:29:08 PM Eastern Standard Time,
>jarmstro@qwest.net writes:
>
>
>
>
>> Was Adam virgin-born? Did he have any chance to live as a sinless being?
>> Just wonderin' - Jim Armstrong
>>
>>
>>
>
>
>
>Jim,
>Virgin births first appear in the rg veda. I think that's the oldest
>religious writings we have. The people of the rg veda created a tripartite
>social system. That tripartite system was appropriated by Zoroaster and was
>then appropriated by Judaism which means there is a thread from the earliest
>religion to current religion. You're going to want to go back to the vedas
>and study the virgin birth of agni who brought the self sacrifice from the
>gods and was called a son of god and then follow that thread to the NT and
>perhaps even the nag hammadi texts. Then you will understand the virgin birth
>and why certain figures are assumed to have been virginally born. Virgin
>births are also a feature of the kabbalah of Jewish mysticism (see Campbell's
>Myths to Live By). If you can make that journey you will come back refreshed.
>As for Spong, when he wrote that the NT writers used the virgin birth because
>they didn't know anything about conception, I had to laugh. Obviously spong
>didn't realize that if the NT writers had not attributed Jesus with a virgin
>birth they would have failed to assign him one of the characteristics of a
>son of god that had been traditionally handed down for at least 2 thousand
>years.
>There is much more to religion than you think there is - though God does not
>fashion things for our satisfaction.
>
>
>In genesis 1:26 God creates Adam and calls him 'them.' Eve has not yet been
>created.
>A clue to this strange language is in the zohar, one of the books of the
>Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism:
>"From divine thought, when it is most completely revealed, proceed two
>opposite principles, one active or male, the other passive or female."
>Then:
>The soul, in its purest essence has its root in intelligence. We speak here
>of the supreme intelligence, where the forms of being begin to be
>differentiated from each other and which is really the universal soul. From
>there if it is to be a male soul, it passes through the principles of grace
>or expansion, if it is a female soul it impregnates itself with the
>principles of judgment or concentration."
>"Every form in which the male and female principle is not to be found (says
>the zohar) is not a superior or complete form. The Holy One, blessed be He,
>does not establish his abode where these two principles are not perfectly
>united; the blessing comes down only where this union exists, as we learn
>from the following words: He blessed THEM and called THEIR name Adam on the
>day they were created (Gen 5:2) for the name of Man can be given only to a
>man and a woman who are united in one being."
>
>Let's go back a few thousand years to the vedic hymns:
>Agni is for us the first born of truth in the ancient vigor of life: the bull
> - and also the cow. Veda 10.5
>
>This is from Josephus' Jewish Antiquities Book 1:
>Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over begins to talk
>philosophically; and concerning the formation of man, says thus: That God
>took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a
>soul. This man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that
>is red, because he was formed out of red earth, compounded together; for of
>that kind is *virgin* and true earth.
>
>Let's move forward to the Gospel of Thomas one of the Nag Hammadi texts:
>Jesus is asked: shall we then as children enter the kingdom? In the answer is
>this line: "...when you make the male and the female one and the same.'
>
>At the end of the non-canonical gospel, is this exchange:;
>"simon peter said to them, "Let Mary leave us." Jesus says to let her stay
>and says:"I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too
>may become a living spirit resembling you males. FOR EVERY WOMAN WHO WILL
>MAKE HERSELF MALE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."
>
>
>I know that some of this non-canonical material is unfamiliar but Jim needs
>more before he has eyes to see and ears...
>rich
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Rich - thanks for the extensive response. My questions were not quite as
naive as they sounded, but given their statement (and my newness on
the thread!),
your answer was appropriate and appreciated.<br>
<br>
A word of clarification is in order. Peter had written:<br>
<blockquote type="cite">... He did share our human nature completely, but
<br>
not to the complete exclusion of his divinity. This is underscored by <br>
the virgin birth and by his sinlessness. <br>
... <br>
Peter <br>
</blockquote>
The point of my questions, <br>
<i>"Was Adam virgin-born? Did he have any chance to live as a sinless
being?"</i><br>
really resided in the second question and had to do with the attribution
of divinity. <br>
The point - sinless may not equate to divinity unless (literal) Adam and Eve
were also divine prior to that fateful exercise of free will.<br>
And of course (literal) Adam was better-than-virgin-born. But that
just reinforces
my point above.<br>
<br>
JimA<br>
<br>
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:RFaussette@aol.com">RFaussette@aol.com</a> wrote:<br>
<blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid200301011822.h01IMZb05302@udomo5.calvin.edu">
<pre wrap="">In a message dated 12/30/02 10:29:08 PM Eastern Standard Time,
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
href="mailto:jarmstro@qwest.net">jarmstro@qwest.net</a> writes:
</pre>
<blockquote type="cite">
<pre wrap=""> Was Adam virgin-born? Did he have any chance to
live as a sinless being?
Just wonderin' - Jim Armstrong
</pre>
</blockquote>
<pre wrap=""><!---->
Jim,
Virgin births first appear in the rg veda. I think that's the oldest
religious writings we have. The people of the rg veda created a tripartite
social system. That tripartite system was appropriated by Zoroaster and was
then appropriated by Judaism which means there is a thread from the earliest
religion to current religion. You're going to want to go back to the vedas
and study the virgin birth of agni who brought the self sacrifice from the
gods and was called a son of god and then follow that thread to the NT and
perhaps even the nag hammadi texts. Then you will understand the virgin birth
and why certain figures are assumed to have been virginally born. Virgin
births are also a feature of the kabbalah of Jewish mysticism (see Campbell's
Myths to Live By). If you can make that journey you will come back refreshed.
As for Spong, when he wrote that the NT writers used the virgin birth because
they didn't know anything about conception, I had to laugh. Obviously spong
didn't realize that if the NT writers had not attributed Jesus with a virgin
birth they would have failed to assign him one of the characteristics of a
son of god that had been traditionally handed down for at least 2 thousand
years.
There is much more to religion than you think there is - though God does not
fashion things for our satisfaction.
In genesis 1:26 God creates Adam and calls him 'them.' Eve has not yet been
created.
A clue to this strange language is in the zohar, one of the books of the
Kabbalah of Jewish mysticism:
"From divine thought, when it is most completely revealed, proceed two
opposite principles, one active or male, the other passive or female."
Then:
The soul, in its purest essence has its root in intelligence. We speak here
of the supreme intelligence, where the forms of being begin to be
differentiated from each other and which is really the universal soul. From
there if it is to be a male soul, it passes through the principles of grace
or expansion, if it is a female soul it impregnates itself with the
principles of judgment or concentration."
"Every form in which the male and female principle is not to be found (says
the zohar) is not a superior or complete form. The Holy One, blessed be He,
does not establish his abode where these two principles are not perfectly
united; the blessing comes down only where this union exists, as we learn
from the following words: He blessed THEM and called THEIR name Adam on the
day they were created (Gen 5:2) for the name of Man can be given only to a
man and a woman who are united in one being."
Let's go back a few thousand years to the vedic hymns:
Agni is for us the first born of truth in the ancient vigor of life: the bull
- and also the cow. Veda 10.5
This is from Josephus' Jewish Antiquities Book 1:
Moreover, Moses, after the seventh day was over begins to talk
philosophically; and concerning the formation of man, says thus: That God
took dust from the ground, and formed man, and inserted in him a spirit and a
soul. This man was called Adam, which in the Hebrew tongue signifies one that
is red, because he was formed out of red earth, compounded together; for of
that kind is *virgin* and true earth.
Let's move forward to the Gospel of Thomas one of the Nag Hammadi texts:
Jesus is asked: shall we then as children enter the kingdom? In the answer is
this line: "...when you make the male and the female one and the same.'
At the end of the non-canonical gospel, is this exchange:;
"simon peter said to them, "Let Mary leave us." Jesus says to let her stay
and says:"I myself shall lead her in order to make her male, so that she too
may become a living spirit resembling you males. FOR EVERY WOMAN WHO WILL
MAKE HERSELF MALE WILL ENTER THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN."
I know that some of this non-canonical material is unfamiliar but Jim needs
more before he has eyes to see and ears...
rich
</pre>
</blockquote>
<br>
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