Quote Originally Posted by Columcille View Post
JohnD,
One of the aspects of thought is also communication.
How so? Do you have to move your mouth when you think?

God the Father communicated to the prophets in various ways.
Hebrews 1:1-2
1 In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways,
2 but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he made the universe.

Right?

The Greek is not that conjunctive. It says God spoke in verse 1 and in verse 2 the Son speaks. It does not say "his son."

Furthermore...

John 5:37
37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified concerning me. You have never heard his voice nor seen his form,

John 1:18
18 No one has ever seen God, but God the One and Only, who is at the Father’s side, has made him known.

God the Word who became God the Son is the one with whom we have been dealing all along. The Father of his incarnate body (Hebrews 10: 5-7 and John 1:14) was a mystery to be revealed by Jesus.

1 Corinthians 2. Why would the Holy Spirit need to search the mind of the Father?

No, it appears (at least) that there is biblical evidence to support my supposition that God the Word and who we call the Holy Spirit (because all three are Spirit and all three are Holy)... almost like he was left without a name like saying to one of us... yo, human, come here... but I digress...

It appears the two both emptied themselves of certain divine to poke into time and eternity in a way they could relate / communicate...

2 Corinthians 12:2
2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.

Commentators and tradition teach that heaven number 3 is the throne room of God. Heaven number 2 is the universe. And heaven number 1 is the sky above earth.

Suppose that is wrong.

Suppose the 3rd heaven is where the Father is. The 2nd heaven is eternity / the spirit realm. And the 1st heaven is our universe. And the 1st heaven and the 1st earth shall p*** away...

All the stars will fall. There will be no more sun or moon (and presumably no stars) when the new heaven/earth is created.

The Father is on a higher plain of existence (often described as a throne room for our feeble minds to grasp). Jesus prayed in John 17 to be given the glory he had with the Father before the earth was...

Even if none of this is true... don't presume you understand as much about the nature of God nor of eternity as you (we) think.

I certainly do not agree with your first paragraph also.
Didn't think you would. Traditions are hard to let go of. Think about how you felt when you found out there was no santa claus or that the stork didn't really bring your little brother...

Suffice it to say, because of our incurable religiosity, we are like that little kid with the Christmas stocking in hand looking all the trouble people and municipalities and nations go to in order to purport a rouse like santa claus.

God gave the world Judaism to show religion doesn't work and to wean humanity from it. But the Jews reinvented it into a religion. The sermon on the mount was just as radical as any thing you could imagine today being radical. Jesus took human commentary of the OT and refuted it with his own commentary putting the Law back on track proving the futility of religion.

James 2:10
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.

Galatians 3:24-25
24 Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.
25 But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster.

Not that we are without law. It's a higher, far less complicated law, but it is a law nevertheless:

1 Corinthians 9:19-21
19 Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible.
20 To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law.
21 To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law (including those under the old law).

And if you look in the OT you will see the same ground breaking evidence for the contrasting laws (usually in the form of "my law" as in Jeremiah 31:33, Genesis 26:5 which long predates the giving of Torah on Mount Sinai, and so on)... as the Spirit does with such evidence for the Trinity and so forth...

So, I stand by my origina statement:

"opinions become discussions, discussions become beliefs, beliefs become traditions and are touted as authoritative, churches split, denominations form, and the truth is that much more buried behind this gobbledygook."