From: Dick Fischer (dickfischer@genesisproclaimed.org)
Date: Fri Nov 22 2002 - 23:42:06 EST
George Murphy wrote:
>Dick Fischer wrote:
>
> > George Murphy wrote:
> >
> > > > Our concept of the Godhead has no parallel that I know of. And
> even if the
> > > > Accadians had a similar belief, I don't know how they would
> express that
> > > > with rudimentary writing skills. I'm not sure that we Christians all
> > > > understand how God can be in three persons either.
> > > >
> > > > But all the other cultures are not the Accadian culture. They
> appear to be
> > > > the historic equivalent of the Adamic race which history books
> > > > ignore. Since Hebrew derived from the Accadian language, and the
> Accadians
> > > > wrote a flood account, and worshipped three gods from the
> beginning until
> > > > the Sumerians corrupted them, it certainly is not a reach to posit
> that the
> > > > Semitic race derived from the Accadians, and that they may have had a
> > > > primitive knowledge of the spiritual realm as we believe it exists.
> > > >
> > > > To a primitive culture, the idea of three gods could be a preamble to
> > > > accepting a multitude of gods when another culture is so pervasive
> as were
> > > > the Sumerians to the Accadians. Certainly beginning with Abraham,
> > > > monotheism is in vogue. But did we Christians learn of three Gods
> from the
> > > > NT, or did we re-learn it? If God is in three persons, why would
> God (the
> > > > father) have kept that a secret from His people - if the Accadians and
> > > > Adamites are one and the same?
> > >
> > > Christians never did learn of "three Gods" - the doctrine of the
> > > Trinity isn't
> > >tritheism. & there is nothing in the OT, read on its own terms, that
> > >states a 3-fold
> > >character of God. On one wall of my study is a little reproduction of
> > >Rubelev's icon of
> > >the Trinity - Abraham's three visitors in Genesis 18! But again, that
> > >interpretation
> > >comes from reading the OT account in light of the NT.
> > > Your final question is equivalent to "Why did God wait until ~4
> > > B.C. to become
> > >incarnate"?" I don't know.
> >
> > Nor do any of us. What I am suggesting, though, is the possibility that
> > Christ may have been known in spirit form as Ea before His incarnation at
> > Bethlehem.
>
> Belief in the activity of the pre-incarnate Logos in _all_ people has
> strong
>support in the Christian tradition. I think that this can be affirmed if
>it is
>dealt with carefully. It is connected with the belief that the Logos was
>the agent
>of creation and the source of human rationality. But it goes beyond this
>to say
>that the Logos was known under some specific name, as if a particular
>deity of some
>people could be identified distinctively as the 2d Person of the
>Trinity. & this
>traditional idea would not restrict the activity of the Logos to the
>Accadians or
>any other people.
Thank you for the addition. Although I don't know what other culture made
such a coincidental identification.
Dick Fischer - Genesis Proclaimed Association
"Finding Harmony in Bible, Science, and History"
www.genesisproclaimed.org
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