God is not everything. God made everything. There is a difference. You see reflections of the creator in the things created. His nature is evident in his work. Don't fall into the lie that everything is a part of God. God is eternal. God creation is not. In the beginning God created. There was a time when there was nothing, then it was created. Therefore it can not be part of God.

Based on your use of "In the beginning", I'm prone to think you identify as Christian. Let's see how well you understand Christ's teachings and how much cognitive dissonance you harbor. Can you explain why Christ directed the disciples to embody the wisdom of serpents and the peacefulness of doves, and, if so, can you make that make sense in a way that makes sense of the serpent's presence in the garden? Can you make sense of the both of them in ways that are consistent with every other tradition's reverence paid to serpent symbolism? Can you explain why the baptism of the Holy Spirit was "fiery"? Can you explain Genesis 1 in a way that doesn't require wild speculations and instead is founded in science and the Golden Rule? Can you explain why there are differences in Matthew and Mark's recordings of Christ's final words and what language Christ was speaking at the end that no one in the Levant would have known? Can you explain how baptism itself is an Egyptian word or how "the baptism of the Holy Spirit" is redundant? Can you explain halos? Can you explain what an "angel" is? Can you explain how, instead of exploring, attempting to understand, and steel man the perspectives of your neighbors, how combatively othering anyone who doesn't toe the line of your preferred dogma is evil and an enemy is inconsistent with the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself? Can you please justify "holy war"? Can you please justify the notion of "canonical" in juxtaposition with the notion of "fiat", given that they both essentially mean "because 'we' said so"?

You are going to pick apart anything I reply with, but I will do my best. No one who believes the Biblical creation account should argue that the serpent was unintelligent. So wise could refer to understanding the world and human nature. It Newberry days in the Bible that anything was forbidden in the garden except eating of the one tree. Whether the serpent was an intelligent animal, or Satan, or some other supernatural being makes no difference in this context because the Bible does not say anything about forbidden entrance into the garden. I don't need to make my theology align with the beliefs of other religions. However, if Christianity is correct, then all other religions would by consequence be fabrications of Satan and of course would venerate the serpent as wise and powerful. Baptism of the holy spirit on Pentecost with visible tongues of flames was an outward sign of divine empowerment. It was not necessary. I don't know why God chose that as the sign. Genesis 1 does not require any speculation at all. It does not need to bee founded in or proven by science, though I am sure that with enough information it would. God's nature is consistent, unchanging, and is the essence of truth. So I believe that when all the details are finally known it will all make sense. What about the golden rule is inconsistent with Genesis 1? Specifically? Not answering this one until you are clear. Matthew and Mark were written by two different people, with two different perspectives, targeting different audiences who prioritized different things. Eye witness accounts always have variances in them when compared side by side. This doesn't mean that they are wrong. The Israel was a conquered nation occupied by the Roman Empire. To say that any language would have been unknown there would be disingenuous. There would have been many, many languages spoken throughout the entire region. The Israelites spent hundreds of years in Egypt and the religious practices of the day included baptism, though in a different context. The baptism of the Holy Spirit in the context of Pentecost was a special event. Subsequent to this the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens at the same time so redundancy is not an issue to me. Halos are unimportant and not a salvation issue. Not worth arguing over. I believe angels are supernatural created beings serving God. If there is an objective truth and it contradicts someone's beliefs, then educating them about said truth would not be wrong even though it would cause cognitive dissonance and probably hostility on their part. Refusing to accept falsehood as truth is not evil. Communicating God's truth and allowing Him to use you to save a lost soul is the epitome of loving your neighbor. Which Holy War are you referring to? My war is against spiritual things in the heavenly realms. My weapons are provided and empowered by God himself. As to the last, I am unfamiliar with that consistent at least how you presented it. But the bottom line is Good said it, so I believe it.

Newberry days = never says I am unfamiliar with that consistent = I am unfamiliar with that concept Stupid autocorrect...

"I don't need to make my theology align with the beliefs of other religions. However, if Christianity is correct, then all other religions would by consequence be fabrications of Satan and of course would venerate the serpent as wise and powerful." This is classic "invincible ignorance" which is 180 degrees apart from, in orientation, the Golden Rule. The reason you don't understand basically everything I pressed you on is because you insist on maintaining your ignorance instead of actually loving your neighbors. It's REALLY not that hard. Have you ever been rejected before? Of course you have. You're on NOSTR, meaning you're a Bitcoiner, meaning you've tried to tell people about Bitcoin before for their own well being, and those people have rejected you in the majority of such instances. Stop me when I'm wrong here. In those instances, you did not feel loved because you knew you were benevolently sharing information that the other party did not yet have for whatever confluence of reasons has maintained their separation to that point in time. Other people also feel unloved when you throw up walls of invincible ignorance. That's literally what Jesus did NOT do. He made everyone feel seen and acknowledged as the individual they were. He did not dismiss them prejudicially. That would be disingenuous. You don't understand the serpent because you don't study other traditions. At least you admit you don't understand why the baptism of the Holy Spirit is fiery. Thank you for your honesty. Genesis 1 was a story from one of the great flood events...or rather the aftermath...the 7 days over which the earth "calmed down" and reset into a "new normal". There is scientific evidence to back this up as well as linguistic evidence. The evidence was initially classified by the US Air Force in the late 1940s. You misinterpret my statement regarding Genesis 1 and the Golden Rule. The Golden Rule is about seeing things vicariously from the perspective of others and using that to inform your choices and actions in positive, loving ways. That means not being closed minded and acting certain when you're nowhere near certainty. It means being honest, just like you were honest when you said "maybe everybody WAS wrong about money and these weirdos on the internet are onto something". Attempting to shield yourself from information using faith is not a tactic I will be using. I will do the opposite and actually use the internet to question the blind regurgitation of dogma that has been egotistically, ignorantly passed from generation to generation without criticism for fear of ostracization from the pack which triggers deeply seated survival fight or flight responses. In this case, the childhood dependency Stockholm syndrome has already established itself in many cases and rather than fight, flee, or freeze, children "fawn" to their captors/caretakers realizing the wisdom not to bite the hand that feeds you. Many never get over that. It's sad. No, I'm not so egotistical as to think that MY family is SO AMAZING that WE have ALL the answers in a world where there are many prominent traditions. That is laughably egotistical to think that and if that's offensive to you, it is because it is offensive to your ego. In order to understand Genesis 1 at all or its providence you would have to look into sources that are going to tell you things about "more than just Christianity" and that's out of bounds for you because you've chosen to build for yourself a personal prison of ignorance, likely with fear serving as the foundation for the structure. The language was learned in NE India. Nobody knew that language because nobody travelled there and learned that language. Think about the logistics for that day/age. Who travels that far back then with that technology to go study with the gurus and learn their language? Nobody but Christ. Imagine that...Christ was exceptional. Rome didn't conquer beyond certain boundaries. Learn your history. They were never able to fully sweep up the tracks of Christ's travels. They were able to sweep up a lot of it, including Christ's travels to the UK, Egypt, and along the Silk Road into Asia but Rome didn't pitch a no hitter and we still have records, but you wouldn't believe those records because you think everyone who doesn't toe the line of your family dogma is the devil and a liar which is how an unloving person treats their neighbors. Y'all have lost the plot entirely with this us vs them stuff. Us vs them IS A VIOLATION OF THE GOLDEN RULE! HOW CAN THIS NOT BE OBVIOUS? Baptism of the Holy Spirit is redundant because the "ba" in "baptism" is referring to the same thing that "Holy Spirit" is referring to. You would know that, but you don't need to study other traditions because you know how to demonstrate love and grace to your neighbors by being receptive and inquisitive instead of combative and afraid. Halos are how MRIs work so I'm gonna go with important. Also, you don't even understand what salvation means. That's an Egyptian term. It's an Alchemical term and it has to do with the Egyptian baptism which was the core that tied Egypt, chemistry, and Alchemy together. You don't realize that solute, solvent, and solution are an iterative expression of your 'Holy Trinity" or that Chi, Rho, and Phi are another or Osiris, Isis, and Horus is another. It's the same concepts, just distorted more or less in different traditions. You wouldn't know that because you KNOW that you don't need to study anyone else's traditions because you know how to make people feel valued and seen instead of prejudicially dismissed and worthless. Angels are the same thing as lowercase g gods aka elohim, which any Hebrew scholar worth his salt will tell you is plural. Angels are the same thing as "interdimensional aliens". Angels are the same thing as "ascended masters". The wings are representative of enlightenment and let's face it: they're always depicted as beings of light. Flight symbolism is enlightenment symbolism including the dove in Matthew 10:16 but you wouldn't know that because you don't need to study any other traditions. Prejudicially declaring something you've never studied as falsehood is disingenuous and intellectually dishonest. It is bearing false witness against your neighbor, end of story. You should not opine on something you have not studied. You declare that you do not need to study it, but how could you know if you've not studied it? This is the lesson of the camel and the eye of the needle but you don't understand that because that lesson's meaning is to be open minded and explore, knowing that you will pay a cost to do so. If you don't explore, you'll never know what's inside the city walls. You are the rich man who will never enter the kingdom of heaven because you "know" what's best already, unlike the humble, honest person who doesn't masquerade as certain in some 2 bit, dime a dozen, confidence act. OK, so maybe you don't justify holy war. If you justify any holy wars, please do so. I'm talking like Crusades, ongoing Israel/Palestine stuff, etc. Cognitive dissonance is thinking that fiat is a bad word and canonical is just fine. I guess it never occurred to you how weird it was for Rome to persecute the hell out of early Christians, offing the best Christian teachers for generations before they eventually completed the hijacking and redirected the Christ movement into something that was more conducive to the continuity of Roman hegemony...cui bono?

Wow. You have a lot of hostility. Nothing I said was hostile. You make a lot of accusations and assumptions. I believe that there is objective truth. I believe Jesus was God & Man. And I believe what He taught personally and through the writers of the Bible. These are enough for me. They are enough for anyone. If taken to heart, they create a person that is an example of God's love. Peace be upon you and may God's light illuminate your way.

It is hostile to tell other people they are the devil from a position of personal ignorance. If you don't want hostility, don't fire the first shot.

I never said you are the devil. I did say it sounded like there was a lie in what you were stating. I did not pass judgement on you but rather tried to illuminate the truth.

"However, if Christianity is correct, then all other religions would by consequence be fabrications of Satan and of course would venerate the serpent as wise and powerful." By adhering to this, you are saying that everyone else's ways of expressing reverence for the Creator are fabrications of Satan. That definitionally makes you and everyone like you, which encompasses more than Christians, by the way, unloving egotists. Exclusivist dogmatists who claim to espouse the Golden Rule are hypocrites, plain and simple. You claim you're my huckleberry but you sure didn't stand up to the plate and deal with all of my counterpoints very well. In fact, you pretty much dodged it all, even the parts that you cannot get around as being hypocritical on your part. Let's go Huck! Huck up and acknowledge and rebut my points.

The most believable lies contain elements of truth. I was not the originator of the exclusivity claim. I just relayed it to whoever reads this post. "Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me." John 14:6 There are many things that are exclusive in the world and in religion. For example, you can not both be in Los Angeles and Not be Los Angeles at the same time. An animal can not be a fish and a bird, it is either on e or the other. I am not evil just because I recognize and relay an exclusivity claim. Jesus Himself made the claim. ______ You can not hear what Jesus taught and said and come to the reasonable conclusion that he was anything other than Insane or actually God. He left no room for doubt about what he claimed to be. He explicitly claimed to be GOD, YHWH, The Great I AM. “Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.’” John 8:58 “‘I and the Father are one.’ The Jews picked up stones again to stone him. Jesus answered them, ‘I have shown you many good works from the Father; for which of them are you going to stone me?’ The Jews answered him, ‘It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you but for blasphemy, because you, being a man, make yourself God.’” John 10:30-33 “Again the high priest asked him, ‘Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed?’ And Jesus said, ‘I am, and you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of Power, and coming with the clouds of heaven.’” Mark 14:61-62 Those listening to him knew this. I have accepted this as truth. Because of this, I have accepted what he taught as truth. I want to spread this truth so others can have understanding of it as well. Which is more loving, to let someone live a lie or to educate them to the truth? To remain silent and not try to redirect their path away from danger or to speak and try to save them from folly? I would rather be guilty of hurting someone's feeling by revealing the truth than be held responsible for their demise because I failed to warn them. __________ Satan is the enemy of God, the father of lies, the deceiver. He will do anything he can to confuse and lead astray as many as he can from the path to salvation. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus claimed to be GOD. Jesus claimed to be the only way into Heaven. Jesus claimed to be The TRUTH. If you have a problem with any of the exclusivity claims that I relayed, then take them up with Jesus. I will not argue with God.

1. "The most believable lies contain elements of truth." Agreed. You described your dogma very well with that leadoff sentence. Believing that your dogma is flawless is absurd when you cannot even answer my questions in ways that do not require cognitive dissonance or deus ex machina. 2. "I was not the originator of the exclusivity claim. I just relayed it to whoever reads this post." Well, based on that logic, all KKK members would be absolved of being jackasses too since they were just relays. 3. Yet again, YOU would not KNOW what truths are or are not exclusive to various traditions because YOU do not study any other traditions. Your assessment of what is truth is rooted in ignorance and fear. My assessment of what is truth is rooted in knowledge and love. Your animal argument, by the way, pretty much directly countervails your first point. Lies get mixed in with truth so yeah...there is gray area here. 4. YOU cannot hear what Jesus taught. I have heard what the exoteric, mainstream Christian dogmatic teachings are. I've heard them for decades. 5. You present an argument that is a logical fallacy called a "false dichotomy" or a "false choice". You choose to believe that the only two options are that Jesus was God or insane. Your discernment rivals the discernment of the Wall St. execs who took Michael Burry's bets against the housing market. Your arrogance rivals their arrogance. Your myopia rivals theirs. The fact that YOU cannot imagine something does not make that something false. Personal incredulity is a logical fallacy. For known history, the earth has always orbited around the sun, yet for a long time, people thought the earth was the center of the universe. The fact that they thought it didn't make it true. The same thing applies to you. 5. "Which is more loving, to let someone live a lie or to educate them to the truth? To remain silent and not try to redirect their path away from danger or to speak and try to save them from folly? I would rather be guilty of hurting someone's feeling by revealing the truth than be held responsible for their demise because I failed to warn them." Again, you speak as though you are able to identify lies from a position of ignorance. Are you a surgeon? For the sake of argument, I will assume you are not.. If a surgeon lied about surgery, would you be able to correct the surgeon? Are you a lawyer? Again, for the sake of argument, I will assume you are not. If a lawyer lied about the law, would you be able to correct the lawyer? No. You would not because you don't know shit about those subjects, presumably. 6. "Satan is the enemy of God, the father of lies, the deceiver. He will do anything he can to confuse and lead astray as many as he can from the path to salvation." Who is deceptive? The person who opines confidently from a position of ignorance or the person who opines from a position of knowledge? 7. “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.” Matthew 7:13-14" That's right. It is MUCH harder to go and learn from every tradition and look for the parallels and overlaps. It is MUCH harder to explore and learn. It is definitely much more comfortable to throw rocks at everyone else from your lawn chair and say 'No...you're all dumb liars and I'm right." Those who find it are few. When I think of "few", I don't think of 2+ billion exoteric, mainstream sheeple like you. When I think of "few" I think of people who have achieved enlightenment which is what Matthew 10:16 was about. It's about spiritual evolution. Jesus has a problem with your exclusivity claims moron. "Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these". You do not really believe in Christ because you do not do the works. You do not know the works because you have imprisoned yourself with your unwillingness to explore anything beyond your comfort zone. You are afraid, ignorant, and egotistical. Your own book tells you not to be afraid over 100 times yet you're still afraid. Get over the cognitive dissonance and start being honest and loving.