Quote:
Originally Posted by Tzaphkiel
Mystic, trans is absolutely right. If you are saying that the physical brain gives birth to the spirit then you are square in his camp.
Which is it mystic....spirit generates matter, or matter generates spirit?
The invisible gives rise to the visible? Or the visible gives rise to the invisible?
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Wrong question. Life is about reproduction and generation. God is a Living God and He is Spirit. The physical brain is the womb in which Spirit proceeds from a seed of consciousness conceived by God (eg. born again = gennaō anōthen) to a fully developed newborn Spirit upon our death. In my Christianity, this physical existence is a spiritual womb existence nurturing our embryo Spirit to maturity and rebirth (Death).
gennaō = conceived, begotten
anōthen = from the beginning (over again)
John 3:2-8 (King James Version)
2 The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God: for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him.
3 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.
4 Nicodemus saith unto him, How can a man be born when he is old? can he enter the second time into his mother's womb, and be born?
Jesus answered, John 3:5
5 Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
7Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
8The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.
These passages suggest that we will be born again after our death as a Spirit because we obviously cannot be a Spirit while still in our mortal body. That which is born of Spirit is Spirit. No one can flit about like the wind in their physical bodies. This is contrary to the beliefs of those many “born again” Christians who think they are “born again” while still alive in their mortal body.
This after death concept is reinforced in
1 Corinthians 15:36:
36 Thou fool, that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die
The confusion stems from an improper understanding of the phrase translated as born again (gennaō anothen) in the verses above. It actually means conceived or begotten from above, from a higher place, of things that come from heaven or God. It does not mean an actual birth. The phrase “born again” can be made clearer by understanding the phrase it most resembles “born of God” (gennaō ek theos "begotten of God") which means "to be conceived by God" as a spiritual embryo.
Embryos must mature sufficiently to actually be born. It is our actions in "love of God and each other" through our lives that achieves that spiritual maturation and determines what we have "built upon the foundation of Jesus"(wood, hay, stubble or gold, silver, etc.)This is what those who call themselves "born again" while still in the flesh are actually referring to. We are sown (seeded) in a natural body and we are raised a spiritual body upon our death.
1 Corinthians 15:42-45 King James Version (KJV)
42 So also is the resurrection of the dead. It is sown in corruption; it is raised in incorruption:
43 It is sown in dishonour; it is raised in glory: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power:
44
It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
45 And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
2 Corinthians 5 (King James Version)
6 Therefore we are always confident, knowing that, whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord:
7 (For we walk by faith, not by sight
2 Corinthians 4 King James Version (KJV)
16 For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;
18 While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal.
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