Dieter

Oh, I see. So John must have lied. Yes, all things were made through Christ, except the true light and everything before the words, "Let there be light," which includes space (for light to travel in), time (for light to travel through space at the speed of light), the heavens, the earth, and the deep. Paul writes to the Corinthians that Satan masquerades as an angel of light. So angels of light must also have been created after the other angels. According to Job 38, when God laid the foundation of the earth, ". . . the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy."

The answer is in very next verse, John 1:3, "All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made." (ESV) Then, in verse 9 and 10, we read, "The true light, which gives light to everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through him, yet the world did not know him." Naturally, there are some people who believe that Jesus must have created himself when he created the world, and who insist that Jesus is Adam, Satan, Michael, Melchizedek, Moses, the Buddha, Krishna Venta, Jim Jones, etc. Complete biazogesis!

Welcome to the Biblical Hermeneutics forum, Timothy. Please note that this forum is different than most others because it's focused on actually supporting your assertions with specific scriptures, opinions of experts, context, linguistic analysis, historical sources or references, and logic to build a case. Simply making assertions or doctrinal statements is not enough. For example, can you provide any source for your assertion that the trinity originated in Egyptian and Babylonian mythology?

No offense intended, could you please cite some relevant verses from the scriptures? Thanks!

From good to great--I wish I could upvote it again! Thank you.

Yes, I meant both tenacity toward finding the truth and my contrarian objection to unexplained downvotes.

+1 Upvoted on sheer bloody-mindedness. It's a pretty good answer, too.

@Jed Schaaf, Thank you for the additional research regarding the Hebrew! Alex, it was your post, thus the burden of proof rests on you. If you edit your answer to add that proof, I'll happily remove my downvote even if I disagree. Avi, it's relevant because the rabbis started the practice of circumlocution around 2,000 years ago. They substituted a word for YHWH. Check Chabad.org to see whether the Shema written "lord" or Lord" in English and let us know. Also, I understand that this is not a place for argumentation. Please make your best case in your answer. No offense intended.

@Avi Abraham, so please instruct us. Which one is written and then recited in English correctly? "Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One." OR Hear, O Israel, the lord is our G-d, the lord is One."

-1 @Alex Balilo asserted, "The term [adoni] has never been used to refer to God in the bible." Have you researched this? Please consider that Adonai is used twice in the Shema, the Jewish prayer that serves as a centerpiece of the morning and evening Jewish prayer services! It's used as a circumlocution for the name of God, YHWH. This falsifies your broad claim.

Posit wrote, "There is no record in the Scriptures that water dipping was a practice required by God after the day of Pentecost in Acts 2:1 (A.D. 28)." That's not what I'm seeing in the scriptures. I went to biblegateway.com and typed "baptize" into the search box. I found many references to baptism. For example, in Acts 10:44-48, Peter commands them to be baptized in the name of Jesus after they had received the Holy Spirit. You might also want to recheck the A.D. 28 date you cited.

Thank you for the clarification, posit. One should be careful to interpret (hermeneutics) the words of Jesus and his disciples correctly regarding baptism, formal marriage, communion, studying the scriptures, foot washing, and our behaviors and attitudes. There's also the conviction of the Holy Spirit about these and other things in our lives. My intense desire is to be an authentic follower of the Messiah, someone who Jesus won't be ashamed of, a good and faithful servant. God bless.

Posit, let me point out that 2 Peter 1:20-21 refers to prophecy alone. The Apostle Paul makes a strong point that personal practices such as becoming vegetarian or abstaining from wine is a personal commitment in which believers have latitude based on their private convictions (see Romans 14). With regard to immersion, John the Baptist immersed people publicly in the Jordan. Also notice that in Acts 8:36, Philip immerses the Ethiopian eunuch at his request. Just some things to consider.