God said “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

Christians who believed in God would know this important event which closely related to the life and death of mankind. The followings are a brief summary of the event:

[God created the world and everything in seven days. God saw that all was good. Then God put Adam in the Garden of Eden and commanded him, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

One day, the serpent said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'you shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?"

 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.'"

Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil."

After that, God announced His judgment, so the serpent was cursed, and it would walk on its stomach and eat dirt and would have enmity with people. Although Adam and Eve did not die on the spot, but because they could no longer eat the fruit from the tree of life, they could not be immortal forever. Out of dust and back to dust became the end of mankind!]

Carefully analyzing this incidence, we can get several important points:

First, the serpent took the initiative to explain to Eve the meaning of God's words.

Second, the serpent has cunningly evoked Eve's desire - a desire to be like God knowing good and evil.

Third, although there are some discrepancies between "lest you die" and "you shall surely die”, by and large, Eve still vaguely remembered the key points of God's command. But under the temptation, Eve chose to satisfy her own desires and accepted serpent’s explanation.

Fourth, Adam, Eve, and the serpent were punished by God, which clearly proved that the serpent’s interpretation was wrong.

Fifth, by believing and obeying false interpretations that violated God's truth and command (everything that comes out of the mouth of God is truth), Eve and Adam came under the righteous judgment and became mortal.

Using this as an example, let us examine whether today’s church misinterpret the Bible and God’s words like what the serpent did in the Garden of Eve.

Let us refer to Matthew 3:16, 17: When he had been baptized, Jesus came up immediately from the water; and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting upon Him. And suddenly a voice came from heaven, saying, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased."

Today, some churches may still question you that did God really say “This is my beloved Son”? Don’t you remember Jesus’s proclamation of “I and my Father are one”? This implies that Jesus meant to say he was God Himself. And in fact, spiritually, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one. Furthermore, they are of the same substance. All these facts imply that Jesus was not only the Son but also the Father at the same time.

What could be wrong with this interpretation?

Fundamentally, by extrapolating the interpretation, you can see that it has subtly rewritten what God had said “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased” to “This is me, in whom I am well pleased”. Comparatively, this is similar to what the serpent had done in the Garden of Eden where it had changed God’s command from “for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die” to “For in the day that you eat of it you will not surely die”.

Although the church and the serpent might be singing two different tunes, both serve the same purpose - to make Eve and others believing in the truths that are completely opposite or different to the original meaning of God's words!

If we carefully analyze and compare the above two incidences, we can also get several key observations:

First, the church took the initiative to preach its doctrines and theologies.

Second, the church evoked people’s desire “wanting to have peace, joy and eternal life."

Third, "As long as you believe, you will be saved" has become an excuse for not needing to study the truth. So in order to satisfy their own selfish desires, people just choose to accept church’s interpretations. "The Son is the Father too" is just one of them, isn't it?

Fourth, do we need to hear God's judgment before we admit that it is wrong to interpret God's words "This is my beloved son" as "This is me"? 

Fifth, Eve received the righteous judgment when she believed and abided wrong interpretation. So if today's Christians make the same mistakes, do you think our righteous God will favor us but not Eve?

Frankly speaking, I can only say that what supports my beliefs are some simple Bible facts. The followings listed two of them for your perusal:

First, “No one has seen God at any time”! It means that Apostle John meant to tell us that the Jesus whom he had seen with his own eyes was not God Himself!

Second, When the Jews heard Jesus said that “I and my Father are one”, they thought that Jesus meant to make himself God, thus committed blasphemy. As such, they wanted to stone him to death. Jesus defended himself, saying that “do you say of him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, 'You are blaspheming,' because I said, 'I am the Son of God'?”. By saying so, not only Jesus had denied that he had tried to make himself God, but also had denied that he had ever said “I am God”. And in Jesus denial, he had also meant to tell us that he was not God Himself.

Obviously, the Jews’ interpretation of "I and my Father are one" was in error.

Apostle John’s statement of “No one has seen God at any time”, and Jesus’ refutation that he was not God but only the Son of God, has unequivocally shown that the church’s interpretation of “Jesus is the Son and also is the Father” is in error too.

Last but not least, in the fifteenth century Martin Luther published The Ninety Five Thesis revealing the 95 perverted truths. Lord Jesus said that only truths would sanctify; truths are the words that came out of the mouth of God! If God's truth is all being perverted by man's desires, what else can man rely on to be saved? Isn't this the result which the enemy of God and Lord Jesus Christ dreamed to achieve?

This is Desert Rose’s 2021 year-end reflections sharing it with all my dear friends!

神說你吃的日子必定死!

相信真神的基督徒，都知道這一個關係人類生死的大事。以下是這事的概要：

【真神七天創造了天地萬物，在神眼中一切都是『好的』。神把最美好的伊甸園賜給亞當夏娃並吩咐亞當說，”只是分別善惡樹上的果子，你不可吃，因為你吃的日子必定死。”

就在那某一天，蛇对女人说，神岂是真说，不许你们吃园中所有树上的果子吗？

女人对蛇说，园中树上的果子，我们可以吃，惟有园当中那棵树上的果子，神曾说，你们不可吃，也不可摸，免得你们死。

蛇对女人说，你们不一定死， 因为神知道，你们吃的日子眼睛就明亮了，你们便如神能知道善恶。

于是女人见那棵树的果子好作食物，也悦人的眼目，且是可喜爱的，能使人有智慧，就摘下果子来吃了。又给她丈夫，她丈夫也吃了。

之後神宣告祂的審判，因此蛇受到咒詛，必用肚子行走終身吃土與人彼此為仇；從此苦楚和勞苦伴亞當夏娃一生！亞當夏娃雖沒有當場斃命，但因再也吃不到生命樹上的果子，不能永遠不死，從土而出又歸於塵土成為人類的結局！】

仔細解剖和分析這事故，可以得到幾個重點：

其一，蛇主動向夏娃解釋神話語的意思。

其二，蛇很狡猾的勾起夏娃的私慾 ，–個渴望如神一樣可以擁有分別善惡的慾念。

其三，虽然“免得你们死”和“必定死”有一些出入，但大体上夏娃还算依稀记得神的吩咐的主要意思。但在私慾引誘下夏娃選擇滿足自己的慾望，接受了蛇的解釋。

其四，亞當，夏娃和蛇都受到神的懲罰，明確的證明蛇的解釋是錯誤的。

其五，相信和遵守錯誤的解釋以致違背神的真理和命令（神口裡所出一切的話就是真理），在公義的審判下，夏娃和亞當成為必死之人。

以此為前提，看看今天教會對聖經和真神話語的解釋與蛇又有什麼不同呢？

請參考馬太福音書三章十六，十七節：概要的說，耶穌受了洗，隨即從水里上來，天忽然為他開了，施洗約翰就看見神的靈，彷彿鴿子降下，落在耶穌身上。從天上有聲音說，『這是我的愛子，我所喜悅的』！

今天一些教會一樣會問，神『真』的說耶穌是祂的愛子嗎？耶穌不是說過『我與父原為一』嗎？這意味着耶穌告訴我們“他是神”。 從屬靈上來說，父，子与聖靈，原為一體。耶穌和神是同質的，因此『耶穌是子也是父』，不是嗎？

這一個解釋有何不妥呢？

拿出這解釋的人會堅決否認他試圖纂改聖經經文！孰不知，當我們把這解釋延伸開來，『耶穌是子也是父』的理解，等於是把神的話『這是我的愛子，我所喜悅的』很巧妙的改寫為『這就是我，我喜悅我自己』。這與蛇把真神的一句話『你吃的日子必定死』改寫為『你吃了不一定必定死』，有什麼不同呢？

虽然教会与蛇在唱两个不同的曲调，目的卻如出一轍，為了要叫夏娃和人相信與神話語意思完全相反的真理！

如果我們仔細解剖分析和比較以上兩個事故，也可以得到幾個重點：

其一，可以說教會主動向人宣傳自己所定下的教義和神學理論。

其二，教會勾起『人可以達到平安喜樂的生活和白白得到永生的慾望』。

其三，『只要信就得救』成為了無需努力研究真理的藉口，人為了滿足自己的私慾，選擇接受教會的解釋，『子就是父』只是其中一條而已，不是嗎？

其四，請問，我們需要親耳聽到神的宣判才承認【把真神的話『這 是 我 的 愛 子』 理解為 『這 是 我』  】是錯誤的嗎？

其五，当夏娃相信并遵守错误的解释时，她就接受了正义的审判。 那么如果今天的基督徒也犯了同样的错误，你认为公义的神会偏爱我们但不偏爱夏娃吗？

我只能坦誠的說，支持我的信念的是聖經里記載的一些定論，以下提出兩點以供參考：

其一，『No one has seen God at any time. 從來沒有人見過神』！可見，使徒約翰的意思是他親眼見過的耶穌並非真神！

其二，還有一處記載，猶太人聽聞耶穌說『I and my Father are one我與父原為一』，就認為耶穌是在宣告自己是真神，犯了褻瀆的罪，拿起石頭要砸死他。耶穌為自己辯護，說他只說自己是神兒子而已，猶太人沒有理由指責他犯褻瀆的罪。可見，主耶穌否認他就是真神。

由此可見，犹太人对“我与父原为一”的解释是错误的。

可見，使徒约翰所说的“从来没有人见过神”的定论，以及耶稣的反驳说自己并非神而只是神的儿子的说法，毫无疑问的表明教会对“耶稣是子也是父”的解释也是错误的。

末了，在十五世紀馬丁路德發表了（Ninety Five Thesis）九十五條被顛覆的真理。主耶穌說，唯有真理能使人成聖；真理就是神口裡所出的一切話！如果神的真理全都被人的私慾顛覆了，人還能靠什麼去得救呢？這不就是『真神和主耶穌基督的敵人』千方百計想要得到的結果嗎？

這是我Desert Rose沙倫玫瑰2021年終感言，與君分享！