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God's Non-Transmittable Attributes (Part Two): Omnipresence
Bible Study by Martin G. CollinsSince God is spiritual, He is not restricted to any spatial dimension in the physical realm. He is always present everywhere and at any time with His whole Being. The Bible describes God with body parts similar to those of humans, confirming that He has shape and form, which manifests in a specific location. Both the Father and the Son, while being united in mind and purpose, have autonomous bodies.
Image and Likeness of God (Part Two)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe goal of Christianity has been altered, leading to significant doctrinal adjustments, including the understanding of God's nature. It is now taught that the Godhead is a mysterious, unexplainable essence, closed to expansion, with no room for us to be part of it as God is God. Despite Jesus revealing God as the Father and Himself as the Son, showing a familial relationship, the new teaching denies that we, as children of God with His Spirit, will be in His image. God's form and shape, as described in the Bible, are often spiritualized away to support false doctrines, rendering His true nature incomprehensible and vague. Yet, why not accept what God says about His appearance with the same readiness as other teachings? God's revelations consistently show Him with form and shape like a man, providing a clear pattern for us to understand Him and our potential. Jesus, upon resurrection, emphasized His corporeality to His disciples, showing He was not a ghost but had flesh and bone, tangible and solid. He was restored to the glorious body He had before, as the model for Adam, composed of spirit but maintaining a recognizable shape and form. We are to be transformed to be like His glorious body, indicating that He possesses a body even now. Throughout the scriptures, from Genesis to the New Testament, God appears to various individuals—Abraham, Moses, the seventy elders, Gideon, Manoah and his wife, Job, Isaiah, Amos, and others—consistently described as having the appearance of a man. He is shown with feet, a voice, a face, hands, a waist, and a back, engaging in human-like actions such as eating and conversing. These accounts affirm His solid, tangible presence. In visions and encounters, such as the transfiguration of Jesus and Stephen's vision, God's form remains unchanged, still recognizable as a man, not an essence or vapor. The redeemed are promised to see His face in the kingdom of God, with no need for figures of speech or disguises, confirming that He has a face and a form like ours. The Bible's testimony, supported by numerous witnesses who saw God with their natural eyes, clearly presents Him as having bodily form and parts, not as a spiritual nothing. This revelation is plain enough that even the unconverted can comprehend aspects of God's nature through visible creation, particularly in how we, as humans, reflect His image and likeness bodily. Thus, God must have a body, an outward form and shape, as evidenced by the consistent usage of terms like tselem, demooth, and icon, which denote observable physical characteristics.
God the Father (Part 1)
Sermon by Martin G. CollinsJesus reveals that the Father has always had supreme authority, and that He and His Father are absolutely at one in purpose. We must conform to their image.
Image and Likeness of God (Part One)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughErrant teachers have spiritualized God away into a shapeless, formless, ethereal blob. They dismiss hundreds of scriptural references as figures of speech.
Image and Likeness of God (Part Three)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe numerous scriptural references to angelic beings indicate that the spiritual entities have tangible substance. God is not a universal nothingness.
Image and Likeness of God (Part Four)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe numerous figures of speech describing God's body parts substantiate that God has shape and form and occupies a specific location.
Image and Likeness of God (Part Five)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe true nature of God differs greatly from the trinitarian concept. Having created us in His form and shape, God is developing us into His character image.
The Glory of God (Part 1): The Shekinah
Sermon by Richard T. RitenbaughThe Shekinah, the pillar of cloud and fire, depicts God's visible presence and protection. Yet His glory is manifested in many other ways as well.
The Holy Spirit and the Trinity (Part One)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe architects of the trinity doctrine admit that it is a 'somewhat unsteady silhouette', requiring assumptions and inferences, but unsupportable by Scripture.
Lying to the Holy Spirit
'Ready Answer' by Richard T. RitenbaughThe apostle Peter claims Ananias and Sapphira lied to the Holy Spirit. Does his statement prove the Holy Spirit is a divine Person in a Trinity?
The Father-Son Relationship (Part One)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe Father is the source of everything and the Son is the channel through which He carries out His purpose. Jesus declared that the Father is superior to Him.
The Covenants, Grace, and Law (Part One)
Sermon by John W. RitenbaughThe doctrinal changes made by the Worldwide Church of God have devastating ramifications. Predictably, when the vision was changed, God's law was cast aside.
Our Divine Destiny
Sermon by John W. Ritenbaugh (1932-2023)God's called-ones have been given the ability to decipher the scattered concepts, revealing the purpose of their destiny throughout the Scriptures.