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lemonbeam

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Why only a few thousands years ago was God revealed, Jesus, the Bible etc. When there were many years before that when He was disguised?

I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s early in the morning,
 
lemonbeam said:
Why only a few thousands years ago was God revealed, Jesus, the Bible etc. When there were many years before that when He was disguised?

I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s early in the morning,
Click to expand...
First, maybe there weren’t as many years before as a lot of people are “currently” saying. (Very current if one accepts that men have been here for millions or billions of years!)

Second. According to Scripture, God revealed Himself to men from the very beginning. He spoke to, and interacted, with Adam and Eve. He spoke to Cain also. They in turn could hand on their knowledge to subsequent generations. It would have been an oral transmission of revelation - at least, there is no record that it was written prior to the time of Moses.

Verbal transmission seems to be the God’s preferential manner of spreading His revelation. Note that even Jesus did not tell the apostles to write down His message, but to preach/teach it.

Nita
 
lemonbeam said:
Why only a few thousands years ago was God revealed, Jesus, the Bible etc. When there were many years before that when He was disguised?
I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s early in the morning,
Click to expand...
God has revealed Himself since the dawn of time. As the Old Testament records God interacting with Adam and He has never stopped revealing Himself, even to this day.
Even if you’re not religious, cavemen knew God existed, although they didn’t understand exactly what God was, there is evidence from the earliest records that man has always worshipped a God, or Gods.
 
lemonbeam said:
Why only a few thousands years ago was God revealed, Jesus, the Bible etc. When there were many years before that when He was disguised?

I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s early in the morning,
Click to expand...
God has never disguised himself. He has continually revealed himself through time. Why would God hide himself for many years and such before appearing to man?? Think about it 6000 years man has known God and the earth has existed.
 
God has revealed himself as was stated above since the dawn of the human race. His complete revelation of himself through Jesus Christ had to wait until mankind was ready to accept it. Before Jesus Christ God was preparing the way. In terms of the number of human beings who were born, lived, and died Jesus actually showed up rather early in time; only a small percentage of humans having lived before his arrival.
 
lemonbeam said:
Why only a few thousands years ago was God revealed, Jesus, the Bible etc. When there were many years before that when He was disguised?

I’m sorry if this doesn’t make sense, it’s early in the morning,
Click to expand...

It’s a very good question 🙂 . Part of the answer is that revelation is progressive, gradual, not something given all at once. Nothing happens all at once - things grow, develop, & this takes time.​

Why should this be different ? Why should it not be the result of a long, slow, detailed, process ? Day-old infants aren’t qualified to lecture in universities - nor do 20-year olds; they are not developed enough, however intelligent or promising or gifted they may be; they need to mature, to develop the capacities they have that will enable them to fulfil the promise they show.
Besides, if everything were given all at once, would it be appreciated ?

The coming of Christ is not the only thing to happen - if it had happened at once, many other things that mattered could not have, or not in the same way. If it had happened thousands of years before the election of Israel to be God’s People, Jesus would not have been born of God’s Chosen People - the order of events would have been reversed or changed in some other way; & this would have meant that the results of the chioice of Israel would have been changed in some way; which might well have altered the way in which God has in fact revealed Himself. God does not need, & is not limited by, living in time; He has no history - but we do have history, because we are limited in that way. God’s activity toward us, is limited from our side, because of what we are: human beings, creatures living in time & space. So if the world were different, history wwould be different, & so would God’s activity “within” that history - which would in turn have some sort of effect upon God’s revelation of Himself.

IMHO & AFAICS, the coming of Christ as the Incarnate Word is not new as though God had otherwise been absent, & was “now” present; on the contrary, His creation is never absent from His presence - this “coming” is more a new mode of His Presence. This Presence is a sort of personal version of the sort of thing we call a miracle - they are events; this event is a Someone, not a something.

C.S. Lewis is very good on this kind of thing - you might find his book “Miracles” helpful 🙂 He makes far better sense of Christian belief than anyone I’ve ever read. It’s just a pity that all theological writers are not half as gifted he was.
 
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