What do you make of this rabbi's comment?

[TimeToGrow]

A rabbi made a disparaging comment about Catholics believing in the Trinity. I asked him, if there is no Trinity, how do you explain the reference to us and our in Genesis 1:26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The rabbi said God was referring to the angels. Not that the angels were co-creators with God but that God was simply including them in His work of creation.

Am I wrong that God was referring to the presence of the 3 persons of God? Does anyone know of any Catholic church teachings on this verse?

It is and has been my understanding that the RCC interprets: let us make man in our image and our likeness as being triune… But too we must consider other things mentioned in this thread…

 The Hebrew word or expression others mention like” Elohym”, can be plural as well as singular.. It can be uni-plural like the word deer is one and many as some have testified.. also the word in Hebrew “”bane” meaning “son”  at times is use in conjunction with elohym  like “Bane Elohim” also later as Adams Lineage going backwards in the New Testament ends or begins depending on the motives of the perceiver  with “Son of Adam”  “Son of God”.. Adam birth is as a son of God.. Bane Elohym

Now when you read in Genesis on the Sabbath Day of the Creation week this is the first time you will see the mention of the word that is called the “LORD” “Yahwey” and he is resting from all that he created. There is one called the Lord and he is Lord of the Sabbath. In the RCC teaching the Lord is the Word in John 1.
In one story in the NT there are Jews who are about to stone Christ… Christ asked do you stone me for good works and they said for a good work no, But for blasphemy! Because thou being a man maketh thyself God…
So it seems that deep with the Core of Jewish Beliefs no man could make himself God in their understanding… They say this because Jesus said He was about his Father’s business making himself YAHWEY”S son…

  Christ Later Challenges the Pharisee’s by asking them… Matt 22: 41 And the Pharisees being gathered together, Jesus asked them, 42 Saying: What think you of Christ? whose son is he? They say to him: David's. 43 He saith to them: How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying: 44 The Lord said to my Lord, Sit on my right hand, until I make thy enemies thy footstool? 45 If David then call him Lord, how is he his son? 46 And no man was able to answer him a word; neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions. 

    It seems the Jews in general were blinded that the Lord could or would become a man.. There Messiah was to be a Man born from an Israelite and favored By the Lord their God not the Lord God himself.. The Blessing would be on his Shoulders to do the will of Israel as they anticipated him not the will of the Lord as different from their understanding… I don’t think the Angels even knew the Mystery unfolding… As even Satan said “If” thou be the Son of God.. The Lord was truly shaking Heaven and Earth…

 

[StrawberryJam]

A rabbi made a disparaging comment about Catholics believing in the Trinity. I asked him, if there is no Trinity, how do you explain the reference to us and our in Genesis 1:26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The rabbi said God was referring to the angels. Not that the angels were co-creators with God but that God was simply including them in His work of creation.

Am I wrong that God was referring to the presence of the 3 persons of God? Does anyone know of any Catholic church teachings on this verse?

Anecdotal evidence against a nameless Rabbi should be rejected as gossip by all christians. You would demand to know a name of a priest being accused of a similar action if the shoe was on the other foot. You would also likely want to see a transcript to review context.

 

[BernadetteM]

Bernadette,

I have indeed heard that a Jew who converts will be mourned by the family and in some cases will be treated as if they are dead (no contact with the family anymore). I don’t know if they actually hold a funeral though. In practice, I think it depends on how religiously observant the family is.

I seem to recall that there are other reasons that this could happen. If foggy memory serves there is a scene in the movie The Jazz Singer where the father tears at his clothes (this is a Jewish sign of mourning) upon learning that his son isn’t going to be a cantor and instead wants to be a secular singer instead. The father cuts off contact with the son for some time, but I think they eventually reconnect.

Going back to the funeral thingie for a moment–I am lucky in that my family did no such thing. But then, they are not Orthodox either, they’re mainly cultural Jews who celebrate a few holidays on the Jewish calendar and that’s pretty much the extent of it. (This has some similarities to Christians who show up at church only on Christmas and Easter.) My mom and I are very close and thankfully my becoming a Christian hasn’t changed our relationship. Granted, she doesn’t get why I believe as I do, but at least she didn’t stick her head in the oven upon learning of my new found faith either.

Hope that this answer has helped you a little bit!

Blessings,

Sablouwho

Thank you for your response. It makes sense that if someone is an Orthodox Jew they would be very hurt if one of their children leaves the faith. I know that some Christians also won’t have anything to do with their children if they become Catholic, LDS or some other faith. Some Catholics also feel the same.

God Bless

Bernadette

 

[Janet1983]

A rabbi made a disparaging comment about Catholics believing in the Trinity. I asked him, if there is no Trinity, how do you explain the reference to us and our in Genesis 1:26 Then God said: "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. The rabbi said God was referring to the angels. Not that the angels were co-creators with God but that God was simply including them in His work of creation.

Am I wrong that God was referring to the presence of the 3 persons of God? Does anyone know of any Catholic church teachings on this verse?

In Catholic religious education I was taught neither of these explanations… Well ours was in German, but the character is the same. Sovereigns and kings used the plural (majestic plural, pluralis maiestatis) to refer to themselves. BTW the word Elohim in itself is already a plural of Eloah…

“we” at Merriam Webster’s Online Dictionary
Main Entry: we
Pronunciation: \ˈwē
Function: pronoun, plural in construction
Etymology: Middle English, from Old English wē; akin to Old High German wir we, Sanskrit vayam
Date: before 12th century
1 : I and the rest of a group that includes me : you and I : you and I and another or others : I and another or others not including you —used as pronoun of the first person plural — compare i, our, ours, us
2 : 1i —used by sovereigns —used by writers to keep an impersonal character

“we” at the free dictionary
we (w)
pron.

1. Used by the speaker or writer to indicate the speaker or writer along with another or others as the subject: We made it to the lecture hall on time. We are planning a trip to Arizona this winter.
2. Used to refer to people in general, including the speaker or writer: “How can we enter the professions and yet remain civilized human beings?” (Virginia Woolf).
3. Used instead of I, especially by a writer wishing to reduce or avoid a subjective tone.
4. Used instead of I, especially by an editorialist, in expressing the opinion or point of view of a publication’s management.
   5. Used instead of I by a sovereign in formal address to refer to himself or herself.
5. Used instead of you in direct address, especially to imply a patronizing camaraderie with the addressee: How are we feeling today?

Just my :twocents:

May the Lord bless you.
In Him,
Janet

 

[anode]

Anecdotal evidence against a nameless Rabbi should be rejected as gossip by all Christians. You would demand to know a name of a priest being accused of a similar action if the shoe was on the other foot. You would also likely want to see a transcript to review context.

Good show, Strawberry.

Judaism is quintessentially a monotheistic religion. it developed surrounded by polytheistic religions, especially in Egypt and Greece, filled with man-gods. The famous Jewish prayer, the Shema,

Hear, Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is One.

…says it all. Not Abraham himself, Joseph, Moses, who was deliberately buried in secret, so that no one could visit his grave, Samuel, Isaac, Isaiah, or any other famous Old Testament personage–was a god. Not even Elijah, who went up to heaven in a fiery chariot, they say.

 

[fms]

I found this link interesting:

jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/10_8/trinity

My take is that it makes sense now that God has revealed he is Trinity (in Unity)

Jesus says Abraham saw his day. My guess (and some Fathers think so as well), he and others of the OT may have been granted the revelation.

My other thought as well (given the prologue of John), is that God as conceived by the Jews and the Muslims is incapable of loving let alone creating.

I once read that without the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God would be ‘blind’ - no mirror through which to see himself and ‘indifferent’ - no person who is all his delight and whom he gives the Spirit without reserve.

 

[StrawberryJam]

I found this link interesting:

jewsforjesus.org/publications/issues/10_8/trinity

My take is that it makes sense now that God has revealed he is Trinity (in Unity)

Jesus says Abraham saw his day. My guess (and some Fathers think so as well), he and others of the OT may have been granted the revelation.

My other thought as well (given the prologue of John), is that God as conceived by the Jews and the Muslims is incapable of loving let alone creating.

I once read that without the Son, and the Holy Spirit, God would be ‘blind’ - no mirror through which to see himself and ‘indifferent’ - no person who is all his delight and whom he gives the Spirit without reserve.

Most of your post, is highly debatable. Jewish believers I know do believe God is Loving, and the Creator of the Universe and if there is more than one universe, God created them as well, and all things in it/them.

Christians may protest that idea by calling into question the events in the hebrew scriptures. This is not logical to do if Christians are claiming monotheism.