I Am- God & Jesus

[zanzibarjones 1]

Exo 3:13 And Moses said unto God, Behold, when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto them, The God of your fathers hath sent me unto you; and they shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? Exo 3:14 And God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you.
Exo 3:15 And God said moreover unto Moses, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, hath sent me unto you: this is my name forever, and this is my memorial unto all generations.

God told Moses, when asked who has told him these things, for him to say, “I Am” did.
I began thinking about why God would ever say this, “I Am”. What does that mean?
What is ‘I Am’.

God being who and what he is, is everywhere and everything.

I Am. If you were talking to someone who you had just met through a friend, you would introduce yourself as ‘I am so and so, John’s friend” stating that I am this person’s friend, with whom you already know. But God didn’t say he was the friend of so and so, or someone’s brother, he said ‘I Am’. A definitive answer to who he is, was and always shall be. “Am” Am- a singularity, one, first person

In the 17th century, the French philosopher René Descartes came up with the "explanation for it all": "I think, therefore I am".

Exo 20:3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Exo 20:4 Thou shalt not make unto thee a graven image, nor any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
Exo 20:5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them, for I Jehovah thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation of them that hate me,
Exo 20:6 and showing loving kindness unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.

Ok, so here we have God, who is “Am”, and a jealous God. Why would God have a need to feel jealous. If he knows he is the Alpha and the Omega, the One True God, why would he ever have to tell us he was a jealous God?

You have a solution to a problem that has plagued man since time itself began. And you start to spread the word about it. But it’s a drastic solution. Something off the norm. Something most people would question, because it goes against all that they think they know. But you have tried it, and it has works hundreds of times. Yet the non believers still want to do things the hard way, you’d sit there and get angry thinking, “Why are you doing this the hard way. My way is easier and costs you less grief and pain.”
You might even get jealous of their idea, because they are believing in it and failing, instead of your proven way.

[Bikerman 2]

OK let me see if I understand this.You are saying that God gives the ultimate philosophical answer to the question of self - as discovered by Descartes 2 millenia later. Yes?And you say that the reason for the jealous God in the OT is frustration because he has the answer and the non-believers won't listen, and instead they spend their time mucking around with idols and stuff which won't solve the problem, or even address it properly.Is that a fair summary, before I continue? (and I'll just ask one further question - why do you mention Jesus when we are deep into the Hebrew bible here (OT) ? Is it just as a reminder that the two are part of the same as in normal Christian theology, or is there a deeper point?

Edited August 25, 2010 by Bikerman (see edit history)

[mahesh2k 0]

God being who and what he is, is everywhere and everything.

Yeah sure. He created this universe and life on this planet-only knowing that there is billions of places in the universe which are also capable. And then he got bored and thought about creating religion and then sent his little kid to teach us via bible. His son's disciple explicitly mention that there is only life on this planet. Then he let his son die for some concept called sin. Then we need to understand that the guy who died on wooden panel was actually Almighty's son Who is going to save us, oh wait he can't save his back and will save us ? Yup. If that's not enough there is emotional touch to it that says he died for our sins. What are the sins ? stop idiot skeptic child don't ask questions. And even if that's not enough then there is more about it- he's going to resurrect soon. Yeppy.
That reminds me of point in quote- if we are all part of god then if one human rapes another then is god raping himself ? Or is it more like masturbation ? Oh pardon my french if we're not allowed to ask sexual skeptic questions.