In my many travels, both for work and for pleasure, I have traveled several millions of miles. Working I would spend 8-10 hours a day on the road averaging around 300 a day. Five days a week, 52 weeks a year for 25 years for a grand total of 8.58 million miles. That provided many opportunities to see people at their best and worst on the roadways. More times than I could count I would see the bumper sticker “Coexist”.
While the owner of such a bumper sticker should be promoting a utopia where humans did battle one another, the truth is, this piece of art has agenda behind it. Websters defines ‘coexist’ in two ways:
- exist at the same time or in the same place.
- (of nations or peoples) exist in mutual tolerance despite different ideologies or interests.
Working from the 2nd definition that of mutual tolerance, I find the thought welcoming and yet, it is an exercise in frustration due to the influences of those cultures represented in the insignia’s.
The very first symbol is that of the Islamic/Muslim faith. Found within the pages of their ‘holy’ book/doctrine is the following:
Fight those who do not believe in Allah or in the Last Day and who do not consider unlawful what Allah and His Messenger [Muhammad] have made unlawful and who do not adopt the religion of truth from those who were given the scripture [Quran] – fight until they give the jizyah* willingly while they are humbled. Surah 9:29
*form of financial charge on permanent non-Muslim subjects (dhimmi) of a state governed by Islamic law.
Not sure what anyone else thinks of this statement…. but…. to me….. this doesn’t look very tolerant of other views/beliefs. Lets dig a little deeper in their own words…
- Surah 3:151: “We shall cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve (all non-Muslims) …”
- Surah 2:191: “And kill them (non-Muslims) wherever you find them … kill them. Such is the recompense of the disbelievers (non-Muslims).”
- Surah 9:5: “Then kill the disbelievers (non-Muslims) wherever you find them, capture them and besiege them, and lie in wait for them in each and every ambush …”
I will admit the ‘information on/ habit of’ the other groups represented are not nearly as murderous as this group, still, they do not accept any other theology or beliefs other than their own. All people are required to convert their ideology to conform to the beliefs presented by each group to assure a harmonious cohabitation.
What do you think about this? What should you think about this?
Here is what YHVH thinks…..
Deuteronomy 5:6-10
“I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”
So why is there a prevailing attitude to be inclusive of all forms of ‘faith’ or ‘religion’?
The answer is found within the history of man and the pages of the Bible. Genesis 10:8 “And Cush begat Nimrod (his name means “we shall rebel”): he began* to be a mighty one in the earth. Here the Word states that Nimrod ‘began’ H2490 חָלַל chalal (chaw-lal’) v. (properly) to bore. to begin (as if by an “opening wedge”). To defile.
The text goes on to say:
Verse 10 of Chapter 10 “And the beginning of his kingdom was Babel (to confuse or mix), and Erech (to lengthen, prolong or live with), and Accad (to subtly strengthen), and Calneh (fortress of Anu), in the land of Shinar.
11 Out of that land went forth Asshur, and builded Nineveh (abode of Ninus, fish goddess), and the city Rehoboth (avenue or path), and Calah (completion and strength), (Asshur is simply the Assyrian name for Nimrod; Nimrod being a Babylonian name.)
12 And Resen (bridle control) between Nineveh and Calah: the same is a great city.
So reading this back, right to left as the Hebrews would write, we can see it was Nimrods goal to: Bridle or control mankind completely with his path to the home and fortress of Anu by subtly strengthening a prolonged mixing or confusion of religion.
It is with this knowledge that we can trace the evolution of many of the various religions, cults and factions that make up the coexist bumper sticker platform. Likewise we can discover the trinity platform which is derived from the first definition provided for the word coexist. This is the ‘Christian’ perspective whereby God the creator, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit exist independently of one another.
Mankind has long held to the notion of a linear-progressive existence. The ancient intellectuals (Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Pythagoras) as well as the Sanhedrin of the Hebrews, would sit for hours [even days] attempting to unlock the secrets of the universe. It is within the minds of these men that various concepts of ‘faith’, ‘religion’ and ‘science’ came to be.
YHVH even warns against such foolishness: Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
So what does it really mean for God/Jesus/Holy Spirit to coexist? And does the trinity concept really ‘hold water’? Both the Covenant {Old Testament} and the Renewed Covenant {New Testament} must agree, and they do, in speaking of the existence, timing and purpose of Yeshua.
Proverbs 30:2-4 “Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a man. I neither learned wisdom, nor have the knowledge of the holy. Who hath ascended up into heaven, or descended? who hath gathered the wind in his fists? who hath bound the waters in a garment? who hath established all the ends of the earth? what is his name, and what is his son’s name, if thou canst tell?”
Genesis 1:26 starts with “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:” This is the base in which many come to the trinity belief or are taught the belief in the 3 distinctly different entities. Again realizing that my thoughts and ways are not in the same ballpark as Gods, I have to rely on the scriptures to define themselves.
John 4:24 tells us “God is a Spirit”….. not that God has a spirit but He IS one, and “they that worship Him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” What is a spirit then?
G4151 πνεῦμα pneuma (pnev’-ma) n.
- a current of air, i.e. breath (blast) or a breeze.
- (by analogy or figuratively) a spirit.
- (humanly) the rational soul, as in the “spirit of a man.”
- (by implication) vital principle, mental disposition, etc.
- (superhumanly) an angel, demon.
- (divinely) God, Christ’s spirit, the Holy Spirit.
Here is the kicker….. in order to facilitate “free will” a human being has been given their own unique spirit, or rational soul, to allow for contemplation, analysis and objectivity, to include that discernment of faith/relationship/worship of a “higher power”. This is the content of much of Paul’s writings… the internal war between human rational and the divine rational of YHVH.
That same said characteristic is not found in Yeshua/Jesus. Colossians 1:15-17 describes Yeshua this way: “Who is the image (Spirit) of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.”
This is echoed in John’s gospel… John 1:1-5 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.”
Why did they/ why do some of us not comprehend it?
2 Corinthians 4:4 “In whom the god of this world (Satan) hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them.
This is why Christians should better understand the statement made in Hebrews: he was fully God and fully man. Yeshua had the complete “soul” or Spirit of YHVH, yet it was housed in a complete human form. His human form was created before the foundations of the world. [John 17:5]
The only way that I can describe the visible form and the separate spirit …. like a computer without an operating system. This goes a long way in unraveling the concept, as well as, confirming the ability of God to form and communicate through things like the pillars of smoke and fire and the burning bush.
“While the developed doctrine of the Trinity is not explicit in the books that constitute the New Testament, the New Testament possesses a “triadic” understanding of God.”
Hurtado, Larry (2010). God in New Testament Theology. Abingdon Press. ISBN 9781426719547.
Mr. Hurtado may want to change his view as we have just exampled 3 more variances of God’s form.
The point of the Coexist campaign and the 40+ thousand denominations…. to confuse the daylights out of mankind. Humans need to focus on a return to the complete word of God. I sat in disgust as a preacher told his congregation to lead new believers to the book of Matthew and continue to the end with zero mention of the Covenant. I had to assume he held no value in the content of the front of the book, where the covenant is detailed and prophesied. Only problem, the back of the book makes no sense if you don’t know the front! There are millions who will argue that point…. but they earnestly don’t have a full grasp of the cohesiveness of the Scriptures. There is not a wall dividing the “old” and the “new”.
Galatians 5:10 “I am confident in the Lord that you will take no other view. The one who is throwing you into confusion, whoever that may be, will have to pay the penalty.”
Shalom.
Berean Breadcrumbs 
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