Your letting the church be your authority. Stop fooling yourself.
Keypurr, answer the rest of my posts, or concede the discussion, or stop replying.
Use "[PARSE][/QUOTE][/PARSE]" and "[PARSE]
[/PARSE]" to break up the posts you reply to if you have to, but you need to reply to the points that are made.
As for who my authority is, I already told you, there is no higher authority than God, and after Him is His word, the Bible. He gave us the scriptures for us to use them. If the church (or any individual, such as yourself) conflicts with Scripture, which comes from God, it has a higher authority than the church, because it is inspired by God.
I take the authority to think for myself.
And you have relied on your own understanding of scripture, instead of letting scripture speak for itself.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding;In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths.Do not be wise in your own eyes; Fear the Lord and depart from evil.It will be health to your flesh, And strength to your bones. - Proverbs 3:5-8 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Proverbs3:5-8&version=NKJV
Your still at the starting line JR. You have a long road to explore.
That's coming from someone who has abandoned the church completely and has made himself wise in his own eyes.
Your wisdom is as foolishness.
But using your logic, name ANY IMAGE that is not a CREATION.
Jesus Christ, the perfect image of God the Father, Jesus Christ, the Lord, is God the Son.
Keypurr, a perfect copy of something is the thing itself. God has no equal, therefore, Jesus being the express image of God is God. Jesus, being God, has no beginning, therefore CANNOT be a created being.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and God was the Word. He was in the beginning with God. All things through Him emerged, and without Him emerged not even one thing that emerged. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. And the light in the darkness shines, and the darkness overcame it not . . . And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us, and we beheld the glory of him, a glory of an only begotten with a father, full of grace and truth."
Keypurr, multiple times in the Bible, and even in writings throughout history, an author will give an overview of a period of history in a few short words or sentences, and then go back and add details to the events, adding depth to them. John is no different.
He starts out by giving an overview statement, starting with the beginning of our history, explaining that the Word, Jesus (don't believe me? Who is the focus of Matthew? of Mark? Luke? Jesus, correct? How is John any different when it comes to the focus of his gospel?), was in the beginning, that He was with God, and that He is God.
John parallels Moses briefly:
"In the beginning [Moses: God created the heavens and the earth] [John: was the Word, and the word was with God, and God was the Word. He (the Word, who is God) was in the beginning with God. All things through Him (the Word) emerged, and without Him (the Word) emerged not even one thing that emerged.]"
God, the Word, created the heavens and the earth, out of the Word, God, emerged all things, and without God (the Word), nothing emerged that emerged.
In other words, THE WORD, who is God, Created all things.
John does the same thing again in 1 John 1:
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life—the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us—that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.And these things we write to you that your joy may be full. - 1 John 1:1-4 http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1John1:1-4&version=NKJV
This entire passage is talking about Jesus. Or was Jesus not the one who was heard, who was seen, who was looked upon and was handled, who is the life of men, manifested in the flesh, whom the Apostles saw and bore witness to, the Life which was with God the Father.
If that passage is not talking about Jesus, Keypurr, then please tell me who it is talking about.