| twenty men, with their backs toward the temple of the Lord, and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east. Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and lo they put the branch to their nose. Therefore will I also deal in fury: mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet will I not hear them.". The Lord's displeasure cut clear across class lines as He saw Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan, a high priest, in the center of the abomination. Tammuz was a Phoenician deity, so their actions broke through the first commandment. There were also about twenty five worshipping Ra, the sun god. It can not be proposed that the chambers of imagery were a desirable place. And yet the difference in the two versions show a difference between spiritual and intellectual understandings, trichotomous versus dichotomous. The dichotomous version shows less discomfort with the dark areas, and thereby less comfort in spiritual things. There is no difference between the Jew and the Greek, or likewise the ancient or the modern, whether trichotomous or dichotomous. I feel that it is safe to say that a good share of the cultural biases flowed from the sons of Shem to the Greeks, while most of the others were implanted by the outcasts, who founded the neighboring nations. In other words the Greeks, as well as all gentiles, were, and are, a composite mix of the intellects of the descendents of Ham, Shem, and Japheth, as such lost, but with the knowledge necessary for their salvation built into their legends and lore, and therefore no one is without accountability upon reaching the age of accountability. We can't say I wasn't told. Our heritage tells us, if only we will listen and search. The purpose of a missionary or preacher is solely to assist in that search, a search for the truth. There is something even deeper than that. Since God made man in His image, the three parts of man by their very nature had to be just as dependent 111 ______________________________________________________________________________ on each part, as God's parts are on His three parts, and with that dependence comes a perfect balance. Take away one of those parts, as in the case of the two part men we have studied, and we see the reason for their restless natures. Their bodies are out of equilibrium, and they have a hidden spiritual hunger. This hunger is caused by the need of the remaining two parts for equilibrium per design. It is no wonder that man has constantly strived for understanding. Unless that balance is restored there can never be peace within man's body, and it vibrates towards self destruction, just as any machine would. We shall see in the next chapter, the development of the Greek philosophy to the statement of the Stoics that Paul addressed in Athens. 112 _______________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________ |
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