This is an introductory page; it's blissfully short, but is by far the Most Important of all 'my' webpages.
Synopsis of webpage, and intra-page links. Just click on a link to go straight to a section, or just read the page in order.
Time for straight talk on what this whole "God" business is about, no hedging or fancy words. Life is about but one thing: Do You Want God Or Not, And How Much. It's not about being good or bad, not about how you or someone else thinks you 'compare' to others. It's absolutely not about religion, culture, politics, or any other human-human issue which always absorbs the human race. God made you, because He wants you: but, do you also want Him? If yes, you'll want to have a relationship with Him, and be in whatever System He has created for that relationship to flourish. If no, you'll substitute your own ideas and call them His, or you'll just be disinterested or hostile. Your choice. Historically and now, 99% of the human race, Christian or otherwise, says "No, I don't want God."
If you say "yes, I want God", then God has to grow you within His System, so that you Grow In The Ability To Enjoy Being With Him. See, we are naturally afraid of God. That, because Godness and humanness are innately incompatible. So you can't grow toward Him on your own; nor does it matter even a whit, that you can't. He does it for you, in accordance with your consent. His Will isn't affected by what you choose, but your life sure will be. And if you choose to be with Him, then only He can make that choice, effective. Because, He's God, and you're not. Simple as that.
This Growth He does, is true blessing, because via Growth, He enables you to come to KNOW Him. Nothing else in life compares, frankly. Yet, all other types of blessing come to you as well, and operate under the Growth Blessing. For, God is Eternal, and if you want Him, you need to be enabled by Him to develop for an eternity WITH Him. So, God's System for Blessing is the same system for everyone; so, it is all-inclusive; so, the System structure is basic. And, 100% supernatural, though you will not be able to detect it: since God is Infinite, finite instruments, etc. can't 'prove' Him. But He can prove Himself to you; which He will do, if you want a real relationship with Him. If you want something else, seek someone else. God never flirts.
For now, know this: having believed in Christ, when you die, you will live with God forever in perfect happiness, no matter what. FOREVER. Happiness isn't sitting on clouds with harps, k? It's a societal life that is everything anyone ever dreamed of down here, plus much more. Very similar in structure, but no competition, sin, nonsense. How you'd wish it would be, only way better even than that. [Rev21 shows there is no religion, and v.24 depicts kings paying taxes (aka "tribute") as a "glory", if that helps you get a grip on life then. How can it be a glory? if you love doing it -- so how great must it be?]
But if you never believed in Christ at least ONCE during your life down here, you will instead live in hell forever. Hell is in the core of the Earth, right now (very hot). It will eventually become another universe where angels and people who REJECTED God, live forever. They only go there, because they do NOT want God. No relationship desired. So, hell is a bad choice. Real bad. So just believe in Christ RIGHT NOW, and you'll never go there.
Parallel on sin-naming verses are Ps32:5, Ps66:18, etc. so you're NAMING the sin, to God. Not to people. [Whether you also tell people about it depends on other factors. God will show you if it's relevant to tell anyone else, so wait until He does.] Sin is a type of no-want-God rejection, so you are not spiritual in a state of sin. Using 1Jn1:9, admits the sin (just name it, doesn't matter how you feel), so you are thus re-admitted to fellowship with God. (Salvation and fellowship are two different things; salvation 'marries' you to God, so to speak; fellowship is enjoyment of that intimacy.) Click here for more info. For even way more info (more than you'll want), click on Caveat #3, "His Brains" at the top of the Home Page; besides walking you through 1Jn1:9 in context, that Caveat goes into much detail about the many false ideas of the "Filling of the Spirit", which millions of abacus-brains, click and cluck over...
Since you will be living with God forever, but are not IN Heaven yet, how do you PREPARE for that future? Well, God wrote Bible to TEACH you how to prepare: so that a) you get more enjoyment of your permanent life post-death, as well as b) more enjoyment out of your temporary life, down here. Your Life Totally Changed Purpose The Second You Became A Believer. Everything down here has a Different Usage. Nothing is small, anymore. Even brushing your teeth has a new role. So, you gotta learn what it is. So, you learn it by learning Bible. It takes time, so don't get anal and try to learn everything at once, and don't fret over mistakes. Babies, poop. So will you. Not to worry. Normal spiritual Growth takes some years, and you can't rush it.
Preparation is SPIRITUAL, not body: your body is just a bucket of biology. It's because the body is a corrupted bucket of biology, that "God" makes everyone nervous: it's the body which reacts, because it is totally the opposite, totally incompatible with God. This incurable corruption remains until death; then finally! you get rid of the thing, hooray! Replacing it, you get an INcorruptible body which is totally compatible with God, forever: 1Cor15, 1Jn3. Meanwhile, though, that body will fight any preparation you are doing in learning Bible. Not to worry. Use 1Jn1:9, truck on.
Preparation is Spiritual, because God is a Spiritual Being: Pure Thought, not bodied; and also because the preparation is a Complete Transformation Of Your Own Thinking To Be Like, God's Own. So, life in fellowship with God is Spiritual: it 'plays' as a type of awareness, a type of perceiving, thinking, learning, knowing. WITH Him. There's nothing weirdo about it (i.e., no such thing as 'feeling' spiritual). John 4:24 says you aren't spiritual unless in the Spirit, AND in the Truth. You can't grow spiritually without God's Power. Again, you can't feel His Power, and you can't feel the growth, either. So, only if you are also learning spiritual truth (Bible), are you spiritual. Click here for more info.
The teacher specializes in Bible study, and then passes on what he knows and learns, to his congregation. So it's a joint Bible study, in the sense that the teacher himself constantly studies; but he teaches it to the congregation. He's the teacher, they are the students. Again, it's like math: you need a teacher to teach you what the formulas are, and how to SEE them in Bible. Then YOU practice what you learned, so you yourself see WHY, what you learned is TRUE; and thereafter, become PROFICIENT at LIVING what you learned. That increases your faith, your understanding, so that in the REST of your day, you can LIVE ON what you are learning. It's really refreshing, this spiritual life. Problemmatic too, as anything worthwhile, is.
The "Right" Pastor? link at Home page top has within it a corrected translation of Eph4:12-16 from the original Greek text; once you see that corrected translation (which goes into much detail about the Greek text so you can see for yourself how translation was derived), you'll have NO doubt that Bible study under your right pastor is alone God's "Henotes"=System Agent for preparing you, by the Holy Spirit's Own Authority. 'Passage blows me away every time I think of it.
Prayer is the most powerful weapon in the universe among mankind. Almost no one knows how to use it. Royal Prayer Protocol on Home page(@top) is more detailled, but here's the gist of the protocol:
So, use this conversation-aspect of Prayer, to talk with God about what you are learning, what's going on in your day, just to say hello, anything. Anywhere. Any time, all the time! On the toilet, at the opera, elegant or base, 24/7. Because, "Christian" means, "of Christ". Relationship, not religion. Conversation is how relationship, 'plays'. So, PLAY!
This is the entire 'play' of the spiritual life, and all the gates of hell will eventually COME against it, and FAIL. But you won't see that for some years, and you won't see the magnitude of it until you've done enough #c. But it's there, and it's true, and You Won't Survive In God's System, If You Don't Cultivate These Three Habits (which only the Holy Spirit runs, not you -- you just keep VOTING for it). Again, this is a sworn testimony. TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.
As a branch of #b and #c, keep looking at your life in terms of Bible. Relate Everything To Him As A Kind Of Game, Test, Relaxing, Whatever. Just keep doing it. When you watch TV, when you eat, when you get up, when you go to bed. Again, sworn affadavit that nothing else in life is more enjoyable or more conquering than this. Because it makes you AWARE of God to do this, so you use 1Jn1:9, and you are thinking thus toward Him.
99% of even those positive to God, get stuck because they expect education to be like spoonfeeding. You gotta use what you learn OUTSIDE the classroom, or you are wasting God's and your own, TIME. Besides, it's totally DISrespectful to your pastor, and especially to the Holy Spirit, if you don't. If you are interested in God, you will want to know WHY He thinks as He does, and WHAT He thinks.. just because. And you will want to play with what you are learning. But if you are DISinterested in God, you will only want to accredit yourself as getting brownie points for going to Bible class, 'knowing' what your pastor is saying (familiarity is not knowledge, okay?), using his buzzwords as if that meant you were spiritual. So God will spank you for pretending to be in His System.. since, you're not. When you realize that, just use 1Jn1:9 and look for reasons to be genuinely interested. (Every time I was disinterested in a particular doctrine, I got royally spanked, k?)
Many churches (including my own) are plagued by the people IN them living that fake spirituality, getting high on how much they know, a form of childish appreciation.. or, egotism; it's not necessarily the pastor's fault. Don't imitate them. Learn God, and forget about people and their childish preoccupations. Be occupied with Christ, not preoccupied with the world. Use everything toward God, and you'll be amazed how your in-Adam addiction toward this world, gets defeated. Stand still, and watch the Deliverance (so-great salvation's results) of the Lord!
There will be times when you get upset and depressed with yourself because you expect that since you are in His System, that your body is supposed to magically 'obey' what you know. Guess again: read Romans Chapters 7-8 for the REAL story. Don't worry that you can't obey His Standard which you are learning to Love as well as you want to. Holy Spirit is building DDNA in you, so it takes time. God didn't save you so you could perform pet-tricks of obedience, but as you grow to love Him, you'll start demanding obedience from yourself. Belay it. Just use 1Jn1:9 and learn to enjoy the Grace that God isn't giving you a spiritual life in order to make you 'perform'. DDNA.htm says more on this topic, in its "God's Soliloquoy" table.
For, your relationship with God is intensely personal. That's the design, for crying out loud. Intimacy means the person is 'all over you', so to speak, so all your thinking is ABOUT that person, and all your outer life, too. Well, that's the design, for crying out loud: "that they may be one, even as We are One", John 17 (refrain). It's real, deep, intense, but without that #c, could quickly become insanity. But with #c, is Total Integrity. Which builds, line upon line, precept on precept. Again, this is a sworn affadavit.
Note what doesn't matter: it doesn't matter what kind of sin you sin, 1Jn1:9 works. It also doesn't matter what denomination or religion you get into; it doesn't matter if you do works; it doesn't matter how you feel; it doesn't matter if people like you or you like them; it doesn't matter how you 'compare' to others, nor does it matter how they 'compare' to you. This is a Vertical Life, toward God, learning His Son's Thinking, which is Bible. Whatever else you add to it, well.. that's your privilege before the Lord.
So, if you like Catholicism, fine. But be Catholic Within God's System. If you like being Buddhist, fine: but be Buddhist, Within God's System. Of course, if being Catholic and being in God's System seem to conflict, well.. then you'd pray using the protocol, to find out what to do about that conflict. Etc: substitute any other word for "Catholic" or "Buddhist" in the above two sentences. Contrary to popular opinion, it doesn't matter at all what religion you profess. Being In The System Alone Works. Naturally, as you spend time in the System, if you learn there's a conflict with something in your lifestyle, then you'd use the System to learn how to resolve that conflict.
Because it is Vertical, obviously the more you are operating within His System, the more you will learn Christ, and the more you will be blessed thereby. Further, the more you learn Christ, the more those associated with you will be blessed thereby. For, we are all blessed solely due to Christ, and thus the more any of us grow IN Him (for growing up in Him is the reason we have Bible), the more we will be like Him, and the more others can be blessed Due To Our Growing In Him. God is consistent: the way He grew the Humanity of Christ is the way He wants to grow us. So, the effects of that growth, are blessing. Same structure as for Christ, is Christ's own Legacy, for us. Books of Ephesians and Hebrews center on this fact. Romans explains the structural elements, as does 1Jn. John's Gospel Chapters 14-17, are a good treatise on Christ's Election of this System for us.
That's the System. If you want more information, you can tool around the Home Page to see what's available. Please be sure to first clear it with God via that Prayer Protocol above, whether you should read anything else in my websites; and if "yes", then what? For I have no clue.
May God bless you in His Son, always!
Supernatural is NOT supernatural to one having those powers, but instead, Normal. So whatever is superhuman, is natural to the being who is superhuman. So it's natural for God to BE God, so His Infinite Ability, is normal for Him. So for Him, the question is what does He want to do and be, as He is. Well, His answer is that He wanted you, me, the entire human race, because HE chose to make us all. So, that's part of what He wants to do with His Infinite Ability.. have a relationship with each of us. No one is excluded: if you've ever breathed, God wants you. So, if you want Him back, obviously the relationship and the System will be Supernatural. Not goofy-supernatural (demons like the goofy stuff); but Sanely supernatural. Which is why it doesn't matter at all, what human limitations, are: no human ability is used. your wanting God, that's what's used. God supplies all the abilities, you just 'vote', as it were, to want Him and how much, every second you breathe. Frankly, as you keep doing this, you'll come to see more Sane supernatural power, than you can even imagine exists, and the Wit of how He uses it, is.. well, of superhuman enjoyment!
How God uses His Power: carefully. You won't feel it, and you can't detect it until you are far along in the spiritual life. God is too BIG for the human, so He carefully moderates the use of His power, so it doesn't kill you. Or, drive you insane. Even demon power will do that: Satan took over the serpent in the Garden (Genesis3), so he could entice the woman to choose against God (represented by eating the 'forbidden' fruit). Satan didn't display himself, but used an animal to make himself seem cute and unthreatening; because if he didn't, she'd have gone wacko over his majesty; so he wouldn't have gotten her free-will REJECTION of God. (We're in an Angelic Trial: you can't see much about this Trial in Bible translations, but the nature and arguments of it are really clear in the original-language texts. Paradox link at Home Pagetop and the "Thinking Series" below it, offer hundreds of printed pages of explanation on the Trial; the latter is comprehensive, kinda enjoyable to read, and is strewn with lots of Biblical and empirical evidence you can use to prove it all to yourself, especially in its Appendix.)
People who think they 'feel' God, feel only the demon power (demons mock and satirize that way); or, people are hallucinating feeling. Claims of 'God' making Statues cry, the sun turn backwards (Lourdes 'miracle'), faces-in-tortillas, name-the-inanity , are not God's doing. God isn't silly, for crying out loud. Demons and people, act silly.
God's Power 'travels' through the normal human methods (i.e., that's why Samson was strongER than humanly-normal), so you won't detect it's not your own ability that's working to enable you to learn Bible, or to do a thing with Bible you've learned; instead, the Holy Spirit is doing the work. Undetectably to you, so you won't be intimidated: so, God help you, you will mistake the ability as your own and will get cocky, at times!
There's much more to say about how God's Power actually works, but for now, you needed to know that it's not flashy. Demons do flashy. God did flashy in the OT, but even then, it was to communicate something. He did flashy, because it was a more distant way to communicate. but due to what happened on the Cross (long story, explained elsewhere), the full power of God is available to anyone who has ever once believed in Christ. It takes time to grow big enough in the soul to get to "full", so you don't die the meanwhile: hence the grow is something that happens in the soul, the capacity to see Him. Again, God is Too Big, so it's a delicate thing, to grow your soul, so for some years it will be invisible to you, how He does this. This paragraph won't make much sense right now; idea is to merely expose you to the concept of invisible, undetectable power being His Chosen Method, so you don't mistake the goofy kind as God's (demons do goofy, God never does).
Visible miracles are all suspect; God doesn't need to 'do it' flashy. It's not that God doesn't do miracles; in fact, His miracles are constant; but invisible use of His Power is now the norm. For the spiritual life is invisible, thinking; essentially the reverse of OT spirituality, in form (substance is the same, developing in the Relationship -- only far higher potential, now). When people think of miracles they think of flash. They don't recognize the Biggest of Miracles, is to Transform a puny human, into a nature compatible with Very God. This is true transmutation, and all in one lifetime: God does it all, to the extent you consent, and HE gets it right the first time (no such thing as reincarnation). That's why we have a life down here, and a Bible: to get this transmutation, to the extent we want God. He doesn't care what our flaws are: Christ paid so it wouldn't have to matter. So all that's left, is do you want God, and how much.
When you believe in Christ, you are "born again" (regenerated as a spiritual person). You will not feel this change at all. Just as God's Power is unfelt, so also the new spiritual being you've just become, is unfelt. Spirituality is not body, so cannot ever be felt. The structural changes are many, but suffice it to say here, you won't experience them: you will feel just as you did before. Any feeling you have, is your own reaction, nothing more. Infinity is nonspacetime, so Godness cannot be felt. Likewise, spirituality is nonmaterial, so also cannot be felt. Hence the need for a Bible, so you operate based on knowing spiritual truth, since you can't otherwise discern it. Nor can you humanly discern Bible, because it requires Spiritual Brains, A Spiritual IQ. So, the results are real enough, but never does any feeling accompany spirituality itself.
"Spiritual" is a type of beingness, not something you feel. "Born again" is a transformation in your very nature as a person, such that you become Structurally Compatible with very God. Hence, you can't feel any of this change (body is too small to detect it). You are imputed with God's Own Righteousness (2Cor5:21), you have a human spirit (in which the Righteousness 'sits', Titus3:5), and you have Eternal (God's Own Type of) Life (Jn3:16, "everlasting" life is mistranslation). You also get the Holy Spirit's Power, which is why the spiritual life is a perceiving life, via His 'brains'; spirituality is never works, since spirituality is never body. You are basically living in two 'worlds' the moment you are saved: one, toward God, and the other, in the body. So, certain body things are compatible or not compatible with the spiritual 'world' you live in, but at no time is a body thing, itself spiritual.
The spiritual life is a Thinking Life at all times, and is never anything else: Jn4:24 should be clear enough even in translation. Paul uses really blistering, sanctified sarcasm to stress this fact, in Rom12:1-3; but those verses are always horribly mistranslated. So see Rom121-3.htm, which is all about this transmutation. Book of Ephesians and Hebrews center on the transmutation and its effects, as does the entire book of Romans. All three books are horribly and strategically mistranslated (satanic tampering, frankly), so if this issue 'burns' in your soul, get your pastor's teaching on them in the original languages. [God's Power is supernatural, and so is Satan&Co.'s. We humans are helpless. So one of the other advantages of staying in God's System is that satanic tampering is blunted. It takes some years of growth for this to occur, which is why #5 is Mission Critical to your operation in the System. So the strategic mistranslation reveals how the translators were not living in the System (or not living long enough) when they translated. Because the mistakes in translation, would cause you to flunk a first- or second-year Biblical Greek test, in a good seminary.]
You also get dozens of other assets; you are a Royal Priest forever from the moment of salvation, and God's Will for your life is to train you to become a King-Priest (which Will, you can turn down). The typical idea of "priest" down here is not what Bible means. Think of it as "Royal Representative", ambassadorial. "DueDisclosure" link at Pagetop, explains what those terms mean in detail, starting with God's Own Nature; so you can get a rational frame of reference for what "Priest" means. "King" however, is pretty much how you'd think of it now, except no one will be competing with you, and it will become a joy to rule, once you are grown in the training. Which you get by learning Bible IN the System (next 4 Elements deal with that topic). Most Christians are learning Bible OUTSIDE the System, so aren't really learning anything. So don't interpret "learning Bible" by what you see Christians typically doing: they are in Satan's system, not God's.
As a believer then, you have become royally able to live with Him forever, and royally able to get communication from Him, and to understand it. A saved person can understand everything, but it takes time, and Elements #2-5 of the System, are required for that learning and understanding to occur. An unbeliever or a believer OUTSIDE God's System, will imagine he understands spiritual truth, but never does. Such a person will not be able to tell he doesn't understand, either. Dead giveaway characteristics of being outside the System: anthropocentric interpretation, and goofy ideas about God, about what constitutes the spiritual life. Bible translations are often mistranslations (antropocentrically-slanted), for this reason; so Bible in translation often doesn't make sense (e.g., Gen3:11 compared to Gen2:24-25 -- 3:11's grossly mistranslated in all translations).
What constitutes "sin" is a much bigger array of negativity than the typical Christian knows, so most Christians are "carnal": so, not in the System. No problem: just use 1Jn1:9. You've heard about the gross sins, but here are some bigger ones: anger (Eph4:26-30, v.26 is mistranslated: should say "stop being angry and sinning", imperative of prohibition means stop doing something you are doing; not "be angry and do not sin", bad translation!). Also, jealousy, gossip, maligning, judging, vindictiveness, self-righteousness (very subtle, that), lying, stealing even a pencil. You get the idea. Then, some things are called "sin" by people, but are not: drinking alcohol (drunkenness is sin, not drinking, Eph5:18), smoking cigarrettes, eating certain foods, wearing certain clothes, abortion (though you should check everything you do with God, for any of these might be sin for you, given your personal situation). Volition's mental attitude causes sin. Clearly the guy who murders has the wrong mental attitude, so it should be clear that the gross sins have bad thoughts running them. Many good deeds are done in a state of sin, so don't let the outer appearance, fool you. As Christ said many times when He was here (search in Gospels, text isn't always the same), it's the THINKING which defiles you, not body stuff. Body is a helpless bucket of biology, a slave to thought. So the body, cannot sin. It's a SOUL, which sins. Usually, by pretending it's holy!
By the way, where it says "cleanse" in English Bible verses of 1Jn1:9, the word should be "purify" (French Louis Segond gets it right). Much stronger word, means never again do you need to name that sin; only what new ones you commit afterwards. Um, use common sense. If you don't remember them all, just say what you remember. Text makes it clear you don't have to be anal and state every single one: God knows you know what particular sins you have in mind. Breathe 1Jn1:9: I often just think it as an idea of "arrogance", takes a nanosecond. The point about naming is first the admitting, but more, the recognition of what you are doing. Amazing how that recognition builds a defense against the next attack of the same temptation...
Life with God is Spiritual: it 'plays' as a type of awareness, a type of perceiving, thinking, learning, knowing. With Him. There's nothing weirdo about it (i.e., no such thing as 'feeling' spiritual). John 4:24 says you aren't spiritual unless in the Spirit, AND in the Truth (#3). So, the Holy Spirit must Empower you, for you to be spiritual. Sure, when you were born 'again', you became a spiritual being; but function is something requiring Divine Power; just as, God's Power saved you and changed your very nature, so also that Same God's Power (Holy Spirit's) makes the spiritual life, function. Else you are spiritually comatose. You won't feel that either, but you will feel the results of the bad decisions you make when not spiritual, and you will feel the Divine Discipline, ere long...
You can't be spiritual if you are in a state of sin, because all sin is basically a rejection of the Holy Spirit's power, in favor of your own. Remember, your human power is of no consequence, so if you choose it, then you are REJECTING Divine Power. Remember, sins themselves got paid on the Cross; but sin is also a rejection of God, so you're voting "I don't want God". So, you're rejecting BEING spiritual. Sin was the trigger, and it got paid for on the Cross; rejection, however, is your free-will VOTE. That you used sin as your format to say "no", is now differently relevant as the motive for the rejection. But since the whole sin did get paid for on the Cross, your ADMITTING it, is a counter-vote to get back in Fellowship. So, you do, as 1Jn1:9 explains.
Fellowship, by the way, is a togetherness. Being in conversation with Someone you want. So-called 'Christian fellowship' isn't even a term in the Bible. Believers can gather for social life if they want to, but.. it's not a mandate in the Bible. It was a custom, nothing more: remember, Christianity's early days were fraught with persecution, so people clung together (sometimes stupidly, see Acts 5, 15 and 21, 1Cor11:17ff). Fellowship With God, on the other hand, is the First Commandment (i.e., Deut6:5).
Hence the need to breathe 1Jn1:9 whenever you are aware you have sinned: you're ADMITTING that you rejected, so you get Re-Admitted Into Fellowship With Him, and His Power thus re-enables you once more. I use 1Jn1:9, 24/7; even if I'm not aware I've sinned, at least once an hour, and even in my dreams I've noticed its use! So make it an instinctive habit to use 1Jn1:9. For more on what "God" means, read the next block of text between the half-lines.
Nerd Note on Trinity: "God" is a corporate noun or an individual noun in Bible, depending on context. Three Persons are Each Infinitely God, and their Titles (Names) tell us how they incorporated together as a Family. Hence "Father" is the 'head' of the Family (though Each God is Co-Equal in Nature and all other respects); Son, is the 'heir', and Spirit plays the 'mother' role. So, that's how we know Them in both OT and NT. Bible translations are not good for detecting how often Their Identities are displayed. You need the original-language texts. People who use translations always get "God" mixed up, and in history many people have been slaughtered over the mixed-up definitions. For example, "One" means "Same Nature", but dingdongs mix that up with one-in-number, or some hydra-headed-monster. It's a Corporation, for crying out loud: United, Voluntarily. Like, a Family.
In its originally-inspired written languages, Bible uses very careful grammar constructions and syntax to exactly convey meaning. So you have to become something of a wordsmith and a grammarian, to get the most out of Bible. God enables this of course, so your human limitations don't matter. Just get in and stay in His System, as summarized here in this page. TrinityCites.htm will be useful if the answers here aren't enough material for you.
Therefore, how "God" describes Himself in Bible, is witty and subtle, as well as blatant. He likes to use the foundational characteristics of the language, to communicate how He is, since He is foundational to all life. Also, since everyone in OT knew clearly about Father, Son, and Spirit, many references to Any of Them are made in wordplay; don't need to repeat what someone already knows, duh. So,
Infinity is not spatial, so the Number of Persons Who are God can only be disclosed to us, VIA God's telling us. And, Bible tells us there are Three Such Persons. So, the Holy Spirit is God, ("Holy Spirit" is His Mothering Title), and not just a format of display (1Cor12:7's "manifestation" is a SORRY translation). He is the COO of Divine Trinity Corporation, aka "Godhead" in theology. The Father is the Chairman of the Board, and is also fully God. The Son is the CEO, and is also fully God, which is why the Son took on Humanity to pay for our sins. "Father", "Son" and "Spirit" are all Their Titles, but They are Three Separate Fully-God Persons, not a hydra-headed monster.
2Cor13:14 itself proves all this in the Greek, and there are many other verses in the original-language texts of Bible to prove it all, as well. Translations screw up verses about God and His Nature, so you will have a very hard time seeing the How God is (Each One), from translations.
All goofy ideas about God come from people who don't study Bible in its original languages, or cling to baby-level, original-language study materials (i.e., Strong's lexicons). But even common sense would tell you that salvation wouldn't work unless there was a Separate Person (Father) who judged the Humanity of a Separate God-man (Lord Jesus Christ), and a Separate Person (Spirit) Who Empowered that Humanity (Jesus) so He could stay Intact on the Cross and successfully Pay for us all. Justice requires impartiality to be unimpeachable, and it's not unimpeachable, if the same person 'wears all the hats'. Nor would it actually PAY anything, for if God pays Himself, then all He does, is lose: justice to Himself would be a sham, were God merely One or Two in Number. Only at Three is justice no longer a sham, and since no longer a sham, not more than Three need exist. [God didn't create Himself, so to say only Three are necessary is more for our understanding that Justice is met. Bible simply says that Three are Each God, doesn't explain why Three.]
Technically, you are spiritual if you are Filled (empowered) by the Holy Spirit, which means 1Jn1:9 used. But you won't long be using 1Jn1:9 if you don't get spiritual nourishment, which comes from learning Bible WHILE being Filled. Almost no one does this, anymore. Which is why people constantly comment on how "mean-spirited", 'Christians' are. Well, they aren't using 1Jn1:9 so whatever Bible study they do, is just so much hot air. Human power is rejected by God, because Christ rejected using His Own Human Power, in favor of the Holy Spirit's. We inherited His Spiritual Life, not the OT version, so our human power, is worthless to the spiritual life. Doesn't mean you sit around on a bench; does mean you breathe 1Jn1:9 and Learn Scripture, Then Live On What You Learned.
For, enjoyment/fellowship requires compatibility between the parties. Hence the need to transform from the incompatibility of puny human thinking, to Infinite Quality God-thinking. Which means, depositing Truth into your head. Which means, learning Scripture, which is the Truth you need for this transformation to occur. Because Bible is truth, and you learn it; because God is truth, you are learning, Him. This information, then, changes how you choose to think, so transforms you to become like Him (Rom12:1-3, but translations are bad -- see Rom121-3.htm). All my websites spend a lot of time going over what this 'transformation' means, each from a different analytic 'window'. Thinking Series is the longest and maybe best of them.
So, it's voluntary, how much of this transformation, you yourself want. But however much you want, you need spiritual fellowship with Him, to thus learn and prepare (hence the need for using 1Jn1:9, as noted above). So if you are not in fellowship, no matter what you think you learn from Bible, it's garbage. It's spiritual perception under the Spirit, not human perception, that you need.
Studying Bible is not just collecting the data (i.e., memorizing verses, knowing who Moses was, what Christ said, etc). Studying Bible really means Understanding The Meaning, and 'connecting the dots' about how various Bible 'doctrines' relate. Kinda like learning math, you have to know the relationships BETWEEN data, not merely the data itself. So, "Bible Doctrine" means God's Own Thought-Formulas, which the Bible itself tells you; which formulas you discern, as you study Bible; which define the relationships between the various data; like, how faith relates to spirituality, to behavior, etc. Then, you LIVE on what you know, 24/7.
It takes practice, to do this, and the "practice" is to keep on thinking about what you know, applying it yourself to whatever is going on in your life; from the mundane, i.e., brushing your teeth, to whatever 'noble' high thing. This practice, like salvation itself, is personal: not one-size-fits-all. What's appropriate practice for person "A", won't necessarily be the same as for "B". Because, it's based on your own soul. Not, someone else's. Think of it like this: the Divine Thinking formulas are all the same, Bible, His Thinking: but each of us, is a 'variable', so the way His Thinking formulas play IN us, will vary per person. If you know anything about fractals, use that analogy to understand how "practice" is individualized, even though the Divine Thinking, is unified.
Because you are learning superhumanly, and it's Divine Thinking, above which there is nothing; your body life will be completely useless. One of the biggest mistakes in my spiritual life was an expectation that because I had been so well trained in Thinking, that my body could actually obey that thinking. Guess again. Romans 7 and 8 explain the real results: war, conflict, divorce, and pregnancy (latter is in Greek, fuzzed over in English). Divine and sin-nature human are structurally incompatible. So the more Divine Thinking growing in you, the more incompatible you will become with yourself, and with the world around you.
Maturity resolves that incompatibility in your thinking, but never takes away the incompatibility itself. For, the body is but biological material, ceaselessly sending up stupid sin-in-Adam signals, deaf to the Dear Doctrine you know. So you learn to ignore its deadness, as you mature. This is one of the most important lessons you can learn in the spiritual life; until you do, you will think you are supposed to be able to do 'great things for God.' Nope. That's not even the purpose of the learning. The learning, is God showing you His Son, your so-great salvation, how to be with and in Him, even as He is in you. That's it. For, your body this side of heaven, remains unable to use what you are learning, really. That's why you are commanded to be Filled with the Spirit (Eph5:18), sheesh. Would God do that, if it was unnecessary?
So you are to be CARRIED by God through your body life, and your soul lives on the spiritual understanding you have thus far, in God's System: which soul, is carried by the Holy Spirit (hence 1Jn1:9). Nothing Else Is The Spiritual Life; Nothing Else Pleases God. Repeat: nothing else. You will be tempted like people in the future (Matt24) to come out of your 'cave' of living in God's System. Tempted to 'use' instead of 'waste' what you are. All lies, those temptations! And all are via Satan&Co. manipulation, so don't blame the human agents (or things) used. Stay In The Cave. Heh: opposite of Socrates' advice to Glaucon! Christ Himself said, "My Food is to do the Will of Him Who Sent Me." Meaning, He didn't and couldn't survive absent living on the Word under the Holy Spirit, Matt4:4 and "full of Grace and Truth" verse. So if it's good enough for Christ, then it's good enough for you, and it's bad to listen to the average Churchinanity calls to leave your Petra!
