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Pentecost Reading: Ezekiel 1

  1  In the thirtieth year, [ a ]  in the fourth month, on the fifth day of the month, when I was among the exiles by the Kebar Canal, the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God.  2  On the fifth of that month, in the fifth year of the exile of King Jehoiachin,  3  the word of the  Lord  came in a dramatic way [ b ]  upon Ezekiel, the son of Buzi, the priest, in the land of the Chaldeans, [ c ]  by the Kebar Canal, and the hand of the  Lord  was upon him there. The Glory of the  Lord  Appears 4  As I watched, I noticed a windstorm coming from the north. There was a large cloud, with fire flashing through it, and there was a bright light all around it. In the middle of it, there was something that looked like glowing metal [ d ]  in the middle of the fire. 5  In the middle of it I saw what looked like four living creatures. This was what they looked like. Each of them had a human appearance,...
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Pentecost Reading: John 1

  The Word Became Flesh 1  In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2  He was with God in the beginning.   3  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.   4  In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. 5  The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome [ a ]  it. 6  There was a man sent from God whose name was John.   7  He came as a witness to testifyconcerning that light, so that through him all might believe.   8  He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. 9  The true light that gives light to everyonewas coming into the world.   10  He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. 11  He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him.   12  Yet t...
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Pentecost Reading: Deuteronomy 5

  The Ten Commandments 5  Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them.   2  The  Lord  our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.   3  It was not with our ancestors [ a ]  that the  Lord  made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.   4  The  Lord  spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.   5  (At that time I stood between the  Lord  and you to declare to you the word of the  Lord , because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said: 6  “I am the  Lord  your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 7  “You shall have no other gods before [ b ]  me. 8  “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in hea...
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Soteriology & the Imago Dei

God is a triune spirit, infinite, eternal, & unchangeable as to being, wisdom, power, justice, holiness, goodness, & truth — ie GLORY Does Romans 1:18 - 32 have anything to say about concepts bound up with doctrinal matters like Soteriology?  After all, the text is an indictment of us all for suppressing the truth about God’s existence, invisible attributes, & authority by way substituting our own, human image & other images drawn from the created order, like those of animals, & then doing theology, philosophy, & ethics/ethical reasoning accordingly.  Some Christians deny the doctrine of Total Depravity (the idea that people who are able to sin are unable to do any spiritual good accompanying their salvation, particularly the exercise of saving (ie justifying) faith & saving (not just civil) repentance). They object on the basis that it is unjust &/or unfair for God to demand that we exercise saving faith & repentance if we are not cons...
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