The Son of Man
Ensign, May 1992; “What is man?” asked the psalmist. (Ps. 8:4.) The answer: “[God] made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour.” (Ps. 8:4–6.) It is, therefore, our responsibility to climb ever upward and to wear God-given crowns honorably. Young men, especially those of a “chosen generation” and “royal priesthood,” must understand that they are the spiritual offspring of God and that no one becomes in truth a man until he reverences the Father of spirits and allows inner powers to control his thoughts, words, and actions. (See 1 Pet. 2:9; Acts 17:28; Heb. 12:9.)” – Elder Carlos E. Asay, Presidency of the Seventy
Psalm 8:4-6; “What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? 5 For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. 6 Thou madest him to have dominion over the works of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his feet.”
1 Peter 2:9; “But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his arvelous light.”
Acts 17:28; “For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.”
Hebrews 12:9; “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live?”
The psalmist was prophesying about Jesus – not man!!!
I find it curious how the Church will use scripture they say wasn’t translated correctly and to make it even worse they’ve twisted the very meaning of what God intended. My, it’s a tangled web in that place!
The mindset of Christians is “I must decrease so He can increase”. I’ve not heard of any Christian who thinks their responsibility is to climb upward and wear God-given crowns. In Revelation 4:10 it says the elders throw their crowns at Jesus’ feet in heaven, but man isn’t to assume or pridefully believe this is his “God-given right” to do so.
The Greek word “offspring” is genos which means kin in a literal or figurative sense. In Acts Paul was addressing the “thinkers” of the day and even quoted one of the famous poets (Aratus) who said that we’re begotten of God. He did this to endear his audience to his comparison of the God of the Bible and the gods they sat daily contemplating and discussing.
This word offspring does not mean that God begat us due to a sexual act between him and a goddess wife. This is contrary to everything God has revealed to us in the Bible!
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