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This concept is well portrayed in Breaking Bad.
Jesse’s character development into Mr. White’s likeness is encapsulated in a brusque comment made by Mr. White on a test paper that Jesse perceived as Mr. Whites’ recognition and empowering of his valued ability, so kept among his few belongings – “Apply yourself!”
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Despite being in constant emotional conflict this authority figure, he respects him as evidenced by always addressing him as “Mr. White”, and modeling his own behavior after his.
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Not only does he become the heir to Mr. White’s drug empire, as Jesse matures into leadership we hear Jesse repeat Mr. White’s instructions, including the all-important “Apply yourself!” to his own subordinates, and they begin to model their behavior after his.
And without giving away any of the building drama, the “only” begotten heir multiplies himself into “many brethren”.
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“Abraham begat Isaac; and Isaac begat Jacob…Jacob begat Judas and his brethren.” (Matthew 1:2)
- “Reuben, my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel – inheritance of a curse instead of a blessing. Also known as generational curse, or sins of the fathers, scientifically called epigenetics, these are limited to the 3rd or 4th generation of those who hate / reject God.
- Judah art he whom thy brethren shall praise. The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
- A straightforward example of likeness to the father, not primogeniture, as the basis for becoming the “only / unique” heir among other heirs as Melchizedekian ruler of the family of God. .
- While all of Jacob’s / Israel’s sons inherited some portion of their father Jacob’s estate – both land and non-material assets such as authority, only Judas – get it? -inherited the rank of Melchizedek, making him the ONLY / Begotten Son among his co-heirs, i.e. other begotten sons of the Father.
- Simeon and
- Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty. Cursed be their anger. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. –like Reuben, they inherit cursing instead of blessing
- Zebulun shall be for an haven of ships.
- Issachar saw that rest was good, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. This sounds more like forecasting the inevitable result from a poor character, no doubt the last chance to influence him after a lifetime of admonition.
- Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
- Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
- Naphtali giveth goodly words.
- Joseph…thy two sons, Ephraim and
- Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon [get a full share], they shall be [accounted] mine [sons instead of grandsons.] (Genesis 48:5)
- Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
“All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to [their behavior during their upbringing] his blessing he blessed them / bequeathed their God-given inheritance” (Genesis 49)
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This historical example informs our understanding of the most famous Bible verse in all Christendom according to the Bible.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16)
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The Greek word used in John 3:16 for “only” is monogenes.
The base word mono by itself means “single, sole, only, alone.” In other words, there is none other like this entity.
But adding genes, of course, changes the meaning, in this case, to literally, “one/ monos in a genos / class of like things“. In other words, this one is unique within its peers.
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Jesus is not saying that he is the ONLY begotten” son of God, but that he is the “Only / UNIQUE” begotten son out of the other begotten sons / heirs of God.
This is explicitly stated in scripture.
“For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate [not for salvation, but] to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn / leader among many brethren / peers.” (Romans 8:28-29)
“The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” (Romans 8:16-17)
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After famously ending the persecution of Christians and making Christianity the state church of the Roman Empire with himself as Pontifex Maximus, Roman Emperor Constantine called The First Council in Nicaea (325 AD) to establish if Trinitarianism or Arian’s doctrine of Jesus’ humanity would be accepted by him as the true Christianity. Resulting in the Nicene Creed, this is the sole ecumenical creed accepted by the Roman Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, and major Protestant churches.
“[I believe in] one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Only-begotten,
begotten of the Father before all ages;
Light of Light, true God of true God;
begotten, not made; of one essence with the Father,
by whom all things were made.” -
The biggest sales pitch of all in pagan Rome was changing the Jewish human Christ into a pagan immortal god cloned from another immortal god.
If this is the case, he was incapable of dying, therefore redeeming, humanity.
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But this is just the ending to the entire gospel of salvation presented in the entire chapter, in which the human Christ’s death is the beginning of salvation for humanity.
This is only possible if Christ is a mortal human being, not a hyperdimensional eternal being.
“I declare unto you the gospel which I [Paul] preached unto you, which also ye have received, and wherein ye stand; By which also ye are saved…unless ye have believed in vain…
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I am not asserting that anyone who recites the Nicene Creed has “believed in vain”, i.e. is not saved. I recited this creed myself while attending a Catholic church with my husband, thoughtlessly, because I had been taught the doctrine of the Trinity growing up in a Baptist church.
What matters for salvation is believing the biblical doctrine presented in I Corinthians 15.
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And Jacob / Israel divided his assets to the heirs according to what they had earned in their lifetimes through demonstrating their likeness to his values in accordance with Revelation 2-3.
What is so “Only / Unique” about this Begotten Son of God?
This is so utterly essential to salvation that disputes raged about the meaning of “only begotten son of God” since the beginning of Christianity.
Archbishop Alexander of Alexandria, which defines him as highly educated in classical literature, taught that Jesus as God the Son was eternally generated from the Father, therefore God himself, along with his Spirit freed from his body. This doctrine of the Trinity equates Jesus Christ with the cloned energy / spirit beings, who are also capable of possessing a human body. See relevant post for details.
Drawing his teaching from the Bible, Arius and his followers asserted that the Father alone was eternal, and that the Son had a defined point of origin and was subordinate to the Father. He is revered as a saint and equal to the apostles in the Eastern and Oriental Orthodox Churches and various Eastern Catholic Churches.
Emperor Constantine had Arian’s writings burned.
The problem for those of us, like Arian, who base our beliefs on the Bible is that Constantine – and many other theologians besides Alexander -popularized Christianity in the pagan Roman Empire by, well, making it popular to pagans.
I Corinthians 15:41-54 is famous for the doctrine of the dead in Christ rising immortal from the grave, with the instant transformation of living believers to immortality rising with them to meet the Lord in the air.
how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
And that he was buried,
and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures…
For since by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead…
And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.
For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
But every man / each one of the same kind in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.
Christ himself defined how one comes to belong to him in John 17.
“this is life eternal, that they might know / be intimately acquainted with, united with THEE the only true God,
AND (separately) Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.
I have glorified / won a victory for thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.”
As the human defined as the last Adam, that work was to make it possible for ALL Humanity to take dominion over all Creation, specifically by bruising / crushing the head / destroying the power of death of the serpent / Satan.
Kingdom Come 