Does God's Oneness mean Sameness?

Before we even start this subject, let it be noted that this 'little glory' is attempting to speak of The Greater Glory and my few remarks regarding this subject, I readily recognize, will not adequately address this vast subject called 'God' or Oneness. Even though Jesus acknowledged his oneness with the Father, remember he did not hesitate to add that his Father was greater than he.

Deut. 6:4

Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord.

Ephesians 4:4

There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling;
One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.

These two scriptures declare the Oneness of God, do they not?


And did not Jesus also pray "Father that they may be one even as we are one."

So it seems from these passages that the the answer to our question, "Does God's Oneness mean Sameness?" must be that God is, indeed, Oneness.......ONE!

But does this Oneness also mean or imply that God is Sameness?

Does this Oneness mean that God is just a numerical singularity? When you say the word 'one', the mind, of course, sees just a singularity or not two.

But instead of a 'singluarity', perhaps it would be more accurate to think of God as an Infinity.... Energy that is so dense that it is the home of no-thing and yet everything that is possible.

In our joy in being awakened to our Oneness with God, I think that many see God only as a Singularity and not an Infinity. Many aspire to a state of undifferientiated bliss or singularity that some call Nirvana where you lose all sense of our calling to be Christ's creative equal.


But this God-All-In-One had a desire, had a plan, had an intention.....this LOVE HAD TO FIND A WAY, A MEANS TO BE LOVING!! God All-In-One yearned to be God-All-in-all!!


" God or Source is so secure in its existence that it can constantly break itself down and rebuild itself. Its energy is so unbelievable that it does indeed form all universes; and because its energy is within and behind all universes, systems, and fields, it is indeed aware of each sparrow that falls, for it is each sparrow that falls.


There is being, as opposed to nonbeing. Now- and this will seem like a contradiction in terms- there is nonbeing. It is a state, not of nothingness, but a state in which probabilities and possibilities are known and anticipated but blocked from expression.


Dimly, through what you would call history, hardly remembered, there was such a state. It was a state of agony in which the powers of creativity and existence were known, but the ways to produce them were not known. This is the lesson that All That Is had to learn, and that could not be taught. This is the agony from which creativity originally was drawn, and its reflection is still seen.


Some of this discussion is bound to be distorted, because I must explain it to you in terms of time as you understand it. So I will speak of some indescribably distant past in which these events occurred. All That Is retains memory of that state, and it serves as a constant impetus toward renewed creativity. Each self, as a part of All that Is, therefore also retains memory of that state. It is for this reason that each minute consciousness is endowed with the impetus toward survival, change, development, and creativity.


It is not enough that All That Is desires further being, but that each portion of It also carries this determination. Yet the agony itself was used as a means, and the agony itself served as an impetus, strong enough so the All That Is initiated within Itself the means to be.


If – and this is impossible – all portions but the most minute last ‘unit’ of All That Is were destroyed, All That Is would continue, for within the smallest portion is the innate knowledge of the whole. All That Is protects Itself, therefore, and all that It has and is and will create. The first state of agonized search for expression may have represented the birth throes of All That Is as we know it." end quote

God's labor pains brought forth each of us as spirit creations like unto our Father/Mother.



http://seeingwhatyoubelieve.blogspot.com/search?updated-min=2006-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=15



Within God the yearning to be all that S/He was, is where each of us as an individuated epression of God was birthed from. We each are God's idea of Himself. But we are not all clones of one another any more than every cell in our body exists as only one organ. We have trillions of cells each forming different organs and functions in the body but each one containing the holographic blueprint of the whole. My body identification is called Karen [one], but I am made of many [cells]. The scriptures teach so also is the Christ Body many cells/selves. Cor. 12

Ephesians 3:10 from the Amplified Version tells us
[The purpose is] that through the chuch the complicated, [complex] MANY-SIDED wisdom of God in ALL ITS INFINITE VARIETY AND INNUMERABLE ASPECTS might now be made known...

We each are here to demonstrate the many sides and aspects of our Creator who is much more than a numerical one.

So my conclusion is that Oneness DOES NOT mean Sameness.

the following is a quote by J. Preston Eby:

THE SEVEN SPIRITS OF GOD

“And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God” (Rev. 4:5).

For many years we did not know that God has seven spirits! Although we were raised in church, and had read the Bible through, we had never understood the mystery of the seven spirits. We all knew that “there is one body, and one Spirit” (Eph. 4:4). We all thought that when we were baptized in the Holy Spirit, receiving the one Spirit, that was the beginning and the finish of it! We spoke in tongues and prophesied, did a few miracles, danced in the Spirit and rejoiced with joy unspeakable and full of glory, and that was it! That is all we knew God had for us this side of heaven.

The question follows — are there seven spirits of God? If you say that God has seven spirits, to some that makes you a heretic! If, on the other hand, you say that the Spirit of God is not seven spirits, you are disagreeing with the heavenly revelation given to John! Is the Spirit of God, then, seven or one? If God says there is one Spirit, then there is one Spirit; and if God says there are seven spirits, then there are seven spirits. That is the mystery of it!

One of the keys to this mystery is found in the passage quoted above, “And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God.” In the Old Testament, the structure of the lampstand or candlestick was quite unique: below was one lampstand, above there were seven branches, and in each branch there was a lamp (Ex. 25:31-37). It was one lampstand, yet it had seven lamps; there were seven lamps, yet it was but one lampstand. The same picture is presented in Zechariah 4:2. Therefore, it is correct to say that there is one lampstand, yet it is not wrong to say there are seven lamps! So also is the Spirit of God. Without question, He is one Spirit; but He is also called “the seven spirits,” that is, the sevenfold, intensified spirit of God!

"Seven, in the scriptures, is the most sacred number of the Hebrews. This number is used more often than all other numbers, save the number one. It is the number denoting spiritual perfection and completeness. In this connection it is instructive to note that in the title “Holy Spirit” the word “holy,” according to Webster, comes from a root meaning “whole.” Hence, the Holy Spirit is the WHOLE SPIRIT! The seven spirits of God, seven denoting spiritual perfection and completeness, are likewise a figure of the “holy” or the “whole” or “complete” Spirit. When we understand that the number seven conveys the idea of unity and completeness, rather than diversity, then we can see with unclouded vision that the seven Spirits of God are the sevenfold, intensified Spirit of the Lord — the absolute FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT OF GOD!

Great is the mystery and the wonder of it, for there is one Spirit and yet there are seven spirits! This can easily be understood from the natural creation. Have you drunk a glass of water today? How many things is water? To us water is one thing, one item, one substance. But no — water is actually two things! Two parts of a gas called hydrogen and one part of a gas called oxygen are fused, and they make water. But water is not gas! When the two gases are mixed they produce an effect. You have something new, something different, something of a another quality — liquid. I didn’t get up this morning and tell myself that I needed a glass of H2O. It was unnecessary to bother with the chemical formula. I just knew I needed a glass of water. If I never knew anything about hydrogen or oxygen it would make no difference. Water is water! God knows how He made it. Scientists discovered God’s formula, but God invented it!

The almighty Creator has used that same principle of compounding to make everything that appears in the material creation. In the whole universe, the heaven, the earth, all the stars and suns and planets and moons, there are exactly ninety-six different things which are called elements. Everything we see everywhere is composed of some combination of some of those ninety-six elements. We think of salt as one thing. Yet salt is not one thing; salt is two things. Somebody has taken a piece of metal called sodium and a piece of a gas called chlorine, and mixed the two things together. The result is what chemists call sodium chloride and we common folk call it salt. How about air? Isn’t that one thing? Wrong again! Air is always three things. Seventy-nine parts of a gas called nitrogen mixed with twenty-one parts of a gas called oxygen, and a tiny, tiny portion of carbonic acid gas, make up the simplest kind of air. Air is not one thing. It might be as many as twelve or fourteen things, depending on how close you live to a glue factory or a garbage dump!

God has used that simple principle of compounding to make everything that appears in the vast expanses of the universe! And the physical creation is simply the mirror of the spiritual world! In just this way it is no longer necessary to see the Spirit of God as just one thing — for God Himself is not just one thing. God is light. God is love. God is life. God is spirit. Those are four things and we haven’t even begun!" end quote