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The first law of science is the fact that only life can beget life. Life cannot come from the not-living. Life could not have gradually come into existence from nothing. God could not have gradually come into existence. God and the Word always have coexisted—without father, without mother, having neither beginning of days nor end of life—but living from eternity through eternity. Out of matter God created the fauna and the flora—animal and vegetable life. We might classify all existence in kingdoms. The mineral kingdom, the plant kingdom, animal kingdom, human kingdom, angel kingdom, and the God Kingdom. Man was created in the human kingdom, and potentially may be born into the God Kingdom. But religionists who boast of being already "born-again Christians" are sadly deceived. The ultimate creation of man—to become God—necessitated the development of godly character within him. So at this point notice the system of duality in this ultimate God creation. Physically, man was made complete in two stages; first male, then the addition of female. Spiritually and mentally, he was to be made complete in two stages; first a human mind empowered by a human spirit. Even as God had supreme mind, man was made with human mind. But in mind and spirit man was not yet complete. To complete his physical creation, once the female was added to the male, they became one as a human family. So, in the spiritual creation, the addition of the Holy Spirit of God must be added to the human spirit. This makes the man spiritually at one with God. But even at this stage the principle of duality is still in force. Once the Holy Spirit is joined with his human spirit his human mind is complete, but he is still a human, now begotten as a God person. He is only an heir of God, not an inheritor of the God Kingdom. He is only begotten, not yet born as God. The duality principle continues. Human birth is the precise type of God birth. In the woman is an egg cell called an ovum. It possesses potential life. Yet unless fertilized by the human sperm cell from the body of the father, it has a life span of less than 28 days. The male sperm cell on entering it endows it with the start of human life. But to call it already a born human compares to the deceived calling themselves "born-again Christians." On conception the ovum is called an embryo. It must grow physically, fed through the mother. By four months, when taking on human form, it is called a fetus. It continues through a period of gestation for nine months from conception to parturition, when it is born. The first human, Adam, was created, as we might say by analogy, a spiritual ovum. He had only a temporary physicochemical existence. If "fertilized" by the male divine sperm of God (His Holy Spirit—actually God-life), he would have been begotten, but not yet born as God. But God is supreme perfect spiritual character. Before Adam could even qualify to be begotten into the God Family, he had to choose between the way of God and the way of Satan, who still sat on the throne of the earth.
Herbert W. Armstrong (1892-1986)
A World Held Captive
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