Results 1 - 4 of 4
|
|
|||||
Results from: Notes Author: Motherturtlewood Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is John 3:16 for real? | Bible general Archive 1 | Motherturtlewood | 28994 | ||
Emmaus, Dan K, Jensen: Further to this discussion...and to this passage ["Although in ways known to himself God can lead those who, through no fault of their own, are ignorant of the Gospel, to that faith without which it is impossible to please him, the Church still has the obligation and also the sacred right to evangelize all men." Hebrews 11:6; 1Cor 9:16 ]...it has been my experience to come to realize that all of us are fairly much where we are "supposed" to be. (I'm finding this mildly difficult to put into words.) That is, we are constantly inundated with God's grace...always faced with the "fundamental option" or choice of accepting salvation (i.e., Jesus aka Salvation aka Holy Spirit aka God the Parent/Father/Mother/Source/Authority/Word/Life/...). Surely, if God is nothing else, God will be (was and always has been) fair. As a child, having one parent an Irish Catholic and one parent born Buddhist-convertedCatholic-disillusioned-withUnChristian-behaviors-of-people-who-"should"-have-known-better-etc-, I spent a good deal of time worrying and praying for the salvation of both. In my "ignorance" I spent hours and hours bidding God to let my parents into heaven and please not send either to hell for non-conformance to whatever standard current at that time (50 years ago). So, on a very practical level, I can appreciate Dan K's question re whether John 3:16 is worthy of belief. Although through personal prayer comes revelation to the heart the peace of salvation, we the people of God (i.e., the Church without name) must "evangelize" sometimes without words but with acts of loving kindness. We are gift; we are grace. And we cannot KNOW how God will do what God will do. Until I became a parent, I had no clue the size to which one's heart could grow. Once when my oldest child was two (who turned 19 yesterday) had committed some minor transgression, I put him in the corner. A minute or two later, I looked in on him. He had his head down, hands folded, obviously praying. I asked, "What are you doing?" "I'm praying an in-the-corner prayer," he meekly replied. My curiosity prompted me to inquire, "What does a person say in an in-the-corner prayer?" In his simplicity he enlightened me with, "You say, 'Please, God, don't let me stay here forever.' " Knowing that I was my child's prototype for God and knowing that I was also God's delegate and couldn't let Him down, I said, "Oh, I see." A few seconds later, I called from the next room, "You can come out now." Grace is ALWAYS working. (I realize that this is neither exegetical nor Aristotelean.) P.S. Thanks to Emmaus and Searcher re help with Daniel 3, Song of Praise (12/25/01). A Blessed 2002 to you all |
||||||
2 | Christian Response To Eastern Thought? | Is 55:11 | Motherturtlewood | 30766 | ||
Jensen, I hope this is not a burden. No response expected. Just a few thoughts to add. (written a few days ago, but internet connx down) You are most polite to inform us that you have what you need and are coming to the realization that you might have to write something yourself. Clearly, that's how you are being led. I have been given some general insights that may be useful as you write. This forum is, of course, not the place for discussion of the understanding of the workings of the HEAD and the HEART. However, you might want to reflect on the nature of the individual entities of intellect and emotion. Steve aka IJ's point regarding God's perfect intellect can be well taken. Emmaus' suggestion re the handbook of apologetics should prove useful. Your own comments regarding emotions and Christians can be developed as well. Please consider these ideas (I believe they are based on Albert Ellis' work in rational-emotive theory in cognitive psychology.): When in perfect balance (in the order that God intended), the head and the heart work together. When disordered (from sin, concupiscience), then the problems begin. Ordered or disordered, the emotions are informed by the intellect. For example, Person A and Person B both lose a huge sum of money. Person A might completely fall apart, or get terribly and destructively angry. Person B does not. Both persons are equal socioeconomically. What's the difference? What each one thought about the money. In the case of anger, which by the way is what's called a secondary emotion, the underlying (or primary) emotion is fear. There's is (although very fleetingly) information (perhaps false) that the loss of the money will result in some sort of (albeit only perceived) disaster. Therefore, the person reacts with "negative" emotions. Extrapolate the model to two persons who might lose salvation. Proofs from the Bible and apologetics are excellent when appropriately timed, but until one knows exactly what the subtleties of thought under the emotions, efforts at intellectual proof will fall by the wayside if not do more damage. Before taking the trouble to lay out point by point what you would like to say, reflect on exactly what your friend might be thinking and what emotions might be at work. You might be already thinking about how the cycle might work; that is, false thought leads to negative emotion that leads to further false thinking (FG) which leads to emotional reactions to anything against FG, etc., etc. Psalms are always a good starting place when confronted with overwhelming problems. Many blessings in your task, mtw Psalm 5 A morning prayer for help Let my words come to your ears, O Lord: hear my sighs. Listen to the voice of my crying, my King and my God. As I pray to you in the morning, Lord, listen to my voice; in the morning I will stand before you and await you. You are not a God who loves evil. The wicked cannot stay near you, the unjust cannot remain in your presence. You hate all who do evil - you destroy all who speak falsehood - the Lord abominates the bloody and deceitful man. But in the abundance of your mercy you will admit me to your house: I will worship you in your holy temple, with fear and reverence. Lord, guide me in your justice, protect me from my enemies: let me see the path I must follow. For there is no truth in their mouth - their heart is a bottomless pit - their throat is a wide open grave - their tongue seduces. Punish them, Lord, and let their own plans destroy them. On account of their crimes, thrust them from your presence; for they are rebels against you. Let all who hope in you rejoice, triumph for ever. You will shelter them and they will glory in you. For you bless the just, O Lord, and your good will surrounds them like a shield. |
||||||
3 | Song of Praise - in Daniel? | Dan 3:24 | Motherturtlewood | 28037 | ||
Thank you very much, Emmaus. Hope you have had a peaceful Christmas. mtw | ||||||
4 | Are we in the last days? | Acts 2:17 | Motherturtlewood | 30760 | ||
Maroon, Just concurring with Emmaus. It reminds me of the saying: God's love always surrounds us even if we do not know it. I've always wondered how we all would behave if we truly were conscious of God's presence. How do we behave when in the presence of someone we love, admire, and respect? The first verse of Luke 18 came to me when thinking about being in constant communication (presence) with Our Beloved. Luke 18: 1 Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should PRAY ALWAYS and not give up. 2 He said: "In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. 3 And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, "Grant me justice against my adversary." 4 "For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, "Even though I don't fear God or care about men, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming. " " 6 And the Lord said, "Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?" 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like other men--robbers, evildoers, adulterers--or even like this tax collector." 12 "I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get." 13 But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." |
||||||