Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Who is Jesus? | Matt 24:28 | Reformer Joe | 23829 | ||
Ross: 1. Lack of fear of being accursed or the amount of money given to an organization does not make anyone more right or less accursed. 2. Matthew 24 may be interpreted differently by different people, but I think most would agree that such a passage, while important, is not an essential element to the gospel of Christ Jesus. 3. What makes a church or denomination a Christian one? (a) Belief that the Bible alone is the sole authority of faith and practice; (b) belief that we are saved from our sinfulness against a holy God by God's grace ALONE through faith ALONE in Chirst's sinless life and subsitutionary death and resurrection ALONE. Now there are many groups that deny this. You have mentioned the Jehovah's Witnesses. Besides an ever-shifting theology, they use a mis-translation of the Bible to support their cultic views and their rejection of the two marks of a Christian church cited above. Other denominations are apostate ones because they reject the first tenet above. It is not that they interpret the Bible differently than evangelical denominations; they merely say that the Bible isn't a reliable standard, Still other denominations and Christians within those denominations disagree on certain issues (such as the timing and mode of baptism and how much humans are involved in their own salvation). However, most do not see those as essential issues that place someone in the category of "non-Christian." I can give you two very good examples. The first is Tim, with whom you have been discussing things here the past several days. While we have disagreed on much on this forum, because we hold to those two distinctives mentioned above, we hold each other to be brothers in Christ, because it is the same gospel. Likewise, within my own Reformed tradition, there are those who hold that only believers should be baptized and others who hold that infants should be baptized. They will rigorously hold to their positions, but the message they preach from the pulpit is going to be essentially the same on every other issue. One can go to a conference and hear members of both persuasions sharing the stage and in fellowship with one another. Why? Because they meet the mark of "Christian" as outlined in the Bible and mentined above. Baha'i denies both of those distinctives, and therefore cannot be classified as Christian from a Biblical standpoint. --Joe! |
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2 | Who is Jesus? | Matt 24:28 | rosscamp@home.com | 23841 | ||
Dear Joe, you wrote: "Matthew 24...is not an essential element to the gospel of Christ Jesus." During the days of the appearance of His Holiness the Christ in the first century, lack of understanding of the fulfillment of the prophecy that 'Elijah must come first', as repeated by Jewish Priests, proved to be a stumbling block for them, preventing them from recognizing Him as the Messiah. Thus, the understanding of the Truth, that is, accurate understanding of that prophecy, namely that 'Elijah' had, in fact, already come in the person of John the immerser, proved to be an 'essential element' for those Priests, most of whom died without ever recognizing the Lord Christ as the promised Messiah. In the same manner, lack of accurate understanding of the fulfillment of any Prophetic Word which lack prevents an individual man or woman from recognizing the One who said: "Look! I am coming as a thief", during the time of His Prophetic "parousias" proves to be 'an essential element', missing from the faith for that man or woman, with the same final result which occurred to the unbelieving Priests at His appearance in the first century. It is not the first time that I have heard a Christian express the belief that certain Words of His Holiness the Christ are not "essential". It appears to be a common attitude. Cordially Ross |
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3 | Who is Jesus? | Matt 24:28 | Reformer Joe | 23844 | ||
Maybe I didn't stress it clearly enough: I cited two main characteristics which biblically distinguish true Christianity from false Christianity. A lack of proper understanding and agreement on every last phrase in the Bible does not make one a non-Christian. I find it fascinating that you are so enamored of Matthew 24, since the Bab and Baha'u'llah so easily fit in with what His Holiness the Christ (the incarnate God-man) is warning about in this chapter: "Many false prophets will arise and will mislead many." --Matthew 24:11 http://www.equip.org/free/DB035.htm --Joe! |
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