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 | What is the "reward" ? | Mark 9:41 | Mommapbs | 115043 | ||
Greetings CDBJ: Here is what I just posted to Emmaus - I'd appreciate your input. Thanks for the great tesitmony of the power of God to work through an unbeliever! mommapbs I've been in a dialog recently with a self proclaimed "post-moderist Christian" who asserts that his understanding of following Christ is to respond to the the world's problems of oppression and poverty, etc. Loving God and loving one's neighbor - can we love our neighbor and declare that this is HOW we love God? Or do we love God first and then extend it to our neighbor? Can someone love his neighbor and not love God? When I questioned him about who Jesus is he replied: "Do i think Jesus is God? I dont know. I know it was not important to Mark's gospel, where Jesus is called Son Of Man - a term for the return of King David. I know that in hebrew writing the title 'son of God' was given to those mystics that were thought to have a specil connection to God - in jesus's own time you had Honi Circle-Drawer, Hanina ben Dosa, even Peter and Paul. Greek people with their myths of the Gods fathering people saw the phrase very diffrently. The biblical text has all of this diversity. Remember teh first creed of the Church was 'Jesus Is Lord' and the other creeds only showed up 400 years later when constatine wanted to consolidate his power. Look at the letter writers. No one refers to miracles,virgin birth etc. No one refers to a bodily resuerection (though paul refers to the church as the resuerection). Jesus said 'the father and i are one'. If you start with John 3:16 'for who ever believes in...' and realize that the word for IN can also be translated as LIKE then the context changes. The Father and i are one...the life i live is the life God wants of all of us. 'I am the way, the life and the truth' can just as easily mean 'the life i live is the way, the life i life is the truth, the way i live is the life God demands of us'. 'lord'? It does not mean God or anything about divinity. It means a master of knowledge. To call Jesus lord is to say that he is the master of knowledge of the life God wants of us. And what was that life? To love God and to love our neighbor as ourselves!" (BTW, this chap is an aspiring seminarian! Sorry about all the errors, I copied his text as he wrote it to me.) WELL? Perhaps now you can see the motivation for my questions. I realize that there is another thread going about testing the spirits 1 John 4:2 - since this fellow questions the virgin birth, the Divinity and resurrection of Jesus, what would you conclude? What instruction is there for us in this exchange? Is the counsel of Mark 9:39 applicable here? I'm inclinded to shake the dust off my sandals, what do you advise? |
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2 | What is the "reward" ? | Mark 9:41 | Hank | 115085 | ||
Mommapbs: There is no fool like an old fool and I, having passed another milestone last week (I turned 69, but I'm actually too young to be that old). have all the necessary creditials to qualify for being old and for years have been somewhat of a fool. So I will, as unobtrusively as possible, enter into this thread and make a comment or two about your post and the post-modernist aspiring seminary student. In referring to him, you use the term, for which I don't for a moment mean to chide you, "post-modernist Christian" and I ask, "Can there be such a creature as that, as a post-modernist Christian? Given what post modernists stand for, or better, what they don't stand for, isn't the term "post-modernist Chrisian" closer to being in fact oxymoronic than an accurate label? What you report of this person's beliefs and interpretive slants on Scripture sounds far from Christian to me. This chap's exegetical skills are woefully flawed. His understanding of following Christ appears to be totally bereft of a real sense of Christ's mission. I read in his analysis of who Christ was (and is) no mention of the Cross, of man's depravity and his hopelessness without the atonement, without the finished work of our Lord Jesus on the Cross. His is a good works religion and in your description of his views, I see nothing about this self-proclaimed post modernist that differs materially from any other pagan view of good works salvation. ..... I believe I'd at least let him know that he doesn't know beans about Mark's gospel, and you can prove that to him (whether he will accept your proof is another question, of course) by whipping out your Bible and reading to him Mark 1:1: "The beginning of the gospel of Christ, the Son of God." Then let this whipper snapper tell you again that THIS is a term for the return of King David. But, dear Mommapbs, alas, I fear that any Scripture, any effort to get this person to see the truth may be pearls cast before swine, seeds sown among thorns. You might ask him to turn to Mark 4 and tell you into which category he falls in Jesus' parable of the sower and soils. Surely he could not claim to be the soil of verse 8. As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I've lived for a week over 69 years on this earth. I have encountered a diversity of religious ideas, met many saints and sinners, butted heads with skeptics and liberals of many stripes, including the post-modernist variety, and rejoiced with born-again believers who believe in Christ and His word and trust Him as Savior and Lord of their lives. I have come to be convinced that all men in no wise will be saved, that some for reasons known to God alone will not see the truth nor respond to it. The best we can do, as ambassadors for Christ, is to share as much of the truth (not argue) with these people as they will allow us to, to pray for them, and to leave the rest to the Holy Spirit of the living God. "Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet." Our Lord said that. (Matthew 10:14). The most distressing thing in your narration of your encounter with this person is that he is an aspiring seminary student. If he follows through on his aspiration and does not change the beliefs he appears now to embrace, may God have mercy on the flock who sit as this pastor's feet with expectation to be fed! --Hank | ||||||
3 | What is the "reward" ? | Mark 9:41 | Mommapbs | 115099 | ||
Greetings and blessings on your birthday Hank - I do thank God for you (and your parents of course!) From my perpsective,at 51, you're not old at all! (My granparents lived well into their nineties) Thank you for your counsel. It has been an interesting and disheartening exchange, (yes as a potential seminarian)but more so because others on the discussion agree with him! What I copied to the Forum was just a "smattering" of the "theology" he subscribes to - which seems to be God is in me and I am in God; he denies the total depravity of man and basically ignores the cross, he felt that the film, "The Passion of the Christ" didn't portray the REAL message of Jesus. In his works based "faith", he completely misses the point of Eph 2:10. Yet because he denies the divintiy of Christ, I believe he is a man without the Spirit, and it is by the Spirit that we understand spiritual truth (1 Cor 2) - so it's no wonder that he is ignorant! He seeks for meaning or validation (not truth, as a self proclaimed post-modernist) in the wrong places. Although he quotes Luther, and Bonhoffer and reads C.S. Lewis et al, he is relying upon the thoughts of men rather than the Word of God! (Which is what you have a bugaboo about, right?!) Yet this whole exchange further reaffirms the faithfulness of God's Word for He has told us plainly, "In the last time there will be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit. " Jude 1:1-19 God gave me a great "one-liner" during my study: Cosmologists and cosmetologists have something in common - they are both "make-up" artists! Also as a side bar: In my "dialog" I, was even accused of spoutting "Reformed Theology" (perish the thought!) Now Hank, in reference to our last exchange, THIS is how the Lord is at work in me: Recently I was asked to lead a "Bible Study" (which in reality is a book study) and I was hesitant because I was told that I was not to add anything (meaning extra material)to the study. This disheartened me as I perceived that those in authority were rejecting the gift that God has given me to use and teach His Word - but I had a clear indication from the Lord that this is what He wanted me to do and I purposed in my heart that as He gave me His Word to share I would be faithful to Him - which He has!) Well, the book is Colson's "How Now Shall We Live." Everything I am reading about was fleshed out in my dialog with this young man. Did God prepare me or what?! I could understand where he was coming from, how he was constructing his world view etc. and the challenge was to use what God had taught me to confront him with God's truth - yet because he rejects God's Word as absolute Truth, to quote chapter and verse would be as you said, "casting (God's) pearls before swine" (a reference that God brought to mind as I considered my further participation - which you could not have known before you wrote - which I understand as a confirmation for me from God). It seems that his conscience is seared (1 Tim 4:11-2)and apart from the Holy Spirit removing the blinders from his eyes, I can do nothing but pray to this end. Perhaps this could be a general corporate prayer as we live in a hostile and alien culture - driven by the spirit of antichrist! Prior to my post here, I was reading in Mark 9:38-41 about not hindering those who were "accused" of doing miracles in Jesus' name, and I asked God if this chap fell into this category so I pursued the meaning of this passage on the Forum. From what others have shared here, you included, God's direction from His Word has been made plain. So perhaps now you will have a better understanding of how the body of Christ is such an integral part of my walk with God as I rely upon it as an extention of Christ. The Holy Spirit is my counsellor through the Word, prayer, circumstances and the community of believers. These are the four points that I look for agreement in. I don't change what God's Word says or manipulate it according to my will, but I apply it specifically to my life situations. Isn't this what God's Word is for? They are Words of Life for life! "I have come that they might have life and have it (life) to the full" John 10:10 - which is right here right now! Eternity is the icing on the cake, but the cake (with Christ) is delicious too! Well, I trust that this "testimony" will be like a holy hug from our Lord, who has used you to encourage and strengthen me in my walk with Him. I thank our Father in Heaven and I thank you. May you continue to be blessed and be a blessing, mommapbs (aka trish) |
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