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NASB | 1 Thessalonians 4:15 For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will not precede those who have fallen asleep. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | 1 Thessalonians 4:15 For we say this to you by the Lord's [own] word, that we who are still alive and remain until the coming of the Lord, will in no way precede [into His presence] those [believers] who have fallen asleep [in death]. |
Subject: Nudity/ Sin |
Bible Note: Ed, perhaps I'm being as silly as a goose to suggest that the Forum would be as wise as a owl to explore your list in preference to being as busy as a bee railing against fellow Christians, as was done against our Catholic brothers in a recent thread, now restricted. To a certain degree we are all of us as blind as a bat in some areas and therefore as dumb as an ox to presume we are necessarily any better or more enlightened or more spiritually discerned than those "terrible hypocrites" -- reprobates most likely! -- who happen to belong to a communion of Christ's church that differs in certain relatively minor details from the communion that we espouse. ........ It is a fine line that Christians tread in an effort to maintain a right balance between defending the faith on the one hand, which Scripture commands [2 Timothy 4:1-5], and harshly judging others on the other, which Scripture forbids [Matthew 7:1,2]. I don't know about other believers, but this believer has a tough time keeping himself from crossing over that line from defense of the faith to unjust and harsh criticism -- even condemnation -- of communions that differ in some aspects, even comparatively minor ones, from his own. In some ways I can be as stubborn as a mule in this regard and, upon subsequent reflection, it always makes me as sick as a dog when I behave in so un-Christ-like a fashion. Jesus gave us enough to keep us as busy as a one-armed paper hanger when He asked, "Why do you notice the splinter in your brother's eye without being at all aware of the beam in you own eye? How can you say to your brother, 'Brother, let me extract the splinter from your eye!" and then He laid it down, "Hyprocrites, first extract the beam from your eye and then you can distinctly see to extract the splinter from your brother's eye." [Luke 6:41,42]. And again Jesus said, "Let the sinless one among you throw the first stone..." [cf. John 8:1-11]. I should think that one's efforts would be far more evangelical and productive of more abundant fruit were he to seek to bring the lost to Christ than to sway his Christian brothers to conform to his particular denomination's points of view. --Hank |