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NASB | Hebrews 11:40 because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they would not be made perfect. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Hebrews 11:40 because God had us in mind and had something better for us, so that they [these men and women of authentic faith] would not be made perfect [that is, completed in Him] apart from us. |
Subject: Superior Hope |
Bible Note: Good evening Ed, I have taken the time to go back over your posts and reconsider what you have had to say. I have decided that your comments, however insulting time and again, are done in sincerity, not out of a desire to hurt. It is a common factor of your writing, so it is simply part of who you are, and I will try to temper myself and be understanding. I have considered my "insults" to the church as you like to view them. I have concluded that you are not understanding my comments, so to briefly restate the point: It is not the church (actual, active, truly righteous and believing body of Christ), but the teachings of the times considered "orthodox." They believed they were doing the right thing when they did what they did. My gripe is not against the church, but against false doctrines, recognized by the authority of the established church of the time periods to be "orthodox," that lead people to do such horrible things. I have come to the conclusion that you do not understand what love is. You recognize love as an emotion, and from this perspective, I understand why you cannot wrap your mind around this idea. Love, by the context of the Bible, is a behavior you exhibit, not just the emotion that motivates the behavior. Agape is the emotion. Agapao is the action that causes Agape to be exhibited, and it is recognized as a verb and action, not a feeling. I have concluded that you didn't really read my first long post expounding on love and the law. If you read it, you did not give it reasonable consideration. Since the time I presumed you read it, you have made comments blatantly contrary to scripture. I do not understand why. I honestly believed plain scripture would be enough to bring the conversation back into perspective, but I am at a loss since you choose not to acknowledge plainly written statements by Jesus, James, John, Paul, and Peter. This is not stated in sarcasm or insult. I'm truly at a loss as to what to say, because if I can't argue scripture and see progress, then I'm without debate. You have agreed that Hewbrews is not a command. I took the liberty of copying and pasting what you previously wrote for demonstration: "it was I that conceded the fact that you were right going to church as stated in Hebrews 10:25 was not a commandment as such but rather an admonishment made for our good." Because it is not a commandment, but exhortation, and because no other such commandments exist, I will conclude from our discussions the very same point I made in my first post. Going to church is not a commandment, but a thing we should do. Throughout this series of posts, people have lost sight of what my original statement was. Allow me to paste it here for you: "We are not commanded to go to church. Let every man be fully pursuaded in his own mind. The one that does not esteem one day above another, God will make him stand, and we should not judge another's servant, for no man should be your judge regarding Sabbaths, or other related holy days. Those that choose to go to church, you do a fine thing. Those that choose not to go to church, it would be better if you did, but it is not required. If you are weak, you could use the instruction. If you are strong, you could instruct others. So either way it is a good thing, and we don't want to forsake the assembling of ourselves because it is our opportunity to provoke one another to love." [Romans 14:1-10; Colossians 2:16] Again, having reread all the posts, I conclude that not only has this statement not been refuted, but it has been frequently unheld in anger by those that would criticize me, and this includes you. In the attempts to refute what I wasn't ever trying to say, my original statement has been inadvertently verified and conceded to by virtually everyone involved in this post. They, including you, have all stated plainly that scripture does not directly command it. They also, including you, have all stated plainly that they think it is something we should do. This is the heart of what my post was. It was an exhortation to go to church, and to go for the right reasons. Again, people have lost sight of what my original post was. As for love and its relationship to the law; you are not understanding just how powerful love is, what the ramifications of love are, and just how thoroughly love accomplishes all tasks related to God. All in all, our discussion on going to church has been resolved. Neither you or anyone else has refuted me, and all have conceded to my points, expressing similar ones simultaneously without realizing what my original point was. I will address the love issue in a different post, but I think we have reached our conclusion on the "go to church" conversation, unless you have something else to add that supports or defies the stated, supported, conceded statement from the beginning. Ancient |