Subject: Sell what you have-give alms |
Bible Note: From one sinner to another, Take Hope: The Lesson of the Rich Young Ruler How good are you? Does Christianity teach as other religions do to improve ones self to be accepted by God? You can’t be accepted by God by any religious work you do no matter how great it is, what God accepts is to have faith in the Gospel. This is what the Bible teaches us. One day the Pharisees who prided themselves on their works and devotion to God came to Jesus and asked what must we do to do the work of God. Jesus replied: “believe on him who sent.” This destroys any notion of using ones own righteousness for acceptance before God. Isa. 64:6: “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.” In other words nothing we can do on our own has God approve of us. In Mk.10:17-22 We find a rich man running to Jesus and kneels asking him, “Good teacher (Rabbi) what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life? He recognizes that he does not have eternal life, who better to ask then Jesus. What must I do to have it. He has a works related idea for salvation. To call Jesus good meant a moral perfection in Judaism, not just being a caring kindhearted person. So Jesus said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God.” The emphasis is on THE good teacher which no rabbi was called. Jesus explains that “One there is who is good,” only God who is good in the absolute sense. http://www.letusreason.org/Apolo24.htm |