Register | Sign In


Understanding through Discussion


EvC Forum active members: 65 (9162 total)
5 online now:
Newest Member: popoi
Post Volume: Total: 915,815 Year: 3,072/9,624 Month: 917/1,588 Week: 100/223 Day: 11/17 Hour: 0/0


Thread  Details

Email This Thread
Newer Topic | Older Topic
  
Author Topic:   Jesus Among Secular Gods
GDR
Member
Posts: 6202
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 1.9


(1)
Message 69 of 94 (863988)
10-04-2019 5:34 PM
Reply to: Message 67 by Faith
10-04-2019 12:00 PM


Biblical Understanding
Faith writes:
Jar and Thug have commented on this part of your post and I'm going to add my bit. We are SUPPOSED to read the whole Bible through the "lens" of Christ, or the New Testament as a whole. But what conservative Reformed Christians get when we do this is the Christian understandinjg of the Old Testament, there is NO PLACE "where they got it wrong," because it was all inspired (God-breathed) through Jesus anyway. We are to interpret everything in the OT according to the revelationj of the New and when we do we do not contradict any of it, we understand its original meaning.
Hi Faith
The problem though is that in actuality you don't read the Bible through the lens of Jesus. You understand the Bible as being inerrant, so that if the Bible says that God commanded His followers to publicly stone people to death or to commit genocide then you believe that to be historical. That though is completely incompatible with Jesus' command to love your enemy, turn the other cheek etc, The enemy at that time was considered to be the Romans, and that specifically at the time was who Jesus would be referring to. Your understanding of inerrancy is also completely incompatible with Jesus telling them to release the woman caught in adultery.
It is a choice. As a Christian you can believe that the "Word" of God is a library of books or it is Jesus. It can't be both. For that matter the Bible says that in Jesus the "Word" was made flesh. Neither the Bible nor Jesus says that the "Word" was embodied by a book.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 67 by Faith, posted 10-04-2019 12:00 PM Faith has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 76 by Faith, posted 10-05-2019 1:35 AM GDR has not replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6202
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 1.9


Message 70 of 94 (863989)
10-04-2019 5:48 PM
Reply to: Message 68 by jar
10-04-2019 3:56 PM


Re: what jar has said.
jar writes:
But I do believe that God not just resurrected Jesus (that is a fairly common theme in many religions) but the he Ascended in to Heaven and will come again to judge the living and the dead.
I'm curious as to what you mean by resurrection. Are you talking about a "Jesus Seminar" understanding, where it is a metaphor or possibly some kind of vision, or was the resurrected Jesus present physically in that He BBQ'd fish and could be touched?
jar writes:
That still doesn't tell us anything about GOD.
Of course it would. If God resurrected Jesus then that is an affirmation of Jesus' life and message, so when we see what Jesus says about God it has considerable credibility
GDR writes:
Will my behaviour be judged on the same basis as someone who grew up being physically and mentally abused?
jar writes:
No one knows.
OK. We don't know but we do have beliefs. If we give any credence to what the Gospels claim that Jesus said, then we can expect judgement to be fair. IMHO the person who does the best job of sorting that out is Lewis. Essentially as I read him, it is that it isn't about what we do or don't do but about where our hearts lie. The things we do or don't do are symptoms of that but also driven by personal circumstances.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 68 by jar, posted 10-04-2019 3:56 PM jar has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 71 by jar, posted 10-04-2019 7:27 PM GDR has replied

  
GDR
Member
Posts: 6202
From: Sidney, BC, Canada
Joined: 05-22-2005
Member Rating: 1.9


(1)
Message 72 of 94 (863991)
10-04-2019 8:04 PM
Reply to: Message 71 by jar
10-04-2019 7:27 PM


Re: what jar has said.
jar writes:
My belief is a physical resurrection. But again it is only a personal belief and I don't think it's a significant or relevant point when it comes to living.
Interesting. I had believed that you had said some time ago that you didn't believe in a physical resurrection.
jar writes:
But again, there are many examples of someone being resurrected in the Bible so I don't see how that says anything about God.
I don't agree with that. The other Biblical accounts such as Lazarus are about a resuscitation back to a physicality that is still subject to entropy and eventual death. The point of Jesus' resurrection was a transformation into a body that is not subject to entropy or death and is able to move between God's dimension and our own.
Paul sees Jesus as being the first born of a re-created world which will ultimately be about the renewal of all things. (Matt 19:28)
Again, if Jesus has been resurrected by God and given dominion over the nations then it is to Jesus that we look to understand the nature of God. Again it is when we look at Jesus in that light we can know that when the Bible says that God ordered genocide and public stoning we can know that those involved personally got it wrong, even though the writers may have faithfully reported what was said.

He has told you, O man, what is good ; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your God.
Micah 6:8

This message is a reply to:
 Message 71 by jar, posted 10-04-2019 7:27 PM jar has not replied

  
Newer Topic | Older Topic
Jump to:


Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved

™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024