Posted on 04/09/2007 12:03:33 PM PDT by Nasty McPhilthy
Seems like par for the course as far as adult Bible study / Sunday school goes.
Bunch of people reading the Bible and drawing the strangest conclusions from what they read.
I had the same thought. It may be senility, as you say, but I've noticed that liberals of all ages seem to "reason" this way.
Unbelievable. He reads from a completely different version of the Bible than I do.
Many Christians believe there is salvation outside of Faith in Christ. Below is the position of the Catholic Church...which has around one Billion members.
Those who, through no fault of their own, do not know the Gospel of Christ or his Church, but who nevertheless seek God with a sincere heart, and, moved by grace, try in their actions to do his will as they know it through the dictates of their conscience - those too may achieve eternal salvation.
LOL!
That position is much different that what Jimmie said. The Catholic position only applies to people who have never had the opportunity to receive the Gospel of Jesus Christ. They have a much different perspective on those who have had the opportunity to hear the Gospel and reject it.
So that brings up the question, what is Mr. Carter's faith. If it would not be challenged by finding out that Jesus did not commit miracles and raise from the dead, then his faith is little more than "there was a guy 2000 years ago who said some cool stuff." He leaves himself some wiggle rooom with the word "some." But I wonder if this kind of "Christian" even believes in the resurrection as something that really happened? If they do, how can they ignore what He says?
Can you believe it? I have NEVER heard John 3:16 truncated as Carter has done (thank you for including the last, and most significant, portion). He totally left that out!
What does the Bible say about speaking in half-truths?
Again, from the NIV: 16”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Well the patient cant be cured of the disease until they actually take the medicine. To have the Grace offered is a way different from saying that Grace is somehow Universally Applied!!
If you don't need to believe in Christ (or God) for salvation, then what is your purpose for living here on Earth? How do you know there is any salvation at all? And if there is none, why bother living a good life?
Hmmm. It must be tough to be a secularist and have people believe you are a Christian. Probably creates a lot of uncomfortable moments at cocktail parties.
He said it was God's (Jesus) way of "Identifying with the sufferings of Humanity" and nothing else.
The heretics are really coming outta the woodwork now.
He always says that we're all God's children and it's only here on earth that we divide ourselves, but to God we're all judged equally.
I lost whatever shred of respect he may have had left when he decided that he was right and ST Paul was wrong some time back.
However, I expected his statements to be much more outlandish than this one turns out to be. He may be functionally a universalist. I’m not sure. But this statement doesn’t explicitly make him one.
Nevertheless, He should put one of Shrillery’s dirty socks in it.
“The heretics are really coming outta the woodwork now.”
As prophesied by Peter nearly two thousand years ago:
2Peter 2
2But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive opinions. They will even deny the Master who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. 2Even so, many will follow their licentious ways, and because of these teachers* the way of truth will be maligned. 3And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation, pronounced against them long ago, has not been idle, and their destruction is not asleep.
4 For if God did not spare the angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell* and committed them to chains* of deepest darkness to be kept until the judgement; 5and if he did not spare the ancient world, even though he saved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood on a world of the ungodly; 6and if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction* and made them an example of what is coming to the ungodly;* 7and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man greatly distressed by the licentiousness of the lawless 8(for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by their lawless deeds that he saw and heard), 9then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trial, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgement 10—especially those who indulge their flesh in depraved lust, and who despise authority.
Bold and wilful, they are not afraid to slander the glorious ones,* 11whereas angels, though greater in might and power, do not bring against them a slanderous judgement from the Lord.* 12These people, however, are like irrational animals, mere creatures of instinct, born to be caught and killed. They slander what they do not understand, and when those creatures are destroyed,* they also will be destroyed, 13suffering* the penalty for doing wrong. They count it a pleasure to revel in the daytime. They are blots and blemishes, revelling in their dissipation* while they feast with you. 14They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! 15They have left the straight road and have gone astray, following the road of Balaam son of Bosor,* who loved the wages of doing wrong, 16but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet’s madness.
17 These are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm; for them the deepest darkness has been reserved. 18For they speak bombastic nonsense, and with licentious desires of the flesh they entice people who have just* escaped from those who live in error. 19They promise them freedom, but they themselves are slaves of corruption; for people are slaves to whatever masters them. 20For if, after they have escaped the defilements of the world through the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them and overpowered, the last state has become worse for them than the first. 21For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, after knowing it, to turn back from the holy commandment that was passed on to them. 22It has happened to them according to the true proverb,
‘The dog turns back to its own vomit’,
and,
‘The sow is washed only to wallow in the mud.’
.....and it’s only gonna get worse. Watch and see.
I’ve attended Sunday School my whole life and I’ve never seen people using the time to draw strange conclusions from it.
I don’t think Carter really believes this. Someone should ask him if he thinks the people who voted for Reagan in 1980 are going to heaven.
Thanks for the correction.
Hey Jimmah, there is a problem with ending the quote at a COMMA and replacing it with a period. If you go with the COMPLETE quote you get a different picture: —"For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life."
Where do you think 10,000 flavors of Protestantism came from?
Every group of adults I've ever heard talk about the Bible, or talk about what they've studied in the Bible, comes up with different lame-ass theories.
These are the same people who wrote stupid book reports in high school and even more pathetic papers if they made it to college. Why they would be expected to generate a comprehensive and consistent theology for themselves through reading the Holy Bible, with all its seeming contradictions and mysteries, and divorced from thousands of years of Tradition, is beyond me. (And I'm talking about all Christians here, plus non-Christians reading the Bible.)
The Devil can quote Scripture for his purpose, but get a bunch of people together and they'll come up with something more ridiculous than Satan's ever thought of.
Of course I'm in favor of reading the Bible, but if it's not put in the context of one's theological framework it would take the reader in any direction.
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