Posted on 12/10/2009 2:08:47 PM PST by CondoleezzaProtege
annalex,
That pocket sized New Testament would hopefully be more than just “mere assistance”—more than just a helpful read in addition to everything else.
It will have the equivalent value of the air you breathe. By God’s grace and the help of the Holy Spirit. It will save your soul!
The words of GOD, unfiltered. Read, without distraction—will introduce Jesus Christ to you. You will be able to know Him fully as he was meant to be known, loved, and experienced. Once you run out of food, Christ will become your ONLY bread—TRUE bread, as you’ll have no wafer substitute.
You would be able to repeat the words of the great apostle (or “saint”) Paul, himself:
“7 I once thought these things were valuable, but now I consider them worthless because of what Christ has done. 8 Yes, EVERYTHING ELSE IS WORTHLESS when compared with the infinite value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have discarded everything else, counting it all as garbage, so that I could gain Christ 9 and become one with him.
I no longer count on my own righteousness through obeying the law; rather, I become righteous through FAITH in Christ. * For God’s way of making us right with himself DEPENDS ON FAITH. 10 I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, 11 so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!” ~ Phillippians 3
Hi, I’m a former evangelical.
Are you saying that which isn’t mentioned in scripture is a contradiction of scripture?
What "essential doctrines" are those?
John 1:1 is quoting Genesis 1:1 and if the student in the WORD does not understand Genesis then not even the Words of Christ will have full meaning. And this author does not demonstrate he has even an elementary understanding of what is instructed in Genesis.
"We" don't. "Reformers" contrive accusations to flavor their hatred of the Church with "righteous indignation"...simply more vanity.
Not necessarily, but that which isn’t mentioned should never be exalted above those things which are.
So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths. For these rules are only shadows of the reality yet to come.
And Christ HIMSELF is that reality.
Don’t let anyone condemn you by insisting on pious self-denial or the worship of angels, saying they have had visions about these things. Their sinful minds have made them proud, and they are not connected to Christ, the head of the body. For he holds the whole body together with its joints and ligaments, and it grows as God nourishes it.
You have died with Christ, and he has set you free from the spiritual powers of this world. So why do you keep on following the rules of the world, such as, “Don’t handle! Don’t taste! Don’t touch!”?
Such rules are mere human teachings about things that deteriorate as we use them. These rules may seem wise because they require strong devotion, pious self-denial, and severe bodily discipline. But they provide no help in conquering a person’s evil desires.~
St Paul to the Colossians 16:23
Then why did you say it, and how are you determining "necessary?"
...but that which isn’t mentioned should never be exalted above those things which are.
Where does Holy Writ authorize that rule? Furthermore, who determines "born again" is essential, but "eat my flesh" is figurative?
JESUS *IS* the BREAD OF LIFE. We eat his flesh by relying on Jesus Christ for sustenance day by day. Jesus talks about being the bread of life because HE is the only One that can truly satisfy us and fill us and give us eternal life. He fulfills our every need. That’s what makes him our bread!
*~*
“Publicly, he was saying: I am the bread of heaven. Just like God sent you manna in the wilderness to sustain your life, he has sent me into the world to give life—eternal life. And personally, he was saying to the apostles: Serve me faithfully, and you will never lack what you need. I will be for you everything you need, even in the hour of suffering and death.” ~ John Piper
* TASTE AND SEE *
“Here they are standing in front of the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ—the infinitely valuable, infinitely beautiful, all-satisfying, everlasting Food that endures to eternal life—who gives eternal life. And they ask: What kind of works does God want us to do so that we can have the Bread of Life? And Jesus says, in essence: If you don’t see the person standing in front of you for who he is, no amount of work is going to make him your Treasure. You don’t need to do any works, you need to taste and see. Eat. Believe.
“To all who did receive him, who believed in his name,” is part of what John said in John 1:12. Believing is receiving. Believing is seeing him for the Food that he is, and eating. That is, taking him into your soul, your life, as the all-satisfying, life-giving Treasure that he is.
*~*
IT’S ALL ABOUT CHRIST! THAT’S WHAT CHRISTIANITY IS ABOUT! GOD gave us HIMSELF! Jesus said HE is the way, HE is the truth, HE is the life. Christianity is not supposed to be like every religion where you can remove the founder and still be left with the rules and traditions.
Because in the same passage Jesus said, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me will never thirst.”
So if you have ever hungered or been thirsty, either you haven’t come to Jesus OR He was using a metaphor.
He also said, 63”It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing; the words that I have spoken to you are spirit and are life.”
As for ‘born again’ being essential, that is determined by Jesus Christ. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.”
Sounds pretty essential to me. “Cannot” is used, not “might not”.
It’s not a matter of anyone condemning me. It’s a matter of people lying about what God says, and the proof of that in failed promises.
God didn’t deliver me from the law of sin and death when I “accepted Christ as my personal savior.” He did it when I ate Christ’s flesh, and drank his blood in a worthy manner.
Some may call righteousness a “work,” but that doesn’t mean God agrees.
Well you were a victim of shallow “got saved?” American Christianity and not the Christianity of the Bible. You were most likely not taught the Biblical definition of “born-again.” And the implications of true conversion.
What you ate was a wafer and what you drank was wine.
Christ is to be our living bread 24-7. He’s supposed to be what fills and satisfies us. Not traditions and sacraments. But HIMSELF.
And we can’t ever come to him just by “saying a prayer.” We have to understand the depths of our sin. We have to understand what truly happened on that Cross. We have to truly REPENT and understand what it means to live drenched in his blood. To think that we can just superficially confess our sins to a person or be washed by holy water denies the power of the Cross and undermines the immense lengths Christ went through to forgive AND *free us* from sin.
That is not what the scripture says. Indeed, we are told five times of the need to eat his flesh and drink his blood, as opposed to "born again" only two or three (i forget which).
papertyger,
by relying on Jesus-the living bread day by day, he wasn’t demanding that we re-enact the Last Supper everyday...He means HE is the bread, even when we’re without earthly bread. HE sustains us—spiritually. To KNOW Jesus personally IS life. He gives us eternal life. He’s the bread that never perishes.
Think about what you would do on a desert island with nobody else around you. No priests, no church, no one. Your days are numbered. Food is running out, there’s hardly fresh water. All you have is a pocket-sized New Testament with Christ promising that He is the Bread of life and that you must eat of it in order to be saved. And you read and read and read about this truth.
What would that mean to you without any “communion” to fall back on? Is it any less relevant now that you’re on a desert island about to face death and the judgment seat of Christ himself?
Unless "hunger and thirst" is the metaphor...
As for ‘born again’ being essential, that is determined by Jesus Christ. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” .... Sounds pretty essential to me.
And
Verily, verily, I say to you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you. [54] Whoever eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day.doesn't?
Okay papertyger,
“hunger and thirst”
Let’s see where else the words “hunger and thirst” are used in the Bible.
do you “HUNGER and THIRST for righteousness?” (Matthew 5:6)
are you “POOR in SPIRIT?” (Matthew 5:3)
Is righteousness actual “food?” No. But we are still to hunger for it.
Does poverty in spirit necessarily mean you live in a 3rd world country? No. But we are still called to be poor.
What are you hungering and thirsting for? CHRIST and the cleansing blood he shed for us on the Cross?
or wafers and liquor?
What would you do if you ran out of wafers and liquor? How will your “hunger and thirst” be satisfied?
You are the victim of shallow catachesis, not understanding the meaning and power of the sacrements. That you rail at them and demean them shows you haven't experienced the barrenness of "reformation" Christianity.
Why would I think about a far fetched hypothetical designed to do nothing but read a New Testament I've already read hundreds of times?
>Though it is only a church law, celibacy shows contempt for Scripture
Now this is just plain biblical ignorance.
Precisely my point.
What are you hungering and thirsting for? CHRIST and the cleansing blood he shed for us on the Cross? or wafers and liquor?
Jesus said "do this..." at the last supper. He also said "this is my body," "this is my blood."
I don't obey because I'm hungry and thirsty, I obey because the one who spoke the universe into existense said to. That doing so conveys a grace I never received in all my years as a protestant was icing on the cake...as well as a great motivator!
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