Posted on 09/28/2012 6:35:38 AM PDT by Gamecock
Osteen denies Christ. (FR Thread)
Osteen will not condem homosexuality.(FR Thread)
But he does teach us not to eat pork! He of course appeals to the OT.
I guess he has never read the following:
"Are you so dull?" he asked. "Don't you see that nothing that enters a man from the outside can make him 'unclean'? (Mark 7:18) NIV
Or
Acts 10:9 The next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the housetop about the sixth hour2 to pray. 10 And he became hungry and wanted something to eat, but while they were preparing it, he fell into ha trance 11 and saw the heavens opened and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. 12 In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. 13 And there came a voice to him: “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.” 14 But Peter said, “By no means, Lord; for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean.” 15 And the voice came to him again a second time, m“What God has made clean, do not call common.” 16 This happened three times, and the thing was taken up at once to heaven. (ESV)
Once again Osteen whiffs at the most basic of Christian teaching.
Another thing:
Act 10:13 And a voice came to him, "Rise, Peter; kill and eat."
Act 10:14 But Peter said, "Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean."
This was 10 or 15 years after the death of Christ. Peter was a disciple of Christ and learned from him for years. Since Peter STILL hadn't ever eaten anything common or unclean then it should be obvious that Christ never taught that his scriptural food laws had been changed.
So yeah, if you ignore what Christ taught, the rest of scripture, the context of the chapter, what Peter thought, what the Lord said, and what everyone else thought. And read it with the preconceived notion that the first Christians were eating foods that the Lord said not to eat. Then yeah, it's pretty cut and dry.
So I guess God was wrong.
No, God was right in correcting Peter. The vision was meant to show Peter that gentiles were going to be given the holy spirit the same as Jews. Peter had taken the Lord's food laws, which were good and valid, and had applied them to gentiles. This was never the Lord's intent and purpose for how Jews were to treat non-Israelites.
Deu 10:18 He administers justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the stranger, giving him food and clothing.
Deu 10:19 Therefore love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
By the the time of Christ Judaism had built upon itself numerous laws and regulations many of which were non-biblical. These things caused Jews to consider any contact with gentiles as forbidden due to the fear that it would somehow contaminate them.
The Lord sent the vision, sent the gentiles and then sent his holy spirit so he could both correct Peter and begin fulfilling prophecy about Christ:
Act_13:47 For so the Lord has commanded us: 'I HAVE SET YOU AS A LIGHT TO THE GENTILES, THAT YOU SHOULD BE FOR SALVATION TO THE ENDS OF THE EARTH.'
mmm...
‘Light to the nations’ comes from Isaiah 42:6 which mentions being called ‘in righteousness’, and continues with God saying, ‘My glory I will not give to another’.
God reminds everyone that though His Servant, the Jewish people (Isaiah 41), establish justice and His law, they should not be confused with or worshiped as He Himself is.
14I know and am perfectly sure on the authority of the Lord Jesus that no food, in and of itself, is wrong to eat. But if someone believes it is wrong, then for that person it is wrong.
Now I'll leave you with another verse in that chapter.
17For the Kingdom of God is not a matter of what we eat or drink, but of living a life of goodness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18If you serve Christ with this attitude, you will please God. And other people will approve of you, too. 19So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up. 20Don’t tear apart the work of God over what you eat. Remember, there is nothing wrong with these things in themselves. But it is wrong to eat anything if it makes another person stumble. 21Don’t eat meat or drink wine or do anything else if it might cause another Christian to stumble. 22You may have the faith to believe that there is nothing wrong with what you are doing, but keep it between yourself and God. Blessed are those who do not condemn themselves by doing something they know is all right. 23But if people have doubts about whether they should eat something, they shouldn’t eat it. They would be condemned for not acting in faith before God. If you do anything you believe is not right, you are sinning.
Paul saw many places besides Jerusalem. Places where Kosher foods would not be aviable and stayed with persons who served what they served to eat. I believe Paul covers the food issues for Christians and many more circumstances related to the Laws of Moses quite fully.
BTW I don't eat fish. My conscience says it's fine. My taste buds however simply loathe it. No sin in that either except in some sects I suppose. I hated Fridays menu at schools. But finally in high school they offered hamburgers as an alternative. I would not insist a person who doesn't like fish eat it nor would I insist my family members who eat fish because their church says too not eat it while I'm there. But we'll all enjoy a Smoked Ham at gatherings.
“The vision was meant to show Peter that gentiles were going to be given the holy spirit the same as Jews. “
So why did he tell Peter to kill and eat instead of saying “Gentiles will get the Holy Spirit”? I don’t think God would say “Do this but don’t do it”
Who knows? I can speculate. Peter was hungry. Peter was very observant about obeying the Lord when it came to not eating the foods the Lord said not to eat. Yet he was NOT observant in treating gentiles the way the Lord said to treat them...with love and kindness. Peter REFUSED to kill and eat because it went against the teaching of Christ whom he personally learned from and it went against scripture which he was more than familiar with.
Regarding gentiles Peter still didn't get it despite scripture telling him to love strangers and despite learning from Christ that love of God and love of neighbor were the two greatest commandments.
So perhaps without the vision Peter still wouldn't have "got" it. He might have refused to go with them when they came to the door. Who knows? We can ask God one day.
A few years ago, you said you were in a Herbert W. Armstrong church.
I do hope you have repented of his unscriptural anit-Trinitarian teachings.
I don’t know why you’re against eating pork, either.
Eat whatever you want. However much you want. Drink whatever you want. However much you want. Smoke whatever you want. However much you want. Fornicate with whomever you please. As often as you like. BUT if that life doesn't satisfy you, then read how Jesus lived. Study what He did. He was the Man God wanted us all to be like.
I agree that Peter refused but that seemed to anger God. He chastised Peter for refusing to eat.
I don't think DouglasKC said he was against eating pork. I believe that he expressed that he understands God is against eating pork and therefore anyone wanting to be obedient to the Lord would abstain from doing so.
God doesn’t care if we eat pork or not.
Mark 7
14
And when he had called all the people unto him, he said unto them, Hearken unto me every one of you, and understand:
15
There is nothing from without a man, that entering into him can defile him: but the things which come out of him, those are they that defile the man.
16
If any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
And you think this applies to “unclean” foods as well? Do you think the people hearing that thought it meant what you do? Why did God ever have foods declared unclean? Was God just confused at the time? Again, what was the example Christ gave us when He was here on earth?
Good haul today? Ski trip!!
I notice they like to accuse anyone who has a deeper study of biblical concepts of being a member of a designated hate group, designated as such by those who have no interest in a deeper understanding. Satan has been quite effective in silencing those who study for the true meaning of the parables, just as the liberal media has been successful in silencing those who support deeper constitutional concepts regarding our nation's laws. It's the same MO. When they can't argue, they accuse, to get knee-jerk reactions from those that have no interest in deeper studies, so that their intellectual opposition can be silenced.
People are confusing Gods laws with mans laws. With mans laws I have rights. The right to choose free speech, guns for self-protection and free press, etc . .
But Gods Laws are different. We can choose His way or not. It’s 100% His way or not. It has to be that way. To choose to live under Gods Laws is life and death is the other option. God is perfect and wants us to be perfect but we’ve never been perfect and sometimes flounder trying to comprehend just what He wants us to do. Fortunately we have Gods Word, the life of Jesus in scripture and the Holy Ghost. We have people/religions trying to figure out how to live imperfectly and still slide into Heaven hoping God grades on the curve.
Well said.
I wonder what God thinks of the Federal Reserve. Here He told us not to partake of usury and then a system is created in this country during the Wilson administration that creates our currency under a system based on usury. If we had a system based on value rather than debt, we’d be in a lot better shape today.
maybe Santa should bring you a dictionary for Christmas this year.. just sayin
So Joe is the devil / anti-Christ? LOL
Plenty for free on the internet. eg.
hater
A person that simply cannot be happy for another person’s success. So rather than be happy they make a point of exposing a flaw in that person.
Hating, the result of being a hater, is not exactly jealousy. The hater doesnt really want to be the person he or she hates, rather the hater wants to knock somelse down a notch.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=hater
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