From an essay written by me twenty years ago:

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GeoFee

I am who I am becoming...
“Science has taught us that everything has a cause; a reason. We are not simply the victims of circumstances which are beyond our control. We are beings endowed with free will and effective power to choose what shape our future will take. The things which are affecting human being in nature with strong negative force today are the result of decisions made yesterday. The things which will come tomorrow will largely be the result of decisions made today. Would it not be wise to look closely at the principles which govern human being and submit our desire to them?”

Agree? Disagree? Unsure?
 
Yes!
Jesus saves!
That is the only thing that matters.
Believe that, and you can choke on a chicken bone at supper or live over a hundred- makes no difference when you are ready.

But for those who don’t understand, time ticks down to destruction.

Too busy worrying about the relationship between money and religion, like that ever saved anyone.
 
Science has taught us that everything has a cause; a reason. We are not simply the victims of circumstances which are beyond our control.
Actually, very few scientists believe in pure free will anymore. Many, especially in physics, are basically determinists. Everything comes down to motions and interactions of particles under the various laws of physics. Even our decisions are conditioned and controlled by interactionsof particles in our brain and nervous system. We seem to make decisions freely, but someone with enough information could mathematically determine, if not our actual decision, then at least what option is the one most probable for us to choose. Still not sure if I completely buy this, but I do accept that our decisions are not 100% free and that in any situation, there probably one than I am most likely to make and I have little actual control of the factors leading to that probability.

The one window in all that is that most particle motions and interactions are now known to be probabilistic, not mechanically deterministic. So that leaves some wiggle room where conscious decisions might happen.
 
Jesus saves!
That is the only thing that matters.

And our bible study this morning (Zoom don'tcha know) looked at Matt. 25:31-46. The old story of the sheep and goats. He mentions, specifically, behaviours, like how you treat the "least among you" as the criteria for "eternal life".

So, according to Jesus, how you treat your neighbour is the only thing that matters.
 
And our bible study this morning (Zoom don'tcha know) looked at Matt. 25:31-46. The old story of the sheep and goats. He mentions, specifically, behaviours, like how you treat the "least among you" as the criteria for "eternal life".

So, according to Jesus, how you treat your neighbour is the only thing that matters.
Interesting misunderstanding of the passage.
 
Indeed. How do you 'understand' this rather straightforward passage, then?

(I always find it fascinating that literalists seem to squirm when a literal interpretation of a passage goes against what they think. This very passage is a case in point.)
 
Actually, very few scientists believe in pure free will anymore. Many, especially in physics, are basically determinists. Everything comes down to motions and interactions of particles under the various laws of physics. Even our decisions are conditioned and controlled by interactionsof particles in our brain and nervous system. We seem to make decisions freely, but someone with enough information could mathematically determine, if not our actual decision, then at least what option is the one most probable for us to choose. Still not sure if I completely buy this, but I do accept that our decisions are not 100% free and that in any situation, there probably one than I am most likely to make and I have little actual control of the factors leading to that probability.

The one window in all that is that most particle motions and interactions are now known to be probabilistic, not mechanically deterministic. So that leaves some wiggle room where conscious decisions might happen.
Reading Aldous Huxley's "The Divine Within". A very good read. His interest is in the relationship of our biologic, psychologic, and spiritual being. I am quite certain that the universe is ordered as a predictable pattern. Even so, my own consciousness has raised many interesting questions.
 
are the result of decisions made yesterday.

Yes, and not just personal decisions, but "collective" decisions regarding human relationship structures. And yesterday and tomorrow really mean "out to/back from" the seventh generation.
 
Indeed. How do you 'understand' this rather straightforward passage, then?

(I always find it fascinating that literalists seem to squirm when a literal interpretation of a passage goes against what they think. This very passage is a case in point.)
Just getting ready to be meet with my bible study.

zoomfree.
Jesus though was talking about himself. What you did for these (Christ followers, the body of Christ) you did for Me.

People doing the will of his father. The Sheep on his right.
 
The interesting thing about the Matthew passage is specifically that the Promised One judges "all the nations" (ethne; the Greek, from which we derive "ethnic"), which implies that all the world, of all religions, past and present, will be judged by the same standard, yes?
 
Matt. 18, Jesus refer to those little ones who believe in him.... Matthew 25 contains no such distinction? Jesus is speaking to the nations at large in Matt 25. Seems you're trying to conflate two passages that shouldn't be conflated.
 
Oh, and at the Zoom bible study? Four UCCan ministers, not all from a UCCan background, 1 emeritus, 2 Voluntary Associate Ministers (one retired, one also retired, but serves a seasonal charge. I got the Greek tidbit from Art, our Emeritus.
 
Can one be blinded by a flash of light as well as by a flood of darkness? Does provide a clue on balance an equity!

A man against a horse is not equality personified ... uness the horseman is headless ... and searching the rabid thing ... it ran off hedon less?
 
Too busy worrying about the relationship between money and religion, like that ever saved anyone.
A rich fellow asked Jesus what he should do to be saved. Jesus suggested he sell all his worldly goods and feed the poor. This disappointed the rich man and he turned away from Jesus.

Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
 
A rich fellow asked Jesus what he should do to be saved. Jesus suggested he sell all his worldly goods and feed the poor. This disappointed the rich man and he turned away from Jesus.

Truly I say to you, it will be hard for a rich person to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.
But should we also ignore the fact that the good samaritan wouldn't have been able to help if he didn't have money?
 
But should we also ignore the fact that the good samaritan wouldn't have been able to help if he didn't have money?
There's a big difference between having enough money and being obscenely rich.
 
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