My Weekly Devotional

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Uh, no, airclean, that's not what I believe. I believe that the Bible, both the Hebrew scriptures, and the New Testament, are descriptions, in a lot of different formats, of some of humanity's relationship with the divine. There's tons of evidence to that effect, both scholarly, and honestly, from a hard, solid, objective look at the texts themselves. I read the Bible all the time. I get lots out of it. But I never fool myself that "God" wrote it, when it is so clearly a human literary construct.

As an indeterminate ... AC believes you are going to Hellenistic areas with doubts about the determinacy of who wrote the bible ... when it appears to have been due to a cluster of prophets ... and you know how determinates hate to see change and alternate ratios coming down the wormhole ... intelligence as crap and fertility in C'est pool? That' Set ... an Egyptian icon ... related to I-sis .. the hated sibling ... Ur ...
 
blackbelt1961 said:
Peculiar indeed, until you experience born again

Yeah. That isn't quite true.

For starters, as much as many would like it to be true the term "Born Again" is not a one size fits all experience nor is it a one size fits all theology.

There is as much variation under the umbrella of "Born Again" as there is the terms "Christian," "Liberal." or "Conservative."
 
Yeah. That isn't quite true.

For starters, as much as many would like it to be true the term "Born Again" is not a one size fits all experience nor is it a one size fits all theology.

There is as much variation under the umbrella of "Born Again" as there is the terms "Christian," "Liberal." or "Conservative."

what is one outcome of the experience ? that God is indeed ?
 
blackbelt1961 said:
what is one outcome of the experience ? that God is indeed ?

It isn't simply one experience. It is a series of experiences.

As you have been a part of WonderCafe.ca from the beginning and now continue here at Wondercafe2 you have probably had an opportunity to observe interaction involving those "Born Again" and those not. Do you find that the responses of one are uniformly better than those of the other? Do you find that all those who fit into one or other category to be the same?

And since theology is important to the both of us have you found all those who could make a claim to "Born Again" status to offer an identical theological reflection on any particular text or idea?
 
It isn't simply one experience. It is a series of experiences.

As you have been a part of WonderCafe.ca from the beginning and now continue here at Wondercafe2 you have probably had an opportunity to observe interaction involving those "Born Again" and those not. Do you find that the responses of one are uniformly better than those of the other? Do you find that all those who fit into one or other category to be the same?

no I dont, your right but that wasn't my point , it was about the comment of thous weird christians who listen to sermons and praise and worship, why? well for one the experience

And since theology is important to the both of us have you found all those who could make a claim to "Born Again" status to offer an identical theological reflection on any particular text or idea?

again , this wasn't the point of the comment
 
Uh, no, airclean, that's not what I believe. I believe that the Bible, both the Hebrew scriptures, and the New Testament, are descriptions, in a lot of different formats, of some of humanity's relationship with the divine. There's tons of evidence to that effect, both scholarly, and honestly, from a hard, solid, objective look at the texts themselves. I read the Bible all the time. I get lots out of it. But I never fool myself that "God" wrote it, when it is so clearly a human literary construct.
--Airclean--Post--
Hi BetteThe Red--You do understand . When you make a post like this , I am going to look at you a bit side ways? You have just told me " you don't believe what GOD had" written and past on to us". Then you must learn only from GODS" Holy Spirit" His teaching? Please talk to me on this as I am one with the Spirit of GOD". Teach me what GODS Spirit" is teaching you". I am afraid your teaching ,once more is of Man". For there is but One Holy Spirit" , There is but One Jesus The Christ", There is but ONE GOD." Have you Learned this from your teacher"? aairclean33-Gord.
 
blackbelt1961 said:
no I dont, your right but that wasn't my point , it was about the comment of thous weird christians who listen to sermons and praise and worship, why? well for one the experience

Fair enough. The post I was responding to of yours was missing that particular context.



 
Good discussion over the last week. That's one reason I started sharing these here - to encourage the sharing of people's thoughts about Scripture. I don't particularly worry about whether you agree or disagree with me. Just that sometimes we focus on Scripture rather than personalities. This week I'm kind of late getting this written, because it's been a bit of a crazy week. Again, with Advent and Christmas approaching I'm thinking of relevant themes. So this week I'm reflecting a bit on God's nearness to us, and about how that relationship plays out. Who comes close to whom? Who takes the initiative. I was challenged as I thought about this by James 4:8, which is my "working" verse this week.

My Faith Thoughts: A Thought For The Week Of November 20, 2017
 
This is a very important passage of scripture James 4----this is all about the Carnal Christian -----many people die in their Carnality -----they are double minded ----trying to mix their Faith in God while following the Satan and his ways of this world ----these people are unstable in all their ways -----They have no grounded roots ------So God is saying draw near to Me -----God is always near ---it is us who are far away from God because we allow Satan to keep us in bondage to his ways by us allowing him to control us through our thoughts and emotions ---so fights and arguments ---self desires and sin still dominates our lives -----we like to say we follow God with our lips but our hearts are far from Him -----

Knowing how your enemy works is vital and changing our worldly thoughts to the way God wants us to think is the key ------

This scripture is saying God resists the proud but gives Grace to the humble ------here in verse 8 he calls Carnal Christians hypocrites! and is telling them to turn from their wicket ways and come near to Him and He will come near to the people who follow His ways ----and Satan will flee from them and they will no longer be in Bondage to him -----

This is why it is so important to know who you are in Christ Jesus ---know that God is with you in every step we take toward freeing ourselves from the bondage of Satan's grip -----God's Grace is so powerful and can give us the strength to resist the Devils schemes and stay free from sin and emotional bondage ----so come near to God and receive the strength and might that Grace can provide for victory in our lives -------Come near to God is to get grounded and rooted in Him ---leaving the world's ways behind ----maturing in our Faith and relying on His Grace ------

Many Christ-ians are OK in becoming Born Again to get into Heaven and that is where it ends for them ----there is so much more to achieve in our walk with Christ than just focusing on our eternal Home in the end ----we are to strive to achieve Spiritual Maturity while we are here on this earth ---there are many things God can use us for as we mature in our Faith and Spiritual walk while here on this planet -------We are to come near to God to serve others and to do His will on this planet ---He will always be near to help us achieve His will for us in His serving of others -

To come near to God is our responsibility ---If we seek Him We Will find Him ----He is near and will answer our call

We have Free Will to Choose to ---ask --seek --knock -----or not to ---and notice the first letter of these 3 words spells ---ASK ---Interesting

-Carnal Christians are living a Spiritual compromised life -------


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unsafe says ---Carnal Christians are living a Spiritual compromised life --at some point a solid choice has to be made by the person to choose a side and stay with it ---get grounded and rooted in their choice ---grounded and rooted in God or this world ---you can't serve 2 masters -----you double minded and unstable --no real good to either side ------Going to Heaven is very important but so is growing to serve God here and now -so choose wisely as the scripture say -----


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1 John 4 GNT

4 But you belong to God, my children, and have defeated the false prophets, because the Spirit who is in you is more powerful than the spirit in those who belong to the world.

5 Those false prophets speak about matters of the world, and the world listens to them because they belong to the world.


6 But we belong to God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever does not belong to God does not listen to us. This, then, is how we can tell the difference between the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error.

unsafe says ---and reposted verse 5 of scripture above
Television is in this world and many false prophets are on television today and many listen to these false prophets through television today ----getting wrong doctrine -----in church and on TV as well as Computers -----all relevant today -----5 Those false prophets speak about matters of the world, and the world listens to them because they belong to the world ---


Is there TV and Computers in the Spiritual realm -----that is a good question ?????----we will only know for sure when we experience that realm ourselves ----

There could be KNEE Mail

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There could be God Tube


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Hebrews 10:19-23 (ERV)
Come Near to God
19 And so, brothers and sisters, we are completely free to enter the Most Holy Place We can do this without fear because of the blood sacrifice of Jesus.

20 We enter through a new way that Jesus opened for us. It is a living way that leads through the curtain—Christ’s body. 21 And we have a great priest who rules the house of God.

22 Sprinkled with the blood of Christ, our hearts have been made free from a guilty conscience, and our bodies have been washed with pure water. So come near to God with a sincere heart, full of confidence because of our faith in Christ.

23 We must hold on to the hope we have, never hesitating to tell people about it. We can trust God to do what he promised.
 
To be honest, sometimes James version of works and faith makes more sense to me than Paul's by "faith alone" for our salvation. I guess I could see how both could contribute to feeling closer to God when one needs a little bit more substance along with the spiritual.
 
And I often wonder if James, being Jesus' brother, might have had some closer insights into Jesus' intended message.
 
Justification, Faith, and Works: Paul vs. James


So if Paul contradicts James, then our default is to listen to Paul in order for scripture to not contradict itself.....hmmm doesn't sound right. Both leave room for God's mercy, but James seems to also allow for us to increase our abilities to live out a justified life through showing proper treatment of the poor and less fortunate. In other words our conduct as well as our faith does matter. Whereas Paul seems to push the idea of avoiding judaizing Christianity with Jewish practices.
 
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