The Good Shepherd

[Waterfall]

Never heard of this -----but interesting read on Got Questions ---thanks for posting ---made me look it up ---

What is the Shepherd of Hermas and should it be in the Bible? | GotQuestions.org

What is the Shepherd of Hermas and should it be in the Bible? Does the Shepherd of Hermas present an accurate understanding of the end times?

www.gotquestions.org

What is the Shepherd of Hermas and should it be in the Bible?​

The shepherd is a powerful figure in mythology.
Even 4000 years ago in the Epic of Gilgamish, Enkido is civilized by wise shepherds.
Shepherds are part of Greek and Roman mythology: Orpheus, Apollo, Pan, Paris, and Endymion all spent time caring for sheep.
But probably the most compelling is Hermes, when adopting the persona of Hermes Kriophoros, Hermes the Ram bearer and Lord of the herds, who leads his sheep to water and Carrie's a ram on his shoulders. It's this image that became important in early Christian art.
The shepherd symbolizes the change from hunter gathers to a pastoral society and designates the good shepherds as Gods delegate on earth.
God is also depicted as the good shepherd in the old testament.
So Jesus would have been aware of these connections, because it seems like he used this image for his teachings replacing himself with the figure.

 

[unsafe]

I suspect the part about giving glory to our Father in heaven was added by someone after Jesus said the first part.

LOL --I think your wishing and a hoping about that ---you say you have the Holy Mystery as you call the Holy Spirit who is God and yet you don't believe Jesus who is God said what God said ---that is Weird ------ ---I don't think the Holy Mystery as you call it would tell you that someone added to what Jesus said in the first part ------as God gives very grave warnings to anyone adding or subtracting words to His all inspired Word ----

Is giving glory the same as praising or is it more than that?

https://www.facebook.com/JohnBevere...-thats-why-its-so-important/3400907389953360/
The Greek Word for Glory
Strong's Concordance
doxa: opinion (always good in N.T.), hence praise, honor, glory
https://www.facebook.com/JohnBevere...-thats-why-its-so-important/3400907389953360/
Definition: opinion (always good in NT), praise, honor, glory
https://www.facebook.com/JohnBevere...-thats-why-its-so-important/3400907389953360/
Usage: honor, renown; glory, an especially divine quality, the unspoken manifestation of God, splendor.
https://www.facebook.com/JohnBevere...-thats-why-its-so-important/3400907389953360/
so as to honor God, to promote his glory (among men):

 

[unsafe]

So Jesus would have been aware of these connections, because it seems like he used this image for his teachings replacing himself with the figure.

I personally disagree with you very muchly on this -----and I will leave it at that -----

 

[jimkenney12]

So you cannot describe or explain glory in your own words.

 

[Mendalla]

So you cannot describe or explain glory in your own words.

Is the Glory of God even describable in human language? Isn't it something that must be experienced to truly understand it? (to be fair, I am the guy who just published a story where I try to describe what happens when a character touches, and is briefly possessed by, an angelic being so maybe I am accusing myself of hubris here )

 

[Mystic]

Is this because God wants or needs the glory (reminds ne of American Gods by Neil Gaiman) or because living that way is good for us or for the sake of gaining new members for the community? Passages like this provide fodder for writers like Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet.

The answer is provided by a book entitled "Contagious Faith." Nonbelievers sense the anointing of the Holy Spirit on holy living and react with a longing summed up in the words, "I want what they have." Gpd is glorified by demonstrations of what He can accomplish through a lives fully yielded to His grace.

I suspect the part about giving glory to our Father in heaven was added by someone after Jesus said the first part.

No academic comnentary on Matthew agrees with you. You are projecting your own agenda onto the text instead of learning from it.

Is giving glory the same as praising or is it more than that?

Am I being subconsciously deliberately provocative??

The shepherd is a powerful figure in mythology.
Even 4000 years ago in the Epic of Gilgamish, Enkido is civilized by wise shepherds.
Shepherds are part of Greek and Roman mythology: Orpheus, Apollo, Pan, Paris, and Endymion all spent time caring for sheep.
But probably the most compelling is Hermes, when adopting the persona of Hermes Kriophoros, Hermes the Ram bearer and Lord of the herds, who leads his sheep to water and Carrie's a ram on his shoulders. It's this image that became important in early Christian art.
The shepherd symbolizes the change from hunter gathers to a pastoral society and designates the good shepherds as Gods delegate on earth.
God is also depicted as the good shepherd in the old testament.
So Jesus would have been aware of these connections, because it seems like he used this image for his teachings replacing himself with the figure.

Don't confuse the Shepherd of Hermas with the Greek mythical figure Hermes. The Shepherd of Hermas is a visionary Christian prophetic work from Rome. its first edition could have been written as early as 105 AD.

 

[Luce NDs]

Relating one thing with something similar is too close to evolution for a twin to see that bi half ... thus this divine disfiguration as the thing divides! Some call it transfiguration ... goph igis how this ignites! Words are not allowed to shift either in fixed protocol! Yet still those inky, shadowy flashes ... counter to sun shadows?

Change is undone as a piece of eight is not 2 bits!

 

[Mystic]

The authenticity of the motifs in John 10 is confirmed by 9 parallels with Synoptic shepherd/ sheep imagery:
(1) Jesus refers to Himself as "the Shepherd (John 10:22; Mark 14:27)."
(2) Jesus conceives of His followers as His "sheep (Kohn 10; Luke 12:32)."
(3) Jesus uses extended parabolic imagery to express His Shepherd/ sheep relationship (Luke 15:3-7). But John 10:1-10 is technically not a parable.
(4) In John 10 Jesus' sheep are vulnerable to attack in the Shepherd's absence. In Luke's Parable of the Lost Sheep, the Shepherd abandons his flock, leaving them vulnerable to predation, because of His higher priority of rescuing the lost sheep (Luke 15:4).
(5) More specifically, Jesus' sheep are vulnerable to wolves (John 10:12; Matthew 10:16).
(6) Jesus' sheep can be "scattered" by enemy attacks (John 10:12; Mark 14:27).
(7) Assistant shepherds will let the Shepherd down in the hour of greatest need. Im John 10:10-12 "the assistant shepherd ("the hired hand") abandons the sheep when faced with a threat. Similarly, in Luke 22:31-34, Jesus predicts Peter's triple denial and ultimate restoration.
Then the risen Jesus resumes His role as Shepherd and rehabilitates Peter as His assistant Shepherd by admonishing him 3 times to "feed my sheep (or lambs)." once for each of Peter's 3 denials.
(8) Jesus' priority is to evangelize new sheep (John 10:16; Matthew 10:6; Mark 6:34).
(9) "The gate" is an exclusivistic image for Jesus (John 10:8-9; Matthew 7:13-14; Luke 13:24-26).

 

[Waterfall]

Don't confuse the Shepherd of Hermas with the Greek mythical figure Hermes. The Shepherd of Hermas is a visionary Christian prophetic work from Rome. its first edition could have been written as early as 105 AD.

It looks like I did that, but I did mean the Shepherd of Hermas I was trying to point out how long a shepherd has been used as story throughout the ages.
Although the Shepherd of Hermas is actually a very interesting book that I think would have complimented the NT, especially Hermas encounter with the heavenly figure that simply calls himself "shepherd".
The book is divided into 3 categories, the Vision, the Mandates and the Simultudes.
In mandate 11 the shepherd instructs Hermas how to determine a true prophet from a false prophet who is truly following Christ and, which I found interesting.
A true prophetic voice is as follows:
1.) The one who has the true prophetic voice is gentle, quiet and humble.
2.) Refrains from all evil and worthless desires of this age.
3.)Makes himself more needy than all other men.
4.)when asked gives no answer to anyone. (Cannot be manipulated by others and only waits for the spirit to tell him when to speak)
5.) Neither does he speak for himself, nor does the holy spirit speak when men ask the spirit to speak, but he speaks when God wishes him to speak.
Mandate 11 further goes on how to determine a false prophet....many famous preachers would be disqualified by this list.
I havent read the whole book, but I probably will someday.

 

[Mendalla]

One of the religion channels I watch on YouTube did a piece on The Shepherd of Hermas a while back. This is from Religion For Breakfast hosted/written by Dr. Andrew Henry.

 

[unsafe]

Very Interesting Video Mendalla --thanks for posting ------

Interesting that the stones for the tower represented believers in their different stages of repentance and some were not worthy to be used at that time and were cast away waiting for their repentance ---to be used at a later time -----but there is a time limit on this repentance if they want to be in the tower ----

This spoke volumes to me Spiritually ----as God wants all to repent and come to stay with Him in His Tower ----and God is a patient God waiting for all to come to repentance so He can use us to continue building His tower --- and the Scripture tell us that there is a time limit on repentance and that time will run out and God will unleash His Wrath upon the unrepented --

 

[Luce NDs]

Could the tower be a stack of tablets ... burning books and tomes? Gehenna ...

Incinerated thoughts???? Where do they go? Explains the out-there theme! Like para and Sur if you understand such words that are beyond most ... requires a plunge ... the dash of an edge fast enough to escape ... explaining that icon Ք.
Keep your ear to the earth ... there's something in 'ere ...

 

[Mystic]

PRACTICAL APPLICATION OF JOHN 10:1-21

The practical application of the Good Shepherd discourse lurks in the image of life as a journey that requires thinking properly outside the box (the square sheepfold) as you "see" the Shepherd leading you out and learn to "hear His voice." This is not normal seeing and hearing; it presupposes an intimate personal relationship with the Shepherd: "I know my own and my own know me (John 10:14)." So ask yourself,"Does Jesus know me in an intimate way? Have I experienced such a relationship?" Well, you say, "My church pursues social justice." To that mechanical response, Jesus replies,

"On that day many will say to me, "Did we not prophesy in your name (proclaim the prophetic message of social justice)... and do many deeds of power in your name?" Then I will declare to them: "I never knew you; go away from me (Matthew 7:22-23)!"

To truly "see" Jesus one must first know that one doesn't know and what one doesn't know spiritually, or as Jesus puts it in the set-up to John 10, "If you were blind, you would not have sin. But now that you say, I see," your sin remains (John 9:41)." If a church just claims to "see the right path of pursuing social justice, they are not seeing as they need to see. "Hearts hardened" by such preconceptions and hidden agendas can cause Christians to "have eyes but fail to see" and "have ears but fail to hear," and to fail to "remember" transforming spiritual moments during their journey (Mark 8:18)." To know what one doesn't know spiritually, one needs a beginner's innocent open mind, a concept expressed by Jesus' symbolic use of "infant" and "child:"

"Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a little child will never enter it (Mark 10:15)."
"I thank you, Father,... because you have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to (spiritual) infants (Matthew 11:25)."

The "wise and intelligent" often fail to develop a personal relationship with Christ (the Shepherd) because they just want to be taught by rational principles.
Jesus does not explain His parables to outsiders because He recognizes the true spirituality is better caught than taught, caught by insights imparted by the their relationship with the Spirit of God that evolves during the sheeps' journey to pasture. Billy Graham summed up this problem nicely: "Most Christians have just enough spirituality to inoculate them against the real thing."

 

[Luce NDs]

What is practical within the context of irrational, love only systems without intelligence?

It may be a dark bottomless hole since many didn't wish to form socially culpable visions ... onus is not that serious in powerful, industrial societies that believe strongly in passions alone ... thus lonely loves ... about things we'd like to have known ...

Still only a Welsh Rarebit wished to know sapient nature ... thus the noble beast that frightens most ... Bottom of the brain structure? Shakespeare plays with this midst his warmer seasons of dreams ... and then there are those darker visions of Lear and Macbeth ... Beth was a dark one chi was!!