Behold Posted March 7, 2019 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 7 Topic Count: 87 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 3,795 Content Per Day: 1.34 Reputation: 6 Days Won: 3 Joined: 07/30/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted March 7, 2019 (edited) 20 hours ago, Melinda12 said: Just because your actual siblings are your blood must you keep in touch? I have nothing in common with my brothers. After years of forcing myself to endure their company due often to pressure from our mother, i have realised i am wasting time, energy and money on people who are toxic towards me. I am civilised to them, polite. But we see the world so differently that it is pointless. I certainly will not confide in them I feel guilty. They are atheists. I am Christian. They think i am nuts! Huge difference and i find it irritating. Does the Bible say anywhere that we must be close to our own relatives? Please help me ease my guilt and put this right before God. Jesus said that your enemies, would often be found in your own household. Enemies of your Faith, is the problem. The truth is...."Light and Darkness" will never be able to find harmony and comfort with each other, and especially under the same roof. Sometimes you just have to love them from a distance, until God opens a heart so that you can love them much closer. Sometimes we are the heart problem, and God has to work on us, so that we can be the bridge for peace. Where their guilt trip will try to trip you, is if you try to keep your distance, and then you are told that "what real Christian behave like this. ????????? "". So, if you choose to keep some space, you'll have to be willing to accept that they will ALSO condemn you for it........which, is really a "so what". See.....One of the difficult things for many earnest believers to figure out, is how to be helpful and available without being a door-mat. "Meek" does not mean weak, it means, "trying to be at peace with everyone and keeping a quiet spirit". Paul said this about "jerks" and "judges" that you find online, on forums, in life, and in your family.....>"as much as you CAN, be at peace with everyone, all the time". Its not always possible, but it is always possible to understand that we are to try. But its not always possible. Christians are always to forgive and to flex, but we are also required to tell the truth, and the truth burns those who have no heart for it. I personally told a family member, not so long ago, regarding family relations, and personal relations in general......."Some things wont ever be resolved until we are all in heaven where it wont matter anymore". As that is just how it works....Its is a fact that no matter what you do, or how you try.....there are going to be situations on this earth that....unless God resolves them, .. they will never be resolved until all parties involved are all in heaven where none of THIS down here, matters ANYMORE. And sometimes, if you can look at life on EARTH in general....> right now, as how i just described how it will considered when we are in Glory, then this can give us "new eyes" that allow us to see things clearly for the very first time. After all, just how important is any of this >down here< going to be, when we are with God and Christ, 100,00o years from NOW? That is something to consider.... And.....this is why leading people to Christ, (soul winning) is, really, the only thing that matters the MOST....as this is the ONE THING we can do down here, that has anything to do with us and them and God and Christ, in Heaven. Soul winning, is the only thing we can do down here, that has IMPACT in Heaven when we get there, and before. God gave his Life on a Cross to win souls.... and we are the MOST like Him, when we are of the same mentality, the same mind, and involved in this as a lifestyle concern. The truth is.... leading one person (Gospel) into the saving Grace of God, is more important then anything you can ever do with your entire life, as to help keep a soul from eternal damnation is the most important thing of all.... Nothing we can do with our lives, compares to this one pursuit as there is nothing more important. blessings, B Edited March 7, 2019 by Behold 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted March 8, 2019 Share Posted March 8, 2019 Such wise guidance. Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiards Ball Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,502 Content Per Day: 0.66 Reputation: 662 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 23 hours ago, Still Alive said: Looks like we have a pretty clear consensus here. I'm not familiar with your rooster idiom. Please explain what you mean. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Alive Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,024 Content Per Day: 1.33 Reputation: 1,224 Days Won: 3 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 16 minutes ago, Billiards Ball said: I'm not familiar with your rooster idiom. Please explain what you mean. You can't take the bible too "literally". It offers us the spirit of the Lord from the words of flawed men. If you take it literally, it "literally" contradicts itself all over the place. The rooster idiom is a perfect example from the gospels. i.e. the rooster crowing scripture has nothing to do with roosters crowing. It has everything to do with the length of time it took Peter to vehemently deny he was with Christ. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiards Ball Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,502 Content Per Day: 0.66 Reputation: 662 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Still Alive said: You can't take the bible too "literally". It offers us the spirit of the Lord from the words of flawed men. If you take it literally, it "literally" contradicts itself all over the place. The rooster idiom is a perfect example from the gospels. i.e. the rooster crowing scripture has nothing to do with roosters crowing. It has everything to do with the length of time it took Peter to vehemently deny he was with Christ. HOW DO YOU KNOW this about the rooster? Magic? Psychic power? A counter-document from the period? I was just in Jerusalem, and specifically visited St. Peter's in Gallicantu, built above Caiaphas's residence, where the rooster crowed. The Bible is univocal, inspired, inerrant. It does not contradict itself. Most "contradictions" come from: * NOT taking the Word literally * Not comparing/conferring other verses/passages * English assumptions, when the Bible was written in other languages Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
simplejeff Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 12 Topic Count: 12 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 7,689 Content Per Day: 2.39 Reputation: 2 Days Won: 20 Joined: 06/30/2015 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 2 hours ago, Still Alive said: You can't take the bible too "literally". It offers us the spirit of the Lord from the words of flawed men. If you take it literally, it "literally" contradicts itself all over the place. The rooster idiom is a perfect example from the gospels. i.e. the rooster crowing scripture has nothing to do with roosters crowing. It has everything to do with the length of time it took Peter to vehemently deny he was with Christ. Yahweh grants understanding to whom He pleases. Those who disgrace His Word are themselves disgraced. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Alive Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,024 Content Per Day: 1.33 Reputation: 1,224 Days Won: 3 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 55 minutes ago, Billiards Ball said: HOW DO YOU KNOW this about the rooster? Magic? Psychic power? A counter-document from the period? I was just in Jerusalem, and specifically visited St. Peter's in Gallicantu, built above Caiaphas's residence, where the rooster crowed. The Bible is univocal, inspired, inerrant. It does not contradict itself. Most "contradictions" come from: * NOT taking the Word literally * Not comparing/conferring other verses/passages * English assumptions, when the Bible was written in other languages I stand by my explanation. You take english translations of the bible literally at your peril. An important thing to consider is this: The writers of the new testament had, for their "bible", something called the Septuagint. However, all English bibles today use, for the old Testament, something called the Masoretic text, which came many centuries later. And they don't always agree. Every english translation is not just a translation. It is also an interpretation - by definition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Alive Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,024 Content Per Day: 1.33 Reputation: 1,224 Days Won: 3 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 5 minutes ago, simplejeff said: Yahweh grants understanding to whom He pleases. Those who disgrace His Word are themselves disgraced. Completely agree! That's kinda my point. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Billiards Ball Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 3 Topic Count: 5 Topics Per Day: 0.00 Content Count: 1,502 Content Per Day: 0.66 Reputation: 662 Days Won: 0 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 1 minute ago, Still Alive said: I stand by my explanation. You take english translations of the bible literally at your peril. An important thing to consider is this: The writers of the new testament had, for their "bible", something called the Septuagint. However, all English bibles today use, for the old Testament, something called the Masoretic text, which came many centuries later. And they don't always agree. Every english translation is not just a translation. It is also an interpretation - by definition. 1) You didn't make any explanation--I asked you to prove WHY the Bible is "off". 2) I have a Bachelor's in Religion from a secular university, Greek from the same university, and am a Jew who was circumcised at home on my eighth day and Bar Mitzvah. I know about the Septuagint and my people ARE the Masora. 3) I'm the one saying "contradictions" come sometimes in the English. Are you saying the Bible in the Greek and Hebrew is "off"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Still Alive Posted March 8, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 4 Topic Count: 13 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 3,024 Content Per Day: 1.33 Reputation: 1,224 Days Won: 3 Joined: 02/05/2018 Status: Offline Share Posted March 8, 2019 1 minute ago, Billiards Ball said: 1) You didn't make any explanation--I asked you to prove WHY the Bible is "off". 2) I have a Bachelor's in Religion from a secular university, Greek from the same university, and am a Jew who was circumcised at home on my eighth day and Bar Mitzvah. I know about the Septuagint and my people ARE the Masora. 3) I'm the one saying "contradictions" come sometimes in the English. Are you saying the Bible in the Greek and Hebrew is "off"? I don't think the bible is "off". I think english translations are all flawed in one way or another, but that is ok. Our english translations are not "the word of God" except when they explicitly say so, e.g. "and God said..." or it's in red ink. And it's ok because you don't have to have a bible to be a Christian. Heck, the early church didn't. They had a Septuagint, which we avoid today, even though it is directly quoted in the new testament books. That's just odd. The example of the rooster crowing is a perfect example of how even the original text is not the word of God, but the words of men inspired by God. Otherwise we would only need one Gospel. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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