Posted on 01/26/2018 1:04:07 PM PST by GoldenState_Rose
We are in a time of the first ever mass conversions of Muslims,” Father Mitch Pacwa SJ told me in a phone interview. “God is doing a mighty work among them.”
Pacwa said that mass conversions are happening even in very fundamentalist countries. There is rapidly growing number of conversions especially on the edges of the Muslim world in the western and southern parts of Africa, he said. “Africa is now growing predominantly Christian despite crackdowns,” Pacwa said.
Some of the noteworthy countries he mentioned include Iran, reported to have 3 million Christians, and Indonesia with reports of 2 million a year converting.
“In Mongolia, the president opened the country to Christians and there’s even an archbishop,” Pacwa said. “They built a Catholic school there too. If I was younger, I would have gone.” He said that the desire for a Western education was the impetus to open up the country to the Catholic Church.
There are even conversions happening in many strict Muslim countries, according to Pacwa. He did not want to go on record with particulars for fear of increased retribution. Mass conversions are also being reported among refugees that are filling up the Christian churches left empty by Europeans. Many wonder if those are authentic conversions or just a response to improving their chances for amnesty, but time will tell.
Signs of this conversion are showing up in the U.S. too, Pacwa said. “I was about to celebrate Mass at a Maronite church in San Diego and I said hi to a man who introduced himself as Achmad. I asked if he was a Christian. He said: ‘Yes, I was recently baptized.’ He said he from Morocco. Christians do not have the name Ahmad—that’s a form of Mohammad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ncregister.com ...
The prohibition against eating blood stands OUTSIDE the Law.
It both pre and post dates it.
It is one of the FOUR commands given to the church at the Council at Jerusalem given by the Holy Spirit Himself.
The prohibition against eating blood has never been rescinded.
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The word doesn’t fail, but those that substitute their own words are failing.
Neither does the Catholic church.
Matthew 23: 8-10 But you are not to be called rabbi, for you have one teacher, and you are all brothers.And call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven.Neither be called instructors, for you have one instructor, the Christ.
No, Martin Luther revised Christian theology whereby he could keep a semblance his chosen vocation, but get out from under Church authority. And ever since his disciples have been slandering the Church to justify their rebellion.
Of course not. Otherwise it would blow their claims about literal eating and drinking out of the water and they would be exposed for the cherry picking and very faulty basis for their Bible interpretation. Figurative when it suits them and literal when it suits them.
And when they can't get around the clear concise commands of God, they weasel out of it by redefining words or engaging in hyperbole.
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Only the eating of the fruit of the forbidden tree pre-dates the covenant law.
The saga of Cain and Abel demonstrates that fact well.
And how did Noah know which animals were “clean” 900 years later?
Many of those ‘blanks’ are filled in by Enoch.
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Again, you’re conflating issues, but such things are sprirtually discerned. Or are you claiming Christ’s Word has failed?
No...His word never fails.
But the text illustrates my point. Roman Catholics switch back and forth on what is literal and what is not literal.
To date, most Roman Catholics have avoided answering that question.
Again, if the entire passage is read in context one sees that Jesus is saying we come to Him through faith. It is the consistent message of the NT.
That's a bunch of baloney. He can't any more than any other human being can.
He can only guess because he cannot know the heart nor read the mind.
So you’re claiming you’ve never been hungry since “getting saved?”
You can’t have it both ways.
Does the Catholic practice violate that prohibition?
John & Romans - I always suggest a new Christian start with those two first.
That’s not the “passage in question.”
That's the one I've seen Roman Catholics hang their hat on regarding this issue.
Furthermore, your “examples” presume the Church can not bind and loose, again according to doctrine you’ve failed to support with a specific Biblical command.
It does not include incorrectly explaining the texts.
I've also been told that "Tradition" would not contradict the Scriptures....clearly those do.
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“Church authority” is a man made construct.
Yehova authorised no church. His Kehillah has been the Bride of his Son since Adam and Eve sinned.
His Son is the sole authority over it.
Luther’s break-out was a Jubilee event, returning the word of Yehova to his Kehillah.
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Where’s the verse that says so?
Okay, So you’ve made the point that Catholics don’t hold the Bible as a book of laws. What’s your point?
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Salvation comes at the Last Trump, just as Paul told the Corinthians.
Salvation is the changing of our mortal biological bodies to bodies that can exist in the realm of Yehova.
That is what Yeshua was trying to explain to Nicodemus in John 3.
That changed body will instantly place us in the eternal realm, free of the limitations of material, temporal space.
Only the “first fruits” have experienced that change so far.
There are no questions that the word fails to answer.
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Oh please, like Revisionists don’t?
Besides, telling me again, and expanding on what you’ve already claimed does not answer the question I put to you, nor does it explain what you meant when you called the Word of Christ into question.
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Her point is that she rejects Yehova’s perfect law of Liberty.
Christianity has always been a “roll your own” cult.
Only the Notzerim go by the written word.
Yes....but it really starts at v64
64“But there are some of you who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were who did not believe, and who it was that would betray Him. 65And He was saying, “For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father.” 66As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore.
Notice Peter's answer to Christ:
67So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69“We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.” John 6:67-70 NASB
Essentially the same answer given previously:
15He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” 16Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:15-16 NASB
Martha's reply to Jesus when discussing Lazarus:
25Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, 26and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that You are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world.” John 6:25-27 NASB
John's account of the Samaritans who believed after hearing Him.
39From that city many of the Samaritans believed in Him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me all the things that I have done.” 40So when the Samaritans came to Jesus, they were asking Him to stay with them; and He stayed there two days. 41Many more believed because of His word; 42and they were saying to the woman, “It is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for ourselves and know that this One is indeed the Savior of the world.” John 4:39-42 NASB
Jesus addressing the unbelieving Jews:
24“Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. John 5:24 NASB
Jesus addressing Nicodemus:
4Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born, can he?” 5Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. 6“That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7“Do not be amazed that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8“The wind blows where it wishes and you hear the sound of it, but do not know where it comes from and where it is going; so is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”
9Nicodemus said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10Jesus answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not understand these things? 11“Truly, truly, I say to you, we speak of what we know and testify of what we have seen, and you do not accept our testimony. 12“If I told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13“No one has ascended into heaven, but He who descended from heaven: the Son of Man. 14“As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; 15so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life.
16“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. 17“For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. 18“He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. 19“This is the judgment, that the Light has come into the world, and men loved the darkness rather than the Light, for their deeds were evil. 20“For everyone who does evil hates the Light, and does not come to the Light for fear that his deeds will be exposed. 21“But he who practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his deeds may be manifested as having been wrought in God.” John 3:4-21 NASB
All of these passages, save for the one on Lazarus, were before the Bread of Life discourse. All say we have to believe in Him. There is no mention of eating/drinking flesh or blood by Christ to these people.
Why?
Did He misinform them or lead them astray?
No.
Again, context is key in understanding Scripture.
John uses the word believe on one form or another some 81 times. The majority of them [I haven't counted], related to believing in Christ for eternal life.
28Therefore they said to Him, “What shall we do, so that we may work the works of God?”
29Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent.” John 6:28-29 NASB
We come to Christ through faith in Him.
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