The Folly and Danger of Parting with Christ for the pleasures and profits of life

Christian Classics Ethereal Library | Unknown | George Whitefield

[la$tminutepardon]

It is safe to tell a secret to one

now this is foolishness and not even a true statement, let alone wisdom. But when the student is ready, the teacher will appear

[la$tminutepardon]

So what we have is hearsay, largely and possibly completely from those who didn't hear any claims.

The New Testament does not profess to be a biography of Christ, it is theology. It is new knowledge and a further revelation of God. In the scholarly vein however, using Mark and other ancient writings, we can deduce that other documents did exist from which Matthew and Luke are drawn, and I believe you will find that well known and respected scholars agree on this.

[HiTech RedNeck]

so you think like water and reeds. i think like a tree and leave. (shaking off dusty feet)

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

Thank you for your kind words and especially your Constitutional wisdom

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

I honor your appology. I also honor your belief system. I have developed a short form of Tai Chi similar to Tai Chi Chuh that exercises all the great circles and have even taught it to wheelchair patients with great success. I know some great Chineese Masters, notably George Sun in San Francisco, that are incredibly formidable fighters using Tai Chi - it requires decades of dedicated practice to master the form to that degree. I also carry a Glock G26 as a companion, just in case.

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

"Move like wind brushing against a rock."

I am not familiar with this saying but I like it. I suspect that it is refering to wei wu wei or doing not-doing. When you learn to ride a bicycle, at first you are concerned with balance, steering, pedaling and combining them all together. When learning to drive a manual transmission car you are consumed with operation of clutch, brake, gas, steering, traffic, et all. As you master these techniques, you no longer have to think about the functions and can think about other things while accomplishing the task, letting your body and mind take over on automatic piolet. At first you were consumed with the doing of the event. After you learn, you can engage in doing not-doing, allowing automatic reflexes to do the doing for you. Ultimately, you could do nothing and accomplish everything. Oh but for the ultimate!

[constitutiongirl]

I was at a Martial Arts expo in Okinawa 2 years ago and we had a 75 year old Tai Chi master demonstrating different stances. He was about 4 foot 5 and weighed about 70 pounds. While I was looking right at him, he swept me. He was so quick I didn't even see him move. I'm literaly sitting on my butt, looking up at him and trying to figure out what happened.lol

[constitutiongirl]

After practicing a particular kata for several weeks, I can successfully complete it without thinking about what I'm doing at all. If you ever attend competitions, you can tell which people are concentrating on their katas and which people are 'going with the flow'. Those that concentrate too hard have 'jerky' movements while the others are smooth and almost tranquil looking.

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

Once mastered, Tai Chi is arguably the most effective of the fighting arts. Presently I am in the process of an in-depth study of our Constitution. I like your screen name!

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

I disagree. I am a Roman Catholic, but I have so much in common with my Brothers of other Christian Faiths. I find that I have much in common with Christian Evangelicals, Presbyterians. We may differ on small doctrinal differences, but in the essence of our faith we are agreed. Jesus Christ was the Song of God sent to save us from sin. Whether you be Catholic, Presbyterian, Baptist of Evangelical, we all sin and we all require the grace of God to save us. I know I stumble a lot (more than a lot), but I know that He loves me and He is watching me and will help me when I stumble and if I ask, He will forgive me. That If I ask for His help, He will help me. We may differ as to Consubstantion v Transubstantion or Apostolic Succession, but in the essence of the Christian Faith, we are agreed, and we stand united.

God Bless

[ThinkLikeWaterAndReeds]

The standard saying among my friends is "once you have practiced a kata 1,000 times, you can effectively begin to incorporate it into a fight"

[fortheDeclaration]

Not to those who want the truth. Yes, to those who want to KNOW. Maybe not to those who want to BELIEVE.

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness, but unto us which are saved it is the power of God (1Cor.1:18)

That is why everything dies. No sin, no death. So supernovas are the sad remains of sinner stars? How about bugs? Rodents? Ferns? Cats? All die.

If man had not sinned, death would not have entered into the Universe. the sting of death is sin;(1Cor.15:56)

The evidence is the One who rose from the grave and defeated death. Sorry, there have been MANY who have "risen from the grave and defeated death." Religions are chock full of 'em. Osiris and Mithras come immediately to mind. Why choose one over another?

No one historical makes that claim. Either Jesus Christ was a madman, a liar or what He claimed to be, the Son of God (Jn.20:21)

I am laying out facts that you may either accept or reject based on your own desire for the truth. My desire for the truth leads me to be skeptical of claims of divine revelation without any backup data. Hell, Pascal's Wager alone should make a thinking person leery of latching onto a religious doctrine.

One of the founders of Harvard University, who wrote the standard book on the rules of evidence, wrote a book on the facts of the Resurrection. Christianity does not worship a way, a idea, a philosophy but a man who lived, died and rose again from the dead

For all the Athenians and strangers which were there spent their time in nothing else but either to tell, or to hear some new thing...And when they heard of the resurrection of the dead, some mocked (Acts.17:21,32)

(I guess they hadn't heard of Osiris or Mithras).

For the Jews recquire a sign, and the Greeks (gentiles) seek after wisdom; But we preach Christ crucified, unot the Jews a stumblingblock and unto the Greeks foolishness (1Cor.22-23)

[winstonchurchill]

people who weren't contemporaries of Jesus. Possibly John was, but Matthew, Mark and Luke weren't.

Talk about 'wanna believe'. Any authority for your unusual assertion?

[Gargantua]

An honor, oh wise and harmonious one.