Do you pray for your resurrection? Or are you sure of it?
While you are at this, tell me why did Jesus pray? Why do we pray?
What's the difference? Why is this significant, with the understanding that "He was raised" is not exclusionary of Christ's Divine power?
It's extremely significant! If he did not raise Himself of His own power, than He is not fully God, but somoene who depends on God's power. The trinitarian error of +Paul's is as clear as glass here: when he wrote this he either did not consider Christ to be fully God, or he tought of Christ as a lesser God, a divine Son subordained to God.
Jesus says flat out in John 20:29 - "Because you have seen me, you have believed; ..."
He did (as a matter of fact, not praise) but He didn't come to this earth for that purpose. We are not converted by seeing miracles. Even Satan can apprar as the Angel of Light, so perceptions can be deceiving.
Rather than lightning bolts from Mount Olympus, we know about a God who condescended to take human form and perform miracles Himself to convert the first Christians.
That's not what the Bible says. The Bible mentiones that God will inscribe Himself in the hearts of Israel, which is the OT announcement of the New Covenant repeated in Heb 8. he says nothing of miracles. If God could harden Pharao's heart, He surely could have softened the hearts of the elect without miracles.
But we have come to rationalize that now we don't need miracles to believe. Clearly that's becase no one is raising people from the dead nowadays. If people were being raised from the dead, the churches wouldn't be able to accommodate all the new believers. We are all running on empty, believing we have enough gas to keep us going for ever.
This does not appear to mesh with the general Apostolic belief that great power was voluntarily turned over to the Apostles and their chosen successors by God without prayer by them as a catalyst
I don't know who general belief that is; it sounds like hocuspocus to me. God's uncreated energies are the ones that accomplish His work. Those hwo are holy participate in those uncreated energies through prayer and priesthood. They are merely the means with which these energies are conduicted.
The efficacy of a priest's prayer or sacrament is not affected by his character flaws. For no priest is free form sin. Whether a pilot is a rotten character and a wife abuser does not invalidate his piloting skills. he may be a rotten human being but he may be a perfect pilot.
Everything a priest does involves a prayer. The priest has no power of his own to bless or to forgive. It is the HS that blesses and forgives and not the priest. He can only petition the HS to bless you and forgive you. The priest does not change the bread and wine; the HS does.
A priest's prayer does not have to be perfect. As long as he is performing his duty as a priest his prayer is what it was supposed to be. In other words, in the performance of his priestly duties.
"BEV" Mary conceived through the purity of God's good, pleasing, and perfect will, not through the "yeah, OK" of some young teenager. :) She wasn't forced, her heart was changed just as it is in all believers. She wanted to obey God, and said OK because God specifically ordained that she would
I feel so bad that you are so blind, FK, as to not see the falsity of your reasoning which is something like this: If you watch this light, you will be getitng sleeply...now that I have hypnotized you, you will believe what I tell you to believe and when you wake up you will "want" to believe me, all on your "free" will.
It's so pathetic that you believe God changes our hearts unilaterally, "enslaving" us without us knowing it...You ruly believe that we "want" God when in fact he merely reprogrammed us and we have nothing to with it whatsoever.
I am sure of it.
While you are at this, tell me why did Jesus pray? Why do we pray?
As you well know, prayer is much more than supplication. It is communication with God, and He commands it out of His love for us. All honest prayer glorifies God and benefits us. Prayer is good in God's eyes. Likewise, Jesus benefited from communicating with the Father. We also benefit from His prayer both directly and because of the example.
FK: "What's the difference? Why is this significant, with the understanding that "He was raised" is not exclusionary of Christ's Divine power?"
It's extremely significant! If he did not raise Himself of His own power, than He is not fully God, but someone who depends on God's power. The trinitarian error of +Paul's is as clear as glass here: when he wrote this he either did not consider Christ to be fully God, or he thought of Christ as a lesser God, a divine Son subordained to God.
Huh? I don't follow your conclusions at all. Why do you prohibit the Godhead from acting at all? That's what you're doing. You are saying that any act of God must be on an individual Person's basis. Where does that come from? We ARE sometimes told that individual Persons handle individual things, but no where are we told that God's essence is incapable of action as a unity. That just makes no sense. In fact, I would say that in reality all actions of any Person are also acts of the Trinity.
If God could harden Pharaoh's heart, He surely could have softened the hearts of the elect without miracles.
Yes, I was imprecise in saying that Jesus performed miracles to convert. God converts by changing hearts inwardly. Of course outward miracles are not required for conversion.
The efficacy of a priest's prayer or sacrament is not affected by his character flaws. For no priest is free from sin. Whether a pilot is a rotten character and a wife abuser does not invalidate his piloting skills. he may be a rotten human being but he may be a perfect pilot.
Why does the year 1998 immediately come into my mind after reading this? :)
The priest has no power of his own to bless or to forgive. It is the HS that blesses and forgives and not the priest. He can only petition the HS to bless you and forgive you. The priest does not change the bread and wine; the HS does.
Now THIS is significant! :) I thought that Orthodoxy leaned in this direction, and my understanding is that the Latins have a VERY different view. My learning has been that Roman Catholics believe that God literally transferred the power to forgive sins and "transubstantiate", etc. IOW, once the power transfer takes place, then they DO accomplish it "on their own".
It's so pathetic that you believe God changes our hearts unilaterally, "enslaving" us without us knowing it...You truly believe that we "want" God when in fact he merely reprogrammed us and we have nothing to with it whatsoever.
Do you have a question? :)