Posted on 02/08/2013 6:58:50 PM PST by daniel1212
The word Jesus stuck in my throat like an elephant tusk; no matter how hard I choked, I couldn't hack it out. Those who professed the name commanded my pity and wrath.
I began researching the Religious Right..
Ken Smith encouraged me to explore the kind of questions I admire:
Ken and his wife, Floy, and I became friends.
I started reading the Bible. I read the way a glutton devours.
I counted the costs. And I did not like the math on the other side..
Then, one ordinary day, I came to Jesus, openhanded..
(Excerpt) Read more at christianitytoday.com ...
It IS true, just giving it a name. Pascal was a believer, too.
I would like to put this statement by the OP:
but his teachings (or whoever originated the concepts attributed to him), definitely were extremely important to mankind.
along with your comment below together:
As a final thought, C.S. Lewis and Lee Strobel have pointed out that Jesus left no room in our minds that he could be anything other than the Son of God, a delusional madman, or a liar.
Bear with me please, as it will take a while to get to the point I'd like to make.
Does anyone doubt that the teachings of Christ were a roadmap for a way for us to live together? He distilled all of the law into a very simple statement of less than 50 words as translated into English
Matthew 22:36-40
New International Version (NIV)
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”
37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
It has struck me for quite some time that this is an extraordinary truth.There is so much implied here, that I can't really do it any kind of justice in the kind of space and time I have for it right now (I think someone more talented and gifted with words than I could extract a book from the above few sentances). However, let me take it apart briefly.
First, "Love the Lord your God". There are many things implied within this. A man at peace with himself will love his creator. He will recognise his limitations in comparison to same. He will see the love God has for him and cherish it. If you love Him with all your heart, you love Him deeply, from the core of your being. While today we don't think of the heart as an organ being a 'feeling' part of our body for thousands of years men have recognised that it is an essential part of your being. Destroy a man's heart and he will not live. I believe this is one reason that since ancient times we have considered the heart to be the seat of your soul, and from whence it is that love itself springs.
Loving the Lord with your soul means implies loving with the metaphysical part of you, that which is indestructable and immortal. I believe that the 'soul' is that part of you that embodies the unconscious part of your being, that which dreams. I suspect it is where conscience comes from, if it is not a gift of the Spirit. Again, He is saying to feel the love for your maker from the deepest part of your psyche.
Loving the Lord with your Mind includes all those things that we normally think of as our mind, and probably more. We should understand that God is with us, and loves us (why else would He have given us chocolate, coffee, and beer?), and wants us to be happy in him. If you fully understand, and conciously think about all he has done for us and given to us, how can you help not to love him?
Now we get to what I consder to be the really amazing part. "Love your neighbor as yourself". Take all of that love and understanding that I mentioned before, and now apply it to your neighbor. Once you've done this, can you steal from him? Can you assault him? Can you covet his goods or wife? Could you stand to see him or his children to be hungry or in pain? Can you want anything for him but happiness and peace? I mean, if you just think about that for just a moment, and apply that to the world at large, the implications are astounding. Can you go to war with a neighbor that you love with your heart, soul, and mind? This planet would be a paradise of the highest order if we just listened to those five words.
Let's take the last half of that phrase. "as yourself". From a gramatical standpoint the operative phrasing would be "love yourself". Look around you today. How many destructive behaviors do you see in the world because people don't truely love themselves. In my humble opinion suicide is the ultimate form of self-hate, though others are much more common. What are drug abuse, depression, resentment, envy, obesity, and many other common vices we see all around us but manifestations of a lack of love for one's own self?
Put it together. Loving God, allows you to understand the love He has for you. How can you not love something (yourself) that He loves enough to have paid the ultimate price for? If we had the love of our neighbors, we would also see the worth of ourselves.
It's amazing how it all fits together.
So here we have it. In less than 50 english words, Jesus provided us with a path to paradise and happiness on earth for those who would think about, and consider His words.
Does this sound like the rantings of a lunatic? The manipulations of a liar? Putting aside the things He did, with multitudes of witnesses around, which would tend to argue against the 'lunatic' question, do His words strike you as the words of a liar? What would He have gain from them?
That's all I have for the moment. Thanks for haning the hook that allowed me to talk for a while. One other brif note I'd make is that Christianity is not an easy walk. It is hard to love your enemies. It is hard to master your desires. It can be hard to see the good in life. I often see non-christians write about the hypocrasy of Christians. My response to that is a simple "DUH!" The bar is set very high, and it take a lot of faith to strive to make the mark especially when you know that you will mostly fall short, especially with the temptations around us in today's society. Jesus said that to merely lust after another woman is to commit adultry, and to be angry with your neighbor is to kill. Yes. it's a high bar and I know for a fact that I am woefully short of it far too much of the time. but the goal and desire to reach it will make my small patch of ground a better place for it.
AMEN!
In a former, backslidden life, I was amazed at how many people that were hanging out in bars had a Christian background!
True dis!
MY wife and I arrived late in Bryce, Utah one night and tried to get a room there.
We got the M&J reply, too.
BAcktracked 50-75 miles or so to Escalante where we overnighted in a State Park Campground.
Back in Texas, when I was playing in bars, the later it got, the more we played gospel songs. For a long time, I thought gospel songs were drinking songs. When I moved to AZ, they didn’t do that. It must have been the bible belt influence.
;^)
I wonder if the "They all get better looking at closing time" effect was in play in Texas?
The website http://www.spurcrosscowboychurch.com/ doesn’t seem to have much on it!
No. There is not. The board of trustees of Spur Cross Cowboy Church shut the church down without the permission of the congregation, taking the operating capital with them. Apparently, they did not like the direction the church was going.
This happened at the beginning of December. The pastor plead with the board, begging them not to close it down. They did anyway and just before our big Christmas program which was scheduled for December 22. We quickly reorganized the church under another name, reorganized the Christmas program and hosted about 150 people that night.
You might say we had a split, I think it was more like a coup. The new church is North Valley Christian Church. It still has the western/cowboy flavor, but we stand firmly on the bible. It’s been a weird ride, to say the least, but God has been really good and kept us going.
Where was the Spur Cross link? I’ve tried to change all of them to the new web site so folks don’t get confused. It’s confusing enough, as it is. It’s a sad story, but also a testimony because the church is not it’s money, or even it’s leadership. It is the spirit that is in the people.
I pray that we never forget the lesson of Spur Cross.
God’s grace is freakin awesome !!!
1 John 1
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Introduction, The Incarnate Word
1 What was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen with our eyes, what we have looked at and touched with our hands, concerning the Word of Life— 2 and the life was manifested, and we have seen and testify and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was manifested to us— 3 what we have seen and heard we proclaim to you also, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ. 4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete.
Revelation 1:9
9 I, John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and [g]perseverance which are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. 10 I was [h]in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like the sound of a trumpet, 11 saying, “Write in a [i]book what you see, and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”
Whoever wrote this stuff claimed to be the same John who hung out with Jesus.
And nobody ever came forward and said, “This is ridiculous. Let me show you Jesus’ body. It’s right here in this tomb. We have Roman soldiers making sure it’s right where it’s supposed to be.”
Strobel takes the cynical approach through a series of interviews. His interview with a forensic pathologist really puts the crucifixion in perspective.
Peter and Andrew effectively were business owners. The same goes for James and John.
I just Googled it. Saw the name on one of your videos
Alas; I never knew ye then...
I saw that as quite a contrast as well.
A powerful testimony to the power of Jesus to change lives.
Thank you, Elsie. You don’t know how much I appreciate that you took a few minutes and watched some of our videos. We hope to have more with better quality soon.
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