Posted on 07/22/2017 7:32:38 AM PDT by Salvation
Those are very good verses and words of wisdom.
That is God’s judgment, not ours.
Not what Christ says.
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
Not what Paul says:
9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; Romans 10:9 NASB
We can’t know what God knows.
GNOSTICISM
Definition
The theory of salvation by knowledge. Already in the first century of the Christian era there were Gnostics who claimed to know the mysteries of the universe. They were disciples of the various pantheistic sects that existed before Christ. The Gnostics borrowed what suited their purpose from the Gospels, wrote new gospels of their own, and in general proposed a dualistic system of belief. Matter was said to be hostile to spirit, and the universe was held to be a depravation of the Deity. Although extinct as an organized religion, Gnosticism is the invariable element in every major Christian heresy, by its denial of an objective revelation that was completed in the apostolic age and its disclaimer that Christ established in the Church a teaching authority to interpret decisively the meaning of the revealed word of God.
Not only historians and sociologists but novelists are writing about the “Gnostic” character of the soup that we call spirituality in the United States today. In a recent article in Harper’s, Curtis White describes our situation pretty well. When we assert, “This is my belief,” says White, we are invoking our right to have our own private conviction, no matter how ridiculous, not only tolerated politically but respected by others. “It says, ‘I’ve invested a lot of emotional energy in this belief, and in a way I’ve staked the credibility of my life on it. So if you ridicule it, you can expect a fight.” In this kind of culture, “Yahweh and Baal-my God and yours-stroll arm-in-arm, as if to do so were the model of virtue itself.”
What we require of belief is not that it make sense but that it be sincere….Clearly, this is not the spirituality of a centralized orthodoxy. It is a sort of workshop spiritu-ality that you can get with a cereal-box top and five dollars….There is an obvious problem with this form of spirituality: it takes place in isolation. Each of us sits at our computer terminal tapping out our convictions….Consequently, it’s difficult to avoid the conclusion that our truest belief is the credo of heresy itself. It is heresy without an orthodoxy. It is heresy as an orthodoxy. (2)
While European nihilism denied only God, “American nihilism is something different. Our nihilism is our capacity to believe in everything and anything all at once. It’s all good!” All that’s left is for belief to become “a culture-commodity.”
We shop among competing options for our belief. Once reduced to the status of a commodity, our anything-goes, do-it-yourself spirituality cannot have very much to say about the more directly nihilistic conviction that we should all be free to do whatever we like as well, each of us pursuing our right to our isolated happiness. (3)
Like Nietzsche himself, who said that truth is made rather than discovered and was described by Karl Barth as “the man of azure isolation,” Americans just want to be left alone to create their own private Idaho. While evangelicals talk a lot about truth, their witness, worship, and spirituality seem in many ways more like their Mormon, New Age, and liberal nemeses than anything like historical Christianity.
We would prefer to be left alone, warmed by our beliefs-that-make-no-sense, whether they are the quotidian platitudes of ordinary Americans, the magical thinking of evangelicals, the mystical thinking of New Age Gnostics, the teary-eyed patriotism of social conservatives, or the perfervid loyalty of the rich to their free-market Mammon. We are thus the congregation of the Church of the Infinitely Fractured, splendidly alone together. And apparently that’s how we like it. Our pluralism of belief says both to ourselves and to others, ‘Keep your distance.’ And yet isn’t this all strangely familiar? Aren’t these all the false gods that Isaiah and Jeremiah confronted, the cults of the ‘hot air gods’? The gods that couldn’t scare birds from a cucumber patch? Belief of every kind and cult, self-indulgence and self-aggrandizement of every degree, all flourish. And yet God is abandoned. (4)
As far back as the early eighteenth century, the French commentator Alexis de Tocqueville observed the distinctly American craving “to escape from imposed systems” and “to seek by themselves and in themselves for the only reason for things, looking to results without getting entangled in the means toward them.” He concluded, “So each man is narrowly shut up in himself and from that basis makes the pretension to judge the world.” Americans do not need books or any other external authorities in order to find the truth, “having found it in themselves.” (5) American Transcendentalist Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) announced that “whatever hold the public worship held on us is gone or going,” prophesying the day when Americans would recognize that they are “part and parcel of God,” requiring no mediator or ecclesiastical means of grace. Walt Whitman’s “Song of Myself” captured the unabashed narcissism of American romanticism that plagues our culture from talk shows to the church.
During this same period, the message and methods of American churches also felt the impact of this romantic narcissism. It can be recognized in a host of sermons and hymns from the period, such as C. Austin Miles’ hymn, “In the Garden”:
And the voice I hear, falling on my ear, the Son of God discloses.
And he walks with me, and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own,
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
If moralism represents a drift toward the Pelagian (or at least semi-Pelagian) heresy, “enthusiasm” is an expression of the heresy known as Gnosticism. A second-century movement that seriously threatened the ancient churches, Gnosticism tried to blend Greek philosophy and Christianity. The result was an eclectic spirituality that regarded the material world as the prison-house of divine spirits and the creation of an evil god (YAHWEH). Their goal was to return to the spiritual, heavenly, and divine unity of which their inner self is a spark, away from the realm of earthly time, space, and bodies. With little interest in questions of history or doctrine, the Gnostics set off on a quest to ascend the ladder of mysticism. The institutional church, with its ordained ministry, creeds, preaching, sacraments, and discipline, was alienating-like the body, it was the prison-house of the individual soul.
Pelagianism and Gnosticism are different versions of what Gerhard Forde called the “glory story.” Following Luther’sHeidelberg Disputation, which was following Romans 10 and 1 Corinthians 1, the Reformation contrasted the theology of glory with the theology of the cross. As Forde explains,
The most common overarching story we tell about ourselves is what we will call the glory story. We came from glory and are bound for glory. Of course, in between we seem somehow to have gotten derailed-whether by design or accident we don’t quite know-but that is only a temporary inconvenience to be fixed by proper religious effort. What we need is to get back on ‘the glory road.’ The story is told in countless variations. Usually the subject of the story is ‘the soul’…what Paul Ricoeur has called ‘the myth of the exiled soul.’ (6)
In neither version does one need to be rescued. Assisted, directed, enlightened perhaps, but not rescued-at least not through a bloody cross.
...
There is an explicit revival of Gnosticism in our day, however, in both the academy and popular culture, from Harvard Divinity School seminars to Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. The “Gnosticism” aisle in the average bookstore chain (next to religion and spirituality) is evidence of renewed interest in pagan spiritualities. Matthew Fox, repeating the warning of self-described Gnostic psychologist Carl Jung, expresses this sentiment well: “One way to kill the soul is to worship a God outside you.” (7) Other writers in this issue focus on this revival of explicit, full-strength Gnosticism, so I will focus on the “Gnosticism Lite” that pervades the American spirituality today.
This watered-down Gnosticism does not require any explicit awareness of, much less attachment to, the esoteric myth of creation and redemption-by-enlightenment. The opposition, however, between inner divinity and enlightenment and redemption, an external God, the external Word, an external redemption in Christ, and an institutional church offers a striking parallel to America’s search for the sacred.
Your Own Personal Jesus by James White
He is right. We will not see God the Father who is pure spirit. We will see Christ Jesus, God the Son. We will however know God fully, which is not possible as long as we are limited by our temporal knowledge.
There is no horse mentioned in the Scriptures related to St. Paul’s experience on the road to Damascus, and he says that he saw “a bright light” and heard a voice.
This is really all about silent prayer.
Sure, Saul, a Roman citizen, is gonna walk over a hundred and thirty miles? The Romans all rode horses, not camels, not walking; only the Roman infantry soldiers walked; check it out. Gimme a break
2. The NT Greek language is very very exact- The NT Greek word used in Acts 9:3, i.e., "poreuesthai" is not the same word as in Acts 20:13, i.e., "pezeuein".
"Pezeuein" specifically and EXACTLY means "to travel on foot" which is not the NT Greek word used in describing Paul [Saul] traveling to Damascus- Ergo he was not traveling on foot.
3. You can see a photo of the stark desert countryside road to Damasucs at http://returningthegift.org/life/road-to-damascus/
4. http://biblehub.com/greek/3978.htm
◄ 3978. pezeuó ► Strong's Concordance
pezeuó: to travel on foot or by land Original Word: πεζεύω Part of Speech: Verb Transliteration: pezeuó Phonetic Spelling: (ped-zyoo'-o) Short Definition: I travel on foot Definition: I travel on foot, by land. NAS Exhaustive Concordance Word Origin from pezos Definition to travel on foot or by land NASB Translation go by land (1).
Thayer's Greek Lexicon STRONGS NT 3978: πεζεύω
πεζεύω; (πεζός, which see); to travel on foot (not on horseback or in a carriage), or (if opposed to going by sea) by land: Acts 20:13. (Xenophon, Isocrates, Polybius, Strabo, others.)
[Saul] "having fallen" - "peson" NT Greek verb appears to be used for having fallen from a higher place [a horse?] to a lower place [the ground]
e.g., seeds falling from a tree into thorns below
Thayer's Greek Lexicon
STRONGS NT 4098: πίπτω
πίπτω; (imperfect ἔπιπτον (Mark 14:35 T Tr marginal reading WH)); future πεσοῦμαι; 2 aorist ἔπεσον and according to the Alex. form (received everywhere by Lachmann (except Luke 23:30), Tdf. (except Revelation 6:16), Tr (except ibid.), WH; and also used by R G in Revelation 1:17; Revelation 5:14; Revelation 6:13; Revelation 11:16; Revelation 17:10) ἔπεσα (cf. (WHs Appendix, p. 164; Tdf. Proleg., p. 123); Lob. ad Phryn., p. 724f; Alexander Buttmann (1873) Ausf. Spr. ii., p. 277f, and see ἀπέρχομαι at the beginning); perfect πέπτωκα, 2 person singular πεπτωκες (Revelation 2:5 T WH; see κοπιάω), 3 person plural πεπτωκαν (Revelation 18:3, Lachmann's stereotyped edition; Tr text WH text; see γίνομαι); (from ΠΑΤΩ, as τίκτω from ΤΑΚΩ (cf. Curtius, Etymol. § 214; Verbum, ii., p. 398)); from Homer down; the Sept. chiefly for נָפַל; to fall; used:
1. of descent from a higher place to a lower;
Englishman's Concordance πεσόν (peson) — 1 Occurrence πεσὼν (pesōn) Luke 8:14 V-APA-NNS GRK: τὰς ἀκάνθας πεσόν οὗτοί εἰσιν NAS: The [seed] which fell among KJV: And that which fell among thorns INT: the thorns has fallen these are...
My humble ignorant opinion from having horses for many years:
The horse was startled by the "flashed around light" [periastraphen phos] and threw Saul off [bucked him off].
I think that's reasonable.
Was St. Paul really on a horse? Or is just the depiction in art?
My comment above was that no horse was mentioned in Scripture. However, bunkerhill7 has made a good case that, although the noun for “horse” is not used in the Greek text, the verbs and the rest of the context make the horse pretty probable.
My other point was that this episode did not involve “seeing God” in the visual sense, but only the light and the voice. Later, however, Jesus appeared to St. Paul (and others) in dreams.
Totally correct. Sorry I missed that.
re “My comment above was that no horse was mentioned in Scripture”
Evidence of absence is not absence of evidence.
Also cf. Jesus goes to Tyre [37 miles as the crow flies] and [52 miles flying crow] Sidon from Galilee. His feet musta been bleeding. But cf below for walking distances, not crow distances.
http://keyboardsforchrist.com/Sandals.html
“Jesus started out from Nazareth and traveled to the wilderness of Judea. While there He was with John the Baptist. Jesus was also baptized and tempted of the Devil. Then Jesus went to Galilee and was in Capernaum and Cana. This would be one round trip of at least 240 miles (386 km). (John 1:19-28 through John 2:12)
Next Jesus goes from Galilee to Jerusalem and returns to Galilee. (John 2:13- through 4:54) this is another 240 miles (386 km).
Back to Jerusalem (John 5:1-47) and return to Galilee for another 240 miles (386 km). Jesus is next again in Jerusalem for the ‘Feast of Booths’ (John 7:2) and back for another 240 miles (386 km). There is the ‘Feast of Dedication’ that Jesus attended for another round trip of 240 miles (386 km). Then Jesus does a final walk from Galilee to Jerusalem to be crucified. (Luke 17:11) This is 120 miles (193 km). As stated earlier and in the studies at the end of this article Jesus would have made at least 9 trips to Jerusalem and return during this three year period for Feast. Five are listed and four are not. Therefore one must add the additional four trips for a total of 240 miles x 4 = 960 miles (1,544 km).
Total Miles from Nazareth or Capernaum to Jerusalem and return is 2,280 miles (3,669 km) during His 3 year ministry.
Now let’s take a look at the other trips that Jesus would have walked to. Jesus made one circuit trip from Capernaum to Cana and Nazareth and return. (60 miles, 96 km) John 2 1-11
Another circuit trip was to Nain and return to Capernaum. (70 miles, 112 km) Luke 7:11
There is a very long trip by Jesus as He leaves from Capernaum and goes north up into Phoenicia to the cities of Tyre and Sidon (present day Lebanon). Then He loops back south around the Sea of Galilee and into the area of Decapolis and back north to Capernaum. Depending on which way Jesus got to Tyre and Sidon, the mileage would be about 85 miles (136 km) north of Capernaum. Then count about 120 miles (193 km) back around the Sea of Galilee to Decapolis then back to Capernaum would be about 50 miles (80 km). Mark 7:24-37 and Matt. 15:21-39 On this one trip Jesus walked about 255 miles (410 km)!
Then Jesus went almost immediately on another trip from Magdala up to the region and cities of Caesarea Philippi north of Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee in the mountains as it goes up to Mt. Hermon. That is about 50 miles (80 km) north so the round trip would be at least 100 miles (160 km). Matt. 16:13-28 and Mark 8:27-30
Again almost immediately Jesus leaves with His disciples on a trip to what we believe is Mt. Tabor (the mount of transfiguration) Matt. 17:1-13 and Mark 2:13 this walk would be about 60 miles (96 km) round trip.
The above trips are just the longest trips that we have a record of in the northern area of Israel as He based out of Capernaum. It does not include the short trips to nearby cities. Also it does not include any mileage for such verses like this; “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom”…Matt.9:35.
Time and again we see Jesus in other cities surrounding the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum I do not see any way that this would be any less that 100 miles walking total (160 km). So I will use this figure.
Now lets look at Judea and the area near Jerusalem. Not counting the trips to and from Jerusalem for Galilee lets look at trips recorded where Jesus left Jerusalem and returned from that area.
Jesus is in Jerusalem and then sends out the 70 followers to go before Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Luke 10 1-37 This is believed to be Judea. We then see Him back at Bethany then Jesus is in Perea, which is across the River Jordan. Then in Jericho and back in a big loop. Also there are many trips by Jesus from Jerusalem to Bethany and vice versa. Most of this is recorded in Luke 10th chapter through Luke 21st chapter. The area of Perea is across the River Jordan for a distance of about 25 miles (40 km). He went into Perea, which is very large. Let’s just say he went 25 miles (40 km) deep into the territory. It would be at least 100 miles (160 km) round trip and yet Jesus went into many cities and villages.
It would think the most conservative estimate would be to say that all these trips combined would be about 200 miles (321 km).
Total Miles Jesus walked during His 3-year public ministry is: 3,125! (5,029 km)”
[”= 87 miles a month/ 30 = ~3 miles a day-
But this precludes single long trips above which are hard on the feet unless Jesus really took His time and rested many places along the way- Otherwise he would have to be in a caravan or riding an animal. I walk 4-7 miles day and in the summer I get blisters on my feet from the heat, then cannot walk for the next day or two.- And it’s not even 80 degrees here in summertime.]
re “My comment above was that no horse was mentioned in Scripture”
Evidence of absence is not absence of evidence.
Also cf. Jesus goes to Tyre [37 miles as the crow flies] and [52 miles flying crow] Sidon from Galilee. His feet musta been bleeding. But cf below for walking distances, not crow distances.
http://keyboardsforchrist.com/Sandals.html
“Jesus started out from Nazareth and traveled to the wilderness of Judea. While there He was with John the Baptist. Jesus was also baptized and tempted of the Devil. Then Jesus went to Galilee and was in Capernaum and Cana. This would be one round trip of at least 240 miles (386 km). (John 1:19-28 through John 2:12)
Next Jesus goes from Galilee to Jerusalem and returns to Galilee. (John 2:13- through 4:54) this is another 240 miles (386 km).
Back to Jerusalem (John 5:1-47) and return to Galilee for another 240 miles (386 km). Jesus is next again in Jerusalem for the ‘Feast of Booths’ (John 7:2) and back for another 240 miles (386 km). There is the ‘Feast of Dedication’ that Jesus attended for another round trip of 240 miles (386 km). Then Jesus does a final walk from Galilee to Jerusalem to be crucified. (Luke 17:11) This is 120 miles (193 km). As stated earlier and in the studies at the end of this article Jesus would have made at least 9 trips to Jerusalem and return during this three year period for Feast. Five are listed and four are not. Therefore one must add the additional four trips for a total of 240 miles x 4 = 960 miles (1,544 km).
Total Miles from Nazareth or Capernaum to Jerusalem and return is 2,280 miles (3,669 km) during His 3 year ministry.
Now let’s take a look at the other trips that Jesus would have walked to. Jesus made one circuit trip from Capernaum to Cana and Nazareth and return. (60 miles, 96 km) John 2 1-11
Another circuit trip was to Nain and return to Capernaum. (70 miles, 112 km) Luke 7:11
There is a very long trip by Jesus as He leaves from Capernaum and goes north up into Phoenicia to the cities of Tyre and Sidon (present day Lebanon). Then He loops back south around the Sea of Galilee and into the area of Decapolis and back north to Capernaum. Depending on which way Jesus got to Tyre and Sidon, the mileage would be about 85 miles (136 km) north of Capernaum. Then count about 120 miles (193 km) back around the Sea of Galilee to Decapolis then back to Capernaum would be about 50 miles (80 km). Mark 7:24-37 and Matt. 15:21-39 On this one trip Jesus walked about 255 miles (410 km)!
Then Jesus went almost immediately on another trip from Magdala up to the region and cities of Caesarea Philippi north of Capernaum and the Sea of Galilee in the mountains as it goes up to Mt. Hermon. That is about 50 miles (80 km) north so the round trip would be at least 100 miles (160 km). Matt. 16:13-28 and Mark 8:27-30
Again almost immediately Jesus leaves with His disciples on a trip to what we believe is Mt. Tabor (the mount of transfiguration) Matt. 17:1-13 and Mark 2:13 this walk would be about 60 miles (96 km) round trip.
The above trips are just the longest trips that we have a record of in the northern area of Israel as He based out of Capernaum. It does not include the short trips to nearby cities. Also it does not include any mileage for such verses like this; “Then Jesus went about all the cities and villages teaching in their synagogues and preaching the gospel of the kingdom”…Matt.9:35.
Time and again we see Jesus in other cities surrounding the Sea of Galilee and Capernaum I do not see any way that this would be any less that 100 miles walking total (160 km). So I will use this figure.
Now lets look at Judea and the area near Jerusalem. Not counting the trips to and from Jerusalem for Galilee lets look at trips recorded where Jesus left Jerusalem and returned from that area.
Jesus is in Jerusalem and then sends out the 70 followers to go before Him into every city and place where He Himself was about to go. Luke 10 1-37 This is believed to be Judea. We then see Him back at Bethany then Jesus is in Perea, which is across the River Jordan. Then in Jericho and back in a big loop. Also there are many trips by Jesus from Jerusalem to Bethany and vice versa. Most of this is recorded in Luke 10th chapter through Luke 21st chapter. The area of Perea is across the River Jordan for a distance of about 25 miles (40 km). He went into Perea, which is very large. Let’s just say he went 25 miles (40 km) deep into the territory. It would be at least 100 miles (160 km) round trip and yet Jesus went into many cities and villages.
It would think the most conservative estimate would be to say that all these trips combined would be about 200 miles (321 km).
Total Miles Jesus walked during His 3-year public ministry is: 3,125! (5,029 km)”
[”= 87 miles a month/ 30 = ~3 miles a day-
But this precludes single long trips above which are hard on the feet unless Jesus really took His time and rested many places along the way- Otherwise he would have to be in a caravan or riding an animal. I walk 4-7 miles day and in the summer I get blisters on my feet from the heat, then cannot walk for the next day or two.- And it’s not even 80 degrees here in summertime.]
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