The Neverending Story (The Christian Chronicles)

AP ^ | 3/24/01

[malakhi]

The Neverending Story
An ongoing debate on Scripture, Tradition, History and Interpretation.

Statesmen may plan and speculate for liberty, but it is religion and morality alone which can establish the principles upon which freedom can securely stand. The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue. - John Adams

Previous Thread

[restornu]

Please NO more distrubing freepmail!

[drstevej]

***Please NO more distrubing freepmail! ***

The Freepmail said (in full),

"Don't lie about me and then post one of your gifs. How about an apology and asking the post be pulled."

It was a straight forward message, sent in private. Since you call it "disturbing" in an online comment, I post it for others to judge.

I have nothing further to say to you. My FM quoted here says it well enough. Have a good day.

[snerkel]

Self portrait?

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Thanks. I love to reread my writing. Sounds even better the second time.

I'm not going to play this game of tattletale tag anymore, Reggie. It's difficult enough keeping the posted comments straight, let alone behind-the-back freepmail, and disappearing-ink notes to various Mods.

Suffice it to say, if you want to waste more time on this, check posts #3208-3215. Note the chronology.

Also note I have not pinged people I'm referring to in this post now, which I have always assumed to be the polite norm on Free Republic.

But you guys are very strict about who gets pinged, and who doesn't, especially by newcomers. Since the NES isn't my "home base," I'll play by your rules. Just not very often.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Welcome back, Steve! It's been a very distrubing few days without your participation.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Hi, rdb3! I had to switch from WEB-TV to a computer just to access your homepage. But it was worth it! Awesome!

[IMRight]

[drstevej]

Great profile page. I thought you'd have a pic of Satchel Paige (Cleveland Indian). I am a Satchel Paige fan. I only wish we could have seen him compete in the majors in his prime. The records wouldn't be the same.

[Dr. Eckleburg]

Did something not come through again, or is this a blank-screen computer trick I have yet to learn?

[Gamecock]

Exactly the kind of comment the elect will make

[restornu]

I did not lie about you I said my UNDERSTANDING WAS!

"My under the understnading was that drstevej had a meltdown on the a thread that was pulled!?

Alex did well to clarify, but he also choose to continued to say that my UNDERSTANDING was a Falsehood!

I could apologized for a MISUNDERSTNADING which is NOT a FASLEHOOD nor a LIE.

We have choices to build bridges, to mend or repair OR one can continue to be Mean Spirited as well as Insulting!

BTW Alex I did NOT ping for your post to be deleted! I had NO knowledge until afterwards!

[malakhi]

LOL. Taxes on Easter??? That's adding insult to injury. 8~)

[malakhi]

Oh, but then how do you interpret Deuteronomy 30:6? Sounds to me this passage explicitly shows God telling us that He will change our hearts?

But when does that happen? After this:

And when all these things come upon you, the blessing and the curse, which I have set before you, and you call them to mind among all the nations where the LORD your God has driven you,
and return to the LORD your God, you and your children, and obey his voice in all that I command you this day, with all your heart and with all your soul (Deuteronomy 30:1-2)

First comes repentance. Then God restores us.

[malakhi]

Allow me to share my favorite free will story from the Old Testament: Jonah

Why would you think that the way God handles His prophets is at all indicative of how He handles the rest of us?

[the808bass]

Cause Jesus didn't have any children, to pass on this grace in this fashion.

So original sin is passed on biologically?

[malakhi]

What is Fair? Fair would not have been slaughtering people just because they were on land that he wanted to give to Israel. Fair is not playing favorites like he did when he gave the birthright to Jacob.. Fair is not giving one nation a way to atone for sin and leaving the others in their polytheistic religion that are an abomination to Him. Fair is giving the higher wage to a man that worked all day in the field and not treating them all the same Fair is having mercy on all people , not just who He wants to have mercy on.

It is possible that your definition of "fair" my not coincide with God's.

We can agree that sometimes, in this world, the good suffer, and the wicked prosper. Is that "fair"? Only as God sees it, from His eternal perspective. Because in eternity the wrongs will be righted.

[malakhi]

I know Jews are still waiting for their Messiah. What kind of a person do you think he will be? What are you expecting in him that Jesus didn?t fulfill?

He will be a man, of the line of David. He will not be divine. He will be obedient to God, following His commandments. And he will fulfil all of the messianic prophecies of the Hebrew scriptures within his lifetime. The four major prophecies are: world peace, the return of all the Jews to Israel, the rebuilding of the Temple, and universal knowledge of God.

[the808bass]

How is leaving people in their sins "causing" them to deny God?

Calvinists often seem to enjoy emphasizing the sovereign power of God but then feign ignorance when it comes to Creation. God created us. We did not ask for creation. We did not participate in our own making. God did that. And if God not only knew but indeed decided a priori that some, indeed most, of His creation would be damned to Hell, then God "caused" them to deny Him. You cannot dance around this. You can attempt to negate it or play word games with it, but in the end, you have a sovereign God who causes EVERYTHING, including the rejection of Himself.

[malakhi]

You see my point? Only someone who believes He was truthful can claim He was "observant". if He was lying about being the Messiah then He was hardly "observant" (blasphemy not falling well within the bounds of "observant Judaism").

See my last post to JHavard. You are introducing here the Christian concept of "messiah". There is nothing sinful or contrary to the commandments for someone to believe that he is the messiah (as I defined it above). Even if he is wrong. Throughout history there have been many messianic claimants. They may have been wrong. They may have failed. But they didn't sin in proclaiming themselves as such.

There is a Jewish tradition that in every generation, there is a man who has the potential to be the messiah. The only way we'll know we've found the right guy is when he has fulfilled the prophecies. Until he has done that, he is, at best, a candidate.

[the808bass]

The world will end, as the preceding and following verses certainly declare, but stop being so impatient and behold the unfolding of the glorious work of the Lord (especially the future salvation of fellow sinners) and stop pining for the end.

And despite your valiant efforts, still a truism. When you interpret "all" as "all those who repent," your verse ends up saying "all those who repent should come to repentance." That doesn't pass the smile test.