“He’s writing to a deputy. It’s not evident on its face that that is directed to all under Timothy’s care.”
So, nothing in the 2 letters to Timothy are relevant to us personally today?
John says,
Jhn 17:2-3, “As thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.”
How can you know God unless you study His word where He has chosen to reveal Himself?
So, nothing in the 2 letters to Timothy are relevant to us personally today?
Is it too aggressive for me to ask if you can get why sometimes I feel like my antagonists have two speeds: (1) Fast Forward; (2) Fast Reverse.
It is entirely possible for my criticism to be right about the sita-im-leben of the Epistle and for parts of the Epistle still to be relevant to all. (Making "prayers and intercessions and giving thanks for all", comes to mind, though that might be in the other one ....)
Your second quote is consistent with your contention generally but does not seem to me to work as an argument. (But isn't it amazing how every line from John just glows?)
How can you know God unless you study His word where He has chosen to reveal Himself?
I was a chaplain for a while at a home for severely handicapped kids. Few of them could read.
Before that, I was a kid in Sunday School, and Mister Page taught us as much about God and Jesus by loving us as he did by any propositions of faith he taught us.
When I was in the hospital, I had a little girl with tetralogy of Fallot: retarded, aortic stenosis, ventricular defect, and other stuff. When I met her she had had a bad open heart surgery followed by blowing the patch and several arrests and cut-downs. She was out there. She was in restraints because if she were not restrained she would (a) pull out every tube and whatnot and (b) reach into her diaper and smear poop all over everything (um, including the chaplain)(Thank God for hospital gowns, It was almost as bad as FR!).
I loved her. She got well, at least psychologically. She's one of my homies, though I haven't seen her in 33 years. What a smile on that kid! And when the second surgery worked and she went home and got plump and pink! WOW! God is great!
As I am fond of saying, Remember, 100 IQ is AVERAGE! That means, more or less that as much above 100 as you or Quix are, there's someone else that much below it. And that's before we get to dyslexia, ADHD and the rest.
And, you know, we say God is not bound by the sacraments. He can enter the heart of someone who has never received the Blessed Sacrament. And he does, a LOT!
I think He is perfectly capable of making Himself known.
I still think those who can should study the Bible.