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To: grimalkin
The Kingdom is not coming with signs to be observed — for behold, the Kingdom of God is in your midst. Lk. 17:20,21

That's an interesting statement...Guess that means the Kingdom of God is in your area...In your vicinity...You just have to get into it, somehow...Apparently by joining a church...

Ya know, the Catholic church didn't always teach that...This is what my bible says:

Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is within you.

Ya know what that means??? That means the Kingdom of God is within you...And that means the Kingdom of God is not in a building...It is not in a religion...The Kingdom of God is inside of individual people...Christians...

And the only way the Kingdom of God can be within you is if the Kingdom is Spiritual, not physical...

Why would someone change the Scripture to make one think the Kingdom of God was NOT in them, but around them??? Who would do that??? And when would they do that??? Couldn't have been too long ago...

I mean, even your good ole' Saint Jerome knew the Kingdom of God was within you...And those people that put Jerome's words into the English language knew that the Kingdom of God was within you...

I'd be wondering about that...Wouldn't you???

17 posted on 08/26/2008 7:41:29 AM PDT by Iscool (If Obama becomes the President, it will be an Obama-nation)
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To: Iscool
To answer, I think it best to communicate the words of Pope Benedict XVI. This is taken from his book Jesus of Nazereth p 59 - 60. It's contained in Chapter 3: The Gospel of the Kingdom of God.

Let us examine more closely at least one text that typifies how difficult it is to decipher Jesus' mysteriously coded message. Luke 17:20-21 tells us that, "being asked by the Pharisees when the Kingdom of God was coming, he answered them, 'The Kingdom of God is not coming with signs to be observed [by neutral observers], nor will they say, "Lo, her it is!" or "There!" for behold, the Kingdom of God is in the midst of you.'" As the interpreters go to work on this text, they reflect here, too, their different approaches to understanding the "Kingdom of God" in general -- according to the prior decisions and the basic worldview that each interpreter brings with him.

There is the "idealistic" interpretation, which tells us that the Kingdom of God is not an interior structure, but is located in the interiority of man -- recall what we heard earlier from Origen. There is truth in this interpretation, but it is not sufficient, even from the linguistic point of view. Then there is the interpretation in the sense of imminent expectation. It explains that the Kingdom of God does not come gradually, so as to be open to observation, but it is suddenly there. This interpretation, however, has no basis in the actual formulation of the text. For this reason, there is a growing tendency to hold that Christ uses these words to refer to himself: He, who is in our midst, is the "Kingdom of God," only we do not know him (cf. Jn 1:30). Another saying of Jesus points in the same direction, although with a somewhat different nuance: "But if it is by the finger of God that I cast out demons, then the Kingdom of God has come upon you" (Lk 11:20). Here (as in the preceding text, for that matter) it is not simply in Jesus' physical presence that the "Kingdom" is located; rather, it is in his action, accomplished in the Holy Spirit. In this sense, it is in and through him that the Kingdom of God becomes present here and now, that it "is drawing near."

18 posted on 08/26/2008 3:13:05 PM PDT by grimalkin (For everyone but America the free world is mostly a free ride. -Mark Steyn)
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To: Iscool

All of your argument is based on translation differences. Without that, it crumbles.


19 posted on 08/26/2008 3:56:44 PM PDT by Pyro7480 ("If the angels could be jealous of men, they would be so for one reason: Holy Communion." -M. Kolbe)
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