Posted on 04/08/2016 7:34:38 AM PDT by Salvation
The Gospel proclaimed on Wednesday of this week included the familiar John 3:16. So familiar is this verse, that many hold up signs or have bumper stickers that simply say, “John 3:16.”
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life (John 3:16).
It is indeed a beautiful verse, but I would argue that many use it inauthentically by pulling it out from its place within a longer passage. The fuller segment is John 3:16-21, which is as much a passage of warning as it is of consolation and assurance.
Here it is again, along with the remainder of that longer passage:
For God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son,
so that everyone who believes in him might not perish
but might have eternal life.
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world might be saved through him.
Whoever believes in him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe has already been condemned,
because he has not believed in the name of the only-begotten Son of God.
And this is the verdict,
that the light came into the world,
but people preferred darkness to light,
because their works were evil.
For everyone who does wicked things hates the light
and does not come toward the light,
so that his works might not be exposed.
But whoever lives the truth comes to the light,
so that his works may be clearly seen as done in God (John 3:16-21).
This fuller context has somewhat of a different tone. It sets forth a great drama in which our lives are cast. It amounts to sober assessment of the obtuseness of many human hearts and of the urgent need for us to decide well in life.
Those who merely quote the first verse run the risk of presenting this text as a kind of a freewheeling assurance that all is well and that salvation is largely in the bag, that judgment and condemnation are not a significant factor since “God so loved the world.” And while the concept of faith is included in this first verse, without the larger context the tendency is to soft-pedal the need for repentance and for the obedience of faith. In so doing, the true drama and sober teaching of the fuller text are lost.
The longer passage fleshes the message out and has a balance that the shortened text does not. Here is what Jesus is in effect saying, expressed in more modern language:
As I live, I and my Father do not desire that any should die in their sins or be lost. I have not currently come as your judge but as your savior. I will come one day as the judge of all, but now is a time of grace and mercy extended to you.
But you need to know that you have a decision to make, a decision that will determine where you will spend eternity.
So please listen to me! Open the door to me and let me draw you to the obedience of faith and the beauty of holiness. If you do this, light will dawn for you, for I am the Light and your life will grow ever brighter.
But if you will not repent and come to a lifesaving obedience of faith, your heart will begin to despise me and the light of my glory. You will become accustomed to the darkness and begin to consider the Light (which I am) to be obnoxious, harsh, judgmental, and even cruel. Yes, you will begin to hate me, for I am the Light. You will prefer the darkness because you love your sins more.
Come to your senses and don’t let this happen. You have a decision to make: for the light or for the darkness, for me or for the prince of this world, Satan. Be sober and understand the dramatic choice before you. Your salvation depends on your choice to come to obedient faith in me or to reject me.
And know this: on the day of your judgment, the verdict will not be rendered by me so much as by you. For by then, you will either love the Light or hate it. And I will not force you to live in a light you detest. You will be free to go your own way. It will not be I who reject you. It will be you who reject me.
Be sober. Don’t let this happen. Don’t marginalize or ignore me. Don’t prefer the world and its twisted values and passing pleasures. Your sins will make you hate the light and prefer the darkness. You have a decision to make.
This message is much more complex than that contained in the popular, abbreviated text known as John 3:16. God’s mercy is offered, but the final verdict will center on whether or not we accept it. This message may be less consoling but it is true nonetheless, and only the truth can set us free.
There is a tendency by many to pull out certain verses and isolate them from their context and from the fuller message of the Gospel. The full and authentic Gospel echoes the opening call of the Lord Jesus: “Repent and believe the Good News.”
So yes, John 3:16! But please continue reading. The whole Gospel, please!
Oh?
I'll met you've NEVER heard Ezekiel 23:20 expounded on during Mass!
What happens to the leftover wine than the Mass attenders fail to consume?
How Catholic popes KEPT me in the church.
Pope Stephen VI (896–897), who had his predecessor Pope Formosus exhumed, tried, de-fingered, briefly reburied, and thrown in the Tiber.[1]
Pope John XII (955–964), who gave land to a mistress, murdered several people, and was killed by a man who caught him in bed with his wife.
Pope Benedict IX (1032–1044, 1045, 1047–1048), who "sold" the Papacy
Pope Boniface VIII (1294–1303), who is lampooned in Dante's Divine Comedy
Pope Urban VI (1378–1389), who complained that he did not hear enough screaming when Cardinals who had conspired against him were tortured.[2]
Pope Alexander VI (1492–1503), a Borgia, who was guilty of nepotism and whose unattended corpse swelled until it could barely fit in a coffin.[3]
Pope Leo X (1513–1521), a spendthrift member of the Medici family who once spent 1/7 of his predecessors' reserves on a single ceremony[4]
Pope Clement VII (1523–1534), also a Medici, whose power-politicking with France, Spain, and Germany got Rome sacked.
NOTHING from Ezekiel???
5:12
As for those agitators, I wish they would go the whole way and emasculate themselves!
That was NIV
So one MUST believe the wafer and wine change; or NO Salvation; RIGHT??
One can hardly go wrong with the Bible as the text.
You KNOW it ain't there, but the ECF SURELY said so in Acts 15: the Letter to the Gentiles...
I bet!
Eucharistia: thankful for; literally the giving of thanks for Gods' grace.
It is used 15 times.
Acts 24:3
1 Cor 14:16
2 Cor 4:15; 9:11-12
Eph 5:4
Phil 4:6
Col 2:7; 4:2
1 Thes 3:9
1 Tim 2:1; 4:3-4
Rev 4:9; 7:12
Notice where it is NOT used.
Your loss.
Lest we forget, God gave us all the ability to sin or not called free will. Even Judas turned against Jesus.
So you blame a few men that are sinners that have turned you against the Truth and His Church.
So which man made church do you follow and I suppose that there are no sinners in this group?
I really hope that you find a path toward love of God and neighbor with eternal salvation with God.
However, your continued animus towards the Catholic Church that was formed by Jesus and has survived in spite of many Catholics including leaders being sinners seems to work against that goal.
On the other hand Christ told us to expect hostility from this world. I believe that Catholics dealing with the hostility of the world develop a stronger faith in Jesus and the Catholic church.
The saddest aspect of that assertion is that you are, as devoted to catholiciism not to The Lord, you are even dividing GOD in mind in order to defend the blasphemies and heresies at the very heart of catholiciism, and you cannot see it as it looms before you.
Ezekiel is there at 4% for Sundays, and 14% w/ weekdays incldd. All Masses combined they read something from every book in the RC Bible except Obadiah and . For just Sundays, readings from Lamentations, Judges, Ruth, Ezra, Tobit, Esther, Judith, 1 Maccabees, Song of Songs, Obadiah, Nahum, Haggai, 2 John, 3 John, and Jude are entirely missing, with weekly Sunday RCs can hear just 6% of the OT and 42% of the NT, and 14% of their Bible in total, while with weekdays included they can hear 30% of their Bible in total.
Your comment: “Now let’s clutter it up will all kinds of unnecessary things!”
I guess that is the way protesters follow Jesus - Just ignore the rest of the teachings from Jesus that don’t agree with their opinion.
Make sure that your interpretation fits your opinion.
I don’t remember.
LOL touche.
Your comment: “The saddest aspect of that assertion is that you are, as devoted to catholiciism not to The Lord, you are even dividing GOD in mind in order to defend the blasphemies and heresies at the very heart of catholiciism, and you cannot see it as it looms before you.”
That is you uninformed personal opinion.
So like other protesters, you only accept the teachings of Jesus that conform to your personal opinion and ignore the remainder of the teachings of Jesus.
Jesus told us that the hostility of the world would challenge us and hopefully that makes our faith even stronger.
I only hope that with all the false statements against the Catholic Church that you are still struggling and seeking the Truth that you can find in the teachings of Jesus and the Catholic Church.
Look carefully at that quote from Augustine regarding the figurative nature of what you keep insisting in John's Gospel means you must eat the literal flesh and blood, to ingest the literal soul and DIVINITY of God. Augustine has it right and catholiciism has it satanically wrong, mocking GOD.
argue that I'm posing 'my opinion', but will you dismiss Augustine also?
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