Posted on 03/30/2002 7:53:37 PM PST by malakhi
| 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 |
Congrats on 50,000.... :-)
I think my last post to you was the first post of my freeper career on this thread. Well, I guess I should leave now.
| The Neverending Story (The Christian Chronicles) |
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| Posted by drstevej to drstevej On 04/29/2003 10:17 PM EDT #50,000 of 50,162 |
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I didn't know I'd been asked!
I have never bowed down before my Bible.
I have never spoken to it, and it is an "it".
I have 8 or 10 of them, and use different ones depending on what I'm studying.
I do prefer the large print one though. ;-)
I have never acknowledged it as anything other then a book.
It contains God's mind and his intentions for us, and I've never known one person to treat their Bible as anything other then a good book that one would take normal care of.
I think your barking up the wrong tree with NC’s, we or should I say I, was not brought up by people who seem to need their feelings massaged and stroked as often as most RC’s seem to.
It seems you need statues, and crucifixes, and candles and pictures, sounds, smells and things that stimulate you and make you feel religious. Most of us do not go by feelings, but by the written assurances given us by God.
So mark me down as a non-bible worshiper.
JH
Yep. What was that about, you never get the bid on e-bay? Wasn't that you?
Hmmm, that's not what Jewish tradition says.
Uh, no - I'm rather not stuck. Gentile lands; but, the tribes held to their own settlements. One can see this in 1 Peter. OOps, Scripture betraying the truth again.. We'll get to that later. Going into a Jewish settlement is not going amongst the Gentiles. Sorry. They were not yet supposed to minister to Gentiles. That didn't mean they couldn't be in Gentile territory or around Gentiles or they'd have to leave Israel which was possessed of Gentiles. Ope, what a giveaway. Did we forget that Israel at this time was a Gentile land - given over to the Gentiles by God because of the wantonness of the Israelites. Little details, huh.
So what have we to look at - well, for one, doing a study on the word Gentile in the NT turns up some rather amazing results. It turns out that though it might have been revealed to Peter that it was ok to minister to the Gentiles. Paul is the Apostle to the Gentiles and is so labeled After the events of the Acts. To wit:
Galatians 2:8 (For he that wrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision, the same was mighty in me toward the Gentiles:)
1 Timothy 2:7 Whereunto I am ordained a preacher, and an apostle, (I speak the truth in Christ, [and] lie not;) a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and verity.
2 Timothy 1:11 Whereunto I am appointed a preacher, and an apostle, and a teacher of the Gentiles.
If we backtrack to Acts 13: 42-48, we see that the rule was to preach first to Jew, then to Gentile; but, If we move forward from there, we find in Acts 15 that Paul and Barnabas were sent to the Gentiles, followed by other disciples. The only thing that seems to have occurred with regard to Peter is that he confirmed to the others precisely what Paul's office was. Thusly we note why Paul refers to himself as the Apostle to the Gentiles in every other letter he wrote - noting in Galations that Peter is an Apostle to the circumcision.
Now, to answer the question as to what Peter considered himself and who he was ministering to, we can look at his first epistle and have the answer. He is writing to a collection of Israelite settlements or cities. It is recorded for history that they were such; but, we also have Peter's word on this: 1 Peter 2:12 Having your conversation honest among the Gentiles: that, whereas they speak against you as evildoers, they may by [your] good works, which they shall behold, glorify God in the day of visitation.
1 Peter 4:3 For the time past of [our] life may suffice us to have wrought the will of the Gentiles, when we walked in lasciviousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings, and abominable idolatries:
Peter is speaking to a Jewish audience whome he had shepherded. The places Paul was writing to in Asia Minor were Gentile settlements. Now, the fun thing here is, that these were not ministered to until after all of the events of the Acts that I've noted already covered. In Acts 16, it is noted that Asia Minor is off limits yet according to the Spirit. So after the events that have gone before; Peter is not only considered an Apostle to the Israelites, He ministers to Jewish settlements and only Paul is referred to as an Apostle to the Gentiles by office. And only disciples follow him in this office though the other Apostles are not forbidden to witness to Gentiles, they still have a primary overriding importance among the rest of the house of Israel. And in order to catch up with them, it would be necessary for the Apostles to follow where they were sent.
Whatever you think the scriptures say, you have by far failed to paint the whole picture. And I have only nailed the highlights. Do a word study on Gentile(s) in the NT and I'm certain you'll be made further unhappy with me.
Unless you realize that Jesus sent all of the apostles out into the entire world. Not just Paul. All of the Apostles got a new mission after the Resurrection.
Sending the Apostles out to the entire world does not negate their calling. And the apostles raised up plenty of disciples to deal with the Gentiles directly while they set about getting to the rest of the house of Israel. Your assessment doesn't hold up. If I'm called to minister to people in nursing homes in my city and then the lord says go out to the rest of the world, am I now no longer called to a nursing home ministry to deal with the aged? Do you even understand the notion of a calling or an appointed office. Jesus determined their ministry just as he determined that of Paul. And by their own pens, neither disrespected their calling. If what you are saying were true, the scriptures should bare it up in their witness. They don't. They contrarewise bare up what I've said. So what's the beef?
Lol. Do you always just say stuff of the top of your head without thinking it through?
Me too. I wasn't serious :')
It could be worse, I suppose. I could live in Detroit.
Ya well I can see Constantine scratching your head and saying my butt itches. :-)
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