@Seek_Kolinahr
Matthew 5: 17–20
He was saying that he had come to fulfill the law, making it no longer necessary. He said that not a letter would be changed until it is fulfilled, meaning until His atonement and resurrection.
When He was discussing following the commandments, He was referring to the Ten Commandments, which are still in effect today. Only the LAW of MOSES was done away with.
The Law of Moses
The Bible Dictionary of my Church:
The law as given through Moses was a good law, although adapted to a lower spiritual capacity than is required for obedience to the gospel in its fullness. However, the Jewish leaders had added many unauthorized provisions, ceremonies, and prohibitions to the original law, until it became extremely burdensome. These innovations were known as the “traditions of the elders.” By N.T. times among the Jews the law had become so altered it had lost much of its spiritual meaning almost to the point that the law was worshipped more than the Lord. It is this form of the law that is so harshly spoken against by Jesus and by Paul (see Mark 7: 7–9).
7 Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.
8 For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
9 And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.
“Die the death” meant that they would die spiritually, meaning not be associated with Christ and the Father, unless they were saved by the redemption from their sins proffered by the Resurrection of Christ, which is only efficacious by their repentance.
Matthew 10: 34–39
“Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth…… “
This prophecies that many people will dispute and will cause war and bloodshed because of the principles that were taught. Not that this was his cause or motive, but that this would occur as a natural result of the wickedness of men.
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it.”[
CS Lewis explains this passage thusly:
“When I have learnt to love God better than my earthly dearest, I shall love my earthly dearest better than I do now. Insofar as I learn to love my earthly dearest at the expense of God and instead of God, I shall be moving towards the state in which I shall not love my earthly dearest at all. When first things are put first, second things are not suppressed but increased.” – Letters of C.S. Lewis (8 November, 1952)
Luke 19:27
Is in the middle of a Parable: It makes me laugh when I see how you people take scriptures out of context.
11 And as they heard these things, he added and spake a parable, because he was nigh to Jerusalem, and because they thought that the kingdom of God should immediately appear.
12 He said therefore, A certain nobleman went into a far country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return.
13 And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.
14 But his citizens hated him, and sent a message after him, saying, We will not have this man to reign over us.
15 And it came to pass, that when he was returned, having received the kingdom, then he commanded these servants to be called unto him, to whom he had given the money, that he might know how much every man had gained by trading.
16 Then came the first, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained ten pounds.
17 And he said unto him, Well, thou good servant: because thou hast been faithful in a very little, have thou authority over ten cities.
18 And the second came, saying, Lord, thy pound hath gained five pounds.
19 And he said likewise to him, Be thou also over five cities.
20 And another came, saying, Lord, behold, here is thy pound, which I have kept laid up in a napkin:
21 For I feared thee, because thou art an austere man: thou takest up that thou layedst not down, and reapest that thou didst not sow.
22 And he saith unto him, Out of thine own mouth will I judge thee, thou wicked servant. Thou knewest that I was an austere man, taking up that I laid not down, and reaping that I did not sow:
23 Wherefore then gavest not thou my money into the bank, that at my coming I might have required mine own with usury?
24 And he said unto them that stood by, Take from him the pound, and give it to him that hath ten pounds.
25 (And they said unto him, Lord, he hath ten pounds.)
26 For I say unto you, That unto every one which hath shall be given; and from him that hath not, even that he hath shall be taken away from him.
27 But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me.
This is in no way reflective of Christ’s attitude, but merely a story to explain that people must make use of their gifts and talents, or they will lose them. The ruler in the story was quoted in the last verse, not Christ. Your Skeptic’s Dictionary is pretty deceptive when they use just a small portion of the information to try to make their point, aren’t they?
Mark 5: 19
I think we covered this in the previous post. Another example of your misinformation. About the herd of swine, they ASKED, and Christ ALLOWED them to enter, he was not coerced. The “supposedly powerful” Jesus always acted for the teaching experience of those who followed Him. At this point in His ministry, He had started to make himself more visible, because his objective was to bring down the disapproval of those who would cause his mission to be completed.
He also was aware of things not always in evidence. Of course he didn’t have to let the devils go into the swine. So there would be some reason that this would be desirable. One answer might be that having let them enter the swine and drown themselves, this might have prevented the demons from entering another individual. Your comment about the herd of swine being lost is not relevant, in my opinion, more like frivolous. There were far greater losses to prevent.
Mark 9:
It’s better to lose a hand or an eye than to lose the chance to enter the presence of the Father and to continue to progress. Gehenna means damnation, which means to cease to progress. Just like the water in a dam. That is the unquenchable fire, being always tormented with the idea that you failed to accomplish your goals. My faith does not include the concept of Hell in the classical fundamentalist sense.
Matthew 11:20–24
Another example of His efforts to encite the hatred of the Pharisees and the scribes. During this time He also started to encourage His miracles to be talked about. More fuel for their malice.
Matthew 23:
More inflammatory remarks.
Luke 19:
This point is another Parable (Called the Parable of the Fig Tree) , where Christ says that the fig tree (representing those among the Jews who were not righteous) would not bear fruit.
Later, the following conversation occurred:
Mark 11: 20–24 20And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
21And Peter calling to remembrance saith unto him, Master, behold, the fig tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
22And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
23For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.
24Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.
“So Jesus was (according to the Bible) an avowed supporter of such gems as selling your daughter as a sex slave, and beating your slaves to death – as long as they don’t die for two days.”
ABSURD! I discussed previously the difference between the Law of Moses and the Ten Commandments. Christ never avowed support for such atrocities. If you were more familiar with the scriptures, you would find hundreds of examples of compassion and kindness. He healed, comforted and taught very correct principles, and lived a perfect life as an example.
A couple you missed are:
“He took back healings if the recipients didn’t revere him immediately afterward.”
“He repeatedly threatened people who didn’t follow him with an eternity of torture in hell.”
But please don’t bother to continue.
I could offer you so many examples which might further explain my point of view, but, as the saying goes, I don’t wish to [Removed by Fluther]. You fail in the most classic sense to challenge me, or to dialogue respectfully, and I don’t really want to play this any further. [Removed by Fluther] If you really want to be respected by the religious community, find other sources for your material.
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