Christian Topics

[BIG ERN]

Going away from the topic and some questions, but I wanted to share some videos that I enjoyed. I enjoy watching debates etc. on the topic.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_uwWPE6lQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_x8dsvb_4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewbbz7cuHdw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVd635qVGGE

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

wow, this discussion went way over my head. Can someone in two sentences or less tell me how not to go to hell but still enjoy life?

The path to Heaven is not in the works. Meaning that we as Christians believe (because Jesus said so) that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and recognize that He died for our sins, we will be granted the gift of eternal life in Heaven.

 

 

 

I realize I'm responding to a really old post, but where did Jesus say this?

 

 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;..."

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I've never put much stock in the book of John as being actual narratives of Jesus. I put a lot more stock in the synoptic gospels.

 

Luke 10:

25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

28And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

That seems to be a pretty clear quote on how to go to heaven.

IMHO, the passages where Jesus is credited with saying things like "I am the way" or "the way to heaven is through me", what he was really saying was "I am teaching you how to live. The only way to heaven is through my teachings."

[TGHusker]

Going away from the topic and some questions, but I wanted to share some videos that I enjoyed. I enjoy watching debates etc. on the topic.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LA_uwWPE6lQ

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jF_x8dsvb_4

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ewbbz7cuHdw

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVd635qVGGE

I like to listen to John Lennox - smart guy

 

My son has read a lot by Francis Chan - I haven't yet. He likes his material.

[NUance]

 

 

 

 

wow, this discussion went way over my head. Can someone in two sentences or less tell me how not to go to hell but still enjoy life?

The path to Heaven is not in the works. Meaning that we as Christians believe (because Jesus said so) that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and recognize that He died for our sins, we will be granted the gift of eternal life in Heaven.

 

 

 

I realize I'm responding to a really old post, but where did Jesus say this?

 

 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;..."

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I've never put much stock in the book of John as being actual narratives of Jesus. I put a lot more stock in the synoptic gospels.

 

Luke 10:

25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

28And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

That seems to be a pretty clear quote on how to go to heaven.

IMHO, the passages where Jesus is credited with saying things like "I am the way" or "the way to heaven is through me", what he was really saying was "I am teaching you how to live. The only way to heaven is through my teachings."

 

 

It seems like those things logically follow. I mean, if you believe in Jesus and his teachings you worship God through Jesus. In doing so you keep his commandments (from Luke 10 above). And this, in turn, results in good works. One leads to the other, as a matter of course. Or at least that's what it seems like to me anyway.

[GBRedneck]

 

 

 

 

 

wow, this discussion went way over my head. Can someone in two sentences or less tell me how not to go to hell but still enjoy life?

The path to Heaven is not in the works. Meaning that we as Christians believe (because Jesus said so) that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and recognize that He died for our sins, we will be granted the gift of eternal life in Heaven.

 

 

 

I realize I'm responding to a really old post, but where did Jesus say this?

 

 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;..."

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I've never put much stock in the book of John as being actual narratives of Jesus. I put a lot more stock in the synoptic gospels.

 

Luke 10:

25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

28And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

That seems to be a pretty clear quote on how to go to heaven.

IMHO, the passages where Jesus is credited with saying things like "I am the way" or "the way to heaven is through me", what he was really saying was "I am teaching you how to live. The only way to heaven is through my teachings."

 

 

It seems like those things logically follow. I mean, if you believe in Jesus and his teachings you worship God through Jesus. In doing so you keep his commandments (from Luke 10 above). And this, in turn, results in good works. One leads to the other, as a matter of course. Or at least that's what it seems like to me anyway.

 

Yep, that's the way I see it. The stuff about simply believing in Jesus as your Lord and savior would get you to heaven always rang hollow to me. But if truly believing in Him as your Lord and savior makes you also follow all of his teachings (only makes sense, amirite?), then it will lead to heaven.

[TGHusker]

 

 

 

 

 

 

wow, this discussion went way over my head. Can someone in two sentences or less tell me how not to go to hell but still enjoy life?

The path to Heaven is not in the works. Meaning that we as Christians believe (because Jesus said so) that if we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and recognize that He died for our sins, we will be granted the gift of eternal life in Heaven.

 

 

 

I realize I'm responding to a really old post, but where did Jesus say this?

 

 

John 11:25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die;..."

 

 

 

 

I'll be honest, I've never put much stock in the book of John as being actual narratives of Jesus. I put a lot more stock in the synoptic gospels.

 

Luke 10:

25And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?”

26He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?”

27So he answered and said, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’ ”

28And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.”

That seems to be a pretty clear quote on how to go to heaven.

IMHO, the passages where Jesus is credited with saying things like "I am the way" or "the way to heaven is through me", what he was really saying was "I am teaching you how to live. The only way to heaven is through my teachings."

 

 

It seems like those things logically follow. I mean, if you believe in Jesus and his teachings you worship God through Jesus. In doing so you keep his commandments (from Luke 10 above). And this, in turn, results in good works. One leads to the other, as a matter of course. Or at least that's what it seems like to me anyway.

 

Yep, that's the way I see it. The stuff about simply believing in Jesus as your Lord and savior would get you to heaven always rang hollow to me. But if truly believing in Him as your Lord and savior makes you also follow all of his teachings (only makes sense, amirite?), then it will lead to heaven.

 

The 'simply believing in Jesus' part is what Dietrich Bonheoffer referred to as "cheap grace'. Bonheoffer was a Lutheran pastor

during the reign of Hitler in Germany. He was a part of the 'confessing church' those who would not bow to Hitler's manipulation of the

church in Germany. He paid for it by being hanged 2 weeks before the American's liberated his prison. His book, The Cost of Discipleship is a classic.

In the attached article, he compares cheap grace to costly grace.

 

https://caffeinatedthoughts.com/2010/06/dietrich-bonhoeffer-cheap-grace-vs-costly-grace/

[StPaulHusker]

[NUance]

As I read passages of the new testament I noticed something interesting about many of the actions Jesus takes. Well, actually I noticed something about the reaction of others to many of Jesus' actions. There are several instances of Jesus doing something that cause some people to draw closer to Jesus and God, while others are compelled to pull away. Let me give an example of what I'm talking about: In Mark 3 Jesus healed a man with a withered hand in a synagogue. This miraculous act strengthened the faith of most of the people who witnessed it. But some of them used it as an excuse to condemn Jesus. Namely, the Pharisees used it as an excuse to plot against Jesus since the healing took place on the Sabbath, and "work" was forbidden. There are other examples of this where various people in the bible have differing reactions to Jesus' acts of healing, speaking, sending the holy spirit, etc.

Anyway, this dichotomy of reactions to the things Jesus did and said made me think of the verse about the sword from Matthew 10:

32“Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my Father in heaven. 33 But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before my Father in heaven. 34“Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

This passage from Matthew 10 goes on to talk about dividing families into believers and non-believers, e.g., a man divided from his father, or a daughter divided from her mother. Based on the observation above, I don't think the "sword" implies that Jesus will bring war or violence. Instead I think it means that Jesus wields the metaphorical "sword" to divide believers from non-believers.

 

This is just a thought that I've been mulling over. I am not sure whether this is the correct way to interpret Jesus' sword in Matthew 10:34.

[Landlord]

I've been listening to a lot of Richard Rohr lately, and learning about Christian mysticism and deconstruction. Very enlightened, wise old man - I wish he was my grandpa. Been eating up a ton of resources on perspectives of Christianity I would have condemned and been terrified of a few short years ago.

[NUance]

I've been listening to a lot of Richard Rohr lately, and learning about Christian mysticism and deconstruction. Very enlightened, wise old man - I wish he was my grandpa. Been eating up a ton of resources on perspectives of Christianity I would have condemned and been terrified of a few short years ago.

 

What are some of the things you've discovered about Christian mysticism? (I'm not familiar with the topic.)

[TGHusker]

 

I've been listening to a lot of Richard Rohr lately, and learning about Christian mysticism and deconstruction. Very enlightened, wise old man - I wish he was my grandpa. Been eating up a ton of resources on perspectives of Christianity I would have condemned and been terrified of a few short years ago.

 

What are some of the things you've discovered about Christian mysticism? (I'm not familiar with the topic.)

 

I got this from a quick search:

https://cac.org/richard-rohr/richard-rohr-ofm/

Fr. Richard Rohr is a globally recognized ecumenical teacher bearing witness to the universal awakening within Christian mysticism and the Perennial Tradition. He is a Franciscan priest of the New Mexico Province and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation (CAC) in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Fr. Richard’s teaching is grounded in the Franciscan alternative orthodoxy—practices of contemplation and self-emptying, expressing itself in radical compassion, particularly for the socially marginalized.

Fr. Richard is the author of numerous books, including Everything Belongs, Adam’s Return, The Naked Now, Breathing Under Water, Falling Upward, Immortal Diamond, and Eager to Love: The Alternative Way of Francis of Assisi.

Fr. Richard is academic Dean of the Living School for Action and Contemplation. Drawing upon Christianity’s place within the Perennial Tradition, the mission of the Living School is to produce compassionate and powerfully learned individuals who will work for positive change in the world based on awareness of our common union with God and all beings.

 

I also came across this article voices concern about new age and Emergent Church emphasis:

 

http://www.spiritualdirection.com/2014/09/05/can-trust-fr-richard-rohr

 

 

For classical, Christian mysticism that is more traditional in its focus, I would go with Andrew Murray, EM Bounds (Protestant 1800s era), Madam Guyan; Teresa of Avila., Saint John of the Cross, Madam Guyon; Francois Fenelon, Brother Lawerance (Catholic) and many other similar.

Here is one website

http://www.passtheword.org/Fenelon-Guyon/