Will the real Jesus please stand up?

Oh, and I'm pretty to.......

Pretty ugly maybe, but I'll take whatever pretty I can get......

I guess I missed the wedding!

I don't always explain things that I'm thinking in the most concrete terms, so just to clear up any confusion about my position, I will tell all of you that I do happen to believe in the concept traditionally referred to as the trinity. I happened to believe this before I heard anyone teach it or even mention it.

I know that we don't all agree on this, and that has been fine. And, if it turns out that God is what the term trinity describes, I rather imagine the definition is imperfect, just by the virtue of the fact that God is divine and we are not.

I figured at some point we would get people on this thread who say that a council and/or an emperor "decided" that Jesus is God, so I have a whole pile of writings from earlier believers so we could take a look at what they were thinking. I have not yet read them all myself. The direction of the thread has not gone this way, so I haven't brought it up.

Mary, where are you? I'm forcing myself to return to behaving like I live in the Eastern time zone, so if I don't catch you while you are on, I will get back to you.

And I need help figuring out how to use all the functions like quoting just one sentence and getting the bold to work, etc. I've tried what seems logical to me, but I can't get the various functions to work. I've seen you even use red, so I figure you know all the ins and outs. And is there spell check??? You should see some of my posts, especially the wee hours of the morning ones.

Jen

at the top of the reply screen theres a tool bar, but you don't haft to actually use it, i myself dont.

i just type what i need like, bold its a b with these [ ] on both sides after the sentence is finished use /b with the [ ] on both sides.

color is the same, type color=red, or whatever color you wish and put [ ] this on either side, after the sentence type /color with the brackets [ ] on both sides again.

its easy

I thought I tried it that way, so I must have I messed it up. Thanks, I will give it another try.

Yeah it can be a pain sometimes, the quoting thing is over my head I guess.

Unless it's quoting the whole message lol

Which suits me fine really, that way no one can say I'm taking things out of context or something.........

I can only stand for a little bit,,, it hurts where they put the spikes.

Why assume there are only three?....


He that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations...

He shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

28And I will give him the morning star. (Rev 2)





?

Have you ever wondered how the 'all knowing' would only "speak what he hears"...


if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send him unto you.

...

13Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak: and he will shew you things to come.

14He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. (John 16)






?

Hi all,

I am actually not going to be "on" very much the first half of this week. So if y'all are still interested in the topic, please discuss away! I have some homework to do that is much more involved than I thought when I first looked at it.

So, I thought I would share a little of what I was thinking the other day.

Last Edited by Jenann on 09/26/2011 09:19 PM

Part 1

I woke up one day last week with a flood of thoughts about love and they all points to something really special in Jesus' way of loving.

The first thought had to do with my kids (we have four) and how different they are and how I've had to "learn" to communicate with each one.

The youngest, for instance, usually communicates in "feelings" oriented ways. If you ask her how she is or how her day at school was, you can be guaranteed to get a response expressed in terms of joy, sadness, anger, etc. She tells me she loves me more often than her siblings tell me that.

Relating to her and understanding her is pretty easy for me because we are actually rather similar. Sometimes we even sing our sentences to each other, and if we attempted that with the rest of the family we would probably be answered with blank stares...lol.

My second youngest child is almost the opposite in temperament. I remember asking her once what was going on and how she was feeling when it was visually apparent that she was upset about something. She said, "I think good". At first I thought I had misread her, but then over time I saw that she and I were quite different and that I had to learn her "language". So I have more or less learned her language since then, but I still get it wrong sometimes, and when I get it right, it is still not the most natural thing for me, but I love her just as much as I do her sister, and it is most certainly worth it. Of course God has helped me with all the relationships I have at home.

The best thing about my failures and imperfection in this area is that they help me to appreciate just how perfect Jesus is at this sort of thing.

Last Edited by Jenann on 09/26/2011 09:27 PM

while waiting for Part 2 :)

(very nice)

Part 2

Jesus spoke with all sorts of people, and I've had two conversations on my mind lately.

The first is in the third chapter of John. A man named Nicodemus came to see Jesus. Nicodemus was an educated Jewish ruler who would have known his scriptures backwards and forwards. Because of this, Jesus spoke to him in some very specific, if not technical, terms on how to enter God's kingdom (by being born again of the spirit). Jesus' words were indicative of a higher knowledge than what Nicodemus' education provided. Nicodemus was challenged to consider that salvation does not come from keeping the law.

Then in the next chapter Jesus met the woman at the well. Their conversation proceeded much differently. She had some general knowledge of the faith, and she and Jesus spoke in terms of her particular level of understanding. He also made it clear that he knew the extent of her sexual past, and made reference to eternal life as living water, seeing that she was there to draw drinking water. She made mention of the Messiah, and he came right out and told her that he was him.

I tried to picture the other day what would have happened if Jesus explained eternal life to the woman at the well using the exact words he used on Nicodemus (and vice versa). I don't think the conversations would have gone so well. Jesus had to have known all about these two, so above and beyond being special, perhaps there is something of a divine nature going on with him. There was no explanation of how he learned these things in a dream or how an angel of God showed him as we find in other parts of the Bible.

Is it possible that Jesus is more than just a man or even a prophet? Is Jesus' love so perfect that he perfectly knows how to speak with each and every one of us?

Last Edited by Jenann on 09/26/2011 09:24 PM

We also have four...


So do you understand why Jesus was so perfect with these words?....




Luke 12:53
The father shall be divided against the son, and the son against the father; the mother against the daughter, and the daughter against the mother






?

Yes, but I haven't looked at that part of Luke for about a year, so it would not be wise for me to comment on one verse right now.

Would someone please kindly tell me how to check spelling on GLP?..

Thanks.

Intersesting response.


Because as a parent, ^^that^^ verse is one of the most concerning. (Humble opinion)


...



51Suppose ye that I am come to give peace on earth? I tell you, Nay; but rather division (Luke 12)






><

When I am composing a PM with a misspelled, word, that word is underlined with a wavy red line.

(Might be different on an iPad or iPhone)

lol


"Interesting"^^ was not spelled correctly in the last post.





0)

I wouldn't know, my iPad and acer tablets do it automatically, sometimes it's annoying cause the tablets think they know better and change certain things I haft to redo again else nothing makes sense.

But so far, it's not p.o.ing me to much.....

Ok, now I am back Daniel!!!...........

I go through Luke about once a year, and I know that verse because it is one that grabs my attention, and I think about it more than the one time a year I go through Luke. There are some favorite parts of Luke that I go back to on their own over and over throughtout the year that I have more or less memorized. I don't have the paragraphs surrounding your reference memorized so to say something about it without going over it again would be unwise.

That being said, now that I've had a small number of days as an OP on a topic other than football, I'm finding that I don't want to talk about one verse that doesn't easily stand alone like John 3:16, for instance. And even that one makes more sense when discussed in its proper context.

There are people here who probably read their Bible every day, and there are more than likely those who never read it, and I think think you picked one that needs to be discussed in context of the passage. So if you think it is important maybe you could discuss the context and explain why it's important to us here.

I am not surprised. I have not spell checked anything since joining GLP, and I type really fast and goober up all sorts of words accidentally. Neither my laptop nor my tablet pick up misspellings when I am on GLP, but they do otherwise.

A friend of mine once noticed how often in things like manuals and simple office memos, "you" is typed instead of "your", and that makes sense because it is easy to leave off the "r". Since then, I have noticed how often this really happens. I have seen all sorts of writings that proceed like this: "After you unwrap you new coffee maker....".

Daniel brought up a Luke verse, and that reminds me I have been thinking of initiating a little Bible study here on Luke (probably in the latter half of October). Life and Love and I have discussed the possibility, and it sounds like he would be up for it. He has been an awesome co-OP!

It would definitely be open to anyone regardless of background, and it would need to be a cooperative effort where we all bring our thoughts to the table.

And Mary, I have not forgotten that we were maybe going to start a separate little discussion about the Eucharist.

It is very late, so good night to everyone!

Jen

Hello Jen-

Above you assume/imply that John 3:16 easily stands alone but that Luke 12:51-53 does not.

The context (and the message that has been repeatedly posted on your thread) is that the narrow path is not easy.

Jesus spent alot of time teaching and many of those lessons such as the one in Luke 12:53 are ignored.

As you are well aware- most parents tend to make their children their priority.

Which leads to many detours from the narrow path.

Re: John 3:16-

Believing in Jesus also means that you carefully follow his lessons.







+

Actually, I read it as John 3:16 as an example of a scripture oft quoted that, too, doesn't easily stand alone out of context.

Shows the difficulties of exegesis (of anything!)

unfortunately, your right. most parents try to be their childrens friend.

making them the center of their world.

they become spoiled. they tend to think that part of the tax refund check is theirs. or the child support money is theirs to spend.

yet they dont work or ake money or contribute to the household at all.

they dont pay the bills, the rent, buy food to eat, buy clothes for school, worry about how tthe family car is running, pay for the gas that it consumes, nothing.

yet they expect everything to be provided free of charge, perhaps they think its tthe parents fault they are alive?

but they do expect their share of the money, reguardless.

the problem is setting the children up as the center of the universe, the answer is the opposite.

joshua envisioned a sun, moon and stars......

of course, they were all bowing down to him, but the importance of the vision in this example was the sun represents the father, the moon, the mother and the stars, the siblings.

the order of things as they should be........

notice, the children are merely stars?

the sun, the center represented the father?

and the moon, perhaps considerably smaller than the sun not only reflects the light of the sun, but from the observation of the earth can eclipse the sun.

from the perspective of the earth, the sun and moon are the most influential upon the earth.....

i feel i had to make that clear, because of the riffraff that like starting stuff.

Every once in a while a blind squirrel finds a nut.




0)

Hey guys,

It seems that I continue to be unclear in explaining myself. I did not mean to imply that, in the general sense, the John verse is a stand alone verse and the Luke verse is not. Neither are, and I believe all verses are better understood in context.

But I am so excited about how truly amazing God is that my bias will almost always be my hope that all will come to see this about him. So, if I had only one chance to share one verse with someone I would never talk to again, I would go for the John reference over the Luke refence. I only mentioned that particular John verse since it is so famous. It is not my own personal favorite salvation reference (all of my favorites are in I John).

The day this thread becomes about whether or not I understand a particular verse, I will have to quit. And for you Daniel, I will have to confess that your discussion of the matter was far more interesting to me because we got a better glimpse of who you are and what you think and your way of viewing God. And the best thing is that through your unique way of explaining things, you pointed us to God. Your comments left me thinking about him. If I answered your question and got a "correct" or 'incorrect" evaluation from you then what would that have done to to keep the focus off us and on the majesty of God? And for the record, you and I are in agreement about what you explained.

I have heard any number of testimonies about coming to faith and continuing in faith, and I can't remember a single one having anything to do with two people correcting each other over one or two verses. Most of the testimonies have to do with people recognizing something different in someone and finding out that the something is Jesus. In fact, at class tonight I introduced myself to a classmate, and she had this wonderful story about this very thing.

She met a stranger and saw her "glow" (this was her exact word). Being a Christian already she figured it had something to do with God, and because she wanted this glow too she asked which church the stranger attended because she figured it would be a good place to learn about God. This was in the late 1990s. So until recently my new acquaintance has been driving one and a half hours one way to our fellowship, and she said it had nothing to do with the institution but it had to do with learning about God with other people. She has just in the last year moved here.

Last Edited by Jenann on 09/29/2011 12:09 AM