No Entry?
A door unopened is merely another wall.
Many stand outside the walls of God's kingdom because they willfully refuse Christ [the only door to salvation and blessing].
posted by Dale Callahan at 6:02 AM
Mind/Mined Nuggets
God has given us inexhaustible treasure fields to search out. As we search for these treasures in God's world and in His Word, we find nuggets of wealth that are far greater than that of silver and gold. Below are some nuggets I have discovered...some nuggets were found close to the surface...while others took years of searching and digging. May the Lord give us all hearts to continue seeking Him, our exceeding great reward.
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
Many stand outside the walls of God's kingdom because they willfully refuse Christ [the only door to salvation and blessing].
6 Comments:
Don't you think a case can be made, theologically, that the kingdom of God (as described by Jesus) does not have a wall around it? There is a strong current in orthodox Christian theology that the kingdom is realized by actions of people following Jesus' teaching and example. I also recall Jesus indicating several ways to achieve blessing in the Sermon on the Mount that do not involving "accepting Christ" in the sense understood by fundamentalist Christians today.
You use the term "fundamentalist" Christian quite often.
Who or what actually falls under this term?
The Bible teaches that true keeping of God's commands are summed up in two great commands.
1. Loving God with your all
2. Loving your neighbor as yourself.
The Bible also teaches that God does give good gifts to the ungodly, He does so to bring them to repentance.
But if they refuse to repent because of their unrepentant and sin hardened heart then all the blessings they receive will turn out to be accumulated curses on the day of Judgement [Romans 2].
The symbolism of Revelations speaks of God's kingdom as a walled city...with the wicked on the outside.
Unfortunately, fundamentalists rarely stop with the 2 fundamental commandments that Jesus recounted and you repeat. Rather than stop with the 2 statements he said summed up all the law and the prophets, you had to add some ideas from Paul's theological treatise to the Romans and refer to an apocalyptical book written many decades after Jesus' death. I suppose Jesus is just not fundamental enough for you.
I would agree generally with the Wikipedia definition of fundamentalism:
"Fundamentalism, as the term is used today, is a fairly recent creation closely linked with the historical and cultural contexts of 1920s U.S. Protestantism...it is increasingly a modern phenomenon, characterized by a sense of embattled alienation in the midst of the surrounding culture, even where the culture may be nominally influenced by the adherents' religion. The term can also refer specifically to the belief that one's religious texts are infallible and historically accurate, despite possible contradiction of these claims by modern scholarship."
What term do you prefer to describe your belief system?
"Historical" would be fine.
As a Christian from the "reformed" persuasion I definately do not confine myself to the teachings of the last century.
My definition of the Church is not merely of a "protestant" view either. I believe the church is 2000 years old and that is why I study the history of the church.
I am not even going to be "again" the thing over Jesus verses Paul.
The words of Paul are the words of Christ.
Your task isn't just to make statements...show where Paul conflicts with Jesus and the Old Testament which Jesus said He came to fulfill.
Dale,
As you have stated over and over, you believe the bible to be a seamless, non-contradictory, literally true document. That's nice, but even a cursory study of the book reveals that position to be incorrect. The only way to arrive at that conclusion is to begin with it and look for evidence to support what you want to find.
I know how the Bible came to be...I also know it is true and doesn't contradict itself.
Have a nice day.
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