Notes: Mark 13:32 (cont'd) To Mark 16:16

(Re: Does God's *omniscience negate our free will, so that either God is not omniscient, or we have no free will?)

(*Free will *symphony - *movie analogy / *Block universe)

God is definitely omniscient, for in Him is found all knowledge (Colossians 2:2b-3; 1 John 3:20b). He is able to declare the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10), and His foreknowledge is determinate (Acts 2:23, Revelation 1:1). But His omniscience coexists with His giving people free will. He still lets people choose for themselves what they are going to do (Joshua 24:15, Deuteronomy 30:19, Isaiah 1:19-20, Philemon 1:14).

An analogy for how people can have a meaningful free will, and yet God can already know what they are going to choose to do, would be a symphony conductor who wanted to make a film of a "Free Will Symphony" which sounded good enough to show off to the world. So he told his symphony musicians his plan, set up a movie camera in front of them, and said that each of them could start playing whatever he or she wanted for an hour. But when they all started playing, it sounded awful for the whole hour. It was utter cacophony. So the conductor sent them home and told them to come back the next day and try again. The next day sounded worse than the first. And the day after that was also bad. This went on day after day for months, until one day the most amazing sound arose from the symphony, a congeries of all of the different melodies and rhythms which was unlike anything that anyone had heard before. So the conductor kept the movie of that day, and showed it off to the world.

But when the symphony musicians began watching the movie at its world premiere, with all of the most-famous musicians of the world seated around them in the theater, some of the symphony musicians began to squirm in their seats. For example, one of the bass players had happened to choose that day (the day that the movie was made) to just stand there and not play anything. The movie showed him eating Twix, and just staring off into space for the whole hour. And one of the violin players had just happened to choose that day to not play anything either, but to file her nails and flip through a magazine.

After the movie was over, those two musicians, as well as some others who had been publicly mortified, filed a civil suit against the conductor for defamation of character. At the trial, they testified before the judge: "Before the movie was shown, we all had good reputations as fine musicians. Now we are the laughingstocks of the musical world. Our careers might never recover from this. The conductor knew before he showed the movie to the world that it would result in our ruin, and yet he showed it anyway. Clearly, his intent was malicious, and we seek damages".

But then the conductor testified: "Your honor, I honestly had no malice toward these musicians. The procedure of making the film was quite random. We made scores of different films, and in many of them, these musicians played brilliantly. But the sound of the symphony as a whole on those days was unbearable to listen to, so those films had to be rejected. It was just by chance that the one day which sounded wonderful, they happened to have made fools of themselves by their own free will. They themselves chose to act that way that day. I didn't make them do anything".

The judge agreed and dismissed the case. He told the musicians: "I'm sorry, but you don't really have a legal leg to stand on. For you knew that the conductor was making a film of that day, and that the plan was to show it off to the world if it sounded good. It is your own fault that you chose to act the way that you did that day" (cf. James 1:13-15).

Similar to this analogy, before God created the world, He could have reviewed an infinite number of different threads (as it were) of all of the possible free-willed sequences of events which could occur in the world, based on all of the possible choices each individual could make during his or her lifetime. For example, in one thread, right after God created Adam, Adam could have chosen first to walk around the south side of the Garden of Eden, while in another thread, Adam chose first to walk around the north side, and in another he chose first just to sit on the grass and look at the trees, and so on through all of the different possibilities for his first choice, and then through all of the different possibilities for all of his subsequent choices, and then through all of the possible choices made by everyone else from the beginning of the world to the end of it. After reviewing the infinite number of threads of all of the possible sequences of free-willed choices, God could have chosen to create, to bring into actual existence, that one thread which would give Him the best opportunity to eternally show both His mercy and His holy wrath (Romans 9:22-23).

Also similar to the movie analogy is the scientific idea of the "block universe", meaning that time, from the viewpoint of physics in itself (that is, outside of how humans happen to experience time), there is no arrow of time: The past, present, and future of all space in the universe exist as one block of a four-dimensional space-time. So the past still exists, and the future already exists. This is similar to how all of the frames of a movie, all of its moments of time, exist at the same time in one reel of film (or in one data file), and yet we humans happen to experience a movie only one frame at a time, and in one direction. Also, with regard to the "block universe", quantum-level experiments have shown that the future determines the past as much as the past determines the future. So from the viewpoint of Christians, this means that they can pray for God's will to be done in the past, just as they can pray for it to be done in the future. For example, if they remember a close call in their past when they just barely escaped having a car accident, they can presently pray that God would keep them from having that accident, and this could help them to avoid it. That is, they could have avoided it because years later they prayed to avoid it.

(See also Joshua 24:15 above)

~

(Re: An *omnipotence *paradox: Can God make a *rock that He cannot lift?)

That logical paradox only seems to prove the impossibility of the whole idea of omnipotence, when in fact it does not necessarily prove anything with regard to whether or not God can be omnipotent in reality. For we know from Zeno's paradoxes that someone can seem to have logically denied the possibility of something, when in fact all he has done is contradict reality.

For example, Zeno's arrow paradox only seems to prove by logic that an arrow shot from a bow can never reach its target. For before an arrow reaches its target, it first has to travel half the distance between the bow and the target. And then it has to travel half the distance between the halfway point and the target. And then it has to travel half the distance between the 3/4-way point and the target, and so on. So the arrow will always have to travel a shorter and shorter distance, ad infinitum. So it never reaches its target.

The logical fallacy here is the idea that an ultimately-infinitesimal distance is any distance at all in reality, where arrows can in fact end up reaching their targets. There could be a similar logical fallacy with regard to the God-rock paradox, a fallacy which, instead of involving a misconception of how the infinitesimal relates to reality, involves a misconception of how the infinite (in this case infinite power) relates to reality.

Calculus is able to make infinitesimals relate correctly to reality. But calculus was not discovered until thousands of years after the time of Zeno of Elea. Perhaps a new Newton, in our own time, will discover the mathematics which will help to make the infinite relate correctly to reality.

(See also Ecclesiastes 11:5 above)

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*Mark 13:34 / *Mk. 13:34 -

(*Talents)

(See Matthew 25:14 above, and the "taskmaster" paragraph of Hebrews 3:6 below)

Jesus Christ gives each Christian his or her own spiritual work to do (Mark 13:34, Romans 12:6-8; 1 Corinthians 12:28-30; 1 Corinthians 12:8-10). And He gives different Christians different amounts of spiritual talents (Matthew 25:15). So it is not possible for all Christians to do the same spiritual work for Jesus, or to accomplish the same amount for Him. And so any one Christian should not (as sometimes happens) judge any other Christian for not doing the same spiritual work that he or she is doing, or for not accomplishing as much as he or she is accomplishing (Romans 14:4). Nor should any Christian think that the spiritual work which Jesus has given him or her is unnecessary and not a real part of the operation of the Church (1 Corinthians 12:14-30). But there is still no room for complacency, because for those Christians who have been given much spiritual talent by God, much will be required of them by God (Luke 12:48b). And for those Christians who have not been given as much spiritual talent by God, they are still expected to accomplish something for Him (Galatians 6:4-5), and not to just sit back and do nothing at all for Him (Matthew 25:26,30, John 15:2a, Romans 2:6-8).

(See also Ephesians 2:8 below)

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*Mark 14:3 / *Mk. 14:3 -

The original Greek word (nardos: G3487) translated as "spikenard", like the English word, can refer to a plant from which a perfumed ointment is made.

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*Mark 14:25 / *Mk. 14:25 -

This means that Jesus Christ will not drink wine again until the future, Millennial aspect of His Kingdom has arrived.

(See the "Millennium" sections of Revelation 20:4 below)

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*Mark 14:43 / *Mk. 14:43 -

(Staves / G3586)

See Matthew 26:47 above.

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*Mark 14:62 / *Mk. 14:62 -

See Matthew 26:64 above.

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*Mark 14:65 / *Mk. 14:65 -

(Buffet / G2852)

See Matthew 26:67 above.

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*Mark 15:38 / *Mk. 15:38 -

See Matthew 27:51 above.

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*Mark 16:9-20 / *Mk. 16:9 -

It has never been proven that this was not part of the original manuscript of the book of Mark, that the Textus Receptus book of Mark was not descended from a now-lost manuscript even older than the oldest not-lost manuscripts, which could have been descended from a damaged, end-truncated manuscript. Also, there is no Biblical reason to reject anything in Mark 16:9-20, for nothing in it has ever been proven to be wrong doctrinally, to be not in line with the rest of the Bible. Also, Mark 16:16 shows the same thing as many other parts of the Bible: that baptism is necessary to obtain ultimate salvation (1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3-11, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16).

(See also Mark 16:16 below)

~

(Re: Mark 16:9: Was Jesus raised on the sabbath?)

No, for the Bible does not say that Jesus Christ rose from the dead at any time before the first day of the week (Mark 16:9). For He died on the day before the sabbath (Mark 15:42-46, John 19:31). And he rose on the third day after that (Matthew 17:23). So He died on a Friday (the first of the three days), then He stayed dead on Saturday, the sabbath, and then He rose early on Sunday, the first day of the week (Mark 16:9).

(Compare the "End" section of Hebrews 9:26 below)

~

(Re: Did Jesus fulfill the firstfruits wave offering, which was done on the sabbath?)

The firstfruits wave offering was done on the day after the sabbath (Leviticus 23:10-11, Leviticus 23:16-20), just as Jesus Christ's physical resurrection was the firstfruits of the physical resurrection into immortality (1 Corinthians 15:20,23), and it occurred on the day after the sabbath (Mark 16:9).

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*Mark 16:15 / *Mk. 16:15 -

The command for Christians to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ to every creature means to every kind of created thing, not only humans; just as the prophet Ezekiel was commanded to speak God's Word even to mountains (Ezekiel 36), and "unto every feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field" (Ezekiel 39:17). St. Francis of Assisi preached to birds. See also the great, old hymn: "All Creatures of Our God and King". Every kind of created thing, not just humans, can hear the Gospel (Mark 16:15), and can worship God at some level (Revelation 5:13, Psalms 148, Luke 19:40). For consciousness is not something which requires a human brain. For a human soul remains conscious outside of the body, whether the body is still alive (2 Corinthians 12:2-4) or has died (Revelation 6:9-10). And a soul can have consciousness based on something even more fundamental than itself: spirit (1 Thessalonians 5:23), just as angels have consciousness, and they are called "spirits" (Hebrews 1:7).

(See "All consciousness" under 1 Thessalonians 5:23 below)

~

(Re: Then this command has never been taken seriously by the overwhelming majority of Christians?)

That's right, just as is the case with some other commands of Jesus (Matthew 5:39-44, Matthew 6:19a).

~

(Re: Election)

Even though the Gospel of Jesus Christ must be preached to everyone (Mark 16:15), nonelect people still can never be saved from hell. For they can never believe in Jesus Christ (John 8:42-47, John 10:26).

(See also Romans 10:14 and Romans 9:11 below)

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*Mark 16:16 / *Mk. 16:16 -

(Re: *Baptism)

In order to be saved ultimately, Christians must get water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus Christ's death for our sins (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16). If people believe with all of their heart that Jesus Christ is the human/divine Son of God (Acts 8:37), then they can get baptized anywhere there is water (Acts 8:36) into which they can be fully-immersed (buried) (Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12). They need to make sure to be baptized in the name of God the Father; and of the Son, Jesus Christ; and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:19, Acts 2:38). Christians can get water-immersion baptized at, for example, a Baptist-type congregation.

Besides getting water baptized, Christians can get Holy Spirit baptized (Acts 11:15-16, Acts 10:44-46). They usually have to ask to receive the Holy Spirit (Luke 11:13b) baptism, for it is usually not given to them automatically at the moment that they become Christians. That is why the apostle Paul at one point asked some Christians: "Have ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed?" (Acts 19:2).

Christians usually receive Holy Spirit baptism through prayer accompanied by the laying on of hands, subsequent to water baptism (Acts 8:15-17, Acts 19:5-6). Holy Spirit baptism will not result in the speaking in tongues for everyone (1 Corinthians 12:30), but for almost everyone, as tongues are one of the Spirit's lesser gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8-11,28; 1 Corinthians 14:5). Many Christians have not yet experienced Holy Spirit baptism simply because they have not yet asked for it, under the principle of: "ye have not, because ye ask not" (James 4:2b). Many Christians have not yet asked for it because they have come under the influence of mistaken teachings which say that it is no longer in effect. Christians can get hands laid on them to receive Holy Spirit baptism at any Pentecostal-type congregation, or at any charismatic-type congregation, which can be of almost any denomination.

(See also 1 Corinthians 12:8 below)

~

(Re: Different *measures of the Spirit)

Everyone, both Christians and non-Christians, has some minimal measure of God's Spirit, by which they are able to exist (Acts 17:28, Psalms 104:30), and have human consciousness (John 1:9). Christians have some greater measure of the Spirit, by which they are able to understand and believe the Bible (1 Corinthians 2:12-16, John 20:22, Luke 24:45-47). Christians who have received Holy Spirit baptism (Acts 11:16, Acts 19:2a,6) have an even greater measure of the Spirit, by which they are able to operate in one or more of the Spirit's gifts (1 Corinthians 12:8-11). Because Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1,14), He has the Spirit in an infinite amount, beyond measure (John 3:34).

~

(Re: Water baptism exceptions?)

See Luke 23:43 below.

~

(Re: Who can baptize?)

Any Christian can baptize any other Christian, just as any Christian can bury any other Christian. For baptism is a kind of burial (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12).

~

(Re: Is baptism required for initial salvation?)

Some people feel that baptism cannot be required for salvation, because baptism is a work, and salvation is not based on works, but on faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9). But baptism is a kind of circumcision (Colossians 2:11-13, Philippians 3:3, Romans 2:29). Just as Abraham, who is a model for Christians, was initially saved by faith alone, prior to his circumcision (Romans 4), so Christians are initially saved by faith alone (Ephesians 2:8-9, Titus 3:5, Romans 4:2-5), prior to their baptism (Acts 8:36-38, John 20:31). But just as Abraham was ultimately saved by his works (James 2:21-24), so Christians will be ultimately saved by their works (Romans 2:6-8, James 2:24, Matthew 7:21, Matthew 25:26,30, Philippians 2:12b, Philippians 3:11-14; 2 Corinthians 5:9, Hebrews 5:9, Hebrews 6:10-12; 2 Peter 1:10-11, John 15:2a; 1 John 2:17b), which must include getting water-immersion (burial) baptized (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16).

~

(Re: Does Mark 16:16b mean that Christians will not ultimately be damned even if they are not baptized?)

Mark 16:16b is not contradicting the requirement of Mark 16:16a and other verses that Christians get baptized if they are to be ultimately saved. Mark 16:16b does not mention baptism because Mark 16:16b is referring to non-Christians, who do not get baptized.

~

(Re: Must Holy Spirit baptism come through the laying on of hands?)

Not always, for sometimes, although rarely, Holy Spirit baptism comes without the laying on of hands (Acts 10:44,46).

~

(Re: Is your baptism teaching too complex?)

No, for what has been presented is the Biblical teaching on baptism, which should be considered as milk, not meat (Hebrews 5:12 to 6:3).

~

(Re: *Infant baptism)

Unless God wants to make an exception for an elect individual (Exodus 33:19b, Romans 9:15), infant baptism is not valid, because baptism is useless for salvation, and is not even allowed, unless the one being baptized is already a believer with all of his heart that Jesus Christ is the Son of God (Acts 8:36-38, Mark 16:16). Also, Christians need to be not just sprinkled with water, as is often done with infant baptism, but water-immersion (burial) baptized (Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12) in order to be ultimately saved from hell (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16).

~

(Re: Does infant baptism mean that God has claimed/saved that infant?)

Only elect infants have been claimed by God. Nonelect infants have no hope of salvation (Romans 9:11-22), even if their parents get them baptized. There is no way to prove whether or not an infant is elect until he or she grows up and becomes a Christian, proving that he or she is elect (Acts 13:48b), or until he or she dies without ever becoming a Christian, proving that he or she is nonelect (John 8:42-47).

(See Romans 9:11 below)

~

(Re: *Immersion)

In order to be saved ultimately, Christians must get water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus Christ's death for our sins (Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12, Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16). The original Greek nouns for "baptism" (baptisma: G0908; and baptismos: G0909) are derived from the Greek verb for "baptize" (baptizo: G0907), which means to immerse. For it is derived from the Greek verb "bapto" (G0911), which means to cover wholly with a fluid (Strong's Greek Dictionary). We are to be "buried" in the water of baptism (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12), and no one is buried by merely having some water sprinkled on his forehead. Even the Catholic Encyclopedia admits: "In the Latin Church, immersion seems to have prevailed until the twelfth century. After that time it is found in some places even as late as the sixteenth century. Infusion and aspersion, however, were growing common in the thirteenth century and gradually prevailed in the Western Church". On what basis did the Catholic Church, or any other church for that matter, abandon the requirement of immersion?

~

(Re: If Jesus did not speak Greek, wouldn't He have not said "baptism", but the Aramaic "mikvah", which simply means "to wash", rather than "to bury"?)

Note that the Bible says that we must be "buried" in our baptism (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12).

~

(Re: Can "buried" be wholly symbolic?)

"Buried" is both literal and symbolic. Our literally being buried (immersed) in the water of baptism is symbolic of our dying and being buried into Jesus Christ's literal death and burial for our sins (Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12). Similarly, when we literally rise up out of the water of baptism, this is symbolic of our being raised up into a new life in Jesus, just as Jesus was literally raised from the dead (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12). So if we deny our need to be immersed and then to come up out of the water, this is akin to denying the need for Jesus to literally die for our sins and be buried, and then to literally rise from the dead (1 Corinthians 15). That is, if we feel free to claim that the burial of baptism is wholly symbolic, then what will prevent us from claiming that Jesus' death and resurrection were also wholly symbolic, that they never actually happened, or never had to happen, literally?

~

(Re: Are not there places in the world without large bodies of water?)

No matter where Christians live, if they have enough water to drink, to cook their food, to irrigate their crops, to water their cattle, to wash themselves, and to wash their clothes, then they have enough water to pour into a tub in which they can immerse (baptize) new Christians. And if they do not have enough water to do these things, then they are in a location which is unsuitable for human habitation, and they need to move to where water is available for them to survive, and to immerse (baptize) new Christians.

~

(Re: Does immersion baptism *lock you into the congregation where you were baptized?)

No, immersion baptism does not lock you into any particular congregation, or even into any particular denomination. After getting immersion baptized in one congregation, you can go and join any other congregation or denomination that you want, any time that you want, without having to get anyone's permission (except God's).

Also, believers in Jesus Christ should not be identified or identify themselves after any man-made denomination (1 Corinthians 1:12-13; 1 Corinthians 3:4), but should simply be "Christians" (Acts 11:26b; 1 Peter 4:16). While there is one true Church, or body of Christ, it consists of all Christians everywhere (Ephesians 4:4-6), no matter what their man-made denomination.

~

(Re: Are all non-immersed Christians lost?)

Living Christians who have not yet been baptized by immersion are not lost, for they have been initially saved. But they must be water-immersion (burial) baptized into Jesus Christ's death for our sins in order to be ultimately saved (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Romans 6:3-11, Colossians 2:12, Galatians 3:27, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16). If they reject the Bible's clear teachings, in order to follow some man-made teachings instead (cf. Mark 7:9,13, Colossians 2:8), then how can they be said to be truly Jesus' disciples (Luke 6:46, John 8:31b)?

~

(Re: How could all those Christians in past centuries who did not get immersed be lost?)

How could all of humanity except for only eight people be killed in Noah's Flood (1 Peter 3:20b-21)? Compare also what Matthew 7:14 says.

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