Major1
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- Sep 17, 2016
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You make many assumptions regarding what you think some scriptures mean. Most of us have done this. It doesn't mean we are correct.
My point in mentioning Israel is that in one place it says one thing and in another the opposite.
And there are many other examples of this throughout both the old and new. These seeming contradictions set up a tension and very difficult to resolve entirely and in all cases, except by framing them within a set of doctrinal positions that an individual subscribes to and then interpreting them in that light. This is the history of the church in a nutshell--aside from what is invisible and wonderful based on Paul's illuminating in Ephesians, Colossians, Corinthians, Thessalonians and so on.
There are things there that we know are true as the Holy Spirit opens our eyes and even so--some of those lofty things regarding the Church and the Saints--we see dimly.
We know that the Lord chose us 'In Him' before the foundation of the world, we know He made us alive 'In Him', we know He loves us and will never leave or forsake us. We have the awesome opportunity to share the reason for the hope that He put within us. We know He is faithful, gracious and merciful and that He went to prepare a place for us. We know that even as we stand before the white throne judgement and our lives/works scroll before us and we weep and gnash for the appointed time, the outcome is Grace. The Grace that the Father provides In the Son. The end in any scenario is Grace.
We have so much to glory in before our Lord. The fellowship of the saints, the Paraclete that walks alongside us no matter the circumstances that living on this earth bring us. We have available to us the peace that passes all understanding. We can think on these things and be comforted and walk as lights in the world. We know and believe that our God who made heaven and earth and all that exists, made us in His image and likeness for purposes we can only guess at and wonder in wonder. We will one day see His face and know that we are Sons just as He is. He gave us Being in the light of how He referred to Himself when He said 'I am'. He exists. He existed before anything else and shared that 'being' with us in a universe He constructed for us.
He grieves deeply when we are so divided.
Maybe I will share a dream He sent me regarding that...the result was that I have an aversion to taking part in such. I can't overstate this.
We all need to endeavor with His help to be humble before Him and one another-- to be spiritually and intellectually honest enough to realize that we don't know it all and that some things we have held dear are towers that need crumbling.
It can be profitable to put away the written word, for a season, and seek Him with all of our hearts and minds.
I found it profitable some years ago before the Lord and spent a good amount of time thinking carefully about what I believed and just how I came to believe it.
It was and is an interesting exercise.
May we all continue to grow in Grace and Truth.
He said, I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. He is all we need and He has been given laviously and without condition.
That is a lot of really good sounding words.
I have no argument with you but I did notice something I question.
You said...…….
"It can be profitable to put away the written word, for a season, and seek Him with all of our hearts and minds."
I find that to be completely in disagreement with the Word of God. YOU are free to believe that and do that but it can not be done as a result of the Bible telling you to do so.
Jesus, Who is the Word (John 1:1, 14), has graciously given us His written Word, the Bible. The written Word was given to men by inspiration of God, and it is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and for instruction in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16-17; II Peter 1:21).
The Word is made alive by the Holy Spirit of God, causing it to be filled with divine energy and ability.
"So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it" (Isaiah 55:11).
Jesus said in John 6:63...….
"The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life."
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