The impossible ethic

[peterandrewj]

Wow Tremble, your defense of the article is fierce; someone might think you wrote it.
Anyways, I’ve said all I have to say about it.
Joy, peace and righteousness is my fave. Be blessed

 

[tremble]

Wow Tremble, your defense of the article is fierce; someone might think you wrote it.
Anyways, I’ve said all I have to say about it.
Joy, peace and righteousness is my fave. Be blessed

Still trying to make this about anything other than promoting loyalty to Jesus, eh?

I guess this also means you don't want to point me to those atheists who were promoting obedience to Jesus? Too bad, I was excited for a moment there.

 

[peterandrewj]

Still trying to make this about anything other than promoting loyalty to Jesus, eh?.

You mean loyalty to Jesus Christians, because they are as loyal to Jesus as David Koresh, or Jim Jones, or.....

I guess this also means you don't want to point me to those atheists who were promoting obedience to Jesus? Too bad, I was excited for a moment there.

Dodge, spin, parry, thrust.....yawn

 

[tremble]

I was wondering when you'd join the name-calling bandwagon. Looks like all it took was to ask you to be more specific about your objections to obedience to Jesus and hey presto!

 

[tremble]

Anyway...

Obedience to Jesus is not impossible. It's inconvenient at times. It forces us to confront our fears, to let go of what we believe to be most important to us, and to change in ways we don't always understand at first.

This is why Jesus said, "He who seeks to gain his life will lose it, and he who seeks to lose his life will gain it". He knows that seeking the values of Heaven could end up costing us our lives but that's okay because promoting the kingdom of Heaven is more important than this temporary life.

Jesus had the answers to all of life's problems and he called it the kingdom of Heaven. But to experience those answers we must act on his teachings. We must apply the values he taught us to follow even if it costs us everything to do so.

 

[Aldebaran]

Can you point me to these atheist who are trying to figure out what Jesus' teachings mean and how to obey them? Ya know, the ones who teach that it's not impossible to obey Jesus? I'm very keen to talk to them.

What he said was, "I hear the same things from atheists looking to discredit the bible." I don't think he meant the atheists were looking for ways to obey Jesus. I have discussions with them all the time, and they never ask me that.

Tremble, one of Jesus's teachings say that if our right hand or right eye causes us to sin, that we should cut them off, because it would be better to enter life with one hand or eye than to have both and end up in Hell. Everyone I talk to says that He wasn't being literal about this. But since you have been saying that we are supposed to follow His teachings and that He meant what He said, how to you propose following this teaching?

 

[Alithis]

Oh wow. Look where I found the article!

The "Impossible" Ethic

www.[B]jesuschristians[/B].com/recent-articles/807-the-qimpossibleq-ethic-?catid=18%3Adeep-thoughts-recent-articles

No wonder you didn't want to give credit to the author or cite the source! You fooled a few Tremble, but now we know for sure what you represent.

a year or so back there were a number of threads on cf which all turned argumentative and became problematic .they eased off after some one who personally knew the poster (against cf rules) exposed the poster and his companions as being the founder and members of "the Jesuspeople".. by most mainstream standards it is considered to be a cult.

@Tremble, we do well to post things that edify,build up,encourage unity.. too many threads of contentious topic do not aid such edification in the lord Jesus.

i know that agreeable threads do not generate much reply....but another way of looking at is,they do not generate discord among believers and are therefore,successful christian threads.

 

[tremble]

@Tremble, we do well to post things that edify,build up,encourage unity.. too many threads of contentious topic do not aid such edification in the lord Jesus.

Jesus was hunted down by the religious leaders of his day for the "contentious" things he said and did. If only you were there to lecture him maybe he could have avoided making some people so angry. Too bad God didn't think of that, right?

 

[tremble]

What he said was, "I hear the same things from atheists looking to discredit the bible." I don't think he meant the atheists were looking for ways to obey Jesus. I have discussions with them all the time, and they never ask me that.

Yet, when I asked him to post evidence from the article to illustrate his claims about atheism, he was not able to. He decided it was time to stop posting on the topic.

Tremble, one of Jesus's teachings say that if our right hand or right eye causes us to sin, that we should cut them off, because it would be better to enter life with one hand or eye than to have both and end up in Hell. Everyone I talk to says that He wasn't being literal about this. But since you have been saying that we are supposed to follow His teachings and that He meant what He said, how to you propose following this teaching?

Did you read the article? It deals specifically with this issue.

 

[BryanW92]

Jesus was hunted down by the religious leaders of his day for the "contentious" things he said and did. If only you were there to lecture him maybe he could have avoided making some people so angry. Too bad God didn't think of that, right?

You're not Jesus.

 

[BryanW92]

This article shows the difference between talking about an "Impossible Ethic" and living it, and then showing others how you live it. The full gospel requires both sacrifice and witness. Without sharing your personal story, it is just talk. You can use the words of Christ, but when they come out of a person's mouth who does not live them, they are empty.

Live Dead

Saturday, July 19th, 2014
One of the greatest joys which my wife and I share is the knowledge that our daughter Bethany serves as cross-cultural minister of the gospel, bringing hope and God’s grace to an unreached people-group in Tanzania known as the Alagwa. She is now in her fourth year there. She speaks a language called Alagawesi and she shares life with these dear people. Her daily life is mostly occupied with farming since the Alagwga are a subsistence culture. There is no running water, electricity, roads, banks or anything which we might take for granted. The deeper challenge is being separated from all her family and friends. People often ask Bethany how she is able to do this? To her, it is not a sacrifice. It is a calling. Yes, it is hard. But, there are deeper realities at work. God always grants the grace and peace for whatever our calling might be. Our challenge is to be faithful – daily faithful. Because we have died to the world, we are now fully alive in Christ to engage the world in new and powerful ways.

Bethany is part of a growing movement known as “live dead.” Their mission statement is as follows (source):

The Holy Spirit is speaking to his Church, reminding us of the passion that he has never relinquished — the passion to be glorified by every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

We are committed to taking the church where it does not exist; to making Christ known to people groups who don’t have an opportunity to know him. Live dead is more than a strategy it is a bridge to practically make a difference in the statistic that 40% of the world lives without access to Christ. We believe that we can make a difference; we believe that we must make a difference.

Live Dead is a re-dedication to pioneering, whatever the cost.

Live Dead realizes that the places today where the Church does not exist are harsh, fierce, lonely and demanding; yet we still must go there.

Live Dead is a commitment to evangelism and church planting among unreached peoples in community through teams.

Live Dead acknowledges that if unreached peoples are going to embrace Jesus as Lord, we must die to our selfish passions and small dreams and live joyfully surrendered to the will, plan and means of our Missionary God.

Living dead is a call to joy, a call to life, a call of hope.

Living Dead means listening to the Spirit calling us to “take up our cross” for the sake of those who don’t know what the cross is or what it stands for.

Living Dead means listening to the example of those who have gone before us, men and women like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Living Dead means listening to the cry of those in spiritual death. They call to us: “We will live, if you will die.”

My prayer for my own life is that I will ask God to help me to live dead. I need to live dead every day that I might fulfill God’s calling in my own life. May that be the prayer of the whole church as it brings the whole gospel to the whole world.

From: Live Dead - Timothy C. Tennent | Timothy C. Tennent

 

[tremble]

You're not Jesus.

It's interesting that you feel a need to say this even though I never claimed that I am. I'll take it as a compliment. ^.^

 

[tremble]

This article shows the difference between talking about an "Impossible Ethic" and living it, and then showing others how you live it. The full gospel requires both sacrifice and witness. Without sharing your personal story, it is just talk. You can use the words of Christ, but when they come out of a person's mouth who does not live them, they are empty.

Live Dead

Saturday, July 19th, 2014
One of the greatest joys which my wife and I share is the knowledge that our daughter Bethany serves as cross-cultural minister of the gospel, bringing hope and God’s grace to an unreached people-group in Tanzania known as the Alagwa. She is now in her fourth year there. She speaks a language called Alagawesi and she shares life with these dear people. Her daily life is mostly occupied with farming since the Alagwga are a subsistence culture. There is no running water, electricity, roads, banks or anything which we might take for granted. The deeper challenge is being separated from all her family and friends. People often ask Bethany how she is able to do this? To her, it is not a sacrifice. It is a calling. Yes, it is hard. But, there are deeper realities at work. God always grants the grace and peace for whatever our calling might be. Our challenge is to be faithful – daily faithful. Because we have died to the world, we are now fully alive in Christ to engage the world in new and powerful ways.

Bethany is part of a growing movement known as “live dead.” Their mission statement is as follows (source):

The Holy Spirit is speaking to his Church, reminding us of the passion that he has never relinquished — the passion to be glorified by every tribe, tongue, people and nation.

We are committed to taking the church where it does not exist; to making Christ known to people groups who don’t have an opportunity to know him. Live dead is more than a strategy it is a bridge to practically make a difference in the statistic that 40% of the world lives without access to Christ. We believe that we can make a difference; we believe that we must make a difference.

Live Dead is a re-dedication to pioneering, whatever the cost.

Live Dead realizes that the places today where the Church does not exist are harsh, fierce, lonely and demanding; yet we still must go there.

Live Dead is a commitment to evangelism and church planting among unreached peoples in community through teams.

Live Dead acknowledges that if unreached peoples are going to embrace Jesus as Lord, we must die to our selfish passions and small dreams and live joyfully surrendered to the will, plan and means of our Missionary God.

Living dead is a call to joy, a call to life, a call of hope.

Living Dead means listening to the Spirit calling us to “take up our cross” for the sake of those who don’t know what the cross is or what it stands for.

Living Dead means listening to the example of those who have gone before us, men and women like Dietrich Bonhoeffer who said, “When God calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

Living Dead means listening to the cry of those in spiritual death. They call to us: “We will live, if you will die.”

My prayer for my own life is that I will ask God to help me to live dead. I need to live dead every day that I might fulfill God’s calling in my own life. May that be the prayer of the whole church as it brings the whole gospel to the whole world.

From: Live Dead - Timothy C. Tennent | Timothy C. Tennent

Nice testimony. Thanks for posting it.

 

[Aldebaran]

Nice testimony. Thanks for posting it.

Tremble, could you please address what Brian said at the beginning?

This article shows the difference between talking about an "Impossible Ethic" and living it, and then showing others how you live it. The full gospel requires both sacrifice and witness. Without sharing your personal story, it is just talk. You can use the words of Christ, but when they come out of a person's mouth who does not live them, they are empty.

I fully agree with this, and is the reason I have been trying to get you to give testimony as to how you are able to live the way you are advocating. I don't say that you aren't living your words. But if you are living them, I'd like to hear about it.

 

[Alithis]

this is becoming a rerun.
the same arguments and the same requests for testimony
and none forth coming.

im disappointed tremble. some months back on a thread i directly implied,based on views you were expressing,that you"sounded" like "thejesuspeople".. at that time you directly denied any connection..yet,here you are now promoting doctrine off their website..
you can see how that looks. ,not great.

the thing is ,the lord Jesus is alive and we live "in him" he is the living word of the father.
he never contradicts himself.to learn his ways and have a sound foundation in faith we must study the written word as much as we are able.but to obey him in our present life we must listen to him as he speaks to us by the holy Spirit,in full agreement with everything already written.
if we take the book and follow it as a set of rules we are only replacing one law book with another and that is self effort to be righteous ,it brings condemnation if we fail because Gods righteousness is not obtained by the doing things but by faith...and faith is made evident by what it produces in us.

 

[Hetta]

nm

 

[tremble]

this is becoming a rerun.
the same arguments and the same requests for testimony
and none forth coming.

You could try responding to the topic instead of focusing on me.

you can see how that looks. ,not great.

I'm sure the pharisees felt the same way about Jesus when he hid himself from their trouble making.

the thing is ,the lord Jesus is alive and we live "in him" he is the living word of the father.
he never contradicts himself.to learn his ways and have a sound foundation in faith we must study the written word as much as we are able.but to obey him in our present life we must listen to him as he speaks to us by the holy Spirit,in full agreement with everything already written.

Sounds good.

 

[Boidae]

this is becoming a rerun.
the same arguments and the same requests for testimony
and none forth coming.

im disappointed tremble. some months back on a thread i directly implied,based on views you were expressing,that you"sounded" like "thejesuspeople".. at that time you directly denied any connection..yet,here you are now promoting doctrine off their website..
you can see how that looks. ,not great.

the thing is ,the lord Jesus is alive and we live "in him" he is the living word of the father.
he never contradicts himself.to learn his ways and have a sound foundation in faith we must study the written word as much as we are able.but to obey him in our present life we must listen to him as he speaks to us by the holy Spirit,in full agreement with everything already written.
if we take the book and follow it as a set of rules we are only replacing one law book with another and that is self effort to be righteous ,it brings condemnation if we fail because Gods righteousness is not obtained by the doing things but by faith...and faith is made evident by what it produces in us.

Even I, who when sunisout mentioned Tremble being part of the Jesus Christians, defended Tremble saying that he has said that he wasn't and took him at his word. Today, I'm not so sure.

Over time the things that Tremble says is word-for-word the same things that those who were posting here last year who are part of the Jesus Christians were saying. The same responses to questions asked or rebuttal of your point.

I want to believe that Tremble is being honest with us, but the evidence is starting to point the other way. They, the people last year, lied about disbanding, so why not lie about not being part of the Jesus Christians? It wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Alithis]

truth and honesty ...beget truth and honesty.

 

[Boidae]

You could try responding to the topic instead of focusing on me.



I'm sure the pharisees felt the same way about Jesus when he hid himself from their trouble making.



Sounds good.

Tremble, are you able to see why you are being questioned? You are saying word for word the same thing the Jesus Christians did when they were posting here last year.

People have a right to question you and your intentions when something just doesn't seem right. When you say "do not focus on me, focus on Jesus teachings, it sure seems that you are trying to avoid the truth from coming out. Someone who is guilty does try to shift the focus from them to someone else. I am not saying that you are guilty, just trying to show you what your posts look like.