Sabbath-Keeping

[Barrd]

Love of sin is why most refuse the straight message of "ye must be born again", plain and simple. So, therefore, let's rewrite the book so that we can be saved IN sin instead of FROM sin. That's what it boils down to, B. People don't want to allow the Holy Spirit to change them. They don't want God telling them what to do. They want to continue in their slavish servitude to Satan but want to be clothed with the dignity of the church and the salvation that is granted only to them that are willing to surrender to Jesus - so just rewrite the book!

Of course, I know that, ATP...intellectually. But my heart just doesn't get it, i guess.
It's just so obvious that this OSAS doctrine is a trap....I just can't figure out why anyone would fall for such an obvious scam.
He keeps talking about "the blood of Jesus" and "what Jesus did on the cross"....but for some reason he doesn't want to even think about Jesus' life and ministry....
It is heart-breaking.

 

[Barrd]

The Gospel is the hard truth. Few will listen. Matt 22:14 NIV.

There is nothing hard about your doctrine.

You forget, I live in Southern Alabama...there is a big Baptist church right up the road from me, and another about two blocks from here...another huge one near the courthouse....and several more peppered through this little town.
And all of them....all of them teach this doctrine.
I just never paid it much attention before, any more than I pay much attention to the even more popular "charismatic movement".
Such things hold absolutely no attraction for me.
Why would they? I've told you....I fell in love with Jesus many, many years ago....what do I need with the phony glitz and glamour when I have the real deal?

 

[ATP]

Of course, I know that, ATP...intellectually. But my heart just doesn't get it, i guess.
It's just so obvious that this OSAS doctrine is a trap....I just can't figure out why anyone would fall for such an obvious scam.
He keeps talking about "the blood of Jesus" and "what Jesus did on the cross"....but for some reason he doesn't want to even think about Jesus' life and ministry....
It is heart-breaking.

Well, I do think about the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus Christ is in His Word Barrd, and the Word lives in me. This is the seed of God...

1 Pet 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
2 John 1:2 NIV because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

 

[ATP]

Of course, I know that, ATP...intellectually. But my heart just doesn't get it, i guess.

Maybe I can help. Do you have a question.

 

[ATP]

I've told you....I fell in love with Jesus many, many years ago....what do I need with the phony glitz and glamour when I have the real deal?

What do you consider the real deal.

 

[Barrd]

The real deal is the Guy Who gave us the beautiful Sermon on the Mount, ATP.
He is the Guy Who healed the sick, and Who raised the dead.
He is the Guy Who fed a crowd out of a little boy's lunch pail.
The Guy Who stopped a storm.
He is the Guy Who talked about the beauty of the flowers...not even Solomon in all his glory was robed as one of those tiny flowers....
He is the Guy Who makes sure the birds of the air are fed.
He is the Guy Who wept to see Mary's grief at her brother's death.
He is the Guy Who loves children, and Who says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who will come to it as a little child.
He is the Guy Who explained that all of God's law could be summed up in two Great Commandments...and that, far from being a curse, the Law is actually all about Love.
He is God....God, Himself, come to pay a visit to His Creation....to teach us how to live, and how to love. God, in Person...and He isn't a fearful Entity at all, but a Gentle and Loving Father, Who longs for us to come to Him and let Him love us.

"Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden," He says gently, "and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls."

Gladly, gladly will I run to Him. Nothing He could ask of me would be too much. It is a small thing, to keep His commands. It is a joy to me.
He is Life, and Light to me. He is Love. He is Everything.

 

[Barrd]

.

 

[Barrd]

Well, I do think about the life of Jesus. The life of Jesus Christ is in His Word Barrd, and the Word lives in me. This is the seed of God...

1 Pet 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
2 John 1:2 NIV because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

Yet for some reason you rarely speak of Him unless it is to speak of His death and His resurrection.
You do not want to discuss the Sermon on the Mount....why not, ATP?
Do you even know what I'm talking about?

 

[brakelite]

No-one should think that they can separate the law from the gospel.On many occasions the Pharisees in their hypocrisy were roundly and rightly rebuked by Jesus for thinking that by keeping the law they would be saved; on one such occasion Jesus said:
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

So obedience is good, and ought always to be done, but there are more important aspects of life in Christ, as Jesus put it ‘weightier matters of the law’, which have a greater priority than the minor incidental details that the Pharisees were so obsessive about.Those weightier matters, the really important stuff according to Jesus, were things like love, mercy, faith, justice. That Jesus said they are a part of the law is significant. There are those who claim the law was nailed to the cross: they have to reconcile the fact that love, justice, and mercy, that is the gospel, is part and parcel of that very law which they claim is of no further relevance to the Christian. How can ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart etc’ be no longer of any significance to the Christian life? Is this not the very essence of the law? That upon love for God as paramount , and impartial love for neighbour hang all the law and prophets? How then can the law and the gospel be separated? They cannot. They intertwine and overlay each other intimately, having different purposes yet they run parallel to one another. And please, I don't want to hear any nonsense that claims that the law was done away with but re-instituted by the church through the writings of Paul. Far out, God didn’t need Moses to establish law, nor did He need Paul. God’s law was established in the heavens, since eternity past and into eternity future. His law is His nature, His character. His righteousness. To do away with His law is to do away with God Himself.
It is as we take a hold of Christ and cleave to Him in faith and love, that His law ceases its claims upon us because of two things. First and foremost, we are dead to the law, (note well, it is us that are dead, not the law) in Christ. This means that God the Father considers us as having died with His Son, Jesus. Because Jesus died as an innocent man, God can include in Him the guilt of humanity, that includes you and me. God considers the debt paid. What claims the law has upon us as far as guilt is concerned is eternally dealt with.
Secondly, we are gifted with His righteousness. Not just accounted righteous like a book-keeping entry, but changed, sanctified, made righteous each day and made a new creature that lives, breathes, loves, obeys, cherishes the good and despises the evil. Sin no longer has an attraction to us. Grieving the Holy Spirit that abides in us becomes a detestable consideration. And as we hunger and thirst after righteousness we come to the point when we would rather die than tell a lie. We would rather burn than deny our love for our Maker. We would rather be tortured than be found to be a thief, or an adulterer. We would rather suffer ridicule, abuse, and slander than to compromise truth, reduce holiness to a human standard, or behave in such a way that brings disrepute upon He who saved us.
What a wonderful God who through the power of His word and the work of His Spirit can fulfill in us His promises as laid out in His law. But it takes faith. You must believe that God has the power, and the willingness to accomplish this. You must also decide if you want this. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness in order that you may be filled? That is the promise. Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.He will be made holy. Do you believe His words, His promises?

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

....you have your fruit unto holiness...there is only one kind of holiness, and that is the holiness that is fully in harmony with God's laws. How can it be otherwise? Obedience to God's laws is the precise opposite to sin...so if you are free from sin, then obedience, or holiness, can be the ONLY alternative. And the result of that is eternal life. There is no middle ground here. Sin, or obedience. Its either one way or the other. Nonconformity to God's laws, or acceptance and a life in harmony with God's laws. There are no other alternatives!

Below are another set of promises, that as you surrender your life to Him, fully trusting in Him and allow Him to work in you His righteousness and holiness, and that if you believe that what He promises will assuredly come to pass, these will become real for you in this life.

You shall love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all thy strength.
You shall worship the Lord thy God and you will only serve Him.
You shall not have any other god before Him, nor shall you make any graven image.
You shall never take the name of the Lord in vain.
You shall remember to keep holy His Sabbath day.
And you shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
You shall not dishonour your parents.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not lie.
You shall not covet.

 

[justaname]

No-one should think that they can separate the law from the gospel.On many occasions the Pharisees in their hypocrisy were roundly and rightly rebuked by Jesus for thinking that by keeping the law they would be saved; on one such occasion Jesus said:
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

So obedience is good, and ought always to be done, but there are more important aspects of life in Christ, as Jesus put it ‘weightier matters of the law’, which have a greater priority than the minor incidental details that the Pharisees were so obsessive about.Those weightier matters, the really important stuff according to Jesus, were things like love, mercy, faith, justice. That Jesus said they are a part of the law is significant. There are those who claim the law was nailed to the cross: they have to reconcile the fact that love, justice, and mercy, that is the gospel, is part and parcel of that very law which they claim is of no further relevance to the Christian. How can ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart etc’ be no longer of any significance to the Christian life? Is this not the very essence of the law? That upon love for God as paramount , and impartial love for neighbour hang all the law and prophets? How then can the law and the gospel be separated? They cannot. They intertwine and overlay each other intimately, having different purposes yet they run parallel to one another. And please, I don't want to hear any nonsense that claims that the law was done away with but re-instituted by the church through the writings of Paul. Far out, God didn’t need Moses to establish law, nor did He need Paul. God’s law was established in the heavens, since eternity past and into eternity future. His law is His nature, His character. His righteousness. To do away with His law is to do away with God Himself.
It is as we take a hold of Christ and cleave to Him in faith and love, that His law ceases its claims upon us because of two things. First and foremost, we are dead to the law, (note well, it is us that are dead, not the law) in Christ. This means that God the Father considers us as having died with His Son, Jesus. Because Jesus died as an innocent man, God can include in Him the guilt of humanity, that includes you and me. God considers the debt paid. What claims the law has upon us as far as guilt is concerned is eternally dealt with.
Secondly, we are gifted with His righteousness. Not just accounted righteous like a book-keeping entry, but changed, sanctified, made righteous each day and made a new creature that lives, breathes, loves, obeys, cherishes the good and despises the evil. Sin no longer has an attraction to us. Grieving the Holy Spirit that abides in us becomes a detestable consideration. And as we hunger and thirst after righteousness we come to the point when we would rather die than tell a lie. We would rather burn than deny our love for our Maker. We would rather be tortured than be found to be a thief, or an adulterer. We would rather suffer ridicule, abuse, and slander than to compromise truth, reduce holiness to a human standard, or behave in such a way that brings disrepute upon He who saved us.
What a wonderful God who through the power of His word and the work of His Spirit can fulfill in us His promises as laid out in His law. But it takes faith. You must believe that God has the power, and the willingness to accomplish this. You must also decide if you want this. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness in order that you may be filled? That is the promise. Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.He will be made holy. Do you believe His words, His promises?

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

....you have your fruit unto holiness...there is only one kind of holiness, and that is the holiness that is fully in harmony with God's laws. How can it be otherwise? Obedience to God's laws is the precise opposite to sin...so if you are free from sin, then obedience, or holiness, can be the ONLY alternative. And the result of that is eternal life. There is no middle ground here. Sin, or obedience. Its either one way or the other. Nonconformity to God's laws, or acceptance and a life in harmony with God's laws. There are no other alternatives!

Below are another set of promises, that as you surrender your life to Him, fully trusting in Him and allow Him to work in you His righteousness and holiness, and that if you believe that what He promises will assuredly come to pass, these will become real for you in this life.

You shall love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all thy strength.
You shall worship the Lord thy God and you will only serve Him.
You shall not have any other god before Him, nor shall you make any graven image.
You shall never take the name of the Lord in vain.
You shall remember to keep holy His Sabbath day.
And you shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
You shall not dishonour your parents.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not lie.
You shall not covet.

Yet we as Christians are under grace, not the Law. The Law is made up of 613 mitzvot...

The gospel or momentous news is we are no longer under the Law. Salvation has come to all through faith in Jesus Christ.

 

[Barrd]

No-one should think that they can separate the law from the gospel.On many occasions the Pharisees in their hypocrisy were roundly and rightly rebuked by Jesus for thinking that by keeping the law they would be saved; on one such occasion Jesus said:
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

So obedience is good, and ought always to be done, but there are more important aspects of life in Christ, as Jesus put it ‘weightier matters of the law’, which have a greater priority than the minor incidental details that the Pharisees were so obsessive about.Those weightier matters, the really important stuff according to Jesus, were things like love, mercy, faith, justice. That Jesus said they are a part of the law is significant. There are those who claim the law was nailed to the cross: they have to reconcile the fact that love, justice, and mercy, that is the gospel, is part and parcel of that very law which they claim is of no further relevance to the Christian. How can ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart etc’ be no longer of any significance to the Christian life? Is this not the very essence of the law? That upon love for God as paramount , and impartial love for neighbour hang all the law and prophets? How then can the law and the gospel be separated? They cannot. They intertwine and overlay each other intimately, having different purposes yet they run parallel to one another. And please, I don't want to hear any nonsense that claims that the law was done away with but re-instituted by the church through the writings of Paul. Far out, God didn’t need Moses to establish law, nor did He need Paul. God’s law was established in the heavens, since eternity past and into eternity future. His law is His nature, His character. His righteousness. To do away with His law is to do away with God Himself.
It is as we take a hold of Christ and cleave to Him in faith and love, that His law ceases its claims upon us because of two things. First and foremost, we are dead to the law, (note well, it is us that are dead, not the law) in Christ. This means that God the Father considers us as having died with His Son, Jesus. Because Jesus died as an innocent man, God can include in Him the guilt of humanity, that includes you and me. God considers the debt paid. What claims the law has upon us as far as guilt is concerned is eternally dealt with.
Secondly, we are gifted with His righteousness. Not just accounted righteous like a book-keeping entry, but changed, sanctified, made righteous each day and made a new creature that lives, breathes, loves, obeys, cherishes the good and despises the evil. Sin no longer has an attraction to us. Grieving the Holy Spirit that abides in us becomes a detestable consideration. And as we hunger and thirst after righteousness we come to the point when we would rather die than tell a lie. We would rather burn than deny our love for our Maker. We would rather be tortured than be found to be a thief, or an adulterer. We would rather suffer ridicule, abuse, and slander than to compromise truth, reduce holiness to a human standard, or behave in such a way that brings disrepute upon He who saved us.
What a wonderful God who through the power of His word and the work of His Spirit can fulfill in us His promises as laid out in His law. But it takes faith. You must believe that God has the power, and the willingness to accomplish this. You must also decide if you want this. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness in order that you may be filled? That is the promise. Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.He will be made holy. Do you believe His words, His promises?

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

....you have your fruit unto holiness...there is only one kind of holiness, and that is the holiness that is fully in harmony with God's laws. How can it be otherwise? Obedience to God's laws is the precise opposite to sin...so if you are free from sin, then obedience, or holiness, can be the ONLY alternative. And the result of that is eternal life. There is no middle ground here. Sin, or obedience. Its either one way or the other. Nonconformity to God's laws, or acceptance and a life in harmony with God's laws. There are no other alternatives!

Below are another set of promises, that as you surrender your life to Him, fully trusting in Him and allow Him to work in you His righteousness and holiness, and that if you believe that what He promises will assuredly come to pass, these will become real for you in this life.

You shall love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all thy strength.
You shall worship the Lord thy God and you will only serve Him.
You shall not have any other god before Him, nor shall you make any graven image.
You shall never take the name of the Lord in vain.
You shall remember to keep holy His Sabbath day.
And you shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
You shall not dishonour your parents.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not lie.
You shall not covet.

And all of God's children say:
AMEN!

 

[Barrd]

No-one should think that they can separate the law from the gospel.On many occasions the Pharisees in their hypocrisy were roundly and rightly rebuked by Jesus for thinking that by keeping the law they would be saved; on one such occasion Jesus said:
Matthew 23:23
“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone.

So obedience is good, and ought always to be done, but there are more important aspects of life in Christ, as Jesus put it ‘weightier matters of the law’, which have a greater priority than the minor incidental details that the Pharisees were so obsessive about.Those weightier matters, the really important stuff according to Jesus, were things like love, mercy, faith, justice. That Jesus said they are a part of the law is significant. There are those who claim the law was nailed to the cross: they have to reconcile the fact that love, justice, and mercy, that is the gospel, is part and parcel of that very law which they claim is of no further relevance to the Christian. How can ‘thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart etc’ be no longer of any significance to the Christian life? Is this not the very essence of the law? That upon love for God as paramount , and impartial love for neighbour hang all the law and prophets? How then can the law and the gospel be separated? They cannot. They intertwine and overlay each other intimately, having different purposes yet they run parallel to one another. And please, I don't want to hear any nonsense that claims that the law was done away with but re-instituted by the church through the writings of Paul. Far out, God didn’t need Moses to establish law, nor did He need Paul. God’s law was established in the heavens, since eternity past and into eternity future. His law is His nature, His character. His righteousness. To do away with His law is to do away with God Himself.
It is as we take a hold of Christ and cleave to Him in faith and love, that His law ceases its claims upon us because of two things. First and foremost, we are dead to the law, (note well, it is us that are dead, not the law) in Christ. This means that God the Father considers us as having died with His Son, Jesus. Because Jesus died as an innocent man, God can include in Him the guilt of humanity, that includes you and me. God considers the debt paid. What claims the law has upon us as far as guilt is concerned is eternally dealt with.
Secondly, we are gifted with His righteousness. Not just accounted righteous like a book-keeping entry, but changed, sanctified, made righteous each day and made a new creature that lives, breathes, loves, obeys, cherishes the good and despises the evil. Sin no longer has an attraction to us. Grieving the Holy Spirit that abides in us becomes a detestable consideration. And as we hunger and thirst after righteousness we come to the point when we would rather die than tell a lie. We would rather burn than deny our love for our Maker. We would rather be tortured than be found to be a thief, or an adulterer. We would rather suffer ridicule, abuse, and slander than to compromise truth, reduce holiness to a human standard, or behave in such a way that brings disrepute upon He who saved us.
What a wonderful God who through the power of His word and the work of His Spirit can fulfill in us His promises as laid out in His law. But it takes faith. You must believe that God has the power, and the willingness to accomplish this. You must also decide if you want this. Do you hunger and thirst after righteousness in order that you may be filled? That is the promise. Jesus said that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness will be filled.He will be made holy. Do you believe His words, His promises?

Romans 6:22 But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.

....you have your fruit unto holiness...there is only one kind of holiness, and that is the holiness that is fully in harmony with God's laws. How can it be otherwise? Obedience to God's laws is the precise opposite to sin...so if you are free from sin, then obedience, or holiness, can be the ONLY alternative. And the result of that is eternal life. There is no middle ground here. Sin, or obedience. Its either one way or the other. Nonconformity to God's laws, or acceptance and a life in harmony with God's laws. There are no other alternatives!

Below are another set of promises, that as you surrender your life to Him, fully trusting in Him and allow Him to work in you His righteousness and holiness, and that if you believe that what He promises will assuredly come to pass, these will become real for you in this life.

You shall love the Lord thy God with all the heart, with all the soul, and with all thy strength.
You shall worship the Lord thy God and you will only serve Him.
You shall not have any other god before Him, nor shall you make any graven image.
You shall never take the name of the Lord in vain.
You shall remember to keep holy His Sabbath day.
And you shall love thy neighbour as thyself.
You shall not dishonour your parents.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not lie.
You shall not covet.

And all of God's children say:
AMEN!

 

[Barrd]

Yet we as Christians are under grace, not the Law. The Law is made up of 613 mitzvot...

The gospel or momentous news is we are no longer under the Law. Salvation has come to all through faith in Jesus Christ.

Still trying to pull people back under the Old Covenant.
Surely, you know that there is a difference between the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God Himself, on tablets of stone to indicate their permanence, and kept within the Ark, along with the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the law of Moses, written on a perishable scroll, and laid alongside of the Ark, but never put inside of it?
Surely you are aware that God's law is a part of both the Old and the New Covenant?

Looking forward through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

And again, looking backward through the writer of Hebrews:
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

We see that this new Covenant will be different in several aspects. One major difference is that God's Law (The Ten Commandments) wil no longer be written on tablets of stone....but on our very hearts. Far from being nailed to the cross...it is to be written within our minds, and written on our hearts.

Again I say....how could someone who is obviously intelligent and fairly well educated possibly fall for what is so obviously a scam?

The gospel, or the momentous news, is that God has paid the death penalty for our sins....and that is Grace.
And what is our response?
That same Jesus, Who hung on the cross for me, also said:

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

 

[ATP]

The real deal is the Guy Who gave us the beautiful Sermon on the Mount, ATP.
He is the Guy Who healed the sick, and Who raised the dead.
He is the Guy Who fed a crowd out of a little boy's lunch pail.
The Guy Who stopped a storm.
He is the Guy Who talked about the beauty of the flowers...not even Solomon in all his glory was robed as one of those tiny flowers....
He is the Guy Who makes sure the birds of the air are fed.
He is the Guy Who wept to see Mary's grief at her brother's death.
He is the Guy Who loves children, and Who says that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to those who will come to it as a little child.
He is the Guy Who explained that all of God's law could be summed up in two Great Commandments...and that, far from being a curse, the Law is actually all about Love.
He is God....God, Himself, come to pay a visit to His Creation....to teach us how to live, and how to love. God, in Person...and He isn't a fearful Entity at all, but a Gentle and Loving Father, Who longs for us to come to Him and let Him love us.

He is the Guy Who God raised from the dead, no?

Yet for some reason you rarely speak of Him unless it is to speak of His death and His resurrection.
You do not want to discuss the Sermon on the Mount....why not, ATP?
Do you even know what I'm talking about?

Well, it's actually the opposite. I would like to discuss Matt 5:22 NIV, but you would have to read into that scripture to really understand what it's saying. But you refuse, correct?

So obedience is good, and ought always to be done,

Correct, we are obedient not because of the Law but rather because God's seed will remain in us forever. We no longer keep on sinning...

1 Pet 1:23 NIV For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.
1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.
2 John 1:2 NIV because of the truth, which lives in us and will be with us forever:

 

[ATP]

how could someone who is obviously intelligent and fairly well educated possibly fall for what is so obviously a scam?

God's seed remaining in us is not a scam. Think before you post Barrd.

1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

 

[Barrd]

He is the Guy Who God raised from the dead, no?

Yes, ATP, that too.
But it is all the rest of it that makes Him Who He is.
And Who He is is Lord.

Well, it's actually the opposite. I would like to discuss Matt 5:22 NIV, but you would have to read into that scripture to really understand what it's saying. But you refuse, correct?

Mat 5:22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

It's pretty self-explanatory. Jesus says that whosoever shall say "thou fool" shall be in danger of hell fire.
Seems pretty clear to me.
Yes, God can and will send someone to hell for mocking and belittling others.
Jesus was also mocked and belittled. Don't you think He feels it when His followers are also mocked as He was?

 

[justaname]

Still trying to pull people back under the Old Covenant.
Surely, you know that there is a difference between the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God Himself, on tablets of stone to indicate their permanence, and kept within the Ark, along with the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the law of Moses, written on a perishable scroll, and laid alongside of the Ark, but never put inside of it?
Surely you are aware that God's law is a part of both the Old and the New Covenant?

Looking forward through the mouth of the prophet Jeremiah:
Jer 31:31 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Jer 31:32 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
Jer 31:33 But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Jer 31:34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.

And again, looking backward through the writer of Hebrews:
Heb 8:8 For finding fault with them, he saith, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah:
Heb 8:9 Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt; because they continued not in my covenant, and I regarded them not, saith the Lord.
Heb 8:10 For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a God, and they shall be to me a people:
Heb 8:11 And they shall not teach every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for all shall know me, from the least to the greatest.
Heb 8:12 For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more.

We see that this new Covenant will be different in several aspects. One major difference is that God's Law (The Ten Commandments) wil no longer be written on tablets of stone....but on our very hearts. Far from being nailed to the cross...it is to be written within our minds, and written on our hearts.

Again I say....how could someone who is obviously intelligent and fairly well educated possibly fall for what is so obviously a scam?

The gospel, or the momentous news, is that God has paid the death penalty for our sins....and that is Grace.
And what is our response?
That same Jesus, Who hung on the cross for me, also said:

Joh 14:15 If ye love me, keep my commandments.

The Law is 613 Mitzvot...

Grace is simply grace.

What is interesting is I said Christians are not under the Law...then you accuse me of trying to put "us" under the Old Covenant...

Your quote:
Surely, you know that there is a difference between the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God Himself, on tablets of stone to indicate their permanence, and kept within the Ark, along with the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the law of Moses, written on a perishable scroll, and laid alongside of the Ark, but never put inside of it?

Surely you know this is made up...a false doctrine by men.

 

[Barrd]

God's seed remaining in us is not a scam. Think before you post Barrd.

1 John 3:9 NIV No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God's seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.

Have you read the surrounding text?
Wait....look who I'm asking.
Okay, well, then, let's take a look at 1 John 3.

1Jn 3:1 Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.
1Jn 3:2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

How thrilling, to be called God's sons! But that isn't the best of it...we shall be like Him! The very idea that, when I wake up on the other side, I will be like Him is....well, it is joy beyond words! And not only me...but everyone in His Kingdom will be like Him! Oh, what love is there!

1Jn 3:3 And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.

If I wish to be like Him, I've got a lot of work to do. Yes, you heard me...work. Everyone who hopes to be like Jesus purifies himself...as Jesus is pure. For this, we need His help. He is the fountain of purity within us...

1Jn 3:4 Whosoever committeth sin transgresseth also the law: for sin is the transgression of the law.

Have you ever commited a sin, ATP? No, you don't have to answer that...the fact is that the Bible says that all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory. All would include you. Yes, it includes me, too.
Seems there is a bump or two on the road to purity, eh?

to be continued...

 

[Barrd]

The Law is 613 Mitzvot...

Grace is simply grace.

What is interesting is I said Christians are not under the Law...then you accuse me of trying to put "us" under the Old Covenant...

Your quote:
Surely, you know that there is a difference between the Ten Commandments, written by the finger of God Himself, on tablets of stone to indicate their permanence, and kept within the Ark, along with the golden pot of manna and Aaron's rod that budded, and the law of Moses, written on a perishable scroll, and laid alongside of the Ark, but never put inside of it?

Surely you know this is made up...a false doctrine by men.

Look again...I never used the word "us".
The word I used was "people".

And again, you are confusing God's law, the Ten Commandments, with the law of Moses.
The Old Covenant contained 613 mitzvot. The New Covenant does not.
Just those Big Ten.
Being "under Grace" is not a license to
Worship other gods
Make and worship idols
Use God's Holy Name as a curse
Ignore God's Sabbath
Abuse or otherwise neglect parents
Kill
Commit adultery
Steal
Tell vicious lies about other people
Covet

Nobody cares if you eat shellfish (although it is yucky), or wear cotton blend.
What is sin, but transgression of the law?
And what law is John talking about?

It isn't rocket science.

 

[justaname]

Look again...I never used the word "us".
The word I used was "people".

And again, you are confusing God's law, the Ten Commandments, with the law of Moses.
The Old Covenant contained 613 mitzvot. The New Covenant does not.
Just those Big Ten.
Being "under Grace" is not a license to
Worship other gods
Make and worship idols
Use God's Holy Name as a curse
Ignore God's Sabbath
Abuse or otherwise neglect parents
Kill
Commit adultery
Steal
Tell vicious lies about other people
Covet

Nobody cares if you eat shellfish (although it is yucky), or wear cotton blend.
What is sin, but transgression of the law?
And what law is John talking about?

It isn't rocket science.

Again the 10 are contained in the 613...they never were separated in the way you claim...

Christians are not held to the 10 any more than they are held to the 613...

Perhaps you should reread when the Israelites undertook the Covenant administered through Moses...the ten were apportioned to the entire covenant...its called the Mosaic Covenant...

Here homosexuality is OK they way you put it also...