I see it as God giving us a portion of him that we can grasp and understand. We did not write about who God is. He reveal
Hello FHII....Thank you for your above average response.
O.K. first of all I would like to draw your attention to what you wrote there.....The first sentence.
The portion of Him, as you put, I have come to know differently......That portion is Christ In us (and with us ) and The Holy Spirit IN us, so that we may be lead and taught, by and through The Way, The Truth that we may obtain The Life. I started to look up scriptures but there are so many telling us this...I feel certain that you know your Bible inside and out.
One small part of John 14:21 says :" He who loves Me , will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him." Are you suggesting Jesus was blowing hot air here? Are you saying He can't do that, whenever He wishes?
and he Didnt give us more than we could handle
No in that you are absolutely correct, but I will tell you what happened to me.
Having been brought up atheist, I had a face to face encounter with Jesus when I was 30 years old....6 odd years later, I tried to join my first fellowship (church).
The first thing they told me to do, after having explained the receiving of the Holy Spirit was that I HAD to get a Bible, which to the day I borrowed one from my local library I had never read, so I did.
Then the Pastor assured me that it was Gods word and that He had inspired every word in it, and had preserved it through history.....Sounded awesome, and I wanted to do something back to Him for saving me the way He had, so when the Pastor showed me the bit about 'Studying, to show yourself approved unto God', I totally went for it, I studied day and night, got all sorts of help books, concordances and alike and ended up a complete and total mess, as I was a 'baby' Christian in my understanding.
Furthermore the pastor had told me to start with the book of Acts and keep reading from there, as the gospels were no longer relevant, he said.
Long story short........I had my nose in the books all the time, and began to ignore the real Jesus, right there by me, as indeed He is able to be with everyone.
I stopped asking Him for the answers, and thought somehow, I suppose, that I could impress Him if I found some answers on my own.........HUGE mistake in my life...Not saying that is for everyone, but it is available to 'whom so ever will' receive more of the fullness of Christ.
So just the letters of the new Testament was too much for me to handle, and that was AFTER having had His reality, revealed to me, which I can assure you, was a massive thing in an atheists life...Totally and completely unexpected and I wouldn't have believed that if I hadn't experienced it.........
We caught up.we figured him out.
Sorry but really ? That's rich....I truly think you need to spend a little time in prayer over that statement.
We have ZERO clue of Him until He reveals it to us, and I do mean reveal, because everything from His side, is so different from men's way of thinking and doing things. Every part of the 'flesh' and the world of man is in opposition to God, and that is not something we 'clever' little people can figure out for ourselves, like some recipe in a cook book.
I made the point in my first post, that going through The Bible WITH Him is an awesome adventure, but man alone....Nope !
Lastly, of course no man has ever been able to actually restrict God, but it doesn't stop men from trying....right from the beginning of the christian religion !
Jesus said to all :" Come to me.".............. The church said:" No No come to us, and we will show you, bow down at our feet and we will share it with you............
We will tell you what God meant.
In my opinion too much of that attitude still exists today in all the various denominations from the beginning of the Roman Catholic system and on to the hundreds there are today.
All of which hold up the same Bible, but all have different understandings of it........confusing !
Paul says He is not the author of confusion, thus some bits cannot be from Him..........
We need Him, to rightly divide the word of Truth and who better to do that with, than the very Spirit of Truth, sent to us by God, to dwell in us and with us, to lead us and guide us into ALL the Truth.
If everything Jesus said were all recorded in books I think the world, not big enough to contain the books which would be written.......John or Paul said this, and I agree, also it certainly doesn't lend credence to Him having sat silently on His throne twiddling His thumbs for the past 2000 odd years.
We all have to learn to give Him a lot more credit....Believe what He is saying and go for it !
"He who has ears to hear, to him more will be given."
"Hear what the Spirit is saying to the church."
"My Words, they are life."
"Receive the promise of My Father."........"Be sealed by His Holy Spirit until the day of your redemption."
I could go on for hours, but you do obviously know the Bible.
I'm just not sure I comprehend how many reject an actual, real relationship, a restored relationship with Him....God used to walk with Adam in the cool of the day in the garden.....Now we have the opportunity to walk with Him any time we desire to, any time we allow Him close, but so very very few choose to even give Him a chance to prove it to them, to really 'cement' your faith in God, as He doesn't force people into it........He is a very patient Lord, we can go fast or slow, as long as it is WITH Him.
One study I can highly recommend is one on every single line which has.... " In Christ", " In Him" or " In Whom"....written in it....It says so much....
Sorry, hope it didn't get too long, don't really like sending long posts, but sometimes unavoidable.
I hope I have made it a little clearer where I am coming from....
Be blessed in Him......Pia