The good man that turned bad out of necessity

[Matthias]

“Pick up your cross and follow me.” - Jesus

@Riven what does that sound and look like to you?

If we do that, could we wind up like Jesus? The apostles did. The martyrs did.

Are you willing for that to happen? I am.

 

[Matthias]

Followers of Jesus can do a lot of things, and are expected to. What we cannot ever do, under any circumstances, is to go against Jesus and the apostles.

That’s what I was invited to do in post #620.

 

[Matthias]

The ONLY way to stop it is to kill the person.

That’s an assumption.

The only way to God is through Jesus of Nazareth, the Messiah, Son of the living God. That’s a fact.

What is keeping you from following him?

 

[Matthias]

The person that is dousing your loved one is going to burn them alive.

The ONLY way to stop it is to kill the person.

Do you kill the person?

There was no gasoline in the days when Christians were burning Christians at the stake. Other fuel served that purpose.

My Anabaptist ancestors did not kill their Christian persecutors.

There was no gasoline in the days when Nero was burning Christians as human torches in his garden. My primitive Christian ancestors did not kill Nero.

Why do you want me to kill those who are persecuting me and my family?

 

[Matthias]

The good man has no necessity to turn bad.

The good man has the necessity of following the teaching and practice of Jesus and the apostles. That is true if the good man is dealing with good men. That is true if the good man is dealing with evil men.

 

[RLT63]

Notice that the scenario eliminates all possibilities of me stopping it except for the one - the ONLY one - desired by the unbeliever -> God doesn’t exist; it’s all up to me.

This scenario was a temptation of the devil.



That wasn’t an option in the unbeliever’s scenario.

@Riven has said that man was better than God in the matter of the Holocaust. That’s blasphemy. Man is never better than God.

Now we have a refinement: Man is better without God. Riven never saw it coming. Does he see it now?

Man is never better than God. We just don’t understand God, I understand why @Riven said what he did but it was wrong.

 

[Matthias]

Man is never better than God. We just don’t understand God, I understand why @Riven said what he did but it was wrong.

I think he’ll eventually see that and change his mind, but he needs time and good guidance. You can give him that. You have the heart of a pastor.

I also think he should talk about it in the “Christians Only“ forums. He’s not far removed from agnosticism and those old arguments. My sense is that he could be dragged back into it, which I would hate to see happen. Swimming in atheistic / agnostic waters - you can do it safely. I‘m not convinced he can at this time.

It’s his decision to make.