The Parables of Jesus

[justbyfaith]

The content is the parables expanded, thus not anti-biblical. And, the writer was not a Gnostic, but a Catholic who attributed the words to Jesus. Now, as you were the first to judge, be also the first to read and find a "grain of arsenic" before you condemn.

If I read it, I would be taking it in; and thus imbibing the arsenic.

Do you think that I want to be poisoned?

 

[justbyfaith]

"He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion." (Prov. 18:13)

Well then, let me be a fool. I have not answered anything of your doctrine before hearing it. I have only encouraged people not to listen to it in the first place.

It also says in Proverbs,

Pro 19:27, Cease, my son, to hear the instruction that causeth to err from the words of knowledge.

I'm not taking any chances on anyone who claims to be hearing from Jesus. As far as I'm concerned, He only spoke in the gospels and Acts and Revelation.

If she claimed inspiration from the Spirit, I would be more inclined to listen to her.

However, claiming divine authority for your words is almost surely the sign of a false prophet.

 

[Jennifera198337]

"He that answereth before he heareth sheweth himself to be a fool, and worthy of confusion." (Prov. 18:13)

And you did just that

 

[justbyfaith]

You've judged the words to be Gnostic, anti-biblical, untrustworthy, and poisonous, etc, without first examining them, thus Prov. 18:13 applies.

I examined them enough to know that someone was claiming that they were the words of Jesus.


That is enough information to understand that, since they are not the words of Jesus as they are written in the gospels, Acts, and Revelation, that it is better not to trust them than to swallow their theology hook, line, and sinker.

Because any time someone claims to have divine authority for what they are saying, they are asking you to blindly swallow whatever they are peddling. And that is the sign of a false teacher.

 

[justbyfaith]

I just know that the gnostic accounts in the days of the early church claimed to have the words of Jesus substantiating their doctrine...nevertheless the gnostic gospels contain false doctrine.

In Revelation 22, we find that if anyone adds to the Bible the plagues of the book of Revelation will be added to them.

I choose not to add to the Bible by accepting a testimony that claims to be the words of Jesus when we have no idea where it is from.

It may be a carefully-tailored scheme of the enemy to get people down a trail from which, if they begin down that path, they may never return.

Sorry, not taking any chances.

The words of Jesus as they are given to me in the Holy Bible are sufficient.

You might have better luck convincing a mormon to accept your extrabiblical literature as being from the Lord Jesus Christ.

Personally I'm not taking any chances because the likelihood is great that it is from the other guy.

 

[justbyfaith]

Rev. 22:18-19 refers to the book of Revelations, as the Bible was not compiled until centuries later.

If you want to take that chance, be my guest.

I'm not taking any chances on that either. There is a good possibility that Revelation 22:18-19 is speaking of the entire Bible.

You want to gamble with your eternity, I suppose I should say, more power to you.

 

[justbyfaith]

St. John warns of adding to the prophecy of "this book", as in his book Revelations.

God the Holy Spirit inspired the Bible to be written.

Since God is the author of an entire Book (the Holy Bible), He may very well be speaking of the Bible when He refers to "this book."

I'm not taking any chances on this. If you want to, be my guest.

You certainly have the right to believe anything you want to in this country.

 

[justbyfaith]

St. John warns of not adding to the prophecy of "this book", which can only refer to Revelations, as the entire Bible is not a prophecy.

It is in fact a prophecy in its entirety.

Prophecy is not only fore-telling the future, it is forth-telling the message of the Lord.

 

[justbyfaith]

The Bible is divinely inspired, but, again, the book of Revelation is also prophetic in a way the rest of the Bible is not. Therefore, you're grasping at straws by arguing it's possible St. John concluded his book by warning against adding to another book, the Bible, which wasn't compiled until centuries later.

Sorry, not taking any chances at believing you...the consequences would be too great if you happen to be wrong.

 

[JohnDB]

Looking at the various Gospel accounts...

The Book of Matthew is one written by a Levite. Someone schooled in the practices that the priests, Rabbi, and experts in the Law would be looking for in a Messiah.
There are several themes in Matthew...the 22nd Psalm plays heavily in its structure.

One of the other things that is most prominent in all of the parables/lessons is that these lessons were extremely visual in nature. (with people who spent more time outside their homes than in)

The mustard seeds from a pod squirted out into your hand showing as little black specs in the juice and pulp as seeds versus this tree/bush that stands over 7 feet tall. (2½ meters)

Bread that grows when you aren't watching it.

Buried treasure... something no one else can see or knows about until you find it.

The pearl market is a nefarious market. Full of swindlers and cheats. People being taken advantage of is normal course of business. Also Jews don't like dealing with unclean animals. (Like shellfish)
But finding a pearl worth the highest price and the most money the guy sells Everything and goes out of business of dealing in pearls to own the One.

All having particular extra meaning in Jewish life.

The miracles that only God can do...

All of this written in high class Levite style in Matthew.

Mark, as penned by Mark, as he retells Peter's views of Gospel stories is more of an average guy who would be interested in the things Jesus did...just a working stiff who was good at his job.

Luke is told from the westernized Greek/Roman viewpoint.

John is a bit different...
Told from a viewpoint that dispels many theological positions...some of which are still popular today. John also was a big time insider...always close to Jesus and as a nervous young man always paying attention to everything... even if it didn't seem important at the time and making sense of it all later. He is the most symbolic and poetic of the various Gospel accounts.

 

[ChristisGod]

ok so i'm still reading the book of Matthew & i'm curious to know what does everyone think of the Parables of Jesus? what do you think they mean? i'm cuirious about the wheat & the tares is that really talking about true & false Christians? also the good & bad fish, the woman with the batch of dough? the farmer sowing seed? what do you think they mean? any opinions would be nice

The question is why Jesus would let most people wonder about the meaning of His parables.

The first instance of this is in His telling the parable of the seed and the soils. Before He interpreted this parable, He drew His disciples away from the crowd. They said to Him, "Why do You speak to them in parables?" Jesus answered them, "To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. In their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

‘Hearing you will hear and shall not understand, And seeing you will see and not perceive; For the hearts of this people have grown dull. Their ears are hard of hearing, And their eyes they have closed, Lest they should see with their eyes and hear with their ears, Lest they should understand with their hearts and turn, So that I should heal them.’ But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. For truly I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it" (Matthew 13:10-17).

From this point on in Jesus’ ministry, when He spoke in parables, He explained them only to His disciples. But those who had continually rejected His message were left in their spiritual blindness to wonder as to His meaning. He made a clear distinction between those who had been given “ears to hear” and those who persisted in unbelief—ever hearing, but never actually perceiving and “always learning but never able to acknowledge the truth” (2 Timothy 3:7). The disciples had been given the gift of spiritual discernment by which things of the spirit were made clear to them. Because they accepted truth from Jesus, they were given more and more truth. The same is true today of believers who have been given the gift of the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth (John 16:13). He has opened our eyes to the light of truth and our ears to the sweet words of eternal life.

Our Lord Jesus understood that truth is not sweet music to all ears. Simply put, there are those who have neither interest in nor regard for the deep things of God. So why, then, did He speak in parables? To those with a genuine hunger for God, the parable is both an effective and memorable vehicle for the conveyance of divine truths. Our Lord’s parables contain great volumes of truth in very few words—and His parables, rich in imagery, are not easily forgotten. So, then, the parable is a blessing to those with willing ears. But to those with dull hearts and ears that are slow to hear, the parable is also an instrument of both judgment and mercy.got?

hope this helps !!!

 

[Ziggy]

Mar 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables:

God is good. If you walk with him and talk with him he shares all kinds of treasures with you.
He says Look, this one is about me. This one is about me. This one is about me.
And this one is about you and me. And this one is about you and me. And this one is about you.

Kind of like christmas packages under the tree with the labels on them.

There are a lot of people who don't want to take time and walk with Jesus and talk about
and listen to what he is sharing of himself with us.
Oh Oh.. You mean like the Passover Supper, where he shares the bread and wine with his students? :cool:
Kind of like that. For three and a half years Jesus walked among a lot of people, breaking bread, and
telling stories on the mountain, in a boat, in the wilderness, where he fed a lot of people bread and fishes.
He was always telling everybody about his Kingdom.
About the different things God was growing in the fields, and about water how some is sweet and some is bitter.
And some would sit and listen and others were too busy.
Oh Oh.. you mean like Mary and Martha? ;)
Yeah, like that too.
But the parables, they were things that only if you really really wanted to know about him,
then you would have to think about what he was saying.
A lot of things he was talking about was hard to understand. Because he was talking from God's point of view
not ours. And God's thoughts are much deeper and spiritual.
Jesus tried best he could to put them in terms that the average man who didn't know God, would have a starting
point to learn.
A lot of people just gave up trying and walked away. Some didn't even try. Some people tried to convince other people
not to listen because they thought he was crazy. But his disciples really wanted to know.
And so they stayed long hours and studied real hard and Jesus would open their understanding and
give them a peak at the treasure.
That sounds like the Parable of the sower and the seeds falling here and there and some fell on good ground. :)
That's the one :)

So grab a chair and get comfortable.. there's a lot of treasure to find, and to admire, and adore.
Is there a special one you have in mind?
I don't know, there so many..

Pick one and we can study together :)
hmmm... ;)

I'm hungry..I smell Popcorn!

HUGS

 

[VictoryinJesus]

ok so i'm still reading the book of Matthew & i'm curious to know what does everyone think of the Parables of Jesus? what do you think they mean? i'm cuirious about the wheat & the tares is that really talking about true & false Christians? also the good & bad fish, the woman with the batch of dough? the farmer sowing seed? what do you think they mean? any opinions would be nice

thinking this morning on the tares and the wheat. (In my opinion) it is the old man and the New(the New creature in take off the old and “put on Christ”). The standard though is it is outward as in people, instead of the inward working of God in the removal of “the body of sin”. Yet if you ask anyone whether they are the wheat or the tares …watch the automatic response “well OF COURSE I am the wheat! Those people over there, I suspect (in a hushed whisper) they are the tares!”

what I was thinking about this morning though concerning the wheat and tares and letting the two grow together is this…Gods patience and longsuffering for “tender mercy” to come to maturity(til Christ be formed in you). Even (long)suffering of “let the two grow together.(along side of each other?)” James 5:7-11 Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. [8] Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draweth nigh. [9] Grudge not one against another, brethren, lest ye be condemned: behold, the judge standeth before the door. [10] Take, my brethren, the prophets, who have spoken in the name of the Lord, for an example of suffering affliction, and of patience. [11] Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.