Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Ok, maybe you'll think this is cheesy, but it popped into my head and I figured I'd put it out there. I don't know if anyone else has ever used this example before, but regardless I figured a few could entertain this with me. I am 100% Acts 2:38 believing, ect, ect... and so is the assembly I attend. However, it seems difficult to ignore all those trinitarians, who greatly outnumber us in people (and sometimes in good deeds). Now being "good" can't get anyone to Heaven. But do we Apostolics have a sort of Israel-Samaritan relationship with the trinitarians? If these trinitarians who don't have full truth (like the Samaritans did) but they love their neighbor, like JESUS instructed, is there any sort of reward or lightening of their punishment in hell? Here's the parable, sort of mad libbed, I used the UPC only because it's the largest oneness group and they have an organizational structure (which helped in filling in the spots between "priest" and "Levite." If anyone wants to take the three spots I mad libbed and fill in whatever other scenario, feel free, a good, open discussion would be good I think. I look forward to hearing people's takes on this. And I am in no way trying to vilify UPCers or Apostolics in any way or justify the false doctrines of the trinitarians.

Luke 10:25And, behold, a certain conservative Apostolic stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?

27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.

29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?

30And Jesus answering said, A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

31And by chance there came down a UPCI District Superintendent that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.

32And likewise a certain mega-church UPC pastor, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

33But a certain Baptist preacher, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,

34And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

35And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

36Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?

37And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Someone thinks he's still a Levite. :bored

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

As in some Apostolics believe we ought not touch certain people or follow the law almost in a ceremonial/sanctimonious sort of way?

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

They're giving out rewards in Hell? Describe lightening Hell's punishment for me?

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Could there be some sort of reward for these people, even if they're not saved in the end? Could their torment in hell be lightened by their good deeds? I don't want to propose they'll be annihilated in hell (although, I would love for this scenario to come to pass instead of an eternal punishment) just because that could get us on a whole other tangent.
At this past POWER in Plaster Rock, Bro. Booker preached on "Doing Good", he actually has a banner in his assembly hall in Rialto that quotes the Scripture that says, "He went about doing good" speaking of JESUS (or something like that). Now, he mentioned in his sermon, that doing good should be the goal of everyone, saved and unsaved alike, and even that the unsaved wouldn't lose their reward of their good deeds. However, the question is then raised, what is the reward? How can there be any blessing/reward for keeping the commandment if overall you are lost for being a trinitarian?
Perhaps I should have asked Bro. Booker what he meant... he was seated just a few tables away from where I was, he really is a good preacher and man of GOD.

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Ok, good point, may I ask where you fall on the whole 3-step/Acts 2:38 issue?
But these trinitarians are "neighbors" in the way JESUS was speaking of a good neighbor and therefore, what will they reap by following these words of JESUS?

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

I think there are going to be a whole lot more saved (granted still a very small % of HUMAN kind) then some think.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Care to elaborate? Will some of these be trinitarians that did good deeds?

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

The parable of the Good Samaritan is not about who's in or who's out .... but rather an attitude of heart and THE GREAT COMMANDMENT ...

This parable is prefaced by a dialog between Jesus and a man who came and asked him what he must do to inherit eternal life ...

Jesus responded :

27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself. 27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

When the man asked "Who is my neighbor?" ... Jesus expounded w/ this parable as to who is our neighbor ... It was the Good Samaritan who knew who his neighbor was ....

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Good deeds, along with following the two greatest commandments of loving the Lord AND their neighbor (which usually encompass said "good deeds".)
Many who follow Acts 2:38 TO THE LETTER are doing it as nothing more than a "thing that you need to do to be saved", which is to say done in the exact same spirit that they then proceed to follow all the "standards". Getting rid of the TV or putting on a dress or removing the makeup is merely the 4th, 5th, and 6th things needed to do in order to be saved.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Isn't who's "in" in your terminology, those who have eternal life? Could this also have been a situation where JESUS is talking about the Mosaic Law that was the standard of salvation in that day?
We had an interesting "home church" discussion where we considered the woman caught in the act of adultery, and contrary to what some of us thought, JESUS did NOT forgive her at that time, HE simply didn't condemn her because he was the only one left, the crowd was gone and two or three people had to bring forth an accussation and be the minimum number to carry out the sentence. We then discusssed how, if she was really interested in her salvation she would make a sacrifice in the Temple, NOT accept Christ or something like that on the spot, because she was still under the Old Covenant, and that's why JESUS didn't "share the Gospel" with her there. I said all that to ask if the Good Samaritan parable needs to be placed in an Old Covenant frame...

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Will Muslims with good deeds be saved... they are monotheistic and some could argue worship the God of Abraham. Will Catholics/ JWs/ Mormons/ Baptists ect be saved by good deeds? Were you saved by good deeds?

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Alex ... He is answering the question of the man who asked "who is my neighbor?" ... Jesus tells who is our neighbor in the parable ... then He follows up w/ his own question .... "who showed mercy to their fellow neighbor ...?"

The object of the word neighbor is the man that was beaten.

The Great Commandment is not simply Mosaic law ... it applies to us today ... it's Jesus giving the big picture for those who were micromanaging the law and focusing on the minutia ....

The fact that He included a Samaritan as obeying God's Great commandment was for effect for those who couldn't imagine a Samaritan being capable of fulfilling the law ... or capable of showing mercy.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Jesus said "I am the way". To many people, "Acts 2:38" is the way. It has turned from a specific example to idolatry in its own right.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

I'm a one stepping Life Stepper. Jesus is the plan of Salvation ... He is the Way.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

To say the parable of the Good Samaritan must placed in the OT frame is to misunderstand the Gospel of Jesus Christ ...

He is the Lamb that was slain since the foundation of the world ...

OT saints and NT saints are saved by grace through faith ... reconciled unto God by the work of the Lamb at Calvary.

Placing our faith in God ... loving Him w/ all our mind, heart, and strength will lead to loving our neighbor.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Then baptism is left out of the equation, or it is for some. I know of Quakers who say they love GOD and they live lives filled with good deeds, but they reject water baptism, believing a "spiritual"-sort of baptism is sufficient. Are these brethren?

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

Did you want to discuss the role of a properly administered baptism causing salvation and how this applies to a fairly fringe Protestant group that did not practice water baptism on this thread ?

It seems to me that your the thrust of your thread is whether or not trinnies like Baptists ... who practice water baptism ... are IN THE SHIP or NOT ... and whether they get rewarded in hell or a get reprieve in the intensity of Hell's "furnace". Also, whether the parable of the Good Samaritan can be analogized under the New Covenant or not ... and if UPCers are Levites or not.

Are they ... The Quakers .... brethren? ... This would depend on whether we agree on what role of baptism is in the life of a believer .... and whether conscious, willing, sustained disobedience affects our salvation.

Maybe this should be discussed in another thread unless this was about the Quakers all along.

Re: Good Samaritan Reconsidered
 

No, I did not have some underhanded plot to turn us all into Quakers... lol

Is there a promise of eternal life for doing good to our neighbor like this Samaritan did.

GOD BLESS!
Bro. Alex