According to Matt. 25, we will be judged primarily on how we treated the less fortunate!! That seems to be the only judgment that effects one's punishment.
Wouldn't that tie into loving others as one's self?
Wouldn't that tie into loving others as one's self?
Very much so!!
__________________ For it is written, "As I live, says the Lord every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall give praise to God. (Romans 14:11- NASB)
So none of those "lists" matter. I agree. However the commandments and instructions of Christ given through his apostles are very critical to the saints.
Jesus himself is identified with them.
14:12 Here is the patience of the saints, those who keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus.” Rev. 14:12
Glad you're back!
Has God ever spoken to you, Michael?
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
God began speaking to me in 1974. He has spoke to me as recently as a few weeks ago. And this is considered normal for any New Covenant believer.
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 8:11 They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.
God began speaking to me in 1974. He has spoke to me as recently as a few weeks ago. And this is considered normal for any New Covenant believer.
8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind, I will also write them on their heart. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 8:11 They will not teach every man his fellow citizen, and every man his brother, saying, ‘Know the Lord,’ for all will know me, from their least to their greatest.
It is a covenant of "knowing the Lord".
Cool.
How do you know that God didn't tell Aquila what he posted?
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
How do you know that God didn't tell Aquila what he posted?
There are elements of truth in what he said. Yet Jesus spent much of his time giving commandments/instructions to his disciples. He does not minimize or downplay this in anyway.
Up to the end of the Bible he is still showing us only those who keep his commands are going into the Heavenly city.
Blessed are those who do his commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter in by the gates into the city. Rev. 22:14
How do you know that God didn't tell Aquila what he posted?
I'm not even absolutely positive that it was God. It was just something burning deep inside of me that I had to translate into words... and when I did... it only felt appropriate in the format of an address to me from God.
Loving God and loving each other have a massive subset of commandments. Even the Second Commandment is a subset of the First (Mark 12:31). But also, the First is a subset of the Second (1 John 4:20).
But as Paul wrote, these subset are nonetheless eloquently summed up by the royal law.
But this is my point and has been from the beginning:
From what I've read on this board, in a very specific area, there are two mutually exclusive views on the nature of the resurrection. One espouses an immediate entrance into heaven, the other states that the soul "sleeps", for lack of a better word, with the body, until the Second Coming.
The people who have discussed this topic are adamant that their particular view is the correct doctrine of Christ. But since each view is mutually exclusive, meaning that the views can in no way be reconciled, it forces and enforces an ideological division between the two camps.
If the opening statements attributed to the Lord are truly from Him, then it would be easy to come to the following (false) conclusion:
The people on this board, because they are divided over this doctrine, must not love God or each other, or else they wouldn't be so divided. Only one position on the resurrection can be true, so the other incorrect position is nothing more than a tradition of men, making those who have embraced it the real cause of the division, because they are teaching a false view. They take Scripture out of context, wrest and twist the Word against their own souls, and, oh, by the way, here is my list of Scriptures which shows how wrong they are while proving how right I/we am/are.
Should we come to such a conclusion? Or can two washed, justified, sanctified, Spirit-filled believers, who don't believe exactly the same way, but who have obeyed and practice the same Gospel of the same Lord, still have differing views without being divided from one another regarding the love they have for God and each other? Even though they have opposing, mutually exclusive beliefs and use and understand the same verses of Scripture differently from each other?
I affirm yes. Two CAN walk together and be agreed even if not everything they believe and think is identical at all times. It's James and Paul.
James sent some Jewish believers to where Simon Peter, Paul, and Barnabas were at, and it caused an issue for Simon and Barnabas, such that Paul reproved Peter to his face in front of everyone.
And yet, when Paul made it back to Jerusalem, he and James were on good terms, and Paul even submitted to an ordinance given to him by James, one that, inadvertently, led to Paul's arrest, imprisonment, and eventual martyrdom in Rome.
James bragged to Paul about how many thousands of Christian Jews there were in Jerusalem who were zealous for the law. Paul wrote to the Roman Jews of the Church and reprimanded them for making their boast in the law. A true dichotomy, and yet no love lost for God or each other. They still had the unity of the Spirit.
Therefore the issue isn't our lists or doctrinal disagreements. It's a matter of the heart, a heart that either chooses or refuses to love God and each other, no matter the differences in our lists or doctrinal beliefs.
A slight distinction, perhaps, but one that makes a big difference.
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For anyone devoted to His fear:
I believe that the lists originated with "personal convictions" of an individual, which then became a mandate beyond that individual, spreading, and reaching people within that person's ministry to end up as a church, group or denomination standard and mandate.
Honestly, each one of us probably have "lists" that we know we are called to obey, that may differ from you to me. My list of "do not" or "do's" may include something that is not on yours.
Should that cause us to hate one another, because we don't have the same "lists" or really convictions? NO.
The one thing that should bind us all together is the death, burial, and resurrection life of Jesus Christ, loving one another, and helping those who are less fortunate than us, and sharing the gospel wherever we go. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and we cannot compromise that in any way.
Yet, our lists (convictions) vary from person to person, and it is these convictions that cause division, when they shouldn't.
If we are judging others according the fruit of the spirit operating in their life, and find their fruit to be true, if they should happen to differ in a conviction or law in their life from ours, we should still love them and count them as brethren.
I find this verse in 1 John to speak volumes concerning this subject:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
I believe the anointing, or the spirit of Christ within us is able to teach us, rebuke us, reprimand us against doing things, or doing things contrary, or according to what is pleasing to the Lord. The Spirit may direct and teach me to be obedient to a conviction that my brother or sister may not share. It may be that I have a conviction that I should not eat pork, or that I should not wear a certain style of clothing, or that I don't have a TV, and on those lists or convictions can go. But, I shouldn't judge my brother/sister because they do or don't have those same convictions as myself.
I do believe that Jesus' last words to his disciples hold true today, John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
I can love my brother/sister if they have a TV, and I don't have one. I can love my brother/sister if they don't wear jewelry, and I do... etc. You get the picture. Our personal outward or inward convictions are something that we live by, but do not judge others by.
Bottom line is we cannot compromise the gospel, which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That is where the division must come, and the line must be drawn in the sand.
But beyond that... personal convictions/lists should not divide the brethren who are united in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
I believe that the lists originated with "personal convictions" of an individual, which then became a mandate beyond that individual, spreading, and reaching people within that person's ministry to end up as a church, group or denomination standard and mandate.
Honestly, each one of us probably have "lists" that we know we are called to obey, that may differ from you to me. My list of "do not" or "do's" may include something that is not on yours.
Should that cause us to hate one another, because we don't have the same "lists" or really convictions? NO.
The one thing that should bind us all together is the death, burial, and resurrection life of Jesus Christ, loving one another, and helping those who are less fortunate than us, and sharing the gospel wherever we go. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and we cannot compromise that in any way.
Yet, our lists (convictions) vary from person to person, and it is these convictions that cause division, when they shouldn't.
If we are judging others according the fruit of the spirit operating in their life, and find their fruit to be true, if they should happen to differ in a conviction or law in their life from ours, we should still love them and count them as brethren.
I find this verse in 1 John to speak volumes concerning this subject:
1 John 2:27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
I believe the anointing, or the spirit of Christ within us is able to teach us, rebuke us, reprimand us against doing things, or doing things contrary, or according to what is pleasing to the Lord. The Spirit may direct and teach me to be obedient to a conviction that my brother or sister may not share. It may be that I have a conviction that I should not eat pork, or that I should not wear a certain style of clothing, or that I don't have a TV, and on those lists or convictions can go. But, I shouldn't judge my brother/sister because they do or don't have those same convictions as myself.
I do believe that Jesus' last words to his disciples hold true today, John 13:35 "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
I can love my brother/sister if they have a TV, and I don't have one. I can love my brother/sister if they don't wear jewelry, and I do... etc. You get the picture. Our personal outward or inward convictions are something that we live by, but do not judge others by.
Bottom line is we cannot compromise the gospel, which is the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ. That is where the division must come, and the line must be drawn in the sand.
But beyond that... personal convictions/lists should not divide the brethren who are united in the gospel of Jesus Christ.
Hybrid Mode
