Quote:
Originally Posted by pelathais
I saw these posts only just now- after the thread had been bumped and kicked around for a while. Sorry for the lateness of my reply...
Act 2:15 For these are not drunken, as ye suppose, seeing it is but the third hour of the day.
We tend to add an inflection to our voice when we quote the clause "as ye suppose..." Many Apostolic preachers will then add something like, "Peter didn't say they weren't drunk, he just said they weren't drunk as ye suppose...!!!"
And then exhortations are given for people to behave in a drunken fashion, to "get drunk" on the "new wine," etc.
Peter's statement is that the disciples, who were speaking in other languages as they praised God, were not drunk at all. He goes on to point out that it's in the morning so the charge of drunkenness is not likely to be valid. Further, we are not told that the disciples were engaging in "drunken behavior" of any kind. They were praising God in languages that they had never learned.
We tend to take little inferences and bits and pieces of scripture to endorse, even to encourage amd promote behavior that is not really explicitly described in the Bible. And then we condemn anyone who does not perform a baptism with the literal exactness that we require of Acts 2:38.
Consistancy would appear to demand that we re-examine our traditions and seek to conform our behavior more closely with the scripture. Of discussing these things publically is verbotem. Approach an evangelist who has just preached a sermon about "Joel's Bar" and try to get them to elucidate.
I was very naive when I was younger and thought I was missing something so I tried to do just that on several occasions. Instead of trying to persude me or even to reassure me, people would immediately launch into a defensive tirade.
Raven's post about "those left behind" is another example. I got blistered by my pastor for even trying to bring it up with him privately. It seems most of us know that many of our traditions are rather weakly established on a foundation of the scriptures. Why can't we talk about this and try to align ourselves more closely with the Word of God? |
Bro. Pelathais,
I remember hearing about when my Methodist grandmother (who read
and studied the Bible in the Methodist church and even shouted her long
hair down there. My dad witnessed it and related to to us later.) God will
not leave Himself without witness! Later when a white haired man of God
came to their town, preaching the message of Pentecost, they went out
of curiousity. The message that man preached was different from any that
Grandma had heard in the Methodist church. She had been a member for
21 yrs, her mother, a charter member for 48 yrs. and Grandma had not
ever heard such a message. She decided right there she would go home
look into the Word and prove him wrong. She found that she only could
prove him right. Later my dad, who was 14 at the time asked her if it
didn't sound like some more of the JW doctrine. She quickly replied, "No,
Son, I've searched the scriptures and it's there. She was first of her family
to obey the message of the apostles.
Bro. Pelathais, Grandma's family thought she had lost it after she obeyed
the gosple and left the Methodist church. They did not want her to remain
there, like some do today. But her family, one by one, came and embraced
the same message after a while. That has been five generations ago.
If you are pointing out something to someone and they are standing there
and keep saying, "I can't see it" when it is right before their eyes, it is
evident they either do not want to see it or perhaps they could be fearful
of what they would see and be accountable for. Like one of my sisters in
law many years ago. She would get fearful about some things happening
in their lives and would call me and want me to come over and talk to her.
One night when she called and I went, the subject came up about baptism
in Jesus Name. She said she had never heard that. I showed her in the
Bible where it said to repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.....". Later after she obeyed
the apostolic message, she would testify and tell about when I had showed
her the scripture. She said she asked God to forgive her later, but she said
she was SO miserable she said sometimes I wish she hadn't told me. She
couldn't get away from it. She said she asked God to forgive her for her
ignorance (she just didn't know it.) To be ignorant as in not ever knowing
and to be willingly ignorant, are not the same. Knowing but not willing to do
what you need to do is dangerous. For he that knoweth to do good and
doeth it not, to him it is sin.
Brother, sometimes instead of just admitting you don't know anything
or much about prophesy or anything, I think that's when you will be as
you spoke, "blistered". If parents do not want their young children to do
something and they disobey, they get a blistering sometimes. That's not
the same. Children are just that. They are not mature and they are not
adults. But ADULTS will resent being treated as children. However it seems
that in order to maintain control over ADULTS, there are certain tactics
used to do so. Whether it be fear or whatever. There were those in Jesus
day who feared being put out of the synagogue. The disciples feared the
jews. The religious of that day used the Law because that was what they
were under. But after the death, burial and resurrection of our Lord, and
after His glorification and ascension, He left to pour out the Spirit from on
high, and set those captives free. Peter was so afraid of being identified
with Jesus, He denied Him three times in a short period of time. But look
at fearless Peter, with John, a few days later at the Gate Beautiful, preach-
ing the name of Jesus. They came and beat (blistered) them and told them
not to preach in that name anymore. They now were not fearful of man
but had godly fear. Should we obey men or God? The fear of God is to
begin to have wisdom, and knowledge and understanding. The fear of man
brings a snare (trap). He wants to set us all free ... from the law of sin
and death. We must be willing and obedient (to God) and we shall eat the
good of the land.
Blessings,
Falla39
My soul followeth hard after thee....Love one another with a pure heart fervently. 
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