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The "Commanded Conjoined Twins" within The Body Gifts In Verse 11,  Jesus, "God, The One & Only" outlines the special leadership gifts he granted to operate within His Body ...not as bosses in any way but as guides to assist their Fellow Believers. In verses 12 -14, He shares clearly the only "why" for the existence of leadership gifts in addition to the other equally important gifts which various Followers have.     And finally, as the context for all the above, our King confirms in verse 15 confirms two gifts to His Body that He is which may never be separated. GaryFPatton

"The "Commanded Conjoined Twins" within "The Body Gifts" In Verse 11 below,  Jesus, "God, The One & Only" outlines the special leadership gifts he granted to operate within His Body ...not as bosses in any way but as guides to assist their Fellow Believers. In verses 12 -14, He shares clearly the only "why" for the existence of leadership gifts in addition to the other equally important gifts which various Followers have.     And finally, as the context for all the above, our King confirms, in verse 15, confirms two gifts He's given to His Body that may never be separated if Jesus Followers re to obey Jesus' Platinum Rule ...God's Bottom Line... at http://diigo.com/0l8po Blessings, GaryFPatton

Regrettably, Christians and Jews seem to prefer to forget that Adam and Eve were each created naked by our God and walked together in public unashamed. It clearly says this here in Genesis 2:25. Obviously, we know better what's good for us than God because our first parents immediately went into the fashion business as noted in Genesis 3:7 at http://diigo.com/0m7tx . We also like to ignore how the Old Testament, for example, portrays Isaiah, the major prophet ignored or ridiculed by God's people, the Jews, as he wandered unclothed and unshod for three years under the power of God ...and not as a punishment. Maybe this helps to expalin why nudity in a textile social setting is often tied to lunacy in most situations of 21st Century society. Nudity and sexuality are often linked, but they don't necessarily have to be. In fact, most Christian naturists believe that it's clothes that make a body sexual. To put it simply: if you see someone in the naked all the time, you begin not to notice it anymore. It becomes normal and you no longer feel "urges" toward that person. However, if that person is normally clothed, due to the curiosity of the unknown and the "forbidden," when they remove their clothing, it is more likely to become a sexualized experience. Most anti-nudity views are originally politically-based, not rooted in religion historical research proves. I'm also unable to find a New or Old Covenant prescription against being naked in public. (Yes I know the OC story of the daugters and their father, but that's all it is, an Old Covenant story ...not a command to clothe ourselves. Might the more healthy attitude to how God created us, as advocated by Christian naturists, also help resolve the "body image problem" that is increasingly plaguing both women and men in our society. In a 2009 follow-up to a 1984 survey about female body image, Glamour at http://is.gd/D4IJbv found that for twenty-five years, body dissatisfaction has remained steady across eras at 40 perce

Genesis 2:23-25 causes me to wonder if the so-called shame about being naked in public, weather permitting, is not simply habitual, cultural and learned behaviour! Is it really God's will for us as so often taught? Might it instead be a punishment visited on us by Satan's con game of 'shame' given Who made the first garments? In this context, while not a Christian, Kahil Gibran makes an interesting observation in "The Prophet" in his section on "Clothes": "Some of you say, 'It is the north wind who has woven the clothes we wear.' And I say, Ay, it was the north wind, But shame was his loom, and the softening of the sinews was his thread. And when his work was done he laughed in the forest. Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean. And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind? And forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." (p.35-36) gfp (2012-01-04)

"The Bible Commands Carefronting & Holding Others in The Body Accountable" at https://diigo.com/0zyty Ephesians 4:11-14 is a command many Christians ignore plus confronting-adverse ones abhor. Peace & love in The King, GaryFPatton (2013-07-01)

This command is to be applied, I believe, ONLY against those who say they are Christians. I do because the greater context of these few verses seems clearly to be referring to believers behaving contrary to the word of God. Also, there are many other Scritures which command us NOT to judge those outside the Body of The King. For example, you'll discover that people who do not follow Jesus may NOT be judged ...no matter how offensive or sinful their behaviour... in 1 Corinthians 6:9-13.

One cou;d argue that this implies that our first parent's sinful, human nature is transmitted ONLY through males. Does mr. Gillam really mean that? gfp

This is why Jesus said we can woship God ONLY in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22-24)!

That most Christians believe that we are NOT supposed to judge, under any circumstances, is obviously contrary to what Paul, one of Jesus' Ambassadors, writes here. You'll not that Paul's question here is obviously rhetorical! The demonic myth, of Christian non-judgmentalism I believe, is Satan's attempt to short-circuit mutual accountability within the Body of Christ. Satan's myth also negates tough love which is just as crucial a part of Jesus' "Platinum Rule" ( http://diigo.com/0l8po ) as any other dimension of Body-commanded love. OK, you say, how do I relate Verse 12 here to Jesus' command in Matthew 7:1-6 ( https://diigo.com/0z6a1 ) where he says: "Judge not...!"? Good question! I believe our King's command in the prior Scripture does not conflict with what He inspired in Verse 12 here. Matthew 7:1-6 is meant to have us judge our Fellow Believers, NOT non-Followers, ONLY as led by His Spirit and VERY carefully. And to their face ...not slanderously behind their backs as He commands in Matthew 18:15-17! Because of this, I suggest that Christians forgo the use of the words 'judge', 'confront', and related, seemingly-harsh words, Please substitute the word 'carefront'. Carefront was coined by David Augsburger in his book: "Caring Enough To Confront". You can discover more about his book and read my review of it at http://goo.gl/oal37 . We cannot really love others in the Body without appropriately confronting them as we're led and commanded as noted above, plus further, in Luke 12:57 where our Master says: "Why don't you judge for yourselves what is right?" Again, in John 7:24 Jesus also says "Stop judging by mere appearances, but instead judge correctly." "Love and truth are "The Commanded Conjoined Twins" for Jesus Followers (https://diigo.com/0z69f); they must never be separated if we wish to obey Jesus' "Platinum Rule (http://diigo.com/0l8po)!" ~ gfp '42™ You can read more about this crucial subject in my S-M-A-R-T Briefing™ at http://goo.

These few verses clearly make a lie of the myth of the Christian, so-called "Doctrine of Non-Judgementalism" that so-many believe. Be blessed by my comments, please, and add your own in an e-Sticky Note window below any of my comments, pro or con. In The King, GaryFPatton

Husband/Wife Relationships in Today's Western Homes This topic is, arguably, one of the most argued-over issues in all of Holy Spirit's "how-to" instructions to Jesus Followers in God's words to Their people. This is especially the case in light of the evolution from the paternalism ...if not misogynism... of many in Biblical times and even now, especially many Christian and Muslim men, to the egalitarianism of our modern age in Western society and some parts of the Body of Christ. What did Holy Spirit REALLY mean when He inspired the Apostle Paul to pen the words in Ephesian 5:21-27, not just 22-27? I have added some comments for your consideration and reaction back to me, if you will, via the e-Sticky Notes below. In this passage, Paul wrote to some new Followers of Jesus in Ephesus and elsewhere around 50 A.D.. Ephesus was a major commercial city and a spiritual hub for Paul's evangelism efforts in what was called Asia Minor at the time in what is now Turkey. Holy Spirit intended those same words for us around the world in the 21st century? gfp (2012-04-14)

One key for me in answering the question I pose in my first paragraph above, is that I prayerfully believe that too many Christians can be, and probably are, theologically preconditioned on the relationship between husbands and their wives. I feel that they are preconditioned in reading the Holy Spirit's words by the translating-authors of many Bibles ...intentionally or unintentionally. A classic example is in many Bibles including the Original New International Version (NIV) Study Bible and the English Standard Version (ESV). The classic example lies in what I consider the preconditioning-placement of a non-Biblical footnote "Husbands Obey Your Wives" between verse 21 and 22. Hence the great possibility of preconditioning. I feel the Footnote's positioning puts a very different thrust than what Holy Spirit may have meant on the interpretation of this passage by many wo(men)! This possible perversion once more illustrates the truth of: * "[Bible] Translations are like wives ...either beautiful or faithful ...seldom both!" ~ an anonymous French wit

Reverend Chuck Swindol, the internationally-famous author, academic leader, radio and web commentator and Pastor, wrote or said, many years ago somewhere about this passage. I have never forgotten them. He intended his words as a paraphrase of a few of God's words to Their people in the Christian/Hebrew Bible that was originally written in Koine Greek. Swindol's words come to mind every time I read this verse. He said: * "Wives, submit to your slaves!" ~ Chuck Swindol The context of Jesus' relationship to His Spiritual Body, the church, is confirmed by Holy Spirit in Jesus' repeated statements to His Followers and other Jews listening in as He taught when on earth the first time. This relationship has been recorded by God in Jesus' statements throughout the Gospels and his Apostles (sent out ones) in the New Covenant portion of the Bible. In this context, I sense Swindol's quote above is an accurate translation of Holy Spirit's REAL point, not a less than authoritative paraphrase, given the different verbs used in this verse, directed to wives, and that to husbands in verse 25.

An interesting artcle that provides a brief overview of the major streams of philosophical thought since the Enlightenment. The author maintains that, contrary to post-modernism theorizing, 'truth' can be found by independent confirmation because body and mind are proven to be interdependent by modern nerological science. GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-09-14)

One is wise to note that God did so only AFTER Adam and Eve had gone into the clothing business and covered their so-called "private parts". God did not design man to wear clothes except as protection which is why He may have replaced the foliage with the more sturdy animal skins as He sent them into the "cold cruel" world! The sacrifice of the animals to cover the sins, not the bodies, of human kind also presages the ultimate and future sacrifice of Yesus (Jesus) for the sins and sin of those whom would trust in Him and it in the "fullness of time".

Satan cons modern Christians, I believe, with diabolically-generated shame to believe the opposite untruth i.e. public nudity is shameful and unBiblical. Could not Adam's reference in Genesis to his shame have been about his disobedience rather than about his being naked? Old Testament ceremonial washings, including baptism, were performed in the nude. [Note 1 - Please don't hestitate to contact me if you would like the details for the source of this or any of the other historical facts included below. I'm a trained historian and also like to see the documentation for so-called facts that are not commonly accepted.] Christ, too, was probably baptized naked, as depicted in numerous early works of art. [2] Early Christians bathed communally in the nude at the public baths or public places during most of the second through the fourth centuries. This was common practise in Rome for hundreds of years at all levels of society. Public nudity was also common during this period in other parts of ancient Roman society. The writings of early Christians such as Irenaeus and Tertullian make it clear that they had no ethical reservations about communal nudity for Christians. [3] Christian historian Roy Bowen Ward confirms based on his research that "Christian Morality did not originally preclude nudity. . . . There is a tendency to read history backward and assume that early Christians thought the same way mainstream Christians do today. We attribute the present to the past." [4] For the first several centuries of Christianity, it was the intentional custom to baptize men, women, and children together nude. This ritual played a very significant role in the early church. The accounts are numerous and detailed. [5] Margaret Miles, a historian and author, notes that "Naked baptism was observed as one of the two essential elements in Christian initiation, along with the invocation of the Trinity. . . . In the fourth century, instructions for baptism throughout the Roman Emp

In the four short Sermons below, Dr. Boyd exposes the dangerous consequences of the myth of the Christian Nation held by many in the body of Christ. GaryFPatton

Why would two people, Matthew and Luke, who were the more consistent eye witnesses to the accounts that they report copy Mark? It makes no sense. Mark was a boy while Jesus walked Israel and did not travel about with Him. Mark also was not an original Disciple of Jesus and reported on most the events in his Gospel based on second hand information from the Disciples who did travel with jesus, one can assume. I feel the whole Mathew and Luke copied Mark plus Mark is based on some lost document called "Q" theory of many scholars is rooted in a desire by many to deny or ignore God's supernatural involvement in the documentation of His Son's incarnation and ignores the fact that Matthew and John were eye witnesses to all of what they wrote about. They had no need to copy but had their own perspective on what they heard and saw as do modern witnesses. Likewise, modern research indicates that the reports of most eye witnesses are highly unreliable. If God was not involved, one would have to question the accounts. If that one is not a Jesus Follower and without faith in the supernatural inerancy of the Biblical accounts of both the Old and New Covenants, that's another matter entirely.

This April 2012 article in BAR analyzes the similarities between the Jewish Seder and what Christians call Jesus' "Last Supper" and the timing of the event based on archaeological evidence. gfp (2012-04-07)

Whether one believes in after death experience or not, its these so-called expalnations that are riduculous and preposterous, in my opinion!

Jesus Followers, however, can listen to what the person reports re their so-called after-death experience and evaluate it against what the Bible tells us.

Reverend Brian Bell, in 2004, opened his "Meditation" at my Mom's funeral with 2 Corinthians 5:1-15. He was the then Lead Pastor of "The Meeting House Yorkdale", in North York of The Greater Toronto Area. My Mom's, Ina Donelda Patton's (aka Donna and Donnie) funeral was held on January 22, 2004 at 7:00 p.m. at the Simple Alternative Chapel in that city. gfp (2012-04-04)

The "Fruit of the Spirit" is a package of powerful character traits that we receive when we are born-again as "New Creations" in Jesus (2 Corinthians 5:17). Jesus Himself is this package because He is living His life our through us from inside us as He promises. This package, which is Jesus' power in us, is described in Galatians 5:22-25 at http://diigo.com/0m0c1 .