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Gary Patton

Reinterpreting the Great Commission - 0 views

www.boundless.org/...a0001678.cfm

bible scripture interpretation scripture evangelism great commission Jesus matthew mark luke john

shared by Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12 - Cached
  • Missional Discipleship: Reinterpreting the Great Commission
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      Jonathan Dodson adds exciting new dimensions to the standard interpretations of Jesus' "Great Commission" in the article. It is the first of two parts. gfp (2012-03-03)
  • In evangelical subculture the ubiquity of the Great Commission is matched by the poverty of its interpretation.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      The only greater "poverty" is its lack of application in their lives by so-called Christians. In North America, a too-common and oft-heard phrase exchanged between so-called Christians is: "I'd din't know you were a Christian!" "Lord, please forgive us although we know what we're doing! gfp"
  • The OT commission, frequently referred to as the creation or cultural mandate, was issued by God before the Fall of humanity, emphasizing creative activity with the following verbs: be fruitful, multiply, rule, and subdue (Gen 1.27-28).2 By producing more creators who rule and subdue the elements of the earth,
  • ...30 more annotations...
  • A surface reading of these Old and New Testament texts places them at odds with one another.
  • These impoverished readings call for reinterpretation, one that that allows both Genesis and the Gospels to speak.
  • we will be challenged to understand and embrace discipleship as more that "spiritual disciplines" or an evangelistic program.
  • following after Jesus that requires redemptive engagement not just with souls but with creation and culture.
  • the command is to make disciples of all nations not from all nations.
  • The Great Commission is not about soul-extraction, to remove the disciple from his culture,
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      To often in the past ...and still..., so-called Christian Missionaries who "went" and "go" into other cultures try to shape their disciples in the image of the Missionary's culture, i.e. they "clothed the naked", literally, instead of providing what's need in the moment by the individuals they encounter which is what Jesus meant. 
  • the many-splendored new humanity of Christ.
  • Where Matthew emphasizes the action of making distinctive disciples, Mark stresses the importance of preaching to all creation.
  • When Jesus used the word "preach" he did not mean converse. The Greek word for preach always carries a sense of urgency and gravity, as though what is to be proclaimed is of great importance
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      A better translation of the Greek, that captures it's sense and is not intentionally designed by the translator to reinforce "Sunday morning church activity", is "herald"! 
  • Paul perceives himself as an announcer of a worldly Christ-centered gospel,
  • While this worldly gospel saves, it also condemns.
  • For some it brings life; for others it brings death, but all are to be given the opportunity to be written into the story of God's redemption of all creation.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      This is not a particularly "Calvinistic statement, i.e., those saved are pre-ordained (Romans 8:28) but probably accurate because we'll never know 'till we get to heaven whether Holy Spirit used us to touch the "right" people and bring them "one step closer to Jesus". 
  • Humanity was charged with the task of caring for the earth and creating culture, making the uninhabitable habitable.
  • Jesus preached a worldly gospel, a restorative message that put the creation project back on track. His glorified, resurrection body is clearly proof of the new creation to come.
  • Jesus told those who believe that they will be given power to heal the sick, restore the demon-possessed, and to speak new languages (Mk. 16:17-18). This worldly gospel is for the redemption and renewal of the earth, the body, the heart, the mind, and the cultures of the world. It is a saving message that rescues people from their unbelief, not their world,
  • we are called to preach "repentance and forgiveness of sins." A social gospel will not suffice.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And a "social gospel" approach is also not excluded.
  • What does it mean to be "witnesses of all these things"? Well, at the very least it means sharing Jesus' self-sacrificing offer of forgiveness,
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And witnessing includes, I suggest, the practical and explanatory sharing of the blessings that have enriched the life of the witnesser as a result of their forgiveness and Jesus coming to live His life out through them by sharing what Christians call "their testimony". 
  • The problem with many of our stories is that they contain all spirit and very little flesh.
  • People want to touch redemption, which means they need to see resurrection power in our personal struggles.
  • The stories we tell should boast of Jesus' death and resurrection, of his forgiveness of sin and of his restoration of sinners — reconciled families and marriages, restored and housed homeless, renewed life among AIDS orphans, and so on.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And make sure these resurrection-power stories, if not about yourself, are about other you KNOW personally ...otherwise they can be considered so much fluff!
  • Whereas the previous gospel writers emphasized Jesus' command to make distinctive disciples, preach a worldly gospel, and witness a fleshly Jesus, John stresses Jesus sending his disciples.
  • According to John Piper, we are either goers, senders, or disobedient, but according to Jesus we are all the sent.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And I agree with Jesus. It's clear notwithstanding Mr. Piper's opinion, that Jesus clearly tells all his followers that we are to "go along", i.e., herald Jesus where He plants us". It's not wrong to help a Brother or Sister "go" somewhere else but Jesus never said or giving money to a so-called missionary could replace His Followers heralding Him where they are in the moment".
  • All followers of Jesus are called to live as missionaries in their culture
  • Our paradigm for living a sent life, a missionary life, is the sending of the Son by the Father.
  • So, within reason we should take on the trappings of our culture in order to contextually relate the gospel.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And for this reason, it's not wrong to accompany your work colleagues after work for a "drink" at a local strip club ...just don't oggle the strippers or get drunk! We can only earn their trust so they'll "as the reason for the hope that is in us (1 Peter 3:15-17) when we're not the typical judgemental Christian or pushy Televangelist-type they have been warned to avoid by those judged by those folks.
  • It leads us to immerse ourselves into the humanity of our neighborhoods and cities in order relate the gospel to people and their needs.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And this doesn't mean that we're more spiritual if we leave our middle-class lifestyle and neighbourhood and move into an inner-city slum or evangelize street people on weekends unless Holy Spirit makes clear that role is His will for you at that point in your life!
  • The power of missional living does not spring from cultural savvy or social sensitivity; it requires the otherworldly, utterly personal power of the Holy Spirit. Only the Spirit of God can make men new.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      Amen to that!! A Lone Ranger Christian carries a notch-less gun in his "heralding holster". 
  • The "good news" of Genesis 1-2 is that God created all things to be enjoyed, managed, cultivated, and recreated by humanity.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
       
      And applying 1 Corinthians 6:12 is the wise person's context for ALL her/his behaviour... not just the limited ones involving "food" and "sex" mentioned by Paul in the immediately surrounding verses of this passage.
  • This fruitful multiplication continues both physically and spiritually through the reproducing ministry of missional disciples, who increase in number and good works (Acts 6:7; Col. 1:6, 10). These good works include ruling and subduing creation through the careful, creative arrangement of the elements of the earth into art, technology, infrastructure etc. for the flourishing of humanity.
  • Retaining the cultural impulse of Genesis, the Gospels call us to a missional discipleship that entails creation care, cultural engagement, social action, and gospel proclamation. Missional disciples will not content themselves by preaching a culturally irrelevant, creation indifferent, resurrection neglecting message.
Gary Patton

Interpreting Scripture: Our Greek-ness is Showing - 0 views

catchthewindministries.blogspot.com/...-scripture-our-greek-ness.html

bible bibliolatry scripture interpretation

shared by Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • All of us who have been raised and/or educated in a western culture…regardless of our ethnicity or heritage…think like Greeks. And this can cause us some problems when we attempt to interpret the Bible.Because God is not a Greek.
  • Among other things, we Greeks believe that there is only one correct way to interpret any particular scripture and apply it to our lives
  • hen interpret biblical truth through our own personal religious, cultural, societal, and experiential lenses
  • ...7 more annotations...
  • When a verse or passage in the Bible lends itself to more than one interpretation, we Greeks seem unable to consider the possibility that both interpretations might be equally valid.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
       
      Actually, this tension is not really a "big deal" because the simple English word, 'antinomy' explains the Biblical concept of "equal and opposing truths"! Might it be that christains simply like to fight? In discussing contrary points-of-view on a 'proof-text', for example, do we allow Mr. Sin to rear up our flesh like a wild, untamed stallion ...rather than the Indian warrior pony in North American terms... to which Jesus was referring via the 'Greek' word He used when commanding us to be 'meek'. (Forgive me David, I don't speak Aramaic, either! :-)) gfp
  • That’s how we get more than 20,000 versions of the same truth.
  • I’m not convinced Jesus had any interpretation in mind when He spoke these words. He always did what He saw the Father doing, and He always spoke what He heard the Father speaking. I don’t know that Jesus needed much explanation or clarification before revealing the works and words of the Father.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
       
      And prior to going to His cross and being resurrected, Jesus, the incarnate "God Man", would have had to later think through what the Father gave him. Maybe He even talked through optional interpretations with "His boys"? Might He even have argued with Himself over them? (I hear that muttered "God forbid", Dr. Dave! :-)) gfp
  • I have been awestruck by the preciousness of Jesus and determined to obtain an intimate relationship with Him regardless of the cost because He is the only One who is worth what I will pay for Him. And I have been brought to tears to know that He loves, cherishes, and values me so much that He would pay the ultimate price to invite me into the relationship that He and the Father & the Spirit have enjoyed from eternity past.
  • Or we can put aside our Greek-ness and give up on the idea of objective truth defined as a body of information and correct interpretation. How about we simply adopt the Bible’s definition of objective truth?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
       
      I can suspect the horror this suggestion is generating in the flesh of "anti-grace-teaching" Pastors and the religious spawn they have misled! gfp
  • how about we let the Author of the scriptures quicken them to our hearts so that we see them in whatever light He wishes for us to see them at that particular moment?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
       
      WoW! What a novel idea!! Here again, this will be fleshly fear-inducing for religous people and their mistaken and misleading mentors. (And Dr. Dave knows that and does it intentionally, eh David! :-)) gfp
  • Only a Greek would ask such questions.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
       
      Amen!!!!!!!!!!!!
  • Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
     
    Dr. David Ryser, my Friend and a Greek and Hebrew scholar and teacher points out some core challenge of Scripture interpretation. The challenge applies cross-culturally and to followers of different gods ...with some adaptation to your culture and faith for non-Jesus Following religious people. All of us who have been raised and/or educated in a western culture…regardless of our ethnicity or heritage…think like Greeks. And this can cause us some problems when we attempt to interpret the Bible ...because God is not a Greek. gfp (2011-11-18)
Gary Patton

"Eurabia" : National Review Online - 0 views

old.nationalreview.com/...comment-yeor100902.asp

islamism immigration Europe oil Islam islamization hate genocide anti-semitism persecution

shared by Gary Patton on 19 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • eptember 11, 2001 was for millions worldwide a day of sorrow, pain, and profound sadness; a day of solemn solidarity, self-sacrifice, and prayer.
  • For others it was a day of rejoicing, a revengeful exultation, a long-awaited triumphalism born from the death and suffering of thousands of innocent victims.
  • For iniquity engulfs those who hate, who kill — and not the hated victim. It is those who hate who are sick: sick from envy; sick from the frustration of having failed to achieve an absolute, pathological domination; sick from a schizophrenic lust for power.
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • Terrorism is not a consequence of poverty. Many societies are poor, yet they do not produce an organized criminality of terror.
  • America should not choose European ways: the road back to Munich via appeasement, collaboration, and dhimmitude.
  • After the Yom Kippur War and the Arab oil blackmail in 1973, the then-European Community (EC) created a structure of Cooperation and Dialogue with the Arab League. The Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD)
  • Over the years, Euro-Arab collaboration developed at all levels: political, economic, religious and in the transfer of technologies, education, universities, radio, television, press, publishers, and writers unions. This structure became the channel for Arab immigration into Europe, of anti-Americanism, and of Judeophobia, which — linked with a general hatred of the West and its denigration — constituted a pseudo-culture imported from Arab countries.
  • The interpenetration of European and Arab policies determined Europe's relentless anti-Israel policy and its anti-Americanism. This politico-economic edifice, with minute details, is rooted in a multiform European symbiosis with the Arab world.
  • The EAD was the vehicle for legitimizing the propaganda of the PLO, procuring it international diplomatic recognition, and conferring on Arafat's terrorist movement honor and international stature by supporting Arafat's address to the General Assembly of the United Nations on November 13, 1974 .
  • Through the labyrinth of the EAD system, a policy of Israel's delegitimization was planned at both the EC's national and international levels.
  • The cultural infrastructure of the EAD allowed the traditional cultural baggage of Arab societies, with its anti-Christian and anti-Jewish prejudices and its hostility against Israel and the West, to be imported into Europe.
  • Strategically, the Euro-Arab Cooperation was a political instrument for anti-Americanism in Europe, whose aim was to separate and weaken the two continents by an incitement to hostility and the permanent denigration of American policy in the Middle East .
  • The EAD was the mouthpiece which diffused and popularized throughout Europe the defamation of Israel. France, Belgium, and Luxembourg were then the most active agents of the EAD.
  • Europeans adopted the Arab-Islamic conception of history.
  • Europe's pathological obsession with the Arab-Palestinian conflict, has obscured the criminal ongoing persecution of Christians and other minorities in Muslim lands worldwide, and the sufferings and slavery of millions from jihad wars in Africa and Asia.
  • The cogs created by the EAD led the EC (later the European Union) to tolerate Palestinian terrorism on its own territory, to justify it, and finally to finance Palestinian infrastructure — later to become the Palestinian Authority — and hate-mongering educational system. The ministers and intellectuals who have created Eurabia deny the current wave of criminal attacks against European Jews, which they, themselves, have inspired.
  • The EAD, which had tied Arab strategic policies for the destruction of Israel to the European economy was the Trojan horse for Europe's inclusion into the orbit of Arab-Muslim influence.
  • With the support of parliaments and ministries, the EAD concealed behind the Arab-Israel conflict the global jihad being perpetrated on all continents.
  • Arab-Israel conflict in international affairs. It could have been solved from the start by the integration of about 500,000 Arab-Palestinian refugees into the Arab League countries, foremost into the Emirate of Transjordan — created by Great Britain in 1922 from 78 percent of the total League of Nation mandated area of Palestine, the historical Holy Land on both sides of the Jordan river.
  • the leaders of their countries looked the other way and pretended that Israel was responsible for the violent aggressions against Jews in Europe by Arab-Muslim immigrants.
  • brought responsible politicians to their senses. They had been blinded by a Palestinian fantasy
  • The suppression of intellectual freedom imported from undemocratic Muslim countries, attached to a culture of hate against Israel, has recently led to the exclusion and boycott of Israeli academics by some of their European colleagues.
  • the desperate move to save Arafat
  • Over 50 years ago the Shoah was the response to Zionism. Today, diaspora Jews and Israel would do well to foresee a possible vengeful reckoning after Saddam Hussein falls and Arafat is marginalized
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 19 Feb 12
       
      The "Shoah" (Hebrew: השואה, HaShoah, "catastrophe"; Yiddish: חורבן, Churben or Hurban, from the Hebrew for "destruction"), was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, throughout Nazi-occupied territory. Of the nine million Jews who had resided in Europe before the Holocaust, approximately two-thirds perished.
  • anti-Jewish hysteria in Europe was an advertisement to neutralize diaspora Jews, and the Israeli self-defense mechanism against Palestinian terror,
  • the European Union continues to caper to new Arab-Islamic tunes, now called "occupation," "peace and justice," and "immigrants' rights" — themes which were composed for Israel's burial. And for Europe's demise.
  • the majority of Europeans, who are not antisemitic, are totally unaware of most of the EAD's policy, since its key deliberations are unrecorded.
  • Eurabia
  • Gary Patton on 19 Feb 12
     
    Bat Yeor is an Arab, Jewis historian from Egypt. I discovered this article by her some years ago after reading one of her books. Some of the facts in this short article are now dated. Her compelling, scary and well-documented thesis is not! Here, Ms. Yoer explains her thesis regarding the stealth jihad strategy engineered by Arab Islamists which is behind the Muslim immigration that's threatening to overwhelm European culture. (I believe her thesis applies worldwide.) Here she also explains the hateful, demonic root underpinning the revival and resurgence of anti-Semitism throughout Europe. Elsewhere, Ms. Yeor also documents how the Islamists have expanded on their own dissimilitude, called a-taqiyya in Qur'anic Arabic, by using "lie-fare" & "law-fare". They learned the former from those who drove Joseph Goebels' Nazi propaganda campaign and who fled to the Middle East after WWII. They learned the latter from the brialiant but sad successes of the homosexual lobby in this field.
Gary Patton

Putting "Burning Coals" on Another's Head - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible Proverbs coals scripture OT

shared by Gary Patton on 22 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • If [p]your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat; And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink; 22 For you will [q]heap burning coals on his head, And (AA)the LORD will reward you.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 22 Jan 12
       
      Placing Burning Coals on Another's Head This Proverb confuses some people because its Jewish cultural context is not clear from its words. A "burning coal" was essential in Biblical Palestine each morning so Jewish families could re-light their cooking fire for the day after it died out during the night. In each Jewish village, one man carried a pot of coals from home to home to assist the homemaker who needed one. "Burning coals" are blessings not torture instruments in this Proverb as some think. "The head", in Jewish culture was the place on another's body where one anointed them with precious perfumes and oils as a extension of an oral blessing on them. Jesus' Disciple/Apostle (Learner/Sent-Out-One), Paul, quoted this Proverb from the pre-Jesus (Yeshua/Isa), Old Covenant in Romans 12:20 at http://diigo.com/0kmml to demonstrate that our heavenly Father does not overlook fairness and justice although he substituted New Covenant 'grace' for Old Covenant 'law' when He sent Jesus to die for us as outlined in His New Covenant. (gfp 2011-10-24)
  • Proverbs 25
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 22 Jan 12
       
      This ancient, pre-Yeshua (Jesus), Old Covenant and Hebrew Proverb, contains and interesting cultural reference that you'll discover in the e-Sticky Note on verses 21-23 below. gfp (2011-10-24)
  • Gary Patton on 22 Jan 12
     
    This ancient, pre-Yeshua (Jesus), Old Covenant Hebrew Proverb, contains and interesting cultural reference that you'll discover in the e-Sticky Note on Verse 21-23 below. gfp (2011-10-24)
Gary Patton

"Wage Peace ...Not War" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

Bible romans peace-making war violence scripture peace

shared by Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • give preference to one another
  • Bless those who persecute [d]you; bless and do not curse
  • do not be haughty in mind,
  • ...11 more annotations...
  • Never pay back evil for evil to anyone.
  • BUT IF YOUR ENEMY IS HUNGRY, FEED HIM, AND IF HE IS THIRSTY, GIVE HIM A DRINK; FOR IN SO DOING YOU WILL HEAP BURNING COALS ON HIS HEAD.”
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      Placing Burning Coals on Another's Head Paul, quoted from Proverbs 25:21-23 here to make a crucial point for his First Century readers and Jesus Followers today. He did so to demonstrate that our heavenly Father does not overlook fairness and justice although He substituted New Covenant 'grace' for Old Covenant 'law' when He sent Jesus to die for us as outlined in His New Covenant. (You can read about Jesus' crucifixion in Matthew 27:27 to Mathew 28:20 at . Proverbs 25:21 at confuses some people because its Jewish cultural context is not clear from its words. A "burning coal" was essential in Biblical Palestine each morning so Jewish families could re-light their cooking fire for the day after it died out during the night. In each Jewish village, one man carried a pot of coals from home to home to assist the homemaker who needed one. "Burning coals" are blessings not torture instruments in this Proverb as some think. "The head", in Jewish culture was the place on another's body where one anointed them with precious perfumes and oils as a extension of an oral blessing on them. (gfp 2011-10-24)
  • Respect what is right in the sight of all men.
  • Never take your own revenge, beloved, but [g]leave room for the wrath of God, for it is written, “(T)VENGEANCE IS MINE, I WILL REPAY,” says the Lord.
  • If possible, (Q)so far as it depends on you, (R)be at peace with all men.
  • Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.
  • For (Y)rulers are not a cause of fear for [k]good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good and you will have praise from the same; 4 for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an (Z)avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil.
  • Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for (AE)he who loves [l]his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
  • YOU SHALL NOT MURDER
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 29 May 12
       
      Please Jesus Follower, do not mistake the Old Covenant commandment to "not murder" as permitting, as some unBiblically teach,: * so-called "just wars", plus * participation as a gun-carrying police person, or * participation as a politician who can vote on declaring war or laws sentencing a person to death for a crime. Jesus' clear, unequivocal call is to be a non-violent person who wages peace on his behalf ...not war... because Jesus came to "fulfill the [Old Covenant] Law'". Our commanded peace-making lifestyle is clear in this passage of Scripture plus Jesus' many commands to His Followers to live a life of non-violent behaviour in every way that I mention below. "Peace is not something you wish for. It's something you [first receive, then something you] make, something you do, something you are and something you give away." ~ Robert Fulghum (1937- ) U.S. author http://diigo.com/0kmml As Mr. Fulghum writes above, Jesus calls us to be non-violent peace-makers throughout His New Covenant with us! e.g.: * Matthew 5:9, the reward for peace-making at http://diigo.com/0kmjn; * His commanded peace-making approach in Matthew 5:38-45 at http://diigo.com/0kmlr and * God's condemnation of violence including war in Romans 12:10-13:9 at http://diigo.com/0kmml. Jesus has no concept of a so-called "just war" Jesus Follower please do not feel that because the State is authorized to use violence to protect society that you are permitted to: * participate in making, as a politician, or upholding, as a gun-carrying justice officer, a State's laws that contain a death penalty, or * voting as a politician or a citizen for your country to participate in a so-called "just war", or fighting in a war as a weapon-carrying soldier. You are not according to Jesus' clear calls to a non-violent life. How do I obey the law you might ask? Simple, I suggest! You will never be "forced" in a democracy to run for an elected office in "the world", as distict from "Jesus'
  • Romans 12:10-13:9
  • You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
  • Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
     
    In Romans 12:10-13:9 in the pre-Jesus (Yeshua) New Covenant, Jesus' Apostle (Sent-Out-One), Paul, makes clear there are no "Just Wars" as far as Jesus Followers are to be concerned. Jesus Followers are called by our Lord and Saviour to wage peace ...not war. We are commanded to be non-violent radicals not passive pew-sitters. To be Gentlewo(men) Warriors not D.O.O.R.M.A.T.s (members of the "Dependent Order Of Really Miserable And Timid Souls"). You may ask me for my article about ""Real Warriors Are Humble & Meek" if the link doesn't work for you. Paul also includes an interesting Old Covenant Proverb in Verse 20 from Proverbs 25:21-23 the cultural context of which might fool you into thinking something it doesn't mean. To better understand what the Apostle meant, don't miss my Sticky Note on Verse 20. gfp (2011-10-24)
  • Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
     
    So you think there are just wars, eh? Check this out! gfp
Gary Patton

"Islam, How it works" - 0 views

gatesofvienna.blogspot.com/...how-does-islam-work.html

jihad jihadism sharia islamism Islam

shared by Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • It is a comprehensive system regulating all areas of life. There is no separation between religion here, politics there, law there — therefore none between Islam and Islamism, either. Islamism is not an abuse of Islam, because Islam is different from our worldview.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Many Muslims don't like the terms 'Islamism' and 'Islamist'. They say the former confuses a political ideology with a religion and, the latter confuses a moderate Muslim with a violent Jihadist. This expert argues there is NO need to make a distinction because there is none needed because they all mean the same the same! Oh my! Are Westerners being 'conned' by liberal, politically-correct media terminology when they use Islam/Islamism distinction? Is it really Muslim taqiyya (dissimulation)? gfp (2011-10-27)
  • the Islamic norms and values system regulates the living together in Muslim societies far beyond the religious realm in the narrow sense of the word: without Islam they could not work at all.
  • you needn’t be an Islamic scientist to analyze the sociology of Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      One may not need to be an Islamic scientist. But, given the danger of western cultural biases that the author mentions below (highligted in red), westerners may NOT understand Islam and the Islamic mind. A further danger is that violent Jihadists use taqiyya (dissimulation) to launch and perpetuate proganda lies. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • the role of religion in the social fabric of Islamic societies is quite different from that of Christianity in ours. Islam does not only relate humans to the hereafter, like all religions do, and determine what is good and evil, but it also defines what is legal or illegal in a juridical sense, legitimate and illegitimate in a political sense, true and untrue in an empirical sense. Islam is, so to speak, the DNA of its societies: not only a religion but a social system.
  • We use a certain terminology fit for describing our own culture, but not fit for that of Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is very wise observation. Given this crucial point, the imporatnt question that arises is how do non-Muslims guard against the trap of cultural misalignment mistakes. I believe only Jesus Followers are eqipped to do this consistently and well because the power of Holy Spirit is available to us when we choose to walk in it and Him! (Galatians 5:16 &25) gfp
  • these assumptions are not just shared in Islam
  • Religions shapes the system of culturally valid and (by socialization) internalized pre-assumptions about issues such as truth, justice, morality, ethics, society, or violence; i.e. all the assumptions that precede actual political thinking.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This a dangerous key to Westerners' failure to understand Islam & what we, not Muslims, have labeled Islamism. Islamism is distinguished in the West from Islam as a political ideology. Islam, itself, is a political ideology. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • the widespread assumption in this country under which we perceive Islam — that all religions are equal or “want the same thing” — is misleading.
  • Islam does not generally outlaw violence, not even in a strictly moral sense.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is a demonic opposite of Jesus' commands to His Followers to be non-violent and wage peace ...not war. e.g. Matthew 5:38-45 However, when dealing with criminality, violent Muslim jihadism or other activities by which people can be harmed, Jesus did not tell us to hold our peace and be passive D.O.O.R.M.A.T.S. (Dependent Order Of Really Miserable And Timid Souls). e.g. Matthew 23:23-33
  • Blaise Pascal once said. “Jesus let himself be killed, Muhammad himself killed”.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      With even more contarst, I'd suggest: "Jesus teaches His Followers to wage peace and allowed Himself to be murdered; Muhammad teaches his followers to wage war and himself murdered others!" ~ gfp '42™
  • Violence in Islam has a structuring function: it makes a difference between above and below, i.e. master and slave, men and women, believers and unbelievers. Islam doesn’t define peace as a universal principle.
  • The Islamic concept of society is based on the division of humanity into “believers” and “infidels” — and Islam leaves no doubt that the “infidels” sooner or later have to disappear in history. “Good” in the ethical sense, is what is good for the spread of Islam; “evil” is any opposition to it
  • Islam rejects the notion of a universal ethics by which all people have equal rights, no matter what religion they belong to, or peace as a matter of principle. Such views contradict not only the teachings of Islam, but its basic structure.
  • it creates a tacit social acceptance of violence, provided it is directed against the “infidels”, even among those Muslims who are not individually violent.
  • Jihad is not just war. It includes anything Muslims do to bring the world under the law of Allah.
  • Therefore, I conceive Islam as a Jihad System.
  • the Koran refers in the latest, the Medinan suras — which are in any doubt, the decisive — relatively little to the “greater” jihad, the struggle for one’s own faith, compared with the struggle against the “infidels”, the so-called “lesser” jihad which is crucial in these suras.
  • No, “Islam” means, in friendly translation, “devotion” and less friendly, “submission”. The word is derived from the same word-root as “Salam” (peace), but it is not a synonym.
  • Islamism is only the political side of Islam, that is, in fact, no degeneration, but a part of this religion. The Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan has said quite rightly that there is no radical and no moderate Islam, but only Islam.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Succintly put!
  • The idea of an Islam without Sharia law is absurd, that would be — not like soup without salt, but like soup without water. Therefore, Islamists are quite correct when claiming to be in harmony with the Prophet and the Koran. And consequently these Islamists are not socially isolated, but very respected for their strong faith and respected members of the Islamic community.
  • Couldn’t there be an Islamic Enlightenment
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Dr. Tawfik Hamid, among others including some Islamic scholars, would agree this is possible and fight at risk to their lives for its arrival. Tawfik argues that there is a big difference between fundamentalist, Qur'anic Islam, correctly interpreted, and what is promoted by all Islamic judicial jurisdictions. So Muslims who feel like Dr. Hamid are very much alone among the approximately 3.5 billion Muslims world-wide. His Website is www.tawfikhamid.com where he operates as a Muslim "voice calling in the wilderness".
  • Firstly, I repeat: That would undermine the basis of Islamic societies. Therefore, there is enormous social pressure which prevents this. Secondly, Islam itself is already in some ways a kind of “enlightenment” as Islam has questioned anything in Christianity that is paradoxical and dialectical, sometimes incomprehensible, and to bring it to a simple formula:
  • was our Reformation something moderate?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Some prominet & well-known Christian writers argue that the Christian "Reformation" actually reformed very little of what was and still is variants of what is really paganism. They document from a variety of historical sources, including the Christian Bible, that pagan practises are what are practised on Sunday morning by most traditional Protestant denominations in addition to both the Roman & Orthodox Catholic Churches. Pastor Frank Viola's book, where you can learn more about this thesis, is called "Pagan Christianity". Reverend Viola argues that Christians are NOT pagans, but their traditional Western churches and church practises are. gfp (2011-10-27)
  • in Islam, as a “back to the roots”, means just the opposite, emphasizing the validity of the political model of the original community of the Prophet, whose political profile I’ve already described.
  • there are already first indications of an Islamist turn of these revolutions,
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Some of my Muslim Friends who live in Canada make an even scarier case than this author. My Friends are well-tuned to accurate sources of Muslim and other information other than the politically-correct and often-leftist, western media. These Friends argue that all the current talk about Arab Spring democracy rising from the ashes of Afghanistan, Egypt, Tunisia, and as I write, Libya is absolute and utter nonsense. One well-informed Friend says that the prior leader of Al-Qaeda in Libya has returned to the devastated country and is firmly in control of most anti-Qaddafi forces. Al-Qaeda people will win any election held in Libya in the coming months, according to him. No commentator or group that I've heard or read at this writing, including the internationally-respected and knowledgeable Stratfor, the geo-politcal analyst group, has yet to even hint at this reality. That the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood will engineer the same coup in Egypt is being suggested in some quarters, already. I sense the same radical Jihadish coup will take place in Arab countries, possibly even Saudi Arabia, all across the Middle East and North Africa. And I bet it will be accomplished under the noses of Western political leaders who will pay for and host the forthcoming elections at great expense to western taxpayers to extend democracy. Duh! I also sense a modern Muslim Caliphate is in the birth canal of the 21st century with Satan as both the father and mid-wife. I'm awaiting with interest to see what the living God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob will allow and whom will be the wet-nurse, anti-Christ whom emerges to lead it. (Turkey's Ardogan is already in the running according to some experts.) gfp (2011-10-27)
Gary Patton

The future belongs to Islam- Culture - Books - 0 views

www.macleans.ca/...article.jsp

jihad future islamism

shared by Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11 - Cached
  • Likewise, the salient feature of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia is that they're running out of babies
  • the salient feature of Europe, Canada, Japan and Russia is that they're running out of babies.
  • Sept. 11, 2001, was not "the day everything changed," but the day that revealed how much had already changed.
  • ...22 more annotations...
  • start with demography, because everything does:
  • Greece has a fertility rate hovering just below 1.3 births per couple, which is what demographers call the point of "lowest-low" fertility from which no human society has ever recovered. And Greece's fertility is the healthiest in Mediterranean Europe: Italy has a fertility rate of 1.2, Spain 1.1. Insofar as any citizens of the developed world have "big" families these days, it's the anglo democracies: America's fertility rate is 2.1, New Zealand a little below. Hollywood should be making My Big Fat Uptight Protestant Wedding in which some sad Greek only child marries into a big heartwarming New Zealand family where the spouse actually has a sibling.
  • this isn't a projection: it's happening now
  • Experts talk about root causes. But demography is the most basic root of all.
  • Demographic decline and the unsustainability of the social democratic state are closely related.
  • Age + Welfare = Disaster for you;Youth + Will = Disaster for whoever gets in your way.
  • By "will," I mean the metaphorical spine of a culture.
  • Islam has youth and will, Europe has age and welfare.
  • We are witnessing the end of the late 20th- century progressive welfare democracy.
  • For states in demographic decline with ever more lavish social programs, the question is a simple one: can they get real? Can they grow up before they grow old?
  • Which brings us to the third factor -- the enervated state of the Western world, the sense of civilizational ennui, of nations too mired in cultural relativism to understand what's at stake.
  • But there is a correlation between the structural weaknesses of the social democratic state and the rise of a globalized Islam. The state has gradually annexed all the responsibilities of adulthood -- health care, child care, care of the elderly -- to the point where it's effectively severed its citizens from humanity's primal instincts, not least the survival instinct.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is an insightful and interesting thesis!
  • They corrode the citizen's sense of self-reliance to a potentially fatal degree
  • may talk about "winning" the Cold War but the French and the Belgians and Germans and Canadians don't. Very few British do. These are all formal NATO allies -- they were, technically, on the winning side against a horrible tyranny few would wish to live under themselves.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      WOW!
  • it's hard to credit the citizens of France or Italy as having made any serious contribution to the defeat of Communism. Au contraire, millions of them voted for it, year in, year out. And, with the end of the Soviet existential threat, the enervation of the West only accelerated.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Harsh, like Mr. Steyn often is to grab one's attention! But also true!! gfp
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      An interesting observation about which I hadn't reflected before. gfp
  • in the old days, the white man settled the Indian territory. Now the followers of the badland's radical imams settle the metropolis.
  • Thomas P. M. Barnett's book Blueprint For Action, Robert D. Kaplan, a very shrewd observer of global affairs, is quoted referring to the lawless fringes of the map as "Indian territory."
  • In the old days, the Injuns had bows and arrows and the cavalry had rifles. In today's Indian territory, countries that can't feed their own people have nuclear weapons.
  • Though Eastern Europe and Latin America and parts of Asia are freer now than they were in the seventies, other swaths of the map have spiralled backwards.
  • The enemies we face in the future will look a lot like al-Qaeda: transnational, globalized, locally franchised, extensively outsourced -- but tied together through a powerful identity that leaps frontiers and continents. They won't be nation-states and they'll have no interest in becoming nation-states, though they might use the husks thereof, as they did in Afghanistan and then Somalia. The jihad may be the first, but other transnational deformities will embrace similar techniques. Sept. 10 institutions like the UN and the EU will be unlikely to provide effective responses.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      This is the thesis of what one portion of the U.S. military calls Fourth Generation Warfare (4GW) i.e. what unfolded in Iraqafter the Liviatan defeat of Sadam Hussein when the U.S. did not pursue an effective nor efficient strategy of "waging peace" as strategy as argued in Chapter one of Dr Barnett's "Action Plan".
  • Four years into the "war on terror," the Bush administration began promoting a new formulation: "the long war."
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
       
      Thomas Barnett's thesis in "Blueprint for Action" by the US is that the long war is waged as a "war for peace" fought by a powerful and numerous SysAdmin force of multinationals after the "hot war' is won by the US military 'Liviathan'. Iagrree that makes more sence than a 4GW approach which kees the West always in a "hot war". gfp
  • Gary Patton on 06 Dec 11
     
    Article on the dangers of spreading Islam | Macleans.ca 2011-06.
Gary Patton

What Jews (and Christians too) Should Know About the New Testament | Biblical Archaeolo... - 0 views

www.bib-arch.org/...article.asp

bible scripture interpretation archaeology history culture jews

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  • Gary Patton on 08 Apr 12
     
    Reading anything in its cultural and historical context helps greatly with understanding and minimizing misunderstanding. 2012-04-07)
Gary Patton

"Muslim Persecution of Christians: July, 2012" by Raymond Ibrahim - 0 views

www.raymondibrahim.com/...cution-of-christians-july-2012

persecution Islam islamism jihadism

shared by Gary Patton on 04 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Muslim Persecution of Christians: July, 2012
  • Gary Patton on 04 Sep 12
     
    "Muslim Persecution of Christians: July, 2012" by Raymond Ibrahim Because the persecution of Christians in the Islamic world is on its way to reaching epidemic proportions, "Muslim Persecution of Christians" was developed to collate some-by no means all-of the instances of persecution that surface each month. It serves two purposes: Intrinsically, to document that which the mainstream media does not: the habitual, if not chronic, Muslim persecution of Christians. Instrumentally, to show that such persecution is not "random," but systematic and interrelated-that it is rooted in a worldview inspired by Sharia. Accordingly, whatever the anecdote of persecution, it typically fits under a specific theme, including hatred for churches and other Christian symbols; apostasy and blasphemy laws; sexual abuse of Christian women; forced conversions to Islam; theft and plunder in lieu of jizya (tribute); overall expectations for Christians to behave like cowed "dhimmis" (barely tolerated citizens); and simple violence and murder. Oftentimes it is a combination thereof. Because these accounts of persecution span different ethnicities, languages, and locales-from Morocco in the west, to India in the east, and throughout the West, wherever there are Muslims-it should be clear that one thing alone binds them: Islam-whether the strict application of Islamic Sharia law, or the supremacist culture born of it.
Gary Patton

Quran-Islam.org - True Islam - 0 views

www.quran-islam.org/...the_burqa_(P1357).html

Islam islamization

shared by Gary Patton on 16 Sep 12 - No Cached
  • Gary Patton on 16 Sep 12
     
    This article by a Muslim Arabic-speaer discusses what the Muslim Qur'an says bout the requirement for women's attire. He explains that neither the full, body-face and head-covering burqua nor even the hijab, covering the head and hair is commanded by Allah. Neither cultural practise is even referenced in Islam's holiest book. Interestingly, and difficult for those who would argue the traditions of Muhammad as specified in the thousands of a-hadith can be used to compel the covering of women by their Muslim fathers and husbands because Allah says: "Do not write down anything I say except the Qur'an. Whoever has written something other than Qur'an let him destroy it." (Ahmed Ibn Hanbal, Vol. 1, page 171 also Sahih Muslim, Book 42, Number 7147). GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-09-16)
Gary Patton

Why Does being Naked Shame Adults? - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture scripture interpretation genesis shame naturism lifestyle

shared by Gary Patton on 04 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Feb 12
       
      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
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 28 Jan 12
       
      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)
Gary Patton

"Contentment Brings Peace" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible Scripture scripture interpretation peace joy

shared by Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12 - No Cached
  • Philippians 4:11-13
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      "Contentment Brings Peace" Philippians 4:11-13 in the Christian New Covenant (Testament) of our Bible explains why the above is true. GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-07-24)
  •  I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content(A) whatever the circumstances.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      The Apostle (sent-out-one) Paul, the writer here, wasn't kidding when he used the phrase "whatever the circumstances". He was no ordinary stay-at-home, pulpit preacher. In 2 Corinthians 11:22-30, Paul advised his correspondents that he had been imprisoned often, repeatedly flogged with 40 lashes and beaten with rods, stoned 'till almost dead. He was constantly on the move ...being shipwrecked thrice in the open sea for some time before being rescued. He confirmed that he was in danger everywhere he went from rivers, the sea, bandits, fellow Jews as well as non-Jews and cultural Christians. He labored and toiled physically to survive and often went hungry, thirsty, sleepless and starved often going cold and naked. He was exposed to death again and again! So, we can trust what he says as being based in harsh circumstances and experience.
  • the secret of being content
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      Regrettably to trust God "no matter what" He allows come our way is a lesson few Christians R-E-A-Lly learn. That's sad because it is truly Relational-Engaging-Authentic-Loving/Life-giving. Contentment IS so because in 1 Corinthians 10:13, the "words of God" make clear that nothing can touch a Jesus Follower without it first having having passed through our heavenly Father's loving fingers. There also it says that, when He does allow something hard to come our way, He promises to lead us through it.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • I can do all this through him who gives me strength.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      Here's the secret! It's being "content in" not "content with" one's circumstances as Paul says in Verse 12. We do ONLY our part to "get through" (1 Cor. 10:13) while trusting implicitly in God's guidance and strength as the Bible promises in this verse and elsewhere, regardless. Jesus is all and everything a Jesus Follower needs. And we Jesus Followers are not just cultural Christians, i.e., religious believers in Jesus as "heaven-insurance" ONLY because our ancestors were in a so-called Christian land!
  • Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
     
    "Contentment Brings Peace" Philippians 4:11-13 in the Christian New Covenant (Testament) of our Bible explains why the above is true.
Gary Patton

Faith Today - September/October 2013 - Page 78-79 - 0 views

digital.faithtoday.ca/...20130910

admonish care-front exhort scripture bible

shared by Gary Patton on 07 Sep 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Patton on 07 Sep 13
     
    Want to be counter-cultural? Take up admonition, exhortation and rebuke, i.e. care-front others!
Gary Patton

The Concept of Nation vs. State - 0 views

scholiast.org/...whatisanation.html

definition bible scripture interpretation nation

shared by Gary Patton on 18 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Patton on 18 Aug 13
     
    This is a help article given the erroneous myth of the Christian Nation". I feel the Greek word "ethnos" or nation as used in the Bible to describe Jesus Followers is better and more clearly translated as "people group". The latter phrase denotes better the purely cultural context of ethnos and avoids the territorial and power dimensions of state.
Gary Patton

The Myth of the Existence of a Christian Nation - 1 views

"The Myth of the Existence of a Christian Nation" Messiah Jesus (Yeshua) came to earth and established His movement to serve the world with Christ-like love, among other reasons. He didn't die on ...

christians christianity government spiritual growth scripture Matthew non-violence peace-making peace politcs political-action

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Gary Patton

To Risk Perishing or Not To Risk? - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture Esther theology risk_reward courage

shared by Gary Patton on 17 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • And if I perish, I perish.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 17 Apr 12
       
      Placed in it's context of a mysogynist, male-dominated culture and society, I feel this is a wonderful example of God-given grace and a way out as promised to His people in 1 Corointhians 10:13.
  • Esther 4:15-16
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 17 Apr 12
       
      Esther 4:15-16 poses an interesting question to us in our day: "From where did Esther get her courage to risk death? And equally important are we guaranteed the same result when we risk for Jesus' Kingdom? gfp (2012-04-17)
Gary Patton

NASB - Woe to those who call evil good, and - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture Isaiah World death dead religion salvation

shared by Gary Patton on 19 Apr 12 - No Cached
  • Woe to those who
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 19 Apr 12
       
      A Jesus Follower's escape from God's wrath and death is because we are "in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) when we enter the next life plus, being also in Christ in this one, we confess our sin moment-to-moment (1 John 1:9).
  • Isaiah 5:20-21
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 19 Apr 12
       
      Isaiah 5:20-21 outlines the behaviour of those in what the Bible calls "the world", i.e., every human being (Romans 3:23-26 & 6:23). The Bible makes clear this group includes even Followers of Jesus because sometimes we live out of our flesh by not "walking in the spirit". (Galatians 5:16-19 & 25) God punishes all who disobey His laws because His character of "justice" demands consequences be extracted ...even given His character of grace. Jesus Followers, who truly "fear God" (Proverbs 1:7 & 2:1-7) have an escape from the clear wrath of God and eternal separation from His presence. The guaranteed wrath of God is indicated by His use of the strong Hebrew word translated as "woe". gfp (20120-4-19)
  • And clever in their own sight
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 19 Apr 12
       
      But those in the world have exactly what He charges we must not do withot consequences. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We also have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self-esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbour's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honoured values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. (Note 1) And Isaiah 5:20-21 makes clear at that the above is the behaviour of those in what the Bible calls "the world", i.e., every human being (Romans 3:23-26 & 6:23). The Bible makes clear this group includes even Followers of Jesus because sometimes we live out of our flesh by not "walking in the spirit". (Galatians 5:16-19 & 25) God punishes all who disobey His laws because His character of "justice" demands consequences be extracted ...even given His character of grace. Jesus Followers, who truly "fear God" (Proverbs 1:7 & 2:1-7) have an escape from the clear wrath of God and eternal separation from His presence. The guaranteed wrath of God is indicated by His use of the strong Hebrew word translated as "woe". A Jesus Follower's escape from God's wrath and death is because we are "in Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17-21) when we enter the next life plus, being also in Christ in this one, we confess our sin moment-to-moment (1 John 1:9). If you are not in a close, personal relationship with Yeshua (Jesus), I beg you for your eternity's sake plus to ensure your ability to live an abundant life now, to ask Jesus to save you. Call out to the Son of God from your heart of hearts, acknowledge that is truly Who He is and ask him to forgive all your
  • Gary Patton on 19 Apr 12
     
    Isaiah 5:20-21 outlines the behaviour of those in what the Bible calls "the world", i.e., every human being (Romans 3:23-26 & 6:23). The Bible makes clear this group includes even Followers of Jesus because sometimes we live out of our flesh by not "walking in the spirit". (Galatians 5:16-19 & 25) God punishes all who disobey His laws because His character of "justice" demands consequences be extracted ...even given His character of grace. Jesus Followers, who truly "fear God" (Proverbs 1:7 & 2:1-7) have an escape from the clear wrath of God and eternal separation from His presence. The guaranteed wrath of God is indicated by His use of the strong Hebrew word translated as "woe". gfp (20120-4-19)
Gary Patton

Hell ...Is it Real? - 0 views

www.what-the-hell-is-hell.com/FromHellsEternalDeath.htm

bible scripture scripture interpretation hell heaven Jesus evangelism

shared by Gary Patton on 04 May 12 - Cached
  • Is Salvation A Deliverance From Hell or Eternal Death?
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