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Gary Patton

What Neuroscience Tells Us about Spritual Disciplines | Christianity Today - 0 views

www.christianitytoday.com/...science-lent-fasting.html

brain christianity disciplines neuroscience

shared by Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Neuroscience sheds light on how fasting and other spiritual disciplines work by training our subconscious mental processes.
  • our conscious self is far less in control over who you are and what you do than you realize.  "We are not the ones driving the boat of our behavior," says neuroscientist David Eagleman.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      I wonder, assuming this is true, might what psycology calls our subconscious be the residence of Christian flesh. However, I believe the existence of a 'subconscious' is, like 'evolution', a thesis that is usually stated as a fact and truth but no one can prove. Neither is a scientific theory and are certainly not proven theorems because they are not replicable through experimentation.
  • Jesus expected that dietary restriction would be a part of our spiritual practice. "When you fast," he said, not if.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      There is no command that we fast in either the Old or New Covenant that I can find. Verse 16 for me is a suggestion not a command. If I'm correct, why do Christian pulpiteers and writers talk about Jesus' quote here like, as this writer says, it should be taken as "an assumption" that Jesus Followers for all time should fast? Why not just consider it what it was? In context, I suggest that Jesus was teaching about an appropriate attitude to take in our relationship with God and our worship of Him. To do so, Jesus used illustrations about how to fast a worship activity practised by the Jews of his day and Old Covenant characters with whom they were familiar. His illustrations were made to a group of religious Jews when He was teaching them on a hillside by using inappropriate fasting practises which some of them followed that He and everyone else present probably observed regularly. Likewise, because Holy Spirit "drove" Jesus into the wilderness without food or water for 40 days for reasons unique to Jesus' ministry, why is it often taught that we must imitate that one time happening, as far as we know, in our Masters life? Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to have any real Biblical support. It is Holy Spirit Who "shapes us into spiritual people" using his lovingly slow process of sanctification ...as it says in Romans 8:29-30 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 ... not our disciplined, hard work by depriving ourselves to train our subconscious as Rob Mol says in this article. Undoubtedly, fasting can be healthy for some when properly practised. It may also have positive spiritual implications when done for reasons God leads the faster about. But, much of the super-spiritual things taught about fasting for spiritual reasons do not seem to ha
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Don't fast for a cause, but to shape your soul.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Mr. Moll explains in this article the light that neuroscience, he says, sheds on how fasting and other so-called, "spiritual disciplines" work. He says our socalled "Christian disciplines" train our subconscious mental processes. I wonder if what he says makes sense because his opinions are based solely on a number of unproveable theories which he shares like they were facts without any qualification. I've added below some e-Sticky Notes about what I think. How do you feel about what I have written? gfp (2012-03-30)
  • by making the Lenten discipline of fasting about a cause, we are caving in to our cultural distaste for self-denial.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      Amen!
  • But more importantly, spiritual disciplines shape us in deep ways. Because our brains—at the very least—mediate, process, and experience our spiritual lives, the disciplines can train us to become more attuned to God himself.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      This is a statement with significant spiritual implications for which Mr. Mol offers absolutely no scientfic proof or Bisbilical support. Therefore, I suggest the statement is potentially dangerous because it promotes our works rather than "rest" in God as the Bible clearly does command in Hebrews 4.
  • when our blood sugar runs low, chemical signals from the blood stream reach the brain, which sends out signals to eat.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      This process and that described below are hard-wired into our DNA by God to protect us ...not the result of our pratcising disciples!
  • The subconscious brain is at work, guiding our actions and our behavior
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Mar 12
       
      As a charismatic Follower of Jess, I would suggest that the results Mr. Moll is describing here can be just as acceptably ascribed to God working in His Followers' spirit because He lives in us ...rather than to some unprovable thesis stated like fact about a 'subconscious' developed by worldly psychology. The subconscious is not science because the concept is not replicable nor is it provable. Jesus Followers, on the other hand however, know that they know that they know that God leads them. We do because of the always beneficial result when we do what Holy Spirit leads.
Gary Patton

Guarding The Most Valuable Assets In Your Life - 0 views

www.cbmcint.org/...29

CBMC dis-stress stress freedom

shared by Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • “Our most valuable asset sits 63 feet ahead” (referring to the driver of the truck).
  • really struggling with stress and not able to get everything accomplished that I wanted to get done. As a result, I had begun putting a lot of pressure on myself to become more productive.
  • I love progress and I love getting stuff done. However, what God showed me was that people and relationships are more important.
  • ...13 more annotations...
  • “I figured that God is bringing this person into my life at this moment for a reason – either for them to speak into my life or for me to speak into theirs.
  • I was stunned. It occurred to me how often I do not demonstrate this in my own life, especially with my own fa
  • ily. My attitude so often is, “I can’t talk now. I’ve got something really important to get done!”
  • “The way I look at it, if I honor God in conversations like these, He will take care of what needs to get done on my task list.”
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 17 Apr 12
       
      Like the writer I suspect, I've totally bought into and trust Matthew 6:25-34 regarding how I work. I eschew frenzy and workaholism for revenue. Jesus has never once failed to keep His promise to meet ALL my family's needs since I committed to work only for Him in 1984 ...despite a sometimes bumpy road, since. Our wants, on the other hand ...not s omuch as we would have liked, though! As the expression from the depression goes: "Karen & I have everything we need except enough cash!"
  • Perhaps my biggest problem was my lack of faith.
  • more faith in myself to get work done than I do in my Heavenly Father’s ability to empower me to accomplish what has to be done. Because of my displaced “faith,” I sometimes put tasks ahead of people.
  • Truth@Work
  • ), a ministry to people in the workplace.
  • www.christianroundtablegroups.com
  • Bleedership: Biblical First-Aid for Leaders.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11
       
      See what people say about Jim's book @ http://is.gd/tqIhNw gfp
  • online blog, www.5feet20.com
  • Reflection/Discussion Questions
  • Proverbs 17:17, 18:24, 27:23-27; Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31; John 15:13; Ephesians 6:5-9
  • Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11
     
    Is work a 24/7 proposition for you? Has it become a depressing rather than fun activity? Do you not know where to turn to get off the treadmill? This short article by Jim Lang, of the Christian Business Men's Committee has some freedom-producing answers for you! gfp This
  • Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11
     
    Is work a 24/7 proposition for you? Has it become a depressing rather than fun activity? Do you not know where to turn to get off the treadmill? gfp
Gary Patton

"How Jesus Followers Must Work On Their Jobs" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

scripture colossians3 spiritual growth works jobs lifestyle

shared by Gary Patton on 16 Aug 12 - No Cached
  • Colossians 3:22-24
  • Slaves, obey your earthly masters in everything; and do it, not only when their eye is on you and to curry their favor, but with sincerity of heart and reverence for the Lord.
  • Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • you know that you will receive an inheritance(A) from the Lord as a reward.
  • It is the Lord Christ you are serving
  • Gary Patton on 16 Aug 12
     
    "How Jesus Followers Must Work On Their Jobs" Colossians 3:23-24 confirm clearly the only way a Jesus Followers can do the things God planned for her/him before the beginning of time and please Him! GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-08-15)
Gary Patton

"How to Have Consummate Peace" - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture philippians coaching tips lifestyle joy peace

shared by Gary Patton on 19 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Philippians 4:4-9
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      "How to Have Consummate Peace" http://diigo.com/0nkx5 If you want to always sleep sweetly, live your life moment-to-moment as Holy Spirit commands through the Apostle Paul, a sent-out one, in the Christian New Covenant (Testament) Verses below. And after 25 years of taking my worries, fears and F-E-A-Rs (False-Evidence-Appearing-Real) to God, I can guarantee that His way works ...every time! GaryFPatton (gfp '42™ 2012-07-24)
  • whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      Before you speak or even reflect: T - is it TRUE? H - is it HELPFUL? I - is it INSPIRING? N - is it NECESSARY? K - is it KIND?
  • Rejoice in the Lord always
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      "Dour Christians", i.e., those who are "relentlessly severe, stern, or gloomy in manner or appearance", need to take this admonition to heart!
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 20 Feb 12
       
      Do this and you WILL succeed ...and without fretting!
  •  Do not be anxious about anything,(C) but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      Now, hows that for a simple, easy-to work formula, eh? And the secret to how and why this works you can find outlined in Philiippians 4:11-13 at http://diigo.com/0s0n6 , just a few verses later.
  • And the peace of God,(E) which transcends all understanding,(F) will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Jul 12
       
      This is what I call: "God's Perpetual Promise of Peace" In late 1998, Karen, my wife, and I were dealing with life-threatening cancer in her colon. At the same time, I was totally disabled having been totally unable to work for the prior 3 1/2 years. I had serious Chronic Fatigue and Immune Deficiency Syndrome. We'd had no income coming in for over three years. This Verse describes perfectly what occurred in Karen's and my lives when we took our absolute terror about our diseases and what might happen to us in the future to our Heavenly Father! You can read more about our experience at or Website "Are You Sick & Tired Of Being Sick & Tired" at http://is.gd/5Mzhms .
  • Gary Patton on 19 Feb 12
     
    If you want to always sleep sweetly, live your life moment-to-moment as Holy Spirit commands through the Apostle Paul, a sent-out one, in Phillipians 4:4-9.
Gary Patton

The Great Commission is For ALL Believers - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

matthew jesus Great Commission scripture gospel evangelism

shared by Gary Patton on 11 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Matthew 28:18-20
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Aug 12
       
      Christian: Jesus' (Yeshua's) Great Commission contains a confusing translation. Matthew 28:18-20 is what many Christians call Jesus' "Great Commission". It is the last command your Saviour and Lord left with you if you are His. The Great Commission is NOT a command to convert others NOR for professionals only. It simply says that Jesus Followers must share Jesus' love in their own way as they are led by Holy Spirit to let Him do the R-E-A-L work (Relational-Engaging-Authentic-Loving & Life-giving) ...as Jesus lives His life out through His Followers. You'll discover that the poor translation, as others would call it is explained in my Note on Verse 19. It has led many into believing something that Jesus (Yeshua) NEVER said. This mistranslation, I believe, has negativity impacted the sharing of His love with Jesus Followers' neighbours.
  • All authority has been given to Me
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Aug 12
       
      Jesus is the ONLY One who builds His Kingdom here on earth as He says here. A Jesus Follower does NOT convert ...anyone. Jesus, in the person of Holy Spirit living in you, will draw to Himself those He brings across your path that He wants to save as He makes clear in John 15: 5 at http://diigo.com/0jv2h . And if what you are doing seems like hard work, stop, because you're probably doing something wrong, e.g., not prayed for the person by name sufficiently, invested quality time in the person, nor built enough trust ...or you have the wrong heart about sharing Jesus.
  • make disciples
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Aug 12
       
      Jesus Followers are not to convert others! We are to let Jesus do it by living His life out through us as we invest time in others and share His love with them. A Jesus Follower's real role is to be "a discipler"! A discipler acts like a farmer. S(he) simply plants, waters, weeds and, then, collects the harvest given to them by Holy Spirit. But instead of sticking your crop in a barn or building, a holding tank most Christians call "the church" and turning them over to paid professionals, Jesus says clearly that you are to help your disciple grow. You are to be a support to Holy Spirit Who is "the Sanctifier" of every disciple that He allows you to protect and assist until they reasonably mature and "grow out" into the world. Plus, you are commanded to do so until you have assisted your disciple to be ready to reproduce him/herself by "mirroring" Jesus to another and reproducing themselves by letting Jesus live is life out through them ...as you modeled for them and taught them to do. This simple process God designed as His "Plan 'A'" to be a constantly repeating one that each Jesus Follower performs as s(he0 is going along where God has planted them at that time ...until Jesus returns or takes them home. It's called "spiritual multiplication". And Jesus has NO "Plan B'"! And yes, with prayerful practise, you can work with more than one Disciple at a time.
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • o therefore
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Aug 12
       
      While the common, traditional translation of the King James Version (KJV) of the Christian Bible, plus many more modern translations uses the word, there is NO action verb "go" in verse 19 in the original Greek. The NASB alternate translation at (a) below is a better and more accurate rendering of the Greek. But, it still can be misunderstood to mean "Go over there" somewhere. For even better and more accurate clarity, I prefer: "As you are going along, make disciples ..." This rendering is best because it makes clearest that the Great Commission is the calling and commanded mandate of every person who has Holy Spirit living in them ...NOT just paid, professional preachers, pastors and evangelists... as too many Christians believe. For further documentation of the impact of the poor translation, here is what another Greek expert says: * "The sole imperative and central activity in the Great Commission as recorded in Matthew 28 is to " Make Disciples." "Go," could be translated " going" or "as you go," but takes any imperatival force it may have from the main verb. * "Baptizing" and "teaching" are also participles-not "decisions" or "converts" or "believers" or "acceptors," but "disciples." It goes without saying that the decision-making, conversion, belief, and acceptance are all involved, but the objective of the Great Commission is that we Make Disciples (followers, adherents, learners, and students) of the Lord Jesus. * Hesselgrave, David J., "Scripture and strategy: The Use of the Bible in Postmodern Church and Mission", Pages 106-07 John A. Finton makes a powerful case in his article at http://diigo.com/0qqdf for a poor translation in Matthew 28:19. Because of my evangelism experience, I believe this inappropriate translation has incorrectly preconditioned many English-speaking members of the Body of Christ since at least the publishing of the KJV.
  • Gary Patton on 11 Jan 12
     
    Matthew 28:18-20 is what many Christians call Jesus' "Great Commission". It's the last command your Saviour and Lord left with you if you are His. The Great Commission is NOT a command to convert others NOR for professionals only. It says just share Jesus' love in your own way as led and let Holy Spirit do the R-E-A-L work (Relational-Engaging-Authentic-Loving & Life-giving) ...as Jesus lives His life out through you. gfp (2011-09-18)
Gary Patton

Christians, Muslims & Jews: God Saves Us Only By His Grace ...NOT Our Good Works - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture ephesians salvation grace Jesus Yeshua works

shared by Gary Patton on 04 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Ephesians 2:8-10
  • not by works
  • For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • we are God’s handiwork,(F) created(G) in Christ Jesus to do good works,(H) which God prepared in advance for us to do.
  • by grace
  • Gary Patton on 04 Feb 12
     
    Jesus' saving promise to us who believe in Him & what He has already done for us because of His great love for all men and women ...no matter what they've done. gfp (2012-02-04)
Gary Patton

S.P.i.N. Evangelism that Works by Simple Discipleship @ Wordpress - 0 views

www.simplediscipleship-wordpress.com/...s-p-i-n-evangelism

bible scripture Jesus evangelism

shared by Gary Patton on 20 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Patton on 20 Aug 13
     
    Neil Rackham in his book entitled "SPIN Selling" discovered after extensive research that quick, transactional selling works well when marketing small consumer goods and services. However, his research proves that big-ticket items require multiple-meeting, relational selling because rapid transactional selling fails to work effectively for big-ticket items. Can you think of any "bigger ticket item" than the destiny of one's eternal soul and how people can achieve, but NEVER earn, salvation from the wrath of God which we all deserve because His holiness is repelled by our sin nature and sins? Try SPiN, not traditionally-taught, Evangelism approaches. When you do, watch how much better your co-workers, neighbours, and relatives respond to the life-giving "Good News" you share about Jesus and what He's doing in your life. GaryFPatton (2013-08-20)
Gary Patton

God's Incredible & Unfathomable Love For All Wo(men) In Predestination - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible romans predestination trials scripture evangelism theology religion

shared by Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • Romans 8:28-39
  • For I am convinced that neither (AE)death, nor life, nor (AF)angels, nor principalities, nor (AG)things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from (AH)the love of God, which is (AI)in Christ Jesus our Lord.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      WOW, eh! And this promise comes as the icing on the cake of those in verses 31-37!
  • all things work together for good
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      Either wording works for me as a guarantee that God's "got my back", regardless of what he allows to "come down the track", plus He will work everything to "my best"! How about you?
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Romans 8:28-39
  • Romans 8:28-39
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      God's Incredible & Unfathomable Love For All Wo(men) Romans 8:29-30, in the context of the entire passage of verses 28-39, is the New Covenant's clearest statement of what theologians call the "Doctrine of Predestination". I will outline one position on this controversial and emotionally-charged word below. Predestination is a highly contentious word both inside and outside the organizational church. This contention flows almost completely from how one defines the word. The promise tucked inside of verse 28 is also a fantastic one as I note in the e-Sticky Note on that verse. Your heavenly Father starts by telling you how He handles it when we screw up. Then finally nearer the end of the passage, God explains, using an incredible metaphor, how much He loves all humankind, irrespective of their current state of "election", and without us having to earn His love in any way, shape or form. gfp (2012- 05-05 )
  • What then shall we say to these things? (L)If God is for us, who is against us?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      As also confirmed in Verse 33, no person or being in this world nor in the spirit realm can condemn God's "elect", at any time nor in any way. This is God's promise here regardless of his/her character, or sin, or current level of their conformity to Jesus' image. The fantastic promises regarding the breadth, depth and height of God's unfailing and unending love for us, outlined in verses 32-39 below, are NOT dependent on our loving God or even seeking Him, first.
  • Who will bring a charge against (O)God’s elect? (P)God is the one who justifies;
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      As confirmed in Verse 31, no person or being in this world nor in the spirit realm can condemn God's "elect", at any time nor in any way. This is God's promise here regardless of the elect person's character, or sin, or current level of their conformity to Jesus' image.
  • New American Standard Bible (NASB)
  • God causes (A)all things to work together for good to those who love God
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      Followers of Jesus have this incredible promise from their heavenly Father God to depend on when confronted with any and every trial in their lives ...no matter how dis-stressing! It's a fantastic encourager during tough times and a wonderful companion to the promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 at http://diigo.com/0jmgy . Don't let anyone try to convince you of the lie that you have to love God first and seek Him before He will save you. The Bible says in Romans 3:3 that "no one seeks God". The only thing you need to do to know that you know you're saved is outlined simply in Romans 10:9-10 at http://diigo.com/0lk6j and 1 John 4:15-17 at http://diigo.com/0qe80 .
  • those who are (B)called according to His purpos
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      Here is another clear promise of the surety of a Jesus Follower's salvation in Christ and the truth of the doctrine that we are "once saved and always saved". Or guaranteed salvation is also promised in John 10:22-30 at http://diigo.com/0jv8q, Philippians 1:6 at http://diigo.com/0lzi8 as well as here at Romans 8:28-39 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 . Please never forget that God elected those He has "predestined" to spend eternity with Him now and in the life after this one as it says in verses 29-30 immediately below. This predestined election applies regardless of one's current state of conformity to Jesus' image. God loves all his creation, especially we humans, more than we can ever understand in this life. Incredibly, your heavenly Father picked His elect for salvation before we were ever born. He did so at the beginning of time. And He did it pre-knowing we would be sinners and hate Him as it says in Romans 5:8 at http://diigo.com/0mphg plus elsewhere in the Bible.
  • those whom He (C)foreknew, He also (D)predestined to become (E)conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the (F)firstborn among many brethren; 30 and these whom He (G)predestined, He also (H)called; and these whom He called, He also (I)justified; and these whom He justified, He also (J)glorified.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 18 May 12
       
      Followers of Jesus have this incredible promise from their heavenly Father God to depend on when confronted with any and every trial in their lives ...no matter how dis-stressing! It's a fantastic encourager during tough times and a wonderful companion to the promise in 1 Corinthians 10:13 at http://diigo.com/0jmgy . Don't let anyone try to convince you of the lie that you have to love God first and seek Him before He will save you. The Bible says in Romans 3:3 that "no one seeks God". The only thing you need to do to know that you know you're saved is outlined simply in Romans 10:9-10 at http://diigo.com/0lk6j and 1 John 4:15-17 at http://diigo.com/0qe80 . e-Sticky Note #1 on Verse 28 "those who are called" Here is another clear promise of the surety of a Jesus Follower's salvation in Christ and the truth of the doctrine that we are "once saved and always saved". Or guaranteed salvation is also promised in John 10:22-30 at http://diigo.com/0jv8q, Philippians 1:6 at http://diigo.com/0lzi8 as well as here at Romans 8:28-39 at http://diigo.com/0lc07 . Please never forget that God elected those He has "predestined" to spend eternity with Him now and in the life after this one as it says in verses 29-30 immediately below. This predestined election applies regardless of one's current state of conformity to Jesus' image. God loves all his creation, especially we humans, more than we can ever understand in this life. Incredibly, your heavenly Father picked His elect for salvation before we were ever born. He did so at the beginning of time. And He did it pre-knowing we would be sinners and hate Him as it says in Romans 5:8 at http://diigo.com/0mphg plus elsewhere in the Bible. e-Sticky Note on Verse 29-30 Predestination mentioned here is a key part, some would say the most, key part, of the theology (beliefs about God) of those people who call themselves 'Calvinists' or sometimes people of the "Reformed Tradition". For these and other folks who reject bo
  • Gary Patton on 28 Nov 11
     
    Romans 8:29-30, in the context of the passage from Romans 8:28-39, is the New Covenant clearest statment of what theologians call "Predestination" ...that God elects one some people to spend eternity with Him and the rest will be separated from him.
Gary Patton

The Sin Nature ...Do Jesus Followers Have One? by Dr. Bill Gillham - 0 views

www.christianforums.com/t22382-3

sin nature Mr. Sin christianity dead religion Gillham scripture interpretation romans galatians

shared by Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11 - No Cached
  • We are known as “humans.” Jesus was a human without a sin nature in that He was never descended from Adam. The Holy Spirit furnished the 23 male chromosomes which united with Mary’s 23 to enable Jesus Christ to leave heaven and take on the form of human male.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      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
  • It is the sin nature that condemns a man to hell, not his sinful performance.
  • The whole ballgame for all of eternity is spiritual, not physical… the bottom line is spirit!
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      This is why Jesus said we can woship God ONLY in spirit and in truth" (John 4:22-24)!
  • ...44 more annotations...
  • The Bible speaks of only two types of spirit-natures referring to them as “men.” They are the “old man” and the “new man.”
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      Modern Bible translated have changed the literal translation of the King James Version of "man" to "self" and noted the original word in a footnote.
  • the Bible speaks of the old man being able, by grace, through faith in Jesus Christ, to be born in a new way in order to change his identity (Jn. 3). Through turning from his self-centered rebellion, submitting himself to Christ’s authority as the God He is, appropriating His provision for getting shed of his dead spirit and beginning all over again with a new, good, alive, godly spirit, man can become something he has never been…alive to God through Christ (Rom.6:13). This new man is now a son of God via faith in Christ (Jn. 1:12).
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      This is why the Bible says only Jesus Followers are "children of God" and not all people. The latter are His "creation". But, non-Followers are not his children until they are put to death, spiritually, with Jesus and, then, resurrected or "re-born", as Jesus told the Pharisee in John 3:3-5, by Holy Spirit. gfp
  • We are cut from the same spirit-genetic cloth as our Lovely Lord Jesus! God reveals no provision in His word for adding His Spirit to a spirit-son of the devil You cannot mix Light with darkness.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      Don't misunderstand what Mr. Gillham is saying in the second sentence here. All human beings are "sons of the Devil" until re-born in and by Jesus (John 8:42-45) as Mr. Gillham shares above in this article. gfp
  • A great problem exists today in that many well-meaning Christians teach that the death of the old man is simply a “positional truth”; it’s the “position in which God sees us.” They speak of it as if it were something we have to “reckon on” (count it as true) to keep it true.
  • we do not have to reckon on it to derive any benefit from it
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 22 Dec 11
       
      This sentence contains a typo that confuses its sence. I believe that Dr. Gillam intended to write: "...we DO have to reckon on it..." because that is what Romans 6:11 says!
  • In God’s ecology, in order for a man to cease to be the son of Satan and become a son of God, the man must first die (spiritually) and then be reborn (spiritually), this time to a NEW FATHER! This is portrayed clearly in Romans 7:1-4.
  • The only kind of sons either God or Satan have are spirit-sons,
  • the flesh (body, brain, memory traces (flesh) in the brain
  • The reason a Christian doesn’t have a sin nature is because he is no longer the spirit-genes of God, his (New) Father! Hallelujah! Shout for joy! Whoooooeeeee!
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 22 Dec 11
       
      This sentence also includes a typo that confuses its sense. I believe it should be read, and Dr. Gillham intended to write: "The reason a Christian doesn't have a sin nature is because he has no longer the spirit-genes of Satan but has those of God, his (New) Father!"
  • you are NOW a holy (Eph. 1:4), righteous (2 Cor. 5:21), saint of God (Rom. 1:7), blameless (Eph. 1:4), with Christ as your very Life (Col. 3:4), a son of God (Jn. 1:12), housed in an earthsuit (2 Cor. 5:1-8), a citizen of heaven (Eph. 2:19), on foreign assignment as an ambassador representing the “Fatherland” (2 Cor. 5:20), a righteous son of the King (2 Cor. 5:21), a spirit-son of the Second Adam (1 Cor. 11:45), spawned from His Spirit gene pool (Rom. 8:9), filled up with Christ Himself (Eph. 3:19), will all your needs (not greeds) supplied (Phil. 4:19), blessed with every spiritual blessing in heaven (Eph. 1:3), impervious to the obstacles of this planet (Phil.4:13), taking all things in stride as a part of the Loving Father’s “obstacle course” designed to prepare us for eternal rulership (Rom. 8:28-29)!
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      This is an incredible list of Biblical truths that flow from our being born-again in Messiah!
  • It’s not my old self that I am fighting against inside! It’s the power of sin working on my (new) mind (Rom. 7:23) through the flesh (the old memory traces) that I battle, and we are dead to having to submit, brother! (Rom. 6:11)
  • Accept this by faith as your true identity! Set your mind on it! Dwell on it! Meditate on the truth of it! Then, moment by moment act like it is true!
  • Can a man possibly possess dual spiritual sonship? No?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      This is an incredible freedom-granting truth and a major benefit of being born-again children of God!
  • Stop acting like who you are not! That’s hypocritical! Act like the new man you are by faith! That’s obedience!
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
       
      Our "New Man/Creation" is truly astounding. In life or death situations, human beings can lift cars. Just think for a moment of the limitless capabilities we have as New Creations in Jesus. We are flowing and operating in the power our Inner Warrior when we "abide/rest in" Jesus (John 15:5) and "live His Spirit" (Galatians 5:15).
  • But after the one’s “birth” as the new king, the old king could never again resurrect himself because he had no capability for self-resurrection! The very existence of the one precludes the existence of the other and vice versa!
  • was thoroughly confused
  • he was talking about two different people
  • “The King is Dead! Long Live the King!”
  • The old man has indeed died (Romans 6:6, etc.) and the new man has indeed been generated by the Holy Spirit (Colossians 3:10, etc.). But, unfortunately, the pervasive position taken by most Christian leader is that the old man is till “alive and well’ within the believer…that sinful performance gives daily testimony to this as “fact.”
  • The two can’t coexist any more that the two kings can! It was the death of the old man, which enabled the new man to be born! It is impossible for the new man to exist until the old man has died and the old man cannot resurrect himself. There is but One Life Who has such resurrection power…the Life of Christ!
  • Can you see what a difference this makes in motivating a Christian as opposed to berating him by constantly telling him what a sorry, no-good sinner he is and how he is going to face an angry God some day? Folk, it’s our works which will be judged in the future, not our personhood (2 Cor. 5:10) and God is not mad at the saved. He took our all the anger He had against us on Jesus (Isa. 53). We’ll either be rewarded or we’ll lose what we potentially could have won, but “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ” (Rom. 8:1).
  • Those cannot exist simultaneously.
  • peaks of the POWER OF INDWELLING IN (not the sin nature) working in man to produce undesirable (sinful) behavior. The power of sin simply deceives the Christian by masquerading as the old man, suggesting (deceiving) to the will that a choice be made to perform according to the old self-serving patterns programmed in previously. This is referred to as “walking after the flesh.”
  • masquerade in the thought life of the Christian posing as his unique version of the old man! The naïve Christian will believe he, himself, is generating the unchristian suggestion and thus direct his defensive efforts against the wrong foe…what he perceives to be a darker side of himself! He fires all his bullets at a shadow! This is the explanation for the frustration depicted in Romans 7:15 “…why do I do the very thing I hate? Why can I get no victory?”
  • Though it would appear that the “two-natures” view places the greater responsibility for poor performance squarely on the Christian and that the “one-nature” view is a cop out, the opposite is actually true!
  • So long as one embraces the former he is constantly deceived into believe his failure is just standard Christian experience. As Scofield said (paraphrased), “This is not standard Christian experience, it’s the standard experience of most Christians,” the tragic result of faulty discipling.
  • Once the Christian enters into identification with Christ’s death, resurrection and ascension, claiming he no longer has two natures, but is now “the righteousness of God in Christ” and “holy and blameless in His sight” he is without excuse when he sins, because he knows what it is to possess the Life (“Christ in me”) which overcomes on a moment-by-moment basis.
  • In reality, it is accepted as fact that Christians no longer have a sin nature that places one squarely on the hook and totally responsible to choose, moment-by-moment, against the wooings, deceptions and accusations of indwelling sin working through the flesh. “Always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus (moment-by-moment) in our body.” (2 Cor. 4:10—NAS)
  • Indwelling sin deceives the “two-natures” believer into rationalizing, “I’m just human. I just fail a lot and God understands it’s just my old sin nature that got the better of me.” This is the true cop out position!
  • Awake sleeper! The king is dead! Long live the King!
  • The power of sin is what its name implies, a power to entice you into sin. It dwells in you (Rom.7:21) yet it is not you any more than a gold tooth that dwells in your mouth is you. Sin’s goal is to deceive the saints into living to get their needs (though good and godly) met by sinning rather than by using the Matt. 6:33 method; that is, “seeking Christ first.”
  • The power of sin is not your sin nature. Your sin nature is a synonym for old man or old self. That “old you” was crucified in Christ (Rom. 6:6). Before you were saved, it was as normal for you old nature to rebel against God’s authority as it is for a fish to swim.
  • Yet the power of sin is alive and well in you, saint. It indwells your body (Rom. 7:23). On page 1055 of W.E. Vine’s Expository Dictionary of New Testament Words, Vine states that sin is, “a governing principle or power” that is “personified” in the following passages. He then lists sixteen verses in which this holds true. The term personified means “represented as a person.” The power of sin can represent itself as a personage.
  • Since sin is personified, let’s call it “Mr. Sin” so we won’t confuse it with the verb. Mr. Sin tries to control you, to make you live to satisfy your bodily needs.
  • “For sin shall not be master over you…(Rom. 6:14). Mr. Sin (the personification) cannot master you. Remember how sin is “represented as a person?” It tries to master you through presenting thoughts to your mind by masquerading as the old man who has risen from the tomb. But no one except Jesus can do that, right? That’s not the old man; it’s the power of sin personified.
  • “But, if I am doing the very thing I do not wish, I am no longer the one doing it, but Mr. Sin which indwells me (is somehow doing it)” (Rom. 7:20). This verse can really be a puzzler if you interpret the word “sin” as a verb. But it’s a noun, and Vine says it is personified (represented as a person).
  • Mr. Sin the “personage,” wars, fights and seeks to control your mind. But your mind does not want to be controlled by this power, so it fights back.
  • Galatians 5:17 says that the “flesh lusts against the spirit” and vice versa and there is obviously a war going on inside of every Christian, but it’s not the old man versus the new man doing battle.
  • The Law is the source of Mr. Sin’s strength. To couple law with Mr. Sin is like pouring gas on a fire. This personage called sin needs a law to aid it if it is to optimally control you. It “eats, breathes and sleeps” via the Law.
  • “The Law is not made for a righteous man” (1 Tim. 1:9).
  • Why? Because you, the righteous man (2 Cor. 5:21), don’t need it. The lost man does (in order to show him his condition), but you don’t. You now “have the laws of God written on (your) heart and mind” (Heb. 10:16).
  • In this verse, sin is represented as a personage which can harden you through deception.
  • it was exciting to discover that a man of Vine’s stature as a scholar testifies that the power of sin is often personified in the Word. What liberty there is in knowing that the rebellious, evil, hateful thoughts I experience are being presented to my mind, not generated by it.
  • Is Our Sin Nature dead or NOT?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 25 Feb 12
       
      In the short articles below, Dr. Gillham demolishes the common teaching, often implies by preachers, that a Jesus Follower can have two natures ... a Satanic, sinful nature plus the righteous nature of God in Christ? This hypothesis" or opinion (http://is.gd/2tUCAb) is taught or implied by many in the church usually as truth. It also is implied by the New International Version (NIV) Bible's translating Biblical 'flesh' as "sin nature" ...wrongly as Dr. Gillham illustrates. Can a wo(man) really possess a dual spiritual sonship? You'll find freeing meditating on the clear Biblical answer presented here because Rev. Gillham says the answer is "NO! We don't have two natures!!" "Stop trying and start trusting God! It's not what you have to do that counts. But what Jesus has already fully done for you and the power He gives you because He lives in you!" ~ gfp '42™ gfp (2011-09)
  • Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
     
    In these 3 short articles, Dr. Gillham addresses teaching that a Jesus Follower can have two natures ... a Satanic, sinful nature plus the righteous nature of God in Christ? This hypothesis" or opinion is taught or implied by many in the church usually as truth. It also is implied by the New International Version (NIV) Bible's translating Biblical "flesh" as "sin nature". But, can a wo(man) really possess a dual spiritual sonship? The clear Biblical answer according to Bill Gillham is "NO!" "Stop trying ...and start trusting God, It's not what you do. But what Jesus has already fully done for you!" ~ gfp '42™ gfp (2011-09)
  • Gary Patton on 01 Dec 11
     
    "Mr. Sin" is a more dangerous moment-to-moment foe for you than Satan. Pastor Gillham tells why! gfp
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

What to Take to Work With You! - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture colossians attitude evangelism

shared by Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12 - No Cached
  • Colossians 3:23-24
  • work at it with all your heart
  • you will receive an inheritance
  • Gary Patton on 03 Mar 12
     
    Something cool to take to work each day besides your lunch bag ...a Christ-like attitude!  gfp (2012-03-03
Gary Patton

Was Jesus' Last Supper a Seder? - Biblical Archaeology Review - 0 views

www.bib-arch.org/...jesus-last-supper.asp

bible scripture interpretation Jesus judiasm christianity archaeology history

shared by Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12 - No Cached
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      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.
  • Thus, in fact we don’t really have three independent sources here at all. What we have, rather, is one testimony (probably Mark), which was then copied twice (by Matthew and Luke).
  • Was Jesus’ Last Supper a Seder?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      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)
  • ...25 more annotations...
  • the Gospels—with their hatred of the Jewish authorities
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      I wonder why the author construes an historical report of what the writer considered 'truth' and 'facts' as 'hatred'. The history of Christianity may be replete with antisemitism, especially some of the protestant Reformers of the Catholic Church, like Luther particulalrly. However, I feel the charge of hatred in the Gospel accounts of the Jewish involvement in the death of Jesus is an unfair one. The Roman authorities were jst as responsible for the crucifixion of Yeshua/Jesus. In fact the Bible seems to make clear that the sin nature and sins of every person who has ever or ever will live is the real reason for Jesus' death. We are ALL responsible ...not just the Jewish and Roman authorities!
  • John’s timing of events supports the Christian claim that Jesus himself was a sacrifice and that his death heralds a new redemption, just as the Passover offering recalls an old one. Even so, John’s claim that Jesus was killed just before Passover began is more plausible than the synoptics’ claim that Jesus was killed on Passover.
  • the Last Supper could not in fact have been a Passover Seder.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Christian historical tradition labels "The Last Supper" a Seder ... not Jesus. He is recorded to have simply called it the "last time He would eat this bread and drink this wine until ...". It was "the time for passover". That Jesus duplicated many Seder rituals seems to be clear from the Gospel accounts ...even if the timing was off. What's the big deal? The REALLY important thing about the Easter events is that Jesus died for humankind's sin nature and sins. Plus, the other big historical event is His resurrection from the grave as proof that God accepted Jesus' sacrifice on behalf of "all who will believe" in Him and what He did for us!
  • That Christians celebrated the Eucharist on a daily or weekly basis (see Acts 2:46–47) underscores the fact that it was not viewed exclusively in a Passover context (otherwise, it would have been performed, like the Passover meal, on an annual basis).
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Jesus called us to "do this", i.e., celebrate His sacrifice by eating together as a community of Believers in and Followers of Him. He did not call us to celebrate Passover an eternal commandment for Jews only. Jesus claimed that he had come to fulfill "all the [requirements of the] law and the prophets"!
  • Moreover, while the narrative in the synoptics situates the Last Supper during Passover, the fact remains that the only foods we are told the disciples ate are bread and wine—the basic elements of any formal Jewish meal.
  • “Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, ‘Take, eat; this is my body.’ And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant’” (Matthew 26:26–28=Mark 14:22; see also Luke 22:19–20). Is this not a striking parallel to the ways in which Jews celebrating the Seder interpret, for example, the bitter herbs eaten with the Passover sacrifice as representing the bitter life the Israelites experienced as slaves in Egypt?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      I'd suggest it is more a replacement of, as I note above, rather than a parallel with a Seder!
  • For many Jews (especially non-Orthodox Jews), the process of development continues, and many modern editions of the Haggadah contain contemporary readings of one sort or another. Even many traditional Jews have, for instance, adapted the Haggadah so that mention can be made of the Holocaust.8
  • Almost everyone doing serious work on the early history of Passover traditions, including Joseph Tabory, Israel Yuval, Lawrence Hoffman, and the father-son team of Shmuel and Ze’ev Safrai, has rejected Finkelstein’s claims for the great antiquity of the bulk of the Passover Haggadah.
  • It’s not that rabbinic literature cannot be trusted to tell us about history in the first century of the Common Era. It’s that rabbinic literature—in the case of the Seder—does not even claim to be telling us how the Seder was performed before the destruction of the Temple.b
  • the Holy One, blessed be He
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Here may lie the roots of the similar Muslim practise regarding their reverance, not for God's holy name(s) but, for their human prophet Mohammud. Many Muslims are taught to rever their prophet at a level that approaches worship. The Judeo-Christian Bible reserves worship ONLY for Almighty God ...not the demonically inspired construct called Allah and certainly not a murderous Arab warrior from the 7th Century.
  • King of Kings, the Holy One Blessed be He
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      As I wonder in the e-Sticky Note immediately above, here may lie the root of the similar Muslim practise regarding their reverance, not for God's holy name(s) but, for their human prophet Mohammud. Many Muslims are taught to rever their prophet at a level that approaches worship. The Judeo-Christian Bible reserves worship ONLY for Almighty God ...not the demonically inspired construct called Allah and certainly not a murderous Arab warrior from the 7th Century.
  • Might not Jesus be presenting a competing interpretation of these symbols? Possibly. But it really depends on when this Rabban Gamaliel lived. If he lived later than Jesus, then it would make no sense to view Jesus’ words as based on Rabban Gamaliel’s.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Most Jesus Followers would work from the premise that Yeshua's/Jesus' words during his last Supper on earth, 'till His return at the end of times, were inspired by God's Holy Spirit ...like all His other recorded comments in the Scriptures.
  • Virtually all scholars working today believe that the Haggadah tradition attributing the words quoted above to Gamaliel refers to the grandson, Rabban Gamaliel the Younger, who lived long after Jesus had died.14 One piece of evidence for this appears in the text quoted above, in which Rabban Gamaliel is said to have spoken of the time “when the Temple was still standing”—as if that time had already passed.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Like many scholars, including some Christian ones, statements like this one are often rooted in a disbelief of the supernatural plus a denial of the possibility that God gave Gamaliel, the Grandfather, a prophetic "word of knowledge"! Prophesy can place the words in the elder Gamaliel's mouth who did live at the time of Jesus who also prophesied the soon-coming (about 40 years later) destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem.
  • And presumably they would have engaged in conversation pertinent to the occasion. But we cannot know for sure.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      A Jesus Follower can know that s(he) knows by faith in the accuracy of our Scriptures. The Scriptures make clear, not 'presumably', that Jesus discussed His replacement of an Old Covenant commandment with a New Covenant. he explains clearly a NEW symbolism for the bread and wine as remembrances and tokens of His sacrificed body and blood on behalf of all who would believe ...NOT the Jews deliverance from Egypt but... all humankind's route to deliverance from the penalty of our sin nature and sins (Romans 3:23 & 6:23) through Him!
  • Having determined that the Last Supper was not a Seder and that it probably did not take place on Passover, I must try to account for why the synoptic Gospels portray the Last Supper as a Passover meal.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      The Last Supper being a Seder meal on the Day of Passover is NOT the key issue for a Jesus Follower as I mentioned in my e-Sticky Note above. The key on the cotrary is Who Jesus was as the God-man and what he was about to do for us on His cross on cavalry.
  • Another motive relates to a rather practical question: Within a few years after Jesus’ death, Christian communities (which at first consisted primarily of Jews) began to ask when, how and even whether they should celebrate or commemorate the Jewish Passover
  • The Quartodeciman custom of celebrating Easter beginning on the evening following the 14th day apparently began relatively early in Christian history and persisted at least into the fifth century C.E.
  • Early on, a number of Christians—Quartodecimans and others—felt that the appropriate way to mark the Jewish Passover was not with celebration, but with fasting.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Interestingly, no where, that I can find in the Old or New Covenants, does God command or even suggest that His people should fast. I have not extensively researched the issue but, I suspect I'll discover that, this propably is a Jewish ritual that was carried on by early Christians, i.e., another man-made tradition. There is the reference in Matthew 6:16-18 where Jesus says: "When you fast ...." This is NOT a command but simply, in context, an observational reference to a practise that was common among religious Jews ...the group to whom Jesus was speaking. I comment further on this issue in e-Sticky Note on the Matthew 6 Scripture at http://diigo.com/0piw0 and in the article on fasting from Christianity today at http://diigo.com/0p9iv .
  • Thus, until Jesus’ kingdom is fulfilled, Christians should not celebrate at all during Passove
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      here again, and depsite what Karl Kuhn says, the issue is not celebrating Passover, but Jesus' command to eat together as a group of his Followers whenever we can and "remember" him.
  • By calling the Last Supper a Passover meal, these Jewish-Christians were trying to limit Christian practice in three ways. Like the Passover sacrifice, the recollection of the Last Supper could only be celebrated in Jerusalem, at Passover time, and by Jews.c
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      This heresy didn't last very long. Some Messianic Jews still today follow Old Covenant feast and other practises that other Christians do not.
  • there are various reasons why the early church would have tried to “Passoverize” the Last Supper tradition.
  • This too is a Passoverization of the Jesus tradition, but it is one that contradicts the identification of the Last Supper with the Seder or Passover meal.
  • Surely the depiction of the Last Supper as a Passover observance could play a part in this larger effort of arguing that Jesus’ death echoes the Exodus from Egypt
  • a widely popular Paschal sermon, which could well be called a “Christian Haggadah,” reflecting at great length on the various connections between the Exodus story and the life of Jesus
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      Typology as some call it i.e., seeing Old Covenant people, practises and places as 'types' or 'shadows' pointing to or representing Jesus is common in some Christian circles and with some teachers.
  • Contrary to popular belief, the Catholic custom of using unleavened wafers in the Mass is medieval in origin. The Orthodox churches preserve the earlier custom of using leavened bread.23 Is it not possible to see the switch from using leavened to unleavened bread as a “Passoverization” of sorts?
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 07 Apr 12
       
      And regardless of leavened or unleavened bread or wafers, these kinds of issue are seen by many Jesus Followers as focusing on dead and deadly religious ritual, regalia and rules rather than on relationship, revelation and romance with a living God through Yeshua/Jesus the Messiah/Christ.
Gary Patton

Connecting With the One Living God - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

scripture romans salvation healing freedom bible Jesus Jesus' promise

shared by Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11 - No Cached
  • if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and (C)believe in your heart that (D)God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, [b]resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, [c]resulting in salvation.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Jul 12
       
      But, what do I confess and believe you may ask? The key to reconciliation with God is to simply say honestly to Jesus: "I am a sinner. Please save me from my sin nature and my many sins. I believe you died on Your cross and rose ffrom your grave to reconcile me with God by paying the full penalty for my wrongs that my good works cannot overcome!"
  • Romans 10:8-12
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Jul 12
       
      "How To Connect With The One True God" You'll discover in Romans 10:8-12 below what the Bible says about connecting with God and having abundant life and day-to-day peace ...now not just in the next life... through a relationship with Jesus, the One Living God in Three. Having a relationship with the One Living God is not complicated. The door is always available ...in fact, Jesus (Yeshua), but not the Qur'anic Isa, is there knocking right now for those who don't know Him personally. He says so at http://diigo.com/0lk60 . Please take Jesus at His word, believe He wants to save you from your sin nature and your sins ...no matter what you may have done... as He promises below. He WANTS to give you complete peace by entering into His eternity with Him, now, as well as after death! gfp (2011-11-30)
  • WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE [d]DISAPPOINTED.”
  • ...2 more annotations...
  • Whoever believes in Him will not be [d]disappointed
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Jul 12
       
      You're too bright to believe in your heart that a perfectly holy God who demands absolute justice would be willing to measure anyone's ability to enter heaven on a "Bell Curve of good works" as the Qur'an suggests in Surah 23:97-104 or any other way but via His loving grace.
  • there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is (G)Lord of (H)all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him;
  • Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11
     
    Connecting with God and having peace with Him is not complicated. The door is always available ...in fact Jesus is there knocking right now as He says at http://diigo.com/0lk60 if you don't know Him personally. Please take Jesus at His word, believe He wants to save you from your sin nature and sins ...not matter what you've done! gfp (2011-11-30
  • Gary Patton on 30 Nov 11
     
    Here's the only route to heaven. Your good works can NEVER get you there! gfp
Gary Patton

William Wilberforce : Biography - 0 views

www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/REwilberforce.htm

biography heros slavery slave

shared by Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11 - Cached
  • At seventeen Wilberforce was sent to St. John's College. Following the deaths of his grandfather in 1776 and his childless uncle William in 1777, Wilberforce was an extremely wealthy man. Wilberforce was shocked by the behaviour of his fellow students at the University of Cambridge
  • After leaving university he showed no interest in the family business, and while still at Cambridge he decided to pursue a political career
  • "Wilberforce was little over five feet tall, a frail and elfin figure who in his later years weighed well under 100 pounds. His charm was legendary, his conversation delightful, his oratory impressive. He dressed in the colourful finery of the day and adorned any salon with his amiable manner.
  • ...49 more annotations...
  • his object in life - no less than the transformation of a corrupt society through serious religion
  • In 1784 Wilberforce became converted to Evangelical Christianity. He joined the Clapham Set,
  • In 1787 Thomas Clarkson, William Dillwyn and Granville Sharp formed the Society for the Abolition of the Slave Trade.
  • nine out of the twelve members on the committee, were Quakers.
  • Wilberforce's nephew, George Stephen, was surprised by this choice as he considered him a lazy man: "He worked out nothing for himself; he was destitute of system, and desultory in his habits; he depended on others for information, and he required an intellectual walking stick."
  • writing, on the other hand, was to be discouraged, since it would open the way to rising above one's natural station."
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
       
      When you're starving, "half a loaf is beter than none"! And God seldom uses perfect people to advance His Kingdom!
  • In May 1788, Charles Fox precipitated the first parliamentary debate on the issue.
  • Charles Fox was unsure of Wilberforce's commitment to the anti-slavery campaign.
  • "Following the publication of the privy council report on 25 April 1789, Wilberforce marked his own delayed formal entry into the parliamentary campaign on 12 May with a closely reasoned speech of three and a half hours,
  • "Everyone thought the hearing would be brief, perhaps one sitting. Instead, the slaving interests prolonged it so skilfully that when the House adjourned on 23 June, their witnesses were still testifying."
  • on 10th July 1789: "Whether the bill goes through the House or not, the discussion attending it will have a most beneficial effect.
  • the visit was a failure as Clarkson could not persuade the French National Assembly to discuss the abolition of the slave trade
  • the government published A Declaration of the Rights of Man asserting that all men were born and remained free and equal. However
  • During this period he could only find twenty men willing to testify before the House of Commons. He later recalled: "I was disgusted... to find how little men were disposed to make sacrifices for so great a cause."
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
       
      "Seldom do great and difficult quests proceed with ease!" ~ gfp
  • Wilberforce initially welcomed the French Revolution as he believed that the new government would abolish the country's slave trade.
  • Wilberforce believed that the support for the French Revolution by the leading members of the Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade was creating difficulties for his attempts to bring an end to the slave trade in the House of Commons.
  • On 18th April 1791 Wilberforce introduced a bill to abolish the slave trade.
  • "a war of the pigmies against the giants of the House".
  • defeated by 163 to 88.
  • In March 1796, Wilberforce's proposal to abolish the slave trade was defeated in the House of Commons by only four votes.
  • a dozen abolitionist MPs were out of town or at the new comic opera in London.
  • In 1804, Clarkson returned to his campaign against the slave trade and toured the country
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
       
      Note that Clarkson's 'rest' lasted about 8 years and Wilberforce is not here noted to have advanced the cause during Clarson's absence from the frey. But, who among avserage men has heard of Thomas Clarkson as winning the abolitionists cause against slavery?
  • William Wilberforce introduced an abolition bill on 30th May 1804.
  • In 1805 the bill was once again presented to the House of Commons. This time the pro-slave trade MPs were better organised and it was defeated by seven votes.
  • advised Wilberforce to leave the vote to the following year.
  • t moved to the House of Lords.
  • In February, 1806 Lord Grenville was invited by the king to form a new Whig administration.
  • Grenville's Foreign Secretary, Charles Fox, led the campaign in the House of Commons to ban the slave trade in captured colonies.
  • was little opposition and it was passed by an overwhelming 114 to 15.
  • In the House of Lords Lord Greenville made a passionate speech
  • the bill was passed in the House of Lords by 41 votes to 20.
  • In January 1807 Lord Grenville introduced a bill that would stop the trade to British colonies on grounds of "justice, humanity and sound policy".
  • "Lord Grenville masterminded the victory which had eluded the abolitionist for so long...
  • Wilberforce commented: "How popular Abolition is, just now! God can turn the hearts of men".
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
       
      However, the Bible itself does not make a strong case for the abolition of slavery and really only for the equality of men before God and in his Kingdom ...not in the world!
  • The trade was abolished by a resounding 283 to 16.
  • it was the largest majority recorded on any issue where the House divided.
  • a generous tribute to the work of Wilberforce:
  • Some people involved in the anti-slave trade campaign such as Thomas Fowell Buxton, argued that the only way to end the suffering of the slaves was to make slavery illegal. Wilberforce disagreed, he believed that at this time slaves were not ready to be granted their freedom. He pointed out in a pamphlet that he wrote in 1807 that: "It would be wrong to emancipate (the slaves). To grant freedom to them immediately, would be to insure not only their masters' ruin, but their own. They must (first) be trained and educated for freedom."
  • In July, 1807, members of the Society for the Abolition of Slave Trade established the African Institution, an organization that was committed to watch over the execution of the law, seek a ban on the slave trade by foreign powers and to promote the "civilization and happiness" of Africa.
  • The African Institution carried the torch for antislavery reform for twenty years and paved the way for later humanitarian efforts in Great Britain."
  • Wilberforce made it clear that he considered the African Institution should do what it could to convert Africans to Christianity.
  • we ought to rejoice in every opportunity of bringing them under their present sufferings, and secure for them a rich compensation of reversionary happiness."
  • (Perronet Thompson) single-handedly abolished apprenticeship and freed the slaves. He filed scandalised reports to the colonial office. Wilberforce told him he was being rash and hasty, and he and his colleagues voted unanimously for his dismissal. Wilberforce advised him to go quietly for the sake of his career."
  • the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery. Buxton eventually persuaded Wilberforce to join his campaign but as he had retired from the House of Commons in 1825, he did not play an important part in persuading Parliament to bring an end to slavery.
  • William Wilberforce died on 29th July, 1833. One month later, Parliament passed the Slavery Abolition Act that gave all slaves in the British Empire their freedom.
  • How far the memoir was Christian, I must leave to others to decide. That it was unfair to Clarkson is not disputed. Where possible, the authors ignored Clarkson; where they could not they disparaged him. In the whole rambling work, using the thousands of documents available to them, they found no space for anything illustrating the mutual affection and regard between the two great men, or between Wilberforce and Clarkson's brother."
  • Wilson goes on to argue that the book has completely distorted the history of the campaign against the slave-trade: "The Life has been treated as an authoritative source for 150 years of histories and biographies
  • its treatment of Clarkson, in particular, a deservedly towering figure in the abolition struggle, is invalidated by untruths, omissions and misrepresentations of his motives and his achievements is not understood by later generations, unfamiliar with the jealousy that motivated the holy authors. When all the contemporary shouting had died away, the Life survived to take from Clarkson both his fame and his good name.
  • left us with the simplistic myth of Wilberforce and his evangelical warriors in a holy crusade.
  • Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
     
    Some key bibliographical background on the famous Englishman who, allegedly, was single-handedly responsible for the freeing of slaves in the British Empire after many years of fighting in thr English Parliament.
  • Gary Patton on 04 Dec 11
     
    So you thought William Wilberforce was responsible for getting England to abolish slavery, eh? Not so! 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

You Like Ron Paul, Except on Foreign Policy - YouTube - 0 views

www.youtube.com/watch

U.S. 2012 Election video Ron Paul Islam islamism jihad jihadism religion

shared by Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12 - No Cached
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12
       
      One Serious Problem with the Blowback Thesis as the Route to Ending the War on Terror The campaign video by Mr. Ron Paul, Republican Candidate for President of the U.S. in 2012, at http://diigo.com/0m77j, recounts facts surrounding major mistakes in U.S. Foreign Policy going back to the 19th Century. The video documents mistakes made by Presidents and Congresses representing both major parties in the U.S. Many U.S. residents and Westerners do not know nor well appreciate the significance of most of these. There is only one factual and major error in it, I believe. "Blowback" certainly has worked to the advantage of violent Jihadists and their defenders and supporters among Islamic clerics, sheiks and jurisprudents. But, if the U.S. ever implements the approach argued by Mr. Paul and stops interfering in other country's affairs, radical and violent jihad against the West and democratic freedoms will continue unabated. Terrorism will continue unabated because it is principally religiously motivated by majority interpretation of the Qur'an. This is proven, I suggest, because of three key reasons: 1. What jihadist organizations say is their motivation when addressing Western media and what they say to Muslim media. Blowback for Zionist/U.S. actions has been claimed consistently by every Islamic terrorist group regardless of size as their ONLY "raison d'etre". This has been the taqiyya-inspired "liefare" used by violent Jihadists since the first Muslim Fedayeen of the 1950s attacked Israelis whenever they were directing their propaganda to a Western audience. However, violent jihad against the Infidel is what every terrorist group has indicated was their real motivation when speaking to fellow Muslims. Violent Jihadists are fundamentalist Muslims who read their Qur'an using an interpretation approach called the the Doctrine of Abrogation*. They are seeking to please their deity, Allah, with violent jihad. Only da'wa, Islamic evangelism can do this wi
  • Gary Patton on 03 Jan 12
     
    This campaign video by Mr. Ron Paul, Republican Candidate for President of the U.S. in 2012, recounts facts surrounding the rationale behind major mistakes in U.S. Foreign Policy that most U.S. Residents and Westerners do not know nor appreciate the significance of well. These mistakes were made by Presidents and Congresses representing both major parties in the U.S. There is only one factual error in it. "Blowback" certainly has worked to the advantage of violent Jihadists and their defenders and supporters among Islamic clerics, sheiks and religious jurisprudents. But, if the U.S. ever implements the approach argued by Mr. Paul and stops interfering in other country's affairs, as he suggests, which I pray for, radical and violent jihad against the West and democratic freedoms will continue unabated. Terrorism will continue unabated because it is principally religiously motivated. This is proven, I suggest, because of: 1. what jihadist organizations say is their motivation when addressing Western media and what they say to Muslim media. Blowback for Zionist/U.S. actions has been consistently claimed by every Islamic terrorist group regardless of size since the first Fedayeen of the 1950s attacked Israelis when they were speaking to a western audience. However, violent war against the Infidel is what every terrorist group has indicated was their motivation when speaking to fellow Muslims. (See The al Quaeda Reader for detailed documentation by it's author Raymond Ibrahim or his articles on the Web.) 2. the fact that more Muslims than non-Muslims have consistently been murdered by the variety of Islamic terrorist groups. This also has been for religious reasons manly alleged apostasy from true Islam stemming from a variety of causes as also demanded by the Qur'an. 3. What has the Islamic "bete noir" of Zionism got to do with Islamic terrorism in the Far East. The withdrawal of U.S. and it's allies, like Canada, from so-called interference in Muslim-domin
Gary Patton

Jesus Promises to Live His Ongoing Life Out Through the Lives Of His Followers - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture scripture interpretation john Holy Spirit God's promises

shared by Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • Do you not believe that (C)I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? (D)The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 Believe Me that (E)I am in the Father and the Father is in Me;
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      Jusus blows His first Disciples minds by telling them CLEARLY that He is God!
  • he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and (G)greater works than these he will do; because (H)I go to the Father.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      Jesus shares an seemingly impossible truth with His first disciples and through them with us, that all His Followers will do "greater things" than He Himself had done. In the following verses here, He explais how that mystery will occur through the power of His name and the truth that He will live forever in them and us! Hallelujah!
  • so that (J)the Father may be glorified in the Son. 14 If you ask Me anything (K)in My name, I will do it.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      It's all about God in us ...NOT about us or what we seem to be doing!
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • I will ask the Father, and He will give you another [a](M)Helper, that He may be with you forever; 17 that is (N)the Spirit of truth, (O)whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      Here it is! The promise that Holy Spirit will continue to live in each person, Jew and Gentile (non-Jew), who belives in Jesus and a mysterious but simple truth ...when we believe Jesus Followers are a "new creation" as it says in 2 Corinthians 5:17 at http://diigo.com/0jis0 ...not a made-over one.
  • After a little while (R)the world will no longer see Me, but you will see Me; (S)because I live, you will live also. 20 (T)In that day you will know that (U)I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      In case Jesus' first Disciples, and we, Hislater ones, missed it, Jesus confirms a second time that He will live in His Followers and live His life out through us in the power of Holy Spirit. He does so as the ONE Who does the "greater things" ...NOT us! Again, Yeshua (Jesus) also says clearly that He IS God, incarnate for them in the moment, and, while returning to His Father, continuing present on earth as He had been in Holy Spirit since the beginning of time. In these verses is a clear statement of what Jesus Followers and religious Christians call the Trinity" ...One God existing simultaneously everywhere in three unique personalities. Jesus Followers "know Him", in intimate, personal relationship. Religious Christians only "know about Him".
  • John 14:8-21
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
       
      In John 14:12, in context, Yeshua (Jesus) explained to His first Disciples, and through them to us, how after His resurrection they and we would do "greater things". Then, in verses 16-21 He explains to them the mystery of how this will happen. gfp (2012-02-08)
  • Gary Patton on 08 Feb 12
     
    In John 14:12, in context, Jesus explained to his first Disciples, and through them to us, how after His resurrection they and we would do "greater things". In verses 16-21 He explains to them the mystery of how this will happen. gfp (2012-02-08)
Gary Patton

Jesus Warns Great Evil Exists Around Us & Tells Us What To Do - Bible Gateway - 0 views

www.biblegateway.com/passage

bible scripture matthew Islam islamism islamization evangelism jihadism jihad

shared by Gary Patton on 28 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • beware of men, for they will hand you over to the (G)courts
  • as a testimony to them and to the Gentiles
  • do not worry
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Brother will betray brother to death, and a father his child; and (M)children will rise up against parents and [b]cause them to be put to death
  • I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so [a]be (E)shrewd as serpents and (F)innocent as doves.
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 17 May 12
       
      Jesus Followers are commanded here to exercise discernment and wisdom, in the context of our Master's over-arching command to demonstrate and exercise gentle, peaceable love, while relating to family, friends, neighbours and work colleagues throughout our daily lives. We must love others regardless of what they do or say as noted in John 13:34-35 at http://diigo.com/0l8po . This is especially true when dealing with those of other faiths and sharing Jesus' Gospel because we are His ambassadors here on planet earth. We must NEVER forget that we live in a foreign Kingdom under the influence of Satan who hates everybody, especially Jesus Followers. Jesus' command and why He shares it here is important to remember, every day, in view of the aggressive and widespread advance of radical, violent Islam throughout the world and the current Islamization of Canada and the dangers here of Islamism that Prime Minister Harper warned about in his Sept. 9, 2011 interview on CBC TV at http://diigo.com/0koug . Abroad also, Christians worldwide are currently experiencing organized and Government-sponsored or, at least, unopposed genocide in most Muslim-dominated countries. Christians are persecuted heavily by Hindus in some countries, like India, as well. For more information to pray and give effectively to support persecuted brothers and Sisters I recommend http://www.BaranabasAid.org as a trust-worthy organization. They specialize in helping the persecuted church. Jesus' warning takes on a powerful and troublesome other dimension in the modern world. Many Christians do NOT appreciate it because they forget the companion warning to this one that our God left for Jesus Followers. Holy Spirit inspired Jude to caution the Body of Christ (Messiah) about rwhat he and other Bible writers called "false teachers" at http://diigo.com/0neqs . Anti-Christ, false teachers often were, Jude warns, in the pulpits and pews of some First Century gatherings ('churches' in mistranslated Greek in
  • Matthew 10:15-21
    • Gary Patton
      Gary Patton on 17 May 12
       
      Christian: Great Evil Lurks Around You ...Know What To Do? In Matthew 10:16-18 of the God's New Covenant, Jesus (Yeshua) warns His first plus His present day Followers that the world is filled with demonically-inspired evil and evil people. And this situation may be even worse in our modern world for many reason including the greater nearness of the end-of-days and Satan's desperation to keep as many as possible separated from Father God. Overt persecution is a current, ever-present experience in Canada for Christians ...especially active Jesus Followers. This is also true in the U.S. The Lord shares here how Jesus Followers should behave in dealing with others in the cruel and hostile environment in which they must live and work as ambassadors of God's loving Kingdom that will come in its fullness some day ...sooner than many Christians believe. We are to do so, however, in the context of Jesus' over-arching command to love others. gfp (2011-11-02+)
  • Matthew 10:15-21
  • Gary Patton on 28 Feb 12
     
    Jesus warns His Followers how to deal with others and to be wary in the world. We are to do so, however, in the context of Jesus' over-arching command to love others ...regardless of what they do or say. gfp (2012-02-28) 2012-02-28
Gary Patton

THREE REASONS WHY TRADITIONAL DISCIPLESHIP DOESN’T WORK | Simple Discipleship @ Wordpress - 1 views

www.simplediscipleship-wordpress.com/...ional-discipleship-doesnt-work

bible disciplines evangelism

shared by Gary Patton on 27 Apr 13 - No Cached
  • Gary Patton on 27 Apr 13
     
    The future of a vibrant, growing Church in North Americas lies in the effective adoption by Jesus Followers and their Pastors of the spiritual truths in this article!
  • Tyler Wall on 29 Apr 13
     
    Great resource. Our church has a course called Corpus Christie that utilizes many of these methods to make theology more than just cognitive and makes it a relevant, meaningful and emotional experience. really putting the rubber to the road as it were.
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