OK, is it what Granny said? That we must be willing to give things up?
Will anyone nowadays be asked to give up something specifically? Money, hobbies, friends?
Are you aware when your wife would rather do something than spend time with you, if you want to spend time with her? Do you have to test her to figure that out, or do you pretty much just know either by body language or by her response when you offer to do something together? If you can figure that out without testing her, don't you think God knows when we love other things more than Him?
The rich young ruler asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said obey the commandments. The young man said, I've done these. Is there more? Jesus' response had nothing to do with testing or with eternal life. It had to do with more abundant life for that particular young man. The ensuing conversation about the kingdom of Heaven didn't mean the rich young ruler would go to hell. If that were the case, Jesus would already have passed judgment on him and he would have had no hope. That goes against everything else in the gospels.
Remember, the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus referred to it wasn't always some distant future place to go after death. The Kingdom of Heaven was right there among them.
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What we make of the Bible will never be as great a thing as what the Bible will - if we let it - make of us.~Rich Mullins
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.~Galileo Galilei
Are you aware when your wife would rather do something than spend time with you, if you want to spend time with her? Do you have to test her to figure that out, or do you pretty much just know either by body language or by her response when you offer to do something together? If you can figure that out without testing her, don't you think God knows when we love other things more than Him?
The rich young ruler asked what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus said obey the commandments. The young man said, I've done these. Is there more? Jesus' response had nothing to do with testing or with eternal life. It had to do with more abundant life for that particular young man. The ensuing conversation about the kingdom of Heaven didn't mean the rich young ruler would go to hell. If that were the case, Jesus would already have passed judgment on him and he would have had no hope. That goes against everything else in the gospels.
Remember, the Kingdom of Heaven as Jesus referred to it wasn't always some distant future place to go after death. The Kingdom of Heaven was right there among them.
Thanks!
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Timmy since you have so many questions about the Bible and creation, I came across a youtube video that explains one thing that bugged me - What happened to the unicorns? I think you'll enjoy.
Timmy since you have so many questions about the Bible and creation, I came across a youtube video that explains one thing that bugged me - What happened to the unicorns? I think you'll enjoy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TUJOl78OLCk
Too funny! Love it!
"Shun the non-believer. Shuuunn. Shhhhhuuuuuuuuunnnuh!
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
This passage bothered me even when I was a believer. It's easy to see how forsaking God could be considered a sin. But making cisterns? Whether they can hold water or not, it's hard to see how God could be upset about it. Unless these two sins are tied together, which is reasonable, considering that they are mentioned together: could forsaking God mean failing to trust him for everything, including a water supply? Was making cisterns evidence that they didn't trust God?
Is there a message here for today's Christians?
__________________
Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Jeremiah 2:13 For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water.
This passage bothered me even when I was a believer. It's easy to see how forsaking God could be considered a sin. But making cisterns? Whether they can hold water or not, it's hard to see how God could be upset about it. Unless these two sins are tied together, which is reasonable, considering that they are mentioned together: could forsaking God mean failing to trust him for everything, including a water supply? Was making cisterns evidence that they didn't trust God?
Is there a message here for today's Christians?
It was not the making of cisterns that was the prob, it was the hewing of 'broken' cisterns.
Think figuratively, Timmy. Regular cisterns don't hold living water. They've hewn out their own religion, a broken religion that doesn't have God in it. Their religion is in vain, their "cisterns" (temples, rituals) are deceptive because they appear religious, but aren't spiritual at all. Their religion, just like broken cisterns, is empty and dry.
__________________
What we make of the Bible will never be as great a thing as what the Bible will - if we let it - make of us.~Rich Mullins
I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.~Galileo Galilei
Think figuratively, Timmy. Regular cisterns don't hold living water. They've hewn out their own religion, a broken religion that doesn't have God in it. Their religion is in vain, their "cisterns" (temples, rituals) are deceptive because they appear religious, but aren't spiritual at all. Their religion, just like broken cisterns, is empty and dry.
That makes sense. Again!
__________________
Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
I think you'll enjoy. 
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