What Is Our True Nature? #JesusFollowers

   

A minister on the radio was heard saying thatlmao 0q humans beings are all, morally, "condemned criminals" in need of "radical surgery." Holy mixed metaphors, Batman! N only was that metaphor a language crime, it was theologically criminal, as well!

Fortunately for us, he is wrong. In fact, Jesus teaches just the opposite. Jesus, just like the Hebrew prophets before him, consistently taught that we are all free to choose either to do good or to do evil, and that we will be held responsible for those choices when we stand before God.

Let us quickly dispense with the idea that we are all condemned criminals. The only ministers who say this too readily discount the idea of our Heavenly Father's vast mercy, or are deliberately hiding this wonderful aspect of our Creator.

Of course, what this minister was really trying to imply is that we are all born under an imaginary curse, one that somehow makes us unable to do any good to please God, and that we are therefore born already condemned in the sight of God. 

This is scripturally false and logically nonsense.

That God made us free to choose and liable for our choices is one of the best attested facts of scripture - both the Hebrew scriptures and the words of our Master, Jesus, whom God chose to be our example and teacher in all things.

To claim that we are so damaged that we can do no good; that we cannot follow Jesus and do as he calls us to do, are man-made excuses for our failure to obey.

Not to mention, it makes Jesus into an unreasonable master, for commanding what (according to those ministers) cannot be done by us. That would mean that God knows we cannot do it, but had Jesus tell us to do these impossible tasks anyway. To "convict us." 

If God did this, and if we could not act Righteously, God would be the author of our sins, and an unfair judge. He would be solely responsible for our sinful actions, and not us, if we were unable by our very nature to obey what He and his chosen son have so clearly laid out before us to do.

It would also mean that Jesus was a liar, and his teachings calling is to do Good would be a mockery, too.

Without our freedom of Will and freedom to act, there can be no judgement of our actions by a moral God. But the good news is that we were created with the ability to choose.

This ability means that our choices have eternal meaning, and that the Good we do is not just a forced choice made by a domineering God, but instead, is a joyful and grateful response to God's love.

The Hebrew Bible is filled with examples of God giving us a free will and the freedom to choose. The story of Adam and Eve is all about our Free Will and ability to choose, and the Jewish people have always understood it that way.

Adam's poor choice didn't damage his children's, nor his descendants' ability to choose right from wrong. In fact, God is portrayed in Genesis as telling Adam's own son, Cain, that he had the freedom (and the duty) to do right or to do wrong, and to take the consequences of either choice. That, alone, ruins the concept of our alleged "moral inability" to do good, because of Adam's Sin.

King David is shown in scripture as sinning and doing evil deeds, but he repented, and God forgave him. He says in the Psalms that he stood after his repentance before God with "clean hands" and with righteous actions.

Isaiah teaches that we are to wash ourselves and make ourselves clean. If we are totally unable to do good, then what could this possibly mean?

Therefore, it is abundantly clear that the Hebrew scriptures teach nothing else except that we have the ability to act and to do good, and that we are commanded by God, our Creator, to do exactly that.

Jesus, also, teaches us that God wishes us to have willing hearts and to follow the path of righteousness through our actions.

We are, like King David, fully able to repent of our past mistakes, and to stop doing them, as in the story of the woman caught in adultery demonstrates. Jesus said, "Go, and sin no more." No radical surgery was required on her, simply a determination to repent to do good, instead. Radical action was required of her - and she was able to do it.

The kingdom of God is built through our deliberate righteous actions and good works done in accordance with the teachings of our Master, Jesus.

So, we see that the minister's foolish statement about "radical surgery" is another theological falsehood. While our wills may have been damaged by our past actions, that can no way mean that we have no ability to turn our lives around by reaching out to God and repenting. Jesus teaches that all may repent, and indeed must repent, of past mistakes, which are a falling short of the high standards God wishes for all of us.

And again, all the Hebrew Prophets and Jesus taught that sincere repentance is all that is required of us to begin turning our lives around toward godliness.

The Gospel that Jesus preached is a challenge to reach our full potential - how God wishes us to live our lives. The fact that many do not know that the Gospel is a challenge, and are unaware that Jesus' Gospel is fully contained in his words, doesn't make them criminals sentenced to death eternally. 

Instead, it makes them imperfect, because they are, out of ignorance, not following God's perfect path of righteousness. This ignorance is because wicked ministers have not taught them this Truth.

Those who are living imperfect lives don't need radical surgery as much as they need a radical reassessment of their lives. And they should be informed that there is a better way: to seek to live their lives in accordance with God's will. 

And those who are living an easy faith without challenge, who believe that good works are impossible (or something that we need not even concern ourselves with) fall grossly short of Jesus' teachings, often warping them beyond all recognition, or worse, ignoring or minimizing them.

These ministers, and their flocks, perhaps need a radical new faith, based on the challenging, joyful teachings of our Master, Jesus, who says emphatically that we are capable of doing all that he asks us to do and that we may do all that he has done. THAT is the True Gospel message. It is one worth sharing.

Knowing that Jesus pleased God in every way, and said that we may do the same, shows that God and the one He chose as our example have far higher confidence in us human beings than many ministers do.

The Peacemakers of God [Jesus Followers]

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” (Matt. 5:9)

In its literal meaning “Peacemakers” implies those lovers of God and humanity who utterly detest and abhor all strife, all variance and contention: and accordingly labor with all their might, either to prevent the fire of hell from being kindled, or when it is kindled, from breaking out, or when it is broken out, from spreading any farther. They endeavor to calm the stormy spirits of humanity, to quiet their turbulent passions, to soften the minds of contending parties, and, if possible, reconcile them to each other.

They use all innocent arts, and employ all their strength, all the talents which God has given them, as well to preserve peace, where it is, and to restore it, where it does not. It is the joy of their heart to promote, to confirm, to increase mutual goodwill.

But in the full extent of the word, a peacemaker is one, who, as they have opportunity, "does good to all.” One who, being filled with the love of God and all humanity, cannot confine the expressions of it to their own family, or friends, or acquaintances, or party; or to those who share their own opinions; no, nor those who are partakers of like precious faith, but steps over all these narrow bounds, that they may do good to everyone; that they may, some way or other, manifest love to neighbors and strangers, friends and enemies.

They do good to them all, as they have opportunity, that is, on every possible occasion; "redeeming the time;" in order to buy up every opportunity, improve every hour, losing no moment where they may be of help to another.

Such a person does good, not of one particular kind, but good in general: in every possible way, employing all their talents of every kind, all their powers and faculties of body and soul; all their fortune, interest, and reputation; desiring only, that when they go before God, they may hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant!"

One does Good to the uttermost of their power, even among the bodies of all people. They rejoice to “deal bread to the hungry," (Isaiah 58:7) and to "cover the naked with a garment.”

Is any a stranger? He takes him in, and relieves him according to his necessities. Are any sick or in prison? He visits them, and administers such help as they stand most in need of. And all this he does, not as unto anyone; but remembering him that said, "Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of these, you have done it unto me.”

How much more does this person rejoice, if they can do any good to the soul of another person!

It pleases Him who works all in all, to help people chiefly by other human beings; to convey His own power, and blessing, and love, through one person to another.

No one has need, on this account, to stand idle in their vineyard. The peacemakers cannot: they are even laboring in it, and, as an instrument in God's hand, preparing the ground for the Master's use, or sowing the seed of the kingdom, or watering what is already sown, if God may give the increase.

He is implored to exhort them to stir up the gifts of God which are in them.

(Adapted from a sermon, ‘Peacemakers of God,’ by John Wesley)

Let Us Not Delay in Doing Good! #JesusFollowers

Prayer and praise are not exercises which are to terminate in themselves. They are pledges of, and preparations for, future activity and service. 

By such activity in holiness we are to prove that in our devotions we did not mock the Almighty, or think to cajole and flatter him with fair speeches, and mere empty professions. Our prayers should be only the forerunners of our zeal for the divine glory, and our honorable exertions for the welfare of mankind.

Every man has his post of duty allotted him. To such an extent one is to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked. In one place, he is to give advice from his experience, and in that, condolence and sympathy to the distressed from his humanity.

Another person may not have the means to act in this manner; but he can often lend a little personal aid. He can sometimes spare a few moments for neighborly conversation; and can always put up a humble, heartfelt prayer for the spiritual welfare of those around him. A cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple shall not go without its reward. We can all do something for the comfort and edification of the little circles in which we are known. In this respect, as well as others, great providential differences are made: to some, five talents are communicated, and to others only one.

Let each of us endeavor to do as much as we can. Let those especially who are recently recovered from sickness listen to the voice of exhortation. Every event of this nature must convince us how precarious the day of usefulness is.

By interruptions of health many of our schemes are delayed, and not a few, perhaps, broken off. It is happy when these frustrated designs are of little importance to any but the parties themselves; but this is not always the case. Persons may be so circumstanced, that a few weeks, or a few months confinement, may subject them to losses and evils which can never be retrieved.

Let us be warned, therefore, against procrastination. Do not delay until tomorrow what may be done today. You know not what an hour may bring. Scripture has not a single promise for tomorrow, if today has been deliberately neglected.

The foolish virgins slept at the close of a day of idleness, and it was this circumstance that constituted their crime; for had they stocked their vessels with oil before nature demanded repose, they would not have been excluded from the bridal entertainment. We should never listen to an argument for delay, unless it is such as we can justify at the tribunal of judgment.

Permit me to guard you against one instance of delay. Let property be disposed of in the days of reason and health; do not let the lack of a properly executed will lay the possible foundation for contention among your survivors.

But what is of infinitely more importance than this, get your accounts for heaven ready. In a moment the judge may be at the door. Thousands in every stage of life are, every year, every month, swept into the grave. Walk, then, before the Lord, while you are allowed to do it, in the land of the living.

Walk, and do not fold your hands in idleness, letting opportunities of doing and getting good slip from you. Be in a posture of activity, always ready to go where duty calls you. Walk before God in a uniform dependence upon His support, with a constant sense of His presence, and under the influence of this awakening thought: "Wherever I am, God sees me." 

Do this, in the land of the living. The great field of society lies open. Before, and behind, on the right hand, and on the left, objects for the display of benevolence, and the exercise of all the useful virtues, are to be found. The day is now bright, but in a little while it may be overcast, and in a few years, it must draw to a close.

In the name of God, be up and doing. Do not be slothful in business, but be fervent in spirit. Be steadfast and immovable, always abounding in the work of the Master, and your labor in the Master shall not be in vain.

(Adapted from a Sermon by Rev. Edmund Butcher, 1757-1822)

#Jesus: A Teacher, Unlike Any Other #JesusFollowers

              

Jesus stands as a unique figure in world religions. To follow Jesus' teachings is to accept a challenge that is unlike any other religious teacher, because he is unlike any other teacher. 

No other teacher has called us to live lives of radical love - a love that dares equate what we give to our neighbors, to strangers, and even to our enemies, to what we give our SELVES. (Mark 12:31)

No other teacher has called us to live lives of radical service - a service that leads us to think of Others first, to deny our own needs, to care for all who are suffering and in need, and to always do more than is required. (Mark 8:34; 9:35; 10:43-45)

And no other teacher has called us to live lives of radical obedience - serving God completely, repenting of our past sins, seeking Heavenly, rather than Earthly treasure, and striving to live in complete and perfect obedience to God's will. (Matt 4:17; 6:19-20; 28:20)

No other teacher has set himself up as a perfect example for us to follow. Jesus says he always did what was pleasing to God, and he calls us to follow him in all things. (John 8:29; 14:24)

Jesus is a God-anointed teacher, and not "merely" a teacher, though merely a man, like us. Jesus, unlike any other religious figure, calls us to imitate him. He says we can do all that he has done, and calls us to a challenging, active religious life. (Acts 2:22; 13:23; John 13:15; 14:12)

The words he spoke were grounded in his Father and ours, God. God’s moral teachings were shown in Jesus’ teachings more clearly and purely than in any other human being.

To call ourselves his friends and followers, then, is the most important thing we can say, because these teachings of his are the most pure, most Godly and therefore most important teachings ever shared amongst the human race.

Jesus said he shared all things with us, saying, "I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you." (Matt. 15:15)

And Jesus taught that to preach God's good and beneficial message (Gospel) was the reason he went out to the villages of Judea. It consisted of his entire mission, and that was the only thing he came to do. (Mark 1:38; Luke 4:18-19)

To speak of Jesus' blood saving us in some way apart from obedience to his teachings is meaningless. Unless we honor both the life that his blood sustained, as well as his teachings that revealed God's will for our lives, we are not changed by Jesus and our hearts are not turned back to obeying God's moral Law.

His life and his death serve equally as examples of supreme love and self-sacrifice, because Jesus said, "Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends," and also, "You are my friends, IF you do as I command you." (John 15:13-14)

Everyone who hears his precious teachings, says Jesus, but does not act on them, "will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand." (John 7:24)

The Gospel IS Jesus' teachings. It can be based on nothing else, and no other man's Gospel than the one Jesus preached can be put in its place. We, therefore, have one master, one Gospel and we serve one God, the God Jesus himself worshiped and calls us to love with all our heart, mind, soul and strength.

#Jesus: Anointed By God And Sent Out To Preach #JesusFollowers

                             

Jesus came into, and went out into, "the world," when, leaving the country around the Jordan River, he returned to Capernaum after the imprisonment of John, and began to teach in the synagogues and preach, saying, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."

In general it is to be observed, that "to come into the world," do not ordinarily, if ever, in the language of the New Testament, signify to be born, but publicly to assume the character of a divinely-appointed teacher: and "to be sent" signifies to be invested by God with this position, and to be begin an active mission to support it. 

When this public mission came upon him, he says, "I came not of my own accord, but He [God] sent me." (John 8:42) And says, "The Son of man came not to be served, but to serve." (Matt. 20:28) These words cannot either with propriety or truth be referred to his entrance into life, for he did come at birth to serve others, and did not anoint himself to this mission, and certainly not as a baby.

Here he is proposing an example to his disciples, and appeals to the knowledge they had of his conduct among them, from his first entrance on his ministry at the age of 30.

He did not make disciples for his own sake, but for theirs; he came not out into towns of Judea to be served by them, but to serve them, and was hereafter to carry his services so far, as even to lay down his life in their behalf.

Jesus, speaking of himself, says, "him whom the Father has consecrated and sent into the world." (John 10:36) He was first consecrated, when "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth," says Peter, "with the holy Spirit and with power," to go about doing good. (Acts 10:38)

At the baptism of Jesus, God was heard to say of Jesus, "you are my Beloved son, in whom I am well pleased." (Luke 3:22) And an old reading of this same verse reads, "You are my son, today I have begotten you [become your father]," echoing Psalm 2:7 (and Hebrews 1:5) Both versions testify to his anointing for his mission at his baptism.

Thus this man was set apart, consecrated to his office, and qualified to discharge it, and then was commissioned to go out into the world to execute this mission. According to our Master's own words, he "came into the world" only after his baptism, at which God's holy Spirit descended upon him, and not before.

Jesus, addressing himself to God, and speaking of his disciples, says, "As you have sent me into the world, even so have I also sent them into the world." What is it that he here says of his disciples? How was it that he sent them into the world? 

After they had been fully instructed in things about to the kingdom of God, he sent them out unto all nations to preach to others the doctrine he had delivered to them.

When he says of himself, therefore, that God "sent him into the world," since he was sent by the Father, as they were sent by him, he speaks of the authority with which he was invested, of the command that had been given him to publish to the world the doctrine which he had himself received from the Father.

The spirit was not poured out on Jesus, he was not invested with divine authority and power, thus qualified to execute the will of God and sent out into the world, to take vengeance on them for their sins; but to impart to them, at the expense of all worldly comforts, and, in the end, of life itself, the most consolatory and the most salutary doctrine, the belief and the obedience of which will entitle them unto eternal life.

Is it an advantage that such a great example should was held up to our imitation? Definitely. Would not any person, who aspires to perfect virtue, wish that a perfect model of it should be placed before them, to illustrate and recommend its maxims and its precepts, to guide and to encourage, to animate desires, to invigorate endeavors, and to excite emulation?

This advantage is enjoyed by us far more perfectly than could have been if our Master had not gone out into the world; for by this means his virtues are rendered more conspicuous, they are seen by us in a greater variety of lights, proved by a greater variety of difficulties and temptations, and his example is made applicable to a greater variety of circumstances and conditions.

We see what, if he had continued in obscurity, we could not have seen in him that our duty is in every instance practicable; that virtue is in every condition possible, and abounds with such comforts as can make any circumstances tolerable.

By this means we have the instructions, and encouragements, and incitements, that are contained in his example, who was in all points tempted as we are, and yet was without sin. We may be pure in heart, we may be holy in all manner of conversation; we may have the same mind that was in Jesus; we may walk as he also walked; we may be like God, and acceptable to him; ever growing in his likeness and his friendship. To what dignity, to what comforts of the Gospel of Jesus may we achieve! How good is God! How great a gift is Jesus!

(Adapted from the works of Newcombe Cappe, 1733-1800)

Serving Others With Righteous Acts

 

To take on the name of Jesus and follow him means far more than spouting a mere handful of words and comfortably considering oneself "saved" for all eternity. Jesus calls us to take up his yoke, to serve others, to pursue Righteousness through righteous acts, and to store up treasure in Heaven rather than on earth.

In short, to follow Jesus is to take up a challenge - to take up a call to serve.

Jesus says, "Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me." (Mark 8:34.) He calls on us to follow his example, and to "do just as I have done to you (John 13:15) saying clearly that he "came not to be served but to serve.” (Mark 10:45.)

We are to love God with 100% of our heart, mind, soul and strength  and ALSO to love our neighbor just as we are accustomed to loving ourselves (Mark 12:30-31.)

And just who is our neighbor? Jesus was asked this and gave a clear answer in the Parable of the Good Samaritan, in which a man was robbed and left for dead on the side of the road, and many walked right by him. But one man stopped and brought him to a local inn and paid for his shelter and his needs. That man, he said, was the one who was a good "neighbor" to this stranger. And we are told by Jesus, "You go, and do the same" (Luke 10:37.)

This is a call to do good - a call to serve Others, just as Jesus served others. We are able to serve just as Jesus served, we are commanded to do so, and Jesus confirms this with his words (John 14:23-24) which will never pass away (Matt. 24:35.) And as John wrote, "the one who does what is right is righteous, just as [Jesus] is righteous" (1 John 3:7.)

We are to be the hands and words and comforting arms of God's Kingdom here on Earth. We are called by Jesus to be a People of God, to serve Others in the name of God's Anointed servant, Jesus. And we are called to forgive others, if we expect to be forgiven by God (Mark 6:14-15.)

To follow Jesus and pursue his perfect example means we must serve Others with our Works, both alone and also as a community of Faith. For whenever two or three gather in his name, the spirit of Jesus is amongst us (Matt. 18:30.) 

Jesus preached that we are to repent of our sins and live our lives completely dedicated to serving others, all the while relying fully on God's forgiveness and mercy. Only our repentance and Righteous acts can save us, not mere words or faith without repentance and Good Works, upon which we shall be judged, and only the Righteous shall be with God eternally (Matt. 25:46.)

By living according to the will of God, as shown in the life, teachings and death of God's chosen spokesman, Jesus, we grow into the likeness of God, seeking after God's perfection and growing more spiritually mature and perfect each day.

Some Words On #Jesus By Jefferson

 

The free exercise of reason is all I ask for the vindication of the character of Jesus. We find in the writings of his biographers matter of two distinct descriptions. First, a work of vulgar ignorance, of things impossible, of superstitions. Intermixed with these are sublime ideas of the Supreme Being, aphorisms and precepts of the purest morality and benevolence, sanctioned by a life of humility, innocence, and simplicity of manners, neglect of riches, absence of worldly ambition and honors, with an eloquence and persuasiveness which have not been surpassed. these could not be inventions of the grovelling authors who relate them. they are far beyond the powers of their feeble minds. they show that there was a character, the subject of their history, whose splendid conceptions were above all suspicion of being interpolations from their hands. Can we be at a loss in separating such materials, and ascribing each to its genuine author?

The difference is obvious to the eye and to the understanding, and I will venture to affirm that he who, as I have done, will undertake to winnow this grain from its chaff, will find it not to require a moment’s consideration. the two parts fall away from themselves as would those of an image of metal & clay. 

Jesus preached philanthropy & universal charity and benevolence.But the office of reformer of the superstitions of a nation is dangerous. Jesus had to walk on the perilous confines of reason and religion: and one step to right or left might place him within the path of the priests of superstition, a bloodthirsty group, as they were constantly laying snares to entangle him.

- Excerpted from a letter from former Pres. Thomas Jefferson to William Short, August 4, 1820.

The Pure, Simple Faith #Jesus Taught! #JesusFollowers

             

To promote real morality and true piety, we can conceive nothing so well fitted as the simplicity of Jesus - the plain, unequivocal, uninvolved requirement of love to God, tested by love to others and active usefulness in life. 

How utterly simple and plain, how free from all subtlety and dogmatic obscurity, is the teaching of Jesus.

His Sermon on the Mount is indisputable, practical, simple, having no abstruse, remote, or novel concepts. It proclaims no ideas that amaze or confuse, nor does it call for careful consideration on account of its novelty. It is a solemn, searching declaration of the universal religion of humanity. 

In it, he proclaims that God is holy, wise, good; blessed are you if you are pure, meek, hungering for righteousness, and living from the heart pure, useful, holy lives. This is all the doctrine there is in it ; not a word about the nature of the Godhead, the fall of man, the need of the atonement, the deity of Christ, the necessity of baptism and the saving sacrament of the  communion.  

Jesus was no scholar. He spoke the language and the truth and the religion of a simple, deep-thinking representative of universal humanity - true always, everywhere, and for all. There is nothing to add, nothing to take away, nothing to excuse or to explain away in his clear teachings. 

His teachings do not need any changes for the times, or the nation, or the circumstances, to account for them. It is because they give voice to what humanity knows and feels to be deepest and holiest, that they hold the allegiance of the Twenty-first, just as they will for those living of the Thirty-first Century. 

We cannot conceive of anything pertaining to our religious wants or our religious faith that do not already exist in the precepts, spirit, and example of Jesus.

We can very easily make the clear, simple, moral fact precisely what we choose to have it by enough twisted reasoning. And as we consider our consciences, so we are apt to consider our religion. God has pronounced it simple, plain, unmistakable. Jesus has taught and illustrated it in ways a child can understand. But it is so plain that it becomes severe; so simple that it looks cold and hard, like a marble statue.

We often hear the simplicity of Jesus as it reveals itself in the Sermon on the Mount compared disparagingly with the complicated faith of the Nicene Creed. But what can we call “the Christian religion” except that which really adds nothing to the old Jewish and the older natural religion of love to God and love to man, except the example and spirit of Jesus! 

What becomes of the Fall, and the Curse, and the Atonement, and the Sacraments, and the Trinity, and the Deity of Christ, and all the rest of the dogmatic paraphernalia of religion? They become invisible, like candles in the presence of the sun. 

It is the keeping of these great commandments that discloses their richness and fullness. They are simple, few, and concise. But live by them, and you will find that all the bodies of divinity in the world could not contain their lessons, or describe the glorious richness of their contents.

Do not allow yourselves to fall under the dominion of these high-sounding subtleties, these dark dogmas, these involved metaphysical puzzles, which pass for religion and Christianity. They will unsettle your common sense, and fog up your conscience, and finally make you think religion is not the plainest thing in the world - a highway, in which the wayfaring human, though a fool, need not err, — but an enigma and a riddle, a sphinx which you must helplessly bow before and adore, though it will answer no question you put to it.

It is not the unknown we can profit by, but the known. It is not the obscure, but the plain, that should have our attention. It takes no learning, no scholarship, no formal logic, no fine-spun reasoning, to know God so far as we need to know Him, as a moral governor and Father of our spirits; to know Jesus as a holy, gentle, and wise master and guide of character; to know our duty well enough to live chastely, truthfully, honestly, with mercy and sympathy.

(Adapted from a sermon by Dr. Henry W. Bellows)

In Praise of Reason #JesusFollowers

Some view Reason as opposed to God, and its use as somehow usurping, insulting or opposing Him, as if Reason was by its nature opposed to God.

But Human Reason must be seen as a gift of God, which He implanted within us for us to discover, using the other gifts which He entrusted to us.

We should never base our opinion of a thing based on a false judgement of it, or by the worst belief someone holds of it.

Human Reason can, if not truly reasonable, lead us astray. It can lead us to believe we are greater than the creator, that Reason is itself greater than that which created us, and it.

Once it’s considered to be such a thing, it is condemned, but falsely, since that’s not human Reason IS.

Reason and Faith are not opposed to one another, but are instead both necessary for us to understand God and God's will for us.

Rationality walks hand-in-hand with Spirituality. When irrational elements of religion are stripped away, we may focus clearly on the mission God's Anointed One, Jesus sends us to do.

God gave us Reason and the ability to obey Him, and Reason is a God-given gift we must use to discern His Will.

Just as we ought to not condemn someone based on others’ opinions of them – or mere rumors ABOUT them, which often are not true or are based on false assumptions, biases or slanders – we ought to assess Reason in its truest and purest form, rather than the worst assumptions about it.

Many do the same for the Religion Jesus left us. They consider all the horrific things done it its name, the abuses done to people, the wars, the complicated and contradictory doctrines – and assume them to be the highest version of that religion. Then they say, “See, these examples ARE the religion of Jesus, therefore, we must reject it.”

Such things SHOULD be rejected, but to assume that this is the True Religion of Jesus is to start with a false assumption.

It would be as if we judged a tree in autumn, with its leaves fallen out or yellow with age to be “dead,” not knowing about, or deliberately not remembering, the vibrant greens of spring.

Those who have rejected God, also often base that rejection on only the worst aspects of the Christian religion: the toxic additions of men, not the purity of its founder, Jesus.

So too, rejecting the Godly faculty of Reason, it’s been said, prepares one for worse and worse delusions. [Channing, Discourse, 1826]

The teachings of Jesus are reasonable. Jesus calls us to love God with all understanding (Matt. 15:10.) Jesus reminds us that God wishes us to “love the Lord your God with ALL YOUR MIND” (Mark 12:30.) We cannot fully love God, therefore, unless we use ALL of the understanding and knowledge God Himself gave us, and continues to give us.

Reason in fact plays a huge and important role in God’s religion, as expressed throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. And just as Reason finds a place, so also is Wisdom, knowledge and understanding greatly praised by scripture, though often, as in Jesus’ time, they are degraded by men who are assumed to be “wise” in religious knowledge.

We must fully embrace the Reasonableness of the Gospel that Jesus has taught, just as the former Prophets of God testified to God’s wisdom and knowledge, which He shares with all of us when we seek it.

When Yahweh says, “Come, let us reason together” (Isaiah 1:18) He expresses his desire to engage and converse with us, His creation, and make reasonable terms by which we may be His children.

In the Proverbs, we read, "By wisdom Yahweh founded the earth. By understanding, he established the heavens. By his knowledge, the depths were broken up, and the skies drop down the dew. My son, let them not depart from your eyes. Keep sound wisdom and discretion: so they will be life to your soul, and grace for your neck. Then you shall walk in your way securely. Your foot won't stumble. When you lie down, you will not be afraid. Yes, you will lie down, and your sleep will be sweet." (Proverbs 3:19-24)

We are to use our gift of Reason, just as our gifts of wisdom and knowledge, to walk in the way of Jesus, who walked perfectly in the way of God. Our feet stumble less when we adhere to the correct path, guided by these gifts.

Putting Others First, Just As Jesus Taught! #JesusFollowers

 

What if everyone put others first in all things? What if all of us, all the time, thought of others' needs and put ourselves in second place?

If this concept doesn't sound familiar to you, it should, because this thinking is at the core of the teaching of Jesus, and is actually the Gospel he taught.

If Jesus is the one whom God chose to be our teacher of Righteousness and our perfect example to follow, what he says actually matters.

And while we would sometimes like to give others' words equal authority to his, in fact, Jesus' words alone are to be our pathway to the life God wishes us to live, if he alone is our Master.

Jesus taught that we must seek not to be first, or the Greatest among others, but instead to be the last, putting others first.

Jesus told a parable saying that we must not seek to give the most important and most visible public seats to alleged VIPs - seeking favors from thrm in return - but instead, we ought to let others, including the poor and disabled sit with us.

“When you host a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or brothers or relatives or rich neighbors. Otherwise, they may invite you in return, and you will be repaid. But when you host a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind, and you will be blessed." (Luke 14:12-14)

Jesus taught that God doesn't make distinctions among people, and neither should we.

When some of his disciples asked to be given honors, he said that the first would be last and the last would be made first.

Jesus made it clear, speaking to the disciples,  "whoever would be great among you must be your servant, and whoever would be first among you must be your slave." Jesus says he made his life a ransom for many, giving all to others. We, he said, must do the same.

Jesus says we must love our neighbors just as we love ourselves, and treat others as we wish to be treated. Further, he said we must deny ourselves if we are to follow him.

We ought to heed Jesus' teachings, then, and seek to treat everyone equally, putting others first, and our desires second.

It's clear from all the he taught that Jesus calls us all to a life of action and Good Works. Every one of our actions in our daily lives should show to others how God wishes humanity to relate to one another and to our Creator.

God wishes us to be holy, just as God is holy, merciful, just as God is merciful, and righteous, just as God is righteous.

Jesus says he did all that God asked him to do, and calls us to always seek to do the same. (John 8:29; 13:15)

Jesus never shirked his duty to serve others, even washing the feet of the disciples as a sign of his humility and how he was living as a "ransom" to others (John 13.)

Serving each other selflessly is the pattern our exemplar, Jesus, gave us to follow. It's not too hard for us, and it's not just a model to admire.

He gave us this example not to make us feel insignificant and unworthy, or to merely "convict us" of our inability to do it, but to prove that this is a path that we, too, may tread, in his footsteps.

By taking up the challenge of seeking to emulate Jesus in all things, we are pleasing God, Who, through Jesus, gave us this challenging Good News, and Who made us capable of accepting it and doing as He wishes us to do.

"Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me." (Matt. 16:24)

"And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, “If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” (Mark 8:39)

This was quite the opposite of the teaching of the religious authorities of the time, the scribes and Pharisees, of whom Jesus said, "They love the places of honor at banquets, the chief seats in the synagogues." (Matt. 23:6)

God wishes us to put others first, and his chosen son and spokesman, Jesus, demonstrated in word and deed how to do this perfectly, then told us to follow him and do just as he had done.

Let's get busy, then, serving and loving our neighbors!

Human Beings: Created To Advance! [#JesusFollowers]

  

Improvement is a law of the Universe. All things, great and small, are made to improve and progress. Human beings are no exception.

We must not allow everything else to move on, while we remain stationary. When the insensible earth and the irrational animals obey the commandment of Nature, let not us, who alone are capable of voluntary obedience, alone be unfaithful.

When even the all-wise Creator, in unfolding His ways and purposes to His children, observes this rule of constant progression, let not us, with wisdom only of yesterday, children in understanding, think that we may rest where we are, and refuse to move forward.

Our very capacity of progress is itself a further reason for striving after perpetual improvement. The plants and animals around us have limits set to their advancement which they can never pass.

They go forward by a prescribed course to their maturity, and there they necessarily stop. The voice which spake to the sea, “Thus far shall you go, and no farther,” has spoken to all things terrestrial except us.

From that mandate our spirit is exempted. The tree has its growth, and the bird its instinct, and they can add to themselves nothing beyond it. Human beings, reasoning, immortal, immaterial beings, to whom the inspiration of the Almighty has given understanding, has received the power of expansion. Our souls may grow - not like the body, which is to perish in about a hundred years, and therefore becomes perfect in twenty; but, as it is never to perish, it never reaches a perfection beyond which it may not pass.

If the soul's duration were bounded by a thousand years, or a hundred thousand centuries, then we might anticipate the day when its growth should be completed. But since it shall exist through eternity, since it can never approach the termination of its existence, neither can it approach the termination of its progress. It must enlarge, extend itself, and continue to advance.

So, other creatures may stop growing, and become stationary; for they are to come to an end. But not human beings, for we are to know no end. Others may be satisfied with a perfection which earth can understand and contain; for they are of the earth, and shall return to its bosom.

But human beings are children of the Most High, our spirit a ray from the fountain of unquenchable light, made capable of attainments which earthly beings cannot hardly imagine. Let us not dream that any present attainment is our perfection; let us press forward to that mark - that something immense and infinite -  which Jesus has set before us as the prize of our high calling.

For us to be stationary would be rebellion against our nature, a willful forfeiting of our birthright, and should subject us to the harsh reproaches of our own minds, and to the deserved scorn of all higher and lower beings.

This great progress of the human soul is only begun upon earth. But it is begun. The desire of purity, the love of excellence, the habits of holiness, the relish for spiritual pleasures, are begun here below; and ones who have made the greatest advances in these during their mortal lives, are doubtless best fitted for entering into a future state. This thought suggests to us another reason for improvement.

The degree of happiness and glory to which the soul shall be admitted at death, must depend on the progress which it has made on Earth. In our Father's house are many mansions; differing unquestionably in order offense. And how are they to be assigned? What says the Scripture? “According to their works,” for “He that has been faithful in little, shall be placed over few cities; he that has been faithful in much, shall be placed over many cities.” (Luke 16:10; Matt. 25:23)

Happiness and honor shall be rendered to every person according to their preparation for them and their capacity to receive them. And our capacity to receive will be just in proportion to the state of advancement at which we have arrived on leaving the present scene.

And the soul that issues from its mortal tabernacle a trembling, anxious penitent, - just "assured" that its sins are forgiven, but without any confirmed religious experience, or spiritual maturity of character - cannot enter into the fulness of bliss which awaits the faithful servant of God, who has toiled for duty during a long life, and become almost spiritualized before laying aside the body.

Therefore let us strive to be found, at our death, so far advanced in holiness, that we may join the company of those who stand nearest to the throne; that we may be ushered into the light of the highest heaven.

(Adapted from a Sermon by Henry Ware, Jr.)

Some False Doctrines Churches Teach [#JesusFollowers]

If you hear sermons from the pulpits of Western Christian "Churches," or if you've ever picked up a "fundamentalist tract" on the ground or in a public bathroom, you may be hearing many falsehoods that Jesus never preached as part of his Gospel. Here are a few of them, and wh you ought to reconsider basing your faith on them. (Or on anything other than the words of Jesus.)

1. "Jesus teachings are 'for the Jews' but not for us, Today." 

This was debunked by Jesus, himself, who said his words would never pass away, and sent the Jerusalem Apostles out into the world in his Great Commission to tell people to obey his teachings. That's Not "just for the Jews." He did say for the Apostles to go to the Jews FIRST, which they did. 

2. The late theologian John D. MacArthur infamously said, "Christianity has nothing at all  to do with the teachings of Jesus."

What he meant as a statement of theology is actually true of modern Christianity, but that's a fact we should mourn, not celebrate. Denying Jesus or putting his life story first, which MacArthur taught, and most Christians believe, is false.

3. "We Inherit Adam and Eve's "Original Sin" at Birth and it means we are Cursed, Cannot Obey God, and Are Totally Depraved, unable to do any good."

Variations of this is taught in churches, but not often said out loud or in these words. None of this is consistent with Bible teaching. God told Adam's own son that he would be rewarded if he did what was right, but he would be punished if he did what was wrong. Catholic "Church Father" Augustine of Hippo wrote of Cain, and us, saying it is, "non posse non piccare" (not possible (for us) to not sin." And this became Catholic Doctrine in the early Fifth Century, despite contradicting God's  very words in Genesis. Who will You believe? 

4. "The Bible's High standards of morality, especially in Jesus's teachings, were simply meant to "convict" humans and aren't meant for us to obey, because we are morally unable." 

This man-made nonsense turns the entire Bible on its head and makes Jesus and the Prophets into liars. If we are unable to do these things, calling on us to do them is sadistic of God, His rules would be pointless, and his punishments for failing would be unjust, if his words were impossible to obey. Of course, this isn't the case.  

5. "Jesus Forgot To Teach That He Was Part of a Godhead or that he was a Person in it, Equal to God.

 Jesus told the Apostles that everything he heard from God, his Father, he told to them. He didn't forget to mention these things about a Godhead, or that he had actually created the world. Why wouldn't he tell them outright that he had created the world? Clever men today may twist his words, just as the religious teachers of God's day tried to do,  or use other men's words to imply otherwise, but we follow Jesus, who said he had a God, and prayed to God, Whom is his God? Our Father. And his.

Yet, Jesus said not one word of being part of a Godhead in which he shared the "substance of the Father " and a "person" called the Holy Spirit nor was this written by the Gospel book writers, because this definition of a Godhead wasn't invented until the 4th and 5th centuries by clever philosophers, turning spiritual and theological phrases into literal ones. Jesus said he was one with the Father, but also that he wanted his disciples to be one with him,  just as he was one with the Father. 

6. "Make war With Your Prayers. Be "Prayer Warriors " for Christ."

That phrase never occurs in the Bible, nor is it a strategy suggested by Jesus. But many "Prayer Warriors" today use prayer as a weapon.  Jesus calls us to pray FOR our enemies, and bless those who curse us, not use prayer against them. Adversaries of Good are defeated by our Good deeds in the world, not hateful vibes sent out to God, directing Him to do our bidding.

7. "Jesus Was Born Of A Virgin on December 25th as a star moved over his stable and God Was His Father, Not Joseph. Jesus Was the Legitimate King Of The Jews. God Impregnated Mary, A Virgin, Became A Man  Jesus Was The God-Man: Both Man And God."

Sorry to ruin Christmas, but... Propagated by Catholic Second Century Christians, this collection of pagan stories are recited every Christmas as if they are Historically accurate. But it's all based on a false translation of a line in the Old Testament (Isaiah 7:14) that didn't apply to a future Messiah figure, it certainly did not apply to Jesus, the Hebrew word, "Almah" used by Isaiah simply means "young woman," but was mistranslated in the Greek Septuigaint version as "virgin" and subsequently "Matthew" and Luke spun the yarn of a virgin conception and birth.

8. "Jesus' Death Gave God Permission To Forgive Human Beings." 

This silly and blasphemous statement is made by Televangelists of our own age, but not by Jesus, our only teacher, who said we must forgive 70x7 times. 

These same men teach, "Only God Can Forgive Sins, " just as the Jewish opponents of Jesus also said about him.  While it's true that we can't forgive sins others commit against God, Jesus says we must forgive others IF we wish God to forgive us. 

9. "The Devil Is the Ruler Of The Earth."

 A false and foolish saying, refuted by Psalm 24: The earth is Yahweh's and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it." False teachers of darkness preach this today as a way to put Jesus higher above humans, and make God seem more aloof. They don't need the help and God is spiritually alive in us, here on the dirty, filthy old earth of His.

10. "The Bible has been Preserved by God Just As It Was In Jesus' Time." 

The Bible in Jesus's time was just the Hebrew Scriptures, and even that collection of books wasn't canonized (collected and approved by a council of Rabbis) until the Second Century, AD. And think about this: no one carried around printed Bibles until modern times. The New Testament contents weren't finalized until AD 367 by a Catholic Council. The Eastern Orthodox Church, to this day,  uses a Bible with several books that were never in the Catholic Canon.

And several books used by all churches today (including Jude and Hebrews) were almost left out of the Canon, while others (like 1 Clement and Shepherd of Hermas) were widely used by many churches in the first century, but were eventually dropped. During the Reformation, Martin Luther wanted to leave the Revelation of John and the Letter of James out of his German translation, but was convinced to leave them both in. 

In England, the books of the Apocrypha were quietly dropped from the King James Bible in its 1750s revision. Why didn't God keep all these books in? This doctrine is clearly false.

When You Pray. [#JesusFollowers]

 

 “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words. Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask Him.” (Matt. 6:7-8)

The reasonableness of our worship, and of prayer to God, prompts us most naturally to look to Him Who made us, in the fitness of acknowledging His continual favors, and the assurance we have that He is present with us.

God attends to and directs those who seek to recommend themselves to Him in the best way they are able.

The power, wisdom and goodness displayed in bringing us into being, and the various ways and methods to make it happy to us, are a just foundation for this our application to our Maker.

Nor can He ever be absent from us, so as not to hear and attend to us. For the same divine energy by which he first made us and all nature is necessary to support us in being. We cannot divest ourselves of the idea that His continual presence is with us.

We need never fear our being overlooked or disregarded by God. Our attention indeed can only be fixed on one object at once, and we are soon disturbed and perplexed with a multiplicity of affairs. But, as the sacred writer speaks, “Yahweh’s eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.” (Prov. 15:3)

These natural grounds of the duty of prayer and thanksgiving to God appear plain and obvious, and afford much satisfaction to the pious mind.

Nevertheless it is a great privilege, that we have the express encouragement from God to offer up our prayers to Him, which He has given us by holy men, His prophets; and last of all by our Savior, Jesus.

And in that part of our Master’s sermon which is before us, he is giving some cautions to his followers concerning this duty, and directing them how to perform it in the way most acceptable to God and useful to themselves.

After severely condemning many in those days, who, by their holy outward appearance of great devotion, sought to give the inpression to the world that they were better and more trustworthy than others,Jesus’ cautioned against those who thought they were religious because of the frequency and length of their prayers, or who thought so poorly of their Maker, as if He, the all-knowing God, needed to be told often about their needs, as if He had forgotten them!

Our prayers and thanks to Him are not needed for any information or satisfaction that He can derive from them, they are in the highest degree serviceable to ourselves, and therefore are fitly and most kindly enjoined by Him who seeks our good.

Everything in us, good or bad, is the effect of habit. To keep up a due sense of God, it is necessary to think of Him frequently, to bring Him, His goodness, His greatness, freshly to our minds. And this is done most effectually in prayer, which puts us into His presence.

To pray with any degree of fervor or earnestness, one must have some persuasion that it will be of service to him to procure what he prays for.

The Scriptures therefore uniformly represent Almighty God as listening to the prayers of human beings, and disposed to bestow upon them everything they ask that is good for them.

However, as we ourselves are creatures so shortsighted and unknowing what might be good for us, and our heavenly Father, who is ever most kindly disposed toward us, as our Master here tells us, knows what things we have need of before we ask him, we should never pray for anything but only so far as His wisdom may see it best for us.

The great subject of our prayers to God undoubtedly ought always to be for our virtuous improvement, and to be assisted to do his will in all things, and that we may be assisted in watching over ourselves where we are most likely to fall; giving us such a great love of wisdom and goodness it will keep us above the narrow gratifications of our appetites and every unlawful desire, and make all the temptations of the world lose their power over us.

The great goal of prayer is to bring us to live under a habitual sense of the divine presence, with which it will be impossible for any to live or continue in any known evil or dishonest practice.

Far from interrupting or taking us away from our worldly pursuits, prayer furnishes us with a greater ability to go through the necessary duties of life, and spread continual comfort, cheerfulness, and joy all around us.

 (Adapted from a sermon by Rev. Theophilus Lindsey, given in March, 1778)

Evidence for The Truth of #Jesus's Gospel [#JesusFollowers]

The study for many years of the internal evidence of the truth of the Gospels has resulted in a conclusion as to their truth, which my aim now is to set before you to the best of my ability.

I confidently trust that it will be accepted by you all, however skeptical you may be, as to the truth in regard to the contents and origin of the four Gospels. This most satisfactory conclusion is simply this:

The Religion for which Jesus lived and suffered death was, in all respects, perfectly natural, as natural as the rising of the sun. 

What he is recorded in the Gospels to have said is in close conformity to the laws of Nature. His works were extraordinary natural facts. He declared they were done by God. And as explicitly he said that they were wrought as God always works, by a law of Nature, by the highest law of Nature, the law of the Supremacy of mind over matter, of Spirit over the flesh.

Humans are naturally possessed of reason and conscience, enabling us to know the right from the wrong, to hate the one, and to love the other. He is possessed also of instinctive sympathies, which bind men to mutual help by the ties of kindred, of family, and of a common nature.

Thus are we provided with the instruments and opportunities for that Humane Spirit: the Spirit of Love, for which Jesus lived and died, the Holy Spirit of God, the Divine Force, present in us as in everything that exists.

But in this world, we are in our infancy. In the earliest times, although the highest and best in us was only feebly developed, he saw, indeed, that there were invisible Powers over all. 

The manifold evils of life, physical, moral, intellectual; earthquakes, inundations, evils terrible in their consequences, sweeping away thousands of creatures, appalled him, and his startled imagination saw in these convulsions of Nature and in the devastation of the mystery of death, the power of unseen gods, expressing their wrath and cruelty, just as men do. Thus what was named religion was polytheistic and anthropomorphic.

Amidst the teeming mysteries of Being, one thing, however, is discernible. Throughout the Universe there is apparent a purpose, or tendency, out of good to evolve a better, even the worst working to the same end, slowly, indeed, but in the Supreme Power's own good time. 

Accordingly, it has come to be thought that man has descended (or rather ascended) from well-nigh the lowest forms of being-from the ascidian and the ape. In the primitive, prehistoric ages, reason and conscience being very feebly developed in them, men became the victims of an inflamed imagination.

And they saw in the terrible mysteries of suffering and death, the agency of a multitude of invisible Powers, wreaking upon man their wrath and vengeance. Thus he created gods after his own likeness.

Among the ancient nations the Hebrews believed in only one Supreme God, the Sovereign Power over all. Prophets and seers among them caught flashes of great truths of the duties of man. In their Scriptures a sense of justice and humanity appears.

At last, two thousand years ago, there appeared the Man of Nazareth. The religion of his country had then become a thing of childish rites and traditions, passing over Justice and the Love of God. 

It was insisted that eating with unwashed hands, or with people of other nations, was sinful in the sight of God. It taught that it was a more sacred duty to give money for the support of the temple worship and of the priests than to honor and support one's aged parents.

Jesus had penetrated to the heart of the old Hebrew faith, and had found in it the two great Commandments, enjoining the supreme love of the Highest and Best, and the love of one's neighbor as of oneself.

He was thus enabled to distinguish what he conceived to be the essential soul of the religion of his country, not by any miraculous illumination from Heaven, but by his native, original insight into the human soul. 

Human beings are variously gifted, in greater or less degree. Jesus was thus endowed by God with an extraordinary religious genius, so to speak. He saw the Spirit of God in every human being the undying Life of the Creator, distinguishing humanity from every other created being of which we have any knowledge.

-Adapted from, "A Washington Address," (1895) by Rev. William Henry Furness (1802-1896)

How Can We Know What Is Good? #JesusFollowers

 

On the first day of his class, a college professor announced all students would be tested that very day. The subject of the test would be all the material they were going to learn.

Not only would the test cover material from the upcoming semester, said the professor, but these freshmen students would be tested on senior-level material - four years of information, none which they had been taught.

Now, clearly, such a test would be unfair, and the results of such a test would be predictable - most students would be unable to answer most of the questions. Why should a student without knowledge of a subject be able to know enough to pass such an advanced test?

One might also ask why babies are not able to read or write, or why no eight-year-olds aren't experts in constitutional law.

The answer to all of these, as well, is that they lack the knowledge and experience to do so.

And yet, people have no problem asking why there is so much evil and even simple badness in the world. The answer, of course, is the same as in the previous examples: People act badly in many cases because they are simply unaware of what is Good. (And yes, there are others who do know, and yet, actively choose to do evil.)

The question of Good and Evil is often a religious one. And that is appropriate. God, our Creator, has standards of behavior that, if we adhere to them, will make us far better and even more spiritually perfect beings.

If one follows Jesus and believes that God chose this man to be the example of how all of us should be living, then knowledge of what he taught and preached is essential to knowing what is Good.

When we believe that this Chosen One of God is the very best example of the Good that God wishes us to pursue, we have been saved from the ignorance of what is Good. That is the first step towards the Goodness God wishes for us, but it is not the final step.

Our spiritual journey is a lifelong one. Jesus calls us to follow him, not to merely recognize him as our morally perfect example, and certainly not to simply admire his perfection.

Knowledge of the teachings of Jesus is the first step in our journey toward spiritual perfection. Committing to following those teachings is what brings us closer to the goal he sets for us.

That we cannot instantly achieve spiritual maturity does not say anything about human nature. As in the examples above, it's unreasonable to demand that we will learn any skill or even any Behavior instantly.

That is not a flaw. It is built into our Nature. The brother of Jesus, James, wrote that when we are tested with trials, we become stronger. This is because we learn from them, and they teach us.

So too, with the lessons Jesus teaches us. As a follower of Jesus, we learn not only from trials, but from the perfect example of the one God chose for us.

Having such a perfect example always before us is an amazing and beautiful gift from our Creator. That we have this example, and that Jesus himself said we may do just as he did, (and even greater things!) means that our nature is perfectible, and that we may indeed do good in a way that pleases God.

These teachings, therefore, should be our guidepost, our template, our goal in life.

To love God with all that we have and all that we are, and to love our neighbor exactly as we love ourselves, is the epitome of what it means to be a human being. This we learn from the teachings of Jesus, the one whom God anointed to be our Master and pattern.

To seek after this spiritual completeness, this maturity, this perfection, is therefore our goal in life.

That we know what is Good and what is evil means that we have an obligation to seek the Good and avoid the evil and, by our actions alone, not by our condemnation, to demonstrate this and share it with the world.

On the Atonement [#JesusFollowers]

Notwithstanding the pains commonly taken, by those who are called orthodox, to decry human reason, and to represent their views of religion as founded exclusively on a reference to scripture, there is good reason to believe that many of their characteristic tenets are in reality derived, not from scripture, even ill-understood, but from the tacit influence of some very erroneous ethical principles, and certain notions arising from a hasty analogy between the divine and human laws, to which they have endeavored to bend the discoveries of revelation. 

They may very possibly persuade themselves that these false principles are approved by the word of God, but it is not the less true that they are originally derived from reason; or rather from vague, unfounded prejudice, and very er roneous ideas of the leading doctrines of moral science, and the constitution of human society.

Thus, it is a maxim universally assumed by them, and not infrequently, as it appears to me, very unguardedly admitted by their opponents, that, independently of the grace revealed in the Gospel, under the system of law founded on strict principles of divine justice, there is and can be, no place for forgiveness, no remission even of repented sin. 

The law, as such, we are told, is necessarily unchangeable and inflexible; providing no opening for reconciliation, no ground of pardon and acceptance to the penitent. Its language is, obey, or suffer the penalty. In the case of the divine law, this penalty is death; by which term, we are told, is to be understood, not the termination of this mortal life, but eternal existence in a state of hopeless misery. 

We are also assured that, according to strict justice, a single violation of the law, the slightest deviation from perfect righteousness, incurs, at the hands of a just and holy God, this dreadful retribution. 

We are even assured that it is essential to the perfection of the divine attributes, that the provisions of the law shall in every case be rigidly enforced in their full extent: God cannot, consistently with His justice, pardon sinners without the exaction of the legal penalty. 

He owes it, we are assured, to the perfection of his own character - to the honor of his law - to the vindication of His justice in the eyes of the universe, that every offense should be visited with its appropriate punishment, in the person either of the sinner himself, or of an innocent substitute.

At other times, this tremendous view of the moral administration of the universe, is sought to be illustrated by an imaginary distribution of the divine nature into as many persons as it is possible, according to our imperfect modes of conceiving of these things, to enumerate distinct attributes. 

In this way a trinity of trinities might be constructed, forming so many distinct persons, having different characters, offices, and claims, mutually checking and controuling each other, when considered separately, limited and imperfect. Mercy, justice, wisdom, and goodness are personified. And represented as putting in their respective claims, Mercy pleads for the remission of sins, and the admission of the penitent to acceptance with God, but justice is inexorable; it "stands upon a full equivalent, and will not remit one sin without it.

Nothing is more common than for theologians to argue questions of this sort, as if the divine attributes were so many separate existences; or at least were to be considered, if we may be permitted without irreverence to use such an expression, as so many separate parts of the Divine nature. But it is evident that this proceeds entirely upon what has been called the popular, in opposition to the philosophical, conceptions of these attributes, and their relation to the conduct of human beings."

Adapted from the sermon, "Remarks on the Commonly Received Doctrines of Atonement and Sacrifice" by Rev. William Turner,  Jr. (1830)

The Proper Humanity Of #Jesus. #JesusFollowers

 

To entertain all just, honorable, and worthy notions of Christianity, as it is represented to us in the writings of the New Testament, is certainly a matter of the highest importance to humanity.

And it is no less certain, that all wrong and mistaken notions of it must be, more or less, hurtful and prejudicial to the interests of true religion.

Especially when they are received, as sacred Truths, or scripture Truths, and when those who have once imbibed them, or have been bred up in them , are afraid to examine them with the freedom and impartiality which they ought to do.

But so it is, and much to be lamented, that the scriptures have, at all events, been made to fit in with human systems, creeds and confessions, which have been taught and set up in lieu of them.

And these are not only contrary to the real meaning of the sacred writers, but in many respects absurd and inconsistent in themselves, and even repugnant to the most fundamental principles of all religion, both natural and revealed.

Such articles are consistent with human contrivance, and not the scriptures of truth, which are the only criterion by which to judge of the true, sound faith.

Now, since the doctrine of the UNITY, or of one God, is the first and chief article, and has been always allowed to hold the first place, in every creed, this will naturally introduce the immediate and present design of this paper, by leading us to make some interesting and serious reflections, which must, I think, be very plain and obvious to a common understanding.

If the Unity of God then, is the first and leading principle in religion, and the truth of this article was never once called in question by those who have been most divided in other matters, I may fairly ask, what a weak and groundless opinion must that be which many have entertained concerning "person of Christ,"  As if he, the man Christ Jesus, differed from all other men, in having two distinct natures, the human and the divine, or that of God and man, essentially and personally united!

This, I am truly persuaded, has led many pious, well-meaning persons, through the strength of custom and prejudice, or the lack of honest and free enquiry, to put a wrong, and often absurd sense upon many passages of the New Testament.

I would be far from entering into quarrelsome contention with any who may differ from me in their religious sentiments.

But I may be allowed to expostulate and reason a little upon the point itself, without giving reasonable or just offense to any, and especially, as I apprehend it to be a matter of moment, and what ought indeed to be maturely weighed, and well understood, if we would be ever able rightly to interpret that revelation which God has given us, or to set the doctrines of the New Testament in a consistent, easy, and amiable light.

I would therefore fain learn, where we have any ground to believe what is called the "hypostatic union," or a duplicity of natures in the person of Christ.

Was it not as man, and in that nature only, that Christ here prays to God as his Father in the Gospel of John? And had he not hereby taught us, even all his disciples and brethren, to pray in like manner to that same almighty Being, whom he expressly styles his God and our God, his Father and our Father (John 20:17)

The doctrine of his strict and proper humanity from this, as well as many other places, is very apparent to the understanding and reason of every man.

Or where it is that we are taught or instructed in any part of scripture, to speak of Jesus, as many of our divines have done, sometimes as God, at other times as man - a mere imaginary distinction this such as only tends to embarrass and confound, but it is far from conveying to the mind any one clear, rational, or instructive idea concerning, either the one God, or the one Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Savior prays, "My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me." (17:20-21)

Does he then pray to himself? Reason and understanding recoils at such an unnatural perversion, such a distortion of ideas!

Let learned and inquisitive men argue and debate this matter as long as they will, this must always pass with me for an axiom, or an indubitable self-evident truth, that Jesus and his Father are two beings, two distinct natures.

("A Comment On Some Remarkable Passages Of Christ's Prayer At The Close Of His Public Ministry," by Rev. Paul Cardale, 1772)