Sunday, January 15, 2012

SUNDAY RESPITE-What Salvation's Done for Me-Booth Brothers

Posted by Joe at 12:05 AM

6 comments:

sue hanes said...

Joe - That was beautiful.

You don't mind if I use to post on my Blog - do you Joe?

I didn't think so.

Thanks Joe.

January 15, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Sterculian Rhetoric said...

I can only assume this video is inspirational. I am on dial-up so the video is rather ‘jerky’ when I try to view it and this Internet Machine on which I play does not have an audio driver anyway – no sound!
I was wondering if you could help me out. I am very much interested in the Bible – the New Testament specifically. I have taught myself how to read and write Ancient Greek and the scraps of Biblical texts, written circa AD 100 to 300, found on papyrus, and in some cases velum, are excellent sources of Ancient Greek with which I might practise my translation skills.

I have a question regarding the story of Jesus and the herd of pigs at Gadara (Matthew 8.30-32 (cf. Mark 5.11-13 and Luke 8.32-33). As I am sure you are aware, Jesus at Gadara cast daemons into a herd of swine, which upon receiving these daemons, proceeded, in terror, to drown themselves.
The Story of The Gadarene Swine I think it’s called.

Presumably, these swine were not feral and were therefore chattel of one or more, otherwise poor, ‘owners’. The Bible appears to be silent on whether these owners of the unfortunate swine were compensated for their losses.
Would Jesus just assume that the owners would not consider this ‘liberation’ of their assets as theft and that these pig farmers would be more than happy to provide this necessary sacrifice? Would He think them to be good Christians?


Or.....

Would Jesus assume that the owners would be quite pissed about being asked (That is assuming they were even asked. The Bible is also curiously silent on this as well.) to accept this liberation of their assets and to do so with the full knowledge that compensation for their loss would not be forthcoming? Would Jesus have compensated these poor pig famers for their losses? If so, where would He have gotten the money? If not, how would He feel about the pig farmers if they considered this 'liberation' as theft and possibly beat Him for doing it? Would He think these pig farmers to be good Christians?

January 15, 2012 at 2:19 PM
Joe said...

SR: It is not the intent of this blog to exposit the Scriptures, but I will respond with a brief overview of the meaning.

The first thing to understand is that The Bible is God's revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption. It's not about you or me, it's all about Him.

Any reading of Scripture must be done in the light of this truth or the point of the section read will be missed.

The second thing to know is that Matthew was written to the Jews to explain to them who Jesus is and what His purpose is.

One last thing. There is no such thing as a "good" Christian (nor, by definition, can there be a "bad" Christian). As one wag put it: "You is either a Saint or an Ain't."

Now to the story.

The tribe of Gad (Gadarenes) stayed on the wrong side of the Jordan and went into the pig business, which they shouldn't have done(being Jews).

When evil (the demons) comes face to face with Christ, it recoils in fear. The demons would rather be cast into the "unclean" pigs than face Jesus.

The towns folk were unhappy with Jesus and told Him to get out of town.

Like most of the world, they would rather have their pigs than to have Jesus.

Any one (or all) of them could have come to Jesus and been brought into His salvation, but they, like most of the world today, all chose to reject Him.

Did Jesus consider them "good Christians?" No, He did not consider them Christians at all. A Christian is one who has placed his faith and trust in the finished work of Christ at the cross of Calvary and His resurrection (Romans 10:9 & 10).

They did not do that. They rejected Him and His work.

January 15, 2012 at 5:39 PM
sue hanes said...

Joe - I see your point about there not being 'good' or 'bad' Christians.

But will you allow that there are Christians that do not act in a way that reflects 'good' on the One in which they purport to Believe?

And what always bothers me is can there be people who some think are not Christian at all and yet in their Heart they Believe?

And do people who 'Judge' that they are not Christian and yet the One who is in a Position to know - knows that they are Christian - well can't these judgemental Christians not be thought of as possibly 'bad' Christians?

January 15, 2012 at 9:49 PM
Joe said...

sue hanes: "But will you allow that there are Christians that do not act in a way that reflects 'good' on the One in which they purport to Believe?"

Yes.

I'm one of them.

So are you.

So is everybody else.

"...for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23).

"All" means...well, ALL.

Not some. Not a few bad apples.

ALL.

Both before and after salvation.

I don't judge the hearts of other people...because I can't. I have no idea who has trusted Christ in their hearts and who hasn't.

I DO judge their actions (mine included), their philosophies, and their morality.

January 16, 2012 at 8:52 AM
Sterculian Rhetoric said...

"....The first thing to understand is that The Bible is God's revelation of His character, His love for His creation and His plan for its redemption....."

I suspect this is true - if my translations are accurate. And I have only a few quite small quibbles with the rest of your exposition. But, you did not answer my query - Were the owners compensated for their losses?

".....Any reading of Scripture must be done in the light of this truth or the point of the section read will be missed....."

I agree, but is it not necessary to be able to read and write ancient Greek and Aramaic in order to 'read' the Scriptures, that is to understand, the True word of God?
Does relying on translations of translations of the Greek expose one to the unfortunate fact that much could have been 'lost in translation? I'm familiar with the Council of Niceae in AD 325, the Vulgate Latin Bible and the 'gross' machinations involved in the creation of the King James Version.
From my studies, I do not consider ANY Bible translation into English currently available to be the Word of God.
I do believe that unless one can read and write ancient Greek, one has NEVER read the True Word of God.
I do not think I am wrong.

January 17, 2012 at 9:10 AM

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