Following the Word..

@thinkofone said
You've side-stepped the points. Here they are again:
<<Just as you didn't understand that Jesus called His followers to become sons of God as He was a son of God, you also fail to understand that only those who KEEP His commandments (cease to sin) have the Spirit of Truth which is there to remind them of the words Jesus spoke while He walked the Earth.
>> ...[text shortened]... taught.[/b] A dogma that is contrary to the gospel preached by Jesus while He walked the Earth.
>>

If your Jesus is a dead guy why would any strive to be like him?

@kellyjay said
If your Jesus is a dead guy why would any strive to be like him?

Perhaps for similar reasons as those who strive to be like Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, etc.

Dead/alive doesn't matter much. Did they have at least some wise sayings or character traits worth emulating? That's the more important question.

@bigdoggproblem said
Perhaps for similar reasons as those who strive to be like Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, etc.

Dead/alive doesn't matter much. Did they have at least some wise sayings or character traits worth emulating? That's the more important question.

Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein all definitely existed while the Jesus guy probably did not. Kind of like emulating Mithras or Osiris. But emulating Thor could be very interesting.

@bigdoggproblem said
Perhaps for similar reasons as those who strive to be like Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, etc.

Dead/alive doesn't matter much. Did they have at least some wise sayings or character traits worth emulating? That's the more important question.

Sure you could strive to be like Donald Duck in the end you would still only amount to worm food.

@bigdoggproblem said
Perhaps for similar reasons as those who strive to be like Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein, etc.

Dead/alive doesn't matter much. Did they have at least some wise sayings or character traits worth emulating? That's the more important question.

Bottom line, Jesus asked us to be one with Him and His Father, doing that could only be done when a couple of things happen. First our sin nature had to be dealt with as well as our sins, both were done when Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and the Holy Spirit enters into the Christian life making us born again. This is all on Christ and we receive it, we don't through our own efforts either earn it, or work for it. From there we can start walking with God this is due to God leading us and being in our lives, again not us striving to be godlike, or simply emulating Christ.

Jesus being the Way isn't that Jesus takes us somewhere we need to be, it is that He personally is the Way, He is the goal and He has laid down His life for us. The rest is our turning to Him as Lord and following Him in His grace through faith, which takes it away from us in our ability to work for it suggesting God owed us for something we did. The only thing we are owed is to answer for the evil we have done, and that is what God is attempting to save us from.

@kellyjay said
If your Jesus is a dead guy why would any strive to be like him?

Clearly you have no intention of addressing the points or the verses from John 14 that underpin them.

This is that way it invariably goes with you. Whenever faced with scripture that you can't reconcile with the dogma you've been taught, you side-step it.

@thinkofone said
Clearly you have no intention of addressing the points or the verses from John 14 that underpin them.

This is that way it invariably goes with you. Whenever faced with scripture that you can't reconcile with the dogma you've been taught, you side-step it.

Do you even read what you write when you quote scripture?

@kellyjay said
Do you even read what you write when you quote scripture?

Of course I do.

Are you going to continue to side-step?

@thinkofone said
Of course I do.

Are you going to continue to side-step?

Well, when you quote scripture from your perspective from a dead Jesus what do you think it means, what weight does it carry? The only reason why anyone's words would matter is because of the truth behind them, if you have a foundation that is eternal than eternal words mean a great deal more than someone's whose life is just as passing flicker like anyone else'. Jesus' words of life are much more meaningful because of who He really was. Who He was before He became a man, who He was while He was a man, and who He is right now this moment.

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

@kellyjay said
Well, when you quote scripture from your perspective from a dead Jesus what do you think it means, what weight does it carry? The only reason why anyone's words would matter is because of the truth behind them, if you have a foundation that is eternal than eternal words mean a great deal more than someone's whose life is just as passing flicker like anyone else'. Jesus' word ...[text shortened]... is moment.

John 8:58
Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.”

Thought you would continue to side-step.

Why would anyone expect anything different from you?

@caissad4

Socrates, Ben Franklin, Albert Einstein all definitely existed while the Jesus guy probably did not. Kind of like emulating Mithras or Osiris. But emulating Thor could be very interesting.

Thousands of Jews in Jerusalem celebrated the seventh day of the week as the sacred Sabbath according to what Moses had taught them.

Suddenly within a period of a month thousands began to change and consider the first day of the new week, the eighth day as "the Lord's day" . The "Lord" being Jesus of Nazareth whom they now believed rose from the dead on the third day after His execution on a Roman cross.

In your next post give us your alternative explanation to WHY thousands of Jews broke with a millennia of sacred tradition and thought the Eighth day of the week to be more sacred then the Seventh Day.

What happened to suddenly change the minds of multitudes of Jerusalem Jews ?

Oh, to the plagiarism police of the Forum. I think I first saw this argument in Lee Strobel's book "The Case For Christ" .

@thinkofone said
Thought you would continue to side-step.

Why would anyone expect anything different from you?

I am no one that matters, unlike you who claim exclusive truth. The Jesus I point to is the Son of God and when I share either scripture or thoughts it’s to lift Him up for His glory.

@kellyjay said
I am no one that matters, unlike you who claim exclusive truth. The Jesus I point to is the Son of God and when I share either scripture or thoughts it’s to lift Him up for His glory.

And the side-stepping continues...

@kellyjay said
Sure you could strive to be like Donald Duck in the end you would still only amount to worm food.

So what? Isn't a well lived life better than a poorly lived one, regardless of how it ends?

@kellyjay said
Bottom line, Jesus asked us to be one with Him and His Father, doing that could only be done when a couple of things happen. First our sin nature had to be dealt with as well as our sins, both were done when Jesus took our sins upon Himself, and the Holy Spirit enters into the Christian life making us born again. This is all on Christ and we receive it, we don't through our ...[text shortened]... are owed is to answer for the evil we have done, and that is what God is attempting to save us from.

Yes, I'm aware of the theology. I used to believe something similar a long time ago. Now, however, I find that whole philosophy to be unhelpful in actually living a better life.