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Importance of Jesus, His teachings, His actions, and His death...
my friends, i want to make this thread a place where we can come and contimplate on the significants of Christ, His teachings, His actions, and His death...
Comments
Nice post GJI, it's a nice way to say what Jesus Christ did for us.
it is touching as we say in the Gregorian mass, "he did not his face form the shame of spiting"
he could have done more than "yell back" he had authority over the andels, remember wen Peter cut off the gaurd (Malchus) ear, jesus said that if he said the word 12 legions of angels would surround him and rescue him, that is wat i find amazing he had the power to stop, everything but he didnt, when they told him to come off the cross and save himself that they may believe, he didnt...
what do i say???
Genesis 2:17 - But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.
so, if man died, and human nature was corrupted, God had to take the form of a human to die on our behalf. He couldnt just click his fingers and forgive them, becaus he told them they would die if they ate from the tree, and God is just...this whole thing is explained by St. Athanasius btw...
any time i talk with a non-beliver, i have good progress until i hit this point, then there hearts harden and their minds dont allow them to believe...
-BAPTISM: He did not need to be baptized..because God is without sin, and baptism leads to the remission of sins..but yet, He got baptized to teach us..humility and to teach us that we should obey Gods commandments
-TEMPTATION: When He was tempted by the devil.....we learned from Him..that being tempted in itself is not a sin..but giving into temptation is..He taught us to overcome the evil one...not by physical power...or strength..but by the word of God we can overcome all evil...and not to rely on ourselves but to depend on Him when we are tempted..as He gave us the authority to trample on serpents and scorpions and all the power of the wicked one
HUMILITY: In all of our Lord's actions we see true humility. He is the greatest example of humility that ever was....Our king of kings and Lord of Lords was born in a manger..among animals.......He washed the feet of His disciples...He died for us a death of humility...a death of shame, crucified!..the worst type of death at that time..He was beaten and bruised....they spat upon His face...all for our sakes...
LOVE:: Our sweet Lord Jesus is love itself! From all what He did for the sakes of us..who are nothing but sinners we see great ..unconditional love. He taught us to love one another and to love our enemies even...“But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you” Matthew 5:44 the people whom He created with His own hands..and in His image...crucified Him and reviled Him...but yet..He didnt say a word.....but He showed us that if our hearts really have love in them we must also learn to forgive one another..so He said "Father forgive them"
why did Jesus die for us???
"For God so loved the world, that He sent His only begotton Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life" John 3:16
God...who is the very essence of love, who by His nature is love itself...loves His children so much, and because of so, God is"not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance." 2 Peter 3:9 So when Adam and Eve fell...they died.."the wages of sin is death"...so in order to bring us back to life again..something had to be sacrificed...because "without the shedding of blood there is no remission" (Heb 9:22)..so because of His great love..He gave us all a second chance..so He made a new covenant with us...and sent His only begotton son..to die for the sins of the world..and by His stripes we were healed..and by His precious blood our sins were washed away..that we might have ..yet another chance to enter heaven and to live with Him forever in eternal joy and glory
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yeah guys i understand that, but the non-believer would say that it was just an excuse that our minds cant comprehend it, and quoting from the bible wont help they dont believe in it...
any time i talk with a non-beliver, i have good progress until i hit this point, then there hearts harden and their minds dont allow them to believe...
yeh i agree i think thers noway out of it, they have to believe first b4 they can come to terms with it, or am i wrong??
The one thing that I just wish for all non believers, besides the salvation of their souls, is that they could enjoy the so many beautiful things that Christianity has to offer. It is like a blanket in the winter, a loyal friend in times of harships, priceless advice from parents, it is every good thing possible, and this is not even getting into the unexplainable feeling we get when we sing hymns, help others, etc.. Just as the sun brings forth light, and without the sun there would be no life, God gives us salvation and without God there would be no life.
well when talking to non-believers about Christ, keep in mind that there are two kinds of non-believers...those that ask you about Christ just for the sake of disproving your religion, or those that ask...because they really hunger and seek for information about the right religion...
Pray for all those who do not believe, because even though their hearts might be hardened and they are walking in darkness and can not see the True Light, one day the Light of the world, might open the eyes of their hearts so that they may see Him.
If they are lost, don’t worry He will find His lost sheep. "I myself will search for my sheep and look after them. As a shepherd looks after his scattered flock when he is with them, so will I look after my sheep. I will rescue them from all the places where they were scattered on a day of clouds and darkness." Ezekiel 34:11, 12
And remember that whether for us believers, or for non-believers..that if you have gone astray, He will bring you back to Him. If you were once in darkness, walk in His light once again. If you have forgotten Him at times, He has never forgotten you. If you have forsaken Him sometimes, He will never forsake you, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" Hebrews 13:5. Come back to your loving father, who for you, shed His blood on the cross, "return to Me, says the Lord of Hosts, and I will return to you" Zechariah1:3
[quote author=PrincessMary link=board=1;threadid=607;start=0#msg10544 date=1094319830]
well when talking to non-believers about Christ, keep in mind that there are two kinds of non-believers...those that ask you about Christ just for the sake of disproving your religion, or those that ask...because they really hunger and seek for information about the right religion...
I can't agree with you more PrincessMary. Has anyone noticed that there are more people that do not have a religion than there are people who will argue their religion?
GOD BLESS ALL! :-*
:)
It’s all started with Adam and Eve as we all know. When they committed the sin and disobeyed God, sin, which is so opposite to the nature of God, made Adam and Eve feel and see what great (or you might want to say what huge) evil they have committed, they disobeyed God. They departed from the presence of God and from being united with Him. And just like a priest (can’t remember his name) said in a lecture, their disobedience, their ambitious and their curiosity to have knowledge as God, made them commit many sins: *disobeying the law of God, *disbelieving God (as if He was lying to them when He said if you eat form this tree you will die), *prejudice for wanting to be like God (same sin which the devil fell in when he was an angel), *listening to the serpent and believing what she told them without consulting or praying to God, *first look and desire – they saw the fruit and they found it desirable, *non-satisfaction as they left all the trees of heaven including the tree of Life (which is Jesus Christ) and desired the forbidden tree. On the other hand their senses that committed all those sins, where not the parts that they hid from God, their ears sinned when they listened to the serpent, their eyes sinned when they looked and desired the fruit, their hands sinned when they touched the fruit and their mouths and tongues sinned when they talked to the serpent and tasted the fruit and find it delicious, yet when they saw themselves naked, they covered their body parts which did not commit any sin but which they saw were different between the figure of Adam and the figure of Eve, cause when they disobeyed God, they did not part from His presence only, but they parted from each other as well, they noticed for the first time the differences between themselves. They lost the innocence that God created them with. After they were used to focus on God and His gifts and blessings to them, they started to be focused each on himself and notice the differences from the other (selfishness). When they departed from God, they disgraced (opposite to grace) the magnificent human body that God have created, and when they noticed that they were naked, they also departed from each other mentally and spiritually. But because God not only Just, but also Merciful, Unto Adam also and to his wife did the LORD God make coats of skins, and clothed them.Gen2:21 – so basically God offered the first animal sacrifice on behalf of the human race to cover their knowledge of being naked which resulted from sin thus blood was shed to cover sin and that was God’s rule; the fig tree leaves which Adam and Eve used to cover their nakedness was not enough, but God made coats of skin to cover them. God hid His face from sin, and by covering Adam and Eve with coats of skin, He symbolize the need of a sacrifice to cover sin and to cover the human shame from the face of God. But can animal blood return the human body and the human race to its first rank united with God, of course not, and since man had sinned, even any regular human cannot return man to his original rank united with God who breathed in him life from His Holy Spirit. So the only solution for man to become united with God again is that God himself be united first with the human nature to bless it, consecrate it and return it to its original rank, also, blood still must be shed to cover not only the material nakedness of man but also his soul and spiritual nakedness, so our Lord Jesus Christ had to die on the cross and shed His precious blood in order that the Father accept the only and final sacrifice to cover the human race starting from Adam until the end of the world, a divine sacrifice that will cancel all other in-sufficient and un-complete sacrifices of the old testament. Also, with Christ’s sacrifice and the establishment of the Eucharist, we are now wearing Christ each time we have communion, that’s the ultimate unity with God once again. He is the tree of life, and he who eats from it will live for eternity, not on earth, but in the Kingdom of the Father. The blood also refer to the Passover. The whole ordeal of the old testament of the Passover was to prepare the world for the original and one sacrifice that will free the children of God from the slavery of sin. But remember that salvation is not complete except with the Resurrection. So we die from the world and from sin to be resurrected with Him in glory.
Hope this humble explanation would answer the question of GJI dated in 09/03/04.
Please remember me in your prayers.
Ibrahim
;)
i think he also changed how judgement would come immediatly eg with the women who commited adultery and when he said "he who has no sin let then cast the first stone"
i think he changed that, u know wat i mean, know, punishment and judgement comes after death, rather than imeddiatly.
GOD BLESS ALL! :-*
he didnt only Give us hope, but he taught us how to love, how to pray, how to preach, how to act...
he put us on the path of salvation for everyone who accepts him.
GOD BLESS ALL! :-*
wat i want to know it Jesus gave gave his life up willingly on the cross for us, right??
and he had free will, and he was all human and all GOd.
so that means he could have pulled out, doesnt??
he could have stopped every thing and saved himself, he had the power to, but he didnt...
A master can never take his servants where he himself has never been. So how can Jesus tell us to sacrifice our lives for others, and to put others before us, unless He himself did this? For example, if a mother tells her child not to run in the house, but the mother does, and uses the excuse that it is because she is older and has more authority that she can run in the house, it lessens the probability that the child will listen.
GOD BLESS ALL! :-*
GOD BLESS ALL! :-*