Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!wuarchive!uwm.edu!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!aplcen!haven!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: zach@drutx.att.com (Zach Lewis) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: The God That Can Remain Silent Message-ID: Date: 13 Sep 89 08:18:44 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T, Denver, CO Lines: 74 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article <5894@tekgvs.LABS.TEK.COM>, jackg@tekirl.LABS.TEK.COM (Jack Gjovaag) writes: > In article <457f13ff.be99@apollo.HP.COM> jking@apollo.HP.COM (John King) writes: > >Most of Jesus' teaching was in parables which were > >not easily comprehended by those who were not open to his message. In > >fact even the apostles didn't understand some of them, and had to > >go to Jesus and ask (Luke 8:9,10). God, then speaks to those who have the > >proper heart condition, and are willing to make an effort to search for him. > Statements such as the above have always seemed a bit strange to me. > In a sense it says that having the wrong heart condition is > an unforgivable sin in that unless the individual correct the > problem all by himself, he doesn't have access to the secrets > of God. The so-called "free gift" isn't really free at all > but requires a certain amount of cleaning up of one's act > before the gift gets bestowed. > I don't know where in the Bible you got the message clean up and then you get the free gift. Ephesians 2:8,9 says that it is free. > > I spent quite a while reading and studying the bible and actually > wanted to believe the Christian message. After quite a bit > of studying, I concluded that for me sufficient evidence simply > was not there, so I quit wanting to believe and decided that > a more skeptical mindset was appropriate. I think the ball > is now in god's court if he exists. What ball are you talking about. The Bible makes it clear that there is a God and that God has a way of life that is good and productive. The devil came along and said God's way is wrong and now we have the ball of choice is God good or can we live without God. If you look at the world around you today you see a world trying to live without God. What are the results ? (drugs, AIDS, crime, abortion, etc.) The list can be much longer. Did God cause these things ? Did God have a way that man chose not to follow. I say yes and that is because I read the Bible to see what god says to me and what choice is the best. The Bible has direction on every facet of life. How should I treat my enemies ? Matthew 5:11,12,38-48. What if more people follow this text alone what would the world be like if people follow God ? What about judging other ? Matthew 7:1-5. What would the world be like if people judged themselves as hard as they judged other. ? On this net I see many postings where a text here and a text there is taken out of context to mean whatever someone wants but in the Life of Jesus found in the gospels the confusion is cleared up. People ask what is God like look at Jesus for John 1:1 says that he was God. What did Jesus do ? I say read and see. John 5:39 shows what the problem has always been in reading the Bible, people look for things to do rather than know God for themself. A relationship causes the works. John 15:1-17. Like in love, you don't buy flowers to love you but flowers because you love someone. The Ball is in your court. Read the Gospels in the Bible to know God then the other things will make sense John 5:39,40. Zac