Please enlighten me!

[teeboy]

The Sermon on the Mount is not an improvement, it is a different way of explaining the prophetic messages. Again, one doesn’t improve perfection. The New testament writers never thought they had to rewrite scripture, just show how Christ fulfilled it.

No. It was a totally new teaching.

 

[teeboy]

If the NT is an “improvement” to the OT, what makes you believe that God will not “improve” things again?

The question is, why would God provide for such teachings? Could it possibly be that there is an educative component to God’s revelation that “evolves” with the requirements of the age in which it is given?

Kam

Jesus is God. Jesus was a teacher. Jesus didn’t teach the law. Is God going to come again in flesh to teach? No. Jesus will come again to judge. That was part of his teaching.

 

[Gorgias]

cargau:

The Sermon on the Mount is not an improvement, it is a different way of explaining the prophetic messages. Again, one doesn’t improve perfection. The New testament writers never thought they had to rewrite scripture, just show how Christ fulfilled it.

No. It was a totally new teaching.

Hmm… not according to Christ, right? (“Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them.”) If Christ was presenting something “totally new”, then he’d have been abolishing what came before, wouldn’t he have been? No, instead, He was the fulfillment of what had come before (not an improvement, or a “v2.0”, but a fulfillment). Necessarily, by fulfilling the law, what had been previously revealed was now clarified, but it was neither “new” nor “improved”…

 

[cargau]

Right! The Old Testament writers were inspired by Holy Spirit.
The text is revealed Divine truth. The New Testament builds on and fulfills what
was written in the OT. The term “improved” is an inappropriate characterization
of the NT. It is a continuation of God’s salvific plan
for Mankind.

 

[chosen_people]

No. It was a totally new teaching.

Seriously? Why do you think that Christians refer to the Judeo-Christian ethics and values?
I’m starting to believe that Catholics really don’t read their bibles.

If we read the Christian scriptures, we see that the Christian leader made a couple of egregious misquotes of the Jewish scriptures. None the less, he did say a few really worthwhile things. However, it turns out that these things were lifted from the Jewish scriptures and presented as if original to Jesus in the Christian scriptures.

Here are just a few of many concrete examples:
Psalms 37;11
'but the humble shall inherit the earth, and delight in abundant peace"

becomes in Matthew 5:5 (the sermon on the mount)
‘Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth’

Psalms 24:3-4
“Who may ascend the mountain of Hashem and who may stand in the place of sanctity?One with clean hand and pure heart;”

becomes in Matthew 5:8
“Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God”

Lamentations 3:30
“Let one offer his cheek to the smiter, let him be filled with disgrace”

becomes in Matthew 5;39

“…but if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also…”

 

[steve53]

Chosen People, how can we convince you to become a Christian?

 

[chosen_people]

Chosen People, how can we convince you to become a Christian?

The ancient Romans could not fathom how, if the God of the Jews was the one almighty God, the Jews had fallen under Rome’s power.

The Roman Empire has long since crumbled to dust. All the other nations and peoples of the Roman empire are no more. Only the Jews remain. It is seemingly impossible that they of all the world’s ancient peoples have survived, but they have. Even more remarkable, that they have survived despite the animosity against them, through centuries of adversity aimed to make them victims for their stubborn insistence to continue to remain being Jews.

The Jews had only themselves and their eternal covenant with God. The Jews survived.

They are no longer a vassal state but have regained sovereignty over their homeland. This too is a seeming impossibility. They regained their independence a mere three years after one third of the Jewish people were destroyed in the genocide of the Shoah. They regained their independence despite being immediately attacked by the armies of five nations. In both cases the world stood by and watched. When Hitler rose to power the world shut their borders to the Jews leaving the Jews to his murderous wrath. During World war II not one country could spare one bomb on even one mission to put Auschwitz out of commission for even a single day. When the Jewish state was attacked not one country sent one soldier to help the survivors of Auschwitz. Instead they imposed arms embargoes to prevent the Jews from defending themselves.

The Jews had only themselves and their eternal covenant with God.The Jewish nation was not extinguished forever in the ashes of the Shoah, the Jews won their war of re- independence.

That the Jewish state survives today is also a seeming impossibility. It sits on a mere one per cent of the land of the middle east, in an area roughly the size of the state of New Jersey, surrounded by a billion enemies. It could not possibly survive but it does. Despite its precarious position it is seemingly so strong as to be deemed an “aggressor” by those who wish it ill.

The Jews make up a mere two tenths of one per cent of the world’s population. The have only been allowed to integrate within general western society in the last two hundred years. So small in numbers it is a seeming impossibility that Jews should be even seen or felt. However, despite their minuscule numbers their contributions to society are so vast that their enemies accuse them of “controlling the world”.

The ancient Romans could not fathom the God of the Jews. Today, their descendants cannot look at the Jew and not believe in God.

 

[Kam_Fanaian]

Chosen People, how can we convince you to become a Christian?

Steve53, how can God convince you that Jesus has returned in the glory of the Father?

God bless you my friend

Kam

 

[Kam_Fanaian]

The ancient Romans could not fathom how, if the God of the Jews was the one almighty God, the Jews had fallen under Rome’s power.

The Roman Empire has long since crumbled to dust. All the other nations and peoples of the Roman empire are no more. Only the Jews remain. It is seemingly impossible that they of all the world’s ancient peoples have survived, but they have. Even more remarkable, that they have survived despite the animosity against them, through centuries of adversity aimed to make them victims for their stubborn insistence to continue to remain being Jews.

The Jews had only themselves and their eternal covenant with God. The Jews survived.

They are no longer a vassal state but have regained sovereignty over their homeland. This too is a seeming impossibility. They regained their independence a mere three years after one third of the Jewish people were destroyed in the genocide of the Shoah. They regained their independence despite being immediately attacked by the armies of five nations. In both cases the world stood by and watched. When Hitler rose to power the world shut their borders to the Jews leaving the Jews to his murderous wrath. During World war II not one country could spare one bomb on even one mission to put Auschwitz out of commission for even a single day. When the Jewish state was attacked not one country sent one soldier to help the survivors of Auschwitz. Instead they imposed arms embargoes to prevent the Jews from defending themselves.

The Jews had only themselves and their eternal covenant with God.The Jewish nation was not extinguished forever in the ashes of the Shoah, the Jews won their war of re- independence.

That the Jewish state survives today is also a seeming impossibility. It sits on a mere one per cent of the land of the middle east, in an area roughly the size of the state of New Jersey, surrounded by a billion enemies. It could not possibly survive but it does. Despite its precarious position it is seemingly so strong as to be deemed an “aggressor” by those who wish it ill.

The Jews make up a mere two tenths of one per cent of the world’s population. The have only been allowed to integrate within general western society in the last two hundred years. So small in numbers it is a seeming impossibility that Jews should be even seen or felt. However, despite their minuscule numbers their contributions to society are so vast that their enemies accuse them of “controlling the world”.

The ancient Romans could not fathom the God of the Jews. Today, their descendants cannot look at the Jew and not believe in God.

Hi chosen people, what is the “eternal covenant” of the Jewish people with God?



Kam

 

[teeboy]

OK it was a new way of teaching.

 

[Kam_Fanaian]

Scripture is the word of God, thus it is perfect in its message and its truth. Since that is the case, one Scripture cannot be “improved” upon since perfect is about as good as it gets.

Still, this inspired word was written by men at a time when morality was very different. Women, for example were not held in very high esteem because many of the near eastern cultures believed that the principal of human life came from the man alone. The woman was nothing more than a holding station until the baby was born. So when we see Lot’s wiilingness to have his daughter raped rather than the angels, it can be understood based on the primitive biological understanding.

Reading Scripture, it is important to look beyond the words at face value and try to understand the message and what it reveals about God, His relationship to his people and their response to him.

cargau, have you ever considered the possiblility that, yes, perfection can not be improved upon, and so God’s Word is always perfect. However, society changes. We discover new things in life. Socialization develops more and more complexity and therefore NEW guidance may be required to meet the demands of this increasing complexity.

Is it possible therefore, that in order to prevent the organization of such complexities being devised by man, God provides Divine Inspiration to provide an absolute standard to live our lives by for any specific age or era.

Yes, the Church has been a standard for the evolving of guidance to meets the needs of this increasing complexity, however, it cannot be ever considered of equal value to magnitude to the Word of God itself.

Does that make sense?

Kam