Thread closed on Concept of Jesus as a human male(now cont.!)

[BarbaraTherese]

If you go to the Poll and thread on Concept of Jesus as a human male…you will pick up the thread of what I am on about…(scuse ‘pun’…)…

Hey there Bob, you Trailblazer, you! I hope you catch up with this, in fact I just may try to make time before I turn to other matters to see if I can PM you to catch up with this new thread and truly trailblaze for us all! Your Post was the final one in the thread and Poll I started…and wow! Bob, what famous last words you gave us!

Thank you, I am joyous!

If anyone would like to continue the discussion on Jesus as fully human male, here is your opening in this thread.

I was delighted with the Poll, not so much to see my own attitude about the type of person Jesus IS, and I repeat, IS!..but to see that two people wanted to think a bit about their concept or lack of it and renew that part of their spirituality in a new way!..that delighted me!

Also, for those who ponder catching up with me. No! I am not away in the sense some take it…I am still in Bethany, and Bethany is a lifestyle - hence I am always in Bethany…but I am moving in and out of the Bethany residence of which I am steward on errands and also meeting others here in Bethany …I am not on holidays or anything like that…absent for retreat…etc. etc. just fully committed more or less until Bethany returns to its other identity: monastic.

May God’s Peace be with us
and journey ahead of us
blazing the trail… smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/11/11_12_11.gif…

Friday, 13th. May, 2005 9.13pm

 

[trailblazer]

Well Bard & others, I am back. I’ve been away for a couple of days visiting with some friends. The couple of times I was able to get on line my computer would not work properly. As I am no computer wiz, when I got in touch with tech support, I was really embarrassed at how simple the solution was.

OK! Enough about my life. Lets get to the subject! I think this is a particularly important area as over the centuries their have been many misconceptions about both the humanity and divinity of Jesus. Early in Church history the questions of Christ’s divinity and had to be addressed. Great Christological debates developed. Some held that Christ was God in a human body; others that he was human. The extremes of overemphasis of either is problematic and heretical. In today’s society these misconcepptions continue to darken us. On October 25, 451, the council of Chalcedon, gave the Church its stance that Jesus Christ is truly devine and fully human! This is our faith – fully human – fully divine!

I see several problems today. Many still retain the dualistic thought of the holy “soul” trapped in the “evil” body! From my standpoint, this is evidenced by the thought that…Chirst did not really suffer…that Christ could do the things he asked us to do only because he was God and thus we should not even strive to follow his directives.

However, Christ was both–fully human and divine at the same time. Theological development cannot change this fact, but can aid our understanding of this mystery. Christ lived both and showed us how to live; to be fully human in everyway is to fully embrace Christ’s divinity and that of the Trinity. God gave us a world and a command to evangelize his Kingdom. As human beings this is our calling. Thus, we are called to enculturate the world with faith. This is what Christ taught and lived, and gave us as our inheritance! So, we look to Christ and get to know him intimately. In doing so, he shows us the “narrow” road, the freedom available, the peace, and the rewards greater than anything what-so-ever offered by the world.

As fully human like us in every way, Jesus lived for God and gave us a “treasure map” so to speak! Jesus was a deep man of prayer as demonstrated by him praying before major decisions, going off to pray for lengthy periods to spend quality time with Abba, and his disciples asking him to teach them to pray. He was a man of great intelligence and wisdom as demonstrated by his questions and answers as a child of 12, the amazement of crowds who heard him, and the masterful parables he developed and taught through. He was a man of deep compassion as demonstrated by his healing and touching lepers and others, his kindness to the women caught in adultry, and his forgiveness of those who crucified him. I cannot imagine him not having an award winning smile and a good sense of humor that attracted people. And, he was a man of conviction and action. He said things as he saw them and upset many. In his love for the marginalized and effort to proclaim by word and deed the Kingdom, he scandalized many, but that did not dissuade him. He turned the world and worldview of his counterparts upside down…this eventually led to his crucifixion.

Throughout his life he suffered like us from taunts (those who rejected his teaching about his body being real food), aleination (his family who took him out, telling the people that he was crazy / his disciples who deserted him because of his teachings about the Eucharist)), criticism (pharisees, saducees…), betrayal (his friend and apostle, Judas) , and psysical abuse (villagers tried to throw im off a cliff). In death he sufferred from all these things plus the scrurging…degrading and making fun…stripping him…carrying a the heavy instrument of his death through the streets after being weakened trough the turture…haviving nails driven through his flesh and bone…hanging thirstily and struggling for breath on a cross. When all was finished by worldly standards, God overturned these through Jesus’ resurrection!

As Jesus was active in establishing justice, so must we. We are to bring Jesus to the ostracized and needy of this world by our thoughts, words, actions and inactions. We cannot remain uninvolved and close our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters. **This means that their can never be a real seperation of our vocation from the secular world created by God. We need to be politicians, activists, healers, feeders, lenders, givers… **However, to follow Christ also calls us to carry the cross as well and live as Jesus did even through sufferings!

OK! I’m** finally** off my soapbox. Bless you all!

Love & peace in Christ,
Bob

 

[BarbaraTherese]

trailblazer:

Well Bard & others, I am back. I’ve been away for a couple of days visiting with some friends. The couple of times I was able to get on line my computer would not work properly. As I am no computer wiz, when I got in touch with tech support, I was really embarrassed at how simple the solution was.

…I have had to remove parts of Trailblazers Post because of the 5000 word limit to Posts…but catch his full text above…and WELL WORTH IT!

However, Christ was both–fully human and divine at the same time. Theological development cannot change this fact, but can aid our understanding of this mystery. Christ lived both and showed us how to live; to be fully human in everyway is to fully embrace Christ’s divinity and that of the Trinity. God gave us a world and a command to evangelize his Kingdom. As human beings this is our calling. Thus, we are called to enculturate the world with faith. This is what Christ taught and lived, and gave us as our inheritance! So, we look to Christ and get to know him intimately. In doing so, he shows us the “narrow” road, the freedom available, the peace, and the rewards greater than anything what-so-ever offered by the world.

As fully human like us in every way, Jesus lived for God and gave us a “treasure map” so to speak! Jesus was a deep man of prayer as demonstrated by him praying before major decisions, going off to pray for lengthy periods to spend quality time with Abba, and his disciples asking him to teach them to pray. He was a man of great intelligence and wisdom as demonstrated by his questions and answers as a child of 12, the amazement of crowds who heard him, and the masterful parables he developed and taught through. He was a man of deep compassion as demonstrated by his healing and touching lepers and others, his kindness to the women caught in adultry, and his forgiveness of those who crucified him. I cannot imagine him not having an award winning smile and a good sense of humor that attracted people. And, he was a man of conviction and action. He said things as he saw them and upset many. In his love for the marginalized and effort to proclaim by word and deed the Kingdom, he scandalized many, but that did not dissuade him. He turned the world and worldview of his counterparts upside down…this eventually led to his crucifixion.

Throughout his life he suffered like us from taunts (those who rejected his teaching about his body being real food), aleination (his family who took him out, telling the people that he was crazy / his disciples who deserted him because of his teachings about the Eucharist)), criticism (pharisees, saducees…), betrayal (his friend and apostle, Judas) , and psysical abuse (villagers tried to throw im off a cliff). In death he sufferred from all these things plus the scrurging…degrading and making fun…stripping him…carrying a the heavy instrument of his death through the streets after being weakened trough the turture…haviving nails driven through his flesh and bone…hanging thirstily and struggling for breath on a cross. When all was finished by worldly standards, God overturned these through Jesus’ resurrection!

As Jesus was active in establishing justice, so must we. We are to bring Jesus to the ostracized and needy of this world by our thoughts, words, actions and inactions. We cannot remain uninvolved and close our eyes to the needs of our brothers and sisters. **This means that their can never be a real seperation of our vocation from the secular world created by God. We need to be politicians, activists, healers, feeders, lenders, givers… **However, to follow Christ also calls us to carry the cross as well and live as Jesus did even through sufferings!

OK! I’m** finally** off my soapbox. Bless you all!

Love & peace in Christ,
Bob

Hi Trailblazer…

Thanks for this post. I really must apologize that I have not caught up with this thread…and today (Tue. 17.5.05 8.26am) I have to go out and will be absent yet again from my desk for probably about coming 6-8hrs. But I do intend at first opportunity and hopefully perhaps tonight Adelaide time (12hrs hence) to come back and give your post, Trailblazer, the read and comments it deserves. Also I have started a thread on Discipleship (subject) including asked for comments on what we mean in The Church by the discipleship of Mary. Like to see you there too Trailblazer! …

Cacha tonight in about 8 hrs!

Send regards smileys.smileycentral.com/cat/17/17_1_30.gif
Barb

Come Holy Spirit come and renew us that you my life in us fully in and in this alone shall we renew the face of the earth.

 

[BarbaraTherese]

All I can say is that if nothing else is posted into this thread, Trailblazer I thank you for your post with all my heart…well worth starting this thread just to capture those thoughts of yours in print!..and here for posterity for t he whole Church and world to see!!!

…and possibly a stumbling block to many…and it’s not that I want to stumble many…just think possibly many would be stumbled…and stunned by your knowledge into silence, Trailblazer…and entirely a positive matter…in the interests of truth.
A wonderful book is available called Men in The Bible, The Good The Bad and The Ugly. …I recommend it for those who would trust a recommendaiton from moi!..

Thanks Trailblazer Thank you, Trailblazer…so aptly tagged!
…(tagged means ID in Aussie)…smileys.smileycentral.com/cus/e_2_2.gif and good to catch your thoughts in quite a few posts…I am only Barb - but do keep up the good works…PLEASE!

Regards, Barb

Bethany in South Australia

6.6.05 St. Norbet, please pray for us!

9.49pm