Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

General Christian Theology
Signtist
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Signtist »

In my defense I have a wife who is pregnant, on meds, and unable to function as she normally would. If you wanna pop over to Moorefield and help with Saturday night laundry etc, I'll promise to study the lesson on my "off" weekends! :lol:

Or you could just come to Donegal and take over my class some morning. I won't object. You need to find me before church though, and introduce yourself!
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Signtist
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

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Ernie wrote: The four abstinences are very interesting.
1.Pollutions of Idols 2.Fornication 3.Things strangled 4.Blood

1. This could mean association with pagan idol worship and probably included eating meat offered to idols. IMO, Paul didn't seem to think that this point was necessary. He visited places of idolatrous worship and would have been glad to eat meat offered to idols as long as no one knew where the meat came from.
2. Not sure why this one is here. Why didn't they list lying, stealing, bearing false witness, etc.?
3. Old Testament Law
4. Old Testament Law

The best explanation I've heard yet for these "decrees for to keep" is that Jewish Christians would have been unable to eat and commune and worship and touch Gentiles who did these four things. And so that Jews and Gentiles could function together, the Gentiles were being asked to defer to those who had a conscience in these matters. I can understand this for #'s 1,3,4 but still don't know what to do with #2.

Application for today? "Those without a conscience on a matter should be willing to defer to those who do, especially if the matter would make it difficult for a person with conscience to commune."
Really, Ernie? Prohibitions 3 and 4 were given to man before "The Law", were they not?
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ohio jones
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by ohio jones »

Signtist wrote:I didn't teach, which these days almost means the same thing as I didn't study the chapter. :oops:
I did teach, and (with some help from Mr. Bean and the Maasai tribe of East Africa) managed to defer the question about "does this mean we should not expect converts to follow our church's standards" to one minute before closing time. 8-)
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silentreader
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by silentreader »

Signtist wrote:In my defense I have a wife who is pregnant, on meds, and unable to function as she normally would. If you wanna pop over to Moorefield and help with Saturday night laundry etc, I'll promise to study the lesson on my "off" weekends! :lol:

Or you could just come to Donegal and take over my class some morning. I won't object. You need to find me before church though, and introduce yourself!
Sounds like your lives are at least as complicated as ours.
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Hats Off
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Hats Off »

silentreader wrote:
Signtist wrote:In my defense I have a wife who is pregnant, on meds, and unable to function as she normally would. If you wanna pop over to Moorefield and help with Saturday night laundry etc, I'll promise to study the lesson on my "off" weekends! :lol:

Or you could just come to Donegal and take over my class some morning. I won't object. You need to find me before church though, and introduce yourself!
Sounds like your lives are at least as complicated as ours.
I think it must be in a different way though, Silentreader! How many grandchildren do you have? I could probably introduce the two of you to each other.
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silentreader
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

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Hats Off wrote:
silentreader wrote:
Signtist wrote:In my defense I have a wife who is pregnant, on meds, and unable to function as she normally would. If you wanna pop over to Moorefield and help with Saturday night laundry etc, I'll promise to study the lesson on my "off" weekends! :lol:

Or you could just come to Donegal and take over my class some morning. I won't object. You need to find me before church though, and introduce yourself!
Sounds like your lives are at least as complicated as ours.
I think it must be in a different way though, Silentreader! How many grandchildren do you have? I could probably introduce the two of you to each other.
Different way, well, yes and no. Mind you she's not pregnant, but she is on meds, and she is unable to function normally. She had rotator cuff surgery in September, from which she is recovering extremely well, for which we are deeply thankful, but she is desperately in need of a hip replacement (2 actually), wait times are brutal, it may become an emergency before she can get in.
As for grandchildren, we have 13 :shock: ,(I think), and we treasure any time we can spend with them.

(edited to add) I think Signtist was working on a sign close to the edge of our property a couple of summers ago, I should have gone out and invited him in for coffee.
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Signtist
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Signtist »

silentreader wrote: (edited to add) I think Signtist was working on a sign close to the edge of our property a couple of summers ago, I should have gone out and invited him in for coffee.
You never know who's watching you, these days.
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Heirbyadoption
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Heirbyadoption »

Signtist wrote:
silentreader wrote:
Any insights by now, Signtist? :)
I didn't teach, which these days almost means the same thing as I didn't study the chapter. :oops: But I was surprised at a few folks who thought the command to not eat blood was merely to not offend anyone.

And then the guy who taught opened the class with a few introductory thoughts, and the class just kind of unfolded before him. He only spoke again to close. Gotta figure out his recipe!
Signtist, when you have time, could you expand on why this surprised you, and your suggested alternative take on the prohibition against eating blood? Thanks.
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Signtist
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Signtist »

The same day God told humans that eating meat was OK, He also said this:

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

And this was BEFORE the Law was given. Guess I'm simple enough I always figured it still applied. Someone else probably has better insight into all this.
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Josh
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Re: Acts 15 - Jerusalem Council

Post by Josh »

Signtist wrote:The same day God told humans that eating meat was OK, He also said this:

“But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each human being, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of another human being.

And this was BEFORE the Law was given. Guess I'm simple enough I always figured it still applied. Someone else probably has better insight into all this.
Do you think the Noahic commandments are binding on all persons?
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