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It seems to be in vogue here now to take what someone else started as a topic, and just turn it around a bit. So here's my contribution to the mix.

Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

It's true that not many Christians do what Jesus challenged the young man with, but he also didn't tell everyone to do that. In fact, the prime counter example is Nicodemus. It's interesting that he wasn't TOLD to do that, but by voluntary action he either did, or came pretty close. (Half of all to the poor, repay any fraud by four times. I've often thought how, if Short-Stuff Nic was as crooked as lots of people make him out to be, it would be impossible for him to carry out what he said he would do - unless, of course, he had some other way to make a lot of money through some means other than collecting tax, and spent a good part of the rest of his life doing the RTFP - Reconciliation Times Four Project.)

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:27 pm It seems to be in vogue here now to take what someone else started as a topic, and just turn it around a bit. So here's my contribution to the mix.

Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

It's true that not many Christians do what Jesus challenged the young man with, but he also didn't tell everyone to do that. In fact, the prime counter example is Nicodemus. It's interesting that he wasn't TOLD to do that, but by voluntary action he either did, or came pretty close. (Half of all to the poor, repay any fraud by four times. I've often thought how, if Short-Stuff Nic was as crooked as lots of people make him out to be, it would be impossible for him to carry out what he said he would do - unless, of course, he had some other way to make a lot of money through some means other than collecting tax, and spent a good part of the rest of his life doing the RTFP - Reconciliation Times Four Project.)

What for Bible do you have? In mine, the closest Nicodemus comes to giving away half his goods is when he donates all the spices and cloth to wrap Jesus' body, plus a tomb to bury Him.

I guess this certainly qualifies as a contribution to the mix!

ken_sylvania wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:51 pm

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:27 pm It seems to be in vogue here now to take what someone else started as a topic, and just turn it around a bit. So here's my contribution to the mix.

Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

It's true that not many Christians do what Jesus challenged the young man with, but he also didn't tell everyone to do that. In fact, the prime counter example is Nicodemus. It's interesting that he wasn't TOLD to do that, but by voluntary action he either did, or came pretty close. (Half of all to the poor, repay any fraud by four times. I've often thought how, if Short-Stuff Nic was as crooked as lots of people make him out to be, it would be impossible for him to carry out what he said he would do - unless, of course, he had some other way to make a lot of money through some means other than collecting tax, and spent a good part of the rest of his life doing the RTFP - Reconciliation Times Four Project.)

What for Bible do you have? In mine, the closest Nicodemus comes to giving away half his goods is when he donates all the spices and cloth to wrap Jesus' body, plus a tomb to bury Him.

I guess this certainly qualifies as a contribution to the mix!

You got me again - my faulty memory at work. (Didn't sleep well last night, and have been dragging all day long. Because my mind wasn't working top notch I opted for physical work for most of the afternoon, when the "funk" was really hitting me.) Yeah, I was thinking of Zaccheus, as you probably guessed. I should know by now when not to post anything here.....

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:23 pm

ken_sylvania wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:51 pm

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:27 pm It seems to be in vogue here now to take what someone else started as a topic, and just turn it around a bit. So here's my contribution to the mix.

Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

It's true that not many Christians do what Jesus challenged the young man with, but he also didn't tell everyone to do that. In fact, the prime counter example is Nicodemus. It's interesting that he wasn't TOLD to do that, but by voluntary action he either did, or came pretty close. (Half of all to the poor, repay any fraud by four times. I've often thought how, if Short-Stuff Nic was as crooked as lots of people make him out to be, it would be impossible for him to carry out what he said he would do - unless, of course, he had some other way to make a lot of money through some means other than collecting tax, and spent a good part of the rest of his life doing the RTFP - Reconciliation Times Four Project.)

What for Bible do you have? In mine, the closest Nicodemus comes to giving away half his goods is when he donates all the spices and cloth to wrap Jesus' body, plus a tomb to bury Him.

I guess this certainly qualifies as a contribution to the mix!

You got me again - my faulty memory at work. (Didn't sleep well last night, and have been dragging all day long. Because my mind wasn't working top notch I opted for physical work for most of the afternoon, when the "funk" was really hitting me.) Yeah, I was thinking of Zaccheus, as you probably guessed. I should know by now when not to post anything here.....

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:27 pm Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

Then he ought to know what Luke 12:33 says: “Sell what he have, and give alms;”
This is Jesus teaching His disciples, (also in Matthew 6).

Question: Did Jesus literally mean to sell?
Question: If Jesus only was talking to the disciples, and not us, what is the dividing line in the sermon on the Mount of what was only teachings or commands for the immediate audience and his disciples, and what teachings or commands are for every Christian of all ages?

RZehr wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:50 pm

Neto wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 9:27 pm Actually, however, an atheist FB friend recently brought up how "All those Christians ignore what Jesus told the rich young man." (He DOES actually know the Scripture, as he graduated from Moody Bible Institute, was an ordained minister, and also a Bible Translator.)

Then he ought to know what Luke 12:33 says: “Sell what he have, and give alms;”
This is Jesus teaching His disciples, (also in Matthew 6).

Question: Did Jesus literally mean to sell?
Question: If Jesus only was talking to the disciples, and not us, what is the dividing line in the sermon on the Mount of what was only teachings or commands for the immediate audience and his disciples, and what teachings or commands are for every Christian of all ages?

It would seem we can find an answer in Acts 2 and 4.

I have often felt that if Christians want to find how to have the same supernatural power we see in Acts, a good place to start is following the radical examples we see in Acts. (It may lead to only having a 2001 F-150 shared between a few people.)

RZehr wrote: ↑Tue Jun 27, 2023 10:50 pm Question: Did Jesus literally mean to sell?

"That's impossible" most of us would say. Leave it to an unbeliever to show us how it's done. Sort of.

In the summer of 2000, John Freyer sold everything he owned.

He had been studying for a year at the University of Iowa, but a summer in New York City convinced him he wanted to move to the Big Apple instead. So he jumped in his white Honda Civic and drove 1,000 miles back to Iowa with the intention of picking up some of his possessions and selling the rest. He invited his friends over to tag his possessions and systematically put them up for sale on eBay. An opened box of taco shells, half a bottle of mouthwash, almost all of his clothes, his favorite records, his sideburns (in a plastic bag), his family's Christmas presents (not yet given), furniture: John didn't let sentiment or utility stand in his way. Soon his belongings were sold all over the world.

With almost all the objects in his life now gone, he started the second phase of his journey: to visit his onetime possessions in their new homes. The result ultimately was a book called "All My Life for Sale."

"If you talked to me immediately after the project, I would say it changed me a lot," he says. "It made me think about my stuff. I was reticent to bring things back into my possession."

Ironically, John Freyer never did make it back to live in New York City. He fell in love and married a woman in Iowa City. They had two children and eventually filled a home with clothes, furniture and all the toys and things that go with typical family life.

His 2000 project came back to mind at the end of 2012 when he and his family moved to Richmond, Va. Along with all his family's possessions, most ironically of all, Freyer moved a few cases of his book "All My Life for Sale" to his new house.

eating locusts

Ken wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:51 ameating locusts

Where do you find that as a Scriptural teaching?

ken_sylvania wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 1:12 am

Ken wrote: ↑Wed Jun 28, 2023 12:51 ameating locusts

Where do you find that as a Scriptural teaching?

Well, I guess it isn't a scriptural teaching or commandment. But the eating of locusts is authorized in Leviticus and they are what John the Baptist lived on along with wild honey.