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Matthew 7
21 “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ 23 Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
Originally posted by 3NL1GHT3N3D1
reply to post by daskakik
You're right, it was supposedly Herod the Great who ordered the killing of the babies. That's interesting, I always thought of him as Herod Antipas. Surely they wouldn't leave something THAT obvious in the story, would they?
It reveals a management of resources, and of historical causation, of unparalleled ingenuity (where the woman at the well episode is but a prelude), who's frame of reference moves through every domain and degree of complexity (and order) imaginable, all the way up to the movement (and prophetic import) of the sun, the earth, the moon, the planets, and the stars of the 12 signs of the zodiac and precession of the equinox ie: to "angels ascending and descending on the son of man".
He would have known about the visitation of the Magi and how they found him (that his conception and birth was written in the stars, in this case stars that are planets), and, that Herod had 300 children murdered to try to get to him, and, under the tutelage of those same Magi during the "lost years", precisely when his Magnum Opus would culminate on a certain passover coinciding with an eclipse of the sun and a blood-red moon.
Originally posted by NewAgeMan
Spiritual authority is another matter, because it goes to the very heart of things, and what I understand Jesus to have been doing, was to work to bring about our individual, and collective, unconstrained and unfettered freedom/liberation, to pursue the good and the best of the best that's both possible and freely available.
No one can rob heaven however, or control the gateway.
But a good doorman can still man the door if his reception is invitational and non-coercive.
I also understand Christ's church to be the Bride as the body of all believers who love him and who love God through him and vice versa. It is not and cannot be the sole purview of the Roman Catholic Church, who just might be playing a rigged game of both sides against the middle (or worse still), in which case it would be a house divided.
Jesus is not some religious icon of worship, he's our true friend, and worshiping him isn't loving him or being in relationship with him, so I say the authority still rests in him and him alone where all the treasure is in Christ since the treasure is his love. Anything apart from that, especially concerning matters of him and the father, does not have the authority, an authority that God can dispense to whoever he pleases and in whatever way he pleases.
In truth then there is no controversy, just people and institutions "kicking against the goads" - and that's funny!
reply to post by Biliverdin
I disagree. The Gospels indicate that Jesus held John The Baptist in the very highest regard ie: "there are none born of a woman greater than John", the only differentiation here being that Jesus, although of course also born of a woman considered himself re-born from above, not of the flesh, but of the spirit.
Nicodemus and Jesus - Reborn
go to 2:24 in the vid - segment runs to 5:35
Note catefully the subtle nuances (intentionally directed) in this exchange between Jesus and Nicodemus surrounding the issue of rebirth.
The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”
~ John 3:8
www.biblegateway.com...
The Greek for Spirit is the same as that for wind.