Quote:
Originally Posted by Forrest
Luke 14:25-26 And there went great multitudes with him: and he turned, and said unto them, If any man come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.
Interesting…so is this command limited in application specifically to the “great multitude with him” whom had an opportunity to become His disciple and no application can be made to us today? The words “any man come to me” refer to whom? Do they only refer to any man who was in that specific multitude? Or are we [today] also a disciple of Christ through belief in Him, and therefore, should follow Him even if it calls for “hating” father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also? Is there an application to be made for us today? If so, what is it?
It is obvious from my posts on this Forum that I’m always driven by the practical application of Holy Scripture for believers today and if an application can be made without changing or corrupting God’s word I try to faithfully do that.
Personally, I believe my specific call at this point in my life is to edify the body of Christ by directing them to know, love, and follow Him. I never want to make an application that twists, bends, changes, or altars God’s word in order to do that. It’s encouraging to me that the Bible believing participants on this Forum have their own God given gift and style of teaching. I’ve benefited greatly.
2 Timothy 3:16-17 All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.
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Forrest, the gist of my response is that do we follow Christ's message
strictly to Israel during His earthly ministry to them("times past") or do we follow His meesage to us today("but now") through Paul? The greatest confusion among Christianity today, let alone many of us on this forum,
is trying to wad the two messages together as applicable for today. That's what every Catholic on the planet is taught to do and the confusion is why so few of them pay any attention to the Scriptures. With right division
you get sound doctrine, without right division you get Roman Catholicism..
The doctrine of Christ dying, the just for the unjust, the innocent for the guilty is found right in Genesis 3, in the innocent animals dying to "cover" Adam and Eve. There is doctrine in Leviticus 5, but where do I take my sin offering if it's applicable for today? Same with Luke 14. I'm not commanded to "hate"
anything today, nor am I to turn on my family as a Christian.
They will turn on you. The context and application of Luke 14 is disparate people on the verge of desperate times. Yes, I am saved and love Christ, He lives in me, I am in
no manner to abandon a sick wife and run off to the Congo to fulfill the "Great Commission".
Grace and peace brother
Tony