tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post1032047685616767039..comments2024-03-18T20:18:04.114+00:00Comments on Bruce Charlton's Notions: What is it to be a Christian?Bruce Charltonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-56886524014547589252018-05-11T06:56:22.036+01:002018-05-11T06:56:22.036+01:00@Carter... unless you are an antichrist!
More ser...@Carter... unless you are an antichrist!<br /><br />More seriously, the level and planned deviousness of the mass media/ establishment includes - and to a great extent - the phenomenon of fake opposition. IN so far as JP is allowed a platform in the mass media, that is the role he is serving; and the continuatio nof that platform depends on him staying within tight limits... which is why he is so careful how he says things, and why is is so careful in his evasiveness.<br /><br />It has been interesting to see the high volume of comments on this theme - and that is an example of the phenomenon at work: to get high comment volume on a blog, one needs to be topical, and what-is-topical topical is defined by the mass media. <br /><br />I feel confirmed in my view that JP was trying to walk a tightrope, but that this activity cannot be a way of life, after which the situation is corrupting. <br /><br />I wrote about JP because I felt he was being falsely awarded saviour status - I shall not be continuing after this post. <br /><br />My own response is partly that I don't find him interesting, since he is merely 'myself 15 years ago; and before Christian conversion'; but also I find something creepy and fake about him, which is a response I often have had to psychotherapists, over the years; and which I have learned to take seriously as a usually-accurate intuition. Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-85245141346647256752018-05-11T00:47:43.565+01:002018-05-11T00:47:43.565+01:00If you are sufficiently offensive that other peopl...If you are sufficiently offensive that other people accuse you of the crime of being a Christian, then you are a Christian.<br /><br />- Carter Craft TheDoctorofOdoIslandhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06654695224557150961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-62568195752228139782018-05-10T18:27:42.934+01:002018-05-10T18:27:42.934+01:00@probst and August - I've pondered "No on...@probst and August - I've pondered "No one can come to the Father except through me." and the meaning of 'belief' - and I think the Good Shepherd extended parable ties them together. The born again discussion is absolutely fascinating, I I don't feel I have plumbed it. <br /><br />Part of it is that we must personally appropriate belief in Jesus - it should be first hand, not second hand, experience not obedience. And there is probably a resonance with the Cana miracle of water to wine. <br /><br />But there are many wonderfully interlinked passages in the fourth gospel about terms such as water, birth, life, light, blood, flesh... and I find it hard to summarise what these mean experientially... need to keep re-reading....Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-21185783842410120802018-05-10T17:57:02.307+01:002018-05-10T17:57:02.307+01:00"...that non-Christians, who have never even ..."...that non-Christians, who have never even heard of Jesus, can also meet him after death and recognise him and trust him, and follow him to eternal life."<br /><br />That is probably the correct interpretation of "No one can come to the Father except through me."a_probsthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16197411067925016452noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-49122027347051089152018-05-10T16:16:37.797+01:002018-05-10T16:16:37.797+01:00There is a distinction to be made, I think, betwee...There is a distinction to be made, I think, between what Jesus meant by belief versus what is meant by belief today. After all, it seems very important to some people that we believe in climate change and/or whatever other thing they are offering. <br /><br />This could be a side effect of modern thinking, where they figure if enough people believe it then it would be true, or at least they can control people better if enough people believe it.<br /><br />But when Jesus talks to Nicodemus, for example, he is basically saying the Jews are refusing to believe his testimony- almost as if it is a court of law. Since Nicodemus was some sort of leader, one could assume a judgement based on the testimony would be made. One expects some significant changes would have been made in the area if that judgement had been made.<br /><br />But on an individual level, qualification is tough. How much doctrine does anyone really need to know, and then, are the changes made- many of which are spiritual, not necessarily obvious, and can exist quite apart from the current tyranny of niceness. Augusthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08758314961163692341noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-43421434399743958712018-05-10T08:43:35.698+01:002018-05-10T08:43:35.698+01:00"We cannot escape the responsibility to decid..."We cannot escape the responsibility to decide for ourselves whether we think others are Christian, but we must discard the notion that our thoughts on the matter serve any function other than allowing us to practice our own Christian duty. When we think our opinion of others can or should have any effect on their eternal destiny rather than merely our own actions, we part ways with Christ's teachings. "<br /><br />That's very well said!Bruce Charltonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09615189090601688535noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4683970826895755480.post-16684777309030984142018-05-10T08:17:41.231+01:002018-05-10T08:17:41.231+01:00I don't look at it so much as the choice to ac...I don't look at it so much as the choice to accept or reject Christ being more important during life, but rather arising out of the same fundamental and eternal nature of the individual soul, which will not be changed by death nor resurrection.<br /><br />I also dislike the idea of "qualified" because it implies not merely being content to say what it means to be a Christian but being authorized to make a binding external judgment.<br /><br />We cannot escape the responsibility to decide for ourselves whether we think others are Christian, but we must discard the notion that our thoughts on the matter serve any function other than allowing us to practice <i>our own</i> Christian duty. When we think our opinion of others can or should have any effect on <i>their</i> eternal destiny rather than merely our own actions, we part ways with Christ's teachings.Chiu ChunLinghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03519192610708043962noreply@blogger.com