Are you nominal Christian or true Believer?

[PetriFB]

Link: nominal Christian or true believer?


Are you a person who wants to be a Christian, perhaps attends the church meetings, but doesn’t have any "oil in his lamp", in other words there is no spiritual life in his heart? Are you in other words only a nominal Christian, who has external Christian habits in his life, but hasn’t really been born again and experienced a living faith?

It really is possible, that if God hasn’t had the chance to awaken us, we are just these kinds of people. We can have all the external signs of Christianity, we may have turned away from certain sins and we might think that we are on the way to heaven, even though we are in fact going in just the opposite direction. This is possible, if we have not yet seen our true condition and the need for salvation in the light of God.

[Bugmaster]

Cool, I don't recall reading this parable before. Hmm, that bridegroom is a real bastard... Throwing out his guests just because they didn't count on him being several hours late. Actually, the "wise" virgins are no better; in their place, I would've shared my oil. The ancient Jewish society was a lot harsher than our own, it seems (though we have our own share of scumbags, as well).

[McCulloch]

Is there such a thing as only a nominal Christian? The Christian New Testament, I think is completely unambiguous in answering this question.

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?
For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when He comes in His glory, and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
...
Another also said, "I will follow You, Lord; but first permit me to say good-bye to those at home."
But Jesus said to him, "No one, after putting his hand to the plow and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God."

Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple.
Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'
Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace.
So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions. Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear."

To the angel of the church in Laodicea write: The Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, says this:
'I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish that you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of My mouth. Because you say, "I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing," and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see.
Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline; therefore be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.'

And yet, there seems to be so many who assert, through their own behaviour, that there are nominal Christians.

[PetriFB]

Foolish virgin weren't ready to wedding .........they were doing somethig else, but not the will of God....

By the way, if somebody invites us to wedding .....so do we go there wearing dungarees or celebration costume?

[chachynga]

Foolish virgin weren't ready to wedding .........they were doing somethig else, but not the will of God....

By the way, if somebody invites us to wedding .....so do we go there wearing dungarees or celebration costume?

http://xsorbit30.com/users5/afterbite/i ... opic,155.0

Oil and Light and many things are symbolic and we have to know and understand the rest of scripture to get this down right. Any part of the New Testament can be seen in much better light is we take the whole of scripture and in specific the whole OT firstly to determine the proper points of references to see what scripture really teaches.

All of scripture can direct you to the meaning, sometimes within itself in the passage it explains more and sometimes you have to hunt throughout the whole Bible itself, takeing here a little and there a little.

Contrary to popular opinion, it's not and easy road to walk and just GET what it says.

The bible will help to "interpret" itself if you have a heart and eyes to the pure truth no matter what it costs. Holy spirit aids in the rest...

People who think they can be born again --- yet carry on how THEY FEEL or the WAY THEY SEE THINGS or WHAT THEY BELIEVE it (the bible) TEACHES --- are in denial. You will be bringing your life into harmony with all of Gods laws (yes even FOOD) when you have a heart that is seeking Gods Face... you will become an obedient servant and not a fool who thinks God changes his mind or will give them special treatment or whatever.

I Kings
11 13 Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant' sake, and for Jerusalem' sake which I have chosen. 32 (But he shall have one tribe for my servant David' sake, and for Jerusalem' sake, the city which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel:) 36 And unto his son will I give one tribe, that David my servant may have a light alway before me in Jerusalem, the city which I have chosen me to put my name there.

Uh Hum!


I Kings
11 34 Howbeit I will not take the whole kingdom out of his hand: but I will make him prince all the days of his life for David my servant' sake, whom I chose, because he kept my commandments and my statutes:

because of the light and who followed it

the law

genesis - revelation for us and for sure for the Disciples the whole of the so called OT !


The Moral Laws, statues and Judgements are there for our study and reflection and application, the PART that was ADDED is no longer over the heads of those under Christ, but the LAWS of God including killing Fags engaged in sexual activity and adultery, etceteras, are in complete and full force even today.

[Bugmaster]

Foolish virgin weren't ready to wedding .........they were doing somethig else, but not the will of God....

Actually, they were perfectly ready for the wedding; what they were not ready for is the groom showing up half a day late. What kind of person invites a bunch of people to his wedding, and then fails to show up ? My answer would be, "not a very considerate one".

It seems that the Biblical lesson here is, "God is fickle and arbitrary and he doesn't respect you, but everything is your fault anyway". That's pretty sad.

[Colter]

And He was saying to them all, "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me. For whoever wishes to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake, he is the one who will save it. For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, and loses or forfeits himself?

Hi McCulloch,

Your post prompted an observation for me. The "cross" was not a part of the teaching of Jesus (the apostles did not know where he was going or what was going to happen to him before Judas betrayed him, he was arrested in the garden, tried, crucified etc) yet this writing which is considered a direct quote from Jesus refers to the "cross" which had not happened yet.

So using this term "take up your cross" before the crusifiction seems odd. No where else does he use it nor does he reveal to the apostles what his final fate would be.

It looks like "post cross recollection" to me.

While I am a believer in Christ I also can see the influence of mans imperfection in the writings of the so called sacred scripture. For me their is still truth in the quote but I attribute it to Luke (who did not know Jesus) and certainly got his imfo second hand way after the fact.

Colter

[McCulloch]

Colter,

It you take the gospels as a work of fiction or myth (whether or not you believe that the underlying events were historic) then you immediately recognize the literary device that you have pointed out. Characters who are about to die often are given the ability to say profound truths and to foreshadow the future. The presence of this device is one clue to help one determine that a particular work is fiction or fictionalized. This passage is certainly evidence against the dogma that the Bible is literal truth.

While I am a believer in Christ I also can see the influence of mans imperfection in the writings of the so called sacred scripture. For me their is still truth in the quote but I attribute it to Luke (who did not know Jesus) and certainly got his i[n]fo second hand way after the fact.

I guess that the difference between your and my outlook is that while you seem to attribute some select events or passages to the authors of the gospels, I attribute the whole shooting match to the gospel writers.

[Cathar1950]

It seems to be some Hellenistic device to put words or speeches into the mouths of their characters.
As one historian pointed out; historical fact is like a pebble being covered by a flowing river. Just little ripples of truth. The Gospels are competing literary devices and traditions in diffrent periods of time at diffrent places not history.

[chachynga]

Foolish virgin weren't ready to wedding .........they were doing somethig else, but not the will of God....

Actually, they were perfectly ready for the wedding; what they were not ready for is the groom showing up half a day late. What kind of person invites a bunch of people to his wedding, and then fails to show up ? My answer would be, "not a very considerate one".

It seems that the Biblical lesson here is, "God is fickle and arbitrary and he doesn't respect you, but everything is your fault anyway". That's pretty sad.

If they had been ready, they would have been prepared.

Who says they WERE invited?

They were not Invited, they only thought that they held title to an invitation or proposal. They were listening to the Baal Priests that say saved by grace only gets you an everliving seat in heaven. These were UNCLOTHED, they had NO-Knowledge... that is what the enemy steals, and to get it you need to be IN GODS WORDS, and they were not indeed. They were white washed.

I may be wrong, but I hope to not be either one of these. I hope to not be the one ready not do I hope to be the one rejected. Know scripture and you'll know what I mean, as I only speak to those that know Gods Laws and his Words, others need not apply for a response unless they are serious.