Sunday Verse 3

[level_head]

This is the third in a series of Sunday posts related to the Food for Thought award from Citizen Tom:

Comments

[ext_1399643]

Great post! You have a talent for bringing together a complex weave of thoughts.

Given we have an election in a couple of days, the sections on religious freedom are quite appropriate.

We take away different truths from the Bible. Even at different times in our lives we find different truths in the same passage.

Why did Jesus ask that man to give up his riches? For years I have wondered. Jesus encountered other wealthy people without making such a request. Some suggest that man had made his wealth his god, but we are left to speculate. All we know is that this one stood before Christ. He asked to be saved, but he could not let go of what he had in his hands and accept the gift.

Perhaps he did so latter. We can only hope.

[level_head]

Thank you. As you said, at many points in the Bible people of accomplishment are judged by what they do, rather than merely what they have acquired.

Here, Jesus was specifically asked for something beyond following the Commandments - because the young fellow said "I'm doing that." And it seemed that the man was desirous of becoming not just accepted into Heaven, but accepted as one of Jesus' disciples. On that basis, the request makes sense - and Jesus was still taking on disciples at this point, if I remember correctly.

===|==============/ Keith DeHavelle

[torakiyoshi]

One of my professors shared with me a theory he was developing on the origins of the gospels. I was in a small group that met in his office and read Athanasius' essay, "On the Incarnation of the Word." At one point, he mentions that Matthew was written in Hebrew. This is strange, because all of our manuscripts of Matthew are in Greek, and there are almost no phrases which would indicate translation from Hebrew to Greek in Matthew's gospel. As we read on, it appears the Hebrew text was lost or destroyed, but not before Peter used it to dictate John-Mark's short-and-sweet gospel. There are many phrases in Mark which are clearly Hebrew in format, although John-Mark was Greek and wrote his Gospel in Greek. Luke may also have read this original text, but he and Matthew both base their Greek gospels primarily on Mark's writing, hence the remarkable overlap. And Greek phrases that have clearly Hebrew idiom in them (like when Jesus says, "in desiring, I have desired to eat this meal with you" - an emphasis created by the duplication of

[torakiyoshi]

On a less scholarly note, this is one of the best writings in favor of Christianity that I've seen in quite a while. I smile at that, considering your own personal beliefs. :)