Thank you, Peripheral Vision Voyeur. <smile> Your take on a very particular aspect of God's love -- and also on a kind of intense yearning for God's love -- reminds me of an old pastor's one sentence affirmation. We had been talking about the oft stated desire and insistent seeking for "spiritual revival" in the life of so many churches today. He simply noted, "We don't need revival the way it is often sought. We need the revival we already have." His reference: The already indwelling Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit of God. Perhaps we might say something like, about so many genuine, expressions of yearning for the love of God. We need to hear the call of God's Word to know His love which we already and most intimately have: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode within him" (John 14:23). God is love. Love has come, intimately.
Lots of really good points, you just did not go far enough. Christianity as it is currently practiced almost everywhere does not present Jesus accurately, nor do they present our Father accurately. NO WAY God ever told Abraham to sacrifice his son! There about 10 scriptures forbidding child sacrifice! 4000 years ago, in Ur of the Chaldees, child sacrifice to get better crops was not uncommon. Abraham, apparently, was being tempted to do it, BUT GOD STOPPED HIM. IT WAS NEVER IN GOD’S MIND TO DO SUCH A THING! Anyone who thinks it was God’ idea to have Abraham do it, even as a test, knows nothing about the true nature of our Father. Some even think that Jesus’ death caused God to change His mind and forgive us. Don’t their teachers know that God can’t change. Change requires time and God is not in time. Everything about God is eternal. His forgiveness preceded our creation! God sees us still as the lovely sons and daughters He created, and so we are. Jesus knew this.
So many poorly educated teachers are now claiming that, yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God, but He is also the lion of Judah. Incorrect! Lions are predators that live off the flesh and blood of their prey. In the gospels, only once is the lion of Judah mentioned, in Rev. 6, and even that turns out to be the Lamb of God. There is a reference to a lion in the epistles: “Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Jesus is a lamb, like a lamb, AND our Father is like a lamb as well. I like it lots! Some may not like it, thinking lambs are weak, but I differ about that. For sure, lambs are non-threatening and vulnerable, but they appear to me to be cozy, approachable, and cuddly. I could even have a lamb as a pet….but never a lion. They probably also think a mean, loud-mouthed man is strong. Incorrect. A gentle man is strong! A generous man is wealthy! A loving man is loved! A forgiving man is forgiven!
When the real Father and Son are presented again in churches, people will come back. Every sheep will follow its true Shepherd. Sheep abandon false shepherds. It’s happening all around us.
Thank you, Peripheral Vision Voyeur. <smile> Your take on a very particular aspect of God's love -- and also on a kind of intense yearning for God's love -- reminds me of an old pastor's one sentence affirmation. We had been talking about the oft stated desire and insistent seeking for "spiritual revival" in the life of so many churches today. He simply noted, "We don't need revival the way it is often sought. We need the revival we already have." His reference: The already indwelling Presence and Power of the Holy Spirit of God. Perhaps we might say something like, about so many genuine, expressions of yearning for the love of God. We need to hear the call of God's Word to know His love which we already and most intimately have: "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make our abode within him" (John 14:23). God is love. Love has come, intimately.
Lots of really good points, you just did not go far enough. Christianity as it is currently practiced almost everywhere does not present Jesus accurately, nor do they present our Father accurately. NO WAY God ever told Abraham to sacrifice his son! There about 10 scriptures forbidding child sacrifice! 4000 years ago, in Ur of the Chaldees, child sacrifice to get better crops was not uncommon. Abraham, apparently, was being tempted to do it, BUT GOD STOPPED HIM. IT WAS NEVER IN GOD’S MIND TO DO SUCH A THING! Anyone who thinks it was God’ idea to have Abraham do it, even as a test, knows nothing about the true nature of our Father. Some even think that Jesus’ death caused God to change His mind and forgive us. Don’t their teachers know that God can’t change. Change requires time and God is not in time. Everything about God is eternal. His forgiveness preceded our creation! God sees us still as the lovely sons and daughters He created, and so we are. Jesus knew this.
So many poorly educated teachers are now claiming that, yes, Jesus is the Lamb of God, but He is also the lion of Judah. Incorrect! Lions are predators that live off the flesh and blood of their prey. In the gospels, only once is the lion of Judah mentioned, in Rev. 6, and even that turns out to be the Lamb of God. There is a reference to a lion in the epistles: “Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.” Jesus is a lamb, like a lamb, AND our Father is like a lamb as well. I like it lots! Some may not like it, thinking lambs are weak, but I differ about that. For sure, lambs are non-threatening and vulnerable, but they appear to me to be cozy, approachable, and cuddly. I could even have a lamb as a pet….but never a lion. They probably also think a mean, loud-mouthed man is strong. Incorrect. A gentle man is strong! A generous man is wealthy! A loving man is loved! A forgiving man is forgiven!
When the real Father and Son are presented again in churches, people will come back. Every sheep will follow its true Shepherd. Sheep abandon false shepherds. It’s happening all around us.