Jesus' Teachings

[Helpingserve]

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to start this Forum and find out why people think it is not important to actually follow what Jesus commanded his followers to do. Christian actually means follower of Christ. So, I ask you what were the followers of Christ (our brothers and sisters of the past) doing with what Jesus asked them to do? You can find his teachings in the four gospels of the new testament. You can see how those Christians followed and put into practice what Jesus asked them to do. Also, in the book of Acts the early Christians look nothing like what Christianity looks likes today. I would like to have a honest conversation about this with everyone who is interested. Lets be grown ups and talk.

Peace and love

 

[Christ_empowered]

hi. im hardly one to throw stones...Pentecostals, in particular, helped me tremendously...but...

I do agree with you. Maybe its because American culture is so hyper-individualistic and hyper-competitive? I mean, even families are distant, community bonds have disintegrated, and..in -that- context, what should one expect from the organized church, really?

I dunno. I sometimes suspect the beginnings of The Great Falling Away is upon us. I thought the Christians in other nations were doing better, but then I read a scholarly article about how secularization is affecting religious groups there, too...as in the numbers of, say, Pentecostals in Brazil looks impressive, but when you look at how much they (by they I mean the average member) stick to The Good News and Christianity 101...its not that much better than the US, UK, Canada, Western Europe, etc. :-(

we shall see, I suppose, Welcome to CFnet.

 

[DanielGarneau]

Hello,

I'm not sure how to approach this theme. I became a Christian 40 years ago now, with a major turnaround in my life due to my turning to God and obeying His ways. In those first few years, a retired pastor that I was trying to preach the Gospel to on the street, told me: some people think that the moment of conversion to Christ is what counts, but this is only the enrollment into a life-long training program. This stuck with me ever since.

I really love to read and study the Word of God, and I like to use it as a basis for my prayers, especially the book of Psalms. Now all of this would be meaningless if I were not also asking God to help me understand and obey His word, as we read in Psalm 119. About 10 years ago, God touched my heart and spirit in a very meaningful way, which has brought lasting changes of the same magnitude that my conversion had 30 years earlier.

It is not what we can see in the lives of others that counts the most, but what is going inside our own life, and how it manifests itself in our relationships and general demeanor. Both my initial conversion (40 years ago) and my spiritual renewal (10 years ago) have left permanent and visible traces on the outside. But, the most important is that whatever can be seen on the outside has its roots from within, in a heart that trusts Christ.

 

[Billy.notagoat]

One would think that , as a Christian , that yes we would look to Christ as to how live our lives in the present time.

As a new member myself , I'd love to see discussions such as this and hope to get involved myself as well.

Nice to say hi to all ,

Hi i'm Billy

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Lots of reasons probabley. It probabley has more to do with which teachings being talked about and which people aren't following the teachings. Over all I think most Christians thing Jesus's teachings are important, but some teachings are difficult for anyone, so there's our weakness in following Jesus, and then there's teachings that some people think weren't meant as a literal teaching.

Mix those two reasons together to different degrees depending on the teaching and the group of people, and add other things like political philosophies, other religions and everything else in culture that a people grow up with before they come to terms if it's from God or not; after all of that it just looks like a lot of reasons.

I don't think early Christians had it all together either on how to follow Jesus. The first portion of Revelation has Jesus dictating letters to the different churches for where they've done well and where they haven't.

Reasons or not though, what we can do is try to follow God, obey Jesus's teachings and instruction and continue to get better at it.

 

[follwingchristaslily]

I think on a whole every Christian is lacking in some way, just like Paul says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God". We all need to constantly be ready to follow Jesus and to jump when he says jump. In John 12:48 it says we are going to be judged by the words that Jesus spoke, and so as Christians we are supposed to be able to listen to those words, if we are going to claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We need to be willing to act, just like the church did in the book of Acts. We must listen to the Holy Spirit, which if we as Christians have it, will remind us of what Jesus spoke, (John 14:26 and John 16:13) Which all Christians have the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 12:13).

We should all be striving to become better Christians and we do that by following the Lamb.

Peace, from Lily

 

[DanielGarneau]

You might be interested in reading the notes I took a while back, as I was reading through Dallas Willard, The Spirit of Disciplines: Understanding How God Changes Lives.

 

[Billy.notagoat]

I think on a whole every Christian is lacking in some way, just like Paul says in Romans 3:23, "For all have sinned and have fallen short of the Glory of God". We all need to constantly be ready to follow Jesus and to jump when he says jump. In John 12:48 it says we are going to be judged by the words that Jesus spoke, and so as Christians we are supposed to be able to listen to those words, if we are going to claim Jesus as our Lord and Savior. We need to be willing to act, just like the church did in the book of Acts. We must listen to the Holy Spirit, which if we as Christians have it, will remind us of what Jesus spoke, (John 14:26 and John 16:13) Which all Christians have the Holy Spirit, (1 Corinthians 12:13).

We should all be striving to become better Christians and we do that by following the Lamb.

Peace, from Lily

Well said Lily , indeed when Jesus says in John 12:48 that we will be judged by his words it serves as as a sobering warning.

I hope my time on Christian forums.net will serve as a way for me to grow in my faith and uplift other users as well to grow in our walk

 

[Helpingserve]

hi. im hardly one to throw stones...Pentecostals, in particular, helped me tremendously...but...

I do agree with you. Maybe its because American culture is so hyper-individualistic and hyper-competitive? I mean, even families are distant, community bonds have disintegrated, and..in -that- context, what should one expect from the organized church, really?

I dunno. I sometimes suspect the beginnings of The Great Falling Away is upon us. I thought the Christians in other nations were doing better, but then I read a scholarly article about how secularization is affecting religious groups there, too...as in the numbers of, say, Pentecostals in Brazil looks impressive, but when you look at how much they (by they I mean the average member) stick to The Good News and Christianity 101...its not that much better than the US, UK, Canada, Western Europe, etc. :-(

we shall see, I suppose, Welcome to CFnet.

I like the way you said, "you shouldn't throw stones" neither should I. You said, "Pentecostals helped you a lot" I can see that, everything has some truth in it. But, it's the ones who keep searching for the truth, once they find out where they are at is only a tiny piece of truth. I think these kind of people are who God are looking for.

I think we have been in the great falling away for some time, every where you look its clouds without water, fruitless trees (Jude 1:12). We have to get back to Christianity, not the churchy religion its been made out to be, but the way of life that it is suppose to be. Laying down our lives for one another, day in and day out.

Hope this finds you well.

 

[Tessa]

Beautiful thread.
God is love. The Son of God is love. He said
John 14:15 NKJV
"If you love me keep my commandments."

Mark 30, 31 NKJV

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.
"And the second, like it, is this. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."

If we don't have this love in our hearts we will not be willing to follow the Lord.

God Bless you all.

 

[DanielGarneau]

Beautiful thread.
God is love. The Son of God is love. He said
John 14:15 NKJV
"If you love me keep my commandments."

Mark 30, 31 NKJV

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. This is the first commandment.
"And the second, like it, is this. You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these."

If we don't have this love in our hearts we will not be willing to follow the Lord.

God Bless you all.

In light of the above quote, I'd suggest to those following the present thread, that you have a look at the summary posts I published elsewhere under Daisy Petal Christianity as I interacted with Wayne Jacobsen’s free book He loves me! (pdf), from LifeStream.org.

 

[Helpingserve]

Lots of reasons probabley. It probabley has more to do with which teachings being talked about and which people aren't following the teachings. Over all I think most Christians thing Jesus's teachings are important, but some teachings are difficult for anyone, so there's our weakness in following Jesus, and then there's teachings that some people think weren't meant as a literal teaching.

Mix those two reasons together to different degrees depending on the teaching and the group of people, and add other things like political philosophies, other religions and everything else in culture that a people grow up with before they come to terms if it's from God or not; after all of that it just looks like a lot of reasons.

I don't think early Christians had it all together either on how to follow Jesus. The first portion of Revelation has Jesus dictating letters to the different churches for where they've done well and where they haven't.

Reasons or not though, what we can do is try to follow God, obey Jesus's teachings and instruction and continue to get better at it.

Hey,

Yes, I agree the early Christians did not have it perfect, no one ever will. (That's where Grace come in) It's like looking at the narrow path. If we are walking on the narrow path, then lose focus and drift to the right or the left and get off the path. That's where Grace comes in. (Praise God for it) But, if we believe that we can go out an disobey Jesus' teachings just because they are to hard, then we are not on the narrow path, we are on the broad path. So, if we are on the broad path, is there any reason that God should give us Grace? I mean put yourself in God's shoes, that you sent your only son (Jesus) to give your creation one last chance. God said, "this is my son who I am well pleased listen to him" Mathew 3:17. So, why would God want to give Grace to anyone who is not even trying to follow the things he said, even if they are very very very hard?

I think God loves us so much that he continues pulling us back to what his son taught. He wants us to step out of the boat, he does not want us to sink, he wants us to trust what his son taught. Because if we listen to Jesus we are listening to the living Word of God.

I hope this finds you well.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Hey,

Yes, I agree the early Christians did not have it perfect, no one ever will. (That's where Grace come in) It's like looking at the narrow path. If we are walking on the narrow path, then lose focus and drift to the right or the left and get off the path. That's where Grace comes in. (Praise God for it) But, if we believe that we can go out an disobey Jesus' teachings just because they are to hard, then we are not on the narrow path, we are on the broad path. So, if we are on the broad path, is there any reason that God should give us Grace? I mean put yourself in God's shoes, that you sent your only son (Jesus) to give your creation one last chance. God said, "this is my son who I am well pleased listen to him" Mathew 3:17. So, why would God want to give Grace to anyone who is not even trying to follow the things he said, even if they are very very very hard?

I think God loves us so much that he continues pulling us back to what his son taught. He wants us to step out of the boat, he does not want us to sink, he wants us to trust what his son taught. Because if we listen to Jesus we are listening to the living Word of God.

I hope this finds you well.

It finds me very well, thank you Helpingserve. I hope God's grace doesn't just cover our sins when we blunder away from the narrow path as we try to follow it, but also to strengthen us to being good Christians, and to give us His understanding and teach us His ways.

I don't mean to explain why people ignore Jesus's teachings as to excuse it, but more to hopefully understand it better so that we can help those that need correction, and helping ourselves from falling into the same mistakes. In the same kind of way that God sent Jesus to us though we are all sinners, some of us more sinners in our history then others. As a gift of hope to anyone who sins, even Paul was saved, though he was before a constant threat to Christians. If there's hope for him, there's hope for anyone.

...on that note though, are there any teachings specifically that you are worried about people ignoring? (Going to the details sometimes brings more fruit then over arching concepts that don't go into the details of the matter).

 

[Helpingserve]

It finds me very well, thank you Helpingserve. I hope God's grace doesn't just cover our sins when we blunder away from the narrow path as we try to follow it, but also to strengthen us to being good Christians, and to give us His understanding and teach us His ways.

I don't mean to explain why people ignore Jesus's teachings as to excuse it, but more to hopefully understand it better so that we can help those that need correction, and helping ourselves from falling into the same mistakes. In the same kind of way that God sent Jesus to us though we are all sinners, some of us more sinners in our history then others. As a gift of hope to anyone who sins, even Paul was saved, though he was before a constant threat to Christians. If there's hope for him, there's hope for anyone.

...on that note though, are there any teachings specifically that you are worried about people ignoring? (Going to the details sometimes brings more fruit then over arching concepts that don't go into the details of the matter).

Yeah there are many commands of Jesus that no one follows. Lets start with what I like to call the easiest command, and you can usually see if someone is actually willing to go to the harder ones if they will try to put this one into practice.

In Mathew 23:8-10 Jesus gives us a few commands on what to be called and what not to call anyone. He ask us, "to call no man on this earth father." That is a pretty simple command, he says, "NO MAN." He does not give any clauses to where we can use the word except if we are talking about our Father, God.

This is just one example of a easy command that everyone refuses to do.

 

[Not_Now.Soon]

Yeah there are many commands of Jesus that no one follows. Lets start with what I like to call the easiest command, and you can usually see if someone is actually willing to go to the harder ones if they will try to put this one into practice.

In Mathew 23:8-10 Jesus gives us a few commands on what to be called and what not to call anyone. He ask us, "to call no man on this earth father." That is a pretty simple command, he says, "NO MAN." He does not give any clauses to where we can use the word except if we are talking about our Father, God.

This is just one example of a easy command that everyone refuses to do.

Hmm. That's a tough one. On the one hand you're right, this should be can easy command to follow and to address. (Which baffles me how "father" became a title in the RCC in spite of Jesus teaching this), however on the other hand, what would I call my dad if not "dad?" It's such a close bond parents and their children have, it seems very hard to give up this title.

I don't know, it seems almost disrespectful to call my father by his name instead of acknowledging his place in my life. Hopefully if I have the chance to have kids of my own, they will call me dad, or papa or something of that nature.

You've raised a very good point, Helpingserve. I don't have an answer for it. What would you suggest? Remove the title of father to parents that are fathers? Would that also harm our understanding of God, not having an earthly father to be a model for how God is a Father to all of us?

 

[Helpingserve]

Hmm. That's a tough one. On the one hand you're right, this should be can easy command to follow and to address. (Which baffles me how "father" became a title in the RCC in spite of Jesus teaching this), however on the other hand, what would I call my dad if not "dad?" It's such a close bond parents and their children have, it seems very hard to give up this title.

I don't know, it seems almost disrespectful to call my father by his name instead of acknowledging his place in my life. Hopefully if I have the chance to have kids of my own, they will call me dad, or papa or something of that nature.

You've raised a very good point, Helpingserve. I don't have an answer for it. What would you suggest? Remove the title of father to parents that are fathers? Would that also harm our understanding of God, not having an earthly father to be a model for how God is a Father to all of us?

I think there is no reason why a child can not call their dad, "dad". But, I think there is a time in the child's life, that they need to know who their real Father is. I call my dad, Terry, did he like it at first, no he didn't. But, he grew to understand that if I am going to follow Jesus, then I am going to put his teachings into practice. If people think i hate my dad because I call him by his first name, then so be it, but I'm not going to disobey Jesus just for what other people think.

Now, all this brings me to another point. When you go to calling your dad, by his first name then, the first response is going to be, "why are you hating me"? I think this is very amazing at how showing love to my heavenly Father makes our parents think we are hating them. Luke 14:26 says, "for us to hate our parents for his sake" kind of amazing that Jesus knew 2000 years ago that if we called our dad by his first name, that he will think it's hate. If you take the command to include both sexes, since there is no male of female in Christ then you call her mom by her name as well. Then the whole hate your parents really comes into understanding. Also in Mathew 23:8-10 he says, "do not be called master, or do not be called Rabbi. Rabbi means teacher, there are many words we use for people today that mean teacher. (Dr., coach, professor, Etc.) having these jobs is not a problem, but if you quit calling these people Dr. Whoever, or Coach whoever, sit back and watch the sparks fly. People love titles because of pride, the titles make them feel important, I think that's one reason Jesus spoke against them. Last, is don't be called master. All society did was shorten to Mr., so when someone calls you Mr. whoever, they are you calling you Master whoever. It's a very good trick of the devil, he has gotten all of us to use the exact things that Jesus' asked us not to.

Hope this finds you well

 

[HeIsRisen2018]

I think there is no reason why a child can not call their dad, "dad". But, I think there is a time in the child's life, that they need to know who their real Father is. I call my dad, Terry, did he like it at first, no he didn't. But, he grew to understand that if I am going to follow Jesus, then I am going to put his teachings into practice. If people think i hate my dad because I call him by his first name, then so be it, but I'm not going to disobey Jesus just for what other people think.

Now, all this brings me to another point. When you go to calling your dad, by his first name then, the first response is going to be, "why are you hating me"? I think this is very amazing at how showing love to my heavenly Father makes our parents think we are hating them. Luke 14:26 says, "for us to hate our parents for his sake" kind of amazing that Jesus knew 2000 years ago that if we called our dad by his first name, that he will think it's hate. If you take the command to include both sexes, since there is no male of female in Christ then you call her mom by her name as well. Then the whole hate your parents really comes into understanding. Also in Mathew 23:8-10 he says, "do not be called master, or do not be called Rabbi. Rabbi means teacher, there are many words we use for people today that mean teacher. (Dr., coach, professor, Etc.) having these jobs is not a problem, but if you quit calling these people Dr. Whoever, or Coach whoever, sit back and watch the sparks fly. People love titles because of pride, the titles make them feel important, I think that's one reason Jesus spoke against them. Last, is don't be called master. All society did was shorten to Mr., so when someone calls you Mr. whoever, they are you calling you Master whoever. It's a very good trick of the devil, he has gotten all of us to use the exact things that Jesus' asked us not to.

Hope this finds you well

Umm,.. I'm not quite sure what you're getting at but I'm a Christian and an adult and I don't call my parents by their first names. I don't think that's what Jesus meant either by it. Especially since one of the Ten Commandments is to "honor thy mother and thy father." Calling your parents by their first names would be dishonoring them imho. Welcome to christianforums.net though.

 

[Helpingserve]

Umm,.. I'm not quite sure what you're getting at but I'm a Christian and an adult and I don't call my parents by their first names. I don't think that's what Jesus meant either by it. Especially since one of the Ten Commandments is to "honor thy mother and thy father." Calling your parents by their first names would be dishonoring them imho. Welcome to christianforums.net though.

Thanks for welcoming me to the site. There is a lot of things that Jesus said, that everyone says, 'I don't think that is what Jesus meant." Suppose we did that with all his teachings. I have one question what does Jesus say about parents?
Hope this finds you well

 

[JLB]

Hey Everyone,

I just wanted to start this Forum and find out why people think it is not important to actually follow what Jesus commanded his followers to do. Christian actually means follower of Christ. So, I ask you what were the followers of Christ (our brothers and sisters of the past) doing with what Jesus asked them to do? You can find his teachings in the four gospels of the new testament. You can see how those Christians followed and put into practice what Jesus asked them to do. Also, in the book of Acts the early Christians look nothing like what Christianity looks likes today. I would like to have a honest conversation about this with everyone who is interested. Lets be grown ups and talk.

Peace and love

Peace and love to you.

Welcome to CF.net


Great thread topic.

Thanks for sharing it.


I believe you will find there are those here who share your passion to serve our Lord in truth.


Be blessed.



JLB

 

[JLB]

One would think that , as a Christian , that yes we would look to Christ as to how live our lives in the present time.

As a new member myself , I'd love to see discussions such as this and hope to get involved myself as well.

Nice to say hi to all ,

Hi i'm Billy

Hi and welcome.



JLB