I agree.

Keith

This country was founded by great men like Franklin, and others, who had this same thought (Deism). God had created the world, and had simply walked away, leaving us to our own devices. Deism started in Europe and arrived on our shore in these founding fathers of America. Pretty fascinating folks, these founding fathers.

Mark your a better man than me if you don't struggle with what is right or wrong when it comes to defense of our nation. To know when or even if there is a time not to turn the other cheek. We are the workmen and women of Christ and should play an active role within our communities and nation. I also recommend reading the bible from Genesis to Revelations. It's an eye opener.

We all struggle J. Very much so. We have 5 kids and 11 g-kids.
I'm certainly not better, I promise you.

Thought I read somewhere in the bible that Christ said his kingdom was not of this world. That is why he didn't call an army of angels to help him in the garden or the cross.

I agree for the most part as well. But sometimes, during extraordinary circumstances, I do think the Creator steps in.

J Staton,

I’m not a preacher or a theologian, but I think I have an answer to your question; and it may be wrong, but it is what I believe. Thank God (YHVH) for Jesus Christ. As New Testament Christians, we often see that verse regarding “turn the other cheek” and I think we sometimes mistakenly think it means to let our enemies run us over…….i.e. If they can live with it so can we. I think this line of thinking holds true in some respect, but when put into context it really just means IMO don’t sweat the little stuff. Our member on here PAskinner posted about this several months ago and he did an absolutely tremendous job explaining it I thought. I’ll try to find that post and bring it back up b/c he did a better job of explaining it than I can.

We must never forget that our Messiah is both the lion and the lamb. Jesus is YHVH in flesh…the Son of God, the Creator of the Universe. Jesus is the voice in the burning bush in Exodus 3, and He is the Commander of the Army of the Lord in Joshua 5. In Exodus He said that I AM that I AM, In Joshua, A MAN stood before Joshua and Joshua fell to the ground and worshipped Him. Jesus Christ was at the battle of Jericho and He was also with the Israelites while entering the promised land of Canaan……so long as they did what was expected of them, but even then….He never abandoned them or forsaken them.

YHVH is unchanging He is the same in the OT and the same in the NT. During these troubled times, we believers all are feeling anxious. I think this is a good thing. Throughout my life, whenever I got that nervous/anxious feeling regarding my future, it usually meant change was coming and that God had some plans for me. I’d pray about it and things have worked out. The Christian brethren I speak with and fellowship with are common folks that try to live by the golden rule, read their Bible, and love their children, and our country. Our children and our country are worth fighting and dying for, and there is not a doubt in my mind that we as believers will know for sure when that time comes. I know it in my heart and very bones we will know when it is time because I know that Jesus loves us.

Rex123,
You are correct. The Son of Man did in fact say that His Kingdom was not of this world! That is why we pray Thy Kingdom come Thy Will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.

However, Christ did not call His army of angels down because He was fulfilling prophecy that had been laid down in Eden. He could have easily done it being that He is the Commander of the Army of the Lord, but He chose deliberately not to.

He was crucified on a cross made out of a tree on top of a mountain that He created. He could have snapped His fingers and been down in a second. But, it was not the nails that held Him to that cross, it was His love for you and me; for it was ours sins that put Him on that cross.

They placed a sign above Him that read “King of the Jews.” The Book of Isaiah has a lot to say about this.

In Psalm 22, written hundreds of years before Jesus was born, David goes on to describe Him on the cross and His crucifixion. It even starts out as “My God, My God, Why have you forsaken Me?”
The death of Jesus on the cross was not a tragedy; it is our blessing from our Creator. Jesus Christ is our Passover and He loves us dearly. It had to be done because our YHVH is a JUST God that keeps His promises. The death of His innocent and perfect Son is how a JUST God can reconcile sinful man (all of us). Even in Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing YHVH did was go and make them clothes out of animal skins. It must have been a shock for Adam and Eve to see the Creator deliberately kill some animals in the garden prior to the Genesis 3 curse; But He was teaching them a very important lesson, and that lesson is that only by the shedding of innocent blood will we be covered. That’s how I see it. Chancey

I'm not sure what you men by that, Mark. He was "instant in season and out of season". You couldn't go get your haircut with the guy without him witnessing to the guy in the next barber chair. He had a real passion for the lost but he didn't seem to like the idea of someone setting in on me. That's why he gave me the gun.

It's just the internet thread context Posco. My apologies if I misunderstood and gave a bad analogy.

Fascinating indeed, to believe He doesn’t interfere but yet pray that He will. lol

Chancey have always enjoyed your post. In fact you posted about the Septuagint and I ordered a copy just the other day. Look forward to reading it.

J,
I agree. It's refreshing to read Chancey's posts. If you really want to dig into the text in contextual form, to strengthen your ability to interpret, learn the original languages of Greek and Hebrew. Rome defeated the Hellenists (Greeks) but in reality, the Greek language defined that era, and is the language of the NT. There are 7 tenses in the Greek language whereby our English language has 3 (past/present/future), so there are tensions trying to translate from the original NT Greek into English. Hebrew in the OT is in the same situation. I've had profs already in my OT courses highlight how the English translators didn't quite land on the meaning of the Hebrew word. Case in point; Genesis 3:16; English translations often read "Yet your desire will be for your husband".... when the Hebrew word is "ish" = "man" Huge translation diff. One sounds like her 1 flesh partner, but this text is actually about her "ish", her "man" , "And He will rule over you" = Seed of the woman = the Messiah. So her "longing for" (desire) is not for her husband, but for the One who will come from her Seed = the ENTIRE narrative story of Scripture. See how words, if translated off kilter, can drastically change the narrative.

So learn some Greek in your spare time and it will greatly help your Septuagint reading comprehension. It's tough to do, but worthy!
The Holy Spirit (hagios pneuma) will assist you, further strengthening your seeing God as the source of all things wondrous!

Blessings,
Mark

In ALL of human history, humankind has a tendency to elevate man's ability, which by definition, denigrates God's ability. In fact, if you get so good, and so smart, you can toss out the Creator altogether.

I think being a deist would be a rough sled, on a choppy hill, with not much snow to sled on. But it was a major theology during the founding of this country, as the rational thinkers, (who all read and fell in awe of John Locke and Renee Descartes writings from Europe), labored to free themselves from tyranny. Great history that we have here in America, but they don't teach it in school anymore. Sadly. People might have perspective, if they knew history = why those who control the teachers unions, don't teach it. Totalitarian despots burn books for this reason.

But all is well in the large picture, while we do the best we can in the present. Same now, as it was back in 1770's in many respects.

Mark can you recommend any text for learning ancient Greek?

We use Bill Mounce for the intro to the language, and he has many great resources.

https://www.billmounce.com

Remember, it's not a race, it's a marathon when it comes to learning languages.

I had an old guy (not sure he got out of 8th grade) explain it to me this way. He said plant your garden and sit and watch it grow and if the weeds start taking over, pray for God to clean it up for you. Or you can get a hoe and get out of your lawn chair and get to work. Which do you think will get the best results?Then he said if your garden needs water and you haven't a source other than rain which you have no control then pray to God for rain and if you expect it then keep your umbrella handy.

The next year after that we had a drought and a bunch of farmers in the county south of us made up a fund to have the clouds seeded. They made up $60,000 and hired an airplane and waited patiently for the right kind of clouds and the plane seeded the clouds. Not even a sprinkle, but the next county over and down stream they got a terrible storm and got hailed out. They had a law suit trying to collect out of the rain makers. It went on for a long time and don't know or remember the out come. When we get into God's jurisdiction we can usually expect a mess!

So I guess we need to be care takers of our garden (heart) for the things we have control over and for the things we can't; pray expecting a blessing.