RE: Random musings...The Bible...Interesting...
This is a good read. I like reading Christian literature, been crazy about them in my college years...
He's basically saying that praying for anything in His name will not get you into heaven.
The New testament is originally written in greek, so it's a good practice to look up the meaning of the greek word used in the text to get an idea what a particular passage mean.
So, if you look in the concordance, Matt. 7:21-22 (in thy name) and compare that to Acts 2:38 (in the name of) : they use the same greek word 'onoma' for the word 'name', which means authority or by the authority of. In other words, in the name of means basically - appeal and reference is made to Jesus Christ. As for Acts 2:38, the baptism is performed by His authority. And it is done by someone acting as Christ's representative.
Praying in Jesus' name means we are asking God the Father to act upon our prayers through the authority and power granted to us by Jesus.
Praying in Jesus' name means we are asking God the Father to act upon our prayers through the authority and power granted to us by Jesus
That's a really good explanation. Thank you! :)
Interesting enough, if God the Father is willing to dwell within us, then He must dwell there through that same authority. This, it seems, would allow us to talk, or pray, directly to the Father.
But, I'm not really deep enough into the subject, though. :))
I believe so, yes. :-))
I'm not an expert on this subject either. This was just some of the things I've learned that stuck with me.
Also, loving your neighbors as yourself... what does that really mean? How do we go about doing that? :-)))
It seems to me that to love your neighbor as you love yourself should require no effort.
I would suggest that if you really love God, and He dwells within you, then you must love yourself as you love God. Because of that, you must love your neighbor as you love yourself.
The problem it seems depends on whether you merely believe, or you have faith. Belief implies doubt, and this is where most find themselves. Faith is knowledge, through experience.
I would suggest that if you believe, pray and observe all that you do in a positive manner, you may eventually find that God is working through you. This will strengthen your belief, which will eventually evolve into faith. And, whether God exists outside of yourself, or not, doesn't even matter.
This is the point where the love of yourself and the love of God is one and the same. Understanding that God is everywhere, at all times, is understanding that to love another is to love god. Well, that should actually be enough. ;)
The mental exercise, it seems, is the similar to that of other philosophies/religions.
Just my thoughts.
Maybe in the sense that it is God who works through us. And if we truly believe, everything flows naturally - which requires faith in the first place. I also agree with what you said that belief will eventually evolve into faith if one is consistently obeying God's will. Merely saying that you believe God (belief) without doing anything about it means nothing. Faith without works is dead.
But I also believe that love is an action word whether towards God or neighbors. So it still requires effort because, realistically speaking, nobody can always have devout feelings, although feelings are not what God principally cares about. I don’t mean we have to force the feelings - what I’m trying to say is, it’s about the everyday stuff. Like when you don’t feel like going to church or praying, but you still do it anyway. You get my point :-))
From a nonbeliever's point of view, the idea of loving your neighbor as yourself can be a difficult - perhaps even impossible - task, especially when that neighbor often does you wrong or is clearly acting with malice. Loving your neighbors clearly doesn't mean thinking they're good fellows when it is quite plain that they are not. But this leads to another topic which is forgiveness. :-))
Good points. :)
I've often heard that God is Love. If that's the case, then Love is His natural state. Once He is dwelling within, then His natural state becomes our natural state and Love no longer needs effort.
If He is dwelling within and Love is His natural state, which becomes our natural state, then prayer and worship will come automatically. I think the urge to pray and worship would be overwhelming.
I don't see how we can forgive those we don't love, though. I'll have to think about that. :)
That gives us room for a future dialogue :-))