The following is from a post titled "Wierwille and the Greek" I made back in July:
"I just bought and began reading Exegetical Fallacies by D. A. Carson. Under /Common Fallacies in Semantics,' 'The root fallacy,' Carson attacks the notion that agapao and agape mean 'some special kind of love.'
"He does not endorse equating phileo and agapao across their 'entire range,' yet asserts 'they enjoy substantial overlap.'
"His argument is rather strong. He notes that John 3:35 uses agapao for the Father's loving of the Son, while John 5:20 uses phileo.
"He also points out that agapao is used in 2 Timothy 4:10 for Demas' loving of the world, and that both agape and agapao appear in the Septuagint rendering of 2 Samuel 13:15."
*****
Mike,
How did Wierwille restrictively define agape and/or agapao?
Good post Cynic. I double checked your New Testament verses using phileo and agapao. They are all correct. And yes, this does have significance. Thanks for posting it. I wrote an article on 1 Corinthians 13. I was going to have my article published on a web site, but I felt my understanding of agapao was to sectarian. Your verses show that my caution was justified. Thank you.
Mike, that is an individual thing. It is like saying how does one honor the Lord Jesus Christ? That depends on the person. However, Cool Waters had a good post. She said to feed the sheep. How does one do that? That depends on what one has to offer. Everyone has their gift that they can share with others. You think your gift to share is PFAL. However, God may have other ideas. Why not share the gift of love and meekness with your fellow believers? Recognizing that they too have something to share. It might be that simple.
I see Deut.6 as for my learning. Jesus was quoting it and I think the context of his quote is very noteworthy. In previous years I applied what I learned from this context to master the KJV (and other versions) as best I could utilizing PFAL principles. Now I apply the context of Jesus? quote to what I have come to see as God?s improvement on the received texts and their translations and their versions.
Mark,
I have done my best to honor the originating post of this thread and steer my responses to deal with Pat Schwaigers? request. I believe that her observation is a good one that most of her teaching on the First actually drift into obeying the Second greatest commandment, and have relatively little to say of the First. Most of the posts here bear the characteristics of her initial observation.
I think your impression that I have ?infected? this thread is hyperbole at best.
I "do" the first commandment by refusing to give credence to the teachings of that lyin', adulterous, booze swillin', Kool smokin', plagarizin', Greek manglin', ruffled shirt wearin' cult founder with the fake doctorate.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
Anyone who thinks God has commanded them to love Him over estimate themselves, underestimate God, and severally handicap the rest of us.
I am GOD LOVE me dammit I command it. It is MY FIRST and GREAT COMMANDMENT. Somebody love me please..........somebody anybody...........I will smite you if you don't love me.
God weeping turns to Jesus..."Oh why....tell me why won't they love me.... Jesus."
"Just because a person has his eyes open don't mean he's conscious."
OK. Here's the conclusion I'm reaching. We've all been taught about "God-in-Christ-in-you". It's biblical, but confusing as presented by TWI. Still, the idea of God within you ... is noted by many religions, including Christianity. I don't need to read about it; I know He's in there.
Now, with this in mind,what happens when you just know in your heart that you are to do something, but it conflicts with some other ethic or principle which you believe to be true? ie (My heart tells me to trust this person, but my training tells me not to be unequally yoked). Surely this has happend to you. TWI banned a Way Prod album, because it was called "Follow Your Heart". TWI referred to "gut feelings" as evidence of possession.
No. Those feelings are what makes up your intuition. My dictionary defines intuition as "the power of the mind by which it immediately perceives the truth of things without reason or analysis". Sorta like revelation, I guess. It's holy, not devilish!
My understanding of this, now, is that intuition is that God-in-Christ-in-you. When we get those gut-feelings, that's God! That's intuition!
Sooooooooo.... to ignore those feelings is to violate the first commandment. If we love God, we gotta pay attentnion to those intuitive episodes, gotta go with it!
But to the contrary, TWI convinced us that this was devil spirit influence.
Example: In Family Corps, we parents often had to leave our young children - sometimes for weeks - when we would go out witnessing in another town, or to work in an Advanced Class at another locale, or to go out LEAD. All of us mothers, and many of the dads, knew in our heart-of-hearts that this was not good for our kids. Life was stressful enough for the little ones, with the rigid schedules and all the adults carrying around wooden spoons. You felt like you always had to protect your kids from the craziness of the Corps. To leave the children for any length of time ... well, it went against every parenting intuition we had. But we did it anyhow. We denied God.
Approaches to health issues, missed family reunions and funerals, getting pregnant, even manifesting according to prescribed custom - so many things that we knew were wrong - those pieces of knowledge were bits of our intuition, it was God within us, and we denied Him. We blew it when it came to the first commandment.
And it's neat that the second commandment is said to be "like unto the first". If we screw up the first, then the second can't be right either. We're supposed to love our neighbors as ourself, which means to the same degree as we love ourselves. But we were all taught to abandon our intuition (that part of us where God and ourselves mesh), resulting in many of us not loving ourselves at all. Then we struggled with the second commandment by loving our neighbors in the same ammount that we loved ourselves - zero! zip!
Seems like we need to get back into the routine of following our hearts. That's God. That's loving God. Only then can we truly love others.
It's working for me, and I'm aware that God is very pleased with this. The more I practice it, the more I love Him.
There are certainly many ways to love God, but it's time for us ex-wayfers to sift through the TWI methods, find the real stuff, and throw out the rest. -Pat
I do believe the intuition is the "still small voice"
Many therapists say that a lot people who have been abused (such as raped) had a felling first like don't get on the elevator, do not go down that street... etc.
they advise to listen to the inner voice.
The same goes with blessing someone. Such as a strong feeling to call someone then finding out they were ill... etc.
Dorothy Thompson:
Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.
..if you believe the creator of the universe (and all we haven't seen yet) is a jealous, malicious, punishing grudge-holder (like men can be) you might take this more seroiusly than those who do not.
Ginger, I don't think that's what God is. It would be really hard to love him if He were a nasty God. But I think He's the opposite - I think He's accepting of us, proud of us even, and clearly He doesn't hold grudges or else why would He have made salvation available by having His own son die?
Nah, I think God is everything good ... including the part of Himself that is inside of each of us. But TWI and other negative influences have convinced us not to trust that part of ourselves.
And this is where they handicapped our natural responses to love God - they got in the way of us trusting that "still small voice", they taught us to not like ourselves (which contains a piece of God).
Obeying the first commandment is really quite healing when it's done this way. Trust your intuition. It always works. -Pat
Pat: I can see arguments for both sides of that one. In Acts 10, Peter wasn't going to listen to God because He told him to do something which contradicted his previous teaching (rise, kill, and eat, etc.). But Paul just had to go to Jerusalem so bad that he didn't listen to God or credible believers.
I agree that TWI, especially recently got in the way of the still small voice. They really said that a "gut feeling" was possession? Idiots!
Check out the book "The Gift Of Fear". I forget who wrote it now, cuz it's being passed all over, but worth the hunt.
Talks about listening to our instincts, looking back at how we missed it, strengthening the ear to 'hear' it better next time. It's a kind of self help book, but with case studies and not a boring read.
The writer gives example after example of victims knowing better before they were victimized. Great read!
Here's one way to honor the first commandment. Quit calling God's only begotten Son, who sits at God's own right hand, who died for you, by initials lacking just about any reverence whatsoever (like followers of Charles Manson called him by the way, for your learning.) If you say he is your lord act like it once in your life since the new birth. Respect is still available to those who have ears to hear and hearts to want to understand. And again, by the way, how do you know right doctrine? If you DO it, believe it. "Why call me lord, lord and do not DO the things I command you?" Even angels called him the lord. Get a clue fast. He is coming back!
How's life? Have you seen Dr's last teaching? It's pretty cool. So cool it was lost, but in recent years it has been found. Please e-mail me. We have a lot to talk about. Do you know how to find my e-mail address in my Personal Profile? I'm serious.
Dr's last teaching includes his final instructions to us. I never saw nor heard this teaching until 1998. When I did finally see it, I endeavored to carry out his final instructions, which were to master the PFAL class, the Intermediate class, and the BOOKS that come with the class.
I was amazed at how much I had forgotten, and how much I had never absorbed the first time around. Coming back to PFAL changed my life. It was better than the first time I took it way back in the early 70's.
Are you saying - To love God is to "quit" doing this and that? I think maybe this is a piece of the whole picture. But this is like me saying, "I will know you love me if you quit smoking". Loving is not simply the omission of certain behaviors. It's way bigger than that. -Pat
Hmmm thats quite a stretch...liar liar lol....I dunno if referring to him as JC is disrepectfull...shoot HE knows the intent of our hearts whether we call him master... savior...messiah......whatever...His own deciples didn`t refer to him as Jesus Christ....I am sure that the aramaic variation was pronounced different as well...
Sounds like you are not only judging the intent of our hearta...but trying to make us afraid of him all over again...
I'm still running into grads who think "The Hope" is Dr's last teaching. I just got an e-mail from two today who want to see his actual last teaching.
The adversary thought it was such an important teaching that he hid it from 99% of all nonCorps grads, and a very large percentage of the leadership.
In the last year I ran into TWO men who were in the Research Department at the time of Dr's death who were totally unaware of his last teaching. Both of their names are very familiar to you and us all.
I've run into several clergy who were in the dark about this.
This is much bigger than mall witnessing. It's bringing life back to a dead family.
The comments on this thread have been interesting.
From my perspective (knowing that we all have some specific view of these things) I see several individual posters suggesting things that taken together really make complimentary sense.
And as whole the common concept proposed transcends the component parts.
__
Years ago I did some inquiry into the uses of agapeo, and the english word "charity". As well as many hours of research into the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
___
Now do not consider my words as an authority as it has been a while since I did this "agape" research and I don't have the notes nearby (so I am working off of memory)
The essential meaning of agapao and charity was to simply be so enamored of some thing, some one that you "cherished" it.
It is the object of your affection. You have passion for it. You just "love" it.
--
Many people have commented on how their love for God is demonstrated as they reach out to people, serving helping attending to the needs of plain old people: family, friends, strangers, co-workers, etc.
I totally support those examples of loving God.
From my present theological perspective, I see that the passion in our personal lives to take care of those around us as the ultimate expression of godly love.
I think that is what we see in our Lord Jesus' life and death and in his resurrected body now.
Jesus so loved the life and the ministry that the Father gave him that he always did his Father's will.
Jesus had passion to serve other people and to subject his will to the Father's.
His example of service is our blueprint as well as our foundation.
Jesus' example of successfully extending the will of his father (being about his Father's business) to all he met bears some analysis.
Does his passion simply start in the Garden of Gethsemane, do we only see his passion on the Cross?
I think he walked in passion and satisfaction every day, whther it was a miracle day or not.
He perfected the practicing of a godly passionate life every day building up to the most diifcult yet essential challenge -- making payment for our sins and purchasing our redemption.
--
Do we want to continue to believe that in our own personal struggles of life, striving against sin that our ONE LIVING EXAMPLE, the Lord Jesus, perfected life for us by: avoiding sin?
No.
Our successful walk will happen if we follow the positive example of Jesus in being satisfied and motivated by loving our neighbor as ourselves and thereby fulfilling all the law.
Can we consider that Jesus so naturally loved what he was called to do (not just as a sacrifice for sin but as a model of righteousnes) that his satisfaction came from supplying the solution to the problems of the people he encountered.
I believe that the ability of any living thing to have passion, to experience pleasure and pain, to dream and to desire is the very fuel and focus that keeps them alive and alert to continuing their life.
I believe that the ability to cherish particular types of food, entertainment, recreation, people and parts of nature is God-given and ordained.
The ability to like and dislike is the built in "sensor" hardware that we utilize to enjoy God and Life.
__
So love is an innate ability, that once we have been freed from the slavery of sin, and have understood who our new Master and Lord is: Jesus, that we go forward loving God and those who he has given us as if we saw them as really HIS.
You see a slave had no possessions of his own.
We became slaves to sin when Adam fell.
We became slaves of righteousness when Jesus paid out ransom.
All the possessions we thought were ours when we had no knowledge of our enslaved status we can now see belong to our Lord and Master, Jesus. And everything he has ultimately belongs to the Father.
So everything in our lives really belongs to God.
Our family members, our homes, our pets, our friends our coworkers, etc -- all belong to God.
And as we take care of them we are taking care of God's stuff, and he is pleased with that and sees that our love for him and them is essentially the same.
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Cynic
The following is from a post titled "Wierwille and the Greek" I made back in July:
"I just bought and began reading Exegetical Fallacies by D. A. Carson. Under /Common Fallacies in Semantics,' 'The root fallacy,' Carson attacks the notion that agapao and agape mean 'some special kind of love.'
"He does not endorse equating phileo and agapao across their 'entire range,' yet asserts 'they enjoy substantial overlap.'
"His argument is rather strong. He notes that John 3:35 uses agapao for the Father's loving of the Son, while John 5:20 uses phileo.
"He also points out that agapao is used in 2 Timothy 4:10 for Demas' loving of the world, and that both agape and agapao appear in the Septuagint rendering of 2 Samuel 13:15."
*****
Mike,
How did Wierwille restrictively define agape and/or agapao?
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Mike
How did Bullinger put it?
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Mark Sanguinetti
Congratulations Mike. You have infected another thread that previously had potential.
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Mark Sanguinetti
Good post Cynic. I double checked your New Testament verses using phileo and agapao. They are all correct. And yes, this does have significance. Thanks for posting it. I wrote an article on 1 Corinthians 13. I was going to have my article published on a web site, but I felt my understanding of agapao was to sectarian. Your verses show that my caution was justified. Thank you.
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Mike
Mark,
How do you handle Deut.6 ?
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Trefor Heywood
Mike said "Love God= Master the Collaterals."
Then he goes on about Deut 6...
Well I can only observe that if he had "mastered the collaterals" then he would know that the Old Testament is not to the Church of God.
Deut goes on about mastering the OT Law - the collaterals themselves proclaim that we are freed from that Law!
Physician heal thyself!
Trefor Heywood
"Cymru Am Byth!"
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Mark Sanguinetti
Mike, that is an individual thing. It is like saying how does one honor the Lord Jesus Christ? That depends on the person. However, Cool Waters had a good post. She said to feed the sheep. How does one do that? That depends on what one has to offer. Everyone has their gift that they can share with others. You think your gift to share is PFAL. However, God may have other ideas. Why not share the gift of love and meekness with your fellow believers? Recognizing that they too have something to share. It might be that simple.
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Mike
Trefor,
I see Deut.6 as for my learning. Jesus was quoting it and I think the context of his quote is very noteworthy. In previous years I applied what I learned from this context to master the KJV (and other versions) as best I could utilizing PFAL principles. Now I apply the context of Jesus? quote to what I have come to see as God?s improvement on the received texts and their translations and their versions.
Mark,
I have done my best to honor the originating post of this thread and steer my responses to deal with Pat Schwaigers? request. I believe that her observation is a good one that most of her teaching on the First actually drift into obeying the Second greatest commandment, and have relatively little to say of the First. Most of the posts here bear the characteristics of her initial observation.
I think your impression that I have ?infected? this thread is hyperbole at best.
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Oakspear
I "do" the first commandment by refusing to give credence to the teachings of that lyin', adulterous, booze swillin', Kool smokin', plagarizin', Greek manglin', ruffled shirt wearin' cult founder with the fake doctorate.
In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice...but in practice there is
Oakspear
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early2it
Anyone who thinks God has commanded them to love Him over estimate themselves, underestimate God, and severally handicap the rest of us.
I am GOD LOVE me dammit I command it. It is MY FIRST and GREAT COMMANDMENT. Somebody love me please..........somebody anybody...........I will smite you if you don't love me.
God weeping turns to Jesus..."Oh why....tell me why won't they love me.... Jesus."
"Just because a person has his eyes open don't mean he's conscious."
Socrates.......... I think
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Goey
Mike posted:
So then not to master PFAL = Not to love God ?
Goey
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Schwaigers
OK. Here's the conclusion I'm reaching. We've all been taught about "God-in-Christ-in-you". It's biblical, but confusing as presented by TWI. Still, the idea of God within you ... is noted by many religions, including Christianity. I don't need to read about it; I know He's in there.
Now, with this in mind,what happens when you just know in your heart that you are to do something, but it conflicts with some other ethic or principle which you believe to be true? ie (My heart tells me to trust this person, but my training tells me not to be unequally yoked). Surely this has happend to you. TWI banned a Way Prod album, because it was called "Follow Your Heart". TWI referred to "gut feelings" as evidence of possession.
No. Those feelings are what makes up your intuition. My dictionary defines intuition as "the power of the mind by which it immediately perceives the truth of things without reason or analysis". Sorta like revelation, I guess. It's holy, not devilish!
My understanding of this, now, is that intuition is that God-in-Christ-in-you. When we get those gut-feelings, that's God! That's intuition!
Sooooooooo.... to ignore those feelings is to violate the first commandment. If we love God, we gotta pay attentnion to those intuitive episodes, gotta go with it!
But to the contrary, TWI convinced us that this was devil spirit influence.
Example: In Family Corps, we parents often had to leave our young children - sometimes for weeks - when we would go out witnessing in another town, or to work in an Advanced Class at another locale, or to go out LEAD. All of us mothers, and many of the dads, knew in our heart-of-hearts that this was not good for our kids. Life was stressful enough for the little ones, with the rigid schedules and all the adults carrying around wooden spoons. You felt like you always had to protect your kids from the craziness of the Corps. To leave the children for any length of time ... well, it went against every parenting intuition we had. But we did it anyhow. We denied God.
Approaches to health issues, missed family reunions and funerals, getting pregnant, even manifesting according to prescribed custom - so many things that we knew were wrong - those pieces of knowledge were bits of our intuition, it was God within us, and we denied Him. We blew it when it came to the first commandment.
And it's neat that the second commandment is said to be "like unto the first". If we screw up the first, then the second can't be right either. We're supposed to love our neighbors as ourself, which means to the same degree as we love ourselves. But we were all taught to abandon our intuition (that part of us where God and ourselves mesh), resulting in many of us not loving ourselves at all. Then we struggled with the second commandment by loving our neighbors in the same ammount that we loved ourselves - zero! zip!
Seems like we need to get back into the routine of following our hearts. That's God. That's loving God. Only then can we truly love others.
It's working for me, and I'm aware that God is very pleased with this. The more I practice it, the more I love Him.
There are certainly many ways to love God, but it's time for us ex-wayfers to sift through the TWI methods, find the real stuff, and throw out the rest. -Pat
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Dot Matrix
interesting and very insightful Pat!
I do believe the intuition is the "still small voice"
Many therapists say that a lot people who have been abused (such as raped) had a felling first like don't get on the elevator, do not go down that street... etc.
they advise to listen to the inner voice.
The same goes with blessing someone. Such as a strong feeling to call someone then finding out they were ill... etc.
Dorothy Thompson:
Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.
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Ginger Tea
..if you believe the creator of the universe (and all we haven't seen yet) is a jealous, malicious, punishing grudge-holder (like men can be) you might take this more seroiusly than those who do not.
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Schwaigers
Ginger, I don't think that's what God is. It would be really hard to love him if He were a nasty God. But I think He's the opposite - I think He's accepting of us, proud of us even, and clearly He doesn't hold grudges or else why would He have made salvation available by having His own son die?
Nah, I think God is everything good ... including the part of Himself that is inside of each of us. But TWI and other negative influences have convinced us not to trust that part of ourselves.
And this is where they handicapped our natural responses to love God - they got in the way of us trusting that "still small voice", they taught us to not like ourselves (which contains a piece of God).
Obeying the first commandment is really quite healing when it's done this way. Trust your intuition. It always works. -Pat
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johniam
Pat: I can see arguments for both sides of that one. In Acts 10, Peter wasn't going to listen to God because He told him to do something which contradicted his previous teaching (rise, kill, and eat, etc.). But Paul just had to go to Jerusalem so bad that he didn't listen to God or credible believers.
I agree that TWI, especially recently got in the way of the still small voice. They really said that a "gut feeling" was possession? Idiots!
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Dot Matrix
They really said that a "gut feeling" was possession? Idiots!
Really Pat, wow they said that? What jerks.
Dorothy Thompson:
Fear grows in darkness; if you think there's a bogeyman around, turn on the light.
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Shellon
Check out the book "The Gift Of Fear". I forget who wrote it now, cuz it's being passed all over, but worth the hunt.
Talks about listening to our instincts, looking back at how we missed it, strengthening the ear to 'hear' it better next time. It's a kind of self help book, but with case studies and not a boring read.
The writer gives example after example of victims knowing better before they were victimized. Great read!
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LiarLiarPantsOnFire
Here's one way to honor the first commandment. Quit calling God's only begotten Son, who sits at God's own right hand, who died for you, by initials lacking just about any reverence whatsoever (like followers of Charles Manson called him by the way, for your learning.) If you say he is your lord act like it once in your life since the new birth. Respect is still available to those who have ears to hear and hearts to want to understand. And again, by the way, how do you know right doctrine? If you DO it, believe it. "Why call me lord, lord and do not DO the things I command you?" Even angels called him the lord. Get a clue fast. He is coming back!
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Mike
Hi L-Pants,
How's life? Have you seen Dr's last teaching? It's pretty cool. So cool it was lost, but in recent years it has been found. Please e-mail me. We have a lot to talk about. Do you know how to find my e-mail address in my Personal Profile? I'm serious.
Dr's last teaching includes his final instructions to us. I never saw nor heard this teaching until 1998. When I did finally see it, I endeavored to carry out his final instructions, which were to master the PFAL class, the Intermediate class, and the BOOKS that come with the class.
I was amazed at how much I had forgotten, and how much I had never absorbed the first time around. Coming back to PFAL changed my life. It was better than the first time I took it way back in the early 70's.
We REALLY have lots to talk about!
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Schwaigers
Liarliar ...etc
Are you saying - To love God is to "quit" doing this and that? I think maybe this is a piece of the whole picture. But this is like me saying, "I will know you love me if you quit smoking". Loving is not simply the omission of certain behaviors. It's way bigger than that. -Pat
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rascal
Hmmm thats quite a stretch...liar liar lol....I dunno if referring to him as JC is disrepectfull...shoot HE knows the intent of our hearts whether we call him master... savior...messiah......whatever...His own deciples didn`t refer to him as Jesus Christ....I am sure that the aramaic variation was pronounced different as well...
Sounds like you are not only judging the intent of our hearta...but trying to make us afraid of him all over again...
Agreed pat....much more.
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Mike
rascal,
I'm still running into grads who think "The Hope" is Dr's last teaching. I just got an e-mail from two today who want to see his actual last teaching.
The adversary thought it was such an important teaching that he hid it from 99% of all nonCorps grads, and a very large percentage of the leadership.
In the last year I ran into TWO men who were in the Research Department at the time of Dr's death who were totally unaware of his last teaching. Both of their names are very familiar to you and us all.
I've run into several clergy who were in the dark about this.
This is much bigger than mall witnessing. It's bringing life back to a dead family.
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Darrell Bailey
The comments on this thread have been interesting.
From my perspective (knowing that we all have some specific view of these things) I see several individual posters suggesting things that taken together really make complimentary sense.
And as whole the common concept proposed transcends the component parts.
__
Years ago I did some inquiry into the uses of agapeo, and the english word "charity". As well as many hours of research into the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
___
Now do not consider my words as an authority as it has been a while since I did this "agape" research and I don't have the notes nearby (so I am working off of memory)
The essential meaning of agapao and charity was to simply be so enamored of some thing, some one that you "cherished" it.
It is the object of your affection. You have passion for it. You just "love" it.
--
Many people have commented on how their love for God is demonstrated as they reach out to people, serving helping attending to the needs of plain old people: family, friends, strangers, co-workers, etc.
I totally support those examples of loving God.
From my present theological perspective, I see that the passion in our personal lives to take care of those around us as the ultimate expression of godly love.
I think that is what we see in our Lord Jesus' life and death and in his resurrected body now.
Jesus so loved the life and the ministry that the Father gave him that he always did his Father's will.
Jesus had passion to serve other people and to subject his will to the Father's.
His example of service is our blueprint as well as our foundation.
Jesus' example of successfully extending the will of his father (being about his Father's business) to all he met bears some analysis.
Does his passion simply start in the Garden of Gethsemane, do we only see his passion on the Cross?
I think he walked in passion and satisfaction every day, whther it was a miracle day or not.
He perfected the practicing of a godly passionate life every day building up to the most diifcult yet essential challenge -- making payment for our sins and purchasing our redemption.
--
Do we want to continue to believe that in our own personal struggles of life, striving against sin that our ONE LIVING EXAMPLE, the Lord Jesus, perfected life for us by: avoiding sin?
No.
Our successful walk will happen if we follow the positive example of Jesus in being satisfied and motivated by loving our neighbor as ourselves and thereby fulfilling all the law.
Can we consider that Jesus so naturally loved what he was called to do (not just as a sacrifice for sin but as a model of righteousnes) that his satisfaction came from supplying the solution to the problems of the people he encountered.
I believe that the ability of any living thing to have passion, to experience pleasure and pain, to dream and to desire is the very fuel and focus that keeps them alive and alert to continuing their life.
I believe that the ability to cherish particular types of food, entertainment, recreation, people and parts of nature is God-given and ordained.
The ability to like and dislike is the built in "sensor" hardware that we utilize to enjoy God and Life.
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So love is an innate ability, that once we have been freed from the slavery of sin, and have understood who our new Master and Lord is: Jesus, that we go forward loving God and those who he has given us as if we saw them as really HIS.
You see a slave had no possessions of his own.
We became slaves to sin when Adam fell.
We became slaves of righteousness when Jesus paid out ransom.
All the possessions we thought were ours when we had no knowledge of our enslaved status we can now see belong to our Lord and Master, Jesus. And everything he has ultimately belongs to the Father.
So everything in our lives really belongs to God.
Our family members, our homes, our pets, our friends our coworkers, etc -- all belong to God.
And as we take care of them we are taking care of God's stuff, and he is pleased with that and sees that our love for him and them is essentially the same.
God Bless
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