3 questions - thoughts on a Lords day morning

my reflections started this Lord's day morning

reading a tweet from James Comey,

the ex/fired FBI director

talking about the need for truth.

this took me on to 3 questions

A Question asked

A Question answered

A Question not asked

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

first and relating in a way to Mr Comey's tweet.

A Question asked

What is Truth ?

The question asked In John 18:38 KJV “Pilate saith unto him, What is truth? “

there is no recorded answer, we do not know if it was a throw away remark, or a serious question, but we have no recorded answer. Such an important question and no answer. Is it that there is no answer? or are there too many possibilities to make answering a minefield through which it is perilous to traverse?

~~~~~~~~~~~

A Question answered

what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Prior to my falling down my sister’s stairs in 2012

[that effectively ended my 4^th career as a lorry driver]

I had made it a point of asking those who I found

to be “in your face christian” the above question

and giving them a multiple choice possibility answers

of about 30 or so that I asked, including a preacher with a

megaphone in Chester city centre, only 1 got it right.

The 99% of in your face christian’s asked were of the opinion

the answer was to come to Calvary, accept Jesus as personal

saviour and be born again.

But that was not Jesus’s answer to the question.

I suspect not too many in you’r face christian’s like Jesus’s answer.

Same question is asked of Jesus in Matthew Mark and Luke :

here is Luke (synopsis) :- Luke 18:18-22 KJV

Obey the commandments , Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother, sell all that thou has and give to the poor, take up thy cross and follow Jesus.

~~~~~~~~~~~

A Question not asked

Are we doing it right? - that is my question

and asked because no one dared ask a very very important question.

Did I say very very important.

Are we doing it right? How do we know this

(the way we gather – fellowship – worship )

is what Jesus ,God, had in mind.

The very first time [as we know it] in the history

of mankind that anyone used this New Word

C H U R C H was in Matthew 16:18 KJV

“thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church;

and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

Yet no-one then, at that moment,

or at any time from then until Jesus Ascended into Heaven

was HE ever asked – for the record,

so that we may know whet HE meant;-

Rabbi “what is a church”

could it be we are not doing it, being a church as Christ intended?

Who knows!!

oh please don’t be suggesting that the answer lies in the teachings of the sinful Paul, who is as qualified as you and I to make assumptions, Neither he nor us hearing Christ speak in the 1^st place.

So these are my thoughts this Lord’s day Morning – shared – for what they are worth to the reader

What a difference if North Antrim MP became a Christian

regarding https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/news/northern-ireland/mp-slams-biased-bbc-after-attack-on-christians-broadcast-live-36920588.html

I believe that if the North Antrim MP became a Christian he might understand Christianity. 

1. putting us down only makes us stronger

2.  we rejoice when we are put down

3.  the centre of our religion the Son of God Jesus Christ labels us BLESSED when under attack

4.  the Son of God Jesus Christ commands us to be happy when under attack

I believe that if the North Antrim MP became a Christian he might understand Christianity.  He would know that negative bias doesn't bother us, we are never alone, HE is always with us


what Mr Paisley would benefit from knowing ~

Christianity is not about LOUDLY SAYING , 

Christianity is about silently doing.

a canon is complaining to the BBC about anti-Christian bias

in my opinion a man among many with shaky beliefs.

Not going to say he is a loose canon, but a shaky wibbly woobly canon. A canon with no issues with the title “canon” but a clear and present danger to the title “Blessed”. The former given to him by man and the latter by Jesus. If he is a true disciple of Jesus the Christ then he would be rejoicing and happy , not sad-to-write-and-complain.

We are commanded To rejoice and be Happy when being persecuted, Now compare persecution (from verbals to martyrdom) to ‘a bias against’. The latter should be of no concern what-so-ever.

It’s Matthews fault .

Most wannabe Christians and wibbly wobbly canons have a problem with Matthew. Take for instance that bakery in Belfast that was in the news when the management , supposedly Christian, had a problem baking a cake supporting marriage equality , yet did not have a problem baking Halloween cakes that glorified satan, satanism and his festival. Well the management had a problem with Matthew, Had they sought Jesus’s wisdom in Matthew they would have baked the cake, they never would have contested the case let alone appeal it, and would have given more than the court awarded the injured party. All that from Matthew in the King James version. If the King James version is good enough for the Free Presbyterian’s, then its good enough for me.

Matthew 5v39-44 KJV

But I say unto you, That ye resist not evil: but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right cheek, turn to him the other also. And if any man will sue thee at the law, and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak also. And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain. Give to him that asketh thee, and from him that would borrow of thee turn not thou away. Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

Matthew laws down that Hippie stuff pretty thick

Back to the canon worried about anti-bias

Still in Matthew 5 v10-18

Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

Blessed are ye,

when men shall revile you,

and persecute you,

and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake.

Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven: for so persecuted they the prophets which were before you. ((and this canon is complaining))

Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men. Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven. Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.

mini-series - questions to ask your minister - introduction

Introduction to “Questions to ask your Minister”

What motivated David to fight Goliath?

That’s  the question I  often ask people to gauge their response and sus-out their in-depth knowledge of the old testament.  A picture is painted that David was God’s Champion. His courage came from God. His motivation and battle-cry was “who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the army of the Living God”.

That’s all wrong.  An assumption.  Like an assumption many people have that Jesus was Caucasian.

The fact (based on the story in 1st Samuel) is that DAVID and Donald Trump had a lot in common.  The emotion that motivated Trump and David was the 3rd of the 7 Deadly Sins – GREED.  David didn't want to have to pay taxes for life. Pure and simple – yet sinfully deadly – GREED.

That was part of the reward that Saul the King of the Israelites was offering to the man that killed Goliath.  He had heard that and was so preoccupied that he asked around if it was true.

David wasn't so brave as the picture is painted, the first time David heard Goliath speak he ran with everyone else.   All Israel ran from Goliath – and David, is in ALL

Here’s another question for those who want to contemplate the story. when David arrived to find His brothers, with no electricity, no public address system and 10 thousand or so soldiers between David and Goliath,   how did David even hear Goliath?

One of the many reasons I am of the opinion that I and others should close our minds to the old testament.  Non of our business really, was not written with us in mind.  In any event it is fully fulfilled in my Lord and Saviour, Jesus the Christ.

Apart from poetry in the book of psalms and motivational sayings from Proverbs, I pay no heed to it.  I realise that the words in book the Book of Psalms & Proverbs are the words of mortal and by nature sinful men,  they are not the words of my God, spoken by my God.

I am mindful to start a wee series entitled Questions to ask your Minister / Priest.

And to start with go to  Question 1, “Who was God taking to”?

Question to ask your minister 1, “Who was God taking to”?

In my mini series Questions to ask your minister

Question to ask your minister 1, “Who was God taking to”?

Most people know the story of creation in the first book of the King James christian bible.

God said Let there be light and there was light. etc much like I say out loud to myself “I am hungry – make dinner”

clearly there is a vast nothingness in the cosmos and a lonely God speaks to him/herself to bring what he/she is thinking about into being

however when it comes to bringing man into being God deviates from His/Her previous speak

In verse 26 of Genesis chapter 1 on the 6th day of creation comes the words, “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”

“Let us”
“in our”
“after our”

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth”

             Question 1 = Who was God speaking to?
Follow on question = How many Gods were there?
Follow on question = As the result includes male and female is the God/Gods not male and female?
Follow on question = Does trans-gender identity come from our image and likeness of God?

_____________________________________________


See you soon with Question to ask your minister 2

Yet again with guard down, DUP shows it's true colours

The Democratic Unionist Party
shows it true colours

When Prince Harry announces
that he is going to follow his Father
and ‘Marry’ a divorced woman
he announces to the world
that he will be living in what
Jesus the Christ calls - Sin
the Sin of Adultery

and he is going to do so
deliberately – with joy in his heart

Arlene, The DUP leader is Ecstatic and
Wonderfully Happy for the Prince
and shares this Happiness by Twitter

Yet this is the party that denies
by Petition of Concern
the right to Marry to
gay people in Northern Ireland

No where in his 33 years of Human existence
including 3 years of earthly ministry
Does Jesus, God’s Son, condemn any gay person
or forbid a gay person marrying

But Jesus, God’s Son does condemn what
Prince Harry is determined to do.
Jesus Says, in the Gospel of Matthew
Chapter 5 verse 32
“whosoever shall marry her
that is divorced committee adultery”

How can a so-called Christian like Arlene
be Ecstatic and happy at the thought
of another person looking forward
to throwing Jesus under the bus ?

As Much as telling Jesus
where HE can shove HIS Gospel

What is the Perverted Christianity
that prevents them from passing
marriage equality in Northern Ireland ?

What ever it is ,
it is indeed perverse.

Christian Police Association - PSNI - Leviticus 20:13

Dear PSNI Chief Constable 

Open Letter 

does Christian Police Association

support the belief that Leviticus 20:13 is referring to gay people ?

@uk_cpa

It is of the HIGHEST PRIORITY to know the answer to this Question.

Because if the answer is in the affirmative,

we can have uniformed and plain clothes police in Northern Ireland,

who believe that the murderers of gay men,

have done nothing morally wrong.

“Their blood shall be upon them”

places the moral responsibility for the death on the victim,

not the assailant.

A notion in this day and age

is putridity,

repugnant & reprehensible

or (defies description)

If Christian Officers,

who believe this verse refers to gay people are not clearly identified,

how can gay victims of a hate crimes,

know that confiding in a PSNI officer,

will be dealt with in an empathic and humanitarian way?

Gerry Leddy

RUC GC ­ Retired

Ex CPA member (expelled on coming out as gay)