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Best Wishes This Easter

Citizen

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May you find peace in Christ's demonstration of The Resurrection--that a man has the capacity for Eternal Life, that the thing behind the eyes that is aware of itself is immortal.

And, may you find peace in Christ's message of Redemption.

May your reflections bear fruit and bring you new understandings.
 
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HPmatt

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Dallas
Was a beautiful sunrise service here in Dallas.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

solus

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here nc
'tis a shame after all these centuries the pettiness between the myths can't agree on a singular time to celebrate...

according to lore of olde:
quote:
During the first three centuries of Christianity, there was no universal date for celebrating the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. Churches in various parts of the world followed different traditions. Some Christians celebrated Pascha on the first Sunday after Jewish Passover and others celebrated the feast at the same time as Passover. In order to come up with one unified date for celebrating Pascha, the Holy Fathers of the First Ecumenical Council in 325 AD took up the issue. The formula is this: Pascha is to be celebrated on the first Sunday, after the first full moon, following the vernal equinox, but always after Jewish Passover. This formula was universally accepted by all of Christianity, ensuring that Pascha was celebrated on the same day throughout the world.

...in modern times, the Western Church has rejected the part of the Nicene formula that requires that Pascha “always follow the Jewish Passover.” unquote http://usa.greekreporter.com/2015/0...istian-easter-is-later-than-the-catholic-one/

(1532 ~ basically, the first sunday after the first full moon following the equinox)

enjoy your universal floating date...

ipse
 
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color of law

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color of law
Redemption is the problem.....
I'm not sure I follow. Tell me more.
Christ's message of Redemption is the act of saving people from sin and evil. Apparently most government employees believe that their evil acts will be forgiven. It is not just the government, it's man in general. Over the years I've known a number of business persons that claimed to be born again, yet had no conscience of right or wrong.

Yes, Jesus paid the price for our release from sin and its consequences. But, most christens are not christen at all; just because they believe they have been saved does not mean they, in fact, have been saved. Hence, redemption is the problem.
 

stealthyeliminator

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Joined
Dec 29, 2008
Messages
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Location
Texas
May you find peace in Christ's demonstration of The Resurrection--that a man has the capacity for Eternal Life, that the thing behind the eyes that is aware of itself is immortal.

And, may you find peace in Christ's message of Redemption.

May your reflections bear fruit and bring you new understandings.

Thank you Citizen, this is a very thoughtful and uplifting post.
 

Citizen

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Messages
18,269
Location
Fairfax Co., VA
Christ's message of Redemption is the act of saving people from sin and evil. Apparently most government employees believe that their evil acts will be forgiven. It is not just the government, it's man in general. Over the years I've known a number of business persons that claimed to be born again, yet had no conscience of right or wrong.

Yes, Jesus paid the price for our release from sin and its consequences. But, most christens are not christen at all; just because they believe they have been saved does not mean they, in fact, have been saved. Hence, redemption is the problem.

Oh, my.

My friend, can one really believe that redemption is God's to dispense?

No, I seek not Redemption is His eyes. I seek redemption in my own.

Is that not the ultimate office of personal responsibility? While He could redeem me--restore or elevate me to His glory, why would He? He did not commit my errors. He did not commit my harms. To redeem me Himself, without me first redeeming myself, is a violation of personal responsibility. No. I cannot believe even He would allow me to lie to myself or evade my responsibility for my own harms committed and omitted against others and Him. He cannot possibly not know that it is not His ideas that count the most on this question. He cannot possibly not know that it is my own certainty of harms committed, my own attributions against myself that are the falling short of His glory in my own eyes.

Both God and I know to a complete certainty who committed my harms.

Were He to allow me to accept and believe a sufficiency in His redemption in His own eyes before I redeemed myself, He would be shortchanging me. And, that I cannot in any way accept--that He would shortchange even one immortal soul.

No. Redemption cannot possibly be His to dispense. He would have to erase from our minds our own experiences--our own harms; and wave a hand of Redemption. I think He is much, much more sophisticated than that. If I can see beyond a simplistic explanation of Redemption, I know He can.

My money says that at a minimum He offers to Redeem me as a way to encourage me to redeem myself in my own eyes. Failing that, there is no point but to say that He erases my experiences and allows me to pretend I never harmed anyone. No, no. I cannot accept that about God, the Architect of human nature.

I suspect. No, I hold. That He will not Redeem me in His eyes until after I redeem myself in my own. To hold otherwise is to say He will allow me to evade, dodge, justify, and rationalize my harms against others and Him. And, since that cannot possibly be recognition of personal causation, it cannot possibly be the road to anywhere but more self lies.

And, if He is anything, He is Truth.
 

OC for ME

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White Oak Plantation
Oh, my.

My friend, can one really believe that redemption is God's to dispense?

No, I seek not Redemption is His eyes. I seek redemption in my own.

Is that not the ultimate office of personal responsibility? While He could redeem me--restore or elevate me to His glory, why would He? He did not commit my errors. He did not commit my harms. To redeem me Himself, without me first redeeming myself, is a violation of personal responsibility. No. I cannot believe even He would allow me to lie to myself or evade my responsibility for my own harms committed and omitted against others and Him. He cannot possibly not know that it is not His ideas that count the most on this question. He cannot possibly not know that it is my own certainty of harms committed, my own attributions against myself that are the falling short of His glory in my own eyes.

Both God and I know to a complete certainty who committed my harms.

Were He to allow me to accept and believe a sufficiency in His redemption in His own eyes before I redeemed myself, He would be shortchanging me. And, that I cannot in any way accept--that He would shortchange even one immortal soul.

No. Redemption cannot possibly be His to dispense. He would have to erase from our minds our own experiences--our own harms; and wave a hand of Redemption. I think He is much, much more sophisticated than that. If I can see beyond a simplistic explanation of Redemption, I know He can.

My money says that at a minimum He offers to Redeem me as a way to encourage me to redeem myself in my own eyes. Failing that, there is no point but to say that He erases my experiences and allows me to pretend I never harmed anyone. No, no. I cannot accept that about God, the Architect of human nature.

I suspect. No, I hold. That He will not Redeem me in His eyes until after I redeem myself in my own. To hold otherwise is to say He will allow me to evade, dodge, justify, and rationalize my harms against others and Him. And, since that cannot possibly be recognition of personal causation, it cannot possibly be the road to anywhere but more self lies.

And, if He is anything, He is Truth.
Of course it is...we are talking about God after all. I humbly defer to He as to what He decides to do, or not do. All I can do is keep on keeping on and hope for the best. When He gets around to looking me in the eye and asking "What have you done?" I will tell Him that I did my best, He will then decide if I did my best.
 

color of law

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Oh, my.

My friend, can one really believe that redemption is God's to dispense?

No, I seek not Redemption is His eyes. I seek redemption in my own.


Is that not the ultimate office of personal responsibility? While He could redeem me--restore or elevate me to His glory, why would He? He did not commit my errors. He did not commit my harms. To redeem me Himself, without me first redeeming myself, is a violation of personal responsibility. No. I cannot believe even He would allow me to lie to myself or evade my responsibility for my own harms committed and omitted against others and Him. He cannot possibly not know that it is not His ideas that count the most on this question. He cannot possibly not know that it is my own certainty of harms committed, my own attributions against myself that are the falling short of His glory in my own eyes.

Both God and I know to a complete certainty who committed my harms.

Were He to allow me to accept and believe a sufficiency in His redemption in His own eyes before I redeemed myself, He would be shortchanging me. And, that I cannot in any way accept--that He would shortchange even one immortal soul.

No. Redemption cannot possibly be His to dispense. He would have to erase from our minds our own experiences--our own harms; and wave a hand of Redemption. I think He is much, much more sophisticated than that. If I can see beyond a simplistic explanation of Redemption, I know He can.

My money says that at a minimum He offers to Redeem me as a way to encourage me to redeem myself in my own eyes. Failing that, there is no point but to say that He erases my experiences and allows me to pretend I never harmed anyone. No, no. I cannot accept that about God, the Architect of human nature.

I suspect. No, I hold. That He will not Redeem me in His eyes until after I redeem myself in my own. To hold otherwise is to say He will allow me to evade, dodge, justify, and rationalize my harms against others and Him. And, since that cannot possibly be recognition of personal causation, it cannot possibly be the road to anywhere but more self lies.

And, if He is anything, He is Truth.
God decides who enters his kingdom, not you. You are not in charge. He has given you a path to salvation, but only he decides if you will receive it, not you. The totality of your life will be judged, not any one specific indiscretion. Do not judge, or you too will be judged; not by me, but by him.

I have nothing further to say on the subject.
 

solus

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here nc
nightmare, i will be soooo glad when you finish your current tome...

just saying.

ipse (solus has nothing to say about it)
 

Citizen

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Messages
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Location
Fairfax Co., VA
God decides who enters his kingdom, not you. You are not in charge. He has given you a path to salvation, but only he decides if you will receive it, not you. The totality of your life will be judged, not any one specific indiscretion. Do not judge, or you too will be judged; not by me, but by him.

I have nothing further to say on the subject.

I apologize if I offended. That was not my intention.

I think the totality of what I wrote speaks to the viewpoint/attitude.

Yes, He decides who gets entrance into His Presence and who doesn't. But, lets keep that in perspective. It is literally the First Amendment right of association. If He cares not to associate with sinners, then He has the same right as I to not associate with sinners. He gets to set His own ground rules on that point--who goes to Heaven and who is cast out.

But, that is beside the point. Why would He or any other being Redeem another who did not first redeem himself in his own eyes? As I said before, it bypasses personal responsibility.

And, I will add in this post, it is more than a little crude to assign to God responsibility for one's own harms.
 

stealthyeliminator

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Messages
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Location
Texas
I don't believe there is any need to "redeem" oneself in one's own eyes in order to be redeemed by the redeemer. That would almost suggest that the redemption provided by Jesus is somehow not enough, but it is. All sin is sin against God, there is no sin that isn't against Him. It's his forgiveness that we truly need, not our own.

I believe the peace being sought comes from the process of repentance, not any sort of self-redemption.
 

Citizen

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Fairfax Co., VA
I don't believe there is any need to "redeem" oneself in one's own eyes in order to be redeemed by the redeemer. That would almost suggest that the redemption provided by Jesus is somehow not enough, but it is. All sin is sin against God, there is no sin that isn't against Him. It's his forgiveness that we truly need, not our own.

I believe the peace being sought comes from the process of repentance, not any sort of self-redemption.

I wasn't suggesting it. I was expressly saying it.

Regarding your first sentence, that was not my intent. I wouldn't say the first is a necessary condition to the second. Certainly, I know of no such biblical requirement.

However, I am betting the Architect of the human soul knows that His forgiveness alone cannot possibly release me from my own certainty about the harms I've committed.

God: "I forgive you."

Citizen: "Thanks. Mind if I spend the next two or three thousand years figuring out how to redeem myself in my own eyes?"

God: "No. I've created this peaceful place, free of the push and shove of daily life, to give you the chance. In the end, you are responsible for your own thoughts, your own emotions, your own attitudes. As I promised, I did not monkey with those. In the same vein, I cannot now monkey with them. You, My child, must sort it out for yourself. Only you can do it. I can only provide you a safe, peaceful environment. And, My love and eternal support."
 
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OC for ME

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...

God: "I forgive you."

Citizen: "Thanks. Mind if I spend the next two or three thousand years figuring out how to redeem myself in my own eyes?"

God: "No. I've created this peaceful place, free of the push and shove of daily life, to give you the chance. In the end, you are responsible for your own thoughts, your own emotions, your own attitudes. As I promised, I did not monkey with those. In the same vein, I cannot now monkey with them. You, My child, must sort it out for yourself. Only you can do it. I can only provide you a safe, peaceful environment. And, My love and eternal support."
Sooo...you are looking for a safe space...no? To save some commute time God can get you into GMU. I'm sure they have at least one safe space...;)
 
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