(Smiling fondly) Good afternoon and peace to you!
Considering our last set of discussions, I was a bit reluctant to respond to you as I did not want to "upset" the Board (My Lord knows, attending 14 "judicial committee meetings" and sitting before a tribunal of self-righteous but completely ignorant “elders” overwhelmingly pales in comparison! But I guess an “elder”, by any other name, including “moderator”… “participator”… etc…. is still just an… well, you know what I mean!). Anyway, I am not one to shrink back when what appears to be legitimate questions/issues are raised (notice, I said “what appears to be” – but that remains to be seen) and so I will address your statements, thank you!
When a fire-fighter saves your life, they do not need nor require any ritualistic requisite of any kind.
Well, I don't know how many firefighters you know, but I know/knew some and as a result must disagree with your generalization. While I understand that many (hopefully, most) do it purely out of love of fellow man, I am sure you will agree that just as many do it for other non-altruistic reasons (i.e., the pay... that gets them the house... the boat... the jet ski; the “respect” and often commensurate “glory”). I also know quite a few who need... and on occasion get... acknowledgement, sometimes in the form of public commendation, and certainly that from peers, superiors and, at times, the rescuee or his/her family. I do not intend to belittle such “heroes” (who are such much more than the usual MVP), but I digress. At any rate, whether you are more correct or I am has nothing to do with my post, truly.
Why is it you think that your cherished idea of the Divine is less loving and more limited and conditional than the fire-fighter who saved your ass unconditionally at the risk of his or her own life?
Why is it that you believe I think such a thing? I truly, I do not. Indeed, I know both my Father and my Lord to be far more infinite in love… unconditional love... than your firefighter could ever dream of being. For your firefighter, upon encountering an ungrateful victim, or upon realizing that not only is he not appreciated, by the Department, the City, the citizens, but in fact hated and perhaps even unjustly and undeservedly so, will limit his "rescuing," first to those he "loves" (for whatever reason) and then to those he considers his enemies, if at all
There is no such limit with the Most Holy One of Israel, JAH of Armies, however, or with His Son and Christ, my Lord, JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH. To the extent you believe otherwise, I say to you that you have been misled and are in error, as with those who misled you. And I say to you that the only reason you would believe otherwise is based on what you have read (in the Bible, something you hypocritically accuse me of following). But as the Prophet said: "The false stylus of the secretaries has worked in sheer falsehood." Meaning? “Don’t believe everything you read.” My Lord knew this and taught it, and said that he came "to bear witness to the truth," and that if you saw him, you saw God, and if you knew him, you knew God. I ask you, then, when was his love limited to any degree for anyone? Indeed, at his last breath he still asked forgiveness: not for those who loved him or appreciated his "rescue" efforts... but for the very ones who killed him. I'm thinkin' your firefighters aren't gonna go quite that far, dear JT.
Why is the fire-fighter more Christ-like than your JAHESHUA MISCHAJAH, the Holy One of Israel, Son and Christ of the Most Holy One of Israel, JAH… of Armies, who needs some form of worship, admiration or ritualistic hoops jumped through before he does anything?
My response, dear one, would first be that your firefighter cannot be more “Christ-like”… than the very one he/she is attempting to be “like” – Christ - and more often than not your firefighter him or herself would tell you that it is the Christ that he is trying to be “like”. My Lord, dear one, is that Christ, the Holy One and Son of JAH.
I would also say to you that again you are in error as neither my Father nor my Lord NEED anything from me. What you fail to understand is that my professions and declarations are no more needed by them, than is “thank you,” or “you saved my life,” or “I can never repay you,” is needed by your firefighter. And yet, rescuee’s often make these declarations. I am a rescuee and I will SHOUT my GRATITUDE… to the ends of the universe, if possible… because I WANT TO.
I will share my rescue experience with ANYONE with ears to hear… and tell them NOT that they can be rescued, but that they HAVE BEEN RESCUED, that One has already “saved [their] ass UNCONDITIONALLY.” And NOT that he did so “at risk to his own life,” but that he in fact GAVE his own life to do so.
The reason you don’t GET this, dearest JT, is because you are thinking in the wrong tense entirely. MY “firefighter” gave HIS life for you and your firefighter long before you even came into existence. Thus, he loved YOU… and me… long before you… and I… could ever have loved him.
Is it God which is somehow less loving and less moral than the fire-fighter, or is it just your idea of a god which is so painfully small?
I think it is your idea of gratitude and your attempt to place a limit on my ability to express it that is small, dear one. Tiny. Puny, even. And painfully so.
Why do you continually belittle and reduce the Divine to some thing so diminutive as to require anything from us at all?
Again, it is you that does not know Him, so that you cannot even address Him… or explain Him… or approach Him… or inquire of Him… or serve Him… or manifest Him… or LAUD Him. Thus, it is your deficiency, not His… or mine. You “worship” what you do not know. I worship Him that I know… and am known by. Because He has been revealed to me. Through Christ (you know, the guy your firefighter is trying to be “like”?)
Is it because you need a conditional god that you may set yourself up as some shining slave and prophetess who is somehow special where others are not?
Okay, now I am a “shining” slave… or prophetess. So much LOVE!!! Well, okay, true, I am a slave. I do not deny it, but openly profess it. Even at risk of your… I dunno… attacks? As for prophetess, I do not set myself out as such. I have received the gift of prophesying, but have only had two occasions to use it, and it is only on those occasions that I could be considered a prophetess and it is only my Lord who would say that it was so. I am merely a good-for-nothing-servant, doing what I ought to have done. (BTW - My other gifts are hearing spirits (and there’s a hell of a lot of ‘em) and interpreting tongues; I do know others, however, who have gifts of wisdom and knowledge, and others with the gifts of tongues and healing. But so what - big deal! If I don’t have love, the rest is irrelevant anyway, isn’t it?)
Point is, dear James, you, like many others, believe that professing to be a slave of Christ garners one some certain accolade, some level of “specialness” that others don’t have. I find it interesting that you think this, because that is the thinking of the Watchtower Bible & Tract Society, which is the very reason that they underhandedly teach their followers to persecute people like me. They are the ones who go around saying, “Well, if they are anointed, they ain’t nothing special.” Funny thing: no one even brings up the word “special” but folks like you and them. WE don’t view ourselves in that way at all; to the contrary, we realize that we are the LEAST of all mankind. For further discussion on the point of being “special”, please see my response regarding not judging newly anointed ones someone on this forum (I forget where, truly).
Doesn't it make more sense that if we are all ONE with God, then that will be realized, no matter what we do, or don't do. No conditions. No strings. No nothing.
Yep! And at some point that will be the case. Pure love. Pure unity in spirit. No division. But that hasn’t happened, yet, although often it’s hard to wait and so we might try to convince ourselves that such already exists. Surely, however, the various wars and conflicts around the world, coupled with racism, nationalism, greed, etc., bear witness to the contrary, yes?
Now that, is LOVE.
Indeed.
But then, this would make you and the Bible readers of the world no more deserving and special than anyone else.
I don’t know about the “Bible readers” as I am not among them, unfortunately, but I would say that to the contrary once we all reach perfect love then we will all truly be deserving and special, each and every one of us. I am not there, yet, though. But I am working on it (reaching perfect love); unfortunately, I am still existing in flesh and blood and as a result am VERY imperfect, particularly in love (often in faith and totally when it comes to righteousness because I am a sinner and a foremost one at that).
For example, there are days when I really don’t like certain people very much (and sometimes I don’t like any of them, but that’s usually pretty brief), and there has been a time or two when I really didn’t love someone. I mean actually hated. So far, however, with the help of the fruits of the spirit that is love, kindness and long-suffering, which I ask for receive from my Lord, I manage to stop short of wishing them harm, even death. I pray for the ability to continue loving such one, even if they don’t want it, and even if it’s hard to do. Why? Because they “deserve” at least that from me, their servant. And if you could only hear what I say in my heart from time to time… WHOO-WHEEE!! You would know that there is NO WAY I could consider myself something “special” in the manner you suggest.
But you, like so many others, miss the point, dear JT: NOW we, all of us, truly are nothing special. None of us are “worthy.” All of us are undeserving. That is WHY my Lord gave his life for us and why the Father allowed it: undeserved kindness… you know, mercy… which is born of LOVE. Which JAH, my Father, the Most Holy One of Israel, is.
You will get a better understanding of what I am attempting to convey if you focus on what unites us all unconditionally, rather than on what divides us.
My message is one of unity, dear JT, against those who divide. As in “divide the Christ.” Interesting that with all of your wisdom you did not get that.
But it will cost you that special place you think you have in God's eyes. It will cost you your ego.
I realize that I “test” your mettle, dear James, and that my “voice” grates on you. Thus, the “gnashing” of your teeth is no surprise, truly. But I wonder why, if you are so right, anything I have to say at all about anything at all is of any interest to you… at all? I mean, you know what I post. And for more than 5 years now nothing’s changed. Yet, you are drawn, time after time. Why is that? I am want to think it is simply because you are bored and/or unfilled. But if your way of life is so great such that I should “learn” it, that cannot be, can it? I mean, certainly you have “better” things to do than debate with me, yes? Or is it that you believe it is your “calling” to try and change my thinking? But how can that be? Someone who believes as you do would certainly not being trying to persuade another to their way of thinking, would they? Wouldn’t they just let go… and let “love”?
Perhaps you should just consider me a lost cause, dear JT, and give me up to my God and my beliefs. Let me “drown” in my own ego. But then, that would cost you your ego, wouldn’t it? Beware the leaven…
My peace remains, and I remain...
YOUR servant and a slave of Christ,
SJ
