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list of all questions on Website | Did Jesus really whip the moneychangers?
Berkant writes: "And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the moneychangers, and overturned their tables." (John 2:14-15) Unless you consider a scourge a weapon, he simply made a big mess in the temple, which made the conduct of business impossible. No weapons involved. That is probably the only thing about the Bible that attracts me, is how Jesus almost always turned the other cheek. When faced by confrontation, even when he was being tortured. At no time did he tell his disciples to take up arms against his oppressors. Berkant
Hello Berkant: You wrote: "Unless you consider a scourge a weapon..." Berkant, a scourge is a weapon! You will notice that the "scourge" was made of small cords (twigs), like our southern term "a switch" used for a whipping. Below is the quoted verse, and below that are definitions from the Strong's Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible. It should be clear that Jesus made whip. Why would Jesus make a whip? To whip them! You also will observe that Jesus "drove" them out of the temple. Drove is a violent movement. The "scourge" is the means used (weapon) to drive them out, not the disarray of the driving out. Observe:
So many times it seems that 'Preachers' today try to minimize the forcefulness of God. God is a God of love yes, but He is also a God of wrath to His enemies. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah! God bless you: | Back to top | The Holy Trinity explained to a Muslim
A man of the Muslim religion writes: Hello, I as a Muslim accept this:
BUT where could Jesus (peace be upon him) fit here?! Read with me:
I wish you all Guidance.
Answer: Hello: Please understand as you read this that I mean you no insult. I will be telling you some facts that you most surely are not going to like, but they are the truth. But first, let me try to clear up a misconception or two that many non-Christians have. First of all, all Christians are not Catholic and most Catholics aren’t even real Christians because they have fallen so far into idolatry that they rival the Pagan Babylonians. So any Catholic Dogma thrown at me means absolutely nothing, for I know it for what it is. secondly, It is supposed by Islam and Judaism that Jesus is a false god, or another god. This is just not the case. The concept of the Holy Trinity is difficult for our human minds to comprehend, I mean, "how can one be three and yet the three be one?" Right? If you would throw off all the misconceptions you have been taught about the Triune Godhead (Trinity) and look at it simply, it will clear up a lot of reservations peoples of Islam and Judaism have been force-fed. True Christians do not believe in three gods, they believe in One God in three offices or aspects. 1st 'part' of the Trinity: God (Yehovah 'Elohim = The Lord God) is the Father, the One and Only God Eternal!, He whom created everything, He has no beginning and no end.
2nd part of the Trinity: Jesus Christ of Nazareth is the Son (Yehoshua = Yehovah the savior, or God Savior), He is God manifested (came) in the flesh, He is God in human form come to earth to save His creation from satan. Jesus is not another god, He is God.
3rd part of the Trinity: The Holy Spirit (to' pneuma to' hagion = the Spirit The Holy = The Holy Spirit) is the Holy Spirit of God. It is the Power of God in action. It is through the Holy Spirit of God that God interacts with His creation.
The three; God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are three aspects of the same one entity, the Ever Living Almighty Lord God. Look at it like this: You Sir, may be a father to your child, you also may be a husband to your wife, and to your employees at work you are a boss. But you are not three people, yet all three of those people are the one you (father, husband, boss). In the Scripture below we see all three aspects of the Trinity involved in one act: Jesus being baptized on earth, and the Holy Ghost (Holy Spirit) descending from God in Heaven.
When you say the words: "Jesus Christ," you are saying: "Yehovah Savior the anointed one; Anointed with what you ask? - Anointed with the The Holy Spirit of God. So when you say "Jesus Christ" you are actually mentioning all three offices of the Godhead: "Yehovah (God) Savior (Jesus) The Anointed One (with the Holy Spirit). Jesus does not violate: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me" [Ex20:3]. When God came to earth in the flesh as Jesus, He became a little lower that the Angels because He was now in a flesh body that was liable to die. Angels are in spiritual bodies and are not subject to death (unless God blots them out).
OK, now let's talk about Allah. The Allah of the Koran (Qur'an) is not the same person as the Lord God of the Bible. For one thing, Allah did not have a Son named Jesus Christ who died on the cross for the sins of the world. That in-and-of-itself shows the vast great difference between the Lord God and the Muslim's Allah. Secondly, Allah was not originally the Supreme god of the Arabs. History shows that before the "prophet" Mohammad elevated Allah to special status, he was essentially a second-rate little rock of an idol inside the pagan shrine , the Kaaba. Allah was one of a crowd of some 350 little "rocks" in there, and was the tribal god of Mohammad's tribe, the Quraish. I know that this will undoubtedly hurt your feelings and/or anger you, but it is the truth, check it out. I am more of a friend to you when I tell you the painful truth than I am if I just winked and nodded at the satanic lies that you have been taught. The Islamic religion is the work of satan. It was an evil spirit of the devil that spoke to the "prophet" Mohammad in the desert of Mecca, not God!
The Islamic religion came into being 600 years after Jesus Christ and it tried to twist and nullify and destroy the whole of God's work in the salvation of His beloved creation whom He loved and had sent His only Begotten Son to die for. And sadly, for the one billion Muslims on the planet today, satan is succeeding in his un-holy quest to destroy that which God loves most - His children. The only way to The One True God and eternal life is through the sacrifice of Him when He came to mankind to be crucified (Jesus Christ of Nazareth). To deny Jesus Christ is to deny The Lord God.
God bless you my friend, and may the Father find you! The next day the we received this reply: The Same Muslim Gentleman writes back: That does not hurt at all, because it is only your opinion. I can say like it or more against Christianity. But I see no point behind that. One point to explain, to show that you are mistaken. You said in (secondly) that the Arabs used to have Allah among their idols... That is not correct. They used to have idols besides Allah; they worship them to get closer to Allah. So they know that Allah is the True Creator, but they take these as intercessors. They never put an idol or image for Allah. We worship Allah the TRUE GOD of Jews, true Christians, and Muslims. let me ask you some questions: We are held accountable for a sin that we never committed, why? Jesus was crucified for a sin that he never committed, why? So the beginning and the end of your religion is unfair! I wonder what
LOOOOVING god is yours? Punish millions of people for a sin that they do
not know anything about, and put the burden of that alleged sin on his
innocent son! and why one son? Any way, I do not want to get into deep argument. I know no one ever changes his beliefs unless he/she wants to, no matter how illogical beliefs he/she has. I wish you Guidance.
Hello again: What sin, that we did not commit, do you feel that Christians say man is punished for? I suspect your are referring to Catholic Dogma, which believes that we are born with a sin against our souls. I told you in the last posting that Catholics add a lot of falsehoods to the word of God. We are born innocent. The Catholic priests teach that "the original sin" is what Adam & Eve did and that we are guilty of it. That is not true, the "original sin" simply means that it was the first sin in the world, hence, the original sin. The true Word of God, the Bible, teaches that we are not held accountable for the sins of our ancestors, only for our own sins. I told you that the Catholic religion is full of lies and idolatry. I also told you that true Christianity is not Catholicism, even though one-half of all the world's Christians are Catholic.
The 'covenant' that God is talking about is Christianity my friend! The New Covenant! When you say 'Old Testament' and 'New Testament', as in the Bible, what you are really saying is 'Old Covenant' and 'New Covenant'. Jesus is the New Covenant! And we all sin, that is why we need the atoning blood of Jesus Christ to be forgiven and thus saved. In Christ: | Back to top | Should women be Preachers/Priests? | Back to top |
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