(~) Jesus and Beelzebul

[Ninure Saunders]

(~) Jesus and Beelzebul
Rev. Dr. Sandra Bochonok.

"Then a blind and dumb demoniac was brought to Jesus, and Jesus healed
him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw. And all the people were amazed,
and said, 'Can this be the Son of David?' But when the Pharisees heard it
they said, 'It is only by Be-el'zebul, the prince of demons, that this man
casts out demons.'

Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said to them, 'Every kingdom divided against
itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will
stand; and if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself; how
then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Be-el'zebul, by
whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges. But
if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of
God has come upon you.'"
Matthew 12:22-28

The crowds continued to be amazed by Jesus. They wondered if he was the
one of whom the prophet Isaiah spoke. Jesus mystified and intrigued them.
Who was he? The crowds wondered out loud if he could possibly be the
Messiah, the "Son of David."
But the Pharisees disagreed and conspired for his death. They accused
Jesus of being the evil ruler of demons before the marveling crowds. Jesus
knew their thoughts and spoke with tremendous insight. A kingdom divided
against itself cannot survive. Evil cannot cast out evil. Only the Spirit
of the living God can cast out evil. If Jesus is casting
out demons by God-power, then God is in our midst.

I have always wondered what the newly healed formerly blind and mute man
believed about Jesus. Surely his first spoken words were of deep
gratitude. He probably would have been horrified to realize religious
authorities were planning to destroy his
compassionate healer. His miracle was obviously from God.

Could God be in our midst today? Do we need new eyes and new ears to
experience the Spirit of God in our lives? Where are we in the story?
Perhaps we identify with the blind and mute individual. Perhaps we
identify with the Pharisees and resist God's voice when it extends beyond
our religious understandings. The Pharisees were spiritually blind and
obtuse when it came to Jesus, the compassionate Healer.

God, give us new eyes and ears of faith to experience Jesus Christ. Amen.

from "Living as the Beloved" published by Chi Rho Press
Used with permisson
Please visit the Chi Rho Press Web site. http://www.ChiRhoPress.com
============================================
--
Pax Christi,
Ninure Saunders aka Rainbow Christian

Jesus is my Shepherd and He knows I'm Gay
http://Ninure-Saunders.tk

My Yahoo Group
http://Ninure.tk

Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches
http://www.MCCchurch.org

The Bible Site - help provide free scripture
http://www.thebiblesite.org

To send e-mail, remove your hat

[Gordon]

On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 02:06:40 GMT,
***@Rainbow-Christian.tk ( Ninure Saunders) wrote:

[snip]

Post by Ninure Saunders
Could God be in our midst today? Do we need new eyes and new ears to
experience the Spirit of God in our lives? Where are we in the story?
Perhaps we identify with the blind and mute individual. Perhaps we
identify with the Pharisees and resist God's voice when it extends beyond
our religious understandings. The Pharisees were spiritually blind and
obtuse when it came to Jesus, the compassionate Healer.
God, give us new eyes and ears of faith to experience Jesus Christ. Amen.
from "Living as the Beloved" published by Chi Rho Press
Used with permisson
Please visit the Chi Rho Press Web site. http://www.ChiRhoPress.com
============================================

God is indeed in our midst today, and is in fact omnipresent now,
just as He always has been.

Lets carefully examine some of the parable - metaphor - simile
content of the Bible, and try to perceive and understand the
core-level information. In the Old Testament, God gave His
guiding information to those early people in a form that they
could grasp reasonably well, and which didn't bog their minds
down with any scientific, technical concepts. A scientific,
technical presentation of the Word of God would have been more
than they could possibly have comprehended in those times. The
Bible is not a science textbook.

Understanding the Biblical writings has never been easy. It seems
that God intended that some would NOT be able to understand these
messages, while others, lead by the Holy Spirit, would be able to
understand the core-level meanings. While Jesus was here in the
flesh, the Holy Spirit was not available (John 14:26 But the
Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in
my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to
your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.) to intervene
in the human mindset and help people understand the Word of God.
When Jesus talked in parables he often had to re-express the
ideas to his followers, so they could get the full, intended
core-level meaning. Those whose mindsets were in opposition to
Jesus' teachings were unable to grasp the core-level meanings of
His teaching, and such is still the case, in this day and age.

In the present times, many of our young people are rejecting God,
largely because they can't perceive and understand the core-level
meanings of the Biblical passages. They are hampered by a modern
scientific mindset that doesn't embrace the parable - metaphor -
simile modes of expression that are used throughout the Bible.
Our present days educational atmosphere teaches our young people
that if a concept or idea can't be empirically proven it isn't
likely to be of any value. However, String Theory and M-Theory
have brought us to the point where empirical proof is beyond our
capabilities and limitations. To "prove" most of the concepts of
String Theory and M-Theory would require energy levels and test
equipment sizes that are galactic in scale. This has impelled
many scientists to rethink their demands that nothing should be
accepted until empirically proven.

Many or our high school and college professors are non believers
and they are leading our young people into thinking the Biblical
information is just a bunch of hooey - legends - fairy tales -
wishful thinking. And, these professors think this way because no
one has taken the time or trouble to build a bridge between the
Bible and modern science.

There is NO disagreement between modern science and Biblical
information. Any perceived disagreement is totally in the minds
of those who have not searched for or found the full core-level
meanings of the Bible's messages. They cast the Bible aside,
thinking it is incongruent with today's scientific understanding.
They are WRONG! The Bible is completely congruent with all the
TRUE science we have discovered and developed. In many instances
the Bible lends very powerful support to some of our newest
scientific understandings.

String Theorists talk of the multiverse having extra dimensions
which are rolled up to less than a Planck Length. The Bible uses
the expression, "rolled up like a scroll." Other
dimensions other universes levels of Heaven they are talking
about the same thing. Only the language or presentation format
and ideograms are different.

On the subject of the creation of man...Adam and all the rest of
us were indeed formed from the dust of the earth. And, when we
die our physical bodies are recycled to this reservoir of
earth-dust. This earth-dust is the only material God has used to
"build" any of his creatures on this planet. But, God didn't do
this like a human sculptor would. That is, God didn't shape a
pile of dust into a human form then make it come alive. God used
what today's biologists call the process of evolution to assemble
the molecules and atoms of earth-dust into all the life forms He
created.

Gordon

[Paul]

Post by Gordon
On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 02:06:40 GMT,

<snip>The Bible is completely congruent with all the

Post by Gordon
TRUE science we have discovered and developed. In many instances
the Bible lends very powerful support to some of our newest
scientific understandings.

<snip>

Hi, Gordon,

The most recent Time magazine has an article on Francis Collins (who
directed the human genome project), a renowned scientist and evangelical
Christian, who has written a book "The Language of God" where he argues
precisely the thesis that science and Christianity are congruent. I haven't
read the book (yet), but it seems a propos....

In Christ,
Paul

[Gordon]

On Fri, 14 Jul 2006 03:03:20 GMT, Paul

Post by Paul

Post by Gordon
On Wed, 12 Jul 2006 02:06:40 GMT,

<snip>The Bible is completely congruent with all the

Post by Gordon
TRUE science we have discovered and developed. In many instances
the Bible lends very powerful support to some of our newest
scientific understandings.

<snip>
Hi, Gordon,
The most recent Time magazine has an article on Francis Collins (who
directed the human genome project), a renowned scientist and evangelical
Christian, who has written a book "The Language of God" where he argues
precisely the thesis that science and Christianity are congruent. I haven't
read the book (yet), but it seems a propos....
In Christ,
Paul

Paul, I agree, science and Christianity are congruent, but
science is manipulated by people, some of whom aren't lead by
Christ. Their motives may not be congruent with the motives of
Christ, and their "science" may lead to things that God would
never have wished upon us.

But, back to the subject of science and Christianity being
congruent...there is no conflict at all between the word of God
and the things humans have discovered in the scientific realm. In
fact, the more we understand in the scientific realm the closer
it seems to be in complete agreement with the Word of God.

Gordon