[TheRealThing]

"Opinion that I disagree with..."

Fine, you have the right to disagree with anything you want to. I would challenge you to present you're argument to refute that Christ is not by His statements, helping this guy to understand that it is impossible to live a life that will satisfy God's own requirement on sinless perfection. And therefore, impossible for him or any other man, to do anything to inherit eternal life outside of faith in the risen Lord. After all, that was the question the lawyer asked of Him, was it not? I mean, if there was any way to earn, "inherit" or merit, eternal life by one's actions, why did our Lord have to die on the cross? Remember he who breaks the law in one point is guilty of the whole law? BTW, a lawyer of the day would have been very well versed in the law, and Israel being a theocracy, would have been governed by the church. So, this would be like Eric Holder walking up to you and asking if you believe homosexuality is lawful or not.



"I am weak my friend.... "

Yeah, aren't we all. But, what is ^this, in reference to?


"Also, if we are going by jewish customs then I want to go by every seven years my debts are totally forgiven... also for the record, the cell phone thing is a Ronald Reagan idea... croney capitalism...."


Christ called out His Church from among the orthodox church of the day. In fact, and as is made clear in the Gospel of John from chapters 8 thru 14, to attain eternal life at all, it would have been requisite to separate one's self from the erroneous teachings of the church of that era and in their sted, accept the reality of Lordship of Jesus Christ. This fact is demonstrated in that Christ presented Himself as the Way the Truth and the Life, while at the same time telling the leaders of the orthodox church that they were of their father the devil. Therefore, to put man on the right track, He had to force him to choose. It would be either to stay in their comfort zone and continue to trust in the word of man, (the organized church of the day which, did not lead to salvation due to an absence of faith in God's own Son) or, place one's faith in the Son of Man who, would shortly give up His life, voluntarily, prophetically and sacrificially on the cross, in order to reconcile sinful man to God.

So, if you don't want to go by Jewish custom, then don't line up an argument based on the early church, which by in large, was almost entirely comprised of Jews, though every saved person whether Jew or Gentile would have been on fire for our Lord Jesus Christ. You are the one who cited the early Church are you not? You are the one saying that to be a faithful and obedient Christian, one's focus is to be in helping the poor, are you not? Even to the point of selling all one has in order to give it to the poor in some sort of supreme act of selflessness? Which, brings me to the central point here. Is it Christ's act of compassion on the cross that is important over all else or, would it be in selling all that one has to give to the poor, in an act that is at best temporal? I'm merely pointing out that according to the scriptures, the call of the Church is to reach out in an evangelical effort to bring in the harvest of souls. Not to merely bring temporary relief to the lost by just feeding and balming their fleshly ills. I believe the Church is to provide such relief but, I do not believe that is the primary function of the true Church.

And, finally the cell phone thing. When Reagan signed the legislation in 1984 allowing for phones to the poor for the sake of emergencies, such a death in the family, or for the sake of being reached by some perspective employer, the cost of the program was in the hundreds of thousands of dollars nationally. It wasn't his idea but, because he tried to govern from the middle, he cooperated with those who were clamoring for lifeline support, especially to those in the relatively undeveloped urban areas. Free cell phones were added much later to the program by exuberant lefties who's life blood is the ink of welfare legislation. The cost for all the free (cell) phones is very close to 2.5 billion dollars a year right now and escalating. So blaming Reagan who spent far less than one million during his entire administration for a program dreamed up by liberals in the first place, and which will have cost this country at least 20 billion during the present administration, is a bit disingenuous, is it not? Especially when one considers that the now familiar free-for-all, give away cell phone pavilions, dot the landscape like fire hydrants, LOL. The costs of the program on a yearly basis have tripled under the auspices of the present administration, (shocker). Now, if you want a proper perspective on the program, you can read this article from the Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10...1368122888

FTR, as I understand the Levitical reference to the year of Jubilee, those in bondage being released back to their families, prisons being emptied, debt forgiveness, basically a year of feasts and good times, was to occur every 50th year. You had 7 cycles of the Sabbath year consecutively adding up to equal 49 years, and the 50th year was the year of Jubilee. Leviticus 25:8-13 (KJV)
8 And thou shalt number seven sabbaths of years unto thee, seven times seven years; and the space of the seven sabbaths of years shall be unto thee forty and nine years.
9 Then shalt thou cause the trumpet of the jubile to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month, in the day of atonement shall ye make the trumpet sound throughout all your land.
10 And ye shall hallow the fiftieth year, and proclaim liberty throughout all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof: it shall be a jubile unto you; and ye shall return every man unto his possession, and ye shall return every man unto his family.
11 A jubile shall that fiftieth year be unto you: ye shall not sow, neither reap that which groweth of itself in it, nor gather the grapes in it of thy vine undressed.
12 For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field.
13 In the year of this jubile ye shall return every man unto his possession.

I believe your reference to the singular Sabbath year which occurred every 7th year, is the personal observance of Shmita which, is a challenge individually to forgive or absolve those who owe you a debt. And, the concept of which was to be viewed on an individual level and was to be a voluntary test of faith.