Lejend's little corner

[lejend]

Never read such nonsense in my entire life.

It's never too late to start.

[InsectPoison]

Imagine believing a false religion

[lejend]

Imagine believing a false religion

Couldn't be me

[InsectPoison]

Imagine believing a false religion

Couldn't be me

Then I have some bad news for you

[voigt1240]

Who cares about what others believe

[Goodspeed]

Everyone

[chris1089]

Who cares about what others believe

Those who care about other people?

[lejend]

Every man has not only a right but a duty to convince others of their error, and, by reasoning, to draw them into truth.

[voigt1240]

Who cares about what others believe

Those who care about other people?

That is true. What i'm truly questioning is the approach some people take in that regard.

[lejend]

I've been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics and it's pretty thought-provoking.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was the first of the German theologians to speak out clearly against the persecution of the Jews and the evils of the Nazi ideology.

Ethics (German: Ethik) is an unfinished book by Bonhoeffer that was edited and published after his death by Eberhard Bethge in 1949.[1] The central theme of Ethics is Christlikeness.[5]

At the time of writing, he was a double agent; he was working for Abwehr, Nazi Germany's military intelligence organization, but was simultaneously involved in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.[4]

He intended Ethics as his magnum opus, but it remained unfinished when he was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo in April 1943. On April 8, 1945 he was hanged as a traitor in the Flossenburg concentration camp. As he left his cell on his way to execution he said to his companion, "This is the end – but for me, the beginning of life."

[lejend]

Jesus vs the Successful Man
from Bonhoeffer's Ethics

In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity.

The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done. Success heals the wounds of guilt. There is no sense in reproaching the successful man for his unvirtuous behavior, for this would be to remain in the past while the successful man strides forward from one deed to the next, conquering the future and securing the irrevocability of what has been done.

The successful man presents us with accomplished facts which can never again be reversed. What he destroys cannot be restored. What he constructs will acquire at least a prescriptive right in the next generation. No indictment can make good the guilt which the successful man has left behind him. The indictment falls silent with the passage of time, but the success remains and determines the course of history. The judges of history play a sad role in comparison with its protagonists. History rides rough-shod over their heads. With a frankness and off-handedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means.

The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. Such thought is a denial of eternal justice. Neither the triumph of the successful nor the bitter hatred which the successful arouse in the hearts of the unsuccessful can ultimately overcome the world.

Christ confronts all thinking in terms of success and failure with the man who is under God’s sentence, no matter whether he be successful or unsuccessful. It is out of pure love that God is willing to let man stand before Him, and that is why He sentences man. It is a sentence of mercy that God pronounces on mankind in Christ. In the cross of Christ God confronts the successful man with the sanctification of pain, sorrow, humility, failure, poverty, loneliness and despair.

God's acceptance of the cross is His judgement upon the successful man. But the unsuccessful man must recognize that what enables him to stand before God is not his lack of success as such, not his position as a pariah, but solely the willing acceptance of the sentence passed on him by the divine love.

It was precisely the cross of Christ, the failure of Christ in the world, which led to His success in history.

Only in the cross of Christ, that is, as those upon whom sentence has been executed, do men achieve their true form.

[Horsemen]

Jesus vs the Successful Man
from Bonhoeffer's Ethics

In a world where success is the measure and justification of all things the figure of Him who was sentenced and crucified remains a stranger and is at best the object of pity.

The world will allow itself to be subdued only by success. It is not ideas or opinions which decide, but deeds. Success alone justifies wrongs done. Success heals the wounds of guilt. There is no sense in reproaching the successful man for his unvirtuous behavior, for this would be to remain in the past while the successful man strides forward from one deed to the next, conquering the future and securing the irrevocability of what has been done.

The successful man presents us with accomplished facts which can never again be reversed. What he destroys cannot be restored. What he constructs will acquire at least a prescriptive right in the next generation. No indictment can make good the guilt which the successful man has left behind him. The indictment falls silent with the passage of time, but the success remains and determines the course of history. The judges of history play a sad role in comparison with its protagonists. History rides rough-shod over their heads. With a frankness and off-handedness which no other earthly power could permit itself, history appeals in its own cause to the dictum that the end justifies the means.

The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. Such thought is a denial of eternal justice. Neither the triumph of the successful nor the bitter hatred which the successful arouse in the hearts of the unsuccessful can ultimately overcome the world.

Christ confronts all thinking in terms of success and failure with the man who is under God’s sentence, no matter whether he be successful or unsuccessful. It is out of pure love that God is willing to let man stand before Him, and that is why He sentences man. It is a sentence of mercy that God pronounces on mankind in Christ. In the cross of Christ God confronts the successful man with the sanctification of pain, sorrow, humility, failure, poverty, loneliness and despair.

God's acceptance of the cross is His judgement upon the successful man. But the unsuccessful man must recognize that what enables him to stand before God is not his lack of success as such, not his position as a pariah, but solely the willing acceptance of the sentence passed on him by the divine love.

It was precisely the cross of Christ, the failure of Christ in the world, which led to His success in history.

Only in the cross of Christ, that is, as those upon whom sentence has been executed, do men achieve their true form.

it’s okay Jesus, gigachad isn’t real

[lejend]

Jesus' promise to the penitent thief: "Today you will be with me in paradise"

Luke 23

32 Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed. 33 When they came to the place called the Skull, they crucified him there, along with the criminals.

See what a right sense of sin the thief had. He says to his companion, “We receive the due reward of our deeds.” He acknowledges his own ungodliness, and the justice of his punishment. He makes no attempt to justify himself, or excuse his wickedness. He speaks like a man humbled and self-abased by the remembrance of past iniquities. This is what all God’s children feel. They are ready to allow they are poor hell-deserving sinners. They can say with their hearts, as well as with their lips, “We have left undone the things that we ought to have done, and we have done those things that we ought not to have done, and there is no health in us.”

...

And then mark what kind of answer he received. Some would have said he was too wicked a man to be saved. But it was not so. Some would have fancied it was too late: the door was shut, and there was no room for mercy. But it proved not too late at all. The Lord Jesus returned him an immediate answer,—spoke kindly to him,—assured him he should be with Him that day in Paradise: pardoned him completely,—cleansed him thoroughly from his sins,—received him graciously,—justified him freely,—raised him from the gates of hell,—gave him a title to glory. Of all the multitude of saved souls, none ever received so glorious an assurance of his own salvation, as did this penitent thief. Go over the whole list, from Genesis to Revelation, and you will find none who had such words spoken to them as these: “To-day shalt thou be with Me in Paradise.”

Reader, the Lord Jesus never gave so complete a proof of His power and will to save, as He did upon this occasion. In the day when He seemed most weak, He showed that He was a strong deliverer. In the hour when His body was racked with pain, He showed that he could feel tenderly for others. At the time when He Himself was dying, He conferred on a sinner eternal life.

...

Reader, are your sins forgiven? If not, I set before you this day a full and free salvation. I invite you to follow the steps of the penitent thief: come to Christ, and live. I tell you that Jesus is very pitiful, and of tender mercy. I tell you He can do everything that your soul requires. Though your sins be as scarlet, He will make them white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Why should you not be saved as well as another? Come unto Christ, and live.

- J.C. Ryle

[lejend]

Jesus' last words: "It is finished." (tetelestai)

Every Jewish person there would have instantly recognized this word as the equivalent of a Hebrew phrase that was used in the Old Testament sacrificial system. Each year, on the Jewish holiday called the Day of Atonement, the High Priest would enter into the temple and make a special sacrifice for the sins of the people of Israel. As soon as the priest had killed the animal, he would emerge from the place of sacrifice and declare to the waiting crowd “it is finished” in Hebrew. In this sacrifice, all the sins of Israel were symbolically placed on the lamb that was killed and punished in their place.

Yet the Bible teaches that this sacrificial system was never really complete or finished because the sacrifice of that lamb was imperfect and temporary. But when Jesus died on the cross, he became the perfect and final sacrifice for all sin. The Book of Hebrews describes how Jesus was the ultimate Lamb of God and by his sacrifice, the work of forgiveness was finally complete.

[lejend]

A real tear-jerker

Who killed Jesus?
by Charles Spurgeon

"There was a day, as I took my walks abroad, when I came hard-by a spot forever engraven upon my memory, for there I saw this Friend, my best, my only Friend, murdered. I stooped down in sad affright, and looked at him. I saw that his hands had been pierced with rough nails, and his feet had been rent in the same way. There was misery in his dead countenance so terrible that I scarcely dared to look upon it. His body was emaciated with hunger, his back was red with bloody scourges, and his brow had a circle of wounds about it: clearly could one see that these had been pierced by thorns.

I shuddered, for I had known this friend full well. He never had a fault; he was the purest of pure, the holiest of the holy. Who could have injured him? For he never injured any man; all his life long he 'went about doing good;' he had healed the sick, he had fed the hungry, he had raised the dead. For which of these works did they kill him? He had never breathed out anything else but love; and as I looked into the poor sorrowful face, so full of agony, and yet so full of love, I wondered who could have been a wretch so vile as to pierce hands like his. I said within myself, 'Where can these traitors live? Who are these that could have smitten such a One as this?' Had they murdered an oppressor, we might have forgiven them. Had they slain one who had indulged in vice or villainy, it might have been his desert. Had it been a murderer and a rebel, or one who had committed sedition, we would have said, 'Bury his corpse; justice has at last given him his due.' But when thou wast slain, my best, my only beloved, where lodged the traitors? Let me seize them, and they shall be put to death. If there be torments that I can devise, surely they shall endure them all. Oh! What jealousy, what revenge I felt! If I might but find these murderers, what would I not do with them!

And as I looked upon that corpse, I heard a footstep, and wondered where it was. I listened, and I clearly perceived that the murderer was close at hand. It was dark, and I groped about to find him. I found that, somehow or other, wherever I put out my hand, I could not meet with him, for he was nearer to me than my hand would go. At last I put my hand upon my breast. 'I have thee now,' said I; for lo! he was in my own heart! The murderer was hiding within my own bosom, dwelling in the recesses of my inmost soul. Ah! Then I wept indeed, that I, in the very presence of my murdered Master, should be harbouring the murderer, and I felt myself most guilty while I bowed over His corpse, and sang that plaintive hymn:

"'Twas you, my sins, my cruel sins,

His chief tormentors were;

Each of my crimes became a nail,

And unbelief the spear."

My sins were the scourges which lacerated those blessed shoulders, and crowned with thorns those bleeding brows. My sins cried, 'Crucify him! Crucify him!' and laid the cross upon his gracious shoulders. His being led forth to die is sorrow enough for one eternity; but my having been his murderer is more, infinitely more grief, than one poor fountain of tears can express."

[Jam]

If I could conceal carry a flak 88 I would.

[lejend]

"We are the adulterous wife. God is the faithful husband."

A brief reflection on the Sheryl Crow song 'I Shall Believe' through the lens of the gospel, by Neil Shenvi

https://shenviapologetics.com/the-gospe ... eryl-crow/

For the last week or so, I’ve been singing this song to myself. I don’t know why I find it so hauntingly beautiful. If I am reading it rightly, it tells the story of a woman who has left a husband for a series of lovers, who returns home broken, desperate and distraught, who seeks consolation from the man she abandoned. As a fine, upstanding young man, it is nothing at all like any situation I’ve been in. Or is it?

Throughout the Bible we find God describing his feelings towards his people in ways that still shock me. We are like chicks that God longs to gather in his arms. We are like the baby at the breast of a nursing mother. Such positive comforting images. And yet, one image recurs. There is one illustration that God uses to describe his love and feelings for his people over and over. It is the image of this Sheryl Crow song. It is the image of a prostitute and her broken-hearted husband. In Hosea, in Isaiah, in Jeremiah, we see this image repeated: God lamenting a people that have spit in his face and have abandoned him to chase after other lovers. And in the ministry of Jesus we see this theme not only repeated, but enacted. Jesus came to rescue not allegorical prostitutes, but actual prostitutes. The outcast and the despised and the filthy flocked to Jesus.

Looking at this song through the lens of the gospel, I notice three things about this woman: her utter desperation, her shame, and her hope.

We see her utter desperation in the plaintive tones of the song itself and in her doubt that her life can ever be healed... Throughout the song, you can hear how utterly she despairs of herself. She has had her freedom, and what has she gained from it? Misery and tears and emptiness.

...

We also see her shame. “I’m broken in two, And I know you’re on to me: That I only come home When I’m so all alone.” Even in her repentance, she recognizes her mixed motives and her selfishness. Her husband is no fool and she knows he is not. When she is honest with herself, she has no merit or good intentions that she can appeal to. All she can plead is an empty life that seeks to be filled. ... I leave it all in your hands, she says. I am seeking mercy, not justice, and only you can provide it.

But finally, we see her hope. The title of the song is also the refrain: “I shall believe.” “Please say honestly you won’t give up on me And I shall believe.” She no longer hopes in herself, but in someone else: the husband who will take her back. “Say the word, and I will be healed,” she says. I trust not in my own goodness; I have none at all. Instead, I trust in your goodness. The whole song is actually a love song, all the more beautiful because it comes from someone who finally realizes how faithful and how true is the love that she has so long rejected. Only when we realize how desperate our need is will we finally recognize the riches of God’s grace to sinners. In the words of Jesus, he who has been forgiven much loves much.

Whether or not Sheryl Crow intended it, this song is a picture of the gospel. We are the adulterous wife and God is the faithful husband. We have brought him shame and disgrace and misery. What does it cost him to take us back? The song ends before it tells us. But we know what it cost him in real life: nails, thorns, tears, and death.

[lejend]

There's dozens of parallels between the Binding of Isaac and the Crucifixion of Jesus.

1. Both had a miraculous birth:

-- Isaac was born to 100-year-old Abraham and 90-year-old Sarah.
-- Jesus was born of a virgin, Mary, and conceived by the Holy Spirit.

2. Both were the only son of their father.
3. Both were loved by their fathers.

Genesis 22:1-2

After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am,” he replied. Then God said, “Take your son, your only son, whom you love—Isaac—and go to the region of Moriah. Sacrifice him there as a burnt offering on a mountain I will show you.”

Matthew 3:16-17

At that moment heaven was opened, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and alighting on him. 17 And a voice from heaven said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.”

John 3:16

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

4. Isaac carried the wood for his own sacrifice. Jesus carried his own cross.



5. Both were brought back from the dead and after three days

-- The journey from their home to the place of sacrifice took three days. As far as Abraham was concerned, Isaac was as good as dead at that point. On the third day, God spared Isaac's life, i.e., he was “resurrected.”

-- Jesus rose from the dead three days after he was crucified.

------------

Hebrews 10

5 Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:

“Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6 with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7 Then I said, ‘Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, my God.’ ”

...

10 And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

[pecelot]

I've been reading Dietrich Bonhoeffer's Ethics and it's pretty thought-provoking.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor and a founding member of the Confessing Church. He was the first of the German theologians to speak out clearly against the persecution of the Jews and the evils of the Nazi ideology.

Ethics (German: Ethik) is an unfinished book by Bonhoeffer that was edited and published after his death by Eberhard Bethge in 1949.[1] The central theme of Ethics is Christlikeness.[5]

At the time of writing, he was a double agent; he was working for Abwehr, Nazi Germany's military intelligence organization, but was simultaneously involved in the 20 July plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.[4]

He intended Ethics as his magnum opus, but it remained unfinished when he was arrested and imprisoned by the Gestapo in April 1943. On April 8, 1945 he was hanged as a traitor in the Flossenburg concentration camp. As he left his cell on his way to execution he said to his companion, "This is the end – but for me, the beginning of life."

image not found or was removed

[lejend]

image not found or was removed

Fixed

[pecelot]

are those his children — or disciples?

[lejend]

It's Bonhoeffer on a trip with some kids from his church. I think he was a youth minister at the time.

[Snuden]

are those his children — or disciples?

Probably victims of a crime...

[lejend]

“If Christ is risen, then nothing else matters. If Christ is not risen, then nothing else matters.”

—Jaroslav Pelikan

[Horsemen]

Can’t wait to come back in 20 years and read the whole bible posted here