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“Hate your father and mother…” What do we do with this and other things that Jesus said which don’t make a lot of sense at first glance? Join in the discussion here and on facebook!
Hour 1:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: Jesus is Lord! Jesus gives us a radical call. Jesus, though He’s full of compassion, does not tolerate excuses. Let us not lower His words to our standard; let us reach up to His standard by His grace, and live out a radical life of discipleship.
Hour 2:
Dr. Brown’s Bottom Line: The words of Jesus are unchangeable and true; He said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.” Let us cling to those words; let’s drink them in, let’s feast on them, let’s live by those words, because those words are Spirit and life!
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Other Resources:
Answering Jewish Objections to Jesus Vol. 4: Dr. Brown counters the arguments that the New Testament mistranslates, misuses, and misunderstands the Hebrew Scriptures, also addressing the objections that Jesus or Paul abolished the Law.
How Saved Are We? by Dr. Brown: This unsettling book challenges us to ask ourselves what kind of born-again experience we have had if it calls for almost no personal sacrifice, produces virtually no separation from the world, and breeds practically no hatred of sin.
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Understanding the Difficult Words of Jesus: Free article by Dr. Brown
Interview With Michael Brown On Critics of a Queer Thing Happened to America
Hello,i am just an outsider,but i would like to say the following :
Nice to hear Michael mentioning the yardstick of Jesus on this show – Luke 14:25-35.
From coast to coast in Britain (and America too i guess),show me a flock whose leaders feed the same recipe as Jesus ( i call it ‘ The Chief Shepherd’s Pie’) to disciples,and have you not shown me a needle in a haystack ?
The recipe being,in the main : promises,commands,escatology and warnings.
The standard recipe delivered in flocks today,seems more akin to ‘pulpit pudding’ – consisting of promises,promises,promises,and promises.
Whilst Jesus’ recipe can lead disciples to maturation,and instill a fear of God which locks the stable door before the disciple has bolted,the other one can, i believe,desalinate the flock,and lead them to complacently soil their garments in materialistic and hedonistic filth.
1) When was the last time you heard your elders passing on Jesus’ words about remarriage after divorce ?
(Matthew 5:31-32,19:18 Mark 10:11-12,Luke 16:18).
2) How many ‘pastors’ are doing the reverse of what Jesus said – they do bury the dead,and they do not preach/center stage the Kingdom of God. (Have you read ‘The Kingdom of Jesus’ by Roger Forster’ ?).
As for British and American citizens,are they not being fed a horrendous mixed message ?
On the one hand,they may at some point hear an evangelist say ( on tele,radio,or the sidewalk) ‘ repent and believe’.
On the other,the next time they attend a funeral of a friend or relative,they may be lead to believe this unrepentant,unbelieving person has gone to heaven !!! When you go to such a funeral,are you not witnessing one of the most pernicious illustrations of ‘church and state’ on the face of the first earth. Could you name a more deadly mixed message than the one British and American citizens are being fed in that regard?
What business do elders have holding such services ?
They were told to make disciples,not pacify outsiders.
What would Peter or Paul do first if they saw such a funeral service ? hit the roof ? sob their hearts out ?
Western elders call Jesus Lord,but,do they do what He says ? do they pass on Jesus’ words,as is ? Same recipe ?
What is your flock getting – ‘The Chief Shepherd’s Pie’,or ‘pulpit pudding’ ?
The yardstick of Jesus;remarriage after divorce;let the dead bury the dead – show me the flock,show me the needle.
( That said,given 2 Timothy 4 : 3-4 this situation is awful,but no suprise)’
Through my spiritual lenses, I’m seeing a serious societal backlash in response to the effectiveness of gay activists to quell any and all opposition to their lifestyle. They have a slew of labels to try to incite shame upon others when shame really belongs to them. Behold the cleverness of their demonic activity. They have taken the advice of this verse…
Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry: For which things’ sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience: Colossians 3:5-6
…and have twisted it backwards upon those who are righteous. The word, ‘mortify’ means to ‘to humiliate or shame, as by injury to one’s pride or self-respect; that’s exactly what gay activist have done to the American society. They have shamed almost everyone into accepting them as something that’s normal!
As we are finding out, the homosexual lifestyle and the heterosexual lifestyle cannot together be held with high esteem and honor in the same society. If one is uplifted, then other is denigrated, and vice-versa.
Just as oil cannot mix with water, there will always be a division between the two different lifestyles. Judges and legislators may try to mix it all up through the enactment of their laws, but the two will just separate one from another again.
The societal backlash that I’m seeing in response to the effectiveness of gay activist is the growth of sexual aggression and violence towards women. These offenses are happening with more and more frequency on our college campuses, in police departments, in our military and to our underaged girls, etc…
I know that these problems already existed in our society, but they were unusual offenses not the norm. Now, they are becoming the norm. What are we women to do? Take up arms against men? Let’s examine the root cause of this up surge of sexual related violence against women.
I’m very thankful to God that heterosexual men out number the homosexual men in our society. I believe that our heterosexual men are being internally traumatized from the effectiveness of the gay activist to quell any and all public voices honoring the heterosexual lifestyle. They are traumatized from the notion that the heterosexual lifestyle is becoming something that is neither politically correct nor chic, and they have chosen to fight back through the display of sexual violence towards women. They know that if they should kill or even attack a homosexual, they will quickly have the condemnation of society upon them and be label as homophobic.
There have been numerous steps taken by college campuses and in other organizations to quell these sexual offenses towards women. None have been effective thus far because the underlining problem of the internal traumatization of men for not allow a public voice to express respect for what they are – heterosexual men!
Therefore, I like to give honor unto all the men who have chosen to live a lifestyle that is in harmony with God’s Divine Design.
For that I say, “THANK YOU!!!”
Why God changing his stance on legal compensation re: eye for eye vs. turn the other cheek? Why would the same God as the Old Testament be different in the new? seems a little inconsistent.
Hi Ben, that’s a good question you asked. Jesus is obviously not ignorant of what the Old Testament had to say about this in the law of Moses. In fact, the context shows that Jesus knew about this eye for an eye passage from the Old Testament. So why was “God changing His stance on legal compensation”? The answer is simply that He didn’t change His stance. A good understanding of God’s nature, God’s Justice (which is true justice-the way it actually works), and Jesus’ mission is necessary here to fully value what is going on in this passage in the New Testament.
1) Justice at its most pure sense really is an eye for an eye. Because God is Good and really the highest Good, it follows that He must be presiding over justice.
2) Likewise because God is Love, being the creator and sustainer of all things, one of the ways His love is demonstrated is through a word called ‘mercy’.
Now justice is not the perfect ideal situation. Like paying a debt and bringing back a negative balance to a zero dollar balance, justice is all about meeting requirements, pleasing, apeasing or satisfying a bad situation–like filling an empty cup to the brim. That is why God as is pleased, appeased, satisfied with certain animal sacrifices but does not DELIGHT in them, as to delight means to have joy in–like a cup running over.
Now Jesus could say what He did to His disciples because He knew that to live that more ideal way of “turn the other cheek” we ought to do more freely, was now going to be valid because Jesus Himself would satisfy the requirements of the law of God through Moses in Himself. Now anyone who is in Christ (born again), and no longer simply in Adam who was declared to die (so all mankind will die) has eternal life. Furthermore, when you consider how much wickedness and opposition Jesus overcame and was still forgiving even though He easily could have rightly judged everybody, then who are we really to judge others in particularly hypocritical ways? Jesus has forgiven us of so much as believers and has satified justice for us so that none of us can be self-righteous but righteous in Christ Jesus. Jesus came to fulfill the law not to throw it away. But if your not in Christ then you’re still under the curse that comes from not satisfying the law. The law comes first so that you can appreciate the offer/gift of grace. In seeing that you cannot keep the law you can value the gift. But because being under God’s grace is NOT a matter of necessary justice, it has to be and extension of God’s love for the world to save as many as possible. Love is never forced, it is always received of free will. As the saying goes, “forced love is rape.”
So the law came through Moses, grace and truth Jesus Christ.
Hope that helped.
I’m watching Family Feud now.