Call to Discipleship - Juan Carlos Ortiz

Call to Discipleship 

From Milk to Meat

Why did Jesus put ministers in the Church?

And He gave some apostles: and some prophets: and some Evangelists: and some pastors and teachers; For perfecting maturing of the saints , for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ(Eph 4:11-12)

Herein lies part of the answer. the purpose of the preaching oand teaching in the church is to perfect (bring to maturity) the saints for the work of the ministry. The one learning today is to become a teach tomorrow. The pastors are not to entertain or maintain the believers, but to mature them. In other words, shepherds are not placed in the flock to give milk to the sheep. God provides milk to every mother to give her child. Ministers must take the sheep into maturity. 

God gave the church ministers to equip and perfect the saints. Yet most of the activities we have in the church are to maintain the saints rather than equip them. 

. . . 

Our Ministry is to equip them, to perfect them, to make out of them teachers that they may teach others. That meant I as a pastor needed to have a clear vision of the objective of my existence. What does God wish me to make of the believers? Each pastor must ask himself, " why did God put me in the ministry? what is my work? To what should I dedicate myself?" The answer to this question is always, To perfect the saints for the work of the ministry, that Christians might be properly equipped for their service" (Phillips).

. . . 

Paul tells the Hebrews they should already have been teachers, which means that the Christian is really progressing when he can teach and guide someone else to be a Christian. "For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again" (Heb. 5:12 RSV). Phillips, translating the same passage, says, "At a time when you should be teaching others, you need teachers yourselves to repeat to you the ABCs of God's revelation to men." This means we should graduate sometime, for if we do not advance we are slipping back.  We should pass from the first grade of the rudiments to the second grade of the pure milk, and on to the third grade of solid food.

Call to discipleship

Juan Carlos Ortiz

Logos International, Plainfield, New Jersey

1975

- Christian Growth, Maturity

The Current Banking Practice Explained

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THE CURRENT BANKING CRISIS EXPLAINED BY A "Politician". 

Young "Donald" bought a donkey from a farmer for £100. The farmer agreed to deliver the donkey the next day.

The next day he drove up and said, 'Sorry son, but I have some bad news. The donkey died.'

"Donald" replied, 'Well then just give me my money back.'

The farmer said, 'Can't do that. I've already spent it.'

"Donald" said, 'OK, then, just bring me the dead donkey.'

The farmer asked, 'What are you going to do with him?'

"Donald" said, 'I'm going to raffle him off.'

The farmer said, 'You can't raffle a dead donkey!'

"Donald" said, 'Sure I can. Watch me. I just won't tell anybody he's dead.'

A month later, the farmer met up with "Donald" and asked, ' What happened to that dead donkey?'

"Donald" said, 'I raffled him off. I sold 500 tickets at £2 each and made a profit of £898.'

The farmer said, 'Didn't anyone complain?'

"Donald" said, 'Just the guy who won. So I gave him his £2 back.'

"Donald" now works for the Bank of Ireland.

Bertrand Russel: Why I am not a Christian Intro - Bertrand Russel

Professor Edwards republication of various essays of mine concerned with theological subjects is a cause of gratitude to me, especially in view of his admirable prefatory observations. I am particularly glad that this opportunity has occurred for reaffirming my conviction on the subjects with which the various essays deal. 

There has been a rumor in recent year to the effect that I have become less opposed to religious orthodoxy than I formerly was. This rumor is totally without foundation. I think all the great religions of the world - Buddhism, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, and communism - both untrue and harmful. It is evident as a matter of logic that, since they disagree, not more than one of them can be true.  With very few exceptions, the religion which a man accepts is that of the community in which he lives, which makes it obvious that the influence of environment is what has led him to accept the religion in question. It is true that the Scholastics invented what professed to be logical arguments proving the existence of God, and that these arguments proving the existence of God, and that these arguments, or others of a similar tenor, have been accepted by many eminent philosophers, but the logic to which these traditional arguments appealed is of an antiquated Aristotelian sort which is now rejected by practically all logicians except such as are Catholics. There is one of these arguments which is not purely logical. I mean the argument from design, this argument, however was destroyed by Darwin; and, in any case, could only be made logically respectable at the cost of abandoning God's omnipotence. Apart from logical cogency, there is to me something a little odd about the ethical valuations of those who think that an omnipotent, omniscient, and benevolent Deity, after preparing the ground by many millions of years of lifeless nebulae, would consider Himself adequately rewarded by the final emergence of Hitler and Stalin and the H-bomb. 

The question of the truth of a religion is one thing, but the question of its usefulness is another. I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue.

The harm that is done by a religion is of two sorts, the one depending on the kind of belief which it is thought ought to be given to it, and the other upon the particular tenets believed. As regards the kind of belief: it is virtuous to have faith -- that is to say, to have a conviction which cannot be shaken by contrary evidence. Or, if contrary evidence must be suppressed. On such grounds, the young are not allowed to hear arguments, in Russian, in favor of capitalism, or in America, in favor of Communism. This keeps the faith of both intact and ready for internecine war. The conviction that it is important to believe this or that, even if a free inquiry would not support the belief, is one which is common to almost all religions, and which inspires all systems of state education the consequence is that the minds of the young are stunted and are filled with fanatical hostility both to those who have other fanaticisms and, even more virulently, to those who object to all fanaticisms. A habit of basing convictions upon evidence, and of giving to them only that degree of certainty which the evidence warrants, would, if it became general, cure most of the ills from which the world is suffering. But at present, in most countries, education aims at preventing the growth of such a habit, and men who refuse to profess belief in some system of unfounded dogmas are not considered suitable as teachers of the young.

The above evils are independent of the particular creed in question and exist equally, in all creeds which are held dogmatically. But they are also, in most religions, specific ethical tenets which do definite harm. The Catholic condemnation of birth control, if it could prevail, would make the mitigation of poverty and the abolition of war impossible. The Hindu beliefs that the cow is a sacred animal and that it is wicked for widows to remarry cause quite needless suffering. The Communist belief in the dictatorship of a minority of True Believers has produced a whole crop of abominations. 

We are sometimes told that only fanaticism can make a social group effective. I think this is totally contrary to the lessons of history. But, in any case, only those who slavishly worship success can think that effectiveness is admirable without regard to what is effected. For my part, I think it be better to do a little good than to do much harm. The world that I should wish to see would be one freed from the virulence of group hostilities and capable of realizing that happiness for all is to be derived rather from co-operation than from strife. I should wish to see a world in which education aimed at mental freedom rather than at imprisoning the minds of the young in a rigid armor of dogma calculated to protect them through life against the shafts of impartial evidence. The world needs open hearts and open minds, and it is not through rigid systems, whether old or new, that these can be derived.

Bertrand Russel 1957

Bertrand Russel Why I am not a Christian

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Questions:

1. How can there be good and evil

2. When did Darwinian view of Evolution become a fact rather than a theory?

3. Did he really believe the absence of religion is really an neutral position not a new religion of Self?

4. The world does need open minds and hearts but need you through out the baby to get them? Is he not stating that no one except those who think like him have an open heart and mind, and is it not rather close minded to think that way?

A stranger In His Land - Ann Matthews Moorhead

A stranger In His Land

While traveling in a foreign land,

    Still Bound by apartheid,

I booked a tour upon a bus,

    To see the countryside.

The driver stopped at interest points,

    And let us browse each town --

In one quaint place with cobbled streets,

    I stumbled, slipped down.

A Blackman, passing, helped me up - 

    I thanked him, shook his hand,

And gave him change for aiding me - 

    A stranger in his land.

He smiled a shy, engaging grin,

    They humbly bowed his head - 

"Bless you, my children eat tonight,"

    The grateful Blackman said.

Upon returning to the bus,

    The driver gave a sneer - 

I saw what you just did out there;

    We don't do such things here"

Mid hostile stares, I took my seat,

    And sat there church-mouse quiet,

But my heart held the happy thought - 

    His children ate that night.

Ann Matthews Moorhead

1989 A book of the Year - The poetry Society of Texas

Scripture Purpose - Alan Richardson

God's Word, though addressed to us here and now, was given through the mouths of men who lived centuries before our time. Accordingly, two tasks are imposed upon the commentator. First, he must show, with the aid of every resource of biblical scholarship, how the divine message was received and understood by the original hearers long ago: and therefore we have tried to sum up as concisely as possible just so much of the critical, historical and literary discoveries of modern Old Testament research as is essential for a truly historical understanding of Genesis[Bible] And secondly, he must show how the ancient truth of Genesis is to be received to-day in an age which, not surprisingly, tends to look to modern science for an account of the world and of man, their beginning and their possibilities: and therefore we have tried in the Introduction to describe the nature of religious truth, such as is given to us in the parable of Genesis, and to show how it differs from and does not conflict with scientific truth. In this way, it is hoped that the difficulties and misconceptions which arise for the ordinary reader when he turns to the opening pages of the Bible Will be removed. 

Preface to  Genesis 1-11 The Creations Stores and the Modern World View 

Torch Bible Paperbacks London 1969

- Scripture,

Ethnocentrism - MCH Odessa

Language & Translation

• Those whose English is limited often wish to speak their native language when possible
• They feel that both their explanations & their understandings can be more accurate
• It is more comfortable

Ehnocentrism

Even though we understand that everyone s different, we still tend to subconsciously believe that our culture & religion is the right one. We may view other cultures or religions as bizarre, strange, inferior or unenlightened. This is called ethnocentrism

It can cause misunderstandings and harm patients by: 

• Incorrect Dx[diagnoses]
• Failure to provide adequate pain relief
• Arrest of parent for child abuse due to misunderstood cultural childrearing beliefs and practices

Quoted from Hospital HR training MCH Odessa Texas

Lawyers - The Rainmaker, John Grisham

You might think I became a lawyer just to piss you off, but you would be wrong. I have wanted to be a lawyer ever since I heard about the civil rights lawyers in the fifties and sixties. And the amazing uses they found for the law. They did what a lot of people thought was impossible. They gave lawyers a good name. 

The Rainmaker, Movie

John Grisham

THE LAW

love that person the way you want Jesus to love you .. . Bob Goff

"Find someone you think is wrong, someone you disagree with, someone who isn’t like you at all, and decide to love that person the way you want Jesus to love you. We need to love everybody, always. Jesus never said doing these things would be easy. He just said it would work.”

“Loving people means caring without an agenda. As soon as we have an agenda, it’s not love anymore. It’s acting like you care to get someone to do what you want or what you think God wants them to do. Do less of that, and people will see a lot less of you and more of Jesus.”

“A few weeks later, we found ourselves in the blast radius of her stunning love and kindness.”

“Talk behind each other’s backs constantly. Just talk about the right stuff. Talk about Jesus. Talk about grace. Talk about love and acceptance. People don’t grow where they are informed; they grow where they’re loved and accepted. Talk about who people are becoming and who you see them turning into. And give people medals, lots of them. The people around us should be walking around looking like the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. They should jingle when they walk.”

― Bob Goff, Everybody, Always: Becoming Love in a World Full of Setbacks and Difficult People

World-wide mission is an optional extra - Martin Goldsmith

This highlights a basic weakness throughout our churches and Christian unions. World-wide mission is an optional extra to be indulged in by those who are spiritually keen and who happen to be interested in it. Those who try to stimulate a belief that world mission is an integral part of the life of the church find that such exhortations fail to make much impact. Why?

Is it, perhaps, because we do not see world-wide missions as a basic theme of the whole of the Bible? So often missionary work is made to hing on only a few verses: the Great Commission in Matthew 28; Acts 1:8; John 4:35; Romans 10:14-17. As a speaker, I attend large numbers of missionary meetings and often wish that other passages could sometime be used for the Bible Reading. Does mission really depend only on these few verses? If so, then it is surely right that mission should be minor theme in the church's teaching. Ministers would be right not to mention overseas mission except when they happen to be expounding these particular verses - and if they are systematic in their exposition of the Bible, they would not come upon these passages very often.

But the whole Bible from Genesis to Revelation demonstrates God's love for all peoples and nations everywhere; He is the sovereign God over all the world. He has a purpose to for all nations This purpose is quietly worked out throughout the centuries as described in the Bible. God made the world . .  God loved the world . . . God sent His Son into the world to redeem,  and we look forward to the climax - 'a great multitude which no man can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the lamb'.

Martin Goldsmith 

Don't Just Stand There 1976 

IVP Downers Grove, IL

Eros vs friendship CS Lewis

“Those who cannot conceive Friendship as a substantive love but only as a disguise or elaboration of Eros betray the fact that they have never had a Friend. The rest of us know that though we can have erotic love and friendship for the same person yet in some ways nothing is less like a Friendship than a love-affair. Lovers are always talking to one another about their love; Friends hardly ever about their Friendship. Lovers are normally face to face, absorbed in each other; Friends, side by side, absorbed in some common interest. Above all, Eros (while it lasts) is necessarily between two only. But two, far from being the necessary number for Friendship, is not even the best. And the reason for this is important.

... In each of my friends there is something that only some other friend can fully bring out. By myself I am not large enough to call the whole man into activity; I want other lights than my own to show all his facets... Hence true Friendship is the least jealous of loves. Two friends delight to be joined by a third, and three by a fourth, if only the newcomer is qualified to become a real friend. They can then say, as the blessed souls say in Dante, 'Here comes one who will augment our loves.' For in this love 'to divide is not to take away.”

― C.S. Lewis, 

The Four Loves

- Eros, Friends, Love, Interpretation

Tom Holland: Why I was wrong about Christianity

Tom Holland

Tom Holland: Why I was wrong about Christianity

“We preach Christ crucified,” St Paul declared, “unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness.” He was right. Nothing could have run more counter to the most profoundly held assumptions of Paul’s contemporaries – Jews, or Greeks, or Romans. The notion that a god might have suffered torture and death on a cross was so shocking as to appear repulsive. Familiarity with the biblical narrative of the Crucifixion has dulled our sense of just how completely novel a deity Christ was. In the ancient world, it was the role of gods who laid claim to ruling the universe to uphold its order by inflicting punishment – not to suffer it themselves.

Today, even as belief in God fades across the West, the countries that were once collectively known as Christendom continue to bear the stamp of the two-millennia-old revolution that Christianity represents. It is the principal reason why, by and large, most of us who live in post-Christian societies still take for granted that it is nobler to suffer than to inflict suffering. It is why we generally assume that every human life is of equal value. In my morals and ethics, I have learned to accept that I am not Greek or Roman at all, but thoroughly and proudly Christian.

Tom Holland

https://www.newstatesman.com/politics/religion/2016/09/tom-holland-why-i-was-wrong-about-christianity

- Tom Holland, Christianity, Atheism 

The mystery of godliness... Ian thomas

The Mystery of Godliness - W. Ian Thomas

"The moment you come to realize that only God can make a man godly, you are left with no option but to find God, and to know God, and to let God be God in you and through you, whoever He may be--and this will leave you with no margin for picking and choosing--for there is only one God and He is absolute, and He made you expressly for Himself!

Beware lest even as a Christian, you fall into Satan's trap! You may have found and come to know God in the Lord Jesus Christ, receiving Him sincerely as your Redeemer, yet if you do not enter in the mystery of godliness and allow God to be in you the origin of His own image, you will seek to be godly by submitting yourself to external rules and regulations, and by conformity to behavior patterns imposed upon you by the particular Christian society which you have chosen, and in which you hope to be found 'acceptable.' You will in this way perpetuate the pagan habit of practicing religion in the energy of the 'flesh,' and in the very pursuit of righteousness commit idolatry in honoring 'Christianity' more than Christ!"

The Mystery of Godliness
by W. Ian Thomas

Time to die... Jim Elliot

When it comes time to die, make sure that all you have to do is die. —Jim Elliot