The mediocrity of Unitarianism. Where are the "John the Beloveds" in Unitarianism?

[Runningman]

Hi, praise_yeshua and @DavidTree

I don't intend to have any discussion about the hypostatic union.
Neither Jesus nor his apostles engaged in such discussion. So, the discussion should not be relevant.

For the common believer, what is important is that Jesus set an example because, being tempted, and having the possibility to act against the will of God, he didn't.
In a rainy day, with a lot of time to spend, we could frame dozens of speculative questions of the kind: If Jesus had sinned, would God have sinned? If not, would the divine aspect of Jesus abandon somehow the body of Jesus? But these questions are of no interest for 99.9% of the persons who want to follow Jesus. I am one of them. We neither understand nor see the practical application of such questions.

In your daily life, when you are under a big temptation to act against God's will, you don't ask yourself "What would God do in my place?" What you ask yourself is "What would Jesus do in my place?" Then you visualize how Jesus spoke and behaved, as recorded in the gospels, and you have your answer.

You're absolutely right, but Jesus being tempted, though a Biblical fact, reads to the Trinitarian like "God was tempted to sin..." which is why they are arguing against this, even when it says Jesus was tempted in the same way we are.

That's why they are wanting to lead this talk into the hypostatic union. We're driving on the interstate and they want to take the nearest exit and the hypostatic union doctrine can potentially afford them that to the untrained Unitarian apologist, but I won't let them use it. Know how? It's simple, temptation, as defined by James in his divinely-inspired writing, James 1:14. By the way, there isn't a version that really sugarcoats this. Even the New Living Translation, The Message, and The Passion Translation are a bit harsh. Here's The Message of James 1:13-15, for example:

James 1:13-15 The Message​

Don’t let anyone under pressure to give in to evil say, “God is trying to trip me up.” God is impervious to evil, and puts evil in no one’s way. The temptation to give in to evil comes from us and only us. We have no one to blame but the leering, seducing flare-up of our own lust. Lust gets pregnant, and has a baby: sin! Sin grows up to adulthood, and becomes a real killer.​

​

Anyway, this actually confirms that the hypostatic union is false as well. It proves Jesus did, indeed, have a human soul/spirit just like everyone else.

 

[DavidTree]

Thanks for bringing such an important passage.
You have summarized very well the whole thread.

In John 14:19-21 Jesus is saying that the proof that somebody loves Jesus is to keep his commandments. He who does this, will prove he loves Jesus, and the Father will love that person.

You, DavidTree, keep Jesus commandments, because you love your brothers, including your Unitarian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, gay brothers, as He loved us. Since you keep Jesus commandments, you are proving that you love Jesus, and therefore God, The Father of Jesus, loves you.

So, loving Jesus is not about believing or not in his deity. It is about keeping Jesus commandment.

Beautiful and true words - thank you

i would like for you to see the deeper Truth and Love that JESUS spoke.

Please dwell on this passage tonight, just as i will, and we can speak tomorrow.

Shalom and Good Night

 

[Studyman]

I have never told you to stop "obeying Jesus". Retract that nonsense. Pay attention to what I say.

What I have done, it is rightfully insist that you recognize your failures. You're not doing this.

I recognize my shortcomings, I just don't pattern my life around them or make excuses for them to preserve them, like you do. I follow the road map given me by God, to guide me in the race that is set before me. I have you telling me I can't do it, I will never please God, I will never walk even as Jesus walked. You even go one step further and declare to the world that I don't even Love Jesus. The hubris is stunning. Nevertheless, Jesus told me you were coming, and I will not be discouraged from striving to enter this path by your preaching.

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

To pay attention to what you are saying is spiritual suicide. I choose to Pay attention to what Paul is saying.

Humbling Himself "as man" requires Divinity.

So let me get your religion straight here, in your religion, only God can humble Himself to God?

I have. I'm way ahead of you. Lazarus was healed. He already smelled.

Where is it written that God let his flesh rot before God raised him from the dead? It isn't. Mary thought he would, being dead 4 days, but there is nothing in scriptures which teach that God let his flesh rot any more than God let Jesus' flesh rot. You made it up to justify your adopted religion. BTW, Lazarus is dead, and buried, Jesus is at the Right Hand of His Father preparing a place for me, even to this day. Apples and oranges.

Did God the Father heal Jesus Christ in the Resurrection?

Jesus was the First Fruit of those who died in Faith. He was changed and given immortality by His Father, according to Scriptures. Lazarus was neither of these things, was not changed and was not given immortality at this time, as Lazarus is dead and buried, just like Abraham. But the same God that raised Lazarus, also raised Jesus from the dead. In fact, Jesus said this whole event happened for a reason, "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but "because of the people which stand by" I said it, that "they may believe" that "thou hast sent me".

Did his flesh rot and was healed or did God keep his flesh from rotting? There is nothing in scriptures to show either way. Only that Jesus prayed to the same God that raised Lazarus, that also raised Him from the dead. This much is undeniable Biblical Truth.

 

[civic]

I recognize my shortcomings, I just don't pattern my life around them or make excuses for them to preserve them, like you do. I follow the road map given me by God, to guide me in the race that is set before me. I have you telling me I can't do it, I will never please God, I will never walk even as Jesus walked. You even go one step further and declare to the world that I don't even Love Jesus. The hubris is stunning. Nevertheless, Jesus told me you were coming, and I will not be discouraged from striving to enter this path by your preaching.

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

To pay attention to what you are saying is spiritual suicide. I choose to Pay attention to what Paul is saying.



So let me get your religion straight here, in your religion, only God can humble Himself to God?



Where is it written that God let his flesh rot before God raised him from the dead? It isn't. Mary thought he would, being dead 4 days, but there is nothing in scriptures which teach that God let his flesh rot any more than God let Jesus' flesh rot. You made it up to justify your adopted religion. BTW, Lazarus is dead, and buried, Jesus is at the Right Hand of His Father preparing a place for me, even to this day. Apples and oranges.



Jesus was the First Fruit of those who died in Faith. He was changed and given immortality by His Father, according to Scriptures. Lazarus was neither of these things, was not changed and was not given immortality at this time, as Lazarus is dead and buried, just like Abraham. But the same God that raised Lazarus, also raised Jesus from the dead. In fact, Jesus said this whole event happened for a reason, "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but "because of the people which stand by" I said it, that "they may believe" that "thou hast sent me".

Did his flesh rot and was healed or did God keep his flesh from rotting? There is nothing in scriptures to show either way. Only that Jesus prayed to the same God that raised Lazarus, that also raised Him from the dead. This much is undeniable Biblical Truth.

God is Humble

next fallacy

Psalm 113:4-7

4 The Lord is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. 5 Who is like the Lord our God, Who is enthroned on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold The things that are in heaven and in the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap,

Psalm 18:35

You have given me the shield of your salvation; your right hand upholds me, and your humility exalts me.

 

[DavidTree]

I recognize my shortcomings, I just don't pattern my life around them or make excuses for them to preserve them, like you do. I follow the road map given me by God, to guide me in the race that is set before me. I have you telling me I can't do it, I will never please God, I will never walk even as Jesus walked. You even go one step further and declare to the world that I don't even Love Jesus. The hubris is stunning. Nevertheless, Jesus told me you were coming, and I will not be discouraged from striving to enter this path by your preaching.

"That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead. Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended: but this one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forth unto those things which are before, I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus."

Let us therefore, as many as be perfect, be thus minded: and if in any thing ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this unto you.

To pay attention to what you are saying is spiritual suicide. I choose to Pay attention to what Paul is saying.



So let me get your religion straight here, in your religion, only God can humble Himself to God?



Where is it written that God let his flesh rot before God raised him from the dead? It isn't. Mary thought he would, being dead 4 days, but there is nothing in scriptures which teach that God let his flesh rot any more than God let Jesus' flesh rot. You made it up to justify your adopted religion. BTW, Lazarus is dead, and buried, Jesus is at the Right Hand of His Father preparing a place for me, even to this day. Apples and oranges.



Jesus was the First Fruit of those who died in Faith. He was changed and given immortality by His Father, according to Scriptures. Lazarus was neither of these things, was not changed and was not given immortality at this time, as Lazarus is dead and buried, just like Abraham. But the same God that raised Lazarus, also raised Jesus from the dead. In fact, Jesus said this whole event happened for a reason, "Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up his eyes, and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always: but "because of the people which stand by" I said it, that "they may believe" that "thou hast sent me".

Did his flesh rot and was healed or did God keep his flesh from rotting? There is nothing in scriptures to show either way. Only that Jesus prayed to the same God that raised Lazarus, that also raised Him from the dead. This much is undeniable Biblical Truth.

​

Strong's Lexicon In fact, Ὅτι (Hoti) Conjunction Strong's Greek 3754: Neuter of hostis as conjunction; demonstrative, that; causative, because. [God] raised ἀνέστησεν (anestēsen) Verb - Aorist Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Strong's Greek 450: To raise up, set up; I rise from among (the) dead; I arise, appear. From ana and histemi; to stand up. Him αὐτὸν (auton) Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Accusative Masculine 3rd Person Singular Strong's Greek 846: He, she, it, they, them, same. From the particle au; the reflexive pronoun self, used of the third person, and of the other persons. from ἐκ (ek) Preposition Strong's Greek 1537: From out, out from among, from, suggesting from the interior outwards. A primary preposition denoting origin, from, out. [the] dead νεκρῶν (nekrōn) Adjective - Genitive Masculine Plural Strong's Greek 3498: (a) adj: dead, lifeless, subject to death, mortal, (b) noun: a dead body, a corpse. From an apparently primary nekus; dead. never μηκέτι (mēketi) Adverb Strong's Greek 3371: No longer, no more. From me and eti; no further. to see μέλλοντα (mellonta) Verb - Present Participle Active - Accusative Masculine Singular Strong's Greek 3195: A strengthened form of melo; to intend, i.e. Be about to be, do, or suffer something. ὑποστρέφειν (hypostrephein) Verb - Present Infinitive Active Strong's Greek 5290: To turn back, return. From hupo and strepho; to turn under, i.e. To return. εἰς (eis) Preposition Strong's Greek 1519: A primary preposition; to or into, of place, time, or purpose; also in adverbial phrases. decay. διαφθοράν (diaphthoran) Noun - Accusative Feminine Singular Strong's Greek 1312: Destruction, decay, corruption. From diaphtheiro; decay. As He has said εἴρηκεν (eirēken) Verb - Perfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular Strong's Greek 2046: Probably a fuller form of rheo; an alternate for epo in certain tenses; to utter, i.e. Speak or say. οὕτως (houtōs) Adverb Strong's Greek 3779: Thus, so, in this manner. Or (referring to what precedes or follows). ‘I will give Δώσω (Dōsō) Verb - Future Indicative Active - 1st Person Singular Strong's Greek 1325: To offer, give; I put, place. A prolonged form of a primary verb; to give. you ὑμῖν (hymin) Personal / Possessive Pronoun - Dative 2nd Person Plural Strong's Greek 4771: You. The person pronoun of the second person singular; thou. the τὰ (ta) Article - Accusative Neuter Plural Strong's Greek 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the. holy [and] ὅσια (hosia) Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural Strong's Greek 3741: Holy, pious, godly, beloved of God. Of uncertain affinity; properly, right, i.e. Hallowed. sure [blessings] πιστά (pista) Adjective - Accusative Neuter Plural Strong's Greek 4103: Trustworthy, faithful, believing. From peitho; objectively, trustworthy; subjectively, trustful. [I promised to] David.’ Δαυὶδ (Dauid) Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular Strong's Greek 1138: David, King of Israel. Of Hebrew origin; Dabid, the Israelite king.

 

[praise_yeshua]

I recognize my shortcomings, I just don't pattern my life around them or make excuses for them to preserve them, like you do.

What exactly do I preserve? Do tell?

You're not any harder on me than I am on MYSELF. I am self correcting. Everyone should be. I never justify sin. However, I do sin. The more I know God the more sinful I realize that I am. It is in simple things for me anymore. If I told you what they were, I'd almost guarantee you're doing right now

I think I'll do that. I think I'll start a list of sins that most Christians don't even consider.

 

[DavidTree]

Thanks for bringing such an important passage.
You have summarized very well the whole thread.

In John 14:19-21 Jesus is saying that the proof that somebody loves Jesus is to keep his commandments. He who does this, will prove he loves Jesus, and the Father will love that person.

You, DavidTree, keep Jesus commandments, because you love your brothers, including your Unitarian, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, gay brothers, as He loved us. Since you keep Jesus commandments, you are proving that you love Jesus, and therefore God, The Father of Jesus, loves you.

So, loving Jesus is not about believing or not in his deity. It is about keeping Jesus commandment.

A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but you will see Me. Because I live, you will live also. At that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Ready to explore More Truth

What is the most crucial Truth in this passage?
answer: "Because I live"

Before we can even begin to love the FATHER we must First___________________________________________________________.

Finish the sentence according to the Word.

 

[praise_yeshua]

We please God when we are humble, recognize our smallness in the face of his greatness, and live as He asks us to live.
But do not forget to do good and to share. For with such sacrifices God is well pleased. (Hebrews 13:16)

So yes, there is a way to please God, and the Bible is full of examples of God being pleased with individuals.
God can be pleased even if the individual has not heard of Jesus, if that person does things out of love and modesty. That's the case of Cornelius.

Then why did Cornelius need to change? What is sin to you?

You're explanations are that of a child. If Cornelius pleased God, then Cornelius wouldn't need to change.

Neither would you. Why do you change? This is such a ridiculous argument you're making.

When I was child, I spoke as a child. God isn't happy with us when we are merely children. You're acting like a child that can never fully please God.

A saint of God will not wither way as God sustains him.
This is the whole point of having eternal life.
That life does not come from my own merits, but from God through his Christ.

Liar. If you live long enough in this life, you are surely susceptible to mental disorders due to age and the "withering away"..... Your flesh is destined for the maggots.

Why do you enjoy being so deceptive. There are many a good Christian that have "lost their mental faculties" long before they left this world. When you get ready to leave this world, you'll do like everyone else..... ask for drugs to help you make it through.

Have you ever seen someone you love.... good Christians come down to the end of their lives and become bitter and broken people do to illness? I have.

You're not gracious at all are you?

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Liar. If you live long enough in this life, you are surely susceptible to mental disorders due to age and the "withering away"..... Your flesh is destined for the maggots.

Why do you enjoy being so deceptive. There are many a good Christian that have "lost their mental faculties" long before they left this world. When you get ready to leave this world, you'll do like everyone else..... ask for drugs to help you make it through.

Have you ever seen someone you love.... good Christians come down to the end of their lives and become bitter and broken people do to illness? I have.

You're not gracious at all are you?

I didn't mean to hurt you in any way, my brother. If I did, please pardon me.
I was not talking about the flesh. Salvation is not about the flesh.
The man or woman who you loved lived on this earth in Christ. So, he or she has already eternal life and will not wither away.

 

[praise_yeshua]

I didn't mean to hurt you in any way, my brother. If I did, please pardon me.
I was not talking about the flesh. Salvation is not about the flesh.
The man or woman who you loved lived on this earth in Christ. So, he or she has already eternal life and will not wither away.

You only offend me what you speak. I have no ill will toward you at all in the context of Eternity. God would have all men come to Jesus Christ.

I made the argument about our bodies withering away to point we can not "keep the commandments of God".

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Then why did Cornelius need to change?

God was pleased with Cornelius... but not only with Cornelius.
God was pleased with thousands or millions of other people in every nation at the time Cornelius lived. People who lived in India, Ethiopia, China, the Americas.
Thanks to the episode of Cornelius, Peter came to understand this: “Truthfully, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts 10:34,35)

Right now, there are thousands of millions of people who do not necessarily share your theological viewpoints, but still fear God working righteousness.

These works fo righteousness are NOT motivated by self-righeousness, or arrogance, or popularity. They are motivated by the action of God in their souls. They are motivated by love. That's why the prayers and works of these people are accepted by God, not because they deserve it, but out of God's mercy and love.
The angel who appeared to Cornelius told him: "Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God"

God had cleansed Cornelius, out of his Love and Mercy. "What God has cleansed, do not call common" said God to Peter.
It shouldn't come to a surprise, since David, in perhaps the most eloquent text devoted to repentance, ask God for forgiveness without resorting to any kind of atonement or ransom, but to the mercy of God. We can examine that psalm later on.

Now, to your question, Why did Cornelius need to change? I will try my answer on the next post.
For the time being, let us recognize that God accepts people who do not adhere to a given dogma about Christ.

 

[praise_yeshua]

God was pleased with Cornelius, but it was not just Cornelius.
God was pleased with thousands or millions of other people in every nation at the time Cornelius lived.

No. God isn't pleased with things that need to change. God is forgiving and patient. Merciful. Pleased.... nope. That is ridiculous.

Thanks to the episode of Cornelius, Peter came to understand this: “Truthfully, I perceive that God is no respecter of persons. But in every nation he who fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him" (Acts 10:34,35)

Countless Gentiles died without Peter sharing the Gospel with them. Peter even rejected serving Grecian widows because of their "Greek" connection.

You don't really know the Scriptures.

At every turn, God is patient with us as children. He allows us to sin and yet still loves us. However, this ultimately end. There will come a day when God will judge humanity BY Jesus Christ.

Act 17:30 And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent:
Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

 

[praise_yeshua]

Right now, there are thousands of millions of people who do not necessarily share your theological viewpoints, but still fear God working righteousness.

They work "righteousness" for themselves. Not for God.

Mat 12:30 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad.

It is the message of the Gospel that tells humanity WHO... God is in Jesus Christ.

You will be judged by Jesus Christ. All mankind will be. Your God/Judge is well known to humanity.

 

[praise_yeshua]

These works fo righteousness are NOT motivated by self-righeousness, or arrogance, or popularity. They are motivated by the action of God in their souls. They are motivated by love. That's why the prayers and works of these people are accepted by God, not because they deserve it, but out of God's mercy and love.
The angel who appeared to Cornelius told him: "Your prayers and your alms have come up as a memorial before God"

Cornelius was faced with a decision. He had to accept Jesus Christ. Cornelius had to change. You're ignoring this fact in your message. You are telling people they do not have to accept Jesus Christ.

God had cleansed Cornelius, out of his Love and Mercy. "What God has cleansed, do not call common" said God to Peter.
It shouldn't come to a surprise, since David, in perhaps the most eloquent text devoted to repentance, ask God for forgiveness without resorting to any kind of atonement or ransom, but to the mercy of God. We can examine that psalm later on.

Now, to your question, Why did Cornelius need to change? I will try my answer on the next post.
For the time being, let us recognize that God accepts people who do not adhere to a given dogma about Christ.

You haven't proven anything but your own misunderstanding.

Things that MUST change to find acceptance...... are not acceptable. Such a statement as you've made is utterly preposterous.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Why do we teach children about Jesus, if they are already citizens of the Kingdom?
Why do you, my reader, want to learn more about Jesus, if you already know Him?

Does a graduate in Medicine stops learning Medicine at the time of graduation?

Cornelius needed to grow spiritually, and to accomplish whatever mission God had for him that required becoming a Christian. Cornelius needed to understand better God's love through the understanding of what Jesus had done.

It is not that Cornelius would have gone to hell if he had not heard Peter preaching to him.
If that were the case, why didn't God sen thousands of "Peters" instantly all over the world?
Cornelius had been accepted by God in his condition, as thousands of other "Cornelius" all over the world.
Hell is not a place for people accepted by God.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Cornelius was faced with a decision. He had to accept Jesus Christ. Cornelius had to change. You're ignoring this fact in your message. You are telling people they do not have to accept Jesus Christ.

Cornelius had already accepted Jesus Christ, in the deepest and most important of senses.
That's why he lived a life of submission to God ("fear of God", says the text).
Otherwise, God would not have accepted his alms and prayers, and wouldn't have told Peter that He has persons in all nations that He accepts.

What you still need to understand is that accepting Jesus means accepting his Message. Doing what He asks us to do.
Jesus was the "incarnation", so to speak, of "The Word". It is The Word of God which confers us eternal life, if we repent and do what The Word tells us to do.

The flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit and are life. (John 6:63)​

​

Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonderful works in Your name?’ 23 But then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you. Depart from Me, you who practice evil.’[a]​

​

24 “Whoever hears these sayings of Mine and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on a rock. 25 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it did not fall, for it was founded a rock. 26 And every one who hears these sayings of Mine and does not do them will be likened to a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house. And it fell. And its fall was great.”​

 

[praise_yeshua]

Why do we teach children about Jesus, if they are already citizens of the Kingdom?

Whether citizens of not, we teach them.

Why do you, my reader, want to learn more about Jesus, if you already know Him?

Because you don't have a working knowledge of Jesus. You've know about someone else's friend. That is all.

Does a graduate in Medicine stops learning Medicine at the time of graduation?

That is because the DR has been trained improperly.

Cornelius needed to grow spiritually, and to accomplish whatever mission God had for him that required becoming a Christian. Cornelius needed to understand better God's love through the understanding of what Jesus had done.

Cornelius learned from children. When babies train babies, you have nothing but babies.

1Co 3:1 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ.
1Co 3:2 I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able.
1Co 3:3 For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men?
1Co 3:4 For while one saith, I am of Paul; and another, I am of Apollos; are ye not carnal?

Notice how these people displayed their internal carnality through their words of saying. "I am of Paul"..... Notice how "I AM of Jesus" isn't criticized.....

1Co 3:5 Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man?
1Co 3:6 I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase.

Notice how Jesus is referenced as GOD here. I AM OF JESUS.... is the target.

 

[praise_yeshua]

Cornelius had already accepted Jesus Christ, in the deepest and most important of senses.
That's why he lived a life of submission to God ("fear of God", says the text).
Otherwise, God would not have accepted his alms and prayers, and wouldn't have told Peter that He has persons in all nations that He accepts.

I'm going to stop answering you if all you're going to do is "pick what you want to discuss". Deal with all of what I said.

Cornelius wasn't accepted by God because Cornelius was lead to those He needed to listen to. Cornelius needed to know MORE about God to be accepted.

It is the Grace of God that leads us to Repentance.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

Things that MUST change to find acceptance...... are not acceptable. Such a statement as you've made is utterly preposterous.

I agree.
Cornelius had changed long before listening to Pedro.
And so the thousands of God-fearing people in all nations that God has accepted.

 

[Pancho Frijoles]

I'm going to stop answering you if all you're going to do is "pick what you want to discuss". Deal with all of what I said.

I try, my friend.
Are you also willing to deal with all of what I say?
What we both say is a lot!

Please let me know what specific statement you want me to reply to.

Cornelius wasn't accepted by God because Cornelius was lead to those He needed to listen to. Cornelius needed to know MORE about God to be accepted.

Cornelius needed to know more about God. That's true.
But Cornelius was already accepted, as those thousands of God-fearing people in all nations. It is in the text and we can't deny it.

Same thing with you. You are already accepted by God, but you need to know more about Him every day.

It is the Grace of God that leads us to Repentance.

I agree 100%.
For the same reason, if you see a Muslim or a Jew repenting from having been violent with their children, or lustful, or lazy, you can be sure that the grace of God is leading them to repentance, regardless of their views on the deity of Christ.