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Title: Should Christians Be Hospitable to Cult Members?
Source:
Grace to You
URL Source: http://www.gty.org/resources/bible- ... ble-to-cult-members?Term=cults
Published: Mar 11, 2015
Author: John MacArthur
Post Date: 2015-03-11 16:41:49 by redleghunter
Keywords: None
Views: 40952
Comments: 144
In verse 10 John sets out one practical application of how to defend the truth: If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house. Hospitality for traveling teachers was common in the culture (cf. Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-12). The prohibition here is not to turn away the ignorant; it does not mean that believers may not invite unbelievers—even those who belong to a cult or false religion—into their midst. That would make giving the truth to them difficult, if not impossible. The point is that believers are not to welcome and provide care for traveling false teachers, who seek to stay in their homes, thereby giving the appearance of affirming what they teach and lending them credibility John’s use of the conjunction ei (if) with an indicative verb indicates a condition that is likely true. Apparently, the lady to whom he wrote had for whatever reason, in the name of Christian fellowship, already welcomed false teachers into her home. It was just such compassionate, well-meaning people that the false teachers sought out (cf. 2 Tim. 3:6); since churches were supposed to be protected by elders who were skilled teachers of the Word (1 Tim. 3:2; Titus 1:9), they should have been less susceptible to the lies propagated by the deceivers. Having established themselves in homes, the false teachers hoped eventually to worm their way into the churches. It is much the same today, as false teaching insidiously invades Christian homes through television, radio, the Internet, and literature. So threatening are these emissaries of Satan that Jo[h]n went on to forbid even giving them a greeting; for the one who gives him a greeting participates in his evil deeds. Irenaeus relates that the church father Polycarp, when asked by the notorious heretic Marcion, “Do you know me?” replied, “I do know you—the firstborn of Satan” (Against Heresies, 3.3.4). John himself once encountered Cerinthus (another notorious heretic) in a public bathhouse in Ephesus. Instead of greeting him, however, John turned and fled, exclaiming to those with him, “Let us fly, lest even the bath-house fall down, because Cerinthus, the enemy of the truth, is within” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies, 3.3.4).
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Begin Trace Mode for Comment # 105.
#2. To: redleghunter (#0)
The Amish and Mennonites never knock on my door.
What about Quakers or Hare Krishna? Who is a cult?
What is your religion? That would be a cult. Any religion that denies christ is a cult.
I'm Roman Catholic. So what is your religion?
Catholics pray to Mary. That is forbidden. They call the pope holy father. The Bible says not to do that. The Catholics took one of the commandments and threw it in trash. Then split another into two parts. There are Catholics that are saved. But it has a cult element to it.
So you're anti-Catholic... that doesn't surprise me at all.
I'm not anti catholic. They just don't follow the Bible literally. Which is a problem. My religion is the Bible. Like King James for example.
Following the Bible literally is itself problematic and misleading if passages are interpreted out of context. Song of Soloman 4:1~2 (KJV): Hair like a flock of goats?
Well yes in Scriptures there is the use of metaphorical language. Interpreting according to the grammatical, literal historical method is how the apostles approached interpreting Scriptures. When we do see metaphor used in Scriptures they are usually direct metaphors. That is "A" is like "B". For example Jesus saying He was the bread of life. We know Jesus did not mean He was a loaf of bread. The Living Water. We know Jesus is not literally a well full of water we physically drink. I am the door. Jesus is not a wooden door. These were direct metaphors used to teach a spiritual truth.
Similarly, when God created the Universe, we know that a "day" didn't mean 24 hours from one sunrise to the next sunrise... but rather hundreds of millions and billions of years as the galaxies and stars and planets gradually unfolded & Life slowly evolved here on Earth.
Willie, Vic has done some exhaustive studies on the above so I pinged him. After day 4, we can logically conclude all days were 24 hour days as the sun, moon and stars were created on day 4. However, even on the first day of creation there is "let there be light" and we see recorded "So the evening and the morning were the first day." We also see much later in Exodus the Israelites confirming a 6 day creation with a one day Sabbath. People like to add in billions of years to fit an unproven scientific theory. It usually makes them comfortable at cocktail parties with liberal atheists.
No, the speed of light is a known constant, so the approximate size and age of the known Universe is readily calculable. The problem is that, 5000 years ago, nomadic Jewish shepherds didn't have the Internet or Wikipedia to look-up these scientific facts. They had to jot it all down in indecipherable hieroglyphics on crumbly parchment paper. Cripes, they even did it bass-ackwards right-to-left instead of writing it left-to-right like modern, civilized people do.
The problem is that, 5000 years ago, nomadic Jewish shepherds didn't have the Internet or Wikipedia to look-up these scientific facts. They had to jot it all down in indecipherable hieroglyphics on crumbly parchment paper. Cripes, they even did it bass-ackwards right-to-left instead of writing it left-to-right like modern, civilized people do. If that makes you feel better at cocktail parties, Willie, drive on. Creation was a miracle just as Christ fed the 5000 with a few fish and loaves. I will ask the question I normally do at this point. Are the miracles of Christ recorded in the Gospels and proclaimed in the NT epistles literal? Meaning did they happen as recorded in Scriptures?
Those cocktail parties are a little less smug than you imagine. Big Bang does have some problems and contradictions, the most glaring of which is its lack of explanation for what happened before the Big Bang. A rising theory is that the universe was never created at all and has existed from all eternity in largely the form it has today. While light matter and dark matter and their associated energy may alter over time, sometimes spectacularly, it doesn't change the overall eternal nature and composition of the universe. I actually like this better than Big Bang which I always found lacking.
I actually like this better than Big Bang which I always found lacking. Atheists are always looking for the next 'angle' to explain things they can't explain with real science. They will eventually embrace (some do now) some pagan pantheism to 'splain' things. Everything under the sun (or universe) other than a Sovereign and Eternal God. The notion of "everything has always been" meme is so detached of reason, logic and even common sense. As everything is in decay. If something has an end (which we can observe) it has a beginning (which we can observe as well through procreation). The sheer madness of their darkened pursuits of any explanation other than God is saddening.
They will eventually embrace (some do now) some pagan pantheism to 'splain' things. Everything under the sun (or universe) other than a Sovereign and Eternal God. Occam's Razor (in reverse.) Totally IL-logical. And ironic. Somehow, Science's Gospel of Dis-provable/Impossible Theory became the official religion of Atheism, Secular Humanism, and Trekkies. As a rhetorical aside, with respect to the inextricable implications of the Second Law of Thermodynamics, where has all the energy dissipated to since "On The First Day..."? Aaaah -- Entropy and the chaos of...Satan. As a related political aside -- 0bola, his regime, and his co-collaborators have done nothing but facilitate and accelerate the entropy of the state, while the Deists, Atheists, New Agers, homofascists, Islam, etal. have aided and abetted as well. Had Maxwell Smart only beaten KAOS back in the 60s....
It just keeps expanding the Universe further and further apart until eventually it dissipates in the cold emptiness of infinity.
The "infinity" of Time or Space? Or both? MUST there necessarily be a scientific explanation for material effluent? THOUGHT: Could the material effluent well transition into another dimension beyond the material universe? After all, aren't our souls, our essence NOT of this material world?
#106. To: Liberator (#105)
I don't know...
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So who are you calling a cult?
Mormons?
Scientologists?
Branch Davidians?
Jehovah Witnesses?
Amish or Mennonites?
#3. To: Willie Green (#2)
Amish or Mennonites?
#4. To: redleghunter (#3)
(Edited)
The Amish and Mennonites never knock on my door.
Christian Scientists, Salvation Army, Rosicrucians, Unitarians or Wiccans?
#11. To: Willie Green (#4)
(Edited)
Who is a cult?
#14. To: A K A Stone (#11)
(Edited)
What is your religion? That would be a cult. Any religion that denies christ is a cult.
We usually capitalize the "c" in Christ, to indicate that we recognize that He is the Lord our God & Savior.
If I'm not mistaken, that is common practice in protestant denominations also.
Is it a cult?
#16. To: Willie Green (#14)
#17. To: A K A Stone (#16)
But you didn't answer my question: what is your religion? Is it a cult?
#19. To: Willie Green (#17)
So you're anti-Catholic... that doesn't surprise me at all. But you didn't answer my question: what is your religion? Is it a cult?
#26. To: A K A Stone (#19)
They just don't follow the Bible literally. Which is a problem.
1 Behold, thou art fair, my love; behold, thou art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is as a flock of goats, that appear from mount Gilead.
2 Thy teeth are like a flock of sheep that are even shorn, which came up from the washing; whereof every one bear twins, and none is barren among them.
Teeth like a flock of sheep?
No, no, no, no, no.... we do not take every word of the Bible literally. It must be read in it's proper context to be understood. The nomadic tribes of the Middle East were very simple people 3 to 5 thousand years ago. The Lord revealed His Word to them in ways that THEY could understand, so we need to strive to understand the way that THEY would understand it, not the way that WE would take it literally.
#40. To: Willie Green, A K A Stone (#26)
#52. To: redleghunter (#40)
When we do see metaphor used in Scriptures they are usually direct metaphors. That is "A" is like "B". For example Jesus saying He was the bread of life. We know Jesus did not mean He was a loaf of bread. The Living Water. We know Jesus is not literally a well full of water we physically drink. I am the door. Jesus is not a wooden door. These were direct metaphors used to teach a spiritual truth.
#59. To: Willie Green, Vicomte13, A K A Stone, TooConservative (#52)
Similarly, when God created the Universe, we know that a "day" didn't mean 24 hours from one sunrise to the next sunrise... but rather hundreds of millions and billions of years as the galaxies and stars and planets gradually unfolded & Life slowly evolved here on Earth.
#71. To: redleghunter (#59)
People like to add in billions of years to fit an unproven scientific theory.
#83. To: Willie Green (#71)
No, the speed of light is a known constant, so the approximate size and age of the known Universe is readily calculable.
#87. To: redleghunter (#83)
If that makes you feel better at cocktail parties, Willie, drive on.
#90. To: TooConservative, liberator (#87)
A rising theory is that the universe was never created at all and has existed from all eternity in largely the form it has today. While light matter and dark matter and their associated energy may alter over time, sometimes spectacularly, it doesn't change the overall eternal nature and composition of the universe.
#101. To: redleghunter, TooConservative, Don, Willie Green (#90)
Atheists are always looking for the next 'angle' to explain things they can't explain with real science.
#103. To: Liberator (#101)
where has all the energy dissipated to since "On The First Day..."?
#105. To: Willie Green (#103)
....Eventually it dissipates in the cold emptiness of infinity.
Replies to Comment # 105.
I figger I'm gonna be worm food long before the Universe ends, so I don't fret about it much.
Besides... it sounds way too gloomy, dismal and lonely for me...
I'm kinda glad that I probably won't be around to see it.
End Trace Mode for Comment # 105.
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