Living According to Christ: Is it Reasonable?

Reading the Bible in my language and in English my understanding is that, as Jesus speaks about it, the apostles and early Christians expect the second coming of Christ to happen soon. Many of the teachings also seems to be guided by this expectation. Like their predecessors through the ages many Christians even today still belief the second coming to take place soon. I felt that strictly following early teachings of Christianity is not compatible with today's world. Instead of following these teachings many Christians try to interpret the Bible to fit their modern Christian lifestyle. But again, they said this flexibility shows the glory of Christianity.

Hi jaywill,I think you are stretching things a bit too far. We all know that when Jesus was preaching to his disciples about giving up their wealth and lead a life solely dedicated to Him and God, he would not have in mind a tunic, a sword, two swords, etc.Let me summarised my understanding of the teachings of the New Testament. 1. Jesus is the son of God, sent to the world to deliver mankind from the original sin committed by Adam and Eve.2. Only those who believe in Jesus will be saved from eternal torment in hell and go to heaven.3. Those who believe in him should be born again in the spirit, accepting Jesus as their Lord and Savior.A born again christian who is filled with the Holy Spirit, would have to deny himself and take up his cross daily, otherwise he is not worthy of Him. 4. Early Christians expected Jesus to return within a generation of his death.5. Those who believe in Him were commissioned to spread the Gospel.So, in my opinion a true believer of early christianity would have to be one who is born again,who expects Jesus to return very soon and used all his resources and energy to spread the Gospel. He would not live a worldly life, and disregard earthly wealth because love of the things of the world is enmity with God. If he has absolute faith in God, his needs will be provided.With the imminent return of Jesus and the great commission to spread the Gospel, the teachings gave no room for true believers to pursue other human activities like sports, arts, literature, science, technological innovations, etc. The apostle Paul even prefer true believers to not marry and start a family because that will distract their main Mission. In Matthew 6:19-21 Jesus preach against saving for the future and in Luke 6:34 He preach against lending money with the expectation of repayment.Even by these few standards I believe true believers will be rare in this market oriented globalised world economy. What we find is different types of Christians interpreting and adjusting the Bible teachings conveniently to fit their way of life.But, a half way measure for accepting Christ is not acceptable. So, following the Opening thread, given the difference between the mindset with which the New Testament teachings were issued and the mindset with which we read them today, I believe such instructions are not reasonable and/or relevant in our present age.Edited by Aurora, : No reason given.Edited by Aurora, : corrected quotationEdited by Aurora, : corrected space

Hi jaywill, Paul was a tentmaker before his conversion. After his conversion you know how preoccupied he was in spreading the gospel. Luke was a physician before he became a disciple of the apostle Paul and followed Paul until Paul's martyrdom. Dorcas's charities was the clothing of the poor with garments she herself made. Charities are good but not relevant to the point here. Phoebe was described by Paul as "our sister, who is a servant of the church that is at Cenchrea". Paul calls Zenas "the lawyer." The meaning of this is, that, previous to his becoming a Christian, he had been a Jewish lawyer (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia)This is not cherry picking verses or collecting difficult passages from the New Testament. A true believer of early Christianity would have to believe the imminent return of Jesus and also be zealous in saving souls by spreading the gospel. Being born again, he would not live a worldly life and not worry about earthly wealth, because all his needs will be provided by the Lord. Guided by the Holy Spirit he would have to deny himself and carry the cross daily.Given their faith, I believe its simply not possible for Paul or the disciples to be fully engaged in other economic activities because that will distract their main Mission. Imagine Paul after his conversion going back to tent making and earning his livelihood, he would be preoccupied with collecting raw materials, producing tents and marketing his products; if he married and raise a family his burden will be all the more. His business and his family would become more important than Jesus so that he cannot qualify as a true believer. You may try to reconcile them but that shows only how your interpretations evolve with the changing world. A half-way Christian or feel good only kind of Christian is not acceptable by the teachings of the New Testament.Jesus said in Mathew 10:37 "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; 38 and anyone who does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. 39 Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it." Yes, they all awaited the Lord's return eagerly, as it was promised by Jesus and preached by the disciples/apostles. With nothing happening for thousands of years the Church had sidelined the issue but still even today some Christians expects the return to be very near. I have read somewhere that Jesus will return on 11 May, 2011. Edited by Aurora, : corrected spaceEdited by Aurora, : corrected quotes

Paul was a full time apostle after his conversion not a full time tent maker. There is no problem if he helped someone or supports himself during his trips. It will be contrary to Jesus' teachings if he went back to a full time tent making job. I said that Luke was a physician before he became a disciple of the apostle Paul and followed Paul until Paul's martyrdom. This implies that Luke did not went back practicing his profession for his livelihood. For if he went back it will be against Jesus' teachings. There is no problem if he practiced his trade while he accompanied Paul, in fact his medical knowledge may be quite helpful. Dorcas clothing of the poor with garments she made is not relevant to the point here because there is no indication that making garment is her job. Many women made garments themselves and gave it to their friends. Saying the cloths are "probably very nice creations" is mere speculation. How is Pheobe serving and helping the congregation relevant to the point? The point I made was - with the imminent return of Jesus and the great responsibility to spread the Gospel, the teachings gave no room for true believers to be engaged in other full time activities/professions. That within the present market oriented economy of the world the teachings against saving for the future and lending with expectations of repayment are not relevant. I am not assuming, I am showing you that according to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia Zenas was a Jewish lawyer previous to his becoming a Christian. I see no reason for you to assume without any substantiation that after becoming a Christian Zenas continue to practice his trade . You having a Christian brother now who is a lawyer cannot be related to Zenas case thousands of years back. I used to reason with God, but on the way I gradually become skeptical because when I reason with God I need to believe and live with many inconsistencies and weird things which my rational human reasoning could not accept. I can't help questioning the claims of fellow Christians like - the earthquake in Gujarat/Haiti is God's punishment, we won the football match with God's help, this man is rich because God blessed him and that man is poor because his forefather despise God, God takes revenge on the Hindus for persecuting Christians and elephants destroys their houses in Orissa, etc,etc,. In conservative Christian community you will always hear claims like that and if you read the Old Testament you will find many similarities.Then, I have gradually become skeptical about the creation story, original sin, Noah's flood, why God need the Jews to save mankind in spite of him being Omniscience, omnipotent and benevolent. I started enquiring and study how the Old Testament and the New Testament came about. I read about the Church history, the inquisition, indulgence, exorcism, persecution of Galileo, witch hunting, etc. all done in the name of God. So, now I simply could not reasoned with the Judeo-Christian God, sorry. With respect to the thread here I am stating my point of view, I am sorry if any of my statement hurts your feeling. Your Satan has nothing to do here, its my plain and simple human reasoning. Jesus will not come back at 12:00 PM tonight or at any time in the future. I don't know if you are trying to scare me. I hope you will not mention the"cries from hell in Siberia mine" which some evangelists around here used to instill fear of hell to their listeners.