Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Henry" data-source="post: 161060" data-attributes="member: 158">UD: Excellent points, all.It is absolutely true that Faith is the primary requirement here. However, God realized that, without proof, there was no reason for the Gentile to believe in the first place. The First Century Mediterranean was an atmosphere rife with polytheistic belief systems. To these people, nothing made the Gospel any different from any other new religion. Jesus and the apostles offered such proof so as to back up their words - chapter and verse are rife with Miracles performed as proof of their power and authority. Without the power to back it up, the Gospel was so much as words to the other Mediterranean peoples.The miracles were good deeds in and of themselves, and were commanded by God; BUT, the disciples were berated by Jesus because they SHOULD have believed. They were Jews; they knew the teachings and the prophecies as sure as anyone should have.Case in point - though Thomas was reprimanded for this lack of faith, he was still shown what he needed to see, wasn't he? Jesus still provided what he needed to beleive that the prophecies had been fulfilled.Christians are in the same place today. They know the teachings, they know the information, and should be able to place their faith in God because of it - Hence James' words. He was writing to an audience that knew and believed, but (a) had shaky faith in living an acceptable life, and (b) paid lip service. The audience you are speaking to is just as important as the way you portray the message. Therefore, if a message needs proof, you provide it. A modern Christian's offering of proof to a non-believer is in leading a life exemplary to God. (I will refrain from the Chapter and verse here - you know 'em also.)The Story of the Exodus is a great example of this. God's primary concern was not converting Eqgyptians; they weren't chosen, he didn't concern himself at the time. His concern was channeling the plagues through Egypt to let Pharaoh know that he meant business.I won't go into detail aby more here, because I've ventured into an off-topic, but by God's own tactics, faith in God's words still doesn't absolve a Christian from examining any subject in the context of their instructions before judging it as good or bad.I'll stop here. If anyone wishes to talk about this further, there's always e-mail.</blockquote>

Verification