Christ First Forum

My heart rejoices to see more and more getting involved in this discussion. Christians all over the world sadly have taken an alter veiw of the Bible and our roles as Christians in the world. Jesus told His disciples, post resurrection, Peace be with you, my peace I give to you. Many have taken this to mean we should be passive. That we are not to get invovled in shaping the world ourside the walls of the building we call a church. Jesus Gave us, His followers, the Great commission which infatically states the we are to GO FORTH and make disciples.

Literally what this means is we are to get out of the church building and in essence place ourselves in harms way to give each and every person the chance to receive salvation through Christ. We are to do so with the peace imparted by Christ, to us, that we be not afraid of he that can destroy the body but can not touch our spirit which belongs to Christ. We as Christian are not to be passive. We have the single most dangerous job on the planet. We are to tell the truth to those that deny it, often with violent results.

Christ says in Matt 10:22 All men will hate you because of me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved. Because of our faith in Christ and because of our willingness to live as He directs us we WILL be hated. This is literal. But note Christ also gives us a promise at the same time. We that stand firm, that chose to accept the hatred of the world of us to do the work left for us to do by Christ, WILL be saved. There is nothing metaphorical in that at all. All you have to do is watch the news to confirm the hatred of the world for us. Likewise all you have to do is watch a believer commune with God to know of the truth of the promise of salvation.

That's literal truth.

We were never told to believe the Word in its "Metaphorical" form, WHATEVER THAT IS....... just to BELIEVE. When Jesus returns, will He find FAITH in His Bride, or just a bunch of
confused intellectuals? I believe when metaphors replace plain English, we're in trouble, and headed for uncertainty, fables, human unserstanding.... and cults.

Jesus said, "Will I find faith?"

Quite simply, I believe the Bible should be interpreted from a literal standpoint because in the OT, there were over 100 prophecies of Christ's First Coming, and ALL were fulfilled, literally.

Insofar as symbolic interpretation, figures of speech, etc., much has been written on all that. Dwight Pentecost, in his Book, "Things to Come", copyright 1958, the first 64 pages of same are devoted to correctly interpreting scripture from a literal standpoint, where an in-depth view is taken on this all important issue. I stand by his, and others, findings.

Quite simply, I believe the Bible should be interpreted from a literal standpoint because in the OT, there were over 100 prophecies of Christ's First Coming, and ALL were fulfilled, literally.

Insofar as symbolic interpretation, figures of speech, etc., much has been written on all that. Dwight Pentecost, in his Book, "Things to Come", copyright 1958, the first 64 pages of same are devoted to correctly interpreting scripture from a literal standpoint, where an in-depth view is taken on this all important issue. I stand by his, and others, findings.