>5:14 Afterward Jesus findeth him in the temple, and said unto him, >Behold, thou art made whole: sin no more, lest a worse thing come unto >thee. >This is the book you're getting your morality from? Jesus is accusing >the man of having sinned so that why he was handicapped?
One has to look at the overall teachings and not make wide assumptions from one passage. The teachings of Jesus (and the bible as a whole) clearly state that we are never to assume that someone's sufferings are due to sin. That does not however mean that a person's individual suffering is not due to their own faults and sin. In this case, earlier the man tells Jesus that no one would help him down to the pool to be healed. One can only guess at what about this man has made others so unwilling to help him. So it's easy to infer here that Jesus is warning him against further activities that will cause him pain in his life. >bah...the bible bounces back and forth from a loving god to one that >will abandon you if you don't worship the right way. Again, you obviously have not studied the Bible very well, as this is quite the opposite of its teachings. God never abandons us, it is we who are always the ones that break away from him. >If your son or daughter f's up bad, severs all ties to you >and acts like a general p.o.s. what are the chances you'll say "Oh >well, I tried"....probably minimal. You're going to keep trying to >get you kid back on track and find them help. And that's exactly the God described in the Bible. >on a related note....this part of the story has never made any sense >to me. If god is so great and powerful, why the heck didn't he make >us have everlasting life to begin with? Then, since he didn't, why >would he have to sacrifice his son to give it to us? Who was he >sacrificing to? There's not supposed to be anything greater than >him.... Well, I'm not sure I want to get into this serious of a theological argument. But first, God *did* give us everlasting life to begin with. We introduced sin into the picture and broke his original plan for us. To explain the sacrifice and why it was needed is something others probably are far better at doing than I am. But basically, when a wrong has been committed, someone always pays, or the relationship is never mended. Let's say someone has hurt a family member of yours. You have two choices....to either make the other person pay for it or to try and forgive them. Is there not a painful sacrifice to make in deciding to simply forgive? It is heart-wrenching, painful and difficult to do. It's important to remember that the Christian theology is not that God sacrificed his son...Jesus was God incarnate. Thus God was sacrificing himself...just as a parent might sacrifice themselves to save their children of having to go through the pain themselves. It's one of the central tenants of Christianity and certainly one that is both challenging, and awe-inspiring to understand. --- Mary Jo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:306260 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
