[Thankful Jane]

Originally Posted by Ohio

TJ, some of your comments are too obvious to respond to. I do not necessarily need to quote a verse to speak the word of God, in fact, all too often verses quoted neither support nor refute the point proffered. If I say that we should not categorically condemn all God's people as idolaters, how many scripture do I need?

Ohio,
I never said all God’s people should be condemned as idolaters. Your misquoting is getting old. Sorry you find some of my comments "too obvious" to be worthy of a response. I try to respond to your comments out of respect without labeling them as unworthy in some way, but I’ll be happy to stop responding to them. Please be so kind as to stop responding to mine if you don’t want to have actual dialogue.

Originally Posted by Ohio

Btw, post #750 is just too long for me to comment on.

Sorry. I forgot how much you don’t like my long posts and that you have frequently complained about that, or I would not have pointed to this post. It has real content in it to which I was hoping someone would reply. Silly me for thinking you might. Sorry I couldn’t condense it into a few long catchy phrases. I prefer not to insult people’s intelligence and like to provide solid food for thought. I don’t know what makes me think that on a discussion forum people might not mind reading a page of material.

The Bible is kind of long too. It takes effort and time to get into that also. I guess pre-digested and leavened are a better way to go for some people.

Originally Posted by Ohio

And, also btw, "fair and balanced" can be well described by the word "forbearance." It is an excellent virtue of Christians. That's why it should be made known to others. In this godly virtue, the Lord is near. Some of the extreme views I have read here I would not want anyone to hear or know.

Forbearance doesn’t mean that in any dictionary I find. Words have meanings. Neither does my Bible list fair and balanced as a godly virtue. The Lord is not near unto those that are fair and balanced but unto those who have clean hands and a pure heart.

Originally Posted by Ohio

TJ, we can talk about this forever and get no where.

Right. It takes two willing people to have a real conversation before a conversation can go somewhere.

Originally Posted by Ohio

The matter is simple. The N.T. does not support the extreme views on idolatry in all the LC's that are promoted by some on this thread.

It is not an “extreme view” to say idolatry is being practiced by members of a very small group of believers (a very small percentage of the whole body of Christ) who got fixated on one man’s teaching and practices to such a degree that they could speak poorly of all other ministries and even exclude their real brothers from fellowship and never feel one pang of conscience when they did so. I agree with BlessD that this is far from the norm in most Christian circles. You did not escape this sin when you were in the LC any more than I did.

Originally Posted by Ohio

I personally feel, as I posted, that if the matter was that urgent for Israel, then the Lord would have addressed it while on earth, but he did not. Considering the breadth of topics covered in the gospels, this is legitimate.

You can restrict your beliefs to the red letters if you want. I think I’ll keep my whole Bible. I know it’s long, but God must have thought we could handle that.

Originally Posted by Ohio

You are entitled to your views also. Peace.

Likewise.

TJ