What is it that you are looking for?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by David Velasquez on March 15, 2010 at 8:34pm

This is a true statement for the body of Christ who has been baptized by the Holy Spirit into the body of our Lord. This is true of all born again folks, but not the lost. It is true in us only because God lives in us and not because there is something good in us apart from God.

Blessings shorty and great topics!

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stacey Osana Arquines on March 16, 2010 at 6:05am

I have faith in the lost that they may be found but all in God's timing of course :) I hope that all may do the same good works in Jesus Christ name to Glorify our Father in Heaven and on Earth :)

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Gary on March 15, 2010 at 10:02pm

The etymology of the word "hypocrisy" is quite related to what you say.

hypocrisy from Dictionary.com

early 13c., from O.Fr. ypocrisie, from L.L. hypocrisis, from Gk. hypokrisis "acting on the stage, pretense," from hypokrinesthai "play a part, pretend," also "answer," from hypo- "under" (see sub-) + middle voice of krinein "to sift, decide" (see crisis). The sense evolution is from "separate gradually" to "answer" to "answer a fellow actor on stage" to "play a part."

Personally, I love how Eugene Peterson translates this specific word in The Message.

Here's an example where he refers to playing a part/faking it in the context of the famous plank-in-your-eye passage:

Mat 7:1-5 Don't pick on people, jump on their failures, criticize their faults— unless, of course, you want the same treatment. That critical spirit has a way of boomeranging. It's easy to see a smudge on your neighbor's face and be oblivious to the ugly sneer on your own. Do you have the nerve to say, 'Let me wash your face for you,' when your own face is distorted by contempt? It's this whole traveling road-show mentality all over again, playing a holier-than-thou part instead of just living your part. Wipe that ugly sneer off your own face, and you might be fit to offer a washcloth to your neighbor.

I also like this one:

Luk 12:1-3 By this time the crowd, unwieldy and stepping on each other's toes, numbered into the thousands. But Jesus' primary concern was his disciples. He said to them, "Watch yourselves carefully so you don't get contaminated with Pharisee yeast, Pharisee phoniness. You can't keep your true self hidden forever; before long you'll be exposed. You can't hide behind a religious mask forever; sooner or later the mask will slip and your true face will be known. You can't whisper one thing in private and preach the opposite in public; the day's coming when those whispers will be repeated all over town.

In the above passage from the Gospel of Luke, Peterson specifically uses the wording of "mask" similar to yours.

Here's how Peterson translate the famous the-Kingdom-of-God is within passage:

Luk 17:20-21Jesus, grilled by the Pharisees on when the kingdom of God would come, answered, "The kingdom of God doesn't come by counting the days on the calendar. Nor when someone says, 'Look here!' or, 'There it is!' And why? Because God's kingdom is already among you."

22-24He went on to say to his disciples, "The days are coming when you are going to be desperately homesick for just a glimpse of one of the days of the Son of Man, and you won't see a thing. And they'll say to you, 'Look over there!' or, 'Look here!' Don't fall for any of that nonsense. The arrival of the Son of Man is not something you go out to see. He simply comes.

Even outside of The Message, I personally find Peterson a moving author. He has a strong thread of a mystic within him. I suspect he gets what it means personally for the Kingdom to be within and how what's within and on the outside is consistent when there is no mask. No mask hiding either self from self, or self from others.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stacey Osana Arquines on March 16, 2010 at 5:54am

Greetings Gary in Christ Jesus name do not be disheartened by what i have said :) <3

Hebrews 10: 19-36
Recalling the past
Therefore, brothers, since through the blood of Jesus we have confidence of entrance into the sanctuary by the new and living way he opened for us through the veil, that is, his flesh, and since we have "a great priest over the house of God," let us approach with a sincere heart and in absolute trust, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold unwaveringly to our confession that gives us hope, for he who made the promise is trustworthy. We must consider how to rouse one another to love and good works.
We should not stay away from our assembly, as is the custom of some, but encourage one another, and this all the more as you see the day drawing near.
If we sin deliberately after receiving knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains sacrifice for sins but fearful prospect of judgment and a flaming fire that is going to consume adversaries.
*Anyone who rejects the law of Moses is put to death without pity on the testimony of two or three witnesses
Do you not think that a much worse punishment is due the one who has contempt for the Son of God, considers unclean the covenant blood by which he was consecrated, and insults the spirit grace?
We know the one who said:
Vengeance is mine; I will repay,"
and again:
"The Lord will judge his people."
It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Remember the days past when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a great contest of suffering.
At times you were publicly exposed to abuse and affliction; at other times you associated yourselves with those so treated.
You even joined in the sufferings of those in prison and joyfully accepted the confiscation of your property, knowing that you had a better and lasting possession.
Therefore, do not throw away your confidence; it will have great recompense. You need endurance to do the will of God and receive what he has promised

"For, after just a brief moment,
he who is to come shall come;
he shall not delay.
But my just one shall live by faith
and if he draws back I take no pleasure in him."

We are not among those who draw back and perish, but among those who have faith and will possess life.

• ▶ Reply

Permalink Reply by Stacey Osana Arquines on May 11, 2010 at 4:33pm

amen

• ▶ Reply