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- From: Bill.Carlson@p0.f18.n104.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Bill Carlson)
- Newsgroups: alt.messianic
- Subject: Knowing Hashem
- Message-ID: <139362.2A720882@paranet.FIDONET.ORG>
- Date: 25 Jul 92 23:27:01 GMT
- Sender: ufgate@paranet.FIDONET.ORG (newsout1.26)
- Organization: FidoNet node 1:104/18.0 - Midrash, Denver CO
- Lines: 68
-
-
- -=> Quoting Rob Strom Bill Carlson <=-
- RS> From: strom@watson.ibm.com (Rob Strom)
- RS> Message-ID: <1992Jul24.175620.11491@watson.ibm.com>
- RS> Your editor mangled the article.
- Very strange how that happened. Actually though, the message
- itself came across that way. This format is way different than
- the Fido nets; but its nice that we are still able to link in.
- KH> We (believers in Yeshua) are not interested in having "positive
- KH> relations" with you, as an end in itself. What we are interested
- KH> in is having you come to know HaShem, and be saved from your sins.
- KH> Everything else is secondary, and pales in importance to your
- KH> eternal destiny. {Rob Strom then responds}:
- RS> ...the views of evangelic Christians like Kenneth and Messianics.
- But see: the way that that is written we can not as Messianic
- Believers fully agree with. Let's look and see:
- KH> ...are not interested in having "positive relations" with you, as
- KH> an end in itself.
- I'd say, why not? Even if we never agree; "positive relations"
- are better than 'negative', nu? Let's look a little closer...
- In the Brit HaChadashah we see that we are told to show love
- to all, even our enemies! And seek to sown shalom with all men,
- etc.... The First Mitzvot, says our Rabbi: Sh'ma Israel, HaShem
- our G-d HaShem He is Echad, and thou shalt love HaShem thy G-d
- with all thy heart, soul and strength. THIS is of primary
- "importance"; that the Nation of Israel {and all mankind} should
- love HaShem El*him with their whole being. Next, is the Second
- Mitzvot that our Rabbi quoted from Torah: Love thy neighbor as
- thyself. Let me illustrate the way that I'd phrase part of what
- is entailed in this commission with a modern Messianic homily:
- A couple of my friends and myself are walking down a road,
- and meet a man who says: At the end of this road, in a field to
- the right, you will find a heap of diamonds or pure quality, and
- they are being given away free, and a man is even providing the
- sacks for you to carry them off! My friends and myself decide
- to take this man at his word, though his story seems very hard
- to believe indeed, and go see this for ourselves. We come to the
- end of this road, and off to the right, in the middle of a field,
- we do indeed see a bright glimmering. So..., we run to this
- field, and are each handed bags, and the man tells us: Fill up
- your bags, and take these diamonds for your own, they are given
- to you freely, and each person who comes here may have one bag of
- diamonds to keep. As we are walking back down the road, we see
- another lone man in the distance, and one of my companions says: I
- don't think we should tell him about the field. I respond to
- my friend: If it was not for the man who told us of the field,
- you'd not even have the ability to withold this blessing from
- another! And my other friend, of us three, likewise responds to
- him: Who is more the blest, -we three who have these sacks; or the
- man who not only had his sack, but first met us on the road, and
- told us that we may obtain, what we now have, for ourselves?! For
- there is more love in giving, than simply being left holding the
- bag :-) Thus to remain silent to him; is the worse thing of all!
- KD> But, if having "positive relations" will be a means to further this
- KD> important end, then we're all for it.
- This sounds like his only reason for having a "positive relation"
- with you, is for an "end", and not also for the sake of having a
- "positive relation(s)" in and of itself. In all fairness, this is
- "perhaps" not what Kenneth meant but I can see how you'd draw that
- conclusion. I'm for having a "positive relation", vs. a 'negative'
- one with all of mankind, im yertsay HaShem, even if that is all
- that ever comes of it. Like the Mitzvot: one can keep the
- positive Mitzvot out of love; or else obey for fear of breaking
- the negative Mitzvot. - I'd submit the prior is more valuable!
- --
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