Monday, July 24, 2023

Ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 17)

John chapter 17 has Jesus closing his speech with a prayer. There is a lot of stuff marked as absurd in this chapter that, as is so often the case, I don't understand. I answered how many gods there are in John chapter ten. Verse 12 has Jesus say that Judas is a fulfillment of scripture, and the Christian consensus seems to be that he's referring to Psalm 41:9-10
Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me. But thou, O LORD, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite them.
In verse 21, Jesus prays that all that believe in him should be one, which the SAB makes fun of, and there certainly is basis for it, but I think it may be a bit overblown. Yes, there are probably thousands of Christian denominations in the world today, but that doesn't necessarily mean such radical division as some might think. A lot of denominations are different like flavors of ice cream; just because I'm a Baptist and that guy over there is a Lutheran doesn't mean we don't basically agree on most things; denominations are largely about what sort of worship style you like, and how you feel about church hierarchies, rather than being about essential doctrines of the faith. I mean, sometimes I'm struck by how much I have in common theologically with a Muslim, much less someone simply of a different denomination. I have brothers in Christ who are Orthodox, Catholic, Presbyterian, Anglican, Methodist, Lutheran, etc. and I don't see them as essentially different from me. Yes, there are conflicts between Christians and even conflicts between churches, but in the end, most of us recognize that Christians are Christians, and if we're called to show God's love for the world, that certainly includes other Christians.

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