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~angel~
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Username: ~angel~

Post Number: 444
Registered: 3-2008


Posted on Saturday, February 07, 2009 - 7:44 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I started reading Galatians again tonight and I believe that it was God leading.
Most of what I read is what I need to pass on to The one friend that I have been talking about. I'm going to ask him to read Galatians hoping this will turn on a light!
Anyhow as I was reading I came to this verse:

Galatians 4:30-31 (New International Version)
30But what does the Scripture say? "Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman's son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman's son."[a] 31Therefore, brothers, we are not children of the slave woman, but of the free woman"

Galatians 4:24-25 (New Living Translation)

24 These two women serve as an illustration of God’s two covenants. The first woman, Hagar, represents Mount Sinai where people received the law that enslaved them. 25 And now Jerusalem is just like Mount Sinai in Arabia,[a] because she and her children live in slavery to the law.


I'm understanding that everyone who is hanging onto the law will NOT inherit Gods Kingdom. But those of us who are living by Faith in Jesus Christ, letting go of the Law, will Forever enter into Gods Kingdom because we are free in Christ by our Faith!

So Adventists are clearly hanging on to the law and NOT living in Faith! (as do many other denomination Christians)
So I'm sadened deeply for everyone who dosent understand how important it is to let go of our own doings, let go of the law that is a death sentence, and wake up and live for Jesus in Faith! It takes Faith to let it go!

Why can't they see it? Its so clearly stated in Galatians!

And trying to gain Gods favor by doing something to get something is apauling! It takes away from Gods true nature. WE are to live in Love.....

Sigh....
~Angel~
Gcfrankie
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Username: Gcfrankie

Post Number: 321
Registered: 1-2007
Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 9:08 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Angel,
The reason the adventists don't get it is because the gc/church do not like the book of Galations. Only parts of it that they can use in their twisted theology.
When I was in the church they totally ignored that book. Can you imagine if the sda congregations studied all of Galations? They would all headed for the doors and some never to return. What a sight that would be.
Gail
Bskillet
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Username: Bskillet

Post Number: 179
Registered: 8-2008
Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 12:45 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

On CARM, one SDA who was beginning to question Adventism said that in the SS class he was in, they were interpreting Gal. 3:10 as meaning we still had to keep the Law, or else we would be cursed:

quote:

"For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse, because it is written: Cursed is everyone who does not continue doing everything written in the book of the law."


He went home and read the whole chapter himself and discovered that Paul is arguing the exact opposite.

Adventists think they can mix faith and the works of the Law. They don't understand what the Law was actually about. They don't get one simple point that Paul makes in Gal. 3:12: "But the Law is not based on faith."
Surfy
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Username: Surfy

Post Number: 484
Registered: 11-2007
Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 6:22 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I just got a stern talking to yesterday about this passage from some friends who are caught up in the messianic Jewish thing. They said that the law and the old covenant still applies if you interpret Galatians from a 1st century Jewish mindset and if you use the jewish Bible (which they claim is more accurate to begin with). They even tried to give me a 30 minute video from a rabbi that explained it all.

No thanks I told them. I like to get my Bible firsthand.

Surfy
Philharris
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Username: Philharris

Post Number: 1375
Registered: 5-2007


Posted on Sunday, February 08, 2009 - 6:37 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

The New Testament was written in Greek, not Hebrew. Paul fought aganist the Jewish mindset so I would think any clear thinking Holy Spirit led Christian would never give that as support for the so called "Messianic Jewish" arguement.

Phil
Spudw
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Username: Spudw

Post Number: 65
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Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 5:06 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

dear angel,

i so agree with you about galatians. it could just as easily have been called paul's letter to the adventists. paul was an adventist, only in his day they were called pharisees. i think that is why that letter is one that i read constantly. it doesn't speak to me, it screams.

you also mentioned that trying to gain God's favor by doing something is appalling. romans 4 does such a good job in explaining this and uses abraham as a great example. adventism seems to have the terminology down pat but it doesn't understand the nuts and bolts. buzz words and talking points can't replace real policy. it reminds me so much of some of these scams that telemarketers pull. you get a free weekend in myrtle beach, but ... it isn't a gift, it isn't free if what they really want is to sell you time-share in a condo with interest on the monthly payments.
Bskillet
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Username: Bskillet

Post Number: 181
Registered: 8-2008
Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 5:52 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)


quote:

I just got a stern talking to yesterday about this passage from some friends who are caught up in the messianic Jewish thing. They said that the law and the old covenant still applies if you interpret Galatians from a 1st century Jewish mindset and if you use the jewish Bible (which they claim is more accurate to begin with). They even tried to give me a 30 minute video from a rabbi that explained it all.


The fleshly temptation to approach God on the basis of your own righteousness, your own performance, your own goodness, is a powerful one indeed.
Philharris
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Username: Philharris

Post Number: 1379
Registered: 5-2007


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 5:58 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Spudw,

Years ago my wife and I actually did the "myrtle beach" thing, only it was at Ocean Shores. When I told the salesman that I had no intention of buyng a time-share, he said come anyway and we will give you a free camera. Well, we went and enjoyed the weekend, then came the sales pitch. When I said no, he got mad at me and wanted to know why I had bothered to come. I told him well, it was a free time at the ocean and I could use the camera. We went home refreshed but never got the camera.

Phil
River
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Username: River

Post Number: 4111
Registered: 9-2006


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 6:40 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Yep, thats about it Phil.
Adventism offers you a trip and a trinket.
All they want to to do is buy their house in hell.
And they never do come through with the REST They promised.

River
River
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Username: River

Post Number: 4112
Registered: 9-2006


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 6:51 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

With a promises of rest and a trinket they send you to a beautiful beach and say "look at this, ain't that nice?

Then if you do buy the condo, you find yourself out in the desert in a cardboard shack with no water.

Thank you but no thank you, I've seen hell and it ain't no condo on a beautiful beach.

What the blazes do they think? I just fell off a turnip truck?

And one day I intend to speak about turnips,I just have to let you all get cured up from the last time I spoke on turnips.
:-) River
Philharris
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Username: Philharris

Post Number: 1381
Registered: 5-2007


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 7:57 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

It's got to stop with the radishes. If not, you get turnips. My goodness, next thing you know somebody will try and feed you parsnips. Isn't it enough that I ate eggplant last week?

Phil
Spudw
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Username: Spudw

Post Number: 66
Registered: 8-2008


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 10:06 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

turnips, radishes, parsnips, eggplant. you guys are posting on the wrong thread. this belongs on the recipe thread.

and phil, you did a bang-up job with the frog recipe ala river's "a frog lifts his leg" thread. looks like we're need a nice entree involving horse too. you can probably use the turnips.
Wearingpurple
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Username: Wearingpurple

Post Number: 5
Registered: 1-2009
Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 7:57 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

After reading angel's and spudw's comments about Galatians, I thought,"What?" and went immedisately to my beloved. And found Gal 3:7, Gal 5:6, and 6:10, all attesting to the superiority of having faith over works of the law. Thanx, folks, for injecting scriptural curiosity into my mind.
Cathy
Colleentinker
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Username: Colleentinker

Post Number: 9383
Registered: 12-2003


Posted on Monday, February 09, 2009 - 11:03 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Cathy, I haven't seen your previous posts yet, but welcome! So glad you have joined us!

Galatians really offers "the answer"--but if a person doesn't want the answer, they just won't see it.

Praise God for His light!
Colleen
Indy4now
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Username: Indy4now

Post Number: 392
Registered: 2-2008
Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 9:21 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Hey Surfy~

I received my own "Complete Jewish Bible" from a friend who's caught up in that also. In Galatians, David Stern translates "under the law" into "under the legalistic aspects of the law." (I wonder what the "un" legalistic part of the law is!) It's a horrible translation. If you read the preface in that Bible, he states that he wrote that Bible so that he would finally have a Bible that he could agree with... sigh... I think Adventists have their own Bible that they completely agree with also... ugh.

Besides, I find the title of that Bible an oxymoron... if the Jews reject the NT... how could that Bible be "complete"?

~vivian
River
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Username: River

Post Number: 4124
Registered: 9-2006


Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 9:42 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Viv,
That is an excellent idea, I think I will rewrite my entire life so I'll finally have someone I can agree with! Haaa!
I might even build a statue of myself. :-)

That fellers mother musta dropped him on his noggin a time er two.

:-) River
River
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Username: River

Post Number: 4125
Registered: 9-2006


Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 9:46 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

That beats all,that might just set me off to preachin on turnips. :-)

David Stearn must be kin to Howard Stearn.
Indy4now
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Username: Indy4now

Post Number: 393
Registered: 2-2008
Posted on Tuesday, February 10, 2009 - 7:56 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

LOL!
Freedom55
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Username: Freedom55

Post Number: 19
Registered: 3-2008
Posted on Wednesday, February 11, 2009 - 6:44 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Angel, another text that comes to mind is Galatinas 5:4

Galatians 5:4 (Amplified Bible)
4If you seek to be justified and declared righteous and to be given a right standing with God through the Law, you are brought to nothing and so separated (severed) from Christ. You have fallen away from grace (from God's gracious favor and unmerited blessing).

I often wondered about this text and its applications to Adventists. To be severed from Christ is a terrible thing. To fall away from grace is unthinkable.

I remember talking to an Adventist pastor one day about one of his churches that was an ultra conservative legalistic church. He figured it was best just to leave them be even though he himself thought they were wrong by being so legalistic. He thought that ultimately they would be saved so why rock the boat. I confronted him on this by referring to Galatians 5:4 and said I believed they were in a precarious position. He was strangely silent when I finished my little speech. In the end, he did nothing about it. Which reinforced my thought that maybe he too had a problem with the law.

I must confess that I don't know as much about this as I should. Most Adventists I know will state emphatically that they are not saved by keeping the law but keep the law because they are saved. After all, they say, Jesus said if you love me keep my commandments. So they say that for them keeping the law is simply a response of love. So with that mindset, they will read Galatians and will filter out all the clear statements and interpret it according to what they have been taught. How do you get through that kind of thinking? I wish I knew.
Wearingpurple
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Username: Wearingpurple

Post Number: 6
Registered: 1-2009
Posted on Thursday, February 12, 2009 - 9:06 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

There's a tiny SDA church in a small community in Georgia where I taught in a church school for a short time. Later I figured it wasn't short enough. Among the members of the congregation were several retired pastors, a couple of retired conference people plus a few folks who had labored at places like Yuchee Pines. Boy! As the teacher I was the subject of frequent vegetarian barbeques. Everything was the Law of Moses, more in Leviticus than Exodus, I think. Whole sermons were given using Mrs. White’s
writings as subjects, with little or no reference to Scripture.

However, this little church has served a purpose for me more recently. I remember the members putting their faith solely in obeying and earning. And I know the congregation has dwindled to less than 10 members as retired pastors, conference people and farm workers have ‘died off’. There is a breath of fresh air, spiritually speaking, that was always replaced by quotes from Mrs. White’s writings. I don’t know this for a fact but I suspect many members took only the requisite 50 steps on Sabbath. No one had an ox that I know of, so that premise could never be proven.

My huge regret now, is that I never spoke of my own beliefs; I never drew parallels of the then present to Scriptural lessons in love and faith; and, I never once used my own deep regard for Bible lessons/stories to share what I knew to be assurance for salvation.

This little amble down memory lane only serves to illustrate what has already been written in this discussion. Thank you.

In Christ,
Cathy
~angel~
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Username: ~angel~

Post Number: 458
Registered: 3-2008


Posted on Sunday, February 15, 2009 - 6:42 pm:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

Thank you for all your imput.. everyone! this was great :-)
I have a friend (Jill) I spoke with today and she was inquiring about what has been going on in my life this past year. She saw my myspace post and thought she knew how I felt! She could identify with me.
I told her everything and laid it all out for her and have invited her here to FAF.
I'm hoping she will join us soon. Please pray for her. She was raised as an Adventist and knows she dosen't agree with it but dosn't know where to go or what to do. After talking with her she seemed to feel she has a direction and apreciated it.
She said what I told her made alot more sence. I also asked her to read Galatians and told her it was a short book but thought after our conversation she would "Get it" :-)
It's just so amaizing. I see God working in my life so much now. Even with the sermons I listen to and what I read in my Bible. Its all in the right timing! :-)

Also I want to welcome Cathy and Freedom55, I haven't been on the forum as much lately because of "stuff" but I want formally said hello and welcome to FAF :-)

Love you all...
~Angel~
Animal
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Username: Animal

Post Number: 405
Registered: 7-2008


Posted on Thursday, February 19, 2009 - 8:23 am:   Edit PostDelete PostPrint Post   Move Post (Moderator/Admin Only)

I hate theology...

Give me Jesus ...plain and simple.

His shed blood assures me of salvation..a gift of God.

It really is THAT simple !!!


...Animal..keep it simple

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