“And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.”
~ Luke 7:30
Hi James and Ellen,
Why would a guy, gal or kid want to be a Muslim or a Buddhist or a Hindu or . . . why would a guy, gal or kid want to join a sect like the Mormons or the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Branch Davidians or . . . why would a guy, gal or kid want to be involved in spiritism or in devil worship or in animal sacrifices or . . . belief paradigms or standards are everywhere on planet Earth. Your grandpaa believes that every guy, gal or kid has an innate desire to claim a belief or to make up a belief in order to satisfy his or her inner cravings for an answer to his or her existence. A guy, gal or kid who is born to a ma and dad who are Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus and in countries where the majority of the guys, gals and kids who are living in the country are Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus will very likely hold to the traditional and cultural belief paradigms of his or her ma and dad. A Muslim is a guy or gal who adheres to an Islamic belief. Islam is a monotheistic or one god religion that is underpinned in Abrahamic tradition. Muslim guys and gals view the Quran as their foundational religious Islamic text – which they believe to be the verbatim or exact words that Abraham’s God revealed to a guy by the name of Muhammad. Your grandpaa thinks that there is a possibility that the original or core Islamic beliefs originated from a guy whose name was Nahor – who was a bro or an uncle of Abraham, and that Muhammad took the beliefs propagated by Nahor and torqued those beliefs to satisfy his radical thinking that includes an intense hatred of Abraham’s extended family – who are God’s specially chosen guy and gals. A Buddhist is a guy or gal who lives by an Indian – an Indian being a guy, gal or kid who lives in the country of India and in surrounding countries, belief that is philosophically based on the traditional teachings of an ascetic. The ascetic – who was given the name Buddha, did his own thing on his own time, as he meandered about teaching what he believed offered hope – or nirvana. A Hindu is a guy or gal who has accepted an Indian belief that has good being its core driver. A sect – such as the Mormon, Jehovah’s Witness and Branch Davidian, originated from a single guy who believes that God chose him to speak for Him in a new way – guys such as Joseph Smith who began accruing a following of guys and gals who began calling themselves Mormons and Bringham Young who put Mormon beliefs on the map, Charles Russell who used a student movement to push a belief that Jesus was just a regular guy resulting in guys and gals who believed what he believed calling themselves Jehovah’s Witnesses and Benjamin Roden who usurped the beliefs of Seventh-Day Adventist guys and gals and formed a group called the Branch Davidians. The guy who is best identified with the Branch Davidians is David Koresh. David Koresh took on himself a god-like role over a group of Branch Davidian guys and gals on a property near Waco, Texas. The United States government was not okay with what David Koresh was doing and took him out. More and more guys, gals and kids seem to be acquiescing to the bidding of the evil one – who is Satan, making the evil one their god who in turn leads the guys, gals and kids down slippery slopes of self-adulation, debauchery and deep dark holes.
Why would a guy, gal or kid what to be a Christ-follower? A guy, gal or kid who is a Christ-follower believes unconditionally through faith what an incarnate man did for him or her when He allowed Himself – as God the Son, to be hung on and nailed to a cross where the blood that He shed while He was suspended on the cross became the ransom payment for his or her sins and where His death while He was suspended on the cross defeated death once and for all for him or her – resulting in the Christ-follower guy, gal and kid receiving the gift of eternal life.
Luke in his Luke Book gives every guy, gal and kid reason to be a Christ-follower. This incarnate man – who was known by the name of Jesus while He was on planet Earth, is in reality God – as God the Son. Luke scribed in what is now Luke 7 an eyewitness account of Jesus – while He was in the town of Capernaum, healing a servant of a centurion – a centurion being a soldier who led other soldiers and then – while He was in the town of Nain, bringing back to life a young guy – whose ma was a widow, who had died. While Jesus was becoming more and more known by the guys and gals who lived in the towns around the Sea of Galilee through what He was doing – such as healing the sick, lame and leprous, giving life back to a guy who died, ridding guys and gals of evil spirits, giving hearing to the deaf and sight to the blind and teaching the Gospel to the poor, another guy had already become well-known for his teachings and lifestyle. The guy’s name was John. This John was known by guys and gals as John the Baptist. Jesus knew what John the Baptist was doing and why he was doing it. John the Baptist was about six months older than Jesus. John the Baptist’s mother and Jesus’ mother were related – making John and Jesus cousins. Jesus told the guys and gals who were following Him that John the Baptist’s teaching was about Him. After Jesus was invited by a Pharisee – a Pharisee being a guy who taught the Mosaic Law as a legally binding writ, to come to his house to eat with him, a gal arrived with an alabaster box of ointment. Because the Pharisee – whose name was Simon, was not pleased that the gal showed up and especially when she started washing – using her tears, Jesus’ feet with her hair, then kissing Jesus’ feet and then anointing Jesus’ feet with the ointment, it gave Jesus the opportunity to explain in detail to Simon what it means to have His sins forgiven. Jesus in verse 50 tells the gal “And he said to the woman, Thy faith hath saved thee, go in peace.” Has your faith saved you? Your grandmaa and grandpaa are very thankful that the faith seed that God – as God the Father, embedded in them before He created planet Earth has saved them.
Luke 7 (815)