This, then, is what Jesus was telling
us in the Scriptures that you so carelessly, unless it was by design,
misrepresented in the reference that we discussed in my previous Blog
instalment (50 Erroneous Proofs of God's Non-Existence 1:71-76). Far from lying,
He was telling His disciples that as of that time, they did not yet have faith, “as little as a mustard
seed”. He was furthermore, assuring them that when they did acquire the
necessary faith, which we know was to occur when they received the Holy Spirit,
then they would become one with the Father, in Christ, and at that time
“nothing would be impossible for them”. In the chapter-long prayer to His
Father that we spoke of earlier when discussing John 17, Jesus is recorded as
saying:
“…Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they (believers) also be in us…”John 17:21 (Parenthetical statement mine for clarification.)
You will probably have noticed that I completely left out any
comment regarding the mid-section of your complaint, which seems to be the
reason for your labeling of Jesus as “a liar”. That is mainly because that
portion of your comment makes no sense at all. You refer to taking the
Scripture “less-than-literally” and then completely revise it to say something
that is very close to being the exact opposite of what Jesus actually said.
Jesus did not say, “lots of things will be impossible for you”, nor did He say
“everything will be impossible for you”, so what exactly is your point? What
Jesus did say was that given sufficient faith, “nothing will be impossible for you” and I am certain that both, He
said, and the original Greek writers
wrote, exactly what it was that He meant to say. Especially since the same
statement of our Lord’s is recorded in more than one place in the Holy Word. So
again, in regards to your comment about "taking things
less-than-literally", I can only ask, “What’s your point?”
Matthew 21:21
“I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (sic)
Once again, it must first be noted
that your reference is wrong to begin with. The words you have quoted are
comprised of Matthew 21:21-22. Your comment reads,
“If "you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer"", then if we ask to cure cancer tonight, cancer should dissappear (sic). Right? Yet nothing happens. Note again that there is not a non-literal way to interpret "you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer", unless you replace "whatever" with "nothing" or "little."”
Since you have chosen to begin your argument at Matthew 21:22,
which as pointed out earlier, is not even the verse which you claim to be
referring to, it is there that I also will begin. The first three words that
appear in this verse answer your entire question. Jesus says, with absolute
clarity, “If you believe…”. This, by the word's very
definition, immediately excludes all non-believers,
and we’ve already discussed the fact that believers, if desiring that their
prayer be heard in the first place, will be praying “according to the will of
God”. We can thus take Jesus at His word, and expect to receive “whatever we
ask for in prayer”, as long as what we ask for meets the basic requirements
for, and in fact, truly is, praying in the first place. We have also already
discussed the fact that God has nowhere in His Holy Word promised us the total
disappearance of cancer, or other forms of human suffering, overnight.
As for your “non-literal” interpretation of our Lord’s words,
you merely highlight the fact that it would be at the very least ill-advised
for anyone to approach you for a “non-literal” interpretation of anything.
Perhaps you should first consider the fact that the opposite of a “literal”
translation of the Bible (or anything else) is not often, if ever, called a
“non-literal” translation, but is more appropriately referred to as a “free”translation. Let me offer here an example in regards to the words which you
have tried to interpret “non-literally”:
“…All that ever you ask in prayer you shall have, if you believe.”Matthew 21:22 (The Moffatt Translation)
You will note that the basic attempt
here is to “clarify” the meaning,
not to change it. To continually offer words that change the basic nature of
what was actually said is simply a practice in deception. The point remains,
the Lord said what the Lord meant to say, and there is no valid reason (except
for deception) to change the thought that is contained within the
words. If I in turn, were to follow the example you have set, and told everyone
that I was going to interpret your words “non-literally” (using the technique you are constantly using), the result would be that you would appear to be arguing my side of the
argument. If you, then, desire that I take your statements at face value, why
is it that you have such difficulty in extending the Lord the same courtesy?
I could go back now to verse 21, and we could discuss the
implications of Jesus' statement about faith, but since that really isn't the
verse you were apparently referring to in the first place, and since the same
matter occurs in your next two references, I will abstain from answering you
now, and we can discuss it further when we arrive to consider John 14:12-14.
For now let us continue on in the order with which you presented your argument.
TO BE CONTINUED....
