My brothers and sisters, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and is brought back by another, you should know that whoever brings back a sinner from wandering will save the sinner's soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.(NRSV)
My brothers, if one of you strays away from the truth, and another brings him back to it, he may be sure that anyone who can bring back a sinner from his erring ways will be saving his soul from death and covering over many a sin. (New Jerusalem)
Brethren, if any of you do err from the truth, and one convert him; Let him know, that he which converteth the sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins. (King James version of St James)
My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins. (NIV)
December 17, 2004
And Finally (James 5:19-20)
And a-way we go . . .
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6 comments:
This would be the "score brownie points with the Big Guy by finding the Shepherd''s lost lambs for him" model of salvation.
Put another notch on the old Bible Mike, we won another for the Lord.
Not quite where I'm at I'm afraid.
Taken literally it's not where I'm at either, David: the "soul of evangelism", which Quakers don't do! But it's good poetry.
I have mixed feelings about this.
On the one hand, I was "converted" myself although the conversion was a result of another's example than his eforts to convert me.
But mostly I dislike tis idea ... missionaries as God's bounty hunters :-). History is filled with the misery caused to "original" peoples of foreign lands by missionaries (Jesuits included). I'm sure most of them had good intentions but the results were questionable.
Conversion by example, I think Crystal is on to something here. Leading can be done in many ways and Jesus so often worked in unexpected ways -- our king, dying like a criminal? All I can say for covering the sins is that perhaps the sinner who turns is having his sins covered by receiving Christ.
As you all know, I'm not inclined to focus on sin. However, something about this passage led me to consider the ways I/we can encourage others who seem to have lost their connection to God, lost their faith in anything. I think that is the one thing we can freely give without judgment, and that is encouragement to journey on the spiritual path - whatever shape that may take for another. By acting in love, and meeting the person wherever he or she is, remind them of the peace to be found by seeking that which is actually very close to their own heart. To me, this is faith in action. This is compassion. This is speaking my own truth with love and sincerity. This love given to another this way is one of the many ways heaven is to be found right here. This experience of God is more than just an intellectual exercise, it is something I/we actually live and breathe and experience moment to moment.
Hello Meredith:
I posted before I read your comment. I had my second thoughts too. I coulda just said, that Friend speaks my mind.
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