At that time the festival of the Dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was walking in the temple, in the portico of Solomon. So the Jews gathered around him and said to him, "How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly."
Jesus answered, "I have told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me; but you do not believe, because you do not belong to my sheep. My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. What my Father has given me is greater than all else, and no one can snatch it out of the Father's hand. The Father and I are one."
The Jews took up stones again to stone him. Jesus replied, "I have shown you many good works from the Father. For which of these are you going to stone me?"
The Jews answered, "It is not for a good work that we are going to stone you, but for blasphemy, because you, though only a human being, are making yourself God."
Jesus answered, "Is it not written in your law, 'I said, you are gods'? If those to whom the word of God came were called 'gods'-- and the scripture cannot be annulled -- can you say that the one whom the Father has sanctified and sent into the world is blaspheming because I said, 'I am God's Son'? If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me. But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, so that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father."
Then they tried to arrest him again, but he escaped from their hands. He went away again across the Jordan to the place where John had been baptizing earlier, and he remained there. Many came to him, and they were saying, "John performed no sign, but everything that John said about this man was true." And many believed in him there.
5 comments:
Psalm 82 A Psalm of Asaph.
God has taken his place in the divine council; in the midst of the gods he holds judgment:
"How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked?
Selah
Give justice to the weak and the orphan; maintain the right of the lowly and the destitute. Rescue the weak and the needy; deliver them from the hand of the wicked."
They have neither knowledge nor understanding, they walk around in darkness; all the foundations of the earth are shaken. I say, "You are gods, children of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like mortals, and fall like any prince."
Rise up, O God, judge the earth; for all the nations belong to you!
I have thoroughly enjoyed reading through the entries on this blog. They have blessed my heart today.
I admit my ignorance of Quakerism (the only Quaker that I am somewhat familiar with is Thomas Kelly). Would someone be willing to point me to a website or book that would help me better understand what makes one Quaker? I would appreciate any guidance! Thank you!
Trevor
What makes a Quaker? Now there's a conversational thread that could take some serious responding to!
Any attempt to define Quakerism is likely to exclude some folks. But then I've met a Roman Catholic who took offense at the suggestion that you needed to believe in the doctrine of Incarnation to be a Catholic.
There are flavours of Quakerdom. The easiest way of labelling those flavours -- and some of us have serious hangups with labels -- might be -- liberal-open worship; consevative-open worship; pastoral; and evangelical-pastoral.
I belong to a liberal open-worship tradition that thinks it blended. But none of this was helpful was it.
Suggestion: check out these links:
QuakerInfo.com
Quaker.org
Better yet -- attend a Quaker meeting in your home town.
Trev, I'm not a Quaker, but maybe that makes it easier for me to give you a very limited answer. Quakerism has been called 'primitive Christianity,' that is, stripped of the ritual and the hierarchy. They believe in an experiential relationship with God through the Spirit which speaks to them during their silent, waiting worship. There are many kinds of Quakers, some are trinitarian, some unitarian and probably others as well.
I'm interested in homeschooling, most particularly, unschooling. I think of the Quakers as 'unchurchers.'
Terribly oversimplified but maybe a non-Quaker can get to the heart of the matter since I'm not bogged down in all the details. I do however hope that I am a pre-Quaker (waiting on the Spirit on that one)
Marjories comment is an excellent description for someone like Trevor.
However Quakers are extremely variegated. Some are very 'evangelical', bible and pulpit oriented. The ones most of us in this group perhaps belong to are called unprogrammed Quakers, which means (to me) no preachers and likely a wide spectrum of theology. There are atheist Quakers, Buddhist Quakers and everything in between.
One belief, widely shared is "that of God in everyone".
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