Comments on: When Friendship and Fellowship Collide

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 19:30:24 +0000

Jesus didn’t say the world will know you are my disciples by your friendship for each other, but rather by your love (agape). Think family, not friends. You don’t get to choose your family, and yes some family members can be quite bizarre, but there should be a bond of love there. Your “heathen” friends will definitely notice when you perform an act of love for some “bizarre” family member of your fellowship; that you would do this is the best evangelization you can do. As Christ taught, even in the world friends will do good for friends; our fellowship is meaningful when we do good to not-friends, simply because of the bond of fellowship.

That said, if you have no growing personal bonds within your community of faith, including friendship, then there’s likely a problem on one side or the other…

By: D.W. Sabin

D.W. Sabin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 17:13:00 +0000

Shiffman,
It depends on what the definition of “were” is.

Old Pagans never die, they just conjure.

By: Mark Shiffman

Mark Shiffman — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 14:38:57 +0000

D.W., I thought you WERE a pagan.

By: D.W. Sabin

D.W. Sabin — Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:21:47 +0000

Some of my best friends are pagan.

By: eutychus

eutychus — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:34:27 +0000

where’s the edit post option?? danged typos.

By: eutychus

eutychus — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 20:32:44 +0000

I don’t buy your theory. It’s nice and all, but I think it is more likely than your soul is aligned with these “heathens”. (And your theory of friendship/fellowship contradicts your quote from Aristotle.)

But fear not. Your inability to find soul connections with your believing fellows probably has more to do with the fact that these believing fellows are probably among the legions of Christians who have lost track of their hearts and souls and just might find themselves, and the end of all things, on the outside looking in. I suspect Jesus will say “away from me, I never knew you” to many of us who think we have a punched ticket to throne room.

And I wonder whether Jesus will welcome many who may not profess on earth to be Christians, but when they come face to face with Jesus will recognize him, bow down and confess his Lordship. I often find more evidence of the spirit of Jesus among my non-Christian friends.

By: Mark

Mark — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 15:26:23 +0000

Leaving the hallowed walls of seminary to join the ranks of a public university, there have been times of lonliness and alienation. Yet to my surprise, new friendships have and are developing. This refreshing post rises to the surface delightful memories of past friendships with the same mutual fellow around his pool, drinking a black and tan, puffing. Thank you.

By: Robin Datta

Robin Datta — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 14:59:11 +0000

If one goes by the Bible instead of the New Testament, the conflict does not arise. The First Commandment forbids the acknowledgment of other deities but does not command the acknowledgment of even one deity. The Second Commandment forbids not the making of a “graven image” – the common Christian translation – but of “an incomplete” (the word “fesel”). The recognition that finite cognition is necessarily incomplete in this regard is reflected in the lack of a proper noun for the Deity in Judaism.

This is expressed in the Sefer Yetzirah Cmapter I verse 7 – “The One without a second”: it does not offer the option of distinguishing oneself (or anything else) from the “One”. This is non-dualistic Hinduism (and all of Buddhism) clad in a different gown.

By: Of Friendship, Fellowship, Study and Prayer « The Confessional Outhouse

Of Friendship, Fellowship, Study and Prayer « The Confessional Outhouse — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 16:23:27 +0000

[...] strikes me that the kind of piety expressed in these two blog posts (here and here) not only capture well what I think is generally the best of Reformed outlooks in two [...]