I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life
Jesus says that his father's house has many rooms and he will go and prepare a place for you. Jesus says if they have known him, they also know the father and can get to the father through him. Philip asks for Jesus to show them the father. Jesus says he is in the father and the father is in him.
I don't really understand what this means.
Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do an will do greater works. Whatever you ask in my name I will do.
Is it just me, or does it sound like he is saying anyone who believes in Jesus will be able to do the miracles that he does? I would say that either this verse is wrong, or the miracles that Jesus is said to do are wrong, because if I am reading this right, then Christians should be able to heal the blind and so forth.
Jesus Promises the Holy Spirit
Jesus will die soon, but the holy spirit will come down and help Jesus' followers out in his place. Anyone who loves Jesus will be helped by the holy spirit.
This section was a little wordy, but I think that was pretty much the gist of it.
I Am the Way, and the Truth, and the LifeI am assuming that he means that he already made heaven and is going to go prepare people's particular spots there. That's the only way I can reconcile it with Matthew. Matthew also seems to indicate that Jesus already knows who is going to heaven and hell before anyone was ever created, this also bothers me, since God sets fourth trials for us and we supposedly have free will.
ReplyDelete“I am the way the truth and the light, no one comes to the father except through me.” Does this mean that other religions can not lead to God?” and consequently lead to hell? To my knowledge, there's only heaven and hell. In the Catholic church, they believe in Purgatory, or “the waiting room.” I am actually really hazy on my memories of the teachings of purgatory, so I will leave it at that.
”Whoever believes in me will do the works that I do an will do greater works. Whatever you ask in my name I will do.”
Yeah, according to my understanding, you are correct. That's what he said anyway. I think that means that no one has ever really believed in Jesus enough, because since then, we haven't ever seen any miracles resembling those he did.
“Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” Does this mean that only those that follow Jesus' teachings will be loved by God?
Jesus Promises the Holy SpiritI think you nailed it. I wanted to point out how he talks about peace, which seems to conflict with other things he's said.
"Does this mean that other religions can not lead to God?"
ReplyDeleteI think that is exactly what it means. Isn't this the reason that Christians are so interested in making sure everyone hears what they have to say? The thing is, if they are correct, they should be spending all of their time convincing everyone else. They shouldn't be satisfied with people worshiping the wrong religion because those people are doomed. If they are incorrect though, this is just damn good marketing.
"I think that means that no one has ever really believed in Jesus enough"
I think you might be right that this is one possible answer, but that doesn't work for long if you think about it. People die for Jesus, people kill for Jesus. To think that those people don't believe in him enough is ridiculous I think. The other option is that the verse is incorrect.
I've heard more than once "well, you should believe it because we are right." Problem is, almost every religion says that.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you on the second part, I guess I was trying to give the benefit of the doubt. >_<