Esther J♥y
04 December 2006 @ 11:15 pm
Advent Reading Day Two (Gospel)  
Luke 20:1-8

1 Now it happened on one of those days, as He taught the people in the temple and preached the gospel, that the chief priests and the scribes, together with the elders, confronted Him
2 and spoke to Him, saying, “Tell us, by what authority are You doing these things? Or who is he who gave You this authority?”
3 But He answered and said to them, “I also will ask you one thing, and answer Me:
4 The baptism of John—was it from heaven or from men?”
5 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ He will say, ‘Why then did you not believe him?’
6 But if we say, ‘From men,’ all the people will stone us, for they are persuaded that John was a prophet.”
7 So they answered that they did not know where it was from.
8 And Jesus said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”


I wonder why Jesus didn't tell them what Authority had sent Him? Had He already told them multiple times? Or were the religious leaders trying to trick him? Should the Authority that had sent Jesus been evident to the religious leaders? Possibly by the time line, Jesus had already met with Nicodemus, so surely there was an "underground" band of religious leaders who believed Christ was the Messiah.

I find it humourous that Jesus rebuked the religious leaders more often then He did sinners. The religious leaders were "worse" in the sense where they hid their sins, and acted as if they were without sin. But those whom had sin, when they came in contact with Jesus they admitted that they were not perfect. Sure they may try to hide it, but they were not going to be a hypocrite about it.

No wonder people are turned off by Christians, are we like the religious leaders?? Are we saying one thing being pias, and pointing fingers at "worse" sinners? Why are we not looking at our own lives trying to be holy, instead of trying to fix everyone else? Sure we should help them find Christ, but not condemn them.
What are your thoughts on this passage? Perhaps I should have gotten something deeper but I am exhausted.
 
 
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Esther J♥y
02 December 2006 @ 10:28 am
 
This year I have decided to do Advent Readings so my heart will be more prepared fo celebrating the true reason for Christmas.
I never celebrated "advent" until we joined my church we go to now. All we celebrated was "Christmas" and I had never heard of Advent! I do like Advent more than just celebrating Christmas because it deals with the different angles of what we know as "Christmas". (Angles isn't the right word but I can't think of the word I'm wanting to say...)

I have found this website that gives daily readings to prepare our hearts for Christmas. I think you can choose what you want to read or you can just read them all.

So I am inviting you to celebrate/read along if you wish, it starts tomorrow December 3. I hope to make a "daily advent post" (LOL)
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