Christian Universalism

It was given in the post you quoted from.

You mean discard a bad translation that we inherited from the Roman Catholic Vulgate in favor of a translation that is faithful to the Hebrew and Greek. Clinging to doctrines based on bad translation is doing it wrong.

The meaning is the same: age-wise.

We westerners want a word that has reference to time to have a set value, but an easy illustration counters that: think of the term “fill”. “Fill” doesn’t refer to an amount, it refers to whatever it take so that no more of something will go into some space or enclosure; thus “full” isn’t a specific amount – for example I say I stopped at the gas station and filled my cars tank so it is now full, “full” doesn’t tell you how much gas I put it; it could be four gallons or fourteen or some other amount; “full” just says I couldn’t put any more in.

“Aion” or “age” is like “full”; it doesn’t tell you how long, it tells you that something is complete. In the case of punishment, that could be four millennia or fourteen thousand millennia or some other amount; “agewise” just says that no more of whatever makes that age “full” can be added.

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Second Temple Judaism certainly did, though it had very little to do with the modern understanding of either one. So Jesus didn’t introduce anything, He made use of terms in their common understanding.

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He could also have a limited emotional intelligence and cognitive processing due to mental disorder.

Why? Who are you to tell?

Jesus didn’t think so. Plus you realize some people have dealt not so good looking cards in this life right?

I have been to the other end. Extreme ani theist hating God everyday for the cards I was dealt. For my life. I prayed everyday to change it. Nothing happened. I then got angry and the cycle began again.

And all of this brought me back to whom? To Him. To Christ.

Now my prayers look like “let this cup pass from me ,but not my will YOUR WILL BE DONE”,

After a whole 2 years of me hating God I realized my dear Richard that in the end all I have is God . All I have is hope. Hope that no matter what cards this life throws me ,the next one will be better.

Sorry if this was too personal. This life is indeed a test and a passage to a higher state of living. That of heaven.

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Back atcha… Why must there be more?

That is nt the point. The point is that Eternal life has become the only thing that matters, Christ’s teaching was based on this life and how to live it.

And that is when human justice takes over. We need to believe that the sufferings on earth have some sort of compensation.

Your turn around from anti-God to eternal hope is not as dramatic as ou might try and claim… Clearly you still think this life is unfair and cruel but you have given God the benefit of the doubt that there will be compensation when you die,

It is just a shame that you cannot find the goodness in the life on earth you were given/

Richard

Cause God said so… if you believe in him

Ummmm what??

In this life you will have trouble,but take heart I have overcome the world

Those who endure till the end will be saved

Blessed are the meek who will enter the kingdom of heaven

The LAST shall become FIRST.

Christ’s teachings was for this life so we can enter the next one. This life and this world is full of misery and paranoia. You are arguing from a subjective standpoint there. If you want to believe in God without asking for a reward so he it.

Il take my crown of heaven anytime. Because I remained faithfull to his teachings and endured .

What better way for a father to show his love by rewarding his children? And what better gift than to reward them with love . The ultimate love.

No more tears or sorrow. Peace and love.

Something that even the richest ,happier people don’t have. You can be full of riches in this life(I’m not talking about tangible goods)and yet you will still lack that peace and love

Sorry man. I’m a realist. I have taken enough ■■■■ from this life to know that humankind cannot change. We are rotten to the core. Sorry.

Jesus taught me this. He promised. I believe him

Ohhh I can. I like nature my hobbies ,reading about theology and science. I love my family as much as I can etc etc.
It just that the bad outweigh the good in this world unfortunately. Always has always will be.

But theres hope . And I have found it in God. After much reasoning and battling with myself. Nothing else makes sense to me rather than this.

Niesche although an atheist said that to live this life you have to find a goal. An ultimate goal . An inspiration.

I have found it in Jesus. There may come a time where I won’t be able to handle lifes obstacles maybe. But until then I’ll continue to trust in God. Because if everyone leaves you who you got left?

All this could be fake. There could be no God and life could be just simple a chaos created from nothing. Who knows. I however want to have hope that keeps me going and is this

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Don’t let me or anyone else shake that hope.

Richard

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Yes and no – we enter the next one here in this one. “The Kingdom of God is in the midst of you” isn’t only a reference to Jesus Himself.

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I’ll disagree. You are taking the verse out of context

What about the whole context:

Once, on being asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, “The coming of the kingdom of God is not something that can be observed, nor will people say, ‘Here it is,’ or ‘There it is,’ because the kingdom of God is in your midst.”
Luke 17:20-21

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Actually I’m putting into context: the context of the battle for this world that started even before Abraham. The Kingdom isn’t something off in some other dimension, it’s something that we join right here on Earth.

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No. Christ’s statement that “the kingdom of God is within you” is a poor translation from the original Greek and can be translated “the kingdom of God is among you.” Closer inspection reveals He was actually referring to Himself as a representative of that Kingdom.

The simple answer is that Jesus was saying that He, the King of the coming Kingdom of God, was standing in the midst of His detractors.

Is there a Greek word for ‘among’?

entos

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Thanks. What I was wondering if there was a word for ‘among’ that was distinct from “within, inside, the inside”.

I like the somewhat different perspective the YLT puts on it:

…the reign of God is within you.’ Luke 17:21

Speaking for myself, would that it were more. (Well, not only for myself. ; - )

There’s μεταξύ (meh-ta-XU), though I think in Koine it tends to be used for “between”. Then there’s ἔσω, usually “within” as inside a building or courtyard; if “among” I think the people would have to be in orderly lines such as a hollow military infantry square. Another is μέσος, which tends to come with ἐν, “in [the] midst”.

My gut thought here is that the choice of ἐντός is deliberate. The others noted above are more precise whereas ἐντός can be “within” or “among”, leaving room for interpretation or, as Paul does on occasion, meaning both at once.

Though I really go with one of the Fathers, taking it as “among” and referring first of all to Christ Himself: at that point He was the Kingdom of God on Earth; it fits in remnant theology where God’s people keep getting trimmed from all Israel to a portion, in this case Israel had been trimmed to the only true Israel, the individual Jesus. But second it indicates that for believers the Kingdom of God is within, Christ “in you” as Paul says plus “you in Christ” as he also writes. And third, the Kingdom of God is among gathered believers who are together Christ to the world.

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I like the ‘reign in you’ take, the ‘you’ being singular and/or plural and speaking to obedience.

When plumbers get together for fun? :grin:

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