by truthseeker 17 Replies latest jw friends
I was thinking today how easy it was for Jesus to recruit his disciples and how long he had to wait for them. They just left their livelihood and their family to follow him.
...and his sheep follow him because they know his voice...I am the good shepherd; I know my sheep and my sheep know me...just as the Father knows me and I know the Father—and I lay down my life for the sheep....They too will listen to my voice, and there shall be one flock and one shepherd....
John 10
Burn
Or is it that religion attracts freaks and losers who'd rather not work and use any excuse to free their conscience for not supporting their family?
Sure, that is why Peter went back to the fishing business when Jesus died. Or what about about when Paul wrote: If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. Some of us are called to a ministry of our own families. Some of us our called to other things. Blind prejudice. Burn
I might point out that they did go back to their jobs and Jesus approached them again. Interestingly, it was the women who followed them that provided the food and living materials.
fiction...
The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:14
I wonder if it was because the peasants back then were bicameral, and would readily follow anyone in those days who seemed to have authority. And Jesus knew how to reach out to those people, and get them to think for themselves. That would have got them to drop whatever they were doing, since once they start learning to think consciously, it would be a joy that would last for a lifetime.
Today, most people take conscious thinking for granted. They are being asked to follow the Filthful and Disgraceful Slavebugger back into bicameral thinking. This is stagnating, and a big step backward. Maybe that's why Jesus had such good results and the witlesses are having pxxx poor ones.
The people who Jesus called - peasants though they were - had a good grasp of the Scriptures. Read the Magnificat of Mary and note how many times she referred to Holy Writ.
They were in expectation of the Messiah's appearing around that time. From The Message Bible:
Luke 3:15 The interest of the people by now was building. They were all beginning to wonder, "Could this John be the Messiah?"
Why were they so expectant? Could they have worked it out from Daniel's prophecy of the 70 weeks?
Sylvia
snowbird,
I agree with you. And the people back then were much more religiously inclined than they are today. They KNEW all the Holy writings and probably read from them daily. By the time Christ came along, they were already expecting someone (Messiah) to come onto the scene.
It makes me wonder, if Jesus returned today, would Christians recognize him? Or like the Bible Q goes "will there be faith found on the earth?" Lilly
Maddie,
I'm going on the assumption that his followers at the time did not know he was the Son of God.
Truthseeker
