1/27/12

Cut it out, or... it hurts to think differently


Question: when does one word become two?  Answer: when it is cut out!!!  Neat trick; you just have to visualize it, that all.  Some things are like that; you just have to adjust your thinking and reason.  Even intelligent people have a hard time using their cognitive abilities sometimes, especially when their "attitudes" get in the way.  Here is one example...


WEB: Matthew Chapter 22

[23] On that day Sadducees (those who say that there is no resurrection) came to him. They asked him, [24] saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ‘If a man dies, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed for his brother.’ [25] Now there were with us seven brothers. The first married and died, and having no seed left his wife to his brother. [26] In the same way, the second also, and the third, to the seventh. [27] After them all, the woman died. [28] In the resurrection therefore, whose wife will she be of the seven? For they all had her.”

[29] But Jesus answered them, "“You are mistaken, not knowing the Scriptures, nor the power of God. [30] For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are like God’s angels in heaven. [31] But concerning the resurrection of the dead, haven’t you read that which was spoken to you by God, saying, [32] ‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.”"

[33] When the multitudes heard it, they were astonished at his teaching. [34] But the Pharisees, when they heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered themselves together. [35] One of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him. [36] “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

[37] Jesus said to him, "“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ [38] This is the first and great commandment. [39] A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ [40] The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”"

[41] Now while the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, [42] saying, "“What do you think of the Christ? Whose son is he?”"

They said to him, “Of David.”

[43] He said to them, "“How then does David in the Spirit call him Lord, saying,

[44] ‘The Lord said to my Lord,
sit on my right hand,
until I make your enemies a footstool for your feet?’


[45] “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?”"

[46] No one was able to answer him a word, neither did any man dare ask him any more questions from that day forth.

The Sadducees thought to trick Jesus by giving him a problem he could not possibly understand.  They were the religious "Ellette" in Israel and knew it, so therefore no one could ever be more correct than they were.  Or so they thought...
BUT, they were wrong and were humiliated.  Next came the Pharisees (separated ones) with another trick question.  They based their reasoning on their belief that all the Law was equal, but they too were proven wrong.  Finally, Jesus asks them a question which shows how much they didn't know about the Scriptures themselves.  They couldn't answer because to do so would have acknowledged the eternality of the Messiah and his greatness.  This would have put them in a position of submission and they knew it, therefore they stopped asking questions out of fear of total humiliation.  Since David was the father of "The Christ" and "The Christ" was greater than him... Jesus must be God.  Something they wanted desperately NOT TO BELIEVE AT ALL COSTS!!!  They could not accept the concept of Jesus being "The Messiah" and God because then they would have to listen to HIM.  Its like looking at the picture and seeing only Cut or only Out.  Its only if you put the two together, you get the message, period.

Attitudes needed in congregational work by Mark Copeland

http://executableoutlines.com/top/attitude.htm


Attitude is everything!!!   Gary