Personman - Latest Comments on Harmony of the gospels http://personman.com/?disp=comments en-US http://backend.userland.com/rss 60 Carlo [Visitor] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Tue, 25 Mar 2025 15:02:21 +0000 Carlo [Visitor] c87248@http://personman.com/ <p>I realize this is an old post and the last responses to it are from almost twenty years ago, but I felt drawn to respond to it anyway. </p> <p>I love movies. It’s a passion I’ve had ever since I was a child growing up in the Bronx. My mom and I used to watch the “Million Dollar Movie” series on WORTV (channel 9) together all the time. The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) is a story told very much like a movie script. Everything in it was truly said and done, and God inspired all of it to be written exactly as is—perhaps even the extra verses that were added later on by scribes. But many of the things that were said and done were from man’s perspective and not necessarily true or correct, including the added Bible verses.</p> <p>Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to get to know our God through the reading of His Logos (the Bible) AND the revealing nature of God’s Rhema - the present, real-time speaking of God into our lives. While the Word of God is enough to save us—and it does—in order to truly get to know our God and, more importantly, His heart, and more importantly, His heart towards us, we need both the Logos and the Rhema of God. With our eyes and ears, we can read or hear the logos. But it is only by the enlightenment of His Holy Spirit through our relationship with God, which His Son Jesus, through His sacrifice, death, and resurrection, enabled us to do, can we truly get to know His heart. Once we know our Father and His heart, we know the author of the Bible as well. Once we know the author, we can discern, through the power of His Holy Spirit, the truth within the pages we read. The Spirit will even quicken us to the truths or lies of the added verses, as well as the incorrect statements and conclusions of the flawed individual writers of God’s Bible.</p> <p>Does this sound too much like a mystery? Do you wonder why a perfect God would allow His Bible to be filled with holes, apparent contradictions, and questionable statements by His chosen writers and scribes? That’s good. I’ve battled with that as well. The reason is that God doesn’t just want us to gather all our information from a book as if we were reading a biography or autobiography of some dead historical figure. Our God is alive, and He wants to be in relationship with us. He created us for just that purpose. He gave us His Word (the Bible) to point us towards Him and inspire us to get to know Him personally and hear from Him in real time. This way He can guide us through our lives, revealing who He created us to be, so that we can live the abundant, purposeful lives He intended for us.</p> <p><a href="https://www.godunplugged.com/2024/02/14/who-not-what/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://www.godunplugged.com/2024/02/14/who-not-what/</a></p> I realize this is an old post and the last responses to it are from almost twenty years ago, but I felt drawn to respond to it anyway.

I love movies. It’s a passion I’ve had ever since I was a child growing up in the Bronx. My mom and I used to watch the “Million Dollar Movie” series on WORTV (channel 9) together all the time. The Bible (both the Old and New Testaments) is a story told very much like a movie script. Everything in it was truly said and done, and God inspired all of it to be written exactly as is—perhaps even the extra verses that were added later on by scribes. But many of the things that were said and done were from man’s perspective and not necessarily true or correct, including the added Bible verses.

Therefore, it is incumbent upon us to get to know our God through the reading of His Logos (the Bible) AND the revealing nature of God’s Rhema - the present, real-time speaking of God into our lives. While the Word of God is enough to save us—and it does—in order to truly get to know our God and, more importantly, His heart, and more importantly, His heart towards us, we need both the Logos and the Rhema of God. With our eyes and ears, we can read or hear the logos. But it is only by the enlightenment of His Holy Spirit through our relationship with God, which His Son Jesus, through His sacrifice, death, and resurrection, enabled us to do, can we truly get to know His heart. Once we know our Father and His heart, we know the author of the Bible as well. Once we know the author, we can discern, through the power of His Holy Spirit, the truth within the pages we read. The Spirit will even quicken us to the truths or lies of the added verses, as well as the incorrect statements and conclusions of the flawed individual writers of God’s Bible.

Does this sound too much like a mystery? Do you wonder why a perfect God would allow His Bible to be filled with holes, apparent contradictions, and questionable statements by His chosen writers and scribes? That’s good. I’ve battled with that as well. The reason is that God doesn’t just want us to gather all our information from a book as if we were reading a biography or autobiography of some dead historical figure. Our God is alive, and He wants to be in relationship with us. He created us for just that purpose. He gave us His Word (the Bible) to point us towards Him and inspire us to get to know Him personally and hear from Him in real time. This way He can guide us through our lives, revealing who He created us to be, so that we can live the abundant, purposeful lives He intended for us.

https://www.godunplugged.com/2024/02/14/who-not-what/

]]> http://personman.com/harmony_of_the_gospels#c87248 Tom Usher [Visitor] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:51:08 +0000 Tom Usher [Visitor] c45369@http://personman.com/ <p>&#8220;Differences in the Gospels Doesn&#8217;t Negate God.&#8221; Visit the link to read the Real Liberal Christian Church&#8217;s comment on this article. God bless everyone.</p> “Differences in the Gospels Doesn’t Negate God.” Visit the link to read the Real Liberal Christian Church’s comment on this article. God bless everyone.

]]> http://personman.com/harmony_of_the_gospels#c45369 dan [Member] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Mon, 15 Oct 2007 09:56:21 +0000 [Member] c45365@http://personman.com/ <p>Henry,<br /> Thanks for the ideas. If Paul was writing about the resurrection before Mark was written,then my explanation for the secrecy doesn&#8217;t quite work. In what ways, other than the early date, does Mark show similarities to Paul? And what do you make of the secrecy in Mark? I&#8217;m also interested to hear what you think, in general, of the differences between the gospels. Do you think the Bible is inerrant? Do you think it is a reliable account of what actually happened? Once the bath water his drained away, is there baby?</p> Henry,
Thanks for the ideas. If Paul was writing about the resurrection before Mark was written,then my explanation for the secrecy doesn’t quite work. In what ways, other than the early date, does Mark show similarities to Paul? And what do you make of the secrecy in Mark? I’m also interested to hear what you think, in general, of the differences between the gospels. Do you think the Bible is inerrant? Do you think it is a reliable account of what actually happened? Once the bath water his drained away, is there baby?

]]> http://personman.com/harmony_of_the_gospels#c45365 Henry Michael [Visitor] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Mon, 15 Oct 2007 06:40:50 +0000 Henry Michael [Visitor] c45364@http://personman.com/ <p>Good post - most people never realize or care to think about these questions. Interesting explanation of the ending of Mark. I don&#8217;t know if I buy it, but it is the best explanation given your starting points. I favor the &#8220;Mark as an extension of Paul&#8221; line of thinking to explain Mark. If you read Paul&#8217;s letters he is all about the death and resurrection. you are right in saying the Paul was not concerned with discussing Jesus&#8217; life and deeds in his occasional letters aimed at specific churches and addressing specific problems in those churches. I see Mark as written to a gentile community to give the story of Jesus&#8217; life. Paul keeps talking about this resurrection stuff - what about the rest? Or it could have served as a propaganda tool - ok, what happened next?</p> <p>I use the beatitudes all the time with my students to demonstrate the edited nature of the gospels. The use of the mustard seed is another example - mark doesn&#8217;t know the problem, matthew tries to fix it, and luke leaves it out altogether.</p> <p>Interesting stuff, never the less.</p> Good post - most people never realize or care to think about these questions. Interesting explanation of the ending of Mark. I don’t know if I buy it, but it is the best explanation given your starting points. I favor the “Mark as an extension of Paul” line of thinking to explain Mark. If you read Paul’s letters he is all about the death and resurrection. you are right in saying the Paul was not concerned with discussing Jesus’ life and deeds in his occasional letters aimed at specific churches and addressing specific problems in those churches. I see Mark as written to a gentile community to give the story of Jesus’ life. Paul keeps talking about this resurrection stuff - what about the rest? Or it could have served as a propaganda tool - ok, what happened next?

I use the beatitudes all the time with my students to demonstrate the edited nature of the gospels. The use of the mustard seed is another example - mark doesn’t know the problem, matthew tries to fix it, and luke leaves it out altogether.

Interesting stuff, never the less.

]]> http://personman.com/harmony_of_the_gospels#c45364 dan [Member] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:48:45 +0000 [Member] c45348@http://personman.com/ <p>Matt,<br /> First, you&#8217;re right about presuppositions. We all have them and it&#8217;s very hard to divorce ourselves from the. I&#8217;m not sure what to do about it except look at the facts and the explanations required to fit them into the various worldviews and see which explanation works best.</p> <p>It&#8217;s not just that Jesus does more miracles in John, though I think he does. John just presents a higher view of Jesus throughout his gospel. It&#8217;s John who speaks of Jesus being preexistent.</p> <p>Yes, the genuine letters of Paul are considered to be earlier than the gospels. But keep in mind that Paul had no firsthand knowledge of the life of Jesus. He very rarely, if ever, quotes the teachings of Jesus directly. Paul&#8217;s theology is something entirely different from that of the gospels. But, Paul does teach about the resurrection of Jesus, so Mark could not have been introducing a new idea. My mistake. </p> Matt,
First, you’re right about presuppositions. We all have them and it’s very hard to divorce ourselves from the. I’m not sure what to do about it except look at the facts and the explanations required to fit them into the various worldviews and see which explanation works best.

It’s not just that Jesus does more miracles in John, though I think he does. John just presents a higher view of Jesus throughout his gospel. It’s John who speaks of Jesus being preexistent.

Yes, the genuine letters of Paul are considered to be earlier than the gospels. But keep in mind that Paul had no firsthand knowledge of the life of Jesus. He very rarely, if ever, quotes the teachings of Jesus directly. Paul’s theology is something entirely different from that of the gospels. But, Paul does teach about the resurrection of Jesus, so Mark could not have been introducing a new idea. My mistake.

]]> http://personman.com/harmony_of_the_gospels#c45348 Matt [Visitor] in response to: Harmony of the gospels Fri, 12 Oct 2007 22:09:33 +0000 Matt [Visitor] c45346@http://personman.com/ <p>Just a couple quickies (it is homecoming week). </p> <p>Weren&#8217;t the letters written first. If you want to look at what the early church though of Jesus based on the earliest writings, it seems like this would be the place to start.</p> <p>Your guess in the last paragraph seem less based on a reverse trajectory - did he do more and greater miracles in John than in Mark? maybe, I don&#8217;t know - and more on your presupposition that he was just a regular guy.</p> <p>It&#8217;s these presuppositions that make discussions like this difficult. Everybody has them and we then look for evidence that supports them.</p> Just a couple quickies (it is homecoming week).

Weren’t the letters written first. If you want to look at what the early church though of Jesus based on the earliest writings, it seems like this would be the place to start.

Your guess in the last paragraph seem less based on a reverse trajectory - did he do more and greater miracles in John than in Mark? maybe, I don’t know - and more on your presupposition that he was just a regular guy.

It’s these presuppositions that make discussions like this difficult. Everybody has them and we then look for evidence that supports them.

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