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In the passage in Luke, the blind man wanted to see. At first glance,
this might sound odd; certainly anyone who is blind wants to see. But
not everyone who is blind perceives their own blindness.
Matthew 23:24 Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow
a camel.
John 9:40-41 "And some of the Pharisees which were with him heard
these words, and said unto him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto
them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin: but now ye say, We
see; therefore your sin remaineth."
Here, Jesus is speaking to the religous leaders; people who should know,
and in some cases, do know (and see) yet continue to act as if they were
blind. This applies to others beside religious leaders, too, who "strain
the gnat," picking at a semantic and deliberately missing the point. This
is willful blindness and Jesus uses very strong terms for those who are
willingly blind.
Next:
John 3:3; 11-12 Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom
of God. Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know,
and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness. If I
have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye
believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
One of the requirements for spiritual sight is being "born again." And to
become born again, you must believe and have faith. To much of the
spiritually blind, this is nonsense and circular. They read this as "in
order to believe, you must believe" and they would not be too far off the
mark, because belief is the FIRST STEP, just as the union of sperm and
egg unite into the first cell. Belief, like that first cell, is provided
half by the person and half by the Holy Spirit giving the chromosomes
necessary for life.
The Holy Spirit's promptings the free will of the creature must unite to
possess belief. Without the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who testifies
of the Truth of Jesus Christ a person cannot believe. Blasphemy of the
Holy Spirit (the unpardonable sin) is that point which the Holy Spirit is
offended not to return, and without the help of the Holy Spirit, a
person is utterly lost and without recourse; unpardonable.
Because of free will, God will not force us to believe, or force us to
love him. If we do so, we will choose the life He has set before us; the
Truth to which He has testified.
In John 3, Jesus is speaking to Nicodemus, a teacher of the law who seems
to be sincerely seeking some answers, yet something has held him back
from committing to belief. In Acts 26:28 "Then Agrippa said unto Paul,
Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian." Almost.
Jesus starts with the basics: earthy things, "and ye believe not." Jesus
cannot proceed to tell a person of heavenly things if the basics are not
first understood. Unless the FIRST STEP of belief is engaged, the rest
of it also sounds like nonsense. (When perceived reality is different
than actual reality, the preceived reality is just as real and takes
precedence UNTIL actual reality is imposed (if ever).)
Mark 9:23-24 Jesus said unto him, If thou canst believe, all things
are possible to him that believeth. And straightway the father of the
child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief.
Here, it seems, the Holy Spirit is willing to come more than half way.
In other words, complete belief is not required, but SOME belief is
necessary; the rest will come as we grow in grace and knowledge of the
Truth (the new and actual reality).
More to come.
Mark
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| .1 Tony
Mark 8
17 And when Jesus knew it, he saith unto them, Why reason ye, because ye
have no bread? perceive ye not yet, neither understand? have ye your heart yet
hardened?
18 Having eyes, see ye not? and having ears, hear ye not? and do ye not
remember?
19 When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full
of fragments took ye up? They say unto him, Twelve.
20 And when the seven among four thousand, how many baskets full of
fragments took ye up? And they said, Seven.
21 And he said unto them, How is it that ye do not understand?
22 And he cometh to Bethsaida; and they bring a blind man unto him, and
besought him to touch him.
23 And he took the blind man by the hand, and led him out of the town; and
when he had spit on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, he asked him if he
saw ought.
24 And he looked up, and said, I see men as trees, walking.
25 After that he put his hands again upon his eyes, and made him look up:
and he was restored, and saw every man clearly.
One of the other interesting things about this passage is that Jesus heals
the blind man in this way. Other blind men were healed on the spot without
this type of treatment. Another blind man had mud and spittle applied to
his eyes and Jesus told him to go and wash in a specific pool. Why the
different ways of healing? Was there a common thread to Jesus' healings?
If so, what was it?
In another passage, the disciples ask about a blind man.
John 9:1 And as Jesus passed by, he saw a man which was blind from his
birth.
2 And his disciples asked him, saying, Master, who did sin, this man, or
his parents, that he was born blind?
3 Jesus answered, Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents: but that
the works of God should be made manifest in him.
Matthew 11
2 Now when John had heard in the prison the works of Christ, he sent two
of his disciples,
3 And said unto him, Art thou he that should come, or do we look for
another?
4 Jesus answered and said unto them, Go and shew John again those things
which ye do hear and see:
5 The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are
cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the
gospel preached to them.
Although each individual receives healing individually, the healings are
a testimony of God's grace and love towards us. In many cases, Jesus was
moved with compassion to heal, but always did He heal for the glory of God.
For the individual, there may be a graduated healing, as Tony suggests.
Jesus said that some demons don't come out except by prayer and fasting;
gradations of effort and results.
More than these physical healings of blindness, I find it extremely interesting
that Jesus speaks about the blindness of sighted people, even and especially
his inner circle - the ones who would carry the message of the gospel. Yet,
they believed in Jesus ("Thou are the Christ, the Son of the Living God.").
Although uneducated, they were willing to receive their spiritual sight and
wanted it very much, and as they prayed and fasted, when they were all in
one accord in the upper room, the promised Holy Spirit came to each of them
and they were changed from the dull-headed fishermen and tax-collectors to
giants who turned the world on its ear.
Grant me sight, Lord. I want to see!
Mark
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| > The Holy Spirit's promptings [and] the free will of the creature must unite to
> possess belief. Without the prompting of the Holy Spirit, who testifies
> of the Truth of Jesus Christ a person cannot believe. Blasphemy of the
> Holy Spirit (the unpardonable sin) is that point which the Holy Spirit is
> offended not to return, and without the help of the Holy Spirit, a
> person is utterly lost and without recourse; unpardonable.
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I believe that the above is not the correct interpretation because
the Bible says:
"Verily I say unto you, all sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of
men, and blasphemies wherewith soever they shall blaspheme:
But he that shall blaspheme against the Holy Ghost has never
forgiveness, but is in danger of eternal damnation: because they
said, he has an unclean spirit."
( Mark 3:28-30 KJV )
Thus, they were calling the Holy Spirit working with and in
Jesus a demon.
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I see no incongruency between the Scripture and what I have stated.
At what point is the Holy Spirit offended not to return, Greg?
I believe you have not understood what was written.
Mark
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