To the Jews who had believed him,
Jesus said, “If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:31-47)
They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”
Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin. Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever. So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed. I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me, because you have no room for my word. I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence, and you are doing what you have heard from your father.”
“Abraham is our father,” they answered.
“If you were Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then you would do what Abraham did. As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God. Abraham did not do such things. You are doing the works of your own father.”
“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”
Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on my own; God sent me. Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. Yet because I tell the truth, you do not believe me! Can any of you prove me guilty of sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me? Whoever belongs to God hears what God says. The reason you do not hear is that you do not belong to God.” (John 8:31-47)
“We are all
children of God.” That’s what I hear today. And if we aren’t all, then the ones
who aren’t all are the ones who say that we aren’t all children of God. Yep, it’s those religious bigots who look down
on everyone else who aren’t children of God. They god they believe in is loving
and would never exclude anyone.
What does Jesus say? First, He says that His disciples know the truth, and the truth sets one free. That means that there is also untruth that can be known (or lived) and that living in that untruth makes one a slave. There is something freeing about knowing the truth. You don’t have to keep searching – if you live within that truth. I read something about dogs and dominance. It said that a dominant dog is a stressed dog. It has to maintain its position. A submissive dog is a relaxed dog because as long as it submits, it doesn’t have to maintain anything. What stresses a dog more than being a dominant dog is having an “alpha” who is dominant one moment, and submissive the next, because then the dog doesn’t know what to do. Likewise, when we submit to truth, we are most able to relax. When we either try to force truth to submit to our preferences, or when we try to both submit and control, that’s when we’re stressed and enslaved.
He continues, accusing them of being Abraham’s descendants, but children of their father, doing what their father had taught them.
When they protest that they are Abraham’s children, Jesus notes that Abraham’s children do what Abraham did. What did Abraham do? “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) Abraham did what he was told even when that meant sacrificing his promised, beloved son. Abraham fed, talked with, and debated with those who came from God, but he believed them. The Jews next claim to be children of God, but children of God do what God tells them. Children of God would love Jesus because Jesus came from God.
It boils down to the fact that everyone is not a child of God. We are all His creation, but His children listen to Him and do what He says – not perfectly, but within the scope of their individual maturity. Insisting that we are all God’s children is calling Jesus a liar.
What does Jesus say? First, He says that His disciples know the truth, and the truth sets one free. That means that there is also untruth that can be known (or lived) and that living in that untruth makes one a slave. There is something freeing about knowing the truth. You don’t have to keep searching – if you live within that truth. I read something about dogs and dominance. It said that a dominant dog is a stressed dog. It has to maintain its position. A submissive dog is a relaxed dog because as long as it submits, it doesn’t have to maintain anything. What stresses a dog more than being a dominant dog is having an “alpha” who is dominant one moment, and submissive the next, because then the dog doesn’t know what to do. Likewise, when we submit to truth, we are most able to relax. When we either try to force truth to submit to our preferences, or when we try to both submit and control, that’s when we’re stressed and enslaved.
He continues, accusing them of being Abraham’s descendants, but children of their father, doing what their father had taught them.
When they protest that they are Abraham’s children, Jesus notes that Abraham’s children do what Abraham did. What did Abraham do? “Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.” (Genesis 15:6) Abraham did what he was told even when that meant sacrificing his promised, beloved son. Abraham fed, talked with, and debated with those who came from God, but he believed them. The Jews next claim to be children of God, but children of God do what God tells them. Children of God would love Jesus because Jesus came from God.
It boils down to the fact that everyone is not a child of God. We are all His creation, but His children listen to Him and do what He says – not perfectly, but within the scope of their individual maturity. Insisting that we are all God’s children is calling Jesus a liar.
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