Kurt,

Here are some thoughts for consideration.

First, it’s common knowledge that if two people don’t agree on the facts, then they cannot agree on the solution. It just doesn’t work that way.

Here are some of my facts:

• ·       Jesus is the Son of God

·       The Bible (in its original form) was inspired by the Holy Spirit, as men were moved along.

2Ti 3:16  All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.

For we were not making up clever stories when we told you about the powerful coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw His majestic splendor with our own eyes when He received honor and glory from God the Father. The voice from the majestic glory of God said to Him, "This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy."

We ourselves heard that voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. Because of that experience, we have even greater confidence in the message proclaimed by the prophets. You must pay close attention to what they wrote, for their words are like a lamp shining in a dark place—until the Day dawns, and Christ the Morning Star shines in your hearts.

Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet's own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God. (2Pe 1:16-21 NLT)

• ·       Jesus does not contradict himself in the instructions he has given us. All of his teachings MUST fold together into one consistent whole.
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The biggest problem with our conversations is we don’t agree on the above facts. Until we can agree on the facts there is no use trying to agree on conclusions.

Based on the above facts, my facts, the following conversation from John 3 speaks directly to our recent online messages.

Joh 3:1-21 NLT  There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee.  (2)  After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. "Rabbi," he said, "we all know that God has sent You to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with You." 

(3)  Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God." [See it in operation here on earth nor be a member of that Kingdom, and have eternal live as in vs 15]

(4)  "What do You mean?" exclaimed Nicodemus. "How can an old man go back into his mother's womb and be born again?"  (5)  Jesus replied, "I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 

(6)  Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life.  (7)  So don't be surprised when I say, 'You must be born again.'  (8)  The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can't tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can't explain how people are born of the Spirit." 

(9)  "How are these things possible?" Nicodemus asked.  (10)  Jesus replied, "You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don't understand these things?  (11)  I assure you, We tell you what We know and have seen, and yet you won't believe Our testimony.  (12)  But if you don't believe Me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 

(13)  No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man [who lives in heaven] has come down from heaven.  (14)  And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,  (15)  so that everyone who believes in Him will have eternal life. 

(16)  "For God loved the world so much that He gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life.  (17)  God sent His Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through Him. 

(18)  "There is no judgment against anyone who believes in Him. But anyone who does not believe in Him has already been judged for not believing in God's one and only Son.  (19)  And the judgment is based on this fact: God's light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.  (20)  All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.  (21)  But those who do what is right come to the light so others can see that they are doing what God wants. "

Here is where it’s said also:

Joh 14:6  Jesus told him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through Me.

1Jn 5:1 Everyone who really believes that Jesus is the Christ proves himself one of God's family. The man who loves the Father cannot help loving the Father's own Son. (Phillips)

[Peter said] Act 4:12  There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved."

And the list of verses goes on and on, and on and on.

There is no contradiction in Jesus’s teaching about how one becomes a child of God. Whatever other verses one might consider, they must also agree with these.

This purpose/action by God is summed up as follows:

Co 5:16  16-21 This means that our knowledge of men can no longer be based on their outward lives (indeed, even though we knew Christ as a man we do not know him like that any longer).

For if a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether - the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. All this is God's doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation.

God was in Christ personally reconciling the world to himself - not counting their sins against them - and has commissioned us with the message of reconciliation. We are now Christ's ambassadors, as though God were appealing direct to you through us. As his personal representatives we say, "Make your peace with God."

For God caused Christ, who himself knew nothing of sin, actually to be sin for our sakes, so that in Christ we might be made good with the goodness of God. (Phillips)

That last sentence is what I call the GREAT EXCHANGE. God took the sinless Christ and poured our sins on him, then he took the righteousness of Christ and poured that into us.

My standing advice is, “If you can find a better deal than that, by all means take it.”

I’m learning this week from our study of Luke 6:

Luk 6:39  And Jesus told them this parable: "One blind man cannot lead another one; if he does, both will fall into a ditch.

Luk 6:40  No pupils are greater than their teacher; but all pupils, when they have completed their training, will be like their teacher.

To me this says, we must be very careful who we choose as our teachers because we are becoming like our teachers.