Bible Discussion Thread

A question : do you have faith , in God and in Jesus ? I'm guessing yes , so , why haven't you moved a mountain ? For many years I beat myself up over this , Matthew 17:20 , Matthew 21:21 , Mark 11:23 , John 4:21 . Obviously , I don't have even a tiny mustard grain of faith ! It's only quite recently that I realised that Jesus is using a metaphor . The mountain represents those trials and tribulations that I have in my daily life , my worries my fears my insecurities that come from paying too much attention to the things of this life . Then of course I had to rethink a few other things , once I had realised and accepted that , Jesus sometimes used metaphors , this has opened up my mind to all kinds of possibilities . Further study is required ! Guess what ? Further study is always required ! We are used to metaphors in the Bible especially in the book of Revelation but I hadn't really thought about Jesus using them , parables yes , metaphors ? Took me longer to recognise them . The Bible never stops teaching us new things , this is how it works , it opens up slowly , the more effort you put in and the more your heart and mind are open to it , the more it reveals . It doesn't matter how long we have been reading it , it doesn't matter how many times we've read it , it doesn't matter how great we think our knowledge and understanding is , there's still got good stuff in there to teach us . This is why we need to be careful about how we receive others , they may now something that we don't know yet , we may now something that they don't know yet , we must not discourage open discussion , we must not close our eyes and ears to each other . May God bless us all with open eyes , ears , minds and hearts , to receive His Word from each other with humility and patience and love .

Well said, Sammi. Jesus used many metaphors and other figures of speech in His teaching to the disciples, the crowds, and the religious leaders.

Amen Sammi:

John 9:41 ....if you were blind, you would have no sin: but now you say, WE SEE, therefore your sin remainth.

When we read God's word and we come to words such a mountain, we automatically picture in our carnal minds a physical mountain, instead of what it represents in Christ mind.

As we study and the spirit of Christ teaches, we begin to develop the mind of Christ, we see the meaning, not the physical, this is a process that happens with time and study.

Matthew 13:13 Therefore speak I to them in parables, because they seeing see not, and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.

Daniel 7:13 ...one like of the Son of man come with the clouds of heaven ----has that image popped into your carnal mind ------ that not the meaning in Christ mind ----

God Bless you as he creates the mind of Christ IN YOU.