Vadim

Good weapons are instruments of fear; all creatures hate them. Therefore followers of Tao never use them. The wise man prefers the left. The man of war prefers the right. What's "the left", peace, love? Something that's the opposite of fear

thanks, Jeff, I followed your suggestion and started reading the Revelation. as far as I understand from the first 6 chapters, John had a vision of how things are going to unfold util the "new Jerusalem" comes. Jesus has redeemed the world from sin and after his rebirth, he has started "the process" and the other thing is the seals from Revelation 6, each seal is a new "event" or period of time and it looks like we're at the 5'th seal right now did I get at least anything right?

what about this bit here, Matthew 24 29 “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. 30 Then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. 31 And He will send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other. wh

Matthew 18: 12 “What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them goes astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine and go to the mountains to seek the one that is straying? 13 And if he should find it, assuredly, I say to you, he rejoices more over that sheep than over the ninety-nine that did not go astray. 14 Even so it is not the will of your Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish. I think this one says that everyone has a chance to be "saved", what do you guys think about it ? and why is the "one" sheep more important than the rest ?

maybe even more then 99% Matthew 21:20-2220 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done.22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.” very interesting question, I don't think I'm able to answer it now, but I like the idea behind it. thanks,

The only thing that come to mind are: - You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. - Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. but I'm not sure I got it right, so.. does: - "take up his cross and follow me" - "suffer with jesus" - "being ambassadors for christ" all mean the same thing ? I'm just marking here a part that caught my attention, I'd like to return to it after we finish the previous thread.

as far as I understand "take up his cross" and "if so be that we suffer with him" is the same thing. so... what does it mean that we have to suffer with him then ?

yes, thanks for posting it. This is the verse I was looking for, but now after reading it I don't see how it would fit together with John 1:12-13, Luke 17: 20-21 This is another interesting one: Matthew 16 24 Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. "the deny himself" is about being at one, "and follow Me" is also kind of clear, but why "take up his cross" ?

I think John 5:24 goes well with it, only those who "hears my word" will find the kingdom of god, and in Matthew 5:3-10 he explains who are "the lucky ones"/why it's within us and not somewhere else. I was also trying to find another verse where the judgement day is described, "someone" was deciding if they are worthy or not, it sounded roughly like: "but didn't we do everything that you asked from us, and the answer was something like, I do not recognize you" I'd like to hear others opinion on this 24 “Very truly I tell you, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has ete

I was focussing on the wrong aspect, thanks guys for your feedback. Does anyone have a verse that they'd like to talk about ?

running, thanks for dropping by, I didn't really got your point. My misunderstanding was about why jesus told his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the son of god. english is not my native language, and sometimes it's difficult for me to decipher the meaning. would you care to write a shorter reply ?

so, if the masses would find out that he is the christ they would try and spare him and the "lords will" would not come true (or satan would take over) ? how does this sound to you ?

I skipped that one and many others because they didn't catch my attention. Also I've read a part of the GOT discussion and I already know your thoughts on the parable with the sower Re-reading chapter 13... I don't think there's a better explanation for how the kingdom of heaven is like, so we can move on I guess Matthew 16 20 Then He commanded His disciples that they should tell no one that He was Jesus the Christ. why did he tell them this ?

what about the parable of the leaven, is it related in any way to the one with the mustard seed ? Matthew 13 33 Another parable He spoke to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like leaven, which a woman took and hid in three measures[c] of meal till it was all leavened.”

I did read it, more than once, but sometimes it seems like reading chinese it looks like everything that I don't understand is related to "non-duality", I'll see what I can go with this. thanks now if we move on to this verses: Matthew 12 43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none. 44 Then he says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when he comes, he finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then he goes and takes with him seven other spirits more wicked than himself, and they enter and dwell t