Let us take a look at Luke 19:1-10
"19 Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. 2 A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. 3 He wanted to see who Jesus was, but because he was short he could not see over the crowd. 4 So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way.
5 When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” 6 So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly.
7 All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a sinner.”
8 But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.”
9 Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. 10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.”"
There are things we can draw from this part of the chapter.
Repentance
There is something here to take from the story of Zacchaeus, himself a tax collector, that restitution has to be made, whether it's criminal, civil or other ways, some compensation or a lot has to be made, even if it's being punished for a crime accordingly or restoring a relationship. Sometimes however, it may not be possible to restore a broken relationship between two people or several, it may be too late, but it's worth giving a try.
This does vary from sin to sin, whether it be something "small" as lying or "big" as murder or sexual misconduct, so the conditions of repentance may be different, what needs doing to put the situation right? In Zacchaeus case, he extorted people, hence he was wealthy. Is it possible he may have miscalculated? Maybe. The point is whether it was carelessness, negligence or actual delibrate fraud, Zacchaeus sought to repair the damage that had been done by his endeavours.
Don't judge by apperances
Luke describes Zacchaeus to
use first and foremost as rich and also short. Why highlight such a
thing? Why would Luke bring this to the readers attention, as well as
mention he is a tax collector?I already mentioned his repentance above but the people in the context were quick to judge him and yet Zacchaeus offered not only to pay back all the people he defrauded, he also would be happy to give half of his possessions to the poor. It's possible the crowd themselves were not willing to give even a small amount of their possessions to the poor, yet this short tax collector went out of his way to pay his debt and also give to the poor simultaneously, how tremendous is that?
Despite this man's background, he came to Jesus and let him enter the house for a meal.
Worship of God and not money
Whether Zacchaeus was like the rich young ruler or not is disputable, we simply don't know his motive. Maybe he had a similiar attitude to the rich young ruler at a given point. Idolatry leads to immorality as David Pawson has stated so it could be (though not necesarily) that Zacchaeus' god was money and the way to aquire more money was to cheat others out of it.
Yet unlike the rich young ruler, Zacchaeus must have felt a conviction in his soul and when Jesus arrived, wanted to see who he was. See the article I wrote on the rich young ruler: http://answering-judaism.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/the-rich-young-ruler-follow-jesus-to-end.html
Perhaps after meeting Jesus, Zacchaeus turned from his idol, recognising his sins and giving money back to the poor and making restitution as mentioned above. Now he could have money but it was no longer his God anymore, God has now given Zacchaeus the means to restrain himself and not be greedy.
The Lordship of Christ
Jesus response not only highlights that Zacchaeus did what was right in his sight but also what our generosity and the fact our money, like everything else is owned by God and he has given it to us not to abuse but use for his glory. Having a hobby itself or going abroad is not wicked in and of itself, but really we should be asking "Do we need to go abroad?" or "Can't I save this hobby for later?". Money is not something given to us to spend on what we want all the time, we are stewards of that money and God will give us an account of what to do with that money. There's nothing wrong with vacation or a hobby but as stated before, they are not the highest calling. It's giving our time in the service to others and helping others less fortunate than we are. There is a talk by Matthew Swires-Hennessey which I recommend others listening to which you can find here: https://www.stpetersfarnborough.org.uk/Media/Player.aspx?media_id=198874&file_id=211750
Conclusion
How should we be doing in our lives, even if we are not in Zacchaeus' position. Are we willing to put God first, casting idols to the side and turning to him? Does something in your life merely need to be put into it's proper place or gotten rid of depending on what it is in question? How will we be empowered today to be a Son or Daughter of Abraham, the former which Jesus referred to Zacchaeus as? Let's look at our lives and see what needs to change.
Answering Judaism.
If there is anymore to add Lord Willing, I shall do so at a later date.
Sunday, 28 January 2018
Sunday, 14 January 2018
MTV: Racists and Sexists in disguise
There was a video from 2016 which was mauled by many on the political spectrum that was posted by MTV, removed, then posted and finally removed but much like Josh Trank's tweet about Fant4stic, the internet has a way to preseve incriminating things people say.
Numerous people have responded to the video which essentially had a bunch of pretentious, self entitled, pharisaical, busybodies lecturing white males one what they can do in 2017 as new years resolutions.
Putting aside whether America is great or has been great or not in principle or practice, non-whites have enjoyed many oppotunities in the modern world and thus have not been oppressed. Racism exists on both sides but lefists don't want to admit this as this would destory their narratives that non-whites, blacks especially are oppressed and cannot arise out of their oppression (Despite the fact in Christianity Voddie Baucham has championed Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood with one of the early leaders of the church being a black man and possibly St Augustine and Tertullian being influential church fathers and in the case of the entertainment industry you have individuals such as James Earl Jones, Samuel L Jackson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, John Boyega, Michael B Jordan, Zoe Saldana, Rosario Dawson, Kimberly Brooks, Kree Summer, Kevin Michael Richardson and others who have carved out for themselves good careers).
Saying All lives matter is not saying Black Lives don't matter. All in this context doesn't exclude black people, it includes them and yes it a serious problem when cops are blamed for being racist towards black people despite the fact that the black people who were proclaimed as innocent were by in large, actually criminals themselves (Which includes Michael Brown by the way) and many ignore the fact Black Lives Matter are a terrorist organisation.
Woke is also a weird term, not a bad term itself, just odd. Why tell others to stop saying woke? I would use woke is someone just woke from their sleep or if I woke up but to refer to someone being red pilled to certain issues? Ok? If you want to use the word, fine but I am not going to use it in that way.
We also have mansplaining ((of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.), a term simply used to dismiss what a man has to say. It's basically a satanic buzzword designed by the devil to prevent a woman from being rebuked by a man even when she is in the wrong.I am not saying condescending to anyone is right (there are exceptions) but why not accept the advice of a man? Advice from a man or a woman can be invaluable for a wide variety of reasons, as long as it is good advice and not bad.
There is of course one of the most famous statements in the video "Just because you have black friends, doesn't mean you are a racist, you can be racist with black friends". Let that sink for a moment, can you imagine a white person saying something similiar? Just replace the above statement with white as opposed to black, that person would be arrested, have their name dragged through the mud and be out of a job, yet the man in the cat t-shirt on MTV can get away with what he said.
Why are MTV allowed to put out racism like this and yet white males become an easy target when they don't intend to be racist. It is bile like the stuff MTV puts out as well as other liberal material that enabled Donald Trump to win and if he won the Presidential campaign of 2020, I wouldn't be surprised.
Answering Judaism.
Here are some videos responding to MTV's video:
Ben Shapiro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkLWr2xuqbY
Paul Joseph Watson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaWTSaoZ0M
TJ Kirk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNXMNDpqhvA (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Arch Warhammer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tTjOF8E2o
Dave Cullen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR23bQ0uod0
Drunken Uncle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o98FiibPaAk (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Scrunch Point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrJY5Tjh9tU
Undoomed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn-_tfaz_ZM (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Jim the Ape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvrZMea-0lA (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Gavin McInnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCg9ztkQWf0 (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Numerous people have responded to the video which essentially had a bunch of pretentious, self entitled, pharisaical, busybodies lecturing white males one what they can do in 2017 as new years resolutions.
Putting aside whether America is great or has been great or not in principle or practice, non-whites have enjoyed many oppotunities in the modern world and thus have not been oppressed. Racism exists on both sides but lefists don't want to admit this as this would destory their narratives that non-whites, blacks especially are oppressed and cannot arise out of their oppression (Despite the fact in Christianity Voddie Baucham has championed Biblical Manhood and Biblical Womanhood with one of the early leaders of the church being a black man and possibly St Augustine and Tertullian being influential church fathers and in the case of the entertainment industry you have individuals such as James Earl Jones, Samuel L Jackson, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Idris Elba, John Boyega, Michael B Jordan, Zoe Saldana, Rosario Dawson, Kimberly Brooks, Kree Summer, Kevin Michael Richardson and others who have carved out for themselves good careers).
Saying All lives matter is not saying Black Lives don't matter. All in this context doesn't exclude black people, it includes them and yes it a serious problem when cops are blamed for being racist towards black people despite the fact that the black people who were proclaimed as innocent were by in large, actually criminals themselves (Which includes Michael Brown by the way) and many ignore the fact Black Lives Matter are a terrorist organisation.
Woke is also a weird term, not a bad term itself, just odd. Why tell others to stop saying woke? I would use woke is someone just woke from their sleep or if I woke up but to refer to someone being red pilled to certain issues? Ok? If you want to use the word, fine but I am not going to use it in that way.
We also have mansplaining ((of a man) explain (something) to someone, typically a woman, in a manner regarded as condescending or patronizing.), a term simply used to dismiss what a man has to say. It's basically a satanic buzzword designed by the devil to prevent a woman from being rebuked by a man even when she is in the wrong.I am not saying condescending to anyone is right (there are exceptions) but why not accept the advice of a man? Advice from a man or a woman can be invaluable for a wide variety of reasons, as long as it is good advice and not bad.
There is of course one of the most famous statements in the video "Just because you have black friends, doesn't mean you are a racist, you can be racist with black friends". Let that sink for a moment, can you imagine a white person saying something similiar? Just replace the above statement with white as opposed to black, that person would be arrested, have their name dragged through the mud and be out of a job, yet the man in the cat t-shirt on MTV can get away with what he said.
Why are MTV allowed to put out racism like this and yet white males become an easy target when they don't intend to be racist. It is bile like the stuff MTV puts out as well as other liberal material that enabled Donald Trump to win and if he won the Presidential campaign of 2020, I wouldn't be surprised.
Answering Judaism.
Here are some videos responding to MTV's video:
Ben Shapiro: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dkLWr2xuqbY
Paul Joseph Watson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GIaWTSaoZ0M
TJ Kirk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uNXMNDpqhvA (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Arch Warhammer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7tTjOF8E2o
Dave Cullen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SR23bQ0uod0
Drunken Uncle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o98FiibPaAk (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Scrunch Point: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrJY5Tjh9tU
Undoomed: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn-_tfaz_ZM (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Jim the Ape: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvrZMea-0lA (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
Gavin McInnes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lCg9ztkQWf0 (Viewers discretion advised, contains swearing)
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