The Jesus Film Project - Great Movie!

Hi HippieGirl,

Thank you for Liking this post.  This is a great video, for it is very true to the Gospel of Luke and is almost like reading the Gospel.  The characters in the movie are well presented and without any Hollywood types to distract from the story.  I recommend this to everyone, believer and non-believer, for it can help the non-believer to make that 180 degree turn and begin to follow Christ.

And, as I said, this movie makes a very good Bible study tool.  As a movie, it has been shown to millions in countries all around the world.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

I have seen this video with its truncated concept of the gospel plan of salvation.  It has undoubtedly mislead many.  It is the same old compromised evangelical concept of "Just believe on Jesus and take him as your personal saviour, etc."  Lost folks on the Day of Pentecost A.D. 33 (a date and scripture that you, Bill, often cite) asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do."  An apostle of Jesus Christ, empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, responded by telling them to "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins..."   How do the majority of evangelical preachers and teachers of this generation respond to that kind of question from anguished and lost souls?  Same old same old--"Say this sinner's prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart and take Him as your personal saviour." 

Why don't they give the same answer that Peter did? Why don't they acknowledge the simplicity and clarity of Romans 6:1-10 and I Peter 3:21?  Because they have decided that baptism is a "work" and that it therefore can have nothing to do with salvation.  Baptism is a work, but it is the work of God.  It is the place and event prescribed by God where the saving efficacy of the blood of Christ washes away sins.  It is the place where the penitent, believing sinner meets Christ in his death and leaves the old man of sin behind.  Romans 6, Bill--it's all there.

Hi Head,

So, YOU believe that the Gospel of Luke is in error?  How about Matthew, Mark, and John -- are they also in error?   If so, where do YOU study the life of Jesus Christ?

Remember, the four Gospels ARE the life of Christ in writing.  And, the epistles are there to explain the four Gospels.  So, in YOUR logic, that would imply that the epistles are also erroneous.  Where do YOU find your Truth?  In the apocrypha?  In the writings of Herbert W. Armstrong?   Where?  Head, my Friend, if the Gospels are wrong -- where do WE find the Truth?

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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The four gospels indeed tell the story of Jesus' life on earth.  But that is not what I object to relative to the Jesus video,  Bill, as I thoroughly explained, the movie has the same old truncated plan of salvation as you endorse, the notion that all that is needed is to say a sinner's prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart and take Him as your personal saviour.  I have a copy of the video and just about 10 minutes ago, I reviewed the last part of it and confirmed what I stated in my first post.

No, Bill, I do not object to the telling of the story of the life and works of Jesus in the four gospels and I fully embrace the teaching of the epistles.  What I object to is the video's creation of a diluted concept of the plan of salvation..  I explained that in detail in my first post, but you have bypassed that explanation and offered instead a circumlocution that altogether avoids the principles and analysis that  I provided.  Try once more: 

<<<Lost folks on the Day of Pentecost A.D. 33 (a date and scripture that you, Bill, often cite) asked, "Men and brethren, what shall we do."  An apostle of Jesus Christ, empowered by the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, responded by telling them to "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of your sins..."   How do the majority of evangelical preachers and teachers of this generation respond to that kind of question from anguished and lost souls?  Same old same old--"Say this sinner's prayer and ask Jesus to come into your heart and take Him as your personal saviour." 

Why don't they give the same answer that Peter did? Why don't they acknowledge the simplicity and clarity of Romans 6:1-10 and I Peter 3:21?  Because they have decided that baptism is a "work" and that it therefore can have nothing to do with salvation.  Baptism is a work, but it is the work of God.  It is the place and event prescribed by God where the saving efficacy of the blood of Christ washes away sins.  It is the place where the penitent, believing sinner meets Christ in his death and leaves the old man of sin behind.  Romans 6, Bill--it's all there.>>>

Hi Head,

That movie is virtually verbatim taken from the Gospel of Luke.  So, if you are saying that the movie is in error -- then, you are saying that the Gospel of Luke is in error.

So, I ask you again.  If the Gospel of Luke is in error -- how about Matthew, Mark, and John?  Are they also in error according to your theology?

I am still very curious why you will not tell us which flavor of church you attend.  I am happy to tell anyone who asks that I attend a Baptist church.  But, you are more secretive about your church -- than Obama is about his birth certificate and school records.   Is there a reason to hide this information?  Are you ashamed of the church you attend?

For some reason, I get the feeling that you are attending a Herbert W. Armstrong flavored church.  Am I right?  Or is that a misconception based upon your legalistic theology?

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

The material at the end of the movie promotes a flawed and incomplete plan of salvation, which is not in the gospel of Luke or in any of the other gospel accounts or anywhere else in the new Testament.  Thus, in saying that the movie is in error on that point, I am in no way asserting any form of criticism against the gospel of Luke, any of the other three gospels, or any other parts of the Old or New Testaments.  Your accusations to the contrary reflect a severe deficiency in your ability to apply fundamentals of reasoned analysis.

Answer this, Bill.  If a sinner were to approach you, realizing that he is in an unsaved state

and "p ricked in [his] heart" as were those lost sinners in Acts 2:37, what would YOU tell him that he needed to do?  Would you tell him to do that which Peter instructed in Acts 2:38 or would you tell him something else?

I am no Armstrongite and how you ever reached any suspicion that I could be is beyond me. I am under no obligation to provide any more details of my religious beliefs or affiliation that I care to on this forum.  I have posted candidly on many, many points of doctrine and if you don't understand where I am coming from relative to my beliefs, then you just have not been paying attention.  And it is you who have so frequently and so strongly insisted that the name over the church door does not matter and that it is what a person believes that counts with God.  If there is any element of my belief that you desire further comment upon, you should know that I will not be hesitant to discuss it candidly.

In the meantime, kindly cease and desist from your insulting assertions that I have somehow found the gospel of Luke or any of the other gospels or any of the epistles to be in error.  That accusation is blatant, unsupported rubbish and it is typical of the kind of cavalier mudslinging that brings down so much deserved criticism upon your arrogant head.

Hi Head,

You may not like this movie; but, since its inception -- many millions around the world, in many diverse languages, have been brought to saving grace and eternal life in Jesus Christ through it.

How many have been saved through your Legalistic Law?  Go back and review Romans 3:20.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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You need to go three chapters further in Romans and Read Romans 6:1-10, Bill. And you really do need to dumpt notion that baptism is a work of human merit. It is no more a work than are faith and repentance. 

Head, my Friend,

Baptism is a physical thing we do, just as is Communion.  We do these to acknowledge our faith in Christ and to be obedient to His command, His two ordinances.

The last time I checked -- FAITH and REPENTANCE are spiritual things we do as we are regenerated into a new person, a follower of Jesus Christ. 

So, yes, Baptismal Regeneration would be an act of works, which has no place in His scheme of salvation.  Baptism is the result of our salvation; not the cause of our salvation.

If our salvation depends upon being baptized -- why did both Jesus and the apostle Paul not baptize people.  Paul tells us he is NOT sent to baptize; but, to preach the Gospel.  Would he say that IF our salvation depended upon being baptized?  NO!

And, show me one place in the Bible that Jesus baptized anyone.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

Hi VP,

He did it to fulfill Scripture.

Matthew 3:15, "But Jesus answering said to him, 'Permit it at this time; for in this way it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.'  Then he permitted Him. "

Hebrews 2:17, "Therefore, He had to be made like His brethren in all things, so that He might become a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."

Christ came in the form of man to be our propriation.  Christ knew no sin, so He had nothing to repent.  John knew this and did not want to baptize Him.  Remember John was still baptizing in the Old Testament way -- a cleansing before entering the temple.  And, he knew that Jesus did not need to be cleansed.

Yet, because Jesus came to be like His brethren, all believers, in every way except sin -- He had to be baptized to fulfill that likeness.

But, remember that John was not baptizing for salvation, but for temple cleansing.

Baptism for us is the result of our salvation -- not the cause of our salvation.   When we are old enough to understand our need for salvation, and that Jesus Christ came to offer it to us -- then, we repent to be saved -- and then we are baptized to bring us this spiritual cleansing because we are following the command, the ordinances, Jesus left us:  Baptism and Communion.

When we are publicly baptized, we are professing to the world that we are Christ Followers.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

Hi Head,

Good idea, let's examine Romans 6 a wee bit:

Romans 6:1-3, "What shall we say then? Are we to continue in sin so that grace may increase?  (2) May it never be! How shall we who died to sin still live in it? (3) Or do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus have been baptized into His death?

Romans 6:4, "Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life."

Romans 6:5-7, "For if we have become united with Him in the likeness of His death, certainly we shall also be in the likeness of His resurrection, (6) knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with, so that we would no longer be slaves to sin; (7) for he who has died is freed from sin.

Romans 6:8, "Now if we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,

Romans 6:9-11, "knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, is never to die again; death no longer is master over Him.  (10) For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.  (11) Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus."

Head, Jesus Christ actually DIED on the cross.  When you were baptized -- did you actually DIE? 

Or was this a "symbolic death"?   No need to answer, we all know that our baptism is a "symbolic" following of Christ in His death -- and not an actual death.  

Just as baptism does not save us.  No, my Friend, baptism is the RESULT of our salvation (for why else would we want to "follow" Him in His death, if we are not already believers) -- not the CAUSE of our salvation (if so, the thief on the cross was not saved -- yet, Jesus told him he was saved).

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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Bill is just looking for any way that he can not to follow the examples of Christ.  He thinks standing on the corner hollerin' at folks is effective.  Nothing else required. 

Hi VP,

Jesus Christ was baptized to fulfill Scripture.   He came to be like His brethren in all ways, other than sin (Hebrews 2:17) -- so, He was baptized to give us His example.  Yes, we are to be baptized -- but, only when we can understand and follow Him.  No infant can do that.

Jesus was not baptized to save Him, nor to wash away His sins -- for He had none.  And, we are to follow His example in baptism.

We see in Scripture that Jesus Christ did not baptize anyone.   And, Paul tells us that Christ DID NOT send him to baptize anyone either, only to preach the Gospel of salvation.   So, since all Paul was offering was this Gospel of Salvation -- obviously, that was sufficient to lead people to salvation, eternal life in Christ.

So, once again, if Christ did not baptize anyone, and He did not send Paul to baptize anyone, and the thief on the cross was not baptized -- it is obvious that baptism is not a requirement for salvation.

Baptism is the RESULT of salvation -- not the CAUSE of salvation -- as exemplified by Jesus Christ.

God bless, have a wonderful, blessed day,

Bill

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And yet, Paul did baptize people.  But based on his explanation as to why he wasn't sent to be baptized, no one should be baptizing anyone.