This is a good post. It is obvious that John has a good grasp of the Scriptures in order to take the context of a Bible portion instead of just one verse, or even a piece of a verse for that matter. The "Judge Not" comments seem to be the only thing people remember of all the Bible when they are exposed in their sinful behavior while a Christian witness is speaking to them. Mr. Blake "judged" John with " [he] is treading on being self-righteous, is certainly presumptuous and shows a complete disregard for an understanding of how people and human nature and even the nature of the Bible." Judging is easy to do, isn't it Mr. Blake? It would appear that John has a better grasp at the nature of humans than you say, because he asserts that hypocrites usually judge others for the same thing they themselves are guilty of doing, only the condition of the hypocrites is like a "beam" in comparison to the "speck" in their brother's eyes. What did Jesus say to do here? He said the hypocrite must first deal with the timber in his own eye before he can do something about the speck in his brother's eyes. The problem is, Mr. Blake, the sinner (you and I) cannot effectively remove the beam in our own eye apart from Christ. Just as the Bible says that "we can do nothing apart from Christ," "we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us." If we keep this in mind, we will have a better grasp of what Jesus said, what He meant when He said it and how we apply what He said in order to be pleasing to Him. For, in the final analysis, pleasing God His way will be the fulfillment of our lives and the meaningfulness of our existence on the earth.

As a Christian a student of history, and someone who is committed to fair mindedness and common sense I have to say that "For true Christians the Bible and the Holy Spirit teaching are the standards by which we are to measure our faith," is treading on being self-righteous, is certainly presumptuous and shows a complete disregard for an understanding of how people and human nature and even the nature of the Bible. I have sat in churches the majority of my life, have taken courses on the Bible, have studied it many times, and have asked many times the hard questions that tradition sometimes brushes off. Where did the Bible come from. Often in church you're told it was "divinely inspired." That in itself is a historical falsehood that has been spread by the church and by preachers far too long. The Bible was assemble under Constantine I, the Roman Emperor who adopted christianity in 312. The books that were included in the Bible and the interpretation and translation of them were decided by council members suited to the task. Anyone who has read the Bible and or knows anything about Roman history knows about the political intrigues and corruption of the Empire, and knows how most achieved high or favored positions within Roman society. We also know the political intrigue and their role in religion from the story of Christ. That being said and taking into consideration men of power even within the church have a noted tendency to use their position or powers to assert their own point of view. Even the Hebrews themselves created laws that even they admit were not inspired in anyway by God, governing their religious and culture practices and traditions. As is true of Islam and Christianity as well. The idea of Sacraments as practiced by the Catholic church, the oldest known denomination of Christianity there is, would dictate through its practices that sacrifice made by Christ on the cross is incomplete, via one needed the recognized absolution of a holy priest to be forgiven for sin. We know based on Romans 10:9-10:10, that this is not the case. But the Bible is not the all ending standard for those of "true faith". That idea is assanine. Jesus Christ set the standard by offering compassion forgiveness, understanding, enlightenment, education, charity, and love to all he met, and all who sought him. Or is the daily life of the son of God, not enough of a standard that we must hold line to line word for word to a book that was assembled by men of power to assert their view and believes and hold on the content they felt was adequate? By that logic no parents or adults lie to their children, no priest abuse children or lead them astray, no leader, no government betrays its own people in favor of benefiting itself or empowering itself, no child bretrays a parent to favor their own ends, and all is right with the world, because we can always just "Oh Holy men of Olde" to do what is right. Christians live in the world and are as much responsible for it as anyone else, and are not to judge but try to mend that which is broken. That cannot be done through condescension or through ramming a principle or an assertion down the throats of all you meet and greet. I become galled every time I see Christians on the side walk screaming "Repent" "Repent". Breaking sinners down accomplishes little or nothing. To paraphrase Thomas Moore: "you first create criminals and then punish them for those action to which their first life's circumstances left the predisposed," in other words the problem is that their are "sin enticing elements in the world that perpetuate sinful behavior", foremost of these are anything that disrupts Maslow's hiearchy of human needs within a group, population, or society. Addressing mass starvation, rampant disease, homelessness, the abuse of women and children, the displacement of wounded soldiers from society, the displacement of the elderly from society, and general apathy of many people is a better exercise of use of energy for the Christian community than worrying about inanities and abstracts, that aren't going anywhere any time soon.

Rblake, Interesting comments you make, but you also suppose that you have all knowledge and you don't. You also suppose that the historical statements you make are fact when some of them are not. For the believer in Christ there is nothing more important than following Him versus the world. Of course, you attack the very foundation of this system of thought that is the Bible. You say it was assembled by Constantine, how do you know that it was not assembled prior to that? What do you know of the Ante Nicean Fathers? Men like Ireneaus, Justin Martyr, Polycarp, etc. who laid down the true gospel of Christ in their voluminous but not Holy Ghost inspired writings. The gospel of Christ has never been accepted by most of the world. Worldy wisdom of which you espouse much just leads you down your merry way on the broad path to Hell. The only priest that you can be forgiven by is the Great High Priest Jesus Christ, read Hebrews 1. Certainly, Jesus said to feed the poor, take care of the fatherless. But He also commanded for Christians to 'preach'. Cry aloud and spare not that my people would turn from their sin and live. Jesus preached, 'Repent or Perish' almost 2000 years ago. (Luke 13:3,5) You hypocritically judge us, are you a Christian? Your good works without Christ's blood are just filthiness before God. Breaking sinners down as you say, accomplishes little or nothing. How do you prove your statement? Every problem you point out at the end of your commentary is the result of Satan's work, mankinds sinfulness and the way the world wants to operate. As far as directing the Christian community I will follow my Savior's direction not yours. Repent of your worldly wisdom and trust God. Confess your sin to Jesus, trust and obey Him. He is worthy of your heart, mind, strength, and soul. God bless you.

If you have read it in the bible and I know you have, then you know what is clearly written about judgement. Our job is to draw other brothers and sisters home..Judgement is not up to us to do. (Show and Teach)......

Wrong, wrong, wrong. Read 1 Cor 6:2-8 We are to judge the smallest earthly matter. Jesus has the final judgement of course. Should I judge what you wrote? Of course, especially if it is not according to the Bible but the philosophy of a man. You have judged what I wrote though. Have you thought about that? Lastly, my job is to proclaim the gospel, plant and water the seeds. God draws men not me, can you show me one verse that says 'we' draw men to God?