Hey, Recently i have read mark 16:15-18,"He said to them, "Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation. 16Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned. 17And these signs will accompany those who believe: In my name they will drive out demons; they will speak in new tongues; 18they will pick up snakes with their hands; and when they drink deadly poison, it will not hurt them at all; they will place their hands on sick people, and they will get well."",
Iam quite curious of this verse, mainly because of a couple things it points out, in verse 16 it states believes and is baptized will be saved, first question, it might seem simple but really, how do we really believe,?
Iam not trying to question God, but iam questioning myself of how much i truely believe in him, this verse hits me as i think about the signs that Jesus says will follow, to be honest, i don't see alot of these things happening around us, as christians, and it bugs me,
hmmm makes me wonder,, any thoughts?
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4 comments:
you have picked a difficult passage! So where do we start, there are so many angles to this one...
This ending to the Gospel according to Mark is seen by most Scholars as a late addition so it is problematic as it is, but valuable non the less.
"Believe" is the inward reception of the gift of grace (baptism thus is the outward and visible sign of the inward and spiritual journey). To believe is therefore to accept the gift of grace, even when we do not fully understand. It is however never only and abstract idea, but something that urges us to action - to live what we believe. Does that make sense?
Secondly, i have not seen a lot of Christians playing around with deadly snakes, but i have seen people being healed as a result of prayer (with no medical explanation) i have seen poeple walking out of a car crash where there is no possible way for that to happen. But yes, it is rare! i believe that the reason for this is that too many of us see Christianity as a religion and too few of us see it as a way of life.
hope i didn't add to your confusion.
PS. I stumbled onto your blog today
Thats rad, so far i haven't been able to study the verse at all, man school just sucks the ability to focus out, but none the less i agree with you, I love how you worded the connection between believe and baptism. but a question though as i have more pentecostal tendencies i was wondering if you think of the baptism by emmersion, or baptism by the holy spirit? or both?
defiantly an interesting verse..
Here's a thought (hey man...found your blog through your comment on werners) that relates to your post in some crazy way...I just got the statistics the other day- and these are legit. Not second hand off the cuff "Did you know" stuff.
In 1886, Dr. John Pemberton first introduced Coca-Cola in Atlanta, Georgia. The pharmacist concocted a caramel-colored syrup in a three-legged brass kettle in his backyard. He first "distributed" Coca-Cola by carrying it in a jug down the street to Jacobs’ Pharmacy. After nearly 120 years, surveys show that 94% of the world has heard of coca-cola.
Why?? Because Coca-cola was EVENTUALLYcommitted to letting everyone on the planet have a taste of their soft drink.
C'mon! 94% of the world has heard of this sugar and water concoction while atLEAST a billion people world-wide have no access to the good news of Jesus Christ!
Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation..geesh. Let's get going folks!
The preaching that this world needs most is the sermons in shoes that are walking with Jesus Christ - DL Moody
Nice illustration christian gowan!
Oh and yes, my comment on baptism was more focused on the baptism by water but it would be true of baptism by the Spirit as well (although in a slightly different sense).
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