Comment by Debrah on 2nd mo. 28, 2011 at 8:20pm

Dear Rickey,

Knowing how I am, it would all depend on how much the Holy Spirit had revealed to me about Jesus and who He was. 

Had I heard the truth of the gospel from Him (or others) and accepted?

Had I heard that he was the Messiah come to fulfill all prophecies and to be the savior of the world and to put me in right relationship with God, no longer separated by sin.

Did I realized that His death on the cross before me was that propitiation?

 

If I did not have some of these understandings I am afraid it would merely be a response of the flesh.  A terribly emotional stress, compassion, and weeping over another human being who was being so brutally killed.

But a response which in the end did not benefit my eternal soul.  (at the time)

It perhaps would have been used from there to lead further.  But I am hoping that you see what I am trying to get at.

 

And again, like I said, I think that is how I would react without the revelation.

 

Comment by Rickey D. Whetstone on 3rd mo. 4, 2011 at 10:22am

only two replies?  There are no wrong answers.  I'm simply polling quakers . . . what goes on in their mind  . . . or trying to see what culture they are living in?

Comment by Paula Deming on 3rd mo. 4, 2011 at 11:22am

Dear Rickey,

I am interested in your question. I guess the reason I have not weighed in is that I have struggled with the concept of what I would do if I were a witness. My training in historical criticism gets in the way. :)

So, I would have to say something ridiculous like, If I were a witness, transported through time, I would be sensitive to the culture of the time and try to assess what it going on? Further, 2,000 years on, do we understand that Jesus was supposed to die on the cross, and hence I shouldn't meddle with God's plan?

That is the argument I come up with if I, a 20th century being (slowly arriving in 21st), were to be transported back. But if I imagine myself as a person living back in those times, suddenly I see myself as a bystander, because crucifixions were commonplace. Not a happy bystander, to be sure, but there it is.

See, I'm no fun at all. :D

I really like what Debrah and Simi have to say. I am in unity with these sisters.

Comment by Rickey D. Whetstone on 3rd mo. 4, 2011 at 6:59pm

Paula

 

thanks for your input.

 

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