Hebrews 5:8 -- Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered.
Psalm 119:71 -- It is good for me that I was afflicted, That I may learn Your statutes.
Hebrews 12:4-8 -- You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; 5 and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, “MY SON, DO NOT REGARD LIGHTLY THE DISCIPLINE OF THE LORD, NOR FAINT WHEN YOU ARE REPROVED BY HIM; 6 FOR THOSE WHOM THE LORD LOVES HE DISCIPLINES, AND HE SCOURGES EVERY SON WHOM HE RECEIVES.” 7 It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? 8 But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. (all quotations are from the NAS)
My reflection on those verses is this: I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. Some of those mistakes have had some bad results in the present time, with which I now, even today, struggle. So this is my testimony: I thank God for those circumstances, because of how He uses them to discipline me and to teach me about Himself. Of course, when I can improve or change a circumstance for the better, it is my responsibility to do so. But instead of complaining about bad things which are mostly my fault, I am learning to thank God for how He lovingly uses them for good in my life.
Welcome to the group, onfire247 and Goodnews. Feel free to share some verse (or verses) which are special to you for some reason, or which have caught your attention in some way recently.
Silent observers are also welcome. There isn't any obligation.
I erred here, Mark of course was most likely not a witness at all, but he did get his information from someone who was a witness, quite possibly Peter.
When I said "infallible" I mean that it has come to us precisely as our Heavenly Father determined and ordained. I'm deliberately choosing to exercise a child-like faith here.
I'm referring to the infallibility of God. He, in His own wisdom, permitted Matthew to refer to two individuals while Mark referred to one individual. He permitted that to take place, and it is my trust and faith that His choice in doing so was and is infallible.
I've also had a similar thought in the past, onfire, that seeming discrepancies do help confirm the fact that these events actually happened and that the accounts written by each author were greatly valued.
It's also worth considering that the actual event was not an orderly sane and sanitized sequence as we might imagine it. If you put the two accounts together, Jesus got out of the boat. He was immediately met by either one or two insane men. These men were "so extremely violent that no one could pass by that way" according to Matthew. This man (or these men) had the habit of "screaming among the tombs and in the mountains, and gashing himself with stones", according to Mark. He (or they) ran up to Jesus and bowed down to Him and shouted "with a loud voice", according to Mark. It was a whirlwind and frightening event. To me it's quite believable indeed that two witnesses would remember something so intensely emotional and frightening with different details, i.e., Matthew says two men, Mark says one.
I like Mark a lot. It intrigues me that although Mark's is a much shorter account, he often gives more details than Matthew. (For example, compare Mark 5:1-20 to Matthew 8:28-34). Far more details are given by Mark.
Of course, it's incumbent on me to point out, that Mark refers to only one man, and Matthew to two. I say with all my heart, however, that I consider this to be the infallible Word of God. I make every effort to receive it in that manner. I believe that it is presented to me in the manner in which God has determined and ordained.
Matthew was actually one of Jesus' disciples; so for him, this is an eye-witness account. In Mark's case, according to early church tradition, he was an associate of Peter, and so, perhaps, he got his information second-hand via Peter.
Deuteronomy 29:29 and Isaiah 45:3 come to my mind and seem appropos for you today. Congratulations on your achievment, which our Lord has walked you through!
TheMoviegoer, I think I understand now your statement. When I said that Belteshazzar and joosep are the same person, I meant that the same person (me) is behind both screennames on this website.
Thanks, onfire247 :) but, I'm not sure if I'll be able to keep up with all the necessary reviews. I'm just sort of engaging in some large-scale scripture meditation...just because I need it in my walk with Christ. We'll see how the reviews go LOL