Friday, August 13, 2010

Acts Chapter Thirteen

Acts Chapter Thirteen (NIV)
Acts Chapter Thirteen (NASB)

I. SYNOPSIS

Verses 1-3: Paul and Barnabas sent on their first missionary journey.

Verses 4-12: Paul and Barnabas on the island of Cyprus.

Verses 13-43: Paul and Barnabas at Pisidian Antioch.

Verses 44-52: Paul turns to the Gentiles.

II. KEY PASSAGES

(A) Acts 13:9-10--"But Saul, who was also known as Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, fixed his gaze on him, and said, 'You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?'" If a Christian were to utter these words today, he would immediately hear, "And you call yourself a Christian!" Biblically, people who attempt to keep others from hearing the Gospel receive the strongest rebuke.

(B) Acts 13:13--"Now Paul and his companions put out to sea from Paphos and came to Perga in Pamphylia; but John left them and returned to Jerusalem." Luke doesn't tell us why John (Mark) returned to Jerusalem. However, it's clear that Paul didn't want to take Mark on a future missionary journey because of this event (Acts 15:36-40). Mark would later regain Paul's trust (see Colossians 4:10).

(C) Acts 13:26-41--Like Peter, Paul consistently emphasizes Jesus' death (vv. 28-29), resurrection (vv. 30-31), and deity (v. 33), as well as Old Testament prophecies about Jesus (vv. 33-35).

9 comments:

smithijb said...

This is about proselytism in all religions: Christian, Muslim, Buddhist's zealots usually urged by some gurus wanting to spread its religion. In that vein, all religions have ... missions! Some Christian fanatics kill the souls of poor Filipinos or Thais (for instance) like some fanatic Muslims killed the soul and body of people in NY. No difference! When missions will stop, the bloodshed will! When poverty will be solved, people will be happy and free of the unproven promise of and/or a hypothetical hope for a better life ... after! An atheist view! Free speech in USA! Let's see!

hugh watt said...

Irene:

Some Q's for you.

1)Explain how +ian missions
"kill the souls of [the] poor?"

2)How do you equate Muslims killing "the soul and body of people" with +ian misssions?

3)What do you say about the many people killed in the cause of atheisim?

4)Why are you an atheist?
If you'd like to discuss point 4, will you post on the Wood vs Loftus thread, I'll respond there, so as not to interrupt this thread.

When the early missionaries went out they brought light and life to those in darkness. +ianity brings hope, not despair!

smithijb said...

1)Explain how +ian missions
"kill the souls of [the] poor?"

> Clearly missionaries do not help without wanting the soul to be converted! That is their real MO! They do appear to do it to help the poor! I find it disgusting that they would prey like lions on weak creatures!

2)How do you equate Muslims killing "the soul and body of people" with +ian misssions?

Same idea! You all believe in an afterlife, so killing someone physically or mentally is essentially the same!

3)What do you say about the many people killed in the cause of atheisim?

> If you are talking about communists, they killed for communism not for atheism! But, considering what some missionaries do, I can understand why they would DEFEND themselves and prevent THE BRAINWASHING and the killing of the souls! Soft killing versus hard killing! Same stuff! Anyway, zealots will do anything to justify spreading what they believe everyone should!

4)Why are you an atheist?

It is obvious! There is ZERO tangible and absolute proof that there is a god, gods, Santa Clauses, or boogie men!


If you'd like to discuss point 4, will you post on the Wood vs Loftus thread, I'll respond there, so as not to interrupt this thread.

When the early missionaries went out they brought light and life to those in darkness. +ianity brings hope, not despair!

> And the small pox! :) Light? Life? Give me a break! These people were very happy the way they were! Kings and the Pope of the time needed money! It was all about money! The Vatican is not made out of marble for no reason! :)

hugh watt said...

Irene:

"Clearly missionaries do not help without wanting the soul to be converted! That is their real MO!"

Can't see why you object here, since +ians believe in the 2 H's to which we go when we die.

"They do appear to do it to help the poor! I find it disgusting that they would prey like lions on weak creatures!"

"Appear!" We're quite blatant in this. How do we "prey" on them?

"Same idea! You all believe in an afterlife, so killing someone physically or mentally is essentially the same!"

Explain, "killing someone mentally."

"If you are talking about communists, they killed for communism not for atheism!"

Commies are atheist!

"But, considering what some missionaries do, I can understand why they would DEFEND themselves and prevent THE BRAINWASHING and the killing of the souls!"

Can you give some refs' on what
"some missionaries do," I'd like some specifics. Also, when Stalin/Mao/Pot etc were killing for sport, how were they defending themselves against brainwashing? I find it rather disturbing that you can condone the killing of people in the way you've done in this comment; yet, at the same time you are disgusted by missionaries! How do you justify this?

"Soft killing versus hard killing! Same stuff! Anyway, zealots will do anything to justify spreading what they believe everyone should!"

Yep!

"It is obvious! There is ZERO tangible and absolute proof that there is a god, gods, Santa Clauses, or boogie men!"

Explain the origins of life.

"And the small pox! :) Light? Life? Give me a break! These people were very happy the way they were!"

Can't see how small pox fits in with theology, educate me.
Give me an example of a happy commie/atheistic nation.

"Kings and the Pope of the time needed money! It was all about money! The Vatican is not made out of marble for no reason!"

Again, I can't see how this fits in with +ian missionaries, enlighten me. Will you show me from the Bible where +ianity condones the faults you highlighted?

Tizita said...

Irene:

Are u out of ur mind! Christians killing the souls of people. What on this planet does that mean? Do u even think before u speak? We are trying to save ur soul!
Have u ever read abt the 5 missionaries that were killed in S. America for sharing the Gospel in 1955? How abt David Livingston? The second greatest missionary after apostle Paul (for me), Who went through out Africa to spread the Gospel.
How abt the countless missionaries in the middle east, India, China, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Vietnam, America, etc. They risk their life to save peoples souls from hell. Muslims don't save people they kill them and tell them that they have to kill themselves and Jews to get to an orgies filled paradise.
When u kill urself and others for allah it's called murder and suicide, When u are killed for believing in Jesus then that's called martyrdom.
If u don't accept the free gift that Jesus is offering u Irene, then when u go to hell u might have second thoughts on what it really means to save someone from hell.
O, and another thing, there are many things that u believe in that have no tangible, absolute proof. i.e. Evolution, matters. Also u have no absolute, tangible proof that God/Jesus doesn't exist. If u do then u are making urself god.

Anonymous said...

Irene,

I'm sorry to hear that you have such a negative view of Christianity. You sound angry. I will pray for you.

Christian missionaries bring people the opportunity to accept Jesus Christ as their Savior. It is done out of love for humanity.

Christ does not condone cruelty. Anyone who has ever abused His name, in order to hurt another without cause, has done so in error. These things happen because humans are all sinners. People have an innate tendency to do wrong. This is why Jesus came in the first place; to give us a chance to achieve salvation, despite our faults!

I hope that you will, someday, come to understand that Jesus loves you, more than you could ever possibly know!

David Wood said...

Irene,

I know why it's wrong to kill people or lead them astray according to my worldview. But why is it wrong according to your worldview?

I'm a former atheist, and when I was an atheist I understood that nothing is really right or wrong according to atheism. But you seem to be appealing to absolute moral values. What justification is there for your moral values?

Let me simplify this. Suppose you and I are both atheists, and suppose I want to kill someone. How would you, as an atheist, convince me that it's wrong to kill someone?

donna60 said...

David, If I could play devil's advocate here, and if I were an atheist, I would argue that humanity was the epitome of life on earth.

I would state that killing a human being was irrational--maybe not "sinful", but not in the best interest of humanity.

And anyway, what god did Seneca believe in? He was a stoic, and my understanding is that stoics really had this atheistic view of god. God was more like a neutral quality of logic and intelligence.

And yet, Seneca (except for his obvious corruption, and complicity in the assassination of Claudius,) carried some higher moral philosophies in regards to the way people were to treat each other.

donna60 said...

Irene, please help me understand atheism. How can Christians kill the souls of Filipinos, if people don't have souls?

And how is a soul killed? Where is it, anyway? How do you get to it to kill it?

No difference between killing the soul and killing the body? Really?