Unguaranteed Promise

September 2, 2009, 6:47 am by dc-agape.

John Chapter 10  

This passage is about the “Good Shepherd”.  Of course, this is also where the concept of Christians being the sheep is also reinforced, which is definitely not a good quality in humans.  Being like sheep leads to “like sheep to the slaughter”.  It indicates the gullibility of the human race to believe anything.  It indicates how humans can be lead by a strong voice to do anything without questioning the intent of the “Shepherd”.  This human characteristic has lead to 45,000 denominations in the Christian faith.  Most of the “Shepherds” of these denominations are the “thieves and robbers” that Jesus speaks about.  These “Shepherds” prey upon the human quality to not question even the most absurd statements.  If it is said with “Authority” the sheep will follow, even to the slaughter.

Even more telling in this passage is this verse:

John 10:3 The watchmen opens the gate for him, and the sheep listen to his voice.  He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought out all his own, he goes on ahead of them, and his sheep follow him because they know his voice.

Sheep are not intelligent enough to have freewill.  Those that the “Shepherd” has authority over follow him blindly.  But those sheep were also selected by the “Shepherd”.  The sheep did not choice which “Shepherd” they wanted.  This is more Biblical proof that those that are “saved” and those that belong to a different “Shepherd” are not chosen by human freewill.

But Jesus goes on.  He promises something that cannot be proven.  He claims that those who are his sheep will:

John 10:10 the thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

There is no proof that “spiritual life” is granted by being a sheep in Jesus’ flock.  Even claiming that Jesus came back from the dead, we have no proof that following one particular “Shepherd” will lead us to eternal life.  From my own experience, I have attempted to follow numerous Southern Baptist congregations, one Presbyterian, and even the teachings of the Boston Church of Christ.  In all of those cases, the first thing that struck me was that each one taught a different Jesus.  They focused on different passages as the “most” important.  There was not “One Flock” but many different flocks.  It, of course, took me 22 years to explore those few options that presented themselves to me.  In one lifetime, one could never explore each and every Church that claims they are the way to salvation.  Even if one were to attempt to search, night and day without working, without eating, without staying in one location.  It might be true that one of them multiple churches in one of the multiple cities on this planet is the “Flock” that belongs to Jesus.  But unless a person is born in the right place, sent to the right city, has the opportunity to run into the right person, and has been taught from childhood that they must search for the right church, will there even be the slightest chance that an individual will find the mysterious “Flock”.  The “Flock” does not advertise their existence by either their actions or their doctrine.  Most advertise their hypocrisy with loud voices.  They show no compassion to the “lost”, they show that they do not believe in justice (but will use every means possible to eliminate justice), and they deny (vigorously) that geology, biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy are false, yet at the same time gladly use the results of these sciences in their daily lives.  The computers that we use, the internet that connects us, the medicines and machines that keep us healthy and alive (beyond Natures limits), the light that we see at night by, even the electromagnetic signals we use to send television and radio waves to distant locations and a host of other simple observations prove that science is correct and cannot be denied.  Yet many of these “Flocks” demand that some form of voodoo science exists that invalidates all the science that provides humans with the ability to have raise us above being hunters and gathers.  Many the Amish are the True Flock!

Jesus goes even further with an un-provable promise, one that can never be affirmed.

John 10:28 I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand.

This is a whooper of a promise, and yet there is no validation of the promise!  Do we chemically die yet some un-measurable part of us survives?  But even more questions arise if this is the case.  The Buddhist philosophy also believes this, but instead of being judged by one supreme being, they believe that we are reincarnated!  So right there we have two different theories, neither one having any way of testing that describes what happens to this un-measurable quantity of our individual self.  Of course, the humanist/materialist has a completely different theory…that this un-measurable portion does not exist!  Since we can now measure things as small as a single atom (and under certain conditions even the things that make up the things that make up the atom (protons, elections, quarks, and neutrinos), if this un-measurable portion exists it is either smaller than an anything we have ever measured or not made from the physical world.  If, as the religious person claims, this un-measurable something is supernatural in essences and is not reincarnated, many questions are raised.  Where do these un-measurable things come from prior to each individual birth?  What are is this material made from?  How does this un-measurable thing interact with the physical world?  When does it attach itself to the individual life – at birth, at conception, at the age of accountability?  How does it remain attached to the physical body without any physical evidence?  When does it leave the physical body – when the heart stops the first time?  When the brain no longer functions?  Oddly, the Word of God is completely silent on these questions.

Jesus ends this passage telling the unbelieving Jews that even if they do not believe his words they should believe his miracles (John 10:38).  Yet today, we only have his recorded words, we are not give his miracles (except in written form) to trust that he is the Son of Man.  We see no blind man receiving sight (except a few through the act of medicine), we do not see healing of disease like AIDS, cancer, diabetes (except through the act of medicine), and we certainly do not see miracles such as curing the amputee or the effects of Thalidomide!  So we are stuck believing words that were written nearly 1900 years ago (and edited numerous time, with poorly translated versions, and in languages that have cultural and historical idioms) to relay on the salvation of this mystical magical un-measurable quaintly of human life (that no other species in the universe possesses).

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