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If the plain sense makes sense, seek no other
sense, to replace it, lest you end up with nonsense.
This is a modification of a formula that I have quoted in this
before.
I mention it again because many still don't get it.
It is not that the ones that still don't get it
are stupid, it is
either they are 'wise in their own conceits', refuse to believe
the plain sense of scripture going
to great lengths to avoid it or
they have decided beforehand what to believe before considering all of scripture regarding
a particular subject.
My modification of the formula includes the words 'to replace it'
because, I'm not against
a scripture having dual meanings, but IF the plain sense makes sense, then there is no reason to REPLACE IT with another sense.
For
instance: If Christ says, 'Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye
gazing up into heaven? THIS SAME JESUS, which is taken up from
you into heaven, shall so come in LIKE MANNER AS YE HAVE SEEN HIM GO into heaven.' (Acts 1), and the plain sense makes sense,
then why replace that meaning with another?
The only way the plain sense of this passage wouldn't make sense to a reader
is if they had some preconceived notions of how Christ would come back again, was conceited OR was an unbeliever OR all of
the above.
If this passage is to be taken literally when it says 'This same
Jesus' meaning not Sun Myung Moon or
someone else, then it should be taken literally when it says, 'in like manner.'
If the preconceived notions are unsubstantiated
then the plain sense of scripture obviously takes precedence over unsubstantiated
notions.
If one thinks they have
scripture elsewhere that contradicts the
plain sense meaning of this passage in Acts then the next question needs to be,
'Does the sensical plain sense interpretation of another passage contradict the sensical plain sense interpretation of the
Acts passage?
The obvious answer is no, because God doesn't contradict Himself.
The scripture is not going to
say, 'I'm coming soon' and then 'I'm
going to come later.', unless the timing of the coming was
conditional.
Christ
says soon and therefore some conclude that the plain sense meaning of how he comes cannot be right.
However, what they
don't recognize is that Christ also said, 'For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery,
lest
ye should be WISE IN YOUR OWN CONCEITS; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, UNTIL THE FULNESS OF THE GENTILES BE
COME IN.' (Romans 11)
The bible interprets itself, so we need to ask why Christ
said 'soon' in one place and then
talked about a 'delay' in another.
Since the bible interprets itself, not the Magesterium or Josephus, lets see what
it says.
So we can see that Christ made his appearing dependent on Israel's response to his message.
The term
'soon' is a relative term and it is relative to how Israel
responded.
I thank God that Israel responded that way
because,
'God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.' (Romans 11)
Going back
to the formula, we can see that it is conditional.
It says, IF the plain sense makes sense, seek no other sense....
Someone
recently gave the example of the phrase, 'raining Cats and Dogs', as a statement that cannot be taken literally. They gave
this example after I had presented the plain sense formula.
This shows me that they really didn't think through the
formula
which said, 'If'.
Does it make literal sense for it to be raining cats and Dogs?
Of course not!,
so you are told to 'seek another sense'.
Now the formula also says, 'to replace it', so one could believe
that some
kind of coming came after Christ's ascension but they
couldn't REPLACE the SENSICAL PLAIN SENSE MEANING of his returning
to the Mount of Olives visibly where 'every eye sees him' with an invisible and allegorical coming. (Revelation 1; Acts 1)
More
later
BJ Max
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