Re: Say it Like it IS

On 2008-07-11, loiner2003 <loiner2003@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I think Dan is referring to this passage in Mark 9.38-40
'John said to him, "Teacher, we saw a man who was driving out demons in
your name,
and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group."
"Do not try to stop him," Jesus told them, "because no one who performs
a miracle
in my name will be able soon afterward to say evil things about me.
For whoever is not against us is for us.'

Cf Luke 9.49f:
'John spoke up, "Master, we saw a man driving out demons in your name,
and we told him to stop, because he doesn't belong to our group."
"Do not try to stop him," Jesus said to him and to the other disciples,
"because whoever is not against you is for you." '

It doesn't quite say what Dan thought it did.

I would take it to mean that anyone who does good is, in his own way, in
touch with the Spirit of God, that same Spirit which inspired and dwelt
in Jesus.

I'd be tempted to correlate it with teachings of Sidhi (the kind of
ability to drive out demons as it were) as a property of someone advanced
along their particular path. Even backing off anything 'mystical' for
Sidhi and taking it as metahpor or just the idea of tending to perfection
in an activity we have what sounds like a description of someone acting
more out of kindness or good things. They're doing in Jesus' name too -
a bonus for Christianity?

The "Not against you but for you" is interesting though, and can be taken
in a couple of ways. You can take the whole thing in various ways - very
universalist ways if you look at it from that angle or maybe completely
the opposite if you switch your interpretation around.

- Richard
.

Relevant Pages

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