Mark 10, 23 -25.
You do realize it is impossible for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle?
Reading the New Testament.
A human being can perfectly well know that if he jumps into a shark tank he will be eaten, and do it, and be eaten.
And Jesus, who repeatedly in this gospel and in Matthew prophesies his end?
If there was a real Jesus, at all, I suppose he might have seen it coming.
Jesus says in this gospel that he performs miracles so that his claim to authority to forgive sins will be accepted.
He only says it once.
When he isn't preaching parables of the Kingdom that he says he doesn't want anyone to understand but the disciples (he says the hearts of his audiences are hardened so they will not understand and will be cast into Gehenna), he is performing miracles - perhaps by the thousands, they seem so many and so nearly constant - of healing and of exorcism (often of both) on request, providing this service for any who believe he can do it.
Taking that as the model, as itself a parable of the Kingdom, you can see where the idea of forgiveness and salvation (admission to the Kingdom) in return for mere faith can certainly seem to play a role.
Perhaps the parable of the field workers who work to the end of the day and get a full day's pay, regardless of what time during the day they began, is a comment on salvation in return for works.
While stories of lost sheep, prodigal sons, and repentant sinners (and workers who enter the fields almost at the day's end) are comments on salvation in return for faith and repentance.
Jesus says in this gospel that he performs miracles so that his claim to authority to forgive sins will be accepted.
He only says it once.
When he isn't preaching parables of the Kingdom that he says he doesn't want anyone to understand but the disciples (he says the hearts of his audiences are hardened so they will not understand and will be cast into Gehenna), he is performing miracles - perhaps by the thousands, they seem so many and so nearly constant - of healing and of exorcism (often of both) on request, providing this service for any who believe he can do it.
Taking that as the model, as itself a parable of the Kingdom, you can see where the idea of forgiveness and salvation (admission to the Kingdom) in return for mere faith can certainly seem to play a role.
Perhaps the parable of the field workers who work to the end of the day and get a full day's pay, regardless of what time during the day they began, is a comment on salvation in return for works.
While stories of lost sheep, prodigal sons, and repentant sinners (and workers who enter the fields almost at the day's end) are comments on salvation in return for faith and repentance.
In Mark, too, Jesus says some in "this generation" will see the end times.
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