Even the Amish, whose 1st principle is to keep oneself untainted by the world, {Romans 12:2} went to court over hate speech, i.e. cutting beards. When the Amish fall from grace, we should pay attention.<\/p>\n
Jesus refuses to answer on the level of emotion. An emotion-based campaign is bound for failure as the issues before the voters are based not on feelings but on the reality of governance. An ever-alert media certainly does not want anyone looking at issues since their lazy reporting standards are part of the problem. But I digress. Under conviction of sin…<\/p>\n
Jesus does not allow her to change the subject. His point is not what culture says, but what God says. He is asking individuals to make a stand.<\/p>\n
\n10 \u201cIf you knew what God can give,\u201d Jesus replied, \u201cand if you knew who it is that said to you, \u2018Give me a drink\u2019, I think you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water!\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\nJesus shifts the focus. “Living water\u201d is a free-flowing stream. Well-water is not necessarily contaminated but it is not flowing. He is saying, I am not going to talk politics, history, or emotion but about the position and accountability of God.<\/p>\n
Argument 2: Process<\/h2>\n\n11-12 \u201cSir,\u201d said the woman, \u201cyou have nothing to draw water with and this well is deep\u2014where can you get your living water? Are you a greater man than our ancestor, Jacob, who gave us this well, and drank here himself with his family, and his cattle?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Who owns the well is immaterial. It is the water you drink not the plat plan.<\/p>\n
As you might suspect, she reverts to type \u2013 let\u2019s talk about process, about how you are going to get living water from a well. For a month newsmen want Mitt Romney to talk about specifics. He doesn\u2019t; he sticks to principles. There is something here more important than policy. Jesus is challenging her to increase her information and understanding. In today’s lazy politics, thinking is exhausting. And she throws in culture too.<\/p>\n
Argument 3: Culture<\/h2>\n Besides, the woman continues; her well is superior because of her ancestor. Like the campaign of 2012 this should not be about genealogy. Black, Hispanic, white, Indian, straight or gay, this is not about one\u2019s superior genes, or the entitlements you anticipate from that connection. The incessant dividing people into groups, positions, ethnics, and labels has been a problem in American politics for generations. But it does not affect the quality of the water in the well, or in fact, its relevance to the issues.<\/p>\n
Argument 4: Religion<\/h2>\n Jesus won\u2019t let her avoid the issues.<\/p>\n
\n13-14 Jesus said to her, \u201cEveryone who drinks this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks the water I will give him will never be thirsty again. For my gift will become a spring in the man himself, welling up into eternal life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Truth is a person and His words<\/h2>\n Jesus now makes claim for Himself. We are no longer talking politics or religion.<\/p>\n
\n15 The woman said, \u201cSir, give me this water, so that I may stop being thirsty\u2014and not have to come here to draw water any more!\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Jesus has from her a plea, an un-met need, something He requires from man.<\/p>\n
\nZechariah 4:10 the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Seeking someone wanting God.<\/p>\n
\n16 \u201cGo and call your husband and then come back here,\u201d said Jesus to her.<\/p>\n
Now, exposed sin<\/h2>\n Oh Oh, we hit pay dirt. The bottom line for Jesus is always sin, not the government, not the parties, not the issues, but sin. All the pre-talk has been about skirting the facts. Jesus knew all along, but let her talk.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n17-18 \u201cI haven\u2019t got a husband!\u201d the woman answered. \u201cYou are quite right in saying, \u2018I haven\u2019t got a husband\u2019,\u201d replied Jesus, \u201cfor you have had five husbands and the man you have now is not your husband at all. Yes, you spoke the simple truth when you said that.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
We thought this would nail the deal. But no \u2013she calls him a prophet. Yes, she is saying, He has superior information but no, my religion is about something else.<\/p>\n
Isn\u2019t it interesting how when we start talking about sin, someone changes the subject and lights into religion. Religion, as defined by the Bible, is mercies to widows and orphans and staying pure. No church, synagogue or mosque is involved.<\/p>\n
Being threatened, someone will compliment<\/h2>\n\n19-20 \u201cSir,\u201d said the woman again, \u201cI can see that you are a prophet! Now our ancestors worshiped on this hill-side, but you Jews say that Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
This is classic avoidance. It reminds me of the fellow who called Jesus good, thinking perhaps he was getting in His best graces, and then being rebuked for it. Jesus always went right to the heart.<\/p>\n
Have you noticed how politicians can change the subject at will, or worse yet, spend five minutes talking about something else and then saying, \u201cWhat is your next question?\u201d Do they need to be trained in this? Of course not. It is natural for sinful man to change the subject when uncomfortable truth is called for. Perhaps a compliment will keep this person from stinging you again.<\/p>\n
\n21-24 \u201cBelieve me,\u201d returned Jesus, \u201cthe time is coming when worshiping the Father will not be a matter of \u2018on this hill-side\u2019 or \u2018in Jerusalem\u2019. Nowadays you are worshiping with your eyes shut. We Jews are worshiping with our eyes open, for the salvation of mankind is to come from our race. Yet the time is coming, yes, and has already come, when true worshipers will worship in spirit and in reality. Indeed, the Father looks for men who will worship him like that. God is spirit, and those who worship him can only worship in spirit and in reality.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\nJesus did not fall into the politically correct trap of saying every religion eventually leads to God. It doesn\u2019t. He does not endorse a religion as being essentially \u201dpeaceful\u201d or true. Jews do know more, He claims, but they don\u2019t know everything because I am the Messiah and the Messiah himself is truth.<\/span><\/p>\n25 \u201cOf course I know that Messiah is coming,\u201d returned the woman, \u201cyou know, the one who is called Christ. When he comes he will make everything plain to us.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
When someone is backed into a wall, they agree, but she is saying to Him, I like what you are saying but I am looking elsewhere. This is good theology.<\/p>\n
Agree with your adversary when you are in the way with him. {Matthew 5:25}<\/em><\/p>\nBut her hopes that this will put him off fail.<\/p>\n
\n26 \u201cI am Christ speaking to you now,\u201d said Jesus.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Finally, confrontation.<\/h2>\n The woman may not be all that taught about who the Messiah is; after all she has been isolated from teaching for possibly a long while, and certainly her morally-flawed lifestyle has not been addressed by any group, just the shunning of her peers. But she sees the potential in this man. That is where we are, or so many of us were – not knowing everything but at least seeing a glimmer of truth.<\/p>\n
The disciples return and fall back into old patterns. (It\u2019s a good thing they weren\u2019t there to hear this exchange. I can visualize them piping up with something wrong, as they do often enough.)<\/p>\n
\n27-30 At this point his disciples arrived, and were surprised to find him talking to a woman, but none of them asked, \u201cWhat do you want?\u201d or \u201cWhat are you talking to her about?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Why didn\u2019t the disciples question Jesus? They did often enough on other occasions. Possibly, like the woman they were afraid of what they might hear.<\/p>\n
The woman returns with the townspeople. Yes, they don\u2019t know much, but they have believed and are now on the path to truth. For those of you who think Islam is hopeless, this is a lesson. The most religiously-demented can be changed, or make a change. Somewhere there is a woman who will say, \u201cThis man is the one.\u201d The messenger is the one with the testimony. All else is theory.<\/p>\n
\n31 So the woman left her water-pot behind and went into the town and began to say to the people, \u201cCome out and see the man who told me everything I\u2019ve ever done! Can this be \u2018Christ\u2019?\u201d So they left the town and started to come to Jesus.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Jesus has given us a blueprint for reaching people, facing all their arguments and dodges. He is quite skillful, but the word of God says all men are the same. To present the truth this offers us a plan for presenting salvation.<\/p>\n\n
#Apologetics #GodsWord #ChristianNonfiction #BibliosBlood #Faith #HolySpirit #Christ #truth #endtimes #thewarriordifference #ChristianTwitterCommunity #NationalYouthOnline #JesusMyRighteousness #Jesus #FreeWill #ChristianPhilosophy<\/p>\n\n\n <\/figure>\n\n\nIf you enjoy our articles here, please join the discussion by subscribing, and following us on Twitter @ImmaculateAssum and at Immaculate Assumptions on Facebook<\/a>. Additional background material on the author and her writings can be found at AMAZON<\/a> where you may purchase her e-book, Immaculate Assumptions: All You Heard about the Bible that Isn\u2019t True.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Within just the past few weeks the Presidential election of 2012 in the USA became international \u2013 or at least exposed as international. Like cynical Pontius Pilate we may ask, \u201cWhat is truth?\u201d and to explain the mass of verbiage let\u2019s go to John 4. Jesus has deliberately walked many miles out of his way […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,20],"tags":[242,292,293,388,392,393,498,764,798,906,1001,1069,1295,1414,1639,1930,1983,2182,2609,2706,2754],"yoast_head":"\n
How to Get to the Truth ⋆ Cornelia Scott Cree<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n