Christians why do I keep hearing that if they aren’t with us they are against us?

Question

Jesus was approached by John in the book of Mark, the same story is in Luke.

Mark 9:38 And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us: and we forbad him, because he followeth not us.

Mark 9:39 But Jesus said, Forbid him not: for there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name, that can lightly speak evil of me.

Mark 9:40 For he that is not against us is on our part.

Mark 9:41 For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward.

Same story in Luke:

Luke 9:50 And Jesus said unto him, Forbid [him] not: for he that is not against us is for us.

Do you know nothing?
These are the words of God himself.
Tolerance and respect are the parents of Love.

Since Jesus teaches this any contradiction by later writers is a misinterpretation by the believer or reflects ulterior motive of the author. Paul had ple

Both Mark and Luke say those not against us are for us.

There must be a reason it was printed twice but the contradiction is only printed once.

Freewill says you will choose the answer you like, and the answer that was chosen shows malice and you wonder why people hate you.

Answer 1

There was a gnostic named Valentinus who very nearly
became the first pope. For the better part of 350 years
after the death of Christ, gnostic Christianity was the
predominant "form", but it was very fragmented. This fragmentation became heretical after the Nicene conference, which established the so-called canon of scripture. Many
wonderful and powerful books of scripture were left out of
the so-called canon of our Bible which we have today. The
most glaring example of omission are the books of Enoch,
the Odes and the Wisdom of Solomon, as well as so many of
the texts found at the "library" of Nag Hamadi in Egypt. I
sit in a pew at a Presbyterian Church in Bakersfield, Ca.,
and I continuously am amazed at the ignorance of most
Christians in my immediate vicinity, of the great and gleaming
gnowings of the gnostics, who are still in our midst. And to
answer your question, Gnostics are with you, Christians,
whether you acknowledge it or not...

Answer 2

I wonder how many here actually bothered to read the whole chapters. It shows the person healing, etc in Jesus' name, but does not follow the Apostles (sounds familiar.... Catholicism vs Protestantism). The chapters are dealing more with the fact that the person doing those things is not following them.... but is corrected by Jesus claiming that just because they aren't "with us" doesn't mean they are "against us"... but the man healing is still doing so in Jesus' name..... It says absolutely NOTHING about the person spreading the Good News... which seems to be different for Christianity than what is stated in the Bible (Nowhere will you find Jesus saying that the Good News is that in order to be saved one must believe Jesus is God, Died and was Resurrected 3 days later...) But the verses in question still show the man healing in Jesus' name... so it's not an "outsider" they are talking about.

Agreed Tolerance and respect are the parents of Love. I'm amazed at the answers here that insinuate that this is not true.

Pagan

Answer 3

Do you think this simple notion is worthy?

I seriously doubt that the commonly held attitude, 'If they aren't with us they are against us,' has anything at all to do with the scripture you're considering, at least when it comes to electing the posture of an ideological side verses side stance.

Although your argument is a perfectly sound one and biblical in its origin, in my opinion it isn't the bottom line thinking of god-believers, (or even of non-believers,) and it probably won't ever be.

Talk of tolerance and charity toward another’s belief is as cheap as dirt.. and perhaps even cheaper. It sounds nice to say speak such things as tolerance and respect but it is in all honesty extremely difficult to live up to ones words. The best one could ever hope for is complete indifference, but even that falls short of staying power whenever the indifferent party begins to feel threatened by an outsider, an instant adversary, as in the case of any group showing political ability and expressing its aims to make changes favoring itself above all others.

As to the question of 'tolerance and respect being the parents of love.' I will neither agree nor disagree, but only add some doubt to the validity of the question since it appears far to simple a statement to satisfy the very complex emotion that love seems to be for all of us.

[][][] r u randy? [][][]
.

Answer 4

I really like the idea of a truly free-willed Christian, who reads and understands the teachings of the Bible, but is not ruled by dogmatic interpretation. I find Bible studies to be limiting and quite probably the cause of rude and nasty remarks criticizing others who have obviously explored their own and other religions. These constant judgments based upon "Us" versus "Everyone Else" amaze me, when I realize that these are CHRISTIANS calling everyone else EVIL, among other things. Did I make a mistake in choosing the path of Christianity???

No. I did not. Because I believe in the teachings; I reject the religion, which is based upon puritanistic, inflexible interpretations.

Jesus taught us to LOVE and he asked us to teach others his lessons. The best way to teach is by example, not by shoving those lessons down others' throats. There is no for and there is no against unless someone is, WITH CLEAR INTENT, intending to harm a child of the most high God. I see no harmful intent here, only in some of the responses I have read.

We are all One, and children of the One. Especially when we call Him the same name!!!

PAY ATTENTION. It is the true secret to life.

Answer 5

Yes, I see the contradiction too. Luke 9:50 vs Luke 11:23

It can logically be one OR the other, not BOTH.

I guess that about wraps it up for christinanity...(excuse the spelling mistake)

Answer 6

"Do you know nothing?
These are the words of God himself.
Tolerance and respect are the parents of Love."
This is not in the Bible, sorry.

As for someone 'coming alongside' who wasn't a direct disciple, so what? They could have been converts of the Ethiopian eunuch who heard the Word from Phillip:

Act 8:27 And he arose and went: and, behold, a man of Ethiopia, an eunuch of great authority under Candace queen of the Ethiopians, who had the charge of all her treasure, and had come to Jerusalem for to worship,
Act 8:34 And the eunuch answered Philip, and said, I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this? of himself, or of some other man?
Act 8:36 And as they went on [their] way, they came unto a certain water: and the eunuch said, See, [here is] water; what doth hinder me to be baptized?
Act 8:38 And he commanded the chariot to stand still: and they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.

The point is, whoever it was that the disciples saw, they were healing and spreading the Good NEWS of Jesus.

Answer 7

Gnostic, it would seem that they have reversed it intentionally. if you look at jesus's words "if they aren't against us then they are for us" and they switched the "against" and "for" around to suit themselves. It would seem that monkeying around with the Bible is OK for THEM to do but not ok for anyone else to do. What a shame too. They should actually READ and Follow the spirit of their Bible and not use it to hate folks.

Raji the Green Witch

Answer 8

AHA!

And thus we come to yet another fallacy of the fundies! In their monochrome world, THEY are good. Anything which is not THEM is not GOOD. And anything which is not GOOD must be BAD.

They work very hard to convince themselves of this monochromatic view of the world, because anything else would actually involve THINKING. You know, about good and evil and relative value and choices.

As long as they hold the "us vs. them" mentality, they are never required to actually think, only to close their minds and dig in their metaphorical heels.

Answer 9

There are hundreds of examples of people who claim to believe in the Bible and live by it, but completely ignore it. But what do you expect? It's the human condition to do what makes the most sense. To most people, it's comfortable to mold their religions to their own prejudices. Faith. Real faith in the words in the Bible is terrifying to most. What's sad is the number of victims this kind of behavior creates. The world needs more people like you that see that. ;)

Answer 10

First, Penguin That is part of the problem. Most don't read before they dispute.

And yes that would be a true statement. If you assume that that is not a misiterpretation.