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[This is shared in compassion.]
Jesus is The Way and the Truth and the Life. In John 14:6, Thomas is the referent of the pronoun him.
John 14:6
Jesus says* to him, “I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Note: The asterisk [*] indicates past action described from the perspective of seeing the action as it occurs.
Free gift
Ephesians 2:8–9
…for by grace you are saved through faith and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not as a result of works, lest any man should boast.
Believing in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior Who was judged for the sins of humanity
John 3:14–16
“As Moses lifted up the serpent [the serpent made of bronze described in Numbers 21:8–9] in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that whosoever believes in Him will have eternal life, for God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten [uniquely born] Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
In Numbers 21, the standard/pole was something like a pole on which a flag or some other sort of banner is hung. In this case, a serpent design was on the standard/pole. Also, the Israelites were unable to save themselves from the snake bites. Looking up at the serpent design on the standard/pole was a non-meritorious act, just like believing in Jesus Christ as the Savior for eternal salvation is a non-meritorious act. In a non-meritorious act, the person doing the action receives zero merit. In other words, there is nothing about which a person can boast with regard to that action. The same applies to faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior for eternal salvation.
Numbers 21:8–9
Then Jehovah / Yahweh / I am I am / the existing One says to Moses, “Make [literally: Make for yourself] a fiery serpent and set it on a standard/pole, and it has come about, that everyone who is bitten, when he has looked at it, he has lived.” Moses makes a brass serpent and sets it on the standard/pole, and it has come about, that if a serpent has bitten any man, when he has looked to the bronze serpent, he has lived.
When, after a person has believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as the Savior, that believer sins, that believer should confess/acknowledge to God the Father—rather than to a man—all of that believerʼs known unconfessed post-salvation sins.
1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
In the Bible, the only instance of the use of the title Holy Father involves Jesus referring to God the Father.
John 17:11
“I am no longer in the world, but they themselves are in the world, and I come to You. Holy Father, keep/guard them by means of Your name that You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are.
Note: A personʼs name represents a personʼs character. In that regard, referring to a personʼs name involves referring to a personʼs reputation. God the Father had given His reputation to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ asked God the Father to keep/guard the Lordʼs disciples for the sake of the reputation of God the Father.
No calling a person father in a religious context
Matthew 23:9
“Do not call anyone on earth your father, for One is your Father, He Who is in Heaven.
Note: In the context of Matthew 23, rather than the word father in Matthew 23:9 referring to a man in authority within the scope of a family, the word father in Matthew 23:9 instead refers to a man in authority within the scope of worshiping the Trinity. With regard to worshipping the Trinity, the scope of the authority of a pastor is limited to teaching; therefore, the title father within the scope of worshiping the Trinity should be avoided in reference to a pastor, just as the title father within the scope of worshiping the Trinity should be avoided in reference to anyone except God the Father.
Also, it is important to note that the authority of a pastor is within the scope of teaching rather than within the scope of trying to force people to make certain decisions. Trying to force people to make certain decisions is spiritual bullying. Rather than being a spiritual bully, a pastor needs to be grace-oriented. With an attitude of grace orientation, a pastor must communicate the Word of God so that people can be well-informed when they use their volition (free will) to make the decisions that they make. In that regard, a pastor must respect the free will of others to make their own decisions without any coercion whatsoever. Making clear the truth and permitting others to make their own decisions about whether or not to make use of the truth is a manifestation of a grace-oriented ministry.
In the Bible, all references to the queen of heaven have a negative connotation. In that regard, the content of Jeremiah 7:18 and the content of Jeremiah 44:15–30 indicate that the queen of heaven is a false goddess.
Sufficiency of the Lord Jesus Christʼs work on the cross
John 19:30
Therefore, when Jesus had received the sour wine, He said, “It is finished!” Then He bowed His head and gave up His spirit.
One Mediator: Christ Jesus
1 Timothy 2:5–6
Indeed, there is one God and one Mediator also between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus, Who gave Himself as a Ransom for all, the testimony at due times / proper times / own times.
Sufficiency of Scripture
2 Timothy 3:16–17
All Scripture is God breathed and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God might be mature, having been thoroughly furnished unto all good work.
Note: The phrase God breathed means “inspired by God.”
Acts 17:10–12
The brethren immediately sent Paul and Silas away by night to Berea, who, when they arrived, went into the synagogue of the Jews. Now these were more noble-minded than those in Thessalonica, who received the word with all eagerness / readiness of mind, examining the Scriptures daily to see whether these things were so. Therefore, many of them believed, and not a few prominent Greek women and men.
Note: The phrase not a few means “quite a few.”
Peter, when healing a lame man, called attention to Peterʼs lack of ostentatious wealth.
Acts 3:6
However, Peter said, “I do not possess silver and gold, but what I do have, I give to you: in the name of Jesus Christ the Nazarene, walk!”
Paul indicated that those communicating a different gospel are to be accursed.
Galatians 1:8–9
However, even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel other than what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, so I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel other than what you received, he is to be accursed!
An angel did not want to receive glorification from the apostle John.
Revelation 22:8–9
I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed me these things, but he says* to me, “Do not do that. I am a fellow servant of yours and of your brethren the prophets and of those who keep the words of this book. Worship God.”
Paul warned about people who promote a system of asceticism involving celibacy and abstaining from foods.
1 Timothy 4:1–3
However, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times, some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron, who forbid marriage, who bid abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church, which is compared to a wife following her husbandʼs leadership.
Ephesians 5:23
…for the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the Head of the Church, He Himself being the Savior of the body.
Itʼs worth considering the possibility that the religious and political organization that is a church and a state, has a bank, is headquartered at Vatican City in the area of the seven hills of Rome, and is run by a hierarchy of people who say and do things that contradict what is contained herein is the entity that content in Revelation 17 and 18 refers to as the great harlot having purple and scarlet garments adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls and having a gold cup, Babylon, the mother of the harlots, and the great city which has a kingdom over the kings of the earth and which will be destroyed by the beast dictator and his ten subordinates. In that regard, the harlot references in Revelation 17 and 18 contrast with the wife reference in Ephesians 5:23.
This webpage could be periodically updated. If there is a mass disappearance of people professing to be Christians, and if the original author of this webpage is amongst those people disappearing en masse, then it is possible that this webpage will no longer be updated. Also, if there is a mass disappearance of people professing to be Christians, it is worthwhile to consider the possibility that those people have exited from the earth on the occasion known as the Rapture instead of assuming that that mass disappearance involves extraterrestrials abducting those people or involves the annihilation of those people or involves anything else other than the Rapture.
Below are links related to archived copies of this webpage.
archive.is/John314-16.com/The_Way.html
archive.ph/John314-16.com/The_Way.html
web.archive.org/*/John314-16.com/The_Way.html
Also, it is possible that it is worthwhile to print this content in case of time periods involving lack of Internet connectivity.
Sincerely,
John