PreachTony
Active Member
To post 48.....
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Yeah, that was basically my reaction as well, C1.
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To post 48.....
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Well, considering the thread was closed after you made one of the most horrifying and frankly heretical statements I've ever read on this forum, I cannot quote it with links. However, I will do a copy-and-paste of your words, Gerhard.
And I'm linking to the thread here:
http://www.baptistboard.com/showthread.php?t=97571&page=5
Look at Post #48 for the reason the thread was closed. As I wrote earlier, it is one of the most horrifying and heretical things I've read on this board.
To post 48.....
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Yeah, that was basically my reaction as well, C1.
Hey!! You stole one of myyou jerk!! I kid, I kid!!!
Whoa....![]()
Seriously, I don't know if I'm just sheltered or something, but I have never read anything that terrible as part of a serious conversation about doctrine or the meaning of scripture. I've never heard a doctrine or theology touting anything so dreadfully wrong and unscriptural.
Indeed. That is a first for me.
Lord willing a last too.
Makes me nauseous.
Seriously, I don't know if I'm just sheltered or something, but I have never read anything that terrible as part of a serious conversation about doctrine or the meaning of scripture. I've never heard a doctrine or theology touting anything so dreadfully wrong and unscriptural.
It is; it's sickening and disgusting. I actually wrestled with myself after replying to it...having an argument with myself over giving him ground to spout such malicious and deceitful nonsense.
Here is a quote of Gerhard's that I believe is key. When I stated that nobody in the Early Church believed anything like what Gerhard believes here is the response:
'And it many times has so happened that in my search after Jesus Christ my Lord, that He made me in my search DISCOVER MOST WONDERFUL THINGS!
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When I confronted Gerhard with the fact that nobody in the Early Church believed anything like this, his response was, 'I don't care.' So, I concluded that he concedes this was not believed throughout the history of Christianity.
Understandable.
So has GE declared what denomination he is a part of or what confession he abides by?
His profile says "Reformed" but I do not see much if anything in what he's said that reflects what we normally consider Reformed Theology.
I have asked him repeatedly to disclose what denomination/sect he claims. Over the years anyone who has asked him has been ignored. Under 'Home Church' in the profile he only lists the city in which he lives in South Africa. I don't think you will have much success in asking him to declare it. My best guess is that he is part of some SDA spin-off based on what is on the website he has linked at the bottom of his posts. Remember, The Branch Davidians were also an SDA spin-off with REALLY bizarre beliefs that came through 'Divine Revelation'.
And, your right, this is NOT any reformed theological position I have ever heard of.
Recently I was involved in a discussion with a fellow BB member in which I was told that the only time Jesus bled was in the Garden of Gethsemane. He claimed that Jesus's physical body was not even marred by the scourging and crucifixion, which is in direct opposition to Isaiah 52:14 "his visage was so marred more than any man, and his form more than the sons of men." The original comment on this issue was that the Bible explicitly states Jesus bled in the Garden during His prayer, and in no other place does the Bible say Jesus bled.
The argument for this comes from the following verse:
I disagree with this basis for an argument, as the scripture says "and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood," not "and his sweat was great drops of blood." But I countered the argument with the fact that Jesus was very much human, while being divine, and any human body subjected to a Roman scourging and crucifixion would bleed profusely. The scripture even tells us that Jesus was beaten by the soldiers, a crown of thorns was placed on His head, He was whipped (fulfilling the prophecy that 'by his stripes we are healed'), He was smote with rods, His beard was plucked out, and finally nails were driven into His hands and feet and a spear was driven into his side. To say that a human body could be subjected to all of those things and not bleed, simply because the scripture does not explicitly state that He bled, is bothersome.
As I began to study this doctrine, I found it seemingly based mostly in Mormonism. Apparently, Mormon doctrine holds that Jesus's work of atonement was mainly accomplished in the Garden, where during His prayer He "bled from every pore of His body."
Per the link:
and
Now, I've always taken the prayer in the Garden to be an exposition to us of the very human side of our Savior, as He revealed the natural, physical fear and anxiety of facing the trials coming His way: the arrest, the scourging, the crucifixion. It also revealed to us the inherent weakness of men following the Lord, as the disciples who joined Jesus in the Garden could not even stay awake with the Savior as He prayed in advance of His passion.
I believe the gospels bear this out. No where else in scripture does it say that our atonement came from the Garden. In Mark 10:21, Jesus told the rich young man to "take up the cross," not to "join me in the Garden." In Galatians 2:20, Paul writes "I am crucified with Christ," not "I am in the Garden praying with Christ."
Has anyone else ever encountered this doctrine? It completely took me by surprise. (Granted, the person touting this doctrine went on to spout off some other doctrines that frankly horrified me.)
The whole idea of Christ shedding his blood for our sins has its significance in the Old Testament concept that refers to shedding blood UNTO DEATH so that the WHOLE LIFE is given up. The sacrificial victim must be "without spot and blemish" which is a type of the SINLESS LIFE of Christ. Simply making the victim bleed did not provide a sacrifice for anyone. The victim had to shed his blood UNTO DEATH so that the LIFE in its entirety was given up in behalf of the one that the victim was offered up in behalf of.
Christ did not shed blood in the garden UNTO DEATH. Only on the cross did he shed blood UNTO DEATH. No matter how much blood he shed in the garden would be of no consequence whatsoever, unless it was UNTO DEATH.
Hence, what is "precious" about the "blood" of Christ is not the literal nature of the blood, or that Christ might have bled many times throughout his life including the garden, but of the typical significance of what it SACRIFICIALLY REPRESENTS - THE WHOLE RIGHTEOUS LIFE given in death, thus providing a substitutionary sacrifice in our behalf - his life for our life.
The "blood" that cleanses our "conscience" (Heb. 9:14) is not referring to LITERAL blood somehow made to literally clean inside our head. The "blood" is REPRESENTATIVE of the good news of the gospel that bring peace to the guilt ridden conscience in that it informs the conscience that God's righteous demands and penalty against us has been completely satisfied by the righteousness of Christ's life and death in our place - paid in full. That is what cleanses the conscience from the guilt of sin.
It is; it's sickening and disgusting. I actually wrestled with myself after replying to it...having an argument with myself over giving him ground to spout such malicious and deceitful nonsense.
I have asked him repeatedly to disclose what denomination/sect he claims. Over the years anyone who has asked him has been ignored. Under 'Home Church' in the profile he only lists the city in which he lives in South Africa. I don't think you will have much success in asking him to declare it. My best guess is that he is part of some SDA spin-off based on what is on the website he has linked at the bottom of his posts. Remember, The Branch Davidians were also an SDA spin-off with REALLY bizarre beliefs that came through 'Divine Revelation'.
And, your right, this is NOT any reformed theological position I have ever heard of.
Branch Davidians are a split from the Davidian church ... which is itself formerly "Shepherd's Rod".
At some point you can trace Lutheran's back to the RCC but that does not mean that you can blame everything Lutherans do or believe on Catholics.
As some point you can grace Methodists back to the Church of England and then back to the Catholic church. But that does not mean you can blame everything Methodists believe or do on Catholics.
IMHO.
Well, The Branch Davidian Seventh Day Adventists Church is a split off the SDA, right? And the Waco bunch was a split from the split, right?
I'm sorry you feel I was 'blaming' the actions of these split off groups on the SDA, I was not. I simply wanted to establish why I was thinking that Gerhard's associations might well be with a split leading back to Adventist doctrines. I think if you look at his website you might conclude the same thing.
I'm just guessing here because I doubt Gerhard will ever disclose what sect he is a part of. We will just get some disjointed ramblings from him.