TRANSLATION: "I can't help it if I happen to have a unique Holy Ghost anointing, a gift of interpretation which exceeds that given to all men.
I say this in all humility knowing that God gives grace to the humble.
To my knowledge I was sinless through High School.
This can be proven by the nicknames given me by my class mates: 'Teacher's Pet, Brown Nose, and Mother's Little Helper.'
It wasn't until the infamous Summer of '69 that I was introduced to loosey Lucy, margaritas and Rock n Roll."
I do not think I have a unique anointing of the Holy Spirit, I think I have the same anointing of the Holy Spirit that every believer gets.
Look, I can read. In all 4 stories, no one was originally lost. This is not a parable about the Pharisees, Jesus NEVER gave them the impression they were sinless, he condemned them publicly. These stories are not about the gospel going to the Jews, and then to the Gentiles like the parable of the marriage in Matthew 22. No, Jesus clearly said this was a parable that shows God is not willing that any person should perish, and everyone in heaven rejoices when a sinner repents. So, the subject is salvation.
It was Jesus who made it a point to show no person was originally lost. He did not have to do this, but he chose to do this. It was Jesus who told us the elder son NEVER sinned. He did not have to tell us this, but he made it a point to tell us this.
Unlike the rest of you, I take Jesus's words seriously, and literally. I do not dismiss Jesus's words because they disagree with Augustine, or John Calvin, or Jonathan Edwards.
I would bet that many Christians, including many theologians recognized that these parables clearly refute Original Sin. But many were probably afraid to stand up and say so. They would have been cast out of the church or perhaps MUCH worse. They might have been beheaded or burned at the stake. This is how error persists so long in the church, because the powers that be do not like anyone who does not toe the line.
Like I said, I can read. Jesus spoke of 99 persons who did not go astray and need no repentance, he spoke of the elder son who never sinned against his father. It is our duty to find out who these persons are. They are not the angels, because Jesus called them just "persons" and the elder son was brother to the prodigal.
So who has never sinned? The ONLY possible answer is children who died very young before they knew right from wrong.
This view is supported by Matthew 18 where Jesus is speaking specifically of children. He tells his disciples they must be converted and become as little children to enter heaven. That alone should tell anyone that little children are not lost. He says not to despise little children because their angels do always behold his Father's face. Again this should tell any thinking person that children are not lost.
Then Jesus repeats the parable about a shepherd with 100 sheep, one goes astray, the shepherd searches until he finds it. Then Jesus clearly says it is not his Fathers will that "one of these
little ones should perish". And again, Jesus speaks here of 99 sheep which "went not astray". These must have also been little children. Read for yourself and see.
So, my view is not fantastic at all. It is some of these other interpretations that are wild and do not fit the stories whatsoever.
There certainly weren't 99 Pharisees for every layperson in Israel.
But have there been literally MILLIONS of babies that have died before they could sin? YES.
Mat 19:14 But Jesus said,
Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me:
for of such is the kingdom of heaven.
You guys are the ones with fantastic and unbelievable interpretations for Luke 15, not me.
