How do you interpret 1Thes4:17?

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How do you interpret 1Thes4:17?; Right of stewards to interpret
Topic Started: Jul 25 2006, 01:14 AM (51 Views)
stanleyg	Jul 25 2006, 01:14 AM Post #1
Unregistered	How do you interpret 1Thes4:17? 1Thes4 [17] Then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. The U.S. Supreme Court interprets the meaning of (Congress shall not make laws that respect the establishment of religion) as to connote "Separation of Church and State". The actual phrase doesn't exist in the U.S. Constitution. If U.S. Supreme Court Justices have the right to interpret man's law, then do stewards of Christ have the right to interpret God's word?
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conan025	Nov 25 2006, 12:46 AM Post #2
Newbie Posts: 6 Group: Members Member #66 Joined: November 1, 2006	That is precisely why I see myself becoming Catholic in the near future. Thank God that the most essential truths are clearly spelled out in scripture. There are, however, difficult passages, such as the one you mentioned. They can lead to all kinds of confusion, which is how cults get started. This is where we need a guide to tell us how to correctly understand these and other passages. (Acts 8:31)



may	Dec 1 2006, 08:28 AM Post #3
Unregistered	The Bible interprets itself, and we have the Holy Spirit to guide us and teach us God's understanding and His wisdom. It is easy for man to come along and twist scripture- especially if we don't know the whole Word for ourselves. Someone can take a scripture here and one there and twist it out of context. Therefore, we, as believers, since we are all responsible for our own walk, must know the context of the scriptures. Yes, we need teachers because God has ordained some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors-teachers (Ephesians 4:11), but let us all be Bereans- testing what is taught to us by constantly referring back to the scritputes and seeking the truth through prayer and fasting. Act 17:11 "The people of Berea were more open-minded than the people of Thessalonica. They were very willing to receive God's message, and every day they carefully examined the Scriptures to see if what Paul said was true. " We need to do this with anyone (human) who teaches us, so that we will not be misled. There are many false teachers and false prophets, and we must study to show ourselves approved.2Ti 2:15 Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. Will we get to heaven and plead with God "...but this person said such-and-such". Not me. And I will not use Man's actions as my guide to what I will do with the Word of God re: let the actions of the U.S. Supreme Court be my example. Christ is my example. It's a good thing He listened to God instead of the Pharissees and teachers of the law. It would be wonderful if the leaders in this country still followed God as they did when the U.S. was first formed. As stewards of Christ, we are to follow Him even if the government decides we should disobey God, do we then follow the government or follow God and disobey the government? Act 4:15 The officials commanded them to leave the council room. Then the officials said to each other, Act 4:16 "What can we do with these men? Everyone in Jerusalem knows about this miracle, and we cannot say it didn't happen. Act 4:17 But to keep this thing from spreading, we will warn them never again to speak to anyone about the name of Jesus." Act 4:18 So they called the two apostles back in and told them that they must never, for any reason, teach anything about the name of Jesus. Act 4:19 Peter and John answered, "Do you think God wants us to obey you or to obey him? Act 4:20 We cannot keep quiet about what we have seen and heard." We must also be careful ourselves not to twist the scriptures in order to justify our actions, but seek the truth even if it cuts us to the heart. We must not avoid the conviction of the Holy Spirit by picking through the scriptures. As for 1 Thessalonians 4:17, Stanley, you asked how do we interpret it. But the rest of the post did not discuss this scripture. It seems pretty straight forward to me, but I would like to discuss it because I love eschatology. Conan the difficult passages are sometimes precisely where false teachers come in and set the ship off-course by just a few degrees. Then, after sailing a few hours, the boat is 1,000 miles off course, even when the essential truths are clearly spelled out. We can start out knowing where the goal is, and get thrown off course by minutae. I pray peace and protection for the saints, and Conan, please research the doctrines of the Roman Catholic church carefully before you subscribe to see if what they preach lines up with scripture. There are some doctrines that I cannot condone. For example, I do not believe it is scriptural to pray to Mary or any other saint, and trans-substantiation is not scriptral, either. The Bible says Christ died once for all. He does not die again and again every time we take communion. Rom 6:8 If we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. Rom 6:9 We know that Christ, who was brought back to life, will never die again. Death no longer has any power over him. Rom 6:10 When he died, he died once and for all to sin's power. But now he lives, and he lives for God. 1 Thessalonians 4:17 is pretty good news. Grace and love be with you, my brothers May
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