Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:What is a brother to you?
FL
A Christian is a Brother in the body of Christ. A close friend is a brother to me because we are connected so strongly. That's about it. in the truest sense of the term a Christian is my brother. Alright?
DannyM wrote:Just been thinking, I call my close friends “brother”.
Friends, even atheist friends, who I’ve grown up with from when I was a nipper. We are like brothers, really close.
So wouldn’t it be appropriate to call Christian brothers “Brothers“? I wouldn’t be strict in my view about it, but I think this is the way.
Danny, if they are real Brothers, then a capital B should be used. If they are nominally brothers, then a lower case b.
John 5:24 24 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life.
“A nation of sheep will beget a government of wolves.”
-Edward R Murrow
St. Richard the Sarcastic--The Patron Saint of Irony
Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:What is a brother to you?
FL
A Christian is a Brother in the body of Christ. A close friend is a brother to me because we are connected so strongly. That's about it. in the truest sense of the term a Christian is my brother. Alright?
OK. Which is better, Brother or brother? Which would you rather spend an evening with?*
FL
*an evening doing your favourite activity.
Hold everything lightly. If you don't, it will hurt when God pries your fingers loose as He takes it from you. -Corrie Ten Boom
+ + +
If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.
OK. Which is better, Brother or brother? Which would you rather spend an evening with?*
FL
*an evening doing your favourite activity.
It’s a loaded question. One of my favourite activities is going to the football, having a drink, watching Chelsea, having a sing song and then back to the local to finish the night off. Don’t get round to it as much these days mind.
Another favourite is bible group, where we will perhaps talk about the transformation of Paul, the contrast from the old to the new, and the flourishing of the first Theologian.
Two distinct activities, the first involving myself and brothers from the neighbourhood, the second involving Brothers and Sisters in Christ. So it is pretty moot. I don’t have a Brother in Christ who is into the football in such a big way; I don’t have a brother from home who is into bible group at all.
DannyM wrote:Two distinct activities, the first involving myself and brothers from the neighbourhood, the second involving Brothers and Sisters in Christ. So it is pretty moot. I don’t have a Brother in Christ who is into the football in such a big way; I don’t have a brother from home who is into bible group at all.
Well...that's life. You have a sports car and a family sedan but you can't drive both at the same time.
FL
Hold everything lightly. If you don't, it will hurt when God pries your fingers loose as He takes it from you. -Corrie Ten Boom
+ + +
If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.
Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Well...that's life. You have a sports car and a family sedan but you can't drive both at the same time.
FL
So wait, are you asking me to choose between the two?
Like most people (Christian and otherwise) you are already doing that. I don't see anything wrong here. Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 and see if you can apply it to both your sports car and your family sedan.
FL
Hold everything lightly. If you don't, it will hurt when God pries your fingers loose as He takes it from you. -Corrie Ten Boom
+ + +
If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.
Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:Well...that's life. You have a sports car and a family sedan but you can't drive both at the same time.
FL
So wait, are you asking me to choose between the two?
Like most people (Christian and otherwise) you are already doing that. I don't see anything wrong here. Read 1 Corinthians 9:19-23 and see if you can apply it to both your sports car and your family sedan.
FL
I think you are seeing something different to what I am saying. Friends of mine who have no interest in God I call brother. We love each other like brothers. We have a saying where I come from: "You're like a brother from a different mother." We have been through thick and thin together.
Christians I am calling Brother because of this already existent "brother"… and out of respect for the unique Brotherhood of those in Christ. This sort of brotherhood, it seems to me, ought to be elevated above the everyday use of the term “brother” among a close-knit bunch of friends.
Now, FL, if I'm being slow here then please spell out the issue.
DannyM wrote:I think you are seeing something different to what I am saying. Friends of mine who have no interest in God I call brother. We love each other like brothers. We have a saying where I come from: "You're like a brother from a different mother." We have been through thick and thin together.
I got that.
DannyM wrote:Christians I am calling Brother because of this already existent "brother"… and out of respect for the unique Brotherhood of those in Christ. This sort of brotherhood, it seems to me, ought to be elevated above the everyday use of the term “brother” among a close-knit bunch of friends.
OK by me.
DannyM wrote:Now, FL, if I'm being slow here then please spell out the issue.
If you want to write brother with a capital B when you refer to Christians, fine.
Brother FL
Hold everything lightly. If you don't, it will hurt when God pries your fingers loose as He takes it from you. -Corrie Ten Boom
+ + +
If they had a social gospel in the days of the prodigal son, somebody would have given him a bed and a sandwich and he never would have gone home.
Furstentum Liechtenstein wrote:
If you want to write brother with a capital B when you refer to Christians, fine.
Brother FL
Thanks, Brother FL. I thought you might be feeling around for a fight, but couldn’t quite grasp what your target was. I must be getting paranoid in me old age
