MHF Bible Study

Ok everyone please avoid posting in this thread until we have completed our first book. I'd like to keep this thread as clean as possible and as on topic as possible

So here is the Line up so far

Week 1: James discussion to begin on April 19th so everyone has enough time to read and reflect.

Remember if you want to take notes so you remember what you wanted to adress!

Happy reading everyone and God bless! and War Hughes(had to throw some juju in there)!

What I took from James was that we cannot claim to be Christians in word only but that our deeds should also reflect a Christian walk. Some say James contradicts Paul idea of faith alone. But what i think James is really saying is that your faith will produce works. Which goes along with the idea that they will know us by our fruits. The fruits is our works produced by our faith. SO if we see a person in need and all we do is wish them well ans say God bless and not try to meet their need, there is no way we can call ourselves a Christian. Those are my thoughts for now. I do not want to hog it.

The Book of James is definitely the Proverbs of the NT. There are a lot of people that claim to be Christians(CHRIST-LIKE), yet they bear no fruit in their life. I believe the Book of James is a clear blue print of the conduct of a Christian. And again, salvation is not by works, it is by faith. But faith without works is dead. Christ said if you love me, keep my commandments. So if we truly are saved and love the LORD JESUS, the works will manifest in our lives.

[NateR]

I would agree with everyone here. We don't do good works to get saved, we do good works because we are saved.

For example, a husband has to constantly show his wife that he loves her. If he just marries her and then never speaks to her again and never shows her any acts of kindness, then no one would believe that he ever really loved her to begin with. If he truly loved her, then that love would compel him to action. It wouldn't be something that he would have to force himself to do.

It's the same way with Christians, our love for GOD compels us to love others and to show that love with our actions. By no means does that require Christians to always be nice and to never speak harshly or critically of others, however there should always be an underlying thread of love in whatever we do (tough love is still love, BTW).

[Tyburn]

I'd like to know who the letter is addressed to?

I mean, Saint Paul writes to churches, usually those he founded on missionary trips...and they always say who they are being sent to

but James...well....who would be the church who would read his work? who was he writing for...because its like he actually wrote specifically for scripture

Originally Posted by Tyburn

I'd like to know who the letter is addressed to?

I mean, Saint Paul writes to churches, usually those he founded on missionary trips...and they always say who they are being sent to

but James...well....who would be the church who would read his work? who was he writing for...because its like he actually wrote specifically for scripture

It was addressed to the Diaspora (Jews scattered due to persecution) This is what is known as a circular letter. It was addressed and then sent to various churches to be read by its leaders. James knew his time was short and like they other leaders he wrote down key teachings in case he was killed, which he was.

While the Book of James is one of the most controversial in the Bible, it's applications are numerous. As stated previously, our faith walk requires some facet of knowledge of the Word, but it doesn't stop there. We need to view ourselves as conceived sinners and do whatever we can to iron out the wrongdoings we've committed. No one is perfect, only Jesus, but we will be far better off if we try to live like Christ did. This is found in the verse of James 1:23--For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror. It's not always fun to look at ourselves in the mirror, because mirrors don't lie. They show us our imperfections. How are we to correct ourselves if we don't see the truth?

I know I'm late sorry.


There isn't very much more I can add on to whatever said here but I will say the book of James just in the first chapter really showed me what I need to work out as a Christian.


It made me both sad and determined because of how far I was from being what a Christian should be. I am often times exactly what the book warns about... A christian who claims to be but does not produce Christian fruits. I'll have to work on that very hard. I don't want to be one of the blind and ignorant to my own folly.

I look forward to the walk and even more to the destination.

Originally Posted by Crisco

I know I'm late sorry.


There isn't very much more I can add on to whatever said here but I will say the book of James just in the first chapter really showed me what I need to work out as a Christian.


It made me both sad and determined because of how far I was from being what a Christian should be. I am often times exactly what the book warns about... A christian who claims to be but does not produce Christian fruits. I'll have to work on that very hard. I don't want to be one of the blind and ignorant to my own folly.

I look forward to the walk and even more to the destination.

Crisco, we're all in the same boat when it comes to conducting ourselves as Christians. I once had a pastor tell me that the bible is a lot like surgery. A surgery is performed to either repair something that is broken or remove something that should not be there. Well, the Bible does the very same thing in our lives when we read it and study it. Especially the Book of James.

HEY! WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BIBLE STUDY??

I'm ready to roll if you guys are!