We are now at 1 John chapter five. The reader is told that everyone who believes Jesus is the christ is a child of god. Everyone who loves god, loves his children. When a person loves the children of god, he loves god and obeys his commands. More bible logic.
All the children of god overcome the world by their faith that Jesus is the son of god. The victory is theirs. (Where is the battle?) Jesus came by water and blood. Whatever that means. How can anyone know this? The spirit testifies, and the spirit is the truth. The author says so. The spirit is not the only witness, The water and blood are witnesses as well. The three of them agree. This is almost funny.
The reason there is a mention of three witnesses is because the law required at least two witnesses to verify something in a court of law. The author next states that "We accept man's testimony, but god's testimony is greater because it is the testimony of god." There ought be classes on bible logic. The reader is told that God gave the testimony about his son. Anyone who believes in the son has the testimony of god. Round and round the circular logic we go. It's enough to make me dizzy.
What about the people who do not believe the "testimony" about Jesus? They do not believe god. That's as good as calling god a liar. This is god's testimony: "God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He who has the son has life; he who does not have the son of god does not have life." Harsh. Not only that, god speaks of himself in the third person.
The author is writing all this stuff so the reader can know he has eternal life, if he believes in the name of the son of god. That should give them confidence to ask god for anything...according to his will. (Always a caveat). God will hear the believer, if they know god will hear them. If god hears, they can know that he will deliver whatever they ask for. Doubt is probably doomed to fail. Does that mean failure to receive what you ask for is a tell?
The next passage is about sins. All wrong doing is sin. Apparently there are two kinds of sin, the kinds that don't lead to death and those that do. They are not defined, so I am left wondering which are which. A believer can pray about the sins that don't lead to death and god will give him life. The life he already had to begin with. A person shouldn't pray about sins that lead to death. He's toast.
The children of god don't keep on sinning, Jesus keeps them safe and the "evil one" can't get them. The whole world is under the control of the evil one. Never fear, more bible logic to the rescue. The son of god came and gave them understanding to know who is true. Guess who is true? Jesus! He is true because he says he is. Not only that, "He is the true god and eternal life." The son of god is god. How does that work? Don't break your brain trying to figure it out.
The letter ends with a single admonition "Dear children, keep yourselves from idols." After all, they've just been told who is the true god.
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