Here’s a conundrum to chew on:<\/p>\n\n\n
What do we make of Jesus’ prayer for unity<\/i><\/b> among his immediate disciples in John 17:11 (Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name … so that they may be one as we are one<\/i>) …\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
And for all future disciples in 17:20-21 (I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you<\/i>)?\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
This brings up two questions. The answer to the first seems obvious. The answer to the second is a challenge.<\/p>\n\n\n
Question #1: Were Jesus’ prayers for unity among believers heard by his Father?<\/p>\n\n\n
The obvious answer: Undoubtedly.<\/p>\n\n\n
Question #2: Were they granted?<\/p>\n\n\n
There are only two possible answers. But “No” seems inconceivable theologically and “Yes” seems inconceivable experientially!\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
If “No”, we have Jesus asking the Father for a good thing which seems to be in perfect alignment with God’s will – but then the Father fails to honor the prayer.<\/p>\n\n\n
If “Yes”, we have the Father granting unity to modern believers – who we notice are split up worldwide among the Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox branches, which “boast” an estimated 45,000 different denominations* between them!<\/p>\n\n\n
What’s your<\/b><\/i> answer? How do you resolve this?<\/p>\n\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n
* According to The Center for the Study of Global Christianity<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Here’s a conundrum to chew on: What do we make of Jesus’ prayer for unity among his immediate disciples in John 17:11 (Holy Father, protect them by the power of your name … so that they may be one as we are one) …\u00a0 And for all future disciples in 17:20-21 (I pray also for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9141,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9140\/revisions\/9141"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevegrossblog.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}