I don't ascribe to any 'official' church doctrine. I assumed what I used was "what the NT had to say"...but, you appear to me as picking and choosing. The NT teaches the ways to deny Him are numerous...one is to be ashamed to be a Christian. This can be done in many ways.
When one is unwilling to tell others the good news about Jesus Christ - that's one way. Many Christians often allow fear and shame to be what compels us to not say a word to those who need to hear the Christian message.
Jesus said, “For whoever is ashamed of Me and of My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:37).
I can also deny my Lord through my disobedience. If I love Him, I'll keep His commandments/principles.
Well considering I created the topic, I most certainly have the right to pick and choose - as I clearly did with the conditions I set in my original post. I said I wanted to hear what the NT itself had to say on the issue, and preferably from Matthew, Mark, and Luke, since in the limited scholarly research I've done on the gospels, those appear to be more accurate IMO. But anyways, you gave me your interpretation of a verse, which is not the kind of answer I was looking for, I just want verses from the NT. And you did give me some, so thank you.
You brought up an interesting point I'd like to expand upon(the part of your quote I bolded). Christians believe Jesus, as the messiah, never sinned and thus lived perfectly according to the law - and they will go at great lengths to argue that this is true. They also believed he fulfilled the law in the sense that what he taught and stood for perfectly symbolized everything needed to be learned in the law, plus more. The point I would like to make, is that pretty much everything Jesus taught was in accordance with the teachings of the Hebrew Bible(OT), or so Christians believe at least. And if you wish to believe that Jesus perfectly kept the law and fulfilled it, then you must also believe that what he taught and stood for did not contradict the teachings of the Hebrew Bible. So if a Jew, for example, devotes his life to studying and living according to the Hebrew Bible, then in effect he is following the same things that Jesus taught.
My knowledge of the NT is not that great.. I read through the first 3 gospels several months ago, and I really enjoyed it. I was not ashamed of the things Jesus taught, rather I respected them and thought a lot of value and truth could be found in his teachings. He wasn't teaching radically new things, rather his message was very consistent with the Hebrew Bible. For example, when Jesus said "love your neighbor as yourself," he didnt make that up, rather he was reiterating the importance of a commandment in the Hebrew Bible. In many ways Jesus reminds me of the prophets of the Tanakh in the way that his message reiterates the importance of repenting and turning back to God's law. All of the prophets called for Israel to repent and return to God, and so did Jesus..
So far from this thread, the main answer I've been given is that to "deny" Jesus means to deny that truth can be found in his teachings. But if one follows the Hebrew Bible, then they are essentially following and respecting the exact things Jesus taught. I just think the saying "to deny Jesus" is not as black and white as a lot of Christians want to make it.
) and help them as a true brother/sister.