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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
81 | Age of Miracles - Past or Present | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 126090 | ||
I have to apologize. I re-read my post and I guess I wasn't perfectly clear. What I meant to say is that I do believe in miracles from God in today's world but he dispenses them at His discretion, probably with some subtlety but directly to the recipients. You have probably heard of the person who goes to the doctor and gets the proverbial and horrible final briefing from that doctor about his having terminal cancer and he's got a short time to live, maybe a few months. Six months later, he shows back in the doctor's office and low and behold the cancer is in complete remission and now it looks like the person will live for several years. That's a pretty clear miracle. Or the person that walks away from a car accident when the car looks like a crumpled up paper wad. Yes, my friend, we do live in an age of miracles but directly from God to the recipient, no human 3rd party intervening or channeling God's power like in the first century with Apostles. I'm saying that God wants us to graduate from this love affair with this physcial world and learn to prefer His Spiritual World BUT to wait for His calling us Home to get away from this world. We must re-read 1 Cor 13 and learn to prefer love, God like love, unconditional love for our fellow man and for our God and Father and we should do so in preference to the other Spiritual Gifts that God bestows on us. I'm convinced that he never meant for man to be able to dispense these kinds of miracles after the Apostles died along with those on whom they laid their hands. Otherwise, in this world of extreme spiritual immaturity, people would end up worshipping such beings like they tried in the first century. No, our God wants us to come to Him, based on our faith and not on what we see and experience. If we were to actually experience a miracle at the hands of a mere man like the first century then it lessons our faith and our dependence on Him. I hope this clears up this misunderstanding. God bless. Rowdy |
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82 | Age of Miracles - Past or Present | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 126084 | ||
I've stated it a couple of times on the Forum but it bears repeating. I do believe very strongly in the age of miracles. We're living in that age at this very moment and probably will continue to do so until the Day of Judgment. What am I saying, you ask? I'm saying I believe very strongly that only God or the Godhead practice miracles and impart them directly to the receipient here on earth, usually at the behest of someone praying. I'm only trying to inspire folks to comply with the Bible and "test the spirits in everything," most especially when people claim to have some miraculous power. The only possible standard God's people would use in testing the spirits would be the Word of God. So with speaking in tongues, are all the listeners able to understand like as done on the day at Pentacost? Did these folks speaking EVER have an ocassion to learn the language or was it truly bestowed on them in a supernatural manner? Miraculous healing must be more than healing of backpains and headaches. Are severed body parts restored? Are there lepers healed with new-born skin? Are those born crippled able to leap for joy immediately after being healed? Are those born blind able to see perfectly and immediately after being healed? Is life restored to a person after several hours/days after true, complete, clinical death? And of course, all of these miracles of healing must be done without any assistance from modern medicine or equipment of any kind. So, you see, I'm just advocating evaluating the miralces in today's world by the same standard that we see portrayed in the Bible. Now I know one classic response is that the quality or level of healing or hearing/understanding miraculous speech is dependent on the spiritual maturity of the recipient BUT that is simply NOT the Biblical way to look at the subject. Never, not even once in all the Bible, did the spiritual condition of the recipient ever impede the execution or the quality of the miracle in the Bible. True enough, the maturity of the disciples before Christ's death prevented their being effective as they readily admitted but not after His resurrection. At any rate, I must insist as we all should, we must look at this matter carefully and make certain the miracles of today truly do come from God because if they come from any other source, they should be ignored as non-existent. Why am I so insistent on this point? I'm glad you ask. Again, throughout the NT, there was only two instances where christians manifested miraculous powers WITHOUT the gift of "the laying on of the Apostles hands," in Acts 2 and Acts 10. We all know Acts 2 was when the church was established and Acts 10 was the endowment of power to Cornelius and his household for the single express purpose of impressing on Apostle Peter and the rest of the Apostles that the Gospel was for the whole world and not just for the Jews. So, the conclusion is that only the Apostles and those on whom they "laid their hands" manifested these miraculous powers. Further, we can conclude that since none of these folks are here living any longer, there can be no one with such God given powers. Any such miraculous powers must be from another source. However in an effort to maintain an open mind, I would like to witness an actual miracle at some point in my lifetime. So if you know of anyone who can actually perform miracles like those described above, I'd certainly like to hear about it. Hope this helps. God bless. Rowdy |
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83 | Age of Miracles - Past or Present | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 125880 | ||
Can you please describe the most spectaculor of these miracles that you've performed. Give us details and the number of witnesses. I'd truly like to see a miracle in my lifetime. Please do respond with those details. Thanks and God bless. Rowdy | ||||||
84 | Age of Miracles - Past or Present | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 125879 | ||
By the way, Welcome to the Forum, it's always good to see newcomers. I have to agree with you, this is one of the toughest verses in the Bible and one of the most controversial. I guess like it's been stated by many in past, it all comes to a point as to the meaning of just is "that which is Perfect." In my opinion, that discussion is pretty well cited on the Forum and you've seen my opinion. My question to you here would be, What do we use as a "yardstick" to measure these modern day miracles, speaking in tongues, faith healing and all other miraculous powers? Naturally, most everyone responds with "Well of course, silly, we should use the Bible" but I'd like to nail it down to specifics. How would you descibe a modern day miracle so we could be assured that it truly does come from God and not as a figment of someone's imagination? God does expect us to test the spirits to see if they really are the real McCoy. Take for example, speaking in tongues, how do we determine if it is truly is a God given gift, a miraculous power? God bless. Rowdy |
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85 | Age of Miracles - Past or Present | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 125844 | ||
I must admit, I don't know how to answer your questions. They do seem to apply to the discussion, but I'm not sure how anyone could answer. Maybe you could help me out by attempting an answer yourself. Please give them a shot. I'd also be interested in seeing your direct answer to my post or question. I'll keep watching. Thanks and God bless. Rowdy |
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86 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123419 | ||
I really do appreciate your maturity, your kindness and open mindedness. My wife has been telling me lately I'm spending too much time on this Forum to suit her anyway. So I think I'll follow Colin's lead and take a few weeks vacation and see what develops. If the Lord decides that I need to stay off the Forum permanently I can accept that. It's been a real pleasure reading your posts and exchanging ideas and opinions about God's Holy Word. Thanks for your support. God's richest blessings on everything you do and say. Keep the faith, dear friend. --Rowdy |
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87 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123402 | ||
Cited once again for reference: 1 Cor 7:5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of command. 7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. So, let me understand you correctly. You are advocating that all single christians in today's world must remain as they are and NOT marry. How can you possibly defend this position? One more scripture I might submit as a help in this situation: 1 Pet 3:14 But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, 15 but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; 16 and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame. In verse 15, the Greek word for defense includes the concept of using our intellect in a logical manner so as to make the defense a solid one, based on a thorough understanding of God's Word. I would submit to you that this is a perfect command to us as christians to use our intellect and approach God's Word with a proper amount of emphasis on the context which includes the writer's identification, the recipient, the background or issue being discussed. Thus we see in the passage from Paul to the Corinthians, both instructions from God AND separate instructions from Paul. These two sets of instructions had very different purposes. God's priority with regard to marriage has always been to keep the marriage together as a couple, both partners faithful to each other. It is clear from these verses from Paul, that he thought it would be better "in view of the present distress" (v26) that his fellow christians avoid marriage. But Paul's instructions here were NOT from God or the Holy Spirit as he so clearly indicated. With that said, I do wish to end this controversy and would like to make this my last post to this thread. I think I've already proven my love and devotion to God and His Word. God bless. --Rowdy |
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88 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123395 | ||
Thank you, dear friend. It does seem this fact has been overlooked. I'm so grateful for those with a level head for clear thinking and thorough reading. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
89 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123365 | ||
I'll address this note to you and hope that Searcher sees it as he is joining with you in the same position. There's always going to be disagreements between Bible students; that's one thing is as definite as the Judgment Day. So we'll just have to agree to disagree. It seems clear with the amount of ambiguity as displayed in our posts and the scriptures supporting them, there's room for this disagreement. I'm just thankful it's not critical to a person's salvation. Thanks for the objective review and comments. God bless. --Rowdy |
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90 | What is the answer to this question? | Luke 20:4 | Rowdy | 123348 | ||
To me personally, if a person were to say that to a new convert in my presence, I would have pull that person aside and counsel them that they should be more concerned with dispensing the love of God through their ministry than showing off their ability to speak in a questionable language. 1 Cor 13 makes this very, very clear. Love outranks everything else we do as christians. It MUST be paramount to everyone that is our top priority. In this scenario, a person should be willing to take a little discouragement since they are the stronger person of faith as per Paul's instructions. Just my opinion. God bless. --Rowdy |
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91 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123347 | ||
I'll agree with the overall sentiment of your statement but surely you're not trying to say that all of us should avoid marriage as per Paul's instructions. Again I say Paul's instructions were directed to a special audience to deal with a particular crisis. Now, when and if we have a similar crisis those words might be more applicable. But as it stands now Paul was clarifying his opinions from the Lord's commands. This kind of guidance allowed those folks options just as we have in today's world. Paul loved them so much, he just didn't want to see them get hurt. I'll have to stand by my statement and let the Forum Watchers make their judgment as they need to. When it comes down to following the words or men or God, I'm afraid I will always side with Joshua, his family, Peter, John and all the others in the Bible. I'll still pray for God to help enlighten you on this tough subject. God bless. --Rowdy PS: I'm sorry but I just gotta ask. IF you knew this much about this controversy, why did you copy only a portion of my statement which made it appear to be a misrepresentation to the casual observer? |
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92 | What is the answer to this question? | Luke 20:4 | Rowdy | 123345 | ||
The horribly awful answer to your question is Yes. I've already experienced a family member (my own sister) who is no longer faithful. She grew up in the same home as my brother and myself and my other sister. But our two alligences are quite different. My father gets quite emotional about it, especially since he was an elder and is now in his eighties. Ocassionally we talk about her but we just resign ourselves to just loving her. Some things just can't be changed but then Jesus did warn us this would happen. So yes, I speak from experience; that's why I say it's horribly awful for indeed it is. God bless. --Rowdy PS: As far as the proverbial "death bed confession," that my friend is something I leave to God and do so with much gratitude. |
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93 | What is the answer to this question? | Luke 20:4 | Rowdy | 123343 | ||
Thank you very much. That was very enlightening. I've always wondered how and why the practice of baptisms got started. Your post makes a lot of sense. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
94 | I Tim 2:12 Paul's opinion or God's Word? | 1 Tim 2:12 | Rowdy | 123342 | ||
Stever, dear friend, It appears you are misrepresenting the facts but I'm going to assume you just made an honest mistake and will go on from there. Thus I cite my statement as it appeared as follows "Like you say, WHEN Paul is giving guidance that is only coming from him WITHOUT the Holy Spirit's sponsoring, he says so very clearly but in the Epistle to Timothy, he's very plain and straight forward. There's no room for interpretation." As an example of what I was talking about with this statement, I cite the following scripture 1 Cor 7:5 Stop depriving one another, except by agreement for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer, and come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 6 But this I say by way of concession, not of command. 7 Yet I wish that all men were even as I myself am. However, each man has his own gift from God, one in this manner, and another in that. 8 But I say to the unmarried and to widows that it is good for them if they remain even as I. 9 But if they do not have self-control, let them marry; for it is better to marry than to burn with passion. 10 But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband 11 (but if she does leave, she must remain unmarried, or else be reconciled to her husband), and that the husband should not divorce his wife. 12 But to the rest I say, not the Lord, that if any brother has a wife who is an unbeliever, and she consents to live with him, he must not divorce her. Here we see Paul dealing with a very, very tough subject and several times, he goes back and forth giving guidance as speaking for the Lord and in other instances, just giving his opinion or stating his prefernce under the circumstances (which I believe he was referring to the amount of persecution christians were undergoing). Now that's done, let's go back to what you've done. For future reference so YOU don't ruin someone else's reputation or your own and get yourself "thrown off" the Forum, I would urge you to be more thorough in reviewing controversial posts such as mine, most ESPECIALLY if you're making a serious accusation as stated in your post. As you've already discovered, I don't hesitate to deal with some thorny issues and speak maybe just a little impulsively myself. But as I've stated many times before, my posts to this Forum will ALWAYS be Bible based or I'll try to make it clear I'm just stating my opinion. But even then my opinions will be based on inferences from God's Word and will be at least the best of my ability, based on solid logic therefrom. I do hope this is the end of this controversy. I look forward to a very long and fruitful ministry here on this Forum, including future discussions with you. God bless. --Rowdy |
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95 | What is the answer to this question? | Luke 20:4 | Rowdy | 123332 | ||
Notice in verse 21, Peter says "Corresponding to that." Even back in the first century, folks recognized the value of understanding God's Word in context. 1 Pet 3:18 For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; 19 in which also He went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison, 20 who once were disobedient, when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah, during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water. 21 Corresponding to that, baptism now saves you--not the removal of dirt from the flesh, but an appeal to God for a good conscience--through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who is at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him. I realize you and I will never agree on a few issues, this being one of them but I do enjoy discussing them with you. Thanks for your patience and God bless. --Rowdy |
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96 | God and gods? | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 123321 | ||
Greetins Following Him, Having just read your post, along with Hank's, Tim's and Zsuzsi and at least a good portion of the other posts on this thread, I felt "inspired" to throw in my two cents worth. After you get mine and Hank's age, a person begins to show an ocassional spot of frustration now and again. Although we may talk like and try to imitate God and His Perfect level of Love, it's tough for most humans to even come close to that standard. Along with that love, we're also commanded to take a "tough love" approach with false teachers and others when they refuse to believe in the basic truth as exhibited in the Bible. You might want to refer to Jesus' Words in Matt 7:6 Do not give what is holy to the dogs; nor cast your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you in pieces. Now I agree, the tough part in this scripture is figuring out who are the dogs or the pigs but at least you see where I'm going with this post. I'd be the last person in the world to call another human being a pig or a dog in the sense of the verse above but I'd also be one of the first to agree that the ideas and views as promoted by the cults such as discussed here are and should be treated as worse than dogs, maybe even vermin. So we're going to strive for God's love but please understand we are all human and we'll continue to make mistakes, stumble and fall. As long as we get back up and re-attempt our struggle to get back to God, following Peter's lead instead of Judas, we're doing good. I might add, when a Forum user doesn't show his profile long after he finds out how to complete it, naturally it raises our suspicious nature. I hope this helps you understand a little better. God bless. --Rowdy |
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97 | God and gods? | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 123287 | ||
Good post. My only addition would be just a reminder as I'm sure you'll agree. Everything we do on the Forum MUST be done with the God like love we see from our Father and exhibited in our Bibles. We must do this so as to emphasize to our participants and readers that the souls of everyone come first and foremost. With this proper emphasis, we may HOPE some of the Jehovah's Witnesses folks might come around and be converted to true Lord and Savior of this world. God bless. --Rowdy |
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98 | Revealing error is persecution? :-) | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 123283 | ||
Welcome to the Forum. Your post was quite well written with good solid scripture in support. I'm hoping to entice you into revealing a little more about yourself, your background and experiences. You can do so by clicking on Update User Info at the lower left corner of your screen and update your profile. If you'd like to read the profiles of other Forum participants you may do so by clicking on their name in red or blue and underlined. Good to have you as part of the team. God bless. --Rowdy |
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99 | "Least in the kingdom of God"? | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 123281 | ||
I thought it might be helpful if I copied one of my previous posts to Miss JW. If you're interested in following the chain of thought in the thread, the Post No is 121627. Miss JW, Apparently you and the others of your faith are getting a lot of heat because of your background. I thought I'd try to help you and some others get to the actual root cause of all the controversy. You see, here at the Study Bible Forum, ALL of us believe in ALL of the Bible and the Bible's most emphatic point to us modern earth dwellers in this century is that Jesus Christ is the Living God in charge of this world. He came to this planet of sinful man for the express purpose of saving the souls of ALL mankind, past, present and future with His Perfect sacrifice of His own sinless body and life. IF a person come to the SBF to discuss and exchange views and ideas about all the above, it MUST be done WITH the acknowledgement of that previous statement being ABSOLUTE TRUTH. If we can't get that acknowledgement up front in advance from such a person, everything else is valueless and not really worthy of discussion by anyone, at least to those on the Forum. Now, I myself had absolutely nothing to do with drafting up the rules to the Forum but I try to abide by them. I know Hank and some of the others don't like it when I fail to cite book, chapter and verse when I make a statement but that's because I've cited it before in a previous post. Anyway, we ALL from an early age in life learn that we must play by the rules when we join an organization. Now your decision is really quite simple: either acknowledge the ABSOLUTE TRUTH of the statements above or refrain from posting statements of your own to the Forum. That of course DOES NOT mean that you can't read and enjoy the posts you see on the Forum. Also some of the folks on the Forum cite their own E-Mail address so you could attempt to communicate directly with them in that manner. Now the basic reason for this rigid requirement is simply to keep the Forum in some semblance of order and you know we're commanded to do that, 1 Cor 14:40. Without giving Christ His due according to His Last Will and Testament, we ALL do Him a serious dishonor and we would have to pay dearly for such an infraction at Judgment Day. There's one more subject of interest: Cults. There's been several questions back and forth about this and of course the word means different things to different people. But the one basic thing that it means to Forum participants is that a person who refuses to acknowledge the truth of Jesus as cited above would be considered to be a member of a cult. Now I realize that probably doesn't please you but I'm afriad that's a fact that's well reconized throughout the vast majority of Christendom. I do sincerely hope this clarifies the whole matter for you and the other participants of your faith. I really wish no ill toward you or anyone else. I'm afraid that's just the way things are done here at the Forum. I also pray God will bless you as you study Him AND His Son in His Word. Maintain an open mind AND an open heart to His Will. Pray often about this subject. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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100 | Where does membership come from? | NT general Archive 1 | Rowdy | 123274 | ||
If I might interject here, the best scripture I can think of is from Peter as follows 1 Pet 5:1 The elders who are among you I exhort, I who am a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that will be revealed: 2Shepherd the flock of God which is among you, serving as overseers, not by compulsion but willingly, not for dishonest gain but eagerly; 3nor as being lords over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock; 4and when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that does not fade away. 5 Likewise you younger people, submit yourselves to your elders. Yes, all of you be submissive to one another, and be clothed with humility, for "God resists the proud, But gives grace to the humble." 6Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 7casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. 8Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. 9Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. 10But may[4] the God of all grace, who called us[5] to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you. 11To Him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen. This should be clear enough without any comment from anyone, least of all, me. God bless. --Rowdy |
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