Results 721 - 740 of 1060
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Results from: Notes Author: azurelaw Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
721 | A story on tithing | Acts 17:25 | azurelaw | 202996 | ||
I've heard of the below story about giving / tithing recently: ***** 3 persons went tithing. They drew a circle on the ground. The first one threw a bag of coins onto the circle. Then he collected those few pieces of coins that fell off outside of the circle while leaving the large bunch insdie the circle as his tithing. The second person did the same but toke the large bunch in the circle for his own and leaving those outside as tithing. Here came the third one, he cast his bag of coins onto the sky saying to God : "Take all that you want and I will take those fall onto the ground as mine." Just a bit of sharing. Shalom Azure |
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722 | Can I still get a response? | Acts 17:26 | azurelaw | 188148 | ||
Dear Brother, Thank you for answering my TWO questions in ONE post. :) Very much appreciated. Shalom Azure |
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723 | What should I say? | Acts 20:20 | azurelaw | 227105 | ||
Dear Julia, Just a word of encouragement. I believe you will face a lot of difficulties with your husband. Lose not your heart, but stand firm in your faith. Pray earnestly for your husband and yourself. Brothers and sisters on the forum will be praying for you, too. Eph 6:11-17 Shalom Azure |
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724 | Overseer and his sheep | Acts 20:28 | azurelaw | 228210 | ||
"... sheep are not at all the clean and cuddly creatures they may appear. In fact, they are dirty, subject to unpleasant pests, and regularly need to be dipped in strong chemicals to rid them of lice, ticks and worms. They are also unintelligent, wayward and obstinate. I hesitate to apply the metaphors too closely and characterize the people of God as dirty, lousy or stupid! But some people are a great trial to their pastors (and vice versa). And their pastors will persevere in caring for them only if they remember how valuable they are in God's sight. They are the flock of God the Father, purchased by the precious blood of God the Son, and supervised by overseers appointed by God the Holy Spirit." – John Stott | ||||||
725 | Why did Paul do it? For conscience sake? | Acts 21:23 | azurelaw | 218066 | ||
Dear MJH, You may disagree with others, but please do it graciously. I am sorry that your 'thhst' or 'psst' does not sound (as a third party reading the post) well mannered. Perhaps that's not your intent, yet, it does appear so on the web page :-( God bless and Shalom Azure |
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726 | Why did Paul do it? For conscience sake? | Acts 21:23 | azurelaw | 218069 | ||
Dear Brother Doc, Thank you for the interesting information on the ritual during Purim. I like your note : "...because they do not know how to practice submission. Since it is not modeled for us, culturally or in the home, we do not even know that it is absent in our behavior." It brought to mind a little chat with a brother at my church last Sunday while he and I were discussing the problem in practicing Matthew 5:23-24, Matthew 18:15 and Eph 4:15 at church. He mentioned that not many eastern Christians accept the idea and practice it. For we don't want to hurt the brother/sister or trigger his/her resentment. However, I always wonder since the Bible has clearly provided us the principle/guidelines, we are just making the issues complicated and more problems arise if we do it our own way. The consequences could be misunderstanding, gossipping, bitterness, untrusting...:-( Oh, how prideful and yet frail are we! Shalom Azure |
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727 | Why did Paul do it? For conscience sake? | Acts 21:23 | azurelaw | 218157 | ||
Dear Yen, A belated welcome to the forum. Sorry for my late response as a new member just added to my family - a little kitten :-)....one more expected to arrive in a few days (They are for my daughter). I have not got a good sleep since his arrival :-( He has been meowing the whole nights (missing his family and siblings, I guess). Thank you for your questions and I am not sure if I could answer you thoroughly and satisfactorily. 1) Not many that I could recall, but Matthew 10:37 is another example. 2) Chinese' belief has been a cocktail of Confucianism, Buddhism and Taoism, and it forms part of our culture. 3) The place (i.e. Hong Kong) where I live has been westernized. Yet, the influence of our culture still sustains though not as significant as in the ancient time. To take an example, "tolerance" or "forbearance" is a Chinese virtue. But we emphasize it too much thus resulting in cowardice, unjustice, etc. 4) Hong Kong's civial law have been based on the 10 Commandmants (we were a British colony before 1997). For Mainland China, I am sorry that I am not familiar with their legal/regulation. Since, China is a communist country, the laws would be rooted in this philosophy not the 10 Commandments. Enough for now, too :-) Shalom Azure |
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728 | Would his heart not be humbled? | Romans | azurelaw | 191924 | ||
Dear John, Good to see your post again. Excellent answer. Shalom Azure |
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729 | Death penalty Biblical? | Romans | azurelaw | 197162 | ||
Dear Julie, I see little relevance of this verse speaking against the issue of death penalty. The context of Rom 12 talks about the behaviour of saints and urge us to love one another in Christ unity; encourage believers on how to deal with tribulation and persecution. Read furhter to Chapter 13, Paul said "Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God." (v 1) and in v4 "for it is a minister of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing; for it is a minister of God, an avenger who brings wrath on the one who practices evil." clearly indicates the role of the governing authorities. Please read the case of Ananias and his wife Sapphira (Act 5) and Jesus' quote in Mat 15:4 that it does not support the view that death penalty being unbiblical. Shalom Azure |
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730 | Death penalty Biblical? | Romans | azurelaw | 197178 | ||
Dear Julie, I understand this topic is highly controversial and I would refrain myself from any debate. You have quoted many verses however, we have to be careful not to take the scripture out of its context to fit our opinion. I cannot speak for or against capital punishment myself for I am truly a human with all kinds of weaknesses. (If possible, how I love to see there is no need of capital punishment at all.) I rather seek what is being said in the scripture and I believe the below article does a much better job than I in concern with the issue. http://www.gotquestions.org/death-penalty.html Shalom Azure |
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731 | Death penalty Biblical? | Romans | azurelaw | 197238 | ||
Original question is : Is the death penalty Biblical? NOT Is death penalty right? Nor what's our OPINION or FEELING on death penalty? Please stick to what scripture said in both OT and NT (i.e. the whole Bible). God holds the ultimate sovereignty and His willful delegation of such authority as in Roman Ch 13. Shalom Azure |
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732 | An interesting discussion/question | Romans | azurelaw | 204972 | ||
Very well put, Tamara. Shalom Azure |
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733 | The Gospel of Christ | Romans | azurelaw | 217569 | ||
Dear David, I join with others to welcome you to the forum. Have you made yourself familiar with the TOU as I have noticed that you are bearing 2 usernames. Could you please explain the reason for duplicate registration? Thanks. Shalom Azure |
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734 | v18-20 refers to church leaders? | Rom 1:18 | azurelaw | 195428 | ||
Dear Eddie, Welcome to the forum. You are responding to a post in 2004 and the poster has not been active since then. I doubt you will get a reply from the user. It would be always advisable that you back up your post with adequate scriptural reference. By the way, can you elaborate more on "...see things from God's point of view" and how it is done? Thank you. Hope you enjoy the forum. Shalom Azure |
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735 | What happens to people who never hear? | Rom 1:20 | azurelaw | 229541 | ||
Excellent question, brother :-) Azure |
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736 | What happens to people who never hear? | Rom 1:20 | azurelaw | 229545 | ||
Dear Ismaila---, I am sorry for the confusion. My post was meant to respond to Searcher (a brother in Christ) where I commended his question of asking how people would do since they have heard of Jesus. I think he is wise in asking people in return with the question:-) Shalom Azure |
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737 | Where did our conscience come from? | Rom 2:15 | azurelaw | 178085 | ||
Dear Rebar, Gen 2:9 And out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight or to be desired--good (suitable, pleasant) for food; the tree of life also in the center of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of [the difference between] good and evil and blessing and calamity Gen 3:5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing the difference between good and evil and blessing and calamity. This is what Satan said when tempting Adam and Eve. One of consequences was that the couple's eyes were opened and they knew right and wrong. 1/ Do we get our conscience after the fall of Adam and Eve? or 2/ Was our conscience triggered after they after ate the forbbiden fruit from the knowledge tree? God bless. Azure |
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738 | Where did our conscience come from? | Rom 2:15 | azurelaw | 178102 | ||
Dear Jeff, Thanks for responding. My previous post is to respond to Rebar's comment "...it seems to me ...Romans 1:18-20...where Paul is saying our conscience is something created in us by God..., and the knowledge of the right way of things is built into us" (I omit some words in order to focus on the point I refer). So you can see from my questions and the quote of verses from Gen, my point is: 1/ If conscience is created in us, this should have been built in by God when He created Adam and we inherit it from Adam. However, comparing the 2 verses I quoted, I hardly see that consicence is created in us in the creation. 2/ The second question is that assume my above understanding is incorrect, I would consider our conscience did not work before Adam and Eve's fall (they ate the fruit of the knowledge tree), but was triggered to function after then. Despite my questions above, I don't think Romans 1:18-20 contradicts the verses of Gen discussed. There must be something I missed in understanding the whole picture which I need to clarify. However, in brother Doc's post responding to my above questions, he mentioned about Jesus Christ salvation in restoring Adam's sin. This could be an added insight for me to think and digest the issue for futher digging. Hope my point is clear now. So, what's your thoughts? Love in Christ. Azure |
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739 | Where did our conscience come from? | Rom 2:15 | azurelaw | 178424 | ||
Dear Doc, I am glad that you spare your time on the issue. In fact, I have been studying it as well for these two weeks in my leisure time, but I just don't have the time to write a post (I think it is rather lengthy) of what I have had in mind at the moment. I hope I can make my response within this week. Your such additional quote is very interesting. Let me end here for the time being. :-) Shalom in Christ. Azure |
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740 | Where did our conscience come from? | Rom 2:15 | azurelaw | 178653 | ||
Dear brothers (Rebar, Jeff and Doc), Pardon me for consolidating my response to you all in one post as I think it will be more efficient, and excuse my slowness as well. Hope you understand (from my background) that I need time to digest all the materials with my limitation. And I hope that I am able to express my thoughts clear enough though my words would sound a bit clumsy. My first 2 questions were made under the general (or my) understanding of conscience as the knowledge of good AND evil or right and wrong (brother Nolan has posted some definitions on 30 Jun 2001, you can check for details) which I hardly agree with it as an attribute created in mankind in the creation from the scriptures I cited earlier. However, after further study on the scriptures, I tend to consider that conscience (knowledge of good ONLY) was created in us at the time of creation. For everything created was good. (AMP Gen 1:31 And God saw everything that He had made, and behold, it was very good (suitable, pleasant) and He approved it completely.) Adam and Eve knew the good only since the world was good in their eyes. They knew not the evil (befall their fall) because there was no evil at all (unless there is proof in the Bible that evil existed in Eden before Adam and Eve were created). Since there was no evil, was it necessary for them to distinguish between good and evil? Note that Eve was not able to make comments on the serpent before she ate the forbidden fruit, but what did she say after the temptation when God asked her? “…the woman said, ‘The serpent beguiled (cheated, outwitted, and deceived) me, and I ate’ (AMP Gen 3:13)”. Now she was able to comment. If they possessed the knowledge of good and evil already, Eve should have had given her alertness against the serpent or what the serpent said. But she did not. She was just repeating God’s command (just like a small kid repeating what her mom said). The change of their conscience was also verified in Gen 3:22 “….. BEHOLD, the man HAS BECOME like one of Us … to know [how to distinguish between] good and evil and blessing and calamity…” My view on God’s command that they eat not the knowledge fruit pertains to the issue of free will (our freedom to choose) and our obedience to God. However, does it mean that we only have the choices between good and evil? We do can choose between different things that have nothing to do with good or evil. God first convicted Adam’s disobedience then his eating of the fruit (Gen 3:17). What God asked of them was their obedience. Eve was so easily lusted by the desire to get the good things : wisdom and the beautiful fruit – pleasing to the eye (Now I understand why women care so much on things that are pleasing to the eyes such as fashion, jewels, beauty, etc… We inherited such nature from Eve! Ha! Ha!). She decided to choose her own way and so did Adam. Of course, we know one of the consequences was our conscience perverted. By Jesus’ blood, we are able to stand before God just like Adam prior to his fall. Through the guide of the Holy Spirit, we can restore our original conscience which we should focus and know only the law (Mark 12:19) – the greatest commandment. These are the dos not the don’ts. Therefore, we – the believers – have no excuse for we know the law (as directed by the Holy Spirit). For the unbelieve, they can only rely on their perverted conscience which is not reliable and is subject to God’s final judgement. See how Jesus said about the Kingdom of God (Luke 18:15) when he saw the little children and babies. Do the little children and babies know about evil? Or are they able to distinguish between the two? Jesus also chose the figurative use of sheep in his parable to explain his relationship with us. We (the sheep – a dumb animal, easily be led astray) just need to know His voice and follow. All in all, we just need to be faithful and obedient. Might there be anything I have misinterpreted, I would be glad to receive your biblical guidance. Hope I have made my points clear. Shalom :-) Azure |
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