Results 421 - 440 of 500
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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: Reformer Joe Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
421 | another question | 2 Thess 2:13 | Reformer Joe | 32446 | ||
Biblically speaking, it is a continuous process that begins at the moment of conversion (that's justification) and continues in the life of a believer until we enter the presence of God at the end of this life. That is not to say that it is a smooth, uninterrupted improvement, but the Bible indicates that those He has saved He will make like Christ in their behavior. Some passages that indicate that we have already been sanctified (i.e. "set apart" for service to God): "Such were some of you; but you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the Spirit of our God." --1 Corinthians 6:11 "Therefore be on the alert, remembering that night and day for a period of three years I did not cease to admonish each one with tears. And now I commend you to God and to the word of His grace, which is able to build you up and to give you the inheritance among all those who are sanctified." --Acts 20:31 "By this will we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." --Hebrews 10:10 Passages which indicate that the process is also ongoing: "Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord." --Hebrews 12:14 "For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality;" --1 Thessalonians 4:3 "Now may the God of peace Himself sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, without blame at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." --1 Thessalonians 5:23 "I am speaking in human terms because of the weakness of your flesh. For just as you presented your members as slaves to impurity and to lawlessness, resulting in further lawlessness, so now present your members as slaves to righteousness, resulting in sanctification." --Romans 6:19 The important thing to remember is that all those who truly possess saving faith in Christ have been sanctified, are being sanctified, and will be sanctified entirely by God in His grace. It is 100 percent a work of God in his free grace, a job He started and will finish in all those who are His children. We do participate in that process actively as well, since God can sanctify us through the transformation of the renewal of our minds (Romans 12:2) or by the rod (Hebrews 12:6; Revelation 3:19). --Joe! |
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422 | Timothy's background / character | 1 Timothy | Reformer Joe | 98947 | ||
Read Acts, Philippians 2, and 1 and 2 Timothy. --Joe! |
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423 | Predestination question? | 1 Tim 2:4 | Reformer Joe | 84508 | ||
No, because the Bible teaches predestination and even uses the word (Romans 8:29-30; Ephesians 1:5,11). Each of these verses must be taken together with the rest of Scripture to see what they say when taken together. --Joe! |
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424 | difference in trinity and oneness | 1 Tim 2:12 | Reformer Joe | 4624 | ||
Trinitarians and "Oneness" adherents both believe in one God. They also both believe that The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit are clearly identified as God in Scripture. Where Trinitarians and modalists part ways is here: Trinitarians assert that the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, while each being fully God, are three distinct "persons." That is, the Father exists simultaneously with the Son and the Holy Spirit, meaning the Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Spirit, and the Spirit is not the Father. Onesness folks deny this, saying that the Father is the Son and the Holy Spirit (usually claiming that Jesus is all three), and that God just acts in different roles or "modes" at different times. It is not an insignificant controversy, as some on this forum seem to have suggested. We are talking about the very nature of who God is, and one's entire theology stems from his/her understanding of the nature of God. So, Oneness states "One God, three roles." Trinitarianism declares "One God, three persons each of whom is fully God, and distinct roles for each person of the Trinity (even though there is cooperation among them all in creation and salvation)." I have yet to have any "oneness" follower satisfactorily explain away Jesus' references to the Father as distinct from himself, simultaneous manifestations of all three, God the Father's references to Jesus as distinct from himself, Jesus' references to the Spirit as being distinct from himself, the fact that the Son is the mediator between the Father and Christians, the fact that "God made Him who had no sin to be sin for us" (1 Corinthians 5:21), etc., etc. The fact is that the early church councils who codified the term "Trinity" were not inventing some heresy, but articulating what God reveals about himself in the whole of Scripture. The Bible teaches the Trinity, and any deviation from this doctrine leads to heresy and cultism. --Joe! |
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425 | Did Jesus die _only_ for the elect | 1 Tim 3:1 | Reformer Joe | 13464 | ||
Limited atonement has been addressed on other spots on this forum. Let's debate it thoroughly, but on threads which already are devoted to that issue. --Joe! |
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426 | Thank you - and where should I look | 1 Tim 3:1 | Reformer Joe | 13494 | ||
I would do a "quick search" for the thread "what does bible teach on election," where you will see a whole host of posts by me and those who disagree with me. --Joe! |
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427 | Board Members or Deacon! | 1 Tim 3:2 | Reformer Joe | 31854 | ||
See verse above and the one below. Teaching is a primary role of overseer. Biblically speaking, it is not a board position, but a role as a co-pastor of the flock. "holding fast the faithful word which is in accordance with the teaching, so that he will be able both to exhort in sound doctrine and to refutethose who contradict." --Titus 1:9 --Joe! |
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428 | Can I serve as elder if have no children | 1 Tim 3:4 | Reformer Joe | 99315 | ||
I would say that one is qualified without children, even though the presence of godly children does indicate that one is faithful in leading a household and therefore more qualified to lead the household of faith. --Joe! |
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429 | Who are these removed branches? | 1 Tim 3:6 | Reformer Joe | 92543 | ||
It depends whether you define "Christian" as a member of Christ's visible church, or a truly regenerate member of Christ's church. --Joe! |
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430 | Is the translation of deacon tradition? | 1 Tim 3:8 | Reformer Joe | 49653 | ||
The role of the deacon has its origins in Acts 6. --Joe! |
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431 | The church as the pillar of Truth? | 1 Tim 3:15 | Reformer Joe | 42869 | ||
Yes! God has ordained that the body of Christ as the means for supporting the truth. In a very real sense that means that the church collectively is appointed the role of guarding and preserving the tradition handed to the apostles and preserved in the Holy Scriptures. Far too many people reject this truth in favor of a "just me and my Bible and the Holy Spirit" approach to Christianity. This is far from true, since God has established a communion of saints through which He preserves the truth. In short, the bride of Christ possesses the truth of Christ and passes it on to the succeeding generations of the church. Notice that the church is just the pillar of truth, not the truth itself. The church was never called together to invent doctrine or be a source of "new revelation" beyond the apostolic tradition. This tradition has been passed down to us infallibly in Scripture, but also codified (not infallibly, but reliably) in the historic creeds and confessions of the early church. The Bible is our only source of revelation and our only infallible authority, but God has sovereignly preserved both through the church. We are the household of God that Paul mentions in this verse, and it is our duty first to get the teachings found in Scripture right, and then to be a part of passing it on to others (2 Timothy 2:2). --Joe! |
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432 | 1 Timothy 5 | 1 Tim 5:20 | Reformer Joe | 27561 | ||
Other than the pasages you quoted well, I would recommend a book entitled _Biblical Eldership_ by Alexander Strauch. It addresses a lot of the issues that you have raised. I regret to remind you of the obvious: that there may be nothing to prevent a split in the congregation. It is my experience that at times a split happens for reasons of keeping the congregation doctrinally pure, so not every split is a bad one (even though most if not all are heart-wrenching). Just make sure that, if that happens, you are on the biblical side of the split. And definitely be in prayer, because the Spirit of god can work in ways that we would consider impossible for human beings. --Joe! |
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433 | "Oliver Twist" Christians? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 32219 | ||
Hank: Here's what we need more of: God's grace to follow what is already laid out for us in the Scriptures. We do not need an experience or a "second baptism." You write that some people say, "God told me this." What I am most interested in is what God told all of us in that 66-volume revelation that He gave us and which so many people wrongly consider to be so incomplete and insufficient. --Joe! |
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434 | Is OT verse labled as J,E,D,P in a bible | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 41216 | ||
Probably not, since the people who concocted the documentary hypothesis cannot even agree on which parts came from which mythical sources. --Joe! |
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435 | accuracy of oral traditions? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 49174 | ||
The Bible was pretty much completed (if not completely so) before 60 years after the resurrection had elapsed. The gospels were written by eyewitnesses to the risen Christ or by their associates. Therefore, we do not have generations between the events of the gospels and the accounts being written down. The epistles, likewise, were written by the apostles, and all of the New Testament books are extensively quoted by the early church fathers and cited as authoritative. For more information on the history of the writing of Scripture, I suggest checking out this site: http://www.leaderu.com/offices/billcraig/menus/historical.html In addition, one of the best books on the subject remains _The New Testament Documents: Are They Reliable?_ by F.F. Bruce. I would recommend beginning there to investigate the historicity of the New Testament. --Joe! |
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436 | how do we know that verse is accurate? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 49176 | ||
Well, one could respond by saying: "Do you have a good reason to believe that it is not?" How would you answer such a question? Do you not find it interesting that no one questions whether Plato REALLY wrote the Republic or whether Julius Caesar REALLY wrote The Gallic Wars, but once we get to the New Testament, we find a much more substantiated work under almost constant "scholarly" attack? I think it is good to examine one's faith for the sake of substantiating one's beliefs. I am confident that by examining a balanced group of sources that you will see that Biblical Christianity does indeed "hold water." --Joe! |
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437 | English translation before the KJV? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 52838 | ||
There are many translations that predated the KJV. John Wyclif was one of the first to translate the Bible into English in the 14th century, and we also have the Douay version and the Geneva Bible, among many others, which were published before 1611, the year of the KJV. A great source for the arguments against "KJV onlyism" is an excellent book by James R. White called _The King James Only Controversy_. You can find it or order it from all of the usual Christian bookstore sources. Hope this helps! --Joe! |
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438 | Believing in the Bible | 2 Tim 3:16 | Reformer Joe | 64979 | ||
Well, you can begin by asking them WHY they don't believe the Bible. Ultimately, it is the Holy Spirit who convinces people both of the truth of the message and the need to trust Jesus Christ. In my experience, however, most people who say they don't believe in the Bible haven't the slightest idea what is contained in its pages. --Joe! |
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439 | scriptural basis for church government | Titus 1:7 | Reformer Joe | 36843 | ||
The 3 key passages in Scripture for biblical eldership are 1 Timothy 3, Titus 1, and 1 Peter 5. Rule by a plurality of elders is perfectly in line with the Bible. However, having the elders appointed solely by your pastor is not. The three main types of church government we see in the church today are episcopal (bishop appoints priests to oversee), presbyterian (a central governing body made up of elders governs the church of a particular area), and congregational (the members of the congregation have the first and final choice as to whom their elders are). While I certainly think that one of these is more biblical than the others, none of them hold that a single pastor (who in Scripture holds the office of an elder as well) has the sole authority to appoint his co-elders. As I mentioned above, there is no distinction in scripture between a pastor and an elder as far as their responsibilities to shepherd the flock of God. The plurality of elders is to insure that the sins of your pastor will be held in check by God-fearing men who are not afraid to discipline for the sake of God's kingdom. If you want to read an excellent book on the subject, I recommend one called _Biblical Eldership_ by Alexander Strauch. Hope this helps! I would also recommend addressing your concerns to the other elders at your church. --Joe! |
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440 | Muselim Religious | Titus 3:5 | Reformer Joe | 21180 | ||
What does the Muslim religion give that Christianity doesn't? 1. False confidence in one's own righteousness. Unregenerate people will always embrace a belief system that tells us we can be good enough to earn a right standing with God. 2. A god who is transcendent but not imminent, so that Allah does not invade our day-to-day lives. 3. A god who is not a father to his followers, unlike the familial relationship that exists between our holy, heavenly Father and those who are of the Christian faith. What can we do to counter this trend? I say that we need to speak the truth more, get a clear handle on the great theological truths of Christianity and proclaim them with our voices and with our lives. The Holy Spirit works through the proclamation of His Word. We as ambassadors of Christ need to do more proclaiming. --Joe! |
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