Results 41 - 60 of 1003
|
||||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
41 | How to "win the world" ? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110447 | ||
I have to agree with your overall sentiment. The church on a national scale is definitely introducing too much stuff from the world to make it more attractive. As I mentioned in earlier posts, we need to let the beauty and simplicity of God's Word and His patterns therein come out in our worship assemblies. We need to do everything we can to make sure that God, His Son and the Holy Spirit get all the glory. Too much of the time, we humans want to jazz up the worship to satisfy our lust for a truly fabulous worship service and what really happens is that people, especially visitors new to the area get distracted by all these extras. So, as with all things moderation needs to be a key element in our worship and glorying of God. You might notice that church buildings and song books weren't specifically taught or prescribed by christians in the first century but there's certainly nothing wrong with those aids to our worship. I would be more in favor of seeing all the tremendous funds, time and effort invested instead in studying God's Word and evangelizing the world, putting emphasis on God's love for all mankind. Lastly, the holy standard you mentioned are the patterns we see from our Lord in God's Word, as we see in the book of Acts. Looking forward to your response. God bless. |
||||||
42 | proselytizing at work | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110461 | ||
I have found in my world here at the office that people figure out from my manner of speech and the ocassional reference to going to church on weekends or Wed night that I'm a christian. That helps but I do enjoy the ocassional person here at the office who comes to me with a Biblical topic for questions and/or discussion. So once again, I would have to say moderation is the key to successful christian living, that and maintaining balance. Another very important factor in sharing Christ with this world is to maintain a truly open mind and an open heart. If people get the idea you're closed minded, it's a big turn-off. However, don't misunderstand me, when the Bible is plain and clear we do need to speak up and "take sides" with God's Word but we MUST do so with love, as God intended. Remember, "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good, moral people to remain silent." God bless. |
||||||
43 | Is cremation right for believers? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110464 | ||
Personally, I think it's a very private and individual decision. However, there are several factors to be considered. First, I don't think our Lord really cares what we do with our bodies after one is deceased. I guess a person could point out that Jesus was buried BUT of course He was not in the tomb long enough to be mummified, etc. My main point here is that our God is Spirit and the home He's has intended for us is spiritual and this world of bodies is all physical and He's going to destroy it anyway at Judgement Day. Second, this world is getting more and more populated every day with less square footage allowed for the living. Graveyards take up a lot of space, usually in prime real estate areas. Sometime in the not-to-distant future, maybe even our kids' or grandkids' lifetime, nations are going to be forced to start thinking about mandatory cremations. So, the bottom line for me and my wife: we've already discussed it and have chosen to be cremated rather than spend the thousands of dollars on a casket, formal furneral, etc. I'd much rather have my family and christian family celebrate and rejoice at my meeting my Lord, pending that is to Judgement Day. But when I mention this kind of talk to my parents, they react with a different attitude. And my mother comes from several generations of christians. So, go figure...again, it's a very individual decision. I'd like to see the opinions of others. If there's any Bible guidance on the subject, I'd like to see it. God bless. |
||||||
44 | Is cremation right for believers? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110465 | ||
Only in an effort to give this discussion balance I would refer to 2 Cor 5 as follows: 1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. You can be assured that Paul IS NOT talking about a house or a building on earth. He's talking about our earthly bodies as these verses are really connected to the previous Chapter 4. So, yes our bodies are a temple to God and we should not abuse them but God will destroy them, and the rest of this world, just like He destroyed the Israelite's temple with the Romans help in the first century. God bless. |
||||||
45 | Why so Many Churches? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110472 | ||
I can only tell you it's always been this way. Even with the very strict Law of Moses, there had developed several different sects, two of which Jesus criticized rather harshly (Saducees and Pharisees). He called both of them vipers as neither of them had a true devotion to God. You might be interested in knowing the Law of Moses had more than 600 ordinances, laws which had to be strictly adhered to. So, when Christ and His official representatives, the Apostles provided an amazing small amount of guidance in comparison, that set the scene for the tremendous variety of mankind to mess up God's will even worse. I suppose you already know about the abuses from the Catholic church; they're well documented in Halley's Bible Handbook. Then the Reformation and the Restoration took place, leaving the world a tremendous variety of procedures and topics of controversies. Taking the Bible simply as God intended sounds like a wonderful thing but it's been my experience that it's far more difficult to do. Our Lord prayed for unity and the Apostles commanded "one faith, one body, one baptism..." but it doesn't look that's going to happen during our lifetime. The best thing to do is to study God's Word to the best of your ability and look for fellow disciples who are just as devoted to following God's Word as you are. This Forum is a good thing and I'd encourage you to keep participating. It inspires you to dig deeper and find out what God really says about a subject. That way, we can discard all the other stuff and just go with what He says. God bless. |
||||||
46 | About Premillenialism... | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110600 | ||
Thanks. Appreciate the encouragement. | ||||||
47 | About Premillenialism... | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110602 | ||
I think there are several other scriptures that could be cited but these are the first two that come to mind. John 18:35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." Hebrews 9:26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. I agree Christ's words, as in Matt 24 are not absolutely clear on every detail but again it's always best to use the Bible as Its own best commentary. I'm confident if our God wanted us to believe in these unusual features such as the Rapture or Premillenialism, I'm absolutely certain He would have laid our clear language elaborating on those details. Instead, I see language like that quoted above. Again, I must emphasize the figurative portions of the Bible as found in Isaiah and Revelation are not a good basis or foundation upon which we should build a whole system of religious thought or discussion. I hope God coninues to bless you in your study and pursuit of His truth. |
||||||
48 | Explain Romans 8:29 | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110608 | ||
Romans 8:29 For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren; I'm not certain as to which exact phrase you're referring to but I'm guessing you may be referring to the controversy surrounding Predestination. That is another concept from the Reformation that is NOT supported by God's Word. This concept goes against the very clear message from God that he gives us complete freedom of choice in our alligence to His Son or to the Devil. So what does this scripture mean? I believe it should be compared to the predestination that all good, Godly and loving parents have for their own children. We as parents pray every day of their lives that they will do well in school, and then finally find a loving spouse, settle down and parent a family of their own. We might hope they go to college, get a degree and become a doctor, a lawyer or maybe president of the USA. We have in our minds a destiny that we would like for them to fulfill. To this very day, my mother and father still talk to me almost every time I visit them about the progress (or the lack thereof) in my pursuit of their destiny for me. They've always hoped I'd be the one single person in our family to finish college with a degree. I'm close and really should finish but then that's another story. More important, our Father in Heaven wants us to imitate His Son in our attitudes about life and the way we treat each other. He wants us to trust Him so completely that we'll accept His gift of salvation on His terms and then come home to Him after we die. Now, whether we do all of this is up to us. It's up to each individual to choose to be a law abiding, hard working, dedicated and solid addition to the community of sincere, ernest people of this world. On the other hand, we can choose to misbehave, break the law, bring kids in this world and then abandon them either physically, emotionally or spiritually or all three. Similarly, it is our choice to see ourselves in a spiritual way and look forward to an eternity in Heaven with the ultimate Father or settle for all time with deceptions of the Devil and die an eternal death with him. Yikes...it seems like a rather overly simplistic portrayal of black and white. I guess I'd have to agree with you except for the fact that the grey part between the black and white is the here and now. As long we draw a breath, we can hope that God will forgive us when we obey Him. But after death, that's black and white time. Hope this helps. It's really not that scary after putting all your faith in God. Blessings to all. |
||||||
49 | what happened ? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110709 | ||
I'm not exactly sure what you're saying and if there's a specific question but I'll take a shot and respond. I do sincerely think God intended for His Word to be spread throughout the whole world as indicated in the Great Commission to the Lord's disciples who later became Apostles. However, there is provision for without the words of our God as cited in Romans, Chapter 2. 12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God's sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men's secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares. Apparently, our God, the perfect Judge will judge us according to how well we listen to our conscience, our soul which is the image of God installed in all of us, since creation. So, if we've heard of Jesus and His Father as mentioned in the Bible, then we really should feel compelled to check out the whole story and make up our minds. If, on the other hand, a person dies, never having heard the name of Jesus and doesn't know a single thing about the Bible, then it seems pretty clear that God will judge that person without the words found therein. Again, that simply means he'll be judged by how well he or she obeyed his conscience. I'm a firm believer that all human beings (with the possible exception of a few mentally handicapped) are born with a good and functioning conscience. It tells us when we do the right thing or when we do wrong. If a person lives a good life, abiding by the normal morals of his world, to the best of his ability, asking forgiveness to the God that whispers His existance in all hearts, how can we see such a person go anywhere but Heaven. You may ask about all those other religions, such as Jewish, Islamic, Hinduism, Buddism and all the many others. Ultimately, I would reserve that kind of judgement (without knowledge of Bible) to our God. He'll make those tough decisions; I'm thankful you and I won't be making them. I would be very interested in see more discussion on this topic or maybe you may have some other question in mind. God bless. |
||||||
50 | searching for wisdom | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 111177 | ||
In addition to the comments/suggestions from Prayon and BradK, I would like to add my encouragement to you. My wife and I have been around the world and the country with the military and Government jobs. I've seen a lot of heartache and grief in the Lord's church. Some of it I must admit we brought on ourselves and sometimes we were victimized just as you seem to have been. Even if you were just a little bit guilty of fault, I can only encourage you to seek the forgiveness of those whom you've wronged. On the other hand, after you've prayed on this matter ernestly, preferably with your husband, you really must come to a decision. Just remember that you MUST "grow where you're planted." If you conclude that the Lord would rather re-plant you and your husband in another group of christiains, accept His will and His guidance but I would urge you not to break fellowship with this congregation. Hopefully, this congregation will grow and realize where they went wrong and maybe even miss you to the point that they will try to re-establish that close bond you've enjoyed in the past. There are other benefits to moving from town to town or across country and joining hands with different families of God's children. You get to expereince different levels of maturity and see the many different ways God would like you to use your talents. In some congregations in the past, I've been a deacon, I've always been a song leader since 15 years of age. In other areas, I taught a class of young people and now I'm teaching a class of adults older than myself. Try to look at this trying time in your life as a test, an opportunity to be refined as our beloved Peter encourages us in his epistle as follows: 1 Peter, Chapter 1: 6In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. 7These have come so that your faith--of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire--may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. 8Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, The other benefit might be the opportunity for you to form a closer bond with your husband. Both of you would be encouraged to seek out another group of christians who might have more in common with you two. I've found that different congregations of christians have their very own distinct personality, some younger, some older, etc. The bottom line is...stay strong and stay on the Lord's side. He's got a plan for you but you've got to stay in the fight and don't let this difficulty get you down. God bless and all of us on the forum are praying for you. |
||||||
51 | man ability to choose or reject God why | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 111941 | ||
So that when the few in the world do choose to become a part of His family, it truly is a glorious thing. Even, the angels in Heaven rejoice and praise God each and every time another is added to His family. One could compare this love affair on God's part to that of the Grandfather in our own families. When an older man knows he approaches the last day of his life, he grows to appreciate very keenly the love and devotion of each one of his family members, especially his own children and grand-children. When one of those is estranged for a time, it is such a good feeling to have that individual rejoin the family, especially after some period of difficulty in their personal relationship. Our Father in Heaven is the same way. Of course the big difference with Him is that He has an infinite amount of love to accommodate all of mankind throughout all of time, since creation to the the end of time. |
||||||
52 | Why don't we address God as Yahweh? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 112282 | ||
I have to agree with EdB and would add some of Shakespere's wisdom. "A rose by any other name is still a rose." I would like to think we can call God almost any name in any of the thousands of languages or variants on this planet. As long as we do so with proper reverance and respect, I'm certain He will treat us the same. God bless. |
||||||
53 | Will Passion cause confusion | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 112284 | ||
I plan to see it and evaluate for myself. It will cause no more confusion than any other teaching or doctrine coming out of the crazy world we live in. Hope to see ya there and God bless. | ||||||
54 | Why don't we address God as Yahweh? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 112355 | ||
I can only respond with a few I just found such as: Hebrews 13 7Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. 8Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. We all know our God's thoughts and ways are far above our thoughts and ways, even farther than we are above the insects. So I'm quite confident if we approach Him as our Father, he'll respond just like we respond to our children when they approach us with proper respect. I know, I'm appealing more to common sense than scripture that I call upon. But I just did think of something else from Galations, Chapter 4: 1 Now I say that the heir, as long as he is a child, does not differ at all from a slave, though he is master of all, 2but is under guardians and stewards until the time appointed by the father. 3Even so we, when we were children, were in bondage under the elements of the world. 4But when the fullness of the time had come, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law, 5to redeem those who were under the law, that we might receive the adoption as sons. 6And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying out, "Abba, Father!" 7Therefore you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son, then an heir of God through Christ. I don't think Christ meant for Himself to be the only One to be able to call His Father "Abba," which is an Aramaic term of endearment but it's conclusive with Paul's words to the Galations. As you may have already noticed, I'm not quite as much of a stickler for having scriptures for everything pertaining to God's Word. I like to think that God being a God of reason and logical good order, he allows us to infer certain things from His Word. As long as a position or an opinion is not in conflict with God's Word, I tend to think open-mindedly about it. BUT please allow me to also say I sincerely appreciate Bible students such as yourself for it's you folks who keep people like me out of trouble and remind me where we get such liberties. I hope all this is clear, at least somewhat and God bless. Let me know what your response might be, especially if you have scriptures in support of your position. Thanks for the reminder. |
||||||
55 | Why don't we address God as Yahweh? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 112374 | ||
I have to agree with the overall gist of your statement. We absolutely MUST approach God, our Father with the utmost in respect and reverence but I also believe there's nothing with developing a very close and personal relationship with Him. I agree with you. When I hear about people praying to God, in public and addressing Him as "Buddy" I cringe in horror. Basically, my post was motivated from the perspective of being able to refer to God with virtually any legitimate name in any language on earth that means the same thing. I'm hoping that there is a similar Noun or Pronoun meaning the same as God in all those languages. God bless you and thanks for your post. |
||||||
56 | My grandfather needs to be saved | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 113212 | ||
I'd like to refer you to the website, apologeticspress.com. There you can find/shop through their resources. One of the best resources is entitled "Evidences of Christianity." In my opinion, the single most powerful thing we can do for someone outside of God's Family is to establish firmly in their minds, that He does exist and His Word IS an actual, real document from Him. After that is firmly established, most reasonable people will provide their own motivation to go to be at Home with that God, our Father. In case it helps any at all, I too am worried about my father-in-law, along with my wife. We discuss Bible, and many topics within with that uppermost in our minids. God bless you in your persaverance of influencing your grandfather. |
||||||
57 | Did Jesus have to die? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 113217 | ||
I really don't want to take the time to dig up all the scriptures but I'm thinking most of them have already been posted on this Forum previously. I think all of us (with any maturity at all w/the Lord) know and appreciate the scriptures to which I'll be referring. First of all, from the very beginning, in the Garden of Eden, our God knew and cited the fact that there would be need of the perfect sacrifice, His Son coming to our rescue. He cursed the serpent and told him, "he would bruise His Son's heel but Christ would bruise the serpent's head." I know everyone has heard of and maybe even studied the 300 plus prophecies in the OT concerning the coming of Christ, His ministry, his death and resurrection. All of this and a few scriptures in the NT make it very, very clear, at least in my mind that the Godhead knew and planned on His coming to this earth for that specific purpose. YES, our Lord was compelled to come and die for our sins. He was our only hope. He knew it, His Father knew it and the Holy Ghost. The only ones who don't know it don't know God's Word very well. God's Plan of Salvation is the main theme throughout His Word. God's perfect sense of justice DEMANDS payment for the sins in our lives. There's no possible way, we (you and I) could ever hope to pay for our sins successfully. These 2 statements being absolutely true pose an extreme problem for an ordinary mortal. But thanks be to God, He knew what we needed and He sacrified His Son just like Abraham did as a foreshadow of things to come. So did Christ have to die? You bet. You and I are counting on it, along with everyone else in God's Family. Jesus is also the only one that has already "blazed a trail" back to His Father, from this earth. His way is the only Way, the only Truth and the only Life. I do hope you'll forgive me in not citing all the specific "book, chapter and verse" for the scriptures referenced above. God bless you for having the courage to bring up this topic in connection with the film. My wife and I are looking forward to checking it out. |
||||||
58 | Did Jesus have to die? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 113545 | ||
I just this moment came back from seeing the movie with my wife and was compelled to post another thought to this thread. I kept thinking about your question, "Why did Jesus have to die such a horrible death?" Couldn't God have thought of some other way. I thought God could have sent Him to another time peiod of our planet's history, one that would have executed him far more painless, like this century in an electric chair or hanging. But no, our Lord died THE MOST HORRIBLE form of execution ever devised on this planet, one that took hours, sometimes days for men to die on a cross. Yes, I'm convinced that God literally had to send His Son to die for us...that was THE ONLY way we (you and I) could possibly meet God some day in Heaven. I do agree with you. It's a great movie and is very good powerful testimony from Mr. Gibson to those in the world that don't believe. We can only hope that they will study God's Word and any other historical document needed to conclusively seal this knowledge that God does want all mankind in Heaven. God bless and I appreciate your encouraging words to this Forum. |
||||||
59 | God punish sin? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 113809 | ||
I must admit, this question is quite a challenge. The only answer I can possibly come up with is that same ole analogy between a parent and his child. I've drawn a lot from this analogy in the past. Speaking as a parent myself, it is my humble opinion, bringing a child into this world is about the nearest thing we can do to feel something like our Father in Heaven. Hopefully, you'll feel somewhat similarly when you experience that wonderful event. After bringing a child into this world, you suddenly conclude you have a tremendous responsibility of bringing up that child in such a way that he/she will grow up and become a solid addition to our world, our community, etc. If the parent is a christian, naturally he/she would be inclined to take the child with him to worship assembly and show him what being a christian is all about. Now, when that child disobeys the upbringing the parental couple is trying to live up to, then naturally most parents feel the need to punish the child or at the very least, try to motivate the child to regret that behavior and go back to an attitude of obedience. In the same way, our Father in Heaven created you and me and the whole world. So he has brought us up to obey His Word and we stubbornly disobey, especially time and time again in spite of His continued patience, He gets upset. He allows sin in the world and the wages thereof to have their toll on our lives here on earth. Remember, we reap what we sow. I know; I've done my fair share of sowing and reaping, good and bad. Now, magnify this feeling of intense remorse on God's part by imagining your sending your one and only Son to die for a cruel, sinful and dying world, one without hope of anything good after life. Yes, Jesus came to die for you and me and when we reject His gift of salvation after the tremendous sacrifice, as somewhat depicted in the recent film, "The Passion of Christ," I can imagine our Father is VERY UPSET with us. Last of all, imagine God has an absolutely PERFECT sense of justice and REQUIRES anybody without His Son's blood covering their sins will be separated from Heaven for all eternity. Good thought provoking question and God bless you in asking it. |
||||||
60 | Life of Philip the evangelist? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 114062 | ||
Can you be a little more specific? Which particular aspect of Philip's life are you referring to? At the very least, why don't you specify a particular scripture? Thanks in advance and God bless. | ||||||
Result pages: << First < Prev [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ] Next > Last [51] >> |