Results 721 - 740 of 1003
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
721 | Baptism-What Does the Bible Teach? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 133996 | ||
I would refer you to my recent Post No 133984 and the one just under it to Tim Moran. I'm convinced that baptism is required of all who want to be assured of their salvation before Judgment Day. Also, I would refer you to the sum total picture from the 87 verses on the matter of baptism found throughout the NT. After reading all these posts and the 87 verses, I'd be interested in discussing with you your response. God bless. Rowdy |
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722 | acts 1:1, I don't know the scripture | Acts 2:41 | Rowdy | 109435 | ||
I don't know of any scripture that would support this practice. As a matter of fact, it seems to go counter to the general tenor of the Bible in that we should treat all God's family members the same, at least as much as possible. This practice would seem to foster an atmosphere of putting that person under the microscope which I can't condone at all. |
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723 | why is Acts 2:44 not practiced today | Acts 2:44 | Rowdy | 107713 | ||
After looking at this question and some of the answers, I have to agree with some of the answers and disagree with others. Why do we not have this kind of oneness, "one mind, one faith, one baptism, etc?" Basically because we as human beings become lazy and complacent with our faith. We all need to become more like the Bereans and study; testing and proving all believers/teachers to come in our midst. If their words aren't in accordance with God's word, then there's bascially two responses: 1)teach them as Annanias and Saphira did Stephen or 2)upon verifying that they're not interested in following God's word, pray with them and for them to see the error of their ways. Remember, Christ put down the Pharisees and Saducees for this same kind of problem. They had become leaders of their people and built up tremendous amounts of additional teaching, some of which altered and perverted God's will. Example: Corban, the practice of getting out of taking care of their parents by giving this financial support to some special account for God's sake. Like Samuel said to Saul: It is better to obey God than to make sacrifice. The way God sees it: we're just making that "sacrifice" to suit our purposes and really get away with some kind of sin in our lives. In summary, I believe it is very much possible for God's people everywhere in the world to agree on the oneness of Christianity if we identify all the proper limitations of God's word. In other words, "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent when the Bible is silent" and allow for different ways of doing those things. Now, you may say I sound ultra-conservative but believe me there are a multitude of people I call brethren that are far more conservative and some far more liberal than me. So I like to think I'm somewhere in the middle. The most important item to take from all this discussion (in my opinion) is to remember God's top priority is to follow His ultimate example of love (His Son) and give Him the glory. I'd be genuinely interested in your response. | ||||||
724 | why is Acts 2:44 not practiced today | Acts 2:44 | Rowdy | 107715 | ||
I'm afraid I goofed on quoting Bible characters in referring to Annanias and Saphira. (What a sap!) By now, you've probably figured I really meant to refer to Priscilla, Aquila and Apollos in Acts 18. | ||||||
725 | What is the "NAME" of that church...? | Acts 2:44 | Rowdy | 109321 | ||
The Bible gives a few names: the Church, the Church of Christ, the Church of the Firstborn, the Church of God, the Church of the Lamb. I think there's a few others but can't recall but the most important thing is that the Bible (NT) is referring to one church, on a world-wide scale. It's up to you and me to find it, we have to identify what characteristics make up the church as described in God's Word. A person could compare this search to looking for a grocery store or some other kind of business establishment upon moving to a new city and home. I realize this is greatly simplified but if you read and study God's Word and are absolutely devoted to finding like people of the same precious faith, I'm sure you'll find them. God will bless you for being perseverant. |
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726 | How often must we die and be born again? | Acts 8:22 | Rowdy | 117814 | ||
Rom 12:2 And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect. Acts 8:18 Now when Simon saw that the Spirit was bestowed through the laying on of the apostles' hands, he offered them money, 19 saying, "Give this authority to me as well, so that everyone on whom I lay my hands may receive the Holy Spirit." 20 But Peter said to him, "May your silver perish with you, because you thought you could obtain the gift of God with money! 21 "You have no part or portion in this matter, for your heart is not right before God. 22 "Therefore repent of this wickedness of yours, and pray the Lord that, if possible, the intention of your heart may be forgiven you. 23 "For I see that you are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity." 24 But Simon answered and said, "Pray to the Lord for me yourselves, so that nothing of what you have said may come upon me." There's not many examples of christians sinning after becoming a christian but all we need is one. Simon above was definitely a christian, not a very mature one but a christian nonetheless. 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. I should stress all of these epistles were written to christians and we all know we sin daily, either the sin of commission or omission. So the bottom line is that when we sin AFTER becoming a christian, we just repent of that sin to God and maintain that cleansing relationship with Jesus' blood. Public sins should be repented publically while private sins could be repented in private. Being born again to become a christian should only happen once in each person's life. Even the vilest sinner on earth like those described in the Corinthian letters can and did need repentance on a daily basis just like most modern Americans. God bless. --Rowdy |
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727 | How often must we die and be born again? | Acts 8:22 | Rowdy | 118116 | ||
I can only respond with scripture as follows: 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. This seems pretty clear to me but basically it means as long as we established and accepted that initial gift of salvation as cited in Acts 2:38, then our biggest obstacle keeping us out of Heaven thereafter is our own human tendancy to keep sinning (either omission of good deeds or an ocassional slip and some sinful action). We must recognize this tendancy in ourselves hourly or at least daily and be constantly ready for Christ's return as depicted in the marriage feast parable with ten virgins. Your response? --Rowdy |
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728 | what does God say/think aboutt warriors? | Acts 10:1 | Rowdy | 110301 | ||
I get at least a little comfort from Acts 10 as I am also military oriented, being USAF retired. I thank God that He chose Corneilius to be the one and only Gentile family in the whole Bible to ever receive a baptismal measure of the Holy Spirit, same as the Apostles. But notice even after receiving this approval and blessing, he and his household, were baptized and became Christians. I say all this because as you may have noticed Corneilius was a centurion in the Roman Army. So God certainly does approve of the military being in the kingdom or His Son's church. Now, in stark contrast to this we see in the Gospels, the account of Peter taking the sword and cutting off the ear of one of those about to arrest our Lord. But "No," says our Lord, this is not to be and restores the ear. So our Lord and His Father DOES NOT want a militaristic portion of people imposing God's lifestyle on anybody. The freedom of choice is one of the main themes throughout the Bible, starting in the Garden of Eden and on through Revelation. One cannot cite any Biblical commands or any examples implying this kind of behavior. In fact, we are encouraged to bless those who curse or persecute us as christians. I hope this is clear and God bless in your continued studies. |
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729 | Why take UNCLEAN animals onto The Ark | Acts 10:11 | Rowdy | 108552 | ||
I can't think of any scriptures to support my position but I'll take a chance and respond. The only reason I can think that God would create so many creatures that He knew his Isrealite children couldn't eat is the fact He knew the future. He knew there would be a time in the future that the rest of the world would be able to do so. Personaly, I like to think that the tremendous variety of life on this planet shows once again that only a God like ours could have done it with design and forethought in stark contrast to the happenstance of evolution. Just look at the wonderful things about our own body we take for granted. Compare that to the omidirection eye of that one lizard, whose species name I can't recall and the amazing sticky feet of the geecko. Scientists still don't quite understand all the wonderful aspects of that creature and can't adequately explain how his feet evolved that way. There's so many wonderful things about our Lord's creation. I must admit, I look forward to finding out all about these mysteries and more in heaven. How about you? If you interested in more of this kind of topic, check out http://www.apologeticspress.org/. |
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730 | Favoritism? | Acts 10:34 | Rowdy | 118931 | ||
I'll take a stab. God doesn't show favoitism in the traditional sense as you and I understand it. He's the Creator and we are the creation; He's the Potter and we're just the clay. However, I do see and understand what you're saying. God does seem to us to be somewhat chauvenistic as he seems to favor men over women, but that just happens to be God's order of things like His creation of the Sun and the planets going around it. As Paul says in 1 Cor 11:3 Now I want you to realize that the head of every man is Christ, and the head of the woman is man, and the head of Christ is God. 4 Every man who prays or prophesies with long hair dishonors his head. 5 And every woman who prays or prophesies with no covering on her head dishonors her head–she is just like one of the "shorn women." 6 If a woman has no covering, let her be for now with short hair, but since it is a disgrace for a woman to have her hair shorn or shaved, she should grow it again. 7 A man ought not to have long hair since he is the image and glory of God; but the woman is the glory of man. and again Paul to Timothy 1 Tim 2:14 And Adam was not the one deceived; it was the woman who was deceived and became a sinner. Now don't misunderstand. We men had our part in messing up the good deal we all had in the Garden of Eden. It's just that the Devil knew He could tempt the woman, Eve easier that he could with Adam and he chose the sure thing in his mind. But that illustrates God order in the universe, with us humans it's man then woman. It's a functional thing like the horse before cart, nothing more. Men MUST NOT use this God's order of things to abuse or to our advantage. God developed a relationship with the Jewish nation as a result of the promise He made to Abraham but His main purpose in doing so was to introduce the Savior of the whole world, His Son. It was a natural step to start off Christianity with the converted Jews in Jerusalem. As a matter of fact, it's implied if it hadn't been for the persecution AND the conversion of Saul to Paul as the Apostle to the Gentiles, the Jews would have been delighted to have kept Christianity to themselves forever. Thanks be to God that he did use the persecution and dispersed christians out of Jerusalem to spread Christianity throughout the rest of the Gentile world, which includes you and me. Thus we see the various ways mankind messed up the church as we see in all of Paul's letters and the other epistles of the NT. I hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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731 | Favoritism? | Acts 10:34 | Rowdy | 119156 | ||
You're welcome! I'm just a very small part of a great team here at the Forum. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
732 | Were Cornelius and the others saved? | Acts 10:47 | Rowdy | 115898 | ||
I can only respond by referring you to my earlier posts numbered 113578 and 115169. You punch them into the QuickSearch, upper right hand corner of your screen to retrieve them. I'm sure you'll get many other replies but remember it's always best to err on the side of caution when it concerns your soul in eternity. God bless. |
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733 | Was cornelius saved by spirit | Acts 11:15 | Rowdy | 113590 | ||
Just wanted to give this thread some balance. Acts 8:18, 1 Tim 5:22, 2 Tim 1:6 and Heb 6 make it very clear that all the Apostles had the ability to bestow a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit by laying on of hands. God bless. | ||||||
734 | What about christian as a name? | Acts 11:26 | Rowdy | 131386 | ||
Recently there's been some discussion about the name of christian and possibly coming up with some other alternative. I discovered this very powerful article based on a very old but appropriate story. I don't think I could add a thing. "Do You Wear the Name of Christ?" As christians, we should be constantly aware of the great privilege we have in being able to wear the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ. As with any privilege, it is accompanied by a host of responsibilities. We learn of our responsibilites through His Holy Word; and desiring to grow into the image of our "namesake," we study that Word daily, don't we? There is a story told about Alexander the Great, who had already conquered the world. He was reviewing his troops when he saw a slovenly soldier who was a disgrace to his company. He asked the soldier for his name. The soldier replied, "Alexander, sir." The world ruler sternly said, "Soldier, change your ways, or change your name!" from W. Ken Graham |
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735 | What about christian as a name? | Acts 11:26 | Rowdy | 131430 | ||
I'm sorry, I forgot to sign off with my name but I posted this article to the Forum. That's what you get when you in a rush. Mr. Graham actually authored the article in a christian publication. God bless. Rowdy |
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736 | Acts 12:11 | Acts 12:11 | Rowdy | 142444 | ||
From the context just a couple of verses previous, Acts 12:9 And he went out and continued to follow, and he did not know that what was being done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. It seems that Peter wasn't fully awake or something like that. So in, verse 11 Peter is fully aware of what has just happened. There's not a whole lot more information given. God bless, Rowdy |
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737 | Elder, singular or plural? | Acts 14:23 | Rowdy | 108260 | ||
If we go back to the original pattern in the New Testament, congregations of the church in the first century followed the instructions of the Apostles and appointed at least two or more elders. But of course, they had the Holy Spirit to assist them as they didn't have mature, seasoned men with a solid history of christianity from which to choose. But it seems clear from the few examples we're given that the elders ruled their congregations with much wisdom and humbleness. Sometime in the centuries that followed, it become fasionable to appoint "chief" elders and then the supreme elder per city were sent to a central city like Rome. Eventually this practice was enshrined and thus led to the establishment of the Pope. As always, if we stick to God's pattern, most of those headaches and heartaches can be avoided. Personally, I think this was the danger Paul was warning the elders in Ephesus, as this kind of thing was to come from one of that very group. As most people know, this controversy led to the Reformation and finally the Restoration. I think it's a good practice to see each generation of christians start and maintain their own Restoration. Each of us have to make up our own minds as to which pattern we're going to follow: God's or that man's. We all grow up with more than our fair share of traditions, some of them good and some of them not so good. It behooves us all to get into God's Perfect Maintenance Manual and retweak ourselves and do the proper amount of retweaking of our congregations. Now, sometimes that means a lot of study and a whole lot of humble submission, especially those of us with more than our share of stubborness. I speak from experience. Traditions are OK as long as they're re-evaluated and recognized for what they are. They must NEVER take the place of or take the place alongside God's Word. Otherwise, we're following the same path that led to appointment of the Pope, equal to the Bible in authority. In my opinion the Bible is very clear, congregations should have at least two or three elders, with several deacons under them, then the preacher. That's the pattern of government that I see in the Bible and it's the pattern that has worked for 2,000 years. It's also simple and easy to understand. |
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738 | What is Biblical Chruch Government? | Acts 14:23 | Rowdy | 110311 | ||
I have been an active member in many different congregations of the Lord's Body, around the country and around the world. I was a deacon in one congregation for four years. I have served in congregations, both with elders and deacons and those without. There's not any specific scripture that be called upon to support my statement so I'll call it common sense inferred from the God's intent I see in His Word. I believe God really does want us to mature as individual christians and collectively as congregations where we see the urgent need for elders and deacons. (It's my belief that you can't have one without the other, that is "elders AND deacons.") Having traveled as much as I have and seen and experienced the amount of pain and heartache I've seen in my lifetime, I now know at least a little bit of the reasons why our Lord set up this pattern of government in His Body, the church. We humans, especially Americans, have a great tendency to be individuals, think, speak and do things as an individual. But we come together as a part of the Lord's church, we need to humble ourselves to follow God's pattern. In the Bible, we see the separate congregations at least per city were totally independent and autonomous with each other. Although the elders consult with each other on tough decisions like we see in Acts 15, this is the highest form government we see in NT. And they had a miraculous measure of the Holy Spirit helping them. After installing elders in a congregation, they should be followed with complete humility and submission. The only time any decision should be questioned is if it goes counter with God's Word and not in just one man's opinion but it should be confirmed with at least one other man's opinion with specific scripture to support that conclusion. I suppose almost everyone on this Forum knows about the qualifications from the Bible for elders and deacons. But just in case, they're in 1 Tim 3. It should be understood without saying but I gotta say it anyway: It's paramount that these qualifications be followed to the best of our ability. It's those qualifications that equip our elders and deacons to do the very important job they do. It's also very, very important that elders and deacons do their jobs with this utmost in their minds. They'll all be judged to a higher standard on God's Judgement Day and that everything they do should reflect glory to God and God's love to man. In other words, these men should love all mankind to a high degree and realize how humbling the appointment of this office should be. We must buffet our spiritual bodies just like the Apostle Paul did to keep ourselves humble but this practice is paramount with elders and deacons. As I see it, following God's pattern in His Word is one of the secrets to preventing a lot of mistakes and helps toward long-term, successful life of the church. That's why divorce between husband and wife in the Lord's church is getting to be a problem throughout the church. We all need to aspire to grow in faith, maturity and understanding of God's will. This includes our aspirations to be teachers, deacons and yes, even elders. If we're not growing in this manner, then we must look inward and find out why. Soul-searching and constant re-evaluation is a very good thing to do as far as God is concerned. Now you might be asking about overseers, bishops, shepards and pastors. In the Greek language, the Bible writers were referring to the same person, as elders. The word prophet is one that means our modern day preacher or minister. Well, that's my two cents worth. Let's hear from you folks. God bless us all. |
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739 | why did paul and barnabas fall out | Acts 15:38 | Rowdy | 123107 | ||
Why indeed? Why would there a "falling out" between any two men of God? Apparently Paul was at a different stage in his life and had a very dedicated focus. He knew exactly what he had to do and I think he had an idea he had a relatively short time to do it in. Mark on the other hand was young and could expect a longer lifetime. He didn't have the drive or the Holy Spirit urging him toward the same urgent (almost obsessive) goal as his mentor Paul. Instead of emphasizing that this parting of the ways happened, I rejoice in the fact that God's Word recorded it for us as an example that christians can choose to go our separate ways when we determine it's best while both (or all of us) can and must obey God, even when we choose to obey Him with our own distinctive personalities. I'm NOT saying that we can dictate terms to our Lord. I am saying that the particular way we execute that obedience can take us in many different directions. I think the Lord has a special set of goals distinctive to each of us but we're united in following the same Master, right? This also makes sense since He gives us each our own distinctive set of talents to serve Him. I also rejoice in the fact that late in Paul's life, he and Mark had re-established their closeness as brethren for the Lord as cited in 2 Tim 4:11. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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740 | why did paul and barnabas fall out | Acts 15:38 | Rowdy | 123125 | ||
I misread the question. It's probably obvious to most everyone but just in case... It is my opinion that Paul and Barnabas parted ways as a direct result of the disagreement between Paul and Mark. Remember Barnabas was the encourager AND was an uncle to Mark. When he saw that Paul (whom he had sided with at an earlier time Acts 11:25-26) had progressed in spiritual maturity to the point he decide to "mentor" young Mark. Sorry for the misdirection, hope this clarifies. God bless. --Rowdy |
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