Results 761 - 780 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# | |||
761 | Why do we read the Old Testament? | Rom 6:14 | Rowdy | 110453 | ||
The main purpose of the OT for us as christians is to "paint the background" so we can understand the circumstances and some of the reasons things are the way they are in the NT. For example: how can you possibly explain the difficulties the disciples have in understanding some of the basic lessons Christ taught? Even after the burial and resurrection of Christ, the disciples ask Jesus and I paraphrase "Now, Lord, can we take up our swords and fight the Romans, freeing our country from its rule?" You know of course Christ tells them to stay put in Jersulalem until the Holy Spirit comes to them. Ah, the patience of Jesus far exceeded that of Job. Now you and I see and understand the "mystery of God," his wonderful plan of salvation. But to them, it was a complete puzzle. We see that kind of shallow understanding of God and his ways throughout the OT. Of course, God's thoughts and ways are far higher than anything we can possibly think of. And here's a thought: if you and I or a large bulk of average people from this dispensation were transported as babies to grow up in their dispensation, we wouldn't have done any better. The main purpose of the OT as far as those folks before Christ was concerned was to be a "school master" and educate them as to what is sin and how much our God hates sin while loving the sinner. So you see, the OT is far more than just the history of that dispensation before Christ. It's a series of love letters. God telling all mankind what He made for us and how much He wants us back. A side bonus is the tremendous variety, beauty, depth and power of God, expressed in all the various books of the OT. Can you imagine how boring our Perfect Maintenance Manual from God would be if we didn't have the OT? Yes, as you can see I'm very thankful for it. While even, Moses got advice from his gentile father in law, Jethro in the handling of a large bulk of people in transit. And guess what: those same principles are used in almost every culture since then, especially the military. With all that said, however, we CANNOT and should not rely on the OT for specific authority to guide or restrict the activities in the Lord's church. Thus, you see all the 10 commandments mentioned in the NT, BUT the one about the Sabbath, so we worship on the first day of the week as commanded by example. There are many others, but I'll let you discover those on your own. I pray God blesses you in your study of His Word. |
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762 | why does god require sacrafices | Rom 6:23 | Rowdy | 117473 | ||
You've gotten several good comments from several good Bible students but I'd just like to add my two cents' worth. Our God created you, me and the rest of the world for the purpose of our being a glory to Him, as the Creator. But He only gets this glory IF we actually make that choice since He gives us the freedom to turn Him down. Our God desparately craves the love and devotion of His creation but He graciously gives us that freedom to submit to Him or rebel and follow our own way. This simple choice between His way or our way has been one of the main themes throughout His Word, our Bible. With reference to the "hardening of Pharoah's heart," that has been a tough subject for many Bible students. In my opinion, God was using the Pharoah's condition to make a world-class showdown between Himself and the most powerful nation then known in the world. Pharoah had already shown he would never repent regardless of ANY gesture from God. So God used the 10 plagues in a very specific way, every one of them in a direct put-down to the various gods of Egypt. This showdown by the Lord needed the Pharoah to be very hard-hearted and not submit to Moses' demands. Again, I should mention there was no hope for Pharoah. He was headed for one single place but God used him just as He uses all the rest of His creation to get His message love AND majesty to us as His children. Good question and God bless. |
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763 | Why do we sin? | Rom 7:15 | Rowdy | 115832 | ||
In addition to Emmanus good response, I'd add these verses from: James 1:12 Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 13 Let no one say when he is tempted, "I am being tempted by God"; for God cannot be tempted by evil, and He Himself does not tempt anyone. 14 But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. 15 Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. After reading and analyzing all of these and those as quoted by Emmanus, we have to assume that the average person chooses to sin because they have determined to go ahead and take a chance that they will have time to repent and get forgiveness before dying or meeting Jeseus in Judgment. What would be your thoughts on the matter? God bless. |
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764 | tortoise, How does Rom 8:1 relate to OT | Rom 8:1 | Rowdy | 112137 | ||
I am actually glad to see this kind of dialouge show up on the Forum as it's an excellent example of the point I've tried to make with previous posts. Let's start with your verse as stated above from Paul in Rom 8:1. Of course, there's no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus but that's the actual crux of the matter. Can a christian (as I assume you are) actually keep on willfully continue in sin without real, genuine repentance? I'm afraid the net sum of the Bible clearly teaches that this can't be so. Peter puts it rather bluntly in 2 Pet 2:22 and depicts a christian doing this like "a dog returning to its vomit or a pig to its mud." Yes, disgusting, I agreee but that's how our Lord and Father sees us if we continue in this kind of activity. John makes it a little clearer in 1 John 1:5-10. If a person continues in this kind of willful disobedience to our Father and doesn't really plan to sincerely stop; if he makes an attempt to "repent" merely for other men's sake, it's no good to our Father. That person is still in his sins. Surely you must agree, this is really quite clear in John's epistle. Please let me say this to the whole Forum. These basic principles apply to ALL sin in our lives. Again, let me be clear, these principles apply to all christians. Once you're in the body of Christ, you CAN most certainly choose to go back to a life of sin and maybe even fool your best friends and brethren in the church. But if your life is a lie; if you're not truly repenting every day of the sins in your life and trying to genuinely live a Christ-like life every moment of your life, you need to re-evaluate and take another look at your priorities. I do hope this is clear to all who read but I would love to see some responses from anyone else on this subject. God bless you all. |
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765 | tortoise, How does Rom 8:1 relate to OT | Rom 8:1 | Rowdy | 112222 | ||
I can see that you've put some study into this topic but I'm afraid I still stand firmly committed to the truth plainly revealed by Peter and John. I'm not exactly certain how you derive your conclusion from the scriptures above...it seems a little convoluted. But I think a passage from James 2 is much more clear as follows: 14 What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? 15If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, 16and one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and filled," but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit? 17Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. 18But someone will say, "You have faith, and I have works." Show me your faith without your[4] works, and I will show you my faith by my[5] works. 19You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe--and tremble! 20But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?[6] 21Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar? 22Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect? 23And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, "Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness."[7] And he was called the friend of God. 24You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only. 25Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way? 26For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also. Please don't draw the wrong conclusion...I AM NOT saying we can work or earn our way to Heaven. Quite the opposite, but our Lord will be looking for proof that we really are in His family and not just saying "Lord, Lord." We all know from Jesus' own words that alone won't get you anywhere but if we truly love God and His Son, we MUST obey Him and we MUST SHOW that obedience. So you see, the overall net result of the words from Christ, Peter, James and John is that we MUST become part of God's family. We MUST live a faithful life of a christian, repenting of our sins at least daily and we MUST act like we're following Christ's example AND the examples of His official representatives, as described in God's Word. God bless. |
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766 | meaning of according to the flesh? | Rom 8:13 | Rowdy | 121231 | ||
To me, it simply means to give more thought to the ways of the world which leans to temptation to sin moreso than to "think on Heavenly things" as encouraged by the whole Bible. A person who suspects they're thinking too much on the flesh must devote him/herself to reading and studying (two very different approaches) of God's Word AND they must increase their prayer life. It's also a good idea to spend as much as possible of your personal time with christians instead of spending it with unbelievers. This close association with christians will increase the tendancy to repeat visually what we're reading about in our Bibles. That's why it's so vital to be a part of God's family and planted in a congregation and faithfully attend meetings and fellowships together. I know this so very well because I've tried both and failed miserably at the art of spending time with unbelievers with the intent that I would rub off on them. Instead the great tendancy is they rub off on us. We must see ourselves as "sanctified by God, a royal priesthood." That means we're set apart from the world; we're still in the world but we should see ouselves as not being of this world but transform ourselves by renewing our mind by reading over and over again God's Word. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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767 | meaning of according to the flesh? | Rom 8:13 | Rowdy | 121238 | ||
I'm sorry, I didn't do a very good job of reviewing your post and see your second question. The answer is very clear from the Bible. God's Word teaches very clearly in Acts 8 that christians can sin often in their lives and must repent to maintain the fellowship with God as cited in 1 John 1. We must be faithful till death as cited in Rev 2:10. You'll get a wide variety of opinions on this subject but I would urge you to study ALL of God's Word and don't take a chance on an innovative interpretation of God's Word. God will judge us on Judgment Day by ALL of the Words contained in the WHOLE NT, as per Jesus and His authorized representatives, the Apostles. Again, study all of this topic by inserting the key words in the search function on the right of your screen for a complete, balanced picture of God's Will on the subject. God bless. --Rowdy |
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768 | Who cares to discuss this verse? | Rom 8:19 | Rowdy | 115650 | ||
Although we can't understand the full depth of this chapter as it seems to be quite explosive in its implications, I do think that God and His creation show a wonderful quality. Just as the heavenly bodies show the tremendous design and beauty of His creation, they also show His wisdom and patience. I do think that here, Paul is referring to christians of all time from then to now and to the last day of this existing creation. Appreciate your digging this up and God bless. |
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769 | why was Jacob Loved and Esau Hated | Rom 9:1 | Rowdy | 119470 | ||
Cited for reference Gen 33:1 Then Jacob lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, Esau was coming, and four hundred men with him. So he divided the children among Leah and Rachel and the two maids. 2 He put the maids and their children in front, and Leah and her children next, and Rachel and Joseph last. 3 But he himself passed on ahead of them and bowed down to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother. 4 Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell on his neck and kissed him, and they wept. From reading the above, I can only say that finally after much grief and sadness in separation for many years, these two brothers were reunited. To me, personally, this is a wonderful representation of what we see in 1 Jn 1. If we're in sync with our brethren and we know one of those is loved by God, to me that means both are loved by God. Now you may be referring to the Bible's use of hate like Jesus said in Lk 14:26 "If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot be my disciple. Naturally, Jesus is NOT saying we should learn to hate our mother and father and love Him. Here and throughout the Bible, "hate" is a relative term showing an extreme contrast. We must love God so much more than our mother or our brother but that doesn't mean we should hate anyone. Apparently, the ancient languages didn't have a word to accurately communicate this comparison. I think you can rest assured God loved Esau in His own way. After he too had a rather large family. God bless. --Rowdy |
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770 | What is the meaning of logike latreia? | Rom 12:1 | Rowdy | 112260 | ||
Sounds like Latin or possibly Greek. Where in the world did you get these words? Which words within the verse does it apply? Maybe we can figure it from the context. Please advise. God bless. | ||||||
771 | HOW to renew mind | Rom 12:2 | Rowdy | 123325 | ||
I'd say the following verses would be a good start Phil 4:8 Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. 9 The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. Eph 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might. 11Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. 14Stand therefore, having girded your waist with truth, having put on the breastplate of righteousness, 15and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16above all, taking the shield of faith with which you will be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one. 17And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God; 18praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, being watchful to this end with all perseverance and supplication for all the saints-- 19and for me, that utterance may be given to me, that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel, 20for which I am an ambassador in chains; that in it I may speak boldly, as I ought to speak. Gal 5:19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24And those who are Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another. The actual process of putting this guidance above from God into our lives as His children should keep your mind pretty actively engaged for quite a while. I hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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772 | How does God help us break addictions? | Rom 13:14 | Rowdy | 119153 | ||
Along with the good advice you've rec'd, I would offer this: Since this addiction didn't happen overnite, it will probably take quite a while to get completely away from it. Don't be disappointed, just settle for going slow and make steady progress. However, I understand there are groups of people who are genuinely dedicated to assisting those with this problem. They probably even use a similar system of steps to get a person out of this addiction, like Alcholoics Anonymous. Check your phone book for groups for some kind of thereapy sessions. Remember with God on your/our side, who can possibly oppose you/us. We'll all be praying for you and God bless. --Rowdy |
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773 | Where is "You shall be known as you are | 1 Corinthians | Rowdy | 120179 | ||
I can only suggest verse 12 of the following 1 Cor 13:9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. 12 For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known. 13 But now faith, hope, love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. These are some of the most famous verses in the whole Bible. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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774 | Where is "You shall be known as you are | 1 Corinthians | Rowdy | 120193 | ||
This is one of those places in God's Word where it's paramount to read and understand the passage in question IN ITS CONTEXT. Here it's absolutely crucial. Also, one should remember that the Bible was authored and written without the modern advent of chapters and verses. So I'll quote here from the last few verses of Chapter 12. In this chapter, Apostle Paul has been expounding at length about spiritual gifts from the Holy Spirit bestowed on the Corinthian christians by the laying on of hands, probably and mostly by Paul. 1 Cor 12:30 All do not have gifts of healings, do they? All do not speak with tongues, do they? All do not interpret, do they? 31 But earnestly desire the greater gifts. And I show you a still more excellent way. with 1 Cor 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing. 4 Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, 5 does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away. 9 For we know in part and we prophesy in part; 10 but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. 11 When I was a child, I used to speak like a child, think like a child, reason like a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. So after carefully studying the whole of this disertation from Paul, we must conclude that he is saying in the latter part of Chapter 13, that this era of miraculous powers (spiritual gifts) will soon die out and be replaced with an era without such gifts. This era of miracles (signs) was an endorsement from God and Jesus that the Apostles were acting and speaking with Their blessing as being fully empowered by the Holy Spirit. Now I realize this statement will probably be responded to with various different opinions, proposing we still live in an age of miraculous powers from the Holy Spirit manifested in men. I would just like to encourage everyone to look for and compare these modern demonstrations of such miracles against the standard of miracles as we see in God's Word. Are people able to see after a lifetime of blindness from birth? Are limbs restored to good working order after being severed from the body? Is life restored to a dead body after being absolutely dead for several hours, maybe even days? Are we comparing modern miracles to those we see in our Bible that were unquestionably supernatural feats going against the natural laws of this universe? I would urge you to "test everything" as we're directed by Paul in 1 John 4:1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. I do sincerely this helps clarify mmy previous post on this subject. God bless. --Rowdy |
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775 | John 3:1-7 how can you say it's not true | 1 Cor 1:17 | Rowdy | 111397 | ||
I'd like to offer my opinion as to why there is this seeming contradiction. If one does a thorough and serious study of the life and teachings of Apostle, you have to come away with a strong conclusion that he most certainly did believe in baptism for the remission of sins and I think it can be inferred correctly that baptism for this reason is required to obey God's terms of His plan of salvation. However, we still have Paul's statement to deal with. Basically, I think by this time in Paul's life, he has recognized he has a very short time to live upon this earth and is also recgnizing his main talent is to spread to good news of the Gospel to all the world and let others do the baptizing and teaching thereafter. He is merely recognizing priorities just as we do in today's world. He was also delegating as his right to do so. Remember, Paul could see into the future and knew there would be a period of the apostecy, when men would fall away from the church. He was most traumatized over this as shown in his last gathering with the elders in Ephesis. One more thing and I'll hush. There's seems to be a great tendancy for us as men to demand all kinds of extra details such as this kind of explanation from God about all these kind of controversies in His Word. We seem to forget that God expects us to grow up as spiritual beings and realize some of this CAN be figured out on our own. We don't need to argue about it, at least NOT to the length of time and the degree of hurtful words I see posted on this Forum. I agree, this kind of bantering over such small matters doesn't do us or the Lord's church any good. Thanks for "listening" and God bless you all. |
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776 | What about Uriah? | 1 Cor 1:25 | Rowdy | 118397 | ||
This is indeed a tough question, every bit as tough as my post 114616, if not tougher. Here, one of the most noble men in the whole Bible gets killed and relatively little is done about it by HUMAN standards. My conclusion is that once again our Lord is showing his creation who really is in charge. My only solace is that He created us and like a Potter's clay, He can do with us as He wants and there's not a whole lot we can do or say about it. Just re-read Job and we have to admit as far as we humans are concerned all that bad stuff happened because God let it happen to him. The bottom line: I wouldn't let this bother you too much. We're all faced with the resolution of growing and maturing in our complete trust in God, His love and mercy. God bless. --Rowdy |
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777 | Just brainstorming. Any lightning? | 1 Cor 2:2 | Rowdy | 115664 | ||
Have you ever considered how strange and inconsistent we humans tend to be? Most of us want the world on our terms when we know we didn't create it and shouldn't expect that response from the world. We want things to conform to and be consistent with the Bible so as to make sense, and rightly so. But what happens to all that nice and neatly packaged world of thinking when someone comes into our midst who's got some rough edges or corners, like John the Baptist, prophet Elijah or maybe even Apostle Paul. We don't like someone to come in with strange ideas like our Lord did; He literally turned the world right side up. We're supposed to be transformed into new creatures every day by renewing our minds in accordance with Paul. 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. We want the world to be objective about its news reporting on our TVs. We want our job evaluations to be objective so everyone is treated fairly and on a "level playing field" for promotions. We want our laws of the land to be fair and reasonable and above all objective and not subjective to one person's interpretation. BUT now, let's turn to religion and to God's Word. There we want God to answer our prayers and we want them answered in a hurry. We say "in accordance with thy will" but we rarely mean it. Because if it's God's Will that our spouse, father or mother or child really dies, then all is lost and we tend to give up on God or at the very least, we question His judgment. We can't even agree on what it takes to please God and assure ourselves a reservation in Heaven. Our Lord prayed earnestly for unity in the last few words He spoke on this earth, and yet we fight and bicker over the most immature things in our world, just like our kids. Yes, God's world is filled with conundrums. It's difficult enough just for us to figure ourselves out and then we're faced with figuring out what God wants us to do. (Well, I guess you've probably figured me out by now...I'm just venting, like we all do sometimes.) Couldn't you use a vacation from this planet? Sometimes, I think I would have made a great Captain Kirk but then I was born about 3 centuries too early. What might be your thoughts on the matter? Come back. God bless. |
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778 | Just brainstorming. Any lightning? | 1 Cor 2:2 | Rowdy | 115749 | ||
Thanks for your contribution. It's just great to be alive and to be headed for Heaven, wouldn't you agree? God bless. | ||||||
779 | Just brainstorming. Any lightning? | 1 Cor 2:2 | Rowdy | 115823 | ||
I'm not there yet but I understand it's a wonderful feeling when we can say like Paul, "to die is gain but to live is Christ." My father talks like that now. He's lived a full life, most of it in the Kingdom and is looking forward to going Home to his maker. | ||||||
780 | instuctions on christian living | 1 Cor 4:16 | Rowdy | 115893 | ||
I think it's best that you read the entire NT for the most authoritative answer but I think Paul puts it pretty concisely in: 1 Cor 4:14 I am not writing this to shame you, but to warn you, as my dear children. 15Even though you have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers, for in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16Therefore I urge you to imitate me. 17For this reason I am sending to you Timothy, my son whom I love, who is faithful in the Lord. He will remind you of my way of life in Christ Jesus, which agrees with what I teach everywhere in every church. I personally don't think you'll be able to match Paul in his lifestyle but IF by chance you think you're getting close, I'm afraid you'd just have to shoot higher and imitate Christ Himself. God bless. |
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