Results 421 - 440 of 701
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Sir Pent Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
421 | What was God's plan? | Luke 1:35 | Sir Pent | 113295 | ||
My answer............................................ Hello Crystal, Thanks for explaining your question a bit more. I would recommend looking at Romans chapter 5. It talks about how sin entered the world from the first human, Adam bringing death to us all. However, it also says that Jesus Christ came to provide justification to us all (Rom 5:18). That was God's plan. And as for when did God come up with that plan. There is a verse that says that God planned it from the beginning. I can't remember what that verse is off the top of my head, but maybe someone else on the forum will know it. |
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422 | How could Jesus increase in wisdom? | Luke 2:52 | Sir Pent | 14526 | ||
My personal belief on this is that when Jesus became a man, He put aside temporarily some of His Godly abilities (Philippians 2:5-7), in order to identify more fully with mankind (Hebrews 4:14-15). I believe that omniscience was one of these things, which Jesus, temporarily gave up. For instance, in Mark 13:32, Jesus claims to not know the exact day and hour of His return. With this perspective, there is no conflict with Jesus growing in wisdom. P.S. Steve, please do not take offense to this, for in fact I have defended you before in other threads on this forum. However, I am curious. It seems that certain forum members have an inclination to attack your posts. I must admit that it seems a large number of your questions, do relate to very difficult (and often controversial) questions, such as this one. As I looked at your profile, I recieved little clarification as to your background. Would you mind giving a little more information about yourself, and why you ask so many questions that could be dangerous to less mature believer's faith? |
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423 | Mary Magdalene and the seven demons | Luke 8:2 | Sir Pent | 113856 | ||
Scripture Referrance............................... Hi Docl333, Here's the Bible verse that talks about this subject. We do know that Mary Magdalene had 7 demons come out of her. We do not know if they were the seven deadly sins. |
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424 | what is the "blasphemy" referred to ? | Luke 12:10 | Sir Pent | 114704 | ||
Referrence to another thread......................................... Hello rpmiller, This is a very good question, and one that concerns a lot of people. I would recommend that you type the number 21448 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right of the screen. This will take you to my answer for this question. |
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425 | Can I come home again, or apostate? | Luke 15:24 | Sir Pent | 60888 | ||
Encouragement ...................................... Welcome to the forum GJH, I understand your concerns regarding the loss of salvation. I too, rejected Christ's forgiveness at one point in my life, after I had already been a Christian for many years. I shared some of these concerns on this forum in the past, and received a very good answer from Tim Moran. I would encourage you to read that thread. Just do a quick search (top right) for the number 25332. God bless! |
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426 | Heaven and the Old Testament | Luke 16:19 | Sir Pent | 117190 | ||
Afterlife breakdown................................................. EdB (and anyone else interested), I think that I mainly agree with your view of the afterlife, but would appreciate your thoughts on the few differences. We both seem to believe that there have been 4 different places that people have gone or will go after death. They are Paradise (or Sheol or Abraham's Bosom), Hades, Heaven, and Hell (or Gehenna). We both believe that all the people before Christ's death went to either Paradise or Hades (kind of a good and bad waiting room for the judgement). We both believe that at the judgement, whoever is still in Hades go eternally to Hell, and the believers will go eternally to Heaven. Where we seem to disagree is that you believe that Paradise closed when Christ preached there, and that now all believers go straight to Heaven (skipping Paradise), while unbelievers still have to wait in Hades. I believe that instead, all people still go to both Paradise (if believers) and Hades (if unbelievers), until the judgement. Do you have scripture that supports your idea that Paradise is closed, or refuting my idea that they still both exist? |
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427 | Civil punishment impossible? | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 120487 | ||
A different perspective.............................................. Welcome to the forum Pete2, If I understand correctly, you are saying that as Christians we must have unlimited forgiveness, and that this would lead to chaos in society due to a complete lack of retaliation and punishment. The first thing that needs to be explained is that there are eternal consequences to sin and there are earthly consequences to sin. Imagine a drunk driver kills another person, and later repents of their sin. The eternal consequence of their sin (Hell) is then taken away and they can spend eternity with God after they die. However, some of the earthly consequences can not be taken away. Their car may be able to be repaired, but the person they killed will not come back. Thus even Christians can support earthly punishment. Even a forgiven thief would still have to repay his victims. The second thing that needs to be explained is that the "nice" thing is not always the Christian thing. Imagine a criminal who commits credit card fraud. They may repent and be forgiven. However, it could be the Christian thing to do, to cancel all their credit cards. It may seem like the "nice" thing is to just pretend nothing happened and let them have absolute freedom again. However, that would just be leading them into temptation. What is truly in their best interest may be eliminate the opportunity to sin again until they are able to overcome its tug. That is the key issue for a Christian. Our response to sin should not be to punish out of retaliation or vengenge, but instead out of tough love for the other person. We should be motivated by bringing them closer to God. |
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428 | Cristians are a no show in Culture War | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 120844 | ||
Disagreement......................................................... Hi Pete2, I am confused why you don't think that Christians participate in the culture war. It seems to me that there are many Christians who are actively trying to shed light into the culture around them. The Salvation Army is a great example of a church that puts into practice the Christian beliefs of meeting the needs of the society around them. They are certainly not in a bubble :) The crisis pregnancy centers run by the Catholic church in cities across America are educating young mothers and helping them to have the support and supplies necessary for taking care of their babies. The Prison Fellowship ministry started by Chuck Colson has just recently been turning America's prisons around and greatly reducing recidivism (prisoners who go back to prison after release for more crimes). My local church currently shares around 50,000 dollars each year to support missionaries around the world who are sharing the message of Jesus Christ. Many of them are even from our church. Thousands of other churches are similarly involved. These are just a few examples of how Christians are indeed allowing God to use them to change the culture around them. |
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429 | Cristians are a no show in Culture War | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 120956 | ||
Referral to another thread............................................ Hi Mommapbs, You asked where were Christians during Roe vs. Wade? Many of them were praying for Roe, and their prayers were answered. She has now become a Christian and actively supports the unborn. You asked where were Christians when school prayer was banned? Many of them were starting something called "See you at the pole", which now has thousands of students praying around their school flagpoles across America. You asked where were Christians while evolution was being taught? Many Christians have put much time and effort into discovering how science supports the scriptural account of creation. See ICR.org for more information. You asked where were Christians when the Ten Commandments were removed? Many of them have put signs in their yards to support the return of the Ten Commandments, and some such as Justice Roy Moore have put their career on the line for that cause. You asked where are Christians now that "In God We Trust" is endangered? Many of them have started groups such as the CLA (www.christianlaw.org) and the ACLJ (www.aclj.org) to defend against these legal threats. You asked where are Christians now that "sanctity of life" is endangered? Many of them started an organization called "Right to Life" to fight this culture war. Even their enemies admit that they are winning. (http://www.miplannedparenthood.org/rtl.htm) You asked where were Christians when the US Post Office released an Islamic stamp? Many of them are protesting and educating people about this issue (http://www.freecongress.org/commentaries/2002/021121pw.asp) While I agree with you that more could be done, one cannot deny that there are Christians who are truly engaging in the "culture war". I hope that this message is an encouragement to you Mommapbs. I hope you can see that the cup is half-full :) |
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430 | The culture war | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 120960 | ||
A different perspective............................................. Hi Pete2, I agree with you that there are more battles in the "culture war" than there are Christians willing to fight them. This is unfortunate but it does not mean that "Christians are a no show" as you previously stated. Your statements make me curious though. How can you see so clearly that Jesus is the only answer for society as a whole, yet you are unable to see that Jesus is the only answer for yourself? |
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431 | The culture war | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 120980 | ||
A different perspective.............................................. Hi Pete2, You seem to think that Christians cannot win the culture war due to their desire to "turn the other cheek". You seem to think that being kind cannot stop evil. However, there are many examples in history where just the opposite is true. For instance, there is the story of Telemechus the monk. His peaceful protest of the gladiator contests in ancient Rome stopped the killing there forever. This is recorded in the writings of Theodoret (http://www.ccel.org/s/schaff/npnf203/htm/iv.viii.v.xxv.htm) I can relate to your personal experience of being raised in a Christian home but coming to a point of having to start over with a clean slate (tabula rasa) to determine what you believe. Perhaps you would be interested in reading how I started from scratch and found Christianity to be the only logical choice. Just type the number 22206 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right corner of the screen. |
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432 | The culture war | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 121073 | ||
Personal Note......................................................... Hello again Pete2, I am not offended by your refusal to read the thread 22206. However, I am a bit surprised. You seem like a person who enjoys thinking through ideas for yourself by getting all the relevant information and then making up your own mind. If this is true, then I would have thought that you would want to read this other related thread so that you could have additional information to make your decision. But perhaps your statement that "I feel fine where I am at" means that you have decided to lock-in your current beliefs and refuse to continue to re-evaluate your ideas in a search for truth. As for your experience with bullies growing up, I also dealt with bullies as a youth. Perhaps you would type the number 121072 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right corner of the screen to read my story. |
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433 | Sovereignty and Free-Will | John | Sir Pent | 61200 | ||
This doesn't answer the question ............... Dear JRdoc, Welcome to the forum. I appreciate your interest in the question that I asked, however, your response simply describes what Calvinists believe in general. It does not describe why an Arminian viewpoint necessitates a lower view of the sovereignity of God. Let me restate my question, and perhaps you will be able to answer it better. ................................... We both believe that God is sovereign and all powerful. Therefore, He could have created beings (humans) such as you have just described. They were all completely corrupted after the fall of Adam, and completely incapable of desiring relationship with God. Therefore, they would never normally choose God and would all deserve Hell. Then God could, within that system, choose some of those beings as exceptions to that rule, and change their hearts in such a way that they had an irresistable desire to have a relationship with God. Therefore, they would choose God and would deserve heaven (only by God's grace of changing them, and providing a way to salvation through Jesus). Thus everyone gets what they deserve (at least in one sense) ................................... However, it is also possible that God being sovereign and all powerful could have created beings (humans) that were actually capable of either desiring a relationship with God or not desiring it. Their nature could be partially corrupted so that they have a tendancy to choose to reject God, but still have the ability to overcome that first instinct. Then some of them would choose to love God and would deserve heaven (only by God’s grace of providing a way to salvation through Jesus). But others would choose to reject God and His salvation and would deserve Hell. Thus everyone gets what they deserve (in a greater sense). ................................... So now to the original question. How does believing the second option to be true limit the sovereignity of God? Since God could have set it up either way, He is in complete control either way. For that matter, even assuming the Arminian perspective is correct, God could still change His mind at any point and remove the freedom to choose again. Although we don’t believe that God would ever do that, He could. I am not asking you to believe Arminianism is correct, I am simply trying to explain that it is also a possible explanation of the universe that keeps God’s soveriegnity intact. ................................... It seems to me that it is like a parent watching their child on a playground, but letting them choose whether to go down the little slide or the big slide. The parent is bigger and stronger, and could easily bar the child from one slide or the other. But it doesn’t make the parent any less big or less strong for them to allow the child pick either one. |
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434 | Sovereignty and Free-Will | John | Sir Pent | 61259 | ||
You Did Not Answer The Question ................................... Dear JRdoc, I realize that you believe the second premise to be wrong. The second option is the way that the universe is perceived by an Arminian, which you are not. I am not asking you to believe that it is correct. Please don’t just keep on throwing out Bible verses that you think prove that position wrong. I am fully aware that there are many verses that would seem to support the Calvinist perspective while refuting the Arminian perspective. I know where you are coming from on that front. ................................... Now try to see where I am coming from. There are also a lot of scriptures that support the Arminian perspective while refuting the Calvinist one. I am not going to throw them out here becuase that has been done ad nausium here on the forum. Besides which, I am not at this time trying to convince anyone to believe either perspective. ................................... I am strictly interested in determining, if ASSUMING either perspective was correct, would it be possible for God to be sovereign. ................................... P.S. This doesn’t relate to the question we are discussing, but since you asked, I find (1) to be the most accurate statement in your question, but please don’t go trying to prove me wrong. Let’s stay on the sovereign topic :) |
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435 | Sovereignty and Free-Will | John | Sir Pent | 61272 | ||
Perhaps we're at an impass.............................. Dear JRdoc, I am dissapointed that you feel like we can’t continue our discussion. I am not asking you to stop using scripture, in fact, I encourage you to do so. I am only asking that you don’t use scripture to attack the assumption (Arminian perspective) because that has been done already elsewhere on the forum (and is currently happening as well, I might add). I would ask you to supply some scripture that would indicates that BASED ON THE ASSUMPTION BEING TRUE, would negate the sovereignity of God. If you are unable to put yourself in the other persons shoes, then this may be impossible for you. However, I have tried to state the Calvinist position from their perspective in a fair way, and would ask you to at least try to answer the question from a point of understanding (although not agreeing of course) the Arminian perspective. If you can’t do this then I would encourage you to at least read the thread that I am discussing this with John Reformer. We seem to be understanding each other better and perhaps you might learn something from reading that thread. ............................................................ P.S. I am not a universalist. I disagree with that perspective. |
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436 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | Sir Pent | 120480 | ||
An alternative view................................................... Hi Rowdy, You stated that it is difficult for us to understand the concept of the Trinity. Although most Christians do think that it is very complicated, I would suggest that there is a relatively simple explanation. Please type the number 120478 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right corner of the screen to see my thoughts on this subject. |
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437 | God's name or a title? | John 1:1 | Sir Pent | 120612 | ||
Referral to another thread............................................ Hi Cloud, Understanding the Trinity is not as impossible to understand as most people think. Please type the number 120478 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right corner of the screen for more information. P.S. Dear Lockman Foundation, why is Bstudent not banned from the forum? He has posted openly that someone should study with Jehovah's Witnesses (a known cult) in post 120593. He has also questioned the deity of Christ (breaking a forum guideline) by denying Jesus eternal nature (posts 119537 and 120536) and by declaring that Jesus is "separate and obviously inferior" to God (post 119192). |
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438 | God's name or a title? | John 1:1 | Sir Pent | 120842 | ||
Request for more information.......................................... Hi Mary01, In your post, you said that you did not think that the Bible passages that people had posted about the Trinity actually supported that idea. Could you please type the number 120479 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right of the screen. This will take you to a post that I wrote on the subject that contains several verses on the subject. I would be interested to know what you think that those verses mean since you don't think they support the idea of the Trinity. |
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439 | God's name or a title? | John 1:1 | Sir Pent | 120843 | ||
Disagreement......................................................... Hi Bstudent, In your post, you said that I am wrong to designate the Bible as the highest authority in my life. You said that it was better to allow reason and logic to control you beliefs and actions. I disagree. Humanity is too good at rationalizing to trust your eternal soul to your ability to be rational. We need an anchor that is beyond ourselves and thankfully God has given us His Word to be just that :) 1 Cor 2:5 "so that your faith would not rest on the wisdom of men, but on the power of God." |
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440 | God's name or a title? | John 1:1 | Sir Pent | 120981 | ||
Disagreement.......................................................... Hi BStudent, There is too much in your last post to reply to all of it individually. But I will summarize by saying that your interpretation of the Bible goes against what is widely considered a correct Christian understanding of it. Your background in the Jehovah's Witness has significantly biased your interpretation, and is the reason for the mental gymnastics used to explain why these verses don't mean what they say they mean. I will point out the same thing that I have told others on this subject. God sent the Bible to be His message to mankind. He has protected it's accuracy through the years, copies, and translations. He would not have allowed it to be corrupted to the extent that people would have been decieved into thinking Jesus was God. If the Bible says that "the Word (Jesus) was God" then that is exactly what God meant. Attempting to explain it away by looking at Greek is only trying to confuse people. Put your trust in your Bible, not in your brain, or in the brains of the Jehovah's Witness teachers who are leading you into error. |
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