Results 261 - 280 of 562
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Results from: Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
261 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120340 | ||
Thank you, dear friend. I couldn't agree with you more. Amen, Amen, more power to you. Yes, that's exactly what I've been saying all along. Yes, indeed, Grace and ONLY Grace can possibly save us from our sins for we've all sinned and can't possibly do a thing about that. Now we can accept God's saving Grace, by following the plan of salvation as has been discussed before. Thus we clothe ourselves with Christ, covering ourselves with our sinful ways and approach God in prayer. And after receiving that gift of the Holy Spirit, the saving of our souls, we should feel so endebted to our Lord that we should shout His Name from the mountain tops. But He settles for our being kind to the poor, the widows, the orphans, forgiving our neighbors, our enemies and other acts of kindness as we see demonstrated by His Son and the Apostles throughout our Bible. Yes, these acts of kindness (and our attempts to kick sin out of our lives) proves we are His children thus we receive the seal of approval and enter into our Father's eternal rest in Heaven. I'm so glad you agree. God bless you. --Rowdy |
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262 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120334 | ||
I appreciate your open hearted and honest response to Point 1 from James 2. Do you have or are you working on your reply to Point 2 from Matt 25. Good discussion as I forecasted. Anyone else? God bless you all. --Rowdy |
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263 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120322 | ||
I just looked briefly over both of your two posts in response. It's going to take a little more time to digest it all which I'll do and will attempt a more thorough response but meanwhile... Please forgive me but I scanned for a response to my two main points from James 2 and Matt 25 and didn't see anything specifically addressing those points. Did I miss them? If so, I'll see them upon my more thorough review. IF by chance you didn't respond to those specific points, I was hoping to get your "chop" on those two topics. I guess you've already noticed my statement that I'm not contesting the idea that God's Grace does save us but it's our works that prove that we have that faith in us as described in James 2. Of course, after doing all this study from Mr. Karleen's Handbook, you're entitled to a break, so just let me know. Thanks and God bless. --Rowdy. |
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264 | Practical Application Skill | Ps 141:3 | Rowdy | 120321 | ||
My only response would be to quote from James 3. James is a very practical book and especially useful to modern christians in this day and age. Here he warns about the very dangerous tongue and encourages us to seek after Godly wisdom to control it. More or less the same kind of guidance from your verse above. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
265 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120318 | ||
I guess you can call me dense but I don't see how Rom 6 and 2 Cor 5:17 provide answers to the points in my post on this subject. Apparently, you don't wish to tackle my points, all in the same response. How about if we break them down say two at a time? How about if we start with the following: 1) Please explain to me how your interpretation of Grace from God with no strings attached, no need for works is reconciled with Jesus' very own earthly brother, James' teaching on this subject? Ref James 2. 2) Please explain to me how God on Judgment Day will distinguish between the sheep and goats, (christians and non-believers) without works of any kind? Ref Matt 25. Remember, even the Devil believes in the Lord. In answer to your questions: 1) Yes, I believe very emphatically that the saving Grace of God is the ONLY thing that stands in the way between all of us and Hell as our eternal doom. BUT I also believe in the Words of our Lord when He said He would judge the world on Judgment Day by His Words which includes His delegation of some authority to His appointed Apostles. Also, He promised the Comforter or the Holy Spirit would lead them and It lead them to provide us with the balance of the NT, God's Word. So we'll be judged by the WHOLE NT. I'm not able to explain the actual mechanics of how Grace and works blend together; I just know our Father will be looking for both in our lives as His children. 2) I'll have to admit "better safe than sorry" is a modern, man-made designation. What would you call the concept where God sets the example of forgiving us over and over again? We supposed to follow that example and forgive our enemies and our brethren over and over. BUT now that we're assured of our home in Heaven, we don't have to bother. IF a brother can't get his act together, grow up and stop sinning (sins and repents over and over again), we'll just kick him out of the church and send him somewhere else. We don't have to put up with that kind of extra burden and headache, we've got Heaven to anticipate. No need to make certain of anything, we've been assured by Grace. You tell me, is there something wrong with this scenario? I do hope you'll respond in kind and answer my questions above and of course provide scriptures in support. As always, I open up the whole line of discussions for Forum-wide participation. This should result in some really good productive discussions. God bless you all. --Rowdy |
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266 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120283 | ||
I was really counting on your responding to my post no 120278. I was just thinking of the different ways a person might respond and I was thinking of my response. I'm really looking forward to our discussion. Please do think about it and God bless you, dear friend. --Rowdy | ||||||
267 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | Rowdy | 120280 | ||
Although I don't have all the answers on this passage, I am convinced this scripture here refers to Jesus Christ as being the Word. Once again, it's difficult for us humans to fully comprehend the complexities of the concept. That is the concept of the Trinity. How can three separate distinct Beings of Diety, God the Father, Christ the Son and the Holy Spirit be separate yet all in one. That kind of mathmetics just don't add up here on earth but I accept it as fact, based on God's Word and my faith in Him. I do hope you'll keep on studying. God bless. --Rowdy |
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268 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120278 | ||
I knew you guys were going to tackle this subject but I was hoping you were going to address all the points in my post. The major loose ends you left dangling are: 1) The Book of James, the famous straw epistle of Martin Luther. Even he had to admit the thorny concept of works demanded by this book in conjunction with the Grace of God. How do you reconcile these concepts? 2) Why do the acts of kindness as commanded by Jesus in Matt 25? Why should we if we're absolutely assured of going to Heaven as per your teaching or interpretation of Grace without works? 3) Why should we bother with our talents as commanded by Christ in His parable of the three men, 5 talents, 2 and 1 talents? 4) What is the implied meaning of the parable of the ten virgins? Why should we maintain anything in particular with regard to our spiritual growth? 5) Why should we grow as encouraged by Paul? See below. When we could remain as babes in Christ, with less burden and less responsibilities? Eph 4:14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming; 15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love. 6) Why should we bother to add the fruits of the Spirit to our lives (Gal 5:22) in our journey to Heaven which has been absolutely promised to us with no strings attached? 7) Why should we bother forgiving our enemies or our brother for that matter if they keep on sinning and making our lives miserable in spite of Christ's teaching in Matt 18:21-22? I threw in a few extra points as you may of noticed but you can handle it, right? This concept of Grace is all comprehensive, right? Any of you folks (Hank, Mommapbs and BradK or anyone else on the Forum) can feel free to answer the questions but I am looking for responses to all of them. I do hope God will bless you all with an open mind in this endeavor. --Rowdy |
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269 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120253 | ||
In my mind, it all boils down to a matter of attitude. We are the branches while the Lord Jesus Christ is the main vine. Seems like a pretty simple concept. We must prove our alligence to Him as our true Lord and Master. We can't just say Lord, Lord but we must model our lives after that wonderful example we see in Him, and His Apostles. They literally used up their lives, in service and devotion. We should and must do the same. HOWEVER, we CANNOT take the attitude that any of these deeds of kindness can earn our way to Heaven; that's why we must do them in complete meekness and total humility just like our Lord shows us with every fiber of His Being. Nothing we could possibly do, even if we fill up our lives with these good deeds could make up for the life of sin of which we're all guility. That attitude of total humility should come out in these acts of kindness and service to the world. The world can tell when a person is doing these kind of acts for his own purpose. People like this won't care who gets the credit. As a matter of fact, a true christian will prefer to stay in the background and continue to be more effective. Jesus found out once you show the world you've got something they (the world) want like healing of sickness and diseases, they clamour about you and hamper your progress in meeting your goals. But He had such wonderful compassion and love, He felt compelled to give away all his powers of healing, literally exhausting His human body. Why don't you take another look at the book of James and come up with specific scriptures that speak to his points about a live and active faith, one that proves itself in our lives like those folks did in the two centuries? How does works negate faith...it doesn't. They go hand in hand. For example: Why do you continue to post statements on this Forum, reflecting your faith in God's Word? Why do continue to go to worship with your fellow members? Why do you continue to partake of the Lord's Supper every Sunday? If you've got Grace working for you, why sweat it? Just sit back and coast on into Heaven. So please tell me the answers to these questions. I do appreciate your responding to my posts so that I'm not unclear to you, anyone else or mislead anyone. God bless. --Rowdy |
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270 | Grace AND? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120230 | ||
So, are we in agreement? Your post above seems to be drawing the same conclusion as my post 120228. Just wanted to make certain. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
271 | who can explain to me? | John 1:1 | Rowdy | 120229 | ||
Dear friend, there's nothing wrong with pointing out the obvious to another, especially between disciples of God, most especially while studying God's Word. Emmanus has merely identified in print what has been obvious to us all; his counsel is considered to be very wise. One suggestion I have for you: just slow down a little and re-read your posts. Proof and re-proof them. Guess what, all good Forum participants re-read and proof their posts. I try and still miss some misspelled words and poor grammar. I do hope you'll seriously consider Emmanus' suggestion and look up whatever resources he's referring to. Hopefully, in this process of learning to deal with the English language you'll come to a greater understanding of what God is looking to see in your life. God bless.--Rowdy PS: I'm assuming here that a spell checker and/or grammar checker would cost too much money to install on the Forum or it might slow down the server too much. Does anybody know for certain? |
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272 | Treasure? | Matt 6:20 | Rowdy | 120218 | ||
You make several good points. The main and most important benefit or reward here on earth resulting from being in God's family is the peace and tranquility we get in spite of living and working in a world filled with lost sinners and much Godlessness. Now concerning "storing up treasures in Heaven," I do think God expects us to do everything in our power to spread His Good News of His Son's offering salvation to the whole world. And I think we'll be better able to appreciate whatever reward we get ultimately in Heaven; I'm just not sure how to describe that reward with specifics. I don't think the Bible is very clear with its description of this reward. Revelation is filled to overflowing with pictures of heaven with reference to streets of gold and mansions of wonderful jewels and costly stones but personally I think this is all figurative, especially for the first century christians. But all of humans have a great tendancy to think in finite terms as that's all we can comprehend completely. So God has great difficulty in describing exactly what He's got in store for us, but whatever it is, it's going to be greater than any of us could possibly imagine. My last point: I'm thankful to God that none of this controversy is going to matter very much as long as we put our faith in Him, His Son and the Perfect Sacrifice that Jesus performed for us on that cross. Overall the Bible seems very clear: IF we've complied with the terms and conditions of Jesus' Last Will and Testament, we qualify to receive the gift of the Holy Spirit and go home to God the Father. True enough, there's absolutely nothing that you or I can do to earn this coveted reward. We just show proof just like the separation of the sheep and goats. There it's very evident who's who and what's really inside a person life: devotion to God or a choice to follow the devil. Is our name in the Book of Life? How can we be certain? Put our talents to work for Him as plainly portrayed in Jesus' parable of the talents. How can we be certain we'll get into the gate at the final showing of the bridegroom? By studying God's Word and staying in constant prayer to God, keeping God's light brightly shining throughout the world in our lives, as described in Jesus' parable of the ten virgins. I hope this clarifies my statement. God bless. --Rowdy |
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273 | What nonsense is this? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 120146 | ||
You make a good point. Sometimes we forget about our great example in the Apostle Paul 1 Cor 9:18 What then is my reward? That, when I preach the gospel, I may offer the gospel without charge, so as not to make full use of my right in the gospel. 19 For though I am free from all men, I have made myself a slave to all, so that I may win more. 20 To the Jews I became as a Jew, so that I might win Jews; to those who are under the Law, as under the Law though not being myself under the Law, so that I might win those who are under the Law; 21 to those who are without law, as without law, though not being without the law of God but under the law of Christ, so that I might win those who are without law. 22 To the weak I became weak, that I might win the weak; I have become all things to all men, so that I may by all means save some. 23 I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it. Sometimes we forget to humble ourselves and see ourselves as just vessels for God so He can shine His light through our lives to the whole world, especially those that read or study their Bibles. But all this being said, let's not forget we must speak where the Bible and we should be silent when the Bible is silent and thus allow some diversity on those issues. Hope this helps and God bless. --Rowdy |
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274 | How dangerous is the Tongue? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 120121 | ||
I'm not sure exactly what your agenda is. It seems to be a game of some sort as has been suggested by several others. I thought I might offer this one last word of caution as others seem to be trying to be your friend and are responding with far more kindness and forgiveness than myself. Hank has alluded to it but then I thought with your brief time in the Forum, you probably don't know so here's the bottom line: If it's concluded by the "Watchers of the Forum" that you ARE INDEED abusing the Forum for your own purposes and not willing to comply with its parameters, you CAN be kicked off. And NO, I'm certainly NOT one of those honored fellows so empowered. You see, my posts kinda "stretch the envelope" and I'm afraid my popularity and style of posts is NOT one to be imitated. So take care, dear friend. Doing the work of the Lord is a delicate business. I would offer one last scripture and then hush. Matt 10:16 "Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; so be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. God bless. --Rowdy |
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275 | How dangerous is the Tongue? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 120081 | ||
I hate to butt in but it appears you're asking a lot from us Forum participants. You join the Forum 3 days ago and give us a one word profile for yourself. Your questions leave a lot to be desired, no scriptures and almost void of detail. And then you criticize the responses you get. I'm sorry but almost any reasonably level headed person would be offended. Your comment above to EdB is cryptic. I hope he is better able to figure it out than I did. AND I hope you're going to stick with the Forum but if I might suggest your studying some of the posts of the "pros," those that have been around for quite a while, like Hank, EdB, flinkwood, CDBJ, Mekarious and Kalos. Studying the posts of these good folks will give you a good idea of good, well thought out statements on the Forum and also a wide variety of styles and interests. To generate a listing of posts for any one in particular, find his/her name in the author column as you see on the bottom of the screen upon posting a question or a note to this post. Upon finding that name, double click on it then the computer presents the statistics for that individual, including his questions, answers and notes and the grand total. I personnaly like to double click on the grand total, thereby bringing up all of his posts, with the most recent at the top. I really am posting this statement, hoping it benefits you. God bless you in your study of His Word. --Rowdy |
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276 | Bible, book and verse Steppenwolf locat | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 120050 | ||
Now that's funny. Good post (tongue in cheek). God bless you, dear friend. --Rowdy | ||||||
277 | Prophet mentions multicolored carpets | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 120049 | ||
I'm glad we can be friends and fellow students of God's Word. God bless. --Rowdy | ||||||
278 | Are we free from KEEPING the Law? | Ex 20:8 | Rowdy | 119912 | ||
Colin, I guess we're just going to have to recognize there's going to be a few things that we'll never agree on. We can still be friends AND fellow students of God's Word. We can also pray for each other and hope to see each other in Heaven. I do enjoy sparing with you. You do have a keen mind and an expansive knowledge of the scriptures. As always go with God and He'll bless you over and over. --Rowdy PS: I'll let you have the last word on this subject if you'd like to post one last comment. |
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279 | Is creamation right? | Bible general Archive 1 | Rowdy | 119909 | ||
This subject has been discussed before, at least to some detail. I really believe it's a very, very personal decision but my position is pretty well summed up on Post No 110464. You can insert it into the Quick Search on the upper right corner of your screen. God bless. --Rowdy |
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280 | Is Jesus "least" in kingdom of heaven? | Matt 11:11 | Rowdy | 119901 | ||
Well said. --Rowdy | ||||||
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