Lockman - Bible questions and answers

Results 1 - 20 of 380		Pages: [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ] > Last [19] >>
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: biblicalman Ordered by Date
Results		Verse	Author	ID#
1	chpt 5 v 24 why did God threaten to kill	Ex 4:24	biblicalman	229796
	...
2	chpt 5 v 24 why did God threaten to kill	Ex 4:24	biblicalman	229788
	I am baffled by your response. The verses themselves are scriptural support. The connecting of them by me with covenant circumcision and the shedding of blood relates to two important continuing elements of Scripture. That is why I said the answer was basically obvious. You cannot surely expect Scriptural support for the incident itself. It is unique, apart possibly from when God wrestled with Jacob. But there was no 'attempt to kill' there. Are you then saying that no one should try to explain it? I notice from past threads that no one has satisfactorily dealt with the matter. Surely if you consider my attempt unsatisfactory you should give us your own attempt? It is surely not good to leave questioners in the air about the matter. best wishes
3	When did Jerusalem become holy?	Neh 11:1	biblicalman	229773
	Try Isaiah 48.2; 52.1. In 48.2 it is the description that the people of Israel/Judah give to it, while God's verdict is that they are unholy (verse 4). In 52.1 Isaiah calls it the holy city for no one who is unholy will be allowed to enter it. In my view this is referring to Jerusalem after it has been 'raised to heaven' with its citizenship granted to us on earth (Gal 4.20 ff; Heb 12.22). Ih Isaiah 4.3 Isaiah says that it is the people left in Jerusalem who will be called holy. This is a different issue,but it too seems to point to the heavenly Jerusalem. A careful study of the book of Isaiah indicates that he uses the idea of Jerusalem in different ways, sometimes literral, sometimes eschatalogical..
4	Why do some think Paul was a homosexual?	Romans	biblicalman	229765
	Hi Merrilee Welcome to the Forum. Such an idea is the result of pure wishful thinking, and a lack of understanding of Christian love. Paul in fact gave the strongest condemnation of practising homosexuality in the Bible in Rom 1.26-27. Best wishes.
5	chpt 5 v 24 why did God threaten to kill	Ex 4:24	biblicalman	229759
	Hi Welcome to the Forum. There is clearly a lot more behind this account than actually meets the eye. We might ask, for example, why did God wait until this point in time before dealing with Moses over the question of the circumcision of his son? The obvious answer is that while Moses was subject to his tribe he owed obedience to his tribe and his tribal leader. Clearly the Midianites did not practise circumcision. And they may well have seen any attempt by Moses to practise it as rebellion against the tribe. They probably had their own tribal marks. Indeed it is clear that Moses' wife viewed the whole matter as repugnant. She may well have seen it, with its requirement of the cutting of the fleah, as resulting in a physical defect, and as an abomination (one danger of an unequal yoke). This would explain why God did not just command Moses to carry out the circumcision. He was aware that it would cause great dissension between Moses and his wife, who was a Midianite 'princess'. Thus God acted in a way that would override the wife's revulsion and her clear objections. It is noteworthy that the passage is about firstborns. Israel was to be set free because it was God's firstborn. If he did not free them Pharaoh would lose his firstborn. Now God deals with the one who is probably Moses' firstborn. But he is not of the covenant people. He is like Pharaoh's son. He does not bear the covenant sign. If Moses is to deliver God's firstborn he must circumcise his son making him one of the covenant people, one of God's firstborn. How can Moses deliver the covenant people when he is not being faithful to the covenant? We must not take too literally that God 'sought to kill him'. Had God wanted him dead there would have been no 'seeking' about it. What it probably indicates is that some mortal disease struck Moses, or a deadly snake bite. Zipporah in some way knows why it is and reluctantly and with great abhorrence circumcises her son. She then throws the bloodstained foreskin at Moses feet, expressing her disgust. Obedience having been achieved we are left to assume that Moses recovered through the shedding of blood. Best wishes
6	Apostles activities	1 Tim 1:12	biblicalman	229758
	The questioner was asking about information concerning the activities of the Apostles. In my view what was wanted was information about the lesser known Apostles. I hardly think Paul was in mind. We all know a great deal about Paul. I answer what I think the questioner wants to know, not so as to show off my knowledge. chapter 15 is where we obtain the last information about the majority of the Apostles, including Barnabas. The questioner would waste their time looking beyond that unless their interest was in Paul best wishes
7	Gods forgiveness	Matt 5:24	biblicalman	229751
	hi genesis3 welcome to the forum, When we came to Christ, asking Him to become our Saviour, we received total forgiveness for all our sins. This must be seen as distinguished from receiving forgiveness for daily sins. (He that is bathed needs not but to wash his feet - John 13.10). With regard to daily sins if we are to receive forgiveness we must also forgive the sins of those who have sinned against us and who repent (Matt 6.15; Luke 17.3-4). If we have an unforgiving spirit against someone who has sinned against us but repented, we cannot ourselves expect daily forgiveness. However, when we come to worship God publicly we are warned not to approach Him until we have put right with our brother anything in which we have sinned against Him (Matt 5.24), otherwise our worship will seemingly not be acceptable before God. Best wishes
8	Apostles activities	1 Tim 1:12	biblicalman	229749
	Further to my statement in respect of the ministry of the Apostles mentioned in chs 1-15 I provide a list of some of them: They stood with Peter on the day of Pentecost (2.14). They taught the early believers (2.41). Through them wonders and signs were done (2.43). They were God’s servants through whom it was prayed that God would cause His word to be spoken boldly, accompanied by signs and wonders in the name of God’s holy Servant, Jesus (4.29-30). They stood and preached in Solomon’s porch when none dared join with them, and were held in high honour by the people (5.12). They were arrested and imprisoned, were released from prison by an angel during the night (5.18-19), and went back at daybreak to the Temple, boldly to continue their ministry (5.21). They were set before the council and questioned (5.27), and when they were reminded that they had been charged not to preach in the name of Jesus, they replied that they had no alternative (5.28-32). They were beaten, and charged not to speak in the name of Jesus and let go, and subsequently rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer for the Name, and continued preaching and teaching (5.40-42). They stressed that no hindrance should be put on their teaching ministry (6.2) They remained in Jerusalem when persecution caused the believers to be scattered (8.1). It may well be that the persecution was at this time mainly aimed at the Hellenists. They were still in Jerusalem when they determined to send Peter and John to oversee the ministry among the Samaritans (8.14). (Note there how Peter is subject to the authority of all the Apostles). In chapter 15 they would almost be a part of the general assembly that made the decision to accept Gentiles without circumcision and not put on them the whole burden of the ceremonial Law. It is apparent then that they were kept very busy and played their full part in the Apostolic ministry, even though we lose touch with them after chapter 15.
9	God said he would never forsake us why?	Neh 9:31	biblicalman	229744
	...
10	Apostles activities	1 Tim 1:12	biblicalman	229743
	Searcher, I'm sorry but your question baffles me. I don't know what you are talking about. As I said Acts chapter 1 to Acts chapter 15 and referred to the ministry of all the Apostles your question appears rather strange. Perhaps you should think about it and reword it
11	I am confused	Rom 8:30	biblicalman	229734
	EJJ No I was not referring to you. I was referring to people who speak about 'crawling out of God's hand' as though God had a weak grip (John 10.29).
12	Apostles activities	1 Tim 1:12	biblicalman	229733
	Hi Gomez, Welcome to the forum. If you read through Acts 1-15 and notice how often the ministry of all the Apostles is referred to you will probably get a surprise. You will discover that they were extremely busy. But a life of the Apostles was not Luke's purpose(in spite of the title). Paul's letters were mainly concerned with the churches that he had evangelised. Any reference to the other Apostles is brief. Thus the New Testament does not tend to deal wih the activities of the other Apostles outside Acts 1-15. For that inormation we have to go to tradition, and that is not really reliable, although possibly containing a grain of truth. Thomas's ministry in India appears to be evidenced by traditions within that country, but not the detail. Best wishes
13	Go created world	Gen 1:27	biblicalman	229732
	Hi Sassy lady, Welcome to the forum. Among evangelicals there are a number of interpretations for the framework of Genesis 1. Some consider that 'the evening and the morning' indicate days of revelation. That is, that the author received his revelation over six or seven days. It would put no limit on how long creation took. The problem with this view is that there is no hint of it in the narrative. Others consider that having stated that God created the heavens and the earth the author then says that the earth BECAME formless and waste as a result of some catastrophe, and that consequently God remade it in six literal days. The problem with that theory is that it is not obvious from the Hebrew (rather the opposite), there are no real grounds for suggesting such a catastrophe (which is often connected with the fall of the Devil), and it does not read like that. Still others insist that it means 'six 24 hour days'. But there are problems in that view in that there was no evening of the first day, and that length of days is specifically stated as having commenced in the fourth day. It makes God act rather artificially in the first three periods. Others consider it to be a parable of creation, with the detail not to be taken literally. Finally some point out that 'yom' means a period of time, and is not limited to a 24 hour day period (yom is used in at least three different ways in the narrative). Their view is that the writer is thinking of 'days of God', which can be any length that God chooses. A day is with the Lord as a thousand years, or as a watch in the night. Thus they see God as acting in His own time. God only creates three times, heaven and earth, life and then man. For the remainder of the time He 'fashions' from what is there. Best wishes
14	Sufferings that Christians can't handle?	1 Cor 10:13	biblicalman	229723
	See Isaiah 43.2 Best wishes
15	Did God create light twice?	Gen 1:3	biblicalman	229705
	There are two things we are wise not to be dogmatic about, the first is the beginning of all things, and the second is the end of all things. Both are outside the sphere of our understanding. We are told that in the beginning God created hashamayim (the heavens) and haaretz (the 'earth' or 'the place'). Now as angelic beings are introduced early on (in chapter 3) it is clear that this includes the heavens where they dwell. Nothing further is said about this creation. We are probably unwise to speak of 'before creation'. That assumes time, but time was created along with the universe. We can speak of eternal time, but humanly speaking that is impossible when looking back. There had to be a beginning. And here we are told that that beginning was in the act of creation. It is true that Jesus does speak of 'before the world was' but that is using human language to describe the indescribable. We simply have to accept things as they are recognising thst we cannot understand eternity. All the emphasis in chapter 1 is on the creation of ha-aretz. And it is soon apparent that this term includes the skies, and the heavenly bodies. Thus it does not strictly mean earth. Eretz is indeed a broad term. It can mean our earth, it can mean dry land as opposed to sea, or it can mean 'a country'. In other words it refers to what finally contains man. Thus prior to the creation of light and dry land it probably indicates 'the stuff of the universe' (it includes sun, moon and stars and the sky). We are told in verse 2 what the stuff of the universe consisted of. It was shapeless and empty and totally lacking in light, although at some stage prior to the creation of light there was 'the deep'. But that is probably intended to indicate simply that there was no land which was liveable on. The whole point of this description is that God was about to work on a 'blank canvas' (shapeless waste and uninhabitable) and create our universe. Darkness was not created. It was simply lack of light. God then introduced light by His word. What had been empty and waste and totally dark suddenly became changed at God's word. Light pervaded our universe. This is probably an indication of the creation of electro-magnetic-waves which are a form of light. Suddenly the stuff of the universe had form and substance. Let God withdraw light and the universe would collapse into nothingness. Holmes is right to suggest that this started the first yom. Thus the first yom did not have an evening and a morning. It started with light. This is a warning not to take evening and morning literally. It clearly simply means beginning and ending. As light had not been separated from darkness until in the midst of this first yom an evening and a morning were previously an impossibility. This also demonstrates that we are not to take the yom pattern as a 'day' in our sense of the term (strictly yom means a period of time). This is confirmed by the fact that times and seasons, days and years were not fixed until the fourth yom. There were no 'days' in our sense of the word before that. It was on the fourth yom that God caused the heavenly bodies to rule the times and seasons, days and years. That means that they had not done so before then. Nights and days as we know them did not exist until then. That was God's purpose in fashioning the sun and the moon and bringing them into play. But it should be noted that God did not create light on the fourth yom as well. What he brought into action were the 'lamps' that gave light for man. Thus there were not two creations of light.
16	Is there contradiction in Hosea?	Hosea	biblicalman	229697
	Hi Melody, Hosea 12.2 was fulfilled when God allowed the Assyrians to smite Israel and spread them among the nations. Hosea 11.9, however, refers to God's restoration of Israel which took place through the coming of our LORD Jesus Christ as Matthew makes clear (Matt 2.15). The point of Hosea 11 is that although 'God had called His son (Israel) out of Egypt' (11.1), Israel had remained there in his heart. Thus subsequently he weent back to both Egypt and Assyria. He went back to idolatry. Verse 4 should be translated as a question. 'Shall he not return unto Egypt? Shall not Assyria be his king because he refused to turn (to the Lord)? Therefore God determined that one day He would deliver Israel fully by removing Egypt from their hearts. 'They shall come trembling out of Egypt like a bird, and like a dove out of the land of Assyria' (11.11). That process began when God sent His Son into exile in Egypt, and then called Him out of Egypt (Matt 2.15). He not only left Egypt but unlike Israel previously He left Egypt totally behind. And He founded the true Israel (John 15.1-6) which was also freed from Egypt in its heart. The New Testament is crystal clear on the fact that Jesus founded a true Israel (Matt 21.43), founded on the Apostles (Matt 16.18), which grew into what we would call the true church made up of all true believers in Israel's Messiah (Rom 11.16-24; Eph 2.11-22; 1 Pet 2.9; etc). This is in fact the only explanation which justifies Matthew in seeing 2.15 as a fulfilled prophecy based on Hos 11.1.
17	I am confused	Rom 8:30	biblicalman	229696
	When considering the Scriptures we have to recognise that there are certain veins running through them which might even appear to us, with our limited knowledge to be contradictory, although they are in fact complementary. One of those is God's sovereignty. Another is man's freewill. I prefer not to use human logic when considering the ways of God because if one thing is certain when we use our own logic about God it is that we will be wrong. But even human logic tells me that if man is oorrupt he will never choose to respond to God. Yes He can choose to sin, he can choose options in his life (although usually in accordance with his own predilections and therefore not strictly though freewill), But one thing sinful man would never do without God's grace acting on him is to choose God. And it seems to me that the Scriptures demonstrate this clearly. Consider for example Romans 9.14-24. When the Bible speaks of God calling it makes nonsense of the whole idea if we say that He calls 'whosoever will'. He calls in accordance with His own purpose. There is a specific call and there is a general call. Thus there is a general call, but we must not mix it up with God's specific call in for example Romans 8.29-30. We should of course try to be morally right, and we should do that not because we have a choice, but because it is the right thing to do. And that is so whether God is acting in sovereignty or not. But it is not for us to say that because God is sovereign we are not responsible for what we do. Of course we are. We live our lives on earth as freewill beings. But God help us if He leaves us the victin of our own freewill. On those terms no one will ever be saved. Of course God can decide who will be saved, for it depends on the activity of His undeserved compassion and favour, and through the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit (1 Peter 1.2). Do you really think that if God brought Himself home to men as He really is and worked by His Spirit in their hearts they would not come to Him? I know of a number of people who have actually SEEN the risen Christ. I have never heard of one who did not subsequently believe. So what finite men believe about the question is irrelevant. As to 'losing our salvation'. If it is ours we will certainly lose it, But it is not. Salvstion is the work of God from beginning to end. and He has never lost anyone's salvation. 'And this is the will of Him Who sent Me that of all whom He has given Me I should lose nothing, but should raise them up at the last day' (John 6.39). See also John 10.27-29; 1 Cor 1.7-9; Phil 1.6; 2 Tim 1.12. It is amusing and sad to me how people try to avoid the clear teaching of Scripture just so that they can imprison God in their own logic.
18	I am confused	Rom 8:30	biblicalman	229690
	The word translated predestined or foreordained is pro-orizo, to lay down or determine beforehand. pro-ginosko is translated as foreknow. ginosko means to know by experience, in contrast with oida which means to know intellectually. Thus God's foreknowledge was not just intellectual but personal.
19	I am confused	Rom 8:30	biblicalman	229686
	What is made quite clear in Rom 8.29-30, however interpreted, is that the same people who were justified and glorified, were also those who were foreknown and predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, and no others. We cannot refer the first half to 'all men' and the second half to 'some men'. That is to ignore the clear meaning of the Greek. Futhermore it is quite apparent that we cannot say all men were predestinated to be conformed to the image of Jesus Christ, because it is quite obvious that they were not, unless of course we say that God has failed in His purpose. To predestinate means to determine destiny beforehand. So the meaning of the verses is that those whom God foreknew were the ones who would be saved. The argument between Calvin and Arminius lay in the meaning of foreknew. Does it mean 'discern beforehand' or does it mean 'determine beforehand' (or more strictly 'enter into personal relationship with beforehand'). The Greek (proginosko) would favour the latter. For the former we would expect pro-oida. But however we view the matter we cannot avoid the fact that from the beginning God knows who will be saved. That being so by allowing creation to continue He was predestinating some to be saved and some to be condemned. For had He allowed all men to die in the Flood no one following that time would have existed. They could neither be saved or condemned. Thus by allowing Noah to survive, and not be taken into Heaven like Enoch was, God was determining the destiny of all future mankind. How can I know that I am one of the predestined? By receiving Jesus Christ as my Saviour and LORD. Best wishes
20	Can a person push God too far??	1 John 1:9	biblicalman	229679
	Hi, It is quite clear that Hebrews 6 refers to the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit. That is the only sin for which there is no repentance. Interestingly the words in Hebrews 6 can be applied to the Scribes and Pharisees. They had been enlightened by Jesus (compare John 1.9). They had tasted of the heavenly gift, that is of Jesus. They had seen His miracles, they had heard His teaching. They had shared in the Holy Spirit, for they had experienced the Spirit-filled Jesus.(How else could they have blasphemed against the Holy Spirit?). They had tasted the good word of God spoken by the Spirit-filled Jesus. And yet they were in danger of blaspheming against the Holy Spirit by final rejection. The writer was writing to a group of Jews who had been considering the claims of Christ. Some had fully responded, others were hesitating. They too had experienced signs and wonders wrought by the Holy Spirit (Heb 2.4). They had heard the word of God spoken by those who knew Jesus (Heb 2.3). And now they were faced with a final choice. He was not speaking of born again people but of 'believers' like those in John 2.23-25. Some of them he likened to ground covered with thorns and thistles which CANNOT produce fruit (Heb 6.8).

Result pages: [ 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 ] Next > Last [19] >>

Search for your Bible question and answer here: