Results 1 - 7 of 7
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | THE CROSS | John 3:16 | Morant61 | 89038 | ||
Greetings Micko! Thanks for the response my friend! However, not one of the verses you quoted says, "Regeneration precedes faith". In fact, not one of them even mentions the two concepts in the same verse. The reason I asked the original question is simply this: To often we make statements that are based upon assumptions, but present them as though they are Biblical statements. No Scripture that I know of directly states that regeneration occurs before faith. This is a theological assumption. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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2 | THE CROSS | John 3:16 | Mickodemus | 89136 | ||
I'm sorry Tim but if you take look at the references I gave you, you can surely see that you have to be regenerated to do anything of the Lord. Here is another example, and if you don't agree with this, well, thats between you and the Lord. My hands are clean!! John 10:24-30 (once again) "Then the Jews encircled Him and said to Him, How long do you make us doubt? If you are the Christ, tell us plainly. Jesus answered them, I told you and you did not believe. The works that I do in My Father's name, they bear witness of Me. But you did not believe because you are not of My sheep. As I said to you, My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me. And I give to them eternal life, and they shall never ever perish, and not anyone shall pluck them out of My hand. My Father who gave them to me is greater than all, and no one is able to pluck them out of My Father's hand. I and the Father are one!" VERSE 26-27: YOU DID NOT BELIEVE (HAVE FAITH) BECAUSE YOU ARE NOT OF MY SHEEP. MY SHEEP HEAR MY VOICE, AND I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME. To be a part of the sheepfold you must have the ears to hear YOUR shepherd. You must know your masters voice. (the same way a dog knows its masters voice) and when He calls, you come runnin'. To have the ears to hear you MUST be regenerated first. Otherwise you can't hear! Beleive in Him and have Faith in Him are the same word here. The Greek is "pisteuo" meaning to believe or have faith in. So, take out the word "believe" and add "have faith." By the way... The word Trinity is not in the Bible either but you believe in that don't you? Regeneration before belief/faith is not just an assumption but a Biblical Fact. Patient Brother in Christ, Micko |
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3 | THE CROSS | John 3:16 | Morant61 | 89165 | ||
Greetings Micko! Thanks for the response my patient brother! :-) I posted yesterday a long list of Scriptures about faith, you may have responded, but I don't know since my e-mail server is temporarily down! :( But, allow me to quote one example that I listed then. Acts 16:30-31 says, "He then brought them out and asked, 'Sirs, what must I do to be saved? 31 They replied, 'Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household." Now, as you correctly pointed out 'believe' is simply the verbal form of 'faith'. So, which comes first in this passage - salvation or faith? Can someone be regenerated and not be saved? Concerning the Trinity issue, I have answered this one several times. I believe that a doctrine ought to be clearly stated in Scripture. While the word Trinity is not found in Scripture, the truths of the doctrine are clearly stated in Scripture. For instance, there is only one God. Many Scripture state this fact. Jesus is God. Again, many Scriptures make this point. (Now, before all the anti-trinitarians jump on this post, I have posted on this point many times already) :-) So, the truths of the Trinity are clearly stated in Scripture. However, nowhere does Scripture say that a person must be regenerated before they can believe. Therefore, this is a theological assumption. My main point originally wansn't even to argue whether or not it was a valid assumption, but simply to show that Scripture doesn't make this statement anywhere. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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4 | Is Jailer's response natural/worldly? | John 3:16 | Mickodemus | 89170 | ||
Tim, In Acts 16:30-31 Do you think that the Jailer is seeking or searching for God? If so, is this the jailer's natural/worldly responses to seeing the Joy and miracles of Paul and Silas? Your Brother Micko |
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5 | Is Jailer's response natural/worldly? | John 3:16 | Morant61 | 89182 | ||
Greetings Mickodemus! I'm not sure what name you would call it, but Acts 16:30 says that he asked Paul and Silas what he must do to be saved. As to why he asked this, Scripture never says, so I would have to speculate. :-) Is it the jailer's natural response? I would say that it is his response to the drawing and conviction of the Holy Spirit. Even we Arminians don't believe that natural, fallen man, left to his own devices would seek God. But, where we differ with our Calvinist brothers is that we believe God draws all men, not just some. So, apparently, the jailer was responding to God's drawing. How about Acts 16:31 though my friend? According to Paul, does faith come before or after salvation? Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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6 | Is God omnipotent? | John 3:16 | Mickodemus | 89332 | ||
Greetings Tim, If what you say is true, you are telling me that Gods abilities are limited. That He is not omnipotent(having unlimited power/ability). God is trying to get people to believe/have faith in His Son but while drawing them in, he loses them (like fishing for that big mouth bass: The fish is just too heavey to pull in, and when caught, the fish is pulled in with the net having a hole at the bottom and he escapes.) ;) Doesn't God have the PERFECT fishing equipment to hang his prize catch on the wall? :) Don't you think that God had to get the Jailer interested in what Paul and Silas was doing to see how Great Salvation in Christ really is? The words interested and see (eyes) must have been given him by the Father. Rom 3:11 "There is none that understands, there is none that seeks after God." The only ones who seeks God, must be given the interest by the Father first and then belief! The Holy Spirit must be within you to have faith, otherwise you are not adopted. Which brings another good point: What decisions do adopted children have in their adopted parents? None, the parents chose the adopted child and therefore is a member of the family! In Christ, your brother, Micko |
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7 | Is God omnipotent? | John 3:16 | with_faith_i_walk | 89345 | ||
I think the question about the abilities/powers of God are not in the realm of "what can he do" but in the realm "what he chooses to do". I, being just a man, have the power to do lots of things and control other lesser creatures and choose not to do so. In respect to God, one has to address the questions why and how, such as "why does God not just makes us believe" or "how can he let others be condemned to eternal spiritual death?" To address the first question, we must first look to the mystery of faith. You state in your query that: "The Holy Spirit must be within you to believe", however you have it reversed. You must believe and then the Holy Spirit will be within you. Jesus told his disciples, "blessed are they who have not seen, yet believe." We will not be given a sign or a miracle or have a case presented for us to have faith. You must first cross that threshold of believing and then all things will be made known to you. I do not mean understanding Scripture or the memorization of Bible verses either, but the true gifts of the Spirit. God does have the power to make us believe, and he does have the PERFECT fishing equipment as you say, however, what faith is born from being controlled or "hooked" by the Father? There is none. Faith must come from within us, and we must not 'see to believe' but 'believe to see'. Even Jesus, in his ministry of healing, called upon the mystery of faith when he asked those he healed, "do you believe I can heal you?" If they had faith, they were healed and he told them, "your faith has made you well." When he went to Nazareth, it is said that "he could not do great works" there because they had no faith in him. The mystery of faith is what restricts God from using his omnipotent power to compel us to believe or to drag us into His light from the darkness of our world. The second question, "how can he let others be condemned to eternal spiritual death", is matter of love. God made us in his image, but that should not be translated literally to mean that God has a physical body like our own. God made us in his image by giving us a soul, and a capacity to love. God is love, and out of all the creation on Earth, the only creatures he made with the capacity to love Him back are us. Though he does have the power to just let us live as we choose and then let our spirit return to His eternal kingdom, how would he ever know or feel the love we all should have for Him? "If you love me, obey my commands" he has said. Love, as God, cannot be seen and thus to prove it, we as humans have to act upon the love and allow the fruits of love to become the proof of its existence. The greatest acts, those of sacrifice, show the greatest love. However, through Jesus, God has shown his love by allowing His son, thereby His self, to suffer the penalty of disobedience so that we may be reconciled to Him and made pure. Once again, all that is required is faith. Being made in God's image also allows us to choose. Free will is crucial to God's plan for creation. Free will in itself though is a bit of a misconception. There is only but one choice we are allowed to make: to follow God or follow the World. If you choose to follow the world, you will become a slave to it. If you choose to follow God, you will submit your will to Him, and become his devoted servant. The choice is ours, however, only one choice results in our love being returned to us. If we choose to love the world, what do we gain? Eternal death. If we choose to love God, we gain eternal life in the joy of His kingdom. Love is why he allows us to choose. He wants us to love him, by our submission to Him. God is omnipotent, of this we should have no doubts. Having power is the same as choosing to use it. Blessings, LGC |
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