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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: tgc Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Rebutals for alledged contradictions | 2 Tim 2:15 | tgc | 141359 | ||
schimc, An excellent resource on this topic is the book Ressurection by Hank Henagraff it should be avabile through any book store amozon.com or through www.equip.org. Also I belive on the sister site to this ChristiansInteractive.com I posted a work that I had done on this saubject that addressed many of the alleged contrdictions and arguments concerning the ressurection. Hope these two resources will help. In The Love Of Christ, tgc | ||||||
2 | Genesis 1-27 | Bible general Archive 2 | tgc | 141358 | ||
Without going into great detail see if this helps. Yes God is Spirit and yes Adam was created in the image of God and yes Adam was createds first with a body. Here is what i found that is meant by the image of God anf that is the heart which is made up of theree parts the intellect, emotion and will. All of these are attributes that are only found in God and man. These are also the parts of man that God works through to call man to Himself. With the intellect we can hear God's word and respond to the caling we feel with our emotions, through our will we make the choice of how to respond either to accept the call or reject it. Hope this answers your question. In The Love Of Christ, tgc | ||||||
3 | 2 classes of people, 1000 year reign? | Bible general Archive 2 | tgc | 141357 | ||
The answer to your question is going to depend on the view of end times prophecies that the person answering holds. There are severel different views on this subject the most popular and the one that put forth this ideal is based on a dispensational view point that is that God deals with the church and Isreal as two distinctly different groups of people and through this view the whole ideal of a pre tribulation rapture springs. Mind you I am not saying this wrong but there are other widely accepted views of the matter as well. I personally have been looking at these issues for about the last 3 years and still have not come to firm conclusion on the matter but just fyi know that there are severel acceptable view points on this question and that this is a secondary issue one which we can discuss vigorously but need not divide over. There are some extremly good books out on thi issue from every side of this argument you might do a search on Christanbook.com , or tey equip.org as just a couple of examples. I really hopr this helps. In The Love Of Christ, Tom |
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4 | faith | Bible general Archive 2 | tgc | 128577 | ||
mikec, As for your beliefs that is something you must workout for yourself, however as far as prayer let me offer this in hopes it will help. First what is prayer? It is one on one communication with The Creator of the world The Lord God Almighty. Prayer is how we build our relationship with God it is how we get to know Him better. Your prayer should come from your heart nowhere in scripture are we given a formula of a certain prayer we shuld always pray although we are ginen a model prayer in Mat.6:8-13 commonly known as The Lord's prayer here certain principels of prayer are laid down. 1. To acknowledge to whom we pray. 2. To pray for God's will in every aspect of our lives. 3. To rely on God for all of our daily needs. 4. To pray for His forgivness of our sin to to give us a forgiving heart. 5.Pray for God's guidence in our lives. 6. Glorify God. Other things that can be included are intercession for others. Prayer should come from the heart it should be a time of open your heart to God and listen for his response by p-raying with an open Bible and studying it daily to beeter know Our Great God and Savior Jesus Christ. A great book on this subject is The Prayer of Jesus by Hank Hanegraaff, this is a short book that is easy to read and understand. Hope this has been helpful. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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5 | Your thoughts? | Matt 12:32 | tgc | 128336 | ||
Stultis, I figured this would be your reply, so I have been preparing to answer. After looking at several commentaries and reading through the passage you mention several times this is what I came up with. First of all there is a natural break in the quoted passage at verse 25. Here the author ends one discussion and starts another with verse 26, it is from 26 forward that deals with the subject which we now discuss so I will limit my comments to 26-31. The best verse for verse break down I have found is in the Nelson Complete Study System product number2885, and is found on page2093-2094 in the notes. !0:26 sin willfully: The reference here is not to an occasional act of sin( which can be confessed and forgiven ; see 1 John 1:8-9) but to a continual rejection of God. The Old Testament speaks in Num. 15:30,31 of committing willful sin. A person who sinned presumptuously was to be cut off from the people. To sin deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth is apostasy. If a person rejects God’s provision for his or her salvation there is no other remedy for sins (see Num.15:29-31), since forgiveness of sins can only be found in Christ’s perfect sacrifice. !0:27 With no hope of forgiveness all that one can expect is judgment, described here as a fiery indignation. Those who choose to disobey God become His adversaries ( see James 4:4) 10:28-29 The specific sin in the Old Testament that required two or three witnesses was idolatry ( see Deut. 17:2-7) The judgment for idolatry was death by stoning. If idolatry was punished by physical death, how much worse punishment should someone receive who treats the word of Christ with disrespect or distain? Counted the blood…a common thing means the blood of Christ is treated as no different from the blood of an ordinary man or the blood of an animal sacrifice. Insulted the Spirit of grace is a reference to the Holy Spirit the agent of God’s gracious gift of salvation. Anyone who commits these acts will be judged with a punishment worse than physical death. 10:30-31 The author quotes two passages from Deut.32 to support his claim that judgment belongs to the Lord and God’s people are not excused from God’s judgment. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God because there is no other sacrifice for sin than Christ’s sacrifice on the Cross only a fearful expectation of judgment All sin not covered by the blood of Christ will result in great loss at the judgment seat. Can a christan backslide yes and will God deal with that yes but He will deal with that person as a parent deals with a child and yes that can sometimes be quite severe up to and including physical death. But God will not cast that child away from Him for in that child He sees His Son and the righteousness that comes through Christ Jesus. Hope this speaks to your question. By the way I have not quoted word for word from the above mentioned source but the bulk of this is from said source. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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6 | tgc will reply to this question? | Matt 12:32 | tgc | 128323 | ||
Good Afternoon Stultis, I am glad to see I was missed last night...LOL. In answer to your question I belive that Steve has done an excellent job in his post and the only thing I would add is especially in the Matthew passage 12:32 if you back up to verse 22 and read foward to verse 32 and consider the context that only an unbeliver will fit. In The Love Of Christ,tgc | ||||||
7 | Searching for the truth | NT general Archive 1 | tgc | 128316 | ||
FytRobert, By your post are you saying that you have excepted Christ as your Lord and Savior? If so and yoiu are in need of helps to get started in a new walk with Christ please feel free to conract me at tommiecxantrell@yahoo.com and I will happily send out to you what ever I can to help. In The Love Of Christ,tgc |
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8 | Searching for the truth | NT general Archive 1 | tgc | 128195 | ||
FytRobert, You do not seem to be getting the questions as they have been put to you so yes I will go into length to guide you toward an aswer but ultimately you are the only one who can give the answer. 1.Are you saved and do you have assurance of your salvation? We will now look to the scriptures to see what it is to be saved. Romans 3:23 from the NKJV 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, Lets break this verse down. Who has sinned. Every person who has ever lived except Jesus. This includes both you and I. So since we have and continue to sin we fall short of God's standard of perfection or another way to say this is we are not Jesus. So get that point settled we are sinners and seperated from God because of that sin. Next lets look at Romans 6:23 again from the NJKV 23 For the wages of sin [is] death, but the gift of God [is] eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Lets break this verse down. First we have already established we are all sinners this point should be far past the point of arguement. With that said what does sin get us DEATH. What is death well I would propose there are 2 kinds physical and spiritual. Sin is the reason for both kinds. Lets look at each. First physical death or seperation from the living and the ceasation of bodily functions. What is spiritual death it is seperation from God eternal seperation from God or in other words HELL. So now we know the cost of sin to us but what was the cost of sin to God? It cost Him His only begooten Son on the Cross who willingly paid the price for each of our indivual sins so that we do not have to experience spiritual death but through what Jesus's has done for us we can have eternal life with God. Death is seperation and Life is union. Life comes through us coming to Christ and accepting Him as our personal LORDAND SAVIOR. Next lets look at Romans 10:9-10 NKJV 9 that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. How does one except Christ as ones personal Lord and Savior? First you confess to HIm that you are a sinner and He is your only Hope there is nothing you can do on your own the only Hope you have of having a right relationship with God is Jesus. Next is to belive God He has given us the ressurection of Jesus as proof of the message Jesus brought and as evidence that He God is satisfied with the price that was pais to redeem us. So when we confess to Christ our sins and repent or make a u-turn on the road of life giving up our will to HIs will we belive God and have the assurance of our salvation in Jesus Christ. Next you might ask what it means to belive with your heart. I would propose that the heart of man has four parts and those four parts are what God was refering to in Gen. when He said let Us make man in Our own image, these four parts are the emotions, the intellect, the ablity to choose or freewill, and the soul. Only man has all four of these attributes which are also found in God. Through the intellect one can hear the gospel and read the scriptures, through the emotions we can feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit in our heart, through the ability to choose we can decide what to do with the conviction we feel from the Holy Spirit, the soul is the never ending part of man that continues on after this body is dead. Next lets look at a promise that God gives us. Romans 10:13 NKJV 13 For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved." Here we have God's promise that if we call on Jesus as stated above we will be saved. So to the first question my answer is yes I am saved and have God's own assurance of my salvation because my salvation is based in Christ and nothing less and I would have no other way. The answer to the second question What would one say to God if one was standing at the gates to Heaven and He ask why should I let you in? The only answer that will ever suffice is Jesus. You see why noone can answer thses questions for you because you either are or your not saved and only you and God know ths answer to that. If not please pay attention the what I have written above and give it serious thought so that you may settle these questions for yourself. In The Love Of Christ,tgc |
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9 | Who committs the unpardonable sin? | Matt 12:32 | tgc | 128093 | ||
New Creature, Here we go again this should be fun and informative. I would have to answer A only. Yes I am one who belives in the eternal security of the beliver but more than that I firmly belive the unpardonable sin is to reject what Christ did for us on the cross. This is the ultimate blashemy of the Holy Spirit rejecting the conviction He puts on ones heart and rejecting Christ payment for ones sins. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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10 | Doing it the right way. | Bible general Archive 2 | tgc | 128089 | ||
epbfaith, Get alone with God and listen to Him.Many times we are so carried away with the fact of having an opportunity to teach that we forget to stop ask God what to teach. Get alone in a quiet place with an open Bible and a heart of prayer and seek to Face of God, remember be open to HIm not tring to go in your own direction. Let me share a short story with you. I was ask to preach a funeral for a missionary who died on thefield while in Aferica so I had about 10 days in which to prepare however as hard as I tried I could not get a message together for the funeral. Finial 2 days before the funeral with all the family in town I was called to the home where I tried to comfort family members but more importantly I was given her journal to read. That night I could not sleep so about mid-night I got up and went to my desk with an open Bible and prayerful heart finally about 4:30 am I went back to bed with the message done. What came out of that nights work was God's message not Tom's. I wish I could say that I gave a great presentation bvut I did not it was actually lousy, but God used His message and souls came to Christ not through me but by Him. The point is I finally quit tring in my own strength and let God. So all the glory and all the honor were His as it should be. So get alone in a quite place clear your mind get into God's Word and ask Him to speak to you. Speak Lord for your servent is listening. I hope this helps. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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11 | Searching for the truth | NT general Archive 1 | tgc | 128084 | ||
FytRobert, First let me address a comment you made "in my post 127532 I was seeking reasons for Chrisrans to attend Sunday Services and not reasons for Christans NOT To attend Sunday Services" I really thought I had given you the most urgent reason to attend and that is being under the Lordship of Jesus Christ. Next lets talk about the two questions. One does not have to be a Bible scholar in order to answer these two questions. Let me repharse them for you. 1. Are you saved and do you have any assurance in your salvation ? 2.If God ask you why He should let you into Heaven what would your answer be? Now to what I meant by having the good manners to answer the questions ask of you. Many times when tring to answer a question for another person one needs a little more information to be able to properly respond to the question. This is especially true in a forum such as this where none of real knows any of the others. So when someone is tring to help you and tring to figure out the best way to go about it and they simply ask for a little more info. with which to better sever you then it is only poliet ot answer that question as best as you can. Belive me there was no offense meant in the comment at all. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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12 | How do overcome your fear? | Phil 4:6 | tgc | 128021 | ||
Godchaser1, You have been given some excellent answers thus far, but let me add this. The command fear not is given well over 100 times within scripture. For something to be repeated this many times God has to feel that it is a very important topic and wishes to give us His assurence. As has already been said we over come fear by beliving God that is taking God at His word. You see that is the foundation of the whole Christan faith that we belive God. We belive Him for our salvation and base our eternal destiny on this belief. So why don't we belive Him for His guidence through this life. You see overcoming fear has nothing to do with positively confessing scripture or anything elese it is all about getting into God's living Word and having a close personal relationship with Him so that through HIm and His Holy Spirit we can believe His word and through that overcome this world and all it throws at us. In short our whole relationship and fellowship with Christ is based on us taking Him at His word. As DBR has said perfect love cast out all fear and God has that perfect love for us just look to the cross for the evidence He kept His word then and will now we just have to learn to belive it. Hope this helps. In The Love Of Christ,tgc |
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13 | Searching for the truth | NT general Archive 1 | tgc | 127934 | ||
FytRobert, CDBJ has been most through in his post to you. He has been very straight forward and clear answering each query posed to him. You would do well to study in-depth what has been offered as well as having the good manners to answer the 2 questions posted to you. With that said I will offer an answer to your question. First let look to Hebrews 10:24-26 from the NKJV. 24 And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, 25 not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as [is] the manner of some, but exhorting [one another,] and so much the more as you see the Day approaching. In these two verses the writer gives us a command from God not to try to go it alone but to assemble together so as to stir up love between one another also for the exhorting of one another or the building up of each other. The next place we need to go is 1 Cor.12:7-15 7 But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit [of all:] 8 for to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, to another the word of knowledge through the same Spirit, 9 to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healings by the same Spirit, 10 to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another [different] kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11 But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills. 12 For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also [is] Christ. 13 For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body -- whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free -- and have all been made to drink into one Spirit. 14 For in fact the body is not one member but many. Paul goes in to along discussion about the gifts of the Holy Spirit to each believer and the reason for the gifts that is to build up the Church the gifts are to be used together so that the whole body can function. IN this line of thought you need the church and the church needs you because if you are a born again child of the King you have gifts that the body needs to carry out its work. The next text I would like to direct you to is 1 Tim. 3:1-13 from the NKJV (NKJV) 1 Timothy 3:1 This [is] a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. 2 A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; 3 not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; 4 one who rules his own house well, having [his] children in submission with all reverence 5 (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); 6 not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the [same] condemnation as the devil. 7 Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil. 8 Likewise deacons [must be] reverent, not double-tongued, not given to much wine, not greedy for money, 9 holding the mystery of the faith with a pure conscience. 10 But let these also first be tested; then let them serve as deacons, being [found] blameless. 11 Likewise [their] wives [must be] reverent, not slanderers, temperate, faithful in all things. 12 Let deacons be the husbands of one wife, ruling [their] children and their own houses well. 13 For those who have served well as deacons obtain for themselves a good standing and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus. In this passage we see the leadership of the church being established for when God gives a command He tells us how to carry it out and this verse lays out the leadership of the church the passage from 1 Cor. the reason for the believers to meet together for the carrying out of God plan for the Church. The Hebrews passages just for clarification. Another place we could go with this is Titus starting in chapter 1:5 and reading through 2:10 I will not post that here as it just further backs up the 1 Timothy passage. So yes I one is to follow the Bible he or she should be regularly meeting together with other believers for worship, teaching , fellowship, among other activities. As a born again child of the King I find it hard for a person who has really submitted themselves to the Lordship of Jesus not to want to meet with other believers. Please look to The Word of God for your answers and you will find God never created us to be lone rangers but to operate as family in service to out Heavenly Father from who all blessings come. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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14 | Looking for a interactive Bible study | Bible general Archive 2 | tgc | 127580 | ||
djc, Oneof the best I have found and yes I use it alot is Illumina Gold from Tyndale House. The cost of the program generally runs about 90.00, and it is availible from many places such as Christanbook.com, The Christan Research Ins. www.equip.org is there web-site. Hope this helps. tgc | ||||||
15 | Philippians 2:12 - Fear and trembling | Matt 22:14 | tgc | 127497 | ||
AHN, There are many ideals running through this post first understand this you are correct when you make the statement that church membership will not get one into Heaven. Only coming to Jesus Christ in humblr repentance confesing your sins to Him and asking Him to forgive your sin then accepting Him as Lord of your life will get you or anyone elese to Heaven. As far as predestination is concerned there can be no real debate on if God predestines or not He does. The question is on what bsases does He predestine. I would personally argue that it is on His foreknowledge of what choices an indivual will make. There are many who would disagree with me on this and I am sure you will hear from them. With that said let us look to the scriptures You quoted much from the book of John in your post so we will begin there. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up; John 3:15 so that whoever believes will in Him have eternal life. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:17 "For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him. John 3:18 "He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. John 3:14-18 NASB Note that twicw in this short passage the word whosoever is used "whosoever belives will be saved" sso to me that makes it clear everybody gets a chance at salvation. So I would say that those who answer the call of Christ are the elect. As I said before this is based on His foreknowledge. To show this point lets look at thebook of Romans chapter 8:28-30 from the NKJV 28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to [His] purpose. 29 For whom He foreknew, He also predestined [to be] conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren. 30 Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified Here Paul gives us a list of what God does for the beliver and if you notice it all starts with those He foreknew. The one point you are 100 percent correct on is there is nothing we can do to get right with God only the finished work of Christ in attonement can put anyone right with God and then through a foreign rightousness not of our own but through Christ Jesus. As to Romans 9:15 God promises that He will have mercy on all who come to Him in the rightousness of His Son Jesus Christ. For a reference read Romans chapter 8. ]As for church attendence that has been a hotly debated topic the last few days on another thread that has also been restricted but in the thread Edb makes some great points concerning this topic I would encourage you to check them out for yourself. I can not come to agree with the last part of your post about being in church is a way to keep from being saved on this I would encourage you to much prayer and to seek out a healthy well balanced church to attend. We all need that support structure in our lives as belivers. Although some may argue there is no such thing as a lone ranger christan. I hope this helps. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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16 | Can you add something more to this? | Gen 1:31 | tgc | 127353 | ||
Stultis, I will try to add understanding here if I can. However let me say up frony thank you for your graceful reply this is how disscussion should be carried on. Point then counter point always being able to disagree agreeablely. Let us start with the point we agree on, That man actualized evil in the Garden when man choose to disobey God. It is my understanding that this is thepoint when evil actually came into being on this earth. Upto this time there was the potential for evil but not actual evil. So who disobeyed? God ? Of course not God can not disobey God, Man disobeyed. Man choose to rebel against God and His perfect plan. This as I understand it is how evil came to exist on this earthy. Man fell to the temtation of Satan and choose to serve him rather than God. So as I have said before God did create the potential for evil, but He did not actualize that potential man did. To create the potential for something or to actual bring that thing into being are two totally different things. To adress another point you made that there is no where in the Bible that says God did not create evil but many passages that would seem to point out that He did let me offer a couple of passages for thought. First look at Gen. 6:5-6 " Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. The Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart." Because of the evil of man God was grieved to the point of destroying the world with a flood. Because of the evil of man God had to make away for fellowship between us and Him to be restored. Because of the evil of man the Cross became neccessary to restore that fellowship and relationship. Just think on hese points as we go on. Next lets go to the book of James chapter 1 verses 12-18 " Blessed is a man who perservers under trial; for once he has been approved, he will recieve the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him. 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. But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be decieved, my beloved brothen Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no vaiation or shifting shadow. In the excerise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits amond His creation." I belive James is quite clear that there is no evil that comes from God. That evil comes from the heart of man the place it was originally brought forth from. Now if you will take a look at Matthew 15: 10-20 from the NKJV. 10 When He had called the multitude to [Himself,] He said to them, "Hear and understand: 11 "Not what goes into the mouth defiles a man; but what comes out of the mouth, this defiles a man." 12 Then His disciples came and said to Him, "Do You know that the Pharisees were offended when they heard this saying?" 13 But He answered and said, "Every plant which My heavenly Father has not planted will be uprooted. 14 "Let them alone. They are blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind leads the blind, both will fall into a ditch." 15 Then Peter answered and said to Him, "Explain this parable to us." 16 So Jesus said, "Are you also still without understanding? 17 "Do you not yet understand that whatever enters the mouth goes into the stomach and is eliminated? 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. 20 "These are [the things] which defile a man, but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man." You may ask what is my point with this passage, it is simply this. That even from Christ's own mouth He says that evil comes from the heart of man the same place it originated in the Garden. In the Garden Satan temted Eve with the sight of the fruit and the ability to be like God. Was that a sin no the sin occured when Eve had an inward reaction to an outside temtation. She and in turn Adam choose to disobey God thus actualizeing evil or sin in this world. Yes God gave us the ability to choose but we made and make the choice. If you would be so kind as to send a list of the passages you mentioned as proof text for God's creation of evil I would love to go through them and study this out some more. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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17 | How do you address? | Gen 1:31 | tgc | 127295 | ||
Sultis, You are always asking for others to address the verses you bring out and that is good but now that I have addressed the specific verse that you ask of me I would ask that you address the first post that I offered and tell all of us how you would deal with those passages pleaseFor if we are going to discuss creation or events that took place around the time of creation that is where we must start. In The Love Of Christ, tgc | ||||||
18 | How do you address? | Gen 1:31 | tgc | 127294 | ||
After a careful reading of Isaiah 45 the entire chapter I think a case can be made that you are pulling this one verse out of it's intended context. All of the chapter deals with a charge to Cyrus. Within the context of the entire passage I belive that an agrument can be made the pharse I...created evil refers to physical evil or calamity rather than moral evil. It is also interesting to note that out of the five translations I have open in front of me only the KJV translates this verse to read "I form the light and create darkness: I make peace and create evil : I the Lord do all these things." The NKJV translates the same verse as follows. "I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calmity; I, the Lord do all these things." The NIV gives this rendering, " I form the light and create darkness, I bring prosperity and create disaster; I, the Lord do all these things." The NLT reads, "I am the one who creates the light and makes the darkness. I,am the one who sends good times and bad times. I, the Lord am the one who does these things." Finally the NASB puts it this way, "Ths One forming light and creating darkness, Causing well-being and createing calamity; I am the Lord who does all these things." Considering that four out of five text translate the word calamity rather than evil I think this is a very weak passage to build a theological therory on. Futher I belive I have shown that the explanation offered is a viaible explanation, and that it is a real reach to say that this verse proves God created evil. As I attempted to show in my previous post God did create the potential for evil but man actualized it. This is to say that ultimately man is responsible for the evil in this world not God. With all that said let us look at another point. Does God sometimes create or use situations we would consider terrible or as a calamity yes He does. The Bible is full of examples of this. The passage you quote from is one of those examples others would be, the ten plagues on Egypt, the blind man that Jesus heals, or even sending Joseph to Egypt and putting him in the kings court to savce his family from the famine. These are just a few examples that pop to mind, but from none of these can we draw the conclusion that God created evil because each one of these situations can be traced back to orginal cause of all of man's problems that is the fall when sin entered this world through our choice to disobey God. So in short I would answer your question by saying always consider a verse by the context it is set in and always let scripture interpit scripture. I am sorry if I come off gruff that is not my intention at all. I am actually enjoying following this thread it is forcing me to look deep into scripture and be able to back up what I belive with scripture. In The Love Of Christ, tgc |
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19 | degrees of faith?? | Heb 10:34 | tgc | 127262 | ||
I would only offer this the words of our great Lord , Savior, and God Jesus Christ. (NKJV) Matthew 6:1 "Take heed that you do not do your charitable deeds before men, to be seen by them. Otherwise you have no reward from your Father in heaven. 2 "Therefore, when you do a charitable deed, do not sound a trumpet before you as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory from men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 3 "But when you do a charitable deed, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, 4 "that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. 5 " And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 6 "But you, when you pray, go into your room, and when you have shut your door, pray to your Father who [is] in the secret [place;] and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. 7 "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen [do.] For they think that they will be heard for their many words. 8 "Therefore do not be like them. For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him. 9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as [it is] in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. The answer would be to pray for God's perfect will in any given situation.This can be clearly seen in Matthew 26:37-44 37 And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. 38 Then He said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me." 39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You [will."] 40 Then He came to the disciples and found them asleep, and said to Peter, "What? Could you not watch with Me one hour? 41 "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed [is] willing, but the flesh [is] weak." 42 Again, a second time, He went away and prayed, saying, "O My Father, if this cup cannot pass away from Me unless I drink it, Your will be done." 43 And He came and found them asleep again, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So He left them, went away again, and prayed the third time, saying the same words. Her we clearly see the principels from chapter 6 lived out in Jesus praying for the Father's will to done.Hope this helps. In The Love Of Christ, Tom tgc |
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20 | god create evil | Gen 1:31 | tgc | 127260 | ||
Did God create evil ? No , what God created was choice. The choice to obey and honor God or to disobey and dishonor God. In other words the choice to love God or not to love God. For the ultimate definition of evil is disobedience to God. I will now attempt to show this through a look a scripture. First let’s look at Genesis chapter 2 : 8-9 form the NKJV 8 The LORD God planted a garden eastward in Eden, and there He put the man whom He had formed. 9 And out of the ground the LORD God made every tree grow that is pleasant to the sight and good for food. The tree of life [was] also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Here we see God plant or create the Garden and place in the Garden the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. So I think it is plain that God here did not create evil although He did create the potential for evil. Next lets look at Gen 2: 15-17 NKJV 15 Then the LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to tend and keep it. 16 And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." Now God has put man in the Garden with all that He has created , but still He has not created evil however there is the potential for evil. God has given man everything he could ever want except for a mate which man gets in the next verse. It is also clear that God has given man a choice as to good and evil . one can see this in the command God gives. Which is basically obey and live in peace and harmony forever or disobey and suffer and die. So yes God created the potential for evil by giving us this choice. Next lets look to Genesis chapter 3 1-7 NKJV) Genesis 3:1 Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the LORD God had made. And he said to the woman, "Has God indeed said, 'You shall not eat of every tree of the garden'?" 2 And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 "but of the fruit of the tree which [is] in the midst of the garden, God has said, 'You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.' " 4 Then the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die. 5 "For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 6 So when the woman saw that the tree [was] good for food, that it [was] pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make [one] wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they [were] naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings Here man actualizes evil by using their ability to choose to obey or disobey. When man choose to disobey God evil actually came into being. God did not create evil man did by choosing to go against the Word of God. There is a major difference between creating a potential for something in this case evil and actually causing it to come into being. For more information on this subject may I suggest Hank Hanegraaff’s newest book The Bible Answer Book which deals with this subject in some depth. In The Love Of Christ, Tom tgc |
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