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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: Paraclete Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | can i pay my tithes to my mother? | 2 Cor 9:7 | Paraclete | 109187 | ||
Thoughts on Tithing by John MacArthur All Rights Reserved Copyright 1984 ...So when people today say, "We want to tithe now like they did in the Old Testament," they can't stop at 10, they got 23.3 to start with. In addition to that, you paid a half shekel temple tax every year, in addition to that, if you had a field, you had to harvest the field in a circle and leave the corners open for the poor. It was a profit sharing plan. If you dropped a bail of hay off your wagon, on the way to the barn, you had to leave that for the poor. So you start adding that up and you are looking at about 25 of their income went to fund the national entity of the government. Now when you get into the New Testament, the Jews were still doing that, because they still had a nation, even though they were an occupied nation, they were still a nation. They were occupied by the Romans, but they weren't run by the Romans. They had their own religious hierarchy, they had their own school systems, they had their own festivals, and all that stuff, and so they had to take care of that. They had their own priesthood; it all had to go on, that is why Jesus said, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's," in other words, pay the Romans what they asked, and render to God the things that are God's. So just to clarify that at the very beginning, when you are talking about a tithe, you are talking about the "taxation." Now when you translate that over into our time, it is kind of interesting to me that the base tax system in our country is about 20, you add sales tax to that and you probably get another 5, we are on about the same level they were then--about 25 of our income goes out for taxation, if you are in the normal tax bracket and with normal deductions, unless you are really doing well, but then they get you in different ways, because the more money you have the more things you buy, the more things you buy, the higher sales tax you pay, so maybe it comes out even harder for people who have more. Nonetheless, that's taxation. OK? Giving was always something different, always you gave whatever you wanted, like when they built the tabernacle and God said, "Let every man bring whatever he purposes in his heart; let him do it willingly, whatever he wants to give." And they kept coming, bringing so much that finally they said, "Stop, don't bring anymore--that's enough." So giving is always a "freewill," it's always an expression of love and appreciation whatever you want to do. I worry about this Charismatic "Health and Wealth" prosperity business, where you are just simply saying, "Well I am going to give my money so I can get it!" That is not the spirit of the Macedonians, they didn't even have enough to give what they gave, but they gave it anyway, because they had already given themselves to the Lord. Their whole program was a "give myself away" program, not a "get for myself" program. We are suffering today, in Christianity, from an absolutely pervasive greed. Our contemporary Christianity is so self indulgent it boggles the mind. That is why we don't reach out to people, because we are consumed with feeding ourselves. It's a mentality that all of us fall prey to. |
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2 | Was Adam and Eve's fall a good thing? | Bible general Archive 2 | Paraclete | 109039 | ||
What your husband is telling you is correct. Consider the simple fact that without Eve Adam could not fullfill the command to multiply. Had Adam refused to fall with Eve, she would have been fallan and he not, rendering their marriage void. Being fruitful and multipliying would have been impossible apart. So Adam took of the pomegrante. All of that is great if you believe the story to be literal. I Do not for the simple fact that it implodes and is inconsistent with it's own facts. Supposedly Eve was innocent and without sin until she partook of the fruit. Recall the story of the serpent tempting her. He tells her to eat the fruit. Eve responds, The Lord has warned us that in that day that we partake we will surely die. The facts are that God said do not partake or you will die. But he did not say in that day you will die. You see Eve lied to the serpent. She did what many still do when dealing with spiritual issues. She embelished the true words of God in order to make her point. She in fact lied and therefore she sinnedby lying before she sinned by partaking. So this Fall was not a fall at all it was just part of a plan. God created man with these qualities of knowledge and wisdom and free will. They are not by products of the forbidden tree. In essence the garden story is showing us that once we are willing to look knowledge in the face and deal with it, there is no turning back , no more remaining in the Garden of ignorant bliss...it is time to work, to till the ground and grow to our full potentials as gods and goddesses in embryo. For that is the image that we have been made in.. it is our divine right. |
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3 | Living Prophets? | Bible general Archive 2 | Paraclete | 108961 | ||
Yes there are! Amos 3:7 says: "Surely the Sovereign LORD does nothing without revealing his plan to his servants the prophets." So where are all the prophets? For the Lord has surely done something since the Bible. If Amos is correct than God must be revealing by revelations to somebody. Now where are all those revelations Amos was talking about? Here thay are: http://scriptures.lds.org/ |
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4 | family salvation | Acts 16:31 | Paraclete | 108908 | ||
1 Corinthians 7:14"For the unbelieving husband is made holy through his wife, and the unbelieving wife is made holy through the brother." Together with Acts 16:31 it would seem that if not salvation, at least sanctification is "graced" to the unbelieving spouse. The unbeliever is set apart or prepared,elected to recieve salvation. Sanctification: to set apart to a sacred purpose or to religious use : CONSECRATE)M 2: to free from sin : PURIFY 3: to give moral or social sanction to 4: to make efficient as the means of holiness |
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