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Results from: Notes Author: Sir Pent Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Does someone have an answer? | Eph 6:17 | Sir Pent | 128448 | ||
Another perspective................................................... Hi Elder Eva, Welcome to the forum. I was in a discussion in another thread a long time ago about this subject. Below is my perspective: "…(Luke 22:36)… why would Jesus tell them (the disciples) to bring swords, and then when they were actually in the garden, tell them not to use them. I do not think that Jesus wanted them to be able to defend Him. Jesus said that 2 swords was enough, (Luke 22:38) although that would obviously NOT BE ENOUGH to stop an entire company of soldiers. It seems that instead Jesus just wanted to make it obvious that He was choosing to allow Himself to be arrested. The fact that they had at least a couple of swords, but still didn't use them showed that Jesus was not taken against His will, but within it. This made His sacrifice for us and our sins even greater." |
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2 | Who do you love that you are unwill...? | John 13:34 | Sir Pent | 128236 | ||
Attempt at consensus.................................................. EdB, CDBJ, Steve, Stultis, and Xerxes, Let's take a step back here for a moment guys. You all seem to be getting pretty heated, which is not helpful for this discussion. Also, I don't think that you actually disagree with each other to begin with. All 5 of you believe that faith in Jesus Christ is essential to being a Christian, right? All 5 of you believe that as Christians we are called to follow Jesus command to love, right? All 5 of you believe that following that commandment means more than just saying we love other, but rather that we live out that love through our actions, right? So if you all agree on these important points, can we exhibit some love in this thread by not being easily angered? |
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3 | Armor of God : The Sword of the Spirit | Eph 6:17 | Sir Pent | 128057 | ||
Personal note.......................................................... Emmaus, Thanks for the compliment and also for the other verses you pointed to. It's good to share a thread with you again :) |
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4 | Armor of God : The Sword of the Spirit | Eph 6:17 | Sir Pent | 127886 | ||
“Sword of the Spirit” The Bible passage itself defines the sword of the Spirit to be “the Word of God”. This makes me think of the time when Jesus was in the wilderness and Satan tempted Him three times (Mat 4:1-11). All three times, Jesus responded by quoting scripture. I think that this is the example that Jesus wants me to follow. The strongest defense that I have against temptation is based on the Bible. It is interesting that this piece of armor is the sword, which is the only one that can be used to attack as well as to defend. I apply this by also using the Bible as my primary authority for bringing others to a healthy relationship with God (Heb 4:12). It not only protects me but also can be used to “point” others in God’s direction :) |
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5 | Armor of God : The Helmet of Salvation | Eph 6:17 | Sir Pent | 127885 | ||
“Helmet of Salvation” I have found that one of Satan’s favorite ways to attack Christians is in their mind. A common technique is to bring doubts. In fact Satan’s first recorded temptation used this method. "Indeed, has God said, 'You shall not eat from any tree of the garden'?" (Gen 3:1) Another common doubt that Satan brings to people’s minds is “Are you sure that you’re REALLY a Christian”. Therefore I appreciate the assurance of salvation that God has given me. “I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him until that day.” (2 Tim 1:12) It is interesting that this piece of armor is the helmet, which is the very thing that is designed to protect our heads. |
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6 | Armor of God : The Shield of Faith | Eph 6:16 | Sir Pent | 127884 | ||
“Shield of Faith” The Bible defines faith as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things unseen.” (Heb 11:1) A common struggle for myself as a scientist is to get trapped into only believing what I can sense and prove. Therefore, it is my faith that protects me from the temptation to cease believing in God, who cannot be proved. (As a side note, I believe that although God cannot be proved, He is the most likely explanation for everything. Please type in the number 22206 into the “Quick Search” box at the top right corner of the screen for more details on this subject) It is interesting that this piece of armor is the shield. In ancient times, there was a military strategy called a phalanx. It was developed by King Phillip II and used in dominating fashion by his son Alexander the Great. This strategy had soldiers in rows actually overlap each other’s shields. This gave them even greater protection. For more information please go to the following website. http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/Macedonian-phalanx Similarly, I find great benefit to being part of a Christian community such as this forum or a local church. When I come across Bible passages that don’t make sense to me, I can gain insight from my Christian brothers and sisters (for example post 127772 yesterday). When I struggle with not being able to see God work directly in a physical way, other Christians like Virginia Blakesly, who have had experiences where they actually have had angels physically being seen protecting their house can encourage me (to read more about that story go to the following website. http://www.backtothebible.org/gateway/today/19522). |
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7 | Armor of God : The Shoes of Peace | Eph 6:15 | Sir Pent | 127883 | ||
“Shoes of Peace” I see two perspectives on this. The first comes from Matthew 5:9 “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the sons of God.” The idea is that we should walk in the ways of peace (Prov 15:1). We should try to be a calming presence in places of strife and try to heal relationships that are broken (Prov 15:18). This is probably the most common perspective on wearing shoes of peace. However, there is a different passage in Luke 12:51 “Do you suppose that I came to grant peace on earth? I tell you, no, but rather division.” Here Jesus speaks about how the Truth of Christianity can also divide. Just like the parable of the sheep and the goats, those who have a good relationship with Jesus are separated from those who do not (Matt 25:32-46). There is no middle ground there. You can’t be halfway pregnant and you can’t be halfway Christian. So if we are to sometimes unite and sometimes divide, how can we always be wearing those shoes of peace? I see them like the sandals on Jesus feet when He was walking on the water (Matt 14:23-33). The waves were rough, and Jesus did not calm them until after He entered the boat. However, Jesus was at peace above the waves. In the same way, I try to have God’s peace within my soul whether the circumstances around me are peaceful or in discord (John 16:33). |
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8 | The Breastplate of Righteousness | Eph 6:14 | Sir Pent | 127882 | ||
I believe that righteousness is “being right with God”. Therefore, I apply this by trying to always be obedient to God’s will (Rom 6:16). This includes doing the things that God commands in the scriptures such as specific rules like remembering Christ’s sacrifice when I take communion (Luke 22:19), and general rules like “do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8). This also includes not doing the things that the scriptures say to avoid such as lying, murdering, stealing, and committing adultery (Ex 20, Deut 5). It is interesting to me that this piece of armor is the breastplate, which is designed to protect a person’s heart. This reminds me that I need to be righteous not only in my deeds, but also in my heart. If I lust after someone in my heart then it is the same in the eyes of God as committing adultery (Matt 5:28). Therefore I must guard my heart with this breastplate. |
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9 | Armor of God : The Belt of Truth | Eph 6:14 | Sir Pent | 127881 | ||
“Belt of Truth” I always try to be honest. After all, it is one of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:16). I also think that in the long run this is the most loving thing to do. Even if someone gets a bad haircut and asks me what I think; I tell the truth. It may cause slight pain in the short-term, but it also builds trust, without which one can never develop a deep and healthy relationship. And If I can’t be trusted to be honest in the small things, then how can I be trusted to be honest in the big things. If I am willing to compromise my honesty simply to spare someone’s feelings to be hurt briefly, then how easy will it be for me to be dishonest when something much larger is on the line. At the same time, this honesty must be balanced with love (Eph 4:15). For instance, if I don’t like that person’s haircut, I could say that it looks like an ostrich made a nest on their head. That would not be a loving way to communicate the truth. Alternatively, I could say that I actually preferred the previous style, but was glad for them that they were enjoying their new look. This is honest and yet also kind. It is interesting to me that this piece of armor is the belt, which is designed to hold everything else together. I have to be honest with myself to even know whether I am really wearing any of the other pieces of the Armor of God. |
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10 | "All things belong to you" means what? | 1 Cor 3:21 | Sir Pent | 127778 | ||
Looking for more information.......................................... Hi CountryGirl, You are relatively new to the forum, but have already been prolific with your postings here. Welcome, and I have enjoyed reading many of the posts that you have contributed. Your answer to my question seems to be that the Paul is referring to the Corinthians wealth (ie. developments), sin, and controversies. I am confused how you get that idea from the context of the passage. Could you explain why you think that is what Paul means when he says "all things belong to you"? Or does anyone else have any ideas? |
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11 | What can we learn from the Pentecostals? | 1 Cor 3:22 | Sir Pent | 127771 | ||
Correction (reference to website)..................................... I just came across this old thread and wanted to make a correction due to some research that I did. According to the "United Pentecostal Church's" official website, "The UPCI emerged out of the Pentecostal movement that began in Topeka, Kansas in 1901. It traces its organizational roots to October 1916, when a large group of ministers withdrew from the Assemblies of God over the doctrinal issues of the oneness of God and water baptism in the name of Jesus Christ." This information came from the following website "http://www.upci.org/about/index.asp#history" |
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12 | How do we know we're in the end times? | Is 1:1 | Sir Pent | 127667 | ||
Request for clarification............................................. Hello Fatherof4, I had not heard of Preterism before, but I checked out the site you recommended as well as several others. Do you consider yourself a full-preterist or a partial-preterist? If you believe that Jesus "second" coming happened in the first century, then do you believe that he will never come back again, or will there be a "third coming"? |
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13 | The Doctrines Please? | Bible general Archive 2 | Sir Pent | 127548 | ||
Personal Note.......................................................... Hi EdB, Thanks for your clarification. I gladly accept your apology and am relieved to discover that I was misunderstanding your post to be directed towards me. I was overly sensitive. I have been here off and on for almost 3 years now, and have posted over 600 times. Yet I still feel that there are those on the forum who still view me as an outsider and have less grace with my posts than is given to others here. Perhaps I am again misunderstanding what others write, but that feeling probably impacts my sensitivity here. May we both be patient with each other as we continue to study God's word and try to apply it correctly to our lives :) |
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14 | The Doctrines Please? | Bible general Archive 2 | Sir Pent | 127525 | ||
Duplicate Post....................................................... Hi EdB, I accidentally responded to your other posting of this which can be found below. |
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15 | The Doctrines Please? | Bible general Archive 2 | Sir Pent | 127524 | ||
Personal note.......................................................... Hi EdB, It is good to talk with you again as well, even if we are having a bit of a misunderstanding at present. Your post (127443) that was somewhat hurtful to me was addressed specifically to me. In that post you said you wondered why someone who was dissatisfied with the forum would keep coming back. Since the post was addressed to me and since I have just recently "come back" to the forum after being away for a few months, I naturally thought you were referring to myself. Then you made the comment that people should either be part of the solution or get out of the way. Once again, since the post was addressed to me and since the earlier comments seemed to be directed at me, I naturally thought that you were saying that I was not being helpful and so should not continue participating here. Then in your last post you asked why I would claim to be hurt when there wasn't anything to hurt me. This seems to question my honesty, as if I would claim to be hurt when I wasn't really. I hope that you can see that your responses to me thus far since my return could easily be understood to be attacks on me personally and therefore hurtful. I hope that this is all simply a misunderstanding and that you did not intend your statements to be read in the way that they came across, and would appreciate some clarification. |
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16 | The Doctrines Please? | Bible general Archive 2 | Sir Pent | 127521 | ||
Personal note......................................................... Hi Hank, It's good to talk with you again, and I'm glad that you're keeping cool in Arkansas. I recognize that you have been with the forum since almost the very beginning (5 months longer than myself). I understand that you don't think that there are "unwritten rules" here on the forum. However as you mentioned, infinite discussion is not permitted. If a thread goes on for too long, the participants are asked to stop posting to it. That rule is not written anywhere that I know of, yet it does happen. You also mentioned that viewpoints are allowed as long as they do not "foster divisiveness, push denominational biases, result in ad hominem insults, deny the authority of Scripture or the deity of Christ, denigrate orthodox Christianity, etc." These rules are stated on the forum, which is good, however they are applied inconsistently. For instance, the subject of Predestination and Free Will is a denominationally biased subject that can lead to divisiveness and these threads are always restricted. But the necessity of Baptism for salvation is also a denominationally biased subject that can lead to divisiveness, yet these threads are often not restricted on this forum. This indicates that there are unwritten rules of applying the general stated rules. I appreciate your suggestion to bring my "organizational" suggestions to the Lockman Foundation's attention. However, I don't think that they have much interest in my ideas. I made many suggestions almost 3 years ago, none of which have been implemented. These included deleting duplicate posts, combining similar posts, limiting initial responses to questions, staying on topic, requiring a consensus statement for each thread, allowing symbols, adding a spell checker, adding a chat room, and labeling posts with headings. For reference please see post #'s 17840, 17951, 18277, 18278. Thanks again for all your dedication to this forum and the time and effort that you put into it. You won't know until heaven how many people's lives have been helped by your input here. |
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17 | The Doctrines Please? | Bible general Archive 2 | Sir Pent | 127450 | ||
Personal note …………………………………………………… Hello again EdB, I must admit that I am somewhat hurt by your response to my post. A person asked a question about what topics to avoid talking about in order to not offend the unwritten rules of this forum. I simply tried to answer that question, since I’ve been here long enough to know what those unwritten rules are. Then you question why I am even here. I understand that this is a Bible Study Forum. However, in studying the Bible people are naturally going to disagree at times as to what it means and how they should apply it. Therefore this forum will naturally have discussions (or debates) to try to come to understanding. As for why I am here and keep coming back, I think that there are two main reasons. The first is that I really like the people here (including you). I have a lot of respect for the core members of this forum (Tim Moran, Makarios, Charis, Emmaus, Kalos, Searcher, EdB, Hank, etc.) and appreciate reading their thoughts on what the scriptures mean. There are times that I have questions about certain passages or ideas, and I believe that there is a lot of wisdom in this group of people. I also appreciate their ability to approach these issues rationally. And on occasion there is even a little side conversation that can be enjoyable as well. The second reason that I keep coming back is because I see so much potential for this forum. I keep checking back to see how much of that potential is being realized. Once again, I think that the people are here to make this one of the best resources on the entire Internet. However, there are some organizational problems that can be frustrating (limited search abilities, limited ability to follow threads due to lack of headings by most users, limited ability to talk about certain subjects that are considered off-limits, etc.) But overall, I find that the good outweighs the bad and makes this forum a place that I consider to be worth my time to visit and contribute to at times. As for your choice, I would like to be part of the solution :) |
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18 | The culture war | Luke 17:3 | Sir Pent | 121073 | ||
Personal Note......................................................... Hello again Pete2, I am not offended by your refusal to read the thread 22206. However, I am a bit surprised. You seem like a person who enjoys thinking through ideas for yourself by getting all the relevant information and then making up your own mind. If this is true, then I would have thought that you would want to read this other related thread so that you could have additional information to make your decision. But perhaps your statement that "I feel fine where I am at" means that you have decided to lock-in your current beliefs and refuse to continue to re-evaluate your ideas in a search for truth. As for your experience with bullies growing up, I also dealt with bullies as a youth. Perhaps you would type the number 121072 into the "Quick Search" box at the top right corner of the screen to read my story. |
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19 | The fruitlessness of fighting | 1 Sam 17:47 | Sir Pent | 121072 | ||
The fruitlessness of fighting......................................... I would like to share my personal experience with fighting during my youth and how I learned that this verse gives a better solution. When I was in 1st grade, I was on the playground one day, and Jason, the biggest kid in the class and I got into a fight. He hit me once, which knocked me down and skinned my knee. That ended the fight with him as the "winner". When I was in 2nd grade, I had a crush on a little girl in my class. One day a 6th grade kid took her ball and kicked it on the roof of the school. I challenged him to a fight, hit him once, and he ran away. That ended the fight with me as the "winner". When I was in 3rd grade, there was a classmate named Matt, who was much smaller than me, but who picked on me all the time. So one day, I hit him, knocking him down and tearing his jacket. I was caught fighting for the first time and punished by the school principal. When I was in 4th grade, two of my friends named Peter and David were fighting with each other. I tried to break it up, but ended up in the middle when the teacher walked in. We were all sent to the school principal and punished. When I was in 5th grade, there was a bully named Shane, who picked on everyone in the class. One day I decided to teach him a lesson. So when we were on the bus, I challenged him to a fight and hit him several times. I was again sent to the principal to be punished. When I was in 6th grade, there was a kid named Andrew, who tapped me on the shoulder during lunch. When I turned around, he hit me on the jaw and then took off before I could respond. So I finished my lunch and waited outside the door for him to come through. When he did, I hit him on the jaw and took off before he could respond. Later in the day, he found me in the hallway and hit me in the jaw again and took off before I could respond. Then I waited by his locker and hit him in the jaw again and took off before he could respond. After all of this, I was sitting in math class and thinking about my day up to that point. I imagined this pattern continuing for the rest of the day, and then for the rest of my life. Suddenly it occurred to me that violence is a never ending cycle. Fighting didn't really solve anything, it just caused a lot of pain in the jaw. So after class I talked with a couple of his friends in the bathroom and told them that I had decided to not fight anymore. I explained how I had realized that it wasn't going to resolve anything and would be stupid to continue. They were surprised of course, but had to admit that it made sense. Therefore, that little feud ended there, and although I had 10 more years of school, that was my last fight. Fear didn't stop my fighting after getting beat up in the 1st grade. Punishment didn't stop my fighting after getting caught in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th grades. But God stopped me by using that still, small voice inside to show me His perspective on fighting. God does not want us to depend on the sword to deliver us from our problems. The battle is the Lord's and He wants us to come to Him for the answers. |
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20 | Simple analogy to understand the Trinity | 2 Cor 13:14 | Sir Pent | 120987 | ||
Science Lesson....................................................... Hi Rowdy, If you are thinking of Oxygen as a gas and that Ice has little bubbles of gas trapped inside making it less dense, that is not correct. The lower density of ice relative to liquid water is actually due to hydrogen bonds. As the water gets cold enough, the molecules slow down enough that these hydrogen bonds cease to be broken creating a latice structure that spaces the molecules farther apart than they normally are. This is what causes the density to decrease. However, as the Hydrogen atoms create their lattice structure, they do indeed surround the Oxygen atoms. So in a way you are correct after all. If you would like more information, a relatively simple explanation can be found at http://wow.nrri.umn.edu/wow/student/water/unique.html |
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