Results 121 - 140 of 269
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Results from: Notes Author: Country Girl Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
121 | Christians before Jesus came | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 128685 | ||
I have that problem all the time. After the invention of the spell checker, the next greatest was that of the grammar checker. They both save me a lot of headaches IF I can just remember to use them. Now where's that toolbar...oh shucks, it's not on the Forum. We sure do need one. Blessings to you, Country Gir. |
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122 | Human Power? | John 15:5 | Country Girl | 128681 | ||
There is no actual verse in the Bible that I could recall to depict God in this condition of being desperate. However, I do think we can draw the proper conclusion from God's actions. If you or I as parents were to offer one of our own child(ren) as a sacrifice, we would be either considered completely crazy or someone worthy of a prison sentence. But since God offered "His Only Begotten Son" as that Perfect Sacrifice, we can only say thank you, dear Lord. So in effect, it looks as if God is willing to do literally anything in His power (a pretty good picture of desperation if you ask me) to get you and me to re-evaluate our lives and become one of His. This is especially true when one re-reads the story of the crucifiction and Jesus' mockery of a trial. But again, in submission to your comment, I have to admit it's a difficult concept to think of our God as being desperate for anything since He created the whole universe and could make any one of us do as He please IF He chose to. I guess that's the crux of the whole matter, He chooses NOT to but He still wants very badly to have the whole world repent and give up this world of sin. I appreciate your giving me reason to make me think about what I've stated. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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123 | Human Power? | John 15:5 | Country Girl | 128672 | ||
You seemed to have overlooked a key passage: Rev 3:20 'Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and will dine with him, and he with Me. The Bible is clear on this matter (in my mind). God is not going to impose His Will and have His Way with us if we refuse Him. Sure He desparately wants to come into our lives and be placed on the throne of our hearts but He leaves that decision up to us. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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124 | Christians before Jesus came | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 128671 | ||
No, I don't have a problem with this seeming conflict. I'm not sure but it seems Jesus was applying this principle of "no one comes..." to those who heard His voice then AND all those who read or understand His Message through some other medium forever thereafter. In my mind, since the NT also provides this guidance as cited in Rom 2, this is the only way I can see resolving this seeming conflict. Also this would accommodate our God's Perfect Sense of Justice, which we all face on Judgment Day. How do you resolve the conflict? How do you interpret Paul's guidance in Rom 2? How about if we get a reading of the "no one comes" phrase from our Greek scholars? Tim Moran, could one of you respond? Thanks. Blessings to you. Country Girl PS: By the way, I also noticed in several of your recent posts, you have a tendancy to use "your" when you really want to use "you're." Sorry, it's just the proofreader in me...it's been done to me so much. Just trying to help. |
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125 | Human Power? | John 15:5 | Country Girl | 128618 | ||
I agree with Mr. Owen in that we have no power to do anything without the specific approval and blessing to do so. The only reason we're allowed to keep breathing, eating and sleeping is by the Grace of God and His Infinite Mercy. BUT that doesn't negate the message of James. We are to do our fair share of God's business just Christ started when He was twelve years old. We all must adopt a truly Godly lifestyle and spread the Good News that His Son has died for the whole world. Further we must imitate Christ and go about our lives bestowing acts of kindness on those whom we see in need. This is the only way God will accept our Christianity as being real and genuine. This is the only way we can be assured Christ's cleansing blood keeps us free from our sins as shown in 1 John 1. In this way, we'll keep our attitude in check and realize it's not anything we could possibly do or say to earn this Gift of Salvation. We simply owe a debt to our God, our Creator. We can merely hope to be counted worthy to be His vessel, His conduit, His lantern through which we must shine His light, show His priorities in our lives. In this way, like Paul, we must be willing to "become all things to all people, so that we might win some" to this lifestyle of God. Yes, indeed the power of the cross rests in our Lord and Savior of this world, IF we'll let Him become our Master and King of our lives. BUT that Mastery and Kingship must be true and genuine. Something only our God can measure on Judgment Day. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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126 | Christians before Jesus came | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 128616 | ||
I do agree with you about the OT folks who were looking forward to salvation based on their belief in their God in spite of not knowing the details. However, I must disagree as follows. Quoted from your statement: As for the Gentiles before Jesus they weren't saved...The Gentiles are pagan and therefore not saved. In contrast, Rom 2:12 For as many as have sinned without law will also perish without law, and as many as have sinned in the law will be judged by the law 13(for not the hearers of the law are just in the sight of God, but the doers of the law will be justified; 14for when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things in the law, these, although not having the law, are a law to themselves, 15who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and between themselves their thoughts accusing or else excusing them) 16in the day when God will judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ, according to my gospel. We see in this Book from Paul that God does deal with those who live and die without the law. They're judged by how well they lived and abided by the conscience that God gave them, verse 15. I'm thankful that our God truly is a just and loving God. His Judgments are perfect and just. Blessings to you, dear friend. Country Girl |
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127 | once saved always saved? | Jer 32:40 | Country Girl | 128607 | ||
If I may interject: Generally, the main theme throughout the whole Bible is against the idea of "once saved, always saved." Starting with Adam and Eve: there they were in the most perfect of living conditions ever known on this planet. No work for either of them, just naming of animals, pluck some fruit for sustinence and an ocassional walk with God. Now of course they were supposed to avoid those two trees but other than that, there wasn't anything they couldn't do. We all know that story pretty well but my point is that God provides for a rescue like Noah and his ark out of the destructive flood or the delivery of the Jews from Egyptian bondage and human beings continue to give up on God and prefer their own way. For example, the Jewish nation is commanded to take over the land of Cannaan and kill all the inhabitants. But greedy ole Aachan steals some gold and hides it under his family's tent. His punishment is not meted out to just him but his whole family. They're stoned to death in accordance with God's Law by the whole group, Joshua 7. How much more to the point does our Lord need to be? If you disobey God, you receive His punishment. It may not be as immediate as this as God is incredibly kind and patient. But we do "reap what we sow." In the NT, we have several examples of christians who were saved but didn't stay that way. From Ananias, with Sapphira in Acts 5 to Alexander and Hymenaeus in 1 Tim 1, God shows very plainly that His children mess up and go bad just ours here on earth. Every parent knows the possibility and some actually experience the knowledge of a child that breaks the law and goes to prison or maybe gets himself executed. And this is after they as parents did the best they could in rearing that child with love and patience. Now, thanks be to God, we're also given an example of a christian who sins after being saved and repents to gain forgiveness. This example is Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8. So we as christians must see ourselves in need of daily repenting and taking advantage of the constant cleansing blood of our Lord as described in 1 John 1. This would apply to both sins of commision and omission. No, my friend there's just too much evidence in the Bible to draw any other conclusion, in spite of the few verses that seem to offer some vague support of this philosophy. I've been taught those verses instead simply reflect the Lord's very intense desire that we all become obedient and inherit our reward in Heaven. But there is no such thing as eternal security IF a person doesn't remain faithful to his Lord and Master. Blessings to you, dear friend. Country Girl |
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128 | What is the "straight and narrow gate"? | Rev 19:8 | Country Girl | 128570 | ||
Of course I agree but I MUST add emphasis as the Lord does through His representative, James. We CANNOT possibly go to Heaven without acts or works of kindness, acts of obedience. A faith without these is a dead faith, no value to us, Him or anyone else. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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129 | What are the duties of a pastor? | NT general Archive 1 | Country Girl | 128372 | ||
I'm thinking maybe you're a little confused as Paul's guidance here to the Ephesians was given for all christians throughout all time, yes I agree. Eph 4:11 And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, Eph 4:12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ; Eph 4:13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. But since we don't have anyone who can meet the qualifications of an Apostle as cited in Acts 1, we don't have any potential Apostles. All the other positions are certainly valid in today's world. Of course, like I mentioned the word prophet in Bible language meant "mouthpiece of God" as in the case of a preacher, minister from the pulpit or TV either one. He could also be a evangelist like our missionaries we send to other parts of the country or across the ocean. Notice that Paul left out deacons and those with miraculous abilities to heal. Apparently, Paul didn't cover the whole entire subject, listing all the different positions, titles or their qualifications as he did with Timothy and Titus. But I still must emphasize my previous point about the synonyms for the office of elder or pastor. They're both referring to the same person or function within the local church at the congregational level. At least this is what I've experienced all my life and the Lord's pattern works just fine when it's done in accordance with God's Word. This is further endorsed since like you mentioned pastors CANNOT be seen properly to run the Lord's Chruch by themselves. We all know what abuse that leads to, as shown by the Catholic organization over the centuries. Hope this is clear and blessings to you. Thanks for your response. Country Girl |
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130 | What are the duties of a pastor? | NT general Archive 1 | Country Girl | 128356 | ||
I'm confused. You said Pastor means the same as shepherd. Elder means the same as bishop. Elders are overseers and shepherds. Pastors are not mentioned as being elders. There are always multiple elders in a church. My response: 1) Pastor equals shepherd 2) Elders equals overseers and shepherds but 3) Pastors cannot equal elders I seem to recall in algebra, trigonometry or one of those mathematical courses so long ago in school that if 1 and 2 above are true, then the end product of both are equal to each other. I don't want to be a dumb blonde about this but it seems that God's Word is fairly clear on this, His Apostles were talking about the same office when any of these words were mentioned or derivatives therefrom. The one thing I agree with you most emphatically is that of multiple elders per congregation. The Lord NEVER meant for a single man to run, lead or govern a congregation of the Lord's church. Elders are always spoken in the plural in a congregational setting throughout the Bible. Most organizations using Pastor in some other office or title are referring to the one that does the preaching, proclaiming God's Word from a pulpit in Sunday morning worship assemblies. This function sounds like the NT word for preacher or prophet which throughout most of the Bible means "mouthpiece of God." There are separate passages/verses describing duties and ideal qualifications for this office. I also agree this is a good topic for discussion thus good "food for thought." I do appreciate your response and blessings to you. Country Girl |
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131 | explain anthropomorphism | Hos 11:8 | Country Girl | 128353 | ||
Quoted from your statement: A. W. Tozer wrote, "Perverted notions about God soon rot the religion in which they appear. The long career of Israel demonstrates this clearly enough, and the history of the Church confirms it. So necessary to the Church is a lofty concept of God that when that concept in any measure declines, the Church with her worship and her moral standards declines along with it. The first step down for any church is taken when it surrenders its high opinion of God." My response: Although I can agree with some of what Mr. Tozer is trying to say, we can't underestimate the power and persistence of our God. Instead of comparing the church to a "fruit" subject to rot, we must see the True Lord's church as being a diamond in the ruff. That diamond as described in the NT was perfect and all we can do is hope to imitate that standard as closely as possible. It is up to each generation of God's children to "rediscover, reform or restore," do whatever is necessary to keep the church pure and undefiled from the influence of the world. Sometimes that takes a great deal of introspection on an individual basis as well as a congregational basis. We should all ocassionally look at our traditions and recognize them for what they are and decide to take ownership of them, improve or discard them. We should all ocassionally discuss and confirm that we are doing those things that are commanded of God's family to make certain that we're not disqualified like Paul prayed about himself. We should see this as a refining process, again like that of a lump of coal into a diamond. We can never hope to actually reach perfection but we MUST do our best to try. Thus we draw closer and closer to God as He draws us toward that goal. I do hope I'm clear on this deep and complicated subject. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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132 | explain anthropomorphism | Hos 11:8 | Country Girl | 128225 | ||
Please don't be offended but my post was directed to DocT who obviously reads far more than either of us. His posts reflect a great amount of study and reading on his part. I do appreciate your contributions to the Forum. Your questions provoke a lot of good thinking and responses. I'm just trying to help you understand the structure of these threads on the Forum; they can be a little tricky, especially when you're new. By the way, welcome to the Forum and blessings to you. Country Girl |
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133 | Darby Quote on Unity | Ps 133:1 | Country Girl | 128222 | ||
I do realize there's a wide spectrum of opinions and interpretations on just about every single major issue coming out of our Bibles, but I do think this Forum is a big step in the right direction. I guess each of us has to resolve to do our part, study our Bibles and constantly re-think ourselves, transforming ourselves with much prayer and humility to our God so that He can mold us into what He has in mind for us. Blessings to you for your great knowledge of God's Word and other writings about His Truths. Country Girl |
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134 | Christianity -- American style vs... | Matt 28:19 | Country Girl | 128221 | ||
Yes, it's so good to read your story. I'm glad you're able to visit places like that and be a beacon for God's light. I don't think I could do that near as well as you. My talents lie in other areas. I'm just thankful that we're all blessed with different talents and God looks at us as a whole family. Blessings to you. Country Girl | ||||||
135 | explain anthropomorphism | Hos 11:8 | Country Girl | 128218 | ||
Wonderful post. I think your "crafting of words" was quite well done. I'd love to see this as the Post of the Week. Blessings to all who read it. Country Girl | ||||||
136 | Christianity -- American style vs... | Matt 28:19 | Country Girl | 128150 | ||
Thanks to both you and Emmaus. You're a great assets to this Forum. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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137 | New Morality? | Col 2:8 | Country Girl | 128133 | ||
I'm reminded of the wisdom from Solomon Eccl 1:9 That which has been is that which will be, And that which has been done is that which will be done. So there is nothing new under the sun. Eccl 1:10 Is there anything of which one might say, "See this, it is new"? Already it has existed for ages Which were before us. Eccl 1:11 There is no remembrance of earlier things; And also of the later things which will occur, There will be for them no remembrance Among those who will come later still. Eccl 1:12 I, the Preacher, have been king over Israel in Jerusalem. Eccl 1:13 And I set my mind to seek and explore by wisdom concerning all that has been done under heaven. It is a grievous task which God has given to the sons of men to be afflicted with. Eccl 1:14 I have seen all the works which have been done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and striving after wind. Eccl 1:15 What is crooked cannot be straightened and what is lacking cannot be counted. Eccl 1:16 I said to myself, "Behold, I have magnified and increased wisdom more than all who were over Jerusalem before me; and my mind has observed a wealth of wisdom and knowledge." Eccl 1:17 And I set my mind to know wisdom and to know madness and folly; I realized that this also is striving after wind. Eccl 1:18 Because in much wisdom there is much grief, and increasing knowledge results in increasing pain. As long as mankind is on this planet, there will always be those looking for a new moraility but it will be up to the christians of every age and generation to remind them, there is no such thing that can be acceptable to God. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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138 | Darby Quote on Unity | Ps 133:1 | Country Girl | 128132 | ||
I don't know about John Darby but I do know about one of Jesus' last prayers on this earth was made for us. Jn 17:20 "I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; 21that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. 22And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: 23I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. 24"Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. 25O righteous Father! The world has not known You, but I have known You; and these have known that You sent Me. 26And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." It's such a shame that the religious world is so divided when Jesus wanted us to be united so badly. Of course, we all need to imitate what we see and read in our Bibles to come close to that state of unity. But therein lies the big controversy...interpretation. So many ways to look at and understand a certain statement. I guess that's the price we pay for diversity. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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139 | Mahershalalhashbaz | Is 8:3 | Country Girl | 128129 | ||
Like you say, it's just curiosity but what was it the Lord was trying to remind these people of prophecy? Remember "curious minds want to know." Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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140 | Christianity -- American style vs... | Matt 28:19 | Country Girl | 128120 | ||
I appreciate your insight. I'd like to think that everyone will respond that way but the real question to everybody is, "Will I do something to change and make an improvement in my own community?" Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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