Results 121 - 140 of 645
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Results from: Notes Author: JCrichton Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
121 | Was the Trinity split | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 127958 | ||
Hi, tgc! Glad to be of service! You are welcome to use any and all of my post to further your study on our Lord! God Bless! Angel |
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122 | Was Paul married and to a Sanhedrin woma | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 132588 | ||
“The question here is if all the disciples were put out of the counsel how does this part of the discussion come to be written here.” Hi, Aaron! I understand your concern… there are many things in Scripture that, inevitably, baffle our perceptions… seemingly, offering not enlightenment but a veil incremental quagmires… The point you offered above is interesting… but my take is different: 1. I doubt that members of this elite ruling body would travel about, risking their position and life, in order to deter opposition to their doctrine or in an effort to personally command the militia that would detain, imprison or even kill those that they considered to be preaching heresy, when they could easily delegate their authority to others--specially those who are thirsting for power and prestige… Saul as attested by his enthusiasm for eradicating those who followed the Way, fits that criteria! 2. Though we are limited by context, we can reason, from Scripture, that there were silent partners (disciples) who, being too afraid to lose their earthly clout and commodities, did not always come forward into the Body of Christ but kept watch and served the Lord by disseminating information and, perhaps, even misdirecting the efforts of those who wished to fight the Way. I based my argument on the following: His parents spoke like this out of fear of the Jews, who had already agreed to ban from the synagogue anyone who should acknowledge Jesus as the Christ. (John 9:22) After this, Joseph of Arimathaea, who was a disciple of Jesus--though a secret one because he was afraid of the Jews--asked Pilate to let him remove the body of Jesus. Pilate gave permission, so they came and took it away. (John 19:38) In the evening of that same day, the first day of the week, the doors were closed in the room where the disciples were, for fear of the Jews. Jesus came and stood among them. He said to them, ‘Peace be with you,’ (John 20:19) “Is this an instance of Divine justice? What goes around comes around, you reap what you sow etc. It seems Paul has come full circle.” I seldom delve in speculation because there are too many variables and inconsistencies that corrupt the emergent theories and conjectures which are then viewed as fact rather than sheer speculation… your mention of “Divine Justice” is just one of those arguments that have been surfacing in “Christian” circles… the problem I find with it is that, when we ascribe to God principles that define our finite being, we are simply reducing God to our flawed level of being and understanding… True, there is a certain irony in Paul’s (Saul’s) predicament; but it could only be proven “Divine Justice” if only Paul would have suffered persecution on the hands of the established authorities (both Jew and Roman)… rather, we find that the Apostles and the early Church as a whole were relentlessly persecuted causing the followers of Christ to go underground and to disperse throughout the empire and the nations surrounding it--this of course benefited the Church since all the believers who fled were able to bring the Word to many more people/cultures than if they had stayed in Jerusalem and its direct surroundings. I do find “Divine Justice” in Paul--the fact that he challenged God out of ignorance by persecuting the Church (Philippians 3:11-21)--as the Church is the Body of Christ--and God saw fit to make him the Apostle to the Gentiles! It is through Divine Justice that Saul finds his way back to God (Acts 9:1-22): Saul was not only forgiven but his abilities were enhanced so that he could become an outstanding servant of Christ! God Bless! Angel |
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123 | Why did Jesus pray to God? | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 140391 | ||
Hi! Why did the Word, who is God, became incarnate? Read through the Gosples... you will find Jesus telling us that He is offering an example: He is the friend that died for His friends and He invites us to be just as giving! When Jesus meets with John the Baptist John clearly understands His gesture and attempts to redirect Jesus (it is I that should be baptized by you); yet Jesus reminds John that He came to fulfill the Scripture (1 Peter 2:21-24)... and it is not as some suggest that Jesus is some type of glorified prophet... He is God (Philippians 2:5-11), the God who came to be among His people as Promised in the prophets. (Isaiah 7:14; and Jeremiah 1:33-34; 32:37-40; Ezekiel 37:26-38--compare these last three passages with John 14:16-17, 23, 26; 15:26; 16:7-15) Please humble your heart and spirit to God so that the Holy Spirit may enlighten you and bring you to the fulness of Christ! God Bless! Angel |
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124 | holy spirit vs. holy ghost | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149279 | ||
Hi, rgb! Grammatical accidents are to Scripture like wedding bands on a married couple: they clarify the relationship but they do not establish the relationship! Take for example one single passage: John 4:24; while some translations have "spirit," others have "Spirit;" yet, still others have "a spirit," while others still have "a Spirit..." Could Jesus Christ be saying that God is a force, a power or is He saying that God is a being which is a Spirit or spiritual being? The only concern that the Watchtower has is to strip the Holy Trinity of the Son and the Holy Spirit... they are a blind fellowship the purports to being Christian (the object of fellowship and worship) while still denying that He is God! Don't they realize that we cannot serve two masters? If we call Jesus our Master (Lord and Savior) and if He is not God, are they not in essence practicing polytheism: they serve Christ, who to them is not God and they serve God! As confusing as that is, you will find that they always excuse any Scripture that speaks of Jesus or the Holy Spirit as God... ie: in the Old Testament God's prophets spoke and set prophecies... the language in the Old Testament is almost always: the Lord said/says... when we read through the New Testament we find that the statements attributed to the Lord are attributed to the Holy Spirit (as in David's: the Lord said to my Lord)... I remember a couple of people rejecting that Jesus is God because they could not understand how the Word could be God and be with God all at the same time... yet, when reading Isaiah they reject God's own statements about His Son, the Immanuel (God-with-us) whose titles include Mighty God and Eternal Father... They manipulate Scripture so that they even refuse to see simple values transfered from the Father to the Son as in Isaiah 8:14-15 Romans 9:31-33; 1 Corinthians 1;23 and 1 Peter 2:3-10... Selective reasoning and etymology can obfuscate the Truth rather than set it free... and, if we relay on half-truths, how can we be set free? Paul spoke of the incredulous and the "geniuses" as those who were far from God: 21For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. 22Jews demand miraculous signs and Greeks look for wisdom, 23but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, 24but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. 25For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength. (1 Corinthians 1:21-25) This, of course, does not mean that we should not search Scripture and dig into origins of words... however, our task should not be to limit God but to discover deeper understanding into His revelations: The Father and I are One; all sin is forgiven except blaspheming against the Holy Spirit... these are solid statements that reveal that the Father and the Son are both God and that the Holy Spirit is God... no amount of study/manipulation can render anything other than that truth--unless the Word of God is ignored, circumvented or its meaning altered! God Bless! Angel |
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125 | holy spirit vs. holy ghost | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149371 | ||
Hi, rgb! I am not saying the contrary... Scripture speak of both the Holy Spirit as a Person of God and as a power/gift that teaches, guides, enhances the Christian... My reference to grammatical accident is because some people get caught up in definitions and roots... the Jehovah Witnesses love to dismantle John 1:1-2... they teach the concept of Logos as though Scripture is expressing a spoken energy and not the second Person of God... they are also quick to point out that Jesus stated that the Father is greater than He--their take on this is that Jesus is some how a secondary/alter ego to the Father; thusly, they express how Jesus is not the Almighty God, but just some lesser being... again, a grammatical accident (statement) cannot deny Jesus' Divinity when there are oh so so many Scriptural passages that demonstrate or tells us that Jesus is God. The beauty of the Holy Trinity is clearly manifested to Paul as He tells us that we cannot serve Jesus but through the Holy Spirit and that those who have the Spirit of God cannot deny Jesus (1 Corinthian 12:3)... it is God who sets the prerogotives--in the Old Testament we find that Moses' son was struck down for presenting a strange fire, and Oza for touching the Ark... it is unavoidable to serve God in His determined manner: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit! So you see... when we scrutinize Scripture and rely on only etymological sciences, we will always fall short of discovering the Holy Spirit and Jesus as part of God's essence... (secretly, I hope that the Jehovah Witnessess and others like them read through our exchange and rediscover God as God wants us to know Him!)... God Bless! Angel |
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126 | holy spirit vs. holy ghost | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149500 | ||
Hi, rgb! Thanks for the encouragement! God Bless! Angel |
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127 | Was Jesus God? | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149689 | ||
Hi, Cayra! If I understand you correctly you are seeking an explanation for the title "Prince of Peace..." The best I can give you is that there are various translations (transliterations) of the original Scrolls... some would have it as "The Prince of Peace," others "Prince of Peace." If I did not understand your query, please expand... God Bless! Angel |
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128 | Was Jesus God? | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149784 | ||
Hi, cayra! Perhaps because I am truly bad at self-editing I could not see the forest for the tree... Had you not quoted me I would not have understood both your original post and this one... It is with great regret that I offer "mia culpa" or in today's poor excuse "my bad." I can only surmise that the error came in part due to fatigue (as it happens often, I end up working into the early morn hours and my brain is coasting almost at automatic... sometimes at sleep-walking... though in my mind I was thinking peace... the homonym typed was piece and when editing the post (as I am sure happens with many people) my mind was reading the words that I had thought were part of my composition instead of the actual words that I typed... ...I read through several Bible versions looking for what I thought was your query (why Prince of peace?)... I am glad you clarified the issue--left to my own means, it is quite probable that it would have escaped me for years! Thank you for your patience and your assistance! God Bless! Angel |
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129 | 13 Tribes or 12 Tribes? | Genesis | JCrichton | 106457 | ||
Correct! The distribution plans for the land included 6 cities of refuge, and no land for the tribe of Levi since they were to be a separate tribe for the service of the Lord. Hence the two sons of Joseph! I call your attention to Revelation 7:1-5 (5-8) where Joseph is interchanged with Ephraim, Levi is included and Dan is excluded. We find that there are still twelve tribes, but thirteen names (Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin--all included, and Dan--excluded. Joshua 19:40-51 tells us of the distribution of land to the tribe of Dan. I am not questioning God's Plan--my query is what happened to the tribe of Dan that cuased it to be omitted in Revelation's 144K? I must had read through that part too quickly to have missed the issue altogether. God Bless! |
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130 | 13 Tribes or 12 Tribes? | Genesis | JCrichton | 106464 | ||
Correct! Since the tribe of Levi were separated to serve the Lord with the religious duties (priesthood, altar, etc.) Joseph's sons were incorporated in the naming of the tribes so that there would still be twelve tribes (representing the sons of Jacob. My question is, what happened to the tribe of Dan? Joshua 19:40-48 tells us of the aportion of land they received; while Revelation 7:1-5 (5-8) omits Dan as one of the twelve tribes of Israel. I must have missed something about the tribe of Dan, since it was excluded as one of the tribes at the same time that Levi was included as part of the twelve tribes! Thanks for your comments. God Bless! |
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131 | 13 Tribes or 12 Tribes? | Genesis | JCrichton | 106558 | ||
My question is not posted as a challange--I know that something happened to Dan's tribe, I just can't remember what/when/where? God Bless! |
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132 | Skeletons of evolution? False? | Genesis | JCrichton | 126753 | ||
Hi, Mark! Excellent post! We rely so much on the exactness of scientific theories that we forget that theories are just educated guesses... Remember when they were talking about the extreme age of the universe and how it was folding upon itself... those theories vanished when they discovered that in actuality the universe is still expanding and expanding and... Our desire to have absolute domain keeps us from believing and trusting God but, just as Jesus said (John 5:42-44), we are ready to believe any argument put forth by man, regardless of how devoid of truth/fact it may be! God Bless! Angel |
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133 | Skeletons of evolution? False? | Genesis | JCrichton | 126966 | ||
Hi, Ancient! Thanks for your post! Is was very informative... I particularly enjoyed reading item #5--I've heard some murmur about it but had not found corroboration... as I was reading it Genesis 1:7 jumped at me: And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water." So God made the expanse and separated the water under the expanse from the water above it. And it was so. God called the expanse "sky." And there was evening, and there was morning-the second day. (Genesis 1:6-8) Isn't it marvelous, how God reveals the workings of the universe in terms that are easily grasped by all--even when it takes science thousands of years to come to formulate a comprehensive understanding of such workings? Every day I learn more and more about God's Majestic Prowess and His ability to humble Himself for us! What a Great Teacher: Immeasurably Patient and Loving! God Bless! Angel |
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134 | Who is God Talking to in verse 26? | Genesis | JCrichton | 141012 | ||
Hi, Tess! "identify the Word (Jesus in his prehuman existence) as God’s first creation," It is an interesting conclusion... yet if He is the first of creation is He not the end of creation since He Himself attests taht He is the First and the Last? (Revelation 1:17-18) ...and if He is the First and the Last, should creation not have ended then and there! Please, do not limit God to a notion that Christ, the God-with-us (Matthew 1:23; Is 7:14; 9:6;), is a creature as you and I... to which creature has God delegated His Authority and Divinity (Luke 5:20-21; John 5:17-18; 10:30-33; Romans 9:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:7-8; Galatians 1:11-12; Phelippians 2:5-11; Titus 2:11-15; Hebrews 1:3-12; 2 Peter 1:1-2; Revelation 19:11-16; 21:3-7)? Please, be as observant as Thomas--even if only after the fact-- and say to Jesus: "My Lord and my God!" (John 20:28) May Christ, who is over all things, send the Holy Spirit to enlighten your mind, heart and spirit! God Bless! Angel |
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135 | God being lonely? | Gen 1:1 | JCrichton | 151659 | ||
Hi, mommapbs! You've missed my point completely: "we, humanity, long for His companionship!" It is this longing that can bring us to believe that God is lonely as He longs to be with us! "I suspect that many seek companionship from others and things" It is this emptiness, in us, that could cause man to think that God could ever be lonely... and you are correct, many seek to fill a void in their lives that only God can fill--unfortunately, Satan has taken the reigns and he leads humanity into all sorts of inverted doctrines (bad means good; good means bad)... so we search to satisfy our loneliness in everything and anything except God... and because, as human, we experience the suffocating tentacles of this vacuous feeling we call loneliness, we may suspect that, because we are created in God's image, God too experiences loneliness. God Bless! Angel |
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136 | God being lonely? | Gen 1:1 | JCrichton | 151803 | ||
Hi, Mommapbs! Because we yearn for that which we are missing, we can come to believe that it is a reciprocal feeling... however it is not! If you notice my first expressions about God: "God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent..." anyone reading it would have to understand that in such a being there's no loneliness... Yet, we are creatures of habit and of feelings... sometimes projecting our failures/inadequacies on others and on things and animals... We have a tendency to think that if we feel something the object of that "feeling" is caught in the wake of our feelings... projecting loneliness, as well as other human traits, on to God is an error caused by those who seek to measure God in human terms and condition--yet His Ways are above our ways as high as Heaven is from earth... we can never equate God (lessening Him) to us/our "feelings." If you have read from my post something other than what I have attempted to convey to the originator of this thread, I apologize for not being clear enough... God Bless! Angel |
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137 | God being lonely? | Gen 1:1 | JCrichton | 151806 | ||
"Lonely? Only in the sence that deep inside we, humanity, long for His companionship!" Hi, BradK! Since you are the second person that has understood such terminalogy from the words above (though made as a contrasting thought to Gods Omnipotence--asserted at the beginning of the post, second paragraph), I can only conclude that I must be more basic when expressing my thoughts... What I was attempting to convey is that only our projection of our own feelings are being ascribed to God, hence the seeming loneliness of God--seeming loneliness: meaning that because we are missing something within our being, we tend to believe that God may be subjected to the same temperaments and conditioning as His creation! ...I cannot emphasize this more vigorously than as I said before: God is Omnipetent, Omniscient and Omnipresent! ...please accept my most humble apologies, if you have misunderstood the final thought on my previous post! God Bless! Angel |
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138 | God being lonely? | Gen 1:1 | JCrichton | 151955 | ||
Hi, BradK! I understand whay you are saying... sometimes I wonder how Christians define "humble obedience," "serve one another," and "to live is Christ and to die is Christ..." When we speak, we are coming together, in Christ... to humble ourselves to God means to humble ourselves as representatives of Christ... so that 24/7 applies all of the times... We can better serve Christ if we adopt the Sermon on the Mount to our personal life and instead of being defensive when questioned or not found clear enough, we must surrender pride and ego to the Lord, and seek to be "peace makers" as this would demonstrate that we are children of God! If none of the above works... whenever facing a questionable issue we should take the opportunity to enhance our communication skills and our personal knowledge (as we analyze and restudy the issue)... I always welcome the opportunity to come into the Lord's accord with my brethren... my joy is complete when Christian come together in Him! God Bless! Angel |
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139 | How did man have a Divine Mind? | Gen 1:26 | JCrichton | 108786 | ||
Hi, Searcher56! In the Old Testament Yahweh called us "gods"--this did not make us His equal; it is only His expression demonstrating what our goal should be: to be holy as God is Holy! Christ said it differently; "be one as I and the Father are One..." Jesus calls us to be one with Him (I am the vine you are the branches; if you abide in me...)--never did Jesus say you are equal to God or will become God's equal! Paul, through the revelation of the Holy Spirit, tells us this: ...But we are those who have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:16--unabridged: 1 Corinthians 2:6-16). God Bless! |
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140 | How do you substantiate your answere? | Gen 1:31 | JCrichton | 127385 | ||
“I DO NOT BELIEVE GOD IS EVIL.” Hi, Stultis! Part 1 of 3 Thank you for your clarification! I want to apologize for my energetic post… as you clearly noted, I had been put off… I did start to believe that you were setting up a preamble to an old doctrine (good and evil)… Again, I cannot convict of the Truth--not a single human being will ever be able to do this! Whoever claims to have such power is an agent of the anti-Christ (as such an anti-Christ him/herself). It is only the Holy Spirit, the Third Person of God, that can convict us of the Truth! The Bible is the Word of God. But we cannot even being to fathom the simplest of Scripture without the Holy Spirits revelation! When we seek to know God using our own limited means (human reason and wisdom) we short way short of the mark! This is not to say that we must become theologians in order to understand Scripture… I am simply stating fact. The Word of God is God’s revelation to us--if we remove God from the equation we end up with mud: we allow Satan to pull us into that black hole known as pride and ego! We spin our mind’s wheels seeking to convince the world of our perceived wisdom that can render God’s Mysteries disclosed to our keen abilities; Adam and Eve taste some of that wisdom! But if instead we humbly ask the Holy Spirit for assistance, since He is all-knowing and all-loving, He can guide us to the fullness of the Truth! You have several arguments… you request that all response be substantiated by Scripture… I have attempted to do just that… the problem is that you seem to subscribe to a teaching that allows you to divorce Scripture passages from the rest of the Bible and that allows you to dictate limitations on what Scripture speaks on… From that reasoning some have devised that Jesus is not God… a couple of particular Scripture passages, if interpreted only through their methodology--which to me is quite similar to yours--would actively render Christ a little more than a man: ‘But as for that day or hour, nobody knows it, neither the angels in heaven, nor the Son; no one but the Father. (Mark 13:32) Jesus said, ‘Foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of man has nowhere to lay his head.’ (Matthew 8:20) If stripped of all other Scripture content, these two passages (Mark 13:32 and Matthew 8:20) do suggest that Jesus Christ is not God: He calls Himself the Son of man and He testifies that there is something that not even the Son knows about… Since God is Spirit and not a man and since God is Omniscient there seems to be credence to anyone who holds the belief that Christ Jesus is not God… The problem is that Scripture is not devoid of other Scripture; rather, Scripture supports Scripture! When the above passages are scrutinized against other passages the conclusion is that those seemingly straightforward face value interpretation were flawed! In John 16:28 Jesus states that He came from the Father--God is Spirit, as so is Jesus who came from Him. Further, it is revealed, through the angel Gabriel, that Mary will conceive Jesus, the Emmanuel, by the Power of the Holy Spirit and not by mere human copulation! So, clearly, Jesus’ declaration of being the Son of man has a deeper meaning than simply: Jesus is human! In John 16:29-30 we find Jesus’ disciples witnessing that He is all-knowing and their profession of faith that they believe that He comes from God!--these revelations, as well as Peter’s in Matthew 16:16-17, came by the Grace of the Holy Spirit! Further confirmation of Jesus’ Omniscience is found in John 17:10: All I have is yours and all you have is mine, and in them I am glorified. It is not that the Word became incarnate and devoid of Divinity… the truth is that Jesus never stopped being God; He simply did not retain His Authority in His total submission to the Father in order to fulfill His function as the Lamb of God (Philippians 2:5-8; John 17:5;): I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now. However, when the Spirit of truth comes he will lead you to the complete truth, since he will not be speaking of his own accord, but will say only what he has been told; and he will reveal to you the things to come. He will glorify me, since all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. Everything the Father has is mine; that is why I said: all he reveals to you will be taken from what is mine. (John 16:12-15) |
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