Results 121 - 140 of 1444
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: JCrichton Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
121 | holy spirit vs. holy ghost | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149500 | ||
Hi, rgb! Thanks for the encouragement! God Bless! Angel |
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122 | God being lonely? | Gen 1:1 | JCrichton | 149375 | ||
Hi, Greekbabe132! The problem here is that the poem was written by a creature who's lonelyness inspired him to seek spiritual oneness with His Creator... God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent... He experiences us before we are conceived in our mothers' wombs, He searches us to the most infinite speck of our being, He dwells in each Believer, He is both Eternal (unchanging) and transcendant (able to leap...echo system, time constraints, planes of existence...), He created all that exists (both invisible and visible) and He keeps everything in its place... Some people boast about wearing several hats and being so busy that they need several cell phones in order to keep on top of things... His little job is to maintain the universe, keep track of humanity, listen to all the prayers, petitions, and complaints of both His servants and the hypocritical who deny His Authority when times are good and scream for His aide when things are bad... and then there's the Remnant (that group of Hebrews that still believe and obey)... Lonely? Only in the sence that deep inside we, humanity, long for His companionship! God Bless! Angel |
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123 | 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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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 | Luke 23:43 | Luke 23:43 | JCrichton | 149278 | ||
Hi, crfaas! I understand your confusion... Scripture tells us that Jesus will die and be buried... Jesus tells the Jews that the only sign He would offer is the sign of Jonah (in the belly of the fish for three days)... I suggest to you that it is more complicated than that... the Holy Scripture is not a compilation of rules and regulations by which God has to function and exists... God has no bounds! He is Eternal, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent... In one part of Scripture we learn that God's Glory is manifested to the people of Israel as He comes into the Tent and enters the Ark... another passage of Scripture tells us that God cannot be contained in a simple building made by man's hands... yet, another Scripture tells us that the Father and the Son will make their abode in the Believer... the same is said about the Holy Spirit, the third Person of God... how could all these statements be true? ...well... the Ark, though made by man's hands was a Divine order/inspiration--the physical construction was made by human hands but it was God's Will that brought it into existence; the Temple was made by human hands and though accepted by God, both the father, David, and the Son, Salomon, were tainted architects which limited the purity of the edifice; the human body as a living Temple of God was created by God for the purpose of worship--God is the one that Sanctifies (exalts/purifies) one thing and rejects the other! Jesus is God... how long is eternity for Him?... how fast can He travel? what can limit Him?... A short time before His detention and crucifixion Jesus speaks to the Father, He thanks Him and prayes to Him... He uses a pecular mode of expressing Himself... in this too He is revealing that He is God, Omnipresent and Omnipotent!: "I am no longer in the world; and yet they themselves are in the world, and I come to You Holy Father, keep them in Your name, the name which You have given Me, that they may be one even as We are. (John 17:11) He is no longer in the world... and He is coming to the Father... so, is He or is He not in the world? I know some would argue that it is a grammatical expression of the times... I suggest that it is not; just as Paul reveals that Jesus followed the Hebrews as the Rock that gave them the Living water (1 Corinthians 10:4) and just as Revelations 12:1-6 reveal a time line that does not seem to exist (the child being taken to Heaven and the woman brough to the desert) we find that Scripture reveal that God has His own method of operating which is far beyond our finite abilities to understand! So, could Jesus have taken the repentant sinner to Paradise while still descending into the realm of the dead? Yeah! Could Jesus be both dead (physical body) alive in the Spirit? Yeah! We know this is true because He is Omnipotent and Omnipresent, and because the Holy Spirit reveals it to us through Peter (1 Peter 3:18-20; Romans 10:6-11; Ephesians 4:8-10)... Remember the passage on Jacobs wrestling with God... an infinite being takes on a corporial existence in order to wrestle with one of His servants... how could that be since nothing can contain God?... as Gabriel's reply to Mary: nothing is impossible to God! God Bless! Angel |
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126 | Was Jesus God? | NT general Archive 1 | JCrichton | 149276 | ||
Hi! I found it somewhat bemusing that a person with a screen name that suggest that knowledge of Scripture would ask such question... "Was Jesus God?" No! Jesus IS God! John tells us that the Word was with God and that the Word is God... that all that exist was created by Him and that He is the Light of the world, the Life incarnate which came to His own, upon their rejection He gave all who believe in Him the power to become children of God. (John 1;1-14) Yahweh testifies, through His prophets, that Joshua, Christos, the Anointed, is coming to the world and that He is the Emmanuel (God-with-us--which is an ancient prophecy made by God that He will come and walk/live among His people)... among His other titles are: "Mighty God," "Eternal Father," and "Prince of Piece!" Jesus was called Master (Rabbi or Rabbuni) and even those who rejected Him would still recognize that He spoke the truth and that His teaching had full authority... so it is not difficult to understand that His disciples and those who would hear Him were able to understand that there was someone greater than themselves among them... yet even those who did not know Him that intimately undestood that He was God: Elizabeth (and her son), Mary's relative (Luke 1:39-44), the magi (Matthew 2:1-11), Satan (Matthew 4:1-11), Satan's minions (Mark 5:1-13), His disciples (Matthew 16:16; 28:9; 14:33; John 16:25-30; 20:20), the Father (Matthew 3:17; 17:5; Luke 3:22; Hebrews 1:8-12), the Father's Heavenly servants (Revelatin 5:7-14), and finally the Father and the Son (Revelation 21:3-6; 22:12 and 1:7-18)... It was no simple revelation that Christ made when He told His disciples that when they have seen Him they've seen the Father... the Father and the Son are inseparable, how can we expect to serve the One sitting on the Throne and not the One next to Him? The four living creatures, the elders and the angels make no exception because they know that God is God and that there's no subdivision in the Eternal One! (Revelation 21:22 thru 22:5) God Bless! Angel |
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127 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149226 | ||
Hi, Doc! The reason I asked is because I've come across a similar idea... I better understand your perspective, and as I said that my query was not being critical, I thank you for your patience and your generosity. God Bless! Angel |
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128 | Filled with the holy spirit? | Mark 1:10 | JCrichton | 149223 | ||
Hi, Ray! There was no oversight... I could also understand how you see indweling of the Holy Spirit and being filled with the holy spirit as something that is determined by an action not who is doing the act... We can never contain God in our limited being... but when we read Genesis we find that man was created in the image and likeness of God, and that, as no other being, God gave life to man by an influx of His Spirit... We also learned from Scripture that Jesus gave the Holy Spirit to the Eleven prior to Pentecost... but that it was at the meeting during Pentecost that all of the gathered disciples received the Holy Spirit in a visible measure to let the world know that the prophecy in Joel was being fulfilled! ...each time, we are but simple vessels that cannot contain God... it is through His mercy that we receive, according to His design, an influx or indwelling of His Spirit! God Bless! Angel |
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129 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149222 | ||
Hi, EdB! This is so correct! Remember Jesus words on hatred?: But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother[a]will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,[b]' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell. (Matthew 5:22) So when we intentionally remove love from the equation, aren't we evoking hatred? How can we claim to love God whom we cannot see while harboring discord towards our fellow Christians? And when we continuously seek the path of least resisitance by dividing the Body of Christ or by justifying schism, are we not disobeying Christ's Commandment? ("...be one.") God Bless! Angel |
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130 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149221 | ||
Hi, Tim Moran! Since I am of neither denomination, it would be you and Ed that could best clarify your respective doctrines... As an example... if your congregation teaches that to be in Christ means that I must speak strange languages, while Ed's demands that I not drink coffee (clarification: I am only offering this example as a visual aide; I haven't a clue as to what doctrines your respective denominations subscribe), then I would suggest to you that we have a division of belief which will hinder, rather than built, the Body of Christ! If I then come up with discerning of spirits as the sure way to tell who is in Christ and who is not... and, conversely, another member of this forum educates us on memoralization of Scripture as the sign of being in Christ... our division proliferates but if never unites! God Bless! Angel |
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131 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149220 | ||
Hi, Tim Moran! Here's a clear example of Sola... when did I say the Word of God was wrong? God Bless! Angel |
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132 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149219 | ||
Part 3 of 3 Not to engage in argumentation... heard the expression of throwing out the baby with the bath water?... this is our dilemma today! Some one somewhere decided that "Tradition" was a four letter word... and out if went! Everyone modernized their local church by rejection history and suspending the Holy Spirit for nearly fifteen hundred years... is this in teaching with the Apostles? Did any of them taught a separation from the Old Testament because if was null and void by the New Covenant? Did Jesus? Here's what Paul says: So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word of mouth or by letter from us. (2 Thessalonians 2:15) Clearly Paul does not teach about a Church that exists in a vacuum! He is careful to instruct and to remind the Church that what the Apostles (which includes their direct delegates) teach through writing, (Epistles) or through oral presentation is directed by the Holy Spirit--so traditions (teachings) is never a four letter word for Paul! Sadly, when man decided to divest himself from the cumbersome "traditions" of the Church he, unintentionally, embraced all teachings--just as long as Scripture is sited… and like a stubborn child he refuses to admit that the Holy Spirit has never ceased working in the Church that Christ built! So schism, like the old shampoo commercial (I think it was shampoo... I told two friends, and they told two friends, and they told two friends...) took hold of the Church... and the "traditions of the Apostles" were disregarded in favor of the exponential traditions created by a still dividing body of men! As Jesus said: "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand." (Matthew 12:25) The Church still stands only but for the Grace of God! God Bless! Angel |
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133 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149216 | ||
Part 2 of 3 So, if there were two hundred members in that congregation, Paul expects that there would be one Gospel and that they would practice one Gospel! If we multiply that by a zillion? God Commands that there be one Gospel and that they practice one Gospel--to do differently would be to render Christ's Command null and void: "be one as I and the Father are One!" " in the end, our Holy Bible has to be the final authority concerning our questions of God, Christ and His Church." This statement sound extremely progressive... yet, the Apostles did not have that view... that view is essentially a modern view of God, Faith, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit... Here's what Paul says about the "final argument:" if I am delayed, you will know how people ought to conduct themselves in God's household, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and foundation of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15) Paul is not telling the various congregations to take out the Scrolls and formulate the various discourses and decrees as they agree on some topics, ignore others, and still hold others as inapplicable... No! Paul tells them that the Living Church of God is the pillar and foundation of the truth! Why is Paul stating this? Because Jesus did not leave a manual for the Church but left the other Paraclete, the Holy Spirit, in charge of the Church... as the Holy Spirit revealed further information, the Church began to take shape... as you can recall, there was no Bible in existence when Jesus walked the earth as the Lamb of God... and even the existing Scrolls were not the final word till Jesus fulfilled the prophecies that referred to the Messiah... He came not to abolish but to fulfill and part of His revelation is that the Holy Spirit comes to the Believers (the Body of Christ) and it is His job to bring the fullness of truth. If we remove the Holy Spirit from the Church we simply have a social event where everyone and anyone can be as opinionated as their whim allows--some dictating conflicting doctrines. Can you imagine a course on North American History when the indigenous people and all of the various imports (nationalities) are removed? It would be as palatable as a grilled cheese sandwich without the cheese! That is what our liberal and pluralistic individualism has done to the Church as each group dissects Scripture and create their version of Christianity! |
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134 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149215 | ||
"How are we to make that “every effort” to keep the peace without surrendering basic beliefs?" Hi, WOS! (Part 1 of 3) I think that the problem is not what we have in common... rather, as you stated above, the problem with Christianity is what we hold as individual (personal) belief or "application." We witness to all that there is One God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit--that is fantastic! But then we come to the real of schisms... a place where even the members of one single "local" church can argue and agree or disagree till the pressure is built up beyond patience and then someone has to move on on erect another "local" church... I offer you that the problems are deep-rooted and are from old... Did the early Church exist without divisions/problems? Definitely not! We have much evidence that even amongst the Apostles and their immediate circle there were differences in thought... How did they correct the errors/problems, did they agreed to disagree and swept it all under the floor (not sure if they were fortunate to have rugs)? Negative! They dealt with the situation right then and there! Did the various trains of thought bring about sectarianism/subdivisions? God forbid! Here's how Paul describes his function in the Church: For this reason I have sent to you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, and he will remind you of my ways which are in Christ, just as I teach everywhere in every church. (1 Corinthians 4:17) Here, we find Paul not dictating but directing the Church... there is no room for 200 opinions about what the various people consider should be or should not be... it is a matter of Faith in Practice!: I follow Jesus, I teach the Church everywhere one Gospel, and I practice one Gospel! |
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135 | Did God mention his/her gender in bible? | John 8:54 | JCrichton | 149164 | ||
Hi, Figoyuen! Regardless of what is being claimed, there is only one gender by which we know God: The Father (male), the Son (male) the Holy Spirit (undetermined but mostly male as it was by Him that Mary conceived and gave birth to Jesus)... ...and it does matter to God how we see HIM... throughout the whole Bible it is understood that He is the Father or the Husband of Israel! God Bless! Angel |
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136 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149162 | ||
Hi, EdB! I agree with you whole heartedly... it is this ego-stroking that promotes so many schisms in the Chruch... we willfully ignore Christ's word to do as the Master did... humble ourselves to the Father, and obey His Authority, and subject ourselves to those whom He placed in authority over us... remember Jesus' reply to the tax collector when they queried Peter if His Master would not pay the customary tax?... Jesus not only paid it but paid Peter's as well! The Owner paying tribute to the servants! We do we think that we are greater than Jesus? God Bless! Angel |
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137 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149161 | ||
"Yet we agree on the essentials but these are the essentials and we don’t agree. Then we say we have Christian unity because we love one another. I don’t think so and as long as denominations exists we prove it." Hi, EdB! Excellent post! It is as though we are redefining Christ's Words... we are no longer to abide in His Love, but in love (as in the flower-power love of the sixties)... that we are no longer to abide in Christ's peace, but in the peace of mind that feeling of superiority brings (I am saved, but they are not!)... We are striving to be one with one another as long as what I say goes... if not I'll be one with you from over here... you'll be one with me from over there... or the old "agree to disagree!" God Bless! Angel |
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138 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149160 | ||
Hi, Tim Moran! You stated: "Most denominations probably agree on 98 percent of doctrine." ...if this were so, why are there so many (1st Bapt, 2nd Bapt, etc...) and why are there more and more in the woodworks? (ie: I know a man who left a local church... he joined with another man and they began a non-denomenational--in the same town as the original local church... soon the first man was pushed aside as the new local church gained structure... his companion became the sole preacher and one of the elders... things happened a minor group broke off; they started yet another local church in the same town... remaining group boasted of many "professionals" in their membership an built a larger building... some years later the preacher/elder was excomunicated... some members follwed him and they formed yet another local church... yes in that same town--for a 98 percent of agreement there seemed to be quite many schism)... When the goal is to live separate but equal... does that not have a familar sound? Christ did not tell Peter: "I will build my separate but equal church!" God Bless! Angel |
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139 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149159 | ||
Hi, Tim Moran! The problem with Sola Scriptura, as Ed was pointing out, is that you may be listening to Scripture but many are listening to other men and these are making up doctrines to suit their pockets and/or egos... they would take the skimpiest of passages (as Jesus' reference to the other fold) to build a whole culture about themselves (just check with Muslims who would gladly teach you about Abraham and the rightful descendant)... when Sola Scriptura removes the whole history of the Church (which includes all of the teachings of the original Twelve) we have a constant stream of remaking the Church of Christ into the church of (insert name here!)... God Bless! Angel |
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140 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | JCrichton | 149158 | ||
"Let’s continue to ask God for the truth; reasoning with one another; and God will be faithful." Hi, AO! Amen and Amen! God Bless! Angel |
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