Results 21 - 40 of 784
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Beja Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
21 | God never changes then how come Sunday | Bible general | Beja | 241473 | ||
Enjoyinglife59, Thank you for the question. I think the very best way to answer would be to direct you to the search bar to the right of the screen. This has been often discussed on the forums and you will likely find there any comment you could possibly get. Beja |
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22 | Why do we have ""Free-Will"? | Bible general | Beja | 241578 | ||
jeremiah1five, You state, "by virtue of creation angel and man was created sinful" and also that the reason man sinned was because he was created sinful." I think this doesn't square up with scripture. One example is Romans 5:12 where he states, "sin came into the world through one man." Paul portrays Adam as transgressing and bringing sin into the world for the first time. How could this be if sin was present by virtue of creations? How could sin have entered into the world through Adam's transgression if the already existing angels were sinful before he was created? But your position holds far reaching consequences. It is the clear testimony of scripture, and our blessed hope that Christ will one day remove sinfulness from his people. Revelations testifies that we are hoping for a city where sin will not enter. In many places, 1 john 3 and Romans 8:29, scripture promises that we will be conformed to the image of Christ. Certainly if we are conformed to the image of Christ we will not be sinful. Yet if what you say is true, and it is impossible for anybody but God himself to ever be righteous and without sin, then you declare null and void these most precious promises of the saints. In Christ, Beja |
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23 | Am I Biblically free to marry? | Bible general | Beja | 243735 | ||
Brr101373, Greetings. As a Pastor, I find the most difficult questions to answer usually are about marriage. This is not from any short coming from scriptural guidance, but rather it is because of the remarkably implausible situations that people find themselves in by not following the Lord's instructions from the beginning. People come to a pastor and basically ask, "given that I've not followed the plan" what now would the Lord have me do? If you would permit me to make a parable out of thin air, most questions are like a man standing by the lake. A letter from the Lord is brought to him and the courier states, "I have instruction from the Lord that you are to get in this raft and cross this lake." As time passes the man one day decides he ought to obey but he is confused how to do so. He asks the courier, "Sir, I want to know what the Lord would have me do." The courier replies,"I told you." "Yes, but I have sunk the boat, covered the lake with oil and set it afire, and waited until I was too old and infirm to walk around the lake. Now please tell me what my Lord would have me do." The bewildered courier replies, "I just have this letter saying to get in the boat and cross the lake." This is what it is like answering most marriage questions. People have gotten themselves so far from what the word of God said, we no longer have specific instruction from God on what to do. God did not tell us, "Here is plan B and C assuming you reject every command I have first given you." He expects us to follow commands. I do not say any of this to scorn you, but to get you to understand why it will be next to impossible to get clear biblical advice. With that being said, here is my word of counsel in order of importance. First, your chief concern in life right now is to love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and strength. That should so be your focus that a question of marriage should seem a small thing. This we know for certain is your duty. Second, you need to get yourself in a scriptural church where their chief conviction is preaching, understanding, and obeying scripture. This forum simply can not give the measure of council you need despite how we long to help you. Third, my advice is to not pursue marriage again for two reasons. One reason is that I think one of the principles taught, is that remarrying is only permitted after a divorce that was scripturally allowed. I think your second divorce probably disqualifies you because you abandoned your wife for reasons other than her sexual betrayal. Yes she cheated on you, and that would have given you biblical permission to divorce. But that is not a "get out of marriage free" card you can keep in your pocket for a decade. The other reason is because you are not certain if you would be sinning by marrying, but you are certain that you will not be sinning by remaining single. In Christ, Beja |
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24 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243769 | ||
Justme, I completely believe that demons are real and that possessions can happen in our current time. However, of all my sermons I have never preached a sermon on the topics of demons. The reason is simple. I believe a preacher ought to strive to preach the point of the text he is preaching. Whatever is the texts main point ought to be my main point. So since I have not yet come across a passage that has as its point to teach about demons, it has never been the thesis of my sermon. Now does scripture contain passages where demons are on display? Yes. But consider it. Even in the gospels the point of the passages containing demons is not to teach us something about them, but usually seek to show Christ as sovereign over all, even them. In other words, even there Christ is the point rather than them. So I think it is well that we don't see many sermons on them. In Christ, Beja |
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25 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243777 | ||
Justme, Its an interesting question you put forth. I personally have never had to face it. As I imagine it though, I certainly hope they'd choose to come to me. In which case I can only say my response would be a mixture of prayer, evangelism, and trying to command the demon in the name of Jesus. Emphasis being on prayer. But let me twist this towards a question of my own. I don't think it will settle the issue, but might illustrate my own concern. So the question is this, if I were to prepare people for this instance, if I were to tell them "here is what to do in that moment", what passage specifically ought I teach them? What I am getting at is the question of whether scripture ever actually gives us this detail plan for dealing with possessions. And per chance if we were to conclude that it doesn't, what am I suppose to give them in light of scripture's silence? Should I make it up? Should buy some other book rather than scripture? So the question boils down to this in my mind, whatever the Bible means to teach us, that I ought to teach. If scripture means to train us for handling possessions, then I ought to teach my people precisely what it teaches us. If it does not, then I have no obligation there in my teaching ministry. By the way, we do need to answer that question, perhaps the bible does in fact teach us how to handle it. In Christ, Beja |
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26 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243778 | ||
Justme, Btw, I'm not as certain as you that possession of a believer is categorically impossible. I wonder what passage persuades you of it. In Christ, Beja |
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27 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243786 | ||
EdB, You said, "Is it a name only or does it require a person to close all entrances to their being except that which is opened only by Christ?" I admit I can't discern what you mean by this. Can you clarify? In Christ, Beja |
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28 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243791 | ||
EdB, I'm still not understanding. Though I will grant the fault is likely in me rather than your explanation. Maybe it would help if you pointed me to which passage of scripture teaches this, and then I can process it at my leisure. In Christ, Beja |
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29 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243793 | ||
EdB, But those say nothing about demons or opening ourselves up to demons. Beja |
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30 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243797 | ||
EdB, Response to post 243796. I shall go even a little further and I will respond with what I THINK you said in post 243788 which has me confused and then tell you what I think I hear in the verses you shared. This way you can best identify where I am going wrong. To ease my copy and paste efforts I'm backing up and making this a reply to post 788. So you said, "To clarify I believe there actions both Christians and non Christian can do that give Satan access into their lives. I am not talk about sinning as such but rather things that open our spirit being to attack." So not sin in general, but specific sins are central to "opening" ourselves to demonic attack. Then you identified these sins as messing with the occult, mediums, tarot card readings, ouija boards, drugs, and alcohol. 1.) So the first thing I'm looking to be explained/substantiated in the verses is that the bible teaches that these specific things, and not sin in general are the avenues through which spirits are allowed to attack us. Moving on, you also said, "what defines a Christian the name or a behavior within them or the fact they have closed all e trances into their being except those that Christ Himself opens." Which ofcourse you defined as participation in the aforementioned specific sins. Then you fleshed this idea out by saying, "I believe to truly be a Christians we must be active in protecting the portals of our mind giving access to only to the things of God." 2.) So the next thing I'm looking for in the verses you supplied, is what is the relationship of obstaining from these to being Christian. Are you saying that obstaining makes you a Christian? That God will see to it that a saved person will therefore not do these things? What? So I come to the verses for answers to these two questions. Here is my take away on the verses. 2 Cor 11:4 You are indulging preachers of a false gospel/Jesus when you shouldn't be. Lev 19:31 Do not consult mediums or necromancers and if you do you will become unclean. Lev 20:6 Messing with these things causes you to be an enemy of God and seperated from God's people. So though these verses mention a couple of the sins you spoke of, nowhere do these verses explain anything about your specific assertions. They dont' seem to me to be saying that these specific sins are the very precise avenues by which we open ourselves to demonic attack. More, they say nothing at all about drugs and alcohol. Nor do they explain to me precisely how these things relate to being a Christian so that I know what you mean when you say obstaining from these is what "defines a Christian." I hope this clarifies my confusion. In Christ, Beja |
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31 | Do demons exist today? | Bible general | Beja | 243801 | ||
EdB, Thanks, Beja |
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32 | revelation, inspiration, illumination | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 207251 | ||
The difficulty you are going to run into is that people are going to consistently use these words to say different things. What is important is getting straight the ideas they represent. There is one thing in which God makes "new revelation." This is ofcourse often called revelation or with regards to the writers of scripture this was often called inspiration. On the other hand there is the process where God opens our heart to actually understand what has already been revealed in his word. This is often called illumination. However, what you need to understand is that people don't always use the same words for the same things. Some people refer to this process where God helps us understand existing revelation as revelation itself. Ultimately you have to try to understand what a particular person is saying by it. The sad fact is that two people can say the same thing and mean totally different things by it. Keep the concepts straight in your head, and then try to understand how a given person or source is using these words. | ||||||
33 | many are called but only few are chosen | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213515 | ||
I'm curious as to your understanding of the call to ministry and would like to clarify it with a question. Does it seem to you that depending on how faithful and repentent and responsive to God's grace a man is, that he can then be chosen by God for ministry at a certain point when before he wasn't? | ||||||
34 | many are called but only few are chosen | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213546 | ||
Doc, Well laid out, sir. I agree. In love, Beja |
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35 | continued pursuit, or saving faith | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213709 | ||
must believe that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. Do you think that this refers to something after salvation in the sense that after we are saved we must continue to believe that he is worth further pursuit. A believe without which we will never seek Him thus living in a way that pleases Him. Or do you think this is drawing out the fact that for salvation you must not only have faith that He exists but you must also have faith that He will carry out His promised reward of "salvation." Both are true I believe, the question is which do you think the author of Hebrews is trying to convey. In Love, Beja |
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36 | Study Bible | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213711 | ||
If I could be permited a bit of rambling due to the fact I find this conversation interesting. I spent a very great amount of time in my own Christian life avoiding commentaries. I did this for two reasons. First because I found that those around me used them too quickly and it left their minds dull. They did not first give their minds to the study of scripture and knowing it then latter consult commentaries to check if their thoughts were affirmed by other Christian witness, rather they just grabbed the nearest answer. I found this to be terrible. The second reason is because you can find a commentary that says anything and everything. How was I to know whether I was being taught heresy or truth? Commentaries are not inerrent rather the scriptures are. So it was not for any high opinion of my own understanding but from a fear at my inability to truely recognize foolishness that I shunned them. I believe I was very right to do so because I think my path would have surely led to poor thinking and falsehood if I had grabbed for the commentators who would have been handed to me at that time. So I am glad I avoided them. On the other hand, now that I know well enough what is in scripture that I can readily recognize truth and falsehood when I hear it, I find that I can actually identify those great souls of the past who have much to teach me! Now, I find past saints to be a source of knowledge and spiritual guidance I never could have from them before in my inability to trust them. But even to this day my firm commitment is to never take in more writtings of men than I take in scripture. For a vivid and constantly refreshed knowledge of scripture is what makes these commentators safe. It is by this that we can mine their amazing worth without taking in any false teaching. I will always observe this caution, but no more will I avoid such rich treasures. Anyways, take this for what little it is worth to you, I'm mostly typing because I enjoy the conversation. In Love, Beja |
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37 | continued pursuit, or saving faith | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213712 | ||
Mmmmm, the best I can tell from your post you are saying it means just the second of the two options I presented, the one about it referring to salvation. However, I'm not really sure that's what you said. I'm afraid I couldn't follow it very well, so correct me if I'm misunderstanding you. As far as the greek word that word is what we call "deponent." Meaning that it is a word that does not have a present tense form and as a result the fact that it seems to be in the middle tense does not merit a middle tense interpretation but rather an active sense. So it should be treated as an active verb. So it is not interpreted as something that is caused, at least not by any grammatical reason. And I don't think that it is accusative due to it being acted upon, it is accusative because it is a subject of the infinitival imperative (must believe.) The kind Mr. Tim that frequents this forum can correct me if I'm mistaken as he seems to have a better handle on greek than I do. Finally, let me suggest that it is both of these two things that I put forward in my original question. I think it does apply to salvation and I think it does apply to continual instinces of pleasing God. The same faith that we are saved by is the same faith we are to continue to please God by living by. I did not intend this to be a trick question that I knew the answer to but since I posted it I found a sermon by spurgeon that suggested this answer that I was already begginning to expect. He drew both truths out of this verse. But, perhaps I'm wrong. I do thank you for your input. In Love, Beja |
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38 | continued pursuit, or saving faith | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213725 | ||
After reading over my last post to you, I can see I was pretty horridly unclear, I usually am when trying to explain greek. I understand greek in my head but I do a poor job of explaining it, I'll try once more, not for any reason of trying to be right, or trying to win an arguement, but simply because reading over my last post it was painfully unclear. First, the list you posted is true: Verb: Participle Tense: Present Voice: Middle or passive deponent Case: Accusative Gender: Masculine Person: ---- Number: Singular That's all true. My point's were two. First: Middle/passive deponent This by definition means a word that has a middle/passive form, but an active function. Second: An accusative, while often does have the sense of being acted on, is often used as the subject of an infinitive phrase; and in such instances it looses that "acted upon" sense and instead is treated simply as a subject. Now, I may be completely missing your original arguement, but your arguement seemed to go something like this to me, if I'm wrong I'm sorry: Your arguement was based on the participle "He who comes" being middle and accusative and the particular emphasis of idea that gives it. What I am trying to say, is that it being deponent, and being used as the subject of the infinitive, does NOT change that it is middle and accusative, but it DOES change the function of those. Meaning they do not carry the typical emphasis' that they normally do. Now, I don't know if you know greek or not. I'm not sure if you are just using a greek tool, or you've actually had some classes in greek, but the above statements are true. If you do know greek I point you to "Greek Grammer beyond the basics" by wallace, I can look up page numbers for you tommorrow if you want me to. If you don't know greek I know of no way to prove these things to you and we'll just have to disagree. But I hope in the least that this clarifies what I was trying to say, and I"m not trying to argue against these being in the middle/passive deponent voice and in the accusative case. In Love, Beja |
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39 | continued pursuit, or saving faith | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 213748 | ||
CDBJ Your statement: "I don’t see faith as something that grows or the necessity for it." 1thessalonians 1:3 "We ought always to give thanks to God for you, brethren, as is only fitting, because your faith is greatly enlarged.." 2 Corinthians 10:15 "not boasting beyond our measure, that is, in other men's labors, but with the hope that as your faith grows, we will be..." In Love, Beja |
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40 | Why is the Christian Church so divided? | Bible general Archive 4 | Beja | 217266 | ||
Good thoughts Doc, sadly I find that the churches in my particular area of my particular denomination are every bit as hostile towards other denominations as could possibly be feared. It would seem that the pastors whom I am following in the foot steps of saw fit to do everything they could to demonize anybody and everybody who didn't agree to our particular fine points of doctrine. Many of the churches I am working among would see all other denominations as nothing more than cults! And ofcourse that leaves me defending "cults" in their mind. You can even catch flak for reading books written by those outside our denomination (which I do abundantly.) Pray for me! Anyways, sadly my point is that in some areas the churches are just as hostile towards each other as a person might dare to suggest, despite the overwhelming common ground we share. In Christ, Beja |
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