Results 221 - 240 of 253
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Results from: Answers On or After: Thu 12/31/70 Author: Beja Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
221 | may i serve as a deacon if my wife don't | 1 Tim 3:11 | Beja | 224126 | ||
Jim, First, it is a very good thing that you take scripture so very seriously as to ask this question. God bless you for that. However, this is something that your particular church needs to study and discuss. Allow me to give you some questions that will matter as you study this passage. 1. Is verse 11 speaking of the wives of deacons, or female deacons? The word in greek can equally be translated woman or wife. 2. If you believe it refers to the wives of deacons tehn you must expect the wife of a deacon to be "faithful in all things." Your church must decide if your wife meets this standard. 3. When it says in verse 12, "Deacons must be husbands of only one wife, and good managers of their children and their own households." What does that include? Does it mean that a deacon must successfully have his family attending church? Does it mean that as a husband he it to "put his foot down" so to speak and explain to his family that attendance at church is not under discussion? I think verse 4 and 5 might help give some light on why household management is so very important. These however, are the questions that your church needs to be deciding as they study this passage. Then you are to be measured by their best attempt to understand these scriptures. As an aside, there may be some that dislikes my saying that they are to be measured by their best attempts to understand these scriptures, as if it was in contrast to the scriptures themselves. My response would be that we are always using our best attempt at understanding these scripture and there are some honest questions as to what all would be implied by these statements. In Christ, Beja |
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222 | 'women' or 'their wives', how did NASB | 1 Tim 3:11 | Beja | 232020 | ||
HatchB, The reason is that the same word in greek is translated both woman and wife, or women and wives. Only context determines whether it is talking about a married woman or simply a woman in general. In that particular passage the debate is over if it is referring to female deacons, or the wives of deacons. If I was to venture to guess the thoughts behind the NASB translation, I think their intentions were likely not to make the exegetical decision that this refers to women deacon, but rather to let the word "Women" show the ambiguity there in the greek. That is purely my speculation however. In Christ, Beja |
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223 | dead beat dads | 1 Tim 5:8 | Beja | 227398 | ||
1 Timothy 5:8 | ||||||
224 | Resurrection Day or easter ? | 2 Tim 2:4 | Beja | 221692 | ||
Justme, Well, this is the type of question that their could be as many answers to as there are people, but I'll answer since it might interest you to hear from a pastor's perspective on it. Quite honestly there are many errors in our churches, some of them quite serious. Even a church who is officially doctrinally sound, deals with individuals who haven't grasped the half of it. Many of these things even regard issues of salvation. As I look at all I need to teach and to clarify as a pastor how does that compare to the issue you bring up? Easter to most Christians of any maturity whatsoever has nothing to do with any goddess of fertility, nor any pagan religion but rather is in fact celibrating the ressurection and we also happen to hunt easter eggs as well. With all the things I am preaching on, why would I start a huge squabble in the church over what we call the holiday, when they are all thinking of the right thing anyways? It is impacting no doctrine, it is worshiping no false deity, and it would not be to their edification to fight concerning what we call it. 2 Timothy 2:4 comes to my mind as I think about it. Hope this helps. In Christ, Beja |
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225 | Advice and encouragement | 2 Tim 2:15 | Beja | 229482 | ||
Julco, Others have given you great advice, so I would simply like to give you a passage that might be encouraging to think about. Verse six especially. Php 1:3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, Php 1:4 always offering prayer with joy in my every prayer for you all, Php 1:5 in view of your participation in the gospel from the first day until now. Php 1:6 For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. In Christ, Beja |
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226 | Timothy of age 50 treated as a child | 2 Tim 2:22 | Beja | 241339 | ||
00123, Normally I would not answer a question unless I felt I had something worth contributing to its answer. But since your question has remained there for some time, I will instead point out the problems with the question. You assume 3 different things in the question which you have a burden of proving. 1. 2 Timothy was written in year 67 2. Timothy was born in year 17 3. Paul treats Timothy as an adolescent. You are asserting far more than most of your readers are likely willing to grant. It is hard to answer a question where you disagree with its presuppositions. I do not intend for this to come across as any kind of rebuke. I only mean to explain to you why I think no answer is forthcoming. In Christ, Beja |
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227 | Speculation? | 2 Tim 2:23 | Beja | 206767 | ||
1 Cor 4:6 says that you may learn not to exceed what is written. I feel like this verse is a little clearer on what this "foolish speculation" is. I understand it to be anything beyond what scripture reveals to us. This would include taking a topic further than scripture reveals to us. This is a problem for two main reasons that I can think of. 1. Leads to conflict within the church, because we don't have an answer and therefore we are extending ourselves onto guess work which people are going to disagree and argue about. 2. While many of us may enjoy trying to figure out such things, it is ultimately unprofitable for righteousness and knowing God, which is what our concern should be. Scripture has given us everything that we need for life and righteousness. Now, given all of this, I don't think it is always wrong for a couple of christians to discuss some brain twister. But two things should be kept in mind. It is for fun, and shouldn't be returned to the shelf in full awareness of its usefulness even IF we were to figure it out, and secondly that we should never bring it up in front of questions that don't have the level of maturity to handle it at such. I think anything beyond this is going into what Paul has warned us about. |
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228 | Film clips during service- appropriate?? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Beja | 230082 | ||
K. Long, I would not say that playing a video clip is never appropriate. For one example of when it would be wonderful is a missionary sending back some footage of what God is doing as a way of blessing the sending church. With regards to clips facilitating the sermon we must stop and really consider some principles. First, nothing is sinful inherently in a video (though the content might be.) But scripture teaches that it is the word of God that will both convert sinners and grow the saints. Consider Abraham's response to the rich man. Luk 16:27 "And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house-- Luk 16:28 for I have five brothers--in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' Luk 16:29 "But Abraham *said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' Luk 16:30 "But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!' Luk 16:31 "But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'" So one concept that we must get through our skull is that what the church needs is not more clever teaching tools. Either the word of God is going to be sufficient or nothing is. Now within this principle that still leaves rooms for videos of other teachers explaining the word of God through video. A second problem with your particular case seems to be what is actually being studied. The way the human brain handles beliefs on the level of biology is, as you said, not the object of our study. But what is far worse is that scripture has already taught us a great deal about this very thing from a spritual level, a heart level. Scripture teaches us that sinful man would never repent and trust upon Christ without the operation of the Holy Sirit. 1Co 2:14 But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised. Joh 6:65 And He was saying, "For this reason I have said to you, that no one can come to Me unless it has been granted him from the Father." Your pastor ought to be teaching you a biblical perspective on these things, not science theories. Now, that being said your pastor may be doing a fine job. I don't know the context of this occurance and he might have been showing something for a decent reason. So to sum up, we must consider the place of video clips given that it is the word of God that produces faith (Romans 10:17), and that the word of God must be the object of our study. In Christ, Beja |
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229 | is the bible really came from GOD? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Beja | 241199 | ||
Patipati, This is meant to go together with the answer Ed gave you. Your answer ultimately lies in what previous people have called the "self attesting" nature of scripture. What they mean by that is that Scripture's divine authorship just sort of shines through it. As we read it, we become persuaded that it is indeed from God and not man. One good scripture depicting this is Jeremiah 23:25-29. Here God declares his own word to be self evidently different from the "dreams" of the prophets. Now we still rely upon God to give us the eyes to see the divine nature of scripture. Many read scripture and are left blind to its self evidence of being divinely inspired. So we completely depend upon God to graciously grant it, but at the same time, once it has been granted we declare the evidence to be the scripture itself, not something else. I hope this was helpful. In Christ, Beja |
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230 | Titus 1:8 the word "holy"? | Titus 1:8 | Beja | 243696 | ||
Justme, Hey. Good question. This isn't the normal greek word for holy. And it isn't the normal word Paul uses for holiness. So given that all words have a certain range of meaning, it can validly be translated into a few different english words. So I strongly suspect their motive in not using "holy," was to make it evident in english that this was a different word. Also, I have a set that compares greek words that convey similiar ideas side by side so that one can see what the distinct emphasis is in each word. If you are interested let me know and I'll see what the difference is between this word and the normal word for holiness, which is "hagios." Sorry, I don't know how to swap to greek font in this. Blessings, In Christ, Beja |
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231 | sharps rule of the article inTitus 2:13 | Titus 2:13 | Beja | 244010 | ||
ipl, Fine catch. The rule most certainly does apply to Titus 2:13. The only reason somebody might argue otherwise is that the rule doesn't apply to proper names, and they try to suggest that Theos is a proper name. However, William Wallace explains on page 272 in Greek Grammar beyond the basics why Theos, for the purpose of Granville-sharpe rule does not count as a proper name. Preach it with boldness sir! Among the most clearly stateted affirmations that Christ is God in scripture! In Christ, Beja |
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232 | Why can they recieve repentance? | Heb 6:4 | Beja | 222172 | ||
marcia, The bad news is this is a very debated passage. The good news is that it has been very much debated on these forums. Do a search and you will probably find almost every opinion possible expressed. In Christ, Beja |
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233 | Is Salvation lump sum? | Heb 7:25 | Beja | 219946 | ||
Dodoy, Absolutely. So many think of salvation as a momentary transaction. But you have clearly come across the fact that scripture does not see it so. We have been saved. Scripture teaches that at the cross of Christ the atonement was made for all the elect of all time. Salvation was accomplished. Beyond this when we through faith received Christ we are justified. I say this to mean that at that time our sin is forgiven and the righteousness of Christ has been imputed to us. We have been saved. We are being saved. Even now though we are being saved through God's constantly holding us to Him through faith. We are continually being sanctified and made more like Christ. 2 Peter 1:4 says that we not are only saved from final judgement but from the corruption of this world. This is a process going on now. Philippians 2:12,13 says even now we are to be working out our salvation because God is working in us both to will and to do this. We are being saved now. We will be saved. Our salvation will be fully realized on that day we stand before the judgement seat of Christ, and while all those who do not know Christ will be judged and found guilty, we will be pronounced as innocent as the Lamb who bore our sins. We will be saved. Praise God for what He has done in Christ. In Christ, Beja |
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234 | Open Door,Rev.4:1-11 | Heb 10:19 | Beja | 224276 | ||
swill6ky, Jesus Christ. We are to reconcile this by understanding the remarkable price that was paid for such access. I wish I had time to preach a whole sermon to answer your question. Especially read Ephesians 2 as it answers your question in detail. Ephesians 2; Hebrews 10:19 In Christ, Beja |
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235 | Watching tv or radio ministers church? | Heb 10:25 | Beja | 221550 | ||
Quizzy, Heb 10:25 is pretty clear. Also, consider the meaning of the word "church." It is actually the greek word that means assembly. For christian to just choose not to be involved in a church because they don't want to is sinful. Also it is a major red flag that they may not be saved. According to first john love of the brethren is a major sign of salvation or lack of salvation. However, you are speaking of one legitimate exception. If a person is physically so old or sick or injured that they are literally incapable, and they literally have no choice, then they are what we call "shut-ins." That's just the term my denomination has for them. These are people who should not be rebuked for not being there, but rather they call for extra care and attention. The church they are a member of should be doing something in whatever way to make them feel included in the life of the body of Christ. In Christ, Beja |
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236 | What exactly does this passage mean? | Heb 10:26 | Beja | 239300 | ||
Dr. Phill, I would express both some agreement and some disagreement with the answer you received from, Ed. In agreement I would say that for anybody to go on unrepentantly sinning in a willful fashion would be to place themselves in damnation. In disagreement both I and historical reformed theology would suggest that their behavior and ultimate fate demonstrates that they were never a "truly saved" individual. I think the author of Hebrews would agree with me on this assertion and I would direct you to Hebrews chapter 3 to demonstrate this. Hebrews 3:13,14 But encourage one another day after day, as long a it is still called "today," so that none of you will be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end. Let me point out a number of parallels with the passage you asked about. 1. Both have an exhortation that we push each other to not sin and both are grounded in ultimate consequences. In the passage I quoted it presses us to encourage one another so that we are not hardened by sin and then it gives a FOR clause. In the clause there is a fatal consequence of us not being united to Christ. I will talk more of that one later but for now, the parallel. In Hebrews 10 we see a command to stimulate each other to love and good deeds in the midst of assembling together and then the FOR clause. After this it expresses the contrast as to go on sinning willfully. In this chapter again there is a ultimate fatal consequence of not being covered by the sacrifice of Christ. 2. Another parallel: In both passages they are encouraging us to not only not sin, but also to hold fast to our confession concerning Christ. In chapter 10 this is in verse 23. In chapter three you will see this in both verse 12 and in the FOR clause of verse 14 itself. So I see a very strong parallel between the flow of thought in these two passages. Now lets look closely at Hebrews 3:14. It states that we "Have become participants in Christ" IF... This is very important that we see how this is structured. We have PAST TENSE, (its actually a perfect tense) become partakers of Christ IF we hold fast the beginning of our assurance until the end. So he says that a past event really occurred if a future even is true. Namely we have past tense actually become united to Christ, if we go on holding fast to Christ in the future. So I argue, that in the mind of the author of Hebrews anybody who abandons Christ is demonstrating that they were never partakers of Christ to begin with. I think he has a consistent reasoning in chapter ten. Yes, to go on willfully sinning and rejecting his plea to hold fast to our confession of Christ(notice these two things are contrasts of each other), to do this would be to eternally jepordize our souls, but more than that, it is to show that we were never truly united to Christ in the first place. There are other places we could go to show this is the consistent testimony of scripture but I am more concerned to show you that the author of Hebrews himself is thinking this way. We must indeed hold fast to Christ and fight against sin in order to be saved, but all who truly belong to Christ will actually do so because God himself is working in them to bring it about. Philippians 2:12,13 ...work out your salvation in with fear and trembling; for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure. This is the paradox of life as a Christian. We labor with all our might to take hold of holiness but it is only because of God that we first desire to, second strive to, and finally succeed in doing so. It is all of God, and because it is all of God, it is certain. In Christ, Beja |
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237 | Divorce and drug abuse | 1 Peter | Beja | 240301 | ||
RitaAnn, Let me first say that I can not begin to imagine the difficulty of your situation and I have prayed for you. Second, I would say that you need to be faithfully committed to a sound local church where the elders may give you wise counsel from the scripture on the basis of both the word of God and knowing your situation more specifically that they may counsel you more accurately from the word of God. An internet forum with strangers, however much sympathy they might feel, is a poor substitute for these things. Third, I highly commend to you the book of 1 Peter as it gives a lot of thought to how a Christian is to react to a rightful authority wrongfully abusing its power. May God bless you. In Christ, Beja |
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238 | Did we have a choice about coming to God | 1 Pet 1:2 | Beja | 224726 | ||
ezoom, 1. First, lets think more in terms of belief rather than choice. Scripture says those who believe will be saved. This helps a person grasp the concept when they make this shift. You don't choose to accept or reject Christ so much as you either respond in belief/trust or respond with unbelief. To believe Christ is who He said He is and to trust on the finished work of Christ as opposed to our own righteousness in order to stand in the coming judgement is what it means to receive Christ. This is important because suddenly it makes the concept easier to grasp. I often have no "choice" in what I believe. I had somebody tell me something last night, which no matter how much I wanted to, I could not bring myself to believe I was being told the truth. On the other hand somebody could present a man with such evidence of something that no matter how much he wanted to pretend he didn't believe it, deep down he truely did. We are not ultimately masters of what we believe to be true or not true. 2.) God is the one who caused us to believe. We see in 2 Corinthians 4:1-6, that it is God who opens our eyes to the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Our response is to simply believe what He has shown us to be true! Here again we see God being the cause of us believing. Joh 6:29 Jesus answered and said to them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He has sent." So God opens our eyes in such a way that we see sin for what it is, we see Jesus for who He is. After that whatever element of "choice" is involved is pretty automatic. In other words, once you see the real truth of it all it isn't much of a choice. To see Christ truely is to love and long for Christ. To see sin truely is to hate and be repulsed by it. So to answer your question: We had no choice in whether God opens our eyes to the truth of it all. After that our will freely and unavoidably embraces the gospel for life. So yes, you had free will, and yes it was unavoidable at the same time. This is because God changed what you desired by opening your eyes to the truth, then let you choose. I suppose I need not even say that there are many different views on this. I believe this one is faithful to scripture. In Christ, Beja |
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239 | Should I leave, or stay? | 1 Pet 2:1 | Beja | 224109 | ||
Princess in training, Have you actually spoken with your pastor about this? I can't help but wonder if what you mean was that your pastor was preaching a sermon, and just those specific words jumped out at you while your poor pastor was not even talking about marriage. If that is not the case than forgive me, but if that is the case then please do not take his words as advice to your situation but rather speak to him about it. Second, whenever we speak about what God wills, we might speak of it in two senses. First, we can speak of God's secret will. When we speak of this we speak of his big plan of events which He in his providence will unavoidably will to happen and bring about. God does not reveal this will to us other than in special instances of which we have examples in scripture. The second way we speak of His will is his permissive will. This is what God has told us that he wants us to do. These are His commands, His prohibitions, and instructions. Now, the reason I tell you all this. If you are asking if God's hidden will is that in time you will be seperated from your husband then we can not know. It is hidden after all. So all we can choose to act on is God's permissive will. What has He in fact told us that we ought to do. And with regards to marriage He has given us clear instructions. "But to the married I give instructions, not I, but the Lord, that the wife should not leave her husband" 1 Cor 7:10 So while we can not speak as to what God will bring about in the fullness of time, we can clearly say that God instructs wives to not leave their husbands. One terrible thing is when we use our speculations on God's hidden will to give us excuse to disobey his permissive will. That is nothing short of our wicked hearts rationalizing our rebellion. Now, on the flip side I've left you so far with no comfort and edification. I would encourage you to study very very closely 1 Peter chapter 2, verses 18 through end of chapter, as well as the first several verses in chapter 3. If I had to pick one passage to offer to wives suffering due to lousy husbands this passage would be it. As you study it notice a few things. 1. God calls us to submit to proper authorities even when those authorities are lousy. 2. God both notices, approves of, and takes great joy to see one of His children who so loves God that they are willing to suffer here and now for the sake of obedience to Him. 3. In the first few verses of chapter three we see that your quiet and respectful submission is a God approved means of causing the gospel to be powerful in the conversion of your husband. 4. In willing and submissivly suffering in this way, resulting in the conversion of your husband, you are following in the steps of our Lord Jesus himself who also willing and submissively suffered unjustly at the hands of the wicked for the sake of bringing eternal salvation to wicked men. May God strengthen and lift you up with such an eternal perspective and a love for Jesus Christ that you are willing to suffer now for the sake of eternal things. Do speak to your pastor. In Christ, Beja |
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240 | ... | 1 Pet 5:8 | Beja | 231856 | ||
LockNorth, With regards to the beginning of your post, it would help tremendously if you provided verses. For example, neither satan nor Jesus is an actual lion. At times, they are portrayed as such as a metephor for the purpose of showing something about them in -that particular context-. So without the context, we can't tell you what that passage is trying to say. With regards to why preachers would portray Satan as actively seeking to tempt the saints: I would just point you to biblical authority. 1Pe 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. I would ask you why the preachers you are listening to preach contrary to this? Christ has already sealed Satan's defeat, but Satan is not yet ultimately done away with. Revelation 20 depicts his final defeat. As an Amillenialist I do believe that Satan is currently greatly restrained in his deceiving of the nations, though he is still hard at work. In Christ, Beja |
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