Results 261 - 280 of 325
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Results from: Notes Author: MJH Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
261 | Is tattoos acceptabe as christians | 1 Cor 6:19 | MJH | 215342 | ||
Azure Thanks for that post. I did not think of it this way. I normally wouldn't agree to the tattoo thing, but I can certainly see a purpose beyond what I had previously considered. I'm still not convinced for myself, but I could not argue with someone in this situation doing it. MJH |
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262 | What does judgement look like | 2 Cor 5:10 | MJH | 214032 | ||
Do I dare to interject? Hmmmm it is tempting. MJH |
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263 | What does judgement look like | 2 Cor 5:10 | MJH | 214056 | ||
John, To be honest with you, if I were to throw my two cents in at this point it would only serve to make matters worse. We are discussing with a new member who is very strong in some views that are outside the main. This, of course, I kind of like personally. It gives a chance to force someone to defend such understandings. If I jump in right now, you and I both know that it would make this discussion get a bit out of hand. I don't hold to the "main" on how to interpret the Law and what is applicable to Christians today and bringing this up right now may not be helpful. You'll notice I have stepped back from most of those discussions for awhile, because based on my past posts, one might think that the Law is the only thing I can discuss. Plus, I'm here to learn as much as share and beating one drum isn’t being helpful I don't think. MJH PS- Between you and me and those looking in. Bill0624 needs to be pressed on why he thinks the Messiah would or could disagree with or overturn Moses and still be the Messiah. After all, the most often repeated phrase in the entire Bible is, “and God told Moses to say….” |
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264 | What does judgement look like | 2 Cor 5:10 | MJH | 214096 | ||
Bill, I'm not sure if you are here still or not, but there are good reasons why I'd rather have a private discussion should you desire. I'm not even sure if this thread is active anymore, but in either case, I still offer an email discussion. If that is at all of interest, then let me know and one of us can share an email address. I think for the forum, this discussion is pretty well worn out. As I said earlier, trying to debate so many people at one time gets too confusing. MJH |
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265 | Is tithing a command for chriatians? | 2 Cor 9:7 | MJH | 214816 | ||
keliy, Tithing aside, your post here concerning dispensations got my juices flowing and it's hard not to get overly passionate. Sorry. Also, sorry if this is post is not in line with the forum rules; it's a bit of a question I agree, so delete "me" if you must, I'd understand. That being said, I must disagree in the strongest of terms. I believe that your post is an example of interpreting the Scriptures based on your theology rather than deriving your theology from Scripture. (I appreciate you, keliy, so don't take that in the wrong spirit.) You said, "between the Cross of Christ and the Crown of Christ, which is referred to as the dispensation of Grace." Under that thinking then what pray tell was the "old testament" assembly under? A dispensation of gracelessness? law? covenant? onerous stipulations not possible to follow? sadness and depression? Ps. 119 didn't seem to be too unhappy with the Law. Ps. 84 didn't find Tabernacle/Temple worship something to distain. The Old Testament and the Covenants are grace upon grace. Where is there anything but Grace? From Gen 12, and the promises (quoted by Paul as the Good News) to Mt. Sinai. It's all grace! From Joshua's conquests to the exile, it's all grace. The faithfulness of God to His promises is grace. The coming of Messiah who is the Word made flesh, is all grace. Without grace, we are nothing and have nothing. We are a doomed people more pitied than any. With Grace we shine like stars. It's not a dispensation accounted to those after the cross; it's the whole blooding story. You said, "the Church is not mentioned in the Old Testament." Gen 28:3, promises that “you will be the church” (qahal; kaw-hawl strongs 6951). Deut 5:22; God's speaks to the [church] from the mountain. The "church" was formed as a distinct body at Mt. Sinai. You can check the Greek word for church (ekklesia; ek-klay-see'-ah Strongs 1577) and see that it is the word used to translate Assembly/congregation in the Hebrew Scriptures. Pentecost was the festival remembering what God did at Mt. Sinai, when his voice was seen as sparks or lightening. They saw God's voice go out from the Mount. At Pentecost in Acts 2, we see the "wind" of God (a.k.a. Holy Spirit) and the tongues of fire rest upon the Apostles while they are at the Temple for the festival of Pentecost. The same thing happens to them that happened at Mt. Sinai. Also, 3000 are baptized into their number (3000 were killed after the Golden Calf). The "church" has a start, or maybe a new start. What has changed is that the Holy Spirit came in power and the Law was written upon the heart (Jer. 31; New Covenant). And soon the door swings open for the Gentiles, who before had no hope and were far off...now are now brought near. They are "grafted" into the olive branch that is Israel, or that is the Assembly of God formed at Mt. Sinai. One church, One people. (An aside: tradition, not Scripture itself, has said that God’s voice went out at Mt. Sinai in the languages of all 70 nations….the 70 nations seen in Gen 11; they all heard God in their own tongue all over the Earth give the Decalogue. This may be only a tradition, but it’s interesting that the same things does actually happen and get recorded as happening on the same day that the first event was recorded; on Pentecost.) There is no "dispensation." There is only an opening of the eye and heart that embraces the Gentile into the community and witnesses the mystery of God, that being "How can a Holy God dwell with an unholy man?" The incarnation is the mystery (Among other mysteries hidden in the heart of God.) You said, “That the Gentiles were to be "saved" was no Mystery. (Rom 9:24-30). The "Mystery" was God's purpose to unite Jews and Gentiles into The Church, towards the formation of His Body, The Church. (1 Cor. 12:12-13).” And here you are spot on correct! Thanks for the chance to rant a bit. MJH |
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266 | Porn in spouse overcome thru fasting? | Galatians | MJH | 212619 | ||
Bandaid, My heart really goes out to you! I am so sorry for your suffering on account of this. Your husband’s struggle is very common among us men and seeing the pain it causes just one wife is motivation for many others to stay pure. I can't offer more than the others Biblically; they have done so well, so I thought I'd tell you what we have done practically. I have bsafeonline (b-safe online) installed on my home and office computer. At the office I do not know the password so when I am alone I have no access. At home the temptation is far less with children around, and our computer is in the family room. I like this software because all others I tried I could “get around” easily, but with all my computer knowledge I have not been able to break this one or get around it. Your husband may not be willing at other places, but for the safety of your children and yourself, you can put something like this (and I recommend this one) on your home computers and retain the password for only yourself. Also, if your husband will not go to marriage counseling, then I'd suggest going alone, but find a really good one. Get references from couples who had success. There are good and not so good counselors just like any other thing. I truly hope you find respite from this suffering. God bless, MJH |
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267 | Justified by faith or His faithfullness? | Gal 2:16 | MJH | 174687 | ||
Mark, Yes that does help quite a bit. I have zero knowledge of Greek and only a little of Hebrew. Thanks so much for the reply. MJH |
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268 | Translation of the Greek word "aion" | Eph 3:9 | MJH | 214817 | ||
Searcher56, You said, "when there is a new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1), there will be no more time since there is no need of the sun or of the moon to shine" From a purely philosophical perspective, it is not possible to have matter (flesh and blood, soil and water, etc.) without the existence of time. If you have any "matter" you must also have "time." Logically it's impossible for matter to exist without time. It's also true that you can not have time apart from matter, but that is much more difficult to grasp and this isn't the place for that kind of discussion I'm guessing. MJH |
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269 | denominations. | Eph 4:3 | MJH | 148830 | ||
But was John the "Immerser" :-), the only one in his day immersing? Was he the first person “baptizing”? MJH |
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270 | Who are: Freeman, God Fearers, Proselyt? | Col 3:11 | MJH | 139236 | ||
Thanks very much for the back ground. This is what I was looking for. This is another example of how historical knowledge can aide in ones understanding in scripture. I appreciate the time and effort to answer the question. MJH |
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271 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153492 | ||
Revelations 20:4-5 is not a "rapture" but rather a "resurrection." Therefore it does not apply to what most view the rapture to be. Also, it still does not answer my question in post #153491 of who will be raptured. MJH |
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272 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153601 | ||
I do not know what MOST people view the rapture to be... a poll might help clear that up. I have always seen the rapture as the dead AND living being taken from Earth while non-believers are left on Earth wondering what just happend to these "Christians." So resurrection was always a part of it, but not equal to a rapture. (How many people were resurrected when Jesus was? Was that a rapture? I assume no... but the rapture would include resurrections.) This is NOT necessarily my belief of the end times, but my understanding of the term in answer to your question. MJH |
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273 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153603 | ||
To be honest, I do not know. I think that God is up in Heaven looking at all of the End Times charts with His hand around His Son's shoulder and saying, "You know, I'm going to send you back down there just as soon as I can figure these things out." It's a little joke to lighten the mood, but to drive home a point that some quite intellegent people seem to come to different conclusions on the matter. I believe it is an important subject, but have not developed my own strong set of beliefs at this point. I can be dogmatic (too much so) on many Biblical and Theological points, but not this one. I would like suggestions of good books. And by "good books", I mean by people who really dug into the textual issue AND the historical context of these writtings. MJH |
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274 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153604 | ||
Thank you for jumping in… I do understand the importance of approaching a scripture both in the immediate context and in the context of the whole of scripture. I also believe that one should attemp as best as one can to understand what the original author meant when he wrote. To do this, an historical understanding is important. Paul was writing to a certain people at a certain time who had a certain religion, and he had a particular message he wanted to communicate to them. If we understand their world we better understand the letter. Also, Paul was a Pharisee, raised as a Jew in the capital of the Jewish religious world, and trained by the eminent Jewish Rabbi of the time (Gamaliel grandson of Hillel). Also, neither Paul nor any of the first Jewish Believers renounced Judaism, but rather remained Jews and practiced their Jewish faith, and remained observant to the Torah (or Law of Moses). So what the first century Jewish thought about the End Times, does make at least some difference in how we understand Paul's writings. Paul differed with Judaism in one way, that being how the LORD relates to Gentiles. (He also differed from non-believing Jews on the Person of the Messiah--obviously.) Also, the whole of scripture only shows one direction when it comes to people being with the Lord, and that is always the LORD coming to dwell with mankind, not the reverse. With the exception of 1 Thess 4:17, I challenge you to find scriptures that show otherwise. (Not individual's, but believers or people groups as a whole.) Since 1 Thess is the only scripture that does not fit the common pattern (unless anyone knows of another), one asks why? And the historical context -- of which the Thessalonians would be very much aware -- explains this: That being that these verses mirror the events of an Emperor entering a city or town. The trumpet would blast, the people would coming out to meet the Emperor, and they would return to the city (not Rome). My contention is that a believer in Thessalonica would have understood these verses to mean: that the Lord would return, that they would either literally, or figuratively meet Him in the air, (the dead rising first) and then return to Earth or their town to worship Him (and not worship the Emperor as would happen in the historical version.) I may very well be wrong, I have been before, but I'd like to be shown to be wrong, since I think I have a pretty good case for my position. MJH |
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275 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153667 | ||
Woops. Did I do that? Contridict myself in the same thread? Wow! I suppose that I always assumed that "most people" viewed the rapture as I did, but I do not actually know what "most people" think in a scientific sense. As for the discussion on Paul and his attitude toward the Jewish faith in our other discussion, I will get back to you when I have more than just a few minutes.... looking forward to more thoughtfull dialogue. MJH |
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276 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153873 | ||
Paul the Torah observant Jew. It’s hard to post on this subject in such a short space, but I shall try. The primary place in scripture to find proof that Paul always saw himself as obedient to the Law of Moses is by reading Acts 21 – 22. (Acts 21:24,26) Here we find Paul just arriving in Jerusalem and James says there are thousands of Jewish believers in Jesus as Messiah who are all zealous for the law [of Moses] and they think Paul is not zealous for the Law and is teaching “JEWS” to ignore the Law [of Moses]. Paul sets out to PROVE to them that he is Torah observant by participating in the Nazarite Vows that some poor members of the community had taken. Paul could have “said” he was observant, but much better he can “show” it by his actions. (see post 152288 and replies for more on this) Paul always held the Torah up in high regard. The argument among the first century Jewish Christians was concerning what the Gentiles had to do. Paul again and again says the Gentiles do not need to convert to Judaism to be saved. There were two types of Gentile believers BEFORE Jesus came. 1) A “God fearer” who believed in the One true God and His word revealed in the Old Testament but who did NOT get circumcised nor follow all of the Mosaic Law. They were expected to follow the Noah Covenant (see post 150100) (which is what Acts 15 mentions as well). 2) A proselytite was a Gentile who became circumcised and became Jewish, following the whole Mosaic Law. The first group came to the temple and had to stay in the “court of the Gentiles” (which was filled with Jews trading and selling so the “God fearers” did not have anyplace to go, thus Jesus and his whip and his “house of prayer for ALL nations” quote.) The second group, the converts, could go into the Jewish sections, they were ritually clean. All this is important to understanding Paul’s view of Gentile Christians. He said they could basically be “God Fearers” who accept Jesus as the Messiah to be saved and be a complete member of the community (not divided by the dividing wall). To Paul there was no longer any difference between Jew and Gentile in the eyes of God in relation to salvation. The book of Ezekiel also predicts the wall of separation would be taken away in the days of the Messiah. Paul did not tell Jews to stop following the Law of Moses (he circumcised Timothy after all). He DID preach against legalism among Jews as did Jesus. Legalism is the idea that salvation is by following commandments (so a person following commandments is not a legalist unless he believes that his ability to do so earns him salvation.) The Old Testament NEVER teaches this idea (even if many 1st century Jewish Rabbis did.) The Old Testament is a grace based religion. God did not change. The Passover is a celebration of this grace based salvation which came before the commandments. So Paul did not require Gentiles to follow the “Law of Moses” to be saved, but he did not tell Jews to stop following the Law of Moses (Acts 21:20-21). Paul followed all of the Law according to both his and Jesus interpretation. He did not follow the law according to the interpretation of some rabbis of his time which was a legalistic or works based faith that was contrary to the Law itself. I really had to cut this short….I had an outline that was simply too long for a forum. I assume that this simple post will not be enough to make my point, but I’ll see what you think of this first. It’s a real joy to discuss…. MJH |
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277 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153874 | ||
A couple things about your post separate from my other reply. Rev. 11:12 refers to the two witnesses going to be with the Lord, not the rapture as we usually think of it. This is not unlike Enoch, Elijah, and Jesus. These cases do show people “going up to be with the Lord.” But this is for a time until Jesus returns. I was just thinking, depending on your view of the way the end times will occur, you might see the rapture as very similar to Enoch, Elijah, and the two witnesses. Next: Paul had “certain people” in mind…. It is true that the Holy Spirit knew that this letter would be read by all generations in all places, but Paul didn’t know this, nor, I am quite certain, did he even contemplate the possibility. However, good interpretation, if I can go back to my college classes for a moment, says that you need to know what a text meant in the “then and there” before you can know what it means in the “hear and now.” Or even better, “The text can never mean what it never meant.” So if 1 Thess 4:17 meant to the original hearers that Jesus would return and stay, then it can’t mean that Jesus would return and then go back to heaven with the righteous to us. Not only that, but it contradicts what Revelations 21:1-3 says and the basic picture of God dwelling with mankind from Gen. 2 – Revelations 22. Galatians 4:9-11 I am going to quote David Stern here because he says it better than I could. “…But when Gentiles observe these Jewish holidays neither out of joy in sharing what God has given the Jewish people nor out of spiritual identification with them, but out of fear induced by Judaizers who have convinced them that unless they do these things, God will not accept them, then they are not obeying the Torah but subjugating themselves to legalism; and legalism is just another species of those weak and miserable elemental demonic spirits, no better than the idols left behind. (An alternative interpretation, however, is that the “days, months, seasons, and years” of this passage …refer…to pagan Gentile feasts, naturally and directly reflecting “those weak and miserable elemental spirits.”)” ---end David Stern quote. One way we can know that Paul was not telling the Galatians (and Jews like himself in particular) to not celebrate the Jewish holidays, is because they kept doing so themselves. Even the Gentiles celebrated Passover as can be seen in Eusebius’s Church History. Book 5 # 23 from Paul Maier’s translation, “At that time (180’s AD), no small controversy erupted because all of the Asian dioceses thought the savior’s paschal (Passover) festival should be observed, according to ancient tradition, on the 14th day of the moon, on which the Jews had been commanded to sacrifice the lamb.” The story goes on to say that two groups, both celebrating the Passover as Gentile Christians, thought the fast should end on a different day. However, they all celebrated the Passover. Also by Eusebius, Book 6 #22, “…Hippolytus…wrote “The Paschal Festival”, a chronology offering a sixteen year cycle of dates for the Passover . . .” Those Historians out there may feel free to dispute my understanding of this, since my only source here is a translation of Eusebius. Also the following texts show Paul celebrating the feasts after he wrote Galatians: Act 18:21 But bade them farewell, saying, I must by all means keep this feast that cometh in Jerusalem: but I will return again unto you, if God will. And he sailed from Ephesus. Act 20:16 For Paul had decided to sail past Ephesus, so that he might not have to spend time in Asia, for he was hastening to be at Jerusalem, if possible, on the day of Pentecost. 1Co 5:8 Let us therefore celebrate the festival . . . Here in 1 Cor 5:8, David Stern says, “I question [the common thought that this is figurative language]. I see no compelling reason in the context to excise the plain sense (p’shat) from the phrase, ‘Let us celebrate the Seder.’ Instead, it seems that the early believers, Gentiles included, observed the Jewish feast Pesach (Passover). As we will see, their service combined traditional Jewish Passover symbolism with the new symbolism relating to Jesus the Messiah’s central role in Jewish and world history. Evidently the Corinthian congregation observed Passover without supposing that, as many of today’s Christians might think, they were “going back under the law.” End quote. MJH |
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278 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 153996 | ||
Thanks for the reply. Phil 3:3-7 is a good verse to use. Paul found no righteousness of his own in following the Law, which was legalism, but he did remain observant to the Law (Torah), but it was the Messiah who brought him salvation. His attempts at salvation through the law were worthless (not the Law) Rom 7. But it was because of Jesus' faithfullness that he too could be declaired righteous. And yes, those were my words. I spent some time developing an outline of which only a part is written in the post, but I want to know if I am correct in my understanding. Thanks again for the reply. MJH |
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279 | Will there be a partial rapture? | 1 Thess 4:17 | MJH | 154013 | ||
Are you saying then, that Paul intentionally misleads the Jerusalem believers in Acts 21-22 to save his own skin? Did James know this? It was he who came up with the idea. It is obvious that their plan was to show that Paul was following the Law and not teaching Jews to stop following it. If Paul's actions in Acts 21-22 are contrary to what he taught, then how could he speak boldly against Peter when Peter did the same thing? (Gal 2:11) I personally can not come to the conclusion of your Bible professor in this regard. Being all things to all people does not mean lying to them or deceiving them. In Acts 15, Paul did not shrink back in the face of controversy in Jerusalem. Even James was a part of the Acts 15 statement about what the Gentiles were to do, so why would he participate in trying to convince Jewish Believers in Jerusalem that Paul was following the Law? I do appreciate your reply, however, and hope to continue the conversation. MJH |
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280 | Is NASB better than other translations? | 2 Tim 2:15 | MJH | 212002 | ||
Good note on the translations Hank. I have been looking for a translation of Hebrews that is consistent and accurate with translating the verb tense. Most change some verbs from past to present and other verbs from present to past and then from future to present. Since I do not know Greek, I am at a severe disability when reading that book. Strong doesn't help too much either because it doesn't help with the verb tense. The best I can do is laboriously search out what commentators have said, and some mention what the verb tense actually says. Do you know of a translation that is always right? The ESV was the best I found so far, but I don’t have a copy of the NASB, so I have only checked a couple. MJH Ps- when you post, if you could use paragraphs it would help reading your post a lot. |
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