Results 321 - 340 of 495
|
||||||
Results from: Notes Author: Aixen7z4 Ordered by Date |
||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
321 | Would a gentle spirit work? | John 12:32 | Aixen7z4 | 103912 | ||
So you put the onus on the weak one. I fear that many weak ones do not have the courage you seem to have had, to stick around and take the harsh words. They go away. Whatever happened to the one who came on here with all caps? He does not seem to be here anymore. He came on with a zeal without knowledge. How should we have responded? “The bottom line here is someone is usually trying to make you see it their way and if you don’t then you’re not as smart as you think”. Now what does that mean? Please do not try to explain it. Either way, if that is the bottom line on this forum, it is not good. Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for people who come onto a Christian forum weak and wrong is, that they might be saved. For I bear them record that they have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge. For they being ignorant of God's word, and going about to establish their own ideas as truth, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost, That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from this forum for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the desire to please and serve the Lord, but who still carry traits of weakness and ignorance. What if a person from a cult does come here? Surely he would realize that there are enough big guns on this forum that he will not succeed in spreading his doctrine. But is there not opportunity for one of them to come forward in meekness, to instruct those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth? Or is it better to shout at them and drive them off? It seems to me that people who speak of "lifting up the name of Jesus”, and of "lifting Him up", mean well. But they don‘t realize what they are saying. People who speak even in retrospect of having received a false impression “from the Lord” have another false impression. The person who is willing to change “what the Lord has given in (his) spirit” is confused about the way the Lord gives insight. But it is not helpful to approach that person with a spiritual club to smash that view, I think, for in smashing the view, we may also smash the spirit. Better to take a scalpel, I think, and gently repair that view. Suggest that they replace “lift up” with “exalt” (Exodus 15:2;Isaiah 25:1) perhaps, or praise (Isaiah 25:1; Isaiah 42:12) . Let them “boast”, if you will (Psalm 34:2; Psalm 44:8). Let them glory in the name of the Lord (1 Chronicles 16:10;Psalm 105:3) Let them magnify the Lord (Psalm 34:3; Psalm 69:30; Luke 1:46). Help them with their doctrine, if you can. But do no dampen their enthusiasm altogether. Take for an example, Aquila and Priscilla. A certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly. The Lord had a way of restraining an impetuous Peter, and of teaching the other weak disciples, even when they doubted. He did not drive them away. You have to be careful of those who come to teach false doctrine and who will not listen. But we should also be careful, if we engage in rooting out the tears, to not damage the wheat. We should be careful not to discourage the weak. For the Son of man is not come to destroy men's lives, but to save them. |
||||||
322 | Explain the Holy Trinity-verysimple form | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103871 | ||
Brother Ray: I often think of you when I have fail to capitalize. I know that it means a lot to you. I hope you are forgiving and can tolerate the lapses. If there was a way to correct a post after sending it, I would do it for your sake. You asked, “Can three Persons in one [God], three Persons in One, and one Lord, one God, and one Spirit all be understood easily be man?” You said, “I would think not”. As I have said, I do not find that hard at all. In fact I find it to be a beautiful thing about God. I understand that he is like that and that he wants us to be like that: one in mind, one in heart, one in spirit. Jesus prayed that we may be one even as They are One (John 17:22). You said, “It has helped me to know (Him) in His oneness in Spirit”. I am not sure what you meant, but you seem to be saying that you know the three Persons are one in spirit. Isn’t it wonderful to see such agreement? And why would They not be in agreement when each of Them is Perfect? To me it is an extra assurance that our God is immutable. He is the same no matter how you look at Him. God is so wonderful, and everything he reveals about himself is admirable, overwhelmingly so. What is the difficulty? Some say he is one Person. As we have shown in previous posts, the Bible does not say that. One God. Three Persons. It helps I think if we realize that the word God is sometimes used as a proper name and sometimes as a title. Sometimes the word refers to one of them, (most frequently, the Father) but each of them is also called God. Each one is God, and together they are God. Sometimes the term “the Godhead” is used and that may be easier for some of us to grasp. You say, “What is hardest to understand in the Trinity is how a Spirit can come to earth in the likeness of men”. But again, we should be able to accept that. God is a Spirit, and each of us is in his image, a spirit. We are a spirit living in a body. Why should it not be like that for Jesus? Instead of a human being, God lived in a body. That is OK with me. The fact is that God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit all live in us, if we are saved. I believe the greatest difficulty we create for ourselves, besides the term Trinity itself, is when we say that God is one Person. One more time, the Bible does not say that. It says that they work together, they sit together, they speak to each other, one sends the other. Yes, and they are one. Sorry again about the capitalization. I am not sure where to put it. Sorry about the lack of Scripture references too. I am confident that you could fill them in yourself. If not, for your sake, I’ll do this post over with capitalization (you’d have to help me) and references. |
||||||
323 | Are you Saved? | Acts 16:30 | Aixen7z4 | 103852 | ||
This question deserves to be resurrected, and answered. I say, "Yes!" What do you say? | ||||||
324 | Do you recall the day of your Salvation | John 12:32 | Aixen7z4 | 103847 | ||
Sorry about that, Searcher, I didn't mean to call you Kathy, or to answer her question there. I should have said thank you for your testimony. "I knew if I had died, I would be with the Lord", you said. I can relate to that because when the Lord saved me he took away the fear of death. God bless you. | ||||||
325 | Do you recall the day of your Salvation | John 12:32 | Aixen7z4 | 103844 | ||
God bless you, Kathy. I remember it as if it were yesterday. I see the place. I see the seat exactly as it held me. I see the preacher. I hear his words exactly. "It is not enough to know about God", he said. "You must get to know him". That night I got to know him. I asked him his name, and he said, "Savior". He asked me my name, and I said, "Sinner". It seemed we both realized we were a perfect match. Strangely, though, I started calling him “Lord” and he started calling me “Saint”. He had changed me and I had decided to follow him. What is my testimony? I’ve found a friend. I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He loved me ere I knew Him; He drew me with the cords of love, and thus He bound me to Him; And round my heart still closely twine those ties which naught can sever, For I am His, and He is mine, forever and forever. I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! He bled, He died to save me; And not alone the gift of life, but His own Self He gave me! Naught that I have mine own I call, I’ll hold it for the Giver, My heart, my strength, my life, my all are His, and His forever. I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! All pow’r to Him is given, To guard me on my onward course, and bring me safe to heaven. The eternal glories gleam afar, to nerve my faint endeavor; So now to watch, to work, to war, and then to rest forever. I’ve found a Friend, O such a friend! So kind and true and tender, So wise a Counselor and Guide, so mighty a Defender! From Him who loves me now so well what power my soul can sever? Shall life or death, shall earth or hell? No! I am His forever. |
||||||
326 | How would you apply Deuteronomy 29:29? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103843 | ||
The prayer “Open thou mine eyes …” can be used whenever we open our Bibles. The question "What is God saying to us?" can guide us whenever we open our Bibles, and it may well precede the prayer. The question "What is God saying to us about __________?" can guide us whenever we search the Scriptures. The blank can be replaced with any topic. We have been discussing God and the way the Scriptures have revealed to us the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. There is, to my mind, no topic of greater significance. We have noted the fact that God is seeking a personal relationship with us. To my mind, there is no greater word that can be said than to encourage us to properly relate to him. It has been good. To have Jesus, each of us, is good. He who has the son has life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. Amen. |
||||||
327 | How would you apply Deuteronomy 29:29? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103842 | ||
Deuteronomy 29:29 is a statement of truth that stands wholly and meaningfully beside the context. Like some others in Scripture (1 Samuel 15:22; Habakkuk 2:4; John 3:16; Romans 11:33; 1 Timothy 1:17) it could have been placed anywhere and had the same import and meaning. We should not miss it. Matthew Henry’s commentary on it is worth hearing: “1. Though God has kept much of his counsel secret, yet there is enough revealed to satisfy and save us. He has kept back nothing that is profitable for us, but that only which it is good for us to be ignorant of. 2. We ought to acquaint ourselves, and our children too, with the things of God that are revealed. We are not only allowed to search into them, but are concerned (encouraged) to do so. They are things which we and ours are nearly (to be) interested in. They are the rules we are to live by, the grants we are to live upon; and therefore we are to learn them diligently ourselves, and to teach them diligently to our children. 3. All our knowledge must be in order to practice, for this is the end of all divine revelation, not to furnish us with curious subjects of speculation and discourse, with which to entertain ourselves and our friends, but that we may do all the words of this law, and be blessed in our deed”. All our knowledge must be in order to practice, for this is the end (the purpose) of all divine revelation. |
||||||
328 | Explain the Holy Trinity-verysimple form | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103821 | ||
We keep trying to make a simple concept complicated. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three persons. They are not one person changing form depending on the temperature. That is what water is. But God is three persons. | ||||||
329 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103725 | ||
I am sorry that I sound mixed up to you, my friend. I feel fine and I hear you well. But sometimes it is difficult to communicate. When I said your name was strange I meant only that I had not communicated with you before. Words are interesting, aren't they? Sometimes we do not use them well and then they do not serve us well. We have to be very careful with them. I agree that it does not matter what word we use if we know what we mean. I agree that we should get into the word. His words are found and I do eat them; and his word is unto me the joy and rejoicing of my heart: for I am called by his name. I hope you understand. |
||||||
330 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103724 | ||
I am blessed by that, EdB. For some reason I am thinking how good God has been to save me and to bring me to this point. I obtained mercy, that in me Jesus Christ might show forth all longsuffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honor and glory for ever and ever. Amen. |
||||||
331 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103722 | ||
Words fitly spoken, Brother Tim. Teaching with an eye to application is attractive. Might be good if every lesson included some role-play. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works. I hope that some theologian reading this will decide to have his students to worship God after learning in class about him. He might decide to model it and ask them to follow his example, the way we do when teaching math. Reading Philippians 4;9, I think that was the way that Paul taught them. Reading 2 Timothy 3:10 onward, I get the impression that it was the way that he taught Timothy. |
||||||
332 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103718 | ||
Brother Steve, your point is well taken. To be true to Scripture, I will not quibble over the words. I believe you have given a good description of the difference between “search” and “study”. I explains in part why I prefer the word “search”, but the important thing is not the word we use but the activity that we engage in. I do believe we should read the Bible to find the answers to specific questions. Let me be clear. I think we should read the Bible to see what God is saying to us. A question then can be, “What is God saying to us?” We can read any portion of Scripture with that question in mind. We might even read it with the prayer, “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law”, as in Psalm 119:18. I think we should read whole portions of Scripture, a story, a letter, a psalm, all the way through. It puts particular statements in context and makes them meaningful. If you are looking for answers to a specific question you may find indeed that “the Bible is a very disorganized book in some ways”. That is why you need to search, and Jesus encouraged that activity (John 5:39). The Bereans were commended for that activity (Acts 17:11). This is where concordances, and chain references are so useful. We should use them. I personally know of no better Bible searching tool than the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. It simply points you from where you are to other places where the same topic is touched on and I treasure it and recommend it. BTW, I think the word "sanctification" is in the Bible. (You may need to try a different translation. And it is to be recommended that we read one passage in different translations). The problem with "invented" words such as “Trinity” is that we have to define them. As we do so we are really teaching, and we have to be very careful. If we define “Trinity” as “God in three persons - ‘God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost’”, I think that would be an accurate encapsulation of a Bible fact. If “Trinity” presents “God as one single being”, I think it would not be accurate teaching. Teaching is needed. Teachers are needed. If teachers find the need to “study” or to ask their students to “study” so be it. But we should “search the Scriptures” and do so with a goal beyond knowing facts. The goal should be to know the Lord and his will and to respond to him by doing his will. The problem, again, is not with the term we use but rather with the goal of the activity. Teaching should be defined in terms of imparting skills and learning should be defined in terms of acquiring skills. The skill should not be limited to handling the word but it should be deployed, putting the word into practice. Let the teachers teach us how to witness, how to bear one another’s burdens, how to worship, how to love. And let us do those things. “Identifying eternal principles and trying to understand how to apply them to the here and now” is a noble goal. If that is what theologians do, then I support them. One eternal principle is that man was created for relationship with God. The Bible reveals that. As we see it, let us actively respond to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Brother Steve, I do not know you very well, but I have tried to respond to you here. I think that I am responding to you in body (the things your fingers put on my screen) soul, (the emotions you expressed) and spirit (your self). So let it be with God. Let us accept him as he presents himself and let us respond to him. Let us respond, for example, to his love, and his grace. Let us act on what we know. We thank him for the grace Descending from above That overflows our widest guilt The eternal Father’s love Love of the father’s everlasting Son Love of the Holy Ghost Jehovah, Three in One. |
||||||
333 | What are the questions? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103716 | ||
Excuse me, but I think the question was to jmjeh and not to Tim. Moreover, Tim was asking the same question of jmjeh. If you really need to display this attitude, I think you should wait for a better opportunity. | ||||||
334 | Explain the Holy Trinity-verysimple form | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103715 | ||
There is one God. No question about that. The Bible reveals that God exists in three persons. Not one person. As to what is meant by "God as one single being", we would need the person who said that to explain what they meant. I began to try to explain it for him but I think he will not appreciate it. He has said in response to one of my posts: “You say that it's not a difficult concept. If so, then I must think that you don't fully understand it to begin with. The trinity isn't merely a family, a group, or some team wirking together. The Bible describes God as one single being”. I still say that three being one is not a difficult concept for me, and I think it is a revelation I can easily receive. So perhaps our brother can explain his term and the difficulty he is experiencing. By the way, I think your post is very clear and I agree with everything you said. As for the Holy Spirit being God, I think the point has been made in previous posts. |
||||||
335 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103691 | ||
You are OK with me, my friend. We can learn from each other. Your name is strange to me, and I am sure my words are strange to you. But maybe I am not as mixed up as you think I am. We must search the Scriptures (John 5:39;Acts 17:11). We must meditate on it (Psalm 1; Psalm 139). We must receive it as a graft, and let it be a part of us (James 1:21). But the word of God is not an academic thing for us to play word games with. Word games are not profitable (2 Timothy 2:14). They do not lead you to the truth. How do you come to the truth? Read the word. Read it in context. Read about that topic throughout the Bible. Read it prayerfully, with an open mind. Be prepared to act on what the Lord reveals to you. It is no use understanding the fine points of sanctification, my friend, unless you have a desire to live a holy life. How do you know what the word means? Context, my friend. Read it in context and you will not miss it. Strange as it may sound there is nothing in the Bible suggesting that we should study the Bible. “Study to show thyself approved”, you say. Except that the word “study” does not mean “study”. Instead of getting upset and responding quickly, take your time to read it carefully. If you are not a “KingJamesOnly” person, then read it in another translation. Yes, we must be careful, my friend. And yet, if we will carefully search the word of God, looking for the will of God, all the while ready to follow and obey it, I care not what you call that activity. Call it Bible study if you like. And yet I say to you that is not what we usually do. We want to probe into ideas like “The Trinity”, how can it be. Compare that with the instructions to the seven churches in Asia that they should read, hear, and keep those things which are written therein (Revelation 1:3). Compare that with Philippians 4:9 where we are encouraged to do the things we have learned, and received, and heard, and seen. I have seen one church to study the Book of Revelation a dozen times. And yet they have no idea what it means to “keep those things”. I have seen a church go through the book of Philippians also, and remain the saddest sourest lot in the city. I once asked a class, “When can we start doing these things?” and they looked at me as though I was speaking Greek. I asked a sister, “How do you rejoice?” and she said, “You know!” My brother, you may feel free to call me mixed up now if you like. I say again that God gave us his word so we can obey it (Deuteronomy 29:29). Do you remember another place where he said to study it? You have studied me and determined that I am mixed up. And now, will you study God? Will you try to assess his omnipotence? His omniscience? His omnipresence? Better I say to respond to him as you read of him and as he reveals himself to you. I say that he prefers worship to a sermon on worship and love to a sermon on love. They will know it when they see it. I hope we can do it when we see it to be done. This doctrine of the Trinity is not to be studied. It will get you nowhere. Read about the Father. Come to Him. Jesus is the Way. Follow him. If you do you’ll do that you will know it is the Holy Spirit who is leading you. You will experience them in your life and you will thrill then as you read about them. They are to be known by experience and not by study. God is a person, not a topic. I still sound mixed up, do I? OK. Sometimes people sound like that. But the word is very nigh unto thee, in thy mouth, and in thy heart, that thou mayest do it. Do it. |
||||||
336 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103687 | ||
You are correct, and I deserve that, Radioman. Sometimes I feel there should be no such discipline as psychology. And sometimes, I feel useful. The theologian must feel the same way, I suppose. I think now I must change my mind, get acquainted with him and let him have a place in my life. | ||||||
337 | Explain the Holy Trinity-verysimple form | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103686 | ||
Good to see you, Kathy. You are one person with three roles: mother, daughter, niece. I would not be surprised if you have other roles as well. Come to think of it, you are a Forum member, a sister, a friend. Similarly, our Lord Jesus Christ is Prophet, Priest, King, Lamb of God, Savior, etc. But there is also God the Father, a separate person. He is the father of our Lord Jesus Christ, and our Father. Jesus sits at his right hand. The Holy Spirit is a separate person. He descended upon Jesus as he was being baptized. He led Jesus into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. He is the "other comforter" Jesus promised to send. Yes, he is another person, and that's the truth. He is called the Spirit of truth. There are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. |
||||||
338 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103631 | ||
Good question, brother Tim. I have never heard a theologian to say that. So again, I apologize to all of the theologians. But I am troubled by the fact some people may be thinking that only theologians get to know God. I am troubled by the idea of studying God. I am troubled by the idea of someone making it a career to study the word of God, and I do not know that they have done us any good. I have said elsewhere that I think they invent terms and study them and disagree among themselves about them and in the end they make things complicated. Take this as a case in point. Why the term “Trinity”? OK, it can be justified. But does it help in this situation? Can we go to the theological dictionary to find a simple definition that we can provide to a new believer? I am afraid we tend to lead people into a world of terminology and word studies instead of encouraging them in a personal relationship with God. Spend time with the Lord. Spend with his word, searching it, reading it meditating on it. Accept it as it is. But to study it or him I find not. Know him. Learn of him. (Does that mean to study him?). Sit at his feet. Listen to him. Trust him. Obey him. (Does that mean to study him?) Even now, this is becoming too complicated for me. I think we can accept, and state, that the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit work together as one God, without going into all of this. |
||||||
339 | must be theologians? | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103627 | ||
If you are a theologian, EDB, I apologize to you personally, and I regret having made that statement about theologians. I have not heard any theologians to say that they are the only ones who know. The statement then, may be untrue. I am not sure what “patently” means. Truth is I am not sure what theologians really do or say. They just give me the impression that by dint of study they think they know. Yet they confuse me with admissions that there is so much they do not know. I only meant to answer that one does not have to be a theologian to know the only true God. I wondered why that questioner asked that question. Does one expect to get to know God by devoting most of one’s life to studying the word of God? I do not know. They tell us there are some things we do not understand and that they know more (understand better?) because they have spent many years studying. My problem is this: How can we judge whether what they are telling us in true? They invent words such as “Trinity” which are not even in the Bible. Then they tell us it is a difficult concept and they have been studying it for many years and they will explain it to us. We listen and we don’t understand and we say, “That is totally confusing to me”. They then accuse of not believing or of limiting our faith to our level of understanding. In attempting to make things simple, theologians make things more difficult for some of us. I do not study the word of God, but I search the word of God for information and instruction, and I think I have an understanding of my God. I am afraid that such a statement will be shot down, but I take comfort in the fact that I know that I know him personally and that I am allowed to say so. For this cause I suffer also these things. Yet I am not ashamed, for I know him whom I have believed (2 Timothy 1:12). I know that I know him, and I hide behind the fact that I am allowed to say that, even to uxult in it. Doubtless, boasting is not usually a good thing. “But Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight”, saith the LORD. I would not be a theologian because I am not sure we ought to be studying the word of God. That statement will shock many and it will probably be shot at too, but I have not seen such an instruction in the Bible. I know, as I have said, that I should search the word (John 5:39; Acts 17:11, etc.) but I do not know that I should study it. Those who study it tend to argue over words, and their debates seldom serve to elucidate anything. When they run out of bible words such as sanctification they invent words such as Trinity and eschatology and transsubstantiation, or they go to Greek and Hebrew words, and they do not seem to help us. I hope no theologian tells you here that you should “study to show yourself approved”. We should know the word of God, and also we should know God. But “of making many books there is no end; and much study is a weariness of the flesh. This is the end of the matter. All has been heard. Fear God, and keep his commandments; for this is the whole duty of man. Is this a call for ignorance? No. You search the Scriptures, because you think that in them you have eternal life; and these are they which testify about him. That is good. May the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him. |
||||||
340 | Explain the Holy Trinity-verysimple form | Numbers | Aixen7z4 | 103619 | ||
Methinks, my friend, that you make the matter much more difficult than it is. You ask, “How can something be three distinct persons, yet all be one person?” I do not know anywhere that the Bible says that God is “something”. “Only one ‘What’: God”?!? Where did that come from? And please do not say from Honegraf? Where did Honegraf learn that God is a thing? Nor does the Bible say that God is “one person”. It does say (Deuteronomy 6:4) that “The LORD our God is one LORD”. We would have no idea how three persons can be one person. But we know that three persons are one God. Why do I need to pretend that this is a difficult concept? Is the idea of a team, or a group, or a family, likewise beyond our human understanding? |
||||||
Result pages: << First < Prev [ 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 ] Next > Last [25] >> |