Results 341 - 360 of 386
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Country Girl Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
341 | Through Cultural Eyes - or not??? | 1 Pet 3:1 | Country Girl | 124435 | ||
I must side with EdB here as his words ring true. For example, the demonstration of our Lord's washing the feet of His disciples was NOT done so that we would consider that an act of worship. Jesus did that to demonstrate the proper attitude we should have toward our brethren our sisters in the Lord's church. In the first century, particularly in the Mediterrean countries, washing of feet was a very good thing to do for one's guest but the lowliest slave was the one who did it. Thus the wonderful example of our Lord. Some of the other cultural practices are the exchange of the Holy Kiss between christians in that day and time; or the anointing of oil of sick family members. Now there's nothing wrong with doing these things, it's just not treated as acts of worship. They were aspects of that culture, time and place. Some folks treat them as acts of worship and I'd be the last person in the world to condemn them for doing that but I would caution that they can't REQUIRE someone to believe in since the Bible doesn't show it. So once again words like "speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent" should prevail here. The most important item of culture we MUST learn is that of God's Culture. We should learn to "speak as the oracles of God" and practice love and forgiveness like He does. For we have received these precious treasures as gifts from our Father and should do likewise as much as we possibly can with everyone we meet. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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342 | Who says the Sabbath is on Sunday | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124432 | ||
In my opinion, the most important aspect of the Bible and God's Will for us is to submit our will to His, tweak our attitude so that we're completely willing to follow our God's Guidance as cited in the NT. Of course, we need to remember that in this dispensation, God has given all authority to His Son so we must comply with the NT, especially when there's a conflict with the OT. I think Jesus was all in favor of following the Law of Moses as much as physcially possible as He showed when He healed the leper and referred him to the priest for proper handling in accordance with that Law. But as I stated, it's very important that we remember Jesus is a Perfect Reflection of His Father and as such they both put much, much more emphasis of the condition of the heart. This is evident with all the verses from Jesus about the heart of a man and his attitude to God. He even said that the scribes missed the "weightier matters" of God's Law. That is, they would strive to pick out the splinter from their brother's eye but overlook the much bigger object in their own eye. This is what has plagued mankind from the beginning. We humans tends to get complacent with our relationship with God like Cain did and we think we can hide from Him and get away with our small and minor infractions. It just isn't that way with God. ALL of our sins will be fully accounted for on Judgment Day. If any of those sins go with us to that Day without our repentance and the blood of Jesus covering them, our God just might hold us completely accountable and we'll be terribly undone. I know this is a tough subject but hopefully I'm clear. Good question. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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343 | Who says the Sabbath is on Sunday | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124389 | ||
I like most of what I see in your post but the one big point about the story of the "widow's mite" was our Lord's emphasis on all of us doing what we can to comply with God's guidance. When it's clearly within our capibilities to do so, we MUST obey God and do everything we can in accordance with His Word, especially as it's cited in the NT. In the scene of the widow's giving her all, He was praising her attitude of complete devotion and submission to God's Will. So we should do likewise, do all that we can to avoid sin, avoid the influence of the world in our spiritual journey with God and instead strive to imitate Jesus with acts of kindness and love. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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344 | What united Herod and Pilate? | Luke 23:12 | Country Girl | 124383 | ||
In the final analysis on Judgment Day, "trying our best" just aint going to be good enough, is it? Just as in the case with Pilate and Jesus, we are either for Jesus or we are against Him. I think it's a foregone conclusion that the whole world, past, present and future put Christ on that cross, unjustly so. But the big (most important) question for everyone now is: What do we do with Christ now? And then after answering that question with a positive, we have to act like we believe. The best end result of all this is that we have God's Grace. Remember even Pilate had his opportunity to repent and become a christian. Just like Judas, we're all given the opportunity to become a child of God and partake of His Forgiveness and His Grace. Another wonderful aspect of that Grace is the fact it keeps on working and cleansing us of our sins if we're faithful (Rev 2:10) and stay in the fellowship of God's light (1 John). So as long as we're in God's family, we are to keep trying our best and then God will cover the balance. What a wonderful deal from our Father. Good questions and blessings to you. Country Girl |
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345 | Adultery by both parties. Divorce? | NT general Archive 1 | Country Girl | 124378 | ||
Matt 19:3 Some Pharisees came to Jesus, testing Him and asking, "Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife for any reason at all?" Matt 19:4 And He answered and said, "Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning MADE THEM MALE AND FEMALE, Matt 19:5 and said, 'FOR THIS REASON A MAN SHALL LEAVE HIS FATHER AND MOTHER AND BE JOINED TO HIS WIFE, AND THE TWO SHALL BECOME ONE FLESH'? Matt 19:6 "So they are no longer two, but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate." Matt 19:7 They *said to Him, "Why then did Moses command to GIVE HER A CERTIFICATE OF DIVORCE AND SEND her AWAY?" Matt 19:8 He *said to them, "Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way. From the beginning in the Garden of Eden to the present, God has ALWAYS preferred a couple to stay a couple after marriage. When both spouses in a marriage are guilty of adultery, this presents a problem. I think overall, the Bible stresses the importance of forgiveness whenever possible and it seems to me that both of you HAD FORGIVEN the other of these offenses in the past. A person could strongly argue that sins once forgiven are supposed to be forgotten and not brought up again. I'm not saying that you don't reap the consequences as we all do that but the blame for the sin and to rehash it again for yet another rouond of punishment is strictly against God's Word. BUT with all that said, as it has been mentioned many times on this Forum, this IS NOT the ideal place to get this kind of counseling. You and your husband really need to be counseled by another christian counselor, face to face. Hopefully, he will submit to such a wise course, if he truly cares about you and/or those kids. I'm a firm believer in the fact that it's our kids who suffer the most across America for the flippant attitude so many have about God's only other perfect insitution, that is marriage. It's the very foundation for successful living for this planet. I'll be praying for both of you, hoping that you can work it out and live a long together. My spouse and I have been married now for 28 years, first time marriage for both of us. We've had our struggles but we're determined to go to our graves together. Blessings to you. Country Girl PS: Just in case either of you is interested, you'll both probably live longer if you stay married. |
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346 | Anger-Psalm 4:4 | Ps 4:1 | Country Girl | 124299 | ||
I just noticed with all this controversy about the versions of the Bible, no one has done a very thorough job of answering your question. Since we're all Bible students and dealing with anger is a tough topic, I'd suggest we should stick with God's Word in handling it. I would suggest we look to the one single instance where our Lord showed some anger. John 2:14 And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. John 2:15 And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; John 2:16 and to those who were selling the doves He said, "Take these things away; stop making My Father's house a place of business." John 2:17 His disciples remembered that it was written, "ZEAL FOR YOUR HOUSE WILL CONSUME ME." And he showed this one single display of anger and NOT a single word or even a look of anger when He was beaten unmercilessly for no good reason before His crucifixtion. He was spat upon and tortured with a crown of thorns and many other abuses totally undeserved. The vast majority of the time like 99.9 percent of the time we humans get angry, it's for a reason far, far less worthy than our Lord's example, "His zeal for His Father's temple." I have to conclude that we all should strive to reduce the number of times we get angry and limit them to true instances of totally Godless injustice in the world. But then we must take care and make certain that we DON'T keep this kind of anger pent up inside us for a long extended period of time as it will just destroy our effectiveness as christians. Paul's words are very instructive in this regard Eph 4:26 "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, 27nor give place to the devil. Hope this answers your question, at least a little bit. Blessings to you. Country Girl PS: Didn't want to dodge the Bible version controversy. I believe very strongly that the sum total of all the good, well-written, and thoroughly researched versions represent a very good complete Book of Guidance from God. We can take comfort that we do have ALL of what God wants us to know about Himself, His Son and all other matters eteranlly important to Him. As for myself, I prefer the NKJV and NASB, but as I mentioned there are several other good versions. I believe in 1611 and about 350 years thereafter, the KJV was a perfectly good version but now, it's been improved upon with the discovery of those manuscripts. I'm also confident there's very little changes of any significant consequence between the KJV and these more accurate, modern versions. |
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347 | Why were Pilate and Herod enemies? | Luke 23:12 | Country Girl | 124295 | ||
I'm not sure how much credibility we can take from the movie, The Passion of Christ but Mr. Gibson's portrayal seems plausible. Apparently, there was some question to Herod's sexual orientation and thus his political views were in direct conflict with the straight forward politics of Pilate who seemed to have been a fairly reasonable ruler, considering his Roman background. After all, he did try his best to set Jesus free; it just wasn't politically expedient for him to do so. I'd like to think that the movie was based on Jewish history as much as possible. What do you think? Anyone else? Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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348 | Explain Psalm 23 | Psalm | Country Girl | 124294 | ||
This has got to be at least one of the best, well-known chapters of the whole Bible, and most beloved. It seems very straight-forward and easy to understand, especially if you read the life of King David from the OT. How about making it easy for us? What specific verse or phrase are you having trouble with? The way you've worded your question, it sounds like a "homework assignment" from your Bible class. Surely, you wouldn't be doing that to us, now would you? Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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349 | KJV Only and "New Age Bible Versions" | 1 Thess 5:21 | Country Girl | 124291 | ||
I do enjoy reading your posts, especially your book review excerpts. Where do you find the time to do all this research and still have time to study God's Word? God bless you in your ministry. Country Girl |
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350 | sunday as the sabath | NT general Archive 1 | Country Girl | 124215 | ||
Mark 16:2 Very early on the first day of the week, they came to the tomb when the sun had risen. Mark 16:9 Now after He had risen early on the first day of the week, He first appeared to Mary Magdalene, from whom He had cast out seven demons. Luke 24:1 But on the first day of the week, at early dawn, they came to the tomb bringing the spices which they had prepared. John 20:1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came early to the tomb, while it was still dark, and saw the stone already taken away from the tomb. Can you think of a better reason to give Christ the preiminence He deserves since His Father gave it to Him? Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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351 | What did Jesus mean by this remark? | Luke 22:68 | Country Girl | 124190 | ||
For context: Luke 22:65 And they were saying many other things against Him, blaspheming. Luke 22:66 When it was day, the Council of elders of the people assembled, both chief priests and scribes, and they led Him away to their council chamber, saying, Luke 22:67 "If You are the Christ, tell us." But He said to them, "If I tell you, you will not believe; Luke 22:68 and if I ask a question, you will not answer. Luke 22:69 "But from now on THE SON OF MAN WILL BE SEATED AT THE RIGHT HAND of the power OF GOD." Luke 22:70 And they all said, "Are You the Son of God, then?" And He said to them, "Yes, I am." Luke 22:71 Then they said, "What further need do we have of testimony? For we have heard it ourselves from His own mouth." If you go back and read the whole story as cited above, it becomes obvious that Jesus was emphasizing what in fact did happen just as He said it would. Thus He was emphasizing He knew the future and He knew they would not believe Him as they didn't believe Him when He was in the public eye performing unquestionable miracles. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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352 | Are "careless words" sin? | Matt 12:36 | Country Girl | 124189 | ||
You'll have to forgive me. This is the very first time I've ever heard someone actually propose the idea of two standards of judgment on Judgment Day. Can you possibly explain and square this position in light of the sciptures copied below? Rom 14:7 For not one of us lives for himself, and not one dies for himself; Rom 14:8 for if we live, we live for the Lord, or if we die, we die for the Lord; therefore whether we live or die, we are the Lord's. Rom 14:9 For to this end Christ died and lived again, that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. Rom 14:10 But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God. Rom 14:11 For it is written, "AS I LIVE, SAYS THE LORD, EVERY KNEE SHALL BOW TO ME, AND EVERY TONGUE SHALL GIVE PRAISE TO GOD." Rom 14:12 So then each one of us will give an account of himself to God. Rom 14:13 Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this--not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way. In contrast, I've always been taught there will only be the one standard of judgment for the whole world and that is the Words of Jesus as cited in Luke 4:4 But Jesus answered him, saying, "It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God." and John 12:47 And if anyone hears My words and does not believe, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world but to save the world. 48He who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has that which judges him--the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last day. 49For I have not spoken on My own authority; but the Father who sent Me gave Me a command, what I should say and what I should speak. I can only anticipate you're going to ask me "How do I reconcile these two pictures of the Judgment Bar of God and the Judgment Seat of Christ?" My response would be there's no problem as I see them as one. They'll both be there in perfect harmony with each other and make Perfect Judgments of everyone who has ever lived by the Words as cited in our Bibles. Those who lived and knew about God's Word will be judged by His Word. Those who lived without ever hearing about or knowing His Word will judged without It. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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353 | Who says the Sabbath is on Sunday | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124187 | ||
I must admit as you have mentioned, there is no such verse that states "Thou shalt worship on the first day of the week and not on the Sabbath." But then we do have several verses that do cite the first day of the week as I have stated and we do have thousands of years of history showing christians worshiping on Sunday as being that first day of the week. So what are to do? What guidance do we follow? As it's been mentioned many times on the Forum, according to my search just now, this topic has been discussed quite a bit. But suffice it to say that the NT is the current guide for christians in this age or dispensation as compared to the OT. God has given all authority to His Son as cited in Matt 28. When a person does that search for that phrase "first day of week," you can't help but notice that the first instance is at the resurrection of our Lord and Savior. It seems pretty clear to me that christians early on were motivated in this new age of Godliness, to give a special amount of glory and recognition to their Lord and Master which was endorsed by all the Apostles and by God Himself. Remember Jesus did delagate some of His authority to the Apostles to make basic and routine decisions to this degree. After taking another objective look at all the evidence, including the words of your posts and the statements you've made, I have to say that the bottom line is very clear. God is giving as much glory and honor as possible to His Son, thus it seems perfectly logical to give prominence to the day of worship being set on the same day as Jesus' resurrection in contrast to the Sabbath as established in the previous dispensation. Sometimes on issues of this magnitude with the few scriptures we're given, one has to make some decisions/determinations based on faith and respond to "What would God think?" I think he's pleased that the vast majority of christians throughout the world worship God the Father and His Son on Sunday. Maybe we should rename it Sonday. What do you think? Would you like to draft up such a proposal and submit a petition? I for one am willing to sign it. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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354 | Who says the Sabbath is on Sunday | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124098 | ||
As I say: we all must read God's Word and draw the proper conclusion and then answer to God for that conclusion. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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355 | Who says the Sabbath is on Sunday | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124095 | ||
Just to let you know: this controversy has been raging for literally two thousand years, just like it's reflected here on the forum. Some adhere to the Sabbath and quote from the Bible. Others worship on the first day of week as is cited throughout the NT. All people everywhere must study thoroughly God's Word for themselves and should make up their own mind. I worship with many thousands of other christians, throughout this country and the world on Sunday to the exclusion of Saturday. But the most important thing to remember is we'll ALL answer to God as to how we obeyed His commandments. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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356 | Can salvation be lost? | Jude 1:5 | Country Girl | 124057 | ||
Based on this position from you and Mommaphs, can you kindly explain James 2 to me, along 1 Jn 1:5-10 and Mt 25:31-46? It seems pretty clear from these scriptures the Lord is expecting to see something in our lives to show evidence of the Christianity that we claim about ourselves. There are many, many other scriptures I could reference like the parable of the debtor in prison and the vine and the branches, but I'm trying to be brief. In summary, there's just SO much in the Bible that clearly teaches we must go to Heaven with some kind of proof or evidence to truly show our devotion and love to our God. I appreciate this dialouge and blessings to you. Country Girl |
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357 | evil heart of unbelief (Heb 3:12) mean | Bible general Archive 2 | Country Girl | 124056 | ||
If we go to verses 16-17 of that same chapter we get an answer to this question Heb 3:16 For who provoked Him when they had heard? Indeed, did not all those who came out of Egypt led by Moses? Heb 3:17 And with whom was He angry for forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose bodies fell in the wilderness? So we see a contrast between this kind of heart (essence of a person) in those that wandered the desert and that of King David for we know he was one of the greatest Kings that ever lived and was given one of the greatest compliments from God Himself, 1 Sam 13:14. We see further contrast of these two basic kinds of responses to God in Psalm 51 by King David. There we see what kind of heart God does want, one with humility, one that is contrite and submissive to God, not selfish and thinking only of how to get his next "fix" of power like we see in Pharaoh of Egypt. Blessings to you. Hope this helps. Country Girl |
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358 | Can salvation be lost? | Jude 1:5 | Country Girl | 124017 | ||
I guess I would have to compare this relationship to one of a credit account with a store, or some other source of credit. In this scenario, the company issues a line of credit to the user and they maintain that line of credit and allow the user to continue using the account and make purchases, maybe even raising the ceiling of the account. BUT this is all based on the continuing maintenance of payments from the user on a regular basis. It's absolutely paramount as you know in today's world of business for the user to maintain his end of the bargain by making these payments or he/she jepordizes the closure of the account and maybe even forfiture of some of his posessions. In the same way, you and I without Christ are totally lost in a world of sin as we all "owe our souls to the Devil." But then Christ came into the world and literally bought us from the Devil with His own blood. He purchased all of us so that we could come live with Him and His Father in Heaven. Now of course, He left this world with His Last Will and Testament offering a free gift of salvation. All we have to do is fulfill his terms and conditions and accept His gift of redeeming blood. But that also means we have an account with Him, a line of credit if you will. He'll help us avoid falling deeper into debt with the Devil if we'll avail ourselves of His power and avoid those temptations. We must pray constantly as Paul states "without ceasing." We must study our Bibles, God's Word and find out all the rest of the terms and conditions, all the other commands in the NT to which we must obey. You see, we must maintain "our end of the bargain" and stay in the light of God's fellowship as described in 1 John. We must do everything in our power to imitate Christ and keep that relationship with Him and His Father alive and active. We can't allow it to grow stale or suffer from neglect for that's when we get ourselves into trouble and backslide into a life of sin and debt with the Devil. He loves to win back his old patrons. Yes, indeed Jesus' blood will indeed cover our sins on that all important Judgment Day IF we've done our part and maintained that close, personal relationship with our Lord. Remember just because a person says "Lord, Lord" that alone IS NOT going to get him to Heaven but "he that doeth the will of My Father"...that's the key. Obedience to God has always been one of the main themes throughout the Bible. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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359 | What is the "straight and narrow gate"? | Rev 19:8 | Country Girl | 124016 | ||
I think you probably have already figured out I was trying to say that Jesus "set a whole NEW standard for the world to imitate." I see your point as well as Angel's and Emmanus' points. Believe me, I'm not saying we can even come close to earning our salvation as there's ABSOLULTELY no way that can be done. But just like a good, loving parent invests his/her lifetime in a rearing a child or children and then hopes that child(ren) behave like they've been reared, in the same way our God wants us to behave like we've been bought and paid for by His Son. We should wear His Name somewhat proudly like Apostle Paul did while minimizing our measly acts of kindness as weak, feeble attempts to imitate Paul or even better Christ Himself. I don't think God keeps a score card on us and compares us to each other, again learning from our earthly parenting experience. He just wants us to stay in contact with Him through prayer and constant study of His Word because even the most mature christian needs a boost now and again to keep fighting the battle with the Devil and avoid the temptations of this world. As we mature in this spiritual relationship with our Father, we should realize our needs and priorities aligning themselves closer and closer with His. And then I think we'll realize more and more of His answers to our prayers. We should all strive to see things in this world as He does, listen to our fellow christians, seek to encourage them and love them in spite of their shortcomings and ask for their forgiveness for our shortcomings. Part of the unpleasant duties of a christian is to be an influence for good even to those that don't appreciate it. Sometimes we may even feel compelled by God to do what we can to correct some of the wrongs in this world BUT we MUST do so in love and show that we really do love people's souls like He does, without condition. We must show them over and over again and again, that whatever we say and do, we say and do so in the Name of the Lord. Your reference to John's words are good words as they make it plain that we are indeed dependent on Christ for His guidance and sustanance. Only by His representing us to His Father, can we hope to live with Him forever. But the toughest item of controversy as I've noticed it in the Forum is this battle between faith and works. As you've stated, our righteous acts counts as absolute zeros in the final judgments but that DOES NOT mean we should stop doing them. Jesus makes this very plain in the scriptures I referred to earlier. We MUST see ourselves as the debtor set free and go and share the good news, spreading the Word everywhere we go AND we MUST behave like we have a Father above watching us. He expects us to dispense acts of kindness and goodness not because we're earning our salvation but we must prove to the world we have it. Otherwise, how will the world know our christianity, our salvation is real and genuine? Hopefully, this may clear up some questions for you. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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360 | Can salvation be lost? | Jude 1:5 | Country Girl | 123983 | ||
I can only repeat what the Bible clearly teaches as follows 1 John 1:4 These things we write, so that our joy may be made complete. 1 John 1:5 This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth; 1 John 1:7 but if we walk in the Light as He Himself is in the Light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin. 1 John 1:8 If we say that we have no sin, we are deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar and His word is not in us. Here, we see we're all guilty of sin and like you mentioned, every day we're guilty at the very least of NOT doing all the good we can possibly think of. So what are we to do? I would refer to those verses that speak to the "practice" of sin. If we're living our lives on a continuing basis, repeating our sins over and over again with no real intent of repenting and giving up those sins of commission or omission, that's where we run into trouble. We MUST make it a part of our routine, at least on a daily basis of repenting of our sins that day and asking for forgiveness so as to stay in good fellowship with our God and our His family here on earth. Hope this helps. Blessings to you. Country Girl |
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