Results 441 - 460 of 562
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Results from: Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
441 | What can we do to have salvation | NT general Archive 1 | Rowdy | 114308 | ||
I have to disagree with you and say that our God is not One to repeat Himself unnecessarily. Once, our God says something, even when it's just one single time, that's enough IF that's what He chooses to do. After all, He literally spoke the whole universe into existance with just a few words and only one time. Can we expect more? How could we possibly expect to be treated differently. We're human, His creation. So, what's our conclusion to draw from this kind of discussion. I can only think of one single conclusion. Just like my dear Dad told me: "I don't like to repeat myself, when I tell you something to do, I just want to see you do it." Yes, he was a little harsh sometimes but he got his point across. Now are we going to tell our Holy Creator how to present His terms and conditions for His gift of salvation? How can we even think such a thing. If God says one single command, clear and without any ambiguity AND it applies to us as His modern children in this dispensation, "as for me and my house, we'll obey God" and thank Him for it. I appreciate your posing this question and God bless. |
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442 | What can we do to have salvation | NT general Archive 1 | Rowdy | 114306 | ||
As you may have gathered from my profile and some of my posts, I like to think I'm a little more conservative than the average participant on the Forum. Thus I pick and choose my battles. I grow weary of this debate as so many others have mentioned but I'll "stand pat" on my same ole position and reiterate the question: "Do our Forum participants want to be certain of their salvation and enter the Judgment Bar of God on that fateful day with full confidence?" Then I would recommend that we obey ALL of God's commands and be "baptized for the remission of our sins." Again, I ask do we see that phrase linked with any other step in the salvation process? Even if someone comes up with some verse that does link another step with that concept, it merely makes that step of salvation equal to the importance of baptism. Again, I grow weary of doing this kind of battle and I'm going to sign off this subject, at least for a little while and let you have the last word. I'm convinced those that need to see these words of truth will see them upon seaching the topic. But I do wish for God to bless you and all participants on this wonderful Forum. |
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443 | Is it sin to smoke a cigarette? | Is 44:1 | Rowdy | 114266 | ||
I'll let you have the last word. God bless. | ||||||
444 | What can we do to have salvation | NT general Archive 1 | Rowdy | 114265 | ||
I must admit, my dear Hank, I am a little surprised at you. You bring up one of the most famous examples of conversion to Christianity in the whole Bible and leave out the two last verses. There the Phillipian jailer and his family were baptized in response to Gospel being presented to them. Surely you can see that it was sometime late at night for they needed lights to see and yet they took the time to be baptized. How can anyone interpret this story any other way IF your goal is to be certain and meet Judgment Day with absolute full confidence? I just wanted to tell "the rest of the story." Keep studying friend and God bless. |
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445 | Is it sin to smoke a cigarette? | Is 44:1 | Rowdy | 114248 | ||
I agree it's a conclusion that is drawn from God's Word on my part. But I do think it is a solid conclusion, one that is in agreement with the vast majority of christians, especially those who know their Bibles. BUT I don't want to cause a large controversy over this. I'm satisfied that those on the Forum who needed these words of encouragement and truth will get them from the few posts as cited. Believe it or not, I'm not striving to add or take anything away from God's Word. I'm just like you and the rest of those participating on this Forum. Yes, I too have my weaknesses and they're probably too many for a christian of my age and my background. But I think we all have to recognize the tremendous gift of grace from God above. But in order to qualify for that gift on a daily basis, we have to maintain a constant relationship with God and let him know through prayer that we really do intend to reform or repent from our sins every day. Now, don't get me wrong. When and if we give up on God for a period of time, it's easy to get back in His family and ask God's family for forgiveness, encouragement and support. This tenuious relationship with God is fragile only because we as humans have a difficult time being truly faithful. Again, we need to keep uppermost in our minds it's only by the Grace of God that any of us make it to Heaven. I hope this makes my position clear and God bless. Thanks for your post. |
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446 | What about "The Passion of the Christ"? | Luke 24:14 | Rowdy | 114231 | ||
I did a little more study on this topic and would like to add another short supplemental post to that above. This area of Christianity is NOT talked about and practiced very much throughout the brotherhood but I'm afraid it's clear from God's Word that He expects us to be doing it. What am I talking about? Inspecting each other's fruit. Now, we are most certainly NOT to judge one another but we are expected to love our fellow christians enough to be concerned about their growth and maturity in the Lord. First of all, let me cite some passages and these are only a few. If you put any Bible search engine to work, you'll come up with many more but these are some of the best toward my point. Col 1:10, Tit 3:14, Heb 13:15, Jam 3:17-18, 2 Pet 1:8 So after thoughtful and careful consideration of these passages, one must conclude that yes, indeed our Lord expects us to encourage each other with love and genuine concern so that we are motivated to seek out a ministry and put our talents to good use for our Lord and Savior. All I'm saying after several years of being a christian, we should expect it of ourselves and our fellow family members to start putting to practice what we preach. Get out in the world and be that Light for God. Some people never even open their Bible, much less study and find out how to get into God's family. To those kind of folks, you and I must be the representation of God's Word to them. We must show them what we stand for and why; we SHOULD do this with genuine love and enthusiasim for their soul's sake. This is part of the commission of sharing the Gospel with the world. Well, I said short and once again I deceived myself; once I get cranked up it's tough to stop. Anyway, just wanted to share and God bless. |
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447 | Life of Philip the evangelist? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 114197 | ||
Going with the original question in the initial post, "What does the life of Philip the evangelist teach us?" The overall most important lesson I get from Philip's example (his life) is the fact that he was ready and willing to serve in whatever capacity he was needed. He succeeded initially in small things, apparently was effective and was given bigger responsibilities and executed them in great style. So we should strive to be the same way. I for one readily admit I find this tough to do. My natural inclination is to think up excuses as to why I can't do something new for my Lord. I start thinking of all that I'm already doing, my job, my marriage, my personal time. And then I see something like that wonderful movie, The Passion and I feel ashamed. How about some of you folks? What does the life of Philip mean to you? God bless. |
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448 | Is it sin to smoke a cigarette? | Is 44:1 | Rowdy | 114193 | ||
I provide scriptures to support my statement and you criticize. I make statements w/o scriptures and you criticize. I'm confused. Why don't you take a second look at my posts on this subject and present a logical statement that clearly OPPOSES the overall sentiment of my post. I do hope you're going to be a little more objective to my participation on this Forum. But as always I pray God blesses you with patience and tolerance for your fellow man and our weaknesses. Let me "hear" from you. Thanks. |
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449 | What about "The Passion of the Christ"? | Luke 24:14 | Rowdy | 114169 | ||
While I agree with most of the sentiment of your post, I'd like to remind you and everyone I was merely saying the lack of interest in that area from a christian might give cause for "wonder" to his closest friends. A close christian friend should feel free to be a loving brother enough to confirm their joint love for our Lord. If we were to practice that kind of close, personal relationship with our fellow christians, there would be a lot less fighting and arguing. What do you think? God bless. | ||||||
450 | Is it sin to smoke a cigarette? | Is 44:1 | Rowdy | 114167 | ||
Naturally, I'm assuming your post is directed to me instead of Gratefully Dead, as it contains most of the words from my post. (For future reference, it helps if you click on the post of whom you are directing your reply. But no harm done.) I realize that the Bible doesn't come out clearly and specifically condemn smoking per sae. But it is very clear that it is condemned by God so you see it's not I that is condemning this act, it's God. I'm merely allowing God's true light of truth shine through me just Peter and John when they were told by city officials to hush their preaching; what did they say? "Who are we to obey men or God?" We can and should do no more and no less. In reference to the other points of your message, I don't agree. God certainly does NOT condemn the consumption of alcohol IF it's not abused to excess. Same for any drug. The key here is moderation and what is it being used for. If for healing, good; if for an escape, not good at all. As I mentioned in my post, we should do all with complete faith as if we're doing a particular act in the actual physical prescence of God as that's the standard He'll be judging us. And of course no one can possibly defend any of these kind of abusive activities under such a standard. Now, please don't misunderstand. I know several members in my own congregation who are battling that awful monster of tobacco as you are. Their prayer is to get away from it but they slip up and give in ocassionally. That's where God's grace kicks in and covers us as His children. As long as we're sincerely trying our best to stay in God's good graces and beg forgiveness from Him through prayer when we fall short, His grace covers for our sins. I hope this is clear and God richest blessings on you. |
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451 | What about "The Passion of the Christ"? | Luke 24:14 | Rowdy | 114093 | ||
You make a very good point. I guess I hadn't considered that particular angle. Thanks for the reminder and God bless. | ||||||
452 | what is the history of Moses? | Exodus | Rowdy | 114092 | ||
Amen!! There's no substitute for digging this kind of information out yourself. You'll appreciate the product far better when you do the work. I know, I've done it both ways. That way, you'll be able to post a specific question for us to deal with. As you may have noticed, some of us are long winded and "talk" about a particular subject for quite a bit but this Forum is not ideally suited for something as long as what you've asked for. You might consider looking for and purchasing a Bible with brief outlines in the front of each book and/or a commentary on the bottom half of every page. I have such a Bible in my home and carry it to worship assembly every time the doors are open. God bless. |
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453 | Is it sin to smoke a cigarette? | Is 44:1 | Rowdy | 114084 | ||
I realize Paul's instructions to the Corinthians is about sexual immorality but it sets a basic principle about our bodes in general. 1 Cor 6:18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a man commits are outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. If you'll check with any reformed ex-smoker or ex-drug user, they'll all tell you the same thing. That "stuff" in the human body becomes a monster, controlling your every waking moment. Indeed to most, it becomes a god so it most CERTAINLY IS a sin in our Father's eyes. I know this subject so well, not through experience as I have taken a few puffs of a cirgaret once in my life, many decades ago but my father was addicted and he's told me many times about how bad it got and the after affects to this day. If this is not enough, read again the scriptures below and tell me you can all in good conscience tell us that you'll be able to meet God at Judgment Day with a cirgaret in your hands or in your mouth. Yes, I know these verses are about eating but don't you see the folks in the 1st century didn't know anything about smoking tobacco. They did know about drinking alcohol to excess and that is also condemned so again the principle is quite clear. Rom 14:22 The faith which you have, have as your own conviction before God. Happy is he who does not condemn himself in what he approves. 23 But he who doubts is condemned if he eats, because his eating is not from faith; and whatever is not from faith is sin. Please, I would beg you, DON'T give encouragement to anyone who is hooked on this junk and let him think God won't hold them accountable. We need to help educate people like this and love their souls enough to tell them the truth. I do hope you'll reconsider. There are far more damaging, long term effects than just the image you mentioned. God bless you in your study. |
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454 | Why did God wait to send the Holy Spirit | Joel 2:28 | Rowdy | 114017 | ||
I don't really have any answers to your question. As I've stated in my profile and in some of my posts, I've spent a lifetime in studying God's Word and maybe a little bit of human behavior. Over the years I have noticed some trends in the way God and humans interact now and in the way they acted in the OT. I may have drawn some conclusions but I think they seem to have a "ring of truth." Like I mentioned I don't really have any real answers that neatly address your specific question. Who could possibly fully describe why God does now and why He did things the way He did in the OT. I assume you've already read my previous posts on this subject in which I depicted a number of strange and unusal actions on the part of our Lord. So, the standard cop-out almost anyone gives at this point is to cite the fact that God's thoughts are far, far above ours and we'll just have to wait until Judgment Day to ask God Himself. God bless. |
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455 | StudyBibleForum or MyOpinionForum? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113965 | ||
Ed, I'm going to bow out at least for the moment and let you respond to Hank, IF you wish to. I think Hank knows my position and how I feel about the whole situation. Hank, no hard feelings on my side. I can see and I'm certain you and a lot of others have quite a bit invested in this Forum, and rightly so. It is a great medium through which great minds with a wide spectrum of maturity and knowledge can exchange ideas and build on those discussions. God bless you in this, your ministry to the Lord. |
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456 | What are dispensations? | Col 2:14 | Rowdy | 113963 | ||
I'm afraid I have to pony up to that reference. There I was trying to distinguish between the two most basic dispensations by citing the cross in the middle. At least for us on this side of the cross, the OT has no authority. HOWEVER, I have great respect for the OT and consider It an incredibly valuable tool in understanding the NT. To me Paul's letter to the Colossians made this very clear. Also the following scriptures are quite helpful: Rom 8:2-4, Eph 2:11-18 and Heb 10. God bless. |
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457 | StudyBibleForum or MyOpinionForum? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113947 | ||
I really appreciate the overall total sentiment of your message. I agree, I think there's room on the Forum for all of us. That's one of the great benefit of being family or a team. It takes the whole team to cover the field, both in sports and in any endeavor that's worthwhile. I think we all need to appreciate each other. God gave some to be teachers, and some to be prophets...Thanks be to God, he gave some the talent to be good at research, some at memorization and others good at philosophy. Of course I'm leaving several talents out of this picture but you get the idea of what I'm saying. I really need to hush now and just say Thanks. God bless. |
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458 | StudyBibleForum or MyOpinionForum? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113885 | ||
With my comment about the recent innovation on chapters and verses, I'm just trying to remind everyone that we really need to study God's Word and like you're saying, that process is a very, very dynamic process. Thanks for the encouragement. I'll try to "clean up my act," study a little harder and try to quote more scriptures. I agree it is a good habit, just tough for me to do. I do love what this Forum represents as I like to think only the best of the best of God's people come here to read and exchange their views. God bless. |
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459 | Personification seen in Judas | Prov 28:17 | Rowdy | 113878 | ||
That's one of the wonderful things we marvel at in the Bible: the number of contrasts. Judas vs Peter. Both had their weaknesses and stumbled. One killed himself after betraying the Son of God and the other is given the keys to the Kingdom of God and preaches the first Gospel sermon. Saul vs David. Both had a special appointment from the Holy Spirit. Saul gave into temptation and followed his own judgment, violating God's. David did the same, give into lust, committed murder but repents and became "a man after God's heart" and became one of Israel's greatest kings. Yes, we have a similar contrast going on in all of us. The same struggle as reflected by Paul in Rom 7. We all face the struggles of life and all the temptations that go with it. The big question for us every day is "How do we deal with these struggles, with or without God's help?" I'm glad you saw the movie. It's great. I'm looking forward to adding the DVD to our library. God bless. |
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460 | Why did God wait to send the Holy Spirit | Joel 2:28 | Rowdy | 113863 | ||
I'll take a shot at answering your questions if I may. First of all, I don't believe the Holy Spirit works in our lives to a miraculous degree, at least not nearly as frequently and to the level of public viewing as He did in the timeframe of the Bible. But I do think he helps us avoid sin by strengthening our conscience and reminding us of what we've studied in God's Word. I've mentioned before in other posts; I believe any miracles in today's world is manifested directly from the Godhead to the recipient here on earth, with no 3rd party human participating other than by prayer. Second point is why Jesus' death ushered in this dispensation with the Holy Spirit involved in this way. I think we need to see God's plan for all of mankind much like we see our children grow and mature. When our children are very young, we start them out by having them pick up their toys and do very simple chores which have to be described in very specific terms, listing each task separately and follow up on them constantly. As these kids grow and mature, they take on more and more responsibilities and learn to do their chores, homework and other tasks that show them to be growing toward ultimate adulthood. Then they're finally out on their own like mine are now and very rarely do they need our advice and counsel. Our God sees His creation in the same way. He wants all mankind to grow up and get away from our addiction to this physcial world and actually learn to prefer thinking about and preparing ourselves for the next, the spiritual world. He's building our home in Heaven with that goal in mind. He started out in the Garden of Eden with a very personal one-on-one relationship with Adam and Eve. We all know where that went and we all do our part of that ruination every day, every hour of lives that we don't live perfectly like Christ Jesus. Next Jesus came to this earth to seek and save the lost, to show us the Way, the Truth and the Life. His Words sum it up best: when we see Christ through faith, we see the Father. Thus we learn instead of getting an "eye for an eye," we are to forgive our enemies and try to lead them to Christ by living an imitation of Christ. Now that Christ was made the perfect sacrifice and provided the perfect redemption plan to go back home to our Father, we must live that living sacrifice till He decides to take us to that home in Heaven. The perfect Assistant in this process is the Holy Spirit. As I've mentioned in other posts, He helped out much more prominently during the first century with miraculous powers bestowed on a select few, the Apostles and those onto whom they laid their hands. His main purpose in doing that was to confirm the fact that the words they spoke and the deeds they performed, the acts of worship they established had His seal of approval. Now that we have the Holy Scriptures, "completely furnished unto every good work," we don't need that close up support of miracles. We have historical documents, credible testimonies and archelogical artifacts proving the truth and the origin of the Bible as coming from the Holy Spirit. Basically in summary, again, our God wants us to graduate from this world of the finite, physical limitations and look forward to a world of the infinite and spiritual where God truly does rule everything. Here in this world, God allows the Devil to rule, at least in the hearts of mankind that don't want God in their lives. But in the next world, the Devil will be reduced to nothing just like all the rest of the world who reject God. So you see, that's why it took so long to send Jesus. God has His own time table; we can't rush it nor can we slow it down. We just say "Yes, Lord, your will be done." By the way, while He wants us to graduate to that next world, He also wants us to wait for His signal that we go; we DON'T get to choose. I hopes this helps. Good questions and God bless. |
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