Results 601 - 620 of 802
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Wild Olive Shoot Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
601 | Regarding earlier post (thread) 156868 | 2 Tim 2:25 | Wild Olive Shoot | 158415 | ||
Call it what you may, I know what it is and so do you. WOS |
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602 | Regarding earlier post (thread) 156868 | 2 Tim 2:25 | Wild Olive Shoot | 158412 | ||
Pay close attention to the last Mark, for it seems you are beyond the point of simply trying to be helpful or uplifting. I sense, and have for some time, that you’re posting simply to stir dissension. If I’m wrong, I’m wrong. Proverbs 6:16-19 (NIV) 16 There are six things the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers. WOS |
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603 | Does sin prove one is not a believer? | 1 Cor 6:9 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157976 | ||
You state: "I suggest each and every one of you to go back to the beginning, read the Bible through from Gen. to Rev. paying special close attention to every place this subject is mentioned." Very sound advice and some that I will take. But I believe I'm bound to come to the same conclusion. Christ Himself stated that once we believe we would not parish. I'm not one to call Christ a liar. Eternal is forever. For God to grant us eternal life and then take it away due to some sin we commit, well, then its not eternal is it. Somehow, we should learn that God is more than capable of keeping His, regardless of how important we think we are and how much damage we believe we can do to God's perfect plan. Nothing compares to Him. Not you, not I. WOS |
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604 | Does sin prove one is not a believer? | 1 Cor 6:9 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157972 | ||
You say: "God is the God of justice as well as the God of love. Where is the justice of condeming someone for something they haven't done yet? May not even do when the time comes? What has happened to freedom of choice now?" I'd have to ask; what happened to an all knowing God? There isn't any "may not" with God. He knows the sins that will be committed and in Christ we have forgiveness for those. It's not that difficult. WOS |
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605 | Does sin prove one is not a believer? | 1 Cor 6:9 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157954 | ||
Philippians 1:6 John 6:39 John 17:12 2 Corinthians 1:21-22 1 Peter 1:3-5 1 John 4:4 John 10:27-30 John 3:16 Titus 3:7 In case we don't know what eternal means, it means forever, never ending, once we have it, we have it always. WOS I didn't quote anybody. |
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606 | Does sin prove one is not a believer? | 1 Cor 6:9 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157917 | ||
David24597, You ask: “What difinitive evidence do you have from scripture alone that states the saved can not fall again into a state of being "unsaved" (for lack of a better word).” John 10:27, 28 Romans 14:4 2Timothy 1:12 Jude 1:24 Below is from Lewis Sperry Chafer: God has not only revealed Himself as Creator and Lord of all, but it has pleased Him to give the most minute and exact assurance of His ability to do for His child that which He purposed in the ages past. Speaking of what He would have us know, it is said: "And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly (Eph 1:19, 20). "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any (created thing) pluck them out of my hand" (Jhn 10:27, 28). This is true of "my sheep." No power created is sufficient to pluck them out of His hand. Even the "free will" of the sheep cannot, and will not, bring him to the point of perishing. "Who are thou that judgest another man's servant? to his own master he standeth or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up: for God is able to make him stand" (Rom 14:4). "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him (guard my deposit) against that day" (2Ti 1:12). "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling (stumbling) and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy" (Jud 1:24). Such is the testimony of the Holy Spirit concerning the sufficient power of God for the believer's eternal keeping. – Lewis Sperry Chafer Not only is it revealed that God is disposed to keep the one whom He has saved, but the true child of God is also a gift of the Father to the Son (Jhn 10:29; 17:6, 9, 11) and has been committed to the keeping power of the Father by the prayer of the Son. "Holy Father keep." That prayer will be answered. Thus it may be concluded that should the saved one be lost, the eternal purpose of God will have been thwarted. Admitting this, it must be concluded that He Who can design a universe whose remotest star shall not deviate by a second from its appointments throughout the ages; Who can plan the universe from the highest arch-angel to the marvelous organism of the smallest insect; Whose purpose has never yet been known to fail—that such a God may be defeated by the mere creature His hands have made. If the saved one is finally lost, it must also be concluded that God is, to that degree, lacking in power. He Who has testified that not one of His sheep will ever perish, must yet retract His bold assertions and humbly submit to a power that is greater than His own. He Who created and holds the universe in His hands; Who calls things that are not as though they were; Who could speak the word and dismiss every atom of matter and life from existence forever must retire before the over-lordship of some creature of His hand. And, lastly, admitting the revelation concerning God's eternal purpose and His infinite power to accomplish that purpose, if it could still be proven that the saved one might be lost we would be shut up to the one and final conclusion that it could be so only because the All-powerful God did not sufficiently care to keep those whom His power had created as new-born children. But what do we find? The revelation is full of testimony concerning that very care. Who can measure the revealed devotion of His boundless love toward the objects of His saving grace? Who will dare claim that He will not answer the prayer of His Son? – Lewis Sperry Chafer Chafer, Lewis Sperry. "Chapter Eleven: The Eternal Security of the Believer, Part 2." Salvation. Blue Letter Bible. 10 May 2004. 31 May 2005. http://www.blueletterbible.org/Comm/lewis_chafer/salvation/ WOS |
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607 | Holy Thought and Corrupt Behavior? | Luke 11:28 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157506 | ||
According to Scripture, can holy thought and corrupt behavior coexist in a believer? WOS |
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608 | The Contented Man | Heb 13:5 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157263 | ||
Doc, Thank you for the response Brother. So you say; “Complacency, in my opinion, is often a cover for laziness.” Isn’t that the truth! That was I for so long and even to an extent now. I had contentment in my salvation in that mere fact that I had it. I had no commitment or desire to know God beyond that. Malachi was a wake up call for me. Thank God he placed a desire within me to know Him and His word and to put forth the effort to do so. I am content with what I have. Knowing it all comes from God anyhow and is His to take should He desire. (Job 1:21) I’m satisfied being a caretaker. My desire for more, however covetousness, is directed toward my children. I have within me the want for them to have an easier life than I. That is something I personally deal with. I am grateful that I’ll have the opportunity to provide spiritual guidance, so to speak, something I did not have when I was young. That is more than I could ever provide them within and from a worldly perspective and I know that will suffice, but yet the drive is to give them a head start on what the world will throw at them. I thank you again for your response. You say; “We should have a continuous hunger for the things of God (Psalm 42:1). We should be willing to give up everything, to obtain the Kingdom of God (Matthew 13:44). Indeed, we should be "violent" in the pursuit of it (Matthew 11:12).” I say; Amen! I do hope there are others who will take a moment and share their view as well. WOS |
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609 | The Contented Man | Heb 13:5 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157217 | ||
Doc, How fine is the line, do you think, between contentment (with what we have) and complacency (with what we should desire spiritually)? How often do you think one takes contentment in the worldly realm and transforms it into complacency, spiritually speaking? Just thought it would be interesting to get some perspectives from the forum on that. WOS |
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610 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157141 | ||
You state: “I don't find your definition in scripture as you state it. Do you have scripture to come to that conclusion or is that just something you have heard someone else say?” I believe I have already addressed that. You state: “Heb 11:1 What is the substance? What is the evidence? Define the who, what, when, where, how and why of faith by God's written word.” What evidence my friend? That’s what faith is. We can’t see the evidence. You miss the whole concept of “1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see.” I don’t have to further define it. I accept God’s definition of faith. Why do you not? You ask: Who is Love? Who is light? Check it out in I John 4:8, I John 1:5 . Would you now say love is just an attribute, quality or an element? Would you now say light is just an attribute, quality or an element? Did the Apostle John just make this up?” You are getting off track. Let’s stick to faith and grace and equating them to the Godhead for right now. You confuse yourself attempting to bring a bunch of other elements into the conversation that truly need to be addressed elsewhere. You ask: Is this God's word ? Who and what are you going to believe. What you have known before by your religious training, or what the written word of God says?” Of course I believe God’s word, but I only accept as He dictated, not adulterated and used out of context. You state: “No one can diminish God or his office, that's impossible. Nothing any human being can say or do will ever change God.” I agree, but men attempt to do it everyday. You do it with what you have posted in this thread when you haphazardly throw God’s word into a ball of confusion and attempt to state what isn’t there to begin with. You stated: “Nothing has been added to God's word, it still reads the same way it always has. Any explanations of understanding is in paranthesis, not adding to or deleting from God's word including your own understandings. Were they added to God's word?” I added nothing to God’s word. You on the other hand have. Let me recap for you: “He doesn't just have faith, he is faith” “God is grace, Jesus is Faith which produces peace” “God's word is God's faith” Did you not state these things? Have you shown me in God’s word where he stated these things? You ask: “What is the strong meat spoken of in Heb 5:13-14? Is that just an attribute of something or a metaphore, or a proverb, something laid down beside something else to bring fuller understanding to a person?” Brother, one of the things this passage is enlightening us with is our ability to discern between the correct and incorrect use of Scripture. I’m sorry, but you are using it incorrectly. You stated: “Since wisdom (i.e. the wise) were mentioned, this gift has not passed away.” I really don’t understand the relevance of this. I never stated the gifts have ceased, only that they will and Paul attested to that. You claim: “I was not equating the gifts of the Spirit, to God the Father, nor was I focusing on the attributes of the Father and the Son. They provide everything..if I understand correctly...” Do I need to recap again? You quoted: “Acts 17:31 Because he has appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by THAT MAN whom he has ordained; whereof he has given assurance unto all men, in that he has raised him from the dead...” And then stated: “Sounds like Jesus is that (man) which is perfect that is to come. I Cor 13:10” I don’t disagree. But as the passage clearly points out, there will be a time before our Lord returns where only Faith, Hope and Love will exist. The text is clear. God’s word is clear. You state: “Jesus is the gift sent of God for mankinds benefit in every area of life. John 3:16” And the point of that reference in this discussion is what? That has never been questioned. You claimed also in post #157105 that I twisted the word of God when you stated: “How can you twist the scripture to say it is a person other than God who said that?” You have yet to point out exactly what it was I twisted. If I did, the proper thing to do is to retract and offer an apology. I hope you will extend that opportunity to me. You fail to move me brother with what you have claimed. As I claimed before, now I do reinforce, I’ll end this unfruitful debate. In peace and may God truly reveal His word to you. WOS |
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611 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157140 | ||
C.S.M., Forgive me, for my curiosity got the better of me and I did finish reading your post. Before I depart from this discussion, I feel I must address some of your unfair claims against me. I really don’t know what you are debating. My disagreement as stated in my post was this: From post # 157108 You said: “I say Jesus is the source, the developer, and the finisher of mankinds faith. He doesn't just have faith, he is faith, the source of all faith from God the Father.” I said: “Jesus Christ cannot be faith. Paul points out that faith is temporal. Christ is eternal. How can one be the other? Faith is clearly a spiritual gift as pointed out in 1 Corinthians 12:9.” You also stated that God is grace and Jesus is faith in another post that was not part of this thread, post #157084: you said: “God is grace, Jesus is Faith which produces peace.” Then in another post you stated that God’s word is His faith, as is God requires faith, post #157074 you said: “Since the just must live by faith, and Jesus said you live by every word of God. God's word is God's faith.” I debate all of these as being unsupported by God’s own word. Before I venture into answering you questions yet again, let’s look at what I disagree with. You claim Jesus is faith, God is grace and God’s word is God’s faith. Why would God need faith. God knows all. God’s own definition of faith is Hebrews 11:1Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. So tell me what does God hope for? What is it that God cannot see? Why do you think God needs faith? Yes He is the source of our faith but he needs not faith. Like you have stated, God can call into existence anything He desires out of nothing. So why do you find it hard to believe that God can give us faith without Himself having it? Secondly, you claim Jesus is faith but have failed to provide the Scripture that supports that. Faith is a gift from God. As pointed out, gifts, with the exception of love, will not endure forever. We know Christ will endure forever. So how can Christ be faith? Again, sine faith is a gift, its source is God, but faith is established in Christ, Christ is not faith. God is grace? Grace is God’s free and unmerited favor toward sinful humanity. My definition is a paraphrase of this but is essentially the same. This definition can be found in any Bible Dictionary or concordance, yet you struggle with it as being factual, dismissing it as something I heard someone say. Yes, I heard God say it in His word. So again, point me to the Scripture that identifies God as being grace. God surely does give us His grace, but He is not grace. Now to address specifically your questions and statement in this post: You ask: “why do you reject God's clearly stated definition of grace in Eph 1:6 as his acceptance of believers in the beloved? You do agree he is talking about Christ Jesus, the beloved, don't you?” I believe my definition is accurate to that Scripture and yes He has given us grace because of His Son Jesus. I don’t deny that, but that does not define grace. You are surely mistaken if you think it does. It explains why God has given us His grace. Continued in next post… |
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612 | Assisted Suicide Versus Research | Deut 32:39 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157135 | ||
Doc, I wish I could take the credit but I believe I may have posted that improperly. What is posted at the beginning is from Dr. Raymond G. Bohlin and his position on the subject, which I happen to agree with and support. I don’t want to mislead anyone. Dr. Bohlin’s entire article can be seen at http://www.leaderu.com/orgs/probe/docs/euthanas.html. My contribution was ever so small as I only inserted the excerpt from the Hippocratic Oath and below. Forgive me if a mislead anyone. I’ll make sure I post in a manner to properly credit the person responsible from this point on. WOS |
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613 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157131 | ||
C.S.M., I refuse to debate this any further with you. I have provided answers, clearly supported by God's word, unadulterated. You have not brother. You continue to read into God's word something that is neither there nor supported. As far as I am concerned, this conversation is over. I've done all I can to correct your equating the Godhead with their gifts and diminishing their offices. I will not continue to explain again and again from where my definitions are derived when I have clearly shown they are supported by God’s own word. Your attempt to run me in circles has surely failed, for I am clear on what God’s word instructs and what His Holy Spirit has taught. As a matter of fact, I discontinued even reading your last post because I'm sure, like the others in this thread, it uses God's word out of context and will prove to be unfruitful. Peace to you brother. WOS |
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614 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157122 | ||
“Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away. When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity” (1Cor 13:8-13). In 1Co 13:13 we read, “And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” Concerning “charity” Paul had already said, “Charity never faileth” (1Co 13:8). The word “abideth” means to “remain” or “continue.” When Paul said that prophecies would “fail” and special knowledge by revelation would “vanish away,” he used a Greek word that meant to be “abolished” or “cease.” He did not mean that the prophecies would fail to come to pass or be true, but that the gift of prophecy would cease in the church. The fact that charity (love of God) is the only gift that will never fail, tells us that there will be a time in which all of the gifts are in existence. There will be another time when the three; faith, hope and charity are in existence. Then finally when charity by itself will be in existence. This is proven by the definitions that the Bible gives concerning both of these gifts. Concerning faith, we read in the book of Hebrews, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen” (Heb 11:1). When Jesus comes, I will see him for myself and will no longer need to see Him through the eyes of faith. I realize that it may be argued that the disciples had faith when they were with Christ at His first coming; but at that time he came as a humble servant and many, especially the religious leaders of Israel, rejected Him as the Messiah. When He comes in glory there will be no question as to who He is. When God’s people are glorified with Him the need for faith will have come to an end. Concerning hope we read, “For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it” (Rom 8:24-25). The second coming of Jesus is that blessed hope. When Christ comes for me my hope will be realized and brought to fruition. At that time, when I see Him and I am with Him, I will only need the love of God for all eternity. These verses tell us that the time of faith, hope and charity in the church age must be before the Lord returns for His people. This means that tongues, prophecy and special knowledge will be done away with before the return of Christ. Now, when is that time? Paul is telling us in his epistle to the Corinthians when that point in time will be. It is when “that which is perfect is come” (1Co 13:10). No wonder Paul said, “Now abideth, faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.” I know many interpret “that which is perfect” to be the coming of Jesus Christ and His millennial kingdom; but as we have just pointed out, the three gifts of faith, hope and charity must exist by themselves before His coming. And not only that, but also the word “that” suggests a thing and not a person. Why don’t we let the Bible itself tell us what is the meaning of “that which is perfect.” According to the lexicon, the word perfect in the King James Version comes from a Greek word meaning: “brought to its end, finished; wanting nothing necessary to completeness; full grown, adult, of full age, mature.” Now ask yourself, what was completed in this age before the Lord’s return? Well, again, why don’t we let the Bible tell us. In 1 Corinthians 13:11 we read, “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” This verse is immediately after the verse that mentions, “that which is perfect” which shows us that Paul means exactly what the lexicon says concerning the word “perfect.” And what were the childish things that Paul had in mind that would be put away when that which is perfect or complete had come? Well, it should be obvious to any reader that he was speaking of the early gifts of tongues, prophecy and special revelation knowledge given to the members of the infant church during the apostolic age. http://www.geocities.com/Heartland/Grove/3718/tongues.html WOS |
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615 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157121 | ||
Grace is God’s forgiving mercy, His kindness, His freely bestowing upon me His gift of salvation. God is not grace. Yes He is the source, but he is not grace. I believe I have thoroughly defined faith as God has. Christ is not faith. Our faith is in Christ. Again, grace and faith are not persons. To refer to God as grace and Christ as faith is to add to God’s word. Something that God himself had warned us not to do. By focusing on attributes of the Father and the Son, and what they provide us, and equating them to the gifts they provide is to diminish their office. They, yes they, are even greater than the gifts they bestow upon us, therefore, they cannot be equated to those gifts. WOS |
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616 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157120 | ||
My definition of faith is God's definition, straight from His word as revealed in Hebrews 11:1 brother. I don't add to it, I don't take away from it. WOS |
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617 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157109 | ||
C.S.M., When did faith and grace become part of the Godhead? I must have missed that when God revealed it to us in His Word. Can you point that out to me please? I worship in faith. I’m saved because of God’s grace. Faith and grace are not persons. The Father and the Son are. Why is that so difficult for you to understand? WOS |
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618 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157108 | ||
C.S.M., I would have to disagree with your statement: “I say Jesus is the source, the developer, and the finisher of mankinds faith. He doesn't just have faith, he is faith, the source of all faith from God the Father.” Jesus Christ cannot be faith. Paul points out that faith is temporal. Christ is eternal. How can one be the other? Faith is clearly a spiritual gift as pointed out in 1 Corinthians 12:9. 1 Corinthians 12 7Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good. 8To one there is given through the Spirit the message of wisdom, to another the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by that one Spirit, 10to another miraculous powers, to another prophecy, to another distinguishing between spirits, to another speaking in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and he gives them to each one, just as he determines. Sp on your logic, Christ is merely a spiritual gift? The Spiritual gifts will not last forever, Christ will. Faith will not last forever, Christ will. By the way, can you please let me know exactly where it was I twisted the words of God? If you can do that I’ll retract the statement. Clearly C.S.M., you fail to understand what faith is. Clearly, for some reason, you have faith and Christ mixed together as if they are the same. I worship Christ. Do you worship faith? Sorry brother but you seem very confused to me. WOS |
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619 | ehesians2vs8 | Eph 2:8 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157098 | ||
Does God have Faith? “Kenneth Hagin, Kenneth Copeland, and other Word-Faith teachers have a brand new revelation, “God operates by faith.” And we, too, ought to exercise the same kind of faith that God exercised when He created the world. Well is this new revelation really biblical? There are only two prooftexts from the Bible which are used to prove that God exercises faith, and they don’t support this doctrine at all. The first is Mark 11:22, this tell us: “Have faith in God.” Well, grammatically this could be translated, “Have faith of God,” or, “Have God’s faith.” And therefore the Word-Faith teachers commonly say that we are to have “the God kind of faith.” However, this is clearly a mistake. You see, in Greek the grammatical form here means not “faith that God has” but “faith, that has God as its object.” In context Jesus is exhorting His disciples to have faith when they pray — in other words, when they ask God for things, they are to have faith in Him [Mark 11:23-24]. It’s always object oriented. The second prooftext, Hebrews 11:3, says that “by faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the Word of God.” The Word-Faith teachers here twist this to read that God by His faith created the world. In other words, God had to exercise faith in order to create the world. Again, this interpretation clearly is ruled out by the context. The whole chapter is talking about the faith exercised in God by human beings: “By faith Abel... By faith Enoch... By faith Noah... By faith Abraham... By faith Sarah...” [11:4,5,7,8,11], and so forth. The whole idea that God has faith is completely foreign to the Bible. Biblical faith is: human beings trusting in a God they cannot see, to do things that He has promised. God sees all and knows all from all eternity. So, God doesn’t need to have faith. And since God doesn’t need to have faith, the idea that we have to imitate God’s “faith” is clearly unbiblical. Remember, faith is always object oriented: Faith in God not faith of God. And if we mix that up, we have a faulty understanding of what true biblical faith really is. On the question of God having faith, that’s the CRI Perspective. I’m Hank Hanegraaff.” http://www.equip.org/free/CP1101.htm Why would God need faith if He knows all? WOS |
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620 | Assisted Suicide Versus Research | Deut 32:39 | Wild Olive Shoot | 157089 | ||
First, The Bible teaches that we are made in the image of God and therefore, every human life is sacred (Genesis 1:26). In Psalm 139:13-16 we learn that each of us is fearfully and wonderfully made. God himself has knit us together in our mother's womb. We must be very important to Him if He has taken such care to bring us into existence. Second, the Bible is very clear that God is sovereign over life, death and judgment. In Deuteronomy 32:39 The Lord says, "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me, I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand." Psalm 139:16 says that it is God who has ordained all of our days before there is even one of them. Paul says essentially the same thing in Ephesians 1:11. Third, to assist someone in committing suicide is to commit murder and this breaks God's unequivocal commandment in Exodus 20:13. Fourth, God's purposes are beyond our understanding. We often appeal to God as to why some tragedy has happened to us or someone we know. Yet listen to Job's reply to the Lord in Job 42:1-3: I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. [You asked,] 'Who is this that obscures My counsel without knowledge?' Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. We forget that our minds are finite and His is infinite. We cannot always expect to understand all of what God is about. To think that we can step in and declare that someone's life is no longer worth living is simply not our decision to make. Only God knows when it is time. In Isaiah 55:8-9 the Lord declares, "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts." Fifth, our bodies belong to God anyway. Paul reminds us in 1 Corinthians 6:15,19 that we are members of Christ's body and that we have been bought with a price. Therefore we should glorify God with our bodies. The only one to receive glory when someone requests doctor-assisted suicide is not God, not the doctor, not even the family but the patient for being willing to "nobly" face the realities of life and "unselfishly" end everyone else's misery. There is no glory for God in this decision. Lastly, suffering draws us closer to God. In light of the euthanasia controversy, listen to Paul's words from 2 Corinthians 1:8: We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired even of life. Indeed, in our hearts we felt the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. Not only does He raise the dead but there is nothing that can separate us from His love (Romans 8:38). -- Dr. Raymond G. Bohlin Dr. Thomas Beam, chairman of the Medical Ethics Commission of the Christian Medical and Dental Society points out, "While the act of physician-assisted suicide seems compassionate on the surface, it is often the abandonment of the patient in their most needy time. Instead of support, the patient may only find confirmation of the hopelessness of their condition and physician-assisted suicide is legitimized as the only 'way.'"(1) It is not terribly difficult to see how this circumstance would undermine the delicate relationship between a doctor and his patient. The following site has a very informative position paper concerning assisted suicide: http://www.bfl.org/assisted_suicide.htm Physicians are nowhere in Scripture given authority by God to take someone’s life. Apart from the government in the case of capital punishment, all other human beings are given the commandment “Thou shalt not kill,” Exodus 20:13 and “Thou shalt do no murder,” Matthew 19:18. -- Pastor Art Kohl Often those in favor of euthanasia use the words “mercy” and “compassion” as their argument. The Scriptures authorize man to treat the pain but do not authorize taking the life of the dying. Proverbs 31:6, “Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts.” Today we have many drugs and painkillers that help relieve some pain as strong drink did in Solomon’s day. -- Pastor Art Kohl Excerpt from Hippocratic Oath: “I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel; and in like manner I will not give to a woman a pessary to produce abortion. The above are only a few items to keep in mind when discussing assisted suicide. For whatever reason God has decided to equip man with the knowledge of medicine, it should in all cases be used for His glory. In the end it is not the physicians that heal, it is God. Physicians are simply instruments. Instruments that God will use for whatever He purposes in accordance with His sovereignty. My opinion. WOS |
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