Results 761 - 780 of 1003
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Rowdy Ordered by Date |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
761 | 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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762 | Life of Philip the evangelist? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 114062 | ||
Can you be a little more specific? Which particular aspect of Philip's life are you referring to? At the very least, why don't you specify a particular scripture? Thanks in advance and God bless. | ||||||
763 | Why not hide the tree before the fall? | Gen 3:3 | Rowdy | 114049 | ||
I'm not sure I get the connection between this latest question and the first one concerning the tree in the middle of the garden. At any rate, I'm not sure that I could really give you a good, useful answer to this question. I must admit your questions probably refers to one of the most guarded secrets of this whole planet. I'm sure all of mankind has been looking for this mysterious garden since this book of Gensis was written and made available to read. I don't have too much more to say about this subject but I would be much more interested in what you think about all these posts, mine and the others to your original question. I see you haven't updated your profile. Any chance of finding out more about you and your background. God bless. |
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764 | 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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765 | Why will no one answer my question? | Matt 5:19 | Rowdy | 114012 | ||
I'm afraid I too am dwarfed by all the scriptures and the overall size of your post. I'd like to boil it down to the main thrust of your subject heading. Is the OT valid or invalid? I'm not exactly certain what you mean by this word. The OT is certainly valid for study and understanding where we get the NT but it's most CERTAINLY NOT valid for authoritative guidance over and above the NT for the reasons I have already cited along with the scriptures as provided in my previous posts. I hope this clarifys my position. But just in case you need more proof: Col 2:13 When you were dead in your transgressions and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He made you alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our transgressions, 14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. 15 When He had disarmed the rulers and authorities, He made a public display of them, having triumphed over them through Him. 16 Therefore no one is to act as your judge in regard to food or drink or in respect to a festival or a new moon or a Sabbath day-- 17 things which are a mere shadow of what is to come; but the substance belongs to Christ. Notice especially verses 16-17. It seems pretty clear to me Paul is making an application of the point he just made in verse 14. Is there some other way to interpret this? I'd be interested in your response. God bless. |
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766 | No more priests? | Heb 7:11 | Rowdy | 114009 | ||
I think the verse you're looking for is cited above. The main theme throughout the book of Hebrews is the superiority of the new High Priest in Christ Jesus, compared to that of the previous Levite priesthood. | ||||||
767 | How do we know when we are hearing God? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113970 | ||
In addition to Aniset's good, well-thought-out message, there are other scriptures most useful, like: Acts 17:10 As soon as it was night, the brothers sent Paul and Silas away to Berea. On arriving there, they went to the Jewish synagogue. 11Now the Bereans were of more noble character than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true. and 1 Jn 4:1 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit[1] of truth and the spirit of falsehood. but the best is 1 Tim 4:1 The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron. 3They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth. 4For everything God created is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5because it is consecrated by the word of God and prayer. 6If you point these things out to the brothers, you will be a good minister of Christ Jesus, brought up in the truths of the faith and of the good teaching that you have followed. 7Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives' tales; rather, train yourself to be godly. 8For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come. 9This is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance 10(and for this we labor and strive), that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. So what's the bottom line: there's no short-cuts, no substitute for studying God's Word and being in a constant state of prayer. I'm sure you'll get various opinions on this subject but I and a lot of other people don't believe you're going to get a great revelation. God is done with giving special one-on-one revelations to single people and let them be prophets to the modern. God sent the very best of the best (His Son) so why should He send anyone else. But I do think the Holy Spirit will reinforce what you read and study if you're truly open minded to His Word. I think the correct answers will come to you if you'll seek them out diligently. I hope this helps and God bless you in your diligent perseverance. |
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768 | 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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769 | 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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770 | 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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771 | Strict Observance of Bible Versions? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113945 | ||
You probably know the scripture above as well as anyone on the Forum, at least I'm sure you know of it. Anyway, I have full confidence after a lifetime of 50 years, under the influence of 3 generations of christians, and Bible study, that it is truly God's Word. Yes, it's been through dozens of translations, paraphrasing and other abuses. I've done a little studying of the evidence and the whole subject of manuscripts supporting the Bible. In my opinion, all of us have sufficient reason to believe strongly that God's Word, the sum total of all the translations is almost 99 percent just like God intended it for us. The few differences you see between the different versions are almost miniscule and most of those differences reflect the subtleties of grammar between the different languages. I suppose you've already heard about the dead sea scrolls in middle eastern caves just a few decades ago. In one of the scrolls, they discovered a very old 1st century version of Isaiah. Bible scholars compared this scroll to the modern version of the same book and an incredibly small number of discrepancies was discovered. Like I mentioned, most of those minor discrepancies are small items of grammar. When one considers the tremendous span of time and the thousands of men as translators doing their thing, you begin to appreciate the tremendous amount of protection from the hand of God. I don't know exactly the word changes to which you're referring, but there are some versions of the Bible better than others. The two best versions in my opinion are the New King James and the New American Standard. As a last ditch effort to help you, I'll refer you to apologeticspress.com. There Dr. Bert Thompson does a fantastic job providing evidences proving many different aspects of Christianity, including the Bible as God's Word. I hope this helps and I'll pray for you and your husband. God bless. |
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772 | Did God know they would sin? | Genesis | Rowdy | 113898 | ||
You might be interested in looking at my post no. 111933. Naturally, this kind of question is going to get you quite a bit of opinion so let me know what you think. God bless. | ||||||
773 | What are dispensations? | Col 2:14 | Rowdy | 113887 | ||
I don't think the actual word dispensation is in the more traditional versions of the Bible. It might be in the Amplified, didn't check there. However, Webster's defines it as follows: 1) a general state or ordering of thing, i.e. a system of revealed commands and promises regulating human affairs and 2) a particular arrangement or provision especially of providence or nature. There are other definitions but they're not germane to this discussion. The word may not be in the Bible but the concept clearly is. There are several scriptures depicting this but one of the best is from Paul as follows: Colossians 2 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross. So you see, Jesus fulfilled the OT and the NT is executed in this dispensation, this era of time with a whole new set of rules and regulations. The most important difference is this Testament is a Law of Liberty in Christ Jesus. We're free from our sins IF we choose to be. Good question and God bless. |
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774 | 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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775 | 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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776 | StudyBibleForum or MyOpinionForum? | 2 Tim 3:16 | Rowdy | 113877 | ||
Greetings Hank, I must conclude I must be one of the offenders you mentioned above. I must admit I'm not really good about quoting book, chapter and verse but I do think most of the scriptures AND the subjects seem to have been posted in the past. It also seems most people are not paying much attention to the whole Bible, when considering a particular subject. You know, it's the whole of God's Word that will be used to judge us on Judgment Day. And did you know that the division of the books of the Bible into chapter and verses is a modern innovation. They were originally written without that convenience. We really need to realize that God wants us to learn the spirit of His Law, His sacred Word. We supposed to commit It into our hearts and I know that's difficult to do, most of all me. But I like to think my posts are in accordance with God's Word. Have you read one of my recent posts, No 113863? There I describe how our God wants us as mature, spiritual beings to graduate from this physical world and look forward to the next. We also need to be open minded AND open hearted to ALL of God's Word on each topic of the Bible. I, too have noticed something on this Forum that's quite disturbing, something far more remiss than my "infraction." It's just not right for a person to pick and choose one or two obscure scriptures, possibly due to past interpretations, to support an unusual doctrine that CANNOT be supported by the whole Bible. Now of course, we must give special emphasis to the NT over the OT since the latter was fulfilled and no longer has any authority over us. BUT it's still a very valuable document for study for it shows us how we got the NT. It shows us the creation of the world and so much more. The most important point is the OT CANNOT match or out-rank the NT. Christ has been given all authority and then He passed some of that authority down to his representatives, His Apostles. Finally, I really don't think I've violated the parameters of this Forum any more so than some other participants. But I will beg for your forgiveness and look forward to your continued exchanges with me. God bless. |
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777 | 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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778 | Saved by faith? | John 3:5 | Rowdy | 113854 | ||
I'd like to think I can agree with you IF you mean to say both are required along with obedience in following the directives of our Lord. Remember Satan and his demons believe in God and tremble. Our biggest difference between them and us is our opportunity to obey. They gave up their opportunity and have already been consigned to Hell. God bless you, friend. |
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779 | The law cannot be altogether invalid... | Matt 5:19 | Rowdy | 113853 | ||
I have no problem at all bringing these two documents, OT and NT together in PERFECT harmony. The OT was very much applicable to God's people before His Son came to this earth. Now that Jesus has come, died and has been resurrected, his Last Will and Testament comes into full effect. I would like to compare these two different systems of teachings/doctrine to the contrast between the different theories concerning this planet called earth. Hundreds of years ago, people believed all over the world that this planet was flat because of misconceived theories from the past although there were a few exceptional people who didn't think so. One fellow took another look at the comings and goings of ships on the sea and noticed as they approached the shore their masts grew taller and taller. His name was Columbus and did more thinking and research and soon concluded that the earth was round and not flat. Now we all know the history since that time. In the same way, God's people thought that the Messiah would come to earth and set up an earthly kingdom. In spite of God's ocassional reference to His intent to share His family membership with the whole world, the Jews were obsessed with keeping God to themselves. We see that yet again in the NT when the christians in Jersusalem didn't disperse into the world until the persecution started. But now that we know through the Apostle Paul and with some assistance from Peter's dream, we all know God's mystery from the creation was for the whole world, including us gentiles to be given the opportunity to become part of God's family. Thus the OT was fulfilled with Jesus nailed to the cross and the NT takes over with God's seal of approval as Jesus has been granted all power and authority to rule during this dispensation. I hope this helps clarify this issue and God bless. |
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780 | Rowdy, what did the Spirit do in the OT? | 1 Pet 3:21 | Rowdy | 113844 | ||
I'm not aware of any specific scriptures that depict the Holy Spirit acting separately from the Godhead in the OT but I'd be interested in that to which you are referring. God bless. | ||||||
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