Results 81 - 100 of 361
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Author: Bill Mc Ordered by Verse |
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Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
81 | Are Positional and Practical truths true | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12938 | ||
Dear Joe (not Steve, my apologies), In Philippians 3, look at what Paul is talking about. Consider context. Look at verse 11 - "In order that I may attain to the resurrection of the dead. Not that I have already obtained it..." Joe, is he not talking about the completed creation? When we stand before God redeemed not only in spirit, but in soul and body also? He is talking about PHYSICAL bodily resurrection in verse 11, is he not? How could you miss this? As I understand it, this perfect can be translated 'complete.' We will not be 'complete' until we have our new resurrected bodies. But our spirit is our identity. And our spirits have been joined to Christ's Spirit, haven't they? As to righteousness, Rom 5:16 says that it is a gift that must be received. How can you earn a gift? 2 Cor 5:21 - When was Christ made sin? When we made righteous (it says made, not declared, brother)? Eph 4:24 - Put on the new self, which in the likeness of God HAS BEEN (past tense) created in righteousness and holiness of the truth. Phil 3:19 - the righteousness which comes from God (not ourselves and our efforts) on the basis of faith (not good works or Law-keeping). You said, "Therefore, in one sense Christ's righteousness has been imputed to our account and we have been declared righteous (rather than the "infused" righteousness of Roman Catholicism), but another sense in which that spiritual reality is to be lived out in our day-to-day existence, with a goal in mind and by the power of the Holy Spirit." Bingo! You do understand! So it is, as you say, a spiritual reality. Right! Because it is a reality, we live it out! I have never said, "Let go and let God." What I would say is, walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lust of the flesh. My "resting in Christ," which you seem to loathe is far from an inactive, stagnant, lethargic,'robotic'attitude which you seem to think it is. I agree, our wills ARE definitely involved with our outward conforming to Christ's image. But, it is a attitude that says, as Christ did, "God, I trust that YOU and YOU ALONE will be my source for everything I do. And that I will do it only because YOU are doing it through me." This was Christ's attitude. He said that He said nothing and did nothing unless the Father told Him to say or do it. He relied COMPLETELY upon the Father as His source for everything. Let me ask you, Joe, was Christ a 'robot?' Did He 'turn everything off?' No, of course not. He trusted God the Father to operate through Him every moment of His life, even when, in the garden, His human will wanted the cup to pass from Him. This is my goal, brother. Not to keep the Law of Moses, but, rather, the law of Christ. I want to say, as Paul did, "I, Bill Mc, no longer live, but Christ (not the Law) lives in me. And the life I live in my body, I live BY FAITH (not rules) in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself up for me. It is anything but 'turning everything off.' It is almost scary to trust God that way. I lived out of my flesh (self-sufficiency) for so many years. My life is now hidden IN Christ. And, trust me, Joe, it is anything but inactive. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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82 | Is the Christian under Law? | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12942 | ||
Dear JVH0212, I, for the time being, stand corrected. I will look into the other 613. Please accept my apologies until I do further research. I though the reference was to not picking grains of wheat on the sabbath, etc. But, my initial assertion still stands. We, as Christians, are not under the 10 or the 613. Thanks for the 'gentle' correction. In Christ, Bill MC |
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83 | I'm sorry, Readers, and Reformer Joe | Ex 1:1 | Bill Mc | 12951 | ||
I'm sorry, Readers and Joe, if my comments about Reformer Joe came across as an insult to him or his doctrinal beliefs. That was not intended. I do not personally know him, but I was not attempting to undermine the body of work that Joe has contributed to this forum or call his character into question. I know it could be taken that way. We do need to learn from each other. I was seeking to get Joe's reasons for his interpretation of the words 'sanctification' and 'the Law.' We, if you have been following this thread, obviously disagree on a few things. But we are still brothers in Christ, and, Joe, if you're reading this, I'm sorry. We are all entitled (and responsible) for our interpretations of Scripture. I was seeking to accertain where the concept of positional/practical truths is taught. Perhaps I missed something, I don't know. None of us are infallible. But I would urge everyone to be a 'Berean' and search these things in the Scriptures to see if they are so. And to let God's Word speak for itself. I'm sure Reformer Joe would agree. |
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84 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 19705 | ||
Steve, Very interesting. You are correct. Lev 16:29 says that the day of atonement is a permanent statute. And vs. 31 implies that the sabbath is a permanent statute. And vs. 34 again says that the animal sacrifices indeed are a permanent statute. Hebrews is evidently wrong. If Christ had known about these verses, He probably never would have died. He should have stayed in the temple when His parents went back to Jerusalem. Then maybe He would have read these verses and discovered that He didn't need to die after all. What a shame! Congratulations! You have found the one verse in the Old Testament that completely invalidates the New Testament and what Christ has done. It must give you a great deal of satisfaction to prove God and the Bible wrong. Thanks for enlightening us. Now we can all get off this New Testament kick and get back to our animal sacrifices. Free at last, Bill Mc |
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85 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 19829 | ||
Dear Sir Pent, Although I cannot gauge what Steve's true motives are, I can state what his conclusions are from his own posts. You state that you believe that he is seeking to get others to resolve an apparent contradiction between the OT and the NT. He states what his goal is in a related post: "Second, we are not free from the OT Law, just its punishment ... as already pointed out in other post." And he has stated in another recent post: "While some people want to categorize them..." (Here he is refering to the distinctions between the moral law, the ceremonial law, and the civil law embodied in the words 'the Law') "the Bible does not." Therefore, I feel that he is seeking to reinstate the Law as a means of justification and sanctification. The majority of the New Testament writings were written to demonstrate the neither Jew nor Gentile can be justified or sanctified by keeping the Law. We are justified and sanctified by Christ alone. To advance the view that "we are not free from the OT Law", when so much of the NT refutes this, is error. If one is going to be under the Law, one must be under ALL of it - moral, ceremonial, and civil. The Law is not an 'a la carte' where you can pick and choose what parts you want to keep. This is the point that I was making with my sarcasm. As long as Steve purports that we are all under OT law, I will not rescind my comments. I'm sorry, brother, that we cannot agree on this issue. But to try to put those under grace back under the Law from which Christ has set us free demonstrates that one does not truly understand the purpose of the Law or what Christ has done. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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86 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 19832 | ||
Sir Pent, one other comment if I may. It is not with a spirit of self-righteousness that I posted my sarcasm. My righteousness is found in Christ and Him alone, not myself nor my ability to keep the Law. It is with a spirit of sadness that I responded with sacrcasm. Despite all the wonderful posts here on this BB stating what the work of Christ has accomplished, some will still teach their own brand of Judaism. That it would be tolerated and encouraged for the sake of 'keeping the peace' shocks me. While I would agree that those of the Jewish faith might come here occasionally seeking answers, they would need to be shown the truth in love. To them I would say that indeed the Messiah has come and they would need to turn from their tutor, the Law, a shadow, to the exact representation of God in Jesus Christ - the reality. But to tell them that they need Christ and are still under the OT Law, as Mr. Butler insists, is Galatianism and needs to be confronted. And it has been, at length. In many prior posts, Bible-believing Christians have shown with scriptural support that Christ alone is our redemption, reconciliation, justification, sanctification, and righteousness. Is this forum about the completed work of Jesus Christ, "It is finished", or is it about a return to Judaism? If we are here to reinstate Judaism then, as I said, I am greatly saddened that Christ's very bride, the church, is turning from the 'good news' to another gospel that is really no gospel at all. In Christ and Him alone, Bill Mc |
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87 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 19846 | ||
Dear Sir Pent, Thanks for the admonition. I will go back and read your Forum Improvements #2 and respond to it. I, however, do not consider myself to be a leader here on this forum. I have been often reminded that, due to my lack of adherance to Calvanism or Armenianism principles, due to my ignorance of the original languages, due to my failure to worship at the feet of the revered church fathers, and the omission of ThD after my name, that I am just another sheep. That's fine. The only thing this sheep is trying to do is, hopefully, lead other sheep to the Shepherd, not the perceived 'Shepherd's crook.' We already have plenty of sheep and self-proclaimed shepherds doing that. Our greatest responsibility is to share the truth. Granted, this should be done in love, and I do endeavor to do so. But the heart of true love is concern for the other person's best interest, their soul, not just saying 'everyone's opinions are completely valid.' This is 'valid' in the sense of being the truth, not in the sense of whether they should be expressed or not. Everyone has the privelege here of free expression. And everyone here (including myself), must bear the consequence of having their expression challenged by the truth of God's Word. Thanks for the admonition. I will endeavor to see the forest more clearly. But, at the same time, I am not willing to sacrifice the truth of the one Tree (Vine) to do so. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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88 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20075 | ||
Brothers in Christ, Here is a very interesting 'perception' of the whole argument - Calvinism vs. Arminianism. If your mind is already made up, this probably will not help. But if you are open to searching for the truth of the whole issue, then you might find this enlightening: http://theshovel.net/argument/index.htm In Christ, Bill Mc |
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89 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20092 | ||
Gentlemen, I had to read Jim's site about three times before I could see where he was going with the Argument argument. I'm not saying that I agree with his conclusions, but I did find them interesting. I, too, agree that the world (and, in fact, Christendom) believes in many different Jesuses (I'm not sure how to spell the plural of Jesus, maybe it should be Jesi). But I do think that we all tend to create God in our image to some extent. We all have filters that we perceive truth through. Please, Joe and Tim, do not take what I am about to say as a personal attack. I respect you both. You both have been helpful to me in different aspects and I appreciate it. But, brothers, you cannot be both right if the issue is as diametrically opposed as you insist. I have to admit, I have not studied Calvinism or Armenianism at all. Not one wit. Why? Because of the arguing present over it. There is a staunch, 5-point Calvinist at my church (his label, not mine) who has the most hateful things to say about Armenianists that I left his Sunday School class. Is this my problem? Could be. But I did not view the issue as edifying to the body of Christ at all. (Joe, I am not pointing at you, brother. You have never come close to saying some of the things this Calvinist has said.) Does my lack of understanding in this area cause a deficiency in my understanding of the plan of salvation and God's nature? Not from my perspective. Why? Because I believe that everything that we need to know to be saved is in the scripture and the same Holy Spirit that revealed the meaning to Calvin and to Armenius will reveal the meaning to me. God does not say that He would send Calvin and Armenius to remind us of what Christ said or to lead us into all truth. He gives us the Holy Spirit to do so as we humbly submit ourselves to having our minds renewed by God's Word and the mind of Christ available to us. What does Calvinism or Armenianism add to the gospel of Jesus Christ? Once you are saved, does it matter one wit whether you chose or whether God did? For those who are not saved, do we have the right to decide who the chosen are and are not? Now, you're probably both, Joe and Tim, saying, "Bill doesn't understand my view at all." This is true. But it is also true that what little I do understand of the argument has led me to 'perceive' the argument as I've stated it, whether my perception is correct or not. This is the connotation it presents to me. Again, is it my problem? Probably. But, from my perspective, God has had true believers all down through the centuries that have placed their hope and trust in Christ alone as revealed through the scriptures by the Holy Spirit. How either Calvin or Armenius could add anything to the full revelation of God through Jesus Christ is beyond me. I believe that if you try to add ANYTHING to the gospel, then you detract from it. To insist that God has given a 'fuller' revelation to any one individual then what His Word says smacks of favoritism (which God does not show) and the beginnings of cultish theology. We are ALL of one Spirit if we are in Christ. We were ALL baptized into His body, the church. In closing, I agree that truth is important. That was one thing that Jim said that did make sense. We are all growing in our knowledge of grace and truth and the love of our Lord. Jesus, as Jim said, is the embodiment of grace and truth. We cannot find either apart from Him. Well, I've said enough. Grace and peace to you both. I love you both in the Lord. Now, on to really important matters...Did God predestine for a certain number of angels to dance on the head of a pin, or do the angels, having free will, choose who will and will not? :) In Christ, Bill Mc |
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90 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20096 | ||
Oh,oh...we've been caught! We better start a new thread. See how the Law works, Sir Pent? Tell us not to do something and we just go and do it anyway. I wonder if I was predistined to go off topic or if I just chose to? Oh well...start a new thread guys if you want to discuss the 'pin' thingy. ;) In the flesh, Bill Mc |
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91 | Does it take away sins or not? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20100 | ||
BTW, Sir Pent, I do have a label. It is a child of God, a son, a saint, a new creation, a citizen of heaven, an heir of God. I just couldn't find Armenianism or Calvinism in the NT. :) The un-Cola, Bill Mc |
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92 | Joe, is the Bible not sufficienct? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20191 | ||
Dear Joe, You write: 'Saying "all I need is me and my Bible" doesn't work, either, because most of what we hold regarding the Holy Scriptures was taught to us by others...' Are you saying that if a person knew how to read and all that he had was the Bible, that it would not be enough for him to arrive at a saving faith? If so, that is a pretty strong statement, even for you. Granted, most all of us sit under someone's teaching. But how do you know if it is valid teaching or not? The Bible. I do believe that all that is necessary in a humble soul, the Bible, and the Holy Spirit of God. In fact, I would recommend that any new Christian avoid sitting under anyone's teaching for at least a year so that only he and the Holy Spirit can spend time learning what God's Word says and means before having it filtered through someone else. I don't know about you, but I have no desire to chew someone else's food to get my nourishment. God promised me that he would lead me into all truth through His Word. Right or wrong, I trust Him to do so. Commentaries are exactly that - 'com'ments from 'men', nothing more, nothing less. I recently tried to discuss an issue with my pastor and all he wanted to do is read from his commentary. I said, "Pastor, why can't we just stick with God's Word and let the Holy Spirit and other scripture interpret this passage." "Oh, this commentary explains it very well," he replied. Made me what to puke. Commentaries have their place AFTER God's Word, not before it or alongside it. What do you think? Does one truly require more than the Bible and the Holy Spirit to know truth? In Christ, Bill Mc |
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93 | Do all TEACHERS teach the truth? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20198 | ||
Dear kalos, Thanks for the response but it was not an answer. Why? How do you know whether or not these TEACHERS are teaching the truth? Do we trust everyone who is a TEACHER? Do all TEACHERS teach the same? I think not. If I sat under Joe's teaching for a year and then sat under Tim's teaching for a year, how would I know which line of thinking is the truth? We all know that their are false TEACHERS amongst us (in the organized church). Not everyone who teaches, should be teaching. So how do you make the determination of who is 'given by God' and who is not? In Christ, Bill Mc |
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94 | Do all TEACHERS teach the truth? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20207 | ||
Pastor Kwaku, That was my very point to begin with. As you have said, one should be well-versed in the Scriptures. My original proposal was that a man who is able to read will be able to understand the Bible through the enablement of the Holy Spirit if that is all he has access to. The premise being advanced here is that God has had different men down through the ages who He has given a 'deeper revelation' of scripture to than what is available to the 'average' Christian. So I asked what, aside from the Bible, would be necessary. The answer I got was teachers. But what right do teachers of the scriptures have to add to or detract from the Holy Spirit's revelation of the scriptures. And how does one guage whether one is being taught truth or not. I think that the question ultimately has to go back to the fact that we, individually, must know what the Bible says and means in order to guage anyone else's interpretation. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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95 | Is job security being threatened here? | Lev 16:34 | Bill Mc | 20232 | ||
Dear kalos, Sounds like someone's 'job security' is being threatened here, doesn't it? Do we really have to resort to drawing an analogy between a 'sola scriptura' attitude and the start of a cult? They re-wrote the Bible. Did I ever once suggest that? To even imply that someone with just a Bible and no supplemental material is the sure way to a cult is ludicrous. You missed my point entirely, kalos. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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96 | how do we receive all the blessing:ch.28 | Deuteronomy | Bill Mc | 18587 | ||
Dear sandeep, The short answer is, "You don't." Those blessings were for Israel, along with the curses. If you want blessings as a believer in Christ, here are a few: Eph 1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, Phil 4:19 And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. 2 Pet 1:3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. How's those for blessings? Especially 2 Pet 1:3 -If we are in Christ, God has granted to us EVERYTHING we need for life and godliness. Can't beat that! Israel was never IN CHRIST. We, as the body of Christ, are. You don't need to go searching the Old Testament for blessings. Search the limitless knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and His love for you. Blessed in Christ, Bill Mc |
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97 | Should the rapist marry their victim? | Deut 22:29 | Bill Mc | 19707 | ||
Steve, Yes, we should all indeed live under Old Testament law and rip the New Testaments out of our Bibles. To answer your question properly, in the light of Old Testament revelation, allow me to quote Deu 22:28,29 - "If a man finds a girl who is a virgin, who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her and they are discovered, then the man who lay with her shall give to the girl's father fifty shekels of silver, and she shall become his wife because he has violated her; he cannot divorce her all his days." This is the law. Trying to find fifty shekels of silver could be a challenge but the search would serve as a good deterent to crime, would it not? So, to answer your questions from Deu 22:27,28: Should we force the rapist to marry their victim? Yes. -Should this be law in our land? Yes. -This was God's idea, so is it bad? No. My reason? God said it so it must be true. Evidently there is no reason to search anywhere else. In Christ, Bill Mc |
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98 | God's people's land? | 2 Chr 7:14 | Bill Mc | 17563 | ||
Fellow Christians, please let me interject a principle here that I believe is helpful and applies. We often quote 2 Tim 3:16 - "All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness;" Then we say things like "I looked up the word "All" in Greek. It means "all." Well ,yes, 'all' does mean all. But 'all' means the WHOLE of scripture. It means that the whole, the summation, of scripture is profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. It means that we can go to God's Word and find that some portion of God's Word will address these areas and any other area of our lives. It DOES NOT mean that every verse of scripture is profitable for teaching. The verse itself can be taught but that does not mean that for every verse there is an underlying doctrine that needs to be taught. It DOES NOT mean that every verse of scripture is profitable for reproof. Some verses are excellent for reproof, but not EVERY verse is a verse of reproof. It DOES NOT mean that every verse of scripture is a verse for correction. It DOES NOT mean that every verse of scripture is a verse for training in righteousness. Verses, passages, chapters and books in the Bible frequently fall into what we call literary styles, i.e. history, poetry, doctrine, prophecy, etc. Would you use a verse of poetry, "The Lord is my Shepherd" to teach prophecy? Would you use genealogies to reprove people? Would you use passages from OT sacrifices as instruction and tell the world around us to sacrifice animals? I hope and pray not. Fellow believers, we MUST learn to correctly discern the scriptures. That is one of the blessings of this forum. But people will quote 2 Tim 3:16 and then say that all the OT applies directly to Christians. This is NOT correctly dividing the Word of Truth. Generally speaking, the Word is already 'correctly divided' into Old Covenant and New Covenant. God has blesses us with the ability to reason from the scriptures. The Holy Spirit illumines the scripture and He will reveal its meaning, but He uses our spirits and brains to do that. Let's learn to 'accurately handle the word of truth.' - 2 Tim 3:15. In His grace, Bill Mc |
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99 | Lionstrong, maybe this will clarify... | 2 Chr 7:14 | Bill Mc | 17624 | ||
Dear Lionstrong, I am not sure that I understand your statement. Yes, the whole of Scripture (the Bible) is inspired. Do I believe that that inspiration extends down to the verse level and word level? Yes, I do. But, per my prior post, not every verse is given for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness. Everything that we need is contained in the Bible (but is actually found in Jesus Christ - 2 Pet 1:3 'seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence.') Permit me to illustrate. (Illustrations are not scripture but sometimes they are helpful.) Let's say that I hire you as a modern-day scribe. I am going to dictate to you an owner's manual for my 1990 Ford Aerostar van. You transcribe everything that I tell you on your word-processor. When I am done dictating, I say, "Lionstrong, I trust that you wrote down everything that I told you. Whoever uses this manual will find it useful for vehicle orientation, operation, scheduled maintenance, repair, and servicing of this vehicle." Now, if you did your job correctly, what you wrote down is 'inspired' by me. (As a said, don't take this illustration too far. The writers of the Scripture did not dictate as such. They were not robots merely transcribing.) But the manual has divisions in it. You would not consult the 'Operation' section to find out where the nearest service center is. You would not look in the 'Repair and Servicing' section to see how to turn on the windshield wipers. You would not search through the 'Scheduled Maintenance' section to find out how to change a tire. The entire manual would be 'inspired' by me but I would have organized it into sections to make it user-friendly for the owners. This is all I am saying. All of the Scripture is inspired by God but He has organized it to make it 'user-friendly' for us. (Obviously, if we don't read it, it won't do us much good.) But we need to use the right scriptures for the right application. This is something that I believe the Holy Spirit and study will enable us to do. Lionstrong, does this help explain the reason for my post? Complete in Him, Bill Mc |
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100 | Lionstrong, maybe this will clarify... | 2 Chr 7:14 | Bill Mc | 17649 | ||
Dear Lionstrong, please don't take this as a confrontation, brother. But I do not believe that the church is the New Testament Israel. I know that some Christians do. That's OK. But from what I have studied, I feel that Israel is primarily a nation and believers are Christ's body. Yes, the Jews were (and still are) God's chosen people. God chose them as the only nation in the pagan world to proclaim Him and His righteousness as the one true God. And, yes, believers are a holy, chosen people. Are their similarities between Israel and the church? Yes. But there are also major differences. Though Israel was God's chosen nation, on a personal level, theirs is a story of human failure to keep God's commandments and follow Him. We, as believers, are all members of Christ's body and are no longer under the Mosaic law. We are under the agape law of love in Christ. Some people believe that every promise that God made to Israel as a nation has a NT counterpart to the Christian. I, personally, do not believe that. Hebrews says that we have 'better' promises. God is no longer building a nation. God is building His bride. God did not dwell in the average Irsaelite. God does dwell in us. And God is not finished with the nation of Israel. The day will come when Israel, as a nation, recognizes and turns to Jesus Christ as her true Messiah. Lionstrong, if you'd like to discuss this indepth, then click on my profile and email me. But I do not see the church as a modern Israel. Israel's story is one of turning away from God time and again (so would I except for His grace) and she tried to establish her own righteousness through the flesh. She eventually crucified her own Savior. So I don't believe that she should be a pattern for the church. We already have a pattern - His name is Jesus Christ and we are His body and bride. To answer your question directly: No, I do not believe that this verse directly applies to the church. Why? Because, as the true church, in order to come to Christ we must humble ourselves (Jesus said 'as children'). We DO pray, we do not need to seek His face (He is inside us). We have turned from our wicked and unbelieving ways. And God did hear and answer our prayers. In the fullness of time God sent His Son to take away our sins. He accomplished this on the cross. He HAS FORGIVEN our sins. It is finished! It is not faith to pray for something that God has already accomplished. Faith is saying, "Thank You!" Peace, Bill Mc |
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