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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# | |||
881 | About Premillenialism... | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110602 | ||
I think there are several other scriptures that could be cited but these are the first two that come to mind. John 18:35"Am I a Jew?" Pilate replied. "It was your people and your chief priests who handed you over to me. What is it you have done?" 36Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jews. But now my kingdom is from another place." Hebrews 9:26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him. I agree Christ's words, as in Matt 24 are not absolutely clear on every detail but again it's always best to use the Bible as Its own best commentary. I'm confident if our God wanted us to believe in these unusual features such as the Rapture or Premillenialism, I'm absolutely certain He would have laid our clear language elaborating on those details. Instead, I see language like that quoted above. Again, I must emphasize the figurative portions of the Bible as found in Isaiah and Revelation are not a good basis or foundation upon which we should build a whole system of religious thought or discussion. I hope God coninues to bless you in your study and pursuit of His truth. |
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882 | About Premillenialism... | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110600 | ||
Thanks. Appreciate the encouragement. | ||||||
883 | I am not the one sinning? | James 1:14 | Rowdy | 110599 | ||
I would refer you and him to James 1 as follows: 12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him. 13When tempted, no one should say, "God is tempting me." For God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does he tempt anyone; 14but each one is tempted when, by his own evil desire, he is dragged away and enticed. 15Then, after desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, gives birth to death. 16Don't be deceived, my dear brothers. 17Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. 18He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created. There's several other scriptures that could be cited like Gal 5:24, but I'd like to summarize by saying that we as humans have a weakness for this kind of desire. As you may know, all sins are divided into 3 basic categories: a) Lust of the flesh (our body), b) Lust of the eye (our mind) and c) pride of life. The Devil tempts us to think about these areas and he knows us almost as well as God, our Father. When we continue to listen or pay attention to the Devil's temptations, we are inviting him to "set up shop" in our hearts just as Jesus depicted. We have to see ourselves as kicking him out of our hearts or its sin and whatever else he entices us to do. In other words we are the ones who CHOOSE to be a disciple of the Devil or to be a disciple with each hour of our lives. That's why it's so important to score at least daily time in God's Word and "stay in a prayer" constantly with our Lord and Saviour. Upon sincere and dedicated study of God's Word, one has to conclude there are two major sources of influence in this world: a) God, our Father and b) the Devil, master tempter. The Bible makes it very clear: all good things come from God and all the bad come from the Devil. So everyone has to make up their own mind, are you and I going to be prone to one or to the other? Of course, our Lord is going to help us back up when we stumble but He won't stand us up like toy soilders. He allows us that freedom of choice. I really don't see how anyone in the whole world could possibly argue with this kind of logic straight out of God's Word. What do you think? I hope this kind of talk will be helpful to your friend. God bless. |
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884 | Help | Eph 2:8 | Rowdy | 110548 | ||
Only because I need to be brief, I would refer you to my previous post of 110357, the latter portion. Keep studying God's Word and God bless. | ||||||
885 | Acts 2:38 Repentance and Baptism? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 110546 | ||
I too enjoy reading your stimulating messages and appreciate your knowledge of the Word but I'm afraid I must stand by my original statement. In support of that, I can only say there are just as many scholars with PhDs on both sides of this controversy. The fact is that the Koine Greek is no longer spoken or written anywhere in the world. (Ironic isn't it...so our Father wants us to accept Him on His terms on faith. That means we can't know absolutely with such certain evidence that we could prove it in a court of man's law.) Anyway, the bottom line boils down to what is meant by "Better safe than sorry," just like Mommaphs and I have been discussing. In this particular scenario, I'm contrasting the two views of being saved with or without baptism. Some people think that too much emphasis is placed on this single point but it's not our emphasis, it's God's. He sent His Son to take our place on that cross and He gets to dictate the terms of His Last Will and Testament. The Holy Spirit is the executor and bestows the gift of salvation to those who qualify, those who accept the terms and obey God's commands in order to please Him. In Mark 16, Jesus Himself commissioned his disciples to teach everything He taught them to the whole world. He said he who believes and is baptized is saved...I know you're going to quote the rest of the verse back to me about the missing word "baptize" in that latter phrase. But don't you see, if a person doesn't believe there's no need to mention baptizing to him. It's illustrated as follows: If a man wants to live, he must consume nourishment and digest it into his body. If a man doesn't ingest that food or nourishment somehow, there's no need to discuss digestion, he will simply die. We see this kind of consummation of relationships throughout the world. When does a man and woman actually get married in the eyes of the world, at least here in America. It's the point they both say "I do" and not before. When does a person actually receive the gift from his dead benefactor, after he's completed ALL the requirements as provided in that will. Throughout the NT, we see many scriptures on this subject of baptism. It's done for the remission of sins, it represents the burial of Jesus as I stated earlier. There's just too much emphasis from God's Word to ignore this conclusion, at least for me. But one last item and I'll hush at least for now. Let's take the two different views to their ultimate conclusion (and utlimately Judgement Day): 1) my view as I've stated above with the conclusion that all who have been baptized are indeed in God's family. And 2) your view that one can be saved without baptism. With the latter view, one goes to God with His faith in the words, the grammar and Greek as has been discussed. But God asks "But did you obey?" like I instructed you. Remember, God's words through the phrophet Samuel, "It is better to obey God than to make sacrifice." That's what I mean with the phrase "Better safe than sorry." Please think about all this and pray about it. God bless. |
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886 | Acts 2:38 Repentance and Baptism? | Acts 2:38 | Rowdy | 110527 | ||
This debate will probably go on till the end of time and we face Judgement Day but I gotta say that once again the attitude of "Better safe than sorry" should prevail in these kind of discussions. When presented with two or more conflicting interpretations, why would a person want to take a chance and regret the wrong choice all through eternity? It seems relatively clear to me that baptism is required, especially when you get a clear picture from Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 6. There, it is clear baptism represents the burial that Christ went through and from which He was resurrected. It's there we contact the life-saving blood of Jesus through faith and rise up a new creature. There's just too many scriptures leading me to believe this conclusion in spite of the discussion of Greek grammar which is difficult to fully comprehend even by the scholars. I don't think I would want to take a chance and face the wrath of God on such questionable evidence. I would beg of you to keep studying and make up your own mind. It's important, at least to God and His Son. And I still pray for God's blessing on ALL of you. |
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887 | the truth about tithes | Mal 3:8 | Rowdy | 110525 | ||
The only guidance I see in Malachi 3 is general about how we as mankind should think about money. I see no specific references to the contribution to the Lord but regardless, I would refer you the NT. We need to see the NT as have more authority on all matters, especially when there's a contrast between the OT and the NT. I don't think there's any specific numerical amount, percentage or any other specific formula to reflect our giving to the Lord's church. However, we are given examples of collections being made so we really should follow that example, as being a command. Another factor to be considered is the fact that Christianity is a better law than that of the Law of Moses, with a much better High Priest and a much better promise of eternal home in Heaven. So it's only logical our devotion to this new and better Law of Liberty should be reflected in our giving. BUT let me stress our giving should be ultimately a private matter between us as individuals and our God. You probably already know the basic scriptures on this subject of giving, i.e. being a cheerful giver, etc. If by chance you're talking about one particular person who has deceived you in spite of your being brothers in God's kingdom, that's a different matter. In this kind of situation, you must follow Matt 18:15-17 as a last resort. But our Father would really prefer that we follow Paul's advice in 1 Cor 6:1-11, unless the wrongs perpetrated by this individual is harming the church. We need to do whatever is best for the overall body of our Lord. Hope this helps. God bless. |
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888 | Why so Many Churches? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110472 | ||
I can only tell you it's always been this way. Even with the very strict Law of Moses, there had developed several different sects, two of which Jesus criticized rather harshly (Saducees and Pharisees). He called both of them vipers as neither of them had a true devotion to God. You might be interested in knowing the Law of Moses had more than 600 ordinances, laws which had to be strictly adhered to. So, when Christ and His official representatives, the Apostles provided an amazing small amount of guidance in comparison, that set the scene for the tremendous variety of mankind to mess up God's will even worse. I suppose you already know about the abuses from the Catholic church; they're well documented in Halley's Bible Handbook. Then the Reformation and the Restoration took place, leaving the world a tremendous variety of procedures and topics of controversies. Taking the Bible simply as God intended sounds like a wonderful thing but it's been my experience that it's far more difficult to do. Our Lord prayed for unity and the Apostles commanded "one faith, one body, one baptism..." but it doesn't look that's going to happen during our lifetime. The best thing to do is to study God's Word to the best of your ability and look for fellow disciples who are just as devoted to following God's Word as you are. This Forum is a good thing and I'd encourage you to keep participating. It inspires you to dig deeper and find out what God really says about a subject. That way, we can discard all the other stuff and just go with what He says. God bless. |
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889 | Is cremation right for believers? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110465 | ||
Only in an effort to give this discussion balance I would refer to 2 Cor 5 as follows: 1 For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. 2For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven, 3if indeed, having been clothed, we shall not be found naked. 4For we who are in this tent groan, being burdened, not because we want to be unclothed, but further clothed, that mortality may be swallowed up by life. 5Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. You can be assured that Paul IS NOT talking about a house or a building on earth. He's talking about our earthly bodies as these verses are really connected to the previous Chapter 4. So, yes our bodies are a temple to God and we should not abuse them but God will destroy them, and the rest of this world, just like He destroyed the Israelite's temple with the Romans help in the first century. God bless. |
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890 | Is cremation right for believers? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110464 | ||
Personally, I think it's a very private and individual decision. However, there are several factors to be considered. First, I don't think our Lord really cares what we do with our bodies after one is deceased. I guess a person could point out that Jesus was buried BUT of course He was not in the tomb long enough to be mummified, etc. My main point here is that our God is Spirit and the home He's has intended for us is spiritual and this world of bodies is all physical and He's going to destroy it anyway at Judgement Day. Second, this world is getting more and more populated every day with less square footage allowed for the living. Graveyards take up a lot of space, usually in prime real estate areas. Sometime in the not-to-distant future, maybe even our kids' or grandkids' lifetime, nations are going to be forced to start thinking about mandatory cremations. So, the bottom line for me and my wife: we've already discussed it and have chosen to be cremated rather than spend the thousands of dollars on a casket, formal furneral, etc. I'd much rather have my family and christian family celebrate and rejoice at my meeting my Lord, pending that is to Judgement Day. But when I mention this kind of talk to my parents, they react with a different attitude. And my mother comes from several generations of christians. So, go figure...again, it's a very individual decision. I'd like to see the opinions of others. If there's any Bible guidance on the subject, I'd like to see it. God bless. |
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891 | proselytizing at work | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110461 | ||
I have found in my world here at the office that people figure out from my manner of speech and the ocassional reference to going to church on weekends or Wed night that I'm a christian. That helps but I do enjoy the ocassional person here at the office who comes to me with a Biblical topic for questions and/or discussion. So once again, I would have to say moderation is the key to successful christian living, that and maintaining balance. Another very important factor in sharing Christ with this world is to maintain a truly open mind and an open heart. If people get the idea you're closed minded, it's a big turn-off. However, don't misunderstand me, when the Bible is plain and clear we do need to speak up and "take sides" with God's Word but we MUST do so with love, as God intended. Remember, "all it takes for evil to succeed is for good, moral people to remain silent." God bless. |
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892 | Why do we read the Old Testament? | Rom 6:14 | Rowdy | 110453 | ||
The main purpose of the OT for us as christians is to "paint the background" so we can understand the circumstances and some of the reasons things are the way they are in the NT. For example: how can you possibly explain the difficulties the disciples have in understanding some of the basic lessons Christ taught? Even after the burial and resurrection of Christ, the disciples ask Jesus and I paraphrase "Now, Lord, can we take up our swords and fight the Romans, freeing our country from its rule?" You know of course Christ tells them to stay put in Jersulalem until the Holy Spirit comes to them. Ah, the patience of Jesus far exceeded that of Job. Now you and I see and understand the "mystery of God," his wonderful plan of salvation. But to them, it was a complete puzzle. We see that kind of shallow understanding of God and his ways throughout the OT. Of course, God's thoughts and ways are far higher than anything we can possibly think of. And here's a thought: if you and I or a large bulk of average people from this dispensation were transported as babies to grow up in their dispensation, we wouldn't have done any better. The main purpose of the OT as far as those folks before Christ was concerned was to be a "school master" and educate them as to what is sin and how much our God hates sin while loving the sinner. So you see, the OT is far more than just the history of that dispensation before Christ. It's a series of love letters. God telling all mankind what He made for us and how much He wants us back. A side bonus is the tremendous variety, beauty, depth and power of God, expressed in all the various books of the OT. Can you imagine how boring our Perfect Maintenance Manual from God would be if we didn't have the OT? Yes, as you can see I'm very thankful for it. While even, Moses got advice from his gentile father in law, Jethro in the handling of a large bulk of people in transit. And guess what: those same principles are used in almost every culture since then, especially the military. With all that said, however, we CANNOT and should not rely on the OT for specific authority to guide or restrict the activities in the Lord's church. Thus, you see all the 10 commandments mentioned in the NT, BUT the one about the Sabbath, so we worship on the first day of the week as commanded by example. There are many others, but I'll let you discover those on your own. I pray God blesses you in your study of His Word. |
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893 | Question on one word in Mark 3:29 | Mark 3:29 | Rowdy | 110452 | ||
I would say your person who lies continually does eventually succeed in deceiving himself so well that he actually believes his own lies and truly sounds sincere. It's difficult to get such a person out of that "whirlpool" of self-deception. The devil, I think, makes it very attractive; he may even seem like he's serving God and when confronted with the truth from God's Word, his "seared conscience" takes over and makes it almost impossible to see the truth for what it is. God help us all to avoid this terrible, horrible set of circumstances to engulf any of us. God bless. | ||||||
894 | How to "win the world" ? | Bible general Archive 2 | Rowdy | 110447 | ||
I have to agree with your overall sentiment. The church on a national scale is definitely introducing too much stuff from the world to make it more attractive. As I mentioned in earlier posts, we need to let the beauty and simplicity of God's Word and His patterns therein come out in our worship assemblies. We need to do everything we can to make sure that God, His Son and the Holy Spirit get all the glory. Too much of the time, we humans want to jazz up the worship to satisfy our lust for a truly fabulous worship service and what really happens is that people, especially visitors new to the area get distracted by all these extras. So, as with all things moderation needs to be a key element in our worship and glorying of God. You might notice that church buildings and song books weren't specifically taught or prescribed by christians in the first century but there's certainly nothing wrong with those aids to our worship. I would be more in favor of seeing all the tremendous funds, time and effort invested instead in studying God's Word and evangelizing the world, putting emphasis on God's love for all mankind. Lastly, the holy standard you mentioned are the patterns we see from our Lord in God's Word, as we see in the book of Acts. Looking forward to your response. God bless. |
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895 | Water, baptism and John 3:5/Titus 3:5 | John 3:5 | Rowdy | 110446 | ||
I have to agree with you on the main point of remaining silent where the Bible is silent and speaking up as the Bible speaks. Thanks for the reminder. As a matter of thoroughness, I neglected to address Mr. Huron's other question. I do think the birth of water and the Spirit are the same and not different. Being born again in a watery grave through baptism is exactly what Paul is talking about in Rom 6 but this is a process that is being executed by the executor of the Lord's last will and testament, the Holy Spirt. So you see, it really is one baptism, one birth in water and in Spirit. God bless. |
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896 | Question on one word in Mark 3:29 | Mark 3:29 | Rowdy | 110442 | ||
Ed, you're right on target. | ||||||
897 | Question on one word in Mark 3:29 | Mark 3:29 | Rowdy | 110441 | ||
I was hesitating on responding to this question as I would love to see someone else's response first but I'll take a chance with the following. First of all, let me say, this is another somewhat controversial subject and is open for debate but I like to think Paul's letter, 1 Timothy, Chapter 4 is most helpful: 1The 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. I'd like to emphasize verse 2 wherein the "conscience is seared with hot iron." I've always been taught that ANY sin can be forgiven IF the sinner is truly repentant and resolves to do his best not to participate in that sinful activity. But here we see a person has literally rendered his conscience useless because he/she has seared it with a hot iron. This seems to be saying that if a person completely gives his soul to devil for so long or so thoroughly, that he CANNOT repent and forgive himself even he could get forgiveness from God. The picture of blasphemy against the Holy Spirit is completed by realizing that it's this conscience, as part of our soul that is ruined, which was installed in us as the very image of God. So when we blaspheme against the Holy Spirit and truly intend for it to be for all time, no slight bit of regret, that person has literally sold his soul to the devil and there's absolutely nothing that could be done for him. BUT if he is able to repent of this sin, I believe he can be forgiven. I would say that he did not actually burn away his whole conscience and thus did not really mean to blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Now mind you, this whole perspective is from within the person doing the blaspheming. It's an individual's choice to come to God and repent and we, you and I can't possibly know what's in that person's heart. So the only thing we can do is love all souls and hate the sin. We should, of course, take this teaching to be a warning and take heed. We must study God's Word and stay in constant prayer with Him at least on a daily basis. That's my two cents' worth. I'd be interested in seeing other interpretations on this rather tough and deep subject. God bless this Forum and all who participate. |
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898 | Water, baptism and John 3:5/Titus 3:5 | John 3:5 | Rowdy | 110437 | ||
I'd like to differ with you if I may. I, too, have dealt with this controversy for many years and then I heard a sermon with a different perspective. Have you ever considered that the thief on the cross MIGHT just have listened to one of John the Baptist's sermons and MIGHT have been baptized. But the most important item of discussion on this subject is the fact that Jesus WAS most certainly the King of the Jews and as King he could bestow anything he chose on any of His subjects. In other words, he could make any exceptions he wanted to. Second major point of this discussion is the fact that our Lord's last will and testament didn't come into effect until after His death. In other words, salvation wasn't available on Gospel terms until after the price was paid and the terms had been announced, thus executing the document or His will. But since this discussion is centered around someone who died as a thief some 2,000 years ago, I would suggest it's not wise to spend a whole lot of time debating the subject. However, as always, God bless you in your study of God's Word. |
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899 | Better safe than sorry? | Heb 6:4 | Rowdy | 110436 | ||
I'd like to start with a reference to my previous post of 109057 which dealth with this same issue. But in specific response to your query, I simply mean what most people mean with its use. When you find yourself with a problem such as the contrast between these verses, or the controversy surrounding the Rapture, Premillenialism, the requirement of baptism in God's plan of savation, it's always preferred and strongly encouraged for us to keep studying and make the correct conclusion. I always like to repeat that the Bible is its own best commentary. All the other commentaries are fine for discussion and opinions are "a dime a dozen," including mine. But we can't argue with God's Word. That being said, we're still left with this quandry of Heb 6:4 and 2 Pet 2. I can only say that I have studied this subject of "Falling from Grace" all my life. There's numerous examples in the Bible showing God's people both in the OT and the NT who at one time, showed their faith in God, King Saul, King David, Anninias and Saphira, the folks in the 7 letters of Asia from Jesus in Revelation. In all these examples above, God gives ample opportunity for them to repent and to "get back in God's good graces." King Saul failed to do so whereas King David did repent and is called "a man after God's own heart." Time and time again, we're warned to be on guard like Apostle Paul buffeting his own body to prevent ourselves from being lost. There's just too much evidence in the Bible against this doctrine, "Once Saved, Always Saved." To summarize "Better safe than sorry," I would have to say is best digested as follows: Are we prepared to meet our Maker with that conclusion? Could you defend your position in God's perfect court of law and justice with a truly sincere and honest conscience when He expects us to know better and to trust Him to settle controversial matters? God bless you for asking the question. Just keep studying and praying about it. I really would like to discuss this with you further or with anyone else. Please let me know. |
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900 | can you lose it? | Heb 6:4 | Rowdy | 110358 | ||
I would refer you to 2 Pet 2 as follows: 21It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22Of them the proverbs are true: "A dog returns to its vomit,"[6] and, "A sow that is washed goes back to her wallowing in the mud." Also Paul is quite adament with 1 Cor 9:27. It seems Paul and Peter are firmly committed to the possibility that we as God's children can reverse our mindset and go back to the world of the Devil. I really don't know what the scripture in Heb 6:4; it guess it sounds like a contradiction but I don't think so. All I know is the plain, straight forward scriptures as cited above. I also believe in the adage, "Better safe than sorry." God bless. |
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