Subject: What are the questions? |
Bible Note: Actually, jm, I think you have too many questions. I know that I asked what the questions might be. But now I think they are too many to be answered on a forum. My suggestion is that you find a mature believer whom you can talk to, face to face, about these things. If you do not know such a person, please go to a church and ask the leaders for a recommendation. You ask good questions and they deserve to be answered. And let me assure you that there are answers. But I think you need to deal with them one at a time. This will take time, and you need someone who is willing to spend that time with you personally. I say this for two basic reasons. One is that I think these questions are a real need for you, and not just intellectual curiosity. You remind me of a young man that I worked with a few days ago. He had similar questions. I spent some three (3) hours with him and answered all of his questions and he was fully satisfied. I suggest that the same results could not have been achieved on a forum with different people answering from different perspectives. All of the answers that I have seen here are good, and some are very deep, but you are still not satisfied. You need the focus of a one-on-one conversation, I think. I think someone in your situation needs a mentor anyway. The personal attention and relationship are good things regardless. My second reason for suggesting a mentor is that your questions, and the sheer number of them suggests there may be a more basic question to be answered. Do you have a personal relationship with God? Do you have assurance of salvation? If you do, I trust you are not offended by the question. If you do not, I humbly suggest that you make that the first question and look into the matter. In my professional opinion many questions suggest one bigger fundamental question. Having the answer to the bigger one makes finding the answers to the others so much easier. Lastly, I would suggest that you pursue one question fully and carefully consider the answer before moving on to another. If you do not have a person to talk to personally you may wish to ask your questions here one at a time. You may need to start a new thread for each one. The question concerning the Trinity has already been answered. Jesus and his Father are one in nature and character and in their working relationship. They are so similar and so consistent that, yes, seeing one is no different from seeing the other. But they are not the same person. They are two separate persons. The Holy Spirit is a third person. Each one is God, and together they are God, but they are three separate beings. If there are people answering you here who have differing views on that, and you are listening to all of them, then you can only be confused. Again, please find one person with a Bible who can personally answer all these questions. This is just one opinion. But as a mentor once said to his protégé, Consider what I say; and the Lord give you understanding in all things. |