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NASB | Acts 8:13 Even Simon himself believed; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he observed signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | Acts 8:13 Even Simon believed [Philip's message of salvation]; and after being baptized, he continued on with Philip, and as he watched the attesting signs and great miracles taking place, he was constantly amazed. |
Subject: How do I make sense of the context? |
Bible Note: Joe I read both those passages you wanted me to read and I'm fairly familiar with these writings. If you will note in the my profile I say I’m a student of the reformation and much of the teaching generated by it. As I said in a earlier post I see much of the predestination explanation as the finite, using finite reasoning, based on finite logic attempting to explain an infinite God. Case in point in Prayerful’s example of light coming from the Sun. His point was the seemly immutable theory that generates light and therefore since the Sun emits light there had to be fire. However there is a theory that light in not generated but rather the result of darkness absorption. Light is being looked at entirely differently at this time since the E equals MC squared theory says as something approaches the speed of light it’s mass become infinite. Then they found something faster than light. Once again God shows us the flaw of man’s “flawless” logic. There is some mystery to the real origination of light since the Word plainly teaches there was light in the first day and wasn’t until the fourth day when God made the Sun. Does this prove anything about predestination? Absolutely not, but it does speak volumes about man proclaiming how salvation works. Prayerful’s example of Lydia’s salvation in Acts 16:14 A woman named Lydia, from the city of Thyatira, a seller of purple fabrics, a worshiper of God, was listening; and the Lord opened her heart to respond to the things spoken by Paul. Certainly doesn’t say God ordained her to accept what Paul said but on pay attention to what Paul said. I still and probably will always believe our life is mapped out. On that path God has placed forks or junctions. At each we must make a decision, how we chose is based on our relationship with God. God knows each choice before we make them and steers that fork once again to the place he would have us meet an new and different fork. Once again how we react to the choice is left to us with God knowing our answer. I believe that continues until one of two things happens one we “Believe” in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior or we allow ourselves to become so callous our hearts are seared and we blaspheme the Holy Spirit by refusing to drawn to Him. Each fork makes us growth either more in the knowledge of God and our need for salvation or allows us to step even further away. Some forks are nothing more than honoring our parents, or who we date, to some that try us as if by fire. God knows the beginning of the that path and He knows the end. Our prayers many times become aids or hindrances to our decisions at those forks. God allowed man to make those choices not so he would be forced to chose God and worship Him. There are much easier ways to accomplish that. But rather to allow man to respond to God himself and chose Him contrary to the lies of the adversary. Are we dead to sin yes we think we are in control and that sin is what we call it. However I do believe God enlightens us to sin within us and makes us seek for a solution. Notice the religious customs in most any other culture. The people are attempting to atone and worship an unknown god. Paul even saw this in the Athens and the statue to the unknown god. If they were so lost that they were unable to know they needed forgiveness what were they doing worshiping and sacrificing to the all these gods. Human nature longs for a God he just has to be presented. What causes a Muslim to repent, to pray for forgiveness, to seek entrance into heaven. If they are dead to their sin what are they repenting of? EdB Ps still haven't gotten your email |