Here are direct questions to better understand just why YOU as an Atheist invest so much energy trying to eliminate the "God who wasn't there" as you would say!
Remember TOTAL HONESTY is required to do this, so if you as an Atheist are not willing to find the truth and are predisposed to your stubborn habit of hating an IMAGINARY GOD you don't believe in.....THIS WON'T WORK!
What motivates your Hatred toward God?
What is logic?What is truth?Whose truth is right?Are truth and logic material things?Can you see it and therefore believe it?To claim logic you must determine what determines logic or who?Where does logic come from?Who or what decides logic and whose to say whose logic is right? Where did you get your views from?Can you map it by purely material means?How do you draw the conclusion of whose logic is true logic?And when you get there how can you be sure it is true or even valid?What will you use to determine the validity of your own logic?and finally How can an atheist truly know what is wrong or bad?Answer these questions and welcome to Agnosticism my Atheist friend!
Intelligent Design vs Naturalism: What About Truth?
What Exactly Does God Believe About Atheism and Christianity?
The Answer May Surprise You!
Intelligent Design vs Naturalism: What About Truth?
I know what your thinking, "Ohhh! no not another article about God and Atheism!" Well not quite, this article is not the same kind of article you've read before...
Why? Because in the first place I used to be one of those " fake Atheists" that claimed like the "Parrot" I was then, all the same rhetoric the real Atheists (so-called!) said!
I spouted the words but never saw a single bit of real evidence to support what I said all the years I stated it. Evolution in school DID NOT help me to recover any ground as the so-called science was changed many times over the years, from "Billions of years to Millions of years for the same processes (Not that the school text books ever cared or noticed the changes!)I don't know about you but I as a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ have to get this out...I'm sick and tired of hearing from BOTH sides in this debate about God's existence.
I experienced the lack of evidence from BOTH ends, and the trouble started because we began from a wrong premise this debate is not about scientific or historical bantering back and forth; it is simply about "Hypocrisy" on both sides, outright lies and misdirection. My question is simple if evolution and for that matter Climate Science had the real truth, there would be NO NEED TO LIE and make-up evidence...WOULD THERE?We all go though life with questions that seem unanswerable throughout our lives but do questions really make us hate someone who we say we don't believe in or is it more like we hate what we have become and don't want to face up to the judgment involved in THAT change?
Matthew 7:13-14 says
"Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it."What Jesus said is VERY simple to understand and I don't care if you believe in God or not, this can't be misunderstood without a lot of help. Life cannot be found on the world level it's hidden behind the trees on a NARROW path of life where God is both revealed and active by the seed that contains your proof called FAITH, in the lives of those who bother to seek him!
Now I ask you would it not be at the very least plain "Foolishness" to not see the facts at hand and turn around and use "Hypocrisy" as your reason to say God doesn't exist?
This little verse explains clearly that another path exists and its possible to take the wrong one...Right?So knowing this simple fact alone explains those in the Churches who pretend to be Christian in the name of God. This proves nothing except that the Bible is 100% right about "Hypocrisy and False brethren".
People always use and abuse "good intentions" for both financial and personal gain and they themselves are "Atheistic in their personal lives" no one out there who uses the gospel this way is anything but a "Fool" (The Hebrew definition : of a fool is a heedless moral blockhead who is mentally insane, meaning they do the same stupid things over and over again but expect different results each time.)
John 3:18 plainly says:
"He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God."
This is also simple, if you refuse to believe (As an Atheist or Christian copycat) the words of God then the CONDEMNATION you feel is "already inside your heart".
God at no time condemns anyone, it is the sin within you that puts you down BECAUSE of disbelief.
In fact the Law did not in itself condemn people it was their personal handling of what the Law stated that condemned them and brought about their own judgment.
So for anyone to blame "The rules" presented for the "Results Received is a "fool" in the sense that they are "Morally stupid" about just what it means to be disobedient.
I mean let's get real if you break a Law in any country and get caught do you blame the "Rules" you broke or yourself for being stupid enough to get caught?
This is just simple stuff, nothing hard to understand..God treats all men, skeptic, atheist, agnostic or believer the same he expects you to listen and follow IN obedience just as millions have had to do before you...and that my Friend is completely FAIR AND BALANCED behavior!
John 8:24
"I said therefore unto you, that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am he, ye shall die in your sins."
The issue is not believing in certain facts over other facts, it is a question of knowing clearly just who Jesus is in our personal thinking COMPARED to what the Bible presents as Jesus.
No matter what you say you believe about Jesus the question come down to what God says period. It's this simple: on judgment day your OPINION with not matter just the simple statements of Scripture!
Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves."
BEWARE of those who sound off as religious leaders or lay people but are motivated ONLY by money, fame, or power (remember there's nothing wrong with money, fame or power BUT for these things to be your motivator makes you misjudge and to minimize the anointing in your life and glorify yourself).
Just as there are Hypocritical Atheist's that misuse and misapply information because they can't stand it when a real point is made there are also Hypocritical believers who use the Bible filled with God's Love as a tool to beat over the heads of others.
We must as humans learn to work around these "Foolish" people and come to the facts on both sides as clearly and concise as is humanly possible!
As I sit here looking at different websites about Atheism to find FOR ONCE something new..what do I see?
The same boring idle conversations parroted back and forth about how Christianity lies to us, and we need to end the rule of God! Nothing, absolutely nothing worth reading out there.
It's all the same and you might be surprised to know so is most all Christian banter...worthless diatribe that proves nothing but a total and purposeful misunderstanding of the other side. There MUST be others on both ends of this debate that feel the same way I do about others telling us what we all "must" believe or else? Only a being capable of perfect love and judgment is allowed to tell us what to believe because he and he alone has perfect knowledge of past, present and the future.
The only problem with this is us having agreement about his existence not the "side issues" of personal attacks!
What is a Lie?
A lie is a type of deception in the form of an untruthful statement, especially with the intention to deceive others, often with the further intention to maintain a secret or reputation, protect someones feelings or to avoid a punishment.
To lie is to state something that one knows in themselves to be false or that one has not reasonably investigated to be true with the intention that it be taken for the truth by oneself or someone else. We must realize that as human beings limited as we all are guilty of lying to ourselves as much as to others!
Lying is typically used to refer to deceptions in oral or written communication. Other forms of deception, such as disguises or forgeries, are generally not considered lies, though the underlying intent may be the same. However, even a true statement can be considered a lie if the person making that statement is doing so to deceive, thus the Bible stated in a wrong context becomes a lie.
In this situation, it is the intent of being untruthful rather than the truthfulness of the statement itself that is considered a lie.
A bold-faced which is what most in the debate on the Atheist side practice is a lie which is told when it is obvious to all concerned that it is a lie, but stated in such a way as to insult the intelligence of the hearer.
Everyone should agree that this form of "Lying evidence gathering" for either side is childish and unproductive!
The Old and New Testaments both contain statements that God is not capable of lying not just that he wouldn't lie but that he cannot as part of his nature lie! (Num 23:19, Ps 89:35, Hab. 2:3, Heb 6:13-18).
The Bible is filled with many instances of lying both to God and to others. This issue has set the rabid Atheists afire with retribution against the God of the Bible! But this is pure misunderstanding about the context of the lies in question! God in each case DID NOT want the lie but let the person do as THEY WISHED as he always does.
There is not one single skeptic alive that would allow God to force his will on anyone is there?
Sin is wrong in any context but our will prevents us from seeing the end from the beginning as God does, so we seldom make the right choice when confronted with truth or error!
No lie stated in scripture ever is said to prosper the teller and is punishable in many ways if we simply read it in complete context, something very few Christians and Atheists are willing to do!
Now what exactly does God believe in regards to Atheism? Well it's very simple actually God believes in all of US not in our actions against him, God sees past our imperfections. He witnesses our future obedience to him amidst our present sinful acts! There is not a person alive today that God sees as they are.
God sees things that are NOT now manifest as if they were manifest, therefore Mr. and Mrs Atheist and Christian believes in the you that should be not the you you've become by experience!
God "calls things that are not as though they were" (Romans 4:17).This not only states the obvious but speaks to the nature of God to look into the future and see us as we should be, free from our actions of disobedience.
The real issue is: will we cooperate or continue to look for him in the wrong place expecting to see what is not there, hear what cannot be heard, and feel what is somewhere else?
It's plain, God's terms or NO EVIDENCE will make sense to your "Unregenerate mind" no matter how convincing it seems to us!
I know that this article does not debate God as Atheists would like so they can tear it up and spit it out but I thought it would be better to reach the heart than argue with your head.
As I stated before to know God will not happen as long as you look for him in your limited mental capacity, that's just the plain fact of the matter.
God dwells in a realm built by his personal FAITH that saw the end before the beginning so I ask you how in the WORLD could he be asked to reveal himself in a faithless environment?
We all go though life with questions that seem unanswerable throughout our lives but do questions really make us hate someone who we say we don't believe in or is it more like we hate what we have become and don't want to face up to the judgment involved in change?
Remember...Psalm 14:1 says
"The fool has said in his heart there is no God."
it is you that must decide within your own heart that there is or is not a God but just remember you do have this in common with God:
God himself says there are NO OTHER gods but him, so in effect he too is an atheist (small case or big case)! He knows just what you mean when you say religion is fake and should be ended as it is!
The real Atheists are the hypocrites in religious power who deny him while saying they serve him.....this is true "A-theism" to be able to use a holy thing for all the wrong reasons means you really don't believe what you represent!
Isaiah 44:6-8
"Thus saith the LORD the King of Israel, and his redeemer the LORD of hosts; I am the first, and I am the last; and beside me there is no God.
And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? and the things that are coming, and shall come, let them shew unto them. 8 Fear ye not, neither be afraid:
have not I told thee from that time, and have declared it? ye are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? yea, there is no God; I know not any."
Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Clarence_Sargent
There is more to being Christian than the standard Atheist definition of the word. And it would be smart to know where your defining goes astray!
True and False Conversion - Ray Comfort & Kirk Cameron :
PLEASE CLICK
to view movie,this explains why some in the church are not living as "TRUE BELIEVERS"!
"CHRISTIAN" you've heard the name now let's understand the claim to the fame...
What does it really mean to be called a Christian?
I WARN YOU,THIS TEACHING IS DIRECTED TOWARD THOSE WHO ARE "HYPOCRITICAL" OR ARE GUILTY OF CAUSING STRIFE IN THE TRUE BODY OF CHRIST!
And if you think it's O.K. to do these things and be called Christian,then I have a Scriptural awakening for you..HELL WILL BE HOTTER FOR THE "HYPOCRITE"! Don't believe it? To bad it's still true anyway!
John 10:1-15 (GW)
1 “I can guarantee this truth: The person who doesn't enter the sheep pen through the gate but climbs in somewhere else is a thief or a robber.
2 But the one who enters through the gate is the shepherd.
3 The gatekeeper opens the gate for him, and the sheep respond to his voice. He calls his sheep by name and leads them out of the pen.
4 After he has brought out all his sheep, he walks ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they recognize his voice.
5 They won't follow a stranger. Instead, they will run away from a stranger because they don't recognize his voice.”
6 Jesus used this illustration as he talked to the people, but they didn't understand what he meant.
7 Jesus emphasized, “I can guarantee this truth: I am the gate for the sheep.
8 All who came before I did were thieves or robbers. However, the sheep didn't respond to them.
9 I am the gate. Those who enter the sheep pen through me will be saved. They will go in and out of the sheep pen and find food.
10 A thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I came so that my sheep will have life and so that they will have everything they need.
11 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd gives his life for the sheep.
12 A hired hand isn't a shepherd and doesn't own the sheep. When he sees a wolf coming, he abandons the sheep and quickly runs away. So the wolf drags the sheep away and scatters the flock.
13 The hired hand is concerned about what he's going to get paid and not about the sheep.
14 “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep as the Father knows me. My sheep know me as I know the Father.
15 So I give my life for my sheep."
Jesus said this NOT ABOUT THE DEVIL AS IS TAUGHT BY OTHERS BUT ABOUT RELIGIOUS HYPOCRITES that THINK they are doing God service by causing people to view THEM instead of Gods TRUTH!
To be called Christian simply means to be CHRIST-LIKE or like the ANOINTED,SO IF YOU ARE NOT ACTING IN ALL THINGS LIKE THE ANOINTED JESUS...NOW GET THIS....YOUR NOT SAVED!
Now I'm NOT TALKING ABOUT MAKING BAD DECISIONS OR SPEAKING OUT OF TURN, OR MAKING A MISTAKE......NOW GET THIS CLEARLY IN YOUR MIND...WE ALL DO THAT, SAINT & SINNER ALIKE; MISTAKES ARE MADE!
A hypocrite is a HEART CONDITION THAT ONLY GOD CAN HEAL...we can't help them...they must repent and receive their cleansing of their own free will.
This problem is the result of to much FOCUS ON SELF AND NO FOCUS ON GOD'S LAW,they strain hard to see the smallest parts of the Law of God and completely MISS GOD'S INTENT IN THE LAW..WHICH IS NONE OTHER THAN..."MERCY",THEY FIND EVERY PROBLEM,EVERY SIN,EVERY LITTLE MISTAKE BUT HAVE NO MERCY TO COVER SIN WITH!
To them "Judgment and Condemnation"are all they can see..this is why I believe that MOST (Not All) Hypocrites are UNSAVED,some Christians are victims of their Church doctrines and don't know any better!
Romans 1:18-25 (GW) "
18 God's anger is revealed from heaven against every ungodly and immoral thing people do as they try to suppress the truth by their immoral living.
19 What can be known about God is clear to them because he has made it clear to them.
20 From the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly observed in what he made. As a result, people have no excuse.
21 They knew God but did not praise and thank him for being God. Instead, their thoughts were pointless, and their misguided minds were plunged into darkness.
22 While claiming to be wise, they became fools.
23 They exchanged the glory of the immortal God for statues that looked like mortal humans, birds, animals, and snakes.
24 For this reason God allowed their lusts to control them. As a result, they dishonor their bodies by sexual perversion with each other.
25 These people have exchanged God's truth for a lie. So they have become ungodly and serve what is created rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen!
"Romans 2:1-8 (GW)
" 1 No matter who you are, if you judge anyone, you have no excuse. When you judge another person, you condemn yourself, since you, the judge, do the same things.
2 We know that God's judgment is right when he condemns people for doing these things.
3 When you judge people for doing these things but then do them yourself, do you think you will escape God's judgment?
4 Do you have contempt for God, who is very kind to you, puts up with you, and deals patiently with you? Don't you realize that it is God's kindness that is trying to lead you to him and change the way you think and act?
5 Since you are stubborn and don't want to change the way you think and act, you are adding to the anger that God will have against you on that day when God vents his anger. At that time God will reveal that his decisions are fair.
6 He will pay all people back for what they have done.
7 He will give everlasting life to those who search for glory, honor, and immortality by persisting in doing what is good. But he will bring
8 anger and fury on those who, in selfish pride, refuse to believe the truth and who follow what is wrong. "
1 John 1:5-10 (GW)
5. This is the message we heard from Christ and are reporting to you: God is light, and there isn't any darkness in him.
6 If we say, “We have a relationship with God” and yet live in the dark, we're lying. We aren't being truthful.
7 But if we live in the light in the same way that God is in the light, we have a relationship with each other. And the blood of his Son Jesus cleanses us from every sin.
8 If we say, “We aren't sinful” we are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.
9 God is faithful and reliable. If we confess our sins, he forgives them and cleanses us from everything we've done wrong.
10 If we say, “We have never sinned,” we turn God into a liar and his Word is not in us. "
James 4:1-12 (GW)
" 1 What causes fights and quarrels among you? Aren't they caused by the selfish desires that fight to control you?
2 You want what you don't have, so you commit murder. You're determined to have things, but you can't get what you want. You quarrel and fight. You don't have the things you want, because you don't pray for them.
3 When you pray for things, you don't get them because you want them for the wrong reason—for your own pleasure.
4 You unfaithful people! Don't you know that love for this {evil} world is hatred toward God? Whoever wants to be a friend of this world is an enemy of God
. 5 Do you think this passage means nothing? It says,
“The Spirit that lives in us wants us to be his own.”
6 But God shows us even more kindness. Scripture says, “God opposes arrogant people, but he is kind to humble people.”
7 So place yourselves under God's authority. Resist the devil, and he will run away from you.
8 Come close to God, and he will come close to you. Clean up your lives, you sinners, and clear your minds, you doubters.
9 Be miserable, mourn, and cry. Turn your laughter into mourning and your joy into gloom.
10 Humble yourselves in the Lord's presence. Then he will give you a high position.
11 Brothers and sisters, stop slandering each other. Those who slander and judge other believers slander and judge God's teachings. If you judge God's teachings, you are no longer following them. Instead, you are judging them.
12 There is only one teacher and judge. He is able to save or destroy you. So who are you to judge your neighbor? "
"CHRISTIAN" MEANS:
"like Christ".. SIMPLY PUT, act like Jesus..
HOW simple can this be?
If we would just think BEFORE WORDS ESCAPE OUR MOUTHS, I believe over half the problems in the Church would simply be no more...I mean let's face it MOST of our problems stem from selfishness in WORDS...WE "SELF CREATE" BIGGER AND BADDER ISSUES THAN ARE REALLY THERE,
SATAN IS A MASTER MANIPULATOR!
You see Satan likes to see the church INFIGHTING and WASTING TIME on selfish ambitions,and "Look at me politics"INSTEAD of doing what Jesus said to do!
To those of you out there on the Internet,who are causing strife and harassing other believers FOR ANY REASON you are GUILTY BEFORE GOD...REPENT!
GET ON YOUR KNEES AND ASK FOR FORGIVENESS....
(TRUE BELIEVERS YOU MUST FORGIVE THEM)
If you "Willfully", will not repent of your sin then GOD HIMSELF WILL REMOVE YOU as a problem!
Matthew 7:1-6 (GW)
" 1 “Stop judging so that you will not be judged.
2 Otherwise, you will be judged by the same standard you use to judge others. The standards you use for others will be applied to you.
3 So why do you see the piece of sawdust in another believer's eye and not notice the wooden beam in your own eye?
4 How can you say to another believer, ‘Let me take the piece of sawdust out of your eye,' when you have a beam in your own eye?
5 You hypocrite! First remove the beam from your own eye. Then you will see clearly to remove the piece of sawdust from another believer's eye.
6 “Don't give what is holy to dogs or throw your pearls to pigs. Otherwise, they will trample them and then tear you to pieces. "
John 15:1-14 (GW)
" 1 {Then Jesus said,} “I am the true vine, and my Father takes care of the vineyard.
2 He removes every one of my branches that doesn't produce fruit. He also prunes every branch that does produce fruit to make it produce more fruit.
3 “You are already clean because of what I have told you.
4 Live in me, and I will live in you. A branch cannot produce any fruit by itself. It has to stay attached to the vine. In the same way, you cannot produce fruit unless you live in me.
5 “I am the vine. You are the branches. Those who live in me while I live in them will produce a lot of fruit. But you can't produce anything without me.
6 Whoever doesn't live in me is thrown away like a branch and dries up. Branches like this are gathered, thrown into a fire, and burned.
7 If you live in me and what I say lives in you, then ask for anything you want, and it will be yours.
8 You give glory to my Father when you produce a lot of fruit and therefore show that you are my disciples.
9 “I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love.
10 If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father's commandments, and in that way I live in his love.
11 I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete.
12 Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I'm commanding you to do.
13 The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends.
14 You are my friends if you obey my commandments. "
It's up to you right now to realize your sin of intolerance to fellow believers..YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ANOTHER CHRISTIAN..WE ARE NEVER TO JUDGE PEOPLE..SAINT OR SINNER..EVER, ONLY "SIN ITSELF" CAN BE JUDGED,THAT'S OUR LIMITATION CHURCH..PERIOD!!!
1 Peter 1:22-25 (GW)
" 22 Love each other with a warm love that comes from the heart. After all, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. As a result you have a sincere love for each other.
23 You have been born again, not from a seed that can be destroyed, but through God's everlasting word that can't be destroyed. That's why {Scripture says},
24 “All people are like grass, and all their beauty is like a flower of the field. The grass dries up and the flower drops off,
25 but the word of the Lord lasts forever.” This word is the Good News that was told to you. "
1 Peter 2:1-2 (GW)
" 1 So get rid of every kind of evil, every kind of deception, hypocrisy, jealousy, and every kind of slander.
2 Desire God's pure word as newborn babies desire milk. Then you will grow in your salvation. "
1 Peter 4:1-19 (GW)
" 1 Since Christ has suffered physically, take the same attitude that he had. (A person who has suffered physically no longer sins.)
2 That way you won't be guided by sinful human desires as you live the rest of your lives on earth. Instead, you will be guided by what God wants you to do.
3 You spent enough time in the past doing what unbelievers like to do. You were promiscuous, had sinful desires, got drunk, went to wild parties, and took part in the forbidden worship of false gods.
4 Unbelievers insult you now because they are surprised that you no longer join them in the same excesses of wild living.
5 They will give an account to the one who is ready to judge the living and the dead.
6 After all, the Good News was told to people like that, although they are now dead. It was told to them so that they could be judged like humans in their earthly lives and live like God in their spiritual lives.
7 The end of everything is near. Therefore, practice self-control, and keep your minds clear so that you can pray.
8 Above all, love each other warmly, because love covers many sins.
9 Welcome each other as guests without complaining.
10 Each of you as a good manager must use the gift that God has given you to serve others.
11 Whoever speaks must speak God's words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength God supplies so that in every way God receives glory through Jesus Christ. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ forever and ever! Amen.
12 Dear friends, don't be surprised by the fiery troubles that are coming in order to test you. Don't feel as though something strange is happening to you,
13 but be happy as you share Christ's sufferings. Then you will also be full of joy when he appears again in his glory.
14 If you are insulted because of the name of Christ, you are blessed because the Spirit of glory—the Spirit of God—is resting on you.
15 If you suffer, you shouldn't suffer for being a murderer, thief, criminal, or troublemaker.
16 If you suffer for being a Christian, don't feel ashamed, but praise God for being called that name.
17 The time has come for the judgment to begin, and it will begin with God's family. If it starts with us, what will be the end for those who refuse to obey the Good News of God?
18 If it's hard for the person who has God's approval to be saved, what will happen to the godless sinner?
19 Those who suffer because that is God's will for them must entrust themselves to a faithful creator and continue to do what is good.
I pray that this message gets through your hard heart and blinded mind before it's to late..this is a matter of spiritual Life and Death..because
...Galatians 6:6-10 (GW)
"6 The person who is taught God's word should share all good things with his teacher.
7 Make no mistake about this: You can never make a fool out of God. Whatever you plant is what you'll harvest.
8 If you plant in {the soil of} your corrupt nature, you will harvest destruction. But if you plant in {the soil of} your spiritual nature, you will harvest everlasting life.
9 We can't allow ourselves to get tired of living the right way. Certainly, each of us will receive {everlasting life} at the proper time, if we don't give up.
10 Whenever we have the opportunity, we have to do what is good for everyone, especially for the family of believers. "
REPENT...REPENT!!!! THAT'S ALL WE HEAR IN CHURCHES AROUND THE WORLD...But just what do they mean by repentance?
To most I would say nothing more than believe what WE BELIEVE AND YOU WILL BE SAVED...BUT LET'S GET REAL HERE,THE BIBLE'S NOT GOING TO AGREE WITH THAT PREACHING AT ALL!!
True bible repentance is NOTHING LIKE MODERN PREACHERS ARE PORTRAYING IT...here's the problem in a nutshell, MOST PREACHERS THEMSELVES DON'T BELIEVE IN WHAT THEY PREACH as far as their personal lives are concerned so HOW CAN THEY PREACH TRUTH FROM ANY KIND OF CONVICTION?
True bible repentance is a matter of the HEART AND THE SOUL (Mind) it's NOT a matter of our churches stands on doctrine or what my preacher FEELS IS RIGHT AT ANY GIVEN MOMENT.
Salvation really is a PERSONAL HAPPENING ON A PERSONAL LEVEL,DEEP DOWN IN YOUR INNER-MOST BEING.
Salvation has nothing to do with HOW YOU LOOK,HOW YOU FEEL,OR EVEN WHO YOU ARE...ITS A PERSONAL INSIDE ME DEAL,NO ONE INCLUDING SATAN CAN EVER STOP IT OR TAKE IT FROM YOU ONCE YOU MAKE THE CHOICE PURE AND SIMPLE...THAT'S SALVATION!
Repentance means TURNING FROM one thing and NEVER GOING BACK so when you turn around your thinking about sin and won't go back to do it again then YOU HAVE REPENTED OF IT AND GOD IS FREE TO SAVE YOUR SPIRIT FROM HELL and BEGIN to save your soul (Mind) from A LIFETIME OF DARKNESS and DECEPTION.
Do not let ANYONE for any reason make you believe that God cannot save you,there is not one single person alive that God could'nt pull from Hell's grasp..THAT'S A FACT!!
Romans 10:9-10 states
"That IF you will CONFESS WITH YOUR MOUTH THE LORD JESUS,and will BELIEVE IN YOUR HEART THAT GOD HAS RAISED JESUS FROM THE DEAD,you WILL BE SAVED.
For with your heart you believe to get RIGHTEOUSNESS;and with the MOUTH CONFESSION IS MADE RESULTING IN SALVATION."
WHAT IS TRUE SALVATION?
Are you one of those that will not be there because you where deceived into a false salvation?
Nothing could be more misunderstood than what it takes for salvation and the purpose behind it.
Let’s first define what salvation is; Salvation is eternal life as the children of God.
This is a generally accepted idea by most Christian denominations, but varies in how they see achieving it. Let us now examine the truth of the matter, salvation as revealed in Gods Word. Saved By Grace The Bible repeatedly states that we are saved by grace, and therefore people cannot conceive of any works.
They do not understand that a Christian is in training for what he will be doing in the next life, and therefore missing the whole purpose of salvation.
The meaning of the term grace as used in the Bible is this, a free gift, or an undeserved pardon. We are all saved by grace, but we are also rewarded according to our works, good works or evil works.
Over and over again the Bible teaches us that we will be rewarded according to our works. We can not earn salvation by our own works, nor does the Bible teach it anywhere.
Now everyone has works of either good or bad, and bad works earn eternal death, but good works earn something too, and it is not salvation. We may receive it as Gods gift through Jesus, but a person can not of himself create it, we must go to God through Jesus to get it.
ISA 59:1-2 says:
"The Lords hand is not shortened that it cannot save; neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear:
but your sins have separated you from your God, and your sins have hid his face from you that he will not hear"
Also, Romans 3:23 tells us that our sins have cut us off from God and all have sinned, thus, cutting us off from his gift of salvation.
How then do you gain access?
"God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whoever believes in (in what? in the gospel he taught) him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3:16).
"For if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his son ... (ROM 5:10-11).
So then, we are now reconciled to God by Jesus death, we now have contact with God, and he has eternal life to give as a gift through his son.
" "that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his son. He that has the son has life; and he that does not have the Son of God has not life" (John 5:11-12).
But then, just how then do we receive it from him?
Our Faith "I say to you, He that believes (has faith) on me has everlasting life" (John 6:47)
It is commonly thought that one need only believe in Jesus for salvation, it is true that you need a belief or faith in Jesus, but do you understand what kind?
"For by grace are you saved through faith;" (EPH 2:8).
We must have faith that the blood of Christ has paid the penalty for our past sins, and that we are saved by grace, it does not however excuse our sins.
Faith does not do away with the law, for the law defines what sin is, (Romans 3:20)
It is by our faith that we establish the law. "Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid (NO): we establish the law" (ROM 3:31).
We establish the law, and the law defines sin, and sin is the transgression of the law, and the law sets the rules by which to live. Therefore the law has the power to take the life of a sinner.
A sinner is under the law, but when a sinner repents and accepts the blood of Christ for payment of his sins he is pardoned by grace and the law is no longer hanging over him to claim his life. It is those who are still sinning, that do not repent, that are under the law.
"Even so, faith if it has not works is dead, being alone. Yes, a man may say, You have faith, and I have works: show me your faith without works, and I will show you my faith by my works ... But do you know o vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (James 2:17-20)
In other words, your belief is not enough, it is through your faith, an active faith, that you keep the law. Our works by faith, is a living faith that saves.
The Holy Spirit "Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and you will receive the gift of the holy spirit" (Acts 2:38).
It is on real repentance of sin, and a real desire to quite sinning, and a faith in Jesus, that is expressed in a water baptism that we receive the holy spirit as a gift, by grace.
"But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also enliven your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwells in you" (ROM 8:11).
"In whom (Christ) you also trusted, after that you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that you believed, you were sealed with that holy spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession..." (EPH 1:13-14).
Once one receives the holy spirit, sealed with the holy spirit of promise, they become heirs of Gods promise, not yet an inheritor of that promise, for the inheritance is conditional, getting into Gods kingdom is conditional.
The inheritance is freely given, by grace, one is now under the promise of grace and not under the penalty of the law, yet conditionally.
As long as the Holy Spirit resides within a person, they remain heirs to the promise. But how does one keep the Holy Spirit?
God gives the Holy Spirit to them that obey him Acts 5:32, by obeying!
But what does obeying God mean?
The word works means actions, labors, deeds, and can be broken down into two ways, physical acts or spiritual acts, both of which a true Christian must demonstrate in his life, for works are the demonstration of your faith.
"What then?
Shall we sin (transgress Gods law), because we are not under the law but under grace?
God forbid (NO!)."
Grace does not mean you are free to sin, "Sin is the transgression of the law"
(1 John 3:4).
"Do you not know brethren, (for I speak to them that have knowledge of the law) how that the law has dominion over a man as long as he lives?"
(ROM 7:1).
Being under grace, is to no longer be under the penalty or claim of the law, not the law itself, Christ paid the penalty, he satisfied the claim of the law, he did not do away with the law, the law reflects Gods character, setting the standard for sinless behavior.
"And hereby do we know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. He that says I know him, and keeps not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But who ever keeps his word, in him is the love of God perfected"
(1 John 2:3-6)
If you are not keeping the commandments, yet you call yourself a Christian, you are a liar, the truth of Christ and God are not in you. You must prove that you know him by keeping the commandments.
"Not every one that says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father which is in heaven."
(Matt 7:21)
, to believe in Christ is not enough to get you into the kingdom of heaven, you must also do his will,
"for not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law will be justified."
(ROM 2:13).
"They that do the commandments have a right to the tree of life."
(REV 22:14).
It is not hard to keep God's commandments with the power of the Holy Spirit living within one. The Holy Spirit is there to help a person keep Gods law by instilling his characteristics of patience, faith, and understanding.
But it is by our works that we are rewarded. Everyone has works, evil works, which are the disobedience of Gods laws or commandments, and which earn a death sentence, or good works that earn or have a reward, not salvation, for salvation is by grace.
A person is judged and rewarded according to his works during his converted (after receiving the Holy Spirit) life, to determine what position, office, or rank he will receive upon entering Gods kingdom.
"...has made us unto our God, kings and priests: and we will reign on the earth"
(Rev 5:10).
"For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he will reward every man according to his works"
(Matt 16:27).
"And he that overcomes, and keeps my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations:"
(Rev 2:26).
"You can see how, by works a man is justified,.."
(James 2:24)
Whether we are kings, or priests, or some other position in Gods kingdom will be determined by our works here and now.
Grace will get one into Gods kingdom, but works will qualify one for an office in Gods kingdom, we are being saved to serve, and if you do not qualify to serve, your works can keep you out of God's kingdom, you can lose the promise, the gift of salvation.
Read the parable of the pounds in Luke 19:12-27 regarding the Christian reward upon Jesus return.
Salvation then is Gods free gift, by grace, to mankind, but it can only be achieved by faith in Christ and God.
Through the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, it becomes possible to produce good works separate from your own personal labour, which in turn qualifies one for a position in Gods kingdom !
A quote from an Ex-Atheist:
"I used to be an atheist. And like most atheists, the issue of people believing in God bothered me greatly.
What is it about atheists that we would spend so much time, attention, and energy refuting something that we don't believe even exists?!
What causes us to do that?
When I was an atheist, I attributed my intentions as caring for those poor, delusional people...to help them release their hope in a god which I believed was completely ill-founded.
To be honest, I also had another motive. As I challenged those who believed in God, I was deeply curious to see if they could convince me otherwise.
Part of my quest was to become free from the question of God completely. If I could "conclusively prove" to believers that they were wrong, then the issue is off the table; and I would be free to go about my life.
I didn't realize that the reason the topic of God weighed so heavily on my mind, was simply because the "God" I didn't believe in was pressing the issue upon my heart and mind.
I have come to find out that God wants to be known, he's NOT hiding from us at all. God requires all men to seek him as he has set-up to be sought NOT as we dictate to him! He created us with the intention that we would know him;and the "Internal Drive" to find him in all of what he made.This is the ONLY logical thing he could have done, as to not know him would make no sense at all.
He has surrounded us with evidence of himself and he keeps the question of his existence squarely before us. During the time I was denying HE WAS THERE I couldn't escape thinking about the possibility of God.
In fact, the day I chose to acknowledge God's existence, my prayer began with, "Ok, you win..." It might be that the underlying reason atheists are bothered by people believing in God is because God is actively pursuing them AND THEY CANNOT IN THEIR PRIDE ADMIT to it.
{ THAT WOULD BE IT RIGHT THERE.....PRIDE!}
I am not the only one who has experienced this. Malcolm Muggeridge, socialist and philosophical author, wrote,
"I had a notion that somehow, besides questing, I was being pursued." C.S. Lewis said he remembered, "...night after night, feeling whenever my mind lifted even for a second from my work, the steady, unrelenting approach of Him whom I so earnestly desired not to meet.
I gave in, and admitted that God was God, and knelt and prayed: perhaps, that night, the most dejected and reluctant convert in all of England."
Lewis went on to write a book titled, "Surprised by Joy" as a result of knowing God. I too had no expectations other than rightfully admitting God's existence.
Yet over the following several months, I became amazed by his love for me." This question alone should make every Atheist in the world take stock in just what their motivation is, because IF they were right then they should have DISPROVED GOD LONG AGO since after all there is no such thing as "God in any form" and moved on with real life instead of wasting their time and money on one rabbit hole after another.
The very simple observation in any debate between a TRUE BELIEVER and real Atheist (Not just a religious person who found no joy in life following man invented rules; this is not a true Atheist) proves one thing clearly....an Atheist goes out of their way to DEGRADE, PUT DOWN, and otherwise abuse any reference to deity or the church.
This does not promote in any way a "logical debate" of the facts at hand but rather exposes a deep seated pre-hatred and animosity toward the very mention of any form of outside control to their lives.
It has been said and rightly so "that an Atheist cannot find God for the same reason that a thief cannot find a cop" they are in constant repel mode instead of attraction mode to the answer to an age old question, is God there?
I mean really just look at ANY online debate today on the net and see this pattern repeat itself over and over again: "I don't think this guy was ever really an atheist. I wonder what argument finally persuaded him to join the crazies? The hilarious argument from design?
He wanted to be a Christian. hell, he might have made it all up as christian propaganda. As far as I'm concerned, if you care about enlightenment and truth at all, you'll see through the petty superstitions of the past."This line of illogical reasoning without a breath continues to be the standard banner of the Atheist mindset in any forum.
Harassment instead of answering the question, misdirection and smoke and mirrors win the day for the Atheist NOT LOGICAL REASONING BUT NAME CALLING and vindictive sentiments are the only response to believers evidences that we give without EVER refuting one little bit of proof we present, it's no wonder Atheism has continued to fail in every way, both in its political and religious forms (Yes I said Religious! Atheism is as much a false religious belief system as any other on the earth.) Why?
Because it, like all forms of "MAN-MADE CRAP" fails to offer a shred of "life altering evidence" nothing that Atheists have done has made things better for the rest of us in the real world but even the worst faith on the planet can at the very least; claim good results for the poor and needy.
Where has this happened with the national Atheistic movements? I'm not saying that "individual Atheists" cannot effect change around them;of course they can and do. I'm talking about "the movement" as a whole. It is their "self worship" which becomes the god that the Atheist promotes. It is that same selfishness on a "grand scale" with no moral compass to give it a balance and give back to societies.
“Many people fear nothing more terribly than to take a position which stands out sharply and clearly from the prevailing opinion. The tendency of most is to adopt a view that is so ambiguous that it will include everything, and so popular that it will include everybody.”– Martin Luther King, Jr.
What this great man said is so true when it comes to taking a stand for or against the God question. Atheist's with only a few exceptions fail to present logical reasoned answers to "creationist evidences" and tend to resort to insults instead of trying to dismantle with reasonable thoughts the evidence presented to them. Why do they do this?
I believe it to be out of the fear of finding out they have both lied and been lied too, and simply cannot face the facts as we see them. It does not matter the reason, you will one day face the truth no matter who you fool here!
But it is also the way that God has made it possible to know him.....BY FAITH ALONE, there's no other way to have God revealed in the physical evidence you seek! All that can be seen now is circumstantial Evidence....FAITH ALONE releases the mind into deep truth!
The simple fact is that not one Atheist in all of history has DISPROVED GOD'S EXISTENCE with any certainty whatsoever speaks volumes; for if in all of history it had been done there would no longer be a need for Atheism as we know it today.
The questions would become mute at the point the "God issue" was DISPROVED!
Just as today you no longer see people who believe the earth is square and flat at least not people who are med free...WHY? Because that was DISPROVED centuries ago and the evidence has forever silenced the naysayers, the same is true concerning the God question!
Here is a quote proving this to be the case (from:HERE ):
"The word is out, “atheistic” humanism has failed!
Period!
This is most evident in the United States as we witness via organized humanism’s ineffectual response to the religious Right’s worldview, and via the general attitude of Americans toward religion, superstition and science.
Why has this happened to humanism when other “movements,” such as those championing African-Americans or Jews or Gays, have made significant progress, and have done so despite the secular and religious Right’s thirty-year affront to progressive ideals?
Could humanism’s failure as a worldview, to some extent, be because so many humanists see their worldview as an alternative to religion rather than a self-contained faithof its own?
How many times do we humanists find ourselves describing our beliefs by calling out a litany of ideas and faiths we don’t happen to subscribe to?
It is at times as if humanism would not exist if it were not for religion.
It is no wonder that organized humanism, cautious about becoming a religious alternative tend to follow a big tent model, wrapping as much as they can into their message – secularism, science advocacy, atheism, skepticism, and somewhere in the mess, humanism – while boosting their revenues even if that means diluting their original message." whatever that was!
There is a vast difference between being able to Think freely about what life really means and being bound to "religious stinking' thinking".
Religion as a man-made entity has never freed anyone from anything at any point in history, in fact just like Atheism it is nothing more than another man-made box to think from.
All any man-made institution has done is too barrow from the real thing and promote itself as something it's not, this is true Hypocrisy at the highest level, adding too or taking from what God made perfect already.
What about SIN and what it does to you?
It's important to know this in order to understand why you think the way you do about God!
This is something the Holy Spirit has layed on my heart, therefore I've spent lots of study time on this.... I hope that this will be an eye opener for anyone who reads this. These are not my words but rather that of the One True Living God!
Do Not be Deceived..........YOU Will NOT enter the Kingdom of Heaven with SIN in your life..GET IT OUT,NOW!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the UNRIGHTEOUS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? DO NOT BE DECEIVED. Neither FORNICATORS, nor IDOLATERS, nor ADULTERERS, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor SODOMITES, 10 nor THIEVES, nor COVETOUS, nor DRUNKARDS, nor REVILERS, nor EXTORTIONERS will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were (THIS IS THE KEY"WERE") some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.(NKJV)
UNRIGHTEOUS- wicked, unjust, heathen, ungodlyWILL NOT INHERIT- meaning to be an heir
THE KINGDOM OF GOD- Heaven and all that is connected to God's will and inheritance.
DO NOT BE DECEIVED-a straying from, seduced, delusion, error, "the deceiver" is the title of the devil. Lit. "the deceiving one", Often it has the sense of "deceiving oneself" eg. 1Cor. 6:9;15:33, Gal 6:7NEITHER FORNICATORS,- (Greek word pornos)-whoremonger, prostitute, a crime of impurity between unmarried persons. Figuratively-infidelity to God.
NOR IDOLATERS-(Greek word eidololatres), an “idolater” is found in 1 Cor. 5:10, 11; 6:9; 10:7; the warning is to believers against turning away from God to idolatry, whether “openly or secretly, consciously or unconsciously” Eph. 5:5; Rev. 21:8; 22:15.
NOR ADULTERERS-(Greek word moichos) denotes one “who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another,”
NOR HOMOSEXUALS-(Greek word arsenokoite) Two occurrences; translates as “abuser of (one’s) self with mankind” once, and “defile (one’s) self with mankind” once. One who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual.
NOR SODOMITES-[malakos ] adj. Of uncertain affinity; Four occurrences; translates as “soft” three times, and “effeminate” once. 1 soft, soft to the touch. 2 metaph. in a bad sense. 2a effeminate. 2a1 of a catamite. 2a2 of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man. 2a3 of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness. 2a4 of a male prostitute.
NOR THIEVES-(Greek word kleptes) is used (a) literally, someone who steals, Matt. 6:19, 20; 24:43; Luke 12:33, 39; John 10:1, 10; 12:6; 1 Cor. 6:10; 1 Pet. 4:15; (b) metaphorically of “false teachers,” John 10:8;
NOR COVETOUS-(Greek word pleonektes), lit., “(eager) to have more” i.e., to have what belongs to others; hence, “greedy of gain, covetous,”
NOR DUNKARDS-(Greek word methysos), meth´-oo-sos; from tipsy, i.e. (as noun) a sot:— drunkard.Another form of to drink to intoxication, i.e. get drunk(Intoxication of ant kind)-Drugs
NOR REVILERS- (Greek word loidoros ) From loidos (mischief);
denotes “to abuse, revile,” to pick on, be mean,“to speak profanely, to accuse.
NOR EXTORTIONERS- (Greek word harpax) adj. 1 rapacious, ravenous. 2 a extortioner, a robber, extorting money or property
WILL INHERIT -(The Greek word used here is ou) “no, not,” expressing a negation absolutely, is rendered “nay,” e.g., in Matt. 5:37; 13:29; John 7:12, kjv (rv, “not so”); Acts 16:37; 2 Cor. 1:17-19; Jas. 5:12.
Now lets turn to Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, 20 IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT or SORCERY (Take note here once and for all, see below), HATRED, CONTENTIONS(variance), JEALOUSIES(emulations), OUTBURST OF WRATH, SELFISH AMBITIONS(strife), DISSENSIONS(seditions), HERESIES, 21 ENVY, MURDERS, DRUNKENNESS, REVELRIES(revelings), and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things WILL NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God.(NKJV)
ADULTERY-(Greek word moichos) denotes one “who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another,”FORNICATION,- (Greek word pornos)-whoremonger, prostitute, a crime of impurity between unmarried persons. Figuratively-infidelity to God.
UNCLEANNESS-(Greek word akatharsia) impure, [lewd] or [demonic]):— foul, unclean
LASCIVIOUSNESS-(Greek word aselgeia) “wantonness, licentiousness, lasciviousness,” is translated “filthy
IDOLATRY-(Greek word eidololatria), Heathen sacrifices were sacrificed to demons, 1 Cor. 10:19; there was a dire reality in the cup and table of demons and in the involved communion with demons. In Rom. 1:22-25, “idolatry,” the sin of the mind against God (Eph. 2:3), and immorality, sins of the flesh, are associated, and are traced to lack of the acknowledgment of God and of gratitude to Him. An “idolater” is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent, Gal. 4:8, 9; and thereby, to divers lusts, Titus 3:3
WITCHCRAFT or SORCERY-(Greek word pharmakeia and pharmakon), medication (“pharmacy”), magic (lit. or fig.):— sorcery, witchcraft.
(Greek word pharmakous), from pharmakon, (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, a magician:— sorcerer. You will please note that IN NO WAY is Witchcraft to be equated with any form of Spiritual power is is however attached to the FLESHLY MENTAL REALM and is therefore LIMITED in its power toward the Church of Jesus, this does however explain WHY ITS POWER IS SO HARD TO UPROOT and why its influence goes so deep into societies through the Centuries.
HATRED-Greek word echthra), “enmity” “enmities,” “hatred.” It is the opposite of agape, “love.”
VARIANCE-(Greek words eris), er´-is; a quarrel, wrangling:— contention, debate, strife, variance.
EMULATIONS- (Greek word zelos), dzay´-los; heat, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [fig. of God], or an enemy, malice):— emulation, envy (-ing), fervent mind, indignation, “zeal, jealousy,” is rendered “fierceness”
WRATH-(Greek word thymos) “hot anger, wrath,” is rendered “fierceness”
STRIFE-(Greek word eritheia)“ambition, self-seeking, rivalry,” self-will being an underlying idea in the word; hence it denotes “party-making.” It is derived, not from eris, “strife,” but from erithos, “a hireling”; hence the meaning of “seeking to win followers,” “factions,” so rendered “strifes”; not improbably the meaning here is rivalries, or base ambitions (all the other words in the list express abstract ideas rather than factions)
SEDITIONS-(Greek words dichostasia) lit., “a standing apart” (dicha, “asunder, apart,” stasis, “a standing”), hence “a dissension, division,” is translated “seditions”
HERESIES-(Greek word hairesis)denotes (a) “a choosing, choice” (from haireomai, “to choose”); then, “that which is chosen,” and hence, “an opinion,” especially a self-willed opinion, which is substituted for submission to the power of truth, and leads to division and the formation of sects, Gal. 5:20 (marg., “parties”); such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage; see 2 Pet. 2:1, where “destructive” signifies leading to ruin; some assign even this to (b); in the papyri the prevalent meaning is “choice” “a sect”; this secondary meaning, resulting from (a), is the dominating significance in the NT, Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14; 26:5; 28:22; “heresies” in 1 Cor. 11:19
ENVYINGS- (Greek word phthonos)“envy,” is the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others; this evil sense always attachés to this word, Matt. 27:18; Mark 15:10; Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Phil. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:4; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1; so in Jas. 4:5, where the question is rhetorical and strongly remonstrative, signifying that the Spirit (or spirit) which God made to dwell in us was certainly not so bestowed that we should be guilty of “envy.”
MURDERS-(Greek word phonos)(to slay); murder:— murder, + be slain with, slaughter.
DRUNKENNESS-(Greek word methe)an intoxicant, i.e. (by impl.) intoxication:— drunkenness. “strong drink”, denotes “drunkenness, habitual intoxication,”
REVELLINGS-(Greek word komos)a carousal (as if letting loose):— revelling, rioting “a revel, carousal,” the concomitant and consequence of drunkenness, is used in the plural, Rom. 13:13, translated by the singular, “reveling” (kjv, “rioting”); Gal. 5:21 and 1 Pet. 4:3, “revelings.”, “prodigality, a wastefulness, profligacy"
"those who PRACTICE such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God." ( A person who PRACTICES DAILY ANY OF THESE sinful, demonicly influenced WEAKNESSES in personality CANNOT be in a place to benifit from the Kingdoms influences and will end up in a different place than heaven NO MATTER WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT RELIGION AND FAITH! )
I have to say that this was an eye opener studying these verses word for word in the original text ; it gave me a much much better understanding of what God says. There is NO way to Mis-interpret what this text is saying. God has given us every tool, every truth, every key, everything at our finger tips. We have no excuse for not learning His truth. When we stand before the all Mighty and give account of our life we will find out that the ONLY thing that was worth our time and effort was seeking God's face, spending time with God's people, and serving God's interests. How foolish and naked we will feel, when He shows us all the fruitless time here on earth we've wasted. All these things that people do that will not enter the Kingdom, just don't seem worth the eternal consequence. Please, People re=read carefully the true meanings of these words. May the Holy Spirit convict us were we NEED to be convicted before it's to late. Remember these are God's definitions the original meanings, not the ones that we have thought. May our hearts be tender. None of it is worth losing our Heavenly Home. 1 John 5:18a "We know that anyone born of God does not CONTINUE to sin." We are called to be differnt, and to allow God's light (Jesus' light) to shine through us.
Let me give you an example: Here is a man who has struggles with approval and alcohol all His life. God gets a hold on Him, but He only give a little of Himself to God. He is deceiving Himself. By all outward appearance He is a Godly man, every time the church doors are open He's there dressed in His best. He talks an amazing talk, seems to be very Godly, But the truth is; is the man hasn't really changed, he still drinks, smokes, and smokes drugs, still flirts with other women, even though he's married. He is deceiving Himself. (interesting that God's word say " Do not be deceived ) And worst of all showing others that proclaiming to be a Christian is no different than being of this world. Yet this man still in all his pride and arrogant, believes he's right. And seems to refuse to repent and FULLY surrender his ALL to the Almighty. Now because of this man's life he's living ; His son who desperately needs God, and knows He's there but doesn't DO anything about it, See's this example of his earthly Father strutting in front of Him doing the same things as everyone else in this world. He doesn't see a Godly man showing Him the truth, the love, the wrath of the Almighty.
So now one of two things will happen....One the son See's no need to serve God (there's no difference)and use that as an excuse not to change and serve God or Two the son knowing that Christians aren't to act and live that way, will just get further away from receiving the truth of God and His transforming power. Either way the end result of the Father's ungodly and hypocritical behavior doesn't no one any good. It hurt God, and only keep Him from a close relationship with God, His deceives himself and walks in a non-victorious life, and he is hurting his son, who is watching. My heart truly hurts...Please open the eyes of your hearts people, If we are REAL children of God we WILL give up self and we will serve God in our outward and inward life. There Will be a major change in us. THE LIGHT in us WILL shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.
Matthew 5:16 "We are called to be the salt of the earth.The world will know us by our fruit; the fruit of the spirit....."
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRITGalatians 5:22-26
22 "BUT the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG-SUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, 23 GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL (Temperance). Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."
(Love which is the greatest command 1 Corinthians 13) read it
LOVE-(Greek words agape)“feast of charity” once. All in compassing love. 1 brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence. 2 love feasts.JOY-(Greek word chara) cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight:— gladness, × greatly, (× be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, fulness, -ous).
PEACE-(Greek word eirene)prosperity:— one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again,the harmonized relationships between God and man
LONG-SUFFERING-(Greek word makrothymia)“forbearance, patience, longsuffering”
GENTLENESS-(Greek word chrestotes) usefulness, i.e. mor denotes “goodness” in the sense of what is upright, righteous, Rom. 3:12 (translated “good”); in the sense of kindness of heart or act, said of God, Rom. 2:4; 11:22; Eph. 2:7 (“kindness”); Titus 3:4 (“kindness”); said of believers and rendered “kindness,” 2 Cor. 6:6; Col. 3:12; Gal. 5:22 (rv; kjv, “gentleness”)
GOODNESS-(Greek word agathosyne)“over,” rendered “beyond” virtue or beneficence:— goodness.FAITH-(Greek word pistis)conviction, espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; truth itself:— assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity “firm persuasion,” a conviction based upon hearing (akin to peitho, “to persuade”), is used in the NT always of “faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual.”
MEEKNESS-(Greek word praotes, praupathia), humility gentleness, mildness, meekness.
TEMPERANCE-(Greek words enkrateia)“strength,” occurs in Acts 24:25; Gal. 5:23; 2 Pet. 1:6 (twice), in all of which it is rendered “temperance”, “self-control” is the preferable rendering, as “temperance” is now limited to one form of self-control; the various powers bestowed by God upon man are capable of abuse; the right use demands the controlling power of the will under the operation of the Spirit of God; in Acts 24:25 the word follows “righteousness,” which represents God’s claims, self-control being man’s response thereto; in 2 Pet. 1:6, it follows “knowledge,” suggesting that what is learned requires to be put into practice
26 "Let us NOT become CONCEITED, PROVOKING one another, ENVYING one another"
Let us NOT-(Greek word for Not is-me, mege, mepou) me, may; a primary particle of qualified negation (expresses an absolute denial); (adv.) not, (conjunc.) lest; also whether:— any, but (that), × forbear, + God forbid, + lack, lest, neither, never, no (× wise in), none, nor, [can-] not, nothing, that not, un [-taken], without.CONCEITED {desirous of vain glory,}-(Greek word kenodoxos) vainly glorifying, i.e. self-conceited:— desirous of vain-glory in Gal. 5:26, (kjv, “desirous of vain glory”)
PROVOKING-(Greek word prokaleo)“to call forth,” as to a contest, hence “to stir up what is evil in another,” occurs in the middle voice in Gal. 5:26
ENVYING-(Greek word phthoneo)to be jealous of:— envy.
May you walk in the freedom and the joy that a walk close to God brings. If the Holy Spirit has convicted you in anyway, please repent (turn from that sin and not doing it anymore) and ask God for forgiveness. Please see the Video on my other post "True and False Conversion" And while this might just blow your theology out of the water, I WOULD ASK YOU...ISN'T HEAVEN FOREVER WORTH IT TO LOSE AN EARTHLY IDEA IN FAVOR OF AN ETERNAL TRUTH?
How to Defeat an atheist argument!
'Click'By spiderpam Hold them to their namesake
Ask questions make them walk out their irrational beliefs to the bitter end, don’t let them grab Christian morals or ideas in order to stay afloat.
Atheism is defined in two ways
Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
The doctrine that there is no God or gods.
Godlessness; immorality.
When we debate an atheist the first and most prevalent point usually made is that Christianity is illogical. But wait
An atheist only has three places in which to base their standards and none of them can account for logic and thought let us look at them:
Nature- nature is defined for humans by the fives senses: touch, smell, sight, hear, taste.Thinking is not a sense found is nature thus you can't use it for any basis for thought or logic.
Society- Basically majority rule, but to use this for thought, logic or common sense majority cannot account for this world today. . When ever it’s tried, you get mass choas is the next step "you don’t agree with society, you die." We would be just robots the void of individual thought. And whose to say which society idea is right, There is no standard to base in a majority rule. Another point to bring it home is: Why does every sane person have a conscience, even when it is not dictated by society?
Individualism- The most impossible, One individualism can never be wrong thus they can never be right everything is subjective. Atheist hate this, because by there very definition the claim an absolute NO GOD which means nothing when coming from an atheist. In our world today, can a atheist explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos?
Morality- We can’t say atheist are immortal, but they have no basis for morality.
A true atheist can never say something is bad or wrong, to say so implies they must know what is good or right. That’s where they use Christian values to define their beliefs in the lack of values and the bible or God. To put it simple bad can only exist when there is first good ie rust can exist on a car, moth ridden clothes need clothes. Evil can only exist where there is good, Christians can tell what is bad because we know what is good. Atheists don’t have that luxury because their words are always subjective and an absolute can never be reached.
Keeping the above in mind ask an atheist these questions:
What is logic?
What is truth?
Whose truth is right?
Are truth and logic material?
Can you see it?
To claim logic you must determine what determines logic or who?
Where does logic come from?
Who or what decides logic and whose to say whose logic is right?
Where did you get your views from can you map them by purely material means?
How do draw the conclusion of whose logic is true logic?
And when you get there how can you be sure it is true or even valid?
What will you use to determine the validity of your own logic?
and finally How can an atheist truly know what is wrong or bad?
When you get through these you will have a new agnostic and then you can present the gospel and it will make more sense when they realize their whole view is senseless and illogical.
Don’t get me wrong I believe there are true atheists out there, but we will never meet them as they are the truly insane or the walking robot dead. A true atheist would never debate a Christian, how could they? Everything is subjective and he has no basis to fault Christianity. He can disagree, but it’s truly meaningless.
To you ex atheist or new agnostic be honest. Is there any evidence that would satisfy you and persuade you to become a believer, or are you just going to believe what you WANT to believe? If so why waste your time on a computer?
Here is a quote proving this to be the case (from:HERE ):
"The word is out, “atheistic” humanism has failed!
Period!
This is most evident in the United States as we witness via organized humanism’s ineffectual response to the religious Right’s worldview, and via the general attitude of Americans toward religion, superstition and science.
Why has this happened to humanism when other “movements,” such as those championing African-Americans or Jews or Gays, have made significant progress, and have done so despite the secular and religious Right’s thirty-year affront to progressive ideals?
Could humanism’s failure as a worldview, to some extent, be because so many humanists see their worldview as an alternative to religion rather than a self-contained faithof its own?
How many times do we humanists find ourselves describing our beliefs by calling out a litany of ideas and faiths we don’t happen to subscribe to?
It is at times as if humanism would not exist if it were not for religion.
It is no wonder that organized humanism, cautious about becoming a religious alternative tend to follow a big tent model, wrapping as much as they can into their message – secularism, science advocacy, atheism, skepticism, and somewhere in the mess, humanism – while boosting their revenues even if that means diluting their original message." whatever that was!
There is a vast difference between being able to Think freely about what life really means and being bound to "religious stinking' thinking".
Religion as a man-made entity has never freed anyone from anything at any point in history, in fact just like Atheism it is nothing more than another man-made box to think from.
All any man-made institution has done is too barrow from the real thing and promote itself as something it's not, this is true Hypocrisy at the highest level, adding too or taking from what God made perfect already.
What about SIN and what it does to you?
It's important to know this in order to understand why you think the way you do about God!
This is something the Holy Spirit has layed on my heart, therefore I've spent lots of study time on this.... I hope that this will be an eye opener for anyone who reads this. These are not my words but rather that of the One True Living God!
Do Not be Deceived..........YOU Will NOT enter the Kingdom of Heaven with SIN in your life..GET IT OUT,NOW!!!
1 Corinthians 6:9-10
9 Do you not know that the UNRIGHTEOUS WILL NOT INHERIT THE KINGDOM OF GOD? DO NOT BE DECEIVED. Neither FORNICATORS, nor IDOLATERS, nor ADULTERERS, nor HOMOSEXUALS, nor SODOMITES, 10 nor THIEVES, nor COVETOUS, nor DRUNKARDS, nor REVILERS, nor EXTORTIONERS will inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were (THIS IS THE KEY"WERE") some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.(NKJV)
UNRIGHTEOUS- wicked, unjust, heathen, ungodlyWILL NOT INHERIT- meaning to be an heir
THE KINGDOM OF GOD- Heaven and all that is connected to God's will and inheritance.
DO NOT BE DECEIVED-a straying from, seduced, delusion, error, "the deceiver" is the title of the devil. Lit. "the deceiving one", Often it has the sense of "deceiving oneself" eg. 1Cor. 6:9;15:33, Gal 6:7NEITHER FORNICATORS,- (Greek word pornos)-whoremonger, prostitute, a crime of impurity between unmarried persons. Figuratively-infidelity to God.
NOR IDOLATERS-(Greek word eidololatres), an “idolater” is found in 1 Cor. 5:10, 11; 6:9; 10:7; the warning is to believers against turning away from God to idolatry, whether “openly or secretly, consciously or unconsciously” Eph. 5:5; Rev. 21:8; 22:15.
NOR ADULTERERS-(Greek word moichos) denotes one “who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another,”
NOR HOMOSEXUALS-(Greek word arsenokoite) Two occurrences; translates as “abuser of (one’s) self with mankind” once, and “defile (one’s) self with mankind” once. One who lies with a male as with a female, sodomite, homosexual.
NOR SODOMITES-[malakos ] adj. Of uncertain affinity; Four occurrences; translates as “soft” three times, and “effeminate” once. 1 soft, soft to the touch. 2 metaph. in a bad sense. 2a effeminate. 2a1 of a catamite. 2a2 of a boy kept for homosexual relations with a man. 2a3 of a male who submits his body to unnatural lewdness. 2a4 of a male prostitute.
NOR THIEVES-(Greek word kleptes) is used (a) literally, someone who steals, Matt. 6:19, 20; 24:43; Luke 12:33, 39; John 10:1, 10; 12:6; 1 Cor. 6:10; 1 Pet. 4:15; (b) metaphorically of “false teachers,” John 10:8;
NOR COVETOUS-(Greek word pleonektes), lit., “(eager) to have more” i.e., to have what belongs to others; hence, “greedy of gain, covetous,”
NOR DUNKARDS-(Greek word methysos), meth´-oo-sos; from tipsy, i.e. (as noun) a sot:— drunkard.Another form of to drink to intoxication, i.e. get drunk(Intoxication of ant kind)-Drugs
NOR REVILERS- (Greek word loidoros ) From loidos (mischief);
denotes “to abuse, revile,” to pick on, be mean,“to speak profanely, to accuse.
NOR EXTORTIONERS- (Greek word harpax) adj. 1 rapacious, ravenous. 2 a extortioner, a robber, extorting money or property
WILL INHERIT -(The Greek word used here is ou) “no, not,” expressing a negation absolutely, is rendered “nay,” e.g., in Matt. 5:37; 13:29; John 7:12, kjv (rv, “not so”); Acts 16:37; 2 Cor. 1:17-19; Jas. 5:12.
Now lets turn to Galatians 5:19-21
19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: ADULTERY, FORNICATION, UNCLEANNESS, LASCIVIOUSNESS, 20 IDOLATRY, WITCHCRAFT or SORCERY (Take note here once and for all, see below), HATRED, CONTENTIONS(variance), JEALOUSIES(emulations), OUTBURST OF WRATH, SELFISH AMBITIONS(strife), DISSENSIONS(seditions), HERESIES, 21 ENVY, MURDERS, DRUNKENNESS, REVELRIES(revelings), and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things WILL NOT INHERIT the kingdom of God.(NKJV)
ADULTERY-(Greek word moichos) denotes one “who has unlawful intercourse with the spouse of another,”FORNICATION,- (Greek word pornos)-whoremonger, prostitute, a crime of impurity between unmarried persons. Figuratively-infidelity to God.
UNCLEANNESS-(Greek word akatharsia) impure, [lewd] or [demonic]):— foul, unclean
LASCIVIOUSNESS-(Greek word aselgeia) “wantonness, licentiousness, lasciviousness,” is translated “filthy
IDOLATRY-(Greek word eidololatria), Heathen sacrifices were sacrificed to demons, 1 Cor. 10:19; there was a dire reality in the cup and table of demons and in the involved communion with demons. In Rom. 1:22-25, “idolatry,” the sin of the mind against God (Eph. 2:3), and immorality, sins of the flesh, are associated, and are traced to lack of the acknowledgment of God and of gratitude to Him. An “idolater” is a slave to the depraved ideas his idols represent, Gal. 4:8, 9; and thereby, to divers lusts, Titus 3:3
WITCHCRAFT or SORCERY-(Greek word pharmakeia and pharmakon), medication (“pharmacy”), magic (lit. or fig.):— sorcery, witchcraft.
(Greek word pharmakous), from pharmakon, (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, a magician:— sorcerer. You will please note that IN NO WAY is Witchcraft to be equated with any form of Spiritual power is is however attached to the FLESHLY MENTAL REALM and is therefore LIMITED in its power toward the Church of Jesus, this does however explain WHY ITS POWER IS SO HARD TO UPROOT and why its influence goes so deep into societies through the Centuries.
HATRED-Greek word echthra), “enmity” “enmities,” “hatred.” It is the opposite of agape, “love.”
VARIANCE-(Greek words eris), er´-is; a quarrel, wrangling:— contention, debate, strife, variance.
EMULATIONS- (Greek word zelos), dzay´-los; heat, ardor; in an unfavorable one, jealousy, as of a husband [fig. of God], or an enemy, malice):— emulation, envy (-ing), fervent mind, indignation, “zeal, jealousy,” is rendered “fierceness”
WRATH-(Greek word thymos) “hot anger, wrath,” is rendered “fierceness”
STRIFE-(Greek word eritheia)“ambition, self-seeking, rivalry,” self-will being an underlying idea in the word; hence it denotes “party-making.” It is derived, not from eris, “strife,” but from erithos, “a hireling”; hence the meaning of “seeking to win followers,” “factions,” so rendered “strifes”; not improbably the meaning here is rivalries, or base ambitions (all the other words in the list express abstract ideas rather than factions)
SEDITIONS-(Greek words dichostasia) lit., “a standing apart” (dicha, “asunder, apart,” stasis, “a standing”), hence “a dissension, division,” is translated “seditions”
HERESIES-(Greek word hairesis)denotes (a) “a choosing, choice” (from haireomai, “to choose”); then, “that which is chosen,” and hence, “an opinion,” especially a self-willed opinion, which is substituted for submission to the power of truth, and leads to division and the formation of sects, Gal. 5:20 (marg., “parties”); such erroneous opinions are frequently the outcome of personal preference or the prospect of advantage; see 2 Pet. 2:1, where “destructive” signifies leading to ruin; some assign even this to (b); in the papyri the prevalent meaning is “choice” “a sect”; this secondary meaning, resulting from (a), is the dominating significance in the NT, Acts 5:17; 15:5; 24:5, 14; 26:5; 28:22; “heresies” in 1 Cor. 11:19
ENVYINGS- (Greek word phthonos)“envy,” is the feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others; this evil sense always attachés to this word, Matt. 27:18; Mark 15:10; Rom. 1:29; Gal. 5:21; Phil. 1:15; 1 Tim. 6:4; Titus 3:3; 1 Pet. 2:1; so in Jas. 4:5, where the question is rhetorical and strongly remonstrative, signifying that the Spirit (or spirit) which God made to dwell in us was certainly not so bestowed that we should be guilty of “envy.”
MURDERS-(Greek word phonos)(to slay); murder:— murder, + be slain with, slaughter.
DRUNKENNESS-(Greek word methe)an intoxicant, i.e. (by impl.) intoxication:— drunkenness. “strong drink”, denotes “drunkenness, habitual intoxication,”
REVELLINGS-(Greek word komos)a carousal (as if letting loose):— revelling, rioting “a revel, carousal,” the concomitant and consequence of drunkenness, is used in the plural, Rom. 13:13, translated by the singular, “reveling” (kjv, “rioting”); Gal. 5:21 and 1 Pet. 4:3, “revelings.”, “prodigality, a wastefulness, profligacy"
"those who PRACTICE such things will NOT inherit the kingdom of God." ( A person who PRACTICES DAILY ANY OF THESE sinful, demonicly influenced WEAKNESSES in personality CANNOT be in a place to benifit from the Kingdoms influences and will end up in a different place than heaven NO MATTER WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT RELIGION AND FAITH! )
I have to say that this was an eye opener studying these verses word for word in the original text ; it gave me a much much better understanding of what God says. There is NO way to Mis-interpret what this text is saying. God has given us every tool, every truth, every key, everything at our finger tips. We have no excuse for not learning His truth. When we stand before the all Mighty and give account of our life we will find out that the ONLY thing that was worth our time and effort was seeking God's face, spending time with God's people, and serving God's interests. How foolish and naked we will feel, when He shows us all the fruitless time here on earth we've wasted. All these things that people do that will not enter the Kingdom, just don't seem worth the eternal consequence. Please, People re=read carefully the true meanings of these words. May the Holy Spirit convict us were we NEED to be convicted before it's to late. Remember these are God's definitions the original meanings, not the ones that we have thought. May our hearts be tender. None of it is worth losing our Heavenly Home. 1 John 5:18a "We know that anyone born of God does not CONTINUE to sin." We are called to be differnt, and to allow God's light (Jesus' light) to shine through us.
Let me give you an example: Here is a man who has struggles with approval and alcohol all His life. God gets a hold on Him, but He only give a little of Himself to God. He is deceiving Himself. By all outward appearance He is a Godly man, every time the church doors are open He's there dressed in His best. He talks an amazing talk, seems to be very Godly, But the truth is; is the man hasn't really changed, he still drinks, smokes, and smokes drugs, still flirts with other women, even though he's married. He is deceiving Himself. (interesting that God's word say " Do not be deceived ) And worst of all showing others that proclaiming to be a Christian is no different than being of this world. Yet this man still in all his pride and arrogant, believes he's right. And seems to refuse to repent and FULLY surrender his ALL to the Almighty. Now because of this man's life he's living ; His son who desperately needs God, and knows He's there but doesn't DO anything about it, See's this example of his earthly Father strutting in front of Him doing the same things as everyone else in this world. He doesn't see a Godly man showing Him the truth, the love, the wrath of the Almighty.
So now one of two things will happen....One the son See's no need to serve God (there's no difference)and use that as an excuse not to change and serve God or Two the son knowing that Christians aren't to act and live that way, will just get further away from receiving the truth of God and His transforming power. Either way the end result of the Father's ungodly and hypocritical behavior doesn't no one any good. It hurt God, and only keep Him from a close relationship with God, His deceives himself and walks in a non-victorious life, and he is hurting his son, who is watching. My heart truly hurts...Please open the eyes of your hearts people, If we are REAL children of God we WILL give up self and we will serve God in our outward and inward life. There Will be a major change in us. THE LIGHT in us WILL shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in Heaven.
Matthew 5:16 "We are called to be the salt of the earth.The world will know us by our fruit; the fruit of the spirit....."
THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRITGalatians 5:22-26
22 "BUT the fruit of the Spirit is LOVE, JOY, PEACE, LONG-SUFFERING, KINDNESS, GOODNESS, FAITHFULNESS, 23 GENTLENESS, SELF-CONTROL (Temperance). Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another."
(Love which is the greatest command 1 Corinthians 13) read it
LOVE-(Greek words agape)“feast of charity” once. All in compassing love. 1 brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence. 2 love feasts.JOY-(Greek word chara) cheerfulness, i.e. calm delight:— gladness, × greatly, (× be exceeding) joy (-ful, -fully, fulness, -ous).
PEACE-(Greek word eirene)prosperity:— one, peace, quietness, rest, + set at one again,the harmonized relationships between God and man
LONG-SUFFERING-(Greek word makrothymia)“forbearance, patience, longsuffering”
GENTLENESS-(Greek word chrestotes) usefulness, i.e. mor denotes “goodness” in the sense of what is upright, righteous, Rom. 3:12 (translated “good”); in the sense of kindness of heart or act, said of God, Rom. 2:4; 11:22; Eph. 2:7 (“kindness”); Titus 3:4 (“kindness”); said of believers and rendered “kindness,” 2 Cor. 6:6; Col. 3:12; Gal. 5:22 (rv; kjv, “gentleness”)
GOODNESS-(Greek word agathosyne)“over,” rendered “beyond” virtue or beneficence:— goodness.FAITH-(Greek word pistis)conviction, espec. reliance upon Christ for salvation; truth itself:— assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity “firm persuasion,” a conviction based upon hearing (akin to peitho, “to persuade”), is used in the NT always of “faith in God or Christ, or things spiritual.”
MEEKNESS-(Greek word praotes, praupathia), humility gentleness, mildness, meekness.
TEMPERANCE-(Greek words enkrateia)“strength,” occurs in Acts 24:25; Gal. 5:23; 2 Pet. 1:6 (twice), in all of which it is rendered “temperance”, “self-control” is the preferable rendering, as “temperance” is now limited to one form of self-control; the various powers bestowed by God upon man are capable of abuse; the right use demands the controlling power of the will under the operation of the Spirit of God; in Acts 24:25 the word follows “righteousness,” which represents God’s claims, self-control being man’s response thereto; in 2 Pet. 1:6, it follows “knowledge,” suggesting that what is learned requires to be put into practice
26 "Let us NOT become CONCEITED, PROVOKING one another, ENVYING one another"
Let us NOT-(Greek word for Not is-me, mege, mepou) me, may; a primary particle of qualified negation (expresses an absolute denial); (adv.) not, (conjunc.) lest; also whether:— any, but (that), × forbear, + God forbid, + lack, lest, neither, never, no (× wise in), none, nor, [can-] not, nothing, that not, un [-taken], without.CONCEITED {desirous of vain glory,}-(Greek word kenodoxos) vainly glorifying, i.e. self-conceited:— desirous of vain-glory in Gal. 5:26, (kjv, “desirous of vain glory”)
PROVOKING-(Greek word prokaleo)“to call forth,” as to a contest, hence “to stir up what is evil in another,” occurs in the middle voice in Gal. 5:26
ENVYING-(Greek word phthoneo)to be jealous of:— envy.
May you walk in the freedom and the joy that a walk close to God brings. If the Holy Spirit has convicted you in anyway, please repent (turn from that sin and not doing it anymore) and ask God for forgiveness. Please see the Video on my other post "True and False Conversion" And while this might just blow your theology out of the water, I WOULD ASK YOU...ISN'T HEAVEN FOREVER WORTH IT TO LOSE AN EARTHLY IDEA IN FAVOR OF AN ETERNAL TRUTH?
How to Defeat an atheist argument!
'Click'By spiderpam Hold them to their namesake
Ask questions make them walk out their irrational beliefs to the bitter end, don’t let them grab Christian morals or ideas in order to stay afloat.
Atheism is defined in two ways
Disbelief in or denial of the existence of God or gods.
The doctrine that there is no God or gods.
Godlessness; immorality.
When we debate an atheist the first and most prevalent point usually made is that Christianity is illogical. But wait
An atheist only has three places in which to base their standards and none of them can account for logic and thought let us look at them:
Nature- nature is defined for humans by the fives senses: touch, smell, sight, hear, taste.Thinking is not a sense found is nature thus you can't use it for any basis for thought or logic.
Society- Basically majority rule, but to use this for thought, logic or common sense majority cannot account for this world today. . When ever it’s tried, you get mass choas is the next step "you don’t agree with society, you die." We would be just robots the void of individual thought. And whose to say which society idea is right, There is no standard to base in a majority rule. Another point to bring it home is: Why does every sane person have a conscience, even when it is not dictated by society?
Individualism- The most impossible, One individualism can never be wrong thus they can never be right everything is subjective. Atheist hate this, because by there very definition the claim an absolute NO GOD which means nothing when coming from an atheist. In our world today, can a atheist explain how personality could have ever evolved from the impersonal, or how order could have ever resulted from chaos?
Morality- We can’t say atheist are immortal, but they have no basis for morality.
A true atheist can never say something is bad or wrong, to say so implies they must know what is good or right. That’s where they use Christian values to define their beliefs in the lack of values and the bible or God. To put it simple bad can only exist when there is first good ie rust can exist on a car, moth ridden clothes need clothes. Evil can only exist where there is good, Christians can tell what is bad because we know what is good. Atheists don’t have that luxury because their words are always subjective and an absolute can never be reached.
Keeping the above in mind ask an atheist these questions:
What is logic?
What is truth?
Whose truth is right?
Are truth and logic material?
Can you see it?
To claim logic you must determine what determines logic or who?
Where does logic come from?
Who or what decides logic and whose to say whose logic is right?
Where did you get your views from can you map them by purely material means?
How do draw the conclusion of whose logic is true logic?
And when you get there how can you be sure it is true or even valid?
What will you use to determine the validity of your own logic?
and finally How can an atheist truly know what is wrong or bad?
When you get through these you will have a new agnostic and then you can present the gospel and it will make more sense when they realize their whole view is senseless and illogical.
Don’t get me wrong I believe there are true atheists out there, but we will never meet them as they are the truly insane or the walking robot dead. A true atheist would never debate a Christian, how could they? Everything is subjective and he has no basis to fault Christianity. He can disagree, but it’s truly meaningless.
To you ex atheist or new agnostic be honest. Is there any evidence that would satisfy you and persuade you to become a believer, or are you just going to believe what you WANT to believe? If so why waste your time on a computer?
Testimony of an Ex-Atheist
By Darren "Daz" Gedye
I grew up in a non-Christian home. My father is an atheist and my mother was a backsliding Christian, due mostly to marrying my father I suspect. Anyway, I grew up an atheist. I never went to Church or Sunday school, stayed in bed till lunch-time on Sundays, and hated Christians who I thought were all stupid.
When I came to adolescence I went through a really hard time due to circumstances that I won't bore you with, and I decided life would be easier to bear if I cut out all feelings and contact with other people. I was eleven years old.
I spent the next decade working at achieving that goal and also trying to find a meaning for my life. I went through a stage of fads, where I would be fanatically interested in some subject, and then drop it when I found that it did little or nothing to feed the hunger in my soul. I didn't have many friends at high school, and those I did associate with decided I was the person most likely to initiate a global holocaust.
I dropped out of school after failing my University Entrance exams, and got a job as a chemistry technician with the New Zealand Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. With the money came independence. I left home, was living in a house by myself, going to a job where I spoke to no-one, and going to night school at the local polytechnic where I did the same. I had achieved my goal: my life was empty of any emotions or meaningful contact with others. - It sucked.
The second year I was at night school I noticed a guy in my class was trying to talk to me. He'd been trying for the previous year as well, but I was too messed up to even notice. Luckily he was the patient type. He was a Christian and he invited me to go to an evangelistic outreach with him. I nearly punched him out. After that he tried just to be my friend and not try any heavy evangelism on me.
As I grew to trust him we started talking about life and stuff like that. I realized that a lot of what I had been told about Christians when I was growing up was not true. I started asking him questions about his beliefs and he answered them, but had the sense not to push it any further.
After a couple of years of this I realized that his worldview made more sense than mine did. I started reading a Bible he gave me and one night alone in my room it dawned on me that it was all true and I was the world's prize idiot. I hit the floor and asked Jesus to take control of my life.
My Mother has since reclaimed her faith so my family is now divided down the middle; my mother and I are Christians, my father and brother are atheists. Becoming a Christian didn't solve my problems, but it helped me to understand them and it opened the way for God to start healing me from my past.
After a few years I started going to Bible College at nights to learn more about God. I did that for two years, but then the pressures of trying to hold down a full-time and demanding job, go to Bible College at night, and help out in the Church and its youth group got too much. I dropped out of Church for a couple of months and failed my subjects at Bible College. I wanted to do something with my life for God, but I didn't know what.
After a long struggle and a fair bit of soul-searching I quit my job and applied for the Youth Intern position at my local Church. I have switched from doing a Diploma of Biblical Studies to doing a Ministry Internship Diploma, which is a much more practical course. I am trying to do less studying of God and more following him. So far I am enjoying it, but I know following God is a lifetime journey. I still have a long way to go.
As an aside, my friend from poly-tech is the most effective evangelist I have ever met. He has never been to Bible College or had any formal training and he says I now know far more theology than he does. But he has a love for God that still amazes me.
Professor Antony Flew confesses his belief in a creator!Author of "Theology and Falsification," and "Darwinian Evolution""the most famous atheist in the academic world over the last half-century, Professor Antony Flew of England's University of Reading, now accepts the existence of God" (Dallas Morning News)
"Professor Antony Flew, a prominent British philosopher who is considered the world's best-known atheist, has cited advancements in science as proof of the existence of God." (Insight On The News)
"British professor Antony Flew, for decades one of the world's leading philosophers of atheism, publicly announced that he now affirms the existence of a deity." (Dallas Morning News)
"Now, in a remarkable reversal, Mr. Flew holds that the universe was brought into being by an infinite intelligence." (Dallas Morning News)
"This is comparable to Hugh Hefner announcing that he is becoming a celibate." (Insight On The News)Read the three Newspaper articles below:
"Former Atheist Says God Exists"
"An Atheist's Apostasy"
"Academics viewing the universe through a narrow scope should rethink assumptions"Although Flew, for the moment rejects Christianity, he gives his personal views in an interview:
"My one and only piece of relevant evidence [for an Aristotelian God] is the apparent impossibility of providing a naturalistic theory of the origin from DNA of the first reproducing species ... [In fact] the only reason which I have for beginning to think of believing in a First Cause god is the impossibility of providing a naturalistic account of the origin of the first reproducing organisms."
(private interview with Antony Flew, Dec 2004) Former Atheist Says God Exists
(private interview with Antony Flew, Dec 2004) Former Atheist Says God Exists
By: Cliff Kinkaid (Editor of the AIM Report)
Insight On The News
December 21, 2004
It didn't make news, on the front or back pages of leading American newspapers, but Professor Antony Flew, a prominent British philosopher who is considered the world's best-known atheist, has cited advancements in science as proof of the existence of God. This is comparable to Hugh Hefner announcing that he is becoming a celibate.
At a symposium sponsored by the Institute for Meta-scientific Research, Flew said he has come to believe in God based on developments in DNA research. Flew, author of the book, Darwinian Evolution, declared, "What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together. The enormous complexity by which the results were achieved look to me like the work of intelligence."
Associated Press distributed a December 9 story by religion writer Richard N. Ostling about Flew's conversion. Flew told AP that his current ideas had some similarity with those of U.S. "intelligent design" theorists, who believe the complexity of life points to an intelligent source of life, rather than the random and natural processes posited by Charles Darwin's theory of evolution.
Flew's statements have been covered in Britain, where he is a professor, but we found nothing about his transformation in major American newspapers such as USA Today, the Washington Post, and the New York Times. Ostling's status as a religion writer may help explain why. The secular press considers this a religion story.
To its credit, however, the Seattle Times permitted Jonathan Witt of the Discovery Institute to write a column noting Flew's conversion in the context of discussing the usually taboo subject of the holes in Darwinian theory.
Witt noted that Darwin and his contemporaries thought a single cell was a simple blob of protoplasm and that it wouldn't have been difficult for nature to randomly produce something so simple. "In those days the cell was a black box, a mystery. But in the 20th century, scientists were able to open that black box and peek inside," he notes. "There they found not a simple blob, but a world of complex circuits, miniaturized motors and digital code. We now know that even the simplest functional cell is almost unfathomable and complex, containing at least 250 genes and their corresponding proteins."
"Darwin's Black Box" is the title of Michael J. Behe's 1996 book. Behe, a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, emphasizes the complexity of molecular systems such as the bacterial flagellum. Identified by electron microscopes, it is what Behe calls an "irreducibly complex system" that is necessarily composed of at least three parts: a paddle, a rotor, and a motor. He argues that Darwinian theory cannot account for it.
But those who believe in intelligent design or find gaping holes in the theory of evolution frequently encounter a hostile press. The Discovery Institute recently provided to Accuracy in Media a thick file of complaints about the way their representatives have been treated by the media, especially National Public Radio. The Discovery Institute focuses on the issue of whether there is any evidence of design in nature, rather than whether there is a designer. Still, its representatives tend to be portrayed in religious terms by the media.
Such a tactic is common operating procedure by the ACLU, which is determined to portray any alternative to evolution as religious and therefore not allowed to be taught or even discussed in the public schools.
Back in 2001, when the Public Broadcasting Service aired the seven-part series, Evolution, financed by Microsoft co-founder and billionaire Paul G. Allen, it asked Discovery Institute scientists to appear on the last segment dealing with God and religion. It was a trick. The institute rejected this ploy, saying that its representatives had scientific objections to evolution and that they should be included in the scientific episodes.
PBS went ahead with its one-sided program anyway. In response, the Discovery Institute produced a 152-page viewers guide, noting that the series distorts the scientific evidence, ignores scientific disagreements over Darwin's theory, and misrepresents the theory's critics. Because the PBS series is still being marketed to high schools around the country, the Discovery Institute critique continues to be helpful and relevant.
You can find it at: www.reviewevolution.com
You can find it at: www.reviewevolution.com
PBS and the rest of the media would be well-advised to follow the lead of Antony Flew, who said that his life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: "Follow the evidence, wherever it leads." Journalists can begin their investigation of the Socratic principle by simply reporting the facts surrounding Flew's amazing evolution and the implications that his statements have for a questionable theory that continues to be taught as the Gospel in the public schools. An Atheist's Apostasy:
By: Editorial Board
Dallas Morning News
December 15, 2004
An intellectual bombshell dropped last week when British professor Antony Flew, for decades one of the world's leading philosophers of atheism, publicly announced that he now affirms the existence of a deity.
To be sure, Mr. Flew has not become an adherent of any creed. He simply believes that science points to the existence of some sort of intelligent designer of the universe. He says evidence from DNA research convinces him that the genetic structure of biological life is too complex to have evolved entirely on its own. Though the 81-year-old philosopher believes Darwinian theory explains a lot, he contends that it cannot account for how life initially began.
We (the Editorial Board of the Dallas Morning News) found this conversion interesting in light of last year's controversy regarding proposed revisions to the state's (Texas) high school biology textbooks. Our view then was that while religion must be kept out of science classes, intellectual honesty demands that when science produces reliable data challenging the prevailing orthodoxies, students should be taught them.
We were bothered by Harvard geneticist Richard Lewontin's statement that for scientists, materialism must be "absolute, for we cannot allow a Divine Foot in the door." That's called stacking the deck.
Mr. Flew may be dead wrong, but it's refreshing to see that an academic of his stature is unafraid to let new facts change his mind. The philosopher told The Associated Press that if admirers are upset with his about-face, then "that's too bad. My whole life has been guided by the principle of Plato's Socrates: Follow the evidence, wherever it leads."
If the scientific data are compelling enough to cause an atheist academic of Antony Flew's reputation to recant much of his life's work, why shouldn't Texas schoolchildren be taught the controversy?Academics viewing the universe through a narrow scope should rethink assumptions
Dallas Morning News
By Roy Abraham Varghese
December 15, 2004
Last week, The Associated Press broke the news that the most famous atheist in the academic world over the last half-century, Professor Antony Flew of England's University of Reading, now accepts the existence of God.
Mr. Flew's best-known plaint for atheism, "Theology and Falsification," was delivered in 1950 to the Socratic Club, chaired by none other than C.S. Lewis. This paper went on to become the most widely reprinted philosophical publication of the last five decades and set the agenda for modern atheism.
Now, in a remarkable reversal, Mr. Flew holds that the universe was brought into being by an infinite intelligence.
"What I think the DNA material has done is show that intelligence must have been involved in getting these extraordinarily diverse elements together," he said. "The enormous complexity by which the results were achieved look to me like the work of intelligence."
Given the conventional wisdom of some psychologists that people rarely, if ever, change their worldview after the age of 30, this radical new position adopted by an 81-year-old thinker may seem startling.
But Mr. Flew's change was consistent with his career-long principle of following the evidence where it led him. And his newfound theism is the product neither of a Damascus road experience nor of fresh philosophical arguments, but by his sustained analysis of scientific data.
Mr. Flew's conclusion is consistent with the actual beliefs of most modern scientific pioneers, from Albert Einstein to quantum physicists like Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg. In their view, the intelligence of the universe - its laws - points to intelligence that has no limitation - "a superior mind," as Einstein put it.
Not a few of our men and women of letters, it would seem, have been looking for God in all the wrong places. Those who dismiss God as a product of psychological conditioning or pre-scientific myth-making have not come to terms with the essential assumptions underlying the scientific enterprise.
Science assumes that the universe follows laws, which leads to the question of how the laws of nature came into being. How does the electron know what to do? In A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking asks what breathes fire into the equations of science and gives a universe for them to describe. The answer to the question of why the universe exists, he concluded, would reveal to us "the mind of God."
Last May, I helped organize a New York University symposium on religion and science, with the participation of Mr. Flew and others. Our starting point was science's new knowledge that the universe's history is a story of quantum leaps of intelligence, the sudden yet systematic appearance of intrinsically intelligent systems arranged in an ascending order.
Many people assume that the intelligence in the universe somehow evolved out of non-intelligence, given chance and enough time, and in the case of living beings, through natural selection and random mutation. But even in the most hardheaded materialistic scenario, intelligence and intelligent systems come fully formed from day one.
Matter came with all its ingenious, mathematically precise laws from the time it first appeared. Life came fully formed with the incredibly intelligent symbol processing of DNA, the astonishing phenomenon of protein-folding and the marvel of replication from its very first appearance. Language, the incarnation of conceptual thought with its inexplicable structure of syntax, symbols and semantics, appeared out of the blue, again with its essential infrastructure as is from day one.
The evidence we have shows unmistakably that there was no progressive, gradual evolution of non-intelligence into intelligence in any of the fundamental categories of energy, life or mind. Each one of the three had intrinsically intelligent structures from the time each first appeared. Each, it would seem, proceeds from an infinitely intelligent mind in a precise sequence.
We can, if we want, declare that there is no reason why there are reasonable laws, no explanation for the fact there are explanations, no logic underlying logical processes. But this is manifestly not the conclusion adopted by Einstein, Heisenberg and, most recently, Antony Flew.
Roy Abraham Varghese of Garland is the author of The Wonder of the World: A Journey from Modern Science to the Mind of God (Tyr Publishing).
He helped organize presentations by Antony Flew in Dallas on two occasions. Readers may contact Mr. Varghese through tyrpublishing.com.
Atheists and Skeptics have for years said that there is NO real evidence to prove that God is real and he alone is responsible for the creation! Evolution states that "We see evolution as based on the trial-and-error process of variation and natural selection of systems at all levels of complexity". And "The fact that mutations can corrupt DNA is important for the Darwinian paradigm because in order for an organism to eventually evolve into an entirely different organism, changes must be made to the creature's genome over time." The trouble is there is NO evidence anywhere that any life-form has ever changed into another life-form in any fossil record anywhere in the world!"Foundational thought makes us see through a FILTERED experience, we therefore filter the evidence we will OURSELVES to believe!"
Then there are"Genetic similarities" between species interpreted by evolutionists as "DNA evidence" for evolution. The fact that human and chimp DNA are more than 96% the same is taken wrongly to mean that humans are genetically related rather than just similar to chimps and therefore descended from a common ancestor, of course we know that a common designer would have a lot of common design within his creation just when an Artist creates a series of paintings though not related to each other directly have similar traits to identify it's creator.
This in no way PROVES anything one way or the other, although its interesting how evolutionists make such large leaps of faith in their theory without any truth to back it up and then claim that creationist's are using faith as a crutch!
The trouble with Evolution and there's a lot! Is in the clear cut facts of science that they seem to refuse to fix when it's found out it's not science and untrue, here's a few to ponder: The Coelacanth ( Pronounced "seal-a-canth"a large fish) supposedly according to evolutionists disappeared from the fossil record with the last of the dinosaurs.
That was supposedly 65 million years ago. The problem is that it is still alive and totally unchanged in our oceans today. Where is the evolution of this creature over time if it never changed into anything else? It's still as God made it less than 10,000 years ago! And what about God's "biggest Joke" towards these evolutionists?
The platypus has a duck-like bill, swims with webbed feet, and lays eggs. Yet nobody calls it a transitional creature between mammals and ducks. Maybe it would have to go extinct for thousands of years and be found later so they can deceive a future class of people?
What about their big theory on Dino's and Birds? Wasn't this at the time the end all to prove the missing link (Transition)? "Archaeopteryx" (Pronounced like "R-k-op-ter-x") has long been held up as the great example of transitional creatures, appearing to be part dinosaur and part bird.
However, it is fully formed in and of itself, a complete animal with no half-finished components or useless growths. That is also the case for the other birds in the evolutionary tree, does their shame never end?
Evolutionists just threw some of the many living and extinct species of birds next to each other on their chart to make it look like a "series of birds over time", this was very deceptive not to mention dishonest and begs the question: "If their right why do they have to set up "straw-theory's" to knock over?"
The same goes for Christians and creationist's that might do the same thing! I understand the jump to protect your theory but to deny scientific Law or kick the "proof"can down the road to avoid the facts is just dishonest research if there's any real research at all!
The theory ; get that?
"Theory" of Evolution violates completely, two LAWS, not theory's but pure science. The Second Law of Thermodynamics ( Which is the law of increasing entropy, It applies to all systems, open or closed, and to all actions and chemical reactions, from molecules to galaxies. This is a universal law. )
It says that things which start out concentrated together spread out over time or become unorganized, in other words they grow apart from each other rather than improving their state over time. The second issue is the Law of Bio-genesis which was established by Louis Pasteur three years after Darwin's book was published, and simply says that life only comes from life.
No matter what these people say they CAN'T overcome these problems...ever, it's a WALL that cannot be penetrated! Living cells will always divide to make new cells, and fertilized eggs and seeds will always develop into animals and plants, but "chemicals" the life blood of evolution's theory can never fall together randomly and make life appear out of nothing. Now remember this a scientific LAW not a theory but do evolutionist's care?
No they simply shrug their shoulders and move on with a "Well evolution is a fact and there will be a way around it later in the future. So let's move on to the next point...please?" Instead of stopping and considering the silliness of their positions!
Why is it that Amino acid molecules that form proteins, and nucleotide molecules that form DNA and RNA always resist combining at any temperature?Not to mention the simple fact that D.N.A. dilutes in any form of water, this alone means that the so-called "Primal Soup" of evolution would dilute anything begun as life automatically!
It is a fact of science that they combine only with the help of "mechanisms" in a living cell or simply a biochemist forcing it to do so in an chemistry laboratory. Why is that?
If evolution is at all true, why does it need our help? If the only evolution that can be done needs our help how can it be claimed that nature does it over time?
How can we accept these excuses from evolutionist's who use "TIME" as the cure all to prove it could happen when scientific Law says no?
It is a scientific fact that the necessary proteins in D.N.A. cannot be FORMED one at a time over time. Either they are all there at once, ready to work all at once, or nothing takes place at all and they disintegrate, this is God's way of protecting his investment from crappy reasoning. Yet even if it could design proteins, mutation-natural selection would only work on one at a time sporadically over many years without the guarantee that the next one would ever be alike. It's funny that D.N.A. has rubbed scientific facts in the face of evolution for years and we just simply overlook the obvious stupidity involved in their claims and excuses!
The first question that anyone asks when faced with the end of their own strength is "Who am I? Why am I here? and Where am I going?"
Until mankind gets answers to these questions of life then no amount "pseudo-science speak" can answer these important questions, so we are left empty inside because as the tree cannot deny its roots so man cannot run from who he was created to be! Did you know that at the moment of your conception as a fertilized egg you were no bigger than the head of a pin? But you still contained ALL the information of 6 Billion Chemical letters, enough to fill 1,000 books that were 500 pages thick with print that was Microscopic in size!
Think for a moment just how wonderful you are as God's handy-work, because if ALL the D.N.A.'s chemical letters in your body were printed in books they would be able to FILL the Grand Canyon 50 times to the top. The Lord of Creation has made you his greatest creation ever so complex in nature, that you are a perfect walking paradox that evolutionists can't explain.
"The Origin of genetic code presents formidable unsolved problems. The coded information inside the nucleotide sequences is completely meaningless without the machinery to translate them, BUT the specification for this machinery is itself encoded inside the very D.N.A. it is to translate. Without this machinery the information is useless, but without the encoded information the machinery cannot be produced. This is the classic "chicken and the egg" problem to evolutionists.And ALL attempts to solve it have so far been sterile."John Walton - Chemist
The ONLY true solution to this issue is to realize God's personal design and the FACT that it was all created at the same time which is the only way D.N.A. will work. Evolution destroys D.N.A. in every scenario we can think of because Living Cells cannot produce proteins until the D.N.A. R.N.A replication and translation machinery is in place and since that has to happen all at once...Then gradual evolutionary change over billions or even thousands of years cannot work for D.N.A.!
How Could a God of love create cancer cells, rattlesnakes, and earthquakes?
The answer to this question and the understanding of all reality is found in understanding God's love.
As we enter the third millennium, no word is still more abused, misused, and misunderstood than "love," especially when it is applied to God.
Christian teachers often project their own "personal understanding" right or wrong of love onto God or they relegate any apparent real world contradiction of God's love to the category of God works in mysterious ways
Understanding God's Love ends both the mystery and our personal misunderstanding of love by letting scripture define God's love.
No doctrine is more central to Christianity than the nature of God.
No doctrine is more central to Christianity than the nature of God.
Why is our image or understanding of God of critical importance?
Why does the God of the Old Testament often seem to contradict the God of the New Testament?
Is God omnipotent, omniscient, immutable or impassive?
What is God's judgment and justice?
Did God require the sacrificial suffering and death of Jesus on the cross?
How are today's clerical Sadducee and Pharisee distorting God's image?
What are some of today's Christian "high places" of misguided worship of God?
How are we to understand the end of the world, salvation, heaven, and hell?
The God of the Bible is made known to us in many ways. In a most elemental way, we have knowledge of Him by reason of the presence and order of this universe and of our very existence in it. In fact, He views as unacceptable and without excuse refusal to acknowledge this most fundamental proof of His Being.
The Bible claims that such suppression of truth is willful. It is the reason why we sometimes move down a path away from God, and why God steps back as we proceed toward a state of depravity in thinking, not able to discern basic differences between right and wrong.
A quest for "GOD" cannot omit a discussion of His basic character and nature, because we need to understand who we are dealing with. Although nature itself reveals certain things about God, the Bible is the best source of information concerning Him.
Do you want to see a religious person freak out? mention that you disagree with them about their understanding of the nature of God. It's guaranteed, the person will freak, and call you a heathen, and worse.
why?
Think about this, when you say "the nature of God" what do you mean?
How are you defining "the nature of God?" what weight are you placing on what word, and how important is it to you in the long run?
"What is the nature of God Christians believe in? What are His characteristics, His attributes, His qualities? What is He like?"
Christianity claims that the God of all things is unique in that He alone has the following divine characteristics (in no particular order):
SUPREMACY:
The God of Judaism and Christianity is the Supreme Being. He is not merely a different type of being or a superior being but the Supreme Being.
UNIQUENESS:
God is unique. The Bible describes Him in Greek as mono genesis, i.e., "one of a kind", "having a unique nature."
ETERNALNESS:
He always has existed and always will exist. He had no beginning and will never cease to exist.
OMNISCIENCE:
He knows all things.
OMNIPOTENCE :
He is all-powerful.
OMNIPRESENCE:
He is everywhere at the same time.
SELF-EXISTENT:
God is the only thing that had no beginning, that was not created by something else.
HOLINESS :
Holy means pure, undefiled.
TRIUNE NATURE:
Not a Triad as in pagan religions! Triads were distinct persons BUT they were NEVER ONE in nature and purpose.
Not a Triad as in pagan religions! Triads were distinct persons BUT they were NEVER ONE in nature and purpose.
The one God is a single "trinity" consisting of three distinct "persons":
FATHER
JESUS
- often referred to as the Son or "the Word of God"
THE HOLY SPIRIT
Don't get hung up on the "how can one be three?" issue!
Remember--we are imperfect, natural human beings with physical bodies trying to understand a perfect, supernatural spiritual being that does not have a physical body.
(Jesus' physical body was created; He did not always have a physical body.)
Trying to understand the "triune" nature of God intellectually is like trying to understand intellectually why some things smell nice and some things don't, without actually smelling anything.
It is NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW BUT IT IS A LIMITED SPACE AND TIME I'M DEALING WITH HERE,SO I WILL DEAL WITH THE TRINITY LATER ON!
It is NOT IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW BUT IT IS A LIMITED SPACE AND TIME I'M DEALING WITH HERE,SO I WILL DEAL WITH THE TRINITY LATER ON!
THEISTIC :
Deistic and theistic are adjectives from the field of comparative religion. They describe the relationship between a god and that which it creates. A deistic god is one that would distance himself from that which it creates (Such as in Theistic Evolution ), one that would not get involved in the activities of the things he created.
A deistic god would essentially be an "absentee father" god -- it would create a universe and then sit back and say "I made you, but I don't want to get involved. You're on your own!" The God of the Bible is FULLY INVOLVED.
He does not distance Himself from that which He creates. He gets actively involved in the activities of the things He created. In fact, the God of the Bible 'micromanages' things.
TRANSCENDENT:
God transcends that which He created, i.e., He "goes beyond" that which He created, He is not limited to IT, He is not bound by that which He created as Satan IS BOUND BY GOD'S CREATION.
For example, in the physical universe it is impossible for a single being to consist of three distinct persons, but God is not limited by physical laws, so He can be one God and yet consist of three distinct persons.
For example, in the physical universe it is impossible for a single being to consist of three distinct persons, but God is not limited by physical laws, so He can be one God and yet consist of three distinct persons.
Christianity claims that, in addition, this unique God shares the following characteristics with certain other things:
ALIVE :The one God is a living being.
PERSONAL:
God is a living person with thoughts, reactions, etc., not an impersonal thing.
SPIRIT:
A spirit is a living being that is incorporeal, i.e., it does not possess a physical body. Note that Jesus took on a physical human body. It is not an inherent part of His nature. By comparison, our bodies are part of our human nature but we put on clothes WHICH ARE NOT PART OF OUR NATURE.
INTELLIGENCE
SENTIENCE:
A sentient being has intelligence, and also is aware of its own existence, and aware that there is a 'big picture'. For instance, cats, dogs, and horses have intelligence but probably are not sentient or self-aware (They do not have God's Image ).
IMMORTAL :
God is a being that will live forever.
Note the technical difference between eternal-ness and immortality: God is eternal because had He had no beginning. He also is immortal because He will live forever. Humans, angels, demons, etc., are immortal because we will never cease to exist, but not eternal because we did not always exist.
It is important to realize that in practice eternal and immortal are often used interchangeably and the technical difference is not always maintained.
SEPARATE
God is separate from that which He created. The universe itself is not God. (The opposite is pantheism. Some "nature" religions believe that the universe itself is god.)
I believe that God did become a man, that Jesus had Gods Spiritual essence (That which made him God incarnate in a physical form ) and his own HUMAN spirit (That which made him completely man ). Although we must understand first what is the spirit.
I don’t claim to know everything, but I have come to an understanding of what the spirit is!
I don’t claim to know everything, but I have come to an understanding of what the spirit is!
What is the spirit?
Through my studies, I have come to this understanding, that the spirit in it’s original meaning derives from the root words: Wind, Breeze and Breath.
Through my studies, I have come to this understanding, that the spirit in it’s original meaning derives from the root words: Wind, Breeze and Breath.
Wind generally cannot be seen, but the wind when it blows can be heard, felt and seen by what it does. When a gust of wind or a breeze blows, it has the power for example to moves a stack of leaves or sways the branches of a tree.
God is like that, that is why he is called a spirit, which is wind or breeze, not that he is an actually wind or was ever seen as wind, but his works are like wind, unseen. This is why I believe the root word was used to express God, to show Gods power to change the cause of history, without being seen, stopped or traced.
The wind was a mystery, to early man and so is God, thus we get the expression Spirit.
The wind was a mystery, to early man and so is God, thus we get the expression Spirit.
Spirit can also be described as breath, referring to the fact that to live we breath, and we breath in the oxygen God has given to live. If we are denied oxygen we die, and so to do all other living creatures that live off oxygen. God is the supplier of oxygen, and in relation to his creation is like oxygen.
God is the air we breath. Without God we would truly die, not only because he supplies the air we breath, but due to the fact that he gives or denies all our other necessities according to his will.
Then the spirit also refers to the life-giving power (breath of life) from God, that all living creatures need in order to live. The spirit can therefore be compared to electricity (all life needs electricity to live) but I am not directly saying that the spirit is electricity.
Like electricity gives the computer the energy to function, so too does the spirit give to living creatures. Cut off the electric supply from the computer, the machine shuts down, put back on the power supply the computer with all it functions is active again.
Now I believe that the spirit also refers to a mans mental disposition or Mind-sets: Anger, fear, love, depression etc.
including all emotions and other functions of the brain.
Both written and spoken words carry spirits, because they carry the thoughts and feelings from a mans mental disposition, which come from the brain. Thoughts work like wind, in that they can’t be seen. A mind-set may be expressed by spoken or written words, but can’t be seen in the head, but only in a certain arena of expression.
Both written and spoken words carry spirits, because they carry the thoughts and feelings from a mans mental disposition, which come from the brain. Thoughts work like wind, in that they can’t be seen. A mind-set may be expressed by spoken or written words, but can’t be seen in the head, but only in a certain arena of expression.
So one brain can affect another by harsh words, or a harsh look, or a harsh thought, and even in feelings sensed. Thoughts and feelings cannot been seen, actively in a brain, even under any microscopic lens, but all thoughts are generated in the brain by chemical reactions.
So God is also a spirit, in all the descriptions found above and also in relation to his mental disposition. God has a perfectly balanced Mind, because he (Perfection ) is expressed in his mind, which is unseen, but can be manifested in the natural arena of sight etc.,
("God was manifested in the flesh and dwelt among us") also in all his creation and his recorded words (The Word of God was perfectly transmitted to IMPERFECT MAN by the perfect mind of God Who perfectly manipulated all circumstances surrounding its transmission down to the "LETTER" perfectly stating HIS perfect intent in man's way of expressing himself).
God has the functions found in the brain, but in an unconfined way. So when God created all living creatures, he reproduced his mind capacities in the confines of a brain, to give power to rest of the being. God gave man, above all creatures a greater capacity for intellect, but animals have spirits too. So the brain is the mind, and the spirit is the mind, which is the brain.
So according to the sets of thoughts and feelings projected in a beings expressions and reactions to stimulation's, the spirit is a function of the brain (God placed our Spiritual SEAT within our brains along with the Soulish power of life and we became a living soul animating a BODY MADE of dirt.)
Now how did God and man fuse together in Jesus Christ.
A man projects outwardly what his brain tells him to, and who he is, is what his brain is programmed to tell him, he is.
A man is his thoughts, and all his thoughts are stimulated in the brain. You can read a book written by an author, and know the author by his writings, because he is in the writings. But if you saw the author, you wouldn't recognize him until he spoke and expressed the mental disposition found in his writings.
A man is his thoughts, and all his thoughts are stimulated in the brain. You can read a book written by an author, and know the author by his writings, because he is in the writings. But if you saw the author, you wouldn't recognize him until he spoke and expressed the mental disposition found in his writings.
So too with God, you can’t look at Jesus and say, "hey look there’s God," because how would you know, you have never seen God. No man has seen God at any time, all we have seen of God, is his mind, or spirit, in his word.
The mind (Who God is,What makes God,God ) became flesh, the mind of God translated it’s self into a human body,confined himself in a small brain;created in the womb of Mary. Gods characteristic, emotions, feelings and thoughts all were transmitted and interpreted into a human brain.
God became all that makes a human, a human by having a normal sinless human spirit as Adam did before the fall, but Jesus Christ’s brain, with the externally given mental dispositions as an interpretation of Gods mind at the moment he needed instruction. God became a man!
Gods thoughts in addition to this, were conveyed by unseen means through the Spirit of God to Christ’s human brain, stimulating the brain of Jesus, like wind moves branches on a tree. Another mans thoughts can move the thinking processes of people to a specific action, by communications.
So Gods spirit (mind) worked in Christ’s spirit (human brain the seat of spiritual existence) in the same manner.
So Gods spirit (mind) worked in Christ’s spirit (human brain the seat of spiritual existence) in the same manner.
So God truly projected himself into Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ had the developed brain through his personal lifestyle of prayer and fasting that was ready to receive the communications from Gods unseen and unconfined mind.
So therefore Jesus Christ’s mind was an interpretation in the human arena of the mind of God,He became a true transmission tool of what God desired to be done and there was NO SIN NATURE TAKING AWAY FROM THAT COMMUNICATION;BECAUSE HIS TRUE FATHER WAS GOD NOT JOSEPH WHO WOULD HAVE PASSED ON HIS SINFUL NATURE HAD HE BEEN THE FATHER OF JESUS!
Jesus’ mind was a human mind that was informed by God’s mind externally, not intrinsically. He did not have two different centers of consciousness within Him that constantly spoke to Him MAKING HIM CRAZY LOOKING.
Rather Jesus’ consciousness was His human spirit/mind, that was informed and directed from the Father externally,just as we are to be directed. God spoke to Him and revealed to Him what He was to do and to teach (John 3:32; 5:19-20; 8:28, 38, 40; 12:49-50; 17:8).
The difference between God (as the Creator) and us (as created beings) is so great, that it is beyond our comprehension.
Because of this, God's ways and thoughts not identical to ours. (Compare to Isaiah 55:9.) This is so, even when we don't take into consideration the negative effects of sin, which reduces even further our ability to comprehend God.
Because of this, God's ways and thoughts not identical to ours. (Compare to Isaiah 55:9.) This is so, even when we don't take into consideration the negative effects of sin, which reduces even further our ability to comprehend God.
Because of this, God "translates" his thoughts into terms that we can comprehend. He interacts with us on our level - and he is fully capable of doing so, without introducing any error! The authoritative nature of the Word. God speaks with authority on every matter mentioned in the Word - even though it will often disagree with what people may claim is true.
The fact that it is totally accurate and without error, even in the tiniest detail. There are no mistakes or errors in any detail mentioned in the Word - even though it will often disagree with the conclusions, speculations, "facts" and interpretations that people may believe are true.
This includes historical and scientific facts. Of course, this requires us to understand what is written in the Bible within its context, or we may reach false conclusions. For example, when the Bible was written, the concept of "star" referred to a point of light in the sky, not a huge ball of fiery plasma somewhere out in space.
Using their definition - which was accurate for what it said - it would be totally correct to describe planets as "wandering stars." However, with our definition of "star" - which is also accurate within our context - a planet would not be considered a "wandering star."
The distinction between genuine "God-breathed" writings (the Bible) and spurious writings. God's people do not "vote" for what books they want as part of the Bible; rather they are to simply "recognize" them for what they are.
Various influences of Satan's deceptions will cause specific individuals (or groups) to reach wrong conclusions about some specific book; various "religious institutions" like CATHOLICISM may choose to "vote in" certain books, to suit their agenda.
But across the span of time, the same group of books will tend to be recognized by God's people - compare to John 10:27, where Jesus reminds us, "My sheep hear my voice." By "God's people," we are referring to those who have chosen to be followers of Jesus, rather than to those who have chosen to become "members" of an institutional "church."
Who were the human authors?
In some cases we know, but in other cases we don't. Why?
In many instances it wasn't necessary. If the book was prophetic (such as the book of Isaiah), the people would need to know who the author was, so they could verify the prophet's accuracy, and put him to death if he proved to be a false prophet.
(Compare to Deuteronomy 18:20-22. God says that being a false prophet is a serious matter!)
In some cases we know, but in other cases we don't. Why?
In many instances it wasn't necessary. If the book was prophetic (such as the book of Isaiah), the people would need to know who the author was, so they could verify the prophet's accuracy, and put him to death if he proved to be a false prophet.
(Compare to Deuteronomy 18:20-22. God says that being a false prophet is a serious matter!)
But if it was a record of history (example, the book of Judges) or a song (such as the Psalms), knowing the human author was unimportant. In such cases the human author frequently did not tell us who he was.
Why?
One of the factors has to do with humility. Being followers of the true God, the human authors wanted God to receive the attention!
Why?
One of the factors has to do with humility. Being followers of the true God, the human authors wanted God to receive the attention!
