Bible Questions & Discussion PAGE 608

However, that is going on the assumption that Scripture has never been translated or altered by human beings. And we know, for instance, that several testaments were suppressed including the Gospel of Thomas and The Gospel of Mary, among others. The Dead Sea Scrolls cannot be ignored in this discussion. So we've been told our entire lives that the Scripture is literally THE word of God. I would say that it is man's translation of events that occurred. It's a history book. And history has changed many times over the centuries. We can see it playing out in our own world right now. Everything is politically driven to control the masses. And religion is a very powerful mode of control. Many people believe that that's why these Mandela effects are occurring. To awaken us to the fact that we have been deceived. Jesus was trying to remind us who we are. Which is why he could perform miracles and said that we could do the same. He had to speak in parables because of the threat of censorship and worse. His very life. People worshipped him even though he didn't want them to. It's much like any well known spiritual teacher today. Or a pastor. Or political leader. People can do radical things when they pedestalize someone. Jesus tried to warn against that.

Yes, we are essentially spirits. But to live on this Earth that God has given us & to enjoy its blessings, God has given us a body (both for visibility & for being human). John 1:1-14 tells us that the Word was with God & was God - that Word was made flesh (human). John chapter 1 speaks of Jesus, God's Word made flesh, to fulfil the Purposes of God for fallen humanity. There was no other reason for such an 'incarnation', for the Word & the Spirit are eternally part of the Godhead & each member functioned as purposed by God.

God does not have a body. John 4:24, "God is Spirit". But God has manifested Himself in the flesh in Jesus, His Son incarnate. One disciple, Philip, asked Jesus, "shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us".

Jesus answered him, " Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works' sake."

This does not mean that Jesus, in the flesh, looks the same as the Father, but Jesus' very works, His Life, & His Words, reveal the Person of God. So when we look at Jesus' Life, we are seeing the exact image of God, for how else can we describe the image of a spirit? Colossians 1:15: 'Jesus is the image of the invisible God'.

We are all spirits (our true essence), clothed with a body. Once our bodies perish, our spirits, which can never die, are released to live on into eternity. Therefore, Jesus had to come to give His Life for us, so that if we believe in Him, calling upon His Name, the Father seals us as His & receives us into His family. If we refuse Him, only punishment remains. How we respond to God's Love in Jesus determines where our spirits will finally spend eternity.

Very interesting discussions. Are we reading the same Bible? The commentary I read and understood. Do I agree? Sometimes not all. After all it is one's opinion. More power given to us is I pray and ask God's guidance. He pretty much tells me in the Bible if it is true. All comments are very much appreciated. But to fight for the truth is not my battle. God knows the truth and we are all reading it. it seems that all of us believe in the blood Jesus shed on the cross. I would not want my fellowbelievers to be accused of being anti-Christ. Neither anybody think they are being persuaded if an opinion was rendered. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion and they are all welcome. I know we are all here reading the Bible and that we all seeks the truth from God. I will continue to study and pray that truth will be taught everywhere and to anybody who likes to be saved. I am respectfully happy to hear from all comments. The truth had been written in the Bible. It is up to each individual to allow the Holy Spirit shows them the truth. There is no need for contentions because we support all that is trying to find the truth. God forbid any of us be fallen away from the truth. I can feel passion on these discussions. I pray for all of your good will. If I have one wish, I would wish that all understand the truth the same way God would want all of us to know the truth. Then all Christian denominations will be dissolved. We have a priest that is Jesus Christ. We have a king and that is Jesus Christ. We have a mediator between God the Father in Heaven and us and that is Jesus Christ. We have one Saviour and that is Jesus Christ who sits in the most holiest of Holy in the third heaven. I think we have everything we need since Jesus fulfilled all in all. We are all servants to please God and not men. May you always be at peace and joyful and healthy from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen

Dear Wayn

The RCatholic church claims that Simon Peter (not the Socerer) was the first pope in Rome, but there is no historical evidence about that. The early christians in their writtings never wrote something like this. A long time later Rome claimed that that was an ancient tradition, obviously to establish their authority and rule on all christians, since Jesus said to Peter that He is going to build His church on this rock, interpreting that the rock is Peter (Peter in Greek means rock).. GBU

Where in the Bible Scripture does it talk about "Good Deeds" not being enough to get a person in the Kingdom of Heaven?

Matthew Henry's commentary for Matthew 28 says, "On the first day of the first week God commanded the light to shine out of darkness. (On this day did He who is the Light of the world, shine out of the darkness of the grave;) and this day is from henceforward often mentioned in the New Testament, as the day which Christians religiously observed in solemn assemblies, to the honour of Christ."

I struggle with this commentary as it seems clear that Jesus rose from the grave on the weekly Sabbath. All four gospels reveal this. So, it's unsettling that most Christendom worships on a day, built on misinformation and that seems dedicated to the Sun and Sun-god worship.

N.B. I'm not advocating returning to the Law (especially the Satanic Noahide Laws) but since we live under Grace, why don't we celebrate the day of Creation & the Resurrection on the real day?

Good day to you! I am and being on this site really me helps as well especially the Trivia.

An individual's salvation being predestinated is wholly unbiblical. The teaching makes the Bible contradict itself and in such cases you know you have something wrong as the Bible does not contradict itself. * John 15:16&17 KJV Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained (appointed) you, that ye should go and bring forth fruit ,and that your fruit should remain: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it to you. These things I command you, that ye love one another.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So you see, we must believe in Him and never get the mark of the beast or deny Him and we will all be in heaven. funny thing is God already knows all, so that being said...He already knows who will or will not choose Him. He will never leave us or forsake us till His will be done and are all saved. We turn from Him and forsake Him. choose wisely ppl for you never know when it is your time. In the blink of an eye. That split second could be your last. I for one aint taken that chance in being wrong. It's a no brainer! all these little unimportant things in life are a waist of time. BELIEVE AND RECEIVE..!

Hi Naseem , I believe that Jesus was filled with God's Holy Spirit without measure , to me , this does not make Jesus God but it does make him a vessel of God's Holy Spirit more than any other person who has had the Spirit of God in them , lots of people have had a measure of God's Holy Spirit , we read this all through the Bible , Jesus was filled to the brim , no one else was . Therefore Jesus is the embodiment , as much as any human could ever be , of God . To me , the Holy Spirit is The Spirit of God , it is His , it is awesome and pure , very different from our human nature . I hope I have explained myself ok . I know that lots of people on here are going to give you a very different answer , my advice ? Read , then re read then re read again , the whole Bible and make your own mind up . Good hunting .

Thank you for your question ,it has set my brain ticking , I like that !

Dear Texsis , we can't please everyone all the time on here , try not to take anything personally , most folks on here are genuine Truth seekers just like you and me , it can get a bit heated sometimes but that because Christians are passionate people and so we should be . Don't worry about feed back , if you are not getting any , I think that's probably a good sign smiley face , we never know just how much our posts might be helping others so keep up the good work , I can hear your heart in your posts , that's something I like to be able to hear on here , be not soon shaken , God has brought each one of us to this site , He knows what He is doing , much love in Christ .

People often confuse tithing with giving, and they use these words interchangeably as if they are one and the same. But Old Testament tithing and New Testament giving...are nothing alike.

Giving can be in any amount or in any percentage. And the amount you give...is totally voluntary. It's a relational thing entirely...between you and God.

Scripture commands that we give. But each one of us must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.

Sometimes we can afford to give more than other times and some times we volunteer to feed the hungry or tend to the sick, pay it forward when we go out to eat or take a meal to the homeless when we can not afford to tithe, God see's it all as cheerfully giving.!

Zechariah 1:1,

I believe you may be mistaken, not the Word of GOD

In my study I looked up the "Court"

The Court : Exodus 27, in the tabernacle, Exodus 40:20-33, the House: 1Kings 6:16-36, 1Kings 8:64, 2 Chronicles 4:6-22, Solomon made,

2Chronicles 24:18-27, Court, before captivity into Babylon, note Isaiah was prophesing of it, in 2 Chronicles,

Zechariah, Zacharias, etc. 2Chronicles 29:1, 2Kings 14:29, 2Kings 18:2 2Kings 15:8,11, even Luke 1:5,12,13,18,21,40,59,67,

There seems to be several men with same name, but Jesus specified "the son of Barachias" Zechariah 1:1, note: Luke 11:50-51, Matthew 23:31-39, 'between the temple & the alter '

Zechariah son of Berechaih was alive prophesing during the 2nd year of Darius, Zechariah 1:1, seemingly During: Daniel 6:1, Daniel 9:1, Daniel 11:1, the time of rebuilding, Ezra 4:24, Ezra 5:7, Ezra 6:13, Haggai 1:15, Haggai 2:10, Nehemiah 12:22,

Please note Zechariah 7:1, the house of The LORD was rebuilt & Zechariah approached their sin, Zechariah 7, he even speaks of the 70 years of captivity: Zechariah 7:5,

Hopefully these are helpful

Hello Postmyers:

I am not sure how many times I read the Bible from cover to cover. Every verse of the Bible is important. I do believe in the blood of Jesus Christ. I know God gave everybody the ability to think and pray for the truth according to the scriptures.

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." 2 Timothy 2:15 KJV I am very confident and not ashamed to say that there is a pretribulation rapture. What history tells me is that we never did learn from history. Most importantly, we must be prepared to face the judgment of God through death or when we get raptured. There is only two ways to go. I am sure All would agree to go to heaven, except those blatantly refuse to believe. I respect everyone's opinion. We all agree to disagree. The truth is clear in my own reading of the Bible. I do appreciate these discussions. Agape.

Hello, this topic comes up fairly often. Maybe some of these verses will help. You can find discussions if you do an advanced search.

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Jim,

John 6:37 would be one of many verses that would show the permanency of salvation. I believe in the permanency of salvation because I am trusting in the one who saved me and the one who has promised to keep me saved until the day of redemption.

Hello Gigi:

Let the verses speak for itself.

Acts 1:26

And they gave forth their lots; and the lot fell upon Matthias; and he was numbered with the eleven apostles.

"Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)" Galatians 1:1 KJV

1John 4:1-4,

Hopefully this is helpful

These scriptures really apply to "Believers in Christ Jesus" & all that will believe : He was bruised for our transgressions, Isaiah 53, Psalms 22:16, Zechariah 12:10, John 19, read through the chapter to see Jesus' piercings, for us. John 3:15-21,

When we believe in Him, we become a new creation, 2Corinthians 5:17-19, therefore we try to: Ephesians 4:24, in that we offer ourselves as a living sacrifice to GOD : Romans 12:1,

Revelation 1:7, I believe the weeping & wailing will be because the amazing person Jesus is & the humble man, with His scars who did it, just for us to be with Him, in His Kingdom : Luke 23:32-48, Matthew 26:28,

Jesus sat with sinners: Matthew 9:10-13, Jesus healed, delivered, feed & accepted the people including harlots, sinners, etc. Just read the Bible & see.

Hopefully these are helpful

Check Leviticus 19:28, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20, Deuteronomy 14:1

Leviticus 19:18

"Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the LORD."

Hope this helps.

Does Acts 13:48 imply that people are predestined to salvation?

Frank,

Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:27, But I keep under my body, and I bring it into subjection:



When he says I keep my body under, the Greek phrase is "I beat my body black and blue," boxing terms!



When you are disciplining your body for a contest, you're actually punishing your body and putting it through pain to get it ready.



To bring it into subjection, lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be disqualified.



The word castaway is an athletic term that means disqualified.



Can you imagine the judge on the judges' stand, and after you worked for 6 months or whatever it is just to get that little crown for your head?



You want to beat everybody else and be in the best shape that you can, and the judge sees you make the turn and you cut into somebody else's lane. Disqualified!



Paul says I keep my body in subjection, so that after I preach to others, I'm not disqualified because of the actions of my flesh.



You see, there's two aspects about serving Christ. Number one, is the Spirit of Christ in us ministering to others, and the control of the flesh, so that that influence is not pushed away by people that have received Christ through us.



It happens all the time. We talk truth, but we act like everybody else does!

Thanks Adam.

Agree without the thought. Another way of putting it. Do we have to respond to God to be saved? I would call that works. By the works of the law no man is justified, but Christians do the works of Christ.

It could be both eternally lost and rejected of men. Romans 11:22 Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. I would consider "cut off" comparable to "castaway". Rev. 3:11 Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. Both scriptures are talking about saved people.

...continued

Paul was linguistically gifted both in oratory and written expression. He was also gifted with zeal for God and a strong commitment to live for Him, even before He met Jesus on that road to Damascus. God provided Paul with all of these things because He had pre-ordained that Paul would be the one to evangelize the known world (Mediterranean/Roman region) at that time. The world at that time was hellenized, learned, literate, and intellectual. So, an evangelist to the Gentile regions would need to have just the skill set, intellect, fervor, and courage as Paul possessed, along with the faith and grace given to him at conversion. So, historically, this may be why so much of his writings were preserved, dispensed to the various churches of the time, and thus included in the canon of the N.T.

I believe that God, in His wisdom, decided that Paul's writings included most of what He wished to be taught to the church, even if the other apostles taught the same things, and therefore, had mostly Paul's writings chosen for inclusion in the N.T. canon.

This does not mean that the other apostles were deficient in knowledge or what they delivered in their preaching and teaching. It just shows that God was (and is) guiding His church from the time of Jesus' calling of the 12 disciples on. We are benefactors of what all of the apostles preached. Some went to India, others to Egypt and Northern Africa, some went east, etc.

But to end this post, I think we all need to recognize when something we state is directly stated in the Bible and when something we stated is our opinion/assumption of how we interpret/understand what is stated or unstated in the history and writings of the early church.

Hello Ronnette,

I, too, have been following the Lord for all of my life. I am 65 years old. I cannot remember a time when I did not believe. God's calling upon me was from a very young age. Thanks for your response to me.

I have just one thing to address from your response:

You stated that Paul had more information and knowledge of the Gospel than the other apostles had. I do not concur. I know that Jesus told the disciples that the Holy Spirit would bring to remembrance in them all that He taught them. (I couldn't find the verse-this was after His resurrection, I believe.) I do not recall anywhere in the Scriptures where it says that there was this great difference in knowledge and understanding of the gospel between Paul and the other apostles.

So, therefore, what you state concerning this is really an opinion and/or assumption. And to be fair, as is my view that since Jesus said the Holy Spirit would bring all He had taught them to remembrance and He sent them out to spread the Gospel to all nations long before Paul was called to be an apostle, then Jesus would have taught them all that He taught Paul, because the Holy Spirit would faithfully teach these apostles ALL they needed to know to spread the gospel, just as Paul was taught by Jesus ALL the same things He taught the apostles. God does not have a divided mindset concerning this.

We are blessed to have so much Scripture written by Paul. Unfortunately, we do not have much Scripture written by the other apostles or scribed from their preaching. Most of these that were authentic to the apostles were lost early on. But I do believe that if we had them, they would reveal that each of the apostles had as complete and knowledgeable understanding of the Gospel as Paul had received. I think that Paul was blessed with many "natural" intellectual gifts. He was highly intelligent and skilled at presenting viewpoints, arguments, and didactic teaching. He was well trained to a very high educational level.....

The Scriptures about the Godhead. Sometimes called "Let Us..." in some passages. These scriptures are evidence of all 3 persons of the Godhead speaking to each other.

Genesis 1:26, 3:22, 11:7

Isaiah 6:8

Romans 1:20*

Colossians 2:9

Acts 17:27-30

1 John 5:7

John 10:30

"For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and GODHEAD so that they are without excuse:"

Genesis 1:1

The Father purposes

The Word (Jesus) speaks. ( John 1:1)

The Spirit (Holy Spirit) executes the spoken word. Action.

All working together. Jesus came to show us the Father, as Emmanuel.

Matthew 1:23

Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God WITH US. [Jesus]

{Comment} Jesus came to bring to each born again believer; the baptism and the in-dwelling of the Holy Spirit.

[ Genesis 1:2, John 3:6, Acts 2:1-3, John 16: 7-15]

Upon being born again, Jesus gives the Holy Spirit to teach us scripture, comfort us, convict us of sin, enable us to be witnesses. Stay in the New Testament at first.

Mishael

Awe thanks for making me smile! Wasn't sure anything I said was helping cuz I stirred much commotion, about a certain subject that SO many are confused about, so I remove myself from the equation for a bit. It would be nice to see our "Amens". Yet God knows and that's all that matters. Thnx again & God bless, Texsis