Join For His Glory for a discussion on how
https://christianforums.net/threads/a-vessel-of-honor.110278/
https://christianforums.net/threads/psalm-70-1-save-me-o-god-lord-help-me-now.108509/
Read through the following study by Tenchi for more on this topic
https://christianforums.net/threads/without-the-holy-spirit-we-can-do-nothing.109419/
Join Sola Scriptura for a discussion on the subject
https://christianforums.net/threads/anointed-preaching-teaching.109331/#post-1912042
Strengthening families through biblical principles.
Focus on the Family addresses the use of biblical principles in parenting and marriage to strengthen the family.
Read daily articles from Focus on the Family in the Marriage and Parenting Resources forum.
That is the philosophy of Gautama Buddha, philosopher, reformer and the founder of Buddhism 563-483 BC.Someone famous (I forget who) said that 'To understand all, is to forgive all'.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Don't need to read his book.So, the well known atheist, Richard Dawkins, published this book a few years ago, and I consider it required reading for every believer. Unless we know the arguments put to us by the other side, we cannot hope to counter them. If you've read his book, what do you make of it?
Best wishes 2RM.
Romans 3:1 kjvDon't need to read his book.
I recall the interview Ben Stein had with him per Stein's DVD Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. When Dawkins ultimately could not support his theory of how man came to be here on earth, Ben asked him in final how did man come into existence then. Dawkins said something like, maybe the aliens genetically made man and planted them here (a la Stargate maybe?).
That is really all we Christians need to know about atheists, even their head atheist Dawkins. They cannot explain the origin of the universe or of man. And for us to easily back up our Faith that God is The Creator of the known universe, and man, the following Scripture is really all we need to say to the atheist...
Heb 11:3
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
KJV
Why is that above verse so important? It's because it PROVES beyond all doubt God's existence as The Creator of all things. How?
Notice that last phrase, "so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear". What does that mean exactly?
Ever heard science's concept that matter can neither be created nor destroyed, one of the basic laws of thermodynamics? Material matter only changes it state (solid, liquid, vapor, gas). We cannot destroy it, nor create it.
Thusly, that proves that material matter was not made of things which do appear, i.e., material matter. Matter was not made from matter. Simple, and even science agrees! The atheist relies on materialism for the basis of their theory, so that is why they will never admit its actual origin. And what origin would that be brethren?
Since material matter cannot create itself, that is what that phrase means, that things seen (matter) was not made of things that do appear (i.e., matter again). This means material matter HAD to have been created from a dimension OUTSIDE of the known material universe.
Per John 4:24, we are told that God is a Spirit. That means there is another dimension of existence BEYOND this material dimension we live in. And that OTHER dimension is one of Spirit. And from THAT OTHER dimension, from GOD Himself, is Who created our dimension of material matter.
What that Hebrews 11:3 does then, is it PROVES that GOD exists, and it also proves that He created the known universe of material matter, because science agrees that matter cannot create itself. Something else HAD to have created it that dwells OUTSIDE the known universe. And that is GOD Himself That dwells outside our known universe.
Sounds like you're trying... to point to Jewish culture being required to understand God's written Word.Romans 3:1 kjv
1. What advantage, then, is there in being a Jew, or what value is there in circumcision?
2. Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.
3. For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
4. God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightest be justified in thy sayings, and mightest overcome when thou art judged.
Without the Jewish oracles of God, there is no knowledge of creation.
Gentiles have a tough time realizing:
Ephesians 2:12 kjv
12. That at that time ye were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world:
The one new man is a strange combination.
eddif
I do not promote Jewish culture.Sounds like you're trying... to point to Jewish culture being required to understand God's written Word. Nah, that idea is a bunch of malarkey.
Like Apostle Paul said, The Holy Spirit is divided to each believer accordingly (1 Corinthians 12). Jews cannot claim that only applies to them.
The new man idea (or actually KJV "new creature" in Christ), is simply about Christ's Church, His many-membered body of believers. It's not about race, it is about spiritual seed in God's Promise by Faith first given through Abraham (see Galatians 3). God is Who created all races of man. And He created the first nations. In His future Kingdom here on earth, we are all going to be blessed together under His Son's reign.I do not promote Jewish culture.
I do not support Jews claiming all the promises,
I do not support Gentiles claiming they have replaced the Jews.
I do support the one new man. Which I seem to be able to not know but about three paragraphs from scripture. I am asking God for knowledge wisdom understanding and love concerning the one new man.
eddif
Galatians 2:8 kjvThe new man idea (or actually KJV "new creature" in Christ), is simply about Christ's Church, His many-membered body of believers. It's not about race, it is about spiritual seed in God's Promise by Faith first given through Abraham (see Galatians 3). God is Who created all races of man. And He created the first nations. In His future Kingdom here on earth, we are all going to be blessed together under His Son's reign.
Is it Creationist Commentator Ken Ham who teaches there is only one race, the human race, and the genetic differences between us are miniscule? My observation is that preventing common usage of words in order to fine tune their application is often futile.God is Who created all races of man.
You must struggle with this then...Is it Creationist Commentator Ken Ham who teaches there is only one race, the human race, and the genetic differences between us are miniscule? My observation is that preventing common usage of words in order to fine tune their application is often futile.
Thanks for making my case about the common usage, or bastardisation of words.You must struggle with this then...
Deut 23:2
2 A bastard shall not enter into the congregation of the LORD; even to his tenth generation shall he not enter into the congregation of the LORD.
KJV
The Hebrew for that KJV word "bastard" is defined as...
OT:4464 mamzer (mam-zare'); from an unused root meaning to alienate; a mongrel, i.e. born of a Jewish father and a heathen mother:
KJV - bastard.
(Biblesoft's New Exhaustive Strong's Numbers and Concordance with Expanded Greek-Hebrew Dictionary. Copyright © 1994, 2003, 2006, 2010 Biblesoft, Inc. and International Bible Translators, Inc.)
That is definitely about God's old covenant requirement for the children of Israel to remain genealogically pure by not mixing their seed with other nations. How could you not know this, since even today orthodox Jews disown their own sons or daughters that marry Gentiles? It may be thought of more today because of religious differences, but the real origin per God's Word shows it was about seed mixing.
I fail to see how I made 'your'... case.Thanks for making my case about the common usage, or bastardisation of words.
As we know, it's not just the Jews that balk at the intermarriage of race, and it's not just the intermarriage of race that gets balked at.
Totally agree. You make my point that the usage of words changes over time. Once again, I have observed that it is futile to try and fine tune such words back to their original use. I know some who desperately try this, correcting and pontificating on every occasion but what vexatious bores this makes them.I fail to see how I made 'your'... case.
The old English word 'bastard' there in that KJV translation doesn't mean how that word is used today. Today most understand it to mean a child born outside of wedlock and that's it. But as I showed with the actual definition of the Hebrew word 'mamzer' which is in the manuscripts, it means a child born outside the literal 'seed' of the children of Israel, by an Israelite and a Gentile. And because that Deuteronomy verse reveals back in that time such a child was not allowed to enter into the congregation of Israel until the tenth generation, that reveals through ten generations, the blood of the Gentile seed would be purged out. That's some pretty heavy stuff, but that is actually where the Jews got their original commandment from God to stay separate from the nations.
Is this what you are referring to? I used to carry a Strongs with me. I finally wore out 2 and gave up. Now I look in the law, the prophets, what Jesus said, what Jesus did, what the Apostles said, listen to how the Holy Spirit leads and try and look for a concept in various contexts for support. Even this is not perfect.Totally agree. You make my point that the usage of words changes over time. Once again, I have observed that it is futile to try and fine tune such words back to their original use. I know some who desperately try this, correcting and pontificating on every occasion but what vexatious bores this makes them.
I have a problem with "if you want to convert someone ..."Hmmm. I think, if you want to convert someone to your own way of belief, you have to start from where they are, not where you are.
Best wishes, 2RM.
Oh, spot on eddif.Is this what you are referring to? I used to carry a Strongs with me. I finally wore out 2 and gave up. Now I look in the law, the prophets, what Jesus said, what Jesus did, what the Apostles said, listen to how the Holy Spirit leads and try and look for a concept in various contexts for support. Even this is not perfect.
2 Timothy 2:14 kjv
14. Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.
eddif
LOL! Of course, you actually mean kehilat?!?!I don't mind knowing the origins and definitions of words but after a few years in a group where using the word church instead of ekklesia earned a rebuke from an elder I am over such nitpicking.
This discussion may prove helpful.LOL! Of course, you actually mean kehilat?!?!
After all, between 2/3 and 3/4 of the bible was written in Hebrew, not Greek.
Huh? Wycliffe translated the NT Greek word ekklesia as congregation in his English Bible. When asked why he didn't translate ekklesia as church as was common among English speakers he replied to the effect that the word church in the vocabulary of his day had come to mean clergy, a completely erroneous interpretation of ekklesia which literally means "the called out".LOL! Of course, you actually mean kehilat?!?!
After all, between 2/3 and 3/4 of the bible was written in Hebrew, not Greek.