In Search of Truth

m273p15c

I don't think you answered my question - Can a word have more than one meaning? And if so, how does one objectively determine the exact meaning in a given usage?

m273p15c

Sheker was definately intoxicating. Etymologically it is derived from "shakhar" - "to be or become drunk" (Genesis 9:21; Isaiah 29:9; Jeremiah 25:27). Compare this with "drunkard" (shikker) and "drunkeness" (shikkaron). Isaiah warns of its excess because of its stupefying effects in Isaiah 28:7-8. ...

m273p15c

According to Deuteronomy 14:26 the Israelites were allowed to drink "wine" and I might add "strong drink". For reference, here is the mentioned passage: And you shall spend that money for whatever your heart desires: for oxen or sheep, for wine [/b] ( yayin ) or similar drink ( shekar ), for whatev...

m273p15c

Romans 3.3-4: "For what if some (Jews - vs 1) did not believe? Will their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? Certainly not! Indeed, let God be true but every man a liar. As it is written, 'That You may be justified in Your words, and may overcome when You judge'" - Rom 3.3-4. NOTE: Tran...

m273p15c

Truly, the word most often translated "church", is the Greek word ekklesia . It's etymology most literally suggests, "called-out". However, you are incorrect in assuming that this always refers to a spiritual calling. Strong does indicate that is mostly translated "church", but that is not its only ...

m273p15c

Which comes closer to "tarrying one for another" and ensuring that none go "hungry"? offer the Lord's Supper at each meeting on the first day of the week, so all may partake offer the Lord's Supper once on Sunday, denying the opportunity to those who attend at the other services Whether or not they ...

m273p15c

Hello Sid, Let me kindly suggest that you did not address the underlying logic of my questions 1) NO MARRIAGE: This was commanded with stipulatiions to be for the purpose of saving the people grief when the Roman War would begin to kill them off in great numbers. But then, this was a temporary messa...

m273p15c

:oops: I see now that the question was originally directed to "deacons" and I Timothy 3:12 , not elders and I Timothy 3:2 . However, the language is identical for both works, at least for this one specific qualification. Therefore, all of the preceding reasoning should still apply to deacons, even t...

m273p15c

This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife , temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarre...

m273p15c

Although I agree with sid's statement that eternal life is available in some sense now, in that we begin a relationship with God now, I disagree with his thoughts on life after death. I believe the Bible indicates that there is a bodily resurrection for all, where each receives a new body; however, ...

m273p15c

Are you saying these are the only valid names for referring to God? If so, what authority would you use for limiting it to this selected set?

If so, how do you explain that Jesus instructed us to speak directly to God in prayer, addressing Him as "Father" (Matthew 6:1-18)?

m273p15c

1) "Your will be done on earth as in heaven" - Mt 6.10b. 2) Worship In Heaven: "Now when He had taken the Scroll [New Covenant; Rev 6.1-11.15], the Four Living Creatures and the 24 Elders fell down before the Lamb, each having a Harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the s...

m273p15c

To: m273p15c "Therefore His knowledge of our sin is "past tense", not "future tense. It does not define what will be, but acknowledges what has been". We are told that God looked down and saw sin (present tense); and He repented that He had made man (Gen 6). Then prophecy is God declaring future si...

m273p15c

Marc, do you think that Acts 2:38 applies to Israelites today? Which baptisms do you think should be practiced today, and by whom?

m273p15c

I believe there are really two good, significant questions embedded here: The Scriptural accuracy of neo-Calvinism or any "4-point", "3-point", or "2-point" Calvinist theology Bases for an individual joining/separating himeslf to a local church Please allow me to briefly address the first one. Maybe...

m273p15c

For those of us who may not be as familiar with R. C. Sproul or his teachings, would you mind telling us what doctrines are of concern? I would personally rather deal with the doctrines and their Scripturalness, since I do not know much about R. C. Sproul.

Thanks!

m273p15c

I am thankful that you found the response profitable. False teaching is a very troublesome thing. Ideally, false teaching should be rectified by the kind response of a brother; however, that is often not the case. How does one deal with false teachers and false teaching? In all things, one must spea...

m273p15c

There is no Bible authority for such a bold claim. I would object to their presumptuous assertion based on the following reasons: No reference to "apostolic teams" can be found anywhere in Scriptures. This is a creation of a new role or office in the church. The burden resides on the presumers to pr...

m273p15c

I have not personally studied this topic in sufficient detail. My personal objections, in comparison with the Bible and Christianity, are this: Does not have the testimony of miracles to back it up, as does the New Testament Does not have the testimony of fulfilled prophesy to back it up, as does th...

m273p15c

I have enjoyed getting to know you through your answers and questions. I feel like as though we have built a kind of friendship based on our honesty and mutual spiritual concerns. Based on this relationship, I would like to ask you a straightforward question: On what does your faith rest? On what ar...

m273p15c

Many people call this the question of " social drinking ", or maybe just " moderate drinking ". The question is not one of whether someone can get drunk, but it is a question of whether one can drink moderate amounts, maybe only on social occasions. Since we cannot find a strict " Thou shalt not dri...

m273p15c

No problem. I was glad to share what wisdom has been shared with me. If you like, send me your city name, and I'll see if I can find a friend, with whom you could study in person. I am sure he would be glad to study with other friends too, boyfriends, etc. If you are interested, this is the way it w...

m273p15c

It is never too late, as long as you are honestly considering repentance. The Bible contains many examples of people, who committed horrible sins, and yet they found mercy in the Lord: Saul the Persecutor - Saul was a terrible person, who persecuted early Christians. He tortured them, forcing them t...

m273p15c

I apologize for the delay in responding. Worthwhile pursuits have kept me busy, but frankly, I often hesitated not knowing whether to respond. Framing a response was not the concern; rather, the value in responding was my concern. To my surprise, you responded - not as I hoped; but at least, you res...

m273p15c

This brings light to the next logical step in the argument. If God created us, did God not in turn create sin? Are we not capable of sin due to the potential for decision-making God gave us? From where did God draw such potential if not from within Godself? Should your argument suggest that God cre...

m273p15c

This is challenging question. My comments are offered in response to 3 aspects of the question and its introduction. ... I am constantly plagued with certain arguments concerning faith and reason, since, as we all know, the two do not always line up. ... This is a valuable observation. By definition...

m273p15c

I appreciate your zeal for your cause, but you seem to be blind to the profound inconsistencies of the proposed arguments. How is that faith can be a requirement for salvation, a necessary work per the very words of Jesus (John 6:28-29), and yet you still maintain that there are no requirements for ...

m273p15c

Personally, I cannot prove to myself that praying to Jesus is authorized. I am familiar with the texts you mentioned, but their ambiguity detracts from me having a confident answer based on them. Given that there is already an established, sound pattern for praying to the Father through Jesus, I hav...

m273p15c

It has been a long time, since I looked at the issue, and I'm sure that I personally don't have any canned material on the topic. However, I'll give you my 2-cents off the top of my head, and we all know what that's worth: In the Bible, the pattern is to pray to the Father (Matthew 6:9). Although I ...

m273p15c

Truth does not fear examination, rather, it welcomes all inspection. I am not truth, but I aspire to know it and teach it. If you prove my knowledge and teaching to be false, then you would be my friend. Therefore, I welcome your investigation. If we are both honest, then at least one will benefit g...

m273p15c

Depends on what you mean - probably the answer is, yes. If you consider the "church of Christ" to be the one true church, universal body of all the saved, whose head is Christ, then, yes, I am personally doing my best to serve as a member of that body ( Matthew 16:18; Ephesians 1:22-23; Ephesians 4:...

m273p15c

Conditions for faith was never under question, although incidentally, faith is clearly predicated on at least one condition ( Romans 10:17 ). The previous post, and its line of reason, has nothing to do with conditions for faith ; however, it has everything to do with the conditions for salvation . ...

m273p15c

These answers are in profound contradiction with the primary concern against baptism. If the proposed argument cannot maintain consistency with itself, how can it possibly accord with the perfect harmony of Scripture ( Titus 1:2 - "God ... who cannot lie" )? The proposed doctrine mandates that bapti...

m273p15c

I am concerned that you repeated several of your arguments without even addressing my responses to your questions (for example, please see my original response to I Corinthians 1, included below). Moreover, I am concerned that you did not even address my principle question (see question/point #1 bel...

m273p15c

Thanks for your good research on this topic. I appreciate the examples that you provided. I agree with your point in part: Not everything Paul wrote was a commandment! In fact, my last post contained some of the very examples that you provided from I Corinthians 7; however, as is born out by your wo...

m273p15c

Rarely are correspondence courses posted publically, because of their inherently private nature. However, an exception is made in this case, because the submitted answers so well present the classic objections to baptism. Minus personal references, the following edited response was offered: What doe...

m273p15c

Thanks for your good question. The answer to your first question is "yes and no". Yes, every order, dictate, command, and issuance from Paul had the authority of a commandment of the Lord, as it did for every apostle and prophet. No, not everything Paul wrote was a command. Some of it is narrative. ...

m273p15c

My understanding from Scripture is that a passage does not have to contain the specific word, "command" to be understood as a command. Let me come at this from a few different ways: 1) Crux #1 - The Bible instructs to obey things that are not commands - like examples: "Brethren, join in following my...

m273p15c

My question is, if God has not specifically commanded a certain action or behavior, how can we? If we make some statements commands and do not make other statements commands are we not taking it upon ourselves to decide what is and what isn't a command of God? Wouldn't it be better to let God make ...

m273p15c

I appreciate the update. It is always encouraging to learn of one's efforts being helpful to another, as we each struggle to grow more like Christ. ... To be straightforward, I am not sure that I understand your second question exactly. However, a few thoughts did come to mind, which I will gladly s...

m273p15c

I apologize for the unclear nature of the articles. They are intended to be a strong rebuttal against Calvin's theological system and the practical implications that arise from it. There is a summarizing article, "Why I Am Not a Calvinist" that should make this clear. However, the other articles set...

m273p15c

... Simply put, he said because I fellowship entire congregations of people I am of the same view. Unfortunately this is not the case. I hold very conservative or should I say Biblical views. I guess my point is: we should all be very careful of who we label. I listened to a preacher once say just ...

m273p15c

But I am disillusioned by the net and search engines.... Is there truth on the net/knowledge? There are both on the net Christians and non Christians. Google is a very powerful tool; however, it can only search and reveal the writings of man - unlike the Scriptures, which reveal the mind of God ( I...

m273p15c

I am very happy and pleased that you found the articles to be both Scriptural and spiritually beneficial. You are to be greatly commended for you willingness to abandon error, even though I imagine it comes at great emotional sacrifice. I would encourage you to continue to study God's Word, since it...

m273p15c

These are good questions. I do have one follow-up question to make sure that I understand the first one: There is no verse that says "thou shalt optionally have instrumental music in worship", or "thou shalt not have instrumental music in worship". This is part of what makes it a more challenging qu...

m273p15c

The communion table consists of wine and unleavened bread. The table is usually covered with a white table cover (meaning over the bread and wine). Is there any significance in the white covering? (scriptural) This is a great question. I think this practice exemplifies two things which we humans do...

m273p15c

Do not worry. I did not take your note as being critical. In fact, I was happy that you took the time to illuminate an area where the article could be improved. Thank you for that! Also, it has been my experience that the majority of modern Christians would think it unusual that a local church shoul...

m273p15c

I apologize for the confusing nature of the article. I can assure you that is not what was intended. An attempt has been made to clarify the paragraphs and update the web-site. The primary purpose of the article was not to discuss how benevolence was to be accomplished. The primary point was to esta...

m273p15c

what about 1 corinthians 1 where paul says he was glad he wasn't baptizing people. heonly baptized 3 groups of people (or famililes) why is he glad? does that mean people weren't being saved? if baptism is so important, why wasn't paul advocating it and doing it himself. This is a good question, an...

m273p15c

:shock: I bet you never thought these two things could be related , but it seems to me that they are. Let me preface this with one verse: And the Lord commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that He might preserve us alive, as it is this day. ( Deut...

In Search of Truth

Search found 720 matches

Re: Alcohol

let's consider the whole Bible...

Re: To: tombias & m273p15c -- All men are liars!

fundamental misunderstanding of translation and etymology

more than just example of Acts 20:7

Re: Reply to m273p15c -- The Pattern

oops

what does the text say?

all are resurrected and given new bodies, but to what fate..

are you limiting the number of names to use?

Re: Worshipping God

Re: To: m273p15c -- God Pronounced Future Sins

two good questions here...

Re: The Moral Standing of a Diety

best i can do for now...

my 2-cents...

who and what are being tested here?

Re: more specifically...

Remember Lot.

Re: Truth in Knowledge

follow-up question

covering for the Lord's Supper?

Re: baptism? what about...?

Jesus and Linux

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