taylor30

Actually Jesus didn't hide his divinity. He continously displayed it with the miracles he did and telling the people he could forgive their sins. He also outright declared to be God to the people and religious leaders several times, causing the Jews to attempt to stone him and push him off a cliff. This is why the authorities charged him with blasphemy on many occasions. Read the scripture again. Jesus was very open about who he was and declared it on many occasions to the crowds and religious leaders.

People have WAY overcomplicated this question. God took 6 literal days so as to model the week. In the 10 commandments, the 4th one restates that God created everything in 6 days, period. People choose to ignore this literallism because they think science is smarter than God. True science always agrees with the Bible, and evolution is not only BAD science, its an outright false teaching. There are so many holes in the evolution myth, I still can't believe I thought that junk was real for so long.

I think the only honest answer to this would be, SOMETIMES. Man has free will. If I decide to go out and meet a random stranger, why would it have to be from God? To say that people don't randomly come into your life is to say that God is some kind of puppet master pulling everyone's strings. God clearly doesn't do that. Some people are directed into our lives, but clearly not everyone. That would also mean everything they do was directed, whether good or bad. To believe this you have to admit there is no free will. Here is a silly example, but it gets the point across. Lets say I am a serial killer. If I kill 10 people, you would have,to admit I did nothing wrong. WHY, because God knew what I would do and brought those people into my path. So clearlt I did what God wanted right, since there couldn't have been any other outcome. Think about it. Some people ARE sent by God, some ARE random.

The clear answer to this is YES, some sins are worse than others. This is evident when we see different punishments based on different violations of the law. God does it, and we do it, ( varying punishments for crimes, not the sin part ).

The first question is hard only because its not totally clear in that passage if God actually sets the number of days, or simply knows the number of days. Keep in mind, God allows us to live how we wish, and this can mean doing things that can lead to early death. I don't actually think God sets the number of our days. There are several things wrong with the belief that he does. Instead, God KNOWS the number of our days, and we don't which should motivate us to make every one count. As for the second question, you must remember that God grants mankind a certain amount of Free-Will. Therefore we are able to do things that God does not like. God is a God of love and life. It is never his will for babies to die, but he also doesn't force people to do the right thing, so babies do die. Keep in mind too that scripture does clearly say that babies and children ALWAYS go to Heaven, so an aborted baby is is in Heaven. Try to take some comfort in that.

Jesus clearly said the entire law is fulfilled in the commandments to love God with all your being and to love your neighbor as much as yourself. Also, many scriptures talk about freedom in Christ. There is even a verse that says Law came through Moses, and Grace through Christ. Besides, there were 16 crimes with the death penalty back then. If the law is still binding, you have some serious catching up to do. The sabbath law requires 6 days of work. People think they obey the Sabbath on Sunday, but if you worked 5 days, you have disobeyed it. There are exactly 618 laws in the Torah, the first 5 books by Moses. If the law is still binding, you have alot of studying to do to try to obey all of them. Also, where is the NT command for animal sacrifice, which was a HUGE part if the law? THE LAW IS NO LONGER BINDING.

I have studied the origins of Halloween. At its very beginning, it was a harvest festival, nothing more. No black magic, human sacrifices, etc. Over time, different traditions crept in, but Halloween didn't actually become a prank and trick day til the 1800's. God judges the heart above all. There is nothing evil about dressing up and having clean fun. The holiday itself is not evil, but stupid and immature people have given it a bad name. I love Halloween. Remember, Jesus even attended a wedding where people were getting drunk, and when they ran out, HE PROVIDED MORE, though i'm sure there are many people who would swear up and down Jesus wouldn't set foot in a bar in today's society. Be careful when you make judgement about what God does or doesn't like or would or wouldn't do in areas the Bible doesn't specifically address.

If course we will recognize people. God himself is the creator of love, family, and relationships. There would be no point to making us forget the people who were so instumental in our lives. Of course many people in heaven will be strangers at first, but with eternity, we will have forever to make friends with every single person, so that eventually every single person in Heaven will become your best friend and family. There will ne no tears or sadness becausr sin and pain will be erased from existance. I don't fully understand how we can be happy if we know some loved ones are in Hell, but the Bible says we will be happy, so I trust God is more powerful than my emotion, and somehow I will still be happy even with loved ones in Hell.

This is a difficult question. We no longer have the original writings of the Holy Scriptures. Even the oldest texts like the DSS are copies of copies. The best translations in my opinion are the NASB sometimes the KJV and NIV. All of those have strengths and weaknesses, and generally you should try to get a parrallell Bible, never trust ONLY one translation, as all translations are of men and subject to unintentional error. Pray for guidance and ask God to show you the true meaning of scripture. One word of warning. MANY modern translations are NOT created by Christians, and have actually been changed alot to be politically correct. AVOID THESE. Remember the warning God gave in Revelation about people who would change a single letter in his Holy Word.

Sectarianism is such a destructive force. Nowhere in the Bible does it say that a man has to have a 100% correct view of every single teaching. There are many great men of God who sometimes are a little off on some subjects. That pastor could very well be a child of God, just a little off on that specific teaching. If it is not a salvation issue, I believe God allows for difference of opinion. Try showing the pastor what you think scripture says, and then pray that God opens his eyes. As long as his teaching isn't directly going to be responsible for leading people away from Christ and Salvation, its ok to disagree. If a minister is 90% correct in his teaching, thats a GOOD minister. I can count on 1 hand all the pastors I have heard in my entire life who I thought had it all pretty much perfect in their teachings.

I honestly don't know how Calvinism has survived this long. It goes against all biblical teaching and common sense. IF calvinism were true, evangelism would be pointless, praying would be pointless, and God would not be loving. If our eternal destiny is sealed before we are even born, then why not live in as much sin as possible, since your destination is already sealed and there is nothing you can do about it. MOST IMPORTANTLY, it would be very cruel of God to tell the world to choose him when he knows full well that is impossible and he himself is actually the one doing the choosing for them. Clearly people who believe in Calvinism have never actually read the Bible themselves.

The rapture has nothing to do with Israel. It is for all who have accepted Christ. Some Jews might go, others will not, same as with Gentiles.

It is very foolish to think video games make children violent or evil. If an individual decides to play a violent gamem that clearly shows he already has made that chioce in his heart. The video game did not cause anything, in fact, it shows what he already was before he got to the game.

Lucifer was his name while he was still serving in Heaven, Satan though a title became the name he would be known as after his fall. THEY ARE THE SAME. There is a description of Satan before his fall in Ezekiel 28.

Mary was a sinner too. She even admitted it in her song. She called God " her savior " Why do we try to elevate people. ALL ARE SINNERS. If Mary wasn't a sinner, then Christ didn't die for all. Also, how could she have been sinless when every person on the planet was in sin. By what standard or method could she have been sinless? It is not possible. Catholics put her on quite a pedestal because she was the mother of Jesus, but under all the glamour and fame, she was just a simple sinful fallible human, like everyone else.

Those on all sides of this argument believe they are interpreting the scriptures according to the plain meaning. That is the reason why this issue has not been resolved. It has nothing to do with pride. You say that there are no scriptures that indicate you can lose your salvation? It depends on how you interpret them. Take the parable of the prodigal son for instance. The prodigal is mentioned as being a son, and we know his Father represents God. When he leaves and turns to a life of sin, he is refered to later as having been dead and lost, terms that refer to the lost. When he returns, it says that his son who was dead is alive "again." In Revelations, it speaks of one's name being able yup be blotted out of the book of life, and in the OT, God states that those who sinned with regard to the golden calf would have their names removed from his book. In Hebrews, the Bible says that those who commit wilful sins after having come to the knowledge of the truth are no longer under God's blood covering. This is just a handful of examples I know of from memory. It is not as simple as you want to make it out. Actually it really is that simple. The examples you have chosen are taken out of context. There are indeed passages that talk about falling from grace and departing from the faith, however closer study reveals these actually are NOT talking about salvation. For example, you mentioned the prodigal son. Yes he did leave and come back, but he never lost his position as a son. He rebelled, but he was still a son. His situation certainly changed because of his choices, yet his standing with his father NEVER DID. We can be punished for rebelling and walking away after salvation, however our salvation is secure and God promises to ensure it. Its not our job to keep it, its God's, he himself says it. If works do not earn salvation, works do not lose salvation. It really is simple. People continue to argue because they don't like what God does, and they arrogantly think they know better than he. Salvation is secure, NO MATTER WHAT, EVEN IF WE WALK AWAY.

The scriptures are VERY clear that OSAS is true. Sometimes we choose not to believe it because it seems too easy and hurts our pride to not be able to earn our own salvation. Sometimes we choose not to believe it because we see others who claim to be saved but bear no fruit. We must be careful however not to interpret scripture by what we THINK IT SHOULD SAY, instead we must let scripture speak for itself. Christ made it very plain that he came to set people free and that he himself would pay the price that we couldn't. Many verses show that works have absolutely NOTHING to do with our salvation. For the unsaved, they will be judged by their works. For the saved, they will be rewarded for their works. Salvation is a ONE TIME thing, when the Holy Spirit comes to live inside a temple of God and seals it forever. There is not a single verse that warns Christians about loosing salvation, but many that teach freedom in Christ. Do not let false teachings put fear in your heart. Scripture says " God has not given us a spirit of fear ".