kroschild

I don't know--having your daughters trick you into sleeping with them so they can have children seems like a fair "reaping what you sow" to me... Looks like his "punishment" was having daughters who cared as little about him as he seemed to about them! Just a thought! KrosChild

First to the original question, I would add fuel to the fire under its thinker: The passage you quoted is in the middle of a discussion on LOVE--maybe it's not about gifts at all? Second, my personal take on spiritual gifts: They do exist, because the gift of teaching, encouragement, etc are still accepted by ALL Christians as still in effect. As for miraculous gifts, who is to say? The thing is, speaking in tongues in often the one spotlighted, and it is clear in this letter that Paul does not consider it to be very important--he says that prophecy is better! 1 Cor. 14:5 I would like every one of you to speak in tongues, but I would rather have you prophesy. He who prophesies is greater than one who speaks in tongues, unless he interprets, so that the church may be edified. Tongues was always described in two ways, in all passages where it is mentioned: 1. A person is able to speak a language that they have never studied. 2. A person speaks in their own language, but the listener hears them in their own native tongue. Never is it described as a babbling, or uncontrolled utterance: 1 Cor 14:27-28 27If anyone speaks in a tongue, two

Hm..."kingdom of Heaven"= the church. So, if you are committing the sins described here (which are punishable by eternity in hell), you cannot (or are not) in the church (saved). Um, duh! Sinners go to hell--we all know that. Once you enter into the church (are saved) then you are no longer in sin. Yes, of course we still commit sin, but we are covered by Jesus' blood and cannot be withheld from the kingdom! As far as the "unforgivable sin": I have a slightly different take on "blasphemy of the Holy Spirit". I believe that this CAN be committed by someone who was once saved. When we become Christians, we receive God's Holy Spirit as a gift from him. To commit blasphemy against His Spirit is to deny its power or acccept its work as of our own doing. Even a Christian can move so far from God as to deny the Spirit's power--this person would basically be denying God, by denying his Spirit. Once a person has denied God's power, he denies the need for God's forgiveness, and is therefore unforgiven. If a person dies in this state, I believe he is no longer under the grace of God--he has returned to Satan completely. I do believe a person can return from this state; repentance is available to everyone. Why call it the "unforgiveable" sin then? Because we all know that we do not ask God for forgiveness of every sin we commit, right as we do so. But we know that if we, say..lie to someone, then die in an accident--God still welcomes us home! All of our sins are forgiven because we accept Christ! Not so for the person who rejects God for Satan--I believe that even a saved person can reject God completely and become "unforgiveable". Hope that helps--feel free to give feedback! KrosChild

I agree wtih Leonard--the Bible is clear that private sin may be confessed privately, and public sin publicly. God is the only one who can forgive you, but if you believe you sinned against this woman then you probably need to ask her forgiveness too. I would not recommend seeing her alone to do this, but she needs to know that you realize your sin and have repented. It is possible she is being hurt by guilt also and needs to know that you will not lead her to sin again. If she is not a Christian, or does not feel guilt for her actions, then she also needs to know that you are no longer available to partake in that sin with her again! Make sure she knows your heart and it will be harder to fall into that temptation again. God will give you the wisdom and strength to stand firm! Phil 4:13: I can do everything through him who gives me strength. KrosChild

As far as I read in scripture, God gave animals to man to eat after the fall--Abel was a hunter. Physically, there are things we can only get from meat--although there ARE beans, etc that hold these "animal" proteins, they are not common enough to be practical for all people in all countries; I don't see God giving a command not everyone could follow and still maintain good health! The only restriction I do see about meat is in Acts. Acts 21:25 says: As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality.

As far as I can see in scripture, as long as individuals from the race of Israel have accepted Jesus as the Messiah promised, they are Christians! The only thing is, there are some things desribed in the NT that the writers instruct the Israelites to do which the Gentile believers were not required to do. See Messianic Jews for more details--they can explain far better than I. I had it explained to me by a Christian Jew, but because it did not apply to me, I unfortunately did not commit it to memory!

Consider this: pastor can also be used (by scriptural definitions) to define, not a person, but a role. Anyone trying to guide God's people (shepherd) can be considered a pastor! The person we call pastor today (paid to preach, etc) didn't really exist in the NT times. The members of a congregation fulfilled the needed roles in the church.

Oh wow. With Christian friends like these, who needs enemies? LOL I do have to say though, it seems like in our desire to prove ourselves right we step over the bounds and forget that under it all we are family! The truth is, there ARE errors in EVERY version--not because of ignorance or ineptitude, but because there is rarely a way to translate from one language to another without SOME barriers. To the poor guy who started all this discussion with his question about the "best" translation to use, I can help with this much: the main difference that makes alternate translations seem so different (and sometimes makes it seem they contradict) is the attempt to overcome the language barrier I mentioned. The Greeks had expressions, etc just like we do in English--think of it this way: if you were translating "watch your mouth" and that wasn't something you would say in whatever language you wanted to translate it to, do you translate it word-for-word, or take the phrase and translate the idea? That was a problem the translators of all the versions had to face; some ended up doing a word-for-word, and some did it by phrase/idea. Some of the newer version are accused of using "slang" but most do--even the KJV uses the language that the layman would have used in its day--it was written for the people! As far as which version to use, why choose only one? Although they are a little more expensive, there are multi-version bibles available in many Christian bookstores--I used to work at Mardel's, so I know they have one. It has four versions--each page is divided up into quarters and the verses are easily compared that way. This allows you to see the traditional translations from the texts the Catholic church had during their KJV translation, as well as two version translated from the more recently discovered Dead Sea Scrolls--one word-for-word and one by phrase; the fourth tends to be an easy-to-read version in case the other four use language not immediately understood by those with a lower reading level. I loved this format because by reading all four version at once, it allows for the strongest idea to be clearer, while the different versions also lend alternate readings which can be quite enlightening in themselves. I hope this helps you in your walk through the Word! In Him, KrosChild

Hey Annette! Well, some of the things people in here have been advising sound a little harsh. But they are right! My younger brother never got along with my dad--even when he was pre-teen--so they let him move out and live with our sister, who is a lot older. They got sick of his attitude (which was a lot like you describe from your son) and they asked him to leave, so he went to live with our brother. They had a blow-out and my brother ended up leaving and moving in with friends. Well, he house-jumped between several different families for almost 2 years and a lot of the time we didn't know where he was! It was very hard on my parents--they love us all so much and it was hard not knowing if their baby boy was getting enough to eat! Well, after those 2 years he got into some trouble by being in the wrong place at the wrong time! My parents wanted to sweep in and help him--naturally! The problem was, so many people had been burned by him, everyone advised them to let him spend his 6 months in jail (which is what would have happened), but because they are parents, they couldn't let that happen. Against EVERYONE'S advice, they took him home and it was not an easy adjustment! Things did not get better overnight. In fact, they got worse and he ended up turning to alcohol and drugs! My parents found out and were able to convince him to go into rehab and later see a counselor for several months. He is now sober and decided to join the army in an attempt to get his life straightened out and (in his own words!) learn some discipline. I guess what I want to suggest is, listen to everyone's advice, and pray long and hard, and in the end---do what your heart tells you to do. Despite what I am sure he thinks (and how I am sure it must feel to you sometimes), you know you own son better than anyone else thinks they do. God will guide you heart and use that connection between parent and child to help you know how best to help your son. Don't be discouraged! God will lift you up and guide you when you don't have the wisdom to know what to do. I will be praying! Krystal