ravindran

There is a certain order that God gives. Which is for men to be pastors of Church. That should be the norm. There would always be exceptions. Just like how Deborah was called to be a judge because there was no other man qualified at that time. But exceptions should not become norm. While the norm should be male pastors, if there is no one eligible then it would be okay for women pastors. In this day and age, I would be surprised to hear that there is no eligible male pastor!! And it is a weak argument that everyone is the same in God's sight and hence it is okay for women to be pastors. Responsibilities is not same as equality. This is the case with Trinity. God the Father, Jesus the Son and Holy Spirit - they are all equal with different responsibilities.

Just my suggestion and kind feedback. Do not look at any scripture as a view point of author. That defeats the whole belief of Scripture being inspired by Holy Spirit. Then no Scripture is authoritative. Everything becomes relative. This is a dangerous way to look at Scripture.

In the morning I was reading Bible and had never paid attention to this part in Gospel according to John, chapter 12. This is the event where Mary Magdalene uses a costly perfume to wash Jesus's feet. I have never paid attention to the underlined portion of the scripture before. We all know Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. That was not the first time he fell for the desire of money. This was something he has been doing often and routinely. Even before that, he was a thief. He was stealing money. He was in-charge of money bag and he was keeping some for himself. What started as simple theft, led him to betray the Messiah. I think this is so true in all our lives. We give into little sin thinking it does no harm. All sins start as a paper cut. When not paid attention, it deepens into a severe wound and becomes life threatening. This made me wonder what are all the paper cuts I am allowing in my life without cleansing them with Jesus's blood! Something to ponder about 4 But Judas Iscariot didn’t like what Mary did. He was one of Jesus’ disciples. Later he was going to hand Jesus over to his enemies. Judas said, 5 “Why wasn’t this perfume sold? Why wasn’t the money given to poor people? It was worth a year’s pay.” 6 He didn’t say this because he cared about the poor. He said it because he was a thief. Judas was in charge of the money bag. He used to help himself to what was in it.

And it is amazing that God would actually allow satan to try to distract us in other areas. I would look them as God putting these tests for our own benefit. Where is our trust? But I totally agree with you. If there are no tests and trials, that's when I would be worried about my walk with God!!

Yes, I do believe these reference pre-incarnate Christ. The instance with Joshua is pretty obvious. Because he falls down and worships Angel of the Lord. We are not supposed to worship angels. Only Lord Jesus should be worshiped.

I am not scientist and this is not a topic that I pay much attention to. Frankly, there is lot of politics behind this. Just like anything else. I truly believe we need to be good stewards of planet earth. God gave authority over His creation to Adam and Eve. It was partially lost during fall. So mankind is no longer able to control destiny of this earth. It is already written that the earth as we know today will perish. Mankind is simply not able to stop that from happening. This is where I disagree with climate change people. We cannot stop earth from being destroyed. Earth will one day perish. And that is not just because of what we are doing now. God has ordained that to happen. While it is important to be good stewards, the destiny of earth is not in our hands. This is the fundamental difference between conservative Christians who deny climate change and liberals.

John Piper (a well know Calvinist) has a nice booklet on this topic. I just want to quote him from the book. I have also put a link for the book. You may not agree to this. But I do want to answer the question from Reformed perspective. The difference between the Reformed and the Arminians lies not in whether there are two wills in God, but in what they say this higher commitment is. What does God will more than saving all? The answer the Arminians give is that human self-determination and the possible resulting love relationship with God are more valuable than saving all people by sovereign, efficacious grace. The answer the Reformed give is that the greater value is the manifestation of the full range of God’s glory in wrath and mercy (Rom. 9:22–23) and the humbling of man so that he enjoys giving all credit to God for his salvation (1 Cor. 1:29). https://document.desiringgod.org/does-god-desire-all-to-be-saved-en.pdf?ts=1446647103 Personally, I had a debate in my mind on this. I studied and studied on this. All scripture pointed to predestination and Reformed view. Plain understanding of most of the scriptures will lead to Reformed view. Arminians will have to give a complicated explanation to support their view. Below is a link to 10 such scriptures and how Calvinists and Arminians interpret this. Ultimately this question led me to Reformed view. When we go to heaven, let's say Jesus asks us this - "Why did you believe Me?" Am I going to say "Your Grace Lord" or "I chose to follow you". That my friend was my answer to this debate! https://www.xenos.org/essays/calvinism-arminianism-controversial-passages

Everyone in believes in predestination. Calvinists (Reformed) and Arminians have a different definition of predestination! I have a Reformed view on predestination. Yes, we all need to be concerned about those left out. We need to pray and evangelize. There is no question about that. It does not change irrespective of one's view on predestination.

Appreciate all the feedback on this so far. Please remember my daughter in your prayers today. She has taken her Bible to school. Actually I am the one scared and not her! Yesterday I was asking if she is afraid or something. She asked "why?" Made me realize who is the scared one here!! I will report back on how things went tomorrow

This is something I have heard from people who work from home completely. They miss the social aspect of having someone to talk about politics or sports, etc.. Seems like you are already part of a Church and hope you enjoy that fellowship. That is really important. Try to engage in some local Bible studies. There are lot of men's fellowship as well. That would help you form a circle of friends who are some in spiritual nature. You can also try finding some social groups in meetup based on your hobbies. If you play sports, you can find some local groups through meetup. You can do that a couple of days and that will help you socialized with people and talk about stuff which you don't get to do at work!

Thank you! Sounds like I should tell her to keep the Bible in her bag. Read in school bus. And read during lunch break? And just keep it inside rest of the time and not bring it out or talk with friends about it during rest of the day. Talk with friends just during school bus and lunch alone. Probably safest for her? And give enough opportunities to talk with friends when they ask what she is doing?

I was also wondering if I should give heads up to the class teacher so that she is aware of it and have thought through this from her side.

Yes, most of the content are now digital. But in her school, they still use paper books a lot. Lot of paper homework, library books, reading, etc are done in paper. She already has a bunch of books in her desk. She would just have Bible with her for one day. Nothing stops her from bringing books to school. She would read just during free time (like lunch or recess). Just to open up conversation with friends and share her faith. That's the idea.

Yes, this was initiated by Focus in the family. They put some structure to the information available. I already signed up and downloaded their guide. But I wanted to hear from real parents who have gone through this personally and hear personal stories. Rather than just reading some flyer!

October 3rd would be another bring your Bible to school day (probably 5th year?). My daughter is in 3rd grade and I brought this up to her. She definitely wants to participate in this. I am having conversations with her on why she is doing this, what she can do through this, what difficulties she might face, how people might react and the ultimate purpose of this (witness and glorify God). Any tips from parents with kids in elementary school who have done it before? I am posting this to question whether someone should participate in this or not. Let's keep that debate outside of this thread. Only people who are doing it this year or did it before, let's have a decent conversation!

Almost all the translations put a header "Jacob wrestles with God". I wonder if it was Jacob who started the fight. Verse 24 actually says a man wrestles with him. It was actually God wrestling with Jacob. Often we would find ourselves cornered and alone. God allows us to go through those circumstances. Then God wrestles with us (our character). When we come to a point of surrender (I will not leave you), then God breaks us and uses us for His glory. This is one of mysteries of Scripture. There are numerous applications that could be drawn out of this. They would all be applications only and should be taken that way only. 24 So Jacob was left alone, and a man wrestled with him till daybreak.

The problem for me is that people isolate Harry Potter for some reason and assume other movies/books are fine. People who say Harry Potter should be banned generally are okay with Marvel or DC comics. They are even okay with Disney stories. All are fiction, involves supernatural magic attributed to something other than God. If someone says everything should be banned, then that would be a sensible argument. Now, Bible says we are in this world, but not of this world. It is delicate balance in exposing kids to these things and without them falling into it. I don't think there is one style method for this. It will vary from family to family, culture to culture.

Temptation, Lies, deception and oppression. Some are fake promises, temptations to make us sin, oppress us into certain situations. These are some of the ways

This I think would not be a norm. There are times God is going to ask us to be patient and keep going back to someone again and again. There are times when God is going to say "enough". At the end of the day we are responsible for sharing the good news. We are not responsible for the outcome.

I see the pain and hurt in your message. I see your point. It sounds like what Solomon says - Vanity! Vanity! But the matter of fact is that Lord commands us to love one another. Love everyone as we love ourselves. So Lord is not calling us to live a life of seclusion. It is absolutely important that Jesus is priority and our eyes are fixed on Him. At the same time, Lord is calling us to love each other as well. Husbands should love their wives. Wives should show their love through submission. These are words from Bible itself. Through the hurt and pain from wordly relationships, love should stand stall. I always wondered if the life on world is just a lesson (teaching experience) for everyone of us. The way we honor marital covenant through the fights, disappointments, envy, etc just reflects how God honors His covenant and shows unfailing love! When we think of relationships in this world - wife, mother, father, children, friends. These are the close ones. Each type represents one faucet of our Lord's love. Lord's love encompasses all these types and goes above and beyond. I will stop my rant!

Amen! Once I heard a Pastor say that eternal life begins on this side of the earth itself. Eternal life starts with justification. Sanctification continues until we are on this earth. Then glorification when we pass from this world to the other side. But eternal life has already started! Looking forward to moving out of this temporary house (world) to my permanent home with my Father!

Thank you! That was just a recommendation. Bible does not stipulate any qualification for performing baptism. One would be as qualified to perform baptism without any specific fasting. The person should be saved and submitting to God's authority.

1) there are 2 major positions when it comes to Baptism of Holy Spirit. The 1st position says that it happens at the time of conversion. It is the indwelling of Holy Spirit when a person is saved and not a subsequent experience. The 2nd position is that it is a subsequent experience to conversion. Pentecostals (and Charismatics) believe that it is evidenced by speaking in tongues. There are slight variations to this where some believe this to be subsequent experience, but not necessarily evidenced by speaking in tongues. But that is not a major group. You should study Book of Acts as it deals with this heavily. Everything around Pentecost. And Paul's letters as well. He deals with this subject. 2) Water baptism is not equal to being saved. It is not water baptism that takes a person to heaven. It is an outward confession of one's internal faith. It is one of the holy sacraments commanded by Lord Jesus (along with Communion). 3) Baptize in water? I would think any believer has that authority from spiritual perspective. However, I would strongly suggest to be baptized by an ordained minister so that you can be sure they understan the meaning and purpose of Baptism. In Bible also this was typically performed by leaders. Bible does not focus on who gives baptism. Because it really does not matter or make any difference. It is Christ who honors Baptism. 4) I don't believe children need to be water baptized. If we study the scripture, we can understand Baptism is an outward confession of one's internal faith. It clearly does not apply to children. There is no merit in baptizing little children. Because Baptism does not bring a person into any covenant. It is NOT a replacement of circumcision. There are similarities, but this is not a replacement

Whether you believe in freewill or not (Calvinism or Arminianism), there is no answer for this. Calvinists - Why would God create people whom He is not going to save? No answer Arminians - If God already knew Adam and Eve is going to sin, why put the tree? Why even create humans? No answer It goes back to reason creation. The only reason is, God thought it was 'good'. That's pretty much it.

I believe God still talks to His children through visions and dreams. The most important thing to remember is that, it would not be to reveal something new (that what is revealed in His Word) or contradict Bible. I sleep so good and I hardly get dreams. My wife is a dreamer. We don't understand most of them. What we do know is, God uses them to bring certain prayer needs in front of her. So that she can pray about it. There are times when God warns her of upcoming trouble so that she is already praying about it or not surprised by it. In your case, it could very well be from Lord. Since forgiving others is not a secret in Bible!!