St_Worm2

Walking dead (Ephesians 2) 1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest. 4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved) Died for the sins of the wicked (Romans 4) 5 But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness. Hope that helps! --David p.s. - "Original Sin" is not talking about the first sin Adam/Eve committed, rather, it speaks about the "effect" that sin had upon our entire race (i.e. Psalm 51:5; Romans 5:12; 1 Corinthians 15:22) "Jesus said to them, 'It is not those who are healthy who need a physician, but those who are sick; I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners'” Mark 2:17

But being "tormented day and night forever and ever" doesn't sound like anything is destroyed or cleansed, it sounds like never-ending punishment. Fire destroys what it touches, but it can also be the source of nearly unbearable heat if it is burning nearby. I don't like the idea of a conscious eternal punishment, but that seems to be what the Bible teaches.

Hi Murphy, where do the goats, all those not named in the Book of Life, Satan, the fallen angels, the beast, the false prophet, etc. go, or do you simply mean that Hell and the 2nd Death/Lake of Fire are not the same place? The Bible certainly seems to speak of ETERNAL punishment for the reprobate and the fallen angels. For instance: "Many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but the others to disgrace and everlasting contempt." ~Dan 12:2 "He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. These will go away into eternal punishment" ~Matt 25:41/46a "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever." ~Rev 20:10 "Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."~Rev 20:14-15 Thanks! --David

Hi Struggling, one of the most important ways we apply the word of God is by simply "believing" what it says (IOW, by believing "Him" at His word). For instance, we need to believe and trust that what He promises other Christians will be just as true for us, right This is especially important when someone is "struggling" with his/her faith. As an example of what I mean, St. John tells us: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." ~1 John 1:9 So when you sin (and sadly, we all do), you need to ask the Lord for forgiveness .. and then you need to take Him at His word and believe that He has done exactly that Whether you 'feel' like you are forgiven or not is not important (you may not sometimes ), what 'is' important is believing/knowing that you are If you don't, you may 1) continue to be useless to Him as you wallow in that for which you have already been forgiven and 2) end up needing to ask Him for forgiveness again, but this time it will be for doubting whether what He has promised us is true or not. Sin stings, so it's hard for us to completely forget it (which can be a good thing when used in the right context, IOW, to remind us why we don't want to fall back into the same sin again), and Satan will always be there to lie to us and to tell us that 1) we are bad and worthless 2) we don't deserve to be forgiven 3) we aren't forgiven, no matter what God says, and then 4) that we were never Christians to begin with. But that's all coming from Satan, NOT the Lord So if you want to please Him, just believe Him (Hebrews 11:6). There's much more to applying God's word, of course, but if you find that you are listening to Satan RATHER than listening to and believing God, that's obviously the place you need to start. Yours and His, David p.s. - in what ways, specifically, do you feel that you are struggling to apply God's word?

My first name, David, means "beloved" in Hebrew. My last name means "kitten" (in Yiddish) .. so I guess that makes me a, "Beloved Kitten"

Hi Angels4u/Shiloh357, light didn't exist until v3, right? (if Genesis 1 lays Creation out chronologically, that is). While we're on the subject of Creation and Satan, Job 38 indicates that the heavenly host was created before the earth was. 4 “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. 5 Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it? 6 On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone— 7 while the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy? Is there any indication that they were created prior to space/time as well? This is, of course, what our Mormon friends would have us believe .. about the Heavenly Host and about us. If fact, they think that the heavenly host AND all of us existed from everlasting, just like God, but that is, of course, pure conjecture on the parts of people who believe they will become "gods" someday Yours and His, David

The famous verse in question reads as follows: I have always believed (because I was always taught) that Hell is waging an ongoing "offensive" against the church, but that it (Hell) will never prevail. But as I've considered it again recently, that doesn't seem to be what it's saying at all. Gates, for instance, especially in the ancient world, were defensive weapons, NOT offensive. And since that is true, does it not make more sense to understand that the church is the one on the offensive and that the "gates of Hell" will not prevail against our forceful advance (or keep the church at bay forever)? There are more things to discuss about the second half of this verse, but I wanted to get your thoughts on this first. What is your understanding of Matthew 16:18b? Are the, "gates of Hell", an offensive weapon aimed at destroying the church, or a defensive weapon used to try to hold the church at bay? Or does it mean something else altogether?? If you wouldn't mind, please explain why you believe what you do? Thanks --David

Hi Kan, our Mormon friends refer to God as an "organizer" rather than a "creator" because they believe that EVERYTHING is eternal (matter, energy, time, space, and even our souls), just like God is. So for them, the one they refer to as "God" organized/shaped the PRE-existing chaos into everything that we see around us today. Christianity on the other hand believes in something called, Creatio Ex Nihilo, or creation "out of nothing". We believe that God is our "Creator", not simply an "Organizer", because He spoke into being that which did not exist, IOW, space/time itself (i.e. Genesis 1:1; Genesis 2:4; Isaiah 42:5; John 1:3; Colossians 1:16; Hebrews 11:3; 2 Peter 3:5....). The Bible also speaks of God giving form or shape to things, and the Big Bang could certainly be argued from a number of passages such as Isaiah 42:5 which tells us that God .. "created the heavens and stretched them out." So, does the Bible infer chaos at the beginning of creation? Possibly, because God seems to be credited with giving shape to that which He brought into existence, but we certainly do not see Him as the "organizer" that the LDS do. Again, Christianity refers to Him as our "Creator" or "Maker". Yours and His, David

Hi YCF, "justified" means to be validated or declared "just" or "right" or (particularly in this case) "righteous" before a holy God. So the words "justified" and "righteousness" mean different things, but they are certainly related to one another. We are, in fact, "justified", at the moment God declares us, "righteous". The question is, on what basis does God choose to justify us, because all who enter His presence must be just like Him in moral perfection .. but we know that none of us are (Romans 3:10-12; Romans 3:23)? So on what basis would or could a just God do such a thing and still be considered, "just"? I'll have to finish up the rest of my reply to you later. Yours and His, David p.s. - the various portions of Scripture I entered in my post were meant to get right at the heart of the points of (potential) disagreement that I had with some of what Algots was saying. I say "potential" because until I hear back from him and better understand what he was trying to say, the jury is still out. "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him" 2 Corinthians 5:21

Hi Algots, St. James tells us that, "faith without works is useless" ~James 2:20, and then later that, "a man is justified by works, and not by faith alone" ~James 2:24. And St. John has this to say: "No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God." ~1 John 3:9 So if everything that you said above is true, then why do you believe that the Lord says what He does to us through the pens of James and John? Thanks! Yours and His, David p.s. - I'm a Calvinist who believes that justification is by faith alone (just FYI). "We are His masterpiece, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them" Ephesians 2:10

Hi Struggling, our "thought-lives", especially those of us who were, "saved from much", can be very painful and very frustrating at times I am, personally, very aware of the struggle that you face each day, though I am pleased to be able to tell you that it has certainly lessened greatly since I began to systematically and topically memorize God's word about 25 years ago or so. There are many other things that help ("tools" that have already been mentioned above here that I still use to this day ... not the least of which is taking each and every lousy/sinful thought, "captive", and giving it over to the Lord to deal with .. 2 Corinthians 10:5 .. and also by simply believing God, and trusting Him at His word .. see 1 Corinthians 10:13; Ephesians 6:10-18; James 4:7). But the memorization of certain key Scripture verses and passages remains at the center of both the battle and the cure for me. Just like you, I loaded my pre-Christian mind with tons of lousy stuff, so the key to fighting intrusive thoughts and controlling my mind was done first and foremost by getting rid of all the garbage I collected in there over the years, and again, this is where Scripture memorization comes in. I'm not sure how or why it works, but when you memorize God's word, it begins to shove all that lousy stuff to the background. And as you continue, it just seems to replace it all together The even weirder thing is, I seem to have a TON of space to remember other things now that are valuable/wholesome (see Philippians 4:8), and almost no room for the lousy stuff that none of us can avoid seeing each and every day of our lives. Dr. Chuck Swindoll promised me (and everyone else who was listening to him that day) that Scripture memorization would solve all of these kinds of problems for me and he was right (more so than I could have ever imagined, actually ). The other thing is, as Christians, we are indwelt by the HS and have been given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:12-16). And when you lock God's word into your mind (and heart), you really have to make a concerted effort to sin, because every time you try to, the HS brings any number of your memorized verses to mind that tell you exactly why you shouldn't do/think what you're about to do or think It's like running into a spiritual brick wall The only drawback is this, Scripture memory work is just that .. WORK .. especially at first, so it definitely isn't for everyone (but if you're willing to commit to it there is little that will have a greater all over impact on your walk :)) So if you'd like to know how to get started, I'd be happy to help. Just send me a private message. Blessings to you in Christ! (Numbers 6:24-26; Jude 24-25) --David "How can a young man keep his way pure? By keeping it according to Thy word. Thy word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against Thee" Psalm 119:9,11

Hi Martyr212, a church-wide group email is used first. Then we start to call everyone who did not reply to our group email and confirm that they received the message. It works pretty well, but then again, we only have 135 families. The website is used, and we put a new, temporary message on the answering machine as well. Yours and His, David

It's probably impossible for me to pick just one, but this is the first one that came to mind and it's a great one “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life." ~John 5:24