BK1110

Life-long single and 35 years old here, with health issues making marriage impossible for the foreseeable future. It is a terrible struggle. Remember first that God loves you no less, you are not a lesser person as a single. Remember that it is not always His will for people to marry, and if it does not happen for you that you will escape the pain of that suffering in heaven for eternity, when the fullness of relationship and fellowship with Christ will make earthly marriage pale in comparison. And of course remember that nothing is impossible with God; He can bring you the right person at any time He chooses. Pray that His will is accomplished in this regard, on His timing, and ask for His power in your life to accept it.

Probably not, but God can still use those people according to His will to work in the hearts and lives of others. And we do not know other's journeys; God's work of sanctification takes different forms and lengths of time with everyone. I will also say that some who fellowship online and not at a physical church do so out of necessity, due to health problems (me), or living where there isn't a good body of believers around, etc. All of this merely to remind us all to show grace and humility to each other.

Deuteronomy is laying out the foundations for the ancient people of Israel and their theocratic system. Christ fulfilled the law and made a new way. Certainly many things that were sin then still are now, but we no longer live under the Mosaic law system.

Some people or accounts I have just had to stop following. But I continue on Facebook and Twitter. Each day I post and share Bible verse and apologetics information, and as I scroll I'm on the lookout for friends or others posts that I feel led to reply to with some small seeds. I have had to accept that I will probably not see people come to Christ this way, but at the very least I can be one voice willing to engage with them with respect, listening to them, and not lowering myself to their common complaints about how Christians treat them and their views. Perhaps that is just one small seed planted that God can grow according to His will down the line.

What do you mean by "when we call the blood of Jesus Christ?" Jesus shed his blood by dying on the cross to pay for the sins of the world.

Yes. By the time of Jesus' birth Israel had long been a part of the Roman empire and common Greek was widely spoken there. Interestingly though it seems that Aramaic, not Greek or Hebrew, was actually the language most commonly spoken in Galilee and Judea during Jesus' time, and it's likely that's the language he spoke in. Some scholars think Jesus may have spoken all three, though Aramaic was the most common. It should be noted that a lot of people in the region who spoke Aramaic probably couldn't read and write it, so writing the Bible in Aramaic might not have been as helpful as Greek even if it was to an Aramaic-speaking audience. There seems to be some belief that Matthew possibly was written in Aramaic originally, though there isn't a consensus on it.

Most people in that region spoke common Greek at that time, because Alexander the Great's conquests had spread it throughout much of the Mediterranean region (Israel was ruled as a territory of the Roman Empire, in which Greek was commonly spoken). A lot of what we have of the OT is even technically from Greek, as the Septuagint, a Greek translation of the OT from around 300 BC, is what most modern OT translations are heavily based on. The OT wasn't originally Greek though of course.

It makes sense when you remember that the books of the Bible were written by different people, across many centuries, in different countries and cultures, and to different audiences. Writing a book of Israeli history for a Jewish audience? It's going to be in Hebrew. A book written by a Hebrew who was captured by Babylon as a boy and has lived his whole life in that culture? You'll get some of the language of that culture, Aramaic. Writing a letter hundreds of years later to a small church in a Greek city? Yep, Greek.

Praying for you. You should also seek Christian counseling. Find one who can help you. It is a sin issue, but also an addiction issue. You should combat it as both.

Just be honest. Their expectations are on them. Go or don't go, hire her or don't hire her. I'd also be more proactive in researching the church. Ask them for a statement of faith. Try to find out what they believe and teach on key issues like the trinity, salvation, the inspiration and infallibility of scripture, etc.

Are you feeling His leading now? Perhaps you are to return. Maybe if you tell Billy Goat that you specifically returned to see and speak with him, especially given (and in spite of) the display you witnessed last time, that could move him. This is not me saying that this is what you should do, just bringing up one possibility as food for thought. God bless, brother!

Perhaps you could research another church online that is what you are looking for, and then contact them about travel arrangements? It may be possible that they have some type of service that would help you get there, or even just a member that drives that would be willing to pick you up.

It would be great if churches would teach more on this. You'll get the list of don'ts when it comes to relationships, but never any guidance on what to do. Churches should be more active in teaching about courtship and Godly ways of connecting potential spouses. Singles in the church are too often just left to fend for themselves, almost as second-class citizens.

https://www.gotquestions.org/eating-pork.html

Will be praying. Agreed about formally setting a baby aside for Christ. At our (Baptist) church we do have baby dedications. Not as ritualized but the parents bring their newborns on stage to essentially present them to the congregation, and the pastor says their name and prays over the family. It might be worth looking into a local church that would do something like that, without the questionable Catholic ritualism.

To provide the other side... You've said that the whole thing is a farce. Isn't participating at all deceptive at it's foundation then? Leading others to think that you are receptive and accepting of these things when you clearly are not? Isn't this an opportunity to witness to your family with your convictions? Jesus tells us that he did not come to bring peace, but that the families of true Christians will be divided. To expect trouble and persecution. “Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” -- Matthew 10:34-39 May I be so bold as to ask if what you're going through now is anxiety because you know what you should do, but you don't want to because of the potential (and likely) fallout with your family? Praying for God to guide and strengthen you, sister.

Tithing seems pretty clearly taught in the Bible. It is basically the only area in which God tells us to test him with it so he will show that he will bless us if we are faithful to him with the money he gives us (Malachi 3:10). Read the story of the poor widow's tithe and consider it's implications: Jesus looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the offering box, and he saw a poor widow put in two small copper coins. And he said, “Truly, I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all of them. For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty put in all she had to live on.” -- Luke 21:1-4

God does not speak to us in dreams etc. nearly as much because we now have access to His Word. Study Scripture thoroughly and prayerfully to discern the will of God.

There is only THE church, which are all the people around the world who have given their hearts to God, trusting Jesus by faith to save them, and endeavoring to become like Him and reach others with the gospel. Locations and buildings etc. are human constructs.

You should be studying the Bible daily, but only faith in Jesus' work of salvation on the cross and resurrection to pay for your sins can save. Our earnest attempts at good works follow and flow from salvation, not go before to try to achieve salvation. Confess those sins, and cry out for God's strength to help you battle them. Then praise and give glory for His undeserved forgiveness.

I can personally speak to this. Physical disability. If I am ever able to get healthy enough to live a normal life (including attending church in-person again) baptism is right at the top of my priorities list. Baptism is like good works; they do not save, but a truly saved and changed heart begins to naturally desire it, as God's work of sanctification changes us to be more like Jesus and to desire to follow Him out of joy and thanksgiving, not just out of a sense of duty.

None taken. Those are fair points. There could be an argument depending on individual circumstances; I was just speaking as a generality.

Considering many Christians of the past and present literally risk imprisonment, torture, and execution in order to keep the commandment "do not give up meeting together, as is the habit of some," I would find it very hard to say it's okay to give up meeting together due to fear of a virus with a very low mortality rate and for which a vaccine exists.

Warehouse fires are not uncommon.

There is not a limit. All who are saved by God through true faith in Jesus are saved. No one, not even the person themselves, can wrest them free from God's hand.