BK1110

If you cannot help yourself out of this situation, you need others to help you. You need to find a good church, or a woman's shelter, or something that can help you.

I would probably not go that far, in regards to the cafeteria. If it were me, I would ask myself questions like "is there a way in which people can use/consume this that is positive and not sinful?" and "is there a disproportionate chance that people will abuse this sinfully?" If you take things too far, you'd have to ban yourself from working at any store that sells kitchen knives or rope or baseball bats, etc. Someone could use them for sin, after all. I heard a pastor give an example once; one person works at a regular clothing store that sells reasonably-priced clothes and shoes. People need clothes, and they are offered at a fair price. Now some of the clothes might be too revealing, and even the modest ones someone could buy too many of out of a sinful vanity or materialistic desire. But you cannot control every possible wrong action or desire that the customers might have. On the other hand, another person works at an exclusive store that sells only extravagant, expensive clothing and jewelry, the kind that rich people wear out of vanity and wanting to impress others. Perhaps the person working at that store should ask themselves if there is any real way that them working as part of that company is going to produce God-honoring work when that company is exclusively, purposefully targeting people's vanity and greed to profit off it. Back to your examples, there's probably no way that selling cigarettes can lead to anything healthy, positive, or God-honoring. But cafeteria's can sell good food that people need at fair prices; if they choose to abuse that and overeat or eat only junk food, that isn't on you, I would say. Just some food for thought.

There are some jobs which cannot qualify, those which directly involve sinning. Others should perhaps be avoided; it might be hard to be someone who works at an advertising agency, how could you accomplish anything in that job other than working to stoke people's greed and lust for temporary possessions, after all? God has given you skills and talents, things you're good at, things you enjoy. Trying many jobs and skills and hobbies can be a good way to discover those things. I discovered in recent years that working with wood and tools is something I am particularly drawn to. I would love to be able to use that in a career someday, because I think it would be easiest to honor God in my work while doing something using those talents and interests than in something else. But we will see where God leads.

They're going to be exposed to it all their lives unless you have them all live in a cabin deep in the mountains. Use it as an opportunity to distinguish from just dressing up as a super hero and getting some candy from the neighbors, and the occult stuff they should avoid. They won't learn the difference if they don't learn it from you.

Marrying someone isn't the same as befriending them. I'm not sure why that verse would preclude you from having friends who are male.

If no one at a church cares enough to attempt to pick you up and drive you to their church once a week, then that probably isn't a church you should be going to anyway. I would suggest looking up local churches and their websites. Find ones that show their profession of faith somewhere on the website and then call those and see if any member of the staff can do it, or if they can find a church member willing to do it. Just explain your situation and that you can't drive yourself or afford a taxi etc. You may be surprised at what you find.

Praying for you each day. It may be time to take more drastic measures to get a support network. Have you tried calling a local church and explaining your situation and just outright asking if someone can transport you to church?

There is absolutely a very real technology addiction problem now. It's not just you. I probably wouldn't have said anything, but just moved. Probably best if someone tries to befriend her first, otherwise they're just liable to come off as a busybody and be ignored. If it comes from someone who has built at least a bit of a relationship with her first then she might actually consider what's being said.

Here's one answer to consider https://www.gotquestions.org/Jacob-wrestling-with-God.html

Are you a true, dedicated Christian? The Bible is very clear that you should only marry someone who also is. A person cannot be a true, dedicated Christian and also be steeped in witchcraft and the like. IMO that is a deal-breaker just as it would be if she were a prostitute or some such.

Be kind at all times. Talk with her; ask her what she believes, if anything, about God now, and then share with her the basics of saving faith. Ask her if there are any things that holds her back from believing. Any objections; maybe they are scientific, philosophical moral, etc. Once you know where she's struggling, you can find the resources that will address her concerns. Regardless of where she is now and what she does or does not believe, Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis could be very beneficial. You can find a complete audio version of it on Youtube if you look for it.

A couple of observations: 1. Genesis doesn't indicate that the children it lists are the only ones that people had. Seth isn't necessarily Eve's third child. For all we know, he could be her fifth, or tenth, or thirtieth. We are only told he was born after Able was killed. 2. People at the time were still routinely living 500+ years, and there was not ready access to contraception of course. It's not hard to imagine that there were hundreds or even thousands of people alive by the time Cain killed Able. I'm not saying the Bible demands this interpretation, but I also don't think it demands the interpretation that there were four humans alive at the time, Cain killed one to make three, and thus it's weird that he's afraid of people who don't exist. There could have been multiple settlements with thousands of people in them by that time. The Bible is not clear on those details.

For one thing, keep in mind that real love is not just an emotion. Love is a choice to act on someone's behalf. "For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son..." Loving means acting on the object of the love's behalf, unselfishly. When you think of your boyfriends attitudes and actions, does he love you or does he love himself? Once you realize that he is loving himself and not you, you can begin to imagine what a life with him daily would be like. God is telling you not to cohabitate with them not just because it's sinful, but because he knows it will be even more damaging for you in the long run.

The Bible is very, extremely, repeatedly clear on this topic. Read Paul's various letters in the new testament. Over and over and over again he makes it clear that sex before marriage and with any other person other than your spouse is grave sin, damaging sin, and ultimately damning sin. There are so many great reasons to wait, so that you can exclusively experience that deep, giving, loving connection with just one person, attempting to out-do each other in love directed towards each other. But even aside from all of that, you simply have to make a choice; the Bible is clear about where the line is, and is clear that people who wantonly cross it will not be going to heaven. If you believe the Bible, your choice is clear. Might I recommend that you go to the Youtube channel "Dr. Sean McDowell" and just type in "wait for marriage" in the search bar for his channel. You will get many results, including a "Sex, Love, and Relationships" playlist. His videos and interviews should help you get a much clearer picture of not only God's will for your life and body, but also His reasons for it. And FWIW, I'm a guy and nearly 35, and I'm still a virgin. I hopefully await the day that God brings the right woman into my life that I can give all of myself to, so she can feel loved and blessed and special, doing my all in sex and in every other way to help her more fully appreciate the love of God. There are guys out there who value Biblical teaching on this. God will bring you the right one on his timing if you faithfully wait and allow God to be sovereign over this aspect of your life as well.

They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. But you have been anointed by the Holy One, and you all have knowledge. -- 1 John 2:19-20 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned." -- John 15:1-6 More info https://www.gty.org/library/questions/QA145/what-kind-of-things-do-and-do-not-prove-the-genuineness-of-saving-faith

To the first point, I do not mean to say that it is meaningless to try to do good or that his good deeds had no value before one is saved, but only that they cannot save you, and compared to Christ they are rubbish, which Paul himself says. To the second point, indeed it is. But the point is that we don't stop there. If we do, if we say "now I'm saved so I can live however I want," we prove that we were not, in fact, saved at all.

It just so happens that my daily study, which I've just finished, was on that very passage I just quoted! Funny how that works. The title of the study video is "Philippians 3:11–14 // Can I Really Have Assurance?" on the DesiringGod channel on Youtube. You might want to give it a watch.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. -- Philippians 3:8-14 The context of this, if you read the rest of the passage that preceded it, Paul is talking about how he was a Jew of Jews, kept the law better than anyone, was a Pharisee, etc. If anyone was going to heaven based on works, it was him. But he counted all of that, all of those works that he had to his credit, as rubbish compared to Christ. That's a recognition that, no matter how good, no matter what works, it's all garbage without faith in Christ. Of course, he then immediately follow it up with verses about how he hasn't obtained it yet, and that he presses on (works harder) to obtain it! The key part is the "because Christ Jesus has made me his own." Instead of his works coming from a place of trying to save himself, they now come from a place of joy and gratitude that Christ has already saved him. But if someone is not really saved, they will not feel that joy, that gratitude. They will simply want to continue living in all their sins. They will have no desire to forget what lies behind and strain forward to what lies ahead, because they love what lies behind.

I would say it makes no more sense to stop pursuing protection from harm through the legal system than it does to stop pursuing it through calling the police, or to stop pursuing medical help through doctors. Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God's servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer. Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God's wrath but also for the sake of conscience. -- Romans 13:1-7 These are the things that you shall do: Speak the truth to one another; render in your gates judgments that are true and make for peace; do not devise evil in your hearts against one another, and love no false oath, for all these things I hate, declares the Lord. -- Zechariah 8:16-17 We are not commanded in any way to cut ourselves off from government, rulers, or authorities of the world, except in cases when they are blatantly ordering/requiring us to sin against God. In fact there are many passages which encourage us to be good and honest participants of the earthly governments and societies that we live in. I would continue to pursue protection and justice. I would not, of course, cease for even a day to pray about it, recognizing that God is the ultimate arbiter, and it may be his will to work his purpose through these people's injustice.

Nothing wrong with asking why. That's just a desire to understand God and his will more, not a doubting of him. Ask yourself; are you doubting God, or do you trust Him but just recognize that you don't fully understand and want to?

A child is much more accepting of things they cannot see, and that's what most people focus on. But I think it is as much, if not more, about the helplessness of children. The Greek word for children (paidion) in this passage often refers to the youngest of children. Think of toddlers; we must admit our utter dependence on Christ, just as toddlers are utterly dependent on their parents to provide for their every need. We cannot, to any degree, save ourselves, or offer anything worthy to God on our own.

There are also indications that many, many will turn to Christ and be martyred during the tribulation. I fully expect there to be hundreds of millions, and possibly billions, in heaven. But yes, even more in hell, tragically.

He can and does, but of course not with audible voices as in the past. Most people I've heard from have said it comes when they are in Bible study, and come upon a verse, and they feel very strongly that the Lord is telling them that the verse does or will apply to them in a specific way. Of course, yes, many people take it far too lightly, and you'll hear them say "God has laid it on my heart that _____________" with every single idea that pops into their heads.

I just finished reading "Beyond the Cosmos: The Transdimensionality of God" by Hugh Ross. The last chapter is about heaven and what it, and we, will be like. He also covers that topic in "Why the Universe Is the Way it Is." You might be interested to read them.

We know that God hates sin, but does not hate us as sinners. He, in fact, loves us powerfully and completely. Does that extend to fallen angels and other creatures that are not his image-bearers? I am not sure. But we are all sinners in many ways. We should hate sin, but not sinners, otherwise we would have to hate ourselves and many others that God loves. We should not hate what God loves. And how can such a hatred of sinners not spring from pride, us somehow allowing ourselves to feel that those sins which we are not enslaved to are somehow worse, somehow more worthy of our condemnation. This damages our ability to reach out with love and humility. Be glad that God' righteous justice will be done. But I'm not sure the end result of that should be gladness that other God-created beings will suffer torment for eternity.