Billiards Ball

On 5/3/2022 at 10:31 AM, believeinHim said:

Since the United States is basically a melting pot of all of different cultures now, Is the church in your neighborhood considered your church ? There is a church in virtually every little pocket and corner of a neighborhood, or town, Some of them within walking distances of a particular neighborhood, And the problem is that nobody and no one from that neighborhood goes.......... We have people driving from all over the state and towns going to churches that are not in their neighborhoods. We have some issues in our neighborhood with break ins because the property behind it is probably belonging to the church however it is not growing and I do not think that they can afford to have it grow because nobody in this neighborhood goes to this church. If they or we go at all. So, My burning question to the church forum, Is if we  have a church in our neighborhood or in our town, Is that our church ? I would think it would be ? ...........................

You are correct as long as you include the rest of the Bible in your knowledge/choice:

1) There are many Bible statements that we are to adhere only to a church with sound love and sound doctrine.

2) There are many Bible statements that sometimes some people are called to missionize/travel/go elsewhere.

On 5/3/2022 at 6:29 PM, CaptWalker said:

My question is simple...if you are praying at night before you go to sleep that God would at leats give you a good's night rest and maybe even answer a question or two in dreams about something you had been praying veyr hard about...but it turns out that you get very little sleep and even your chest starts hurting kind of like heartburn, and the one dream you do have is totally irrelevant to your current situation?? So i think i know the reason why is my case but just wanted a second opinion/confirmation that either i am not in God's will or have done something that has really offended Him, or both??

Sometimes we have trials, claim the promise of Proverbs "the sleep of the righteous is SWEET" but for more serious problems, visit a Spirit-filled church to ask for deliverance ministry.

1 hour ago, believeinHim said:

Since the United States is basically a melting pot of all of different cultures now, Is the church in your neighborhood considered your church ? There is a church in virtually every little pocket and corner of a neighborhood, or town, Some of them within walking distances of a particular neighborhood, And the problem is that nobody and no one from that neighborhood goes.......... We have people driving from all over the state and towns going to churches that are not in their neighborhoods. We have some issues in our neighborhood with break ins because the property behind it is probably belonging to the church however it is not growing and I do not think that they can afford to have it grow because nobody in this neighborhood goes to this church. If they or we go at all. So, My burning question to the church forum, Is if we  have a church in our neighborhood or in our town, Is that our church ? I would think it would be ? ...........................

People are willing to drive quite a distance on Sundays to find what they want and need--doctrine, fellowship, etc.

That translation of Acts 2 is incorrect.

From the Greek to English it is better rendered as "Change your mind, therefore, and be baptized in water, for God has already saved you."

On 4/28/2022 at 10:21 AM, believeinHim said:

So, Technnically we descend from Noah, Japheth, Ham, And Shem, etc ? Correct, ? Noah and his wife had three sons, and their three sons had wives...............,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, It doesn't necessarily say that the wives of Japheth, Ham, and Shem are related or are their daughters. So, we descended as close distant cousins....... ?.......................

Genesis 9:19 New International Version These were the three sons of Noah, and from them came the people who were scattered over the whole earth.

 

 

Noah's line was pure of the corruption from the sons of Cain and etc.

All people are therefore cousins--love thy neighbor.

14 hours ago, love child said:

Should I meddle in something that I prayed about and gave it over to God?  I don't want this to be a huge mistake, but it's been years and the problem is still there!  Has anyone else here, gave a problem over to God, only to pick it back up and made the problem worse because you didn't leave it in God's hands???  Anybody???

 

 

You can pray again, "Lord is it time for me to step in? Please give me clear biblical and other guidance."

6 hours ago, HEPHZIBAHOMOTAYO said:

How many times do we wrong and disappoint God that He would decline His promises from us?

He is the Savior for ETERNITY.

490 times is a START.

4 hours ago, Open7 said:

So it seems that man kinds original diet in the garden of Eden was just vegetables and fruit. The fall happened, and it seems that at some point we were permitted to eat meat from God.

This raises a few questions:

1. Aside from any health reason type arguments, on a moral level, can believers eat too much meat? Let’s say for example, the carnivore diet, where a person eats nothing but meat, would you consider this too far? And if so, then how do we know what is too far and what is not, how do you measure such a thing? We can talk about our conscience informing us of what is too much, but this could be biased based on certain things.

2. My other question. I get that animal sacrifice was introduced to cover man’s sins (not take away but cover). But why did this mean Gods people could also eat meat that wasn’t from a sacrificed animal? If it was sacrificed, then ok fair enough they could eat it and put it to good use, but if they wanted to just eat meat for dinner, and kill an animal to do so, and it was nothing to do with any priests or sacrifices, then how can this be justified? I know God says so, but why? (I am a meat eater btw but I am just interested to know).

I know there’s a lot of content on this topic, but I struggle to find answers to my questions above.

Thanks

1. What did Adam and Eve eat after the Garden? There were sacrificed animals to eat.

2. Proverbs says to avoid overindulgence, including meat. Balance the diet.

3. If you love animals and don't want to eat meat, you are free to do so.

1 hour ago, ~Shalhevet~ said:

When Jesus celebrated Passover with the disciples do you think he meant to replace the annual Passover with weekly holy communion?  Why or why not?  

Bread and wine and blessings are a part of weekly and even daily life for Jewish people.

We likely overcomplicated things and Jesus was saying, "Remember me often, when you eat and bless God for food."

19 hours ago, believeinHim said:

Being a minimalist. I have discovered I am most definitely a minimalist. Or I am somewhere in between. That is all. Blessings. 

I felt maximal joy and this small revelation. Minimally speaking.

Blessings!

18 hours ago, Jabre7 said:

i was going to make a fantasy/scifi roleplay with Christian themes. I was going to have it almost be an actual RPG people could play, with the major villians being bosses. a recurring one was going to be Xenu from Scientology. Yes, many of the villians were going to be mythical gods and demons and whatnot. I was going to use these figures, especially Xenu, to expose what these cults/ faiths truly beleive and where they came from. I even have the final villian/boss and penultimate enemy planned, turn away now if you don't want them spoiled:-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tthe final villian and "boss" was going to be Sophia, the supreme and original godess of Gnosticism. Unlike the others, this one is supposed to actully be the deity, or at least the actual demon behind her, where all the other "gods" are in fact avatars people take based off said deity/demon. The penultimate one would be GAOTU, the Masonic God, who would then transform into his "true form", Baphomet. Would this all be sinful?

Sounds like an interesting way to witness and do apologetics!

9 hours ago, Thewhitedove said:

A brief background for those who don't know. I got saved 3 years ago. Prior to that, I was raised as a nominal Catholic. Both myself and husband made all of our sacraments and married in the Catholic church. I had a wishy washy faith and my husband is a complete atheist. Our first two children were baptised into the RC church, as a matter of tradition. 

I have a newborn baby and my husband has made it clear from the beginning of the pregnancy that the baby is to be baptised too. Not doing it would cause a lot of problems with his (nominal) Catholic family. His mother said she wants the baby to be baptised but doesn't care what we do after that. 

We live abroad, in a different country from our families and we have the option of having a quick, low key ceremony here. That way it's done and we kept the peace. If I don't go down this route, the alternative is that my husband will arrange the baptism in our home country and turn it into a big party which would be unbearable for me. 

I have prayed and prayed on this and consulted my pastor who begrudgingly feels I should obey my husband as the ceremony is meaningless anyway. 

I wish I didn't have to do this but its not a hill I wish to die on and risk causing a huge fall out in my husband's family. He has already told my mother in law we are doing it.

I had a look at the baptismal promises that a parents makes, and they are not actually Catholic specific. In fact the promises are not asking me to do or confirm anything I don't already agree with. I won't actually have to lie as I agree with them during the ceremony.

As I am looking at this like an administrative task to keep the peace (much like when I prayerfully got the vaccine so I could continue working), I want to get it over and done with quickly so we can just tell our parents it's done. 

I tentatively contacted the local priest where I am and we have agreed to meet. I have no idea what to say! What should I tell him? Is anyone here an ex Catholic or know anyone in the clergy? 

I've asked God to clearly block this if He is against it but to make an easy way if He will bless it. I have been praying about this since for almost a year (since I found out I was pregnant!). I just don't know how to proceed. 

 

Any suggestions or prayers would be appreciated.

Thanks 

You said it! Don't die on this hill.

There are verses about your husband honoring his parents, and you honoring him as well. Your baby will never remember the baptism unless you make a big deal of it many years from now!

Now you get your atheist husband to a church this way--so you arrange to both talk to the priest beforehand, then witness to the priest, so later you can explain salvation as a free gift vs. the Catholic works system. :)

On 2/1/2022 at 12:20 PM, Open7 said:

I’ve been reading Leviticus and wondered why is there a yearly day of atonement for the sins of the nation of Israel, plus on top of that families/individuals had to bring sacrifices for their sins regularly. Why not just one of these?

My best guess is that the day of atonement was more to cover the sins of Israel in an overall kind of way, while families bringing sacrifices was more specific. Not the best answer but maybe it’s something like this?

 

Thanks

The sacrifices are pictures of Christ. People who trust Christ once for salvation have assurance, and born again Christians who sin after salvation come back to the same Christ more than annually for love, mercy and peace.

On 2/20/2022 at 1:09 PM, Fancicoffee said:

I was on another board/forum, not a Christian forum.  Someone asked a question about Christianity and believing.  I looked over the comments and was shocked by their comments!  The unbelieving comments were from those that believe that the Bible is a farce or not worthy of believing in it.  I commented on a few but I felt as if I was talking to a wall.  They are seniors like me.  So, I basicly told them that the Bible is the true word of God and that eternity is real, and I stopped commenting.  

Why are you shocked that nonbelievers despise the Bible? If they loved the Bible, they'd be believers, yes?

On 2/11/2022 at 12:13 AM, CaptWalker said:

Was just wondering why all the pre-tribbers always point to this as the rapture, when the Greek word for "taken" is not the same as HARPAZO in 1st Thess.4:17? Actually it is not even related at all and the meaning has nothing to do with being raptured, but still many Christians either ignore that fact or just don't think it's relevant and simply go with what they have always been taught without even questioning it? 

1) Because "paralambano" in the "taken" passage in Matthew can mean "receive, such as an office or appointment", as in the blessed hope of a new, resurrected body in 1 Cor 15

2) Because the context of all of Matthew 24/25 is the disciples asking about end times events!

1 hour ago, ~Shalhevet~ said:

My dad passed away two days ago. He was a very religious man and what happened to him in the end days has me and my family very confused. I know there is a medical term for it (delirium) but what was happening almost seemed like spiritual warfare. I know demons can’t possess a Christian but it sure seemed that way. My dad started mocking Jesus while we were praying over him even growling at times and telling my mom he was going to kill her. My sisters prayed over him twice and he was acting possessed until finally during the second prayer he ceased, cried and started rubbing my sisters hand like whatever it was in him had left. Ever since then he was at peace until he passed just hours later. 

My two sisters who are nurses and see death every day said they’ve never seen this happen before.  They too agreed something spiritual was happening.  When he looked at me he wasn’t there  his eyes were empty and cold.  He even asked who I was and told me to “get out.”

In the final weeks leading up to his death he seemed to have Been focusing more on Satan than God. My family and I couldn’t understand why he was doing this. Why wouldn’t you cling to your faith in your final days? Why did he want to talk about Satan?

I don’t want to remember my dad this way but I do want answers. Why did god allow this to happen?  Is it possible there was a spiritual battle going on inside him at the end?  
 

I feel like he was tormented by satan in his final hours and that makes me really sad. My family including myself is super traumatized by the things we heard and saw in his final days especially knowing he is a very religious man. 

1) You said he had peace for hours than went to be with Jesus.

2) A demon can torment a Christian--think of someone hanging on your back and weighing you down, literally. They are not inside you but they can harass you.

Be grateful your dad was born again and went to Heaven and know he is at peace. :)

On 1/29/2022 at 8:15 AM, CaptWalker said:

Yes i also have gotten several jobs over the years through them but almost none of them worked out or lasted more than a couple of months before the assignment ended or i just quit. Usually because they always seem to send in way too many temps to the same company and you end up standing around or there is just not enough work to begin with. And also i have never heard of any staffing agency being either run or formed by Christians, and in fact most of them come off as just the opposite as far as the type of people in there offices and there attitudes. If you do quit an assignment then from that point on you will likely bel treated as an inferior or talked down to like you're some teenager who just started working. 

Anyway just kind of needed to get that off my chest mainly because of a recent bad experience i had where i was upset and frustrated at not being able to use a tablet as well as everyone else, and did something stupid when i slammed the refrigerator door a bit too hard as i was leaving and someone in the hallway confronted me about it but i just left. Anyway i get a call/message from the agency asking why i left and slammed the door(LOL), well actually it wasn't funny just thought it was weird, but really didn't surpirse me given previous experiences with other temp companies. And they always say there hiring but then you find out they only have a couple of jobs in places too far to commute. Anyway just seems like if you can't get work at one of these places then your just kind of screwed because i havent been able to get a job even at Mcdonalds or other fast food places, probably because they would rather hire someone with experience i'm guessing? But i am always open to suggestion but seems like i just keep hearing the same thing, that EVERYONE is hiring, but that doesn't necessarily mean they will hire you, just saying.

I was hired from a temp post to a job I enjoyed for seven years. There are two kinds of temp jobs:

1) Fill in for an absentee worker who shall return to their post

2) Work without benefits for a while in a test for full employment

Don't give up!

On 1/28/2022 at 11:38 AM, CaptWalker said:

Well i know this is a strange question, but was wondering if anyone here is/was also working at a job through some staffing agency, and then i will further explain my own experience, thanks.

Yes, I've worked at a temp agency and help hire people from temp to full employment. Why do you ask?

18 hours ago, Starise said:

Thoughts? Do you think  NT church structure looked similar to modern day church structure? If not, what are the differences? 

There are many churches with small groups inside them, modeled after the Acts house churches.

The main (upsetting) difference are all the ranks of professional clergy when there should be many working pastors.

16 hours ago, merius said:

I am seeking guidance. I asked God to intervene to stop my mother from continued harassment against my father and his fiancee as her goal is to be as malicious as possible. She is trying to get my father in jail and fired and harassing his fiancee. I am not sure if her clouded mind thinks.

There is no talking her out of anything as that has been tried.

 

What should I do? God has not answered.

 

 

God has answered! Be a faithful witness, defend your father and his fiancee with your knowledge and judgment. God asks born again Christians to faithfully witness truth.

On 12/11/2020 at 7:08 AM, R. Hartono said:

I was thinking why cant God just appear to every one in the world and make miracles to the unbelieving world ?

And after quite a long long time i realized God has done that before to the Hebrew in Egypt for no good.

God appeared in a pillar of cloud and fire to protect the Hebrew after all those miracles He did in Egypt to punish the Egyptian.

Exodus 13:21 By day the LORD went ahead of them in a pillar of cloud to guide them on their way and by night in a pillar of fire to give them light, so that they could travel by day or night.

God, even God appeared with mighty sound of thunder and trumpets on Mt. Sinai that everyone trembled :

Exodus 19:16 On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, with a thick cloud over the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast. Everyone in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Then Moses led the people out of the camp to meet with God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord descended on it in fire. The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain trembled violently. ¹⁹ As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and the voice of God answered him.

Exodus 24:17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

 

Exodus 20:18 ¹⁸ When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance

BUT WHAT HAPPEN THEN AFTER ALL THAT MIRACLES IN EGYPT THAT GOD HAS DONE AND GOD SPLIT THE RED SEA AND DESTROYED PHARAOH'S ARMY, AND APPEARED ON MT. SINAI TO THOSE HEBREW ? THEY MADE A GOLDEN CALF AND WORSHIP IT.

Exodus 32 1 When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods^[a] who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.”

² Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” ³ So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. ⁴ He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “These are your gods,^[b] Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.”

⁵ When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.” ⁶ So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry.

GOD IS ABLE TO SEE WHAT THIS WORLD IS BOWING TO LIKE HE SAW WHAT THE HEBREW DID :

Exodus 32:7 ⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. ⁸ They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.

ITS NO USE FOR GOD TO REVEAL HIMSELF TO THOSE WHO DO NOT EVEN SEEK GOD.

Roman 3: 10 As it is written There is no one righteous, not even one ¹¹ there is no one who understands there is no one who seeks God.

 

1) Because the atheist would call a friend to say they just hallucinated. A person in Hell is someone who always had an out for trusting in Jesus, no matter what Jesus did to them or for them.

2) Because zero miracles are for God to merely show off, all miracles helped a person(s) in need. Try to think of some examples, for instance, God parted a sea so the people fleeing an army could flee and the army be destroyed...

On 12/11/2021 at 8:05 AM, Uruveth said:

I am curious, for those who firmly believe in the Christian religion, in Jesus,

what has happened, what experience have you had that makes you believe?

thank you in advance for considering answering this.

                                                                                            sincerely, Uruveth Hammer

All answers must boil down to only a few possibilities, someone hears/reads the New Testament, and then experiences God personally or verifies the Bible, for example, through its extraordinary prescience concerning events, for example, concerning Israel since 1948 in the modern era!

You meet God and/or learn God wrote the Bible.

On 4/24/2020 at 7:01 PM, cha cha said:

I am a bit confused because in 1 John 4 vrs 12 it says no man has seen God but in genesis 32 vrs 30 it says Jacob saw God can you please explain this to me, thanks.

No one has seen God the Father. In the Hebrew scriptures, God the Son interacted with people.

19 hours ago, Tyler22 said:

First off, I am NOT looking for condemnation here, or something telling me to just push through it.  I feel like I’m fading away from God’s Word.  Not the amount of time I spend with it, but I just feel really shallow.  Like it doesn’t  fulfill me like I think it used to.  It just feels….  Like I’m hollow.  Like it’s not getting deeply rooted in me.  BUT, at the same time, I feel it is.  So I’m bound to ask, is God’s Word deeply rooted in me or not?  And if it is, why do I just feel so hollow…. So utterly , almost to the point where it feels sinful… unfulfilled in my devotion to it lately?

Sometimes a little conflict will wake your faith. For example, go to the Atheist annotated Bible online and see how insane their "contradictions" are.

On 12/13/2019 at 7:47 AM, Unforgiven said:

Hello all, i’m new here, a lifelong sinner, and, i believe, unsavable. Why you ask? Because i believe i have done the one unforgivable sin, blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.

To be honest, it has caused an unbelievable amount of grief, and the hardest part, is finding people who will acknowledge my belief.

i have looked into many videos online about this subject, and it causes me stress to hear about it anymore.

So, what i did is i was doing my normal daily sinning, which i knew was wrong, and yet as i was sinning, that familiar inside voice saying hey you shouldnt be doing this, had been bothering me for a few times, and i felt conflicted, and then one day, i thought to myself as it was in my head, i thought get out of my head satan. And that voice was gone.

its only in recent times that i have begun questioning this and as i interpret what the Bible says, i believe i called the Holy Spirit, satan. I believe i am now cursed, with no way to be saved, and the thought of spending eternity in hell distresses me greatly. Im more scared of dying now than ever before.

this is my story, why i am here, And  to figure out what to do with my wasted life.

Biblically speaking, the sin you mention is rejecting Christ. If you love and trust Jesus, you cannot perform any unpardonable sin.