ice--eyes

but if God is omnipresent, doesn't that mean that He's in hell too?

What exactly is integrity and how do you gain it? my friend says i don't have any.... or very little anyway.... would just like your thoughts....

I don't agree... God has given me the gift of knowing when it is and when it isn't demons... I can feel it... I know. Actually no, I'm an mk... I live overseas, I can't even understand the language of the church I go to... I just came back on furlough, and at the church there, as far as I can remember they didn't talk of things like this... Yeah, fear is a powerful thing, especially fear of God's enemies... I know that we have power over them... and they can take physical form before us... angels can too? If demons are fallen angels... then they could do the same, could they not? Do humans eyes reflect light the way an animals do? When you shine light on a human/animal, you should be able to see them, no? Not just a shadow? I know what I saw, my boyfriend saw it before I did, pointed it out to me and he was scared... and he hadn't even experienced what I had before.....

I think sometimes we replace faith for trust and vice versa... I think they're different, they may go hand-in-hand but... i don't know, maybe i'm wrong...

Why do you think God created the universe and us... I think He was bored and wanted to enjoy creating something... it makes Him happy, sort of like when we create something... what do you think?

What exactly does the heartagram stand for? Some of my christian friends like this symbol... but I thought it wasn't good... I don't know much about it... if you do I'd like to know what you know and think about it!!!

i think in some cases this is true... but definitely not all... i think that i may have add and my parents don't neglect me...

oops

Greetings 'ice-eyes', Ok, here is the Bible definition for faith: Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. Notice that it does not just apply to Christians or those who believe in God. Everyone has at least a "measure" of faith: Romans 12:3 For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith. Faith, simply put is "trust". A baby trusts its mommy to feed and take care of it. As an adult, we put our faith in many things, such as: the alarm clock to get us up on the morning; that our stove will work when we prepare breakfast; that our car will get us to work, and on and on. To operate in this world we must trust, to a certain degree, a whole lot of things. But what we find in the scriptures there is a reason even greater behind these things that we "trust", and that is God. All the things of this world will fail you at one point or another. The electricity will go off in the middle of the night making you late for work; it may remain off and your stove doesn't work; and your car's heater blanket didn't work and your engine won't turn over when you try to start it. But what God promises will never fail, because His Word never returns to Him void, that is, without doing what He sent it out to do. So, it is not really how GREAT your faith is, but what little faith you have in the ONE who is perfectly "trustworthy" and will never fail you. It is true that your faith can grow in God, but our faith, at least my faith, never grows in the things of this world. Can I trust one electrical company over another? Can I trust one car over another? At some point these things will fail, but we have ONLY ONE GOD, in whom, if we put ALL our faith, (no matter how great or small) can be assured of the Hebrew verse above, and that we have a real living faith that will never fail us. Blessings, Dad Ernie I want to thank you, because you have blessed me... I'm struggling with some things right now... and must have forgotten that there IS someone who will never leave me... and that's God... and you reminded me of that... so thank you very much!!!

that's a good point, i never thought of it that way!

A year and a half ago me and a friend were attacked... we were up real late one night talking in my room, talking about our youth pastor... we had suspicions that his family was messing with occult stuff, or something similar... it was like 2-3 in the morning... couldn't sleep the rest of the night, we tried but everytime we almost fell asleep something would wake us up again. We were attacked twice that night, then this summer... my boyfriend and I were out somewhere late one night and we think that we saw a demon... we're not sure but whatever it was was really scary... I'll admit that I still live in fear... I know what everybody says about God always being with us and we have power over God's enemies... but sometimes it's just so hard... it was terrifying...

Maybe this isn't the right place for this topic... Anyway, I started talking about faith with some people and one of my friends believes that you either have faith or you don't. I personally believe that you have to grow in faith. Before you become a Christian, you have just enough faith to believe in God, afterwards your faith grows. And if you either have faith or you don't, why would God Himself measure faith in a mustard seed? What do you think... got any verses to support it?

But, duane, that is what makes God seem so untrustworthy to me. I did trust Him, totally and completely. I had no fear that this would happen to me. I never imagined it in my worst nightmare. When you have never lost a child, you can't imagine that it could ever happen to you. When it has happened, you are never confident that it won't happen again. We are not protected from harm simply by thinking or believing that whatever "it" is won't happen to us. That's what's so shattering. My innocent belief that my life would continue to be wonderful has been completely stripped away. I prayed for every detail of my child's health. There was no indication that this would happen. It was simply a sensless tragedy. So if He could allow that when I trusted Him, it makes me think why trust Him? Maybe you were trusting God wrong... I don't mean to be offensive, I'm not sure if that's exactly how I should put it... maybe you trusted Him like saying: "God, I trust that you won't let anything bad happen to me because I trust and love you." I think sometimes I think like that and then get a wake-up call... You have to remember though that everything that happens God works out for good... good will come out of your troubles... we go through trials in life... but God will always be there to help us through them... one thing I've learned is that God never gives you anything you can't handle... maybe it's hard for you to understand right now since you've been so much but God hasn't left you. He just wants you to bring everything to Him and He will help you through it. Keep trusting Him... I'm not sure what else to say that would possibly help.....

It sounds like you have gone through a lot... Yes, God is omnipotent, so yes He does already know what we're going to pray before we actually do it... but He still wants us to talk to Him. Sometimes it may just feel like a rambling monologue but He's listening and answers in different ways. Sometimes it may be so subtle that we don't ever notice it, or maybe just not at first. God wants to be more to you than just someone you complain to, or someone you ask for things from... remember that He is the father to the fatherless? The almighty counselor... He can be a lover to those who feel unloved... He wants us to tell Him our innermost feelings... even though He already knows them. By doing this you also get to know yourself better... I find it helpful to keep a prayer journal... I call it my Soul Journal... I write exactly what's on my mind... exactly what I want... all my frustrations... all my cares... worries.... thanksgiving.... praises... I have discovered a lot about God and about myself through this. So maybe if you look at prayer differently, do it differently... it'll change your view of it... Some people find it helpful to take walks or just sit and look at God's creation... this way you can feel His presence... Experiment with different ways of prayer and worship and find what feeds your soul the best... God wants all of you... He is patient and always there... ask Him to show you the deep passionate parts of prayer... I hope that this helps... I don't know what else to say that could possibly help... Best wishes!!!

I agree, I have always thought this too. Hell has no hope. If there was, then it would not be hell. define hope though....

oh thanks! that makes more sense now!!!!

This is still kind of confusing to me... how does He exist in hell.... what does He do there.... do the people in hell feel tormented by His presence? Is that why? What about satan.... I don't know how to state my questions... I'm just confused about it.... thanks for the replies!!!

then maybe i'm... rosie... is that her name? ha, whatever!!!

I don't think it's even worth arguing over. It's obvious now that it's just one of those things you can't really know? So what's the point of arguing?

this just really makes me laugh... everyone's funny.... haha.... everyone has very good points... first, why should we have to explain? short happens.... i'm short for my age...

Maybe this has been talked about before but... I was in an atheist forum and they were wondering how and why God would be in hell since He's everywhere. I think they were referring to Psalm 139, I don't remember the exact reference. Anyway, I found some pages on the internet about it but it all just seems kind of shaky to me. I'm not really sure how to answer their questions... Here are the pages that I found about it: http://www.tecmalta.org/tft138.htm http://www.ovrlnd.com/Teaching/omnipresence_hell.html It just seems to me that people can't explain it sufficiently, like they aren't really sure for themselves why God is in hell and how he relates to the people there... Anyway, I don't really know how to explain what I'm asking... just give me your thoughts on the topic!! It'll surely help!!! Thanks!!!

I see God in Creation... and how He works in my life... He has proved to me again and again that I'm not in control of my own life.... I have to leave things in God's hands and trust Him... and have faith in Him.

I like this quote. Since Jesus is the only way to Heaven, and Judas betrayed Him by kissing Him, he literally kissed the gates of Heaven and turned away... I don't know if I believe that Judas is in hell. He killed himself because of the guilt, didn't he not accept the money promised to him for the job because he had realized what he had done to his Lord? Perhaps in his heart he confessed to God before he died... is there really any way we can know? Maybe this is just one of those things that we have to wait to find out...

The reason that Jesus died on the cross was to forgive us of our sins. Before He did so, sacrifices were made to God for all our sins, but since He died we no longer have to do that. All of our sins, past, present, and future were forgiven the day Jesus died. We just have to recognize that we do wrong, and confess to God, like they said. But, God forgives us even when we aren't sorry. He still wants us to realize our sins and confess them to Him... and then we have to recognize the fact that we are forgiven because He died for us. Think about how amazing that is, Someone really died for you, because of all the wrongs you've done. Why? Because of love.