Masked Chris

I'm not sure really... I've always found the concept of the Trinity conforting... not because he was 1... but because he was 3. For some reason an "alone God" isn't very conforting... and it contridicts the image of God in us. We are made in the image of God and we are the most relational beings on the planet... so it doesn't add up to me that God would be "one and only". It makes much more sence when you got God, Jesus, and the Spirit so much in unity that they are "one". So yes... i beleive the "one" refers to unity... it just seems to make more sence when it comes to the nature of God and his image.

excuse my cynicism but I think thats the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. Not everyone wants a new car but everyone wants to be loved and accepted! Everyone wants food and water and everyone wants a home and a shelter. I want these things and so does the rest of the world.

excuse my cynicism but I think thats the dumbest excuse I've ever heard. Not everyone wants a new car but everyone wants to be loved and accepted! Everyone wants food and water and everyone wants a home and a shelter. I want these things and so does the rest of the world. It has to do with basics... and everyone wants the basics.

deep I've found this to be true in my life.... on these days I am much to prideful to see my sin.... but I'm already guilty sence pride is a sin in itself... there's no escaping our fallen state until Christ comes... it's one of our sufferings in this life.

hope that helps we can never be without sin until the coming of Christ and the day we are tranformed. Anyone who claims to be sin free is a lyier..... even the "great and mighty and holy" people on TV who seem to show that they are without sin.... they are as guilty as we are.

the gate is Jesus he says it himself "I am the gate" I think the gatekeeper are the leaders of God. the ones who have the title of "I'm gonna lead you to God"... and I beleive that this is why Jesus says "anyone who sneaks over the wall of a sheepfold, rather than going through the gate, must surely be a thief and a robber!" If the gate is Jesus and Jesus teachings than anyone who claims to be a gatekeeper but ignores the gate and the gate's teachings is a false profit. the good leaders of God

one of the wisest things I've ever heard "nothing is evil within itself, how it's used is how it sides". In other words An object is never evil unless it's used wrong There are people who say "rock and rap are evil"........ however even though the secular world has used rock music to teach people hardcore hatred. Rock music when it's used correctly can bring about some of the most heartfelt and passionite songs in exitance As for Rap.... Rap has been pretty much used to worship sex.... however I have also seen Rap music be used as a way of expressing some very peotic lyrics that teach people about real life struggles and issues. I think it's this same way with pretty much everything . A gun in the hands of a murdier makes the gun a very evil weapen..... a gun in a police officers hand makes the gun a strong tower to hide under because it creates a form of protection for the people the police officer is protecting. a gun sitting on a table is neither good nor evil because it's never been used.

hi prayer in the bible often changed alot of things. God was gonna wipe out Isreal but Moses prayed and God changed his mind. There are other stories like this to. I am not sure how correct I am on this but this is why i think he works like this.... I think God has us pray because we need to show him how much we want it... he never works with half-hearted people. We need to really show him just how desperate we are for what we are wanting him to do. Lets bring this closer to home lets say you have a son..... and this son really wants something from you. Yet he never asks you and he never even shows you he wants it..... he just assumes you will do it for him and he will most definitly get angry at you if you do not do it for him. he won't lift a finger to even show you that he wants it..... he just assumes you will do 100% of the work. you would feel pretty used I think. I think this is why God tells us we need to pray. God doesn't need our help... he has the power to create something out of nothing and he has the power to create life straight out of the dust of the ground. He is more powerful than we can fathom.......... however............... he still wants us to at least try to put a finger into the work. I think God's additude is "if your heart aint in it? well than, mine aint either". misplaced hope. I think alot of people pray for God to do something.... and than get mad when he says "no". Our hope isn't placed in God than.... our hope is placed in the thing we want him to do. Lets take miracles for example. People pray and pray to God for miracles...... and when he doesn't grant them their wish.... they get mad at him. their hope is placed in the miracles and not in God. If their hope was placed in God they would simply say "ok god... this must not be your will than" this can get pretty extreme.... expecaully with stuff that matters deeply to us..... but I think the more we let go and trust God with.... the more peace we will have. In Acts Peter's freinds were dying left and right and now he was in the jail cell and ready for trail and death. However........... he's found sleeping peacefully. I think he trusted God incredably and his hope wasn't placed in his survival but in God's love for him.

welcome to the wonderful world of being an over-anylizer We are many mahahahaha!

I think the desire will just come. It's up to us to try to see when it happens. When a child's sexaulity gets "activated" that is the time to tell them.

hey I think the line draws with love. Jesus says that love fullfills the law. So following the law is needed but if you follow the law with anything other than love as your motivation [like hate or self-rightiousness] than you are missing the heart of God and why he created the law. For example: The bible preaches against homosexaulity.... however to use this to bash humans is not using the law in the nature of love. I personally think it's love and love only thats important. i found that if I just consenterated on loving God and loving my neighbor than I ended up following the entire law by default. Sence the law is made with love in mind than you will find yourself fullfilling the law by just being loving to one another and to God. I DO think the law is important though.... but we just gotta keep love as the center and be unshakable with that. The moment we find ourselves thinking more about the law than we think about love that is the moment that we miss the entire point.

Not to get off topic. . . Chris, when you write a letter or type on the computer does the pen/pencil or keyboard do the writing? No, it's YOU. It comes from your heart and mind, not the computer or pencil. In the same way, men were used by God to pen His word. They were the instruments he used, like we would use a pen or computer. God wrote the Bible. no... it's clear in 1 Peter. The bible is written by men who were inspiried by the Holy Spirit. God didn't write the Bible.... men did. God simply inspirired the writings.

there's alot to say about sex in the bible however I think alot of the modern additudes are birthed by people who are unconfortable about the idea. Sex is God created and therefore part of our design [and I strong part as I have exprenced ]. Ok... is thinking about sex right at a young age? Most Conservitive churches would say "absulutly not!" However..... lets think about this. In our culture there are 3 types of sexaulity. there is hetrosexaul [the attraction to the oppsite sex], homosexaul [the attraction to the same sex], and A-sexaul [no sexaul attraction what-so-ever]. The Conservitive churches preach so extreme on homosexaulity....... but I find it funny how they encourege A-sexaulity. To get to my point.... I'd be concerned if you weren't having sexaul thoughts. Just make sure not to act on those feelings until marrege.... however you gotta let that part of yourself have a voice without shame... you owe yourself that much and plus shaming sexaulity is unhealthy.

it's intresting because Jesus has that troubling line in Matthew 7 "be perfect therefore as your father in heaven is perfect". People seem to have claimed this to be bad translation or say that Luke's version is more accurate "be merciful therefore as your father in heaven in merciful". However..... I think these excuses come when they don't like the nature of the passage. "be perfect Jesus??? Thats some high expecations... I mean I'd feel better if you said 'be as good as you can'". However after some of my own reflections [and prayer] i came to relize that the nature of the passage is trust and faith. the goal is perfection... we can't do that on our own and thats good. It keeps us in constant touch of our limitations and therefore humble enough to admit our need for God.

So before a church can perform its Christian duty, it must get a government mandate..."nor prohibit the free exercise thereof." Oops. thats pretty sick. It's not like the homeless have a choice. The goverment could at least stay out of the way as the church tries to make lives a little better for people.

culture The bible is inspiried yes... but according to Peter the scriptures were written by men but inspiried by God. God didn't write the bible... men did [is this not true?]. the Holy Spirit moved through men and wrote what we have today. However... these men are also men of culture. So you must always take that into account.

yes and no.... God created the law... but when Jesus comes on the scene he accuses the Pharasees of forgetting the basics like love and forgiveness and mercy [see Matt 23]. It's important to be morel [i mean who would disagree? surely morelity is as important as immorality is hazardess]. However... we can become so law orainted that we forget the basics. The law is a map of sorts and your guide is love. Every move you make should always have love's "ok". Follow the law yes... but do it not purely for morelity but more so for love.

I'm sorry but as one who seeks to seperate the gospel from the false prophesies I gotta ask you to bring forth logical evedence for these claims. And don't go "..and this certain anceint city resembles Islam because I say so". There is no mention of modern Islam in the bible and therefore no way to logically present these claims. And don't play the "God told me" card... because you can't argue with God and I don't wanna argue with God... I wanna argue with you. So by graciously and respectfully following the rules.... give me proof that this prophesy really will happen.

Hi. It's one line and it's a praise to God! I don't think it's a major crime.

Christians have been and will continue to be persecuted. Sure it is a sign of truth. But, persecution alone is not a sign. There must be fact, it must make sense, and there must be the "fruits." By their fruits ye shall know them. Who is it that inspires persecution? Ultimately, it is the devil. He of all people wants nothing more than to destroy the truth. Another sad thing is the persecution amongs the Christian sects. Persecution from without, and what most don't realize, is the persecution from within. The different denominations, clergy, follwers, etc, are attacking other religions, leaders, and members. And what for? Over small differences in belief. It is clear that not all can be right at once, and yes, there must exist one true church. Most everyone has the strong conviction that it is their own church, which is normal and acceptable. But this does not mean that we have the right to infringe upon others beliefs, practices, and religious rights. But yes, unfortunately there is persecution, and it will only grow worse until the day of Christ's return. It has been prophesied and it will come to pass. thanks that makes sence and sounds right.

Babylon stands for Babylon. The prophesy was fullfilled in anceint Isreal when Babylon was destroied and it has no future meaning what-so-ever. Don't buy into the teachings of false profits.

now before the Christains jump on me let me remind you I'm on your side i'm a Christain to. My quistion here is "does persicution equit truth?" I hear something common among the Christain people mainly in the spot light and it's the beleif that the whole world is against Christainity because it's true. I however find this extremely unhealthy and dangerious. Also a quik search in history will tell you that the reason why Hitler was so effective is because he claimed that just because Nazism was persicuted it was the true relegein.... and we all know how that ended. So.... we see the fruits of this. I know Jesus said we will be hated among all people [and you can somewhat kind of see that].... however the Christains in the book of Acts grew in favor with god and man. the people liked the early church and the only accounts of persicution i see is by the Roman Goverment and the Jewish leaders [who were puppets of the Roman goverment].

I see another Sars conspiricy coming on. The news ALWAYS makes issues much more dramatic than they actully are. I wonder what they gain by driving the world into a panic by claiming the molehill is mount everest.