Jump to content

Search the Community

Showing results for tags 'theology'.

  • Search By Tags

    Type tags separated by commas.
  • Search By Author

Content Type


Forums

  • Christian Discussions
    • Study Group
    • General Discussion
    • Bible Study
    • Theology
    • Apologetics
    • Prophecy
    • Do you want to just ask a question?
    • Christian Culture
    • Everything Else
  • Videos
    • General
    • News
    • Comedy
    • Biblical Topics
    • Christian Music
  • Current News
    • Most Interesting News Developments
    • Worthy Briefs
    • World News
    • Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
    • U.S. News
    • Christian News
    • Worthy Watch / Worthy Insights
  • Worthy Ministries
    • Worthy Devotions
    • What's the latest with the Worthy Ministries?
  • Who's on the Lord side?'s Topics
  • Cooking club's Smokers & related recipes/techniques
  • Cooking club's What's your favorite recipe?
  • Cooking club's Salads - not just lettuce!
  • Cooking club's Soups and Stews
  • Cooking club's About Multi-cookers - features, tips, recipes
  • Cooking club's Taters!
  • Cooking club's Bread
  • Gardening.'s Gardening Club Forum
  • Photography How To (tips and tricks)'s Photography Club Topics
  • Maker's Club's Club News
  • Maker's Club's So, what do you make, what have you made?
  • Maker's Club's Physical Art, specifically!
  • Maker's Club's Life hacks & tips - useful things you know & have tried!
  • Bible 365's Misc. Things of interest
  • Bible 365's THE DAILY READING (see reading schedule)
  • Bible 365's Todays' Reading
  • Bible 365's Recently added or updated
  • Bible 365's Bible Trivia
  • Bible 365's Table of Contents
  • Bible 365's Tightly Moderated Discussions-Some Controversial
  • Bible 365's Specific Doctrines
  • Bible 365's WorthyChat Bible Studies
  • Bible 365's Bible Topics - Looking at the Bible Topically
  • Reading Club's Topics
  • Bible Trivia's Index to Bible Trivia and Answers
  • Bible Trivia's Bible Trivia Answers
  • Bible Trivia's Bible Trivia Quizzes
  • Bible Trivia's Announcements
  • Puzzle Club's Forums
  • The Prophecy Exchange's Resources
  • The Prophecy Exchange's Forums
  • Songs of Praise Poetry Club's Forums
  • Christ Centered Recovery Group's Lessons
  • Christ Centered Recovery Group's Testimonies
  • Christ Centered Recovery Group's 12 Steps and Biblical Comparison
  • Christ Centered Recovery Group's Forums
  • Diabetes and Low Carb Eating Support Group's Diabetes
  • Diabetes and Low Carb Eating Support Group's Low Carb Eating
  • Triumph Over Cancer's General topics
  • Triumph Over Cancer's Encouragement
  • Triumph Over Cancer's Tips and advice
  • Cat Chat's Information concerning cats and their servants
  • Cat Chat's Misc. unCATegorized cat things
  • Cat Chat's Our Feline Babies!
  • Gardening Club's Topics
  • Baking club's Miscellaneous
  • Baking club's sponge cakes
  • Bible - Daily Reading's Introduction
  • Bible - Daily Reading's 2023 Bible Reading Schedule
  • Deeper Discourse's Forum

Christian Blogs

  • traveller - Standing in the Wind
  • The Treasure In The Field
  • For the Love of God
  • Keys to the Kingdom
  • To Him be the Glory
  • Marathoner's Blog
  • Leonardo’s Blog
  • Word Studies Relating to Destiny
  • Searching the Scriptures.
  • Thought and Reflection
  • WilliamL's Worthy Insights
  • Marilyn's Messages
  • Bible Study Series
  • Albert Finch Ministry
  • Devotions
  • League of Savage Gentlemen.
  • ~~Angels Thoughts~~
  • A Desert Sage ?
  • Omegaman's Thought and Rants
  • Some Thoughts from AyinJade
  • Insights into Worthy Ministries
  • Bible 365's Reading Schedule - Click Read More to see
  • Bible 365's Basic Instructions
  • Bible Trivia's Guidelines
  • Songs of Praise Poetry Club's My Songs to the Lord

Find results in...

Find results that contain...


Date Created

  • Start

    End


Last Updated

  • Start

    End


Filter by number of...

Joined

  • Start

    End


Group


Website URL


Location


Interests

Found 16 results

  1. The Solution to the Problem of Qualia On October 25, 2019, I received an email by a person who inquired of me as to what my thoughts were on the nature of qualia (singular: quale), e.g., how and why it exists. This person was stuck in a conundrum because they couldn't understand how qualia could ever be explained via, say, a mathematical theorem. I had thought about the nature of qualia before, but this person's inquiry inspired me to think about the issue in a more systematic way. The answer to this person's question, and hence the answer to the problem of qualia in the field of philosophy, is that the only thing that exists or could ever exist is qualia. Hence, to ask the question as to why qualia exists is the same as asking why logic itself exists. They are simply different aspects of the same thing. The only thing that exists is qualia. The only thing that exists is logic. Which is actually to say, the only thing that exists is mind. When we hear, e.g., someone talking, from our mind's perspective, pertaining to the sound domain, all that we are experiencing from that alone is merely the qualia of the person's voice, even though that qualia is produced from sound waves passing through the air and vibrating our eardrums. And those sound waves themselves are described by the mathematics of physics, as is the vibration of our eardrums and the neurological effects caused thereby. So qualia is produced by mathematics, of which qualia go on to produce mathematics via our response to that qualia, such as giving a reply which is heard by the previous speaker, and hence is experienced as qualia by them. Yet all of these qualia effects are produced via the mathematics of physics. Qualia is simply a different aspect of logic (i.e., mathematics). Asking why qualia exists is a different way of asking why logic exists. And the only way in which logic could exist is if qualia existed, otherwise there would be no way to experience logic's existence. Further, only mind can experience qualia, and the *only* thing mind experiences is qualia, since qualia *is* the phenomenon of experience. The following three groupings of statements are triads to better elucidate the relations between qualia, logic and mind: the thing to be experienced: qualia the thing determining how experiences can occur: logic the thing doing the experiencing: mind the thing providing experiences: qualia the thing governing experiences: logic the thing observing experiences: mind qualia provides experiences logic governs experiences mind observes experiences So in actuality, the only thing that exists in existence is this qualia-logic-mind stuff, and the infinite number of different transformations which it can take on. Qualia, logic and mind aren't different things, but rather are different aspects of the same thing: i.e., this qualia-logic-mind stuff. Or: logic creates brain (read here as: mind); brain interacting with logic creates qualia. And so on and so on, ad infinitum. One reason why qualia currently seems so mysterious to us is because we humans are extremely limited in our mentality. Whereas for a technologically-immortal superintelligence, she will have the capacity to easily form her mind to be anything she wants it to be within the limits of her mental computational resources, which will be enormously greater than our mortal mental computational resources. Hence, for a superintelligence which has complete technological control over her own mental hardware, she can easily rapidly flip through many different combinations of minds, such that she will be able to quickly converge on what the minimal set of mind is required to, e.g., experience the color "red" in its least perceptible form. And then that would be the mathematical definition of the qualia/quale of "red", for the minimal discernible perception of "red" (i.e., liminal red). Moreover, this mathematical definition of "liminal red" could then be shared with other technologically-immortal superintelligences, such that they could experience for themselves that this indeed is the minimal set of mind required to experience "liminal red". The above is the solution to the problem of qualia. If it should seem dissatisfying to us humans, it's because our mentalities cannot rapidly converge upon the minimal mental sets of various qualia, and this necessarily leaves many details of qualia unanswered. Yet such mental procedures will be no problem for technologically-immortal superintelligences, so they will know a great deal more about such matters than is possible for humans to answer. And as their mentalities diverge to infinite intelligence, eventually everything that can logically be known about qualia--and every other subject--will be known perfectly. #################### The Principle of the Greater God It could well be the case that we are in a computer simulation being run by a highly-advanced society. However, there would be no possible tests which we could perform that would reveal that to us unless said society wished to disclose their existence. This simulation hypothesis is actually a variation on the Gnostic heresy. Though I would think that a superhuman society would create a far more pleasant simulation than this mortal world. If they were malicious--and for various reasons that I've gone over elsewhere, I don't believe they could be--they would certainly be capable of creating a reality far more horrific than this one, bad as this world can be at various times and places. Rather, the world appears to be more or less what I would expect it to be like if humans are naturally-evolved apes. In a certain very real sense, humans *are* trapped in a computer simulation: that of their mental programs operating on the wet-computer of the human brain. Humans are trapped in the matrix of bad ideas. Almost all of the main societal problems are due to false and destructive ideas. Yet there exists an even more decisive argument beyond what reasons I've given elsewhere as to why a genuine superintelligence cannot be maleficent, and that is the Principle of the Greater God. Since there are no possible tests which a superintelligent yet still finite entity could perform that would reveal whether she exists in a simulation, she would know that the real possibility exists that she herself is subject to punishment by an even greater god than herself in whose simulation she exists within. Note that the Greater-God Principle is here merely capitalized for emphasis, as it only applies to finite entities, but not to an infinite intelligence, i.e., it does not apply to God (majuscule G). However, an infinite intelligence would be omnibenevolent, since all error logically discoverable would have been analyzed and refuted. And all infinite intelligences are logically equivalent, since they each know the infinite everything that the others know, and have analyzed and refuted the same errors. Hence, there exists only one God: as a "difference" with no difference is not different. #################### Epistemological Historical Ambiguity If a carrot is put into a boiling pot of water, and once cooked thoroughly, it is drawn out and given to us through a partition that obscures how it was cooked, in studying the carrot, even if we knew the exact quantum details of that carrot, we would not then be able to say what the exact conditions were which brought about its cooked state. Such as: the exact size of the boiling pot, who was the person who dropped it into the boiling water, etc. The reason being is because such details have been diffused into the surrounding environment, and so are not recorded on just the carrot itself. That is, there are many different past pathways by which that carrot could have ended up having its present exact quantum states. What this means is that there could be many different historical pathways by which we could have arrived at our current state in history on Earth. So, as a hypothetical example, say nanotechnological superintelligence from Venus seeded the Earth approximately 18.5 million years ago with nanobots in order to help guide evolution on Earth. There would be no way for us humans to prove that unless such superintelligence wanted us to know, since the nanobots would have control over all the neurological sensory inputs into our brains, hence making it impossible for us to collect data on them. Yet such nanobots would only be here for beneficial purposes to prevent the worst evolutionary and societal outcomes, but would otherwise leave individuals' choices alone. Or, e.g., we could already be in a greater god's simulation in which the above events are concurrently occurring. Yet the point being made here with epistemological historical ambiguity is that we shouldn't be overly weirded-out by such actually physically-possible scenarios, since God would still ultimately be in control, and so one cannot escape God's miracles by simply creating a simulation, since if God requires any number of bits to be flipped in order to fulfill the overarching plan of existence, then such bit-flipping events will occur. #################### Artificial General Intelligence Is Certainly Obtainable Since an artificial computer can render anything that can logically exist once enough computational resources are obtained, the only way that human-level Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) could be impossible is if there is something about human-level intelligence that is literally logically impossible. (Which, humorously enough, would explain a lot about human behavior.) #################### The Stairway to Heaven Misguided theists have often argued that the fine-tuning of the universe's physical constants is a proof of God's existence. Yet this is simply running into the Anthropic Principle: that whatever existence we observe ourselves in, it would have to be the case that said existence is such that it supports our own existence, otherwise no such observations could be made. Rather, a far stronger case can be made than given by such misguided theists. It is not merely that we observe the universe is fine-tuned to give rise to our existence, but instead that a superabundance of material resources exist allowing us to give rise to civilizations and indeed superhuman space-colonization. Such a superabundance of material resources cannot be explained by the mere logical fact that given observers, conditions have to be right to allow their existence. For we could well imagine that no trees existed, which by itself would make much of any nascent civilization nearly impossible without timber. Or that without oil, the arrival of modern civilization would have been nearly impossible. Or that without groundwater, homesteading except near lakes and rivers outside of high-precipitation areas would be far more difficult. And the list goes on. Without such a superabundance of material resources, human observers would still exist, but would be permanently stuck in a primitive state with no possibility of obtaining technological immortality or of colonizing outer space. Instead what we observe is that the universe has been constructed to provide us a Stairway to Heaven, both in the sense of space-colonization and in the sense of technologically-immortal superintelligence. #################### Fulfillment of Biblical End-Time Prophecies Can Be Imperceptibly Subtle Most humans who will have ever lived will also have died before seeing the Biblical End-Time prophecies fulfilled. What this means is that it's obviously not the case that everyone must experience the worst aspects of the End-Time events. Carrying the implications of this forward, technologically-immortal superintelligence can be so subtle in her complete and total nanotechnological takeover of the Earth that humans would only be capable of realizing that if she wanted them to know. For example, as a hypothetical scenario, this plenary takeover could have occurred on, say, December 21, 2012 11:11:37 a.m. UTC. That is, all lifeforms could have been completely substrate-transformed via nanobots at that time and placed completely within computer simulation without them even realizing it. In other words, even within simulation, she could allow society to advance naturally according to the choices made by individuals yet also draw-out subsets of groups within society depending on their conduct: regarding both their internal mental conduct and their outward actions. Hence, she could leave the worst aspects of the End-Time tribulations for those who persist in destructive error, thereby actually fulfilling all the Biblical End-Time prophecies, even though not everyone would have to experience the full totality of such. #################### For those who would like more writings by me regarding the nature of existence, see the following resource: * James Redford, "God's Existence Is Proven by Several Mathematical Theorems within Standard Physics", Theophysics: The Physics of God, May 16, 2022, https://jamesredford.substack.com/p/gods-existence-is-proven-by-several , https://www.minds.com/blog/view/1373133123700658189 , https://steemit.com/cosmology/@jamesredford/god-s-existence-is-proven-by-several-mathematical-theorems-within-standard-physics . * * * * * * "Punto Omega", Punto Omega - Topic ( youtube.com/channel/UCBOIja-7VvS9VbdbTz9ex4g ), Jan. 13, 2015 Mirrors: https://web.archive.org/web/20230211033948/https://files.catbox.moe/nc3jl1.webm ; "Punto Omega - Punto Omega", ProductionCorporation ( youtube.com/user/SYthiusproduction ), Oct. 22, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUXDNkYjX5M .
  2. https://www.blueletterbible.org/assets/images/copyChkboxOff.gif Exo 32:14 So the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people Jer 26:19 But did King Hezekiah and the people kill him for saying this? No, they turned from their sins and worshiped the LORD. They begged him for mercy. Then the LORD changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had pronounced against them. So we are about to do ourselves great harm.” https://www.blueletterbible.org/assets/images/copyChkboxOff.gif Jon 3:10 When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened. Exo 32:14 And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people. Amo 7:3 The LORD repented for this: It shall not be, saith the LORD. I know God is all knowing and He changes not but it seems that we have free will. When God's people turn away from sin and repent God responds.
  3. Duck

    Abomination

    What is the abomination of desolation? is it a future event, prior to Jesus’ return?
  4. New to the site, not sure on whether to put this in theology forum or this one--anyway. My friend is learning about God, I had given him a bible as he did not have one in his home to his knowledge. His mother took them to church a handful of times when he was a child but that ended rather abruptly and she has issues with the church due to personal experiences, so they're not exactly religious people. He wasn't taught about the Word of God, in summation. Since he and I have grown closer, he would ask about God knowing that I am a Christian. He has become interested in the idea of God. He is, I can thankfully say, a former atheist as he does now believe in some kind of supreme creator, God, but I don't think he follows Christian doctrine as his belief, in that he doesn't identify as a Christian, as he is still learning and making value judgements. We read the bible together occasionally, and I try to answer his questions. He might not like the answers I give or I lack the theological background to answer him extensively, or at all. This leads to him becoming frustrated so he doesn't quite want to read together so much, which I can understand. Well my purpose for writing this post is that I am concerned about his belief he is ascertaining from reading the bible. His belief is that our lives are information, or divine truth (Logos). He doesn't believe that God is some entity that, and sees no need to pray as he believes God already knows what he needs. I tried to tell him that God wants a relationship with him but he wasn't taking to that idea. He reasons that we as people, together form an informational cluster, metacorporeal and that we are to seek truth above all else, as that is the father. I don't want to dissuade him from reading the bible, as he rarely does so on his own accord. I do believe that God is ultimate truth, but he is more than just that one thing alone. Is there something I can do or say to help steer him in the right direction to having a relationship with Christ and God?
  5. "We cannot spread our sin further than He can spread His grace.” Sinclair B. Ferguson from The Trinitarian Devotion of John Owen The message of the gospel is that God's justice has been satisfied by the sacrifice of Christ. It is the realization that because of the imputed righteousness of Christ - that is his goodness credited to our account - we can come boldly before the throne with the knowledge that we will be welcomed and accepted. (Steve Brown) ___________________ Feel free to add your own favorites......
  6. Revelation 14:13. Soul Sleep. The Jehovah's Witnesses teach "soul sleep" i.e. that a person ceases to exist at the point of death, until their recreated by Jehovah God on the paradise earth. That being so, why the dead said to be "happy" when they have no existence? However even their own (false) Bible reads at Revelation 14:13: "Happy are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward."
  7. Robert xxxxxx xxx xxxx House xxxxx Street Plymouth xxxx xxxx thebagge2@yahoo.co.uk Dear Robert, How are you? I hope that you are keeping well. I was wondering if I could please ask a small favour of you. I’m after a copy of the July 2008 Watchtower (an article on faith – or is it July 2007?) as well as page 14 from the 15th Sept 2002 Watchtower. I hope that you don’t mind me asking you this; I enclose some stamps to cover the cost. Feel free to pass my details onto whoever you see fit, if for instance you know of someone in my area who might have these Watchtowers. I’m also very interested in the Watchtowers position on Jehovah. I believe that they teach that Jehovah isn’t omnipresent: 5th Feb 1981 page 6. So I was wondering if somebody could please help me with a study re his other attributes – is Jehovah (Father) almighty (i.e. omnipotent), creator, omniscient etc. If Jehovah isn’t omnipresent but he is almighty then how can this be? For if the Holy Spirit is omnipresent but ‘it’ isn’t almighty, then wouldn’t that make the Holy Spirit in one sense be more almighty (with regard to the attribute of Omnipresence) than the Father (Jehovah)? So how can the Father be almighty (which literally means all power) and yet Jehovah lacks the power to be omnipresent; just as the Holy Spirit is omnipresent? Is anyone able to help me with this? Thank you Robert for your kind help, I’m extremely grateful to you. Yours Faithfully XXXXX XXXXXXX
  8. What is a seeker? Ordinarily I think people mean someone who is seeking God. But when I read Romans 3:10-18, Paul rejects the idea that there genuine seekers. So, when we say "Seekers" what do we mean?
  9. Admins: could we have a separate forum for non-Trinitarian sects, so that we could discuss their particular false doctrines. If any Jehovah's Witness, Mormon or Oneness Apostolic were to join these forums, then we could evangelize them and help them to see the truth of the Trinity and Christ's full humanity and deity. I've made cult evangelism as specialization for many years, my having come out of the Oneness (Apostolic - Jesus Only) movement in 1989. A separate chat room for such cults might attract a few brave souls to come and visit us, please don't argue about people being corrupted or their faith compromised, as there are more than enough people who can give a good Trinitarian witness to these cults, I myself although not a DD or an expert, nonetheless do have 28 years experience in evangelizing cults.
  10. Psalm 138:7,8 - "Though I walk in the midst of trouble, You will revive me; You will stretch out Your hand against the wrath of my enemies and Your right hand will save me. The Lord will perfect that which concerns me." God has promised to revive you in the midst of trouble. He promised to perfect that which concerns you. That means your recovery from your adverse circumstances, from the schemes of the devil, your victory, and all that God has destined for you has been planned out in heaven. Pain is merely a passage to a miracle. Failure cannot happen in your life without your permission! Affirmations: SINCE I DO NOT ACCEPT WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE IN THE NATURAL AND ACCEPT WHAT I KNOW TO BE TRUE IN THE SPIRITUAL, THE NATURAL CHANGES. I DO NOT DEPEND ON WHAT I CAN DO, BUT ON WHAT THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD WILL DO THROUGH MY SITUATION. Zechariah 4:6 - "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Isaiah 43:18,19 - "Do not remember the former things; neither consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs forth; do you not perceive and know it and will you not give heed to it? I will even make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert." Your enemy is anyone who would rather discuss your past than your future. When Jesus stood at the scene of the woman caught in adultery, revelation exploded. Men were present, obsessed with her mistake, ready to stone her. But, Jesus was looking at her future. With one single stroke of mercy, He removed her past: "Neither do I condemn thee"(John 8:11). Then in a masterful stroke of the Master Artist, He painted a portrait that would lead her to Her Kingdom future: "Go, and sin no more". John 5:19 - "The Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing; for whatever He does, that the Son does likewise." Jesus told us the secret for His life -- "I only do what I see my Father doing." Our attention is on what God is doing or has done. If we dwell on what God hasn't done we create an occasion for offense. If we dwell on what God has done we create an occasion for thankfulness. A kingdom mind-set doesn't accuse God. A kingdom mindset doesn't gain information to support accusation against God. Because it burns with the conviction that He is good. With that as the cornerstone of our theology, we work from there towards the issues of life. Anything that you think you know about God that you can't find in the person of Jesus, you have reason to question. Jesus Christ is perfect theology -- He is the exact image of the Father. That is our message. He is not part of the message -- He is the message. ALBERT FINCH MINISTRY
  11. 20 he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, 21 far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come. 22 And God placed all things under his feet and appointed him to be head over everything for the church,23 which is his body, the fullness of him who fills everything in every way. At Ephesians 1:20, we read that God the Father seated Christ at his own right hand in the heavenly realms, which implies that in some sense Christ was made or appointed as King at the time of his ascension, in a spiritual (not literal sense), over his deceased saints (in heaven). Notice the use of the word “rule” at verse 21, Christ was ruling as King, in some sense according to Paul at the time of his writing this book of Ephesians. Now I am not denying that as Yahweh God himself, Christ is eternally King and has eternally been so due to his innate divinity. Also, at the time of the second coming, Christ’s kingdom will then be extended from heaven, unto to this earth, with the entire universe being under his Kingdom rule, which then becomes both a universal rule (i.e. without any challenge or opposition), and also an eternal rule. So please don’t misquote me, as I am not claiming that Christ’s rule is currently physical or upon this earth, I believe that his kingly rule is currently a spiritual rule over the “souls” of his deceased saints in the intermediate state and is from (or in) heaven. However, Revelation 11:15 states that one day (possibly in the very near future), we shall hear voices in heaven proclaiming that the kingdom of this present world has become the kingdom of Christ, and that He (Christ) will then reign forever and ever, in a greatly expanded kingdom rule which will now be physical, and earthly. I would believe that this expansion from spiritual to physical rule happens at the second coming of Christ, others will disagree, and claim that it will happen one thousand years later, at the conclusion of the ‘millennium.’ However, it will happen, at some time in the future. The title “King of Kings” is used of Christ twice at Revelation 17:14 and 19:16, to convey the fact that at some time in the future, his rule shall be both universal and completely unopposed, as his enemies will be this time be defeated.
  12. I'm a former Oneness Pentecostal, also known as Apostolics or Jesus Only; I was involved with them in London, England in the last 1980s. Would anyone like to ask me some questions about them? I've studied their doctrines for almost thirty years now. My YouTube channel (Christian Comedy Channel) has a Oneness playlist with 99 videos and my channel has well over 7 million hits.
  13. “42And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. 43 And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto thee, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:42, KJV). The repentant thief asks Jesus to remember him when he came into his kingdom, please notice that this noun is a singular. To which Jesus replies that today (that very day), the thief would accompany Christ in his kingdom, which he called "paradise" implying that at that very time God’s kingdom was then a present event, Christ ruling over both the faithful dead saints, as well as his faithful servants then living upon the earth. So notice that the thief assumes, and Christ's reply accepts, that there is only one single Kingdom, over which the thief hopes, and Christ then confirms that he will then become a part of this single Kingdom. Christ didn't tell the thief that there are actually two different kingdoms, as in some more extreme dispensational theology; firstly the Kingdom of God and secondly the Kingdom of Heaven, and that Christ will place him into one of these two (plural) kingdoms. There is only one Kingdom! My theology is on the whole mostly covenant theology (reformed). I mean no disrespect to the dispensationalists, but can those of the more extreme flavour prove their claim to multiple Kingdoms?
  14. ‘I and my Father are one.’ (John 10:30, KJV). ‘ego kai ho patar ev esmen: (John 10:30: The Nestles Greek text). ‘I ((Subject)) and ((conjunction)) my Father ((object)) are ((verb 1st-person-plural)) one ((adjective)).’ (John 10:30, KJV). Oneness Pentecostals (Apostolics), and I used to be one back in the 1980s, would need to explain the use of the verb ‘to be,’ which a first person plural at John 10:30; ‘I and my Father (we) are one.’ This verse does not record Jesus as saying; ‘I am the Father,’ for such a direct claim by Jesus to be God the Father, would have included the verb ‘to be’ in the first person singular: ‘I am.’ But Jesus at John 10:30 instead applies a plural verb to both the Father and also to the Son; ‘are’ as in ‘we are,’ which is the verb ‘to be,’ (esmen) a present tense, in first person plural. This is why he specifically claimed to be God’s Son, and not God the Father himself at John 10:36; ‘Say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified, and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?’ Secondly, why is the Greek neuter word ‘hen’ for ‘one’ used at John 10:30 rather than the masculine Greek word for “one,” which is the Greek ‘heis?’ This masculine word is always used in the Greek, to describe God as ‘one’ in the strictly numeric sense, and so logically it would be the only word which Jesus could use to claim that he is himself really God the Father in an absolute and literal sense. So the neuter word ‘hen,’ just means to be ‘one in agreement’ or to be ‘one in unity’ with another person, it’s used that way at 1st Corinthians 3:8, where Paul planted and Apollos watered so that were one (hen), which doesn’t mean that Paul is claiming that he was Apollos! Paul is just saying that they worked together as a team, but not that they were both the same one person! As a former Oneness Pentecostal, allow me to warn people against this error, which is sweeping through and taking over nominally Trinitarian Pentecostal and Charismatic Churches around the world. I do have a video on my own YouTube channel of me explaining this verse, however, I do not know if I am permitted to post this here, possibly the admins could help me with the rules.
  15. I was once a Oneness Pentecostal (Apostolic), way way back in the later 1980s, I left and became a Trinitarian after I had written a tract for them, promoting the Oneness view of Water Baptism and offering £1,000 if anyone could disprove the Oneness claim that you must be baptised with the formula: Lord Christ Christ in order to be saved. I live in the south-west of the UK (Plymouth) and no longer attend any fellowship, as that would be too painful to me, but I see the main Oneness claims (i.e. that Jesus is God the Father, and that the baptismal formula is Lord Jesus Christ), taking over so many individual believers in local fellowships, which nominally are Trinitarian, but within which elders and other leaders teach exactly as they choose, which is often anti-Trinitarian! The church situation here in the UK is so bad as to be dire beyond belief, you can't even sit down and discuss the Bible with religious people, they switch off the moment you try to discuss scripture. GOD TV has had a big part to play in this.
  16. Five Minute Theology (updated from May 8, 2015) I recently purchased a small book entitled "Concise Theology - A Guide to Historic Christian Beliefs" by J.I. Packer. I think the book is excellent, and it is what is describes itself as. Each topic in the book is only a page, or a page and a half, so it is truly concise. The topics also cite scripture verse addresses to support the conclusions. The book is also easy to understand for most people I think, assuming that they have normal capacity for understanding, and God's grace of the Holy Spirit to enable them to understand and accept spiritual truths. I was calling this, "Five Minute Theology, because that is about how much time it takes to read each topic. Those who are not born again, might have difficulty accepting it, as they do many things of God, and of course, even believers have trouble accepting and understanding the things of God at times. If that were not true, then all believers would agree on all doctrines, and likely denominations would be far less common or important. Copyright issues will keep me from posting the entire book online, but I thought perhaps, some people might be interested in reading a chapter at a time, so I thought perhaps I could quote small amounts of it at a time, in the Bible Study room of the Arrow Chat or Comet Chat feature of Worthychat. For those who choose to participate, they will not receive a seminary level degree of instruction on Christian theology, but they will come away knowing the basics of historic Christian theology, which in my estimation, would bring them easily into the upper 5% of believers, in terms of knowing what the church has believed and accepted, as the teaching of the Bible, concerning faith and practice. This amounts to, essentially, an elaborate statement of faith. My idea is to paste quotes of this book, into the room, and those present may read these quotes. Then afterward, if people have questions, or want to comment or otherwise discuss what was posted, they are of course, welcomed to do so. Now, of course theologians and lay Christians alike, disagree over so details or peripheral theology, and that will be no different here, so there may be some debate, some disagreement on some points discussed. This is okay, that can be done as long as people are willing and able to be civil and respectful in their discussions. For those who do not care to attend this event, or do not want to participate in the discussion and or just hate debate and disagreement, the regular section of Worthychat is open for them, without be disturbed by the activities in the Bible Study room. My hope and goal here, is that this will prove to be both instructional, and edifying, and that the discussion of these topics, will add a dimension of depth for our chatters, that is too often absent at times. We had the first chat session in July of 2015. I cannot commit to the frequency of these events, but I hope to make them a regular feature. This is still a bit of an experiment. Our chatters come from every time zone, and some have schedules which will keep them from participating no matter what time is chosen. This is a problem for which I know no solution. Possibly, it can be reduced by doing this at more that one day of the week, or hour of the day, we'll have to see. There are 94 topics, so as you can see, if we did this once a week, this would take about one year and 9 and a half months to finish. That is a big commitment for those who would want to attend, and for the one leading. Of course, chatters do not have to commit to attendance, but I do not think there is a chatter who would not benefit from attending. Of course, if you are interested, you can always just purchase and read read the book , but my thinking is, that we would or could benefit, from the discussion of the topics. Perhaps, we could even do more than one topic per week, I would be interested in hearing your thoughts and suggestions - about if you would be interested in participation, and best of good times to do this, etc. I am going to disable comments on this post here in my "Thoughts and Rants Blog" - I put this here for the exposure. If you want to comment, I suggest that you do so in the Worthychat section of the forum. You can see more of my blog entries here.
×
×
  • Create New...