Alive Posted December 14, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 22 Topic Count: 194 Topics Per Day: 0.11 Content Count: 11,053 Content Per Day: 6.54 Reputation: 9,015 Days Won: 36 Joined: 09/12/2019 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/09/1956 Share Posted December 14, 2019 8 minutes ago, Blood Bought 1953 said: I don’t know ....never gave it much thought......If my choice was between staying in a dark , cold tomb , wrapped up like a mummy, struggling to breathe or doing what the King Of The Universe told me to do , which would result in a grand celebration feast with my loved ones and my Rescuer.......Most likely, I would choose the latter .Excuse my paranoia , but me thinks perhaps that I am being set up for something.....do you have a point? Heck no! LOL I am not trying to set you up. The question is my answer to what someone a few posts back said about having a choice when the Father calls us to Him--or something like that. :-) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alive Posted December 14, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 22 Topic Count: 194 Topics Per Day: 0.11 Content Count: 11,053 Content Per Day: 6.54 Reputation: 9,015 Days Won: 36 Joined: 09/12/2019 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/09/1956 Share Posted December 14, 2019 It was you that said it!!!!! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne222 Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 32 Topic Count: 476 Topics Per Day: 0.17 Content Count: 6,559 Content Per Day: 2.28 Reputation: 7,638 Days Won: 9 Joined: 06/12/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 23 hours ago, TimothyGirl said: Have you ever considered the ludicrousness of our faith? Seriously… Reading through Romans, it just hit me today to realize why, to any rational – key word – human being would think a Christian is crazy!!... bear with me; I’ve just spent 3 weeks with my atheist brother, so I’m looking through objective eyes. I’m not writing this out of controversy, but revelation, and hopefully it will bless you… Let me write down the passage that I was reading: Therefore it is of FAITH that it might be according to grace so that the PROMISE might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham… in the presence of Him whom He believed – God, who gives LIFE to the DEAD and calls those things which do not exist as though they did… and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, He did not waver at the promise of God through UNBELIEF, but was STRENGTHENED in FAITH, giving glory to God, and being FULLY CONVINCED that what He had promised He was also ABLE to PERFORM. And therefore “it was accounted to Him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for US. It shall be imputed to us who BELIEVE IN HIM WHO RAISED UP JESUS our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification… Romans 4:16-25 Okay, a lot of words. But here’s what it meant to me. The foundation of our faith is based upon a man who was CRAZY enough to believe that once his and his wife’s body was _past_ the childbearing age, God was going to give them a son. Doesn’t that sound crazy to you??! I don’t see any 90 year old grannies around believing that they are about to have a baby… if they did, they’d probably be admitted to the loony bin! Faith… is crazy… to the rational… But Abraham’s life was an example. God ‘sampled’ His resurrection power in Abraham so that we could see, like back then, God can do the impossible. Scenario 2: There is a Man… the kindest, most gentle and compassionate Man you’ll ever meet. And He is brutally beaten beyond recognition and then murdered on a Cross. There’s no coming back from that. Because it is history and we read it, it somehow makes it easier to believe… but think of those people who didn’t have a Bible in front of them. Like Abraham, it required FAITH to believe (as much for us as them) that God would do the IMPOSSIBLE and… what??! Raise a Man from the dead!! We take it for granted. But have you ever considered the implications of what that means?! Because if I can believe that God can give Abraham a Son once his body had already ‘died’ so to speak; if I can believe that God split the entire SEA apart so that Israel could walk across, and if I can believe that God can raise Jesus from the dead… then doesn’t that mean, He too, can split my sea in two and raise my life from the dead?? Do I really believe? I can believe it for them… but the premium faith requires from me is can I believe God for me?? That He will raise up my situation, IMPOSSIBLE as it may be … and deliver what He has promised: Salvation… now that is faith… I believe in Jesus, that He is the Son of God; I believe that God raised Him from the dead; and I believe that God will likewise, raise up my life from the dead. I died with Christ and I was raised with Him… and I will see that Resurrection Power at work in my life… I believe!! Like Abraham and Sarah, I will hold this son of promise in my hands and give glory to God… Faith is ludicrous… it believes against all odds and defies every law of nature: it believes in GOD who RAISES the DEAD and calls the things that do not exist as though they did!! Maybe you have a situation that has died and is lying in the tomb… trust God for Resurrection – He gives life to the dead!! Yes, it sounds CRAZY… but it’s true Great post and I think God inspired you to write it. Just a few days ago I was thinking how God will raise me from the dead after I died. And it filled me with hope. I think this faith is from God himself as a gift to us. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wayne222 Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 32 Topic Count: 476 Topics Per Day: 0.17 Content Count: 6,559 Content Per Day: 2.28 Reputation: 7,638 Days Won: 9 Joined: 06/12/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 11 hours ago, Blood Bought 1953 said: Sometimes I wonder how much of a choice we really have .... “ Nobody comes to God lest the Spirit draw him”.....The initiative seems to be God’s....not ours......May God have mercy on those that think that “ they” are going to call the shots when it comes to the time and place of their “ coming to God”...... There is free will too. But without the holy spirit you could not choose. And he brings you to a place to want to choose. But I think some people will harden there hearts like pharaoh. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blood Bought 1953 Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Royal Member Followers: 13 Topic Count: 48 Topics Per Day: 0.02 Content Count: 6,726 Content Per Day: 2.88 Reputation: 6,258 Days Won: 5 Joined: 12/03/2017 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 10 hours ago, Alive said: It was you that said it!!!!! :-) I don’t understand where you are coming from......it’s not you fault......Im nothing more than a confused, old man.....plus.... I am VERY sleepy......too sleepy to say anything in my defense other than “ duh”.......AND.......zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nobleseed Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Members * Followers: 1 Topic Count: 83 Topics Per Day: 0.04 Content Count: 341 Content Per Day: 0.18 Reputation: 117 Days Won: 0 Joined: 01/02/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 i actually find people with no faith that are crazy. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnOrangeCat Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Diamond Member Followers: 5 Topic Count: 57 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 1,407 Content Per Day: 0.27 Reputation: 1,827 Days Won: 0 Joined: 12/24/2009 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 On 12/14/2019 at 12:24 AM, TimothyGirl said: Have you ever considered the ludicrousness of our faith? Seriously… Reading through Romans, it just hit me today to realize why, to any rational – key word – human being would think a Christian is crazy!!... bear with me; I’ve just spent 3 weeks with my atheist brother, so I’m looking through objective eyes. I’m not writing this out of controversy, but revelation, and hopefully it will bless you… Interesting to me is that despite the fact that some of these things seem crazy or impossible at first glance, they're actually not. There's a story about the scientist Michael Faraday. One of his students was mocking the possibility of resurrection, so Faraday dissolved a silver cup in acid and coaxed it to form into a lump. Then he retrieved the lump, took it to a silversmith, and when the smith was done he brought it back to class again as a silver cup again. Finally he pointed out that if a mere human could destroy and recreate, how much more could our Creator do? No idea if the story is true or not, but the underlying principles behind it certainly are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wesley L Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Advanced Member Followers: 1 Topic Count: 11 Topics Per Day: 0.01 Content Count: 304 Content Per Day: 0.19 Reputation: 186 Days Won: 0 Joined: 11/05/2019 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 On 12/14/2019 at 7:24 AM, TimothyGirl said: Have you ever considered the ludicrousness of our faith? Seriously… Reading through Romans, it just hit me today to realize why, to any rational – key word – human being would think a Christian is crazy!!... bear with me; I’ve just spent 3 weeks with my atheist brother, so I’m looking through objective eyes. I’m not writing this out of controversy, but revelation, and hopefully it will bless you… Let me write down the passage that I was reading: Therefore it is of FAITH that it might be according to grace so that the PROMISE might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham… in the presence of Him whom He believed – God, who gives LIFE to the DEAD and calls those things which do not exist as though they did… and not being weak in faith, he did not consider his own body, already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah’s womb, He did not waver at the promise of God through UNBELIEF, but was STRENGTHENED in FAITH, giving glory to God, and being FULLY CONVINCED that what He had promised He was also ABLE to PERFORM. And therefore “it was accounted to Him for righteousness.” Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but also for US. It shall be imputed to us who BELIEVE IN HIM WHO RAISED UP JESUS our Lord from the dead, who was delivered up because of our offenses, and was raised because of our justification… Romans 4:16-25 Okay, a lot of words. But here’s what it meant to me. The foundation of our faith is based upon a man who was CRAZY enough to believe that once his and his wife’s body was _past_ the childbearing age, God was going to give them a son. Doesn’t that sound crazy to you??! I don’t see any 90 year old grannies around believing that they are about to have a baby… if they did, they’d probably be admitted to the loony bin! Faith… is crazy… to the rational… But Abraham’s life was an example. God ‘sampled’ His resurrection power in Abraham so that we could see, like back then, God can do the impossible. Scenario 2: There is a Man… the kindest, most gentle and compassionate Man you’ll ever meet. And He is brutally beaten beyond recognition and then murdered on a Cross. There’s no coming back from that. Because it is history and we read it, it somehow makes it easier to believe… but think of those people who didn’t have a Bible in front of them. Like Abraham, it required FAITH to believe (as much for us as them) that God would do the IMPOSSIBLE and… what??! Raise a Man from the dead!! We take it for granted. But have you ever considered the implications of what that means?! Because if I can believe that God can give Abraham a Son once his body had already ‘died’ so to speak; if I can believe that God split the entire SEA apart so that Israel could walk across, and if I can believe that God can raise Jesus from the dead… then doesn’t that mean, He too, can split my sea in two and raise my life from the dead?? Do I really believe? I can believe it for them… but the premium faith requires from me is can I believe God for me?? That He will raise up my situation, IMPOSSIBLE as it may be … and deliver what He has promised: Salvation… now that is faith… I believe in Jesus, that He is the Son of God; I believe that God raised Him from the dead; and I believe that God will likewise, raise up my life from the dead. I died with Christ and I was raised with Him… and I will see that Resurrection Power at work in my life… I believe!! Like Abraham and Sarah, I will hold this son of promise in my hands and give glory to God… Faith is ludicrous… it believes against all odds and defies every law of nature: it believes in GOD who RAISES the DEAD and calls the things that do not exist as though they did!! Maybe you have a situation that has died and is lying in the tomb… trust God for Resurrection – He gives life to the dead!! Yes, it sounds CRAZY… but it’s true 1 Corinthians 2:14-16 The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit. The person with the Spirit makes judgments about all things, but such a person is not subject to merely human judgments, for, “Who has known the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. You are so true saying; all we believe seems to be like unnatural, impossible, crazy. That is from our point of view. We are limited beings. God is unnatural, unlimited, impossible to comprehend. But still, God created us in His image and gave us free will and gave us a mind to ponder about life questions and to search for Him. He didn't leave us clueless. He even came to earth 2000 years ago to bring us salvation. He inspired prophets and apostles to write up words inspired by Him. He left us exactly what we needed to know and to hear, nothing more nothing less. If you think of it, the vast universe, existence of life on earth, existence of time... it is crazy too. But still, we live in this crazy impossible universe. Psalm 19:1 The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands. From an atheist point of view, believing God created everything is crazy belief. But a Christian has confirmation from the Holy Spirit thus have faith. From a logical point of view, atheism is crazy as well. It takes faith to be an atheist, believing nothing created everything. It even defies the scientific law of thermodynamics. 1 Corinthians 1:18-31 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written:“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise; the intelligence of the intelligent I will frustrate.” Where is the wise person? Where is the teacher of the law? Where is the philosopher of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For since in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom did not know him, God was pleased through the foolishness of what was preached to save those who believe. Jews demand signs and Greeks look for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength. Brothers and sisters, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him. It is because of him that you are in Christ Jesus, who has become for us wisdom from God—that is, our righteousness, holiness and redemption. Therefore, as it is written: “Let the one who boasts boast in the Lord.” Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Behold Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Mars Hill Followers: 7 Topic Count: 87 Topics Per Day: 0.03 Content Count: 3,795 Content Per Day: 1.34 Reputation: 6 Days Won: 3 Joined: 07/30/2016 Status: Offline Share Posted December 15, 2019 (edited) On 12/14/2019 at 12:24 AM, TimothyGirl said: Faith is ludicrous… it believes against all odds and defies every law of nature: it believes in GOD who RAISES the DEAD and calls the things that do not exist as though they did!! God knows how you feel. How could He not, as He is the One who designed Salvation to be based on this.... 1 Corinthians 1:21: 21 : "For after that in the wisdom of God the world by wisdom knew not God, it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." See that part that says.. "the foolishness of Preaching"? Well, to the atheist or agnostic or just the typical carnal unbeliever who is a jaded skeptic, ... what can be more foolish then a preacher preaching about something that you can't SEE with your EYES or touch with your hands. ? Yet the message IS the power of God's salvation......not the preacher.....its the message........just a few words.........that are God ordained ETERNAL LIFE, which, thru the Holy Spirit, are able to take a person's spirit and give it a BIRTH. Notice also, "the world by (all its) wisdom"...... This means....."the way the normal carnal mind in the average unbeliever...how it THINKS and analyses and evaluates. = according to the "world's wisdom"< which is completely separate from God's MIND and His wisdom. "So as the heavens are to the earth, so are my WAYS higher then YOURS".. And then you have this verse. "ever learning, and never able to come to the TRUTH"..........and this means, that all the knowledge that the world contains, its entire knowledge base.... if you know it all, if you've learned it all, you still don't have the Truth, as THE Truth is not found there..... And why is that? Because truth, is not a knowledge....its not something you learn......... "TRUTH", is Jesus....>He is THE TRUTH"......John 14:6. So, the wisdom of the world is carnal and blind, and can't ever learn TRUTH, because to learn TRUTH, the world would have to BELIEVE in Jesus, as that is how you learn THE Truth. God gives you Truth when you give him Faith. Truth is Jesus. He comes to live inside you, and you "in Christ"........and that is how the Truth is given......and that is the only way its given or discovered. When you have Jesus, ...when you are born again, you now possess something that the world can never have, or LEARN. "Truth". Edited December 15, 2019 by Behold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alive Posted December 15, 2019 Group: Worthy Ministers Followers: 22 Topic Count: 194 Topics Per Day: 0.11 Content Count: 11,053 Content Per Day: 6.54 Reputation: 9,015 Days Won: 36 Joined: 09/12/2019 Status: Offline Birthday: 01/09/1956 Share Posted December 15, 2019 Amen! Is. 55:11 So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, But it shall accomplish what I please, And it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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