Ask Me Anything About Christianity

[JohnR7]

13 hours ago, Starise said:

Often it isn't what a parent DOES so much as what a parent isn't doing. Most households have at least one TV and 99% of everything that comes from it is pure garbage. It's about the same with smart phones and computers. I have seen plenty of 6 year olds with smart phones and no protection from what they can access on them.

I went over to my sister's house once and her stepson was watching MTV. I told him to be careful, MTV would rot his brain out. He laughed and thought it was funny. He was a really, really, good guy. Sang in the choir and was an altar boy. So I just let it go at that. Later on in his early 30's my sister told me that he had died from some sort of brain tumor or cancer. I still to this day remember about what I told him that day. 

My first son did not watch TV. He was too active to sit around the house like that. But he was still influenced by the people who did spend a lot of time watching TV. For me I did not watch TV because I would have rather been reading my Bible back then. Even there were days I would read the Bible for up to 12 hours a day. 

[Your closest friendnt]

5 hours ago, Selah7 said:

Hey there, Dennis.  A person must have enough faith to know that our Father is FAITHful to keep every single promise He has ever made to us.   Selah 

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

- Hebrews 11:11

Genesis 18:12

New Living Translation
So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”

English Standard Version
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
 

How would you or anyone knows; " by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceived ...this is not an authentic statement...from Genesis, to the contrary Sarah ridicule the suggestion...

 

[Selah7]

5 hours ago, Your closest friendnt said:

Genesis 18:12

New Living Translation
So she laughed silently to herself and said, “How could a worn-out woman like me enjoy such pleasure, especially when my master—my husband—is also so old?”

English Standard Version
So Sarah laughed to herself, saying, “After I am worn out, and my lord is old, shall I have pleasure?”
 

How would you or anyone knows; " by faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceived ...this is not an authentic statement...from Genesis, to the contrary Sarah ridicule the suggestion...

 

By faith Sarah herself also received strength to conceive seed, and she bore a child when she was past the age, because she judged Him faithful who had promised.

- Hebrews 11:11

 

[Selah7]

9 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I cannot say I truly know myself or ever have. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

Dennis, from what I've learned about you, I know that you are a man who studies the scriptures and that your thoughts are constantly directed toward your Creator. Maybe the reason you doubt yourself occasionally is because you can't always find the answers to your many questions?  Or perhaps in some of your studies, you may actually know that your teachers are mistaken, and yet you still choose to listen to them? I’m just guessing and trying to help.  Please don’t give up, Dennis. Consider conducting your own private study of the scriptures and ask for the guidance and understanding of the Holy Spirit. But the main thing, do you carry the Cross of Christ your Savior in your ❤️?  And remember who the accuser of the brethren is and know that you’ve got power over him because he will try to make you question your salvation.

Praying for you.

 Selah

[Dennis1209]

39 minutes ago, Selah7 said:

Dennis, from what I've learned about you, I know that you are a man who studies the scriptures and that your thoughts are constantly directed toward your Creator. Maybe the reason you doubt yourself occasionally is because you can't always find the answers to your many questions?  Or perhaps in some of your studies, you may actually know that your teachers are mistaken, and yet you still choose to listen to them? I’m just guessing and trying to help.  Please don’t give up, Dennis. Consider conducting your own private study of the scriptures and ask for the guidance and understanding of the Holy Spirit. But the main thing, do you carry the Cross of Christ your Savior in your ❤️?  And remember who the accuser of the brethren is and know that you’ve got power over him because he will try to make you question your salvation.

Praying for you.

 Selah

Thank you so much Selah!

[Starise]

17 hours ago, other one said:

I do have a question.

My question is, "When did God decide to do this?"
 

Based on the text 1 Cor 6 and the question being WHEN did God decide this?

This begins as a discussion about lawsuits among believers. Believers are being taken to task because they were taking one another to court. There is a laundry list of things apparently going on in the church at that time, including sexual immorality. The text in verse 3  about angels was used more for emphasis of a point than to make it the center of the discussion. It was a comment made in passing to make one think. 

The text- Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more the things of this life!

Paul was tearing them a new one over some things that should not have been happening. The point made was that for believers to take one another to court, especially for matters of greed, was really stooping to the lowest standard possible since as saints they would judge the world .v2 and judge angels .v3. It was really better to suffer a loss than to stoop to such levels as believers. Using a court system of the world to settle matters that probably should have never happened in the first place.

This is the context of the passage. As to the question of 'when' God decided this, I'll give my take on it.

We aren't really told exactly when God decided this so it can only be inferred. The best way to infer an answer is to determine when it didn't happen. What is left then, is when it might have happened.

This isn't a cop out, but there really is no 'when' with God technically. He is the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. The first and the last. God holds the summation of time in a zone only He controls. I personally believe that what God decided in the beginning was the seed of all things thereafter. The beginning dictated the end. Not that He doesn't have plenty of malleability do do as He pleases in between, so I don't think it's all rigid, yet it always leads where He wants it to lead. The end only being the beginning of something else because He is eternal. So near as I can tell, when God made all of the beings, He made man a little later ( as we see it), but He had man's total purpose in mind at the very beginning and part of that purpose was to assist in judgement when necessary.

This is only a theory because the bible never directly tells us Satan was jealous of men, although it is inferred because he goes after the saints as enemies and was trouble for men from the very beginning. He may have seen man as competition making his kind lower and become jealous. His main sin was in thinking too highly of himself to the point of overtaking God. I believe God had a checks and balances in place intended to include men, just so this kind of thing would not happen. So one type of being would not think itself to be any better than another and therefore have pride. There is no place in heaven for pride. The rebellion was birthed in pride and lies.

[Starise]

12 hours ago, Dennis1209 said:

I don’t think it is uncommon, but at the tail end of my life, I seem to be going through one of those times when some doubt is creeping in and questioning myself. Thus, the question.

I cannot say I truly know myself or ever have. 2 Corinthians 13:5 Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?

For me, self-examination is a difficult thing, to be honest about. Is it wishful thinking, or am I deceiving myself?

As you suggested, David appeared to be struggling with the same issue.

Psalm 26:2 Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.

Hi Dennis,

I believe the fact that you are examining yourself at all says wonders about your character. Many will refuse to do that always thinking they are 'ok'. 

It is truly a difficult thing. I still occasionally have my off days where I might let some shadows onto my otherwise sunny day through bad thinking or allowing one of the devil's darts to graze my armor.. Any believer can probably relate to getting weak on the exterior sometimes but knowing the nucleus is always intact. The inner knowing that we know who we are in Christ. 

[kwikphilly]

On 9/13/2022 at 1:47 PM, Starise said:

Makes me wonder if it could have been easier for some to come to God as a result of having this kind of a father. My wife talks of her dad the same way. I knew him before he died and I would have to agree he was an amazing person. 

Unfortunately many didn't have this kind of a father. Mine wasn't the worst of the worst, but seeing him cheat on my mother repeatedly and even marry those other women plus his alcohol use that hurt our family....this made it very difficult to forgive him. Especially if you knew what a gem my mother was.

Blessings Brother

Absolutely,much easier no doubt.My best friend & I often talk about how easy it was for us to come to our Heavenly Father because of our Dads- her Dad( RustyAngeL)was a wonderful father too.

    I talk to people who sadly grew up never knowing what it means to feel safe,secure,loved and to have a blind faith & trust in your Daddy.Its heart breaking & even with an absent father the Mom should be that role model but very often they have no one that loved them.... It's much more difficult for so many

Oh but for the Grace of God when they do Receive Christ & Love Abounds! Praise Jesus!

[Starise]

3 hours ago, johann pretorius said:

Ask anything?

Here's one, what is the sealing of the Holy Spirit and WHEN did it occur?
No cheating..Lol!

The sealing of the Holy Spirit is a claim on those people who are the Lord's. The seal could even be visible in the spiritual realm. It is a way to say we are taken. Sort of like an engagement or wedding ring. We are off limits to the enemy unless the Lord grants the enemy limited access as He did with Job. Anyone who is the Lord's is sealed. There is another reference in Revelation about 144.000 person's sealed from each of the 12 tribes. This also refers to a preservation of those people during that time.

When does it happen? I believe it happens at salvation. Others would maybe not agree and say those who God sealed were sealed long before. 

[Starise]

I appreciate you expanding on the answer here.

I  base my answers off of the Bible which I do my best to rightly divide. For the sake of these answers I might say," the Bible says", or "the Bible states" and not give all of those references here. When I say I believe something in reference to the Bible, it's because I know it's in there. Only when I say I have a theory or an opinion will it be clear this is just something I personally believe. For this reason, to a Bible scholar my answers may seem truncated. I mainly try to keep things short because of the format we are working in with many using the screens of smart phones to read it.

To make a point though often references are necessary. This is how I operate. I'm not saying anyone else needs to do this.

When I read your reply I was nodding to myself because I had read over many of these passages.