Bible Discussion Replies PAGE 1970

Hi steve taplin , two other things spring to my mind , in Genisis ,we are told that cain and able offered different sacrifices and that God was pleased with one but not the other ,this could have led to cain being jealous of abel and this jealousy may have played a part in cains decision to murder abel ,in the law given to moses the sacrifices to be offered were the same for everone with very slight variations if you were a very poor person ,this ensures that no one who has more to give actually gives more in case they start to feel pride in their offering and so that poor people who cant give much dont feel inferior to their richer brethren ,also after the sad life and death of saul God promises to never take His mercy away from anyone as He did to saul . If i think of any others i will let you know .

Hello Anji,

I am so happy to hear you are reading the Bible...it can be quite challenging at times. The "Us" you are referring to if the doctrine of the Trinity. You may have also read it in Genesis 1:26 when God says "let us" and "our image". You will read it again in Genesis 11:7 when God says "let us". But the clearest picture of the Trinity and the Godhead is not given until the New Testament: 1 John 5:7: "For there are three that bear record in Heaven, the Father, the Word (Son), and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. God is complex and it can really make your head spin trying to understand everything about Him, but He is triune; three in one; One God. We are made in His image; as such, we are also triune: Body, Soul and Spirit: " 1 Thessalonians 5:23: And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." This is called the "tripartite" nature of man. Much like the divine Trinity, the three parts of a human make one being.

To explain Genesis 3:15, the best way to read the verse in context...meaning understanding what is going in. The Serpent has just deceived Eve, who in turn deceived Adam. Adam and Eve had their eyes opened after eating the fruit from the one tree God commanded them not to eat from. God is now meting out judgement.

Genesis 3:15 "And I will put enmity (animosity) between you and the woman..." The Lord is speaking to the serpent (Satan), "...and between your seed..." (offspring or those who follow Satan) "...and her Seed..." (The Lord Jesus Christ) Christ "...shall bruise your head..." (the Victory that Jesus won at the Cross Colossians 2:14-15) , "...and you shall bruise His Heel..." the sufferings of the Cross.

I hope this helps you. Keep investigating!!

there is only one that is in mortal eternal life is the baptism of the Holy Ghost the earnest of our inheritance

Hello Donna!

Those are great questions, but too broad to answer simply. In response to question #1, what specific events (passages of scripture) are you wondering if they took place in the old testament?

Generally speaking, you cannot understand the New Testament without the Old, and you cannot understand the Old without the New. They go hand in hand. The Old Testament was a period of thousands of years leading up to the life of Christ during which much prophecy about Jesus Christ himself, among other events, was given. Each Gospel presents different perspectives of the Life of Jesus Christ and evidence of the fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecies.

In response to question #2 The book of Matthew was the first writing after a 400 year gap, during which there was no prophetical, or other writings. It was written especially for the Jews to prove that Jesus was the predicted Messiah. Matthew reveals Him against the background of the Old Testament. This book lays a foundation for the transition from the old Dispensation of Law (The Jewish Age), to the new dispensation known as the Church age. All four Gospel's place particular emphasis on the last week of Jesus' earthly ministry...so yes, they were written after His death and resurrection.

I hope this answers your questions...!!

Hello David,

The best way to understand the verse is in context with the whole chapter. Psalm Chapter 35 is a Psalm of David: He is pleading with God for help against those that stand against him (David). Vs. 7 states there are people who are laying traps for him, for no reason. Vs. 9 specifically is David saying his response to God intervening for him will be one of glorifying God.

Context is very important when trying to understand scripture...I hope this helps you.

Are you saved David? Do you know for sure?

Clarence,

What sweet questions!

To be saved is to be reconciled to God. In our present state, we are at enmity with God. God is perfect and God is just, we are sinners and fallen. But God devised a way for us to be brought back into a relationship with Him:

Romans 5:9-10: 9 Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. 10 For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

You are saved by acknowledging your sin and its penalty:

All have sinned: Romans 3:23: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God

The Penalty for sin is death: Romans 6:23: For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Acknowledging that Jesus Christ died to pay for your sins.

Romans 5:8 But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

Repenting for your sins: Luke 13:3: I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish

Romans 10:13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. - That is a promise.

Just tell God that you are a sinner, in need of salvation...and that you believe Jesus Christ died for you and that you want to repent of your sins and that you want Him to save you.

I will be praying for you Clarence! Dear Lord, please grant Clarence the clarity needed to come to you. Thank you that he is searching Lord, and thank you for giving Him the courage to ask these questions. I pray that he will be saved Lord, and that he will be able to rejoice in that salvation. In Jesus' name...Amen.

Thank you

SkipVought,

To your reply...Thank you, well said.

However, I will only look to the scriptures and possibly a blessing from God for an answer to this question as I promised.

I want to seek glory and righteousness in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ for all.

Thank you very much!

Steve

Tell me about new testament polygamy

Hello Clarence. Ephesians 2:8 . Being saved is an act of faith , believing that Jesus is Gods son, that he lived a sinless life and died on the cross to pay the penalty for our sin and rose again the third day and ascended into Heaven! You except these truths from the Bible , and your sins will be forgiven , and you will be filled with the Holy Spirit, you will become a new creature ,and will one day live in Heaven for all eternity! John 12:1-2.

Who was speaking in John 17?

My question is Why do people continue to try to and do things in there own strength?When they know that GOD is Not A Man !

Thanks Skip and S Spencer for your efforts on my behalf ,i did know that v was the 6th letter because of psalm 119 but my friend was saying something about v and w being interchangable but i didnt quite get what he was saying ,thanks anyway ,i appreciate you both .

Hello, the Bible is 100% clear there is only one God. There are not many Gods. There are false gods, but they aren't real. There is only one real God. If you believe the Bible, it says this many times througout.

1 John 5:7 - this clearly says the father, son (Word), and spirit are one.

James 2:19

Isaiah 44:6

1 Timothy 2:5

So, if the 3 parts are one, and if there's only one God, then the 3 parts are not separate Gods, but part of the same one God. Just like the skin of an apple is an apple, and the core is an apple, and the seeds are an apple, it doesn't mean it's 3 apples, but the same one, just different functions.

Why God said"in our image,after our likeness."?Are there Many Gods in the heaven?ye,your are right,for they smite each other,forasmuch so many wars on the earth till today.

In deed our God is the author and sustainer of our life Glory and honor return to Him.

What does it mean to be saved?

How are you saved?

How do I show that I believe?

If The Holy Spirit is grieved , does he leave and abide in a Christian no more, seeing that God saws He will never leave us nor forsake us and Jesus saws He will be with us always?

King David said , do not take your holy spirit from me , and that was before Christ.

So does the Holy Spirit leave?

Steve,

There's nothing wrong with asking honest questions. Don't allow other people to squelch your desire to learn. Search The Scriptures. Make it a daily, life-long habit.

Jesus said, "Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me."Joh 5:39

"And the brethren immediately sent away Paul and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so." Act 17:10-11

The Spirit brought me to Psalms 35:9; meditate it over night, having more questions than answers. "my soul shall be joyful in the LORD" no doubt means in the "Word" John 1:1. however "it shall rejoice in his salvation." could mean once we are saved can be rejoice? HOW TRUE? Psalms 35:9 "And my soul shall be joyful in the LORD: it shall rejoice in his salvation." My pray is that can some one take me one step further closer to the Lord? Thank you; may I hear from you soon?

"That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation." Rom 10:9-10

Paul, writing the the church at Corinth in about 55, records how he had DELIVERED to them what he had RECEIVED: received many years earlier when he had visited Peter and James in Jerusalem some 3 years after his Damascus Road conversion.

"Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother." Gal 1:18-19

There and then, it is believed, that when this creed was RECEIVED by Paul (DELIVERED and RECEIVED are words used to convey teaching):

That Christ died for our sins

According to the scriptures;

And that he was buried,

And that he rose again the third day

According to the scriptures:

And that he was seen of Cephas,

Then of the twelve:

After that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep.

After that, he was seen of James;

Then of all the apostles.

Paul used similar language earlier in 1 Cor:

"For I have RECEIVED of the Lord that which also I DELIVERED unto you, That the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread:" 1Co 11:23

And he repeats words that The Lord said.

So it is very likely that early Christians repeated this creed months after The Resurrection as an encapsulation of The Gospel. See Gary Habermas, Liberty U for more.

Margaret,

"And there appeared a great wonder in heaven; a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars:" Rev 12:1

The woman depicted here is Israel.

This imagery harkens back to Joseph's dream:

"And he dreamed yet another dream, and told it his brethren, and said, Behold, I have dreamed a dream more; and, behold, the sun and the moon and the eleven stars made obeisance to me. And he told it to his father, and to his brethren: and his father rebuked him, and said unto him, What is this dream that thou hast dreamed? Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee to the earth?" Gen 37:9-10

His father knew it was about them: Jacob (Israel) the sun, Rachel the moon and his brothers as the stars (the 12 tribes of Israel).

The woman brings forth a man-child, Jesus:

"And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child." Rev 12:13

The woman (Israel) will flee under intense Satanic persecution for 3 1/2 years of The Great Tribulation:

"And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent." Rev 12:14

Thank you & I'll be praying for you as well

Steve,

This is a difficult question.

God is perfect. However, the things that He does have to be communicated to us in terms that the people who first heard His message would understand. So we can't put our 21st century context into The Bible.

There are places in The Bible where it seems that God "repented" or changed His mind.

"And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart." Gen 6:6

The LORD was sorry and grieved in His being. This is repeated many times in the Scriptures

Something similar happened with Jesus at the grave of His friend Lazarus.

"When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping which came with her, HE GROANED IN THE SPIRIT, ANS WAS TROUBLED, And said, Where have ye laid him? They said unto him, Lord, come and see. JESUS WEPT."Joh 11:33-35

God has a plan to bring thousands upon thousands into His Kingdom. It involves human beings in rebellion, like you and me, God's Perfect Justice, Love and Grace. It involves God The Father, God The Son and God The Holy Spirit agreeing in eternity past to bring about the redemption of a vast host of unworthy sinners. The process has been long and painful but it will be worth the effort.

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal." 2Co 4:17-18

And in the process God reveals things about Himself little by little over the centuries. These thing were written down by prophets of old like Moses, Joshua, Samuel and Jeremiah, about 40 authors all guided by The Holy Spirit as Peter recorded:

"For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." 2Pe 1:21

Those places seem like God repents or changes, but this is so we can understand.

I think many get this wrong. Of course if your running in a race your not by yourself others are running with you. Its talking about Wisdom. If one is the fastest runner find out from him what he does to be as fast as he is but also being the winner doesn't mean that much here on this Earth but in heaven it means everything and if you make it to heaven you are a winner. God only ask us to try our Best and if we do in his eyes we are winner's. But Wisdom is a key to getting better. Find others that are older and that do things better and hang out with them. They don't even have to be saved. Its nice when they are but Wisdom is Wisdom no matter who they are. If you are changing spark plugs with a pair of pliers find someone else doing it a better way like using a socket and ratchet.

Michael . The smallest of all three me"s

is in my youngest memories..

In the green pastures i will forever find her there ...

Beside the still waters she plays without a care...

By her tiny right hand God led her to this place...

He let her little body fall

And set a choice all Gods children face...

No words were spoken by her Heavenly Father that fleshy ears would hear...

Her soul was gathered in God's love that innocently was without fear...

He gave her the choice of to live or to die..

She chose to live and she told her Heavenly Father why..

She knew by death ... here she would remain..

In the presence of God's love .. no words can explain..

She answered

"" i would like to live so i can play""

God restored her soul. By his gift of life. ...is the very breath she breathed..

Where she had fallen as dead upon the grass ..

Her first death has come to pass...

God opened her eyes

She was able to see...

There was no veil to divide....

God opened her ears to hear.. upon her heart he wrote his law for her life she would abide..

He planted a seed and its hidden in her heart...

Such a gift found in the words she sews....

In Gods love she continues to grow..

this is part of a book of remembrance written and preserved as a testimony of the living God . It was written by living hands to share the love of God.

Rod. " Dear Heavenly Father, take me away ..." these are the words from my heart that I wrote as I began to pray .

Then my hand went still and God showed me a sheep standing lost and all alone .

Then the sheep turned as he heard God call for him and realized that he was not lost. just strayed a few feet away from the scattered flock.

I felt so lost, scared, and alone , just as this sheep as it was shown to me , Today i share this vision with you,, so you too can see. So you too can hear the Heavenly Father's voice in your heart,

That I , as the sheep , was not lost , I was exactly where I was supposed to be. Right here beside you.

God stretches forth his hand and draws his children near.

I fear to offend the Lord my God , and I am responsible for my words. Just as it was written before of what was , it was written before of what is, and it will be written of before of what is yet to be.

By the will of God and by Gods will alone if it be found worthy and true , it will be shown to who is chosen by God to see. This is the promise seed

Ecclesiastes5:1 walk prudently when you go to the house of God; and draw near to hear rather than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they do not know that they do evil.

5:2 Do not be rash with your mouth,

And let not your heart utter anything hastily before God.

For God is in heaven, and you on earth;

Therefore let your words be few.

5:3 For a dream comes through much activity,

And a fool's voice is known by his many words.

5:4 When you make a vow to God, do not delay to pay it;

For He has no pleasure in fools.

Pay what you have vowed-

5:5 Better not to vow than to vow and not pay.

5:6 Do not let your mouth cause your flesh to sin, nor say before the messenger of God that it was an error. Why should God be angry at your excuse and destroy the work of your hands?

5:7 For in the multitude of dreams and many words there is also vanity. But fear God.

Terry, may the Spirit grace with HIS wisdom and His Understanding.

Exodus 7:1 And the Lord said to Moses, See, I have made thee a god to Pharaoh....

A god has power over whomever is subject unto that god. The Lord gave power to Moses over Pharaoh, therefore Pharaoh was helpless before Moses. The only way the one under the power of a god is for a God of greater power to intervene. This is the situation of mankind today, we are under the power of a god of this world. We can't overcome him because he has power over us. ENTER JESUS CHRIST the GOD of greater power WHO CAN OVERCOME.

Luke 11:22 But when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and OVERCOME him, he (the greater God) taketh from him (the lesser god) all his (the lessor god) armour wherein he (the lessor god) TRUSTED, and divideth his spoils (we are the spoils, and he gives Melchisedec the tenth).

John 16:33 ......I have OVERCOME the world (the lessor god).

2 Peter 2 :19 .....for whom a man is OVERCOME, of the same is he brought in bondage.

Revelation 21:7 He that OVERCOMETH shall inherit all things; and I WILL BE YOU GOD, and he shall be my son.

Hi Shaira,

Thank you so much for responding!

I truly believe in our Lord Jesus Christ and God with all my heart, mind and soul.

However, I am a recently born again Christian and read the bible with a lot of concentration and understanding, and have a few questions.

And after I posted the question "Has God ever made a mistake and repented?", I felt sooo bad for taking away from God's glory that I made a promise to him that I would not pursue this question any further.

Sincere regards,

Hi Sacha.

I don't know a thing about ancient Hebrew, but I looked this up for you

The letter Vav is the sixth letter in the Hebrew alphabet. Through the ancient Phoenician language, the letter Vav actually became the modern letter "F" used in the English and Latin alphabets.