Agreed. I have known pastors who are actually more worldly than their congregants! In the case of certain scandalous mega church "pastors," almost any of the men in their churches would behave better than they do--power and wealth corrupts. I agree that we are all responsible for reading and studying the word of God, so that we will not be "blown about by every wind of doctrine". William Tyndale went to the stake for his strong conviction that the people need to read the Bible in their own language. That is why I use the NLT almost exclusively with children and new Christians. The "KJV-only" crowd really do a disservice to those who have difficulty with the language of the KJV--it is not modern English. I grew up with the KJV and am not uncomfortable with familiar verses in it, but the NT Epistles in the KJV are very difficult for new Christians (and even more mature ones) to understand what is being said.
I agree with the above.
I also don't care for the KJV.
First of all there are some mistranslations in there which are
footnoted..why not just fix them?
It's too difficult to understand....first it needs to be translated!
It's a horrible bible for those of today that are much better off with
the one you mentioned. NLT...would that be The Living Bible? or an
offshoot of it? New Living Translation....The catholic Good News Bible is also good for this reason.
And yes, I also know some parishoners that are more holy than some priests.
This was also true for Protestant pastors when I lived over there.
Not really a silly question. Works can be measured, as in, "...last week, I fed this many poor people, and helped this many old ladies across the street", etc. What means do we have to measure faith? God can and does--Jesus said that if we had faith "...as small as a mustard seed...". In the verse previous to that (Luke 17:5), the disciples asked Jesus to "Increase our faith". Then, after the comment about the mustard seed and the uprooted mulberry tree, Jesus makes what some take to be cryptic comments about servant-hood. They don't see the connection. I think that Jesus was telling them that obedience to Him and the Father brings greater trust/faith and consequently, greater faith will bring even greater works. That is why the wise parent teaches obedience--that it is simply not acceptable that they disobey. One shouldn't use harsh discipline to make the point, but the point must be made if the parent cares about the faith-life and future character development of the child.
You don't think asking how many works it takes to stay saved is silly because you don't agree with the concept. If you DID agree with it, it WOULD sound like a very silly question to you.
Isn't Jesus there to forgive us? What did He die for anyway?
So I didn't help a little old lady cross the street yesterday because I was tired or in a bad mood or who knows what. does this make me unsaved? No!
It's not what we do that counts,,,it's our attitude. Maybe I love making dinner...maybe one evening I hate it. So? I mean really, how does one measure faith? How does one measure works? Where's the list of what I'm supposed to do? There isn't one. It's like with a husband. We do our best,, nobody is perfect.
Does he leave us if we make a mistake and he gets upset? Or vice-versa....
It IS a silly question...think about it.
As to more faith being give, which I highlighted.
I've learned that it's grace that is given.
The more grace you need, the more you get.
Exactly how you described it above.
We have a sufficient amount of faith...it's the grace, which could also be called the help of the Holy Spirit, that gives us the strength to do more, if we can and/or want to. I do less now than some years ago. Am I lost?
I agree! But, it is not works which gain eternal life for us (except maybe in a round-about way, if greater faith is produced) and it is not works which keep us in His Kingdom. It is ALL of faith.
ok, of course it's faith.
Faith saves us.
No faith and we become lost.
Works keep us saved in the sense that it shows we are obedient to God.
He wants us to give happily....of ourselves. Do we?
If not, there's a problem.
If so, then all is good.
Any amount of work is good because if we all do good deeds it helps the world to be a better place.
I would agree with your thoughts on suicide. It is certainly a result of soul-sickness--a spiritual illness. What some would call "shame-based identity" definitely plays a part. There was a young man who posted here not long ago--some will remember him--I hope and pray that he is okay. He grew up as a Christian (in a legalistic church) and got into pornography, during his teen years. Many of us tried to help him--he said he was contemplating suicide because he had lost all hope that he would be able to overcome his "detestable" sin. He had tried to reform several times but would, it seems, always return to the pornography. He said that he used to care that he felt that he had lost his faith because he was no longer concerned about displeasing the Lord and had lately even been doubtful about the claims of Christ altogether.
Shame is from the evil one and it is very destructive. Satan tempts us to disobey and then he heaps on the shame afterward which weakens our will to resist his temptations and so on, in a very damaging cycle. Stressing obedience for strong individuals is fine but when it is stressed over and over with weak individuals, it just leads to self-loathing. The Bible tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:14: "...we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone." I have seen the results of failing to admonish those who are lazy and rebellious and also those who have suffered harsh discipline as children. Neither is beneficial to the life and spiritual/physical health of a child. I am not ever surprised when it results in disaster later. "Train up a child..." That admonition works both ways. We should train children in the way that they should go, certainly but if we allow them to grow up without loving training, or in our impatience with them, use harsh "discipline," they will, unfortunately tend to follow that lack of kind training into adulthood.
Right. There's a balance in raising children.
There could not be enough discipline...or there could be too much.
As to that man you speak of which had a detestable sin...
EVERY sin is detestable to God.
God is so holy that even a lie is hateful to Him.
So that person did not know God personally,,,or he didn't know the God we know.
I never would tell anyone that they have to stop doing anything....I believe that God has to tell them,,,not us. We could only make them aware and encourage.
When the right time comes, the sin will stop. It could take a really long time, the important thing is to keep God close. I used to teach my religion kids this...
they go thru a phase where they know they want to do not nice things (it could be just trying to smoke) so they leave God behind. I used to tell them never to leave God behind...
