Faith!

th1b.taylor said:

ASV: Hebrews 11:6. And without faith itis impossible to be well-pleasing unto him ; for he that cometh toGod must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them thatseek after him.

It is my prayer the you,the folks that read my ramblings on these forums and in my email listand on my blog are praying for God to increase your faith to thepoint that He has mine. So, aside from prayer, how did I get to thispoint? For the past twenty-one years I have made it a point to learnas much as God has shown me by reading through the Word of God inseveral translations. With prayer I have made myself and all thatGod has permitted me to hold, available for His Service and use. Because of my willingness God has grown my faith ad God walks andtalks and uses me in His service and it has, in spite of my earlyyears, been a wonderful life in His service.

Every man woman and childcan have the same relationship! It begins with making yourselfavailable to God and prayer for those you love and your neighbors. May God bless.

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When greeting a person for the first time, what is the first thing that is learned ? Their name. Likewise of our Creator. We should learn and be unashamed to use his name - Jehovah. The name of God is in the Bible more times than the combined titles "god" and "lord" combined.(the use of "god" and "lord" amounts to a little 6000 times, whereas the name of God - Jehovah - is in the original Hebrew and Greek over 7000 times in the form of the Tetragrammaton, which is Greek for "four letter", YHWH)

Yet, what has many Bible translators done ? Supplanted God's name of Jehovah with "God" and "Lord". In the King James Bible, the name Jehovah Is found only four times, Exodus 6:3, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4, though in the original Hebrew 6,973 times.

Those who seriously search for Jehovah God, he will let himself be known to them. Isaiah 55:6 says: "Search for Jehovah, you people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near." Psalms 14:2 says: "As for Jehovah, he has looked down from heaven itself upon the sons of men, to see whether there exists anyone having insight, anyone seeking Jehovah."

Why then are the churches not "seeking Jehovah", but continue to use only the titles "God" and "Lord" or the "Lord God", despite God's name of Jehovah is there for anyone to see ? Sadly, many churches that sponsor Bible translations pressure scholars into omitting God’s name from their translations of the Bible. For example, in a letter dated June 29, 2008, to presidents of Catholic bishops’ conferences, the Vatican stated: “In recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel’s proper name.” The letter gives this pointed direction: “The name of God . . . is neither to be used or pronounced.” Furthermore, “for the translation of the Biblical text in modern languages, . . . the divine tetragrammaton is to be rendered by the equivalent of Adonai/Kyrios: ‘Lord.’” Clearly, this Vatican directive is aimed at eliminating the use of God’s name.

Protestants have been no less disrespectful in their treatment of Jehovah’s name. Edwin Palmer, executive secretary for the Protestant-sponsored New International Version, published in English in 1978, when asked why God's name of Jehovah was failed to be mentioned even once, he replied: “Here is why we did not. You are right that Jehovah is a distinctive name for God and ideally we should have used it. But we put 2 1⁄4 million dollars into this translation and a sure way of throwing that down the drain is to translate, for example, Psalm 23 as, ‘Yahweh is my shepherd.’ Immediately, we would have translated for nothing. Nobody would have used it. Oh maybe a handful [of] others. But a Christian has also to be wise and practical."

"We are the victims of 350 years of the King James tradition. It is far better to get two million to read it - that is how many have bought it to date - and to follow the King James, than to have two thousand to buy it and have the correct translation of Yahweh....It was a hard decision, and many of our translators agree with you.” Proft over accuracy ! It is no wonder so few people who call themselves "Christian" never use God's name of Jehovah nor know him.

How did Jesus feel about this ? In prayer to his Father, he said: "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world....Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you; but I have come to know you, and these have come to know that you sent me forth. And I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.”(John 17:6, 25,26)

Only by knowing and using God's name of Jehovah unashamedly can a person truly come to know God and have faith in him. Otherwise, God can be known only vaguely, for no true friend is ever known without their friends knowing and using his personal name.

Guestman said:

Only by knowing and using God's name of Jehovah unashamedly can a person truly come to know God and have faith in him. Otherwise, God can be known only vaguely, for no true friend is ever known without their friends knowing and using his personal name.

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I have to disagree. Whether we use His name or not, He is still our God. And I know my God...I call Him father, I call Him everything.
Even should we say that Bible translations should have left the name Jehovah in it, it does not, in any way, change who He is...we are told the nature of our God in scripture and through Jesus Christ.
Faith, by definition is belief in something that cannot be seen or proved. You say that I cannot know God without calling Him by His true name, cannot have faith in Him. But every single day He reveals Himself to me, to everyone who seeks. I have faith, that despite my sinful nature, my failings and weaknesses, that God is all. All that He promised and all that He has revealed to us. Whether we get His name wrong, or simply refer to Him with an honorific, that quite frankly is owed to Him, I know it changes nothing!
Perhaps you need to have more? Faith, that is.

Guestman said:

When greeting a person for the first time, what is the first thing that is learned ? Their name. Likewise of our Creator. We should learn and be unashamed to use his name - Jehovah. The name of God is in the Bible more times than the combined titles "god" and "lord" combined.(the use of "god" and "lord" amounts to a little 6000 times, whereas the name of God - Jehovah - is in the original Hebrew and Greek over 7000 times in the form of the Tetragrammaton, which is Greek for "four letter", YHWH)

Yet, what has many Bible translators done ? Supplanted God's name of Jehovah with "God" and "Lord". In the King James Bible, the name Jehovah Is found only four times, Exodus 6:3, Psalms 83:18, Isaiah 12:2 and 26:4, though in the original Hebrew 6,973 times.

Those who seriously search for Jehovah God, he will let himself be known to them. Isaiah 55:6 says: "Search for Jehovah, you people, while he may be found. Call to him while he proves to be near." Psalms 14:2 says: "As for Jehovah, he has looked down from heaven itself upon the sons of men, to see whether there exists anyone having insight, anyone seeking Jehovah."

Why then are the churches not "seeking Jehovah", but continue to use only the titles "God" and "Lord" or the "Lord God", despite God's name of Jehovah is there for anyone to see ? Sadly, many churches that sponsor Bible translations pressure scholars into omitting God’s name from their translations of the Bible. For example, in a letter dated June 29, 2008, to presidents of Catholic bishops’ conferences, the Vatican stated: “In recent years the practice has crept in of pronouncing the God of Israel’s proper name.” The letter gives this pointed direction: “The name of God . . . is neither to be used or pronounced.” Furthermore, “for the translation of the Biblical text in modern languages, . . . the divine tetragrammaton is to be rendered by the equivalent of Adonai/Kyrios: ‘Lord.’” Clearly, this Vatican directive is aimed at eliminating the use of God’s name.

Protestants have been no less disrespectful in their treatment of Jehovah’s name. Edwin Palmer, executive secretary for the Protestant-sponsored New International Version, published in English in 1978, when asked why God's name of Jehovah was failed to be mentioned even once, he replied: “Here is why we did not. You are right that Jehovah is a distinctive name for God and ideally we should have used it. But we put 2 1⁄4 million dollars into this translation and a sure way of throwing that down the drain is to translate, for example, Psalm 23 as, ‘Yahweh is my shepherd.’ Immediately, we would have translated for nothing. Nobody would have used it. Oh maybe a handful [of] others. But a Christian has also to be wise and practical."

"We are the victims of 350 years of the King James tradition. It is far better to get two million to read it - that is how many have bought it to date - and to follow the King James, than to have two thousand to buy it and have the correct translation of Yahweh....It was a hard decision, and many of our translators agree with you.” Proft over accuracy ! It is no wonder so few people who call themselves "Christian" never use God's name of Jehovah nor know him.

How did Jesus feel about this ? In prayer to his Father, he said: "I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world....Righteous Father, the world has, indeed, not come to know you; but I have come to know you, and these have come to know that you sent me forth. And I have made your name known to them and will make it known, in order that the love with which you loved me may be in them and I in union with them.”(John 17:6, 25,26)

Only by knowing and using God's name of Jehovah unashamedly can a person truly come to know God and have faith in him. Otherwise, God can be known only vaguely, for no true friend is ever known without their friends knowing and using his personal name.

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Yahveh is my Father. Do you call your earthly father by his given name? I call my father, daddy.

th1b.taylor said:

Sir, your rather rude attempt to hijack this string is at the very least, ill conceived! You have pushed yourself to the forefront when, as Christians, we are taught to always think better of the other person than we do of ourselves. Then, with a rather pompous air you contend that all the scholarly translations after the King James, idea for idea, translation are, at the least, if I read you correctly, are in error. You go on in this same pompous air and demand that the only name for God is Jehovah when my KJV, NASB, ASV and the other 14 or 15 translations use many names for Yahweh. Additionally you make the mistake, using your terms, and call Yashua, Jesus! This will be my last reply to you except you have some comment on the content and context of the OP.

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Please understand that this was not a "rude attempt" at hijacking this thread, but rather to show to whom we must exercise faith in, not some nameless God, as the churches have taught, but instead to show who the one true God is that Jesus explained.(John 1:18) Hanani the seer told king Asa, that "as regards Jehovah, his eyes are roving about through all the earth to show his strength in behalf of those whose heart is complete toward him."(2 Chron 16:9) Jehovah God is looking for those who truly have faith in him, whose ' hearts are complete toward him.'

In order to "exercise faith" in God, does not a person need to know his name ? Jesus taught his disciples that first and foremost was the hallowing or sanctifying of God's name in the Lord's Prayer at Matthew 6:9, saying: "After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name."(King James Bible) Thus, for a person to please God and exercise faith in him, these have to know and use his personal name, sanctifying it before others, which in English is Jehovah, just as Jesus tutored his disciples. Otherwise, can we say that we are following in Jesus footsteps, for Jesus said to those disregarding his words: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"(Luke 6:46, King James Bible)

Jesus told his eleven faithful apostles: "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Exercise faith in God, exercise faith also in me."(John 14:1) Just as exercising faith in Jesus requires knowing his personal name, how much more so of God. Of Abraham, Genesis 15:6 says that "he put faith in Jehovah", with this being the first mention of someone exercising faith in God, for the apostle Paul wrote that Abraham was "the father of all those having faith."(Rom 4:11) Hence, Abraham exercised faith in not some anonymous God, but Jehovah. As a result, he came to be called "Jehovah's friend".(James 2:23; Isa 41:8)

Guestman,

It was the custom of the Jews never to pronounce the Tetragrammaton because this was disrespectful and even blasphemous. So whenever the scrolls were read in synagog, the reader would automatically substitute the word "Lord" whenever they came upon the Tetragrammaton. Now, ancient Hebrew has no vowels. To help in pronunciation, small marks are made between the letters to signify the vowel sounds. The error in the pronunciation that you are using (Jehovah) arose from a custom of setting the vowel marks for "Lord" (Adonai) on the four letters. So you get "Ya--Ho--Wa--Hi". You can easily see that this was, over time, reduced to your word Jehovah. So if you MUST use the Lord's name, at least pronounce it right: Yah--weh. It means "I AM".

The Catholic Church, in deference to Christianity's roots in Judaism has recently reiterated the custom of not publicly pronouncing the Lord's name. There were songs being sung at Mass such as "Yahweh, I Know You Are Near" which have been suppressed. This makes perfect sense to me, because God is not our "little buddy" that we can call by name. You wouldn't call the president or your king (if we were a monarchy) by his first name. As someone already pointed out, we don't normally call our parents by their name. We use titles. Even teachers and doctors and military superiors we normally use their honorific or title. How much more for the Creator of the Universe! Calling someone by their name is reserved for your peers and those of lower status than ourselves. So, in Christian love, might I suggest that instead of trying to shrink God down to someone on the same level or lower than yourself, shouldn't you maybe pray for a dose of the virtue of Fear of the Lord?

th1b.taylor,

My apologies for posting this reply on your thread, but I wasn't sure how else to answer Guestman. To your OP, I would say that we cannot and should not judge whether anyone else is saved. That is God's dominion. My job is to "work out my salvation with fear and trembling" as St. Paul says. As someone much smarter than me once said, "The Church is not a museum of saints, it is a hospital for sinners." So why do "they" bother coming to Church? Because they want to be saved. Not everyone is given the gift of faith in the same measure. Some take longer than others to catch on fire (with the Holy Spirit).

Old Man.

Old Man said:

Guestman,

It was the custom of the Jews never to pronounce the Tetragrammaton because this was disrespectful and even blasphemous. So whenever the scrolls were read in synagog, the reader would automatically substitute the word "Lord" whenever they came upon the Tetragrammaton. Now, ancient Hebrew has no vowels. To help in pronunciation, small marks are made between the letters to signify the vowel sounds. The error in the pronunciation that you are using (Jehovah) arose from a custom of setting the vowel marks for "Lord" (Adonai) on the four letters. So you get "Ya--Ho--Wa--Hi". You can easily see that this was, over time, reduced to your word Jehovah. So if you MUST use the Lord's name, at least pronounce it right: Yah--weh. It means "I AM".

The Catholic Church, in deference to Christianity's roots in Judaism has recently reiterated the custom of not publicly pronouncing the Lord's name. There were songs being sung at Mass such as "Yahweh, I Know You Are Near" which have been suppressed. This makes perfect sense to me, because God is not our "little buddy" that we can call by name. You wouldn't call the president or your king (if we were a monarchy) by his first name. As someone already pointed out, we don't normally call our parents by their name. We use titles. Even teachers and doctors and military superiors we normally use their honorific or title. How much more for the Creator of the Universe! Calling someone by their name is reserved for your peers and those of lower status than ourselves. So, in Christian love, might I suggest that instead of trying to shrink God down to someone on the same level or lower than yourself, shouldn't you maybe pray for a dose of the virtue of Fear of the Lord?

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Yes, the Jews did begin a custom of supplanting God's name for "Lord" around the 2nd century C.E. However, this was a tradition started by the Jews and was not God's idea, for wants his name made known, even as Jesus taught his disciples to pray for that name to be sanctified.(Matt 6:9) Would Jesus teach us to sanctify his Father's name, praying for it if it were wrong to use and make it known ? That would be hypocritical, for Jesus himself said that he had made his Father's name known.(John 17:6, 26)

Thus, can anyone that calls themselves a true Christian follow the direction of the faithless Jews instead of Christ, using only "Lord" or "God" ? If they do, then these are counterfeit Christians, in name only. The Jews, as a nation, were faithless, putting on a front of piety, as Jesus said of the Pharisees, that these "outwardly indeed, appear righteous to men, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness."(Matt 23:28)

Because the nation of Israel, at the behest of the religious leaders, replaced God's name of Jehovah with "Lord", hiding it, is an affront to God himself. This is called tampering. For a person who tampers with a Federal witness is conducting a criminal act, ending up with a prison sentence of between 10 to 20 years. Of tampering with state evidence, that involves the alteration, destruction, concealment or falsifying of evidence is in some states (US), is a third degree felony and carries a punishment between 2 and 10 years in prison. So, the government does not take lightly any tampering of either a witness or state evidence.

Nor does God with his word, replacing his everlasting name with a title such as "Lord" or "God". Of the book of Revelation, the angel says that "if anyone takes anything away from the words of the scroll of this prophecy, God will take his portion away from the trees of life."(Rev 22:19) Any tampering with his word the Bible, including his name, will result in God's displeasure and maybe everlasting death.

Moses told the Israelites: "And now, O Israel, listen to the regulations and the judicial decisions that I am teaching you to do, in order that you may live and may indeed go in and take possession of the land that Jehovah the God of your forefathers is giving you. You must not add to the word that I am commanding you, neither must you take away from it, so as to keep the commandments of Jehovah your God that I am commanding you."(Deut 4:1, 2)

If you wrote an autobiography with your personal name throughout it (like God's name of Jehovah in the Bible), and then sent it out to the publisher, but the publisher made unwarranted changes and replaced your personal name with MR, how would you feel ? Most would be very incensed and probably would file legal action against this publisher to restore his personal name to his autobiography. This is called tampering and the U. S. government has the "Federal Anti-Tampering Act" for someone who attempts to tamper with consumer goods.

So, again how then does God feel about the supplanting or substituting or profaning of his personal name Jehovah with just titles ? Happy ? Before the destruction of the land of Judah in 607 B.C.E., God said of the nation of Israel: "I shall have compassion on my holy name, which the house of Israel have profaned among the nations where they have come in."(Eze 36:21) As a result of the nation of Israel profaning God's name of Jehovah, these suffered the penalty of being destroyed at the hands of the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar in 607 B.C.E.

In the first seven chapters of 1 Samuel, God's name of Jehovah is used 106 times. David consistently used God's name, saying: "Sing to Jehovah a new song. Sing to Jehovah, all you people of the earth. Sing to Jehovah, bless his name.....For Jehovah is great and very much to be praised.....Say among the nations: “Jehovah himself has become king."(Ps 96:1, 2, 4, 10) Who is more righteous in God's eyes, Hannah who used God's name 9 times at 1 Samuel 2:1-10, David, who used God's name hundreds of times or the Catholic Church ? Jehovah God made a covenant with David due to his loyalty.(2 Sam 7:11-16) He listened to Hannah and later caused her to have 6 children because of her love for his name.(1 Sam 2:21) But he has not made any covenant with the Catholic church, nor will he with anyone or organization that hides his personal name, but instead will call them to account.

And of the name "Yahweh", is it correct ? Not necessarily, for the Tetragrammaton (YHWH) has been rendered five different ways, depending on vowel pointing, as Yahweh, Yehowah, Yehwih, Yehwah, and Yehowih by scholars. Since it is not now possible to attain to the proper pronunciation, and with the name Jehovah (which is Latin, as is the name Jesus) having the corresponding transliterated syllables, and is now established in the English language, it serves well as God's name. To supplant it with "Lord" or "God" would be no different than replacing all the names of the prophets in the Hebrew Scriptures (commonly called the Old Testament) with just "the man", for of these prophets, the vowels too are not known, but no one complains about this, for as you yourself said that "Hebrew has no vowels".

The Emphatic Diaglott (1864) contains the name Jehovah 18 times. Versions of the Christian Greek Scriptures (commonly called the New Testament) in at least 38 other languages also use a vernacular form of the divine name. Wolfgang Feneberg comments in the Jesuit magazine Entschluss/Offen (April 1985, German): “He [Jesus] did not withhold his father’s name YHWH from us, but he entrusted us with it. It is otherwise inexplicable why the first petition of the Lord’s Prayer should read: ‘May your name be sanctified!’” Feneberg further notes that “in pre-Christian manuscripts for Greek-speaking Jews, God’s name was not paraphrased with kýrios [Lord], but was written in the tetragram form [YHWH] in Hebrew or archaic Hebrew characters. . . . We find recollections of the name in the writings of the Church Fathers; but they are not interested in it. By translating this name kýrios (Lord), the Church Fathers were more interested in attributing the grandeur of the kýrios to Jesus Christ.”

And through Ezekiel (in Hebrew it is spelled as ichzqal, online interlinear Scripture4all), God said: "And I shall certainly sanctify my great name, which was being profaned among the nations, which you profaned in the midst of them; and the nations will have to know that I am Jehovah,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, ‘when I am sanctified among you before their eyes."(Eze 36:23) For those who exercise faith in Jehovah God, as the apostle Paul wrote at Romans 10:13, saying: "For “everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will be saved"(quoting from Joel 2:32), these ones have the hope of living forever, be it on a paradise earth or in heaven.(Ps 37:11, 29; Rev 5:9, 10)

Guestman,
(or should I say, watchtower man?)
I have no answer to most of what you have said, because, quite frankly, it bores me. The core of my comment was that we, along with the Jews of Jesus' time, no longer pronounce the name aloud out of respect. When we pray to Him, in the intimacy of our prayer closets, we call Him Daddy. When we talk about Him we call Him Lord or God. It is disrespectful to use his name. It is not so hard to understand. If you want to imagine that God is happy when you drag Him down to your level by calling Him by name, that's fine. But I believe God deserves my respect.

th1b.taylor,
Jesus said judge not, he didn't say be a PC Nazi. On this we agree. But I feel that you are trying to judge the state of another's soul. And this is exactly what Jesus forbids. Only God knows the heart. Right? All we can do is judge actions, not motives. Hate the sin, love the sinner, right?

nor do I any longer remember the exact percentages but they were at the very least, depressing!

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I can understand your heart's longing that those who claim to be Christian should be found walking with him.

I can understand that you would be saddened by those who didn't understand or chose to ignore your exhortation.

Jesus is the author and finisher of our faith. However, we also have a responsibility.

When His disciples asked for more faith, Jesus told them that they were like servants who should be satisfied with what they had earned. This gives an interesting insight into the matter of faith.

I would suggest ignoring those who would hijack your thread to push their own doctrines, otherwise (like with the "tar baby") you only get entangled in and contribute to the distractions they are promoting.

I just wanted to say that there are some who appreciate your heartfelt desire to exhort your brothers to draw nearer their Lord.

I would not be too "depressed" by the lack of positive response to your comments. I see our national apostasy and the general disinterest in Christ within the church as signs of His immanent return. Jesus said, "Nevertheless, will the Son of Man find faith on the earth when He returns?"

Old Man said:

Guestman,
(or should I say, watchtower man?)
I have no answer to most of what you have said, because, quite frankly, it bores me. The core of my comment was that we, along with the Jews of Jesus' time, no longer pronounce the name aloud out of respect. When we pray to Him, in the intimacy of our prayer closets, we call Him Daddy. When we talk about Him we call Him Lord or God. It is disrespectful to use his name. It is not so hard to understand. If you want to imagine that God is happy when you drag Him down to your level by calling Him by name, that's fine. But I believe God deserves my respect.

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With all due respect, please explain why not pronouncing God's name is disrespectful, since God told Moses concerning the Israelites exodus from Egypt: "This is what you are to say to the sons of Israel, ‘Jehovah the God of your forefathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is my name to time indefinite, and this is the memorial of me to generation after generation."(Ex 3:15) He further told Moses: "You go, and you must gather the older men of Israel, and you must say to them, ‘Jehovah the God of your forefathers has appeared to me, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying: “I will without fail give attention to you and to what is being done to you in Egypt."(Ex 3:16) If it is disrespectful to pronounce God's name of Jehovah, then why did God tell Moses personally to do so ?

That we are to use God's name, at Zechariah 13:8, 9, God says: "And it must occur in all the land,” is the utterance of Jehovah, “that two parts in it are what will be cut off and expire; and as for the third part, it will be left remaining in it. And I shall certainly bring the third part through the fire; and I shall actually refine them as in the refining of silver, and examine them as in the examining of gold. It, for its part, will call upon my name, and I, for my part, will answer it. I will say, ‘It is my people,’ and it, in its turn, will say, ‘Jehovah is my God.’”

At Acts 15:14, James told the assembled older men in Jerusalem: "Sym´e·on has related thoroughly how God for the first time turned his attention to the nations to take out of them a people for his name"(Acts 15:14), and quoting from Amos 9:12, said that "in order that those who remain of the men may earnestly seek Jehovah, together with people of all the nations, people who are called by my name, says Jehovah, who is doing these things."(Acts 15:17) These exercised faith in the one true God, Jehovah, just as Abraham, Elijah, Elisha, and David did, among the many that called upon the name of God - Jehovah. These realized that not using God's name, as if it is something embarrassing, is disrespectful.

One final note. In departing from the practice of not using God's name, the translation committee of the American Standard Version of 1901 stated: “The American Revisers, after a careful consideration, were brought to the unanimous conviction that a Jewish superstition, which regarded the Divine Name as too sacred to be uttered, ought no longer to dominate in the English or any other version of the Old Testament, as it fortunately does not in the numerous versions made by modern missionaries. . . . This personal name [Jehovah], with its wealth of sacred associations, is now restored to the place in the sacred text to which it has an unquestionable claim.”—AS preface, p. iv.

A little study will show that Jehovah is a corrupted spelling of YHVH so why not get back on topic.

Faith.
Believing in God, the only one, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life.
I also means coming to know God. thanks giving in God, unity and true dignity in God as putting the spirit to good use.
Faith is not blind as it is a light given to you.

MR ROSENBERGER said:

Faith.
Believing in God, the only one, and loving him with all our being has enormous consequences for our whole life.
I also means coming to know God. thanks giving in God, unity and true dignity in God as putting the spirit to good use.
Faith is not blind as it is a light given to you.

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Very true!! The bible clearly states that faith is a gift, given to us from God Himself.
It seems sad that anyone would think that a name, true or false, used or implied, would in anyway hamper the God of the Universe! Let's face it...He's quite capable of getting our attention if He wants....witness Paul!!

Guestman, snore.

taylor,

I have a lot of trouble following your comments. You apparently want me to interpret Jesus' prohibition of "judging lest I be judged," as permission to decide whether someone is lost or saved (going to heaven or hell). Then, in the very next sentence, you seem say the exact opposite: that condemning someone is God's domain but that we should discern truth. So which is it?

What I think I said above (maybe poorly) was that the world takes the "judge not" too far by interpreting it to mean whatever anyone decides to do is right "for them" and we should never judge that anything anyone else does is wrong. That's what a PC Nazi does. The only sin in the PC mind is thinking that something is a sin.

Now, I won't even ask how you know your Dad is a lost man given that you just said condemning someone is God's domain...

I'm sorry, your "birds of a feather flock together" allegory does not help me understand where you are coming from. That just means that people with similar interests and backgrounds tend to hang out together. The "unequally yoked" reference is a visual metaphor. You would never yoke an ox and and ass to the same wagon. They wouldn't be able to pull it together because they each have different a size and gate and strength. Two animals, yoked to the same load should be the same size and strength. The bible (is it St. Paul?) applies this analogy to marriage, saying that mixed marriages are always frought with difficulties. Now, how either of these pertain to judging a person's actions or the state of their soul, I have no idea.

Old Man

Old Man said:

What I think I said above (maybe poorly) was that the world takes the "judge not" too far by interpreting it to mean whatever anyone decides to do is right "for them" and we should never judge that anything anyone else does is wrong. That's what a PC Nazi does. The only sin in the PC mind is thinking that something is a sin.

Now, I won't even ask how you know your Dad is a lost man given that you just said condemning someone is God's domain...

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Just two questions here.

1. What's a PC NAZI?
2. What sort of twisted reasoning concludes that stating someone is lost equates to condemnation?

A condemnation is a judgment requiring the ability to act, as in a court of law condemning a criminal to prison or a city pronouncing a house unfit for dwelling.

Stating that someone is lost is an observation, quite similar to a doctor's diagnosis of cancer.
Is the doctor condeming someone to death when he says the patient has a serious disease, or is he demonstrating that treatment is necessary for a cure?

If I wrote that you were a religious bigot, that would be an observation leading to a suggestion that wisdom and not a little compassion is needed on your part.
On the other hand, a condemnation would be something physical and permanent, similar to the disposal of OBL, of which I am incapable even if I desired it.

Are we now arguing over the meaning of words instead of the content and meat of the message?
That is the method used by those whose true object is to deflect truth - to condemn the words and message of others by means of obfuscation.

What is faith?

Hebrews 11:1 (NKJV)
[sup]1 [/sup]Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
Hebrews 11:6 (NKJV)

[sup]6 [/sup]But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.

Mark 11:24 (NKJV)
[sup]24 [/sup]Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.