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Friend of Jesus, Your thread invites posters to answer your question by making the case for universalism. So though not a universalist myself, I will play devil's advocate and present the biblical case for universalism. (1) How can a just God possibly damn anyone to eternal conscious torment...

The book, "Lighted Passage," was brought to the attention of an agnostic friend of mine by a colleague who worked with him at HUD and was a relative of the author, Dr Howell Vincent. Dr. Vincent, a Presbyterian minister, wrote this book, about his daughter Rea and her death in a car accident on...

These posts miss the key point. Regardless of what you confess and believe, you're not saved until you experience regeneration through the Holy Spirit. Experiencing the Spirit is an experience of power. Words and assent to certain doctrines are not sufficient.

I'm not Catholic, and so, I don't want to get into the fine points of Mariology. But I want to make 4 observations about this discussion: (1) Why did Jesus celebrate the graven image of the serpent that Moses used for the healing of snake-bitten Jews in the wilderness? How do you explain the...

I am deeply grateful for my Pentecostal upbringing, despite its excesses and some of its false teaching. Without the profound experiences in the Spirit, I doubt that a natural skeptic like me would even be a Christian today. This thread will focus on the many paranormal highlights of my...

(2a) Leonard was a wealthy elderly businessman who was a beloved member of a church I pastored in western New York. On a few occasions I had dinner with him and his wife Helen. He was very anxious that I visit his brother, his wife, and his cousin when they had health issues. But one day it...

The OP is logically incoherent because it disparages word studies in favor of Spirit illumination, but this so-called illumination must itself be tested by discernment. And a crucial aspect of that discernment involves word studies and knowledge of the original biblical languages which provide...

Just as important is the perception of skeptics that Christianity doesn't deliver on its promises (e. g. that God honors His promises about the power of faith and prayer to heal in an obvious way).

(1) NDE researchers like Dr. Raymond Moody are now writing books about shared NDEs, which are generally far more evidential than most conventional NDEs because the doctors, nurses, and family members witnessing the apparent deaths actually experience key elements of the NDEs, including the OBE...

Let me begin with this disclaimer: I am an evangelical Christian for whom Christ's atoning death and resurrection are the anchor of my faith. But at their best, the verifications inherent in ADCs (=After-Death Contacts) and NDEs (near-death experiences) seem more evidentially probative even than...

The Book of Sirach (c. 200-180 AD) is in the Apocrypha section of the Catholic OT. Jesus respects this book enough to use it for the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6:12) and in His commentary on it (6:14-15): "Forgive your neighbor the wrong he has done, and then your sins will be forgiven when you...

Perhaps the poster boy for the Word of Faith movement is the late William Branham, whose healing ministry drew huge crowds in the 1950s and 1960s. I was born with no sight in one eye. So my Pentecostal parents were determined to get me prayed for by Branham. They were poor, but spent more...

First, there are no venomous snakes on Malta! Second, venomous snakes bite and quickly release. This snake here did what snakes typically do--wrap its tail around Paul's hand. I guess you people eisegete the same false presumption into the story of doubting Thomas. The text never says that...

I merely pointed out the false claim that Paul was bitten by the snake. The Word of Faith movement, though sadly misguided, draws attention to the main reason why many intelligent skeptics say they reject Christianity--that Christianity doesn't deliver on its promise. The discrepancy...

Duh, the viper never bit Paul; he just shook it off unharmed (Acts 28:5).

There is no evidence that Jesus healed anyone prior to receiving the Holy Spirit at His baptism. His own step-father Joseph seems to have died before Jesus began His ministry and thus figures in no story of the adult Jesus' life. So the crucified Jesus has to entrust His mother's care to the...

"To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. To one is given through the Spirit...gifts of healing by the same Spirit, to another the working of miracles (1 Cor. 12:7-10)." Only a few receive the gifts of healing and miracles, and even then, exercise these gifts for a...

Bible reading is good, but prolonged prayer seeking God's face and praying for revival is better. The greatest revivals erupted not through Bible reading, but through hours and hours of regular prayer! Too often regular Bible reading just leads to a head-trip faith focused on memorized...

The Azusa Street Revival that began in 1906 led to 600 million Pentecostal and Charismatic converts globally and makes its instigator, William Seymour, the most spiritually influential Black man who ever lived. This excellent documentary tells the story with the aid of abundant eyewitness...

Paul identifies his mystical destination as Paradise in the 3rd heaven. The ancient rabbis also located Paradise in the 3rd Heaven; so Paul simply confirms the Pharisaic understanding on this point. On the cross, Jesus implies that Paradise is the preferred destination of the newly departed...