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Emotions/feelings are probably the very worst basis upon which to try to determine if, in fact, you're saved. As has been observed, "Feeling come and feelings go, And feelings are deceiving..." The Bible offers us a different, better, more sure basis for thinking you're truly saved: The inner...

Who on this thread has the power to control what others believe? No one has this power, really. Even God has suspended His power to make us believe and act as He wants us to, allowing us the freedom to choose for ourselves what we'll take up as beliefs and behaviors. For some reason, Christians...

Do we walk with God as sinners? Well, Christians sin, yes, but they're "new creatures in Christ, old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (2 Co. 5:17). Paul wrote that the "old Self," the source of all our sins (Ro. 6:6), is "crucified with Christ" so that the born-again...

So, where's the Scripture that says the apostles at Jerusalem feared Paul? And the Scripture that supports this assertion? And supporting Scripture? As it stands, this is all just your own conjecture. ??? This is quite the radical - and quite unfounded - assertion. What verse in Galatians...

Scripture, please. I know of no place in the NT where it's said that the apostles at Jerusalem feared Paul. Again, Scripture, please. As the passages I cited indicate, the apostles (and elders) at Jerusalem were the ones arbitrating Paul's dispute with Barnabas; they were the ones issuing...

I don't subscribe to Dispensationalism, so I don't acknowledge a "Mosaic Dispensation" as an actual thing in Scripture. 1 Corinthians 11:1 1 Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ. What Paul was saying here is that the Corinthians ought to do as Paul did himself and be an imitator...

Galatians 2:1-2 1 Then after an interval of fourteen years I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along also. 2 It was because of a revelation that I went up; and I submitted to them the gospel which I preach among the Gentiles, but I did so in private to those who were of...

All that Paul learned concerning the Gospel and the Christian faith he subjected to the other apostles for inspection. Despite learning what he did in the manner that he did, his understanding and teaching was validated and approved by them. What's more, the apostle John's entire Revelation was...

Actually, it is very biblical to recognize that the Old Self (Ro. 6:6) is the Ultimate Source of all our sin, as Paul clearly indicated. And the Old Self, as the Bible plainly describes, is profoundly self-centered, "seeking its own" above all else (Phil. 3:18-19; Ga. 5:19-21; Ro. 8:5-8, etc.)...

It's in the nature of youth to have higher expectations of those in church leadership than they should have. And many of these youth, though they had grown up in the Church, were not, I believe, actually saved. They were making up their minds about this very matter, in part on the basis of what...

Yes, some do. Mostly, though, at least among the unsaved, they appear to just ignore this doctrine of the faith. I find that it is professing Christians, actually, who are shying away, more and more, from this truth. A prominent example would be Joel Osteen (and his ilk). In general, though, the...

??? I believe all of God's word is inspired by God, which is to say, by Jesus who is God. So, whether I reference words written by Paul or by Matthew, Mark, Luke or John, I'm referencing, ultimately, the words of Jesus. And remember: Jesus's words were written by the hands of these men, not by...

I've already addressed this passage in an earlier post. James tells us what he means by "dead": alone (vs. 17), useless (vs. 16, 20) and incomplete (vs. 22). He doesn't mean "non-existent," nor does he mean "inadequate to put us in the position to be saved by the Savior." Our faith has no...

Yes, genuine faith in Christ and resulting salvation will naturally result in corresponding works. Absolutely. But this doesn't mean that such works are necessary to genuine faith in Christ and salvation. Consider an apple tree: Is the too-young, or malnourished, or water-starved, or...

In the post to which you're responding here I wrote: "They had the Scriptures just as we do and had to apply proper reasoning, sound hermeneutics and prayerful study to God's word just as we do, coming as best they might by these means to a right understanding of it." You'll find no place in...

John 5:24-26 24 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life. 25 "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the...

When did Jesus say this and to whom? Did he say this before or after the cross, before or after his Atonement and the "second birth" it brought to pass? Before. There was no New Covenant yet, no new life in himself that was available, only the Old Covenant and its death-dealing law-keeping...

Well, no, not quite. Good exegesis begins in the immediate context of a verse or passage from which one is most certain to derive the best understanding of the verse or passage. Having obtained from this immediate context a proper understanding of a verse or passage, one may expand to the...

??? What Jesus said was that few find the narrow gate and way, not that few remain on it. And Jesus said nothing in Matthew 7:13-14 about "staying faithful" and that only those who do "enter the Kingdom of Heaven." These are your unwarranted additions to what he said in the verses. I point this...

You can't simply form a connection between King Cyrus and King James without clear warrant for doing so in Scripture. Incidental and trivial parallels, like being a king, or paying for something from royal coffers, aren't sufficient to form reasonable warrant. On such a basis, one could argue...