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How could He have been a man "just like us"? He was born of a virgin!

You have some very strange ideas about Protestant beliefs. I find it illogical that a Catholic can believe in the immaculate conception of Mary yet won't allow us to believe in the immaculate conception of Jesus.

In my Bible He says both.

Dear Ed - you need to learn some Greek grammar. These aren't "five words" for God. It's one word - θεος - in different forms (cases). And none of the ones you have listed is plural! They are not all pronounced the same, either. You have missed El-Shaddai out of your Hebrew list.

Our flesh may not have been created evil, but it's definitely fallen now. "The flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other..." (Galatians 5:17) "Those who are in the realm of the flesh cannot please God."...

Josho, it's very hard to tell whether someone is worrying or not, just from the face they show to the public. As you say, Joel Osteen "always seems to be getting through life in a breeze" - but "seems" is a key word here. Even ordinary people can go smiling to church when in reality they are...

Did they believe only in a "visionary Jesus"? How do you come to that conclusion? Peter had spent much time with the "historical" Jesus, as the gospels tell us (even though they were written down later). Paul was converted only a year or two after Jesus' death and may well have seen Him 'in the...

Who says that people have to confess their sins every day? That sounds a bit excessive to me - unless you're really struggling with a major problem like drug addiction. I've never met any Christian who has admitted to doing it that often!

Josho, this may sound a bit pedantic, but... I wasn't implying that faith is limited to salvation. We can appropriate all kinds of things by faith, if God wants to give them to us. As you have listed, there are many passages in the Bible that encourage us to pray in faith. I was just pointing...

But that isn't what Hebrews 4:2 is about. "We also have had the good news proclaimed to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them because those who heard did not combine it with faith." The 'word' is God's promise of salvation, first spoken to the Exodus...

Cornelius was saved before he was baptised, but not before he met Peter. The angel had said to him, "Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He will bring you a message through which you and all your household will be saved." (Acts 11:13,14) So his good works pre-dated his conversion!

Because it was irrelevant and did not require replying to.

But that's not what I said, is it? The Holy Spirit is not given to those who merely claim to be Christians.

Cornelius did 'good works' before he became a Christian - and God took note of them (Acts 10:1-4).

All Christ's churches have imperfections and flaws. These vary from church to church. Some are bigger than others. Maybe intensely persecuted churches tend to be 'purer'. The failures of the churches are corporate failures, so I'm not sure how personal the application can be. But we should all...

The very first (and therefore the most important thing?) that we are told about the 144,000 is that they have been sealed. What is God's seal of ownership? The Holy Spirit (II Corinthians 1:22; Ephesians 1:13), given to all genuine Christians. So the 144,000 are Christians - nothing more...

It's good that your husband likes you as you are. But perhaps you should ask your doctor if you need to lose weight for health reasons. Nice things like wine and chocolate are great in moderation - but how much of them are you eating?

It's the human being who is the prophet. But behind the prophet is a spirit of some kind. We are told to 'test' or 'weigh' prophecies (I Corinthians 14:29), but this can also be described as 'testing the spirits' (I John 4:1) . One individual prophet can sometimes speak the truth and sometimes...

It's more complicated than just whether or not a prophecy 'comes true'. God often sent prophets to warn the people of what would happen if they didn't repent. Usually they ignored the prophet, and the threatened disaster did happen. But if they did repent (as Nineveh did), then it wouldn't...

We may be inhabiting different 'cultures' as well. I'm thankful that my introduction to the charismatic movement was very 'low-key'. It was in a small group meeting, and there was no pressure for anyone to say or do anything unless they were very sure that it was from the Holy Spirit...