A tricky saying, attributed to various and many, worth musing over: we destroy our enemies when we make them our friends. (Someone mentioned it to me this afternoon in the context of an Abraham Lincoln anecdote.)
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Do forums increase your faith?
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A tricky saying, attributed to various and many, worth musing over: we destroy our enemies when we make them our friends. (Someone mentioned it to me this afternoon in the context of an Abraham Lincoln anecdote.)
Johann
Well-Known Member
Nope.
There are more than 45,000 denominations globally. Followers of Jesus span the globe. But the global body of more than 2 billion Christians is separated into thousands of denominations. Pentecostal, Presbyterian, Lutheran, Baptist, Apostolic, Methodist — the list goes on.
makes you wonder, does it not?
J.
A while ago God gave me a picture in my mind of some allotments. After praying about it became clear that in this spiritual picture the allotment plots represented the various denominations of the Church.
Now allotments are owned by the local council and are a series of plots with one boundary where people can have their own individual plots to grow fruit and veg. People being people none of the plots are perfect as some people are better gardeners than others and have a better vision of what they hope to achieve. Some plots are neater and more productive than others but apart from a very few which are unattended and left to nature they all produce crops depending on what is planted; they all bear some kind of fruit. They all have the same purpose – to grow a crop – but individual gardeners may go about achieving that aim in completely different ways and produce completely different crops.
God showed me that the various denominations of the Christian Church are a bit like these allotments. They all belong to the one God but are tended by vastly different people. But some ‘gardeners’ – pastors - are better than others and like the allotment plots, which are all individual, they do all bear spiritual fruit to one degree or another; some abundantly and others less so; and there are also the odd ones which have been badly tended for years and just seem to grow weeds.
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
Yes, overall, I would say that Christian Forums helped to build my faith.
Many of my opponents challenged me to re-read the Scriptures again many times.
I like to reread the chapter if I can if they challenge me with a verse or passage.
I also strive to ask God for His Spirit when reading, too.
In fact, I changed on 21 theological things over the years.
What theological things were you mistaken about in your growing knowledge of God's Word?
What theological things were you mistaken about in your growing knowledge of God's Word? Here is my list. #1. I used to believe we had to follow the Old Testament laws in addition to the New Testament laws. Until one day I discovered verses that the New Covenant began with Christ's death and...
www.christianforums.com
Even those Christians who I would consider as enemies of the cross have taught me the truth on Scripture before. Why?
Because I am willing to be open with discussing the Scriptures. At least I strive to do so.
For I am constantly re-reading the Scriptures in what they say with a fresh pair of eyes or from different angles.
Granted there are some topics I am super confident in like the Trinity, the six day creation, the global flood, we are not under the 613 Laws of Moses (even though certain laws have been repeated or carried over into the New Testament).
I have talked on online forums since 2011.
The first one (TheologyOnline) was a rough place (When I used to talk there). There were a lot of MidActs Dispensationalists there and they loved to talk about how they can sin and still be saved. Christians called me Wolf, and other worse things there for my defending the faith of what the Scriptures say. At a certain point I left the forum because it was grieving my soul. From Calvinism to we can and still be save was just too much for my soul to bear without any kind of positive balance. Then I moved on to ChristianChat. It went well there but I was banned because I preached against OSAS there (using God’s Word). Then I preached at ChristianForums (under the same username Bible Highlighter). I posted there for a really long while. But when I preached strongly for how we need to have a final Word of authority (of which I believe is the King James Bible), they created a new thread rule that banned the discussion. So I was the one who was responsible for them in restricting the freedom of speech on that topic (Within that forums). So I moved over here to ChristianityBoard. ChristianForums was a good place, but it is easy to get points there if you are not careful to not upset anybody or speak to them in a way that would be regarded as hurtful to them (even when it may not be hurtful). But I was thankful I was there because it did teach me to be more restrictive with my thoughts and in being even more loving with my words. Here, I kind of let loose my thoughts a little more but I do strive to speak with love and respect. Granted, I do not always hold back my punches if a believer justifies sin or they think they can sin and still be saved by having a belief alone in Jesus as their Savior. Some may find me to be too harsh when it comes to this topic but if you were talking to convince people that doing sin is wrong they sometimes need a cold splash of water to wake them up out of their darkness or sleep.
I hope this helps, and may the Lord Jesus Christ bless you.
With loving kindness to you in Jesus Christ.
Sincerely,
~ BH.
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Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
We all like to think we are the heroes of our own story. The truth is that Jesus is the real ultimate hero if we call upon Him and seek forgiveness of our sins with Him, and we ask Him to change our lives in living for Him.
Anyways, I think there are some things that I would say that the Bible does not make clear. For we look through a glass darkly. But there are others things that I do find that the Bible is very clear on (Even when others do not see it because of their own sin or selfish ways).
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
I believe that a reliance on commentaries are dangerous if we don’t have a handle on God’s Word. I believe the best commentary is the Bible itself If we compare Scripture with Scripture. Some commentaries in Bible undoes what the Bible says sometimes. I believe the key is to ask God to send His Spirit to help us to understand His Word and we should read verses in context to the chapter and book. We should not seek to change a Bible verse just because we don’t like what it says, either. I say this because there are times when we let our our own thinking creep into the Scriptures and God‘s Word has to correct our thoughts on that.
At least that is my experience, anyways.
Johann
Well-Known Member
Brother, forgive me for being so blunt, but not all are so "spiritual as you are"
If another brother want to look up lexicons and commentaries to help him better understand the scriptures and put it into daily practice, you think the Holy Spirit will not help him?
Luk 18:10 Two men went up into the temple [enclosure] to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
Luk 18:11 The Pharisee took his stand ostentatiously and began to pray thus before and with himself: God, I thank You that I am not like the rest of men--extortioners (robbers), swindlers [unrighteous in heart and life], adulterers--or even like this tax collector here.
Luk 18:12 I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I gain.
Luk 18:13 But the tax collector, [merely] standing at a distance, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but kept striking his breast, saying, O God, be favorable (be gracious, be merciful) to me, the especially wicked sinner that I am!
Luk 18:14 I tell you, this man went down to his home justified (forgiven and made upright and in right standing with God), rather than the other man; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but he who humbles himself will be exalted.
AMPC
We don't read commentaries to illuminate scriptures, we study scriptures, and with discernment see if a commentary is good or not.
Makes sense?
Even Spurgeon said: Visit many good books...commentaries etc., but let the Bible remain the primary source.
RLT63 said:
I’m reading a little every morning and the notes shine light on the text. I’m going to start listening to sermons again too. I have so many I can go back through them and it’s like hearing them for the first time.
...and you want to discourage @RLT63 for his excitement?
J.
Bible Highlighter
Well-Known Member
I am nothing. Christ is everything. We can all understand the same way like those believers who had an anointing of the Spirit (1 John 2:27).
I am not against researching Christian articles, but one has to sift through many of them to find the right one and that is becoming more and more increasingly difficult to find good ones in these last days (Compared to a few years back). Anyways, the Bible is it’s own interpreter; Especially if you ask God for the Spirit to help you understand it. Commentaries are not Scripture, and yet some people treat them as if they are. Granted, we do not always receive understanding immediately on all verses or passages that may be difficult, but if we are faithful to being true to what God’s Word says plainly, and seeking what God’s has vs. what we want to be true, then God can speak to us through His Word clearly.
I take it you quoted this passage as if it somehow relates (When it really doesn’t).
I believe the parable is teaching the importance of being saved by God’s grace. It is either teaching how we need to first be saved by God’s grace, or it is teaching that if a Christian messes up on rare occasion, there is also grace that they can go to by confessing their sins to the Lord Jesus Christ. The Pharisee apparently did not believe in being saved by God’s grace but he appeared to make it all about righteous living alone (without God’s grace). However, this does not mean that Christians are not supposed to live righteously as a part of entering the Kingdom after they are saved by God’s grace. This parable is about one going down the wrong extreme end of the spectrum of righteous living alone without God‘s grace (Which is obviously wrong).
I am just telling you that man’s thinking from commentaries can cloud a person’s understanding on what a verse or passage is really saying. So it’s best to simply get a handle on the Word of God before one looks at a commentary. A commentary should be a last resort if one is trying to deal with a difficult text or passage. Even then… one should be a good Berean and compare Scripture with Scripture to see it is true. But most often what happens is people read the commentary and they believe it because they are impressed with this person‘s writing style or their personality and life.
Spurgeon is a Calvinist, and I disagree with Calvinism big time. So his words mean nothing to me. Now, if you quote the Bible, then we are on to something.
Johann
Well-Known Member
So where is the real ekklesia @Pearl?
I don't seem to have a hotline to heaven where God is showing me prophetically what is going to happen, what not, or ever heard His voice.
I have the Scriptures, and the Holy Spirit to illuminate certain parts of scripture, not the whole, and the amazing thing re the Scriptures is that if you read, say the account in Matt 25, it is pretty self explanatory, yet a week later something new is to be found, in the same passage, and again a month later.
J.
I have found that to be true also, and it's wonderful when that happens.
Not sure what you mean by that but if you mean the One True Church it is the body of Christ, the body of all truly born-again believers. Not just those who believe in God - because even satan believes in God - but those who have, by faith, accepted Jesus as Lord and Saviour from whatever denomination or none, from whatever nation or race. They are the true Church, the ones who have God's Spirit within.
I agree and there are those on this forum who claim their denomination is the one true Church. They are so deceived.
Space_Karen
Well-Known Member
Personal experiences with atheists who tend to be angry, destructive, untrustworthy, rude and emotional.
Could only reinforce my belief in God.
Discussing religion incentivizes me to learn and expand my knowledge. Encouraging growth and development. I've learned a lot attempting to defend the faith. Hopefully that means I'm more like the servant who safeguarded his master's shekels by multiplying them. Rather than the one who buried them instead.
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Johann
Well-Known Member
What I get from this parable is pride, and pride is lurking everywhere, even in most believers, and I include myself since we are to examine ourselves, daily.
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Johann
Well-Known Member
P
The devout observed three prayer times daily--9 a.m., 12 midday and 3 p.m. Prayer was held to be specially efficacious if it was offered in the Temple and so at these hours many went up to the Temple courts to pray. Jesus told of two men who went.
(i) There was a Pharisee. He did not really go to pray to God. He prayed with himself. True prayer is always offered to God and to God alone. A certain American cynically described a preacher's prayer as "the most eloquent prayer ever offered to a Boston audience." The Pharisee was really giving himself a testimonial before God.
The Jewish law prescribed only one absolutely obligatory fast--that on the day of Atonement. But those who wished to gain special merit fasted also on Mondays and Thursdays. It is noteworthy that these were the market days when Jerusalem was full of country people. Those who fasted whitened their faces and appeared in dishevelled clothes, and those days gave their piety the biggest possible audience. The Levites were to receive a tithe of all a man's produce (Num_18:21; Deu_14:22). But this Pharisee tithed everything, even things which there was no obligation to tithe.
His whole attitude was not untypical of the worst in Pharisaism. There is a recorded prayer of a certain Rabbi which runs like this, "I thank, Thee, O Lord my God, that thou hast put my part with those who sit in the Academy, and not with those who sit at the street-corners. For I rise early, and they rise early; I rise early to the words of the law, and they to vain things. I labour, and they labour; I labour and receive a reward, and they labour and receive no reward. I run, and they run; I run to the life of the world to come, and they to the pit of destruction." It is on record that Rabbi Simeon ben Jocai once said, "If there are only two righteous men in the world, I and my son are these two; if there is only one, I am he!"
The Pharisee did not really go to pray; he went to inform God how good he was.
(ii) There was a tax-collector. He stood afar off, and would not even lift his eyes to God. The King James and Revised Standard Versions do not even do justice to his humility for he actually prayed, "O God, be merciful to me--the sinner," as if he was not merely a sinner, but the sinner par excellence. "And," said Jesus, "it was that heart-broken, self-despising prayer which won him acceptance before God."
This parable unmistakably tells us certain things about prayer.
(i) No man who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save upon his knees. All that a man can say is,
"None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other Hope in heaven or earth or sea,
None other Hiding-place from guilt and shame,
None beside Thee."
(ii) No man who despises his fellow-men can pray. In prayer we do not lift ourselves above our fellow-men. We remember that we are one of a great army of sinning, suffering, sorrowing humanity, all kneeling before the throne of God's mercy.
(iii) True prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God. No doubt all that the Pharisee said was true. He did fast; he did meticulously give tithes; he was not as other men are; still less was he like that tax-collector. But the question is not, "Am I as good as my fellow-men?" The question is, "Am I as good as God?" Once I made a journey by train to England. As we passed through the Yorkshire moors I saw a little whitewashed cottage and it seemed to me to shine with an almost radiant whiteness. Some days later I made the journey back to Scotland. The snow had fallen and was lying deep all around. We came again to the little white cottage, but this time its whiteness seemed drab and soiled and almost grey in comparison with the virgin whiteness of the driven snow.
It all depends what we compare ourselves with. And when we set our lives beside the life of Jesus and beside the holiness of God, all that is left to say is, "God be merciful to me--the sinner."
DSB
J.
Pride
The devout observed three prayer times daily--9 a.m., 12 midday and 3 p.m. Prayer was held to be specially efficacious if it was offered in the Temple and so at these hours many went up to the Temple courts to pray. Jesus told of two men who went.
(i) There was a Pharisee. He did not really go to pray to God. He prayed with himself. True prayer is always offered to God and to God alone. A certain American cynically described a preacher's prayer as "the most eloquent prayer ever offered to a Boston audience." The Pharisee was really giving himself a testimonial before God.
The Jewish law prescribed only one absolutely obligatory fast--that on the day of Atonement. But those who wished to gain special merit fasted also on Mondays and Thursdays. It is noteworthy that these were the market days when Jerusalem was full of country people. Those who fasted whitened their faces and appeared in dishevelled clothes, and those days gave their piety the biggest possible audience. The Levites were to receive a tithe of all a man's produce (Num_18:21; Deu_14:22). But this Pharisee tithed everything, even things which there was no obligation to tithe.
His whole attitude was not untypical of the worst in Pharisaism. There is a recorded prayer of a certain Rabbi which runs like this, "I thank, Thee, O Lord my God, that thou hast put my part with those who sit in the Academy, and not with those who sit at the street-corners. For I rise early, and they rise early; I rise early to the words of the law, and they to vain things. I labour, and they labour; I labour and receive a reward, and they labour and receive no reward. I run, and they run; I run to the life of the world to come, and they to the pit of destruction." It is on record that Rabbi Simeon ben Jocai once said, "If there are only two righteous men in the world, I and my son are these two; if there is only one, I am he!"
The Pharisee did not really go to pray; he went to inform God how good he was.
(ii) There was a tax-collector. He stood afar off, and would not even lift his eyes to God. The King James and Revised Standard Versions do not even do justice to his humility for he actually prayed, "O God, be merciful to me--the sinner," as if he was not merely a sinner, but the sinner par excellence. "And," said Jesus, "it was that heart-broken, self-despising prayer which won him acceptance before God."
This parable unmistakably tells us certain things about prayer.
(i) No man who is proud can pray. The gate of heaven is so low that none can enter it save upon his knees. All that a man can say is,
"None other Lamb, none other Name,
None other Hope in heaven or earth or sea,
None other Hiding-place from guilt and shame,
None beside Thee."
(ii) No man who despises his fellow-men can pray. In prayer we do not lift ourselves above our fellow-men. We remember that we are one of a great army of sinning, suffering, sorrowing humanity, all kneeling before the throne of God's mercy.
(iii) True prayer comes from setting our lives beside the life of God. No doubt all that the Pharisee said was true. He did fast; he did meticulously give tithes; he was not as other men are; still less was he like that tax-collector. But the question is not, "Am I as good as my fellow-men?" The question is, "Am I as good as God?" Once I made a journey by train to England. As we passed through the Yorkshire moors I saw a little whitewashed cottage and it seemed to me to shine with an almost radiant whiteness. Some days later I made the journey back to Scotland. The snow had fallen and was lying deep all around. We came again to the little white cottage, but this time its whiteness seemed drab and soiled and almost grey in comparison with the virgin whiteness of the driven snow.
It all depends what we compare ourselves with. And when we set our lives beside the life of Jesus and beside the holiness of God, all that is left to say is, "God be merciful to me--the sinner."
DSB
J.
Johann
Well-Known Member
Contents: Christ’s advocacy for the believer. Tests of fellowship, obedience and love. Warning against worldliness and apostates.
Characters: God, Christ, John, Satan, anti-christ.
Conclusion: To know God and the power of His love is impossible without practical observance of His Word, which means that we must seek to walk as Christ walked, in love toward our fellowmen and in separation from the things of the world. To profess to know God and yet deny Jesus as the Christ is to brand oneself as given up to the delusions of the devil.
Key Word: Knowing Him, 1Jn_2:3.
Strong Verses: 1Jn_2:1, 1Jn_2:2, 1Jn_2:6, 1Jn_2:15, 1Jn_2:17, 1Jn_2:22, 1Jn_2:23.
Striking Facts: 1Jn_2:1.
Even the most advanced believers have their sins, but there is a distinction between them and the sinners of the world, for the former have an Advocate in heaven. As they have had Christ’s blood applied to them upon their acceptance of Him, so they have an Advocate to procure their continued forgiveness as they confess their sins.
Summarized Bible
J.
Johann
Well-Known Member
Nancy
Well-Known Member
A brother on here suggested the NET "full Notes" study bible. I just ordered a 3x magnifier today!... as the notes are pretty small.
This is a site that gives some good information on this bible:
NET Bible - New English Translation with full notes on translation, text and background.
NET Bible - New English Translation with full notes on translation, text and background.
Johann
Well-Known Member
A brother on here suggested the NET "full Notes" study bible. I just ordered a 3x magnifier today!... as the notes are pretty small.
This is a site that gives some good information on this bible:
NET Bible - New English Translation with full notes on translation, text and background.
NET Bible - New English Translation with full notes on translation, text and background.www.stepbible.org
Thank you for the link @Nancy, what book are you studying?
I will look this Bible up, always hungry for more of God's word.
May our Lord richly bless you and family in all spheres of your lives.
Shalom
J.
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