aspen
“"The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few
Well, i guess it depends....is Christianity defined by the quality of your heart or by doctrine?
How do you respond to "Christians are hypocrites"?
- Thread starter friend of
- Start date
-
Welcome to Christian Forums, a Christian Forum that recognizes that all Christians are a work in progress.
You will need to register to be able to join in fellowship with Christians all over the world.
We hope to see you as a part of our community soon and God Bless!
Well, i guess it depends....is Christianity defined by the quality of your heart or by doctrine?
quietthinker
Well-Known Member
quietthinker
Well-Known Member
As i said, I believe Jesus died for my sins and was resurrected. He promised and I trust, its as basic as that. His spirit dwells with and in me. How do I know that? because I have a love for righteousness and he protects me from temptation and sin. I ask for his protection daily even hourly....its nothing less than miraculous.
The quality of the heart is sinful by nature, and can only be changed through the acceptance of sound doctrine.
Jer 17:9, The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Eze 36:25, Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean: from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you.
Eze 36:26, A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.
Eze 36:27, And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.
Luk 8:15, But that on the good ground are they, which in an honest and good heart, having heard the word, keep it, and bring forth fruit with patience.
1Ti 4:16, Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them that hear thee.
Last edited:
However, Jesus was God, and sinless by nature.
2Co 5:21, For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Heb 4:15, For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
1Pe 2:21, For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps:
1Pe 2:22, Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth:
1Jo 3:5, And ye know that he was manifested to take away our sins; and in him is no sin.
Yes we are called to follow in His steps; but how can we do that since we are sinful and He is holy?
Thoughts and opinions?
Last edited:
Of course not.
Act 3:12, And when Peter saw it, he answered unto the people, Ye men of Israel, why marvel ye at this? or why look ye so earnestly on us, as though by our own power or holiness we had made this man to walk?
Jas 5:17, Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.
Gal 5:17, For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
1Th 5:23, And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1Th 5:24, Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it.
Heb 10:14, For by one offering he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified.
1Jo 3:9, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.
Jde 1:24, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy,
2Pe 1:10, Wherefore the rather, brethren, give diligence to make your calling and election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall never fall:
1Jo 2:10, He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
In 1 John 3:9, John may indeed be using hyperbole to make the point that there will be a change of nature and character when a man is born again. He who is born again has changed his direction from being towards sin, hell, and death to being towards righteousness, life, and heaven.
Pro 4:18, But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day.
Eph 2:3, Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.
Luk 13:1, There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luk 13:2, And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?
Luk 13:3, I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Luk 13:4, Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
Luk 13:5, I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
Not sure what you are trying to say with all that verbosity. (Just quoting a bunch of verses can 'mean' almost anything various people choose to decide it means.) But, we are NOT just "changed". We are not Robots. Our desires certainly change, but not always the rest of us. The next time you aren't perfect in your thoughts or actions, you might ponder that point. (And it probably just now occurred as you read my post. LOL)
2Co 3:12, Seeing then that we have such hope, we use great plainness of speech:
In case you don't understand what that means, it means that you can take the scriptures at face value, because the apostles of our Lord spoke plainly in their epistles and in their everyday speech; also consider the following:
2Pe 1:20, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21, For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
I pray that the Spirit of truth will bear witness to your heart what is the plain meaning of these scriptures (as well as the scriptures in my previous post).
I find it rather amusing that people expect others to understand what they are saying to them, when they do not give the Lord the same ability in their minds to speak plainly enough so as to be understood.
If you say to me, "Meet me at the Del Taco in San Pedro (and there is only one in San Pedro currently) at 8:00pm tomorrow night," and I said, "okay," you have a right to be mad at me if I don't show up, saying, "but I thought you said to meet me at Point Fermin."
Was there miscommunication?
"But I took you as figuratively saying that you wanted to meet me at Point Fermin, because Point Fermin is an allegory for Del Taco."
Do you see how ridiculous this is?
.
.
.
btw, I certainly do not claim to be sinless; only that the scriptures that I gave in an above post (#129) are valid.
If you want to know what is meant by them, you are certainly capable of asking the Holy Spirit.
He is the Spirit of truth, so if you have communication with Him you will not be led into a lie; you will find the singular and correct interpretation of what the Holy Spirit means by the message.
If you do not have communication with Him, then I suggest you heed the following:
Deu 4:29, But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Jer 29:13, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
PS If you don't understand what I am saying to you by all of this, say it to God on your day of judgment and see how that flies with Him.
In case you don't understand what that means, it means that you can take the scriptures at face value, because the apostles of our Lord spoke plainly in their epistles and in their everyday speech; also consider the following:
2Pe 1:20, Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation.
2Pe 1:21, For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
I pray that the Spirit of truth will bear witness to your heart what is the plain meaning of these scriptures (as well as the scriptures in my previous post).
I find it rather amusing that people expect others to understand what they are saying to them, when they do not give the Lord the same ability in their minds to speak plainly enough so as to be understood.
If you say to me, "Meet me at the Del Taco in San Pedro (and there is only one in San Pedro currently) at 8:00pm tomorrow night," and I said, "okay," you have a right to be mad at me if I don't show up, saying, "but I thought you said to meet me at Point Fermin."
Was there miscommunication?
"But I took you as figuratively saying that you wanted to meet me at Point Fermin, because Point Fermin is an allegory for Del Taco."
Do you see how ridiculous this is?
.
.
.
btw, I certainly do not claim to be sinless; only that the scriptures that I gave in an above post (#129) are valid.
If you want to know what is meant by them, you are certainly capable of asking the Holy Spirit.
He is the Spirit of truth, so if you have communication with Him you will not be led into a lie; you will find the singular and correct interpretation of what the Holy Spirit means by the message.
If you do not have communication with Him, then I suggest you heed the following:
Deu 4:29, But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.
Jer 29:13, And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
PS If you don't understand what I am saying to you by all of this, say it to God on your day of judgment and see how that flies with Him.
Last edited:
We are changed from being dogs and/or swine to being sheep. Sheep do not have an affinity to vomit and/or mud.
We are made new creatures in Christ.
Scriptures:
2Pe 2:22, But it is happened unto them according to the true proverb, The dog is turned to his own vomit again; and the sow that was washed to her wallowing in the mire.
2Co 5:17, Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.
Last edited:
Apply this to the above promises:
Rom 4:20, He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;
Rom 4:21, And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.
Rom 4:22, And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness.
Last edited:
The ridiculousness is hearing (reading) that I will meet you at the Taco Place "soon", and deciding that means I will meet you there more than 2,000 years from now... and then claiming you take things literally.
@Willie T, do you believe in Jesus?
Scripture interprets scripture...the obvious answer to that objection is that the with the Lord a day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a day.
Our understanding grows over time; and the Lord will get you right on the essentials the moment you enter into a relationship with Him.
If I read in my Bible that Jesus is coming soon today and He comes tomorrow then He did indeed come soon from my perspective...God certainly wasn't lying to me.
For the person who lived 2,00 years ago He came for them the moment that they took their last breath. Still "soon". God wasn't lying to them either.
For the person who lived 2,00 years ago He came for them the moment that they took their last breath. Still "soon". God wasn't lying to them either.
JBF, you can play all the word games you wish, but the fact is that anywhere else in the Bible, "soon" is "soon." Many people simply try to put a twist on that word in this particular and deliberately isolated instance so that it will hopefully fit their preconceived notion.
You arrogantly questioned if I believed God. "Yes", I do. He said He was showing John the coming into the world — with the destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish worship system — of God's new system in Christ. But many hope to make that literal promise to the people of those seven churches into a hocus-pocus crystal ball.
God told them the new system was coming soon — and it did. In fact, within a handful of years after Revelation was written in about 66 AD.
Similar threads
