The biblical truth is a dialectical equation

[Heart2Soul]

The concept of "self" as an independent being with unloving desires and lusts is confusing since it's not really true except in our minds. I think it is a "false self" in fact. It's fiction, but it's a fiction that can hypnotize and enslave us. The "true self" is godly since it is Spirit, part of God Himself.

This "false self" can be said to have its own will too -- but that too is an illusion. I call it the "false will." The person who tells himself he wants to sin isn't in his right mind. That is not really what he wants to do; but if he believes this is an evil world and he has to be evil to survive, he can convince himself he needs to sin.

You write of three years. That sounds right. Paul spent his three years. . . . When the heart turns to God and craves to return to a pure state (from which it fell), God begins to show that person the delusions and follies of the past.

You write of being humbled. That is wonderful. Thanks to God for blessing you so. What is humility? I think it's being honest and factual, even about ourselves. No amount of lying or denying is going to change the state of the human heart if it's given to follies we could call wickedness. Pride is the worst enemy since pride is fiction, unreal. It is a blessing then when someone is ready to accept the correction of his heart by God. What is wrong can be made right. There is no more need to pretend everything's fine while we deny another part of us is trembling knowing all is not fine.

Hebrews 12:6 For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.

Revelation 3:19 As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.

Humility makes it possible for the person who was wrong to become right, and that person rejoices when he finds out where he was wrong since he can be what he always wanted to be -- someone who wants to love and be loved. It is interesting then that the Hebrew word for "repent" also means "comfort."

There can also be a point to not having any human teacher. Human teachers serve their purpose, to be sure; but there can some a time when God knows someone is ready to stand on his own, to find out things for himself, and having human help at that point might short-circuit things. The person may be glad to hear the helpful words from others, but sometimes everything gets pulled out from under him like a rug so he depends more and more on God. Only God knows when the person is ready for this test.

You hit all my heart strings....I am so touched and moved by your wisdom and truth and it has me crying a river. I can only believe the Holy Spirit put these words in you to speak to me because it is too spot on and hit the nail on the head. You see me...
God Bless You @Giuliano
And Praise unto you my Father....Praise, Glory and Honor....I give to you, Lord.....I want You and only You to be Glorified in this.
Thank you, Abba,Father.

 

[Paul Christensen]

So...if none are righteous according to a few verses in the bible...how do we end up with this? Both are recorded in the NT (Real answers only please)

Romans 3:10
10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one:

maybe Luke didn't get the memo???

Luke 1:6
6 And they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.

Real explanations only...

There is no contradiction here. Zachariah and Elizabeth were following the faith of Abraham who believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. They were looking to the Messiah to come as the foundation of their faith, following the requirements of the Law blamelessly and offering the appropriate offerings for sin as required in the Law. Therefore, through their faith and their absolute observance to the Law, there were counted as righteous before God. We have to remember that it was the Holy Spirit who spoke through Luke, and there is no contradiction with Him.

The same Holy Spirit spoke through Paul in Romans 3:10. Let's look at it in context:
"
What shall we conclude then? Do we have any advantage? Not at all! For we have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under the power of sin. 10 As it is written:

“There is no one righteous, not even one;

11 there is no one who understands;
there is no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away,
they have together become worthless;
there is no one who does good,
not even one.”
13 “Their throats are open graves;
their tongues practice deceit.”[c]
“The poison of vipers is on their lips.”[d]
14 “Their mouths are full of cursing and bitterness.”[e]
15 “Their feet are swift to shed blood;
16 ruin and misery mark their ways,
17 and the way of peace they do not know.”[f]
18 “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”
This is in a totally different context. Paul is showing the natural state of mankind, both Jew and Gentile, to show that before God there is no advantage to being a Jew over a Gentile as far as the gospel of Christ is concerned. Both Jew and Gentile have to be converted to Christ in the same way.

Luke's record of Zachariah and Elizabeth is narrative to describe their personal faith in God, in the coming Messiah and their observance as Old Covenant believers under the Law. Being blameless under the Law meant following the external rules only. It did not include their thoughts, which Jesus that God's expectation of true righteousness was not only following the external rules of the Law but to follow God's moral law in their hearts. But for those observing them under the requirements of the Law, they would be seen as righteous and blameless. Paul said himself that while he was a Pharisee, he was blameless in his observance to the Law, but when he was converted to Christ, he realised that he wasn't righteous before God at all and needed to have a better righteousness - the righteousness of God in Christ.

So, you can't take two separate verses of Scripture from two separate context, cobble them together and say that one contradicts the other. It shows an insufficient certainty that it is the Holy Spirit who inspired both Luke and Paul to write what they did.

"For prophecy never had its origin in the human will, but prophets, though human, spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit" (2 Peter 1:21).

 

[Giuliano]

I don't agree that what you're trying to say about Hebrews 10:26 is true.
The sin mentioned at Hebrews 10:26-29 does not apply to one from which the sinner is able to repent in sincere grief, appealing to God through Jesus for divine mercy. The sinner has actually renounced the Son of God as his savior and esteemed his sacrifice as having no redeeming value.—Compare Hebrews 6:4-6.

Such a person is sinning against accurate knowledge and the operation of God’s holy spirit, and there is no possibility of his repenting and availing himself of God’s provision for salvation through Christ. God has made no other means available for saving such a willful sinner.
Exercising faith in the sacrifice of God's Only Begotten Son Jesus Christ is the foundation of a Christians walk of faith. If a person has learned through the scriptures that in order to be saved one must exercise faith in the sacrifice that God's Only Begotten Son has done for mankind so much so that he/she gets baptized and starts walking that Christian walk but then for some reason has decided that the sacrifice of God's Only Begotten Son isn't needed to be saved and he/she is practicing this way of life then there's nothing that God has provided to save such a person. Such persons I don't believe would try to ask God for repentance since they genuinely don't believe such a sacrifice is needed. These kind of people aren't truly repentant I don't think. The point is one of the first things you must do is accept in faith that the sacrifice of God's Only Begotten Son is necessary to be saved. God doesn't hide this kind of information. It's necessary information for a person to know in order to get baptized. If such a person doesn't accept this from the beginning of searching for the truth then such a person shouldn't be getting baptized in the first place.

You appear to have strong opinions, but you fail to convince me. You make things too complicated, I think.

I understand returning evil for evil and good for good. That's the way of the world. I also understand returning good for evil -- the world can be made a better place when we do that. What I cannot understand is when someone returns viciousness for kindness. This is a monster who sees good people as prey.

You waste your time showing him love. The more you love this kind of monster, the worse he can become. If someone is a swine and you throw your pearls in front of him, you tempt him to yet another sin since odds are he'll attack you. You as a saint can recover from that attack; but will he recover from the sin of attacking you when you tried to show kindness?

Note that Hebrews does say the person who offends this way is necessarily damned. It says Jesus isn't going to help him again. He can pay his own debts if he wants the situation fixed. If he doesn't want to pay himself (and many don't), then I guess he will be damned or turned over to the tormentors until he pays for his sins himself. You know the story about the servant who was forgiven of his debt but who then refused to forgive someone else so I don't need to quote the entire passage.

Matthew 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

 

[Giuliano]

You hit all my heart strings....I am so touched and moved by your wisdom and truth and it has me crying a river. I can only believe the Holy Spirit put these words in you to speak to me because it is too spot on and hit the nail on the head. You see me...
God Bless You @Giuliano
And Praise unto you my Father....Praise, Glory and Honor....I give to you, Lord.....I want You and only You to be Glorified in this.
Thank you, Abba,Father.

I rejoice that you understood me. It is like a sign from God that there is hope in this world.

 

[BARNEY BRIGHT]

You appear to have strong opinions, but you fail to convince me. You make things too complicated, I think.

I understand returning evil for evil and good for good. That's the way of the world. I also understand returning good for evil -- the world can be made a better place when we do that. What I cannot understand is when someone returns viciousness for kindness. This is a monster who sees good people as prey.

You waste your time showing him love. The more you love this kind of monster, the worse he can become. If someone is a swine and you throw your pearls in front of him, you tempt him to yet another sin since odds are he'll attack you. You as a saint can recover from that attack; but will he recover from the sin of attacking you when you tried to show kindness?

Note that Hebrews does say the person who offends this way is necessarily damned. It says Jesus isn't going to help him again. He can pay his own debts if he wants the situation fixed. If he doesn't want to pay himself (and many don't), then I guess he will be damned or turned over to the tormentors until he pays for his sins himself. You know the story about the servant who was forgiven of his debt but who then refused to forgive someone else so I don't need to quote the entire passage.

Matthew 18:32 Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me:
33 Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?
34 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.
35 So likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their trespasses.

I believe we should show love for everyone as Jesus Christ did when he sacrificed his human life for mankind even though we were his enemies. Look at the way the world treated and killed Jesus. I think that was a monstrous way to die yet Jesus said to God his father, "forgive them for they know not what they do."

 

[Giuliano]

I believe we should show love for everyone as Jesus Christ did when he sacrificed his human life for mankind even though we were his enemies. Look at the way the world treated and killed Jesus. I think that was a monstrous way to die yet Jesus said to God his father, "forgive them for they know not what they do."

That raises the question of how far should we go in trying to be like him. He said:

Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

I think maybe some people say they believe Jesus loves them but don't really know it. If they knew it, really knew it, they would be driven to become more like him. They would know the Power of Love, trust in it and want everyone else to know it too.

 

[BARNEY BRIGHT]

That raises the question of how far should we go in trying to be like him. He said:

Matthew 10:38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me.

I think maybe some people say they believe Jesus loves them but don't really know it. If they knew it, really knew it, they would be driven to become more like him. They would know the Power of Love, trust in it and want everyone else to know it too.

The scriptures do tell us to follow Jesus steps closely. Don't you think though that if the congregation(church) knew Jesus loved them and the congregation truly knew that, the congregation, not just an individual or a few individuals would strive to be more like Jesus. Yet, I don't see these churches that say their Jesus followers truly being like Jesus. So is it truly The True Church?

 

[Giuliano]

The scriptures do tell us to follow Jesus steps closely. Don't you think though that if the congregation(church) knew Jesus loved them and the congregation truly knew that, the congregation, not just an individual or a few individuals would strive to be more like Jesus. Yet, I don't see these churches that say their Jesus followers truly being like Jesus. So is it truly The True Church?

By their fruits you will know them. Let every man judge for himself, I guess, if he is in the True Church.