Religious Topics and Questions

[gillman7]

Is it God's will for me to sin? No, it is not and so therefore I must have free will. If I did not then I would not sin. The problem is that I sin everyday.

Actually that is a perfect example of why we don't have free will. Adam had free will, he sinned willingly. We sin because it is in our fallen nature to sin, and we will choose to do what our nature dictates without the intervention of a Holy God. Your will is bound to your sin nature, sanctification is a process, just as I believe salvation is. Sanctification is an ongoing part of our reconciliation to God. Our sins are paid by Christ's sacrifice, we are in the instant of salvation, holy in God's eyes. However we still live in a fallen state, and our desire begins within us to reconcile ourselves to Him.

People confuse Freedom of Choice, with Free Will. All men are free to make any choice they want. However they will only choose according to their nature apart from the on going work of the Holy Spirit in their lives. We are exhorted time and again to make your choices, "Choose you this day", but no where does it say that we have a free will. Actually it says the opposite, "The heart is deceitfully wicked, who can know it" "Lean not to your own understanding" those are both snippets, but you understand the direction Scripture is showing us. Again, it is not what you and I want to believe, it is what Truth is, objective and unbending no matter what we want it to say.

Well, there's 3 possible options for "hell," in the scriptures.

Tartaroo
Geenna
hades

All different names, different words but yet somehow they all define "hell."

There's very good reasoning behind them not being anything close to that.

Sorry Mad, I didn't understand this one. Good reasoning behind them not being anything close to what? Not being smart aleck, just late and I am not reading clearly I think. Can you explain?

 

[MaddSkillz]

So, your saying that God's own Son could not complete the work on His own and what He did is not enough? If that is the case then what could I do to add to it?

Apparently not, since one must believe to finish the plan of salvation... Kinda undoes what Jesus said on the cross when He said, "it is finished," doesn't it?

Salvation is a gift. That's it, it's that simple. There's nothing you can do to take just .0000001% of the credit for your own salvation. That even saying, "I chose to believe the right way" isn't yours. We can take no credit. Zero. It was finished just as Jesus said it was whether we believe or not.

Ephesians 1:10
All in Heaven and on Earth shall be headed up in Christ.

 

[MaddSkillz]

Gotta go to bed now.... Here's another great verse.

1 Corinthians 15:22-27
For as in Adam all die, so in Christ all will be made alive. 23But each in his own turn: Christ, the firstfruits; then, when he comes, those who belong to him. 24Then the end will come, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father after he has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. 25For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. 26The last enemy to be destroyed is death. 27For he “has put everything under his feet.”c Now when it says that “everything” has been put under him, it is clear that this does not include God himself, who put everything under Christ. 28When he has done this, then the Son himself will be made subject to him who put everything under him, so that God may be all in all.

 

[gillman7]

Apparently not, since one must believe to finish the plan of salvation... Kinda undoes what Jesus said on the cross when He said, "it is finished," doesn't it?

Salvation is a gift. That's it, it's that simple. There's nothing you can do to take just .0000001% of the credit for your own salvation. That even saying, "I chose to believe the right way" isn't yours. We can take no credit. Zero. It was finished just as Jesus said it was whether we believe or not.

Ephesians 1:10
All in Heaven and on Earth shall be headed up in Christ.

I would add that we need to read verse 9 in the same chapter as well to determine if it is all people without exception, or all of those whom he purposed to save?

 

[BadBadJohn]

Apparently not, since one must believe to finish the plan of salvation... Kinda undoes what Jesus said on the cross when He said, "it is finished," doesn't it?

Salvation is a gift. That's it, it's that simple. There's nothing you can do to take just .0000001% of the credit for your own salvation. That even saying, "I chose to believe the right way" isn't yours. We can take no credit. Zero. It was finished just as Jesus said it was whether we believe or not.Ephesians 1:10
All in Heaven and on Earth shall be headed up in Christ.

The following takes place after his resurrection...... "And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned. Mark 16:15-16

When he said, "It is finished", all he was saying is that HIS work on earth was finished which God had sent him to do. He reigns over his kingdom now and when he comes again, all earth (as we know it today) will be destroyed by fire, and there will be a new heaven and a new earth.

This information is given to us in the Bible. Search it out.

 

[benjamin-benjamin]

got to go to work so can't type a long reply but, when he said it is finished to say that "everything is done" so to speak is way out of context, why the rest of the NT, why send the apostles out to preach to all the world, etc... i would suggest that ya'll look at the laws of theology before trying to tackle some of these subjects, you cannot take vague verses that are "unclear" such as "it is finished" and then apply it to the clear (book of james, Hebrews etc...), that clearly state works is the outpouring of our faith (not the earning of our salvation) along with the fact that Jesus continually harps on "fruits" as does the NT. If i say i love my wife and yet i never do anything loving towards her, i cannot make that claim.....


the issue is that we can go back and forth each posting different scriptures to support different ideas, but due to the law of non contradiction, something cannot be A and not A.... meaning the only conclusion that you can come to is the one that does not contradict other parts of the bible. Meaning if you have a belief that says Faith only, another that says Works only and another that says Faith and works go together the same way you have to have both sides of a dollar bill for it to be worth something.... the only conclusion that is valid is the last one (unless you want to pull a martin luther and say hebrew, james and all the other passages "aren't really part of God's word!!)

 

[Rob72]

Anyone know what the oldest known "religion" is? The snake cult. Interesting, given the account in Genesis. Snake cults essentially say that the Serpent is the Revelator, and the giver of knowledge. hmmm... There are "so many religions" because poeple like to be stroked, and because a Good Liar will always stroke you the way you like it. His story line fits with our predispositions.

Regarding denominations, look at the analogy of the Body of Christ. Clearly, an elbow can't function like your lungs. In the same way, we do not all experience intimacy (with God) in the same fashion. Some of us are more ritualistic, some more emotional, some intellectual, with a huge spread across the board. In this context, theology is an accomodation of vthe human psyche- God takes us as individuals, but as individuals, we share common traits with others, ergo, he have sub-cultures in worship, or denominations.

As far as the general debates on God's intentions, and free will, remember, this requires a "Theory of Everything". The Watchmaker theory fits poorly because God clearly intervenes; the Director theory does not fit well because we do in fact have choice. In trying to understand God's design, we have to be looking at the way EVERYTHING relates, from psychology and mathmatics to economics and geology. Selecting pieces of scriptutre, and not relating them to the world we live in devolves into the age old denominational arguments.

Fundamentally, for me, free will is something like this: a 27 year old, living in Momma's basement, all bills paid, has complete free will. A 27 y/o whose parent(s) are directing them to learn a trade/get an education, and requiring them to work/get back on their feet, also has free will, but there is a structure and direction that will happen, with or without the 27 y/o's "consent". Functional family structures reflect a positive relationship with God. (Wheter or not you/they believe in God, and this is far more adequately addressed by CS Lewis.)

St. Farncis of Assisi had some excellent writings on the relationship between science and Christianity.

 

[Rob72]

...and to carry on with the faith-works discussion. The same necessity applies. All the "faith" in the world is meaningless to anyone but that individual believer, unless works are directed by that faith (see the parable of the talents).

IMO, some degree of faith is hard-wired (measure of faith as given by God...) and this results from our parents, their parents, etc.,etc.. Obviously, this will be effected by choices in mate-selection.

In turn, the society, and particularly the sub-culture, an individual grows into will nurture a belief system, secular or theological, and this is more choice, but the degree of choice (ability to break from or adhere to a social norm) is hard-wired to a degree.

"Sins of the father carried unto the seventh generation..." Seven generations being about the minimum to remove a genetic variance. Bear in mind that traumatic experiences alter our hormones, which (depending on timing, duration, and severity of hormonal response) may alter our DNA- it isn't just sex, our works induce physiological responses in ourselves and others.

Point of all that being, to be healthy and happy, we are far better off having our works directed by faith.

 

[Droberts]

i think if anyone, regardless of age, race, sex, religious affiliation, & the era in which he/she existed, believes in a single religion to a point where they accept that its doctrine has a real possibility of actually being true, then one must also accept that all other religions, including ones that have come and gone in the thousands of years man has walked the earth, also have the possibility of being true.

if a person claims they are christian, and believes in christian beliefs as such (god, heaven, various denominational variances) and hold to those so firmly that their "faith" literally allows them to accept that those things exist, if they do not also accept that by doing so they MUST acknowledge that all other religious beliefs could also exist & by that act accept that they themselves & their beliefs could be wrong, they are hypocritical, close minded, and are doomed to a life of little consequence.

the same can be said of believers of other mainstream religious sects.

if by reading this you see a hint of truth in it, good for you. if all it did was inspire a bit a rage, re-examine your life imo.

over the countless revisions translations and editions the bible has gone through, what we have today on book shelves many people take as the literal word of god. over many generations the common man has lost sight of the true origins of these stories. what am i getting to? well here's a brain tickler for some of you.

lets take John the Baptist for example, well known and commonly recognized. did you know that his real name was יוֹחָנָן, pronounced Yôḥanan and is derived from the Latin Ioannes, Iohannes, which is in turn a form of the Greek Ἰωάννης, Iōánnēs? Mathew? Mark? Luke? etc etc. You think his real name was Jesus, or was even pronounced remotely like it?

 

[MaddSkillz]

Sorry Mad, I didn't understand this one. Good reasoning behind them not being anything close to what? Not being smart aleck, just late and I am not reading clearly I think. Can you explain?

I think the case is made very well that these places are not the place we all would call "hell." I think scripture supports the idea very well.