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| Voyage to Indiana |
| 12.30.03 (4:20 pm) [edit] |
When my stepfather and I were fixing his black car's brakes, he told me that he use to watch his granddaddy and uncles fix up cars and that is how he learned. He learned from his grandfather and his uncles all of the handy things that he knows how to do or picked them up.
I remember quite destinctly that he used to have a green beat-up Bible when he first moved in with this family when I was 10. It had highlight marks all over it. He said his favorite book was proverbs.
About 4 years later he was questioning my faith and I became so upset I yelled at the guy and left the room.
I have become a man. Not by learning how to do the activities that a man is expected to do, but from following in the ways of the Lord and bettering myself to become more of a person in His image. I have since put childish ways aside. I am still learning.
The things I especially need to learn are how to repair cars, how to cook properly, and how to take care of babies. If I learn that from this man here I can probably leave and have a better chance surviving without him.
But there is still one thing that looms overhead. One thing that I haven't quite told dear old mum and stepfather about. I love this girl and they don't know. I don't know how to tell them and I don't think I'm likely to get a positive reaction if I did.
So I'm planning to have her call me on the phone. And have my mum pick up her phone and all three of us could talk at once and I could tell her that way. And what ever my mum takes to heart, my stepfather will also. My younger sister doesn't to know. She already caught me opening a picture of her one day.
I am a man of God. And as a follower of Jesus Christ I cannot allow myself to be deceived. I can't live in any sort of falsehood or anything. Because the words of God are living in Jesus, Yeshua. And the words of God are truth. I can't live in glum falsehood, but rejoice in the truth. Not that I do not believe that what I have with this woman is false. I repeatedly on several occasions validated it to be true. In my eyes I see that it is. But my eyes can be deceived. I love her through spirit because I'm not physically there to talk to her and we communicate on a level where it is only a mental interaction. But the fruit of the spirit is love, kindness, peace... So how can I be sure that these feelings that we both share are genuine? I am sure.
When I called her on the phone so long ago, I never told her through audio that I had any feelings for her. So if she's able to tell me that on the phone, then she could certainly tell me that in person. I'm willing to put that to the test, but the true test would be meeting her somewhere and telling her face to face. Because this wouldn't truly be the pure feeling of love that is love if we couldn't interact wholely on all of those levels.
So whether interacting with her in person would change anything or not, or if it turns out that her feelings aren't real or not, I'm willing to push forward in this endeavor. Because was true is more important than falsehood. And I have to see.
I'm absolutely sure that it will work. But then again.... Am I sure? Or am I blinded from the truth by this love?
Is this love transient? Will I grow out of it as Equeena says? I'm willing to put the time and energy into what I have with her because I feel it is worth it.
And if it does turn out that this is falsehood, it would not have been a complete waste at all. If I fall out of love... if that is even possible... with her... I will rejoice in the moments that I spent loving her. I have built up these treasures in my heart. From these moments that we've had. From what she's told me. Right now I can say that I love Carolyn D. Whether I will be saying that I once loved her before but now it is no more or if I'll be saying that I will love her forever - it is irrelevant to me now.
So this is the sickness that they call love...
I am a man. A man of God. And so I will make a voyage to Indiana. To attend to this matter.
My brother in Christ spane would tell me that I sound like an idiot right now babbling about on matters of the heart... But I know I do. And it doesn't affect me.
This isn't something I can solve on my own. This is going to take some serious consultation with my heavenly Father.
I wonder how heather is doing...
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3 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Question #7 |
| 12.26.03 (10:32 am) [edit] |
[quote=brendan]i'm not sure if this is supposed to be a joke or not?
discussing religion is just asking for trouble no matter how good your intentions are. [/quote]
No jokes and all that I am doing is answering questions. The word religion is mentioned very few times in the Holy Bible. Don't think of it as a system of believing in something. Think of it more as your reality. God wants you to see the world through Him.
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8 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Question #6 |
| 12.26.03 (10:31 am) [edit] |
[quote=Lost Soul]did god invent shrinky dinks? :-)[/quote]
God created all things that are on Earth. So, if these things are made from what resides on Earth, then God did create it. He encourages man to seek knowledge as something very valuable. With knowledge, it is possible to invent things such as shrinky dinks.
One of the rules was no stupidity, mac.
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| Brightest Faith: Question #5 |
| 12.26.03 (10:29 am) [edit] |
[quote=SuperKirby]no offence
but how do you figure your faith is the one?[/quote]
I have given an answer to this question before.
http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=isaac&static=4630 7" title="http://www.tblog.com/templates/index.php?bid=isaac&static=4630 7" target="_blank"http://www.tblog.com/template...
You must have faith in God. God wants you to pass through into heaven with no doubts in your mind. He wants you to have unbreakable faith. Have faith that what God says is the truth and hold His words in your heart, loving Him and following in His ways, and you shall [b]know[/b]. I certainly do.
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| Brightest Faith: Question #4, Part 2 |
| 12.26.03 (10:26 am) [edit] |
[quote]What's your stance on Heaven and Hell? [b]Or the concept of an afterlife in general?[/b] [/quote]
Afterlife? There is so much to it. Compared to the life we'll live in the Spirit after this life in the flesh, the life in the flesh lasts the duration of a blink of an eye. The life we'll live after this life is so vast and long... The eternal life given by Jesus Christ: we'll be in our spiritual bodies, which will have eternal youth, and there will be no more sickness or disease and we wont die. We wont be given into marriage because marriage in the flesh lasts until death, as Jesus said in Matthew around Chapter 22. There's so much to it. Read The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew, and the Books of Ezekiel, Acts, and Revelations to find more.
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| Brightest Faith: Question #4 |
| 12.26.03 (10:22 am) [edit] |
1. [quote][b]What's your stance on Heaven and Hell?[/b] Or the concept of an afterlife in general? [/quote]
Asked by [b]Spidey[/b].
Spidey: Well, the first thing that you need to know about heaven is that God created it in the beginning.
"In the beginning, God created the heaven and the Earth." The First Book of Moses, Called Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 1. At the very beginning.
Also know that God is the possessor of heaven and earth (Genesis Chapter 14, Verse 22). Wherever God is, heaven is.
"Unto thee it was shewed, that thou mightest know that the LORD he is God; there is none else beside him." -The Fifth Book of Moses, Deuteronomy Chapter 4, Verse 35.
"Know therefore this day, and consider it in thine heart, that the Lord he [i]is[/i] God in heaven above, and upon the earth beneath: there is none else." Verse 39, there after.
And also know that heaven is God's kingdom (The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 4, Verse 17 and all over the Gospel of Jesus).
It doesn't say anything about hell being created in the beginning. People think that heaven is above them and that hell is below them, but hell is yet to exist. All throughout the Holy Bible it talks of hell being a place that our heavenly Father sends the wicked after they've been judged. Hell is part of a prophecy that will come about during this Earth age. It wont exist until after the day of atonement. Be sure that it will come about. And that it will come down on the wicked, unrighteous, or those that reject the kingdom of heaven. Jesus' life was prophecized by the Book of Isaiah 700 years before he was born and he fulfilled every prophecy. So as Jesus came about, hell and all that will occur at the resurrection will come about, too.
In the Bible it describes the wicked being cast [i]down[/i] into hell. It is because God is in the heavens above and hell will be here on Earth.
Don't think that there will run out of room in hell for the wicked.
"Hell and destruction are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied." -The Book of Proverbs (written by King Solomon) Chapter 27, Verse 20. The Hebrew word for destruction in that verse is Abaddon, which is the Hebrew name of the angel of the bottomless pit. The word means the idea of destruction or realm of dead.
Hell is described more as a garbage dump than anything else. If you read over the Book that Matthew wrote at the beginning of the Gospel of Jesus in The New Testament part of your Bible and read all of his parables, they illustrate exactly why there is a hell.
People also think that Lucifer is the ruler of hell. But, if you read The Book of Isaiah, Isaiah Chapter 14 around Verses 12 to 17, the same book that prophecizes Jesus' entire life, you'll also see that hell will be a place for Lucifer (also known as Satan). He'll be "brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit." There'll be no "ruling" in hell. Only suffering. Not only is it the place for wicked and unrighteous men, but we see that it is the place for Lucifer, who is the devil (he has many names), and his angels that he persuaded to follow him when he rebelled against God.
"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels..."
The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 25, Verse 41, and then on describing why in that very same verse.
In the Book of John in the Gospel of Jesus, it says:
"And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation."
So here it illustrates that the righteous will eventually go to heaven and the wicked or doers of evil or unrighteous shall condemn themselves to damnation, in hell. Being cast into hell is the second death. It even says, plain as the day is long,
"And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. [i]This is the second death.[/i]" -The Book of Revelations Chapter 20, Verse 14.
This also illustrates that hell is the lake of fire.
It also says earlier on in that very same chapter that the devil shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever. This part illustrates how hell will be formed at the resurrection.
When it says forever, it doesn't necessarily mean for all eternity for the rest of the existance of everything, but that it will happen over a very, very, [b]very[/b] long time. We're talking eons, here. They'll eventually burn until there is no matter left of them to be burned. Of course, Lucifer will take the longest to burn away. Now, when the wicked or the unrighteous are burning, it is not only their flesh bodies that are burning. It is their soul that is burning, also. Their spirit. The pain may be a thousand times over worse than the pain we may experience in the flesh (The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 10, Verse 18; a bit earlier in Chapter 5, Verse 29 it is also mentioned.).
Who goes to hell, you might ask?
"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire." The Book of Revelations Chapter 20, Verse 15. So make sure that your name is written in God's book and you will not go to hell. Of course, you'll have to read God's words to found out how that is done.
So when will we either go to heaven or to hell?
"And have hope toward God, which they themselves also allow, that there shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust." -The Acts of the Apostles (Acts in your Bible) Chapter 24, Verse 15. We end our lives in death (now the cause of death and why we die at all, that's another question to be answered) and when we die, we are with God. Until the day of the resurrection, when both the righteous and the unrighteous arise from the dead and are judged. But there's so much more to it and you'd have to read the Book of Revelations to get it. It's very hard to read for someone that isn't filled with the Holy Spirit, but if you have ears to hear and eyes to see (thereby reading with understanding), you can figure it out.
So, as Christians, we are either baptised and reborn and are born twice and go to heaven at the resurrection to be with God or are unrighteous and wicked and die twice and go to hell to be with all of the other people that are wicked or unrighteous.
Why is there a hell?
Hell is a place deprived of God's blessing. Here on Earth, nothing occurs without God knowing and God causes or allows occurances to happen (as we know from the book of Job). But hell. Hell is deprived of this. Hell is not a torture chamber. God doesn't torture anyone in heaven and there aren't little devils that poke people with pitch forks.
"For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord GOD: wherefore turn yourselves, and live ye." The Book of Ezekiel Chapter 18, Verse 32
"Therefore, O thou son of man, speak unto the house of Israel; This ye speak, saying, If our transgressions and our sins be upon us, and we pine away in them, how should we then live?
Say unto them, As I live, saith the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel?" Chapter 33, Verses 10 to 11 of that same Book.
God takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked or their punishment. The wicked bring hell upon themselves and God's words, the Holy Bible, tells you how.
So where is the devil now?
"And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day." -The Epistle of Jude Verse 6.
"For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment," The Second Epistle of Peter Chapter 2, Verse 4.
The angels that rebelled with satan are being held, with him, in chains in the abyss. When you read in the Bible that there are "evil spirits" doing deeds or Jesus or his disciples casting out evil spirits, these are they. They cannot physically come here. But satan's spirit or the spirit of his rebellious angels can. Satan isn't dead yet. If you study the Resurrection in the Book of Revelations, it says that he will be let out for a thousand years and he will attempt to lead a rebellion one last time. That's when he and his follows are punished when God hails fire and brimstone down on them to create the lake of fire.
There's so much more to this that goes into so much detail, but these are the basics.
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2 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Replies #4 |
| 12.23.03 (1:06 pm) [edit] |
[quote] might add; what ensures you that your interpretation of the bible is the correct one?
I think this will be the last ones. Do you care? Does it hurt you directly? Does it hurt anyone?
[/quote]
Of course I care! Parable of the Sower! I am a servant of God just like you. I'm a sinner and I'm in this world in the flesh Walking in the Spirit attaining Salvation. God says,
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," The Second Epistle of Peter Chapter 3, Verse 9.
God does not want to punish any of us, his creations whom he loves so much. Whos sins he sent his beloved son Jesus Christ to die for so that they may be spared from that punishment. I want to do God's will and God wants as many of us to be with Him in that day as possible. So, I do as Jesus had said and I plant seeds.
What happens to the seeds is not up to me. Only God can cause the increase. So it doesn't hurt me directly, but it does hurt people. In the Parable of the Sower, in The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 13 (Read it, it is important that you understand), the seed (which is the word of God) may either fall in good soil and prosper many fruit and fulfill its purpose, or it could befall many disasterous outcomes, as stated within that chapter. That hurts people. It is not up to me what people do with the word, but I would like their seed to fall in good soil.
There is no real interpreting or translating of the Bible, there is truly only reading the Bible with understanding the way God intended. Open your eyes and ears and store it in your heart. God inspired the people to write the Bible and in your heart where the knowledge is it is the same as it is in my heart. There is no interpretation. If I did that, I'd be adding onto the Bible or changing it and that's not what God wants.
That's why when I put these things here, I always quote from God's words where I found it because they're not my words, but God's words and I encourage that the Holy Bible should be read so that the true knowledge of God can be attained through reading with understanding.
Whenever I study the word of God or find out something new, I always reference back to the Bible so that it doesn't deceive me or anything. Because if I told someone something that wasn't true, they may spread it and it would develop into that whole Pi = 3 thing that deceived you.
For instance, "God helps those that help themselves." Did you know that this is not in the Bible? God never said that, nor did He inspire it. It is an old adage that came around Ben Franklin's time. When people take these and say them over and over it becomes something negative that deceives people and brings them further from Salvation.
So look things up! Make sure that you are not deceived.
Go back in a Biblical Concordance or interlinear scripture analyzer and look up what you read for understanding in the Bible to discover its meaning if you have to. You will find out so much. One verse that you might read may be related and connected with so many other verses, which you could discover by cross-referencing and going back and finding other places where the words might be find.
I'm out of time. I'm sorry.
Unanswered questions that I will answer next time:
1) How come God loves suffering and humility? Asked by therealspartacus007
To those of you that read the above in its entirety - may God bless you. It shows that you want to develop a deeper understanding of God's word and God sees that and God loves you for it. Now, I encourage you to look up the references yourself in your own Bible. This way you will not be deceived. Don't be satisfied with the tidbits that I quoted to answer questions; go back and read with understanding the entire chapters and discover for yourself so that you can store the knowledge in your heart. The more knowledge you have of God's words, the less likely you will be deceived.
God loves you for it. Every day spent in God's words is a good day. Jesus Christ dwells within the words and God's word is alive!
May God bless and watch over you.
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5 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Question #3 |
| 12.22.03 (9:39 pm) [edit] |
You wanted me to explain where in the bible it says that God would not save you if you decided to jump off a cliff. Well its more an application thing. God has given us free will. The ability to chose whatever we do in life. He does not stop us when we are about to do something. That would be forcing his way on us right? He does warn us and encourage us to do what it is right. That is why we have a conscience, but in the end it is up to our choice what we do. If someone chose to jump off of a cliff they know the result is death. If someone accidentally slipped off a cliff God would help them but if someone chose to jump of a cliff they were trying to commit suicide. Right? God will not force someone to not commit suicide but he always sends a message of hope. Something to encourage a person to not take the plunge.
I heard a powerful story that illustrates this point. There was a man who was pastor of the church "The Lord God Almighty". This church was located on the bad side of town and one night he had to work really late. At about 8 o'clock he called his wife but no one was home. He thought that was kind of odd but he decided to call back later. Later on he called back and asked her where she was. She said that she had been home the whole night and that no one had called her all night. He figured he must have made a mistake when dailing her number. He forgot about this incident and exactly a week later he was again working late and received a phone call. The man on the other end responded to his hello with "why did you call me last week". The pastor confused said "I did'nt call you last week". Then he recalled calling his wife and told the man that was the only person he had called. The man responded saying that the week before someone called him from that location. The man explained that exactly a week before he was holding a gun to his head ready to pull the trigger. Before he did though he said "God if you exist send me a sign". At that moment the phone rang and the caller i.d. read "The Lord God Almight!".
I have heard many stories to this effect. Not always prof of the existance of God but also a sign of hope or some type of encouragement to do what is right. Thats why I believe if you jump off a cliff God will not try to help you. It would be interfering with his law.
Hope that helps
Carolyn
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2 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Replies #3 |
| 12.21.03 (8:24 pm) [edit] |
Replies to Mu:
[quote]Interesting...
For starters, you're assuming what the bible says is true. If it were, pi=3 (Kings 7:23, IIRC).
[/quote]
Pi in the Bible, from what I hear, seems to be a controversial issue. I have found a website that dissolves the matter and what it says about Hebrew is true. I am studying Aramaic and Hebrew.
http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html" title="http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html" target="_blank"http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html...
Hebrew, like Aramaic, does not have number characters and uses letters of the alphabet to represent numbers.
The part in the Bible that we are studying is:
"And he made a molten sea, then cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was give cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about," The First Book of the Kings (which may say 1 Kings in your Bible, remember) Chapter 7, Verse 23.
The molten sea is a sea of cast metal. The person that is making it is Hiram from Tyre for King Solomon (I say this because it says otherwise on the site and I do not want it to deceive anyone).
Pi is a perfect circle's ratio of circumference to its diameter. A diameter is the span of a circle all the way across, passing through the center. Circumference means its perimeter, its boundary all the way around the circle. Take this and put it in a fraction and you get pi. Pi is a number with a very long decimal to it. There are more than 58 billion digits in pi. There is a physics teacher at the school that I attend that has the first 100 digits across his board and gives extra credit to those that can memorize them.
The verse that I had quoted says "ten cubits from the one brim to the other" and "line of thirty cubits." The line is the circumference, 30. One brim to the other means the diameter, 10.
The hebrew word for circumference is line, but the translation of verse in the Bibles that we study has an extra letter on it. Since the hebrew numbers are letters, the word line and the extra letter add up to the ratio that is pi, as illustrated on the website. The word for line and the extra letter that represent the numerical value are the only letters in Hebrew and the lowst sequence that will reveal the ratio of pi. The difference from the Pi in the Bible and the Pi that man has approximated through supercomputers and such is very small. The Bible version of pi is very accurate and, for what they were building, the margin of error wouldn't matter.
Also, the word pi, as I have found, is greek. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and some Aramaic and the New Testament was written in Greek. The number wouldn't have been given a name until the times of the New Testament anyway. I suppose that's why the Holy Bible describes it in that way.
So do not be deceived. Read with understanding. This is why I made that "Adam's rib means Adam's DNA" comment. I am trying to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek so that I can read and translate for myself so that I may not be deceived by any errors and can inform others of them. There are a few more places in the Bible like that, but despite those, the Bible translations that you might read are quite accurate. Don't let these sorts of things separate you from God. Believe the knowledge of God that you received for yourself to be true.
Also, watch out for those people that try to use things such as this to deceive you.
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| Brightest Faith: Replies #2 |
| 12.21.03 (8:23 pm) [edit] |
Replies to therealspartacus007:
[quote]
Yea, God says a lot of crazy things. Like that whole 'not boiling a kid in its mothers' milk' deal.
[/quote]
I have not yet studied the Laws of Moses in depth, but, from what I can determine from research, regulations of the Laws of Moses, contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, required that a baby goat (which is where we get the term kid) should not be killed for sacrifice before it was eight days old (The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus Chapter 22, Verse 27). In this part of the Bible, God was giving specific instructions on how to make offerings by fire unto Him. It is also mentioned in The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy Chapter 14, Verse 21.
"Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kit in his mother's milk."
Seethe, meaning to boil. "That is in thy gates" means the place for the transaction of public business within a city.
God was instructing his people on what to do. He was saying that his people are holy people unto the Lord and the Lord has chosen them to be a pculiar people above all the nations that are on Earth. He was telling them how they were to live and what was good to eat and what was bad. God created our bodies - he shall know and be the best source of advice on how to care for it and what to fed it. Earlier on in the 14th Cahpter of Deuteronomy he was telling them what kinds of animals to eat and how to care for the animals that he wanted his people to eat. When I was young, I was a vegetarian and my parents used these rulesto decide what was good and bad to eat because they were Rastafarian.
[quote]You need to stop treating God like your S&M master and start living your own life. Grow up already. Stop being so afraid of making your own values and living in your infantile fairyland.
[/quote]
This life that we are living right now in this flesh - it is but a vapor. It lasts about the time of a blink of an eye as compared to the life that we shall live, in the Spirit (if you have been given Salvation through Jesus the Christ). God instructs us on what not to do and what to do. The commandments, such as not stealing or lying (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Romans Chapter 13, Verse 9), loving our neighbor (The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus Chapter 19, Verse 18; The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 43, Chapter 19, Verse 19, Chapter 22, Verse 39; The Book of Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 31; The Book of Luke Chapter 10, Verse 27; The Epistle of James Chapter 2, Verse 8; The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galations Chapter 5, Verse 14). He didn't have to give us life. He didn't have to give us these bodies. These bodies that we have that are of the flesh - the works of the flesh are manifest: adultery, lasciviousness, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings. All works of the flesh. (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galations Chapter 5, Verses 19-21). But what Jesus Christ wants us to do is live our life free from these things. If we lived our life in the flesh, knowing that the flesh manifests these horrible things, the world that we live in in the flesh would be a terrible place (as some see that it is now). But, when we live our life in the Spirit in Christ Jesus, he makes us free from the law of sin and death (The Epistle Paul: The Apostle to the Romans, Chapter ... God gives us these values through the Bible so that we don't have to live our life in sin - the imperfection that dwells inward in men.
God sent Jesus in the likeness of man in the flesh and able to commit sins to condemn sin in the flesh. He wanted us to fulfill righteousness because that is the way of his people, being Holy. Caught up in the things of this world, which lead to the ways of the flesh, you will commit yourself to the ways of the flesh (The Epistle James Capter 4, Verse 4). But, if you are in the ways of the flesh, you cannot please God.
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created," -The Book of Revelations Chapter 4, Verse 11.
All things were created for God's pleasure and it is not good if we are not pleasing God.
But, if you are in the ways of the Spirit and if the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, dwells within you, you are not in the ways of the flesh. The Spirit is life because of righteousness. God raised Jesus, whos Spirit should dwell within you, from the dead after being crucified. It is by the same Spirit in you that you can Walk in the Spirit.
When you walk in the spirit, the fruit or ways of the Spirit are the righteous things: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. That's what comes from Walking in the Spirit. (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galatians Chapter 5, Verses 22 to 23) The laws that God gives us are to curb the ways of of the flesh, but there are no laws that govern the fruit of the Spirit. Go by the fruit of the Spirit, then you are above the laws.
There is no need to rebel, then. When Christ was crucified, he crufified the ways of the flesh for us. So when we except Him into our spiritual hearts, we are giving up those ways that died so that we may live in the Spirit, as Jesus rose from the dead by it.
[quote]Grow up already. Stop being so afraid of making your own values and living in your infantile fairyland.
[/quote]
You don't realize how ironic that statement is.
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 11, Verse 25.
Jesus reveals that those that have been revealed to the kingdom of heaven are babes. Read on within that passage of the Holy Bible in Chapter 11 and you will learn more. And in that same book, Matthew, in Chapter 18 Jesus was asked who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven was. Jesus called a child to sit before them...
"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Chapter 18, Verse 3.
Then, in Verse 4, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
When we humble ourselves and become the Babes that Jesus spoke of, we are likening ourselves to inherit the kingdom of heaven. We will even become great.
"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you," The First Epistle of Peter (might be 1 Peter in your Holy Bibles, remember this) Chapter 5, Verses 5 and 6.
So, by humbling yourself, you are becoming great. Become like a Babe. There is nothing fairy about it.
[quote]
I and everyone else in the world who loves something has felt the same feeling you do when you 'experience God.' I just recognize it for what it is- a feeling, which is a validation of my values, not a validation of fact. You need to stop being such an Uncle Tom and start being a free person.
[/quote]
When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it is not just a feeling. The Spirit is actually within you. I know this for a fact because I have experienced it myself. Feelings are only side effect.
In The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (Ephesians in your Bible, remember) it says:
Chapter 3, Verse 1, "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power."
Here, Paul, a disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ, calls himself a "prisoner" of Jesus Christ.
His does this again in:
Chapter 4, Verse 1, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worth of the vocation where-with ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Does this mean that Jesus Christ our Lord is some sort of cruel slave-master? No. If you've read this without understanding, you may have been deceived; Or deceived by another that didn't understand it and told you, who never looked it up to read and see with understanding for yourself the truth so that you could tell your deceiver the truth and let them hear with understanding.
I asked her what it meant and she told me:
Lagail Marie: But its because Jesus is in your heart
Lagail Marie: so its gets harder to sin
Lagail Marie: because is controlling your heart therefore controlling your actions
Lagail Marie: but you chose to have him in your heart in the first place
Lagail Marie: God never took away your free will
Lagail Marie: You chose to have God in your heart because you realized your heart was really evil
Lagail Marie: and you wanted your actions to be according to Gods will
Lagail Marie: So being a prisoner of the Lord
Lagail Marie: Thats actually a good thing
Lagail Marie: its not slavery
But, Paul who was an apostle and deciple of Christ was imprisoned and prosecuted for teaching what Jesus taught him. For teaching what was right and truthful. He was a prisoner of the Lord, not by the Lord.
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," The Book of the Gospel According to John Chapter 8, Verses 31 to 32.
The words of God do not imprison you or trap you. God made it so that it sets you free. It is the truth. The truth, getting to know God through his words, makes you free.
"They answered him, We be Abraham's see, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
You see, it's sin that keeps you in servitude. Verily means with confidently and assuredly. This is absolutely true. Sin is the imperfection of man and the natural tendency of the flesh. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, what is to stop you from sinning and putting yourself into servitude? Christ, who died for your sins, sets you free from sin, and, therefore, free from servitude. I have the Spirit of Christ in my heart and I am a free man through Christ.
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2 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Replies #1 |
| 12.21.03 (8:21 pm) [edit] |
Replies to Genia (theauctionboard):
[quote]I'm sure if you dig and translate long enough, you'll find a word that means "internet" in the Bible too.[/quote]
Show me and I'll believe you.
[quote]Now, obviously it's very difficult to really determine what the Bible means.[/quote]
It's not difficult at all. Let the Holy Spirit touch you. Have ears to hear and let them hear and eyes to see and let them see and read what God says with the understanding that he asks you to have. I have learned from in the Gospel of Jesus: the parable of the sower says that the secrets of the kingdom of God are hidden. In the Parable of the Sower (starting in The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 13), Jesus describes what happens when people are given the word. God wants you to know. He wants you to attain His salvation. But, only God can make that happen. Those that are not touched by the Holy Spirit may not understand, but those that allow God to give the "increase" (read the Parable of the Sower). The knowledge of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. Jesus taught in parables so that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven would be easy to understand, but to he that has ears and fail to hear and eyes to see and fail to perceive or have them closed, in other words, he that does not read with the understanding that God wants us to read his word with probably would have a difficult time getting the meaning.
Read the Parable of the Sower - it is very important. Read it for yourself and prevent yourself from being given the opportunity to be deceived.
I am not translating the Holy Bible, God's words. Neither am I interpreting it. The words of God are not open to interpretation. I am reading it. Notice the difference. Read over it and see that I have given reference to all of the places where all of my knowledge has come from. I refuse to speak by my own words when I'm trying to pass on the knowledge of God because they aren't my words to give, but God's words.
[quote]
Well, unless you've lied, thieved, judged others, had sex with a woman while she's on her period, harmed any of God's creatures (both humans and animals), etc. Oh wait, all you have to do is pray and ask for forgiveness and all your sins will washed away.
Christians really need to find something else to do than to worry about what us homosexuals are doing. Isn't there a soup kitchen somewhere that needs food? Now that's a typical homosexual response.
[/quote]
Jesus Christ died to forgive the sins of man so that when we are judged on that day of atonement, the price that we would have needed to have paid for our sins (eternal damnation), would have been paid for already and all of the sins purified by Jesus' crucifixion. When we have Jesus as our saviour, he saves us from punishments for our sins. When we pray for forgiveness, we are showing the Lord our God that we are sincerely sorry for the sins that we commit, though the sins that we commit would already have been paid for. God sacrificed His Son Jesus, whom he loved and was so dear to him, for every sin that we, the children of God who stand to inherit the kingdom of heaven, commit. When you pray to God to forgive your sin, you do it once because if you repeatedly do it you are connotating God that you don't believe that your sin was forgiven, and that angers Christ because that was the whole reason why He was sacrified.
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5 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Question #2 |
| 12.21.03 (8:19 pm) [edit] |
Question #2: "I question I can't answer (in fact I'm looking for one): Why the bible holds the truth? (Does that mean that the Torah or the Coran are wrong?, if yes, why?). Please don't answer with something like "God wrote it", because that's kind of a circular argument." Asked by Mu.
Answer:
This is a question concerning a particular denomination or religious group and goes against the rules of answering questions that I set, so I'm not going to answer. What I will do is provide knowledge. God wants us to seek out knowledge like silver or a hidden treasure is more precious than gold or gems (the Book of Proverbs Chapter 2, Verse 4 and Chapter 3, Verses 14 and 15).
Now, these things I have gathered through research and if there are any inaccuracies, please notify me so that I may clean them up and not deceive anyone. The Torah are the books that are in the Old Testament part of your Bible. Christians call it Old Testament and Jews called it the Torah, because to the Jews there is no Old and New Testament, there is only one testament, Torah. Torah refers to the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), but also refers to the entire Old Testament. The text of each book, even though there are differences in translation and verse number (which is only used to make it easier to reference and is unaffectual), the Christian version and the Jewish version are quite the same.
The names are different. Bereishith is Genesis, Shemoth is Exodus, Vayiqra is Leviticus, Devarim is Deuteronomy, Bamidbar is Numbers, and differences in the other names of the Books in the written Torah that we use in the Old Testament. Also, in the written Torah, the books that usually appear in the order in the Old Testament Hosea (Hoshea) through Malachi (Malakhi) are considered one book in the written Torah.
There isn't much of a difference in the way it is read. Christians pick up their Holy Bible and read it. The Jewish, from the written Torah in a scroll, use a stick with a hand on it to read for reasons that are disputable.
The Qur'an is believed to be a message from Allah to humanity. It is said that the Qur'an was transmitted to man in chains by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad (saas). (saas) means Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, or may the blessing and the peace of Allah be upon him. Islams call God Allah while Jews and Christians call God YHWH. The Qur'an is a leg with the Sunnah of the Propet (saas), which form the basis of Islam. The Qur'an is supposed to be the literal words of Allah and the Sunnah, supposed to be inspired by Allah but the wording and actions are of the Prophet (saas). Islam provokes belief that the Prophet Muhammad was the final messenger of Allah to humanity and is the last message sent to man by Allah. To my understanding, the people that follow the believes derived from the Qur'an, the Islamics, believe that the Qur'an is a sacred book to be followed because it contains the literal words of Allah, but it is a book just like the books written by Abraham or Moses, and that they are the prophets that God had write the books as the Prophet (saas) is the prophet of the Qur'an. So, the Islamics believe in the same Bible that the Jews and Christians read, with one additional Book, which contains 114 chapters and over 6000 verses. Now, the Christians believe that the books that are within the Holy Bible, Genesis through Revelations, are the books that were inspired by God. The books that they believed not to be inspired by God they put in the Apocrypha.
God wants us to love our neighbours as we love ourself. So I'm not going to go up to a Jewish person and bash them over the head with the New Testament or ask them to believe in Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. If this is what you've been doing, please review and learn the Parable of the Sower (The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 13). This would go against what Jesus Christ has taught - love thy neighbour. There are other ways to go about it. And that's what God's words are there for - to guide.
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2 Comments
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| Brightest Faith: Question #1 |
| 12.21.03 (8:18 pm) [edit] |
Question #1: "During the 1000 years when the Devil will be chained in the bottomless pit (the millenium) will God's people, who live in the new jerusalem, still be married to their same partner to which they were married before, or will they marry new people?" Asked by TrinaBinaBear!
Answer:
Well, TrinaBinaBear. I'm glad to see that, from the way that your question was formed, you seem to be knowledgeable on the words of God. This question can be answered by going into the first Book of the Gospel, Matthew. Turn with me to Chapter 22 and at around Verse 23 it begins to describe when Jesus was asked by the Sadducees, which was a member of a priestly and aristocratic Jewish sect who do not believe in the doctrine of resurrection, began to tempt Jesus by...
"Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also.
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall be of the seven? for they all had her," Versus 24-28.
They were trying to trick Jesus because they did not believe in the resurrection. But, Jesus knows what is in our hearts. He knows what we think of and he could read the evils that were inside of the hearts of the Sadducees.
In Verse 29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."
So, at the resurrection, we will be like the angels - the angels do not self-reproduce. After Satan's rebellion against God, he took 1/3 of the angels of heaven with him when he rebelled (The Book of Revelations Chapter 12, Verse 4). Until this time, the number of angels remained the same. Angels don't reproduce themselves in the way that humans do. They can perform the activity that humans perform necessary to their reproduction because this is how angels become fallen angels. The angels have been here with God since before the genesis of Earth.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth," The Book of Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26. When God said "us" he was talking about Himself and His Angels. So, that's why we have so many people here on Earth that look different from each other and why we are each unique in the image of God. By the way, Christ created the Angels (proven by The Book of Colossians Chapter 1, Verse 16).
Also, if you analyze the wedding vows that we take at marriage, "To have and to hold in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer until death do ye part." No one will be married after death. Also, know this: God wants you to know about the resurrection. The Book of Revelations Chapter 22, Verses 6 and 7 states...
Verse 6, "And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done." He was saying this to the Prophet John, to whom this was revealed.
Verse 7, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." These were the words of Christ, instructing us to keep what is in revelations as things to come.
If you have any more questions, feel free.
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| Signs from God. |
| 12.20.03 (11:51 am) [edit] |
When I was young, I was read the Holy Bible by my father. He read Genesis and one night he read to me about Solomon. When I went to Sunday School the times when I went to Church as a child I learned about how Solomon asked God to be a leader as a child and prayed to God to make him wise. Years later, I prayed that same prayer.
I bought this Bible Question and Answer Book from Family Dollar for a dollar and I was reading it and it had this picture of a guy eating a scroll. Ezekiel. It showed him scarfing it down in such a funny way and it made me laugh hysterically because it seemed to me like God wanted a laugh when he gave Ezekiel that scroll to eat. It said it tasted like Honey in his mouth in the Bible. The next day I had gone to the mall with my family to pick up my last paycheck from R/C Theater and I was thinking about it on the way back, laughing. All of a sudden, I got this horrible taste in my mouth. There was a jug of water in the car and I drank it, to no resolve. It only made it worse! It was unbearable. I couldn't think and everything I did made it taste even badder than it did before I did anything. I remember the scripture saying that it tasted like honey in his mouth, so I went into the cupboard and got down the jar of honey. I tasted it and swished it around, alleviating the horrible taste. Weird?
One morning I went to the library at school and went to use their old computers to access a website that had the Apocrypha on it. I was studying the Apocrypha on the book of The Wisdom of Solomon. All of a sudden, I started getting dizzy and my head began to tingle. I got to about the 4th chapter. The sensation became unbearable and I turned away. I picked up my bookbag and left the library. The bell rang and I went to my first period. I sat there trying to do the work assigned for about 10 minutes. I couldn't escape that dizzy feeling. I asked to go and get a drink of water. I did so and it didn't make me feel any better. Shortly after, I asked to go to the clinic. I told the nurse-lady my symptoms and she called my mum. She had my lye down and sleep for a half hour. Right in the middle of my quick nap I prayed to God and said I wouldn't study the Apocrypha or not at all until I had full knowledge of His words. All of a sudden, the feeling went away and I fell asleep.
I felt fine the rest of the day. Weird?
I take these things as signs from my heavenly Father. It just so happens that things work out that way. When I was at R/C Theater, my family and I walked around the mall and we went into the GNC health store and they had free sample health candies. I ate one and it was sweet, but the artificial sugar left an aftertaste that didn't arise until I had left the mall and gotten in the car. That morning before I arrived at the library, I hadn't eaten enough breakfast. I had only sipped a drink and ate a breakfast bar.
But I take these occurances as signs from God.
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4 Comments
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| Exam over. |
| 12.17.03 (11:40 am) [edit] |
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I just took the Calculus exam. I think I did horrible, but that's what I thought about the last quiz I took, too, and I received a 21/25, 84%. I prayed and asked God for help and, even though I did terribly, God allowed me to do well. I asked God if I could do well on this exam because it was important. I did terribly, but answered every question, and I have faith that God will allow me to have a better score this time, too.
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1 Comments
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| Dreaming of Indiana |
| 12.16.03 (11:34 pm) [edit] |
One more new goal.
As I am studying for my AP Calculus test, Carolyn signs onto AIM and distracts me for 3 hours! yay! I love it when she does that. No sarcasm, I actually do love it. I distract myself, really.
Anywho... One of my new goals is to visit Indiana. So that I may see her. Yes.
Back to Calculus.
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0 Comments
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| Calculus Exams...yay |
| 12.14.03 (9:30 pm) [edit] |
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I am studying for it on Wednesday. I am praying that I will have a good grade on it because it is ever-so important. If I don't get an A on that exam...
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2 Comments
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| Answers, Part 1 |
| 12.14.03 (3:18 am) [edit] |
I split up the questions and answers so that it is easier to read and more convenient to comment on.
Question #1: "During the 1000 years when the Devil will be chained in the bottomless pit (the millenium) will God's people, who live in the new jerusalem, still be married to their same partner to which they were married before, or will they marry new people?" Asked by TrinaBinaBear!
Answer:
Well, TrinaBinaBear. I'm glad to see that, from the way that your question was formed, you seem to be knowledgeable on the words of God. This question can be answered by going into the first Book of the Gospel, Matthew. Turn with me to Chapter 22 and at around Verse 23 it begins to describe when Jesus was asked by the Sadducees, which was a member of a priestly and aristocratic Jewish sect who do not believe in the doctrine of resurrection, began to tempt Jesus by...
"Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also.
Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall be of the seven? for they all had her," Versus 24-28.
They were trying to trick Jesus because they did not believe in the resurrection. But, Jesus knows what is in our hearts. He knows what we think of and he could read the evils that were inside of the hearts of the Sadducees.
In Verse 29, "Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven."
So, at the resurrection, we will be like the angels - the angels do not self-reproduce. After Satan's rebellion against God, he took 1/3 of the angels of heaven with him when he rebelled (The Book of Revelations Chapter 12, Verse 4). Until this time, the number of angels remained the same. Angels don't reproduce themselves in the way that humans do. They can perform the activity that humans perform necessary to their reproduction because this is how angels become fallen angels. The angels have been here with God since before the genesis of Earth.
"And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth," The Book of Genesis Chapter 1, Verse 26. When God said "us" he was talking about Himself and His Angels. So, that's why we have so many people here on Earth that look different from each other and why we are each unique in the image of God. By the way, Christ created the Angels (proven by The Book of Colossians Chapter 1, Verse 16).
Also, if you analyze the wedding vows that we take at marriage, "To have and to hold in sickness and in health, for richer or for poorer until death do ye part." No one will be married after death. Also, know this: God wants you to know about the resurrection. The Book of Revelations Chapter 22, Verses 6 and 7 states...
Verse 6, "And he said unto me, These sayings are faithful and true: and the Lord God of the holy prophets sent his angel to show unto his servants the things which must shortly be done." He was saying this to the Prophet John, to whom this was revealed.
Verse 7, "Behold, I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this book." These were the words of Christ, instructing us to keep what is in revelations as things to come.
If you have any more questions, feel free.
Question #2: "I question I can't answer (in fact I'm looking for one): Why the bible holds the truth? (Does that mean that the Torah or the Coran are wrong?, if yes, why?). Please don't answer with something like "God wrote it", because that's kind of a circular argument." Asked by Mu.
Answer:
This is a question concerning a particular denomination or religious group and goes against the rules of answering questions that I set, so I'm not going to answer. What I will do is provide knowledge. God wants us to seek out knowledge like silver or a hidden treasure is more precious than gold or gems (the Book of Proverbs Chapter 2, Verse 4 and Chapter 3, Verses 14 and 15).
Now, these things I have gathered through research and if there are any inaccuracies, please notify me so that I may clean them up and not deceive anyone. The Torah are the books that are in the Old Testament part of your Bible. Christians call it Old Testament and Jews called it the Torah, because to the Jews there is no Old and New Testament, there is only one testament, Torah. Torah refers to the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy), but also refers to the entire Old Testament. The text of each book, even though there are differences in translation and verse number (which is only used to make it easier to reference and is unaffectual), the Christian version and the Jewish version are quite the same.
The names are different. Bereishith is Genesis, Shemoth is Exodus, Vayiqra is Leviticus, Devarim is Deuteronomy, Bamidbar is Numbers, and differences in the other names of the Books in the written Torah that we use in the Old Testament. Also, in the written Torah, the books that usually appear in the order in the Old Testament Hosea (Hoshea) through Malachi (Malakhi) are considered one book in the written Torah.
There isn't much of a difference in the way it is read. Christians pick up their Holy Bible and read it. The Jewish, from the written Torah in a scroll, use a stick with a hand on it to read for reasons that are disputable.
The Qur'an is believed to be a message from Allah to humanity. It is said that the Qur'an was transmitted to man in chains by the angel Gabriel to the prophet Muhammad (saas). (saas) means Salla Allahu Alaihi Wa Sallam, or may the blessing and the peace of Allah be upon him. Islams call God Allah while Jews and Christians call God YHWH. The Qur'an is a leg with the Sunnah of the Propet (saas), which form the basis of Islam. The Qur'an is supposed to be the literal words of Allah and the Sunnah, supposed to be inspired by Allah but the wording and actions are of the Prophet (saas). Islam provokes belief that the Prophet Muhammad was the final messenger of Allah to humanity and is the last message sent to man by Allah. To my understanding, the people that follow the believes derived from the Qur'an, the Islamics, believe that the Qur'an is a sacred book to be followed because it contains the literal words of Allah, but it is a book just like the books written by Abraham or Moses, and that they are the prophets that God had write the books as the Prophet (saas) is the prophet of the Qur'an. So, the Islamics believe in the same Bible that the Jews and Christians read, with one additional Book, which contains 114 chapters and over 6000 verses. Now, the Christians believe that the books that are within the Holy Bible, Genesis through Revelations, are the books that were inspired by God. The books that they believed not to be inspired by God they put in the Apocrypha.
God wants us to love our neighbours as we love ourself. So I'm not going to go up to a Jewish person and bash them over the head with the New Testament or ask them to believe in Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. If this is what you've been doing, please review and learn the Parable of the Sower (The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew, Chapter 13). This would go against what Jesus Christ has taught - love thy neighbour. There are other ways to go about it. And that's what God's words are there for - to guide.
Replies to Genia (theauctionboard):
[quote]I'm sure if you dig and translate long enough, you'll find a word that means "internet" in the Bible too.[/quote]
Show me and I'll believe you.
[quote]Now, obviously it's very difficult to really determine what the Bible means.[/quote]
It's not difficult at all. Let the Holy Spirit touch you. Have ears to hear and let them hear and eyes to see and let them see and read what God says with the understanding that he asks you to have. I have learned from in the Gospel of Jesus: the parable of the sower says that the secrets of the kingdom of God are hidden. In the Parable of the Sower (starting in The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 13), Jesus describes what happens when people are given the word. God wants you to know. He wants you to attain His salvation. But, only God can make that happen. Those that are not touched by the Holy Spirit may not understand, but those that allow God to give the "increase" (read the Parable of the Sower). The knowledge of God is like a treasure hidden in a field. Jesus taught in parables so that the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven would be easy to understand, but to he that has ears and fail to hear and eyes to see and fail to perceive or have them closed, in other words, he that does not read with the understanding that God wants us to read his word with probably would have a difficult time getting the meaning.
Read the Parable of the Sower - it is very important. Read it for yourself and prevent yourself from being given the opportunity to be deceived.
I am not translating the Holy Bible, God's words. Neither am I interpreting it. The words of God are not open to interpretation. I am reading it. Notice the difference. Read over it and see that I have given reference to all of the places where all of my knowledge has come from. I refuse to speak by my own words when I'm trying to pass on the knowledge of God because they aren't my words to give, but God's words.
[quote]
Well, unless you've lied, thieved, judged others, had sex with a woman while she's on her period, harmed any of God's creatures (both humans and animals), etc. Oh wait, all you have to do is pray and ask for forgiveness and all your sins will washed away.
Christians really need to find something else to do than to worry about what us homosexuals are doing. Isn't there a soup kitchen somewhere that needs food? Now that's a typical homosexual response.
[/quote]
Jesus Christ died to forgive the sins of man so that when we are judged on that day of atonement, the price that we would have needed to have paid for our sins (eternal damnation), would have been paid for already and all of the sins purified by Jesus' crucifixion. When we have Jesus as our saviour, he saves us from punishments for our sins. When we pray for forgiveness, we are showing the Lord our God that we are sincerely sorry for the sins that we commit, though the sins that we commit would already have been paid for. God sacrificed His Son Jesus, whom he loved and was so dear to him, for every sin that we, the children of God who stand to inherit the kingdom of heaven, commit. When you pray to God to forgive your sin, you do it once because if you repeatedly do it you are connotating God that you don't believe that your sin was forgiven, and that angers Christ because that was the whole reason why He was sacrified.
Replies to therealspartacus007:
[quote]
Yea, God says a lot of crazy things. Like that whole 'not boiling a kid in its mothers' milk' deal.
[/quote]
I have not yet studied the Laws of Moses in depth, but, from what I can determine from research, regulations of the Laws of Moses, contained in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, required that a baby goat (which is where we get the term kid) should not be killed for sacrifice before it was eight days old (The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus Chapter 22, Verse 27). In this part of the Bible, God was giving specific instructions on how to make offerings by fire unto Him. It is also mentioned in The Fifth Book of Moses: Deuteronomy Chapter 14, Verse 21.
"Ye shall not eat of any thing that dieth of itself: thou shalt give it unto the stranger that is in thy gates, that he may eat it; or thou mayest sell it unto an alien: for thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kit in his mother's milk."
Seethe, meaning to boil. "That is in thy gates" means the place for the transaction of public business within a city.
God was instructing his people on what to do. He was saying that his people are holy people unto the Lord and the Lord has chosen them to be a pculiar people above all the nations that are on Earth. He was telling them how they were to live and what was good to eat and what was bad. God created our bodies - he shall know and be the best source of advice on how to care for it and what to fed it. Earlier on in the 14th Cahpter of Deuteronomy he was telling them what kinds of animals to eat and how to care for the animals that he wanted his people to eat. When I was young, I was a vegetarian and my parents used these rulesto decide what was good and bad to eat because they were Rastafarian.
[quote]You need to stop treating God like your S&M master and start living your own life. Grow up already. Stop being so afraid of making your own values and living in your infantile fairyland.
[/quote]
This life that we are living right now in this flesh - it is but a vapor. It lasts about the time of a blink of an eye as compared to the life that we shall live, in the Spirit (if you have been given Salvation through Jesus the Christ). God instructs us on what not to do and what to do. The commandments, such as not stealing or lying (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Romans Chapter 13, Verse 9), loving our neighbor (The Third Book of Moses: Leviticus Chapter 19, Verse 18; The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 43, Chapter 19, Verse 19, Chapter 22, Verse 39; The Book of Mark, Chapter 12, Verse 31; The Book of Luke Chapter 10, Verse 27; The Epistle of James Chapter 2, Verse 8; The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galations Chapter 5, Verse 14). He didn't have to give us life. He didn't have to give us these bodies. These bodies that we have that are of the flesh - the works of the flesh are manifest: adultery, lasciviousness, fornication, uncleanness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness, revellings. All works of the flesh. (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galations Chapter 5, Verses 19-21). But what Jesus Christ wants us to do is live our life free from these things. If we lived our life in the flesh, knowing that the flesh manifests these horrible things, the world that we live in in the flesh would be a terrible place (as some see that it is now). But, when we live our life in the Spirit in Christ Jesus, he makes us free from the law of sin and death (The Epistle Paul: The Apostle to the Romans, Chapter 8)... God gives us these values through the Bible so that we don't have to live our life in sin - the imperfection that dwells inward in men.
God sent Jesus in the likeness of man in the flesh and able to commit sins to condemn sin in the flesh. He wanted us to fulfill righteousness because that is the way of his people, being Holy. Caught up in the things of this world, which lead to the ways of the flesh, you will commit yourself to the ways of the flesh (The Epistle James Capter 4, Verse 4). But, if you are in the ways of the flesh, you cannot please God.
"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created," -The Book of Revelations Chapter 4, Verse 11.
All things were created for God's pleasure and it is not good if we are not pleasing God.
But, if you are in the ways of the Spirit and if the Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, dwells within you, you are not in the ways of the flesh. The Spirit is life because of righteousness. God raised Jesus, whos Spirit should dwell within you, from the dead after being crucified. It is by the same Spirit in you that you can Walk in the Spirit.
When you walk in the spirit, the fruit or ways of the Spirit are the righteous things: love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, and temperance. That's what comes from Walking in the Spirit. (The Epistle of Paul: The Apostle to the Galatians Chapter 5, Verses 22 to 23) The laws that God gives us are to curb the ways of of the flesh, but there are no laws that govern the fruit of the Spirit. Go by the fruit of the Spirit, then you are above the laws.
There is no need to rebel, then. When Christ was crucified, he crufified the ways of the flesh for us. So when we except Him into our spiritual hearts, we are giving up those ways that died so that we may live in the Spirit, as Jesus rose from the dead by it.
[
quote]Grow up already. Stop being so afraid of making your own values and living in your infantile fairyland.
[/quote]
You don't realize how ironic that statement is.
"At that time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes," The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 11, Verse 25.
Jesus reveals that those that have been revealed to the kingdom of heaven are babes. Read on within that passage of the Holy Bible in Chapter 11 and you will learn more. And in that same book, Matthew, in Chapter 18 Jesus was asked who the greatest in the kingdom of heaven was. Jesus called a child to sit before them...
"And said, Verily I say unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven," Chapter 18, Verse 3.
Then, in Verse 4, "Whosoever therefore shall humble himself as this little child, the same is greatest in the kingdom of heaven."
When we humble ourselves and become the Babes that Jesus spoke of, we are likening ourselves to inherit the kingdom of heaven. We will even become great.
"Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea, all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble."
"Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you," The First Epistle of Peter (might be 1 Peter in your Holy Bibles, remember this) Chapter 5, Verses 5 and 6.
So, by humbling yourself, you are becoming great. Become like a Babe. There is nothing fairy about it.
[quote]
I and everyone else in the world who loves something has felt the same feeling you do when you 'experience God.' I just recognize it for what it is- a feeling, which is a validation of my values, not a validation of fact. You need to stop being such an Uncle Tom and start being a free person.
[/quote]
When you're filled with the Holy Spirit, it is not just a feeling. The Spirit is actually within you. I know this for a fact because I have experienced it myself. Feelings are only side effect.
In The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Ephesians (Ephesians in your Bible, remember) it says:
Chapter 3, Verse 1, "For this cause I Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ for you Gentiles,
If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: How that by revelation he made known unto me the mystery; (as I wrote afore in few words, Whereby, when ye read, ye may understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ) Which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit; That the Gentiles should be fellowheirs, and of the same body, and partakers of his promise in Christ by the gospel: Whereof I was made a minister, according to the gift of the grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power."
Here, Paul, a disciple and apostle of Jesus Christ, calls himself a "prisoner" of Jesus Christ.
His does this again in:
Chapter 4, Verse 1, "I therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worth of the vocation where-with ye are called,
With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love;
Endeavouring to keep the Unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."
Does this mean that Jesus Christ our Lord is some sort of cruel slave-master? No. If you've read this without understanding, you may have been deceived; Or deceived by another that didn't understand it and told you, who never looked it up to read and see with understanding for yourself the truth so that you could tell your deceiver the truth and let them hear with understanding.
I asked her what it meant and she told me:
Lagail Marie: But its because Jesus is in your heart
Lagail Marie: so its gets harder to sin
Lagail Marie: because is controlling your heart therefore controlling your actions
Lagail Marie: but you chose to have him in your heart in the first place
Lagail Marie: God never took away your free will
Lagail Marie: You chose to have God in your heart because you realized your heart was really evil
Lagail Marie: and you wanted your actions to be according to Gods will
Lagail Marie: So being a prisoner of the Lord
Lagail Marie: Thats actually a good thing
Lagail Marie: its not slavery
But, Paul who was an apostle and deciple of Christ was imprisoned and prosecuted for teaching what Jesus taught him. For teaching what was right and truthful. He was a prisoner of the Lord, not by the Lord.
"Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free," The Book of the Gospel According to John Chapter 8, Verses 31 to 32.
The words of God do not imprison you or trap you. God made it so that it sets you free. It is the truth. The truth, getting to know God through his words, makes you free.
"They answered him, We be Abraham's see, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest thou, Ye shall be made free?
Jesus answered him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And the servant abideth not in the house forever: but the Son abideth ever.
If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."
You see, it's sin that keeps you in servitude. Verily means with confidently and assuredly. This is absolutely true. Sin is the imperfection of man and the natural tendency of the flesh. If you did not have the Spirit of Christ, what is to stop you from sinning and putting yourself into servitude? Christ, who died for your sins, sets you free from sin, and, therefore, free from servitude. I have the Spirit of Christ in my heart and I am a free man through Christ.
Replies to Mu:
[quote]Interesting...
For starters, you're assuming what the bible says is true. If it were, pi=3 (Kings 7:23, IIRC).
[/quote]
Pi in the Bible, from what I hear, seems to be a controversial issue. I have found a website that dissolves the matter and I believe what it says about Hebrew to be true because I have studied Aramaic and Hebrew and Aramaic are related.
http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html" title="http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html" target="_blank"http://www.yfiles.com/pi.html...
Hebrew, like Aramaic, does not have number characters and uses letters of the alphabet to represent numbers.
The part in the Bible that we are studying is:
"And he made a molten sea, then cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was give cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about," The First Book of the Kings (which may say 1 Kings in your Bible, remember) Chapter 7, Verse 23.
The molten sea is a sea of cast metal. The person that is making it is Hiram from Tyre for King Solomon (I say this because it says otherwise on the site and I do not want it to deceive anyone).
Pi is a perfect circle's ratio of circumference to its diameter. A diameter is the span of a circle all the way across, passing through the center. Circumference means its perimeter, its boundary all the way around the circle. Take this and put it in a fraction and you get pi. Pi is a number with a very long decimal to it. There are more than 58 billion digits in pi. There is a physics teacher at the school that I attend that has the first 100 digits across his board and gives extra credit to those that can memorize them.
The verse that I had quoted says "ten cubits from the one brim to the other" and "line of thirty cubits." The line is the circumference, 30. One brim to the other means the diameter, 10.
The hebrew word for circumference is line, but the translation of verse in the Bibles that we study has an extra letter on it. Since the hebrew numbers are letters, the word line and the extra letter add up to the ratio that is pi, as illustrated on the website. The word for line and the extra letter that represent the numerical value are the only letters in Hebrew and the lowst sequence that will reveal the ratio of pi. The difference from the Pi in the Bible and the Pi that man has approximated through supercomputers and such is very small. The Bible version of pi is very accurate and, for what they were building, the margin of error wouldn't matter.
Also, the word pi, as I have found, is greek. The Old Testament was written in Hebrew and some Aramaic and the New Testament was written in Greek. The number wouldn't have been given a name until the times of the New Testament anyway. I suppose that's why the Holy Bible describes it in that way.
So do not be deceived. Read with understanding. This is why I made that "Adam's rib means Adam's DNA" comment. I am trying to learn Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek so that I can read and translate for myself so that I may not be deceived by any errors and can inform others of them. There are a few more places in the Bible like that, but despite those, the Bible translations that you might read are quite accurate. Don't let these sorts of things separate you from God. Believe the knowledge of God that you received for yourself to be true.
Also, watch out for those people that try to use things such as this to deceive you.
[quote] might add; what ensures you that your interpretation of the bible is the correct one?
I think this will be the last ones. Do you care? Does it hurt you directly? Does it hurt anyone?
[/quote]
Of course I care! Parable of the Sower! I am a servant of God just like you. I'm a sinner and I'm in this world in the flesh Walking in the Spirit attaining Salvation. God says,
"The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance," The Second Epistle of Peter Chapter 3, Verse 9.
God does not want to punish any of us, his creations whom he loves so much. Whos sins he sent his beloved son Jesus Christ to die for so that they may be spared from that punishment. I want to do God's will and God wants as many of us to be with Him in that day as possible. So, I do as Jesus had said and I plant seeds.
What happens to the seeds is not up to me. Only God can cause the increase. So it doesn't hurt me directly, but it does hurt people. In the Parable of the Sower, in The Book of the Gospel According to Matthew Chapter 13 (Read it, it is important that you understand), the seed (which is the word of God) may either fall in good soil and prosper many fruit and fulfill its purpose, or it could befall many disasterous outcomes, as stated within that chapter. That hurts people. It is not up to me what people do with the word, but I would like their seed to fall in good soil.
There is no real interpreting or translating of the Bible, there is truly only reading the Bible with understanding the way God intended. Open your eyes and ears and store it in your heart. God inspired the people to write the Bible and in your heart where the knowledge is it is the same as it is in my heart. There is no interpretation. If I did that, I'd be adding onto the Bible or changing it and that's not what God wants.
That's why when I put these things here, I always quote from God's words where I found it because they're not my words, but God's words and I encourage that the Holy Bible should be read so that the true knowledge of God can be attained through reading with understanding.
Whenever I study the word of God or find out something new, I always reference back to the Bible so that it doesn't deceive me or anything. Because if I told someone something that wasn't true, they may spread it and it would develop into that whole Pi = 3 thing that deceived you.
For instance, "God helps those that help themselves." Did you know that this is not in the Bible? God never said that, nor did He inspire it. It is an old adage that came around Ben Franklin's time. When people take these and say them over and over it becomes something negative that deceives people and brings them further from Salvation.
So look things up! Make sure that you are not deceived.
Go back in a Biblical Concordance or interlinear scripture analyzer and look up what you read for understanding in the Bible to discover its meaning if you have to. You will find out so much. One verse that you might read may be related and connected with so many other verses, which you could discover by cross-referencing and going back and finding other places where the words might be find.
I'm out of time. I'm sorry.
Unanswered questions that I will answer next time:
1) How come God loves suffering and humility? Asked by therealspartacus007
To those of you that read the above in its entirety - may God bless you. It shows that you want to develop a deeper understanding of God's word and God sees that and God loves you for it. Now, I encourage you to look up the references yourself in your own Bible. This way you will not be deceived. Don't be satisfied with the tidbits that I quoted to answer questions; go back and read with understanding the entire chapters and discover for yourself so that you can store the knowledge in your heart. The more knowledge you have of God's words, the less likely you will be deceived.
God loves you for it. Every day spent in God's words is a good day. Jesus Christ dwells within the words and God's word is alive!
May God bless and watch over you.--
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| Biblical Questions...Answered! |
| 12.10.03 (6:19 pm) [edit] |
Anything!
If you've been touched by the Holy Spirit, raise your hand!
Out of all that raised their hand, if you do have a question or are curious about God or God's words, ask it!
Comment on this blog and it shall be answered in the next post. All questions, concerns, or undiscussed matters from any previous blogs will be answered also.
The Rules:
1) You must present your question in a humble, non-threatening way. Be honorable. No flaming or intentionally inciting an unintelligble argument.
2) No questions about a specific religion, denomination, church, or person. Lets leave the judging up to our heavenly Father, who solely has the right.
3) Be respectable when replying or commenting on someone else's question.
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| Fighting Hurts... |
| 12.09.03 (9:08 pm) [edit] |
I just came home from Kung Fu and my knuckles are really sore. We did a lot of pad-hitting trainnig. I punched the mat hard. The harder you fight, the harder it hurts you. That's what I've learned from all of this. I hurt the person that I'm fighting and myself equally.
I suppose the pain is the price that one must pay for knowing how to kill people. I liked the shadow-kick that we practiced. You come in from the side and do 3 fast kicks while in the air. My sensei can do them really quickly. It's amazing.
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| My Fair Lady... |
| 12.08.03 (7:02 pm) [edit] |
I don't know what to say...
I am humble. Humble to the point where I shrowd myself in mystery. I keep this from everyone that I know. Even my mother does not know. Only my heavenly Father, her, and I knew of what we had until just recently.
Love. I read someone where the Bible that there is faith, there is hope, and then there is love. The strongest of these is love.
One day when I was in middle school I was using a primitive, mundane piece-of-junk software that went by the name of AOL. It provided me with internet access. I was exploring the internet personally for the first time. It was the first time that my family could afford to have both a computer and internet. Before I was only able to use the internet at school or at the library. Now I had it accessible from within the comforts of sitting at home. I was exploring what the software had to offer and I was into online chatting. With cybering all the rage, I was on the prowl for people to do fantasy chats with. I was in a chat room, whose name slipped my mind years ago, that was filled with only a few people at the time. There I met her. I don't know what she was doing there, but I was lucky to meet her when I did because she rarely goes into chat rooms and talks to people she doesn't know. I was speaking with a few people and one person began to speak German. I told them that I could speak it, too, and began a conversation with them in German. This impressed her because I was the same age as she was. She was impressed by my intellectual gifts and I was impressed by her spiritual gifts. We then began to chat privately.
I remember talking to her about something and having her ask me what I believed in. At the time I wasn't as nearly as spiritual as I am now and my Spirit was hungry and in anguish. I asked her a spiritual question and she answered it by giving me a handful of references to look up in the Bible. I was so amazed by her ability to look that up so quickly and her knowledge on God's word. I was fascinated by her.
Days went by and I would talk to her. I lost my internet connection a few times and she moved around a bit. There were periods where we wouldn't talk for months because of a failure in online communication or something preventing either one of us from being online. We grew together. Through four years of high school, in fact. I would talk to her for hours. Just...talking. We soon grew to love each other.
I felt ashamed of it at first. I would question why I loved her so much. I had dreams about her. And when I was bored, she invaded my daydreams. I thought it was odd and debated whether it was love or not. I couldn't physically touch her or see her. I didn't know if she was real or...delusional. I knew her so well that I could predict what she was thinking or going to say and she knew me the same. I talked with her over audio on AIM, but my mic was cheap and we couldn't really communicate well over it at all.
I was seeking evidence that she existed. That she wasn't a delusion and that she was real. I knew she was who she said she was, but I needed proof. So, one day I bought a phone card. 60 minutes. I used half to call my sister in England and saved the other half. Since she couldn't tell her parents about me and I couldn't do the same, I had her call me using the phone card information.
When I connected with her and talked with her, it was like a piece of heaven on Earth. Though it lasted no more than a half hour, I was actually talking to her. She proved that she was who she was and we chatted up a storm. She was just as nervous as I was! We have so much in common... I made up my mind that she was really who she was.
One day, after not talking to her for a month or two, I sent her a bunch of pictures of me. She thought I was cute. Then I asked her for pictures of herself.
She was talking to me at the time and when she sent me the first picture of her I'd ever seen, I was completely blown away. I was moved at how beautiful she was. I immediately began writing poetry about her. I was astounded. I was holding back tears as I wrote.
I sent it to her and she was shaken to tears. I suppose...that was the turning point in what I have with her. She began to love me more than she had before. My love for her also doubled. My dreams of her doubled.
Then I noticed how sad it also made her feel. At the time, she had a few guys after her in her life. I presume they all had ill-intentions for her because they were all afraid of going through her parents. She was in love with me then and she couldn't give her heart to any of these men. One by one they disappeared... She was still sad. We couldn't be together. I wanted her to be happy. SO... I tried to get her to fall in love with someone else. She had a friend named Jon. She talked of him as if she trusted him. I trust her judgement so I asked her if she would try to love Jon as she loved me. I told her that I would abandon her and let her fall in love with Jon. I did. It made her even more sad. She and I both felt "as if a limb had been severed." The pain was unbearable. I came back to her and told her that I couldn't stand not talking to her. I came back to find that she was in a relationship with Jon. She was kissing him and hugging him and being affectionate with him. I felt sad that I had left her because I had strong feelings for her.
I felt as if she didn't love me anymore. She did love me and going back I found that she had given me clues that she still loved me just as much, but I didn't see those clues at the time. So... I went on a quest for love. A love that would replace the one I had with Carolyn.
I searched for love far and wide. My search came up dry.
I did crazy things...
For example, there was a girl in my French class that listened to music. She had large, luscious, beautiful lips. She is a model. I would burn CDs for her for $2.50. Soon after, I stopped charging her money (partly because I later found it to be wrong, but that's another matter to discuss) and began charging her by her affection. I'd deny her money and ask her for a hug when I had finished her CDs. She was always ready to give it but I had trouble letting go and it would last for an unnormal amount of time.
I now see what I used to do for love as weird and shameful... Awkward. There are a few other examples, but I'd much rather not recall them.
So then after a while, I gave up on my search. I fell in love again... with God. I submitted myself to God and I became his. I was searching for Him, but all along he was waiting for me. And I found Him. He was who I was missing at the time - who I lost along the line and sorely needed. In an explosion of spiritualism, I discovered him for myself. Ever since, I have not been without God. I did nothing without God. God has been the window through which I see the world. God is who I receive my strength from. At the time before I discovered Him for myself, I was also going through many family problems and stresses that soon became unbearable to the point where I became a passive-minded, pessimistic waste-away. I felt life was not worth living and I told the person that I had loved that I no longer loved her. But soon after I discovered God, He tapped me into a reservoir of strength that I had never felt and I was once again shaken to tears. I stopped being so pessimistic and began seeing the beautiful things in what God created. I had no need for the girl I loved anymore. I loved her just the same, but I didn't depend on her love. I depended on God's love from then on.
After then, I brought that love wherever I went.
I was having troubles finding a job at the time. I had been searching for 2 years with no luck, which was a part of the overwhelming stress that I had been experiencing before I found my true love with God. I found one working at the movie theater. What had taken me 2 years to accomplish on my own took 2 days to be accomplished with God on my side. I worked as a concessionist at the movie theater and I had the opportunity to meet many people and touch so many with my evangelism. I walked in there every shift with a deeply-embedded smile on my face and I walked out the same way. I didn't smile on my own strength, but on the strength that God was giving me, rather.
Every day God brought me taught me something new, as I had been reading with understanding, as I had learned from God.
At that time, I was given the opportunity to explore the physical side of affection with a girl named Nidya. But, it wasn't what I had dreamed of because there was no love in the affection I had shown her. I had proven true what had been true all along.
I returned to her after then. I went back to her and told her what I had done to the girl named Nidya. I told her of what I had learned and she seemed not to have noticed the change in me. She saw that I had returned to normal. I have been talking to her now for a few weeks. I burnt a CD for that very same girl that I used to burn CDs for and this time when she approached me to give me a hug as payment, I told her to keep it and she asked me if I was sure, with a smile, and I said yes because I'm no longer the way I used to be.
I told her that I loved her. She wasn't as ready to tell me so because she was still involved with Jon. After talking to her for about a month, she realized that she didn't really have any feelings for Jon at all and she told him so and he cried. I wanted her to stay with him because they made each other happy. As long as she was happy, I was satisfied with it and I was always willing to sacrifice what I had with her for her happiness, but loving me seemed to make her happy now. So I was okay with it.
Until yesterday...
Isaac I wonder where you'll be in ten year's time.
Lagail Marie no where
Isaac Floating in the middle of nowhere?
Isaac What are your goals?
Lagail Marie I have none
Lagail Marie I have given up on life
Isaac Why?
Lagail Marie my parents were telling how I'am going to the community college
Isaac Why?
Lagail Marie that school is really really easy to get int
Lagail Marie o
Lagail Marie cause I waste my time on the internet
Isaac Oh no...
Isaac Get off of it, then.
Isaac Right now.
Isaac Wait...
Isaac Before you go...
Isaac Apply to the college that you want to get into.
Isaac And if it is God's will, you will get into it.
Lagail Marie I already did
Isaac Remember...
Lagail Marie What college are you going to?
Isaac You can't make those sorts of decisions. Only God can.
Isaac I don't know yet.
Isaac I'm still applying.
Isaac But...
Isaac I wont talk to you anymore.
Lagail Marie no
Lagail Marie you have to
Isaac I wont.
Lagail Marie but I'am going to go work upstairs now
Lagail Marie I'll leave this thing onlie
Isaac For a week.
Isaac Starting today.
Lagail Marie online*
Lagail Marie no
Lagail Marie cant do that
Lagail Marie sorry
Lagail Marie I'll talk to you later though
Lagail Marie write me back
Lagail Marie bye
Lagail Marie I mean see ya later
Isaac See you.
Isaac I love you.
Isaac This is my fault. :-(
Isaac I've screwed up your future and your optimism.
Isaac And my own future in the process.
Isaac You were the one that encouraged me to turn my life around last summer.
Isaac You're what sparked me to follow God's path...
Isaac You used to tell me the value of life and you made me feel in a time when I couldn't feel anything anymore.
Isaac And so I want to do what you did for me in your dark time.
Isaac By the grace of God, I'll fix this...
Isaac Somehow...
I was wrong. This isn't something I can fix. Only God can fix this...
I will pray.
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| I... |
| 12.08.03 (5:05 pm) [edit] |
"Hi. What's your name?"
"Isaac."
Isaac is my name. It's a pretty strong name. It means much more than what it means. "Laughing one." If you go deeper biblically, you'll see where my name comes from. In the Bible, Isaac was the son of Abraham. God came to Abraham and told him that he would have a son with his wife Sarai and that he was to call her Sarah. Abraham fell on his face and laughed because he was ninety-nine years old. They were both in old age. I suppose that's where "Laughing one," the meaning behind the name Isaac, must have came from. God told him that he would establish his covenant with Isaac and his descendants for an everlasting covenant.
"And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me." The Book of Genesis, Chapter 21 Verse 6.
After Isaac was born and circumsized, then weaned, God told Abraham that he wanted him to go to a mountain and offer his only son that he loved so much as a burnt offering (sacrificing lambs or burnt offerings was the way to pay for sins back then). God was testing Abraham. Isaac fetched fire and other items and asked his father Abraham where the lamb to be offered was and received the answer that God will provide it. And so Abraham tied his son down to the alter and readied the knife. He was going to sacrifice him, but the angel (Zadkiel, I believe it was), sent by God, stopped him.
"And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thine only son from me."
The Book of Genesis, Chapter 22 Verse 12.
God was testing him! To see if he would sacrifice his own son. Well. Years later, God sacrificed his own son, whom he loved so much, in place of Isaac, knowing that man would sacrifice his son if He would ask it of him.
The name Isaac is important!
I asked my mum what my name meant when I was young and I remember her telling me the story of Abraham and Isaac and showing it to me in the picture-Bible that I had. She went on to tell me how I was her only son and that God blessed her with me even though she was getting old. She loves me dearly.
I encourage you all to read over Genesis. Fill your spirit with the knowledge of God so that it is content. Be both content and unsatisfied at once. Seek out God's knowledge as if it were fine silver. Stay with his words.
Every day in God's words is a good day. Jesus is the living word. Store up his knowledge as treasures in your heart. Be not without understanding. Read life as you do God's word and you will find that Jesus is within your life every day as he is within the words that you read. Read with understanding!
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| I am a sinner. |
| 12.03.03 (10:09 pm) [edit] |
I once stole a package of nerds from the corner store. I was peer-pressured into it by 3 others, but that is no excuse. I was about 11 years old. I was caught. When he caught me, he pretended to threaten to call the police and turn me in. In actuallity, the two decent men knew my stepfather because we lived right by and they wanted to teach me a lesson. I learned that lesson well.
I ran out of the store with my 3 amigos. We ran to the apartments where we all lived at the time and they all began to pray that they wouldn't be caught or that their mothers wouldn't find out. I, myself, didn't pray because I read in the Bible that you should pray in private. They didn't understand. I was too guilty to pray. I couldn't face God and talk to Him because I knew I had done something that was terribly, terribly wrong and that I wasn't a good person, or the good person that He wanted me to be.
I've lied to my mother a few times. I am not proud of that at all. I've told her a few lies. I think I unintentionally lie to people sometimes. For example, I lied to my french teacher Mrs. Kokernot about where another student was because I felt sympathy for them and didn't want them to get into trouble, when the entire matter was resolved simply and my untruthfulness could have been avoided.
This year I called my biological father on the phone and yelled at him for not calling or writing me in 7 years. Though I was careful in my speech and didn't resort to any untruthfulness or obscenities (or profanity), it is very wrong to dishonour one's father.
I once cheated in a board game with my sister, Marley.
All of these things. These sins. They are all equal in the eyes of our heavenly Father. So is adultery, false witness, coveting someone else's wife... Each and every time I study God's words, I gain more and more insight into what is right and what is wrong. What is of the Spirit and what is of the flesh. I've asked for forgivenness for all of these sins and I know that I have been forgiven because Jesus Christ died to pay for them. I shall not sin. I am walking in Jesus' footsteps. The path is difficult to follow, but I'm not walking it alone. Though I am human and though I am a born-in-the-flesh, Earthly man that is imperfect, I shall, through God's grace, follow Jesus' path closely. I shall strive to be perfect, as He was when He was here on Earth. And I shall not waiver, I will be absolute on this.
Just the other day when I was coming home from school I stopped at the hardware store and bought a meter stick. When I went home I gave it to her and told her that it was to make up for the time I broke her ruler almost a decade ago. She said I said it wasn't me at the time and I told her that I really did it and we had a laugh. I was surprised she still remembered because she usually doesn't remember those small details.
I didn't have to do that. I didn't have to buy her another ruler to make up for what I did years ago. She knew that I broke it and she could tell that I was lying at the time. But, you know what? She already forgave me. Years ago. She didn't love me any less for lying to her about breaking it. Making up for breaking the ruler was just another way of telling her that I love her dearly.
The sins listed above weren't my only sins. I have done more, but they've all been forgiven. If I sin again, I will ask for forgivenness, correct what I did so that I don't have to repeat the same mistake, learn, and then move on.
I'm off to finish my homework and then study God's words. I want to know so much more than I know now.
Today I was listening to a few people go on and on about their problems. Their relationship problems. Their problems with their parents. Their car and their expenses. Their school work and not having any time for themselves. I've gained so much from studying God's words that these problems seem so easily fixable now. I want to be able to help these people, but whenever I try to explain something they don't understand or get angry because they feel that I'm trying to be better than they are. Such is not the case. I read today...
"The Lord is no | |
