Many "Christians" have been deceived and are on their way to destruction (history, atheist)
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Was Samson saved? How to we know? Was his deeds overall righteous or unrighteous?
Good question lol. Makes me aware I need to read about him again. I would definitely say he lived his faith in God and had a special role to play to accomplish His purposes. He was made righteous by his faith. He is listed in Hebrews among other great men of faith : Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, David, Samuel and the prophets
Don't focus so much on the person. Focus on what is being said. If there is any truth to it, then it is from the Holy Spirit. Weigh what is said against the Bible and ask God to make Himself known to you.
On an internet forum, how can we truly know the person who is speaking? How can we determine if they truly live what they preach?
We can only judge if what they are speaking is truth or not.
The will of God is that we become loving and obedient from the heart.
That the Holy Spirit would conform us to Christ and free us from slavery to sin.
Not slavery to sin, but honest freedom from sin.
When the a person is born again, they become obedient to God's laws not out of fear, but out of love.
Breaking the commandments is the opposite of love.
Lying, stealing, disrespect, coveting, lust, fornication etc...
These commandments were made for those who do not have the Holy Spirit in them conforming them to Christ,
to keep them from committing evil deeds. Those who are born again and walk by the Spirit, will not break these commandments.
It is not possible to be completely free from all sin, as we are still in the flesh.
However we do not choose to do evil deeds with our bodies, and if an evil thought does arise.. We do not entertain it but submit it to the Holy Spirit.
When we are born again, it is a work of God that makes us a new creation with new desires.
We are no longer slaves to sin, living under the law. We become slaves to righteousness and produce the fruits of the Spirit, against which, there is no law.
Galatians 5
But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
1 Corinthians 13
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant 5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. 7 Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
John 3
Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” 4 Nicodemus said to him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother's womb and be born?” 5 Jesus answered, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
I am sorry, but it is just a continual source of amazement and dismay to me that this sort of thinking is still alive and well--though thankfully steadily diminishing--in the 21st Century. In a society that has invented the microprocessor; quantum mechanics; has gone to the moon and obtained photographs of the Cosmos beyond our Galaxy. Who has eradicated once-deadly diseases via breakthroughs is medical science.
An invisible, BFF sky god who wants us to be obedient to him? Itinerant jewish carpenters who never die and now sit up there with him?
some interesting study questions...
Were his deeds overall righteous or unrighteous?
Salvation was not really an issue, but he was faithful. His only errors were not sins. He married a non Israelite and told her about his hair, beyond that what sin did he commit? He was a faithful servant, just a little slow as it were.
I am sorry, but it is just a continual source of amazement and dismay to me that this sort of thinking is still alive and well--though thankfully steadily diminishing--in the 21st Century.
A sky god who wants us to be obedient?
Really?
Really?
Better than modrn ignorance where man thinks he is in effect "God" and knows it all. Talk about ignorant man.
I am sorry, but it is just a continual source of amazement and dismay to me that this sort of thinking is still alive and well--though thankfully steadily diminishing--in the 21st Century. In a society that has invented the microprocessor; quantum mechanics; has gone to the moon and obtained photographs of the Cosmos beyond our Galaxy. Who has eradicated once-deadly diseases via breakthroughs is medical science.
An invisible, BFF sky god who wants us to be obedient to him? Itinerant jewish carpenters who never die and now sit up there with him?
Really?
Really?
Elaborate on this obedience that you find so appalling.
And what does the study of the physical universe have to say about our existence?
I am sorry, but it is just a continual source of amazement and dismay to me that this sort of thinking is still alive and well--though thankfully steadily diminishing--in the 21st Century. In a society that has invented the microprocessor; quantum mechanics; has gone to the moon and obtained photographs of the Cosmos beyond our Galaxy. Who has eradicated once-deadly diseases via breakthroughs is medical science.
An invisible, BFF sky god who wants us to be obedient to him? Itinerant jewish carpenters who never die and now sit up there with him?
Really?
Really?
"Think about it...religion has actually convinced people...that there's an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these 10 things he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture where he will send you to live and choke and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time. But he loves you!...He loves you!...he loves you and he needs money! He always needs money! He's all powerful, all knowing, all wise...but... he just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now...you talk about a good bull---- story...holy ----!!"
"Think about it...religion has actually convinced people...that there's an invisible man, living in the sky, who watches everything you do, every minute of every day. And the invisible man has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do. And if you do any of these 10 things he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and torture where he will send you to live and choke and scream and cry forever and ever until the end of time. But he loves you!...He loves you!...he loves you and he needs money! He always needs money! He's all powerful, all knowing, all wise...but... he just can't handle money! Religion takes in billions of dollars, they pay no taxes, and they always need a little more. Now...you talk about a good bull---- story...holy ----!!"
--George Carlin
He wants much more from us than the 10 commandments He wants us to become born again and loving towards God and people through the power of the Holy Spirit. He doesn't need our money, the churches are messed up and eternal torment is unBiblical.
Elaborate on this obedience that you find so appalling.
And what does the study of the physical universe have to say about our existence?
The study of the physical universe would so far seem to lend credence to the notion that we here on Earth are nothing special. A mere speck in the cosmos. And that given the trillions upon trillions of possible life-harboring planets, that the Universe is in fact absolutely teeming with life. Including Intelligent Life.
The study of Cosmology has shown us the Earth is approximately 4.6 Billion years old. And the Universe itself is about 13.6 billion years of age.
Homo sapien has arrived here out of the process of Evolution, with life beginning in the primordial ooze over three billion years ago, in microbial form. Since the first primate which most anthropologists agree can be referred to as "human-like" australopithecus afarensis, some 7 million years ago, there have been no less than 27 subspeices of the genus homo. We are indeed the "last apes standing."
99% of all life forms that have ever lived on this planet are now extinct.
The maximum age to which us humans can probably ever expect to live, given all conditions being optimal, like diet and genetics and environmental factors, as well as evading any deleterious diseases, seems to be, at this point at least, about 120 years.
And science did not ever feel the need for a god in gleaning any of this information.
Funny, that.
In closing: to the poster who said that atheists "think of man as god" and "think they know everything" I have to respond that that is flat-out erroneous. Quite the contrary: science teaches us that in order to arrive at certain facts and theories they must be tested, questioned, and then proved, via the scientific or empirical method. We basically are all to aware that we do not know everything. And knowing that you don't know is indeed a mark of wisdom.
Contrary, say, to the ilk of people, who read and worship a book comprised of a compendium of mythology and allegorical and metaphorical tales written by a nomadic bronze aged peoples over the course of many decades, by dozens of authors. And then believe that this, this, collection of writings indeed answers all the mysteries of the cosmos and the reason for our existence.
A book, mind you, that has not a scintilla of outside source or proof to substantiate most of its claims, no matter how outlandish or how much they refute all laws of known science. These people, oddly--seem to embrace science in everyday life when they use their smart phones and their computers and their cars and take their medications, and they trust and admire this science. But see, when that same science flies in the face or flat-out disproves the veracity of the claims of their holy book, they lambast the science as being arrogant and groundless.
And not in agreement with their god's will.
This, rather, I believe is a good example of a peoples who claim to know everything.
you and I park our cars in the same garage, my friend! ^^^^^^^^^^
Thanks!
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
