Scripture/faith/grace/alone or not

[Bird Dog]

I will not give my name because I am slandered on the internet to this day by atheists.

I didn't choose to be a pastor. I am not a pastor.

My friend who is a professor says that it is useless to argue or debate Catholics because they have to agree with what their priest says even if it is wrong and I have found it to be true with a lot of individuals so it shouldn't matter to you whom I am because you cannot listen to what I have to say anyway. You have to agree with what your bishop says.

So, you agree with this "professor"even if he is wrong and who obviously has no understanding of the Catholic Faith. The blind leading the blind.

 

[Chuckt]

Is that right? If, according to you, Catholics aren't going to listen, then why say anything about Catholicism at all?



Since you're interested in reading such things you might want to try, "Against the Protestant Gnostics" by Philip J. Lee

Maybe after I'm done reading "The Gnostic Origins of Calvinism" by Ken Johnson, Th.D.

 

[hotcoffee]

Maybe after I'm done reading "The Gnostic Origins of Calvinism" by Ken Johnson, Th.D.

I've been praying about you. I'll admit, I haven't prayed for you until just this instance, but I have been praying about you.

I've been asking for words to say to you. This morning these words came to give to you. Let me tell you a little story I told my Children's Sunday School. I've shared this story on these forums before.

I used to have a home in Lothian. I had a lot of gardens in my yard there. I enjoyed working in the gardens, weeding them and turning the soil to keep it soft. As I worked in the gardens, it gave me time to think about things that were going on in my life. It gave me time to work things out.

One day I was working in the shade garden and I was particularly troubled about something. I don't remember now what the problem was, but at the time it was really troubling me. Suddenly I realized that while I was working the soil, I was saying out loud "Oh man... Oh man... Oh man." That's when I realized I should be saying "Oh God" instead of "Oh man". I stopped what I was doing and prayed about the problem. The reason I don't remember now what the problem was.... I gave it to God to handle.

I see you quoting books and scholars. I've looked up a lot of the verses you use and the majority are out of context. Your intentions may be pure but your study is skewed. Sure I like Charles Stanley and many other good preachers but I always go back to my Bible. I look up the verses they refer to and study them in context.

I had the same problems you are having before I got my hands on an interpretation of the Bible I could understand. Preachers were telling me one thing and another but until I could read the Bible for myself, none of it made any sense.

I think, Chuckt, you need to stop reading the supporting [or conflicting] books and go back to the Bible itself. Yes I know there are other books that were not included in the Bible... and yes maybe you should read them when you have the opportunity. I intend to read them when I get the opportunity.... but you seem to need to go back to the Bible and just read it from cover to cover..... read the story.... see what the story is all about before allowing yourself to be led by professors, friends, and others.

Ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit to help you read it. If you ask, the Holy Spirit will help much more than study notes and professors. God is the author of the original story and He will interpret it for you. I'm sure if you were to ask Charles Stanley, he would agree.

Get out of the other books and get into the Bible.... then you will see.



It's a great book. It's much better than Gone with the Wind or Moby Dick. It's been around longer and it's sold more copies.

 

[onel0126]

I've been praying about you. I'll admit, I haven't prayed for you until just this instance, but I have been praying about you. I've been asking for words to say to you. This morning these words came to give to you. Let me tell you a little story I told my Children's Sunday School. I've shared this story on these forums before. I used to have a home in Lothian. I had a lot of gardens in my yard there. I enjoyed working in the gardens, weeding them and turning the soil to keep it soft. As I worked in the gardens, it gave me time to think about things that were going on in my life. It gave me time to work things out. One day I was working in the shade garden and I was particularly troubled about something. I don't remember now what the problem was, but at the time it was really troubling me. Suddenly I realized that while I was working the soil, I was saying out loud "Oh man... Oh man... Oh man." That's when I realized I should be saying "Oh God" instead of "Oh man". I stopped what I was doing and prayed about the problem. The reason I don't remember now what the problem was.... I gave it to God to handle. I see you quoting books and scholars. I've looked up a lot of the verses you use and the majority are out of context. Your intentions may be pure but your study is skewed. Sure I like Charles Stanley and many other good preachers but I always go back to my Bible. I look up the verses they refer to and study them in context. I had the same problems you are having before I got my hands on an interpretation of the Bible I could understand. Preachers were telling me one thing and another but until I could read the Bible for myself, none of it made any sense. I think, Chuckt, you need to stop reading the supporting [or conflicting] books and go back to the Bible itself. Yes I know there are other books that were not included in the Bible... and yes maybe you should read them when you have the opportunity. I intend to read them when I get the opportunity.... but you seem to need to go back to the Bible and just read it from cover to cover..... read the story.... see what the story is all about before allowing yourself to be led by professors, friends, and others. Ask the Lord to send the Holy Spirit to help you read it. If you ask, the Holy Spirit will help much more than study notes and professors. God is the author of the original story and He will interpret it for you. I'm sure if you were to ask Charles Stanley, he would agree. Get out of the other books and get into the Bible.... then you will see. It's a great book. It's much better than Gone with the Wind or Moby Dick. It's been around longer and it's sold more copies.

To piggy back on this beautiful post, I only offer this. Make no mistake, man removed books from the Bible (or in some versions relegated them to a "special" section. This is a fact. Exactly when, why, and who can be argued. But the fact they were removed can't be. The books of the Apocrypha were there in the earliest days and I can show you where the Gospel writers themselves have quoted them. Please, read them. Excluding them because your denomination or a professor or a TV evangelist has decided they were not God-breathed is disingenuous at best. Your love for the Bible is evident. Read all of it.

 

[Chuckt]

I see you quoting books and scholars. I've looked up a lot of the verses you use and the majority are out of context. Your intentions may be pure but your study is skewed. Sure I like Charles Stanley and many other good preachers but I always go back to my Bible. I look up the verses they refer to and study them in context.

I had the same problems you are having before I got my hands on an interpretation of the Bible I could understand. Preachers were telling me one thing and another but until I could read the Bible for myself, none of it made any sense.

I went to a Bible Institute and one of the things they taught was context. They painfully taught me to spend five hours on two verses every week making observations whereas some people can make up to 400 observations.
Have I ever made mistakes? Yes. I make a few mistakes.

I'm on the same page as a lot of pastors who have teaching ministries. I've been taught by them. I listened to all of the positions in my day and then I grew up to where I knew the Bible well enough, did my own systematic theology and started putting together what I believe is the correct position. And all of the people who opposed me and all I had was a Bible. What was I to say? All of a sudden, God's word started to speak to me and to teach me just like the Westminster Confession of Faith says:

Article X says,"The Supreme Judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Spirit speaking in the Scripture.1"-Westminster Confession of Faith

I heard the voice of God through scripture just like men of old so what the Bible says is:

Hebrews 3:15 While it is said, To day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation.

I'm happy to have heard God's voice through scripture so I will preach the truth to the best of my ability.

 

[Chuckt]

To piggy back on this beautiful post, I only offer this. Make no mistake, man removed books from the Bible (or in some versions relegated them to a "special" section. This is a fact. Exactly when, why, and who can be argued. But the fact they were removed can't be. The books of the Apocrypha were there in the earliest days and I can show you where the Gospel writers themselves have quoted them. Please, read them. Excluding them because your denomination or a professor or a TV evangelist has decided they were not God-breathed is disingenuous at best. Your love for the Bible is evident. Read all of it.

The Apocrypha also has Judith assisting God in a lie so the apocrypha can't be true because God doesn't lie.

This is a pretty good and free series why the Apocrypha is rejected:

https://www.jashow.org/wiki/index.php/The_Apocrypha

https://books.google.com/books?id=K...onepage&q=dr norman geisler apocrypha&f=false