Where are like buttons when you need them? I agree with all that you have said and more.
The only exception that I have is that God very plainly stated that there were people that He abhorred, hated, despised, and rejected because of their unrepentant sin. I believe that man can so strive against God that it causes Him to despise and hate that individual. This was true of Esau, various generations of Israelites, various Gentile nations around them, various peoples who dwelt in the land before them, as well as others.
Jay, I suggest you do an exegesis on those texts that say God hated or abhored someone... and you'll see that the King James interpretation doesn't do the words used in those texts justice. You'll see in some that it literally is saying they grieved God and broke his heart, and in others, that the text is actually saying He hated their life, the actions they carried out, what they did, who they had become.
God's unconditional love for their soul was there.
Let me just say, because frankly, I think Michael is confusing terms, and using words very lossely to mean different things... that unconditional love doesn't mean unconditional salvation, security, or grace. God's love is on such a different realm than hours, we could never even imagine it, and within that love is justice... and even wrath. Yes, God can even pour out his wrath on a society while yet loving them.
We want to be accepted. We want to gain the approval of others. We want people to see us as having value and worth. We hunger for praise, pats on the back, compliments and commendations. Deep down inside we have a need to be accepted. Accepted for who we are. Accepted as we are. Accepted in spite of what we are or what we’ve done. Accepted in spite of what aren’t and what we haven’t done.
To get this back on track... this is the paragraph that really troubles me. You make the assumption that just because this WANT is present, that it should be fed and appeased.
What ever happened to realizing that we are depraved and nothing good resides within us in of ourselves? What ever happened to realizing we are filth, unworthy, not able to ever have anything good within us without Jesus? This just sounds so self centered and like humanism.
To get this back on track... this is the paragraph that really troubles me. You make the assumption that just because this WANT is present, that it should be fed and appeased.
What ever happened to realizing that we are depraved and nothing good resides within us in of ourselves? What ever happened to realizing we are filth, unworthy, not able to ever have anything good within us without Jesus? This just sounds so self centered and like humanism.
No, you miss the point. The need we have for acceptance, but we seek it in all the wrong ways. It's only by understanding how we are accepted in Christ that we find wholeness and are able to be loving to others as He loves.
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When a newspaper posed the question, "What's Wrong with the World?" G. K. Chesterton reputedly wrote a brief letter in response: "Dear Sirs: I am. Sincerely Yours, G. K. Chesterton." That is the attitude of someone who has grasped the message of Jesus.
I have no issue with girls who enjoy kicking a ball, swinging a bat, and enjoying such things. However, I do not approve of young people playing in organized sporting events. I know that this flies in the face of modern trends.
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I am an Apostolic Pentecostal. Apostolic in teaching, and Pentecostal in experience.
I have no issue with girls who enjoy kicking a ball, swinging a bat, and enjoying such things. However, I do not approve of young people playing in organized sporting events. I know that this flies in the face of modern trends.
Can I assume that you find no problem with women spending quality time at the firing range then? I would expect my wife to stand by myself as we fought off the inevitable zombie hoards, together.
Can I assume that you find no problem with women spending quality time at the firing range then? I would expect my wife to stand by myself as we fought off the inevitable zombie hoards, together.
Be careful: don't shoot Zombie Bill Murray!
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Hebrews 13:23 Know ye that our brother Timothy is set at liberty
Can't do ol Bill any harm. Remember he threw himself off a cliff on groundhog day and still woke up the next morning?
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If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:14 KJV
He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? Micah 6:8 KJV
Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:2 KJV
Hybrid Mode
