Recent content by rewriter

I will sometimes say that I "learned" a spiritual gift, but to be more accurate, I learned that I had it and how to use it. For instance, I do not know when I received the gift of discernment, but I do remember when I learned that I had it. It was a case of, "Oh, that's what I am feeling"...

I would reference Ezekiel 33:12-13 "Therefore, son of man, say to your people, ‘If someone who is righteous disobeys, that person’s former righteousness will count for nothing. And if someone who is wicked repents, that person’s former wickedness will not bring condemnation. The righteous person...

I would note that anyone who calls themselves a prophet is taking a risk. God knows whom He has given a message and whom he has not. To proclaim that God has spoken to me is to risk God's wrath. There are ample references to false prophets in scripture, and in one case, some 400 of them were...

In "miraculous" NDE accounts there are many that are extremely well documented. An individual with stage 4-B cancer, basically organs beginning to shut down, hours to live, reported having an NDE before they walked out of the hospital a few weeks later with no sign of cancer anywhere in their...

I do believe in gifts and miracles, but I also recognize just how unlikely any "perfect" example is. I have known of many instances of speaking in tongues where I can independently verify both the language spoken and the speakers previous lack of knowledge of the language, and even in some...

I have to disagree with you on this point. In the OT, God is very clear that government by humans is just trouble, that the proper approach is government by divinely appointed individuals and not hereditary. But He allowed kings because the people demanded them. But even in the quote about...

About what?

And yet another, often ignored, problem is that Paul is not writing these words himself, but rather he is dictating what he wants to say to a scribe. The scribe then works to figure out exactly what words to use because there are limits to how many individual letters can fit onto an expensive...

Shh, I am hiding behind the palm tree in the corner.

Maybe if you stop worrying about what actions are sins and start looking at what drives you to those actions, you might get the point I am driving at. It is not so much what we do, that is bad enough, but why we do those things that is the real problem. I cannot remember what Christian writer...

Welcome John. From what I hear from a friend who got her PhD in Norway, it can be a great place to live.

Welcome Lwmw

You like to refer to "poking God ion the eye. Does God view such things as being poked in the eye or does He gleefully view it as "my child recognizes my face and is trying to touch it? You like to ask ."what sins do you tolerate", but I have not yet seen which ones YOU tolerate.

Yes, it makes very good sense. SIN is the problem that leads us to do or not do other things that we call sins. As we recognize SIN, and battle it, the little actions, especially the blatant ones, become easier to avoid. Focusing on the actions that flow from SIN is to miss what the real...

I am not sure that sin becomes less of an issue as we mature, it seems to me that while it is easier to avoid some actions that are sinful, I become more aware of many other things that I do or do not do that are just as sinful in God's eyes, even if fellow humans do not consider them sins.