| Author | Message | ||
| Maryann |
This is neat Guys, When I was putting my stuff in the truck for my trip Friday, I had a bag of materials to take to listen to and study while in Calif. I walked past it three times and everytime forgot it. 10 miles down the road, I discovered my memory glitch, and then drove another mile before I did a U-turn to get the forgotten material. On a whim, I just grabbed some other stuff I hadn't planned to look at for a while and what a blessing that was. Some months back I was introduced to Jesus by way of a personalized letter from Him to me (Matthew 18:1-6), for that I am eternally grateful. This weekend, I was introduced to the ENTIRE Bible! What a thrill. I want to start a thread about it too. If I, raised as an SDA, was sooooooo ignorant of the Bible and what it really is in it's entirety, I'm sure there is at least one other person looking at this Forum that could benefit from what I learned. I'm ashamed to admit this, but it wasn't till just last year that I found out from listening to the New Testament on tape that the 4 gospels were the same basic thing, just different takes from different authors. Can you imagine that? Raised in a church and didn't know a basic like that. The fact that I knew all the "Bible Stories" by heart ment that I knew all that was needed to be known about the Bible. Not to mention the "light" to the Bible I got in in EGW! Grrrrr :-( This thing in Hebrews 5:13-14 about; "Anyone who lives on milk is still a baby. He knows nothing about right teaching. But solid food is for those who are grown up. They have practiced in order to know the difference between good and evil." really came home to me this weekend. I've been on a liquid diet for 3 days and counting and am pretty irritated about it. Imagine how God feels when he see's us on our liquid Bible diets for years and years and more years? I took in the late service at Trinity and what a great message theme; Your Grace is sufficient for me and Your Grace is all I need. The story of the little boy who wet his pants in class and was to embarrassed to get up only to be saved by a little girl with a goldfish in a fishbowl of water that accidently on purpose spilled it all over him to cover his shame was terrific. She endured much ridicule from her classmates for her clumsiness. When the little boy, on the way home asked her why she did it, she said that she knew what it was like because she wet her pants before too. I think that is something we all need to remember. We have been places that others are just now experiencing and it would be helpful for us to endure some pain or embarressment to help them along the way. So, how did God work in a mysterious way for me? The devil made me forget my bag of materials 3 times. God reminded me 10 miles down the road, I listened and tripple wammied the devil by going back and getting my ears and eyes on something that introduced me to the entire Bible in a crash course of 2 days! Praising God and thumbing my nose at the devil, Maryann | ||
| BMorgan |
Thank you MaryAnn for that beautiful illustration. Recently, I have been weeping, mourning, regretting and grieving about my more than 20 lost years, being deceived by the adventist. Your comment;"WE have been places where others are just experiencing and if we endure the pain and embarrassment to help them along the way." has been another reminder that God is Sovereign. He will used our past for His glory. Within the last three weeks I have heard that sentiment expressed more than five times. Thanks again MaryAnn for sharing. B | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Morgan, Thanks for the affirmation. I have been very angry about wasting 20+ years for what? Each of us has something to be thankful for. Chew on this. You have been in A church all these 20+ years. You HAVE read some Bible during those years. You are aquainted with the Bible. You can channel all your previous knowledge to arming yourself with knowledge to help others out of the trap of SDAism you are so fresh out of. Don't mourn it, PRAISE IT! I was out 20+ years and am so frustrated at drawing a blank in comparison to YOU guys. What I CAN be thankful for is that for these 20+ years, I don't have quite as much doctrinal baggage/garbage to deal with as you guys do. God can grab us where we are at. I seriously got grabbed and got a fire lite under me this weekend that I dare the devil to snort fire on, 'cause it will only burn it hotter and make me grab another gear. Good to hear from you, Maryann | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Everyone, Do you remember being taught that pride was a sin? Somewhere it says that pride cometh befor a fall, (Proverbs?) Think this through with me. When you play darts, you keep score, right? Same with pool, cribbage, and coin tosses, right? Do you think that "humble pride" in daily victories is wrong? Do you think that keeping a mental score of those victories is wrong? Okay, okay, sit back down in your seats. When I went to work this morning, I felt sorta like a coin being tossed and spinning, and spinning and ending either heads or tails up. I figure that today, among the crude and rude work force, I ended tails up, head down twice. For that I'm very "PROUD" as I ended tails down and head looking up at least 50 times! :-) Now, what are your thoughts on "pride" in the light of encouraging yourself and others to do it again tomorrow with the help of God. OR, is pride a "bad" choice of words, and if so, lets have another one that works as universally. Maryann (tickled with pride) | ||
| Plain Patti |
Maryann, Anything we think, feel, do, experience, or desire is sinful. We cannot escape it in this life. We are chickens (or tuna, if you prefer), remember. :) We will continue to lay eggs, and all of our eggs are sinful. There are many Christians who think that we can and must attain sinless perfection. They maintain this in spite of not being able to give a single example of anyone who has. Your question reminds me of a story I heard when I was a teenager. The Red-Faced Monkey About a hundred years ago, a man in India went around selling a formula that he claimed turned lead into gold. He drew a crowd and then performed a demonstration: Mixed up his formula, held up a piece of lead for everyone to see, dropped it into the solution, and then, Voila! He pulled out a golden nugget. The crowd "oohed" and "ahed" and pushed forward to buy his solution. He sold many bottles of solutions, and as his customers began to walk away, he told them to stop, that he had left out one important detail. "In order for this to work," he said, "you must never think of the red-faced monkey while you are performing the transformation." That is kind of like trying to be sinless. If ever we were sinless, we would commit the sin of pride upon realization that we had become sinless. | ||
| Jude the Obscure |
Excellent observation, Patti! | ||
| Maryann |
Patti and Jude, Hummmmmmm? Cool? Does that mean by the end of the day I should have 1 tails up to keep me humbly proud that I am not (other than my carnal nature) sinless? Just kidding! :-) I really do feel great about having, with the Holy Spirit seriously busy, licked the dEVIL in his favorite court! AND.....I feel no shame or guilt about feeling great about it. Under my own power, it would have been 50 to 2 not 2 to 50. I just noticed something, devil can also be d'evil, cool? | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Yíall, Many moons ago, Mom got into the word faith movement camp and somehow I knew this was all wrong. I went into high gear chasing down everything I could and finally was able to present the falsehood of this stuff so she could understand it. I really learned a lot from this year or so of searching. I learned that God was a kind and loving God. Also, got a general idea of grace, faith and salvation. Next, Mom got a hold of 3ABN. Actually it was MY fault. I was removing TBN from her TV and when I got to 3ABN, she said to get rid of it too! I didnít, as I thought that it was just another music station. (this puts a whole new twist on ìchildren obey your parentsî Grrrrrr) Anyway, neither one of us had a clue that this was an SDA station! I was just leaving to visit an 89 year old lady, at her request, that was dying of cancer in No. Ca. She was like my Gramma. SDA of course. Anyway, while the cat was away the mouse played and Mom found 3ABN. She informed me that in just a few short days that she had become a ìfull fledged SDAî again. I didnít believe it. I didnít think she was serious. I couldnít accept that ìIî had left an SDA station tuned in for her! I then went into overdrive, looking for a way to re-extract her from the choke hold SDAism again had on her. I tried Hank Hanegraaff at CRI. I listened to quite a few callers that were SDAs and found that he really didnít handle them well. He was so awesome on the ìotherî problem denominations and cults. He called SDAs cultic. I got his fact sheets, but they just had NO power or understanding in them towards the SDAs. I had read just about everything he had when I was dealing with the first problem with the ìword faithî movement, but got zero help here. I started a campaign of asking every pastor of every Church that I could get to talk to me, to help me deal with SDAism. I got the same thing I got from CRI, no real understanding. I tried my favorite radio ministries, all to no avail. I was getting fed the gospel, but they too did not have any understanding. I need to point out that all these people were NOT ignorant of the gospel! They were ignorant of how to deal with SDAs! One day, Hank had this really well known guy on named Norm Geisler on the show. Everyone that got through on the radio show was just in awe of having the privilege of speaking to him. Hank made the statement that if Norm didnít know the answer to something, heíd for sure know where to get the answer. Norm was so soft spoken, warm and easy to talk to and just didnít sound so all fire important to me. But? My rusty gears got to turning and I got to grinning and said to myself, ìwatch my smokeî! I called CRI and asked just who this Norm Geisler was and where could I find him. I was TOLD: Why Norm Geisler, heís the Dean and Professor of Theology and Apologetics at So. Evangelical Seminary! I go yikes! Then asked if he might happen to have a phone number. They gave it to me and the rest is history. I called and the lady said that Dr. Geisler was out of town for a few days. I still was smoking, so I tried a few days later and asked if he was back yet. Why yes, would you like to speak to him? Believe it or not, I was ìspeechlessî. I finally stuttered and sputtered yes. I slapped myself, took a BIG breath and ìhey whatís up Normî! Yeh right, I replied to his hello with ìhello Dr. Geislerî. He is so easy to talk to, really! Anyway, I gave him the 5 minute horror story of the cults that Mom kept bringing into the house. He listened patiently, then said, ìIím sorry, but I canít help you with your problem of SDAismî. I fell over dead. My heart jumped out of my throat. The last straw broke! Then he said, ìbut, I know who can help youî! I came back from the dead! Wow, he actually took about 20 minutes of his time just to talk to me and encourage me. He said that his friend Keith MacGregor from Canada had all the SDA materials I could possibly need and gave me his phone number. So, I called Keith. What a deal! I was in hog heaven. He had both of Dale Ratzlaffs books, Spirit Behind the Church, and some other small things. He also had a huge selection of other ìcult helpsî. It wasnít a cheap call. I ended up getting a bunch of other things, like Jeremiah Films videoís on a lot of stuff that effects me like Masons, Mormons etc. Their web site is: macgregorministries.org Next, I called Dale and he told me about this neat person named Colleen Tinker and gave me her number. I called and left a message and low and behold our own Colleen called. I told her about what was going on and she said that she had this wonderful study of Hebrews on tape. She sent the study to me. I listened to it 3 or 4 times. In Aug ë99, I had the privilege of meeting Dale and Carolyn Ratzlaff at their Church in Arizona. What a thrill. My first Former SDA contact in my life. I was high for a week. I kept in touch with them and one day Dale re-suggested that I try out the ìRedlands Connectionî again. There I found Richard Tinkerís testimony. Richardís testimony told of a White Bible in a cedar box with the picture of Jesus in it that he got when he was 10 years old. I raised half a foot in my seat from the goose bumps, on goose bumps, on goose bumps! You see, I got one also when I was 10, for about the same reasons. It was the next day before I could even compose myself enough to have my daughter bring me my/her White Bible in the cedar box with the picture of Jesus in it and read her Richardís story. I called Colleen again and told her my White Bible story. She suggested that I check out the FAF Forum and post my story. The first thing that greeted me was Jude. I read a while and wrote a story that I lost 3 times before I successfully posted on Feb 2nd and havenít shut up since. Now, just what does all this trivia stuff have to do with God working in mysterious ways? Thank God for SDAs!?: Because Mom got back into SDAism, I was forced to keep on studying, which after a long search lead me to FAFland and all the wonderful people from that land. It led me closer to God. It brought George into an understanding of Salvation that from his point of view, has forced some of us to see the simpler side of Salvation. It led me to Bruce, who, as a doctor was able to realize the seriousness of my medical problem and get me seen by a doctor that was extremely competent. Which in turn confirmed my concerns and fears. Which brought George to FAFland where he was able to meet the faces behind some of the postís The necessary medical re-checks that will be needed quite frequently in the future will, I anticipate, bring Mom to FAFland where she too will be introduced to the gospel. There are other people who have been and will be touched by this whole string of God Approved circumstances that are to many to mention. I just shuddered as I thought about the pickle I would have been in 6 months from now had I not know Bruce. I would be sitting in Las Vegas with a mis-diagnosed cancer growing, treated as something else! That is really SCARY! God really went the long way around on this trip, huh? So all that is left is: Praise God Onward and upward........ Maryann | ||
| Joni |
Maryann, Praise God for the way He continues in our lives. It brings me to tears. "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of ALL comfort, Who comforts us in ALL our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows." 2Cor. 1:3-5 Joni | ||
| Colleentinker |
Maryann, what a wonderful story! Even though I've heard it in installments, it's so awesome to read it as a sequential whole. God has youóand all of usóin his hands. We can be confident that he is leading us, and what Satan means for harm, God means for good. He redeems everything we submit to him! I praise God for what he's doing for you and for George and for all of us. I continue to pray for us all! Colleen | ||
| Maryann |
Hi Guys, I have a shorter version (say whewww) of another well planned plan of God that I didnít think was planned well at all! My boss (Bernie) has a very small construction company and usually has 1 guy that is always with him and then me to fill in if Iím not working else where. A job could last 1 week to 6 months, then Iím off to another employer. I wanted to work part time for the last 6 months, so this was perfect for me. (It allowed me to come to FAFland a few times;-) ìIî decided to take a trip this summer, so wanted a job that was steady for 3 or 4 months. After a few calls, I located this really cush job! I would be working 10 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week. Those hours are like paying for a vacation deluxe! It would be a very easy job, though busy. Iíd have a radio/cassette hooked up and would be listening and re-listening to all my awesome tape sets plus Christian radio. I was really looking forward to this time and listening to my new tape sets. This job was to start in the first part of April. It got put on hold for a couple weeks. Then another few weeks. I kept in touch with the boss and I still definitely had the job. In fact, I turned down a call from another company because of my little cush job coming up! Bernie was still using me part time and asked me if i knew the start date for the other company. I made a quick call and got a surprise! Not only was ìmyî job gone, so was the rest of the crew that was supposed to be working. The entire crew was shipped to Ca. from Nev. and a crew from Ca. came and took ìourî job(s)! This is very unusual, as companies donít generally flip flop their crews as they have to pay an extra substantial subsistence pay per day. Now, suppose you take a wild guess as to when this happened? The day before I found out that I had cancer! Soooo, had I gotten the job when I first should have, number 1....I probably wouldnít have gotten down to Redlands in April to have had a chance for Bruce to get me into see his doctor friend. And number 2....I would have lost my job by having to take time off to come to FAFland for checkups on top of the surgery time off. That sounds cold of a company to get rid of you for a thing like that, but itís not. When there is only ìoneî person hired to do a job and that one personís job interacts to keep a crew of 6 to 10 guys working, they HAVE to re-place you if you canít be there. Now get this! When I told Bernie what was going on, he said that what ever I needed to do was fine with him and heíd find a way to cover my job while I was away next week and any follow up visits in the future! Bernie understands first hand about this as he got a really bad dose of cancer about 6 years ago. And at a very young age. Heís younger than me! So, here I am, thankful that God had his finger in the works and I had a job that allowed me the time I needed off. I was tickled pink. (this post has been mostly written for a few days). As Bernie was checking on the job that Iím working on today at quitting time, he said; ìOh yeah, next week or so, I got the contract on a brand new hotel!!!î So, I got a pretty steady job that allows me all the time that I need off. THAT, let me tell you, in the world of construction is a giant miracle!! Totally unbelievable! God messed the pie up enough to keep me off one job and fixed the other pie so that I had a little time off. With that time off in conjunction with the SDA thing that Mom resurrected, I got to meet Bruce. Then everything fell into place with Bernieís new contract! And, on top of that, it will get going about the time Iím ready to get back after it! Bernie is one of these guys that if you talked to him a bit, youíd think he was a quiet Christian. I canít judge him and wouldnít, as far as his relationship with Jesus. He does NOT like to talk about religion. Says it causes to many arguments. He says he believes in Christ, BUT it is personal, between him and God. Funny thing, now we can actually talk a bit about religion! I just canít believe the doors that have been opening for me. I canít believe the ease that Iím able to sneak in a breath or two about Christ. I just canít believe what a difference FAF has made in my life. Godís way, not my way..........Maryann | ||
| Colleentinker |
I'm praising God and praying for you, Maryann! | ||
| George |
Patti, I would like to know why you think our God given emotions are a sin. Do you ever feel a sence of satisfaction with a job well done? If so that is a form of pride. If we never felt such emotions we would never see a reason to go on, or to do something better. If we get to the place that we are too proud to say we are wrong or to give in when it is best to do so, or are so proud of our cars etc. that we can't see anyting else, then it is wrong. Every "good"thing we do and most of the things we have can can be turned into something bad. Praise, anger,pride, knives, fire, cars, guns,etc. can all be used for good or bad, it all depends what we do with them, the way we use them. After all if anger was a sin then our salvation would not be perfect, as Chirst himself got angry at least once. Guilt is another one, if we never felt guilty we would never 'SEE" the things that we do wrong. Much of the rest of the time is is others that force us to feel guilty, that is not our "sin" it is theirs. You see it is not the emotion that is wrong, but what we DO woth them. What do you think----George | ||
| Maryann |
Hi George, I touched on this subject some weeks ago. It is a subject that I'm still thinking about how to re-present. I see merit on both sides and when you say: "You see it is not the emotion that is wrong, but what we DO with them." You are really bringing up something that needs to be explored. Sis | ||
| George |
Maryann, To continue on in this line of thought, if emotions are a sin, we must put the same effort into not doing these "sins" we put in stoping any other sin. If we are able to stop these "sins" we then will be emotionly dead, and may as well be a robot that is no good to anyone. The other way would be to believe that we can "sin" all we want to and not worry about it,--licence in other words. And we all agree that that is not the way it is to be done. Got to go--Good luck tomorrow---George | ||
| Maryann |
The Father's Love As Seen Through The Eyes of A Father After a few of the usual Sunday evening hymns, the churches pastor once again slowly stood up, walked over to the pulpit, and gave a very brief introduction of his childhood friend. With that, an elderly man stepped up to the pulpit to speak, "A father, his son, and a friend of his son were sailing off the Pacific Coast," he began, "when a fast approaching storm blocked any attempt to get back to shore. The waves were so high, that even though the father was an experienced sailor, he could not keep the boat upright, and the three were swept into the ocean." The old man hesitated for a moment, making eye contact with two teenagers who were, for the first time since the service began, looking somewhat interested in his story. He continued, "Grabbing a rescue line, the father had to make the most excruciating decision of his life....to which boy he would throw the other end of the line. He only had seconds to make the decision. The father knew that his son was a Christian, and he also knew that his son's friend was not. The agony of his decision could not be matched by the torrent of waves. As the father yelled out, 'I love you, son!' he threw the line to his son's friend. By the time he pulled the friend back to the capsized boat, his son had disappeared beyond the raging swells into the black of night. His body was never recovered." By this time, the two teenagers were sitting straighter in the pew, waiting for the next words to come out of the old man's mouth. "The father," he continued, "knew his son would step into eternity with Jesus, and he could not bear the thought of his son's friend stepping into an eternity without Jesus. Therefore, he sacrificed his son. How great is the love of God that He should do the same for us." With that, the old man turned and sat back down in his chair as silence filled the room. Within minutes after the service ended, the two teenagers were at the old man's side. "That was a nice story," politely started one of the boys, "but I don't think it was very realistic for a father to give up his son's life in hopes that the other boy would become a Christian." "Well, you've got a point there," the old man replied, glancing down at his worn Bible. A big smile broadened his narrow face, and he once again looked up at the boys and said, "It sure isn't very realistic, is it? But I'm standing here today to tell you that THAT story gives me a glimpse of what it must have been like for God to give up His Son for me. You see....I was the son's friend." ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That story really churned my stomach! Just before a trip up to Oregon some years ago, I had a dream that was, very similar to that story. I dreamed that my son and daughter were swimming in a lake with me and they both started to drown for some reason. They were far enough apart that I had to choose who I was going to save. I was an awful moment in time!!!! Words just can't describe the split seconds of horror I experienced! I woke up, thankfully never knowing which one I saved. That was one of those things that I didn't get over for several years. I think God gave me that dream as a warning. There was one time in particular when we were in the Feather River in Ca. while on our way home that had I not have had that dream, I really could have gotten the kids and myself in trouble. Maryann | ||
| Cindy |
Maryann, I enjoyed the story you posted above; used it yesterday in a S.S. talk. Thank-you! As always, thankful for His wonderful grace! (and people like you, Maryann!) Cindy | ||
| Allenette |
Nightmares are hell, arent they! I have the most of the worst since becoming a mother, too. (17 years ago now...when is enuff, enuff?!?! ggg) You should see some of the ridiculous stuff that comes my way via email. Thank goodness I seem to have a fairly level head on my shoulders and also a good BS detector ;-), as do you, MaryAnn, to recognize past, present, and future urban legends which abound on the internet and get passed around thru legitimate sources often enough to almost make us fairly smarties, reject them as hoaxes. :-) I am told there is a website that exclusively deals in urban legends called, probably urbanlegend.com not sure if that's the URL but pretty close :-) | ||
| Maryann |
OKAY GUYZ, No one was brave enough to even let a wisp of a breath out in response to a post I did a few days back about God and some of the doubts I feel about Him at times!!!! I WILL come back to it later!;-)) But for now, here's something very special that happened to me today. Keep in mind that 3 months ago I had about 20% of the side of my tongue filleted off due to cancer and had to keep my tongue PERFECTLY still for a week while the graft was "taking." Also keep in mind that I have been wanting to meet a person that works out of the union local here (which is the same as mine in Vegas) so as to help me get my foot in the door. I'm now living in Redlands in the garden of eden that God prepared for me and my kids are both in Christian School now. I have to go back to Las Vegas on business this weekend and have to take the kids out of school Friday. My son didn't have Friday's work assignment so I called and the teacher said that she completely forgot to give it to him. I said I would be there in a few minutes if she could put it together. I went flying down the hill and saw a Mini Mart that I had never been to and almost pulled in as I had a hugh hollow sweet tooth that needed attention. I denied myself though, and didn't go. I picked up the homework and the teacher wanted to talk a few minutes so I was delayed. As I was headed home, my truck, all on it's own decided to go to the Mini Mart after I had told it NO!! Naturally, I had to go too;-))!!!! Well, since I was there and the motor turned off and it opened it's own door and kicked me out, I thought I might as well "buckle" and get a candy bar. A lady was in the store that seemed upset and uncomfortable to me. When I went to the cashier, she was on the phone trying to get someone to answer the phone at this gal's home. No luck! I asked the cashier what was the matter and she said that this lady had broke down on the freeway some hours ago and was having problems getting anyone to help her as she was deaf. The cashier was very helpful but couldn't spend to much time on the phone. I had just picked a few oranges for my Mom and my arms were rather dirty and was hesitant to offer her a ride to her home. I did though, and she most gleefully accepted, nearly beating me to my truck! This all happened so fast that when she got out a piece of paper and wrote her name and where she lived and a few other questions, I just had a great big lump in my throat and tears almost coming out of my eyes. (she could read lips quite well and had some speech;-) This took me back 3 months to when I went through reams of paper when I couldn't talk for a week!!!! I was thinking to myself that I was most fortunate to have had my tongue sewed down for only a week and had only a week or so after that with significant speech problems. She lived some distance away and we talked as well as I could read and drive and look directly at her so she could read my lips!!;-)) She pulled out her work I.D. and she is a teacher for the deaf in the school district!!! I asked what her husband did and she wrote/told me that he was an equipment operator! My eyes bugged out!!! I told her that I was too. I asked if he belonged to my union local 12 and she said yes!!! My eye balls bounced off my jaw that had hit my lap! Anyway, we exchanged e-mail addresses and I drove off trying to pry my jaw back to where it belonged! It is just to difficult to try to describe the emotions I felt during that 20 minute ride with a wonderful stranger. I can't tell you how many times I almost busted out in tears. Can you imagine the circumstances that brought about this meeting?!! Wooooooow, what a trip. Who would EVER want to use drugs when stuff like this happens? There is another amazing thing brewing that I'll share next week if works out. Upward and onward.........Maryann | ||
| Allenette |
MARYANN: YOU ARE THE CHOSEN ONE (THIS IS GOD SPEAKING) TTYL ;-) | ||
| Max |
At FAF meeting ********************************* 6:45 PM Friday Evenings Fellowship Hall Trinity Evangelical Free Church Resevoir Road Redlands, California Intersection of I-10, Ford Exit EVERYBODY WELCOME! ********************************* last night somebody said she saw a tee shirt with GOD DOESN'T BELIEVE IN ATHEISTS printed on it. At first I thought it had the right idea, but after a night's sleep I don't think so any more. Here's what I think now: ANTHEISTS MAY NOT BELIEVE IN GOD, BUT GOD BELIEVES IN THEM! How dare I, being only human and not God, dare make so bold? My answer, as always: Scripture alone! "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believs in him shall not perish but have eternal life." Notice the present tense, dear atheist: ETERNAL LIFE NOW! Max of the Cross | ||
| Denisegilmore |
WOW! Now I hadn't thought of that either..thank you Max for pointing out truth. Although it could be said this way. God loves and died for the athiests too, but God knows that they know there is a God because God did write His Laws in their minds and hearts. Therefore, God doesn't believe in athiests meaning, God doesn't believe that they believe in 'no' God. No? God Bless, Denise | ||
| Max |
Yes, Denise, I think you're right about that. Here's Scripture: KJV Romans 1:20 "Since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature -- are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse." After they had sinned Adam and Eve physically hid themselves behind the lush foliage in the garden of Eden. In a similar way atheists today are hiding from behind mental foliage in the intellectual forests of Earth. But sooner or later they must face God, though it is not our charge to force them to choose prematurely, and certainly not to make fun of them. Letting God be God, Max of the Cross | ||
| Denisegilmore |
Max, I am glad you put that Scripture up there. That explains why in all those years of me living 'in the wilderness', I knew there was a God. And making fun of athiests is far from me as you probably already know. Speaking of athiests, a friend of mine, an athiest, called me today. He is coming by again Saturday next week. Today he was quoting Scripture to me over the phone. What an awesome God we serve! God Bless, Denise | ||
| Max |
Denise, More from Jesus: KJV John 14:26 But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. 27 Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. | ||
| Denisegilmore |
Look at Job, Job 16:18-21 "O earth, do not cover my blood; may my cry never be laid to rest! Even now my witness is in heaven; my advocate is on high. My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God' on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend." Job knew too. :) God Bless, Denise |
