New Posters, Welcome

Introductions
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Hey folks. You. Yes you. I am talking to @all. I understand that there were a few people here who were here for only one reason: to cause disruption. They did so through trolling, name-calling, and challenging others for no other purpose than to degrade others and their views. Some were not even Christian. If any were. They have been removed.

I encourage the some 7,000 readers here who enjoy the content, jump in. Join us. Add your two cents, or buck fifty. Please do not be intimidated by others here who seem more knowledgeable, or Biblically read. If anyone does feel bullied by someone here, report them, and it will be dealt with. Remember, we are all one body.

"For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit.

For the body does not consist of one member but of many. If the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” that would not make it any less a part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would be the sense of hearing? If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell? But as it is, God arranged the members in the body, each one of them, as he chose. If all were a single member, where would the body be? As it is, there are many parts yet one body.

The eye cannot say to the hand, “I have no need of you,” nor again the head to the feet, “I have no need of you.” On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable, we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together." 1 Corinthians 12:12-26

You have things to share. You have a story. You are welcome to come, share, learn, and grow with our Forums. We look forward to meeting you.

“And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.” 2. Philippians 4:19

Peter

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Co 12:1 Varieties of Spiritual Gifts
¶ Now concerning spiritual gifts , [Or “spiritual things ”; possibly “those who possess spiritual gifts”] brothers, I do not want you to be ignorant.
1Co 12:2 You know that when you were pagans, you were led astray to the speechless idols, however you were led.
1Co 12:3 Therefore I make known to you that no one speaking by the Spirit of God says, “Jesus is accursed,” and no one is able to say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.

When we look at the scriptures, the call to know God’s word is not presented as an optional suggestion for spiritual elites, but as a fundamental requirement for survival and faithfulness. The Apostle Paul captures the gravity of this in his second letter to Timothy, instructing him to do his best to present himself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. To understand the weight of this command, we have to look at the original Greek. Yes?

Paul uses the verb orthotomeō (ὀρθοτομέω), which literally means to cut straight, a term often used for cutting a straight path through difficult terrain or guiding a plow directly. He is telling Timothy that biblical literacy requires the hard, focused work of guiding the logos (λόγος), the very word of God, along a straight, accurate path, rather than twisting it to fit our preferences. Furthermore, Paul warns against being aneπαίσχυντον (ἀνεπαίσχυντον), meaning without cause to be ashamed. This implies that careless, shallow, or ignorant engagement with the alētheia (ἀλήθεια), the truth of scripture, carries real spiritual consequences that will ultimately leave a believer exposed and ashamed before God.
We see this ideal of deep, critical engagement modeled beautifully in the book of Acts. When Paul preaches in Berea, Luke specifically notes that the Bereans were of a more eugenēs (εὐγενής) character, a word meaning noble or well-born, because they received the message with great eagerness and anakrinontes (ἀνακρίνοντες) the scriptures every day. This participle form of the verb anakrinō (ἀνακρίνω) means to scrutinize, investigate, or examine carefully.

Their literacy in the text is what protected them from being swept away by false teaching, as they actively cross-referenced Paul’s claims against the graphas (γραφάς), the sacred writings.

Jesus himself highlights the danger of ignoring this discipline in Matthew 22:29, where he tells the religious leaders that they planaō (πλανάω), meaning they wander, stray, or are fundamentally deceived, precisely because they do not know the scriptures or the dynamis (δύναμις), the power of God. Biblical literacy is consistently tied to the ability to discern truth and avoid wandering into theological error.

And yet…

Despite this clear biblical mandate, contemporary essays and sociological studies paint a rather sobering picture of the modern church, suggesting that biblical illiteracy has largely become the cultural norm rather than the exception.

In fact, as one pastor and writer noted in a Christianity Today essay, biblical illiteracy or a **biblical famine was simply the norm in the congregations they served, highlighting how deeply this ignorance has penetrated the pews **
www.christianitytoday.com
. The researcher George Barna has documented this decline in numerous reports over the last few decades, pointing out that a vast majority of adults who attend church possess shockingly low levels of biblical knowledge.

For instance, Barna’s polling has revealed that while a large percentage of Americans own a Bible, very few can articulate the core narrative of scripture, and even among evangelicals, basic knowledge of Jesus’s life or the Ten Commandments remains surprisingly low

. His work suggests that we have traded deep, transformative literacy for a consumer approach to faith, leaving the church functionally illiterate regarding its own foundational text

.
As Smith’s analysis shows, while many claim the Bible is important, they actually possess almost no functional knowledge of its contents, replacing the robust biblical narrative with a vague belief that God simply wants them to be nice and feel happy
www.thegospelcoalition.org

Just my 2 cents Pastor. Out of characters…

J.

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David Nienhuis, a professor at Seattle Pacific University, has a helpful piece in the latest Modern Reformation on the problem of evangelical students “familiar” with the Bible but still essentially illiterate.

Here’s an excerpt on how it happened:

Christians schooled in this rather anti-intellectual, common-denominator evangelistic approach to faith responded to the later twentieth-century decline in church attendance by looking not to more substantial catechesis but to business and consumer models to provide strategies for growth. By now we’re all familiar with the story: increasing attendance by means of niche marketing led church leaders to frame the content of their sermons and liturgies according to the self-reported perceived needs of potential “seekers” shaped by the logic of consumerism. Now many American consumer-congregants have come to expect their churches to function as communities of goods and services that provide care and comfort without the kind of challenge and discipline required for authentic Christian formation to take place.

He goes on to describe the difference between those transformed by the Word and those who are merely informed quoters of the Word:

To make a real difference in people’s lives, biblical literacy programs will have to do more than simply encourage believers to memorize a select set of Bible verses. They will have to teach people to speak the language of faith; and while this language is of course grounded in the grammar, vocabulary, and stories of the Bible, living languages are embedded in actual human communities that are constituted by particular habits, values, practices, stories, and exemplars. We don’t memorize languages; we use them and live through them. As Paulo Freire reminded us, literacy enables us to read both the word and the world. Language mediates our reality, expands our horizons, inspires our imagination, and empowers our actions. Literacy therefore isn’t simply about possessing a static ability to read and write; it is a dynamic reality, a never-ending life practice that involves putting those skills to work in reshaping our identity and transforming our world. Biblical literacy programs need to do more than produce informed quoters. They need to produce transformed readers.

Toward the end he lays out his vision:

We want to create a community ethos of habitual, orderly, communal ingestion of the revelatory text. We do so in the hope that the Spirit of God will transform readers into hearers who know what it is to abide before the mirror of the Word long enough to become enscripturated doers; that is, people of faith who are adept at interpreting their individual stories and those of their culture through the grand story of God as it is made known in the Bible.

The whole thing is worth a careful read.

Just in case you wonder, I am in agreement with your post.

J.

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What does it mean when people tell you, or you read in the Word, that you must walk in the Spirit? Take Galatians 5:16-17 as an example.

“I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.”

What does that mean? Walk in the Spirit? Well, to do this fully and righteously, you must have three things. A solid foundation. The right mind. Perseverance. How can you have the right mind if you know nothing of God, Jesus, the Word, etc? You truly can’t. First, you must have a solid foundation. What does it mean, Spirit? Who is God? Who is Jesus? Is this stuff real? Did Jesus REALLY rise from the dead? Without a foundation, you will never grow in Faith.

If you are not well founded in the Word, in God, in Faith, you are not being filled, replenished, and you will fall away. Only with a solid foundation and faith in God can you be filled and grow in faith. Only then can and will you understand that there are NO contractions in the Bible. There are, however, many misunderstandings by some who read it. I could read a book on quantum physics, but I will not understand much of it. I have no foundation in that area. Get the point?

The importance of the knowledge of Truth. If you do not know the Truth, if you do not have a solid foundation, you will believe a lie. Truth is this, as long as something sounds right? A whole lot of people will believe it. You want to know one of the biggest lies straight from the evil one? “We are all God’s children.” Sounds right? Sounds just? Sounds fair? “We are all God’s children. So who are you to judge? Let them alone. What is right for them might not be right for you, but we are all God’s children. So just accept all, and love all.”

There is no compassion in the acceptance of Sin. The only way you are a child of God is through the adoption of the Holy Spirit. The only way to be adopted is if God calls you to accept Christ. As a child of God, the only way you can be righteous is by doing the Will of God.

Did you know that compassion can be and is a tool of the devil? God so loved the World, so on and so forth. So how can I then make the statement that compassion is a tool of the Devil? Because twisted, false compassion IS, a tool of the Devil. Misguided compassion. Taught feelings of compassion.

What do I mean? God says, “Thou Shalt Not Murder.” We say, “But wait, what if little Suzy is minding her own business, and some old evil guy rapes her? She should not be punished with a child for the rest of her life. What if that old evil guy is her own Father? It is compassionate to say that we can ‘correct’ that mistake and end her pregnancy. As a matter of fact, for whatever reason, it should be a Woman’s Right to choose what to do with her body. Right?”

God says Homosexuality is a sin. We say, “How can a long-term, loving, kind relationship be evil. And while we are at it, why can’t these two Marry? Is it not compassionate to want 'equality ', and is it not compassionate to say they should not have to hear what they are doing is wrong? So shut up about it already.”

Jesus says, there is only ONE way to get to Heaven, and that is??? Through Him. We say, “That is a narrow-minded, exclusive, hate-filled, ignorant view. Compassion tells us that all Religions are equal and that people can believe whatever they want. Your ‘Truth’ is no better than anyone else’s ‘truth’. So keep your ‘version’ of Truth to yourself.”

It is Compassion that says we cannot call Sin, Sin. Compassion tells us we must live and let live. Compassion tells us we must allow females to be part of all-male groups—Vice versa. Compassion tells us that companies must hire minorities, regardless of education or experience, to ensure we have some color in their leadership. Compassion tells us that not only do we now have to accept sin, but we must honor, celebrate, and even protect sin. Compassion tells us that if something is offensive to someone, we must change it or ban it. If it feels right, do it. Truth is relevant.

There is absolute Truth. Truth is. Plain and simple. Truth has no agenda. Truth is. Nothing else matters. Truth is. Everything else is perception. Everything else is interpretation. Truth just is. It doesn’t have a desire to be justified. It cares not for your opinion or acceptance. It just is, whether you believe in it or not.

Relativism?

Truth is created rather than discovered. It is a matter of perspective, meaning that each culture or individual defines what they consider to be true. Since truth is invented, there is no universal, transcultural truth. Each culture or individual interprets truth differently based on their unique background and viewpoint. Additionally, truth evolves. Because it is intrinsically linked to individuals and cultures, which are constantly changing, truth itself is also in a state of perpetual change.

This means one’s beliefs can change a truth statement. Since an individual determines truth, truth is affected by the attitude of the one professing it. There can be no such thing as absolute truth.

This is simply not true. Seriously, if this were proposed a few years back, and/or if it were to be proposed to anyone with common sense and the ability to think for themselves, it would and should be considered nonsensical.

Scripture, the Bible, and the Word of God represent absolute truth. It is vitally important for you to read it for yourself, not only to read it but to digest it, consume it, and keep it. This is the only way you can grow in faith and knowledge, peace and comfort, and wisdom, with an ability to see the lies.
Peter