Berean Study Bible, Luke 17:

5 And the apostles said to the Lord, “Add to us faith!”
6 And the Lord said, “If you have faith like a grain of mustard, you would have said to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and be planted in the sea,’ and it would have obeyed you.

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Is it possible to add to or subtract from faith as if faith can be quantified by a number?

Romans 12:

3 For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but think of yourself with sober judgment, according to the measure of faith God has given you. 4 Just as each of us has one body with many members, and not all members have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many are one body, and each member belongs to one another. 6 We have different gifts according to the grace given us. If one’s gift is prophecy, let him use it in proportion to his faith;

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Proportional faith by multiplication?

Is faith measurable by some means even by some unknown spiritual means somehow?

Are the disciples, Jesus, and Paul talking about different degrees of faith?

The following is from Nigel:

Jesus said :

I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel [Matthew 8:10 KJV].

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and, also :

O ye of little faith [Matthew 8:26 KJV.

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In the context of these two quantified estimations, across a spectrum of 'little' to 'great' Jesus' comments relate to what people did, or said, or what attitude they had.

It was visible.

James has much to say about this :

What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can faith save him? [James 2:14 KJV]

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Faith, itself, as a quality, can only be 'measured' by God. And he does so, for he justifies them that believe, because he, alone, can see the faith. And can see his own righteousness, the righteousness of God, within that faith. Therefore 'Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him (by God) unto righteousness (divine righteousness)'. Genesis 15:6, Romans 4:9, Romans 4:22, James 2:23.

Not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law ... but that which is, through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. [Phil 3:9]

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But living faith can also be seen, by others as well, by works: by deeds, by words, by attitudes.

And thus the faith can be 'quantified'. By the quantity and quality of the evident results of that vibrant faith.

I realize that what I am about to say is "inconsistent" and I can already hear the replies from Protestants & EO & Catholics.

I think the Protestant position seems to be more backed up by the Bible.

BUT I also am increasingly feeling like Eastern Orthodoxy (and to a lesser extent, Catholicism) is the more historic position on points of contention.

If you invented artificial intelligence and you had the opportunity to say to God, ‘See? I invented artificial intelligence, or AI if you will. This AI knows everything on earth there is to know, and it can predict what your responses will be if someone asks you something or in particular situations,’ how do you think God will respond? He might say, 'Put your AI in that pile over there, along with the light bulb, the telephone, the microscope, the automobile and the airplane. These things may be needed on earth, but they are not needed in Heaven.’

Then you may ask, ‘Is AI, then, like the lightbulb, etc., not a mark of your glory that is manifested in works like these, since these were created by man whose abilities for good works were given by you?’ To that, He might respond, ‘Did you not read 1 Corinthians 15:40?’

What does 1 Corinthians 15:40 say? It differentiates between the glory of the heavenly bodies and that which is found on earth. It is the heavens that declare God’s Glory, and the sky above His Handiwork, according to Psalm 19:1.

Where does AI fit in? It is a phenomenon which may be relied on in terms of carrying out God’s Good Works and maintaining His Glory, but it is not to be deferred to over God Himself in terms of what constitutes God’s Glory and His Good Works.

God’s Glory and His Good Works belong to God. The good works we engage in, which other people may praise us, or fawn over, or ask for our autograph are not due to any talent that we acquired along our lifespan; it is due to how God has equipped us for the particular kind of good works we may be known for. In this regard, one of the best ways of showing God we love Him is to say ‘It’s because of God that I can do these things...It’s because of God that I am able to create music, tall buildings, hit a homerun, make people laugh, and help others...It’s because of God that I was able to invent the lightbulb, the telephone and AI.’ Philippians 4:13 says “I can do all things through him who strengthens me.”

Ephesians 2:10 says “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” What can we boast of? That we have done God’s Good Works? Romans 3:27 says, “Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith.”

Consider all these things if you ever plan on considering using AI to create your own form of worship. How would the Scriptures approach AI? There is a scenario laid out by Romans 1:18-23 which says as follows: “For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for IMAGES RESEMBLING MORTAL MAN...”

In short, AI is an instrument to man, like the lightbulb and the telephone, but it cannot be a substitute for man, who is God’s creation among His Good Works, any more than it can be a substitute for God.

Trump wrote it. But he never said it. Yet here we have audio of "Trump" making this pronouncement thanks to the pro DeSantis super pac.

This is not to beat up on DeSantis (though that may be perfectly justified). Its more about how we deal with this generally, as we're guaranteed to see this dirty trick as a feature of political campaigns if it remains legal.

Super PAC supporting DeSantis targets Trump in Iowa with ad using AI-generated Trump voice

You will never Forget, You Saw this Video! Do I need to repent of my sins to go to heaven? What is the definition of Repentance? Do I need to turn and forsake my sins? Is the message repent and believe? Or is the message to just believe? What does the Bible say about this?

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I'm going to be joining another group of Christians starting next week. I also would like to meet fellow Christians online.
How do I go about meeting a making friends with fellow believers?

Here are some examples:

• Preincarnate Jesus was Melchizedek
• Preincarnate appearances of Christ whose name was wonderfully mysterious
• JESUS saved a people out of the land of Egypt
• Who is the angel of the Lord?
• Does Jesus have an eternal existence?

Hi all

I went to a church ( while I was on holiday) last week and one topic that was brought up was, If we obey God he will bless us ? To me that sounds like a parent saying I give you something if you obey me, but I also heard that he blesses people who are not ?

Kind of confused on this subject

I am mentally exhausted. On top of dialysis, I have been looking for work for 18 months, to no avail. I've come close several times, but ultimately lose out to someone else. I have a job in the service industry, but even that has slowed down dramatically. It's to the point where I barely eat some days because of lack of food and can't afford some of my medication. I have a Master's degree and got laid off before the pandemic, but things keep getting worse. Despite medication and prayer, my depression never ends.

At this point, I don't know how much fight I have left anymore, and stopping dialysis seems like the best solution. The only thing is, I'm scared that God might look at this as suicide and send me to hell. Please pray that I make the right decision.

Thank you.

Well I'm 26 but my parents are very strict. They won't let me drive out into the city which is an hour away and where the nearest Orthodox churches. I was thinking of going to the Nazarene Church or maybe even the Catholic Church. I'm not sure. What should I do

A little background about me....I first started posting on these forums around mid-late 2013 or so under a different account that has long since been deactivated and this coincided with the beginning of my Christian journey. I wont say what my old screenname was, but those who have been on this site for a long time can probably figure out who I was originally. Anyway!

My first two years being a Christian (or at least trying to be one) were very traumatic...my childhood experiences of neglect and abuse as well as being sheltered to the point of isolation left me very naive and vulnerable, and I wound up getting sucked into joining a church that was actually a cult. While I was in it, I was subject to mental-emotional and spiritual abuse, psychological manipulation, false teaching and even exposed to what I now believe was witchcraft. I finally escaped almost two years later in April of 2015 in a very dramatic fashion and the emotional upheaval of what I'd been through lasted until I got baptized at another church I'd started going to later that summer.....when that happened, it was a life-changing experience for me and after that, I finally felt like I had a genuine relationship with God and a new life. But, unfortunately, things didn't last long.

I didn't realize how traumatized or legalistic I still was and I wound up making some not so great decisions that lead me to miss a huge door of opportunity that God opened up for me during that time, and the loss of the life that I could have had has never completely stopped hurting. I believe this was also a re-traumatizing event for me and I ran from God and have been away for a long time. I'm at the place now where I know I need to get back to living life with Him, but when I think about stepping back into closeness with Him, all of the old fear, apprehension and memories of what took place come back and I start having emotional flashbacks that are difficult to handle. I've made some big steps in the last few years, going to pastoral counseling and even just got back into casually (and by casually I mean not studying and dissecting scripture as I used to when I was "going at it hard" like I was back then) reading the Bible, but to walk with God as closely as I was is terrifying to think about...at the same time, I feel awful knowing that I've failed God so badly by missing His intended plan for me and not becoming who I started to be...sometimes I think this is a disappointment to Him.

I guess the point of my post is, how do I untangle God from my trauma to where He's not a trigger anymore? How do I get back the desire to follow Him as closely as I started out doing after baptism? I am especially concerned and anxious about all of this seeing that we may very well be in the End Times, and I'm terrified at the thought of standing before Jesus on the last day having done next to nothing for Him or that He'd planned for me with the life He gave me. But at the same time, I'm just too afraid to get close to God again given my history. Any advice appreciated.

Was the book of Revelation written by Apostle John?

Two early objections:

first evidence of any real objection to the book of Revelation comes from the person of Gaius in the early third century who rejects the book on the grounds that it was a forgery of the heretic Cerinthus. ...
Dionysius of Alexandria, in the late third century, makes the argument that Revelation was written by another John besides the apostle. Eusebius appears to agree with him. But, it is worth noting that Dionysius does not reject the book on these grounds (despite the impression many give that he did), but still regards it as holy and inspired. ...
It was not the historical merits of the book, but rather Gaius’ objection to chiliasm (the belief in a literal millennial reign of Christ).

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Apostle John didn't write it and there is no Millenial Reign.

How did it survive inclusion into the normal bible?

Some canonical history:

Eusebius, in his Church History (c. AD 330) mentioned that the Apocalypse of John was accepted as a Canonical book and rejected at the same time.

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Cyril of Jerusalem (AD 348) does not name it among the canonical books

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The Council of Laodicea (AD 363) omits it as a canonical book.

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Then things got better for the book of Revelation:

The Synod of Hippo (in AD 393),[36] followed by the Council of Carthage (397), the Council of Carthage (419), the Council of Florence (1442)[37] and the Council of Trent (1546)[38] classified it as a canonical book.

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But then:

Doubts resurfaced during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. Martin Luther called Revelation "neither apostolic nor prophetic" in the 1522 preface to his translation of the New Testament (he revised his position with a much more favorable assessment in 1530),[41] Huldrych Zwingli labelled it "not a book of the Bible",[42] and it was the only New Testament book on which John Calvin did not write a commentary.[43] As of 2015 Revelation remains the only New Testament book not read in the Divine Liturgy of the Eastern Orthodox Church,[44] though Catholic and Protestant liturgies include it.

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So, even today, Revelation is not universally accepted in Christendom.

I think it is inspired scripture.

We had a very spirit inspired meeting in Pittsburgh for dinner and got to also meet
Michael Voris of the Vortex.

Wonderful time.

Also sadly, boughtwithaprice lost his mother 4 days ok.
May she rest in Peace.

I said I’d start a thread about UFOs so here it is. The news reported recently that there definitely are UFOs which can’t be explained. Not saying they’re aliens, but they don’t know what they are. What do you all think of UFOs?

NEW YORK — Former Democratic Gov. Jay Nixon of Missouri is joining No Labels ‘ increasingly contentious effort to lay the groundwork for a moderate third-party presidential ticket in the 2024 election.

Nixon, a 67-year-old lawyer, is stepping back into national politics for the first time since leaving office in 2017 and will serve as No Labels’ director of ballot integrity. He said in an interview that he was drawn to the role after learning that well-funded groups aligned with Democrats were working to stop No Labels from securing ballot access in key states.

He said that those seeking to block the group’s right to appear on the presidential ballot are attacking a pillar of American democracy.

While No Labels has yet to nominate candidates for president and vice president, its leadership insists there is a path to victory for a centrist third-party ticket “if the two parties select unreasonably divisive presidential nominees.”

No Labels’ leadership has promised a series of checks and balances that would allow the organization to withdraw its presidential ticket if it appears the group’s participation would help Trump win. No Labels has not outlined a detailed plan about that, and leaders acknowledge privately there is some urgency to come out with their specific safeguards, which would vary state by state. They intend to do so by “early fall.”

Do you exclusively memorize all of your verses in from one translation or do you use multiple translations?

I recently got engaged to someone who doesn’t believe in God. It concerns me and hurts me a lot that he does things like listening to bad music and play games with naked women. What do I do?

"Gesher Benot Ya’aqov (GBY) is a famous archaeological site in the Hula Valley in northern Israel. The site holds the remains of a number of large animals like elephants, as well as the stone tools used to butcher them. "

"Thousands of hand axes and other tools have been discovered at both sites, which belong to the Acheulian style, a type of usually oval stone tool industry often associated with Homo erectus that lasted from roughly 1.7 million years ago to about 200,000 years ago. The GBY site dates to roughly 750,000 years ago, while Ma’ayan Barukh dates to about 500,000 years ago."


750_Year_Old_Workshop

Col 2 does not mention "appointed times" nor does it say "This is referring to all - appointed times" -- as we all know.

Rather the real-world Weekly-Sabbath-related problem that the NT identifies for the gentile Christians at Colossae is that

1. gentiles attend a weekly Sabbath service in the Acts 13, Acts 17, Acts 18 synagogues "every Sabbath" Acts 18:4
2. and are there met by both non-Christian Jews and some Christian Jews who would no doubt notice the gentiles are not present for things like "festival or a new moon" and annual Sabbaths
3. Those are OT "shadows" as we see in Lev 23 that originate in animal sacrifices (Numbers 28)
4. - UNLIKE the weekly Sabbath of Gen 2:1-3, Ex 16, Ex 20:8-11 with no animal sacrifice and with gentiles present "every Sabbath" Acts 18:4

So the issue that "comes up" by those non-Christian Jews, and some Christian Jews - in those "every Sabbath" worship services is not "why are you here on the weekly Sabbath" - but rather "what about those other shadow holy days? Why do you not also attend them?".

And in fact that would be a question primarily from Christian Jews - not non-Christan Jews since the non-Christan Jews are used to gentiles being in the synagogues going back long before the birth of Christ.

Interesting that this "every Sabbath" attendance by believing Gentiles is a fact raised in the Acts 15 debate - a fact viewed as "The solution" to the problem raised by some Christian Jews who thought to ADD the doctrine that gentiles could not be saved unless circumcised.

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That is in addition to the Col 2 problem of "making stuff up" from pure imagination or over-zealous suggestions

Still dealing with her mental illness I discussed before. I don’t have a lot of details yet. Supposed to hear from my brother in law later. She is admitted in the hospital now under 24 hour watch. Prayers appreciated. I’m sorry about these constant requests. Seems it’s one thing after another.

There has been barricades of controversies and disagreement bombarding the global church today regarding the ministry of Spiritual warfare and deliverance as it concerns the Christians .
While a school of thought presupposes that at the point of salvation, we need no further deliverance of what so ever because of 2 Cor. 5:17 and Colo. 2:14-15.
Yet another school of thought asserts that after Salvation a Christian can still need deliverance through Spiritual Warfare prayers .
The paramount Question is CAN A CHRISTIAN EVER NEED ANOTHER KIND OF DELIVERANCE AFTER SALVATION ?

CAN A GENERATIONAL DEFICIENCY OR NEGATIVE FAMILY PATTERN ( reoccurring Sickness,traits, hereditary situation,etc) AFFECT A CHRISTIAN? .
I wait your inputs

Devon Archer, the former Biden family business associate set to provide closed-door testimony to congressional investigators on Monday, will likely be in no mood to shield the first family from incrimination in shady foreign deals.

Archer, 49, is staring down a year-long prison sentence for securities fraud, a conviction that he believed Hunter Biden and President Biden should have protected him from.

Messages uncovered on Hunter Biden’s discarded laptop computer show his once-close partnership with Archer unraveling in March of 2019, as Archer was trying to overturn his conviction and sentence of one year plus a day in prison.

Archer sent a series of texts to Hunter Biden, asking him, “Why did your dad’s administration appointees arrest me and try to put me in jail? Just curious. Some of our partners are asking out here.”

I don't use drugs or drink alcohol, but I understand that some people do.
I wonder what the Christian position is on such things?
I know the temperance movement was quite big for a while but seems less so these days.
I've heard that a more liberal approach to drugs can help people to get better help and not be a police record, and so help them to come out of that lifestyle. Also, it reduces the opportunity for organised crime... That was an issue when they tried to ban alcohol, organised crime was gifted a business opportunity!
What do Christians think about that?
Is there a biblical position?

1 John 5:

13 I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God so that you may know that you have eternal life.

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John addressed the people in the church.

16 If anyone sees his brother committing a sin not leading to death, he shall ask, and God will give him life—to those who commit sins that do not lead to death. There is sin that leads to death; I do not say that one should pray for that.

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What was this sin?

Perhaps John referred to blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, i.e., the unforgivable sin.

Let M1 = the person who stubbornly refused to admit his sin and therefore refused to repent.

I am not saying that you should pray about that.

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Don't bother praying for M1. He would never change.

17All wrongdoing is sin, and there is sin that does not lead to death.
18 We know that anyone born of God does not continue to sin;

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M1 was not born of God.

the One who was born of God keep them safe, and the evil one cannot harm them. 19We know that we are children of God, and that the whole world is under the control of the evil one. 20We know also that the Son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know him who is true. And we are in him who is true by being in his Son Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal life.
21 Dear children, keep yourselves from idols.

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M1 worshiped idols in his heart, not God.

What was the sin that leads to death?

My guess is the unforgivable sin.

See Thou shalt not kill or murder?