What it's all about

It is my conviction that especially for Christian new-borns in God's Family, that a thorough and solid grounding in nothing other than the unadulterated Word of God; devoid of all manmade theological accretions and denominational interpretations, be offered and encouraged. I see this as necessary and imperative in the face of so much dilution, confusion, compromise and questioning of the authenticity of God's one and only revelation to us. So, Gerry and I thought it a good idea for this thread to be a place for those who want to learn and understand about God, His Nature and purpose, purely and solely centred on what He has revealed to us in His Word alone. What I personally use is a Greek New Testament, Strong's comprehensive concordance, that has word translations from hebrew/chaldee[O.T.] and the greek[N.T.] and a reliable version of the whole Bible [I'm happy with the KJV, personally, but NIV or new KJV is fine I guess]. 

 

Thanks Gerry - just consider the potential He has given to us to prepare those who will know their God, in the face of all opposition, doctrinal and otherwise.

We might occasionally lose a battle but in Christ, we have already won the war. Praise God.

Just been thinking, for the sake of our new Christians and certainly, us older ones too; a very helpful illustration of our position in Christ, from the fruit tree nursery where I do part time work. In Romans 11 it mentions grafting - now in the process called 'budding' a bud sliced from a particular fruit tree is joined to a rootstock, where a small incision is made in the outer bark of the rootstock and the bud[scion] is placed upon the underlying cambium layer then the bark is closed upon it and taped into position. The bud's cells, over a period, begin to knit with those of the rootstock and eventually become part of the life of the rootstock and grow into a new healthy fruit tree, free of genetic or disease problems. When we are placed into Christ, Who was wounded["incised"] for our sins; the Holy Spirit, as the Grafter, joins us, at conversion, to Christ, where our life knits with His, so we grow in Him to a healthy robust disease-free fruit-bearer, as long as we remain united to Him as our Life-giving, adopted Parent "Rootstock". He in turn, is united deep in the Bosom of His[and our] Heavenly Father. In this position in Christ, we are inheritors and partakers of the whole fullness of God - see ephesians about the riches of the inheritance of the saints [us].

Originally posted by reeann
When I was saved, the woman who lead me to Christ held two very important Bible studies, specifically for me, but there were many others there. First, was one called "Who is God" and "Who am I before God" . This study was one she created where we were to do our own outline of God as revealed in Scripture. The second part of the lesson was who was I before God. This was fun and an awesome study. The second study she had was "New Christian Survival Guide" Bible study. It was a basic read, pray, and study guild through the series of books. We started a woman's bible study group through this. She called me her lighthouse, she said Jesus shined through me and people came. She lead several women to Christ through this, and her Bible study continues today. All I know is that I grew so much as a Christian that year through her patience care and time she put into all the questions, problems, and praises that I went through.

Auswig, all I can say is this is an awesome Ministry to undertake and an important one. I will be praying for you specifically this week.

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Thanks reanne, That just goes to show that the care and effort put into initial building and nurturing of a young faith can reap wonderful rewards. So I'll put together here, some studies and let's watch God do His great work. What you shared of your experience. is a real encouragement

 

Good on you sbb

The Bible commences with the statement -"In the beginning, God...." The whole aim and purpose of our new life in Christ Jesus, is none other than getting to know this infinitely wonderful Person, the Bible introduces us to as God. So just what and Who is He. How do we get to know [have a personal relationship] with this incredible Personal Being, Whom we can't physically see or hear or necessarily feel; yet has miraculously forgiven us and translated us, spiritually from death to Life?

In the beginning God...Genesis1:1a.  In the beginning of what? I understand that to refer to the initial creation of the cosmos, space/time etc. What these four opening words are saying is that before all things, God was already there; in other words, He is self-existent [UNcreated]. He just simply is. So, "who made God" is a complete non-question. God is uncaused. His Will and act is the source of all that exists. We will touch upon the creative act of God a bit later on.  In the Old Testament, the word, translated 'God' has various meanings including 'magistrate' [enforcer of law]; deity [divine being]. This same word ' elohim ' comes from the root: 'el' which means ' Strength ' or ' mighty '. So we are talking about the 'Almighty One' the 'Supreme Magistrate' if you like; of the cosmos and over all creation, both animate and inanimate, and to Whom, all persons must give account (Romans 14:12-N.T.). ....

Feel free to ask; discuss etc, as we progress in this exciting venture of discovery.

The God, we read about in our Bible, is the One and Only True God (Isaiah 44:6 and 8). There are no other (g)ods in existence, except in men's corrupted imaginations. How can we be convinced of His existence? Take a good, close look at different aspects of His creation; discover the intricate patterns, structure, functionality and cohesiveness inherent in the natural world. That brings meaning and substance to Romans 1:20. Also, consider the evidence of His Sovereign work He has so far, performed in your soul; the faith He has endowed you and I with; the spiritual/moral corruption He has delivered you and I from and to which we are no longer in hopeless bondage. Can the Bible be trusted in it's authenticity as God's Word? Answer: Go to Jesus's statement in John's gospel ch.7:16-18 for the answer.

God is the Sovereign Creator of all the universe. (In the beginning, God created the heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1) How did He go about it and what did He use to carry out the process? Simply His Will [power and freedom to choose] and His spoken Word, that's all. Just like the Bible says He did. (See Psalm 33:8-9). See, I told you, He is Almighty; so much so that He just has to speak the command and it's done!

In Proverbs 8:14 God says: Counsel is Mine and sound Wisdom; I AM Understanding; I have Strength. That tells us that in God alone, is the source and origin of intelligence, power and wisdom. The word 'counsel' translated from the O.T.Hebrew means ;advice; guidance; purpose; the ability to plan and determine. Look again at all of nature. See how everything is designed with inbuilt purpose. Nothing is useless and haphazard[except when man who with his limited faculties, pretends to be God, gets in there and 'mucks up and short-circuits' the machinery]. 

                                                                                         'Understanding' here, literally means 'to mentally separate [distinguish] - therefore the ability to arrange and categorize, to create order, structure and put together functional systems which achieve a fore-ordained purpose. All this is held together in unified consistency by His Infinite Wisdom, knowledge and fore-sight. In short, His Divine Nature and Person is NOT in any way, capricious, spur-of-the-moment, arbitrary or without reason. God is NEVER taken by surprise. He knows the end of all things from the very beginning. I know that this might bring up the question about free will/determinism. There will be a place to discuss such cogent issues but I prefer here, to stay on present track in piecing together this wondrous picture, the Bible presents of the God with Whom we have to do. 

 

 

 

In Genesis 1:26 we read ...And God said, "Let Us make man in Our Image, after Our likeness, and let them have dominion[exercise God-given rule and authority] over (all creation)...

Hold on a minute..... "and God [singular] said, Let Us [plural] make man in Our [plural] Image...?? - There's no typos here. It's exactly what the Word says.  Three Gods?   No. The One God.

How do we deal with this perplexing oxymoron? Well, I for one, remind myself of a bit of a late 19th C. controversy amongst some mathematicians whose intuition was that Euclid's 5th postulate in reference to parallel lines, may not necessarily hold water, contrary to school-based understanding of traditional geometry. The result of this was the drawing up of two alternate (non-euclidean i.e. non-flat space) geometrical manifolds such as elliptical [spherical] space in which no parallel lines are possible, and its counterpart; hyperbolic [saddle-shaped] where infinite number of lines, passing through a single point, can be parallel to a given line. What Im seeking to get at, is that if mortal, finite human minds can conjure such logical complexities, then surely the Infinite God, need not be understood as limited to our finite realm of logic and perceived 3D reality. In His Realm of Nth dimension, why shouldn't it be possible for past, present and future, as we understand and experience time, be neatly folded and packaged into one everlasting Moment, and 1+1+1=...well...1?

There is no mention of the terms: 'trinity' or 'triunity' in the Word of God, but along with aforementioned Gen. 1:26, there are several allusions to the Triune God.  For example, look up John 14:6-10; John 16:13-15; then near the end of the Bible; 1John 5:7. 

Originally posted by GoDowNsMe
wow ..that's awesome
I've had problems in understanding the bible...doubts creepin in & all ...so,
hey great you opened this thread thanks !!

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Its a pleasure and may I add, a  real exciting one too! Just think - we're one day going to meet Him face to face and be enfolded in His embrace - [gee, Im a poet n' didn't noet]    No but truly, won't it be awesome and beyond what any of us can currently imagine!  From my own early experiences and mistakes in my Christian life, I cannot advise strongly enough, the importance of thorough soaking in nothing else but the Bible, in reference to establishing one's faith; long before any other Christian books; speakers etc and this also is crucial for protection from insideous, pseudo[false] 'Christian' teachings that go around.

Good on you!