Some more post for review, are the following entries correct?
John wasn't in the day of the Lord when he saw Revelation chapters 1-18, for the day of the Lord won't begin until the second coming (1 Corinthians 1:7-8), which doesn't happen until Revelation 19. John was simply in the Spirit on the Lord's day (Revelation 1:10), meaning that he was in the Spirit on one particular first-day-of-the-week, while he was living on Patmos, when he saw Revelation (Revelation 1:9-10).
When John says in Revelation "I was in the Spirit on the Lord's day" (Revelation 1:10), he was referring to the first day of the week, on which day the Lord rose from the dead (Mark 16:9) and the early church met together to break bread (Acts 20:7).
Other writings of the early church also refer to the first day of the week as the Lord's day: "At the dawning of the Lord's day He arose from the dead" (Epistle of Ignatius to the Trallians, chapter 9); "let every friend of Christ keep the Lord's Day as a festival, the resurrection-day, the queen and chief of all the days" (Epistle of Ignatius to the Magnesians, chapter 9); "not bending the knee upon Sunday ... took its rise from apostolic times, as the blessed Irenaeus, the martyr and bishop of Lyons, declares in his treatise On Easter, in which he makes mention of Pentecost also; upon which we do not bend the knee, because it is of equal significance with the Lord's day" (Fragments From the Lost Writings of Irenaeus, 7); "He, in fulfilment of the precept, according to the Gospel, keeps the Lord's day ... glorifying the Lord's resurrection" (Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata, or Miscellanies 7:12).
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Romans 2:14-15 does refer to Gentiles keeping the law of Moses, which includes the 10 commandments.
Romans 2:14-15 means that even believing physical-Gentiles perform the law (Romans 3:31), but only in spirit (Romans 7:6), by loving other people (Romans 13:8).
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While under the Old Covenant law of Moses, believers were helpless before sin (Romans 7:5-25), under the New Covenant law of Christ (Romans 8:2, Galatians 6:2, John 14:21-24, 1 Thessalonians 4:2, 1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Galatians 5:19-21) believers are no longer helpless before sin, because Jesus himself has set them completely free from the enslaving power of sin (John 8:34-36, Romans 6:16-22, 8:2) by their getting baptized into him (Romans 6:3-7, Galatians 3:27) and receiving his Holy Spirit (Romans 8:13,2, Colossians 3:5-6), who is usually received through the laying on of hands after baptism (Acts 19:2,5-6, 8:15-17).
So Christians need never say "I'm not able.... so I leave it to (and trust) the Lord". Instead, baptized and Spirit-filled believers can say "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13, 2:12-13, Colossians 1:29, Romans 8:2, 6:4-7).
Romans 7:5,7-25, 8:3a is Paul showing what it was like for him before he became a Christian, while he was still trying to keep the Mosaic law. Romans 6:1-23, 7:6, 8:1-4,12-13 is Paul showing what it is like for Christians, who are no longer under the law, and have been freed from the bondage to sin. They do not have to sin because they now have the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16). Jesus has set them free from having to commit sin (John 8:34-36).
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We have to remain ready tonight even though Jesus can't return tomorrow because if we fall into a state of unreadiness tonight, there is no guarantee that we will retain a state of readiness before Jesus comes. It would be like one person at six o'clock knowing that a second person can't come until 9 o'clock. In ancient times, they didn't have alarm clocks, so the first person couldn't fall asleep at 6 o'clock with any guarantee that he'd be awake again by 9 o'clock. The fact that the second person couldn't come at 7 o'clock or 8 o'clock was irrelevant, just as the fact that Jesus can't come before or during the tribulation is irrelevant to our need to remain ready for His coming.
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In Matthew 24, Jesus didn't mention the trumpets of the tribulation (Revelation chapters 8-9), or the tribulation reign of the Antichrist (Revelation 13), or the two witnesses who will prophesy during the tribulation reign of the Antichrist (Revelation 11), or the vials of wrath at the end of the tribulation (Revelation 16), because at the time that Jesus spoke Matthew 24 to the apostles they weren't ready to bear all of the myriad details of the coming tribulation (John 16:12-13). So in Matthew 24 Jesus gave the apostles just a brief outline of Revelation chapters 6-19.
The Olivet Discourse and Revelation chapters 6-19 were given to the church so that it might endure unto the end (Matthew 24:9-13) with patience and faith (Revelation 13:7-10, 14:12-13, 20:4).
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Hebrews 7:22 means that because of what Jesus did on the cross, he has already made sure for us the New Covenant's complete forgiveness of sins.
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Isaiah 54:1-2 (cf. Galatians 4:27) is addressing the earthly Zion, the Church, as it partakes of the salvation of the New Covenant and the heavenly Zion (cf. Galatians 4:24-27).
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It's possible for us to judge others for judging others.
We can think that we see a problem with some people being prideful and self-righteous and judging others, and we can say that if anyone at all sees a problem with what some other people are doing, then the answer is to pray for God to change this, and to begin with us, not those other Christians, but us; but then we can nonetheless turn around and point the finger at those other Christians who we think have problems with being prideful and self-righteous and judging others, while we think of ourselves as superior and present ourselves to others as being superior because we don't judge others like those other proud, self-righteous people do.
We can say that God isn't interested in convicting us of other people's sin, but then we can turn around and feel that God has convicted us that some other proud, self-righteous people have become convicted of other people's sin.
With whatever measure we judge, we will be judged (Matthew 7:1-2). If we judge others for judging others, then we'll be judged for judging others.
And if we point this out to someone in self-righteousness, then we'll be judged for judging others for judging others for judging others.
And so on.
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Quote: „Would calling a church devil worshipers be blasphemy of they holy spirit.“
A: That would depend on whether or not the person at the time he said that actually believed in both the devil and the Holy Spirit (the Spirit of God).
Also, it would depend on why he called a church that, as in: What specific action or actions by the church was he calling devil worship?
Also, the condemnation you feel might not be about blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, but only about your hard words against the people of that church. God may have allowed the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit verse to tug at your heart simply as a means by which you would remember your hard words against those people, so that you could confess those hard words to God and ask him to forgive you for them (1 John 1:9).
If someone called the people in a church devil worshipers solely because some of their children dressed up (including as the devil) for Halloween and some of the people in the church smoked, that wouldn't be blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, because those actions hadn't been performed miraculously by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Nonetheless, calling the people in that church devil worshipers solely because of those actions could still fall under the sin of Matthew 7:1-5, which refers to judging people for their actions in a harsh, self-righteous, hypocritical way, like saying: "Oh, how evil! I would never do anything like that. That sin is inexcusable!", instead of simply judging their wrong actions as being sins, and recognizing that one has one's own sins to worry about (Romans 3:9-12). Matthew 7:2 means that if we don't humbly forgive other people for their sins, God won't forgive us for our own sins (Matthew 6:15).
The sin of judging others in the wrong way can be forgiven if it's repented from and confessed to God (1 John 1:9).
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Christians aren't supposed to think that a rich lifestyle is a better lifestyle ...
Christians are supposed to be content with the most basic necessities, not to try to make all that they can, or become rich, or entice non-Christians to want the material things that they have, for gaining material things has nothing at all to do with godliness ...
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The only time that a Christian should not obey a law is if in doing so the Christian would be disobeying God (Acts 5:29).
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Ephesians 1:10 is referring to the past establishment of the Church, of which Christ is already the head (Ephesians 1:22); the Greek word translated as "gather together" means "to head up". "The fullness of times" happened in the first century at the first coming of Christ (Galatians 4:4). "All things in Christ" means all believers, the Church (Ephesians 1:22-23).
We who believe are in heavenly places (Ephesians 2:6) only in some symbolic sense, not literally.
Ephesians 1:10 means that the Church consists of one body which includes both those believers (those in Christ) who have died and are literally in heaven (e.g. Revelation 6:9-11) and those believers who have not yet died and are still literally on the earth (Ephesians 6:3).
At the second coming of Christ, He will physically gather together into one place all believers in heaven and in earth (Mark 13:27; 1 Thessalonians 4:14-17).
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Believers are an extension of Jesus in that they are his body (Ephesians 5:30) which his Spirit lives in (Ephesians 3:17, Galatians 4:6) and works through (Philippians 2:13, John 15:5). But this must be very explicitly distinguished from the new age lie that we are all extensions of God in the sense of being little sparks of God himself, so that we are all God himself. We are not God himself, who alone is uncreated, from everlasting (Psalms 90:2, Micah 5:2), and who alone has life in himself (John 5:26, 1 Timothy 6:16). We are merely his finite creatures who are and will forever be wholly dependent upon him for our continued existence (Acts 17:28, Colossians 1:17).
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Hebrews 11:39-40 doesn't mean that the Old Testament saints who died in faith had any different promise than the church, for they were promised the same heavenly city of New Jerusalem that the rest of the church is promised (Hebrews 11:16,10). Hebrews 11:39-40 simply means that they didn't receive the fulfillment of that promise until the church had been formed.
The "better thing for us" (Hebrews 11:40) could simply mean that unlike the Old Testament saints who died in faith, believers now don't have to go down into Hades, but can go immediately into heaven to be with Jesus upon their death (2 Corinthians 5:8, Philippians 1:21,23).
Now all believers, no matter whether they died in Old Testament times or have died or are still alive in these New Testament times, are all under the New Covenant (Matthew 26:28, Jeremiah 31:31, Hebrews 12:24, 9:15, 1 Corinthians 11:25, 2 Corinthians 3:6).
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The firstborn in Hebrews 12:23 is Jesus (Hebrews 1:6, Romans 8:29, Colossians 1:15,18, Revelation 1:5).
In Hebrews 12:23, where it says "AND to the spirits of just men made perfect", the Greek word translated as "and" can be translated as "even" (Hebrews 11:19). It in no way requires that the just men made perfect aren't part [of "the general assembly and church of the firstborn"] of the church. For the only way that men can be made perfect is through faith in Jesus and the gospel (Hebrews 13:21, 10:14), and anyone who has faith in Jesus and the gospel is part of his body, the church (Ephesians 4:4-5).
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We have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ which should result in pure religion:
James 1:27 ...Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
A works salvation is in no way self-justification, for justification comes solely through faith in the atoning blood and resurrection of Jesus (Romans 3:24-26, 4:24-5:2). Works of faith come into play only insofar as faith without works is dead and cannot save us (James 2:14-26). So all the scriptures which refer to salvation by faith assume a living, active, works-filled faith, instead of the opposite (Titus 1:16).
Love and religion are not mutually exclusive; God wants us to have both. James 1:27 shows that God wants us to have religion, so long as it's pure, and James 1:27 goes on to show that our religion is pure only if it has works.
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Besides confessing every commission of every sin, Christians also need to actually repent from every sin, if they want to be saved in the end (Hebrews 10:26-29, 1 Corinthians 9:27, 6:9-10). If they die in any unrepentant sin, it will be because they had not used the time Jesus had given them to repent (Revelation 2:21-23), and because they had continually ignored the rebuking and chastening which he had sent to them because of their unrepentant sin (Revelation 3:19). After death, there is no use praying for the forgiveness of any unrepented sin (1 John 5:16).
While Christians are still alive, if they ever become unsure whether or not they have repented from and confessed every sin to God, all they need to do is pray and ask God to reveal to them every unresolved sin in their lives (Psalms 139:23-24). And they also need to be reading the Bible diligently every day (Matthew 4:4), for it will expose to them every sin which may still exist within them (Hebrews 4:12-13, 2 Timothy 3:16-17).
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The seed of God within born-again believers in 1 John 3:9 is the Spirit of the Son of God in 1 John 3:8b, who comes to dwell within believers (Galatians 4:6) through the seed of faith (Ephesians 3:17, Luke 17:6) which comes by hearing (Romans 10:17) the seed of the word of God (1 Peter 1:23, Luke 8:11, Colossians 3:16).
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Anonymous is a good thing if it helps to keep a discussion from being about ourselves (2 Corinthians 4:5), and instead keeps it focused on the Bible (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
The posting-name "Bible2" doesn't mean "A second Holy Bible" [for there's no such thing], but rather was chosen only because the posting-names "Read the Bible" and "Bible" were already taken.
Instead, taken together with "Matthew 4:4" (which appears just below "Bible2"), it should be read as "Bible too", in the sense that we don't live by food only, but by every word of the Bible too (Matthew 4:4).
Disapproving is a good thing if it's disapproving of incorrect doctrine (2 Timothy 4:2-4), as opposed to ad hominem [that is, so long as we don't take the focus off of a discussion of doctrine and what the Bible says, and instead begin to focus on attacking people as individuals] (Titus 3:2, 2 Timothy 2:24-25).
We shouldn't be seeking to put our own name in lights, but the name of the Lord (2 Corinthians 4:5) and His perfect Word (2 Timothy 4:2-4).
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The Bible disallows women to have positions of authority over men, or to teach, or even speak in church meetings (1 Timothy 2:11-12, 1 Corinthians 14:34-37), unless they are giving a prophecy (1 Corinthians 14:29, Acts 21:9), a tongue (1 Corinthians 14:39), the interpretation of a tongue (1 Corinthians 14:26), or are reading aloud the Bible, as all these are directly inspired by the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:10-11, 2 Peter 1:20-21, 2 Timothy 3:16).
The idea that women can become pastors and teachers in the Church came from society, not from God.
The following is what Jesus Himself expressly teaches in His Word:
1 Corinthians 14:34 ...Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35 And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church. 36 What? came the word of God out from you? or came it unto you only? 37 If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are the commandments of the Lord.
Note especially that last part. Paul knew full well that people would reject Jesus' teachings. We must stick with His Word and not reject it to run after any teachings of people which contradict it:
2 Timothy 4:2 ...Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. 3 For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears; 4 And they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.
Those who reject God's Word regarding the role of women in the Church are no different then those who reject God's Word regarding homosexuality: both claim that they can reject those parts of the Bible that they don't agree with, because if they don't agree with it it must not be God's Word, but the later addition of people with their own agendas.
Why don't those who reject 1 Corinthians 14:34-37 as "old-fashioned nonsense", reject, like the homosexuals, Romans 1:26-27 as "old-fashioned nonsense", for both passages are completely at odds with society's current political correctness.
It's no coincidence that many churches which have ordained women as pastors also ordain homosexuals as pastors. They want to reflect society's current beliefs instead of what the Word of God teaches, for they cannot endure the Bible's sound doctrine.
1 Timothy 2:11 ...Let the woman learn in silence with all subjection.12 But I suffer not a woman to teach, nor to usurp authority over the man, but to be in silence.13 For Adam was first formed, then Eve.14 And Adam was not deceived, but the woman being deceived was in the transgression.
Romans 1:26 ...God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.
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Some people hate Christians, and accuse Christians of being haters, because Christians hold to what the Bible teaches about sin, all the various sins which we can commit (1 Corinthians 6:9-10, Romans 1:26-32).
Some people hate bishops because bishops have authority, and some people hate authority (2 Peter 2:10).
Some people readily condemn Christians because Christians happen to be different.
Some people condemn Christians as ignorant for believing what the Bible teaches instead of what the sinful world teaches.
No Christian should ever attack Muslims, Jews, Freemasons, homosexuals, women pastors or anyone else who believes or does things contrary to what the Bible teaches (Titus 3:2-3, 2 Timothy 2:24-26). Instead, Christians should simply attack wrong beliefs and practices by showing how they go against what the Bible so clearly teaches (2 Timothy 3:16-4:4).
Those who hate Christians sometimes vent their hatred by saying that Christians have psychological problems.
Those who hate Christians sometimes attack them by saying that they hate what they don't understand or wish to understand.
Something spoken against Biblical Christianity shouldn't be ignored, but should be answered by Biblical Christians, so that people won't think that what was spoken against Biblical Christianity must have been right (1 Corinthians 4:13).
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Is it possible for iconoclasm to become an idol, for the slaughtering of sacred cows to become a sacred cow, similar to how those most vehemently opposed to "oppression" can be the most vehement oppressors (cf. Romans 2:1), especially once they've overthrown other oppressors and come into total power themselves (e.g. Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, nominal communists all)?
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Thank God that we are strangers and pilgrims on the earth (Hebrews 11:13, 1 Peter 2:11), looking for a better country, that is, an heavenly, wherefore God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he has prepared for us a city (Hebrews 11:14-16) which has foundations (Revelation 21:14), whose builder and maker is God (Hebrews 11:10, Revelation 21:10-22:21) and not any fallible humans.
Thank God that we have our citizenship in that heavenly city/country (Philippians 3:20, Hebrews 12:22-23), and that our hero is in heaven: Jesus Christ (Philippians 3:20), and that we can put our trust and hope in him, instead of in politicians and commentators (Psalms 146:3, 118:8, Jeremiah 17:5).
Thank God that we must forsake all of our possessions in order to follow Jesus (Luke 14:33), instead of receiving the woe and miseries that will come upon us if we're rich (Luke 6:24, James 5:1-3) or desire to be rich (1 Timothy 6:9-12).
Thank God that our life doesn't consist in the abundance of the things which he possess (Luke 12:15), but that we can be content with food and clothing (1 Timothy 6:8).
Thank God that we can't serve God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24), and that where our treasure is, there will be our heart also (Matthew 6:21).
Thank God that in the early church no one said that any of the things which he possessed was his own, but the church owned all things in common (Acts 4:32).
Thank God that everyone sold their possessions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need (Acts 2:44-45).
Thank God that neither was there any among them that lacked, for as many as were possessors of lands or houses sold them, and brought the prices of the things that were sold, and laid them down at the apostles' feet, and distribution was made unto every man according as he had need (Acts 4:34-35).
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Someone can't be convinced of the error of their thinking except by the scriptures themselves (2 Timothy 3:16). If they have so twisted the meaning of some of those scriptures to fit their own wishes, such as the Church not going through the tribulation, then they can no longer read the scriptures with an open mind; they are determined to read them in such a way that makes them feel better, and so they have cut themselves off from the instruction which only the scriptures themselves can give them (2 Timothy 3:16).
At that point, no human discussion is going to change their minds one bit. Only a divine intervention by the Holy Spirit Himself, perhaps through a dream, or a sudden revelation in their spirit, will open their minds up again so that they can read the scriptures for what the scriptures themselves say, and not for what some people merely wish that they said.
So all humans can do is share the scriptures with others, and pray that the Holy Spirit will open the minds of their correspondents to be able to read the scriptures without any preconceived notions or wishes.
That's why scriptural references are given after claims are made, so that the discussion can always return to what the scriptures themselves say, and not devolve into a merely rhetorical, ad hominem back-and-forth.
So if one feels that the scriptural references given after a point do not support that point, one must be able to prove from the scriptures themselves that the scriptural references do not support that point, instead of merely claiming without any proof that they don't, for that stops the discussion of the scriptures themselves dead in its tracks, and turns the thread into merely an "is too", "is not", dispute of no benefit to anyone (2 Timothy 2:14).
We can only persuade people to believe what we believe about what the scriptures teach by pointing them to what the scriptures themselves say and (often even more importantly) what the scriptures themselves don't say or even require. If, even after we do this, they insist that our beliefs are wrong, then they will have to show from the scriptures themselves how our beliefs are not supported by the scriptures, or even contradict the scriptures. And if they are unable to do this, then they should reconsider their position with an open mind. In doing so, they may discover that their position is ultimately based on a priori beliefs not taught by the scriptures themselves.
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For some reason, people think that "modern" must always mean "better", when in fact it can mean the opposite:
"Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein" (Jeremiah 6:16).
And for some reason, people think that "scholarship" must always mean "truth", when in fact it can mean the opposite:
"For it is written, I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent. Where is the wise? where is the scribe? where is the disputer of this world? hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world?" (1 Corinthians 1:19-20).
A fable cloaked as "modern" "scholarship" is still a fable, just as Satan cloaked as an angel of light is still Satan: "for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light" (2 Corinthians 11:14).
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For what the "come on down" invitation at the end of an an evangelistic sermon should really be is a command for all those who have come into faith during the sermon to immediately repent from all of their sins and undergo water-immersion baptism: "Now when they heard this [evangelistic sermon], they were pricked in their heart [by God, drawing them into faith in Jesus], and said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins" (Acts 2:36-38).
For some inexplicable reason, many of us Christians today completely ignore the Bible's teachings regarding repentance and baptism. We tell new believers that they don't need to do anything to be saved, not even repent, that their new faith covers all of their sins, whether they actually ever repent from them or not. But the Bible shows clearly that repentance is absolutely necessary, for "except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish" (Luke 13:3). And baptism is also absolutely necessary, for "baptism doth also now save us" (1 Peter 3:21); "He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved" (Mark 16:16). Also for some inexplicable reason, many many of us Christians today also completely ignore the necessity of believers to actually obey God and do good works in order to be saved in the end, for God "will render to every man according to his deeds: To them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life: But unto them that are contentious, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath" (Romans 2:6-8).
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One of the reasons the Bible says that some people leave Christianity, in the sense of losing their faith, is because they can no longer endure sound, Biblical doctrine, but would rather follow other (demonic) doctrines which support them in their lusts (2 Timothy 4:2-4, 1 Timothy 4:1-2), whether their lusts be, for example, the illicit pleasures of the flesh (Hebrews 12:16-17, Hebrews 6:4-8), or the pleasure of making more and more money (1 Timothy 6:9-10, Mark 4:19). But most often Christians who want to commit some illicit pleasure of the flesh or who want to get rich don't leave Christianity altogether; they simply find some form of Christianity that actively supports them (or at least does not actively condemn them) in their desires.
Another of the reasons the Bible says that some people leave Christianity is to avoid being persecuted and killed for their faith (Mark 8:35-38, Mark 4:17, Luke 8:13, Matthew 24:9-13).
Another of the reasons some people could leave Christianity is because they cannot bear some particular Biblical doctrine such as the doctrine of eternal torment of the lost in hell (Revelation 14:10-12), or the doctrine of double-predestination, by which God creates both human vessels of his mercy and human vessels of his wrath (Romans 9:21-23). But most often Christians who reject doctrines like these don't leave Christianity altogether; they simply find some form of Christianity that rejects doctrines like these.
Someone could leave Christianity because he thinks that God is giving him the silent treatment even though he is trying to seek God's will, when in fact God is always speaking to believers through every word of the Bible (Matthew 4:4), so that believers can perfectly know God's will by knowing what the Bible says (2 Timothy 3:15-17).
Also, someone could leave Christianity because he thinks that he is not one of God's elect (Romans 9:11-24). But while someone is still alive, no matter how sinful he has become, he must never assume that he is not one of God's elect, for there is always the possibility that he could still repent and believe in Jesus and the Bible in the future. The case of the apostle Paul is the best example for why no one should ever assume that God doesn't want them to get saved: by God's miraculous grace Paul went from being the "chief of sinners", the worst persecutor of the church, to becoming Christ's most fruitful apostle (1 Timothy 1:12-17, 1 Corinthians 15:10).
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Quote: „... while He is tremendously merciful He is also tremendously jealous and will not tolerate people abandoning Him or His ways.“
A: That's right:
Exodus 34:14 ... thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God ...
2 Timothy 2:12 ... if we deny him, he also will deny us ...
This denial of God and going after other gods doesn't have to be some formal pronouncement or formal worship of some pagan god; we can give conscious lipservice to God while at the same time we are unconsciously denying Him and worshipping other things by not obeying His commandments and by loving, for example, money more than Him:
Titus 1:16 ...They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate.
Ezekiel 33:31 ... with their mouth they shew much love, but their heart goeth after their covetousness.
Matthew 6:24 ...No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.
1 Timothy 6:10 ...For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith ...
Matthew 6:19 ...Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
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Proverbs 16:9b doesn't mean that God turns men into marionettes and marches them across the stage, but that He offers them direction in the right way to go, because their own hearts are not sufficient to know for sure which is the right way (Proverbs 14:12).