Wordkeeper said in post #397:
If you came to me for help and I said I’d pray for you, that’s not a good work.
Prayer is a good work (Colossians 4:12).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
It’s like the shameless believer in James 2 who wishes the poor brother well.
Note that prayer is not mentioned in James 2.
But it is mentioned in James 5:13-16. Note especially what James 5:16b says.
The analogy in James 2:15-17 means that faith must have works if it is to remain alive (James 2:26).
It is not denying that prayer is a work, but means that almsgiving is a work.
One should do both.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
[Re: Luke 14:33]
They have to know their limitations and ask for a lesser task, ask for terms of peace.
Note that Luke 14:33 says that it is required of every Christian.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Just answer the question: “Are unbaptised babies going to hell?”
Nonelect babies go to hell whether they are baptized or not.
It could be that elect babies don't die, but grow up to become Christians, because that's what election means (Acts 13:48b).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
The fact that Juvenile Hall/Court exists means that minors are treated separately. The award is education, not punishment.
So being sent to a Juvenile Hall is an award?
Have you ever been to one?
Also, note that in some jurisdictions, minors can be tried as adults under certain circumstances.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Faith is correctly translated as loyalty. Loyalty can be expressed without works . . .
Note that it can't, because faith without works is dead (James 2:26).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
The Covenant of Works is given to Israel and Israel only.
The New Covenant (Matthew 26:28) is also a covenant of works, ultimately (James 2:24). And it is also given to Israel only (Jeremiah 31:31-34). Christian Gentiles are grafted into Israel (Romans 11:17,24).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
God asked Peter to eat, telling him He had made everything clean. In other words, God told him Jews, people different from the rest of the world, had stopped existing.
No, they continued to exist (Acts 12:11).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
The text said no Jew came to the wedding feast.
The Church was started by Jews (Acts 22:3).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Judaism is a religion linked to a covenant of works given to a group separated from the rest of the world.
Same with New Covenant Judaism (1 Peter 2:9).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
The text says that the People of God are identified by faith.
And they must also be identified by works, ultimately (Matthew 7:21).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Fear and avoidance are characteristics of servants.
No, true servants do not avoid their masters, but actually serve them (Ephesians 6:5-7).
And fear is a characteristic of non-servants who think that someone wants to kill them.
And avoidance is a characteristic of non-servants who think that someone is not worth keeping company with.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
You can pay for something, but if you don’t take possession of it, you do not become what possessing it entitles you to become, even if it is the throne of a ruler purchased by a servant.
If you pay for something, you own it legally.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Israel transgressed, tried to seek its own righteousness, Judaism, instead of the righteousness of God, Christianity, and was made into a vessel of dishonor.
Note that Israel is not a vessel of dishonor (Romans 9:4-5).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Ezekiel 18:19, 20 says that the father will be punished for his own sins, and the children will be punished for their own sins.
Ezekiel 18:19-20 says that the child will not ultimately suffer for the Father's sin only so long as the child becomes obedient. It's the same under the New Covenant (Hebrews 5:9).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Each will be responsible for their own sins, unlike the claim by the doctrine of Original Sin, and by you, who say that Adam’s sin is our sin.
We all die in Adam (1 Corinthians 15:22) because of original sin, which is taught by the Bible (Romans 5:19a, Psalms 51:5, Psalms 58:3, Romans 3:10).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
. . . the believers in Acts 19 were already baptised in water.
Like in Acts 1:5.
But there, Jesus Christ was simply bringing up the concept of "baptism" to apply it to Holy Spirit baptism. He was not denying that Christians should both be water baptized in His name and be Holy Spirit baptized. For note what the apostle Paul did later in Acts 19:1-6. His question in Acts 19:2 relates to how Christians are to be water baptized (Matthew 28:19). That is, if the people whom the apostle Paul was speaking to in Acts 19:1-6 had been Christian water-baptized, they would have heard of the Holy Spirit. But they said that they had not heard of the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:2). Therefore, they needed to be Christian water-baptized, as in Acts 19:5.
Also, note two other things in Acts 19:1-6.
First, people do not automatically receive Holy Spirit baptism after they become Christians. That is why the apostle Paul asks his question in Acts 19:2.
Second, Christian water-baptism does not automatically impart Holy Spirit baptism. That is why the apostle Paul had to lay his hands on the people in Acts 19:6 for them to receive Holy Spirit baptism, even after they had been Christian water-baptized in Acts 19:5.
Note that this was also the case in Acts 8:15-17. That is, the Samaritan Christians got Christian water-baptized first. And then sometime later they got Holy Spirit baptized, through the laying on of hands.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Those who are baptised into Christ are baptised into His death, but that doesn’t mean that water is what baptises a person into Christ’s death, but faith, loyalty, like the thief on the cross.
Regarding the thief on the cross, note that he could have been baptized before Luke 23:42-43 happened, but then backslid and committed theft. Also, baptism is only a New Testament/New Covenant requirement for ultimate salvation (Mark 16:16; 1 Peter 3:21, Acts 2:38, Acts 22:16, Romans 6:3-11, Galatians 3:27, Colossians 2:12). And the New Covenant was not put into legal effect until Jesus Christ died (Hebrews 9:16-17, Matthew 26:28). But Luke 23:42-43 happened before Jesus died; and so baptism was not yet a requirement for ultimate salvation. But now that Jesus' death is past, Christians have to obey all of His New Covenant commandments (John 14:21-24) if they want to obtain ultimate salvation (Hebrews 5:9, Romans 2:6-8), including His commandment that every Christian get baptized (Matthew 28:19-20, Mark 16:16, Acts 2:38), and by immersion/"burial" in the water of baptism (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12; cf. 1 Corinthians 14:37). Also, a Christian can ultimately lose his salvation if he wrongly employs his free will to commit unrepentant sin (Hebrews 10:26-29; 1 Corinthians 9:27, Luke 12:45-46), which includes unrepentant sins of omission (James 4:17), which would include refusing without repentance to get baptized, and by immersion.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
But Christ said whoever had seen Him had seen the Father.
He did not mean the Father Himself (1 John 4:12), but a perfect image of the Father (Colossians 1:15).
For the Father is a different Person than the Son (John 14:28).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
So mercy is found in the bowels?
Note that just because Colossians 3:12 is figurative does not make Luke 16:23 figurative.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
[Re: You never dream?]
Yes I do, but I can’t show them to anyone.
Not even in pictures drawn by an artist under your direction?
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
If mistaken makes sense, then there is no need to change the view, to look again.
There is, if it proves to be mistaken.
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
God’s word can be used only with those who accept it as truth.
God’s Word itself is what causes people to accept it as truth (Romans 10:17; 2 Timothy 3:15 to 4:4).
Wordkeeper said in post #397:
Paul uses secular philosophy with the Greeks on Mars Hill.
Note that he didn't, for he knew that it wouldn't help (1 Corinthians 1:17 to 2:16).
*******
Wordkeeper said in post #399:
DamianWarS said:
Does anyone even bother to read the op?
This begs the question what is the purpose of the Gospel? Should it "fix" ones theology or should it be more focused on introducing someone to Jesus?
Note that it is not either/or, but both/and.
For Christian faith must not be based solely on heart feelings, which can be very deceptive (Jeremiah 17:9, Proverbs 28:26, Proverbs 14:12), but must also be a rational/intellectual enterprise. For saving faith requires mental assent (Philippians 3:15-16, Romans 12:2; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Timothy 2:25, Romans 8:6) to Biblical doctrine (2 Timothy 3:16 to 4:4; 1 Timothy 4:16; 2 John 1:9-10; 1 Timothy 6:3, Titus 1:9) and continuing to remember that doctrine (1 Corinthians 15:2; 2 Peter 3:1-2; 2 Corinthians 11:3).
For example, for people to be saved from hell, they must believe (and continue to believe to the end: Hebrews 3:6,12,14, Colossians 1:23; 1 Corinthians 15:2) the Biblical doctrine that Jesus of Nazareth is the Christ and the human/divine Son of God (John 20:31, John 3:36, 1 John 2:23), and that He suffered and died on the Cross for our sins and physically resurrected from the dead on the third day (1 Corinthians 15:1-4, Luke 24:39,46-47, Matthew 20:19, Matthew 26:28).
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