How do you rid yourself of temptation?

[Goatee]

Popes may well have had issues but the core teachings of the church have remained the same and solid. A pope is fallible. He is only infallible while speaking about the unchangeable beliefs of the church.

They are only contrary to those who are not Catholic or dont understand Catholicism. Sola Scriptura can be a very dangerous thing! I would rather be taught by the Church of Christ, The Catholic Church!

Ah, so you like to think for yourself about Scripture? How do you know the RC church is not right if you don't know the Catholic Church? This is a recipe for being deceived. (Turned around for the truth!)

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus made his Apostles able to forgive sins. This shows us that we need 'Priests' to act in the name of God. To forgive us our sins. Just like the Apostles, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. As we know, the Tradition of the Apostles has remained with the Catholic Church since that very day when Jesus breathed on them!

 

[stuart lawrence]

Popes may well have had issues but the core teachings of the church have remained the same and solid. A pope is fallible. He is only infallible while speaking about the unchangeable beliefs of the church.

They are only contrary to those who are not Catholic or dont understand Catholicism. Sola Scriptura can be a very dangerous thing! I would rather be taught by the Church of Christ, The Catholic Church!

Ah, so you like to think for yourself about Scripture? How do you know the RC church is not right if you don't know the Catholic Church? This is a recipe for being deceived. (Turned around for the truth!)

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus made his Apostles able to forgive sins. This shows us that we need 'Priests' to act in the name of God. To forgive us our sins. Just like the Apostles, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. As we know, the Tradition of the Apostles has remained with the Catholic Church since that very day when Jesus breathed on them!

The true church is the church that follows what the apostles taught, not one handed down over 2000 years

 

[aiki]

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

Jesus made his Apostles able to forgive sins. This shows us that we need 'Priests' to act in the name of God. To forgive us our sins. Just like the Apostles, they are filled with the Holy Spirit. As we know, the Tradition of the Apostles has remained with the Catholic Church since that very day when Jesus breathed on them!

Whoa! It is not only absurd but blasphemous to say a human being can forgive sins committed against God! Certainly, the apostles had unique spiritual authority and power, but never were they equal to the Father who alone can forgive sins. This is why you'll never see any apostle in the record of Scripture stand in for God and in their own authority declare another person's sins forgiven. They preach how forgiveness is obtained, but they never say to anyone, "Your sins are forgiven." What's more, there are no true New Testament apostles living today, nor have there been since those appointed as apostles by Christ died. But this is all quite irrelevant to the matter of how you conquer sin in your life.

Every person who is born-again is indwelt by the Holy Spirit, not just priests.

How do you know the RC church is not right if you don't know the Catholic Church? This is a recipe for being deceived.

Though I do know many things about the RC church, I don't need to know what I do in order to know God's truth. All I need for that is the Bible. It is there the truth of God is found, not in a Pope or priest.

Selah.

 

[AllanV]

Allan, what I have related to Antletems is, spiritually-speaking, supremely practical - and it is extremely biblical, too. That you cannot see this speaks volumes about where you're at spiritually.

Yes, the Spirit does lead each believer into all truth and that truth is found primarily in the pages of your Bible, not in your own subjective experience.

I'm not sure what your point is in your comment about everyone becoming teachers, but this is certainly the role you've tried to adopt in this thread. In any case, Scripture tells us that God gifts certain of His children with ability to teach (Eph. 4:11) So, it isn't that the Christian believer should expect to be taught only by God's Spirit, but that they can learn from those in the Body of Christ who have been gifted as teachers, too. Much of the New Testament is men with such gifting, like the apostle Paul, telling the rest of us what's what.

The verse from Revelation 12 is a good one but you offer no explanation as to why you've offered it. Am I supposed to read your mind? Are you wanting to play a guessing game?

What is my conversion testimony? You can read the short version of it on my profile page. What has God done in my life since then? It would take endless pages to share it all. Is there something in particular you're looking for?

Selah.

My appointment is God given and you reject it. The spirit leads into all truth.
The Bible gives assurance and is the written word of holy men as they spoke by the power of God in the Spirit. By rejecting the guidance offered you reject Jesus.

…13"If the house is worthy, give it your blessing of peace. But if it is not worthy, take back your blessing of peace. 14"Whoever does not receive you, nor heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet. 15"Truly I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city.

 

[AllanV]

You don't know the meaning of heb 10:16&17 do you.
The holy spirit leads into truth, and assuredly he would want every christian to understand the foundation on which the new covenant is built.
You don't understand, you respond with long posts that do not answer the simple questions.
The holy spirit leads me into truth, he is the only one who can.
Why has he not given you the explanation of those verses?
I can assure you the holy spirit did not lead you to believe you had reached complete purity and perfection. But the heart is deceitful as the bible tells us it is

You cannot use two verses out of context and form a doctrine around them.
You are completely out of order and need to repent immediately.

 

[Goatee]

Whoa! It is not only absurd but blasphemous to say a human being can forgive sins committed against God! Certainly, the apostles had unique spiritual authority and power, but never were they equal to the Father who alone can forgive sins. This is why you'll never see any apostle in the record of Scripture stand in for God and in their own authority declare another person's sins forgiven. They preach how forgiveness is obtained, but they never say to anyone, "Your sins are forgiven." What's more, there are no true New Testament apostles living today, nor have there been since those appointed as apostles by Christ died. But this is all quite irrelevant to the matter of how you conquer sin in your life.


Selah.

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

So, how do you interpret this then? God forgives sins through them. Same as our Catholic Priests. Such a wonderful Sacrament.

 

[stuart lawrence]

You cannot use two verses out of context and form a doctrine around them.
You are completely out of order and need to repent immediately.

When you can tell me the meaning of those two verses, on which the new covenant stands we can continue.
Your above statement is simply an attempt to deflect from addressing them

 

[aiki]

My appointment is God given and you reject it. The spirit leads into all truth.

Your statements are not in accord with Scripture, so whatever "appointment" you think you have from God, I have good biblical reason to be very skeptical of it.

The Bible gives assurance and is the written word of holy men as they spoke by the power of God in the Spirit. By rejecting the guidance offered you reject Jesus.

I most certainly do not reject God's word! But I do reject your peculiar spin on it and your efforts to instruct others on how to walk with God.

Selah.

 

[aiki]

So, how do you interpret this then?

I already told you why it doesn't work with the rest of Scripture to interpret what is said in John 20:22, 23 the way the Catholic church does. If the apostles had understood the words of Christ in the passage the way the RC church does, you'd have seen them forgiving sins left and right in the Book of Acts. But no where does any apostle say, "I forgive your sins against God." The apostles were given the authority and responsibility to declare the way of salvation, which involved spelling out the way in which forgiveness from God was obtained. The apostles were the spokesmen of heaven, ambassadors of Christ communicating the will of God to the World. But they were ambassadors only, not equal with God Himself.

In any event, your initial purpose in posting in this thread was to get advice on how to deal with temptation. This other doctrinal stuff is rather off point, don't you think?

Selah.

 

[CarlosSantana305]

Wow that is quite the predicament that you're facing but allow to quote you a few bibles verses
James 4:7
Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Ephesians 4:27
Neither give place to the devil.

2 Corinthians 12:9
And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

If you notice the choice of words in the first quoted verse it stays "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" this tells us that it will take a willful act to go against temptation. Temptation is not some force that you have to bend too everyone you feel it but rather willfully/mindfully refuse to cave into and having to fall into the same situation again and again like a vicious cycle not allowing you to enjoy a healthy relationship with God our Creator.

The following verse tells us that we can do something on our part to not give room for the devil to tempt us because of our action. Example if you know you have a weakness say for sex then don't flirt with women, don't put yourself in a situation that the devil could use. Be smart and aware in what you do and what is around you that affects you. Know your weakness so that you can strategize to minimize temptation as much as possible. Also Remember that you can't totally 100% control your surroundings or the thoughts that enter into your mind but you can control where it leads and you will need to exercise your free will with all your might and faith in God's grace to help you which leads to the third verse.

Now that is Jesus our savior saying that his grace is enough to overcome our weaknesses, you need to have faith in God that he will help you through temptation and that you will overcome it not might but will. And do your part by exercising your free will and following His wisdom expressed in the verses I shared with you. Hopefully this helps you. And remember obedience is better than sacrifice. Yet another bible truth and lesson about what it means to God about following him and not asking him for forgiveness everytime. But having the mentality of following through with his words and teachings.

 

[Goatee]

I already told you why it doesn't work with the rest of Scripture to interpret what is said in John 20:22, 23 the way the Catholic church does. If the apostles had understood the words of Christ in the passage the way the RC church does, you'd have seen them forgiving sins left and right in the Book of Acts. But no where does any apostle say, "I forgive your sins against God." The apostles were given the authority and responsibility to declare the way of salvation, which involved spelling out the way in which forgiveness from God was obtained. The apostles were the spokesmen of heaven, ambassadors of Christ communicating the will of God to the World. But they were ambassadors only, not equal with God Himself.

In any event, your initial purpose in posting in this thread was to get advice on how to deal with temptation. This other doctrinal stuff is rather off point, don't you think?

Selah.

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

You cannot answer the above can you! It is plain in that passage that Jesus instructed the Apostles to go out and forgive. How much plainer could it be!! Plus, they also performed miracles!!! They healed people. Brought people back from the dead!

Like i said earlier, you just pick and choose and interpret scripture to suit your own beliefs!!

God bless you

 

[stuart lawrence]

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

You cannot answer the above can you! It is plain in that passage that Jesus instructed the Apostles to go out and forgive. How much plainer could it be!! Plus, they also performed miracles!!! They healed people. Brought people back from the dead!

Like i said earlier, you just pick and choose and interpret scripture to suit your own beliefs!!

God bless you

Do catholic priests perform miracles, heal people and bring them back from the dead?

You may be surprised at me saying this, but the Pentecostal church of my youth had much in common with the catholic church at its core, though doctrinally they are supposed to be the two denominations furthest apart.
They believed they were the true church of the first century. The church most faithful to biblical teaching.
I grew up in rwality believing in the infallibility of what the minister preached from the pulpit. I never once questioned their teaching.
However, many years later after I had left the church I read the new testament through for myself. I did so believing the bible was the bottom line, for that is what I was taught as a child. So I read with no preconceived ideas as it were.
I was stunned by what I read. For that church that was proud it stood full square on scripture had never preached from the pulpit much i was now reading in the bible, and concerning what is core to the covenant we are under.
I understand many Catholics implicitly put their faith in the church to teach. My faith is in what is plainly written. So I am not expecting what i write to resonate well with you. Just wanted to share it
God bless

 

[Goatee]

Do catholic priests perform miracles, heal people and bring them back from the dead?

You may be surprised at me saying this, but the Pentecostal church of my youth had much in common with the catholic church at its core, though doctrinally they are supposed to be the two denominations furthest apart.
They believed they were the true church of the first century. The church most faithful to biblical teaching.
I grew up in rwality believing in the infallibility of what the minister preached from the pulpit. I never once questioned their teaching.
However, many years later after I had left the church I read the new testament through for myself. I did so believing the bible was the bottom line, for that is what I was taught as a child. So I read with no preconceived ideas as it were.
I was stunned by what I read. For that church that was proud it stood full square on scripture had never preached from the pulpit much i was now reading in the bible, and concerning what is core to the covenant we are under.
I understand many Catholics implicitly put their faith in the church to teach. My faith is in what is plainly written. So I am not expecting what i write to resonate well with you. Just wanted to share it
God bless

Problem with reading it on your own without any guidance is that you are more likely to interpret things wrongly! At least with the Catholic church we have ober 2,000 years of Tradition. knowledge, and the Holy Spirit guiding us.

And yes, there have been documented cases of Catholic priests having performed miracles! Look at the history of some of the Catholic Saints who while on earth were Priests etc!

 

[aiki]

You cannot answer the above can you! It is plain in that passage that Jesus instructed the Apostles to go out and forgive. How much plainer could it be!! Plus, they also performed miracles!!! They healed people. Brought people back from the dead!

Like i said earlier, you just pick and choose and interpret scripture to suit your own beliefs!!

I have answered it, you just don't seem able to hear or comprehend my answer. If the apostles were able to forgive sin against God, we would certainly have read of them doing so in Scripture. We read of them preaching the Gospel, performing miracles, saving souls, teaching the Church but not once is there any instance where we read of them forgiving sin against God. Of course, they were able to forgive those who had done them wrong directly, just as you and I do when someone wrongs us, and this may be what the verse, perhaps, is referring to, but sins against God are only forgiven by God. And so the apostles preached forgiveness of God through the cross of Christ, but they never offered absolution as RC priests do.

You haven't shown at all that I pick and choose Scripture and interpret it to suit myself. None of the many verses I've cited in my posts have you even begun to show that I've cherry-picked or misrepresented. You've simply ignored them all! You've brought out this one passage in John 20 - a passage I never talked about in my posts - in the hope, I think, of using it as an excuse to ignore everything I've shared with you. But, look, if you want to ignore what I've written to you, that's your prerogative. If it suits you better to remain bound in sin and failing, so be it. You will have to answer one day to your Maker, not me, for why you rejected the liberating truth I offered to you.

Selah.

 

[Goatee]

I have answered it, you just don't seem able to hear or comprehend my answer. If the apostles were able to forgive sin against God, we would certainly have read of them doing so in Scripture. We read of them preaching the Gospel, performing miracles, saving souls, teaching the Church but not once is there any instance where we read of them forgiving sin against God. Of course, they were able to forgive those who had done them wrong directly, just as you and I do when someone wrongs us, and this may be what the verse, perhaps, is referring to, but sins against God are only forgiven by God. And so the apostles preached forgiveness of God through the cross of Christ, but they never offered absolution as RC priests do.

You haven't shown at all that I pick and choose Scripture and interpret it to suit myself. None of the many verses I've cited in my posts have you even begun to show that I've cherry-picked or misrepresented. You've simply ignored them all! You've brought out this one passage in John 20 - a passage I never talked about in my posts - in the hope, I think, of using it as an excuse to ignore everything I've shared with you. But, look, if you want to ignore what I've written to you, that's your prerogative. If it suits you better to remain bound in sin and failing, so be it. You will have to answer one day to your Maker, not me, for why you rejected the liberating truth I offered to you.

Selah.

Lol, you have no answer as this passage is plain but you still try to interpret it 'your' way!

John 20:22-23
22 And when he had said this, he breathed on them, and said to them, “Receive the Holy Spirit. 23 If you forgive the sins of any, they are forgiven; if you retain the sins of any, they are retained.”

 

[stuart lawrence]

Problem with reading it on your own without any guidance is that you are more likely to interpret things wrongly! At least with the Catholic church we have ober 2,000 years of Tradition. knowledge, and the Holy Spirit guiding us.

And yes, there have been documented cases of Catholic priests having performed miracles! Look at the history of some of the Catholic Saints who while on earth were Priests etc!

Does the holy spirit not dwell in the christian? He is the one who leads into truth

 

[Goatee]

Does the holy spirit not dwell in the christian? He is the one who leads into truth

Yes he does but how do you know that the way you read scripture is the right way?

 

[aiki]

Lol, you have no answer as this passage is plain but you still try to interpret it 'your' way!

But I have given you an answer. You just don't want to address it. You haven't offered a single counter-argument for why my views are in error. You just keep repeating that the RC interpretation is just obviously right. Well, for the reasons I've given you, it's not. Your unwillingness to actually address my comments shows a very serious insecurity about your position.

Selah.

 

[stuart lawrence]

Yes he does but how do you know that the way you read scripture is the right way?

How do you know the way your church reads scripture is the right way lol?
But .
When I was nineteen I sat on the edge of my bed, deep in thought. There was roughly 2 billion people who professed the christian faith, and most were smarter than me. And among those two billion there were many disagreements-among Catholics too! I felt very small in the grand scheme of things. I hated the idea of following a wrong message.
So I did the only thing I could do. I got down on my knees and asked God to show me the truth as I read the bible through the holy spirit. I left it at that and trusted he would.
Does that make me infallible? Heck no, I don't know everything. But you have to exercise your faith and believe you get answers to prayer don't you

 

[Goatee]

But I have given you an answer. You just don't want to address it. You haven't offered a single counter-argument for why my views are in error. You just keep repeating that the RC interpretation is just obviously right. Well, for the reasons I've given you, it's not. Your unwillingness to actually address my comments shows a very serious insecurity about your position.

Selah.

But, i have told you my reason for believing what the passage means, as based on CATHOLIC interpretation!

Admit you got it wrong as it plainly says in that passage what it means! God bless you buddy