God has indeed blessed this Forum.
I've read through everyones posts. Thank you all.
There is much meditation I must do.
Some curiosities still remain ...
So honestly you knew it was true because it made sense; or because you needed an answer and that was the best you've heard; or because an uncanny voice in your brain said yes what you just heard is true?
Ok, so why does God make it like this to where we must gather that He loves us and went through what He went through for us? Why doesn't He just come out and make it known to all the world and so everyone praises Him? Is it because it makes Him so happy when someone decides by themselves they don't want to continue to pursue sin? Is this a contest? If thats the case then why does He not make it so obvious that sin is so harmful? Why does He allow the nefariousness of sin to still be so well hidden? It doesn't compute. I realize His ways are not our ways... but that doesn't mean we need not know why (the "Owners Manual" analogy). If he would make it known to the world how horrid pursuing sin is and what a trap it is, would we not all turn from it?
Does that belief come from us (which IMHO would be a blind gamble/bet we place based on our spiritual experiences or to fill a void/need), or, did the belief you currently have come, not from you deeming it was correct, but from a 'Holy Spirit' MAKING your heart believe He died and rose again? (if that is the case then my first question still stands... why does he not make it UNDENIABLY obvious to the entire planet that those events are undoubtedly true?
Call me Thomas.
I would Love to. If by "give your life" you mean 'change it', I do not harbor the ability to change at all. I can do it temporarily yes, but I cannot maintain. I've asked Him to help... but... I don't know... I feel like I've been sincere. How hard should it really be to change a mere human like me? Even with the help of someone who created the universe...
Been there. Thank you.
Thomas you truely are a seeker, thank you for patiently reading all the post here on behalf of everyone (myself included) and for your humbleness, i really admire your curiosity and am so happy for the amount of questions you've presented, i'll respond to them all with all that i know and with as much love attached to them as possible :"D.
Let's begin
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"Why doesn't He just come out and make it known to all the world and so everyone praises Him? Is it because it makes Him so happy when someone decides by themselves they don't want to continue to pursue sin? Is this a contest?"
Please bare with me with the large amount of info i will spill out and thanks in advance for reading it all.
Before Adam and Eve fell, they had control over Earth, it was theirs, when they fell however they lost that control, they became subjected to the elements of the earth and the bible makes it clear that we are descendent of the third child of Adam, one who was born in his image (the fallen image, the one subjected to the world), Jesus was God however, and when Jesus came he was the seed spoken of in Galatians 3:16 "The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. Scripture does not say “and to seeds,” meaning many people, but “and to your seed,” meaning one person, who is Christ." and through Christ we become seeds of Abraham, Galatians 3:29
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And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise."
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for, “The earth is the Lord’s,and the fullness thereof."
The earth belongs to us, and it is our job "we Seeds of Abraham" to look after it, it is us who will manifest the glory of god, he doesn't have to come here to do it, because he already is, in us, we are here to represent Jesus as he is gone up in heaven to represent us before the Father and the Angles, Jesus himself says to us "
Truly, truly, I tell you, whoever believes in Me will also do the works that I am doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father."
and like Jesus, we're in his position as he was when he came to earth,
the following verse uses the Father which refer to God btw
(just in case)
John 14:8-11
Philip said, “Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us.”
Jesus answered: “Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves."
"...19 Before long, the world will not see me anymore, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 On that day you will realize that I am in my Father, and you are in me, and I am in you..."
This is the reason why we know him ^, i'll give ya a person experience later on
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Romans 8:21-22
"...that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time."
these children are us.
In short, God letting us know anything doesn't fix it, for example, if saw a pot fall and break, knowing it doesn't fix the pot, you have to go and do the work of cleaning or fixing it, God has made himself known to the world through Jesus Christ, not only that, he has dealt with Sin, Sin is no longer a problem, he already sent Jesus to get rid of it forever, through his blood we are cleanse and through his strips we are healed, The real problem is this: John 1:11 "
He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him."
We were under sin, walking in darkness as the bible says, we have free will, and he will not force himself or salvation upon us, it is our choice brother, and sadly not many people have heard that Sin is even taken care of or of the existence of sin
, it is our job to make sure they do, God has done his part, we have a responsibility as his children.
Romans 6:14 "
For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace."
And God is happy when someone turns away from sin, i don't think it's a contest, but more of how open your heart is to him, or free will.
Luke 15:7 "
In the same way, I tell you that there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous ones who do not need to repent."
, all is in the book brother!
Okey!, let's move on to the next question
"If thats the case then why does He not make it so obvious that sin is so harmful?"
This is not fair since i'v given the information then answering it after that so let's cut it short hahaha, Yeah sin has been dealt with by the death of Christ Jesus so it is no longer a problem
).
This part is interesting:
"Why does He allow the nefariousness of sin to still be so well hidden? If he would make it known to the world how horrid pursuing sin is and what a trap it is, would we not all turn from it?"
I do not think he allows it to be hidden, all the problems of the world originate from sin and the devil, Satan is on the earth
John 10:10 "The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly."
people are simply unaware, they do not have the information or access to it as you and i do, like how you're reading this right now, this is our problem, not God's, and Again, the bible may be right next to these people, like myself i had bibles in my house for years... i only picked it up 6 months ago, and another person may be able to buy a bible in a click of a button but do they do it?, as God says in
Hosea 4:6 "
My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge."
knowledge in the things of God, And yes, And it's not Sin that people would turn from if they knew how bad it is, because they are already in that bad condition, and some have become subjected to Sin, they love sin, Satan himself has sowen his seeds and what works do you think they might do? Evil works, there are those that love being evil, we however would turn from sin if we heard the truth, that we have in fact been freely given salvation, that we are healed, but that will be determine by our willingness to accept the truth for what it is, Jesus himself says just being able to hear the truth is all it takes for you to turn and be healed, but are your ears going to hear the truth as it is? or hear it your way?, or are you going to see the truth and see it for what it is or look but not really look? you can look at someone but actually focus on staring at something in the background or daydream, that's not really looking.
Matthew 13:15 "
For this people’s hearth as grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’"
*The Parable of the Sower*
Matthew 13
That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat by the lake. 2 Such large crowds gathered around him that he got into a boat and sat in it, while all the people stood on the shore. 3 Then he told them many things in parables, saying: “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.”
10 The disciples came to him and asked, “Why do you speak to the people in parables?”
11 He replied, “Because the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you, but not to them. 12 Whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what they have will be taken from them. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables:
“Though seeing, they do not see;
though hearing, they do not hear or understand.
14 In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah:
“‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.’[a]
16 But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear. 17 For truly I tell you, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.
18 “Listen then to what the parable of the sower means: 19 When anyone hears the message about the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what was sown in their heart. This is the seed sown along the path. 20 The seed falling on rocky ground refers to someone who hears the word and at once receives it with joy. 21 But since they have no root, they last only a short time. When trouble or persecution comes because of the word, they quickly fall away. 22 The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. 23 But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”
Okey, i'll get to the last question "Does that belief come from us (which IMHO would be a blind gamble/bet we place based on our spiritual experiences or to fill a void/need), or, did the belief you currently have come, not from you deeming it was correct, but from a 'Holy Spirit' MAKING your heart believe He died and rose again? (if that is the case then my first question still stands... why does he not make it UNDENIABLY obvious to the entire planet that those events are undoubtedly true?"
This is complex but i'll give ya what i think is my answer and you can ask me if i need to re-specially answer something in there
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Yes that belief comes from us John 3:5 "
Jesus answered “Truly, truly, I tell you, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit."
That scripture i gave you is how any human being in this world can Receive Salvation by being born again, once you do, all that has been promised to you in the bible come to pass, including Jesus sending the holy spirit to you, to accept him as your lord and saviour is not gambling, i was searching for the truth as you are, both Christian and non Christian alike, i found the world to be very dark, i was already a christian but i did not know what i had, although i knew God's presence i was not born again, so when god guided me back to himself
Romans 8:29 "
For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.", i was lazy, i didn't bother to try and learn the word of god, i saw Christianity as just another religion, i lived accordingly to what i had learnt from the word of god though, but that didn't mean i was not a sinner since i was not born again, of the will and spirit of god, i believe in my case God used the Mormon folks to get me where i needed to be, i didn't resonate with their teaching, and i later moved to the library with them where i met two people who were having their own bible study sessions, one of them met me and asked me to join their study sessions, i left the Mormon folks in the process of our weekly meetings, they too were listening to this bible study session, i recongised the word of god because it was familiar to me, and as soon as i came into contact with the word of god, i was eager to learn more about god because he was light and what i had seen was dark, i came across being born again which was being taught by these two people at this library (we still have these sessions weekly and i know them now as great friends), now, being "born again" got to me, it was about your heart changing, it wasn't physical like baptism, it was a spiritual birth, and baptism is suppose to symbols this spiritual activity, your old self dies away, and you arise anew, now, i was being troubled by some spirits at this time, i was aware of my spirit or being resonating low in the realms, and it was the reason for me experiencing these attacks, however they were never successful because i would call out Jesus and nothing would touch me, yet my heart was troubled, at one time, my eyes were opened in the spirit, as i laid asleep, now a dark figure was hovering over me, i was frighten, but not enough to not be able to think, i tried something, i said "Yeshua", which is Jesus in my native tongue, this had no effect, so i tried saying it again, and nothing happened, so i said "Jesus", and a hand, transparent and blue like (a hand of a spiritual), now i though, if this was my hand, then why did i not feel myself moving it, i was watching it arise from my own body as if it were not my own hand, anyway the hand converted that figure into the same colour that surrounded me, a glow of blue and it became a part of me and fear disappeared as soon as the hand touched this figure (holy spirit), John 4:4 "
You, little children, are from God and have overcome them, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.". then something happened one night and more of it did for the few days after that and i don't know how to explain this but Jesus did dwell in my heart, in that state i asked myself this "How could and how did we ever live without God in our Hearts?, how?" it was like we had that place in us that was made for God that whole time and we tried to fill it with all kinds of things in this world... one night i was in this place "The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God", i was there... i saw a child, a spirit child, i still don't fully understand, at first it appeared to me that this child was Christ, but then i asked, why would Christ be a child?, and if it was me, then why was i looking at myself from different eyes?, now after this experiance i haven't had any negative forces come to my presence in the spirit, even when i re-enter those same places that they once were in, because my spirit is no longer in the same plane of existence, nor is it of this world but that of the will of god.
Romans 8:15 "
For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship,by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”"
Like our father, we must use our mouths, it is no gamble.
Romans 10:10-17
"10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
11 For the scripture saith, Whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.
12 For there is no difference between the Jew and the Greek: for the same Lord over all is rich unto all that call upon him."
