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Questions & Answers - 201
through 250
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#221 Your recent response to question #220 has left me with more questions. In maintaining the position that children are not guilty of sin you made the statement, “How could they have turned aside when they aren’t old enough to know right from wrong?” Is it necessary that we have full knowledge of our sin in order to bear the consequences of that action? Ephesians 4:18 shows that sin in ignorance is treated no differently. “…being darkened in their understanding, excluded from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardness of their heart;” In order to make sure we are on the same page, let me explain my understanding of the definition of sin. 1 John 3:4 says, “Everyone who practices sin also practices lawlessness; and sin is lawlessness.” Galatians 3:10 says, “For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, to perform them.” So I would summarize my understanding of sin, in a borrowed definition from earlier Christians, as “Any want of conformity unto, or transgression of, the law of God.” With this understanding in mind, let’s examine the next statement that you made. “What abominable deeds could a little child commit?” Well, in my experience, I’ve witnessed children not honoring their father and mother, stealing, bearing false witness against their neighbor, coveting their neighbors’ toy, etc. And if we look even more closely at Jesus’ teaching, we see that they are even murderers (Matt. 5:21,22). All of these sins are abominable and all of these sins separate one from eternal life. You go on to make the statement, “Does that mean that children do no wrong? "Certainly not.” Now you and I are agreeing. But you go on to say, “But remember that God doesn’t hold every sin anyone commits against them” using Romans 4:7-8 as a support text. Read the text again. Is there any forgiveness apart from Christ’s atonement at the cross? Christ’s work is the covering that is referred to in this passage. The danger here is that we define sin by our own standards rather than God’s. God is holy and requires that we be holy and blameless. Can we do that perfectly? We can strive for obedience and can work toward sanctification with the help of the Holy Spirit. But apart from Christ’s finished work, no one, because of their sin, from Abraham to Paul, comes to the Father except through the Son. Finally, you say that, “God doesn’t hold folks responsible who have no ability to understand His will.” I am unable to make sense out of this. We have all seen super-intelligent scientists who publicly reject God. Surely this is because they do not understand. So, therefore, anybody who understands will accept Christ. Anybody who doesn’t understand doesn’t need Christ. I am anxious to hear your response and hope that you will also address my earlier question regarding innocent children being invited to partake in the Lord’s Supper.
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#220 You made the statement that, "Children aren't born in sin." To support this you use Matthew 18:1-3 as a proof text: ".Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." (KJV) I am assuming by your usage that you quote this verse with the understanding that little children are without sin and therefore are not separated from God by their sin. By this definition, we would have to conclude that the Soul of any deceased infant would be welcomed into heaven. My problem with this interpretation is that scripture repeatedly says the following about mankind: Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God. Romans 5:12 .and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. Romans 3:10 As it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one. (also Psalms 14:3) Psalms 53:1-3 .there is none that doeth good, no, not one. Eccl. 7:20 For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not. 1 John 1:8-10 .If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us. Each one of these verses is conclusive in the fact that ALL men are separated from God by their sin. There is no age distinction. Maybe the answer rests in the definition of what it means to become "as little children." Could it be that little children are known for their faith and simplistic trust that they place in others? We could take a look at the next verse in Matthew 18 to see if this idea is supported: vs. 4 "Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven." Your interpretation of this passage leaves me with some questions that need to be reconciled with scripture. Would it be correct for me to logically assume that, because of your view of the spiritual state of children, your congregation brings its children to the Lord's Table? How do you apply Proverbs 13:24 to your children if their disobedience is not yet considered sinful? If your belief is that all infants that die will go to heaven, due to their innocence, then how can we be active in our stand against the practice of abortion, when, by this assumption, a certain portion of people who are allowed to grow into adulthood will reject Christ and be doomed to destruction. Is their physical condition more important than their spiritual state? At what point do you consider your children to be in need of a Savior? I am looking forward to hearing from you. Thank you for your graciousness in your responses.
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#219 I am positive that we would both agree that the God of Abraham is our creator (Gen 1), who created us from nothing, and that as such He has absolute authority and control over our lives as is illustrated by the potter and clay imagery in Isaiah 29:16, 45:9 and Romans 9:20,21. We agree that man has a free will and in no way am I denying mans free will to choose for himself his eternal destiny. The problem is that all men (Romans 3:9-20), apart from the working of the Father will choose death. This is because scripture is clear in abundance that all men are sinful from birth (Psalm 51:5) as a result of Adam's sin (Romans 5:12-21) and hate God (John 15:18). As a result of this sin, we are spiritually dead (Eph. 2:1) and cannot choose life apart from the grace of Christ's atoning work (vs. 5). (As a side note, it is interesting to notice that the language used in Eph. 2:10 dovetails with the imagery referenced above.) Throughout scripture we see that obedience accompanies faith (Hebrews 11) and that faith is a gift of God (Eph. 2:9) and not a result of our works. In John 6:44 we see Jesus say to the Jews, "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent Me draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day." So, a man certainly has free will, but without the drawing of the Father, his choice will always be death. At the same time, if he is called by God, he will always choose life, and we see by this verse that Jesus is quite sure that those His Father have drawn to Him will be raised on the last day. I suppose it is logical to say that if we assign to a spiritually dead man the ability to choose life he could later reverse that choice. That ability would make it tough to reconcile with Jesus' statements both here and in John 6:37 and 10:25-30 that He will save His people (Matt. 1:21) from their sins. I feel that it is very important foundationally to understand God and man's relation to one another in a biblical manner. Hopefully I have put forth my arguments clearly and accurately. I am very interested in your thoughts.
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#218 My contention is this: This man has a talent and he used it in his own congregation. Just like other people in our congregation that use their talents and spend countless hours of their time for the benefit of the church. If this was a man from outside our congregation and we asked him to fill-in, I would absolutely agree that we should offer him pay – but this is his OWN congregation. If it is scripturally correct to always “pay for a sermon” no matter what, why is the use of that talent more important than the many other things that people do freely for the sake of the church?
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#217
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#216
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#212 For over 10 years I have been seeking a suitable mate. It seems however that no matter how hard I try or how close I get to accomplish this, something always happens to derail my efforts. It sounds like a simple enough issue but the devil is the details so to speak. The past 10 years have been a repetitive pattern of occurrences that are always similar in nature. In other words each effort and subsequent failure, follow a pattern that suggests more than coincidence or simple bad luck. For instance one of three things ALWAYS occurs. Many times I meet girls whom I think are suitable at first who turn out not to be or sometimes they simply reject me. Other times however a lot extraordinary circumstances do occur. When I do finally meet someone that I like and who likes me, some seemingly random circumstance intervenes. Injuries, family crisis and any number of other occurrences are commonplace. Keep in mind this has been going on for over 10 years. It hasn’t happened once or twice but dozens upon dozens of times. Eventually after years of seemingly bizarre repetitions, I started to feel that something other than random chance might be at work. I didn’t really believe it until I began to lie out all the possibilities and then weigh them against all the instances of failure. I considered my looks as a factor in spite of assurances of close female friends that such was not the case. I considered character issues such as shyness, or bad disposition. I do tend to be shy and uneasy around attractive girls but this explanation did not fit with all instances either. I also knew in my heart that I am a good natured and caring person and I have lots of friends of both genders who will attest to this fact. These friends also insist that given my looks and character that they are simply stumped by my run of bad luck as well. I even began considering highly unorthodox possibilities such as some sort of transference, psychic and normal, of my own doubts and insecurities. This however did not explain the instances of external ha I prayed many times for God’s help but I never saw any results from my prayers. I ask others to pray and still nothing happened. I ask others to set me up with friends but when they tried they too often suffered misfortunes. Eventually I convinced a close friend of mine and highly religious lady, who participated in a prayer group once a week to establish a Christian think tank of sorts to ponder my issue. The group consisted of 7 members, which was exactly the number that I wanted in the group. There were ministers among its membership. We dubbed it the “Fellowship of Seven” and they prayed and pondered the issue. As soon as the group was established I began seeing real change. I did meet potentials mates and began dating attractive girls. During this same time however my friend and her family began experiencing extreme misfortune and illness and she at least soon died. For app. A year after words my fortunes changed only to relapse about 1 ½ ago. Since then the repetitive pattern of strange coincidences has began anew. Amidst all of this the strange thing is that over app. the same 10 years, ever other prayer request that I have asked of my friends and associates has been answered in full, even when I was sure that all hope was lost. For the life of me I cannot understand why this is happening to me, why I have been singled out. I also cannot understand the nature of this Entity phenomenon. Without going into a lot of prolonged detail when I was very young, maybe 5 or 6 I had a very frightening and very demonic dream that some bad luck or misfortune would plague my life. I often wonder if this might not be it. I have written you this E-Mail in the hopes that you might provide me with some answers at the very least or at best direct help. I simply do not know where to turn or what to do. In addition to anything else your prayers would be greatly appreciated.
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#211
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#210
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#206 1. Could you please explain the unpardonable sin in simple terms for me because I'm only 17. When it says blaspheming the Holy Spirit, does this mean using the Holy Spirit’s name in vain? 2. Do you believe that you have to be baptized to be saved, because I haven’t been baptized yet but I have accepted Jesus Christ as my personal Lord and Savior. And he is the Lord of my life. I am going to be baptized soon though. 3. In question #100, someone asked if there are different levels of heaven and I think you said that some people will be able to appreciate heaven more than others. Does this mean that some people will be happier there than others. I thought that everyone would be perfect in heaven and everyone would be equal. 4. I've read that birth control pills can kill unborn babies. If so, do you think it’s a sin to use birth control pills? 5. I've read that God paid for our illness on the cross and that it is His will for us to get healed if we suffer from an illness like cancer. And if we have faith he will he heal us. Is this true? Is it God's will for all Christians that are suffering from an illness to be healed? Well those are all the questions I can think of. Thanks a million for taking the time to help me.
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#205 Lately, I've notice the deceitfulness on lying to the customers that they do not have any fabrics or materials left from their jobs that we had completed, when in fact they had lots of yardage left. They (the owners) have a locked office, which contains lots and lots of stolen goods from previous customers. They owners would bring their personal feelings and problems into the shop and it has interfered with the shop and us, personally, to the point of fowl language towards coworkers and also his wife. Now, I found out he and another co worker, have fraudulently scammed the insurance company of lots of money, falsely claiming water damaged goods, when in fact, it was probably a maximum amount of no more then four hundred dollars. I don't feel right anymore, working for dishonest people who say and preach one thing and then do another. Please, Leon, tell me the right thing for me to do. In my heart, I need to quit, just to feel okay with myself.
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#204
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#203
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#202 Our congregation owns a building that is home to 3 small businesses. Their rental payments provide approximately 1/3 of our total church income. The rental money pays all of our expenses except the preacher's salary. Is there any scriptural example or justification for this practice? Is it wrong to depend on income from this outside source to support our church? Or should the actual membership contributions be the sum total of a self-supporting congregation? Any advice from the scriptures would be appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help. You indicated more information would be needed to provide a more precise answer. I hope this helps. Now for the follow up question. We recently rented to our 3rd tenant. That space was used by the church for fellowship dinners and a small Spanish congregation prior to renting the space to the 3rd tenant. We have also raised the rent to an existing tenant from $475/mo to $800/mo. The increase was passed to come more in line with market value for the property. The building is free and clear of any loans. All 3 units as of the first of the year are yielding $2425 per month plus taxes and electric. Prior to the first of the year only 2 units were rented and yielded $1275 per month plus taxes and electric. We do not have an eldership at our congregation. The question is the same as before, Is there scriptural justification for this practice or should the congregation's contributions be the means of support for the church? Thank you again in advance for your response.
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#201
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