Various topics 9

421	Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The interior function of assurance in the language of the curses.	on: December 16, 2013, 05:08:26 PM
Assurance is not necessarily an inward experience but it comes to us while we are waiting for something we ask God for. I dont think assurance is simply a good feeling. I used to enjoy the feelings I got after meditating for an hour or two. But because of the lack of experience in the use of these petitions and praises i wasnt able to draw from answered prayer in the past in which I would be assured that God was with me. So assurance is most understood as we become aware of the greater number of details. These details are taught to us through illumination and experience. We must be able to exercise ourselves in the use of the word. The word is the only reality in which God orders all things to be. The more we are aware of the importance of the means of faith in the word the more we are gonna be assured that the word will always be successful. The word turns our natural desires upside down. We want to advance in this world through the highest standards, the most efficient process and the greatest use of our strength. The word challenges our strengths and then through silence like a small voice it kills our desires to be strong in ourselves. We are most assured when we experience the stillness like a child being weaned by its mother. A satisfaction in which we receive dynamite power. Now then assurance is this experience of the mystery of salvation. We are taken up in an experience of the glory of it all. I guess it works itself out as if time stood still and we were one with everything in our walk in life. Whatever we were doing at the time. How can we grow on the experience of assurance in which we do not feel the effects of time? By effects I mean in which we become a slave to time and all the anxiety that comes from the movement of the clock? It is building a life of exercising in the word in which we experience eternity breaking into time. When we are mature then, we experience these past moments in the present. Eternal things have no boundaries.
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422  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Ten Effects of Believing the Five Points of Calvinism on: December 15, 2013, 09:37:24 AM As the other side says we are left in a kind of suspension as we make decisions in this life so that God must teach us a lesson so that we wont make those same mistakes. Freedom is never expressed as completed obedience. If our obedience is always defined as incomplete then the unsaved are in a better position than us in this world since they are not concerned with the question of obedience and they are free to act according to their nature. But we believe that since we are in Christ then His obedience has been the reason that we are declared righteous and now it is a question of that perfect conversation defining how we live. What i am saying is that we live in the a defined image. Those definitions give us all that we need in order to create future reality. He says "You have not because you ask not." Those who are forgiven much love much. Or those who continuously live in the relationship of forgiveness love because Christ loved. Reply Quote Notify

423  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Ten Effects of Believing the Five Points of Calvinism on: December 12, 2013, 08:12:13 PM The old saints used to call this pleading the promises of God. We are made to communicate to God in the way they used to grab the horns on the alter. Whenever they wanted to be safe they grabbed the horns on the altar. We learn to be earnest in prayer by knowing what God has promised to us , that is telling Him what He has done, which is the way that we rise up in boldness. But if you just conclude that Gods promises prove that He is sovereign and in the end it will all work out then its more of a presuming confidence rather than a living confidence. We plead with God by knowing who He is and what He has done so that we can form our arguments in asking Him to draw near to us... or sort of lower His face so that we meet Him face to face. A lot of calvinist miss interpret real boldness as our lowering God. But in the ot God came as the intermediate in battling with Israels enemies. God does not act against our desires to show that He is sovereign.But He gives us desires that are deeper than we understand. In prayer He uncovers our desires so that we know ourselves better. This is why it is a reciprocal relationship. It is a cheap substitute in a relationship for a person to say yes all the time if they really desire to say no. God doesnt make us insincere to prove that He is sovereign. We meet Him face to face by our boldness, that we do not fear Him enough to not be honest. In talking to Him face to face with boldness it is showing passion that we are serious about our petition. When you get in someones face you dont whine.   Reply Quote Notify

424  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Ten Effects of Believing the Five Points of Calvinism on: December 12, 2013, 07:57:31 PM Yes I agree with you Jeffery. Its easy for Calvinist to use the rich doctrines that have been taught in the past by some highly intellectual professors and pastors to presume through learning them that it is the same as knowing this sovereign God as our Father. The way that we practice receiving these words of God is how we repeat what we believe. But I believe that we must speak the language to God in a personal way with our desire for Him to speak to us as individuals. So the language is really not repeating doctrine but its the doctrine that has been applied as a reciprocal language of a special relationship between a son and Father. Our speech is not really formed from our own study and reading these books but its a prayer language. This is why it is important for us as John says to go on from a child in knowing God from a word to knowing Him as a Person. This means that we convince people by our understanding of hearing our Father speaking to us and our communication in light of our needs as His son. Instead of seeing God as an argument we see Him beyond the doctrine speaking to us as He describes Himself in the doctrine in drawing near to us in experience beyond the doctrine. We must always go beyond the word to an experience that is too wonderful for us to imagine. This is real Calvinism. Reply Quote Notify

425  Forums / Theology Forum / The interior function of assurance in the language of the curses. on: December 11, 2013, 03:47:44 PM If Christ has put all things under His feet in the NT sense then we live as sons in His kingdom. The question is has He given us some kind of physical means to be assured for us to experience this? In the old covenant the experience of assurance did not come as a result of the relationship the saints had to the ceremonial laws. In the old covenant there was a greater weight placed upon the saints because of the burdens of the ceremonial laws. But the ceremonial law was not applied to all people in the same way. God dealt with the people according to their position in society. What was a violation of the law for some people was not for others. This is why it is impossible for us to judge exactly who was responsible for these national judgements and subsequently being sent into exile. Salvation has always been defined in the eternal patriarchal relationship of God as a Father in a relationship with His elect. The physical markers ie circumcision, being born within the boarders, and enjoying the jewish linage , enjoying temple worship, had no relationship to this matter of Gods election. You see this in the worship book were David in seeking to praise God reduces any human relationship or law in declaring that He trust in God alone. Instead of David declaring that circumcision, sacrificial obedience,and national identity were the basis of His assurance , he actually reduces the power of these earthly agencies to be rubbish so that he might exalt God as the judge of all the earth. In order for David to show that he was sincere he acknowledged that for God to be eternal, salvation had to be according to the will of God who ruled from His eternal throne. This is the fundamental basis of Davids enjoying assurance as he used the words from his experience of war to describe the view that God had over the righteous and the wicked. In this focus he enjoyed assurance as rising up to the mountain tops or going down into the valley. Assurance was tied to Davids experience of distinguishing a thing in relationship to him as a curse or a blessing. I will discuss how we can experience assurance.     Reply Quote Notify

426  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Existence = Energy + Time + Eternity on: December 08, 2013, 01:29:53 PM The bible reduces everything that was created both physical or spiritual...visible or invisible being caused by God speaking His word. No matter how we apply the measurement when we describe an object or an invisible wonder it is from a will that creates a design that communicates all purpose. So when we are making distinctions we are asking what God is saying in identifying one person or thing in comparison to the others. If God is the author then He understands everything about that creation. He has not only created the thing from His word but He establishes and renews it according to His word. So all things are upheld by Christ. So I guess every thing we describe is according to a personality. We know reality by the description of the perfect image. The total unity of all things is described in one person. All things are united in Christ. The perfect image of Christ is seen in His design of everything according to the exact purpose of that thing described in His revealed language. Christ recreates everything by reordering the disjointed reality of the physical and spiritual. Everything that exist can only be recreated by His ability. He does not share ability with any thing. This is why His word cannot return empty.   Reply Quote Notify

427  Members Only / Purgatory / Re: A problem on: December 08, 2013, 01:06:39 PM I really believe in Gods rite to choose. So the reason that people come here is because God decided to send them. lol There is a time for everything. I am not a guy who thinks that God makes the world exactly the same for every person. In some ways we got to deal with the cards we were handed. So I guess if you look out in the world there is a lot of screwed up stuff. If the world is not as nice as it used to be and God is in control then since He created it and called it good He must be involved in this low moral level. Since we believe that God is in control there is no need for us to think that He would act if we got our behavior in line. Since we believe that God is in control then we know that He comes down to our level since He obviously is too righteous for us to meet His standard. This is very comforting knowing God comes down to the lowest level and nothing surprises Him because He knows the beginning from the end. With this in mind it is our obligation to convince everyone with a different view by addressing all the issues without being threatened even if no one accepts them. We welcome real people and there is no place in this world that we would avoid because we are threatened. God is the judge and we leave that judgement in His hands. So blog on. Reply Quote Notify

428  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why God condemns the reprobate to hell ! on: December 08, 2013, 09:13:21 AM This is an argument that weve had for years and it will go on as long as we live our lives trying to apply the doctrines to our actions. This is a very real problem. One side is claiming that our belief that God acts according to His sovereign will ...that we are imagining all of these things. And of course since ive introduced the curses into the argument i am a very miss guided christian. You know i only get firm when I am defending my position. Because I do not believe that anyone can change a thing unless God decrees it. You know the world defines morality in a totally different way that we Calvinist do. Ive heard the arguments between those who believe they have an active faith while they accuse us of being passive. Ive seen this all the time. Its not the structure that produces a secure christian life. After all anyone with a wrong view of structure will always find the part that no one is doing and they will be quick to point that out. Because we are all cursed with a terrible disease. We cant keep our eyes focused on ourselves ...we must change others. This is what the curses do. They take a person to complete freedom. And leaving the change according to Gods timetable.  Most people cannot handle this kind of freedom. Everyone has a natural desire for self protection. You buy a weapon and you are responsible. They have never come to the point where the law speaks more than a standard. They must know there is progress and they must measure it. They feel helps with the experience of mystery. But we must apply the scriptures in a way where all men are helpless. Of course no one has a perfect view of being helpless. And the Calvinist describe a completely different view of helplessness than the other side. And this is terribly important as to how we are delivered. In coming to the real voice of the law we have nothing to show for ourselves. We all come as helpless to be given something by grace. They respond "what do I do?" The scarey part for them is that they do nothing but receive it. lol It is not really who did what or how many rewards there are. It is living in this eternal mindset. Reply Quote Notify

429  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Why God condemns the reprobate to hell ! on: December 06, 2013, 02:59:09 PM God is not out in unseen world deciding who is the winners and who is the losers. He created the earth to bring glory to Himself by displaying all of His attributes. He does not act unjustly at any time. God is only real in His revelation. The rest of mankind are completely blind. We do not see this but it is like having a society where you have some people walking straight through all doorways and the other people bumping into walls and falling into ditches. Why does God leave some people in blindness? Because sin entered into the world and God acts justly to protect the righteous. Every thing that happens in this world is done in perfect symmetry and it is known as God ruling from His throne. Because God is just He has designed the creation and recreation in all its actions as a display of His revealed words. Anytime there is disorder in the unity of man and creation it is because there is a stray thought that spreads the disunity. God has saved some because He knows the others would destroy the earth and mankind if He did not act justly to protect His people. God cannot allow man to be successful in describing his own plans. If this happened then the man would actually be god. And this is exactly what a man does. He gets a little money, fame and power and he leads other men astray. Why does man do this? Not because he thinks he has a better way...other wise there would be success by the survival of the fittest. So He made man powerless to do good so that His work could be completely successful according to His perfect timetable to make good a complete deliverance. If man had a little power then he would use it for himself and it would be independent of Gods perfect order through His revealed word. Then the man would create distention and destruction because he would take the power that was justly Gods and he would act unjustly.So everything that a blind man does is destructive.  God must act to create good over evil or men would destroy the powerless and helpless. Reply Quote Notify

430  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gospel as Authority vs. Church Heirarchy on: December 06, 2013, 02:10:08 PM A lot of people take this 2nd use of the law out of the context of the Shepherd theology. The law has no power to save. It condemns every one who it is spoken to. The law points out sin. It does not explain or give the ability to obey. The apostle says that by the law is the knowledge of sin. When we are born again we are given a new will. The old will is not led along by the law but it is killed when we are saved. God does not do a half way salvation. The new will is implanted in us. It is the word of truth or the word of salvation. Now this is where we separate ourselves in our ability to distinguish gospel communication from a focus on outward performance. We now have in us an ability to stand in the truth without a complete ability to perform or obey the law. When we receive the word of salvation it is all the revealed words in the spirit of one word. Our will becomes Gods will. We no longer are in the old struggle to will what is rite. The reason is because the gospel is a reality that works from the inside -out. On the inside it is always possessing the perfect word of salvation. On the outside it is always incomplete. Now then this is where we get into the image of Christ talk. We now have the perfect image of Christ...display in us in the perfect word of salvation ...that is the whole work of Christ in word form in one word. This is not a life were we explain the truth by our perfect actions. The explanation is in our being created anew. Lets get this exactly correct here. The reveal words are describing the image of Christ. When we look into the word we see the light of the glory of Christ. Why does the word act as a transforming principle? Because it contains more than the standard of righteousness. It contains the promises, laws,statues, and decrees. Now listen to me. Christ renews us through word and Spirit. The word is also written in petitions as a way to create. The future word of salvation is the perfect image of Christ... that is it speaks and there is nothing else to say.  When God speaks the word of salvation everything is put in its proper place. But we are involved as we hope in the word spoken to us. We have words in perfect petitions that create the circumstances of God speaking the word of salvation. This is why the Lord prays.. with the words may, lead,deliver, etc.  The context of the uses of these creative words is a military endeavor. The gospel is like hand to hand combat. Christ says to the disciples that they must bind the strong man before they can clean the house. In this context using the word correctly is like having the understanding of how to fight in hand to hand combat. In this sense it is not what you say in a conversation with another person. It is knowing how to petition God in the perfect creation of the future event. The prayer of the righteous man avails much. Avails is the petition being successful in Gods eyes not mans. Christ is not in a physical image other than the one physical body He came to earth in. He is the second Adam not an angel. But Christ is in the ot as the redeemer coming to avenge the blood upon Israels enemies. The perfect image of Christ is spread throughout the worship book in the correct petitions of creation. The word of salvation is the communication of the image of Christ in a word of personal deliverance. In other words we are trained in using these petitions of creation and we look back and see the success because it is detailed in our activity of petitioning. We then are not the focus of the action but it is all of God!!! Reply Quote Notify

431  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gospel as Authority vs. Church Heirarchy on: December 04, 2013, 07:07:01 PM Ive got a personal testimony here. Ive been going through a very high worship experience at this time. (Corporately as well.) Ive done the repeat after me going on thirty years now. This really is the first time that i really believe there is no man that i meet that i judge according after the flesh. I actually feel that I do not even have my own thoughts. You could ask me what i think about this or that and i may analyze it but i am quickly swept up in this other thinking. Kind of like being drawn away from worldly logic. Ive experienced things in prayer that I cannot describe. Only to say that after repeating the prayers of the Psalms for awhile that I would walk to heaven. Ive had this longing since this high worship has come back into my life. When I get into this kind of lifestyle i am so drawn away that i lose a sense of time. Every thing seems to come together in a timeless experience. The sweetness of my meditations break into this time and take me back to that past illumination. You know ive longed for a high worship in different times of my life. Sometimes ive had to go through anguish to persevere that one day that sweet worship would be predominate in my life. Anyone who says that worship is in a group or building is very short sighted. Ive actually experienced some of my most cherished times by myself. These prayers go through me with perfect emotion, even to the point where I felt a distaste but after pouring them out, with as much passion and desire as I could experience i felt as if i was emptied of the poison of pragmatism and filled with God.I no longer desired the lesser explanations over the simple re-creative experience of word and Spirit. My mind has been so reordered that I really desire nothing but this one thing. This has led to recreating my whole worship experience. As I have said that our worship experience is what we experience and not what is in a building or passed down from one man to another. It is our sharing in the application of the word that draws us into sharing the eternal verities as if our real unity was expressed in His pleasure. Im in a time in my life where I cannot get enough of Jesus. One experience is really a test to see if there is a higher experience the next time. Reply Quote Notify

432  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gospel as Authority vs. Church Heirarchy on: December 04, 2013, 05:44:18 PM I think ive written some of this on touching the unclean thing. The bible makes it clear that we should not put our trust in man. The reason is because God created the earth and now He alone rules from the heavens. God has no equals. The authority of man has been judged by the judge of heaven. He has decreed before the foundation of the world that man cannot share His authority. God doesnt give man sole authority. He works out His authority from His throne. His throne is how He rules in every space in the universe. He applies His logic to every thing as the basis of Him controlling all things. In order to create symmetry everything that brings Him glory must be good. He must reorder everything from bad to good. He does this through His law or putting Himself on display. We as His children get to observe God reordering everything. We are given a new nature. We possess the nature of God. God brings us back to being one with Him because we share in the Trinitarian unity in Christ. When God reorders everything we have the ability to experience the unity and symmetry of that recreation. We experience it through word and Spirit. But God doesnt order everything just because He wants it to be good. He orders it because He designed the earth to be under mans control. He has made it and given us the authority to rule. He has made us kings and queens in His kingdom. God does wonders for us because He displays His work to the world. The wonders He performs are on our behalf. He has not only worked His wonders on our behalf but He has gifted us with all things including the ability to be part of His kingdom on the earth. Reply Quote Notify

433  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: How to know a false Gospel of Christ ! on: December 04, 2013, 04:17:05 PM The gospel is a message that defines the world, the people and Gods control over all things. The gospel starts with promises that we could not imagine. The problem with how it is applied is related to our lack of faith. When we are saved we become familiar with all that is pleasurable and praise worthy of God. So to not understand the success of the gospel is to treat it with contempt and scorn. In starting with a message that is always successful and offers us the most potential to enjoy all things in this life we are made aware of the true nature of evil. This is why in growing down we experience pleasure through God giving us a glimpse of His goodness that brings about a satisfaction in mourning over the worlds treatment of these most valuable enjoyments of the works of God. This is pushing down the curse... or experiencing a kind of pleasure and satisfaction because we dwell on such unexplainable illuminations. If in fact the world treats this great work of God with such contempt then we are easily burdened with the weight of that contempt. In mourning over this resistance we experience a sorrow that is kept in heaven. We are drawn into our Fathers arms because we have a glimpse of what He views about this earth.    Reply Quote Notify

434  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The interior function of sin and grace in the creative language of the curses. on: December 03, 2013, 07:37:26 PM cont Let me address this issue. Ive heard a lot about the experience of growing down. Let me be sensitive here because i am for any remedy that works. Because I do not believe that the experience in itself if fundamental to our growth. We say for example that when God took away our possessions we became free because we realized that we did not need them...we only needed God. So we experienced a kind of conversion. Now listen our experience is what we view about ourselves in a situation. It is first of all fundamentally our view of the trial. It really isnt the experience itself. We do not say that responsible views of experience is our view. Because we do not see all the details. So we are responsible by understanding how we view the experience. This means that we really do not need a blessing or a trial to experience joy, love , peace etc. The point of being transformed is through our mind. We view things different because we experience things that are spiritual as real by faith. We can learn how to grow down or up in the use of the means that deepen our faith. As I have said that our experience is our view of things that are connected to us in some way. So its really our experience in a meta physical sense of the reality of the connection and not in the physical thing itself. In other words if we are filled with love ...overflowing love then we are experiencing mysterious love ...we cannot determine where it is coming from. If we are filled with love then those things we view are brighter because the pleasure of the love gives us a connection to the Gods purpose of creating it according to His pleasure. We experience a clearer view of the glory of God in this heightened illumination. We can dwell in the heaven-lies in our own minds.   Remove Reply Quote Notify

435	Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The interior function of sin and grace in the creative language of the curses.	on: December 03, 2013, 07:00:48 PM
The sin question has been answer in us for all eternity. There is no reason to fall into the cursed disposition of blame and guilt. Some people say that if God were to judge a christian backslider that it would be praise worthy as long as it brought Him glory. I never see this argument in the bible. In fact salvation is for our protection. We desire salvation in a way that we are assured. But the assurance is not in our doing something but in Him giving us confidence that we are forgiven. Salvation is spoken in a way that is not argumentative. We receive everything and that includes assurance. The reasoning is like this ...everyone deserves to be cast into hell...so that standard is so low for the whole human race that its impossible for us to do something to be saved. But our confidence and assurance is that we are not condemned because of Christ. We fear because God reorders our lives according to His justice that was completely satisfied in Christ. God is a consuming fire. He goes out and consumes our foes on every side. God is compared to feet touching the mountains and they smoke. Gods judgement comes from the highest place in the universe. He orders everything from His counsel pre ordaining whatsoever comes to pass from all eternity.  He will judge the wicked , those who do not say..."but I by Your great mercy will enter your house." But the wicked curse God and His absolute rite to do as He pleases. Our assurance of salvation is like a seal placed upon a government document. It provides us with the all the rites of a son that Christ earned. The seal is Gods unfailing love. How can you fail if Gods love never fails? We are able to come boldly to God and appeal for our cause because of His unfailing love alone. David after His great sin of adultery and murder appealed to God according to His unfailing love. This was not David doing this because the sin was considered the most heinous... every time David petitioned to God throughout the Psalms it was to boldly ask based upon Gods unfailing love. That was His ONLY plea. Salvation is God following us all of our days with His faithfulness and love. We do not really understand the depth of the blessing and mercy. We do not even comprehend the dread and the curse. These absolute legal declarations are Gods ALONE! We however are not God. We are subject to the flesh which is bent on hating God.(I mean out of weakness) Every person who is dominated by the flesh is blind and cannot love God. Every person who is blind hates God. God knows at all times exactly who is cursed and who is blessed. God has determined this for His glory for all eternity. We cannot be cursed because God loves us with an unfailing love. This means that all of the evil, bad and events that give us anxiety are really God smiling on us. But God is not sadistic. He sees our troubles and believe me He is always loving , faithful, kind , and compassionate. This means that we can come to God boldly in a transparent way- We no longer say that Gods judgements are His love- Gods salvation is determined upon our struggles. We no longer say things that are opposite of how we read relationships. God acts in our trials to judge the wicked. He is using our troubles to judge the nations. Now listen, we naturally are not confident...especially when we suffer. But we can resist by cheering God on.       436  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Gospel as Authority vs. Church Heirarchy on: December 03, 2013, 04:34:46 PM The basis of authority is earned in relationships. It can only grow when you have an agreement on doctrine. But these things are not central but a foundation of trust. So there is another big question in how we are unified in a body of Christ. It is the question of how to apply the scriptures. So I believe the way it is a applied shows the genuineness of the agreement on doctrine. In the OT context of the Shepherd teaching we find a dual leadership. This answers the question of the extent of authority. It also deals with the issue of how the second use of the law is applied. In this context Christ is not just the overseer of a group of people but the ruler of the earth. I believe we lower the standard of applying the ruler ship of Christ when we make a clear division between doctrine and practice. Its known as two line theology. Anytime we describe it as a society of delegate authority we lower the vision. The old and new testament are focused on Christ as the head of the church. He is the only One who has absolute authority. The reason is because the fundamental success of how the body comes together and functions is outside of mans attempts to accomplish the task. So we are as people utterly helpless to add to His success. It is very short sighted to attempt to create this by doing something. Rather the point of this successful focus is to draw us away from focusing on our importance and allow God to work. In other words the success of the body is a by product of how successful the gospel is applied , how often it is depended upon as the only hope, so that the exaltation of Christ rule over the earth is the vision that produces a unique distribution of spiritually gifted people working as the by product of this focus. Reply Quote Notify 437  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Christmas tree as an idol? on: December 01, 2013, 12:30:36 PM  The reference was using a tree for Idol worship. Here was a predominate Idol , also connected to the worship of heavenly beings in Acts. They also mixed the teaching of the goddess of Asherah with the teaching of Lord..Yaweh, Most High, and the Sovereign God over creation..el. God commanded them not to make graven images.    What was an Asherah pole? An Asherah pole was a sacred pole (or sometimes a tree) that was used in the worship of the pagan goddess Asherah. The Asherah pole was often mentioned in the Old Testament as one of the ways the Israelites sinned against the Lord and worshiped other gods. The first mention of the Asherah pole is in Exodus 34:13 (NIV): "Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and cut down their Asherah poles." The Israelites were commanded to destroy any Asherah pole they found among the other people in the land. In Deuteronomy 16:21, the Lord commanded the people of Israel to not make Asherah poles of their own. However, it did not take long for the Israelites to disobey this command. In Judges 3:7, we read, "And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth." Instead of obeying God's commands, they worshiped the gods of the people God sent them to drive out. God later used Gideon as one of the judges who would stand against this practice of the Asherah pole. He cut down his father's Asherah pole as part of God's call for reform (Judges 6:25-27). Many of the revivals in the books of Kings and Chronicles involved destroying and removing Asherah poles from among the people of God. In one case, King Josiah of Judah had an Asherah pole ground to powder and its dust spread over the graves of the dead (2 Kings 23:6). But who was Asherah? She was considered a goddess of fertility. Some believe that the worship of the Queen of Heaven condemned by the prophet Jeremiah was also a reference to the goddess Asherah, though this is uncertain. Certainly, as a fertility goddess, those who worshiped Asherah were also often involved in sexual practices prohibited by the God of Israel. Asherah poles were also known in Scripture as the "high places." This is likely due to the connection of worship upon hilltops and mountains. Especially after the construction of the Jewish temple under King Solomon, those who would instead worship Asherah on a high place were considered blasphemous to the Lord, worshiping a different God in different ways and in different places than how He prescribed. Asherah poles and Asherah worship were against the law God gave to Moses. Israel's use of these objects was sinful and in contradiction with His teachings to worship only the Lord (Exodus 20) and that He alone was God (Deuteronomy 6:4-5). Read more: http://www.compellingtruth.org/asherah-pole.html#ixzz2mFGHY8OI Reply Quote Notify 438  Forums / Break Room / Re: Surrendering Judgment on: November 26, 2013, 09:44:48 PM I do not want to leave at as if I am saying that God judges universally. He has created a society that responds for an individual. We see that God does more than act judicially but He creates through His redeeming promises. So in this sense God has decided to act according to His plan of redemption being able to pre ordain everything so that He is not under the obligation to act judicially toward us. In a way it is all backwards to our natural inclination. We want to be secure but we do not think correctly. We run our plays but they are not successful. Gods way is to rest in Him but we want to do something for self atonement. We want to feel confident in order to make forgiveness universal so that its easy to understand. But God wants to forgive freely even if we practice sin continuously. Gods success is overcoming our desire to do something to be forgiven. We live in our minds about what we think God has said.But God speaks to us to quiet our own wisdom. He causes us to rest in His promises and not our returns. God always wants us to learn simply from Him speaking to us. We always want make it difficult. We kind of always do a catch 22 with God. All of His words to us end with "be still and know that I am God." Reply Quote Notify 439  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Jesus Feminist on: November 26, 2013, 09:05:53 PM cont. The reason I like the connection to depend upon the free gifts of God is because we cannot love an image of what that person could be. We cannot say the person has these specific attributes as opposed to the other person. Once we love something that is not real it is foolish. But God looks at the person as complete. We however cannot be God. I mean it is dangerous to attempt to be a perfect image in order to create unity. First because every attribute is corrupted. So in a sense we are left with a need to be who we are without attaching something we are not because of the partner to attempt to create unity. So personal survival is coming to be at peace with ourselves. Which is living in a mystery of what could be but clearly seeing what it is. The only way that we can come to this mystery is seeing the eternal love and anger of God. We must live in who we think we are. We are not controlled by any other image. So the world is really a mass of confusion because anytime people try to control they rob that person of the freedom to just be. So in this sense we attempt to steal the other persons image for our own survival. This is a curse not insecurity. We must deal with our own anger. We must face ourselves and rise to be transparent before God. We must cheer God on as He responds to the idol worshiper- that unrealistic self image. If we do not see the true corruption in the marriage then we will imagine our self image and create another image of those we love. We roll all of our hate over to God through the perfect line of His anger which is the curse. This transparency is our attempt to come away from the idol image that is created about our marriage. We come away and be ye separate says the Lord. When we unburden our anger then we clean the marriage relationship. Our experience is their experience. Our disposition is how we teach. We rise up to the perfect law that gives liberty...that line between blessing and cursing ...we become and empty vessel to be filled by God. We experience eternal life ...that is more and more sharing in the Perfect image that creates oneness.The christian experience of oneness is radical. Reply Quote Notify 440  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Jesus Feminist on: November 26, 2013, 08:25:34 PM I wouldnt look at marriage as who does what better. There is always something that needs to be done that has a greater purpose then the mechanics of marriage. God withholds judgement of irresponsibility of one partner for the sake of the other because marriage is a self reflection of each partner to each other. And God considers the health of the helpless over the concerns of the marriage partners. So we must exalt marriage to be more than a utilitarian rite. I mean what women responds with obedience because she promised it at the altar? That is putting her in bondage to the law. The unity of marriage cannot be destroyed except through covenant unfaithfulness. The partners can never be considered single. Marriage is one partner teaching another through the desire for survival. In other words both partners receive eternal life as they experience their individual needs being met. Covenant communication is God giving all things by His grace. Marriage is sharing in something that no one deserves as the gifted ability to enjoy it. Where is the identity of the man and women in this whole kit and kaboodle?  lol Reply Quote Notify 441  Forums / Break Room / Re: Surrendering Judgment on: November 26, 2013, 08:02:21 PM cont..God has decided to create a world that is like utopia. He has created the world by acting justly on His judgement throne. But the throne is not like a judges seat and gavel. His throne is an eternal throne. He acts without opposition ..that is He does what pleases Him. God must be completely just at all times. He must be proved right at all times. God doesnt act without necessity. We say all things are necessary because they are Gods communication of Himself over every thing and every space in the universe. God not only speaks all things into existence but He measures every movement so that it brings Him glory. God communicates beyond the written word. God acts mysteriously because He is so far beyond our communication skills that He is not surprised by anything. The whole time and space reality is unified in Gods absolute communication over all things. If God has created us to survive on both spiritual and physical communication. That is both our receiving spiritual sustenance as our enjoyment of eternal life and our physical make up through dna and those things we do not understand that are beyond the human eye then we can say that our survival is only real because we are in God. Or salvation is in God alone. I mean eternal communication is beyond our understanding of the closeness of relationships. Reply Quote Notify 442  Forums / Break Room / Re: Surrendering Judgment on: November 26, 2013, 07:42:33 PM We need to be careful of wishing there was no justice for the sake of keeping the peace. If God did not judge wickedness then He would not be a saving God. Where do the problems of this world come from? Does the Devil act in every ones life to create the problems? Do problems only come from bad personal decisions? If God has created hell then it must be necessary for it to be the final place for some people. Is it Gods fault that those people end up in hell? If God decided to forgive all men then why would He create hell? If its Gods fault that those people end up in hell then He is seriously miss guided. But if those people deserve to go there then God has a responsibility to judge some men. If we take salvation out of the equation then God has evil intentions of judging some men. Why is it necessary to judge men if their actions are just part of the list if crossed will end up in Gods judgement? Is God only watching for His laws to be broken? What reason is there for God to make these laws if they are not related to relationships? Obviously God made the laws not just to display them but for protection in relationships. How can God prove that He is faithful, kind, loving, and just if He just mouths the words? Isnt the point of God proving it that it must be communicated in such a way that it is completely just and true? But if God only communicated it by speech then what does He do about all the injustices that He sees? Does He only promise it or is His promises backed up with action? This is why another word of salvation is deliverance. God in proving that He is faithful and kind must act to deliver those He proves Himself to. Does God only redeem His own from bad situations or from other wicked people? Again Gods laws are how He relates to us and how we relate to each other. If God is completely faithful He must defend all of His laws or He would not be faithful in relationships. He must at all times be completely just. Someone is always judged.   Reply Quote Notify 443  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: Two Christian sixteen year-olds fall in love and have a child. Are they married? on: November 24, 2013, 05:38:49 PM Rules can be created to destroy. Yes God gave man ten commandments and man makes thousands of rules and concessions. And man establishes his own power by how he describes himself ..which is by some absolute standards. In other words all men live according to their view of the absolute laws of God. I do not think any man can establish his own power without some kind of false idea of how the law is applied and what is the best use. It is a universal maxim that all men create their own gods by explaining the rules for their own profit. All men choose a false god because they derive some kind of benefit for it. This is why God established His rules according to His covenant. God is the only person in this whole description of real reality that makes up the rules in perfect justice, equity, and goodness. God is the only one who can be trusted because He is the only one who is good enough for all things to end in His glory. God is the beginning and end of the perfect structure in which all things are unified as He works out all things for His glory according to His rules. Marriage is really a gift of God that gives man a way of blessedness. The rules of marriage do not really meet the needs of the marriage. The two people are sinners and use the rules for their own benefit. We are not talking about this view of marriage. We are discussing marriage as a benefit that either leads to life or death. Marriage is more than a contract but its the sharing of eternal life. Marriage is blessed by God establishing a government in which He blesses man and women with new life. All of Gods blessings come from His covenant love. This is a family love. Marriage is a covenant because it points to Gods covenant promises and His attributes. Gods covenant cannot be revoked. There is nothing we can do to earn it. As we understand that God is the giver of all good things by His covenant faithfulness to us we have the ultimate relationship of receiving these good things in the natural conditions that God established in the first man and women of having one mind in receiving the Fathers love. So we see that because this relationship is the ultimate freedom expressed on this earth then we treat each other without thinking evil of the independent expressed need. Reply Quote Notify 444  Forums / Main Forum / Re: When preachers lie! on: November 24, 2013, 03:10:45 PM The context of this passage is how a false prophet treats the word of God. The prophet receives the word...not just as a means to announce something so that it is part of the written word of God but to pronounce judgement upon the priest who offer sacrifices to Baal. Jeroboam will be judged for their sacrifices. The false priest bones will not be buried but will be visible to remind the people of Jeroboams idolatry. Idolatry is an awful sin because it is worshiping dead things. So anyone who worships Idols promotes death in whatever position of authority they have. Instead of the king agreeing with the word of the Lord that the prophet pronounced ...which would bring life to the people ... he allow the people to sacrifice their children on the burnt offering.  The king spread death and destruction over the land. The curse of the prophet resulted in a physical judgement upon the king. The prophet takes the word of the Lord and pronounces a judgement to Jeroboam if he did not repent. The prophet was not really skilled through focusing on all the words of the Lord because he was easily tempted to join the idolatry of the people. A true prophet speaks the word of the Lord in a creative way. I mean the constant exposure to the word of the Lord creates a conviction in a true prophet. As he is in the office his constant warning will come true. In this case even Jeroboam was not impressed and continued in his idolatry. In the ot worship book you have the teaching of eating of the kings delicacies or on the other hand being pleased to partake of the good things from the table of God ...that is feasting on His creative word. Gods creative word cannot be overcome or thwarted. I do not believe eating from the old prophets table was necessarily a sin. But there is a distinct teaching here that is in the worship book. It was the prophets inattentiveness over his life to the creative word so the feast offered to him clearly represented the system of idolatry that Jeroboam had established. True prophets swear they will not eat of the delicacies of the idolatrous kings. The teaching defines how the story is told. You see the prophet receives a pronouncement of a curse and then God establishes it over the wickedness of the people. "2 By the word of the Lord he cried out against the altar: Altar, altar! This is what the Lord says:" The prophet is establishing Gods justice which is God speaking from heaven over the whole earth. But the prophet was not sincere. It takes years to develop the understanding of the line between blessing and cursing. Without consistently coming to mystery there is no real conversion. I do not necessarily mean an initial salvation but going from one deliverance to another....one conversion to another. All of this rebellion leads to war. Because God judges ...that is the bones of the rebellious are spread all over the battle field. In this sense the true prophets words speak from ancient times. His words were well spoken as you see the bones scattered against the idolatrous nations. God will not allow an abusive nation to destroy the weak and helpless. The prophets curses provided the soil for God to create justice so there would be established a righteous government ..that being power turned upside down- God protects His remnant people. Reply Quote Notify 445  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Two Christian sixteen year-olds fall in love and have a child. Are they married? on: November 22, 2013, 09:45:10 AM I used to think like Joker when I was young. But if you live thinking that a physical marker keeps the relationship secure or blessed then your living by the law. There will be no marriage in heaven. Marriage is not an eternal covenant. The comparison of earthly marriage to the church is not to say that the marriage equals the unity of the body. The spiritual body far surpasses the physical union. In the body of Christ there is no male or female, slave or free, etc. So the spiritual gifts of the people involved essentially the true identity and unity in marriage. There are no boundaries according to mans rules or ceremonies. The unity in marriage is accomplished when there is freedom that is expressed in the exercise of these spiritual gifts. We are at war with our flesh to take ownership of our marriage. But our spouses belong to Christ. period. This is why using the law...or a man made law ...will increase the desire to control the other person. Marriage is a spiritual communication that far surpasses mans control. It is a private institution that is expresses as a government. Essentially marriage is unified in Christ death and resurrection in which all things were placed under His feet. So in marriage there is a reign over the earth like a king and queen. The respect in marriage is not profiled in a psychological way but its an honor that comes to each person as they honor Christ who gives all good gifts. The unity is developed through grace from receiving our Fathers love. True respect comes from an eternal source and not mans institutions.   Essentially every guy has a sword on his side and he goes out to conquer. So there is a sense in which God has given men a power that cannot be thwarted. Its a desire to rule by humility. We live by grace and not even sin can erase it. All things belong to Christ and all powers have been placed under His feet. He over came the curse by becoming a curse. He died so that we might live. This life is an eternal life. It does not come through the law. It comes to us through Christ who obeyed the law completely. We receive this life by grace alone. This life cannot be overcome by the curse. We live with a heavenly mindset as the way to go beyond the event or the physical beauty. The life of God comes directly to us. We are filled with power from God Himself. This exercise of power is unified as Gods throne. A throne in which our Lord subdues all powers. It is eternal life that flows as a Gods governing agency through us. The life is our experience of the recreation of our souls and of the earth. We live in an image that is beyond our pay scale. It is not man centered. Reply Quote Notify 446  Forums / Theology Forum / Re: The interior function of sin and grace in the creative language of the curses. on: November 21, 2013, 05:09:50 PM We are to trust in God alone. Do not put your trust in princes. Do not put your trust in man. God rules the earth and He rules over every man. God rules every square inch and He rules every thing that moves. Why would we be different from one another who stand before God? We all put our pants on the same way. God creates the world through original creation and recreation. Men are not necessary for God to bring all things to an end and to His glory. The question is do men act alone to do good? The Psalms say that God overturns the decisions of men. God has shortened mans life not to keep the peace but so that Gods counsel alone is to be trusted since He has lasted through all generations. In other words man is forgotten when he dies ..this means that what man does is forgotten. God uses language to separate Himself by what He says as opposed to the wisdom of man. If salvation is in God alone then He alone must be trusted and not man. The reason that man cannot be trusted is because all men are born to describe a world where they control every thing and every one. We think that our sins are not as bad as the other guys. We actually think that our opposing other men changes things. Our problems is that we do not believe that we do things that are not up to the standard and God must rework all things or we would destroy all mankind and the earth. Even when we are saved we do not act good enough to bring real good to God or other men. We cannot read other mens thoughts, view them from the beginning of time, have a true view of their physical problems. The truth is that our view is very limited. Because God knows that we are too weak to comprehend our insignificance He has decided to work alone before we work. The way that He brings us to our senses is that He does good no matter how bad we make it. His recreation in our lives is beyond our sight and understanding. We say that God alone makes our lives honorable. This is why our prayers in scripture are petitions that uses words to cheer God on to create our good. Do not let the wicked prosper, do not let them have their desire, put a guard over my lips, arise and confront them, etc. In comparison to these recreated petitions we say that the help of man is worthless. The more we grow in the knowledge of the word the more we will crowd out our own thoughts. The more we will hear the language of heaven and the more we will speak in a way that is eternal.   Remove Reply Quote Notify 447  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Two Christian sixteen year-olds fall in love and have a child. Are they married? on: November 21, 2013, 04:15:11 PM I believe the gospel is the only answer for our problems. I agree that the standard is always in front of us. But how can we say to someone else that they know what needs to be done if we know what needs to be done but we do not keep the ten commandments? Maybe the problem is the gospel is not as important to us because we do not understand the depth of sin and what we deserve for our own failure. God absolutely hates liars. So what does that say about our being the judge if we do not keep the law ourselves? Are not we saying that at some point we stopped needing grace because by telling others they know what to do we are saying that we do it perfectly since we did a part of what was required? Isnt that  hypocrisy? And are not we trusting that God will not treat us according to our sin? I snt the gospel suppose to be applied as they deserve Gods judgement like we do but they get grace instead like we do? lol If we are always falling short of the standard then we are always in need of grace. If we are in need of grace then we do not do anything perfectly. We cannot in good conscience say that the paper work shows our obedience! The only thing that speaks on our behalf is grace. period. S ee we like to change the standard for the other guy which makes it easy for us to be in the seat of judgement. But we are required to apply the gospel and it will place us on Gods time table. Then we will really live in the gospel. Reply Quote Notify 448  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Two Christian sixteen year-olds fall in love and have a child. Are they married? on: November 21, 2013, 03:36:55 PM Quote from: Patrick on November 21, 2013, 03:36:05 PM Quote from: mybigGod on November 21, 2013, 03:33:02 PM I do not believe I ever deserved to receive rewards because I did something exactly right. So everyone is in need of redemption.. that is God righting the wrongs ..because christians naturally have a concern for those loose ends. But it is Gods promise to turn all our evil to good. So its more important for us to take some chances and trust God than to retreat because we do not trust ourselves. Our vision of God righting what is wrong will always overcome the things other people try to say about us. I swear, and I mean, it, if I ever see you, I am going to kiss you square on the lips. Perfect. Lol you made my day Patrick.. thanks Absolutely perfect. I mean it, babe. Right on the dadgum mouth. Lol you made my day Patrick.. thanks Reply Quote Notify 449  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Two Christian sixteen year-olds fall in love and have a child. Are they married? on: November 21, 2013, 03:33:02 PM I do not believe I ever deserved to receive rewards because I did something exactly right. So everyone is in need of redemption.. that is God righting the wrongs ..because christians naturally have a concern for those loose ends. But it is Gods promise to turn all our evil to good. So its more important for us to take some chances and trust God than to retreat because we do not trust ourselves. Our vision of God righting what is wrong will always overcome the things other people try to say about us. Reply Quote Notify 450  Forums / Main Forum / Re: Jesus Feminist on: November 21, 2013, 03:25:25 PM Quote from: linda marie on November 21, 2013, 03:14:24 PM Quote from: mybigGod on November 21, 2013, 03:09:18 PM Gosh im gonna get in trouble here. But guys like to be aggressive and break things. I mean we thrive in an environment where we are opposed. Its like destroying someones masculinity to try to erase a natural component from the male image. So sometimes there is a battle of the sexes because neither has the capability of describing the psychology of the other sex. You would need to go back and counsel God. But our aggressiveness should not threaten the natural disposition of the opposite sex. We were made to direct our anger toward positive things. I mean we have a natural hatred for injustice and especially when it is directed toward someone who is poor or helpless. If God did not destroy the pathway to the destruction of the children those less strong then there would be no freedom. It would be a society that was ruled by dominate males. Obviously God displays a defensive hate for fools. Guys can really feel hate and yet direct it so that they seek respect and not destruction. We are made to be aggressive. Please do not take me out of context... i think you know what i mean Your insecurity is showing... Im just afraid of being double minded. The goal is to overcome. Although I respect your warning.