BUT HE DID DIE. We can not live our lives based on what might have been, only what actually was."
I agree with your post. Regarding 'what if' Jesus did not die for us, it is a pointless discussion as correctly said He DID.
BUT HE DID DIE. We can not live our lives based on what might have been, only what actually was."
Whenever I have a vision or a dream that feels real, I feel like you did. There is a recent thread on this forum talking on astral travel and how its unscriptural. I see earlier in this thread that you mention re-incarnation. Just something to consider there is that fallen angels have been with us from day 1. When we are possessed I believe they are able to give us their memories of the past, making us feel as though we were actually there. Re-incarnation is completely unscriptural.
No......I do not bash and do not want to be bashed. Life is to hard and too short to live like that. All I try to do here is allow my experience and knowledge to help people as yourself to understand the Scriptures and then allow YOU to may the correct Biblical choices in your life and in your understanding.
Lets see if we can help you through this. If you will allow me............
Matthew 16:28 belongs to chapter 17 and actually should be the first verse of chapter #17, because it is the account of the Transfiguration of Jesus. The Transfiguration explains clearly what He meant when He made the statement in verse #28. Remember that the key to proper understanding the Bible is always.......CONTEXT.......anyay----
Matthew 16:28
"Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom."
This was fulfilled for the apostles in the Transfiguration of Jesus. The Transfiguration is that picture of the Son of Man coming in His Kingdom. The statement here referrred to the 3 disciples who were present, Peter, James and John and their experience on the mount of Transfuguration when those 3 men witnessed the glory of Jesus as Moses and Elijah came down to talk with Him. Those 3 disciples at thet time 'SAW THE SON OF MAN COMING IN HIS KINGDOM".
Your comment then was.............
Revelation tells us that until you accept the mark of the beast, you still have a chance and and can return to God.
The last book in the Bible that you would want to look at for salvation doctrine is probably the Revelation.
Time and space will not allow me to dig into that. Simply know that the peopl of whom are alive at the time you are referring to will mostly be Jews whom God is dealing with then. But what it is not is a SECOND chance. THese people have never heard the gospel and are NOT saved so the thought of a SECOND chance is not in view at all. Then can come to Christ and be saved by faith in the Lord Jesus and they are then saved for the FIRST time so long as they do not accept the Mark of the Beast.
Your comment was.....
I think with the new covenant made when Christ died for our sins, that mankind as a whole was given a reprieve.
No so my friend. A "reprieve from what"??? The only teo things we can consider Biblically would be the Law and Grace....correct?
Grace is not a reprieve from the Law. The New Covenant is better than the Old one.
Hebrews 8:6...........
"But now hath he (Christ) obtained a more excellent ministry by how much he also is the mediator of a BETTER Covenant which was established upon better promises".
God gave the Law to Moses and then He gave him instructions for the tabernacle and its functions and service. It was there at the tabernacle that sin was dealt with. Remember..........NO ONE WAS EVER SAVED BY KEEPING THE LAW!!!! No one ever came to God and said............"I have kept all of Your commandments therefore receive me".
NOT SO. They were continually bringing sacrifices to the tabernacle because they had continually sinned.
The Law did not save them from sin but revealed to them that they had in fact sinned. Christ is now the great High Priest and the sacrifice of His life and shedding of His blood save us the first time we believe and accept Him.
Then your comment was..................
I don’t know for a fact, but I lean to reincarnation because I was given a dream that eerily showed that I had been reincarnated.
As I have already stated........REJECT DREAMS and here is the reason why clear as day. What your mind said to you while sleeping is absolutely in disagreement with the Word of God. The Bible in no way what so ever teaches reincarnation. The Word of God teaches RESURRECTION not reincarnation.
Hebrews 9:27
King James Version (KJV)
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"..
Then you stated..........
But the 2 apostles that knew him say there are second chances. Revelation tells us in the end days, the dead
will rise.
Which two apostles would that be and what was it they said about a second chance?
Please list the Bible book, chapter and verse and I will respond to it.
As for the Revelation telling us that the dead will rise, that is true but you did not complete the "CONTEXT" Truth is always in the CONTEXT. The Revelation tells us clearly that the lost dead souls will be resurrected for judgment, NOT a SECOND CHANCE.
Revelation 20:12-15
King James Version (KJV)
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
Notice that there is NO ONE found who is given a second chance. This is the judgment of the lost after their bodies are resurrected from the grave.
Then you comment was........................
The souls freed from their temporal body are going somewhere. There are about a million (slight exaggeration) Ghost Hunter type programs on a wide range of channels. They have proved, in my estimation that there is life beyond death. Most of these ghosts are afraid to go into the light (cross over) because of something they did in life.
Who says that???? "The souls are freed from there temporal bodies are going some where???
Please read and study Luke 16 my dear friend. The souls of the lost go to the "TORMENTS" compartment of Hades. They are not freed to go anywhere. They are resurrected to their bodies as we jusr saw in Revelation 20 after the 1000 year rule of Christ and that is for judgment to the lake of fire, NOT A SECOND CHANCE.
TV show that pander to a certain pre-conceived opinion does not in any way constitute truth. Yes, there is life after death..................in heaven with the Lord or in hell with the devil. That is the only two places the Bible teaches. Everything else is what someone thinks or dreams and there is a real problem when we start to believe what a man says.
Now I pray that the Lord will bless you and I do hope this has helped you. The point is this........read, study the Bible and use it as your source of knowledge. NOT what TV says or other people tell you.
My dear friend, please hear me when I say that there is no SECOND chance after death. Death removes all choices that we could have had when alive.
Again, I have gone overlong and I'm not finished - expect more
Hey Major. I was gone for a few days, did you miss me and my exasperating ways? (twinkle). If not for you, I probably wouldn’t still be here. I would have gone on, wiping the proverbial dirt from my feet, thinking that I had misunderstood God’s direction. So now when everyone else gets perturbed they can blame you too (grin). I left you all with one of my most precious, most treasured memories, knowing that most all of you thought “whack job.”
I was admitted to the hospital last Saturday. I thought I was dying. (Silk <ß------drama queen). I think it was all that talk about Baptism. I soooo want to be baptized now where I can remember – that I am awake and conscious. I thought about how I might accomplish this. Did I need to turn Baptist or could I go back to pick and chooser status after? Would that be dishonest? I fell asleep thinking about this and woke up to find myself totally soaked in my own sweat. I went to a doctor’s appt. that they cancelled, on Friday and asked to see someone. They finally brought out a nurse who pronounced, go home and make an appt. for Monday. The next day, if possible, I felt worse and my brother dropped me off at the emergency room. The doctor asked me what was wrong and I told him I thought I was dying. They ran a gazillion tests and decided I was badly dehydrated. But concerns kept popping up and then disappearing. At the end of the day, after I was admitted, the doc came to talk to me. As he was walking away, he turned back, shook his head, thought about it and said, “ I thought so too.” “What?” I asked. “That you were going to die. It’s a real deal with what a difference a day makes because you look alive now.”
My roommate was there before me and I asked what she was in for. She told me dehydration. I thought “aha!” The difference between us seemed to be that she was hooked up to an IV but they were giving her a diuretic and then wondered why she was wetting the bed to the tune of 15-20 times per day. Exasperated, I finally told the nurse that she wasn’t doing this on purpose. I had timed them and there was 10-15 minute delay in responding. She was trying to find some way to resolve things by calling for a bed pan ahead of time and not going and or sitting in her own pee for hours until she could get someone’s attention. Eventually the medical staff were happy to change her linens. She began to call me by her name, Karen, which I kinda liked. She couldn’t hear well. When I was admitted, I filled out the protestant services thingy. On Sunday, the priest came straight to me and asked communion? Blessing? I said, a blessing would be nice but he looked at me sternly so I said ok then communion. He gave me communion and rushed out the door, with my neighbor wanting her priest. Talk about feeling guilty. I made a deal about trying to get him back for her without success. When a different priest was going to ignore her again, the next day, I told the nurse to stop him and then told him she wants communion. Whenever she was bullied I butted right in. When she understood I was being discharged (Thursday). She told me, Í’m gonna miss you. I smiled at her and said just get well. She had a few teardrops and said, “ you don’t understand…” “I’m gonna miss you for the rest of my life.” We both knew we would not meet again. It’s probably the nicest thing anyone ever told me.
I had my micro laptop with me. No emails after leaving my soul bare on the forum (drama queen remember). Pride, I guess, kept me from looking. I must be doing something wrong because there were posts, just no emails telling me so. I felt a wee bit hurt (teensy teensy) but then I got to hear you, exasperated at me (per usual) praying for my soul’s salvation. It takes a rare sweetness of soul to care about someone else’s salvation almost as much as your own, without proselytizing or bashing someone over the head. Kudos.
One more thing happened during my stay. On Wednesday, they admitted a woman across the hall and a few doors down. She grew hoarse with shouting, yelling, broad casting hurt and pain and anger. She kept me up most of the night with her soul searing pain. I couldn’t actually hear what she was saying but someone in the room was responding to her. Medical staff stayed with her all night but they weren’t talking. I asked the nurse what’s up with that. She rolled her eyes and said we can close the door if she bothers you again. Closing the door wouldn’t have helped and we both knew it. She said that her family had her on minimal pain medication and no sedatives for relief. The medical staff all felt she was going out of her mind with the pain. She said, “I don’t judge and I know sometimes you just have to accept and move on. Besides that evil and hate surrounded her. She’s really nasty”. It was like hearing the cries of the damned all night long. I don’t care what she did in life, no one should be put through that (ok maybe Hitler and Mengeles but no one else)
That is my near death experience. Does it count?
Looking at the history of the bible and how it was put together over time, we are shown contradictions that everyone seems to ignore. Mark, Luke, Paul,and Timothy DID NOT know the living Christ. This is not to say that they weren't holy people or that what they said should be ignored. Only Matthew and John knew the living Christ. Most biblical scholars will tell you that none of the books were written by those it is attributed to. Matthew 10:2-4, tells us that there 12 disciples - none of them named Mark, Luke and Paul. Why are you not outraged that most of the new testament was written by people who did not know the livng Christ?
Hey Major (waves and smiles). You do know I was teasing about the near death experience, don't you? Although now that I think of it... (shrug). I was dead serious about craving a baptism. In the state of consciousness I am in, I want to experience everything anew and I drool at the thought of the holy spirit enveloping me and cleansing my soul. I also think that probably the experience would send me straight to heaven. (Methodists - Unite. The Baptists are trying to steal me).
Alas, I m back with my exasperating ways. Please, I beg, read me very clearly. I am forbidden to lie or even exaggerate. In the next while, many, many people are destined to leave their temporal body and I cannot allow you to deprive them of their last hope. We live in a very wicked world where deceit and lies rule the day. If they think, upon death, that they are already lost, it becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy and they will act accordingly. Alarm bells should be ringing and yet there is silence. Pick 1000 biblical scholars and true believers - pick 10,000, or even 100,000 and Satan will beat you all in this debate. His advantage is that he was there when it was written and he knows which parts are muddy and misleading that he put there. Looking at the history of the bible and how it was put together over time, we are shown contradictions that everyone seems to ignore. Mark, Luke, Paul,and Timothy DID NOT know the living Christ. This is not to say that they weren't holy people or that what they said should be ignored. Only Matthew and John knew the living Christ. Most biblical scholars will tell you that none of the books were written by those it is attributed to. Matthew 10:2-4, tells us that there 12 disciples - none of them named Mark, Luke and Paul. Why are you not outraged that most of the new testament was written by people who did not know the livng Christ? The truth of the matter is that all Chrisitians follow the Pauline tradition, established by the Catholics, who were the only viable majority sect that was allowed to keep functioning.
You say that Matthew 16:28 is clear about 3 apostles witnessing Christ meeting with Moses and Elijah as part of the explanation that they saw Christ coming into his kingdom. (First of all, one wonders that the apostles would know what Moses and Elijah looked like 1000 years after their deaths.) Jesus tells us in the same passage that Elijah was re-incarnated as John the Baptist. You Do know that those little italic headings are not part of scripture and that they were added with the Protestant Reformtion, over a 1000 years after Christ's death. Remove the heading and what have you got? That Jesus met with Moses and Elijah as equals. But wait - they are not equal. Scripture also tells us that Jesus could not access his kingdom until AFTER the resurrection. A moot point, I grant you as those 3 apostles saw his death. I hope this shows you why the text is not as clear to me as it is you. Matthew and John both tell us there ARE second chances and the cut off is the mark of the beast. I exhort you to re-read the bible with new eyes.
God bless you and I hope I can answer your questions for you. The problem for me is that you run all you comments together with no breaks in one long parargraph. It would be better to list a couple at a time.....focus on those and then move on to another. But we will make the attempt.
Comment was........
We live in a very wicked world where deceit and lies rule the day. If they think, upon death, that they are already lost, it becomes a self-fullfilling prophecy and they will act accordingly.
Correct! ALL have sinned and come short of the approval of God. All men are born with a sin nature and all men sin.
We are depraved and doomed and destined for hell BUT God who in His great mercy has loved us and paid our penality for sin which is death. NO thinks that they are lost..........they are lost ALREADY according to the Word of God in John 3:17-18.
Your comment was.......
Looking at the history of the bible and how it was put together over time, we are shown contradictions that everyone seems to ignore.
What one calls "contradiction", another would call a "lack of learning and deep study to find the truth".
Your comment was.......
I also think that probably the experience would send me straight to heaven. (Methodists - Unite. The Baptists are trying to steal me).
Not so. There is NO salvation in being baptized. Salvation is in Jesus the Christ, NOT water.
You truly are covered by Grace, aren't you? And I am sincerely happy that you need no second chances. In a life where I squandered energy gone riot, I feel like an engine who has used all their gas up, at the start line, before the race has begun. Now that energy is required, I find I am dry and struggle to do the easiest of things. Actually, my desire is the same as yours - to rest and revel in my maker's embrace but I have miles to go before I sleep.
I say again.... there is hope of redemption after corporal death
My struggles have always been my own bad habits - never with God. So I am curious what you mean about trying to have him adapt toward your ways and what made you stop fighting it? Thank you for your blessing (can use all I can get) and I have found my truth but there is always more to learn isn't there. I am counting on his strength because I have none of my own (ok I can be stubborn on occassion -willfull but always in a good cause.)
Ooops. I was joking about about the Baptists trying to steal me, mentioned nothing about salvation brought about by Baptism. What I said was I want to be baptized again in the state I currently am in as I think it would be wonderful. You DO baptize to cleanse the sin, do you not???
ne could indeed. Have you studied the Zohar, the books of the Nag Hammadi library, the Talmud, the various (apocryphal) books of both Catholics Protestants and Jews? I can lend you whatever you might be missing. I've spent over 45 years studying spiritual matters. I amm to the point where I want to learn Hebrew so I can make the translations myself. (Rosetta Sttone on $600) and I'm lousy at languages. I'll match you on any learning lacks