Bible Time

[safariblade]

RE: Bible Time

I just got back from camp! It was AMAZING and I learned so much. We heard a lot of stuff we already knew about the Gospel, but there were only three seventh grade guys so we got to build on a lot of what we already knew. I learned of the awe- inspiring power of prayer which I will talk about later. We had a huge time of worship on the last night which was great, I felt totally in sync with God. We played tons of awesome games like always which added to the fun.

Dude, I'm so glad for you! It sounds like your camp was an amazing experience. Its so great to have prayer with others. It becomes so powerful. And camp can also be really really fun!
But one struggle that you might have (because its terrible for me at times) is going home and being home for like a week. After a spiritual high from camp, it can get rough. People at home are not as enthusiastic about God as people were at camp. Remember our lesson about the seeds and the soil? Remember to not be the rocky soil that takes the word with enthusiasm but then burns in the sun because of a lack of roots. You have to stay rooted in your faith after you go home. Its tough, but you need to keep the good routine -(You guys may hear me talking like this a lot, I truly believe this helps) daily prayer and daily reading can do wonders. Above all else, just keep your daily relationship with God. AND REMMEBER THIS: The SAME God that was amazing at camp is the SAME God that is back at home.

1st Corinthians: Chapter Two

I would love to see more responses, but it seems like more people were interested when we just talked openly without a schedule. Would you guys like to go back to that? Please let me know.
And remember: Just because we are going through a book, you can still post here about ANYTHING else that you need to discuss. It can be something like a bible verse, or you can just chat about something you did today. Its no big deal.

So anyways, Chapter Two. Paul says "I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling." - I think this is awesome. Remember in Ch. 1 when I mentioned that I could never write like Paul does? Well Paul reminds us here that he began like all others, weak and sinful. He then reminds us of what he as talking about in Ch.1. He mentions Human Wisdom vs. god's Wisdom. He wants us to rest our faith on God. He says that God gives us his wisdom and that we should speak to others about God's wisdom. (We need to talk to others about the bible.)

The chapter is short, but the meaning is strong, and pretty important. There is a lot to learn from three paragraphs of words.

 

[Chillarmy]

RE: Bible Time

Regarding 1 Corinth. Ch 2:

I find it very powerful that while God has kept his wisdom from the highest leaders and superiors, yet he shares it with us (vs. 8-10). This really highlights how privileged we are and how honoured we should be.

I also find it interesting how God loves all his creation, including non-Chrisians, yet they are "foolishness" to him (vs. 14).

Also, vs. 16 gives us a take on God's authority. Those words are very powerful; even convicting for those who feel "in charge."

Overall, a very powerful Chapter!

 

[Rock Wrecker]

RE: Bible Time

Thanks safari, it can get pretty rough when you get home. They talked about it at camp too, you get on a spiritual high at camp because everyone is so amped about learning about Jesus and praising him. At home it's not exactly the main focus.
I have been reading Mark everyday, but I haven't started 1st Corinthians. I'll get on it tonight so I can give my opinion on it and discuss with you guys.

 

[Binx345]

RE: Bible Time

Hello, all, I have been here lurking recently but now feel like I would like to join.

A little introduction-- Im a bit older then all you teenagers yet it seems like you guys know much more then I do about the bible. For over 10 years, I have not declared myself to be any particular religion. I thought wrong, I thought God wanted me to be able to walk alone and take care of everything myself. Iv'e been astray for too long and so early this year I decided its time I get back to God. Ive always believed and followed the ten commandments and belived that Jesus is the son of God and died for us. In the last few months Ive realized Ive always been a Christian but I need to walk the walk too. So Ive got a lot to learn.

The biggest things I am trying to figure out right now are
1. what it means to be a Christian , how to be a good Christian (besides 10 commandments and believing in Jesus)
2. im still not 100 % positive that God wants me

any verses or books that may help me?

---

Also--I know am a bit behind but about this--

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions—is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

Ok i think the 'world' in this means the world of humanity and all things done or made by people. But the worl - the planet itself (minus all humans or human created things)----arent we supposed to love and respect it? It is a gift given by God and we should respect and take good care of it (like not pollute) as it provides water and land for plants (food) to grow. so i guess im a bit confused by this

 

[safariblade]

RE: Bible Time

Hello Binx, thanks for posting, and nice to meet you. ^_^

What does it mean to be a Christian. Well a dictionary would say something like a Christian is “A person who believes Jesus as the Christ (as the one and only savior) and in the religion based on the teachings of Jesus." -And that is a good start. In the bible, the word Christian is used to label the first followers of Jesus. I once heard that Christian directly translates to 'One who is Christ-like' - and this is very important, because this also answers your other part of your first question. God wants us to follow the commandments and be good Christians, therefore, he wants us to be like Christ. Of course, since Christ is a perfect model for us as humans, it is a goal that is hard to reach. But we should see Jesus as a roll model and as the perfect image of man, and strive to be pure like him.

But remember, this does not mean that we have to live through doing only good things, or 'doing works'. The Bible teaches that the good works we do cannot make us acceptable to God. Titus 3:5 says, “He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy." -This is a fundamental idea of the Christian belief. We are not saved because of the good things we do, we are saved because God's grace is greater than all of our sins. Jesus died for us, he conquered our sins on the cross. A good friend of mine explains it like this: God comes first, and then actions will follow. So don't start with good deeds, start with belief in God and faith in His Word and then good actions will come to you through him.

As for your second question, my answer may differ, but it is often said in the bible that 'God is love.' And f that is true, then, that is why God wants us to have a relationship with him. He calls us 'precious treasure' in the bible. We are his creations, and his is love. He may be the all powerful creator of the universe, but he is everything that is good, so he wants a relationship... We need to just continue this, because it is hard to explain, and that makes it a good subject. I'm going to look for some verses.

 

[Binx345]

RE: Bible Time

thanks for your response, its helpful and let me know if you find any verses. by the way i dont have skype but I did just have my profile updated, have yet to try any chat on here

 

[Professor Palutena]

RE: Bible Time

Hey Binx. Welcome to Bible Time. ^.^

Today was my last day of Holidays before I go back home and do some shopping for back to school. It was a great time with my grandparents.

But I could help but notice that my grandpa's hearing isn't as good as it was last time, and grandma hasn't noticed, and she's slowly been getting more mad at grandpa. She never says anything to his face, she only mumbles stuff under her breath, and I manage to catch it. But its slowly escalating, and her mumbles are getting louder, and she's starting to wear what she wants to say. I'm not worried about their marriage, but I don't want grandma to say stuff she'll end up regretting later.

Does anyone have any verses that can help me?

 

[DNA]

RE: Bible Time

Hiya, Binx. Yes, I know most of us in this club are teenagers, so I know you might feel a bit out of place; but we aren't all teenagers in here (at least, I'm not), but in any case this is very low-key so you'll fit right in.

As for your question:

Ok i think the 'world' in this means the world of humanity and all things done or made by people. But the worl - the planet itself (minus all humans or human created things)----arent we supposed to love and respect it? It is a gift given by God and we should respect and take good care of it (like not pollute) as it provides water and land for plants (food) to grow. so i guess im a bit confused by this

I can field this question.

In the Bible, the 'world' can mean either one of two things: It either means the 'world system' which is basically things and establishments in society that are against God and his purposes, or it can mean the actual planet. The former is what Paul's referring to when he says to not love the world - he's basically saying to not get overly attached to things that society has to offer (like materialism), or let them take the place of God as your prime focus in life. The latter is a neutral thing, and as you assume, we are to care for the resources we've been given. God did tell Adam to tend and take care of the planet, and that commission passes down to us. There is absolutely nothing wrong with environmentalism; the Bible actually encourages it.

I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have also.

 

[safariblade]

RE: Bible Time

Yes, but make sure you read the first post. It will explain how to join.

 

[Binx345]

RE: Bible Time

thanks for the responses, and

to bippa- sorry i dont know verses, Im still pretty unfamiliar with the bible. perhaps you can talk to a family member (or maybe even you can drive) your grandmother to her next doctor visit and see if the doctor can give her a hearing test. perhaps if she hears it from the doctor she will get hearing aids. You or another family member can even call the doctor (away from your grandmother) ahead of time and talk to them about your concerns for your grandmothers hearing. There are christian counselors if there are serious marriage issues but it sounds like it may just be more of mis-communication issues. Hope that helps.

To DNA- I am 27 yet I feel more like 21 since for many years (middle school through all of high school) I was in a cocoon of depression so I didnt get the social experiences most people did. Things changed for the better and things are still getting better. People say I look about 18-22 so thats good lol!

 

[DNA]

RE: Bible Time

I'm 20 and look like I'm 17, and I dealt with depression for the greater part of my adolescence (I still have vestiges of it even now), and I'm rather anti-social even to this day, so I know where you're coming from - or at least I kinda do.

...it's so cool that we can empathize with each other like this.

 

[safariblade]

RE: Bible Time

I'm about to be 17 and people think I'm in college lol. (Although I WILL be in college at 17, I'm younger than my classmates.)
But yeah, depression can be a serious thing. And remember guys, just because we are going through Corinthians, we can have discussion like this. Bring up anything you want to talk about.

 

[Professor Palutena]

RE: Bible Time

I was in a cocoon of depression so I didnt get the social experiences most people did.

Totally know whats that's like. I spent all of my Junior High (Grade 7-9), as well as half of Grade 10 in the depression cocoon. It really was something I never want to be back in again.

Speaking of Corinthians, I'll have my Chapter 3 thoughts up tomorrow (and I encourage all of you to do the same).

Oh, and I get confused as my mom's husband (My dad's in his fourties) o,O

 

[DNA]

RE: Bible Time

I am ninja.
So time to kick off chapter 3. I read it Tuesday night, and...although it looks a bit complicated at first glance, if you read it over again it isn't that complicated. (Or it might be just me. I use King James Version all the time and consequently I have to piece apart Old English a lot, but hey, it works for me.)

I'll try and do a bit of a skeleton overview - I'll give the basic ideas but I won't go super in-depth so that my ideas crowd out your own. I'll still try to present mine but not to the point where they color my view of the passage.

V. 1-4: Paul was writing to the Corinthians who could be called 'carnal Christians'. Quick explanation of that: a carnal Christian is someone who says s/he believes in Jesus Christ as Savior (at least outwardly), but at the same time lives however he or she wants (after the flesh). An example of that would be someone who professes Christ but also thinks it's okay to get totally wasted.

They could also be described as young Christians. In v. 2 Paul says he had to feed them with milk and not meat, like you would feed a baby - i.e. they were hungry for the good little things but they weren't quite ready to move up to bigger things. Example, they loved to hear that Jesus loves them and wants to bless them, but they weren't quite ready to move beyond that and were unable to grasp bigger doctrinal ideas, such as being conformed into God's image and living for him instead of living for one's self.

One thing I found interesting was v. 4 "For while one says 'I am of Paul', and another 'I am of Apollos', are you not acting carnal?" This actually does exist today, more so than you may think. It's like trying to associate yourself with the church you go to and trying to put on an air of superiority, e.g. "I am from __________ church and _________ is my pastor". It's more prevalent in bigger churches. (If any of you are familiar with Calvary Chapel at all, you may have seen or experienced it.) And, as Paul said, that is wrong, and being petty. You do not belong to a particular church or pastor - you belong to Christ and no one else.

V. 5-10: Another little bit of interesting wisdom. Although we are all Christians and called to preach the gospel, there are also specific areas we're called to do, and for each individual it's different. One may be called to evangelize, another to disciple, and still others to encourage. (I've found and also been told that I believe I fall into that last category.) If you find you're no good at evangelizing but you're good at discipling, then discipling is what you should be doing.

Just don't forget, anything you are is only because of God's grace, and it isn't our work alone that produces results (it might initiate it); God is the one who gives the increase, not us. And as such, we need to be careful of how we act and what we do (v. 10); as Christians, we represent Christ. The rest of the world sees Jesus through us and what we do. So are we giving off a good image, or a bad one? That choice is for you to decide.

V. 11-15: Anything we do we build on the foundation which is Christ. Works can be divided into two major categories: the ones that actually help to build up and further the kingdom of God on earth and in the lives of people (gold, silver, and precious stones), and the ones that don't (wood, hay, and stubble). Only what is done for Christ will last and stand the test of time.

V. 16-17: Verse 16 here is actually incredibly deep, and you could spend a long time talking about this, because of all the underlying implications that go with it. Our bodies are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwells within us. Now think about this - if we actually treated our bodies as a literal temple, and God was dwelling in it, how would you treat it? You'd want to keep yourself in good working order and not do something to defile or corrupt yourself. (This sorta goes along the lines of what I was talking about earlier about getting wasted.) You could spend forever talking about this, but I'll just try to keep it short. In the meantime I challenge you to ponder this little section and what it means for you.

V. 18-23: Recently I created a little adage that can aptly describe pretty much anything. It isn't outright found in Scripture, but it's based on it: "The more you know, the more you realize how little you know." I'm sure you've seen it before - the 11 year olds who think they know everything. (You might have been one once.) But the older you get, the more you realize that how much you know is barely anything compared to all the available knowledge out there. The awesome part about that is that God doesn't use super-intelligent people either - he uses average ones, not particularly special. He sometimes uses smart people, but whoever God uses mightily all have a few things in common: they are receptive to God and his will, and they recognize themselves for what they truly are - just instruments at God's disposal. Once you realize that, and not think as highly of yourself (does the axe boast against the one who uses it?), then God will use you in ways beyond comprehension.

How about the rest of you people?
(wow, I Corinthians just keeps getting better and better)

 

[Jace]

RE: Bible Time

Let's talk about...
The Parable Of The Sower
This is one of my favorite passages. Sure, it is easy to say you are Christian, but often, our faith is hard to keep. God doesn't want us to live off of spiritual highs. (a battle that I struggle with so often.) He wants us to always have a relationship with him and to stay 'rooted' in our faith and spiritual lives. But what does this have to do with this passage? Well luckily, this parable is explained a bit further into Matthew:
The Explanation of the Parable of the Sower
In my life, I was always the seed the fell on the rocky ground. I would go to church events or youth mission trips and I would just get into it. I would commit to Christianity and feel like the best person alive. But those spiritual highs only last a week or two at best. I'm sure you all might feel similar. God wants us to be rooted firmly in the good soil. But we must actually make an effort to prepare our soil. You have to actually want God in your lives, and honestly, I have found that one of the best ways to do that is to just read your bible. That is one reason why I wanted to join this group. Not only to hear other PokeBeach friend's stories, but to share mine, and hope that this group will not only help others to read daily, but to keep me reading daily as well.

So for our first discussion, what kind of ground are you on in your life? What are you comments on my essay? haha. Thank you guys for joining this, and I look forward to many discussions with you guys in the future!

I know this was posted a while ago, but I read over a few people's comments on Matthew 13. I'm not sure if everyone is fully understanding the meaning of the parable that Jesus gives... When he describes all the different seeds that fail to grow and produce fruits, Jesus is describing non-christians. In many cases, people are indeed the seeds that fall and have thorns restrict them, or have no roots. These people may believe they are, or appear to be Christians, but in reality, are not.

While the Bible is clear that we are not saved by works, but by grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), the Bible also tells us that we are created for good works (Ephesians 2:10), and that faith without works is dead (James 2:14-17). The reason that I stress this, is that a large amount of people in the world today that claim to be Christians are in fact deceiving themselves. Unfortunately, it has become popular to bash those that put emphasis on good works, and call them legalists, when in reality, they are just saying what the Bible says. I think a good way to understand this is looking at the following equations for salvation:

The Gospel + The Response (Repentance & Faith) + Good Deeds = Salvation (Being a Christian)

or

The Gospel + The Response (Repentance & Faith) = Salvation (Being a Christian)

Contrary to what many people belive, neither of these are biblical. The following is biblical:

The Gospel + The Response (Repentance & Faith) = Salvation (Being a Christian) + Good Deeds.

Notice the distinction? While good works do not save you, but God saves you, good works are proof of salvation! This is exactly what Jesus is talking about in the parable of the sower. While the majority of the seeds end up failing to produce crops, the seeds that fell on good soil and had strong roots produced fruit.

Jesus is, in effect, telling us exactly what I covered above. There is no such thing as a Christian that doesn't do good works. Yes, we are saved by God's grace, and that is crucial to know, and his grace is what empowers us to do good works (through the Holy Spirit), but if we aren't doing good works, it is clear that he is not in us at all! No, we won't be perfect, but we also won't live in habitual habits of sin or have "roller-coaster"-esque lives where we are all in for God one minute and doing whatever we want for ourselves the next! That is being lukewarm, which Jesus hates (Revelation 3:14-16)

I know I've covered a bunch of stuff, and I'm really sorry if anyone feels like I've intruded on this thread (I hope that is not the case!), but I am only trying to make sure everyone understands what the Bible actually says, especially regarding Salvation! There are certain things in the Bible where discrepancies between people are not extremely important, but the doctrine of salvation is the most important in all of the Bible and is literrally a matter of life and death. A large part of the Christian Church today has strayed away from what the Bible really says, focusing solely on God's love. God's love is incredible, and should be talked about, but is far from the only thing in the Bible. God is also just and powerful, and has great wrath - thus, he should be feared. If anyone's curious, I could take you loads of verses telling Christians to fear God (an example is Psalm 34:9). While we needn't fear Hell, we definitely still need to fear God- in fact, he commands it!

It deeply grieves me to see people who believe they are Christians because they have heard false teaching saying that you can simply "believe" in God and be saved... James tells us that even the demons believe in God- and shudder! Believing in God doesn't save you. God's grace in Jesus Christ's death and resurrection, coupled with the response of Repentance and Faith and God's renewal of us saves us!

I just wanted to throw this out here, as I'm sure there's at least a few people that haven't heard at leasts some of this. I pray that no one finds this post to be prideful or haughty, but instead reads it for what it is. I'm not making stuff up, I'm just saying what the Bible has to say.

Again, I know this is rather off-topic and the topic has since changed to something else, but I didn't want an opportunity to present truth to anyone that didn't know it. I'm praying that anyone who is on the rocky soil or has no foundation and roots in God's word will repent of their sin and be born again in Christ Jesus!

Thanks for reading this, if anyone managed to get through it! If anyone has any questions regarding anything, or believes that anything I said is false and unbiblical, please let me know! I'd be happy to talk about it!

 

[safariblade]

RE: Bible Time

Jace, thank you so much for that! That helps out a lot for me, and I'm sure others too! I'm really glad you took the time to respond. But yeah, I agree with you, and for some of my personal friends, this message is difficult. They think that in order to be a good Christian, you need to "Be a good Christian" first. But what I try to tell them, is to just believe in God, pray, and read too, and then good deeds will come from that. It's faith first, then everything follows.

So yeah, I think you explained what I have been trying to for awhile now. Thanks again! Feel free to discuss anything you want here.

 

[DNA]

RE: Bible Time

Thanks for reading this, if anyone managed to get through it! If anyone has any questions regarding anything, or believes that anything I said is false and unbiblical, please let me know! I'd be happy to talk about it!

I read your whole post from start to finish and I couldn't find a thing wrong with it; you're absolutely right. You laid all of it out yet in a clear and concise fashion so that the sheer wordiness of it all isn't so intimidating. Excellent job!

 

[Jace]

RE: Bible Time

Jace, thank you so much for that! That helps out a lot for me, and I'm sure others too! I'm really glad you took the time to respond. But yeah, I agree with you, and for some of my personal friends, this message is difficult. They think that in order to be a good Christian, you need to "Be a good Christian" first. But what I try to tell them, is to just believe in God, pray, and read too, and then good deeds will come from that. It's faith first, then everything follows.

So yeah, I think you explained what I have been trying to for awhile now. Thanks again! Feel free to discuss anything you want here.

Definitely. There's a fine line. Lot's of people think they can just cruise through life, having God just be their "daddy" that they can go to whenever thing's aren't going how they want. The other group simply says they need to "try harder". Neither of these are biblical! God is mighty, and we need to fear him! We can't even know him unless we fear him (Proverbs 1:7), and thus, we can't love God unless we fear him. It is out of fear and love that we obey him, not simply because we want to try harder to make ourselves look better or to get into heaven or something like that.

I think a simple analogy that begins to help you understand is this: Imagine that the ultimate goal is to finish a marathon. Yet, no matter how hard we try, we are incapable of finishing the marathon. God, is in essence, the miracle trainer. He gives you the ability and strength to finish the marathon. However, unless we train, we won't be able to finish the marathon. And for the other group, we can't possibly finish the marathon if we don't even start! God's strength is worthless if the person has no desire to serve him, love for him, and fear of him. Obviously, God's not going to give strength to that person in the first place.

While trying harder on our own will do nothing, we do need to make sure that we put out an effort, not using God's grace as an excuse, but rather a reason for why we know we'll succeed (or rather, he'll succeed through us).

A great quote I heard recently is that we shouldn't try to survive the Christian life, but excel! Cruising is what lukewarm, non-christians do. We should never be comfortable with our current state of spiritual growth. A lot of people try to compare themselves horizontally to others and think, "Oh, I'm doing pretty well. I read my Bible way more than most people." This is wrong! We need to compare ourselves vertically to God, and realize that he is holy and we aren't!

 

[Rock Wrecker]

RE: Bible Time - 1 Corinthians: Chapter 3

A week without activity? Ouch. Sorry guys I haven't been posting and I haven't read my Bible for a week because I went to church and then when I came home a left it downstairs. When I went to my room to read I didn't have my Bible there for a while. I was reading Mark today and I was wondering, why did Jesus not want anyone to know who he was? Was it because he didn't want people saying he was blaspheming and then kill him?

Onto Corinthians, which I haven't talked about. So far I've loved it, and I think Paul's message is really good. I hope this doesn't offend anyone and I may be biased, but I don't think there should be denominations. Maybe because my parents have raised me not having a denomination and going to non-denomination church. But sometimes it feels like we are different if we are from different denominations and we're not united as a church. At my old school there was a boy who had said, "I'm not Christian I'm Catholic." A girl from my old school came to my middle school. We don't talk much anymore but one day we talked for a while at school last year and I was saying how I hope I do well at public school and that I hope I hold onto my Christian beliefs, or something like that. I was expecting something along the lines of what I said, but she said "I'm actually not Christian I'm Catholic. I only went to that school because it was really convenient." She walked away, and I was kind of in shock. These kids are taught that they are Catholic as if is its own religion. If we are all united under Christ, why do we need different beliefs? If He gives us The Word, why do we add laws to it? That is what I have pulled out of Corinthians. I'm sorry if I get confusing and that I don't provide verses, that's kind of just the way I put it together.

 

[DNA]

RE: Bible Time - 1 Corinthians: Chapter 3

I've actually noticed that a lot myself, from my own observations. For many Catholics, it's almost like a label or aura of superiority they have. In this case, they usually don't trust in Jesus as Lord and Savior - they just go through the outward motions. This is not to say that all Catholics are like this (I know quite a few who are genuine Christians), but unfortunately, it's a prevalent attitude in Catholicism.

I grew up in a non-denominational church myself and I still go to one. I think denominations can sometimes serve as a barrier and keep us apart from each other - and that's bad. If we are all one in Christ, why do we need to be divided? Exactly.