My church rents out space in a old farmers market.

Thank you blackeyedpeas!!! Sorry if I may have gotten you upset or offended. It's just that the heading does say under it defend your faith or ask questions, so that's what I was doing. I appreciate that you went into details and all that lot. I hope you understand we are on the same page. I just like to find out people's ideas, beliefs, and interpetations. Especially since there are many different denominations of Christians. God bless you tons and tons!!!

WOWIES...Ekkk......I just wanted to see how everyone on here would explain the trinity. Yet, when challenged by me most of you either took the high road out by letting someone else speak, or just didn't explain it. I do know I'm not going to judge anyone, yet you judge me and don't know me. Just suppose I wasn't a Christian and this was how you dealt with me. By telling me I'm stupid and leave. I know Jesus taught us to love our neighbor. Sorry if I upset everyone. I just wanted everyone's thoughts... To those of you who explained it, I thank you, and to those of you who wouldn't explain or just got upset...I'll pray for you. I'm new here and thought everyone here was Christian, but not one person was willing to be loving towards me.

Trinity to me is:

All of the religions of the world focus on what man can do to make amends for his own shortcomings. This is called work. This is man's effort to reach God. Christianity is the opposite of religion. It is a relationship with God. In Christianity, God, because of His love for us, came to us in the virgin birth of Jesus.

In the beginning of the Bible we are told how God created the world, how He created mankind in His own image. This is the image/ability of mankind to think, reason, understand, and have emotions. Yes, the world is created by God. It is impossible for something to come from nothing and it is even more impossible for life to come from non-life. The Bible tells us that mankind was created for Fellowship with God, to have a relationship with God in the Image that God created us.

As we all know, Adam and Eve disobeyed God and sinned. Sin separated now sinful mankind from the Holy God. The Earth is a fallen place where sin is being lived out in disobedience, sickness and death, all at the displeasure of God. Heaven is where God's will is being obeyed and Heaven is out of the presence of disobedience, sickness, sin and death.

This is where Jesus comes in. Jesus being God, He created us, yet man's sin has separated us from God. In time, God took on the form of a man (became a physical man). In His body Jesus/God gave Himself and died on the cross, dying in the physical so we can now have a Spiritual relationship with God. Three days later Jesus rose from death (showed Himself to be Alive). Jesus is now Alive and in a Spiritual body. The Bible tells us that our physical eyes cannot see the Spirit/Heavenly realm, just as we cannot see radio waves though they exist.

Jesus said, "My kingdom is not of this world." John 18:36 Jesus is referring to His kingdom where man is reunited with God in the Holy Spirit.

A Christian is a person who acknowledges their own human sinful nature and accepts the Love of God to die on a cross for us. Being God He then Resurrected from death and currently is reuniting us into a living Spiritual Life with Himself/God.

God Bless You All!!!

I understand what you are saying about Jesus is God. To me he's God but not God, if that makes sense. The water comparison is how we explain it in my church. I thought I read somewhere within this thread that Jesus created the world. I disagree with that. I worship God, not Jesus. I think we are thinking the same thing, accept I may have a different view of the trinity. Let me just explain where I'm coming from.

Many people assume that the Holy Spirit, along with God the Father and Jesus Christ the Son, form what is commonly known as the Trinity. The doctrine of the Trinity expresses a belief in one God who exists in three distinct but equal persons. Is the Holy Spirit truly a third divine person, along with the Father and Jesus?

In spite of these assumptions, the word Trinity doesn't appear anywhere in the Bible. In fact, it did not come into common use as a religious term until several centuries after the last books of the Bible were completed.

Notice this admission in the New Bible Dictionary: "The term 'Trinity' is not itself found in the Bible. It was first used by Tertullian at the close of the 2nd century, but received wide currency and formal elucidation [clarification] only in the 4th and 5th centuries" (1996, "Trinity," emphasis added).

The dictionary goes on to explain that "the formal doctrine of the Trinity was the result of several inadequate attempts to explain who and what the Christian God really is ... To deal with these problems the Church Fathers met in 325 at the Council of Nicaea to set out an orthodox biblical definition concerning the divine identity." However, it wasn't until 381, "at the Council of Constantinople, [that] the divinity of the Spirit was affirmed ..." (ibid.).

We see, then, that the doctrine of the Trinity wasn't formalized until long after the Bible was completed and the apostles long dead in their graves. It took later theologians several centuries to sort out what they believed concerning the Holy Spirit.

And by no means are theologians' explanations of the Trinity doctrine clear. A.W. Tozer, in his book The Knowledge of the Holy, writes that the Trinity is an "incomprehensible mystery" and that attempts to understand it "must remain forever futile." He admits that churches, "without pretending to understand," have nevertheless continued to teach this doctrine (1961, pp. 17-18).

Unger's Bible Dictionary, in its article on the Trinity, concedes that the Trinitarian concept is humanly incomprehensible: "It is admitted by all who thoughtfully deal with this subject that the Scripture revelation here leads us into the presence of a deep mystery; and that all human attempts at expression are of necessity imperfect" (1966, p. 1118).

Why do even those who believe in the concept of the Holy Spirit as a third person of a supposedly triune Godhead, along with God the Father and Jesus the Son, find it so difficult to explain?

Because the Bible does not teach it! One cannot prove something from the Bible that is not biblical. The Bible is our only reliable source of divine revelation and truth, and the Trinity concept simply is not part of God's revelation to humankind.

The Holy Spirit, rather than a distinct person, is described in the Bible as being God's divine power.

"I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me." [John 5:30]  
; Is God's will different than Jesus' will ? Why isn't Jesus acting according to his own will ? Isn't he God ?  

 

"For I have not spoken on my own initiative; but the Father Himself who sent me, has given me commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak."[John 12: 49]
; If Jesus is God the Son, how can he accept commands from God the Father while "God the Son" and "God the Father" are the same along with "God the Spirit" ? Doesn't this sound like someone giving commands to himself ?

 

"And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there is none good but one, that is, God." [Mark 10:18]  
; If Jesus is God, why did he mention clearly that he shouldn't be called good and only God should be called good ? (Churchmen will answer : he directed a question at the young man and challenged him to think about what he was really saying about Jesus). Does this make any sense? If I call you 'strong', and you reply by "Why are you calling me strong, only Mike is strong" would this give -in anyway- an indication for me to think if you and mike are the same or if you are strong ? Of course no. Furthermore, If Jesus was challenging the young man, why didn't Jesus mention that he is God after he heard the reply of the young man? By reading the reply of the young man, anyone would conclude that the young man fully understood that Jesus is not God, If Jesus was God, why didn't he clarify this for him and say "I was challenging you, I myself am God and I am Good". There is more, in Verse 10:20, the young man calls Jesus 'Teacher', do you think this is a befitting name for God? Its so clear that the young man understood Jesus was not God.

 

"And it came to pass in those days, that he went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God." [Luke 6:12]
; Why is Jesus praying to God while he is God ? (according to the claim)

 

"But no one knows of that day and hour, not even the angels of heaven, but my Father only" [Mathew 24:36]
"But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no, not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father" [Mark 13:32]
; If Jesus is God, how come his knowledge is limited (no one knows of that day and hour except the Father only) ? Can a God's knowledge be limited in anyway ?  

 

"And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; the Lord our God is one Lord" [Mark 12:29]
; If Jesus is  God, why did he say "the Lord our God" ? Doesn't this explicitly point that he had a God ?

 

"You are determined to kill me, a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God” [John 8:31]
; If Jesus is God, this means he heard the truth from . . . himself ?

 

"So Jesus answered them, 'My teaching is not mine, but his who sent me' " [John 7:16]
; To whom does the teachings belong ? To Jesus? No because he mentioned that its not his. To God ? No because Jesus is God (according to the claim). To whom then?

 
"At once the Spirit sent him out into the desert, and he was in the desert forty days, being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals, and angels attended him." [NIV, Mark 1:12-13]
; According to the verse, Jesus was being tempted by Satan. Can God (the creator of Satan and the universe) be tempted by Satan ?  

 
"Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. "All this I will give you," he said, "if you will bow down and worship me." Jesus said to him, "Away from me, Satan! For it is written: 'Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.' " [NIV, Matthew 4:8-10]
; If Jesus is God, would the Devil promise him that he will give him the kingdoms of the world (while the ALL kingdoms of the world belong to God) ?

; If Jesus is God, shouldn't he have said "Thou shalt worship Me" instead of "Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God" ?
 

The whole mini-series is based off the Catholic beliefs. I wish it was non-denominational. I find nothing wrong with being a Catholic, but I just think it would appeal to more non-religious people if it weren't Catholic based. For example there is nuns in it. They go to the Vatican. If you watch you will see it is Catholic beliefs.

I was just wondering if everyone on these forums think that demons can possess people? I believe that they can. I realize if your religion is Catholic, you would believe in possessions. I guess this is more direct towards non-Catholics. Thank you all. God bless.

If you think Jesus is God, then who is sitting at the right hand of God?


Mark 16, verse 19 (NIV)

19 When the Lord Jesus finished speaking to them, he was taken up into heaven. He sat down at the right hand of God.

I'm no affiliation. I think all the political parties are liars. However, I do vote because it's my right. I guess I vote for the lesser of the evils. I don't think we should use parties. How about most votes wins? It works for me.

1. Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are getting weak?                                

2. Why do banks charge a fee on "insufficient funds" when they know there is not enough?

3. Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?  

4. Why doesn't glue stick to the bottle?

5. Why do they use sterilized needles for death by lethal injection?

6. Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

7. Why does Superman stop bullets with his chest, but ducks when you throw a revolver at him?

8. Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

9. Whose idea was it to put an "S" in the word "lisp"?

10. Why is it that no matter what color bubble bath you use the bubbles are always white?

11. Is there ever a day that mattresses are not on sale?

12. Why do people constantly return to the refrigerator with hopes that something new to eat will have materialized?

13. Why do people keep running over a string a dozen times with their vacuum cleaner, then reach down, pick it up, examine it, then put it down to give the vacuum one more chance?

14. Why is it that no plastic bag will open from the end you first try?

15. How do those dead bugs get into those enclosed light fixtures?

16. When we are in the supermarket and someone rams our ankle with a shopping cart then apologizes for doing so, why do we say, "It's all right"?

17. Why is it that whenever you attempt to catch something that's falling off the table you always manage to knock something else over?

18. In winter why do we try to keep the house as warm as it was in summer when we complained about the heat?

19. How come you never hear father-in-law jokes?            

20. And obviously if at first you don't succeed, then don't take up sky diving!

21. The statistics on sanity are that one out of every four persons is suffering from some sort of mental illness. Think of your three best friends; if they're okay, then it's you.

Never really thought about that...very clever. I like that a lot.

Well, I haven't even heard of this show. What station is it on? When does it come on? What is it about? Who is in it?

I think way to many people are worried about the end of the world coming.

Preach it brother!

NBC's "Revelations" is a fast-paced drama in which an initially skeptical (surprise, surprise) Harvard scientist, Richard Massey (played convincingly by Bill Pullman), teams up with a devout Oxford-trained nun, Sister Josepha Montefiore (Natascha McElhone) to investigate whether the signs and wonders portending the biblical prophecies concerning the "End of Days" have commenced.

It's on NBC on Wednesday night @ 9:00 eastern time. I think I covered everything.

Yayyyyyyyyyyyy!!! Wooooooooooohoooooooooooo!!! Everyone on here is such a blessing. Thank you all for the love. God bless you all! *big ol' hugs for everyone*  

I just pray that Benny Hinn would really know God.    I don't think he is healing anyone. He hits poor crippled people in the head. Show me one scripture in the Bible that reads it's okay to hit crippled people? How is that healing? If I was crippled I would get up and run too. I'd be afraid of getting hit again. How'd you like to get smacked in the head? But seriously I pray for him, and I think we all need too.

I've seen the first two episodes. I'm not to hip on it. I think it's based to much on the Catholic beliefs. I also think a lot of it isn't following the Bible. I think way to many people are worried about the end of the world coming. The Bible tells us no one will know. I'm personally excited about the end of the world. What could be better than going to heaven?!?!? I'm sure heaven is far better than anything I can experience here on earth. Ahhhh...but I will be watching the rest of the episodes to see what happens...it's entertaining. If you catch the rest of the episodes let me know what you think.