This is a part of what people today call free will. We have the choice to do what is right or we can do what is wrong.

I agree with Pr Roger.  It is a TREE and Eve plucked fruit from it.  Nothing more,  nothing less.  It is a matter of free will.  God has given man choice and freedom to choose.
To see why God put the tree there in the first place, imagine if He did not!  Then it would mean that God does everything and man has nothing to do.  We would all be robots.  Nothing in our hands, loving would be without choice, there would not have been emotions in the first place.  I am not saying we are better off now   but it was the will of God that He grant us this freedom of choice.

As we all know we abused the freedom He gave us.  Yet He paid the price for it! God is good and His grace endureth forever!

It is God's desire for all men to come to Christ, however we know that God has given man free will to choose as they may. However that does not mean that because we may not see it or know it that they won't be saved. We don' know people's hearts the way God does. But we have the faith and the ability to pray, withor giving up. Who knows, we might find people in heaven we would never thought would make it, and we might be missing some we were sure would. All we can do is keep loving them, praying for them, and gently leading and teaching them.

Amen! airIam2worship.  We will be surprised to see 'certain people' there.  Ultimately it is God's judgement.  Like pointed out earlier, we will never know man's heart.  To an extent we know by the fruits, but there is a lot hidden from each other, which He only can bring out and throw away for good.

They may accept Jesus tommorrow...or not. We need to pray and love them as they are.    Continue to have discussions and pointing to Jesus.

We do all this...the Spirit is willing but the flesh is not!! and we (I) log on to a forum and ask 'Will Jesus ever give up on a non-beleiver?'!

God holds you responsible only for "delivering the message".  It is not your job to see to it that those to whom you present the Good News are saved.  That's between them and God.  You are the "planter" and the Spirit is the "waterer".  Repeated "preaching" could actually drive people away from the Lord.

Yes! I totally agree.  I was mentioning about those who keep coming back, or who you are around and they come up with problems they face.  Being a Christian I have to point them to Jesus.  And all the time they seem to go the other way!  At times I have resorted to 'secular' solutions - though they are so much woven with biblical principles, I just dont mention the name Jesus.

The point is they are there, they keep bringing back the 'good news topic'.  I keep presenting.  With this group I dont voluntarily present delivering message.  There dilly dallying can be unnerving sometimes.  They dont plainly reject it.  It is like they are toying with the idea..

I had participated in a christian forum years ago and had forgotten its address.  I searched for 'christian forums' in Yahoo! and landed here

p.s. I have not found the other one yet

It's also true that we can learn from the babes and know that GOD reveals much that we can all benefit from. "Out of the mouths of babes" is not just an irony, rather a reality, and all Christians can learn together.

Amen! Tom,

I can never agree more.  God has taught me a lot when I got prepared to 'parent' the newborns.  They raise many questions that I had earlier and lot more.  Holy Spirit has guided me to give them the perfect answer- which I could not have mustered up ever!  On the contrary God has spoken to me many times, and He has touched me at the right spot where I lacked, through babes.  God has even comforted me through them.  And they themselves exhibit higher maturity, at times and bowl us over!

I prayed that Jesus will lead you by arm to read this!  Praise the Lord!! 

Hey Grommie,

I am writng this hoping that you are still around.

I do not have a child like yours.  I do have children in Christ, that whine and complain, rebel, hurt and turn tables just for the fun of it.

One thing I struck me is that you should let God work on you before you want Him to work on your daughter.  Why? because you came first, you are supposed to have experience, and she's taken after you.  You (and your ex husband) have provided such an environment for her that it is a passtime for your daughter to irritate you.

Please, hold on with the searing   I am not being judgemental.  From my experience (learnt form my life and others') it is us that need reproof first. 

Only when I am the problem, there can be a solution.  When I dont think i am the problem then there is no solution at all!!

I dont know how God is going to deal with this.  I know one thing it is going to be pretty tough on you, but you will thank Him.  Because by that time, you would have forgiven yourself and others, you would have stopped thinking moving near to parents as a mistake, you would have started showering love on your parents,  you would have stopped being a rebel and become taller than your problems, you would be on your knees for yourself and family.  You would have the assurance of salvation and citizenship in heaven.

Begin by thanking Him that you felt it now than later when worse can happen with your daughter.

I am a son and I know.  Consider me your son and take this suggestion to heart.

Thanks

Hello Sharon,

Come on in!! Stay as long a you want and keep visiting us!

RKJ

This is one reason why I feel bad about babes in Christ who are deserted shortly after they become saved. Someone needs to feed them, nurture them, and show them the way to become strong Christians.

AMEN!   I also feel that we Christians should stop collecting tickmarks to our 'souls list'.  Instead, prepare and arm themselves with love, support, guidance and strength of the Holy Spirit and be ready to walk the extra mile for His sake (not for our 'satisfaction').  We all should stop referring them to Pastors/Elders and keeping away, but also be a part of their reformation and growing.

This statement can never be uttered in a gathering.
It may be used when having a one-to-one conversation
Its got to be well presented with proper explanation
Only when detailing salvation

Gotcha

Got it!! Thank You Dreamweaver, Pastor Roger and Blackeyedpeas!!

You guys are real stalwarts in Christ.  You all fragment every issue easily and pack them well.  Guess, it is all byproduct of a long walk with Jesus!!

Totally agree.  The realization that I am not under sin's control came because of what He did on the cross.  I can never boast of my efforts.  Praying and remaining under His blood is all I can do in the present, thus future.   I continue to do so everyday lest I become self righteous.

I am very careful in not doing so.  I guard my tongue and actions in that manner. 

I know you guys have explained enough But still... can you say categorically?

Jesus has forgiven sins - past, present and future

1. Yeah, that's true
2. No, It is not true
3. Its is very misleading and unnecessary
4. can't imagine you are asking me
5. Others ------------------------------ (in about 5 words! 'You stink' is not allowed )

While we may yet sin while in the fleash if we are truly saved we will feel guilt for having done so. There may be times that we sin unintentionally and for that reason we are covered by His blood for those sins. God did this because He knows that we are weak and He is a merciful God.

Actually I was meaning the unintendend sins only.  I strongly beleive and obey that sinful habits should stop, and I have been able to overcome all of them (to my knowledge) by His grace.  I am sure He will continue to pull out weeds.

It was the uniinended sins that i ws bothered about.  I may not intend it, but by my sinful nature i may hurt someone or myself.   And that may be a multitude of them!! .  That was my worry.  I did not want to lose witness by that and the guilt (false guilt i suppose).

I want to strongly beleive that 'all my past sins are forgiven following repentance and confession through His Grace and i should tread very carefully thereafter'.  But the fear of losing witness was kind of limiting me in various ways.  it stopped me from going all out.  Something kept telling me that I was not going to make it till the end.  That is when the thought came to me that by His Grace I will be able to....as all my sins are forgiven (will be forgiven when with true repentance and confession).  I did go through the Bible and sort of got convinced.

This releived me to a great extent and encouraging to step out for Jesus.

I echo again that it was the unintended sins i implied and not continuing in the old sinful ways

Dreamweaver, you endorse.. .  Actually nobody seemed to explicitly teach this, perhaps because of the possible bad results.

Praise God!!

Just one more.  We used to go for a yearly 3 day convention in a village very far off from our city, during summer.  It was conducted in a Bible college which was about 6-10 kilometres away from the highway.  Buses drop us at the highway and we needed to wait for a van from the Bible college to pick us up. 

Our grandma had taken me and two of my sisters.  i was 11 and my sisters 12 and 14.  We were waiting in the hot sun for the van for a long time.  they were many others too.  I and my sister(14) thought we would will reach the college somehow and intimate them to send the van.  We rented a bicycle without realizing how far it would be and how dificult it would be for me to pedal, with her in the carrier.

We just took off with all the adults looking on.  we took turns in pedalling and were exhausted soon enough.  we could not move an inch.  we could not go back also.  Just in time a hefty man came by and put my sister in his bicycle and started to ride on.  i followed him only to realize how far the college was.  When we did reach the college, the man did not come in.  he just dropped us at the gate and stood there watching us till we walked into the reception area. 
everyone there were surprised that two kids could ride on bicycle this far.  We looked at the gate and he was not there!

i and my sister look back and always thank God for the angel he sent!  Or was it Jesus Himself?!!

Well, when the van arrived we were left out on the road with everyone rushing to climb in!!!  That is another story