6 Christian Questions...i Need To Know!


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Here are 6 questions I asked JoshuaK a Christian who posts on these boards....if you are a Christian I would like you to answer these too....if you don't mind....thanks!

1) How come Christians don't have any Temples? Christ worshipped in a Temple, He went there to teach often and he even refers to the Temple as a house of God....And you can read about Temples all through the Bible....so, why don't Christians have Temples?

{ Temples were built in the old testament church where you see the people went in to have their sins forgiven by a priest. You can read about how God established it in Genesis. Then When Christ died, The viel to the temple was ripped from top to bottom because Jesus I am now the high priest. YOu know longer need to go to a priest to have your sins forgiven. You read about it in the gospels (matt, mark, luke) The early church resided in houses not temples. Another great resource..ray vanderlaan series of tapes he is a historian.)

2) If Christians believe the Bible to be the word of God, literally...then where are your Prophets...God always had prophets to lead and guide his people....why don't Christians have a Prophet?

( Prophets were not their to my recall in the NT) Someone else said the gift of prophecy is still alive and well. That is true. But does god still add to his already existent word the bible. No)

3) Which one of the Christian churches should I go to to learn about Christ and His Gospel...there are so many? I have looked into some and they all teach something that I think is right but then they all have alot of differences...which one is the right Christian church...the one Jesus himself set up?

{ This is a great question!!! Thank you to someone who actually cares about getting truth and not being swept up into the masses of false realigion. First, you are correct many false teachers exist and they exist in prostestant churches and non..so how do you decern. Did you know that the Federal Gov when they want to learn how to spot a conterfeit piece of money they do not study conterfeit money? They study the real thing so that when the conterfeit comes their way they can spot it! There are only two reglions in the world. did you know that? Every reglion including the prostestant reglions can be boiled down to this..They are ethier working their way to heaven in some fashion or they are saved by grace alone not of their own merit. Ask yourself this question amoung prostestant churches..do they believe in infant baptism? Probably a works reglion..do they believe that they have to confess their sins to someone other then Jesus? (works) Do you believe they have to do good things to get them to heaven? (works) Start their and then crack open you bible and get into a good bible study and start learning about your creator.

4) What's the difference between a Christian and a Baptist? Or a Lutheran? Or Pentacostal? Presbyterian? Methodist? Calvinist? Evangelical?

{ Someone said Baptist do not believe in dancing.. hahah I have been in baptist churches. That is not true for ALL of them. Their is a sect of legelistic baptist churches that would like to put church rules on you..don't go to those. Their are some great baptist churches that do speak truth. Personally I would start their..with like a southern baptist church or a baptist general conference church..or maybe a independant baptist..Luthern , broke away from the catholic church but still hung on to some teaching of the catholic church, same thing with methodist. Evangelical free churches can be good but again sometimes they leave things out to not offend the masses. Calvinist...God chooses us and we do not choose him. Again another good place to start..with calvinist teaching. but truely..if you don't have a christian friend that can point you to a good church..then just go get a bible study and dive right in to studing God's word. Great teachers that are worth listening to..

John Mcarthur, kay arthur, john piper, beth moore, josh mcdowell, cs lewis, ray vanderlaan, to name a couple of grounded teachers out there for you.

5) If a person never hears the word of God...(I'm taking those who have been sheltered away from the Bible or denied the Bible such as in China), or never knows of or is taught of Christ....what happens to that person when he dies? Does he go to hell? Don't the Christian believe you have to be Baptised or you go to hell?

{ The answer if they do not accept Jesus christ as their Lord and savior then they go to hell. Baptism does not save you. Baptism should be done right after someone accepts christ. Remember the theif on the cross? Jesus said this day you will be with me in paradise. So what does accepting christ look like? Well 1. reconsizing that you are a sinner and that the payment for sin is death and that you can't earn your way to heaven. Email me if you want further scriputure understanding..2. Acknoledgeing that Jesus paid that penality for your sin on the cross.

3. A repentant heart say' s "Lord, I am uncable of earning salvation on my own..Please forgive my sins and come into my heart as Lord and Savior. Thank you for dying on the cross for me and raising again on the third day.

(Certain words do not get you to heaven...but a repentant heart will "save you"

6) And finally...what does "Saved" mean? I hear Christians say that all the time...even mass murderers on death row...does that me their sins are forgiven and they get to go to heaven with say an honest hardworking man who gave all he could to his fellow man?...do they reap the same reword?....cause if that's the case then I will go out and sin as much as I can (cause less face it, it's fun) and near the end of my life somewhere I'll get "Saved"!

Please answer these questions to the best of your ability....I will be waiting for your reply....oh and please don't answer any of these questions with a question...your direct Christian answer will suffice...thanks!

.....you are own the right track for the word saved..but the bible says a truely saved person will show fruits in their life and will obey because they love God. A truely saved repentant heart will try to not sin. We can't speak for those mass murders..I don't know..it could have been a geunine giving their life to Christ..or maybe it wasn't..only God knows the answer to that. So works do not save you but they are a Huge part in True salvation. AGain read romans..a great resource to understand works.. Also the whole book of James with romans will help you understand how faith and works relate.

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Hopefully, this helps to answer one of the original

questions:

This may come as no surprise to you, but there are

a lot of Catholic Churches in Las Vegas.

Not surprisingly, some worshipers at Mass give chips as

an offering, Since they get chips from many different

casinos, the Churches have devised a method to collect the

offerings They send all their collected chips to the nearby

monastery for sorting and then are taken to the casinos of their

origin and cashed in.

This vital work is done by the Chip Monks.

:lol:

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The gift of prophet seems to have been a temporary gift given by the Christ for the laying of the foundation of the church. Prophets were foundational to the church (Ephesians 2:20). The prophet proclaimed a message from the Lord to the early believers. Sometimes a prophet’s message was revelatory (new revelation and truth from God) and sometimes a prophet’s message was predictive (see Acts 11:28 and 21:10). The early Christians did not have the complete Bible. Some early Christians did not have access to any of the books of the New Testament. The New Testament prophets “filled the gap” by proclaiming God’s message to the people who would not have access to it otherwise. The last book of the New Testament (Revelation) was not completed until late in the first century. So, the Lord sent prophets to proclaimed God’s Word to His people.

Are there true prophets today? If the purpose of a prophet was to reveal truth from God, why would we need prophets if we have the completed revelation from God in the Bible? If prophets were the “foundation” of the early church, are we still building the “foundation” today? Can God give someone a message to deliver to someone else? Absolutely! Does God reveal truth to someone in a supernatural way and enable that person to deliver that message to others? Absolutely! But is this the biblical gift of prophecy? No.

Whatever the case, whenever a person claims to be speaking for God (the essence of prophecy) the key is to compare what is said with what the Bible says. If God were to speak through a person today, it would be in 100% complete agreement with what God has already said in the Bible. God does not contradict Himself. 1 John 4:1 instructs us, “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.” 1 Thessalonians 5:20-21 declares, “Do not treat prophecies with contempt. Test everything. Hold on to the good.” So, whether is it a “word from the Lord” or a supposed prophecy, our response should be the same. Compare what is said to what the Word of God says. If it contradicts the Bible, throw it out. If it agrees with the Bible, pray for wisdom and discernment as to how to apply the message (2 Timothy 3:16-17; James 1:5).

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Baptism is an obedient act after receiving salvatino by grace and grace alone..... Salvation is not dependent upon baptistm whatsoever. When you place ANY conditions upon receiving salvation, you are defying the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. We you are baptised, which means to submerge under water, it is an public profession of your faith and new life in Christ..... Death, burial and ressurrection !!

All sins were forgven at the cross.... Past, present and future sins ....that means ALL......

Remember the thief on the cross..... He was one of the biggest sinners known... Yet, at nearly the end of his life, he placed is FAITH in Jesus Christ and Jesus said he shall be with Him in His kingdon..... He did not have an opportunity to be baptsized nor can you baptized the dead or by proxy.

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Saved means you accept the fact that we are sinners, inherited by Adam and Eve. Saved means that we accepted Jesus Christ, and only Jesus Christ, to be Lord of our life and that we want to love according to His will and His will alone.

Remember the thief on the cross from my last post. And remember it was Grace that saved the sinner. You cannot earn or work hard enough to receive grace...

Romans 8:30 declares, "And those He predestined, He also called; those He called, He also justified; those He justified, He also glorified." This verse tells us that from the moment God chooses us, it is as if we are glorified in His presence in heaven. There is nothing that can prevent a believer from one day being glorified because God has already purposed it in heaven. Once a person is justified, his salvation is guaranteed - he is as secure as if he is already glorified in heaven.

(b) Paul asks two crucial questions in Romans 8:33-34 "Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns? Christ Jesus, who died more than that, who was raised to life - is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us." Who will bring a charge against God's elect? No one will, because Christ is our advocate. Who will condemn us? No one will, because Christ, the One who died for us, is the one who condemns. We have both the advocate and judge as our Savior.

© Believers are born again (regenerated) when they believe (John 3:3; Titus 3:5). For a Christian to lose his salvation, he would have to be un-regenerated. The Bible gives no evidence that the new birth can be taken away. (d) The Holy Spirit indwells all believers (John 14:17; Romans 8:9) and baptizes all believers into the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:13). For a believer to become unsaved, he would have to be "un-indwelt" and detached from the Body of Christ.

(e) John 3:15 states that whoever believes in Jesus Christ will "have eternal life." If you believe in Christ today and have eternal life, but lose it tomorrow, then it was never "eternal" at all. Hence if you lose your salvation, the promises of eternal life in the Bible would be in error. (f) For the most conclusive argument, I think Scripture says it best itself, "For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord" (Romans 8:38-39). Remember the same God who saved you is the same God who will keep you. Once we are saved we are always saved. Our salvation is most definitely eternally secure

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The gift of prophet seems to have been a temporary gift given by the Christ for the laying of the foundation of the church. Prophets were foundational to the church (Ephesians 2:20). The prophet proclaimed a message from the Lord to the early believers. Sometimes a prophet’s message was revelatory (new revelation and truth from God) and sometimes a prophet’s message was predictive (see Acts 11:28 and 21:10). The early Christians did not have the complete Bible. Some early Christians did not have access to any of the books of the New Testament. The New Testament prophets “filled the gap” by proclaiming God’s message to the people who would not have access to it otherwise. The last book of the New Testament (Revelation) was not completed until late in the first century. So, the Lord sent prophets to proclaimed God’s Word to His people.

Are there true prophets today? If the purpose of a prophet was to reveal truth from God, why would we need prophets if we have the completed revelation from God in the Bible? If prophets were the “foundation” of the early church, are we still building the “foundation” today?

The gift of a prophet does not seem to have been a temporary gift in the Bible. It lasted for thousands of years! Given that the Bible was not available to most Christians, much less to most inhabitants of the Earth until the last century, I do not see how creating the Bible a few centuries after Christ makes it alright to shut off revelation to the people.

Continuing revelation was a necessary thing, because circumstances change. The revelation to build an ark did not apply in the days of David or Jeremiah, except metaphorically. There were prophets in their days that received revelation for their day. Noah's revelation did not tell Jeremiah to warn Jerusalem to repent, nor did it tell Jesus that he and the people needed to be baptized by water and the Spirit.

The issue is whether we have the "completed revelation from God in the Bible."

I guess we could ask the Bible what it thinks about your opinion here, as the Prophets of the Bible never seemed to anticipate a collection, such as the Bible. In Revelation, we read that in the last days there would be two prophets in Jerusalem giving a prophecy. Guess that didn't really make it into the Bible, so prophets would be needed again. Of course, Rev 19:10 tells us that the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, so if we claim to have a testimony of Jesus, that presumes prophecy is occurring. Then Rev 14:6 tells us that in the last days an angel would come proclaiming the fullness of the gospel to all the world - why would that be necessary, if everything is already contained in the Bible?

Of course, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:11-14 that we need prophets and apostles, et al, until we "all come to a unity of the faith" in Christ, knowing him perfectly. And we need them so we are not "tossed to and fro" by every dogma that is out there. Given the amount of disagreement amongst Christians (not to mention humans), I'd say we aren't yet to that unity of the faith.

Then, we can look at the collection of the Bible. Is it complete? Or were key books left out? The early Christians frequently used non-Biblical books as canon, including the Books of Enoch, Odes of Solomon, and the Shepherd of Hermas. BTW, the Odes of Solomon predicts a book coming forth in the last days that sounds extremely similar to the Book of Mormon, IMO. And the Shepherd of Hermas teaches of the multiple levels/glories of heaven. And the Book of Enoch, which was quoted 39 times in the New Testament, includes a theophany that is very akin to LDS belief.

So, is the Bible complete, or were there some precious and plain parts that ended up missing out of it? Does the Bible include all the things that were taught in other important writings that were canonized by the early Saints, or were some things lost along the way?

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Baptism is an obedient act after receiving salvatino by grace and grace alone..... Salvation is not dependent upon baptistm whatsoever. When you place ANY conditions upon receiving salvation, you are defying the meaning of Jesus' death on the cross. We you are baptised, which means to submerge under water, it is an public profession of your faith and new life in Christ..... Death, burial and ressurrection !!

All sins were forgven at the cross.... Past, present and future sins ....that means ALL......

Remember the thief on the cross..... He was one of the biggest sinners known... Yet, at nearly the end of his life, he placed is FAITH in Jesus Christ and Jesus said he shall be with Him in His kingdon..... He did not have an opportunity to be baptized nor can you baptized the dead or by proxy.

I think you are reading too much into Paul's grace sermon in Romans. Jesus stated that all must be born of the water and the Spirit to be saved in the kingdom of heaven (John 3:5). Does that not count for anything, or should we ignore Christ's command to his disciples to baptize people unto repentance in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit?

Then again, LDS understanding of grace and salvation is of a near universal salvation. Even atheists, Muslims, and Baptists will mostly be saved in a kingdom of glory. Now, LDS believe in multiple levels of heaven (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-4), and believe that most are saved by Jesus' grace, even without baptism, into at least the lowest of those heavens. Only those who become true and complete enemies of Jesus will enter into eternal hell (Outer Darkness). Baptism is required for salvation in the highest kingdom of God's glory. Grace is not an all or nothing proposition, but is given line upon line, as individuals are ready to receive it. LDS scripture teaches that Jesus went from grace to grace, receiving grace for grace. We are not saved by obedience. Obedience brings grace to us as it changes us into Christ-like beings. Grace can also be lost, as we wander away from spiritual things.

2 Corinthians 12 shows that Paradise is separate from the 3 kingdoms of heaven. And the ancient Gospel of Nicodemus also shows that there is a Spirit World with a paradise in it, wherein people await the resurrection. It is in this paradise that the thief went, where he could prepare for the resurrection and final judgment. Even Peter explained that Jesus went there in his death to preach to the spirits in prison, including those who died in the Flood (1 Pet 4, 3:18). And Paul tells us that there were early Christians who were doing proxy baptisms (1 Corinthians 15:29). Obviously, these are some of the plain and precious things that were lost when the Bible was compiled, but still found in many ancient texts.

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