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The Book of Revelation: Future, Present or Past?
The book of Revelation opens with the following verses: The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to shew unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John: 2 Who bare record of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, and of all things that he saw. 3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand. Please note the emboldened text. And then the book concludes in this way (chapter…
- Creation, Encouragement / Advice, Kingdom of God, Walking in the Ways of the Creator, YHVH Elohim/God
What is the Will of God?
Growing up in Christianity, I came to understand the Will of God to essentially consists of loving God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength & loving your neighbor as yourself. And we do the latter by applying the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Loving Your Neighbor As Yourself When I was young, I had a hard time with the phrase “as yourself” in the loving your neighbor part, because I struggled with negative feelings of self-worth. I remember when I was in middle school, at the age of 12 or 13, I had this notion that other people were more…
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The Creator is God vs God is the Creator
For most of my life I’ve understood God to be the Creator and Source of all life, as if “God” was the identifying label for that Being who created the heaven & the earth and gave life to the vegetation & all the creatures He formed to inhabit it. I understood it that way because I was introduced to God through the religion of Christianity coupled with the Bible. I proceeded to understand who God was based on what I read in the Bible. But here, recently, I’ve been reframing my understanding. I acknowledge the Creator & Source of all life exists first & foremost. And, I consider Him to…
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Calling Upon the Name of the Lord
This afternoon I was reading an article found at an Assembly of God website entitled, “How Can I Be Saved?” In answer to that article’s question, the author referenced three passages: Romans 10:13, Joel 2:32 and Acts 2:21 that all essentially say the same thing: “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.” And this brought to my mind the passage at the end of Genesis 4. 25 And Adam knew his wife again; and she bare a son, and called his name Seth: For God, said she, hath appointed me another seed instead of Abel, whom Cain slew.26 And to Seth, to him also there was…
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Was Their Rebellion in the Garden?
I recently came across two different people referring to Adam & Eve’s act of eating the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden as an act of rebellion. One said, “Humans chose to rebel while in paradise.” and the other said “Adam and Eve…rebelled against the wisdom and authority of the Creator…”. That prompted me to respond. Did Adam & Eve really “rebel”?
- 3-Grass, Seed-Yielding Herbs, Fruit Trees, 6-Living Creatures on Land, 6-Man and Woman, Creation, Garden of Eden, What About? verses
Did the Creator’s Design Change After the Fall of Man?
Many seem to think that the creation established in the beginning was later altered by God and that He instituted physical death, in response to the Fall of Adam in the Garden of Eden. However, upon careful examination of the stories found in Genesis 1-3, I draw a different conclusion. In the Garden of Eden Genesis 2 tells us of the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good & Evil that existed in the Garden of Eden. The created man (both male & female) was placed in that garden. And while the man was told by God that he could eat of any tree therein, he…
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What Does It Mean to Be Perfect?
I came across a comment on another website yesterday from an apparent Bible believer that indicated his/her belief was that humans are not perfectible. And that begged me to respond. Humans Are Perfectible According to the Bible, in Genesis 6:9, Noah is described as being perfect. These are the generations of Noah: Noah was a just man and perfect in his generations, and Noah walked with God. Then in Genesis 17:1, we see that YHVH told Abram to be perfect. And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the LORD appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect. The Hebrew word translated as “perfect” in these verses is “tamiym” (H8549), and according to Brown Driver Briggs, it means “complete, sound“. This word is used all throughout…
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The Bible is Not the Inerrant Word of God
For most of my life I was led to believe the Bible was the inerrant Word of God. I heard that phrase repeatedly and never questioned it too much. But now I see that is not the case at all. What I Used To Believe When I was young, I was exposed to a Christian “catechism” that stated, when asked the question, “Who wrote the Bible?”, “Holy men of God wrote the Bible” was the answer. So, I acknowledged the idea that the Bible was written by men (as opposed to God Himself). When I tried to understand how this book could be considered “the Word of God”, I could…
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The Problem with Faith-based Communities
My husband recently started making videos discussing his ideas regarding intentional communities, which is a subject we’ve talked about for many years. We understand the need for community in real life at the local level in order to survive & thrive outside the control of powers-that-shouldn’t-be. But what should that community look like? This morning he recorded & posted a talk I did with him at his YouTube channel sharing what I see to be problematic with faith-based communities. This is part one of a series we entitled Faith- vs. Value-based Communities. Please check it out and let me know what you think:
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Updates to the Website
What’s New? Please check them out, and let me know if you have any questions or concerns and if you need me to clarify anything with what I said. I still need to go through more old posts to update them with my current understanding, so if you come across something that seems to contradict something elsewhere on this site, please bring it to my attention in the post’s comments of the post, and I’ll address that next. Also, I would love to hear from you as to where you’re at in your understanding as it relates to: And if there’s anything in particular that you’d like me to address…
