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This is what Jesus said about seeking Signs: JESUS SAID Matthew 12:39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas

On the contrary, it is written (Acts 2:22): Ye men of Israel, hear these words; Jesus of Nazareth, a man approved of God among you by miracles and wonders and signs, which God did by him in the midst of you, as ye yourselves also know

God can change his mind at any time.

On the contrary, it is said, that in God “there is no change nor shadow of alteration” (James 1:17).

Random question; considering I’m an atheist, if I had to testify in a court of law and was asked “ do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth,and nothing but the truth so help you God”. What should I say?

Say, “It is written in James 5:12 – ‘But above all things, my brethren, swear not, neither by heaven, neither by the earth, neither by any other oath: but let your yea be yea; and your nay, nay; lest ye fall into condemnation.'”

Then fold your hands in a parody of righteousness.

Though election to heaven is unconditional, atonement is limited; not in degree but in scope. Every member of the elect has been unconditionally saved and will go to heaven but only a small percentage of the population will be elected to heaven. God’s justice must be served.

On the contrary, it is written (Hebrews 2:9): But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.

When babies die, they go to Heaven automatically, because they are too young to understand sin. The knowledge of Good & evil introduced SIN into the world from Adam & Eve biting into that fruit of the tree.

Thus, the TREE of KNOWLEDGE of GOOD & EVIL.

Also Bible (Hebrews 5:13-14): For every one that useth milk is unskilful in the word of righteousness: for he is a babe. But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

If we are not meant to know knowledge both good and evil and if the wages of disobeying God is death, yet, souls live forever. So we should be able to live accordingly?! However, God is holy, I feel that with every fiber of my being

Ironically, the Bible later praises men who have knowledge of good and evil:

Hebrews 5:14 But strong meat belongeth to them that are of full age, even those who by reason of use have their senses exercised to discern both good and evil.

It’s actually pretty graphic. It has to do with what counts as properly chaste sexual behavior for married couples, especially the wives.

Hebrews 13:4 Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge.

I read that as anything goes within the bounds of marriage, and it’s nunya bidness what folks do after they get hitched.

Even Christians sin and fall short of the glory of God. That’s why we have salvation and redemption.

On the contrary, it is written (1 John 3:9): Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

I don’t take pride in my sins. There are sins that are not fatal and sins that are fatal (1John 5:16-17)- like abortion and murder. It is a cause for remorse and repentance, not pride and celebration. We are called for repentance now. There is no chance of repentance after death

1 Peter 4:6 For for this cause was the gospel preached also to them that are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.

My favorite so far:

“But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.”

Catholics are allowed to reinterpret, but Protestant theology holds to a “plain reading” so… oopsy

Protestants got that covered (2 Peter 3:8): “One day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.”

Adam lived to be 930 years old, but that was still one GOD DAY. Simple!

Jesus wasn’t any god, Jesus *is* THE God, & He died only for the elect.

2 Peter 3:9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

My relationship with Jesus is quite secure as is my eternity. I don’t need fellow sinful human beings to determine that. Trust me, there is absolutely no Pride here. Just security in my salvation

On the contrary, it is written (2 Peter 3:17): … beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own stedfastness.

There is no sin greater than the other. All sins are equal.

On the contrary, it is written (1 John 5:16):

If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it.

 

2 John

The Second Epistle of John has fewer verses than any other book in the Bible, and almost as few words as his Third Epistle. Unlike 3 John, this epistle is not addressed to a single individual, despite appearances, neither does the author identify himself as John.  When the “elder” greets the “elect lady” he is not addressing a literal woman but a certain church. This is supported by the final verse, which says, The children of thy elect sister greet thee.

There is a theory that the elect lady is actually Mary the mother of Jesus, who was given by Christ himself into John’s keeping at the foot of the cross. If John needed to speak to her, then, it would have been in person rather than with a formal letter, and since she would be living in his own house, or at least in a nearby household that was maintained by John, he would hardly need to tell her in a letter to refuse admittance to false teachers as he does in verses ten and eleven when he commands: If there come any unto you, and bring not this doctrine, receive him not into your house, neither bid him God speed: For he that biddeth him God speed is partaker of his evil deeds.

In verse eight he says: Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward.

This reveals that the “elect lady” is a plurality rather than a single person, and also that this plurality should attend to their own righteousness that they keep their crown in heaven. Of all the persons in the world, one would think that the mother of Jesus would not have to worry about her reward in heaven.

Second John also differs from 3 John in that it actually contains doctrine. The errors of Doceticm and Gnosticism had crept into the church in the latter half of the First Century. Some said that Jesus never incarnated, but only had the appearance of flesh, because they were scandalized that Divinity would soil itself by associating so closely with mere flesh. Others said that Christ was raised as a spirit only, and did not experience a bodily resurrection. John made a point of addressing these issues in his Gospel, when he declared that Jesus was the Word, co-equal with God, made flesh, and described him eating fish and bread with the disciples after the resurrection, which a spirit could not do.

In this epistle he condemns such doctrine in no uncertain terms with a restatement of something he declared in his first epistle where he said: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.

 

3 JOHN

The Third Epistle of John is the shortest “book” in the bible by word count, with 299 words, but the preceding book 2 John has fewer verses (thirteen) while 3 John has fourteen verses.

It is addressed to a certain man named Gaius (a layman who was a member of a church in Asia Minor) as credentials for a traveling party headed by one Demetrius. The unnamed author wanted Gaius to receive this party into his church, and he is confident that Gaius will do so.

He contrasts the famous charity of Gaius with one Diotrephes, the bishop of that same Church, who did not receive the author and his party of evangelists one time. Diotrephes used to shoot off his mouth and use malicious words against the author, and not content with that, he proceeded to cast the author and his party out of this church, which is something he won’t soon forget.

In the meantime, the author needs to do this end-runaround through Gaius so that his men will have somewhere to stay.

There are other Gaiuses named in four other places in the New Testament, but they (or he) were associated with Paul and Greece, not John and Asia. And Gaius was a popular name back then. Caesar’s full name, after all, was Gaius Julius Caesar.

There is no doctrine laid out in 3 John, it is strictly a personal letter, but the overall theme is the importance of hospitality, especially when it comes to men who were working to spread the gospel.  Gaius, for his part, seems to have been a wealthy man. The author did not think it would impose unduly on Gaius to put these travelling preachers up for a spell.

Some scholars believe that the John who wrote the second and third epistles was not the same John who wrote the first epistle and the gospel of John. They make a distinction between John the Evangelist and John the Presbyter who wrote these short letters. But there are certain repeated characteristics of Johannine writings which come out clearly here, such as his catch-phrase, “thou walkest in the truth”. Also, John typically wrote with an extremely clear, ultra-simplistic, almost condescending tone, with a teaching style that reminds one of a parent speaking to a child.

“Beloved, follow not that which is evil, but that which is good. He that doeth good is of God: but he that doeth evil hath not seen God…”

“…and we also bear record; and ye know that our record is true.

John also says he had many other things to write, but he’d rather tell them face-to-face than commit them to paper, which is unfortunate because 2000 years later all we have is the paper.

 

JUDE

Jesus had two disciples named Judah. One was surnamed Iscariot (Yudah of Kerioth) and he was the famous betrayer. The other one was simply (as spelled out in John 14:22) the Judah who was not Iscariot. Since he has been overshadowed and overlooked throughout history, Catholics have made him the Patron Saint of Lost Causes. Often, when newspapers were still a thing, you would find a prayer to St. Jude in newspaper classified ads asking him to intercede in the sale of a house or the like.

He was known as Judas the brother of James in Luke and Acts, and since James was the brother of Jesus, that makes Jude the Judas who is identified, with Joses, Simon, and at least two sisters, as siblings of Jesus. There is a Thaddeus in the list of the Twelve contained in Matthew and Mark, and Jude has traditionally been identified with him to make everything work out.

Jude urges his readers to “Contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.” This postulates that the entire deposit of Christ’s doctrine was delivered and closed by the time he wrote, with no further revelation possible.

When he says, “remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ” he seems to be locating the apostles somewhat back in time, and excluding himself from that group, which is the forger letting his forgery slip.

He uses the same language that the author of 2 Peter uses to answer concerns that the Lord seemed to tarry: “How that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts…’ This is so close to 2 Peter 3:3 (which reads “Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts”) that many believe the author of 2 Peter used Jude as a source.

There is a doctrine among Protestant circles that Christians are “saved” (past tense), and can never lose their salvation, which gives God very little to do on Judgment Day. But Jude asks the reader to recall “how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not” as well as the angels who “kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Jude is saying, sure, no one can take us out of the hand of the Lord once we have been grasped by him…except ourselves, by falling into unbelief.

Jude quotes from the book of Enoch, “seventh from Adam”, which is not part of the Bible canon. He cites Enoch prophesying, “Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, To execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” Since Jude is part of the canon, that makes this small part of the book of Enoch canon too.

But Jude softens it up a bit, soft-peddling the “destroy” part of the original passage in 1 Enoch 1:9 which reads, “And behold! He cometh with ten thousands of His holy ones to execute judgment upon all, and to destroy all the ungodly, and to convict all flesh af all the works of their ungodliness which they have ungodly committed, and of all the hard things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.”

He also paraphrases an incident in a book that has been lost about Satan and Michael quarrelling over the body of Moses. If the holy angel Michael did not rebuke Satan himself, but only said “the Lord rebuke thee” how much more so should we not rebuke human enemies of the faith but only pray for the Lord to make the rebuke. But at the same time Jude calls unbelievers “filthy dreamers” who “defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities” so go figure.