All good questions. i have asked most of those myself from time to time as has have many. Its been revealed that even Mother Teresa questioned if there was a God or if she made a mistake by becoming a Nun, and this was after she became Mother Superior. I have no doubt even Pope's and the like have as well. and NO I am not Catholic but still respected both John Paul 2nd and Mother Teresa.

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Nana, I have no doubt that you are a woman of great faith but I have one bone to pick with you about your little sermonette.
Everything I am about to say is very clear in the bible and I say nothing that I can not back up with lots of scripture.
The result of the fall of man into a state of sin left Adam and Eve and all of their decendents spiritually dead. There was no possibility of any kind of a relationship with God because of this spiritual death in the natural man. The bible refers to this state in various ways, A dead heart, a heart of stone. We call this the unregenerate man. Man in this state does not have the capacity to believe in the Gospel. As it says in the bible," The things of God are NONSENCE to the NATURAL man. Jesus said, "even if a man rises from the dead they will not believe. So what do these things mean and why do I pick a bone with you about them?
In your little sermonette, three times you use the phrase"I choose". How is it possible for a person with a "Dead heart" that understands not the things of God to choose anything. We who are so throughly tainted through and through to our innermost being with sin Choose to have a relationship with a HOLY GOD that can not face any sin no matter what. No Nana you were chosen by Him. Ephesians 1:4-6 "For he chose us in Him before the foundation of the world To be holy and blamless in His sight. In Love He predistined us To be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ in accordance with His pleasure and will to the praise of His glorious grace which he has freely given us in the One He loves". Notice the word ADOPTED. Babies are adopted by their parents by the choice of the parents. No child chooses their adoptive parents. There is also another very important biblical principal here and that is the principle that we are saved by grace and not by works. If we made an intellectual decision to be a Christian, that would be a salvation of works. As an aside to what I'm saying here it follows that many people that believe that they have chosen God also believe that you can lose your salvation. It logically follows that if you can do something to get saved you can also do something to get unsaved. The bible is very clear on this point however that we are secure in our salvation and that Jesus will not lose one of His own.
Everything that I'm saying here ties into the general theme of the thread about the understanding of the things of God. "The fear of God is the beginning of wisdom" as it says in proverbs. The natural man can not understand anything about God. So what are we as Christians called to do? Well we are called to preach the Gospel and to live our own lives as a witness to the unsaved.
Paul says that "By the foolishness of preaching men are saved" The unsaved hears the good news and then GOD does HIS supernatural work of turning a heart of stone into a heart of flesh. In other words He regenerates the man to a spiritually alive condition which imparts the GIFT of faith and the man believes. It's as possible for the spiritually dead man to believe as it is for the physically dead man to will hinself back to life.
Now Nana I don't want you to think that I think that I am one bit better a Christian than anyone else because I'm not. A proper understanding of our own salvation though does a great deal in helping us realizing just how blessed we are that God chose to save us even when we were totally lost in our sins. It should create a humbleness in us and cause us to look at the lost with love and compassion. Amazing grace how sweet the sound, that saved a WRETCH like me. I once was LOST but now I'm FOUND. Twas BLIND but now I SEE. My god bless you all.

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I'm a stranger in a strange land.

Dave I think that those are all really good questions. I'm going to think about them overnight and attempt to answer at least some of them from my imperfect understanding about the things of God. But before I go tonight I want to tell you that the answer to question 5 is no. If it was possible to lose salvation because of sin nobody would be saved. We are all full of sin. It touches us at all points. One of the great men of God in the bible the prophet Isaiah said "even my good deeds are as filthy rags to a Holy GOD". Understand that these rags that he is refering to are menstrual rags and if you know anything about the Jewish cerimonial law, nothing could be more unclean than that. The great king David was a murderer and an adulterer but was called by God "A man after my own heart". What saves us is our faith in Jesus Christ and our belief that what he did on the Cross paid the penalty for our sins. If a person is saved he will repent of his sins and ask Gods forgiveness for them. The word repent means to turn from. God knows that "The flesh is weak" and we will always struggle with sin as long as we inhabit this body of corruption. This does not give us a green light to sin as we like but we are assured that as we walk closer to him he impowers us to overcome sin . those we fall into he is faithful to forgive us them

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I'm a stranger in a strange land.

I understand my salvation. You simply don't understand my post nor my use of the phrase "I choose" I also don't think you understand what I mean by "live as a woman of faith". We each make choices in life and it is my choice to live as a woman of faith. Did God "choose" me? Of course He did. That wasn't the point of my post. Now it IS the point of yours and that is wonderful. But simply because you desire to make a different point than I do doesn't mean mine is wrong.

Every single day we get up and we choose whether to follow Christ or not. Every single day we get up and we choose to live by faith or to require proof of God's existence.

Now you may wish to pick a bone with me again and that is fine also. I know this: the moment you decide you have no responsibility in your relationship with God is the moment you begin to fall.

best wishes

I still say we do not choose to be people of faith. God chooses us to be people of faith. We do not walk our walk of faith out of our own strength but only as he strengthens us to do so. The moment that God does not hold me up is the moment I begin to fall. The whole question of The free will of man vs the omnipotence of God is a very complex and confusing subject. I have come to the conclusion that any progress that I make in my walk with Him is all of Him and none of me. Any backsliding in my life is all of me and none of Him. I think that we must be very careful not to take credit for any holiness or goodness in our lives. The only reason God can even look at me is because when He does he does not see the foul dirty sinner that I am but sees me washed,white as snow because of what the blood of Jesus has done for me.

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I'm a stranger in a strange land.

And I still say you are not understanding my use of the term.

You're speaking of salvation. I am NOT. I am speaking of how we choose to live. Our salvation is given through grace from God. It is totally seperate from whether we walk in faith or not.

You are using faith to equal salvation. I am using faith to equal the belief in things unseen.


You are attempting to put words into my mouth and you are criticizing me for things I have not said nor do I even believe.

How dare you. How DARE you.

Argue with yourself. I will not even debate or discuss my beliefs with someone who attempts to tell ME what I believe.

You guys wanna see the head of a God less liberal explode? Watch this...


Ok mr science guy, tell me this. The first rule of science simply states; "You can not create something from nothing". You can not argue this rule, it is scientifically irrefutable.

Now, tell me where we came from? The correct answer is, there is no answer, and your beliefs are no more provable than those that belive in God.

Why do you chose to ignore your own physics lessons lol.

Touchy arn't we. I am not criticizing you or am I putting any words into your mouth. I'm sorry you are unable to have a discussion of things with out feeling you are being attacked. I just thought your three fold repeat of the words "I chose"to be something worth thinking about. I certainly am not telling you what to believe, I'm just laying down some ideas that are well worth contemplating. There are all kinds of different ideas in Theology There are Christians that have very different ideas than me. They are always more than welcome to take me to task for anything that I might say. I hope that they always will. I,ve learned a lot in my life from people who think differently than I. I guess I should not expect others to be as easy going about it as I am. There is absolutely nothing that anyone could say about my faith that would either upset me or anger me. I'm secure in what I believe and I actually enjoy defending positions that I take in relation to the things of the Lord. If I haven't got a good answer then maybe I'm wrong about something and I can learn from one who does have some good proofs for their position. From all your posts that I have read I thought that you were someone who could be challenged and rise to the occasion and give a good answer but I guess that I was wrong. With you I won't do it again.

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I'm a stranger in a strange land.

Oh please, do not attempt at this point to claim you were not attacking and being critical. You bluntly stated it in your initial post to me.

Now, I first thought you simply didn't understand. Then I thought you were obviously determined to find fault. Now I think you simply wish to argue.

Yes I said "I choose" three times. Have you ever heard of a three point sermon? Have you ever heard that in order for someone to remember a point it must be made three times.

I was speaking about choosing faith and using faith when we study the scriptures. Not about salvation. However you seem to think you know better about what I think and say than I do.

You seem to think you know a great deal. I'm sure you do. Then I'm sure you know that in the book of Joshua we are instructed to choose whom we will serve. It is our choice. We choose. I choose. Joshua 24:15 is the reference should you choose to read it. If you don't understand the verse and the chapter it is in I'll be happy to suggest a study guide.

You still won't understand. You still will not see that we were speaking of two different uses of the words. And the reason is simple. You choose to see something that never existed in my post, my thoughts nor my beliefs.

When the time comes that you wish to apologize for attacking me, and attempting to place words in my mouth..........know you are already forgiven.

A couple questions:
1. If God is perfect (assuming He is), why does He desire my obediance and worship? That seems to indicate a need and therefore not perfect?
Its for order He is a God of Order, not of disorder. Order is neccesary for peace and justice to thrive. "Order in the court!" "All rise." "Yes, Your Honor."
2. Does God truly loves us unconditionally? If God loves us unconditionaly, why are so many of his children suffering? As a parent myself, I would do anything in my power to keep my children from suffering.
So many of his "children" choose to do things their own way, and follow their own paths. And then his children are under pressure from their enemies in order to break their integrity. And no, God's love is not unconditional
3. I believe there is a battle over my soul as I have experienced the attacks from the enemy firsthand, but why is there that battle? The Enemy believes that you will give in and seek your own will and so you feel the heat
4. Why am I so important to God as to be fought over, yet seemingly so unimportant that I dont feel protected or helped by Him?
Many of the Prophets felt the same way. This is a ploy of your enemy.
5. I believe I was saved, but I think I have lost my salvation due to sin. Is that thinking correct? Adam and Eve were never forgiven. Cain was never forgiven. KingSaul was never forgiven. David was forgiven. Why? Because he asked for forgiveness. BLAM. That simple.
6. When, if ever, will I experience the freedom from sin or temptation?
Soon.
7. Where is the hope that so many People of faith have that I dont?
Look in the creation
I know that's alot of questions. If I had the time, I'd ask a pastor or someone like that.