I don't think I will be an SDA member

[jasd]

QR frame:

"We gather together to ask the Lord's blessing..."; to praise Him; to worship Him; to honour Him; to bring our love offerings; to leave our sin offerings; to seek a special favor for someone in need; to lift up a prayer for the dearly loved; to hear the word of the Lord rightly divided; etc

And, to bring out that large spoon we carry in our pocket and dig in to a bountiful potluck!--to laugh, and scratch, tell funny stories, lovingly admire and compliment the deserving, to watch the innocence of children, etc

We pray Gd to bless you, one and all...

Fill your pantry, and buy ammo: oops, wrong crowd.

[Guest]

Righteousness good.

Unrighteousness bad.

Yep

[Woody]

Praise God He loves and accept me into the Kingdom despite my Unrighteous condition.

[Overaged]

Praise God He loves and accept me into the Kingdom despite my Unrighteous condition.

Arent you perfect like me Woody? Jesus tells us to be, and he would not tell us to do something we could not do? (Mat 5:48)

[Woody]

Originally Posted By: Woody

Praise God He loves and accept me into the Kingdom despite my Unrighteous condition.

Arent you perfect like me Woody? Jesus tells us to be, and he would not tell us to do something we could not do? (Mat 5:48)

Yes OA. I AM perfect like you. Two peas in a pod.

[Overaged]

LOL< Very good Woody! You got the subtly "trick wording" of my post! "like me!" lol, one of the most frightening things to ask some people is to just "be themselves." How frightening to think there might be two of us...

[Woody]

LOL< Very good Woody! You got the subtly "trick wording" of my post! "like me!" lol, one of the most frightening things to ask some people is to just "be themselves." How frightening to think there might be two of us...

[JoeMo]

God is in a really good mood today. He's especially fond of me. He's especially fond of you, too! He looks at us and sees His perfect Son! How can He help but love us?

[Guest]

Originally Posted By: skyblue888

ChristSonofrighteousness

Righteousness is Love.

sky

It's good to see you two on friendly speaking terms.

Has this ever happened before?

:)

[Woody]

Quote:

Has this ever happened before?

Surprise Surprise SUPRISE. To quote the words of a great American.

Richard - I've turned over a new leaf. In the good old Republican tradition of George Bush. A kindler and more gentler approach.

[Nic Samojluk]

Scriptures do not always give specifics, but it does give principles. One of those principles is that we are to live up to what we know. "Therefore to him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin" (James 4:17).

When we know that giving up smoking is good for us, and we don't do it, to us it becomes sin. This goes along with Daniel 12:4 where it says that knowledge shall be increased in the last days. Then in Hosea 4:6, it says that God's people are rejected for lack of knowledge, and because they have rejected knowledge, He will reject them.

So we must go by the "principle". The principle is thus: If science and knowledge reveals that something is not good for you, then according to Scripture, we must live up and do good according to that knowledge received. But, if we willfully go against that increased knowledge, then to us it becomes sin.

It is also in perfect alignment with the principle of treating our bodies as the Temples of the Holy Ghost in 1 Cor. 6:19.

Nowhere do scriptures say, "thou shalt not take cyanide". Nowhere does it say "thou shalt not shoot yourself with a gun". But it does say "thou shalt not kill".

When we put any substance into our mouth, or do anything to harm our bodies in light of scientific or medical knowledge, we are willfully violating the commandment that says "thou shalt not kill". We are also willfully violating the principle of going according to knowledge and doing the "good" that we "know".

There is only one supreme solution to this problem:

The combining power of Christ with our own will power.

Our neighbor was a heavy chain smoker for 50 years. One day somebody made a bet that he could not give it up, and told them they would only do something for him if he did it. Our neighbor one day got so mad, that he threw down his pack of cigarettes , stomped on them, and since that day he has not smoked even once.

Guess how long it has been since he has not touched a pack of cigarettes?

About 15 years.

And he didn't do it for Christ either. He just did it from his own free will.

Imagine just how much more power someone could have if they combined their will with the power of Christ!

So if our neighbor Kenny could do it with NO Divine intervention, and just his will alone, how much MORE is it possible to quit with Divine Aid!!!!

And oh, we could smell it for years!! Now we have not smelled it even once in the last 15 years or so.

You deserve a gold medal for this posting!

[Nic Samojluk]

If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. God's temple is holy. And you are that temple. 1 Corinthians 3:17.

[doug yowell]

Originally Posted By: OzarkWoman

Did he command that we should not smoke?

Have you not already studied this out? Why do you want to quit in the first place, if you don't think God wants you to?

That is a very excellent question.

[Nic Samojluk]

Movie stars quit smoking to keep their faces from shriveling up like prunes so that they can keep making the big bucks.

Atheletes quit smoking to increase their stamina and endurance so that they can win medals.

Politicians quit smoking to be politically correct so that they can win elections.

BUT it is virtually impossible for Christians to quit smoking so that they can enter into the Gates of the New Jerusalem. . .

Very interesting and quite telling!

[Nic Samojluk]

It is easy to quit smoking, I must have quit 300 times.

The evidence you submitted is overwhelmiong! But, are you sure it wasn't 299?

[Nic Samojluk]

Quote:

BTW, it has been 24 hours since I had a smoke. LOLOLOLOL

Praise the Lord. Then it wouldn't be a lie to tell him that you have quit. Although you might need to ask him how long he expects you to be clean.

Right! That wouldn't be lying! Would it?

[Nic Samojluk]

Though smoking itself is not mentioned, perhaps this is the one thing that this pastor sees that OzarkWoman needs to come to terms with. I cannot judge the pastor's thoughts regarding this matter, but I do believe that the Holy Spirit convicts our pastors sometimes and that a good pastor is one who will listen to the Holy Spirit.

This is not saying that the Holy Spirit did indeed convict this pastor, but IF it is by the leading of the Holy Spirit that he received such conviction, then wouldn't even you agree, SivartM, that the pastor should stick with his conviction?

You may have a good point! Jesus asked the rich man to sell everything and give it to the poor? Does God require every follower to sell everything? Did Jesus asks his disciples to sell their fishing boats? Probably not, because after Jesus was crucified, Peter said: "I am going fishing."

[Nic Samojluk]

So, it has been over 96 hours since I last smoked. Maybe this is it. The pastor and his wife have come by my place ,every day and prayed with me. Saturday I am going out to the other church the pastor has so I can hear him speak.

Praise the Lord! It seems to me that you are on the right track.

[Nic Samojluk]

If everyone quits smoking all the people at the cigarette factory will lose their jobs.

Nobody wins at this silly game! lol

Poor people! Think of it--loosing their jobs because another smoker has quit!I have never smoked a cigarette in my life, but after reading your comments, perhaps I should buy a pack of cigarettes for the sake of those tobacco workers.

[Overaged]

Most people who post like this don't really know what they are talking about. They border on presuming to know a person's spiritual standing with God, based on observable physical actions of their victim. I say victim, because as soon as we see someone struggling to over-come something, we turn into holy piranha, and go for their throat. Absolutely ridiculous.

[Nic Samojluk]

OzarkWoman wrote:

“The main reason that I have so much respect for my pastor and his family is because they are the very first pastor I have ever met and seen that actually tries to live what he preaches.”

I have been thinking about your predicament while I was mowing the lawn this morning and I am still puzzled. You seem to have a great respect for your pastor, but you do not want to join his church, but only be baptized by him. You said that your reason is that you do not believe in the organized church.

Have you considered the fact that if it weren’t for the organized Adventist church, your pastor would probably be working in a factory, an office, or some other employment and you wouldn’t have had the benefit of his ministry to you and to others? It is the organization which allows for this kind of spiritual service to be available to us.

At the same time, I do commend you for trying to be loyal to your conscience. If you still feel that being baptized would violate your conscience, I would suggest that you wait until your conscience is clear regarding this issue.

I know people who left the Adventist church for the sake of their conscience. Several years ago the Adventist leaders compromised on the issue of abortion, some leading pro-life Adventists felt that remaining with the church would violate their conscience because their tithes and offering would be used to justify the killing of innocent human beings.

Some of them started independent ministries, some joined the Baptist denomination, some the Jewish community of faith, and some went back to Rome because of the Catholic firm stand against abortion.

Our conscience is not an infallible guide, but it is the only thing we have. When we moved to the U.S. half a century ago, we arrived with 80 dollars in our pocket. We rented a bachelor’s apartment for $65, and were left with $15 dollars for food. A friend helped me find a job as a “call boy” at an Adventist hospital.

When I was scheduled to work on a Saturday morning, I had no problem, but when I was asked to distribute the morning newspapers to the patients I objected. I felt that such activity would be equivalent to standing in a city corner and selling newspapers. Had I agreed to do this then, I would have violated my conscience. My supervisor gave me my check and laid me off.

Today I may not see such action as a sin, but I am glad I refused to go against my firmly held belief, and the Lord provided for my needs.

[Overaged]

Originally Posted By: Stan

It is easy to quit smoking, I must have quit 300 times.

The evidence you submitted is overwhelmiong! But, are you sure it wasn't 299?

Stan can count. That's why he is the BOSS here.

[Overaged]

Today I may not see such action as a sin, but I am glad I refused to go against my firmly held belief, and the Lord provided for my needs.

yes; that is important to do. To make a decision according to the level of knowledge you have.

[JoeMo]

Smoking (or eating pig or drinking beer) will not keep us out of heaven. Quitting smoking (or quitting eating pig or quitting drinking beer) will not get us into heaven. The only thing that gets us into heaven is our faith in the grace of Jesus Christ; made possible by His sacrifice and death on the cross and certified by His resurrection. Saying "keep the Law to the best of your ability, and grace will do the rest" prevents the Law from bringing an end to our self-reliant "sin management" and putting our salvation totally in Jesus' hands. Saying we are saved by grace as long as we keep the commandments to the best of our ability pretty much nullifies the effect of grace; and again puts our hope in self-reliant sin management. Coming to Jesus just as we are is the prerequisite for overcoming sin; overcoming sin is not the prerequisite for coming to Jesus. My experience is when I try to mix grace and the law, I nullify them both; and become "lukewarm". When I focus on my sins, that's what I think about (my sins); giving entrance to repeat my past mistakes. When I focus on Jesus and His grace, my mind is sufficiently filled with the wonder of it all that it practically blots out thoughts of sin. Does that make sense?

Jesus is enough of a gentleman and respects our free will enough to let us choose our way to salvation - grace and intimate relationship, or perfect commandment keeping. I am not sinless; and I don't think I ever will be until I am changed at His coming. Without Jesus and His grace, I am DOOMED to everlasting destruction. My obedience will never impress Jesus enough to assure my salvation. My trust in His grace just might ...

[olger]

Dear Joe. Does adultery have the potential to keep one out of heaven?