The entire basis of Christianity is God impregnating a teenager without her consent for the purpose of killing his own child.
So arguments like this ignore her fact that Mary clearly “consented” in the Biblical narrative, and also ignore the fact that the Son of God was not “His child”. Lastly, it ignores the fact that Jesus was quite clear that He laid down His own life – He was not “killed” by God
Sin is enticing because it offers a quick route to prosperity and makes us feel like one of the crowd. But when we go along with others and refuse to listen to truth, our appetites become our masters and we will do anything to satisfy them. Sin, even when attractive, is deadly. We must learn to make choices, not on the basis of flashy appeal or short-range pleasure, but in view of the long-range effects. Sometimes this means steering clear of people who want to entice us into activities that we know are wrong. We can't be friendly with sin and not be enticed by it.
Faith is like a muscle -- one which must be "tested" to grow stronger. Imagine lying on a bench press. Standing over you is God, adding more weight to each side. You lift it, struggle with it, beg God to take it off you. But God is right there saying, "Push! I won't let it fall on you! Now PUSH!!" So you keep pushing. When it's over, you're exhausted, but stronger — knowing that with God, you can handle more than you thought you could.... TGIF. Have a great day, SMILE.
To deny that Roman Catholicism is a cult is to repudiate the reformation and mock the millions of martyrs who died at Rome's hands. The "Christ" of Roman Catholicism is just as false as its "Mary." Remember that a cult according to the Word of God is any group of people that worship anything or anyone other than Jesus Christ, and believe anything contrary to His word as recorded in the Bible.
The Israelites didn’t have the willingness or desire to obey God’s commands. Disobeying God comes naturally for mankind (Romans 8:7). Now let me explain their situation.
The generation that had wandered in the wilderness for forty years had all died. The new generation was brought to the plains of Moab. There Moses taught them the same things he had taught their parents. He then turned over his role of leader to Joshua. In the book of Judges 2:11-12 it tells us that the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forsook the God of their fathers and followed the gods of the people who lived around them. Apparently what happened was in just a few decades they had neglected to train their children up in the ways of the Lord (Proverbs 22:6).
Moses had told the parents to continually teach the children the story about their redemption, the miracles God performed, and the contents of God’s covenant with them (Deuteronomy 6:7-9). Each generation needed to be reminded over, and over of God’s faithfulness so that it would not fade from their memory.
Tragically, that happened. The nation served God in Joshua and Caleb’s generation and in the generation of the elders who led the nation after Joshua died. Then “another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel” (2:7-10). The result was a series of sins. Cycles of sin, judgment, cries for help, and deliverance.
Whenever they were oppressed by enemies, the Israelites repented and cried out to God, who would faithfully raise up a judge, or defender, to defeat their oppressors and restore peace. Then the enticements of their pagan neighbors grew too strong and the conviction of their fading memories drew too weak and they sinned again. These cycles of sin-oppression-repentance-deliverance formed a downward spiral in which the Israelites become increasingly corrupt and more like the Canaanites.
When Rome went from being pagan to Christian under Constantine, they had to find a replacement for the great mother of paganism. It was not until the time of Constantine that anyone began to look at Mary as a goddess. Since Mary was the mother of Jesus Christ, she was the most logical person to replace the pagan mother goddess. The pagans could continue their prayers and devotion to the mother goddess, only they would call her Mary. The pagans worshipped the mother as much or more than her son and this is exactly what the Roman Catholicism does. True Christianity teaches that Jesus Christ is to be worshipped – not his mother. The fact remains that Jesus never hinted at the idea of Mary worship nor did any of the apostles. Worshipping the mother goddess along with her child took place centuries before Jesus Christ was ever born in many different parts of the world. In 431 A.D. Mary worship became an official doctrine of the church in at the Council of Ephesus.
Most scholars agree that this Psalm and Psalm 51 were responses to David’s sin with Bathsheba (2 Samuel ch. 11). For a while, David did not ask God to forgive him. When he asked forgiveness from God, and He forgave David. David repented to God.
David uses three words to describe disobeying God: Disobedience, sin, and doing bad things. These three words describe all the ways we disobey God.
Next, David uses three words for what God does: God forgives, God covers, and He does not hold our sin against us: He will save us from going to hell for doing it.
In verses 3-5 we see where David asks God’s forgiveness. A burden was lifted from David when he asked for forgiveness from God and he was once again happy. God always forgives us if we ask Him no matter what we have done.
In verses 6-7 we see that David now feels different. He now feels free from sin. He tells everyone “Pray to God” He means if you sin ask God to forgive you; do not wait”. God was David’s hiding place. God will hide us from the bad times that are sure to come. He will keep us safe.
Verses 8-9 is God speaking now. God will always show us what we should do if we will ask Him. We should be people God can talk to, not like the animals.
In verses 10-11 we see that the people who trust God will not be sad. The only real way to be happy is to ask God to forgive you for your sin. You will have a clean heart then. It will be as though you have never sinned.
Sources: https://www.easyenglish.bible/psalms/psalm032-taw.htm
God is sovereign. Everything that happens must at least have been allowed by Him. At the outset, we must recognize that we cannot fully understand God’s purposes and ways. The book of Job deals with this issue. Job was a righteous man (Job 1:1) yet he suffered much. God allowed Satan to do everything he wanted to Job except kill him (Job 13:15). Job did not understand why God allowed these things to happen but he did know God was good and continued to trust in Him.
Bad things may happen to good people in this world but this world is not the end. God uses those bad things for ultimate lasting good.
These scriptures will help you with this.
John 11:25: Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live,
Psalm 115:16: Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
Romans 14:8: For if we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord. So then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.
Psalm 34:18: The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
James 4:14: Yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.
Psalm 23:1-6: A Psalm of David. The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. …
There are many more verses on this website. I would suggest that you go to this website and read the many verses. https://www.openbible.info/topics/death_of_a_loved_one Another good article to read is at https://www.gotquestions.org/bad-things-good-people.html
Matthew 16:18 “And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”
“Upon this rock”: The word for “Peter”, “Petros, means a small stone (John 1:42). Jesus used a play on words here with petra which means a foundation boulder (7:24-25).
Since the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that Christ is both the foundation (Acts 4:11-12; 1 Cor. 3:11), and the head (Eph. 5:23), of the church, it is a mistake to think that here He is giving either of those roles to Peter. There is a sense in which the apostles played a foundational role in the building of the church (Eph. 2:20), but the role of primacy is reserved for Christ alone, not assigned to Peter.
So Jesus’ words here are best interpreted as a simple play on words in that a boulder-like truth came from the mouth of one who was called a small stone. Peter himself explains the imagery in his first epistle. The church is built of “living stones” (1 Peter 2:5), who, like Peter, confess that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. And Christ Himself is the “corner stone” (1 Pet. 2:6-7).
The word “church” is a translation of ekklesia, meaning “called out” or “assembly.” In the New Testament, it usually refers to a local group of Christians.
In this sense a church is an assembly of baptized believers under the discipline of the Word of God. They are organized to carry out the Great Commission, the administration of New Testament ordinances, and the exercise of spiritual gifts.
When a group of Christians today follows this example, it is a church in the biblical sense of the word. In the New Testament, Christians assembled as churches for fellowship, instruction, and worship and to carry out the Great Commission.
Perhaps the best-known New Testament churches were at Jerusalem, Antioch, Thessalonica, Philippi, Corinth, Ephesus, and the other six cities mentioned (in Revelation 2 and 3).
Every Christian should follow the example of New Testament believers by identifying with a local church, and getting involved in its ministry.
In this, Jesus was telling Peter that His church would be built on the foundational rock of truth, which had just issued from Peter’s mouth. All the blessed (believers in the Lord Jesus Christ), have this truth from the Father.
Jesus promises that the gates of hell shall not prevail against the church. The phrase “shall not prevail”, should be understood as meaning “shall not stand against.” The imagery would then picture the church as being on the offensive against the gates of hell.
While Jesus’ resurrection certainly will overcome the sting of death, it will also enable His church to aggressively and offensively attack the gates of hell (usage as Satan’s kingdom in Job 38:17; Isa. 38:10; Psalm 107:18); by snatching out victims from darkness into His glorious kingdom of light. The church is on the offensive here and hell is on the defensive.
Verses 19-20: The Lord promises to Peter and the other apostles “the keys of the kingdom.” This means that Peter will have the right to enter the kingdom himself, and preaching the gospel would be the means of opening the kingdom of heaven.
The Book of Acts shows us this process at work. By his sermon on the Day of Pentecost (Acts 2:14-40), Peter opened the door of the kingdom for the first time. The expressions “bind” and “loose” were common in Jewish legal phraseology, meaning to declare forbidden or to declare allowed.
Peter and the other disciples (see 18:18), were to continue on earth the work of Christ in preaching the gospel and declaring God’s will to men, and were armed with the same authority He Himself possessed.
What has Rodrogo Duterte really achieved? The most significant is that he has been able to centralize and consolidate power. He controls Congress – both the Senate and House of Representatives. He controls the Supreme Court – even ousting then-chief justice Maria Lourdes Sereno. He was able to imprison his foremost critic, Senator Leila de Lima, on trumped-up charges. Besides having control of the Philippine National Police, he also has won over the loyalty of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.He has indeed achieved political hegemony reminiscent of the era of dictator Ferdinand Marcos without declaring martial law all over the country – except Mindanao, which is under perpetual martial law (thanks to the acquiescence of Congress and the Supreme Court). He was even able to muzzle the press and media people critical of him. He can practically do anything he likes – even if it is against the Constitution, which he regards as just toilet paper.
The Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Heaven are the same things. Both phrases were used by Jesus (Matthew 19: 23-24). Jesus makes no distinction between the terms. In the books of Mark and Luke Kingdom of God is used. Heaven is the same. They all are the same place. It is the place where God reigns.
In Matthew 5:43-44, Jesus says ” Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbor and hate thine enemy. v.44 ” But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” The Lord was saying (“In former days it was okay to hate your enemy (Psalm 79); Psalm 74), Godly Jews prayed for the death of their enemies). But now I (Jesus) want you to love your enemy. Do not pray for them to die instead bless them. The change came because the Lord came to bless men with God’s salvation! On the cross, Jesus said ” Father forgive them for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots, (Luke 23:34). In grace and love, Jesus did pray for their salvation. In Acts 7:60 Stephen was being stoned by his enemies yet he prayed for them asking the Lord not to charge them for their sin. Stephen, like Jesus, was filled with love for his enemies.
Before the crucifixion of the Lord Jesus Christ, the necessities of Him and the disciples seem to have been provided by the charity of other individuals (Luke 8:3). It is probable that after the crucifixion there were no more sources of income and not fully knowing how they were to be employed they returned to their former way of life and that was fishing. The seven mentioned in John 21:2 fished in the sea of Tiberias also known as the sea of Galilee. This fishing expedition revealed the uncertainty of the disciples.
