Bible Study Seattle

Christians are no longer under the law.  What does that mean?  Can we now steal?  No.  A good explanation:

http://www.yaiy.org/literature/BornAgain.html

When a person repents and is baptized, confessing Jesus as Lord of his life, God bestows his holy spirit in part in them.  In Ephesians 1:13-14 the holy spirit is likened to a down payment.  But does a down payment guarantee that the whole property will be purchased?  No.  It is possible to walk away and forgo the down payment.  God wants to see if a person will grow in grace and truth or stagnate and return to his old ways.  A good explanation of this is;  http://www.yaiy.org/literature/BornAgain.html

“The sayings of King Lemuel—an inspired utterance his mother taught him.

I highly recommend “One God & One Lord” by Mark Graesser, John Lynn, and John Schoenheit.  It will questions many people’s assumptions in a good way.  It is good to know what you believe, even drilling down into very fine points.

The Racovian Catechism is a nontrinitarian statement of faith from the 16th century from the Polish Brethren.  Studying the nuances of various beliefs helps to nail down differences of opinion over selected scriptures.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racovian_Catechism

Did Jesus exist prior to his birth in Bethlehem?  Some say no: http://www.christadelphia.org/archive/preexist.htm

Others say yes.  Those that say no use many convincing scriptures.  This is why it is so important to know the scriptures, all of them.  Just because someone can muster 25 verses in support of something doesn’t make it true.  There may be 43 other scriptures pointing in the other direction.

In the book ‘One God & One Lord’ an interesting point is made.  The boundary between Malachi and Matthew has a page titled, “The New Testament”.  The argument is made that the New Covenant should more properly be placed right before Pentecost.  That is when the holy Spirit was pored out on all believers.

Some people do short term, or medium or long term investing.  But the bible speaks of really long term investing; investing with a payout thousands of years out:

“Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid.  But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”  Luke 14:12-14

The trick to this investing is you have to actually believe there is going to be a real second life.  Most people don’t.  Most Christians view heaven or the afterlife in fairytale terms.

Isn’t it amazing how many relationships fester with unresolved conflict?  The guilty want to save face and are afraid the hurt will retaliate.  So nothing goes said.  These affairs often won’t be resolved until there’s a mediator.  In the second life.  An unbiased heavenly mediator.  Many people will be forced into mediation.  Jesus hints at this:

“As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison.”  Luke 12:58

Those relationships that are at a standstill might be settled as Job.  Notice how the judgment proceeds;  First, God settles with Job.  Then God settles directions with the guilty three ‘friends’.  Then God demands the friends and Job reconcile, with the friends asking forgiveness and Job praying for them.  Isn’t it interesting that the judgment begins with the righteous Job getting a talking-too?  Yes, “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household; and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the gospel of God?”  1 Peter 4:17

In the August 17, 2015 issue of Time magazine:

Fetal tissue is critical to scientific progress

“In recent weeks, antiabortion activists have leaked videos shot undercover at Planned Parenthood clinics in which staff members discuss providing fetal tissue for use in medical research.  The videos are edited to suggest that the practice is sinister and that Planned Parenthood may be profiting from it, which would be illegal.

Fetal-tissue research is legal under specific circumstances – Planned Parenthood has said repeatedly it has not violated the law – and has been done for decades at nearly every leading hospital and medical institution.  Still, the backlash has been swift, with some Republican leaders saying the group should be defunded and fetal research banned.  But this logic confuses the politics of abortion with the scientific merits of fetal-tissue research.  And the latter is indisputable.

The U.S. National Institutes of Health funded $76 million worth of research that uses fetal tissue in 2014, and for good reason.  Over the decades, this kind of research has contributed to lifesaving vaccines for polio, rubella and chicken pox as well as advances in stemcell research that could lead to treatment for degenerative diseases like Parkinson’s.  Historically, these achievements have been overshadowed by the primary source of fetal tissue: elective abortions.”

Wow!  So the ends justify the means?  By the way, babies could receive their own stem cells if the umbilical cord was allowed to pulse following delivery, but U.S. hospitals clamp the cord immediately.  God would never say we have to kill babies to advance science; science can advance without breaking His law.  And those ‘lifesaving’ vaccines are actually doing more harm than good.  Thousands of babies die each year of SIDS.  Conveniently, the medical establishment doesn’t know the cause.  The truth is that vaccines are probably responsible for half of SIDS deaths.