The Bible Archive

Rebecca has aimed and fired her pellet gun and has thrown in
a bit of irresistible grace in the mix with total depravity. Chris doesn?t seem
to enjoy any of my commentary and has stated on several occasions his
dissatisfaction with my view. I?m sure others will weigh in as well. Better do
it quick?you don?t want to be the last person who calls me a heretic.

I thought about tying this into Biblical context, but in all
honesty, I didn?t want to wind up going through a depressing post summing up
some of the cruelest beasts of men who summed up the character of the
anti-Christ. So I?ll keep it light, but have a short preamble justifying what I
thought was the epitome of evil in a fictional character.

Richard…I’m posting this here on the home page as well since I don’t know if you’ll get back to the article to see my reply and I don’t have any way to contact you.
 
I see that you are seeking for God and you hinted
that you knew him at one point. I don?t know the extent of your
knowledge of God or your relationship with Him but I can assure you of
this?if you are seeking Him, He does reveal Himself (Deut 4:29). The Bible tells us
that God is near to those who seek Him. He comes close?and in no wise
will He hide Himself, but reward the seeker with His revelation (Acts 17:27; Heb 11:6).  
 
This
self-revelation is not to get you to join a new club or religion. He
wants you to live a good life filled with good works and a God honoring
family?but none of that matters if you personally are not right with
God (Rom 8:6-8). 
 
In His revelation He seeks men to repent and turn to Him
because there is no way that men can please God in their family life,
their work life or their personal life on their own accord. There is
only one way that God affords His good pleasure to a man and that is by
faith (Heb 11:6). Faith isn?t something you work at or pray that you?ll get but
trusting Him. You must look to God as the only one who is trustworthy (Heb 10:23),
the only one who offers salvation and access to His presence, the only
one who can turn your state of not being a friend of God to being a
full blown son of God?not by teachings or morality or going to church,
but by believing on the One that God sent to fully reveal Himself to
men.  
 
God has revealed Himself in many ways but when the Son
came He revealed God to men in His entirety (Heb 1:1-2; John 1:18)):. The Bible says that if you
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you will be saved?and we?re not
talking about an empty belief here in a religion or a church. We?re
talking about repenting of your sin (1 John 1:9) and looking to Jesus and what He
did on the cross as your only hope of peace with God, trusting that
Christ has paid the price and that now you can be saved (Rom 5:1-12). 
 
It
gets even better Richard. God, who is rich in mercy, in His revelation
has shown that Jesus Christ not only died, but He rose from the
grave?powerful and proving to all mankind that God is right and men are
wrong. This is the point Richard, men are at the crossroads?do they
believe or don?t they? Where do you stand?  
 
I would love to
email you privately if you want to discuss this in further detail, but
I?ll tell you now that you don?t have to do a fancy prayer or any
catechisms or sayings to get saved. Repent of your sin?that?s the hard
part, realizing that you (just like me) are a sinner?then pin your hope
and trust to Jesus Christ and He will save you because He has already
provided a way for you to be saved (John 3:16). If you want to write me, contact me
in this comments section or this one or email me at webmaster@biblearchive.com

I was comparing notes with a couple of the Geek Friends the other day on our methodology in our gathering. Jerry (a charismatic) suggested that he, Curt (a Baptist), MCF (a catholic and absent from the conversation) and myself (so called Plymouth Brethren) took a Sunday off and visit each others? church. Since I don?t see it happening in the near future ( Curt is in the choir and Jerry is some sort of prayer leader) I figured I would take people into a standard meeting at our assembly. So come on in, it?s Sunday and 9:25 and the brothers and sisters are inside preparing for the meeting.

When I write an exposipost I often quote or make allusions to verses. Many times I even refer to a passage to make the connection of thought. I don?t like outright quoting a block of verses online but encourage the reader to study. Normally I would end my posts with a block of chapters (and occassionaly specific verses) of where I studied so that the reader can go back and see for themselves. How is this working out for people? Would you rather I inserted verse references in the actual post (like this John 3:16) or would you rather a combination of the two or should I keep them at the end like I’ve been doing? Note that I am going to keep making references?just wanting to find out which placement helps you out more. Let me know by commenting on contacting. Thanks and God bless you.

Example of Verses in Text
Example of Textual Summary

Should I be panicking? Rebecca has flagged me down pointing out that my post questioning total depravity is in line of sight of her duck-pelting gun. She?s a Reformed theologian with a tremendous level of skill and a great mother able to multi-task adeptly who has dealt with her kids while simultaneously defending penal substitution against Wink. Her clear writing, lucid thinking and sharp usage of the Word has placed her on my Great Reads list. Thankfully her double-sided lightsaber has not been fully constructed but when it is, prepare to see my writing arm sliced off. ::cue Imperial March::

This is not Evangelical or Fundamental or even popular. This is pure Geekdom posting?and since I often crossover I felt compelled to promote MCF’s Blog Party over at the Nexus of Improbability.

Here’s a snippet:

You’re all invited to blog about the following topic next Monday:
Your Top Five Villains of All Time, from Comics to Cartoons to Television to Film

So calling all fans of the occassional frivolity?get your articles, cake and volleyball nets ready and submit a link to MCF’s Blog Party. You’re all invited!

Jeff (FirstPete315) is going on a missions trip to Jamaica. Pray for him and fruit on the trip.

Pray for Andrew (Weapons of Warfare) tomorrow. More info at his site.

Well, my mother-in-law is staying with us this week and my sister-in-law stayed with us this weekend?God bless them. They?re good folk, very helpful and never offering unwarranted opinions on what?s going on knowing that if the doctors don?t know, they?re not going to know either.

My wife is feeling fine?just tired from the increasing weight of the baby. The doctors don?t have a clue what happened and so far they seem to be looking at the slurred-speech incident as separate from the stomach event although they happened in virtually the same time. We found a G.I. by the grace of God who is also affiliated with Mount Sinai and has proficiency with motility issues and we?ll be seeing him on Friday. Pray that the visit proves fruitful?we?ve been looking for a new GI for a while, gave up and then because of this recent incident decided it?s best to get one.

Also we may be going to have Sy go to his first dentist appointment. It?s pretty much a get-acquainted type visit but he?s had a history of dealing with doctors and I?m not sure how he will react. Pray for me as I pray for you. If you have a prayer request you can always email me and I will post it. If you wish to keep it private let me know and I?ll simply place you in my prayer book.

?The voice of God was in the small still voice?God speaking
to the heart!? I don?t know how many times I?ve heard this well-intentioned interpretation.
In fact, I?ve heard the metaphor used enough times on Oprah (?listen to your
small and still inner voice?) that it makes me slightly ill. Too often we see
people circling key verses and making a theological playground out of the Word
of God.

Woah! I just noticed that I?m listed on Mike?s site (Eternal Perspectives) as a Theological Source. Feeling a whole lot of blush on my dark-skinned face right about now. This also forewarns all you theologians out there to keep a bag of meal nearby like good ol? Elisha. In the off chance that poison slips into the food of our very public theological school and potentially wind up poisoning the lot of us we need to keep a whole lot of that meal of the Word of God handy to add it to the comments section pot.

Clicking "read more" will give you the verses.

I have a new poll up: What is the best movie of all time. If all the selections stink, choose "None of the Above" and put your answer below in the comments section of this post.

The results are in from the most recent TBA poll. The
question being ?If I had access to a new vehicle it would be??. Out of 32
votes, 9 of them (the majority) voted for the Silver Surfboard. Those of
Geekdom may recognize Norin Radd?s post-conversion mode of transportation. Made
into Galactus? herald to save his planet Zenn-La, Norin Radd was transformed
into Galactus? Herald?the Silver Surfer. He would traverse the cosmic pathways
seeking for a new planet for Galactus to devour. Long hours, little pay and no
vacation time. Sure the Silver Surfer eventually revolted, saving Earth in the
process, and started riding the cosmic wave in search of Zenn-La. Geek Friend MCF would
surely tear this origin post apart.

Runner ups consisted of Doc Brown?s Time Traveling DeLorean,
Star Trek?s Defiant (I thought this would be the winner, in all honesty), an
imperial speeder bike, Batman?s Batwing and lastly the Nautilus.

I have received many notices of people praying for my wife
and I for that I am greatly encouraged and humbled. A body underneath the head
of Christ Jesus offering up prayers for each of the members bears testimony to
my own heart as well as the world. Although our situation is increasingly
getting better and we constantly rely on the Lord?s wisdom as we find a G.I.
and pray for the best we can sympathize and pray with others who have found
themselves in very tough situations. My thoughts on Elijah will inevitably hit this topic, I’m sure but in the meantime links wound up popping up which may deal with this issue if
not directly, tangentially.

Stephen?s wife asks ?why read Job??

The suffering of the righteous and the success of the sinner
from Psalms 73

Studies on Elijah: Testings by the brook

Shane finds his father and loses him in one day. Very moving
post.

Atheists answer the problem of evil? be rational about it. In another article they point out how their answer to the World
Trade Center
massacre is the most sensible: Get rid of religion before religion destroys the
world.

Razor’s Kiss disappointment from not answering scoffers.