6 Answers

denying ones self of earthly pleasures and enter into the spiritual nature of gods plan

13 years ago. Rating: 1
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i'm not sure ... i see you have a lot of answers. unfortunately, i'm rushing off ... my friend had her baby in a child's wading pool. yes, really. she had a doula, of course and it was all planned. her baby was ... "of water"

13 years ago. Rating: 1
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Good grief Norm1. Give it a rest. This forum isn't a pulpit, it is to ask questions and give answers. Think about why nobody in your family wants to discuss the bible with you.

13 years ago. Rating: 0
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I am sorry if I have overstepped my bounds. I have not seen the rules for participation. I know one thing, if someone fails to go the heaven because I didn’t clearly explain the Scriptures that would be very sad. Thanks for caring about me.

13 years ago. Rating: 0
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My story: I was raised in the Methodist church. In my teenage years I met a young man and I decided to convert him. I quickly found out that though he was only about 15 at the time he knew more Bible than most adults. I told him what I believed and he politely said, “It really doesn’t matter what you believe it’s what the Bible says that is important.” Then he would quote a scripture that dealt with the subject. I responded, “But my church teaches…” And again he politely said, “It really doesn’t matter what your church teaches it’s what the Bible says that is important.” Then he would quote another Scripture that dealt with the subject. In my desperation I went to the preacher and he told me what the Methodist Church doctrine says. I told this to my young friend and politely replied, “It really doesn’t matter what the Methodist doctrine says, it’s what the Bible says that is important” and he quoted another Bible passage that dealt with the subject. We continued this discussion for two years. Finally, like the prodigal son, I came to myself. I said, “Mom always taught me that the Bible is God’s word and that we should do what it says. Now I find myself defending the Methodist doctrine and constantly try to explain away what the Bible clearly teaches. When I was 18 I accepted the Bible as the last word on every matter. I am almost 72 and I have never regretted that decision. It gave me solid ground to stand on. It cost me to leave the Methodist Church. My father had passed away and I was lonely but Mom decided that I had disappointed her so badly that she left me in Pennsylvania and moved to Florida for a while. My closest sister threw the Bible at me and said I had gone to the devil. None of my “Christian” family has ever wanted to carry on a conversation on the Bible with me since. I love my family and I ache inside that the thing I hold most precious has divided us. I hold to the principle: Speak where the Bible speaks and be silent where the Bible is silent. Let the Bible interpret the Bible by comparing Bible passages with Bible passages.

13 years ago. Rating: 0
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Nicodemus would have understood “born of water” to mean baptism because of the Jewish practice of baptism. John 3:5

(William Barclay p. 115) “Now this was not an idea which was in the least strange to the people who heard it in New Testament times. The Jew knew all about REBIRTH. When a proselyte came into Judaism, when a man from another faith became a Jew, when he had been accepted into Judaism, by prayer and sacrifice and BAPTISM he was regarded as being REBORN. “A proselyte who embraces Judaism,” said the rabbis, “is like a new - born child.” So radical was the change that the SINS he had committed before his reception were ALL DONE AWAY WITH, for now he was a different person. ...The GREEKS KNEW the idea of REBIRTH and knew it well.”

(Pulpit Commentary pp. 112, 115) “...it may be PROVEN that the rabbis regarded proselytes as a “NEW BIRTH,” and one produced or BROUGHT ABOUT BY circumcision and BAPTISM.”

(Adam Clarke p. 531) “Of water and the Spirit. To the BAPTISM OF WATER a man was admitted when he became a proselyte to the Jewish religion; and, in this BAPTISM, he promised in the most solemn manner to renounce idolatry, to take the god of Israel for his God, and to have his life conformed to the precepts of the Divine law.”

13 years ago. Rating: 0
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