John wrote: > You have (twice now) gone out of your way > to present me as a dunce.
I have done no such thing, John. If you feel you have come out looking like a dunce, don't blame me. I am trying real hard NOT to make you look that way. John wrote: > The least you can do, in view of my perceived inabilities, > is to work with me on the matter. You're the one with the > PhD - not me. And I must bow to that accomplishment > (for the time being). I have no Ph.D. That was made up from someone north of us who was scorning me. TruthTalk is meant to be a place where we are all on equal footing, where the person with a third grade education can talk with the person with 5 Ph.D.'s . None of us should be bowing to the accomplishments of each other, but rather working together on an equal footing, discussing our insights as we see them. You put way too much stock in formal education with this paragraph. You are much more trained formally in theology and Bible than I am. It saddens me that I have to keep reminding you of how ignorant I am in this area. I have never had any kind of religion class in my life. I read books, and I talk with others. That's it. You have the advantage over me. John wrote: > You are the scholar, here, not me John, a scholar is just a student. I do not allow my lack of formal education in Theology to make me feel inferior in mind or ability. That's all you see. I'm not afraid of the Ivy League graduates like Joseph Thayer who has some credentials after his name. Jesus taught me not to seek for such positions and I trust him to teach me what I need to know in these areas. As for speaking in tongues, I believe such is the evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit, just as your Foursquare denomination believes. I do not believe that speaking in tongues is the evidence of being born again by the Spirit of God. As for the atonement covering past sins, I believe this to be true concerning our experience of it. If a Christian were covered for future sins, then when he sinned, he would not experience any guilt or consequence whatsoever. In my experience as well as most honest people I know, if they sin after coming to Christ and experiencing his cleansing grace, they experience guilt and the sense of fellowship lost. There is Biblical evidence for this too (in 1 John). None of this means that they lose their salvation the moment they sin. This is a complicated subject that I do not care to digress toward right now. How is it we are descendants of Adam if mutations happen? Well, mutations don't completely destroy the entire genetic code. They effect various alleles in various ways. They account for how the black man looks different from the Asian who looks different from the Anglo-Saxon, even though all are descended from Adam. Why are the mutations of our bodies not reversed immediately upon being born again? There is a long answer to this that I don't have time to get into right now. How about we start with the acceptance that the Scriptures teach this to be the case. Did you experience any changes in your physical body when you were born again? Did any birth marks or moles suddenly disappear? As for the dissimilarities, John, perhaps that illustrates why I don't understand you. The context is the fall of man, of Adam, and you spoke from this context without this. How? Such makes no sense to me. So, when you asked for my concise summary, I inserted what I thought was necessary to make some sense out of it. Maybe now you understand why I did not accept your invitation to correct you. You wear me out with this attack, attack, accuse, accuse, attitude. Peace be with you. David Miller. ---------- "Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer every man." (Colossians 4:6) http://www.InnGlory.org If you do not want to receive posts from this list, send an email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and you will be unsubscribed. If you have a friend who wants to join, tell him to send an e-mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] and he will be subscribed.
