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Where Do Dead Christians Go

Apart from many scriptures which say things like "the dead know nothing", "in the day that they die all their thoughts perish", "they have no more a portion in anything that is done under the sun", even Martin Luther and William Tyndale believed, based on scriptures, that we sleep in the graves until the resurrection. ''We shall sleep, until He comes and knocks on the little grave and says, "Doctor Martin, get up! Then I shall rise in a moment, and be with him forever.' - Martin Luther

Tithes From The Gross Or Net

Jerry I agree completely. My comment was directed toward normal people who don't own their own business. Someone who owns their own business is in a different position: I believe they should tithe on whatever their increase, or profit, is, excluding the overhead. Common example, you purchase a shirt for $5 and sell it for $10. Your increase is only $5 so that's what you'd pay tithe on. Not the whole $10 you sold the shirt for. Sorry about the misunderstanding. :-)

Tithes From The Gross Or Net

Tithing is done on your "increase" according to scriptures (Deut. 14:22,28, 26:12, etc). So that would mean you pay a tenth (the meaning of the tithe) of whatever you make. I don't think we can say we'll pay tithe on whatever is left after taxes, because then why not just say "after taxes, social security, health insurance, mortgage, car payment, electricity, phone bill..." etc etc. Taxes are just bills that the government takes directly out of our check to pay those who work for the government (like police officers), to fix our roads, to build an army to protect us, etc etc. So I'd say we should tithe on our gross. :-)

Who Was St John The Baptist
	The Bible refers to all Christians as "Saints" (Romans 1:7, etc)

Accurate Bible Translation

The "dynamic equivalence" method leaves more than simply idioms up the the translator, it leaves the entire text. A thought-for-thought process us used with the entire scriptures. Whereas according to the NKJV preface, it "follows the historic precedent of the Authorized Version in maintaining a literal approach to translation, except where the idiom of the original language cannot be translated directly into our tongue." So for me, the clear choice are the versions that translate as literally as possible with the exception of cultural idioms that would not make sense in the target language. That's why my favorite versions are NKJV, KJV and NASB. It's the best of both worlds.

Peter Downs Unclean Meat
	I'd rather take Peter's explanation of his own vision rather than guess, speculate and assume what I think it may have meant. Peter could not be more clear about what the vision meant: Acts 10:28 "...But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean." So here we see the real issue God was dealing with Peter about: prejudice. Not unclean meats.

Soul Winning Strategies
	I think the best soul-winning strategy depends on the soul you are trying to win. I'd let God lead. On a side note, the television show "The Way of the Master" with Kirk Cameron and Ray Comfort is an amazing tool to teach Christians how to evangelize! Check it out! :-)

Never Opened A Bible

I enjoy the straight thru approach (Gen - Rev) but that does not work for everyone, especially new Christians. Many people who try that get bogged down early in books like Leviticus. A method I've seen change a non-believer into a Christian is this: Read the 4 gospels straight thru for 30 minutes a day, every day, for one month. When you get thru all four, start again from the beginning. It will probably seem boring probably for the first week or so...then it will seem a little more interesting...and by the end you will want MORE than 30 minutes a day!

Trick Or Treat On Halloween
	I pretty much agree with everyone else. It seems fairly obvious that a Christian shouldn't participate in a holiday with such evil roots. By beholding we become changed. :-)

Is There Everlasting Hell

If one believes that people will be burning for all eternity and yet somehow everyone else will be enjoying paradise as if they don't care? These are people's mothers, fathers, sons, daughters...people's families. A fire that shall never be quenched is a fire that cannot be put out. Yet that does not mean that it will never go out...just that it can't be PUT out. Sodom and Gomorrah were burned with "eternal" or "everlasting" fire, according to Jude 1:7, yet they are not still burning today. The scriptures are simply explaining that nothing can stop God's fire from destroying the wicked. Matthew 10:28 states that both body and soul will be destroyed in hell.

Accurate Bible Translation

I think anyone would have to agree that any version (respectable) that uses the most literal translation is "most accurate". Versions that use "dynamic equivalence" try to translate "thought-for-thought" (NIV, NLT, Good News Bible, The Message, etc). In other words: they use other words ,-p (and phrases) to convey what they THINK the passage of scripture was trying to convey. I prefer to use translations that translate word-for-word for the most part (KJV, NKJV, NASB, etc) and rely on the reader (with the help of the Holy Spirit) to interpret what the scriptures are trying to convey.

Offended By Women Pastors
	This is a tough question. Since I find no Biblical precedent for a female pastor, I tend to feel a little uncomfortable with the idea. Would I reject a message because it came from a woman pastor? No way, God can speak thru whoever He wants. Would I leave my church if a woman became the pastor? I've never thought about it...I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it, and let God guide me.

Want To Be A Messianic Jew
	I think a Jew who accepts the Messiah should logically become a Seventh Day Adventist since they would need to part with the temporary ceremonies that were foreshadows of the Messiah and still keep the Laws that God gave for eternity.

Water Turned Into Wine
	I believe He turned it into unfermented grape juice. I don't think Jesus would make wine to get everyone drunk and help them sin. That's crazy. Christ is represented by purity...unleavened bread, unfermented grape juice. The leaven, as the fermentation, is a symbol of corruption...sin.

Reponse To Cults At Your Door
	My response is: Man, why can't Christians be so passionate about soul winning? When do I ever go door-to-door trying to tell people about Christ? We can at least learn one thing from these people knocking on our doors: we should be out there knocking on doors presenting real Biblical truth!

Blogging On ChristiaNet
	I can't exactly remember but I think it's been about 6 months? Although I haven't posted a response in a couple months now. I've been working on my own chess blog. :-)