kjv@Romans:5:13-14 @ @ RandyP comments: The Law spoken of here is clearly the Mosaic Law. Without/before the Law sin was not imputed and yet all people died showing proof of a Adamic curse. One does not have to sin in the same form as Adam (freely choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge of good/evil) because his descendants are cut off from the tree of life. This condition causes all the descendants to unavoidably sin, the option of choice in this instance is totally removed. Our options now are in how we will sin. Now that the Law is imputed we fully know that our condition is one of sin as well as our available options. Though we seek to do godly right we can not do so knowing only what is right in our own eyes. In this sense Jesus has become the light in our darkness.
kjv@Isaiah:29 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord does not just do these things without purpose and results. The path of men digs itself into deep ruts unaware. As if those ruts become their treasured possession, they are not about to give them up. They have rationalized, fully justified, become comfortable in their rebellion. Hearts harden, the foreign becomes normal and nothing by God short of this seems to penetrate and steer the peoples where God intends. As far as they are concerned they are doing everything right. It is sad for them that they have to go through this but, informative to us; this is after all our sin nature as well.
kjv@Isaiah:33:1 @ @ RandyP comments: There are those that can take advantage of others even in desperate times. Tragedy, catastrophe, evacuation, desperation always brings out those treacherous scheming thieves to prey upon the unfortunate and transitional souls.
kjv@Jeremiah:9:3-5 @ @ RandyP comments: Could any of us say today that we have been valiant for the truth on earth? God makes Himself and His will known to man at great expense to Himself and yet may continues not to know Him? He perpetuates the testimony and revelations of His Son throughout all time at great expense to His valiant ones and we see it as irrelevant and unapproachable? We proceed from evil to evil never satisfied with the evil just committed? Never filled full of our evil to the point of drawing back from the table and declaring that is enough for me, I can take it no more? Asking our neighbor and or brother as if they would know truth and be valiant for truth any better?
kjv@Jeremiah:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Is it not in God to have feelings as well? We go about as if we are the only ones that feel violated and forgotten and grieved and spoiled. Is it that He is unaffected by what we say and do or is it that it just doesn't matter to us? Is it even in our way to direct our own steps? We demand of Him to be righteous enough not to be affected by these things that we do, to be above it all, but not of Him to be righteous enough to actually do something about all of this.
kjv@Jeremiah:16:10 @ @ RandyP comments: All of this and they are still unaware and justified in their doings almost as if to mock and jeer.
kjv@Jeremiah:19 @ @ RandyP comments: The sight of Jeremiah breaking the ancient potters vessel at the east gate should burn in the hearts of Judah even to this day. The words he then proclaimed echoed true. Unfortunately, they still did not listen, whatever they had thought to gain from worshiping Baal was more convincing than loosing it all, being captive, and becoming so desperate as to eat their own children. Was it really?
kjv@Hebrews:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Those of us in the American church body should be concerned about the lack of chastisement. Where is it? We face certain opposition and the opposition seems to be growing. Opposition is not chastisement. In other places our missionaries face difficulty and persecution. Persecution is not necessarily chastisement either. Chastisement involves correction. Is it that we have nothing to be corrected of? Is it that we have been corrected and so now remain? Or could it be that our hearts have become hardened, that the accomplishments of the past have sent us sideways into pride, unawares or worse unconcerned, unable to discern where our needed chastisement might be found? Has our ear to it become deaf?
kjv@1John:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If I were to ask nearly any non-believer 'what is God?' the near unanimous reply would be "God is love". If I were to ask then 'what is love?' I would receive a multitude of varying replies mostly having something to do with tolerance for their sins. The question then to ask is 'doesn't that mean that love is whatever one wants/needs it to be?' or better 'that God is whomever we want/need Him to be?'. What kind of god can we ourselves make up? Is your wife whomever you wish her to be? Is your son? Is there any other working relationship that you know of that is determined by what you wish it to be? Are we not individual? Do we not have structure and backbone, interests and opinions and needs of our own that you yourself have to accept navigate and familiarize your self with? Isn't that the beauty of relationships? Why should it be any different with God? We love God because he first loved us. It was not our minute and varying personal perceptions of God with which He loved us, it was His gigantic eternal design for present and future, a love that would redeem us from our sins and set us aright into eternity. It was not our selfish 'I need you to be this' love or 'do this now for me or else' love or 'if you even exist' love for His love came before our love. What then is love? God is love? What is God? Creator and perfecter and possessor of our souls in whom no darkness dwells and in that He is absolute love.
kjv@Daniel:10:13 @ @ RandyP comments: This is an insight perhaps like seen no where else in the Old Testament. Spiritual warfare 21 days with the prince of Persia, Michael coming in to assist the Lord. What else is going on around us that we are unaware of?
kjv@Jude:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Contending for the faith once delivered begins with praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping oneself in God's love, looking for His mercy unto eternity, having compassion for some, making the difference, saving some with fear, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh. The fact that we would have to contend with others supposedly within our own faith means that it is not an easy list of things to do. We are warned that these apostates have crept in unaware and that there is a certain advantage and admiration inherent for them to do so. They are defined as dreamers defiling the flesh, despising dominion, speaking evil of dignities. They preach out of what they know naturally.
kjv@Matthew:13:23 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord sows a very particular seed expecting later a very particular fruit, a fruit worthy of the kingdom from which it was born, worthy of acceptance into the kingdom to which it is harvested. It is a supernatural fruit that comes forth in supernatural numbers; the fruit itself that bares more of this particular seed. The process it takes to produce from seed to root to a plant to fruit is deliberate and unavoidable as sunshine. Understanding this parable is to understand such spiritual process. Is this the fruit that I am producing?
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale justification is all important first and foremost, each of us must be made right with God by the imputation of Jesus' own righteousness covering over us. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should this first condition be met. This is the obvious point James here in chapter 2 furthers.
So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean unprovable or yet to have tangible effect, not necessarily that the faith in some smaller but saving form does not exist.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale is all important firt and foremost, each of us being made right with God. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should the first condition be met. This is the obvious point James furthers. So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean questionable as to whether the first scale has actually been met.
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