Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu1. Is a person who spends all their spare and free time engaged in
religious activities, praising the Lord and encouraging others to do
so ("winning souls" etc.), more religious than someone who does the
same modestly, quietly, infrequently or only when they can?
No. Jesus points us to service to others,
And here is one of the great failures of "evangelicalism," especially
in dispensational circles. Yes, I can talk on this because I am both.
I feel that one of the inadvertant draw backs of dispensationalism or
millennialism or imminency, is that the individual can fall into the
trap
of having both eyes looking only to the future and basing everything
upon the future. Yes, that hope purifies but it also can be
detrimental
in its tendency to overlook the now. Here I think one must look back
into history. We can go back to 2 Thess 3 and the reality of people
stopping their daily labor to provide because of their belief that
Christ's return was "any minute." And though imminency is a strong
doctrine of the epistles, it does not discount the Christian ideal of
serving God now, and not just in "religious" activities. The early
church was the reason for present day hospitals. They lived in the
"now." The Puritan influence on America's political system is
undeniable. And one of the reasons it is falling apart is because it
was founded upon Christian ideals being root or base of society
and its ethnos.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu2. Is the amount of time you spend worshipping God a crucial
determinant on your suitability for redemption, glory, heaven?
We are certainly commanded to worship God regularly, but Jesus and
most of his followers in the NT do not spend huge amounts of time
worship as a separate activity where you go to a building. Many
Christians see all of our lives as worship, in a broader sense.
This is not an either/or situation. It is a both/and situation. A
wife
and mother standing at the sink washing dishes can be just as much
worshipping God that as if she were at a local church building on her
knees. In fact, if the latter overlooks the former, then something is
wrong.
Whether in community worship or in individual daily life, we are to
be about the Lord's business in the power of the Spirit. That is the
one distinquishing factor. It is ALWAYS the internal that determines
the value of the external.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu3. Are you still devout if you refuse to visit a building (church,
mosque, tabernacle, temple, etc.) very regularly to worship God?
No.
Heb 10:25 warns us not to "forsake the assembling together as is
the habit of some." Christianity is a "community of believers." In
His high priestly prayer in Jn 17, Christ speaks of the elect as
becoming one even as the Godhead is one! No, it will never be
actualize very well in this life but that does not nulify our respons-
ibility. There is something in corporate worship that gives strength
to the believer that he/she can never duplicate severed from the
Vine.
Personally, I remember the society that not only regularly attended
Sunday morning sevices, but also Sunday evenings AND even
Wed. nights! It was a society that was way less troubled that our
present one.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu4. Does it matter if the clothes you can afford to wear are tatty
and not very presentable when or if you do decide to visit a building
to worship? Is God offended if you attend one of the man-designated
worship buildings in this manner?
No. However it is natural for people to want to show respect to God by
dressing well.
What is our present society if nothing but "style" oriented. It
defines it-
self by the outward appearances. Visual has replaced verbal even as
entertainment has displaced exposition. As Charles rightly states,
one
should have the attitude that you put forth your best when you come
into the presence of God. However, more times than not, especially in
light of today's image conscious society, getting all dressed up to
attend church all too often just becomes one more seed bed of pride.
"Look at me" often is the inward consciousness predicated on the
5th Ave propogandaization of clothing.
I think this is directly related to how much money you put in the
offering plate. Whatever isn't done in a joyful, self denial
attitude,
must be recognized for what it is - a sheer nothing before the Lord.
Jesus clearly teaches this by saying that whatever you do, whether
it be with an outward illustration of piety or not, that if you are in
truth seeking self-gratification and/or applause.... and you get it -
then you've had your reward and you are not to expect anything
from Him. What we do in secret, however, will be rewarded openly.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu5. If you visit a building regularly to worship God but cannot
afford to drop anything into a collection plate, will you displease
God in some way? What would be the building owners/administrators'
reaction if you regularly attend but cannot contribute anything?
My sister just left Paula White's church because they required them
to show either a W-2 form or a paycheck stub to determine the per
centage of giving that was required. My brother, when he married
a Roman Catholic girl, had to do the same thing plus sign a document
promising that the children would attend RC schools.
The answer to all your questions are readily found in the Bible. Why
are you not seeking your answers from the Scriptures? You can read
the NT until your eyes pop out of your head but you will find no
commandments regarding the supposed "tithe" in the Jewish Law
context. Rather, we are to give freely, from the heart, not under
complusion or any mentality whatsoever in regard to merit. We ar
now under grace. The wife cooks her husbands favorite meal not
so that she can go buy that new dress but because she love him
and wants to do for his good pleasure. This is the NT consciousness
when it comes to giving.
Also, it is, again, not just related to the local assembly. We should
be helping our "neighbors" in need, whether they are believers or not!
What did Schindler say at the end of the movie? Isn't it what all of
us 20th C christians will be lamenting before the Throne. "I could
have
do so much more."
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu6. Should the life religious people lead operate at a higher
spiritual level than non religious people?
Yes. If there isn't a visible difference in our lives, something
is wrong.
ibid. This is the whole point of James declaring that "faith without
works" is lie. A true inward regeneration will bear the fruit of the
new
inward principle at work within us or we have merely deceived our-
selves.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu7. Do the religious feel guilty when their behaviour and lives fall
short of what is expected (or perceived) from them in the eyes of God
and the teachings of their Holy Book?
I certainly hope so.
All men do from birth, regardless of whether they are believers or
not.
But the problem is that as we grow older, we become callous to the
truth so much so that "conscience" may no longer bother us. But the
regenerate man, he who has indeed been "born from above," now has
the new regenerated operating principle within him, i.e. the Spirit,
which convicts us of sin.
Here is another test as to whether or not one is truly "saved." It is
not
whether or not we sin. It is not whether or not we continue to sin
even
after many years, decades of spiritual maturity. The issue is whether
or not we stop confessing our sin as sin and returning "to the one I
love." Arthur sang "Oh my mind is at war" in Camelot, but it is only
the born again Christian who actually understands that dynamic as
Paul expresses in Romans 7.
Should there be an ever widening gap between our personal sin
experiences? Absolutely. But not every Christian believe matures
at the same rate nor an equal out come, at least in this life time.
John
writes to "children," and "young men" and "fathers." Paul decries
that fact that he can't write to his readership as those who are able
to "partake of solid food" because they are still happy with sucking
on breast, dependent on the maturity of others.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu8. Is it acceptable to be a habitual sinner who violates the laws
of God, man or their Holy Book, seek forgiveness after each sin but
continue deliberately sinning?
This is complex. The initial answer is No. However we know that people
are imperfect, and eventually they will sin again. The battle against
sin is lifelong. But people who aren't engaged in that battle are
unlikely to be Christian.
It's not "unlikely" it is a true test as to whether or not that are
actually
born again. This is the whole point of the early chapters of John's
first
epistle. We don't see that so much in the English translation, but
it
the Greek it's like one of those giant banners being towed behind an
at airplane at the beach or at some sporting event.
Again, the point isn't whether or not we continue to commit sinS,
but whether or not we continue to wrestle with our sin nature.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu9. Is it discriminatory, prejudicial or hypocritical to shun non-
believers as potential mating partners yet cling firmly to the belief
you are non-judgemental, just and righteous?
I don't think we are forbidden from marrying non-Christians.
I disagree. Paul, in 1 st Corinthians, does as well. But even beyond
this, the adage, "what fellowship does death have with life?"
expresses
a fundamental change in the individual who is born again. Their whole
outlook on life changes. The reference point to which all must give
an answer to is antithetical in nature between the believer and
unbeliever. One is "of the light" while the other is "of the
darkness."
Also, on an experiential level, it's only asking for trouble. The
inclination of each are polarized and opposite of the other. The
unbeliever is ever and only capacitated to do everything with "self"
as thee final reference point. Oh, don't get me wrong. An unbeliever
can certainly "love" their believing spouse and do many wonderful
and seemingly selfless things, but ultimately, from the Biblical
vantage, even the "self-less" things are self pleasuring. She may
cook her husband, for illustration, his favorite lamb cabobs. She
may have lit candles and even have hidden guests in the next
room waiting to jump out and shout "Surprise" all honoring him
as a man. But ultimately, it is a non-Christian experience because
it does not have the capacity within itself to totally deny self. It
will always and only, not consciously perhaps, have some final
self pleasure as a result. Only the Christian, and only the
Christian operating in the power and dependence upon the Spirit
can ever display the selflessness of Christ.
Post by h***@geneva.rutgers.edu10. If the earth's ozone layer is depleting and our natural
resources dying out, what reasons, point of view or explanation do you
have why God has not yet obviously intervened to stop things from
deteriorating further?
God generally gives us the honor of dealing with such issues on his
behalf.
One. Science has never ***proven*** that this is either a natural or
an unnaturally occuring event.
Two. Man lost his dominion over the earth at the moment of sinning.
God's wrath has and will once again, errupt far more damage to this
little spinning orb that man was or is ever capable of.
Three. You presume falsely. If God were ever to stop "intervening",
not only would electrons fly away from their nucleus, but the cosmos
would become just a dream of God. God always has been Sovereign.
He always has restrained evil in all its forms. However, just as you
would sooner or a later have Mr. Policeman pull you over and site you
with the effects that you caused by your unrulely speeding, equally so
God allows man to suffer the "Law of Unintended Consequences."
This what Paul teaches at the end of Romans 1, verses 24, 26, 28.
He relaxes His grip. But the time is coming and may soon be at hand
when the "Restrainer" is removed. (2 Thes 2) Revelation reveals that
at that time, unless Christ came back to earth to re-establish His
right to sovereign rule, humanity would wipe itself out.