You are very welcome!

That is not good. Go slow, wait to see what God does. If nothing changes look for another church near you that teaches God's word. Do not make a quick move, but if you have to move be willing to move.

I am sorry to hear of your suffering, I have prayed for you and for your family. Thank you for asking for prayers. We are all blessed when we can pray for one another.

Thank you so much, have a blessed week!

Glad you enjoyed it, have a blessed week!

Amen!

Awesome, I'm so glad you could be a part of our service and get to see me preach. Hope to get to see you in person sometime soon once all this is cleared up. Have a blessed week :-)

Thank you so much for watching, I am glad you enjoyed it. It is a very odd feeling to preach to a mostly empty room. I am glad Erin and Sky are there so I am not totally alone.

Well, I think he is saying they were making way to big a deal about visions. They were making their "visions" more important than God's word. At least I am pretty sure that is what he means.

The key concept here is in verse 19. They were "not holding fast to the head" Which is Christ Jesus. These people were "defrauding" or stealing people's peace with God, their joy, and part of how they did that was pronouncing their "visions" on people. Notice how it says they were "Inflated without cause"... They could have been lying about their visions... or they may have actually had visions, but they were making a big deal out of them.

Awesome!

@@MullinFirstBaptist Thanks for replying. Also read was Psalm 145 and also Ecclesiastes 3:1-8. Maybe you can do a talk on these passages in the future. We sang "This Is My Father's World" as the Processional Hymn and "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" as the Recessional Hymn. A soloist sang "On Eagles' Wings" and "Great Is Thy Faithfulness."

You asked "How do I supose to know if I'm spending my time worshiping and building relationship with the wrong god?" When we consider any religion we need to ask 3 key questions. 1. What does this religion promise? 2. What does this religion require to receive what is promised? 3. Can I do what is required to receive what is promised? Biblical Christianity promises eternal life and eternal relationship with God. Biblical Christianity requires faith, trust, that Jesus Christ died on the cross to pay for your sins. Yes, we can have faith, we do it every day, we trust in things, we do not require proof, we function on sufficient evidence. Now ask these questions of other religions. Hinduism 1. What does this religion promise? Nirvana, an end to reincarnation 2. What does this religion require to receive what is promised? Balance your Karma 3. Can I do what is required to receive what is promised? First, how can I balance what I cannot see? Second, how can I know if my actions are positive karma or negative karma since I cannot know the outcome of my actions? Third, If all the world is an illusion (Maya) then how can my actions have any actual positive outcome, all this is just an illusion and an illusion has no moral basis. Buddhism 1. What does this religion promise? An end to suffering by becoming one with Bhrama 2. What does this religion require to receive what is promised? To cease desiring and see thru the illusion of Maya 3. Can I do what is required to receive what is promised? First, how can I cease desiring without desiring to cease desiring? Second, when I am reincarnated (under this system) I do not take my memories with me to the next life then how can I progress from life to life. Third, it really promises nothing... literally nothing. We dissolve into Brama and cease to exist. This does not sound like something I should strive for 1000s of years. Fourth, if this were how the world worked and people were actually doing it the world would be progressing towards being less and less material... but clearly that is not happening. I spent 12 years studying every religion I could find before Christ found me. Everyone I studied has a problem when it comes to these questions. Either it does not promise something worth having, or it requires something we cannot do. Only Biblical Christianity promises eternal life in relationship with God and requires only faith in what Christ did on the cross, which is something we are able to do.

Thank’s for taking your time for reply. I respect your point of view, and I’m not trying to have a debate because I’m seeking for truth! However I’m struggling with one thing that you wrote, which is “When we consider any religion we need to ask 3 key questions”. The problem I see in this is that, there could be a result of finding two or more religions that will fill all of the answers for those 3 questions. However, even if you find only one religion, new problem comes in sight, which is, you chose a religion according to your checklist in this case all of 3 questions were answered so you decide, “Yes this religion is the only true religion!” But you assumed this only because this religion answered all of your questions this doesn’t make you build relationship with God when In reality you chose this religion just because it hit all the questions! Also there are people who have different questions, and people who have different requirements to motivate them selfs for religion promise. But yet according to Biblical Christians I’m going to hell after I die, why? Just because I am not baptised in water, and the in holly-spirit why don’t I just do it so I don’t have to burn in hell well, the answer is simple I’m scared 😦 if I’m wasting time for the right or wrong God you might ask, how is this waste of time it only takes one hour or less to get baptised? Yeah I know but after you are baptised lots of things change in your life that I don’t want to change because If I don’t know which religion is true I don’t want my life to change according to the religion I chose!.

@@versuspl434 I do not have time right now to reply to all that you said. But, there is one point I need to make clear. You said; "But yet according to Biblical Christians I’m going to hell after I die, why? Just because I am not baptized in water, and the in holly-spirit why don’t I just do it so I don’t have to burn in hell well" It is vital that you understand that Baptism is not what saves anyone. It is not even "Required." Baptism is an outward sign of an inward change. The Bible says over 100 times that the only thing required for salvation is trust in Jesus Christ, that He died on the cross to pay for our sins. That he rose again after 3 days and ascended to heaven. Having this trust leads to Baptism in the Holy Spirit. And God desires that we are water baptized as a sign of this change. But water baptism does not save anyone.

Randy Bradley “I am telling you the truth,” replied Jesus, “that no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. A person is born physically of human parents, but is born spiritually of the Spirit. (John 3:5-6)

@@versuspl434 Yes, but what does it mean to be born of "water"? In the context of the verse, it would be very odd for it to mean water baptism. Nicodemus had just asked "“How can a man be born when he is old? He cannot enter his mother’s womb and be born a second time, can he?” The discussion is about the difference between physical birth and spiritual birth. Right after saying what you quoted Jesus says; "What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the Spirit is spirit." I believe, as do many others who have studied this passage, that "born of water" is talking about physical birth. When a woman goes into labor her "water breaks" There is nothing in this passage to suggest that "born of water" means baptism. It would be taking the phrase completely out of context to think that it what it means.

Here is a link to a list of scientists that say God exists. Be sure to scroll all the way down. The list is very long and includes scientists of history as well as today. "en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Christians_in_science_and_technology" "well no GOD inside me would let me suffer & not give me what i ask for." I am not sure how you mean this exactly. but I have a question. Do you have children? If so do you always give them what they ask for? Many times the last thing a child needs is what it asks for. What we ask for, what we want, may not be what we need. I am sorry if you are suffering. I know how that can be. All I can say is we face terrible things in life, we can face them alone with no hope or we can face them with God, filled with hope.

Lol the first guy who has ever been in space said God has to exist

Thanks so much for your encouragement. May God be with you and your wife as well as with your Church.

Thanks so much. Glad to hear your leg is doing better.

I did reply, but I guess it got eaten by the internet. Or more likely I did not hit the right button after I finished typing. I will look over your last post and see if I can recall what I wrote.

sorry to hear. KZbin does things like that

I appreciate your comment. I understand that there are people that view God this way. But we must consider what God has said about Himself. If it were only men saying God was good.. then much of what you say might be right. It would not be required to be right, but it might be right. But if God directed men to write His words down.. then we could know. He did do this, the Bible is the inspired word of God. In it He tells us He is good. It is not a matter of men judging if God is good or not. God has stated that HE is Good. I understand you may not agree with this. That is fine, you entitled to your opinion. I did not always agree with this myself. I spent 12 years studying other religions, reading all I could find on them. Then someone pointed out that even if these other gods were real.. they never offer any help. Jesus Christ came and died to pay for my sins. I realized I could not 'earn' a relationship with God.. that HE would have to do something to bring me into that relationship. I realized I needed Christ. That was 11 years ago.

Sorry for the delay.. reply coming soon! take care

Awesome response, you bring up some great points. Two things: 1) When we understand the nature of our free will (highly limited) it clarifies some of the things you bring up. I am planning on doing one of these videos on free will, but basically, our free will is limited by our nature. We cannot will what we do not know, and we cannot effectively will what we cannot do. I may desire to hover 6 inches off the ground... but I cannot effectively will to do so because by my nature I cannot hover. In the same way, I cannot effectively will to never sin again because by my nature I can not "not sin" The other issue I would address is in regard to the presence of sin, the way we look at this is greatly affected by what we perceive to be God's Goal. If God's goal is our comfort, security, peace, ease of life, then yes, a world without evil is better than one with evil. But if God's goal is something else, say His Glory, or Eternal relationship with us, then a world with evil may be a better world than one without evil. When we consider what questions we should ask we need to look at the psalms and see what David asked.. He asked many things about God that we sometimes seem to think we should not ask. I dont mind asking the questions, but we also need to see in the Psalms how David always comes back to .. "Yet you are God" P1(premise one open to debate): A world without sin is better than a world with sin. P2: A maximally great being can meet all of his goals for humanity without the existence of sin. C(conclusion): Sin exists; therefore a maximally great being does not. The base problem here is the assumption of what God's goals are. If His priority is not this life.. not the 7K-10K existence of this world, if His Goal is what comes after this world, then that changes this greatly. Without sin or evil no one really gets to sacrifice themselves for the good of others, no one gets to do the "right thing" even when it will cost them. I understand people would suffer less, but no one could rise up and serve God to the same degree. Removing evil would lessen suffering greatly, but it would reduce serving at least as much. I will discuss free will in Heaven in a later video. It is a very interesting question.

Thanks Randy :) In favor of discussion rather than debate It's helpful to put my cards on the table since we're not keeping score. I'm not, purely speaking, a physical naturalist. Also, I should admit that I'm not a big fan for or against 'the problem of evil,' or POE as presented by atheism or anti-theism. In my opinion skepticism can not refute God with POE, at least not in a deductive sense. Having said that, I'm not well versed in the academic arguments for or against POE and my arguments reflect my own thoughts on the issue which is sort of a potpourri of ideas. I do have much more time invested in the branch of apologetics that deals with presuppositionalism. I'm familiar with Van Til and Gordon Clark's use of epistemology in that field. That would get into laws of logic, objective vs. subjective morality(my all time favorite), and abilities or lack of, to arrive at truth... So.. not to get side tracked, I'll get back to the topic of the video. and maybe I can discuss those with you on another video. When talking about free will, we're probably on the same page with some type of Compatibilism between ultimate determinism and/or strict free will. In this way, we address violations of natural laws which don't apply or comport with a compatibilist version of free will. Having said that, you may find libertarian free will a better fit for your position even though most philosophers seem to side with compatibilism. From there, things get pretty complicated and every question answered may reveal 10 more in it's place. lol. Even from my biblical skepticism, I find that deterministic predispositions(genetics/nature) are built into our genetics and that would drive us off the topic into nature vs. nurture or genetics vs environment arguments which is more suited for psychological statistics rather than philosophical thought experiments. You correctly point out that suffering and evil can be effective ways to learn and grow, thereby casting some doubt on premise one of my argument. This is one reason I'm not necessary a fan of POE. There is always the possibility that evil and suffering have a greater purpose for human well being at some future time regardless of our conscious ability to grasp the future benefit. That's not to say that I don't have some objections to Christianity's possible refutations of POE. The Christian arguments within the framework that the 'end justifies the means' become pretty speculative, in my opinion, not to say they aren't possible. Further.. We're working with inductive reasoning here and by definition, and contrasted with deductive reasoning, even if the premises are valid and the argument is sound, the conclusion is not guaranteed. In other words, the atheist's adherence to POE, seems, with my limited understanding, does NOT necessarily cause a clear contradiction or inconsistency within the scripture and some atheists might try to argue. One point for the theists here! So, to digress a bit, If I grant Biblical theology, I would say that it's much more likely that God's goal is his own glory rather than the benefit of human kind. Case and point, Hell. The population of Hell never leaves or improves, as they might on earth, which makes the torture lean towards vengeance and glory for God rather than concern for humanities ultimate condition. Although, that takes us in a different direction as well. For the sake of brevity, I'll just touch on the issues at hand without adding more to the plate which is already quite large thanks to my condensed version of multiple complex philosophical ideas. Further, We can also pile on instances of what appear to be gratuitous suffering in the case of major natural disasters and seemingly contrasted with suffering as a means to personal growth. Again, these are further branches of the topic at hand that may need to be considered. If we start or end with, "Yet you are God," -David, then we simply grant the inerrancy and divinity of Scripture. Once we do that, all argument would be reduced to scriptural interpretation. It's the same dilemma when I discuss/argue with Muslims, Mormons, and other religions. I never start or end with the divinity of their books as in "yet you are Allah". I discuss things on a 'neutral' ground that limits circular arguments. Circularity simply begins or grants the argument that many religious adherents are trying to conclude. You're welcome to explore heaven framed within free will, but I fear that it will become highly speculative in its arguments given the absence of scripture for the topic. -Thanks again!

To understand where someone is coming from it is always good to know their presuppositions. We all have them, it is a matter of if we are aware of them. I have three basic presuppositions when I look at any theological question. (1. There is an all powerful all knowing all loving God that wants to be in relationship with us. (2. This God is the God of the Christian Bible. (3. The Bible is the word of God. I have these as presuppositions for two reasons. A. All possible alternatives to these presuppositions are unlivable (for me personally. B. So far using these presuppositions I have found what I consider to be reasonable rational answers for every theological question I have encountered. Basically they work. I must assume there is an all powerful, all knowing, all loving God because for me if there is not one then life is meaningless, and futile. It might not be for someone else, but for me it would be. I must assume this God is the God of the Christian Bible because this God provides the only means to enter into a relationship with Him that I am able to do. Someone else might be able to balance their Karma and end their cycle of rebirth ( I have reservations about this being possible but I cannot speak for others) Someone else might be able to cease desiring and become enlightened but I know that is not something I could do. I could give examples from all the religions but you get the point. I can however, trust in Christ. I think this is true of most if not all people. Christianity provides the only means of entering into relationship with God that human beings are capable of doing. We all trust in things, we all believe in things. We can all Trust, Believe in Christ. Having these presuppositions has changed my life dramatically. My marriage was a train wreck for 23 years.. it is now wonderful. I had issues with depression and anxiety and was on meds for them. I am no longer on meds and do not have any issues with depression or anxiety. I could go on.. Trusting Christ changed my life… and part of why it did is because I adopted these presuppositions. Gonna try to pick out a few things to respond to here. These kind of discussions can get tricky in text over time. They are so much easier in person. “The Christian arguments within the framework that the 'end justifies the means' become pretty speculative, in my opinion, not to say they aren't possible.” The end justifies the means is such a horrible idea when the end is dictated by humans. When the end is God’s end… then the idea of His means are justified not only by His end, but by His pan-omni nature, and His position as creator sustainer of the universe. “I would say that it's much more likely that God's goal is his own glory rather than the benefit of human kind. Case and point, Hell. The population of Hell never leaves or improves, as they might on earth, which makes the torture lean towards vengeance and glory for God rather than concern for humanities ultimate condition.” I would mention that Hell is required for a number of reasons, God’s righteousness. Eternal separation of Sin from God, Actuality of Free will, “Further, We can also pile on instances of what appear to be gratuitous suffering in the case of major natural disasters and seemingly contrasted with suffering as a means to personal growth.” I think it is important that we understand the connection between suffering and evil. Some suffering is caused by evil, but not all. Natural Disasters are a result of the Fall. God may use them for our growth, but they happen as a result of the Fall in the Garden. We also suffer, from our own foolishness (I speak from personal experience) The sinful nature of other humans, the work of Satan and his demons, and various other sources. Many of these are indirectly related to Evil, all of them are connected in some way to free will. I will try to do the free will video next. I think it would be too much for me to try to type it out. You do quite well in presenting yourself in text. I am mush more comfortable verbally than I am in text.

Hi Randy! I'm genuinely glad that you've found the answers that enhance your life. Your experience confirms your beliefs and your beliefs confirm your experience. It works well for you and gives you hope, meaning, a community of believers, and a clear purpose. All are very valuable and have brought you happiness. I'm an opposite case. My experience and studies paint a very different picture. There are some atheists out there that want to convert everyone to their way of thinking... It's simply a matter of their confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance and in some cases bad experiences that stifle their critical thinking and objective perspective. My parents were devout Christian, as were my friends. I also spent many years attending a Christian private school. All of my fellow classmates were professing Christians. I spent many years as a professing Christian myself. I started to question concepts in my mid to late teens. Small contradictions or inconsistencies at first and I felt very guilty for questioning my beliefs. At that time "atheism" was a dirty word. It conjured caricaturist images of evil people that did evil things. My de-conversion was difficult and long. After countless sleepless nights and intense reflection and contemplation, I discovered that I could no longer believe in a Biblical concept of God no matter how tightly I tried to grasp the only identity I knew and cared for. Some said I just wanted to sin or rebel, some said I was never really a Christian. If they only knew how I live now. Maybe 2 beers a year, not interested in chasing women, no drugs, just an enjoyable life of reading and thinking which must sound so boring to some. Sure, I'm labeled as living a life in rebellion to God, but life is too short to worry about claims of a monopoly on truth that contradict my experience. They can question me all they like, I will provide them with honest answers to the best of my ability. I'm still a social being and enjoy the dialogue. granted, I don't have everything figured out and continue to learn but my foundational beliefs have not shifted in many years. It was really hard to let go of the hope of an afterlife, seeing my loved relatives, a powerful God to look after me, and the thought of having an ultimate purpose. Oddly enough, I seem to enjoy and value life more because I may only have one, but it took many years of depression and anxiety to reach that point. I don't pretend that my journey should be everyone else's or that I posses absolute certainty and I hope that others offer me the same consideration. I do, honestly, feel truly happy now.. although there are some moderate lows, at times, for sure. honestly, writing is the easiest form of communication for me. I love to re-arrange ideas and sometimes learn and reword or completely re-write others. I'm actually doing that at this very moment! It offers me something that verbal communication does not. I've done so much informal writing over the years, it's become easier to organize my thoughts. My reading comprehension has improved dramatically, or so I'm told. Feel free to mix and match any variety of thoughts you have. I can keep up and respond pretty well. I've thoroughly read your responses but feel we may have covered some of our ideas on POE in a sufficient manner. Not that we agree on things, but we've expressed our perspective and I think we both understand where the other is coming from at this point. If there is something I've missed, you're welcome to bring it up again later. I was a terrible writer in High School which is why I practice writing almost every day. Mostly, it's just my own thoughts that I want to remember at a later time. I make plenty of grammatical mistakes because I type pretty fast now and don't usually have the time to proof read. ----- Writing is a lost art.. just look in facebook! lol. We must help keep it alive! You've already become pretty advanced with verbal communication. Once again, I'm very happy to hear that you've overcome your depression, anxiety, and have built a great marriage. That is most important.. not some atheist on youtube over-analyzing your ideas.. lol. 😉

There are really two parts to why I have my suppositions... That they work is one. But the other is that they provide reasonable, practical answers for the really big questions... Why the universe exists, Why life exists, Why there is evil, Why get out of bed in the morning. The really big questions. I understand much of the appeal of atheism, but I do not really see much in the way of reasonable, practical answers. Without a creator, the universe had to come into existence by random chance, for that to even be possible requires massive numbers of universes (bubble universe theory) which we have little to no evidence and certainly no proof of. The only reason they even came up with bubble universe theory is because they were trying to provide a way for random chance to have created a universe that would be somewhat stable and could support life. Sure you can come up with some bizarre highly improbable explanation, but I don't see a reasonable, practical or even probable explanation. Same thing for the existence of life. Life spontaneously coming from non-life may be physically possible (or it may not be) but even if it is possible, the mathematic possibility is so far from probable. It has been estimated to be 10 to the 50th power to 1 odds. Even if it did happen.. what did the first organic matter consume? There would be no other organic matter to live off of, there was no other organic matter to consume. Evil.. well if there is no God and this is all random chance then there really is no good or evil, on that which is beneficial and that which is detrimental. If this is the case then we are obliged to remove anything that is detrimental to the species and support that which furthers it. So then Iceland is right in aborting all babies that are found to have down's syndrome. So by this logic, we would be right to kill anyone that have any genetic defect, anti-social behavior, or simply does not pull their own weight. Any other assessment of good or evil would be purely a matter of opinion or possibly a matter of majority preference. Why get out of bed? Look if this all ends in black nothingness.. than anything I use as a reason to get out of bed is pure ego, it has no lasting value and only serves to give me temporary pleasure... I could just as well rationalize feeding the hungry and becoming a supervillain with my lair in an active volcano. Both might please me and feed my ego... both would have the same reslult.. black nothingness. A question for you, if you feel like it. What are your presuppositions? and Why do you have them?

They are on the very end of the video. At least they are on my screen..

Ya, I see them now. I was listening to my youtube app. while the screen was minimized on my android device, while I was at work. Soon after, I looked for the links in the description. lol. Thanks Randy.