Anyway, I'll be thinking about all of this.

Taking the above into consideration, I can better process how a good deed can be considered pleasing, acceptable, righteous, because Corneilius was innocently ignorant, searching, a good man, and whose unbelief in The Son, was only due to a lack of information about The Son.

"Re: Isaiah 64 - don’t forget that the majority in Israel were always unbelievers but because of the national covenant the godly would nevertheless lament when the nation as a whole left off obeying God. Who is it that felt the national judgements of God most keenly? It was always the godly and they lamented when the ungodly did not. The ungodly only did so when the judgements were calamitous.

So for instance v7 none calleth upon they name would be an absurdity if it meant literally no one because the person lamenting is doing exactly that. So it doesn't mean literally no one, just by comparison they were so few."

"My jury is out on this as we speak, but here are some more thoughts..."

I never realized that it was the pleas, and laments of the backslidden:

Isiah 64:5-8

5 Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways: behold, thou art wroth; for we have sinned: in those is continuance, and we shall be saved.

6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

7 And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.

You can just ignore this if you'd rather not resurrect the topic, but Corneilius has been on my mind. After perusing through the thread, and relavent scriptures, wouldn't you say that Corneilus (not sure I'm spelling the name right), was already a believer; a Gentile believer, rather than an unbeliever; an enemy of God, whose works still pleased God, regardless?

I can't make any sense of God being pleased with any efforts of an unbeliever, because, aside from other reasons, it seems to me that He would have been pleased with those of the Pharisees, etc., as well, and all the more. They were filled with selfish pride, and though they didn't believe that Jesus was He who would come; The prophesied One, they were believers in God, The Creator, whereas, an unbeliever; a hater of The Living God, can do works pleasing unto God?

“You say [in your book] … ‘It doesn’t matter who likes you or doesn’t like you; all that matters is that God likes you. He accepts you; He approves of you,� host Josh Zepps stated. “Is that true for gay men or true for homosexuals?�

“Absolutely,� Osteen replied. “I believe that God’s breathed His life into every person. We’re all on a journey. Nobody’s perfect.�

“The Bible says that sin is pride, sin is selfish ambition,� he continued. “We tend to pick on certain things, but I believe every person is made in the image of God, and you’ve got to accept them as they are as they’re on their journey.�

Mr Olsteen reminds me of Pope Francis' response to basically the same line of questioning: "Who am I to judge", and it was that very answer that the LGBTQ community ran with the very next day, to say the church was finally welcoming them with open arms.

I wanted to respond earlier, but wasn't able to until now, so I'm gonna pick right up with the response I was gonna post a couple of hours ago. I noticed some more comments in the thread, but will read those after this.

I did read through the references from your original comment, but I'm wondering if you either read too fast, or I'm not understanding something. The part you quoted from me, should have also included,

"compared to the purity of an Holy, sinless, unadulterated, perfect God",

I totally get that we can please God, because the way I look at it is that if we are within His will, will He say, "Your good deed stinks"? Will He say, "Though my Spirit led you to give of yourself, and you did, nothing you do can please me"? The point is, will He seek to discourage us, weaken us, express His displeasure. and scorn all we do, even though we've been obedient to Him, because we're lowely, sin-filled, imperfect, for the time being, humans?

No, I believe we can please God, through obediance, but my whole point was to make a simple comparison, between our righteousness, and His, and the stark contrast where ours is only a mere shadow.

Maybe acceptable, as opposed to pleasing(?)

Dr Tim Wrote:
"However, my statement regarding reviling and railing still stands, as I believe it to be incontrovertible."

I view asking for forgiveness, and that forgiveness being received, as a baptism of sorts, where a person is washed clean, and everything begins anew. People may trip and stumble, but things forgiven, remain forgiven, and only the new, if any, gets addressed, moving forward.

Thanks for stopping back by yesterday to let me know that you understood I was just trying to pass some important information along to you, and meant you no harm.

I posted something from the Gospel Coalition (I think it was) recently, and although the article itself was interesting, I think it was DT who warned to steer clear of them, and why. I checked up on it myself, and sure enough, the editor, and others, had some sodomite, and serious doctrinal issues. The point is that we need to help each other out, and find the truth in people's own words, which is what I did that day.

Sometimes it can be pretty disappointing, because we have to force ourselves to break away from people that we may have held in high esteem, but truth is truth, error is error, and there can't be any comprimise in His Kingdom. No matter how softly someone speaks, no matter how inviting their smile, or how sweet and sincere they seem, wolves have many, many disguises in their arsenal of weapons against God, and pleas of ignorance won't help them in the end..."I never knew you, depart from me..."

Hi Dolores, I would never intentionally mis-represent anything that anyone says. Frankly, I should have included Ladybug, because I didn't remember her ever calling anyone mentally ill, but you sounded firm that she did, as if you had the proof, so I figured I'd missed reading something.

Sorry if I mis-represented you, but you have to admit that the portion I quoted above isn't all that clear.

Why is "links" a dirty word? How in the world does anyone show another what someone is all about, and by their own words, unless they can be directed to those words? I post something, and someone pops in, saying, "links please". I post something else, with links attached, and I'm told, "I don't look at links". So, what's left to do? Nothing.

I give up. Few seem to care about any sort of proof that might throw a wrench into what they choose to believe, so it just gets dismissed, outright.

I struggle with this hard, and on a daily basis, it eats at me. I wonder how many would admit that they struggle with lukewarmness, even silently to themselves? I'm not lukewarm in faith, the existence of the God of the Bible, or the fact that His Word is living, inerrant, and God-breathed. No, I'll remain forever unshakeable, and immovable there, but do I do nearly enough? Do I come anywhere remotely close to fulfilling my responsibilities, and reasonable service, as a born again Christian? Hardly. I wonder how many have succumbed to a feeling of safety, and simple belief has replaced their reasonable service...their fire, vigor, zeal, and desire/need to fulfill The Great Comission, and have become complacent in the exercise of their God-given gifts that have been gifted for the benefit of others?

I struggle, hard, every day, because I don't do nearly enough, and The Spirit convicts me, relentlessly, about it...I've become lazy and comfortable, when every minute of every day should be all things God first, and the priorities of this world, a distant second.