GOOD QUESTION
(Don) Should I give money to panhandlers? Who should I help?- We prioritize our support to persons who
- need emergency, life-saving help,
- have been abandoned by husbands, parents, and family members (widows and orphans),
- are physically and mentally impaired,
- seek recovery from their bondage to brokenness,
- identify the Scripture as the Word of God,
- identify Christ as the beginning solution to every problem,
- welcome the support of faith-based leadership,
- work hard,
- invest their earnings in
- their own redemptive needs,
- the redemptive needs of others, beginning at home, and in
- the outreach ministry of the Church to help fulfill the Great Commission of Christ (Matthew 28:18-20) to go into all the world to teach / preach the Gospel (the Message of Grace) to every person;
- We do not prioritize our support to persons seeking
- codependency-based relationships, including with God. or
- superficial pain relief.
- The goal of giving is not us, to meet our feel-good needs, but others, to meet their redemptive needs, especially for trusting in Christ for their eternal salvation.
Don, do you approve of spanking children for misbehavior? disrespect? rebellion?
- No, especially when / if parents
- are not filled with the heart (compassion and wisdom) of Christ so that they have fully and effectually provided every health (support) need the child has, including for
- education (information),
- explanation,
- encouragement,
- example,
- enforcement (discipline),
- structure, and
- especially affection.
- are not filled with the heart (compassion and wisdom) of Christ so that they have fully and effectually provided every health (support) need the child has, including for
- “The rod” in Proverbs 13:24 and 22:15, when understood in the context of the New Covenant Message of Grace (Romans 7:6), does not mean to pound on (punish) a child’s misbehavior, but to discipline.
- Punishment (pounding on bad behavior)
- may temporarily alter behavior but it does not heal the brokenness at the root of the behavior,
- teaches violence as a problem solver,
- is the God-given right of governments to defend their freedom from evil aggression, but
- is not God's order or Plan for the organic home.
- Discipline
- has a goal of growth,
- allows children to experience
- the "sowing and reaping" outcome of their wrong choices (with protection, of course, per Psalm 118:18), and also
- God's Love (Hebrews 12:6).
- Misbehavior, rebellion, and disrespect are an allergic reaction to unmet support needs for which parents are responsible to meet or to be an advocate.
- Grace Parenting learns to know each child’s inborn temperament needs - of the mind (for information), emotions (for affection), and will (for structure).
- Children’s temperament needs are different, specific to each child.
- Children should not be spanked because of their parent’s failure to meet their needs.
- A gentle smack on the child's padded behind in order to get their attention can be helpful (“Listen to me!”).
- Irresponsible couples should not marry or give birth to children.
- God did not place children in the home in order to meet the feel-good needs of their parents, but in order to have their health and happiness needs met by their parents.
- Grace Parenting is modeled by God (our Heavenly Father) in his relationship to us his children.
Don/GraceRenewal
(Don) Did God create gays?
According to the Scripture,
- God created the first humans male and female (Genesis 1:27; 5:2);
- We have no reasons to believe they were gay;
- When they disobeyed God, he separated himself from them with the result
- the Light in their spirit went out and
- they fell into a darkened (fallen, sinful) state (Romans 5:12-19);
- Children born to them inherited their sinful condition;
- In their sinful state, they
- suffered the pain of separation from God,
- stumbled about in the darkness in search of relief from their pain (John 11:9,10), and
- made inappropriate choices that
- poisoned their mind, emotions, and appetite and
- increasingly compounded their brokenness.
- God made Provision of Christ (his Blood/death on the cross for us to make possible our going to Heaven and his Resurrected Life to live in us to make possible our recovery from brokenness (Romans 8:1-4).
Don/GraceRenewal
(Don) Does God control who gets sick and when we die?
- Yes. That's because God is Sovereign. But he exercised his sovereignty when he decided (ordained) in Eternity before we were born that our health and longevity would be determined mostly and normatively by the choices we make according to his Law of Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:7, Hebrews 2:3).
- That means: Our health and longevity is
- not a reward from God for making him happy,
- not accidental - that is, not without scientific explanation (the Law of Physics, for example), and
- not the result of our "lucky stars" (the alignment of the stars on the day we were born), but is
- mostly determined by us - our
- diet, exercise, and
- lifestyle (including
- sufficient rest and sleep,
- quiet time each day to be renewed physically, mentally, and emotionally,
- low-risk behavior,
- where we choose to live, and
- with whom we choose to associate).
- Also, inherited genetics can be a factor (as much as 30% according to sources I trust). But it is mostly inherited lifestyle, not genetics, that influences health and longevity.
- Of course, God can do what he wants, including with regard to the affairs of nations, the weather, and the animal kingdom.
- But we can trust that God will always be true to who he is and to his Redemptive Purpose and Will.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don: Is God always joyful even when he is grieved or sorrowful?
- Yes! Absolutely!
- And not only God, but we also, by virtue of our experience of Christ to live in our heart, can be joyful even when we are grieved or sorrowful - the same as we can experience God's Love, Peace, Longsuffering, etc.) even though we may be in pain physically, emotionally, or circumstantially.
- Nothing can prevail against or diminish our experience of Christ in our heart (mind and emotions) except if we neglect to be renewed by his Presence during our quiet time worship each morning.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don, shouldn't we try to please God, to make him happy?
- Yes, but only as we understand that
- God is already happy, that
- nothing we can do increases or diminishes his happiness, although
- God sorrows and is grieved ("a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief" - Isaiah 53:3) because of our
- brokenness and
- neglect to receive his salvation (for going to Heaven and also for our healing), and that
- to “please” God means that he has equipped us (made us competent per 2 Corinthians 3:6) so that he finds us useful (pleasing) to him as a vessel for his Redemptive Work in the world - the same as a gardener or farmer selects tools and equipment for use that he has cared for and maintained.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don, how does Christ living in our heart heal our brokenness?
- Our heart is our soul (our mind, emotions, and will), the psychological inner dimension of our trichotomous being.
- The Life of Christ living in our heart is not the same as the Life of Christ living in our spirit, the inmost dimension of our trichotomous being.
- The Life of Christ is IMPARTED to our spirit by the Holy Spirit the moment we trust in the Blood/death of Christ as the only payment God will accept to satisfy his judgment against us (the human race) because of Adam’s one act of disobedience in the Garden of Eden (Romans 5:17-21).
- The Life of Christ is RECEIVED into our heart/soul (per Revelation 3:20), incrementally and increasingly, during our quiet time worship each day to read the Scripture.
- Christ living in us supports the healing of our brokenness by
- supporting us for making wise choices that result in good outcomes according to God’s Law of Sowing and Reaping (Galatians 6:7), and also by
- virtue of his Person (the dynamic of who he is) at work within us (Ephesians 3:20) to heal our troubled mind and emotions and the weakness of our will (resolve for making wise decisions) - the same as vitamins and minerals are at work within us to heal our physical body.
- Experiencing Christ is not mystical or unrelated to nature, but is as true to reality as experiencing water, food, warmth, or a hug.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don: What is the meaning of "ask and you will receive"? I ask but do not receive what I ask for.
- We absolutely do receive from God what we ask for - every time and without fail (Matthew 7:7).
- Not only so, but "We do not have because we do not ask" (James 4:3).
- But, in the Bible sense, asking in prayer means to receive.
- It does not mean the same as inquiring at a clothing store if they have an item we want, or requisitioning supplies we may or may not receive, or begging dad for money - each which is based in sincerity but also in uncertainty.
- Rather, asking in prayer is illustrated by going to a fountain in faith (confidence and expectation) in order to receive (drink) the water which is freely and faithfully offered.
- Consider also that:
- The word "prayer" means "The Place of Exchange" to which we go, led there by the Holy Spirit during our quiet time, in order to exchange what we think we want for what God provides that we need, which is the only praying God answers.
- God only provides our Redemptive (health and holiness) needs, and does so only when we connect to (and receive from) his Resources through which they are provided.
- For example, God provides joy, peace, wisdom, patience, humility, and other strengths we need when we connect to Christ during our quiet time worship (per John 15:1-8; Revelation 3:20).
- The subject of Prayer can only be understood incrementally, one thin layer at a time, and only if we are in a church that understands and teaches it in word and in practice every time we meet.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don, how can I be increased to a fuller measure of Christ?
- We can be filled to a fuller measure of the Resurrected Life of Christ in our soul/heart (per Ephesians 3:19 and 4:13) during our quiet time to read the Scripture in order to hear the Holy Spirit communiicate Truth to us and to call (draw) us to open the door of our heart (leading from our spirit) to receive the flow of the Resurrected Life of Christ (the meaning of "worship").
- We cannot be filled to a fuller measure of Christ in our spirit, but only in our heart (soul).
- We received all of Christ in our spirit that we will ever have when the Holy Spirit imparted the Resurrected Life of Christ into us to regenerate, not our body or soul, but our spirit.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don: Can a Non Christian go to Heaven?
- Yes.
- But the Bible meaning of the word Christian is “Christlike.”
- Not every one who has been justified, born again, and reconciled to God, so that they are secured for going to Heaven, is experiencing sanctification (being made holy), so that they are Christlike.
- We are justified, regenerated (born again), and reconciled to God (a one-time event) when we trust in the Blood/death of Christ on the cross at Calvary as the only Payment God will accept to satisfy his Judgment against mankind (because of Adam’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden).
- We are being sanctified (incrementally transformed to be made Christlike/holy) (an on-going process) when our heart (mind, emotions, and will) is being increasingly renewed by our experience of the Resurrected Life of Christ living in our heart during our extended quiet time worship each day to read the Scripture.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don, can we lose our salvation?
- Not our salvation for going to Heaven
(justification, regeneration, and reconciliation) - which is
- a one-time event,
- the promised result of trusting in/receiving
the Blood/death of Christ (John 3:16) as the only Payment God will accept
to satisfy his Judgment against mankind (because of Adam’s disobedience
in the Garden of Eden).
- But we can lose our salvation
for health, happiness, and holiness (sanctification) - which is
- a lifelong process,
- the promised outcome of trusting in/receiving
into our life God’s Provisions of Grace (Romans 5:17) in
- Creation (the soil and atmosphere),
- Community (Grace Leadership in the home and Church), and
especially
- Christ, his Resurrected Life to live within our heart (which is)
- received during our quiet time worship to
read the Scripture,
- but which we can neglect (Hebrews 2:3).
Don/GraceRenewal
Hello Don! Are all humans created in the Image of God?
- Only Adam and Eve were created in the Image of
God.
- But when they disobeyed God in the Garden of
Eden,
- God withdrew his Life from their spirit,
so that
- they became sinful and broken and no longer
existed in the Image of God as they were originally created,
- their descendants (by reason of heredity) were born,
by natural birth, with a fallen human nature, with the consequence that
- no person exists today in the Image of God in
the same way Adam and Eve were originally created.
- However, when we trust in (receive) God’s Gift
of the Blood/death of Christ as the only Payment he will accept to satisfy
his Judgment against the human race - which was separation from him (not
because of our disobedience, but because of the disobedience of Adam and
Eve) -
- we are justified, which means God
declares us "not guilty,"
- the judgment of separation is removed
(forgiven),
- our spirit is born again (regenerated),
and
- we are reconciled to God so that
- we are secured for going to Heaven.
- However, by virtue of our sanctification, which is our experience of the Resurrected Life of Christ to live in our heart (soul: mind, emotions, and will), we can be incrementally renewed (through quiet time worship to read the Scripture each day) to increasingly manifest the Likeness of Christ.
Don/GraceRenewal
Don, what is freedom?
- Freedom, in the Bible sense, means enablement. It is not the legal right to do whatever government permits us to do, but the enablement God gives us to do whatever he calls us to do according to his Will, especially through our experience of Christ (his Resurrected Life to live within our heart).
- God gives us freedom to make wrong choices, to do whatever our sinful nature wants to do, so we have freedom in that sense, but he does not give us the freedom (enablement) to make them.
- Our U.S. Constitution / Bill of Rights protects our God-given freedoms.
- Evil promotes lawlessness, opposes our God given freedoms.
- Addiction (bondage) restricts freedom.
- "For if, by the trespass of the one man, death reigned through that one man, how much more will those who receive God’s abundant provision of grace and of the gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man, Jesus Christ!" (Romans 5:17).
Don/GraceRenewal
