-Are we also today supposed
to be doing what was mentioned to Christ's disciples in Matthew
10:7-10, that of raising the dead and freely giving to others, etc.?
This was a particular assignment
for a particular time as Luke 22:35-37
shows, however many miracles are still done today throughout the world,
including raising the dead.
-I am a believer in Jesus
Christ. My husband and grown children are not. What is their position with
God?
The Great Infinite One loves
and is concerned about us all:.John
3:16,17; Joshua 6:18; Hebrews
11:31; 1Corinthians 7:13-17.
They will
be all be saved sometime in this physical life:.Acts
16:31. Good training of the children matters much toward this:.Ephesians
5:1 "Be you therefore followers of God, as dear.(original
is 'rapport',
or children in harmony with their parents, and this is the parents responsibility
achieved through
proper training).children."
Your
conduct is important in this. Even
a
non believer's decisions in his or her life greatly affect their standing
with God:.Luke
2:25.
-I feel wrong when I masturbate.
Is it a form of lewdness?
God is no prude.
He designed our bodies to be sexually attractive and with a sexual system
and its pleasure points.
The relationship
between a male and female typifies the relationship we have with God.
We are advised to love our mates as
Christ and the Father so very much love
all.(Ephesians
5:25,28,32,33) including those not
yet adopted into
His
family:.John
3:16-17.
Masturbation comes from thoughts
of selfish pleasure as opposed to love being an outgoing concern for another
who is the object of one's affections.
"Pornography does not promote
sex. It promotes masturbation. It promotes the solitary auto arousal that
precludes intimacy and love. Pornography is about getting yourself off
at someone else's expense." ...the
article. But probably all of us have masturbated, haven't we? Better
to use your imagination to make the real thing most interesting and exciting.
And until the right one comes along,
better to put energies into having and showing compassion - How?.
Masturbation (the word itself sounds gross) usually follows thoughts of
lasciviousness.
Some get so hooked on it that a male/female relationship becomes secondary;
a trick of the devil to take some of us down
a step further; depravity
first, destruction later.
-Is a woman equal in God's
eyes to a man?
Yes. Galatians
3:28 makes this clear. Physical distinctions are made (1Corinthians
7:3-6; Ephesians 5:20-33 (note
verse 21).
1Corinthians
11:8-10 talks of a woman inclined to be in line with her created purpose
(Genesis 2:18,20-24), that she be
a sign to the angels that if she is thus,
she deserves
special consideration
from the angels.
Hence her special gift of
intuition.
She has great ability thereby, to be adept
in matters in accord with her created purpose.
In the Old Testament women
were used by the Infinite as spokespersons.
Because of the hardness of
men's hearts (Ezekiel 11:19; 36:26;
Hebrews
8:10; 10:16) back then, women
who were discovered to have had sex before the man she may now be with,
could be divorced, the man breaking the agreement, as she was found out
to have been deceiving him:.Matthew
19:8;
Deuteronomy 24:1-4.
Many men back then had little
if any forgiveness regarding such a situation and pursued divorce,
thereby giving up perhaps a fine woman who was truly sorry and wanted forgiveness
and mercy.
Such were they who place more emphasis upon the physical negative than
the spiritual positives.
Mary, the mother of Jesus
was thought to have been with a man because she was pregnant (with Jesus),
but she knew better. Joseph
was a fine man. He wanted to protect her from any embarrassment:.Matthew
1:18-23.
All of us are equal to each
other, once one gets past attention being on what is normally seen, and
this from the ego level, and
to the place in mind where there's no inequality, the true self of us all,
the spirit available equally to all by means of our souls. Herein lies
the higher consciousness
things. Being born again refers to this.
By saying all are born equal means that all humans are able to have equal
access to the
potential of what is this universe.
But by considering each other
from the spiritual point of view, that each man and woman on this earth
has come out of and been made by the same intelligent energy, the same
intelligent energy that comprises all we see and know, the same intelligent
energy that resides beneath the differences we see when we look at how
atoms combine. At that level, differences begin. Yet below that level,
and into the infinitesimally
tiny there is a marked difference, that of a
special spirit put within men and women (not put within animals) which
enables them to understand evil
and good, a special spirit that enables them to receive another
special spirit of a higher attitude, that is, once one decides upon
the good. Then we begin to look at things from the point of view of a spiritual
man or woman, from the same point of view as the Infinite One. Then we
begin to view others thusly:.Philippians
2:3 "Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory, but in lowliness
of mind let each esteem
other better than themselves."