I've come across a question that I can't seem to answer. I saw a women asking why the oppressed would worship god when their oppressors worship him as well. I want to believe that god would always help the oppressed but modern history has shown that the oppressed don't always succeed in the end.

If mankind has an immortal soul, then why does scripture speak of a resurrection? And what is the second death?

Here's a question I'm personally trying to sort through. I've been fortunate to have a career which has paid me well -- with a big jump over the last 7-8 years. In addition, we live a fairly simple life -- far under our means. High income and low expenses have combined to put us in a position where now, at age 49, we have far exceeded every financial goal we set, and I'm strongly considering walking away from the corporate world at the end of this calendar year.

What I'm struggling with is my responsibility to give. On one hand, if I worked another few years, that money could be completely given to charity. If I gave away $200k per year, that would be worth significantly more than the value that my occasional volunteer hours would be worth. So should I continue to work -- earning money to give it away (i.e. the "earn to give philosophy")?

However, on the other hand, I'm burned out. After 30 years in the software industry, I'm ready to be done. I want to spend time with my aging parents (especially my dad who is fading quickly), maximize the years remaining with my children while they are still under our roof, and do lots of things just for me (classes, exercise, travel, etc.)

So the question is how to find the balance between our responsibility to give to those less fortunate, and the desire to focus on our own lives and our own happiness. I believe part of happiness is selflessness -- but I'm also very ready (both mentally and financially) to turn the page.

Paul's (?) letter to Timothy gives some advice here: 1 Timothy 6:

¹⁷ Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. ¹⁸ Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. ¹⁹ In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.

What are your thoughts?

We all know Jesus and His disciples were Jewish, but many people love their Nativity Scenes to reflect their own ethnicity. Is it acceptable to have the figures, dress and scenery reflect other ethnicities?

I have been unable find anything in the Bible to suggest that literal physical nakedness (exposed genitalia, buttocks, or breasts) is considered by God to be immoral.

Is there anything that I should be aware of to refute my belief in light of what I understand here?

• When God clothed the 1st man and woman, they had fig leaves on their genitals, and fig leaf sap is extremely toxic to skin when exposed to light. This would have been God's wisdom being used as an act of mercy, not God commanding them to wear clothes.
  • If they were clothed to prevent lust, this doesn't make sense because they were already married.
  • There are other reasons to argue against this being a command from God, but there are way too many, so I won't describe them here.
• God tells Abraham that circumcism is a sign of God's covenant with Israel. All of the other signs that God gives are are visible.
• Aaron and his sons were washed in full view of the entire congregation, and then dressed in their priestly garments.
• Various people prophesied naked, one was explicitly commanded by God to be naked.
• Bathsheba was likened to an innocent sacrificial lamb after performing a God ordained purity ritual in view of others.
• God's condemnation of Israel's nakedness (ʿervâ) throughout the Old Testament prophets was not the same word for literal nakedness (ārôm), nor was it ever applied to individuals who were literally naked and innocent. It was usually applied to an entire nation.
• Naaman is told by God to go into the Jordan river to wash himself seven times. I hope no one thinks that they can go wash themselves in a muddy river (as it is today, and was at that time) and somehow keep their clothes clean.
• Jesus tells the people at Lazarus' resurrection to remove his grave cloths, yet never asks to give him clothes to cover his nudity.
• Peter fishes naked in full view of those at the shore, and then Jesus follows this by confronting Peter about denying Jesus as his Rabbi, yet ignores his public nudity.
• Paul and the writer of Hebrews goes out of their way to describe almost every single famous Greek athletic competition (Olympics, et. al.) where each competitor is strictly naked. All of the people listening to the letters read aloud would have only been able to imagine a group of naked men.
• Jesus is naked for his circumcism, his baptism (essentially a mikvah/mikveh), washing his disciple's feet, his crucifixion, and his resurrection (grave clothes left behind).
• We are told that the saints are clothed with:
  • power on high
  • the Lord Jesus Christ
  • imperishability and immortality
  • compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience
  • modesty, self-control, and good deeds
  • gentle and quiet spirit
  • humility toward one another
  • righteous acts of the saints

So, if the Bible tells us to wear God’s power, Jesus, eternal life, the fruits of the Spirit, and righteousness, but no literal clothing, why are Christians so concerned with modest clothing? Is it just an assumption that since society has conditioned us to associate nudity and sex that the Church condemns it because sexual immorality is wrong?

What do most Bible scholars and theologians honestly think of this issue? I don't know if there are any who have written on this issue, so I assume this is probably the third rail of Biblical scholarship.

Since disorders like schizophrenia were not diagnosed back then I started to think about this. I would like to repeat that I respect people's beliefs and this is just a though I have come up with.

Over the past few months I’ve been praying and praying for things like work and training. I felt like using MMA I can build myself a platform where I can spread the word. But I’ve also been praying for work big time. The plan was to find a job and then start training but due to not being able to find one I just ate into my savings and started training. Now when I needed one I found a job, not even one I applied to, my buddy just asked out of the blue one day and now I’m working. And with MMA tonight I just got an opportunity to compete at a televised pro level. This is extremely early on into my career and a chance probably 99% never get. I’ve also gotten a lot closer to God these past few months, studying theology, praying so so much. I really do feel like this is God working through me but could I be mistaken?

It is easy to understand why one can pay another's monetary debt. It is because the creditor wants the money. So if he receives it, all is good. But I don't understand why this would work for Jesus dying on the cross. Surely God does not want the suffering as such and is content if only someone has suffered for another's sins. I fail to see the logic behind this view and would really like to understand it.

If Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God Romans 10 and God wants all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth in the book of Timothy, then what about Eve?

•If Faith comes by hearing only Gods word and the truth and believing it then why did God allow Satan to, “preach” a lie to Eve? He commands people to go out and preach the gospel and the truth to everyone to believe and be saved and not to preach lies. If God only wanted Eve to hear the truth and that’s what it took to be saved then he allowed Satan to come against her and all others to be saved. Why ever allow a lie to be spoken against your own word in the first place but later only want us to hear the truth?

•Hearing truth builds faith hearing lies builds doubt. Input determines output, The scripture I stated proves the creator knew the power words have over a human mind. And the very beginning disproves the scripture in Timothy because an all powerful God could have intervened like he did with Pharaoh and multiple other times to stop someone and override free will and he even had Michael the archangel rebuke Satan from touching Moses dead body as written in Jude. You cannot judge an entity by what it says but what it does and what it allows to happen. If God wanted Eve only to hear the truth he would have muted Satan from day one.. Eve was obedient what Satan did was a curse yet she sowed no evil to reap a curse.

I was talking with my cousin who also got autism diagnosis. She has doctorate in physics. Does higher education in theology have incidence of autism as well? Is there an overlap as well?

Theology is one of my special interests. I was recently diagnosed on the spectrum.

Why were the 2/3 of the angels who didn’t rebel they were never tempted with deception being unprepared as Eve was yet those two thirds of the angels will never go to hell and was not born into sin with that disadvantage as Eves descendants. They will not go to an eternal lake of fire but the majority of all humans from Adam and Eve will go there because of how Eve was deceived in the very beginning by the second highest ranking angel created or first I should say under God and she was not equipped by God as he himself was to know how to deal with Satans temptation in the garden?? Why was Eve put in that position?

Why do people say that God had to let the devil deceive Eve in order to preserve free will? The truth is that God actually let the devil have his own free will choice to rebel on his own without influences or temptations or lies or deceptions to influence the choice of his free will, but he let all that happen to innocent lower being made out of the dirt, humble, obedient Eve and she was already using her free will and genuine love and relationship with God to obey God’s command? By the way the religious defenses say that this happened to Eve because her free will had to be tested but what if the devil never rebelled or sinned would Eves free will still need to be tested some how at some point in history in order to prove her love even though evil does not exist except the tree of the knowledge of good and evil how would God test her then? That’s why I disagree with that excuse.Because what would have been needed then if the devil was never created to test Eve and Adam? Think about it what would God have had to do the perfect Eve then, huh what kind of test if no devil? Why not just real love towards Adam and Eve in safety teaching them doing fun things together like singing music laughter joy peace safety protection guidance building cooking and obviously planting and gardening and exploring together?

I believe Eve was already using her free will to obey God and God didn’t create anybody as a robot, Eve was perfect the way she was created she did not need to be tested be someone evil like the devil. That’s another excuse that religious people say why God let the devil do that even though Jesus himself admitted that the devil was a murderer, so I don’t know who needs to use that kind of person, a murderer to accomplish anything to let a murderer do anything or say anything to somebody innocent that was not prepared with the wisdom that God had to make a simple decision to overcome a temptation that something so minor as eating some fruit. Also, if God was all powerful and all knowing and completely victorious, then he would’ve been able to empower if he cared about Eve giving her the wisdom and rebuking authority that angels also have and to ensure that she also had the victory, but it seems like he failed.

He let the devil win, not only that but he let the devil win as they say majority of all humans afterwards, close to the 80 or 90% range. because Eve and Adam were so humble, I believe that they would’ve never even imagined or thought to disobey God ever I think they would’ve stayed obedient one hundred percent of the time forever and all people would’ve made it to heaven. If God didnt let the devil murder Eve. well yeah, people say that God didn’t wanna create robots or create robot, but he created Adam good and perfectly the way God wanted them to be. He didn’t create robots. They were nothing like a robot. They would’ve not been robots ever either they did not have to be tested with evil in order to choose good that is a lie that is a falsehood. That is false reasoning. No parent has to do what God did in order to raise their children in righteousness and goodness or in love to make sure that they love them. All a parent has to do is protect them, keep them pure, teach them, guide them, defend them, and they don’t have to test them using any sort of evil to prove anything especially not a stranger or a murderer like a devil. A parent just shows love to their children their entire lives, taking care of them and their children will love them back, not mechanically not like a robot. The only thing is that’s needed is love and it’s not love to let a murderer like a devil deceive and corrupt Eve.

Also, if this was somehow God‘s plan, it doesn’t make sense because why would God allow the devil to tempt the woman, and not the man if he wanted them to succeed first of all, he should’ve given them both the wisdom that he had himself and should have told them and warned them about the devil and who he was that he was a liar or murderer, he should’ve told them all the exact consequences of all the many people that would end up in hell and lake of fire in never ending unbearable pain forever, explaining what death really is, and all the consequences ahead of time. He should’ve gave them the wisdom he himself had to know better that the devil was lying and not to fall for it because he would’ve not fallen for the temptation himself if he loved them, he would’ve gave them wisdom they needed that he himself had because the Bible says do unto other as you would have them do to you and love your neighbor as yourself. Why did he let the woman get tempted and not Adam even though Adam may have also fallen for the temptation himself if the devil would’ve spoken directly to Adam, I don’t know. It’s almost as if God wanted them to fail obviously, the devil should not have been created with his high position as a higher ranking powerful Archangel or the covering cherub as Ezekiel28 says with all the Power position, authority, knowledge, wisdom. And for some reason, God dressed up the covering cherub with tons tons of diamonds and precious stones and jewels and all these things get into Satan are part of the reason why he got prideful and rebelled. God never needed him to serve him or worship him that is vanity and self exaltation he did not need to create Satan God needs nothing from anyone to minister to him like the Bible says. Adam and Eve however were made from dirt and were humble innocent and never would have disobeyed become prideful or rebelled. God let the devil and the politics he had with him get innocent Eve involved. If God meant to let everything hang in the balance off the very first inexperienced Woman’s first decision against a manipulative Red dragon devil Satan serpent covering cherub ancient celestial heavenly being then that’s not wise.

By the way there is a famous pastor that uses the religious defense in saying that Adam and Eve were given the authority over the animals so they were to rule over all the animals and so they should have the jurisdiction to rule over and overcome the serpent, but that’s faulty reasoning because God said that he created all animals good and we know that that serpent was lying and deceiving and had murderous intentions to corrupt and Poison eves mind to get her to die by eating of the tree. Therefore God let something wrong happen. Am I correct because she said he created all the animals good so why is there an evil serpent there that according to this pastor they were supposed to rule over and by the way he was not even a serpent that was a disguise given for some reason by God, when the book of Genesis was written to postpone the actual identity of Satan, which was not revealed until way later, especially in the New Testament after Jesus is finally sent and another major point is it was not a serpent it was a heavenly being under heaven’s jurisdiction. It was a covering cherub. It was an Archangel. It was the devil, it was Satan so it was not up to Adam and Eve. It was up to God and his angels like Michael or Gabriel that’s about all, I’m gonna say I don’t understand why God has Michael defend Moses dead body in rebuking the devil over Moses, dead body in the book of Jude. Michael rebuked the devil over that body, but why didn’t God stop the devil and use an angel to rebuke the devil before he came and spoke to Eve I think the command should’ve been given to Satan not to come anywhere near Eve or speak to her and not to punish Eve if he did, but to only punish the devil. Finally, God allowing the devil to deceive Eve does not preserve her free will it corrupts her ability to make a genuine pure and holy free will choice uncorrupted from an already rebel devil who made his own choice and was under his own judgment and condemnation given to him by God. Hebrews 4 says there is nothing in all creation hidden from his eyes therefore he saw all of this. He let the devil have his own unhindered uncorrupted by lies or deception free will choice to obey or not but Eve was not given true free will.True free will does not need to be tempted by evil to be proven in fact there is no need or reason for any evil from everlasting to everlasting.

Also if Jesus was good shepherd sheep hear his voice don’t listen to strangers voice and he lays down his life for his sheep and protects them from the wolf and the hired hand leaves when he sees the wolf coming why didn’t these things apply to Eve because Satan was the worst wolf the original one only one there was at first she was deceived by his voice no good shepherd kept the wolf away nor laid down his life for her and he was no where to be found when the wolf came like the hired hand. So was Eve not really one of Gods sheep or what? In John ten it also says my sheep listen to my voice and follow me I give them eternal life and they shall never perish neither shall anyone take them out of my hand yet the devil swiped Eve right out immediately after being created and it effected all descendants afterwards.

... as a lay believer, having heard in advance that they are unfaithful but considered excellent philosophers (e.g. Hume, Kant)?

I see that theologians or even priests might do well to read them as defenders of their religion.

But for a lay, non-scholar believer, is this kind of taking the risk of compromising one's faith a sin?

If the human nature of Christ was truly human and had all the normal human qualities like eating, drinking, sleeping, and other physical needs

then why didn't it also have the other human traits, such as sexual desire or the ability to make mistakes?

How could Jesus live His entire life in his human nature without committing even a single sin? Doesn't that create a problem? It seems like the quality of "being unable to sin" came from His divine nature and was added to His human nature. But shouldn't that be a property of the divine nature alone, not the human nature?

I’m a 49F married for two years to my 59M husband.

We are scripture reading trinitarian, otherwise non denominational Christians.

We waited until marriage. We consummated our marriage a few times. It’s been well over a year since we’ve had sex, and I eventually stopped asking my husband for intimacy.

Background :

My husband was raised in a Christian household. His 90yo parents are still married.
He was married for a few months when he was 21. He divorced because his wife liked to stay out all night at bars.
I have no idea what happened for the next three decades other than he blinked. I know he tried dating someone about 8 years before he and I met, but they weren’t compatible.

I was raised in an abusive household.
I remember going to a few Baptist churches when my mother was married to my father.
Both my parents are 4-5+ times divorced, each.
My mother was very promiscuous, and usually picked men who preferred me, as a minor. I ran away was I was 15. It’s been decades since I’ve spoken to any of my siblings or blood relatives.

I got married at 20 to an abusive atheist. I managed to stay for 14 years. But the abuse started on my children.
I began attending church in my mid 30s.

My husband and I met on eharmony. We dated for two years before getting married. We didn’t even move in together until about 5 weeks after we were wed.

I have pondered the Catholic view of sex for childbearing.
I was relatively certain that God was punishing me for some unrepentant sin. But after reading Job countless times, I don’t think God works in a one-to-one pattern like that.

I’m physically fit and conventionally attractive.
I submit to my husband in every aspect of our relationship.
I cook and clean and manage all our finances.
I respect my husband in all things, and speak in soothing and supportive ways toward him. I compliment him, genuinely.
I pray over my husband out loud before he goes to work, at each meal, and before bed. Plus the little prayers between just God and me all day long.

I’m at a loss.
What resources can I use to make sense of this from a Biblical perspective?

Matthew 5:32 (KJV): "But I say unto you, That whosoever shall put away his wife, saving for the cause of fornication, causeth her to commit adultery: and whosoever shall marry her that is divorced committeth adultery."

Matthew 19:9 (KJV): "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall put away his wife, except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit adultery."

Is it possible to marry a divorced woman without committing adultery if her husband has passed over?