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WHAT ARE SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS?

Discussion in 'Calvinism & Arminianism Debate' started by Steven_15, May 6, 2020.

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  1. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    Hebrews 11: 3: "The universe has been framed by the word of God, so that what is seen has not been made out of things which are visible".

    As above, we see every blessing including matter in the universe came from nothing. God is Spirit. So spiritual blessings refer to all blessings materials also.

    For instance, blessings like healing or money do not create themselves but rather came from God.

    But there is a wrong understanding that healing & money are not spiritual blessings. But those who understand it wrongly also experience healing and have money. If these aren't spiritual blessings, they cannot have them!

    You may post your opinion.
     
  2. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    Jesus stated to us that we are not to be defined by what we have materially, but what we have in him !
    Not to many saved are among the well to do of this age, but are rich in what counts, in spiritual blessings reaping eternal rewards!
     
  3. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    So why do you visit medical doctor for healing if healing is a despicable material?

    Why haven't you sold all your wealth and given to the poor but rather hold on to your material possessions?
     
  4. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    better question is why those who are false teachers have made millions by lieing and speaking blasphemy against Jesus and the Holy Spirit?
     
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  5. rockytopva

    rockytopva Well-Known Member
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    Arrogance, ego, sexual immorality, strife, melancholy, partying, and the like are not spiritual blessings. There are many these days who have the unction of the Holy Spirit, along with all the blessings... Confused with the ego and the flesh. The anointing of God is not human ego! Spiritual blessings is not human intelligence!

    Spiritual blessings make for a smiley face, a warm heart, faith, hope, charity, gentleness, goodness, and all the like.
     
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  6. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    The question was:

    So why do you visit medical doctor for healing if healing is a despicable material?

    Why haven't you sold all your wealth and given to the poor but rather hold on to your material possessions?
     
  7. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    Are healing & money worldly/material blessings?
     
  8. rockytopva

    rockytopva Well-Known Member
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    if you were ever sick and lost everything you had.... Then healed and delivered... Then yes, you would consider such deliverance spiritual as well as physical and material.
     
  9. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    Would you like to answer why cessationists consider healing and money as material/worldly?
     
  10. rockytopva

    rockytopva Well-Known Member
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    I believe folks can get carried away with materialism. John Wesley once said that when a man dies they ought to have enough to bury him and a few pense for his friends, and I can go along with that. Material blessings are great, especially when one is using such blessings to help others...

    Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; - 1 Timothy 6:17-18
     
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  11. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    What about cessationists who consider healing as material/worldly but seeks medical doctor for healing?
     
  12. rockytopva

    rockytopva Well-Known Member
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    There will be times in which we will see a doctor. There are times, regrettably, when the power of the Lord is not present to heal us and we must suffer....

    And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them. - Luke 5:17

    Even with Paul the power of the Lord was present to do mighty things... And then he tells Timothy....

    Drink no longer water, but use a little wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities. - 1 Timothy 5:23

    I do not consider myself a cessationist, but I do believe there are times when long-suffering applies and we must hold out in faith.
     
  13. Yeshua1

    Yeshua1 Well-Known Member
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    No in and by themselves, but the Lust to get and the desire to avoid real life situations are not of God!
     
  14. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    Why are you lusting & avoiding real life situations by seeking medical doctor for healing?

    Why are you lusting & avoiding real life situations by not giving all your goods & home to the poor when you who trust in your works ought to give your life for others according to 1 John 3:16?
     
  15. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    The question is:
    Why do cessationists who consider healing as material/worldly seek medical doctor for healing?
     
  16. rockytopva

    rockytopva Well-Known Member
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    The Bible says charity....

    Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. - 1 Corinthians 13:7

    I will put myself in the hands of God with faith, hope, and endurance.
     
  17. Steven_15

    Steven_15 Member

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    So didn't you counter unbiblical thoughts earlier? Does charity mean refraining from countering unbiblical thoughts?
     
  18. Dave G

    Dave G Well-Known Member

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    I don't know...
    Why would anyone who knows where healing comes from, consider it to be evil just because God used a man to do it?
    But to start with, I'm a "cessationist" in the sense that I do not believe that the sign gifts of an apostle are active today.



    For example:

    I do not believe that the Gospel needs to be validated by miracles any longer, because I see the need for that validation being done away with.
    We now have the written word, so what later became the written word was once the spoken word by the Lord and His prophets...it is right in front of us, preserved by Him for those who would hear it and believe it.

    I also do not view healing as worldly or material in the sense that using a man to put me on to something the Lord has either made or allowed to be "discovered" is wrong or a sin, but I do acknowledge Him first and to seek His will for my healing.
    When I need healing, I trust the Lord for it.

    That includes trusting Him when I go to a doctor...

    I am trusting Him to put me in capable hands when I need surgery to correct muscle tears and the like, for example.
    I trust Him to guide those hands and to give me the healing that I need from Him, not men.
    Barring that, I learn to live with my infirmities until such time as He gives me healing.

    All healing I believe, comes from God.
    However, God provides such healing not only as miracles, but in the environment around us and in people that He uses for such.



    Another example:

    Since the Lord made men aware of such things as Penicillin, these things that would not normally be known can be used to fight illnesses.
    Therefore, everything good is from God ( John 3:27, James 1:17 ), and the goodness of God leads men to repentance, even though the Bible teaches that men will not repent apart from His grace and mercy ( Acts of the Apostles 5:31, Acts of the Apostles 11:18, Romans 1, Romans 3, John 3:19-20, 2 Timothy 2:25 ).

    So, all men enjoy blessings that come from God, who is Spirit.
    He makes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust, and provides even the animals their food.
    See Job, the Psalms, the Proverbs and the Gospels, as well as the prophets like Isaiah and Jeremiah.
    Everything the Scriptures say is inspired and comes from Him, so anything it says about where true good comes from, can be trusted to be 100% reliable and to come from Someone who cannot lie.


    His children enjoy even more in the way of blessings...
    His eternal favor and salvation, among others.

    We have the privilege to come boldly ( and with confidence ) to His throne of grace and to seek help in time of need ( Hebrews 4:12-16 ), because of the work of His Son on our behalf.:)
     
    #18 Dave G, May 10, 2020
    Last edited: May 10, 2020
  19. 37818

    37818 Well-Known Member

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    The newbirth through faith in the gospel is a miracle. Romans 1:16, Romans 8:16.
     
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  20. Particular

    Particular Well-Known Member

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    Wow, talk about ignoring the entire context of the letter to the Hebrews and the faith chapter. You have provided to us a perfect example of a person with an agenda who takes a sentence in the Bible out of context as proof that his agenda has legitimacy. It is an utter waste of energy to argue your foolishness.
    Instead, let us observe the whole of Hebrews to see how your sentence fits with what God is saying through the writer. If you refuse to look at God's word in context then there is nothing to discuss.

    Hebrews 10:39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls.

    Hebrews 11:1-40 Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. For by it the people of old received their commendation. By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things that are visible. By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks. By faith Enoch was taken up so that he should not see death, and he was not found, because God had taken him. Now before he was taken he was commended as having pleased God. And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him. By faith Noah, being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen, in reverent fear constructed an ark for the saving of his household. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith. By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place that he was to receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God. By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. Therefore from one man, and him as good as dead, were born descendants as many as the stars of heaven and as many as the innumerable grains of sand by the seashore. These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they had been thinking of that land from which they had gone out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city. By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had received the promises was in the act of offering up his only son, of whom it was said, “Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” He considered that God was able even to raise him from the dead, from which, figuratively speaking, he did receive him back. By faith Isaac invoked future blessings on Jacob and Esau. By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, bowing in worship over the head of his staff. By faith Joseph, at the end of his life, made mention of the exodus of the Israelites and gave directions concerning his bones. By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden for three months by his parents, because they saw that the child was beautiful, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict. By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward. By faith he left Egypt, not being afraid of the anger of the king, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. By faith he kept the Passover and sprinkled the blood, so that the Destroyer of the firstborn might not touch them. By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after they had been encircled for seven days. By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies. And what more shall I say? For time would fail me to tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets— who through faith conquered kingdoms, enforced justice, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions, quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, were made strong out of weakness, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight. Women received back their dead by resurrection. Some were tortured, refusing to accept release, so that they might rise again to a better life. Others suffered mocking and flogging, and even chains and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn in two, they were killed with the sword. They went about in skins of sheep and goats, destitute, afflicted, mistreated— of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And all these, though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.
     
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