Faith? What is wrong with truth? Jesus didn't say that faith will set us free from sin did He? I would rather walk down a tunnel with light (truth) than stumble around in the dark all the while practicing my faith that I might find the enterence again.

Dr. Rich, it is faith that opens our eyes so we can see truth.

Consider what the Apostle Paul said the Lord said to him: "I will deliver you from the Jewish people, as well as from the Gentiles, to whom I now send you, to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me."(Acts 26:17, 18; NKJV)

Notice that Paul quoted Jesus as saying we are "sanctified by faith" in Him.

Ron,

Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. John 17:17.

Yes, your are correct when you say that Paul said that we are "sanctified by faith" in Him. Unfortunately, that is not what Jesus Himself said it is that sanctifies a person. If Paul is wrong about this what else is He wrong about?

Ron, when I replied to Dr. Rich I mentioned that I only recalled one place in Acts about the Damascus Road experience, I missed the one in chapter 22. And I agree that there is no real difference's.

pk

And from your last point there, one can see why Papal doctrine is so far removed from Scripture.

It belongs in the same category as the Gospels of Peter, James, Thomas, Mary,the epistle of Barnabas, the Apocrypha and the Pseudepigrapha (which may well be a fitting title): nice background reading, but nothing anyone can build doctrine or disprove anything/anyone in the Scriptures with.

Ted

Exactly!

Musicman1228--you are not quite saying that correctly. Paul did not just say we are sanctified by faith--he said we are sanctified by faith "in Him"--that is, IN CHRIST. And that is what Jesus said.

Why do you keep trying to bash the Apostle Paul?

In the End, our religious beliefs and practices will have to be discarded for the Reality. The Reality has been turned into many religions by fallible, erring human beings, creating walls of separation and division and countless arguments over minor or irrelevant matters.

In the End, our religious beliefs cannot save us. It won't matter if we think Paul the Apostle is a Saint or a Demon. It won't matter if we think EGW is infallible, or a fraud.

What matters is this:

Can we love, honor, and obey God, even to the death?
Can we live among other humans unselfishly with no malice or anger or thoughts of revenge, even if we are harmed by them or they kill some or many innocent humans with no conscience?

We shouldn't have to wait until Satan pulls the rug out from under us, exposing our mistaken beliefs in religious myths and superstitions. Then the danger will lie in rejecting God as our master and accepting Satan as our new "God". Most, if not all, of our religions will be discarded on the garbage pile of human history at this time.

Jesus dealt continuously with the mistaken belief that the "End Times" events were just about to occur. We should not think so highly of ourselves that we succumb to the same error: that we are now living in the Last Days.

Satan's technology will amaze all of us primitive Earthlings so accustomed to believing in "miracles" we have never seen. He could very well keep humans alive forever with his advanced medical technology, promising eternal life if we only submit to his rule. Unfortunately, those who refuse to submit will face the guillotine, sword, or other gruesome methods of torture and death. He promises nothing but the blackness of eternal death to those who will not serve him.

This is the test we must all face. Our religions cannot save us. Only our connection to God, our willingness to obey him to the death, and our compassionate treatment of people, even pimps, whores, thieves, and murderers. This will demonstrate our worthiness to become members of the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of the Stars. If we can live without anger among those who harm us, then we can live forever with those who don't.

Unless we take off our 1844 sunglasses, we will probably misunderstand the events of the Last Days. Our 1844 masters have mistakenly attributed Last Day events to events occurring in the mid to late 1800's.

We'll never get it right until we take those sunglasses off and carefully read the scriptures, beginning with Psalms, looking for clues pointing to the events occurring during the time period before, during, and after Judgment Day.

More time studying, less time arguing. We can do this.

Aliensanctuary, no doubt you seem a little disgusted with some of the posts written in this forum. Also no doubt you have done some serious research. But tell me, what good will it do for me if you don't share what you have learned? As a student searching for truth I would love to hear what you have learned.

Please don't take me for being one sided and wearing 1844 sunglasses for I have researched quite deep into Zechariah Zitchen's (among others) information and find it very interesting. Many of the things we call myths may have their origination from issues that we have no idea what the truth may be, but serious students should not worry about anyone arguing, unless the arguments are without merit and not supported by real evidence.

It is my own personal opinion that the true understanding of who, what, where and why of God will someday make sense to the words of the bible, science and archeology. Therefore my ears and eyes are open to anything that might bring forth this truth and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit; perhaps I will have the wisdom to understand the knowledge. Jesus didn’t say the Holy Spirit will lead you into ALL truth for nothing!

I had never heard you say anything like this before.

If it makes no difference, why did God reveal Himself through the Scriptures? Why did God go through all the trouble of sending visions to Ellen White? Do you honestly think that it doesn't matter whether someone is a true or false prophet?