I have changed the settings on the Bible Q-n-A web site to require registration for posting comments. For those of you who are interested in discussing the biblical issues raised on this site, registration will not hinder your ability to comment and carry on discussions in any way. Who it will hinder is spammers who want to sneak in and drop their “link bombs” to unscrupulous web sites.
I hope the requirement to register will not deter anyone seeking to engage in these discussions. I can assure you that I will not share your information in any way. Registration also has some other benefits, aside from being able to comment and reply to comments. You can subscribe to specific discussions and comments. You will be able to manage your subscriptions in a much more detailed manner. Some of you will be able to have your comments and posts go directly to the site, bypassing the moderation requirement.
I want to thank all of you for making BibleQnA.com a very popular resource for Bible study and biblical discussion.
In His Service,
Norm
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Thanks For Registering!
Since I started offering site registration new sign-ups have continued to stream in at a pretty steady rate. Thanks so much for making Bible Q-n-A a part of your study of God’s word!
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Yours In His Service,
Norm
Hello brother Norm as you can see I am new to your site.
I would like to address the issue of backsliding if I may. I have repented of my drunkeness basically anything that constitutes lust of the flesh.I listened to your link ,”going on to maturity”,and desire to do so. I have been told the same thing that you have discussed this on about it being in the aorist context and my situation has changed to be productive to advancing the kingdom of God,amen.Could you comment on this and elaborate a little more please.
thank-you kindly for your time in this matter and please keep fulfilling the will of the Father.
Steven,
I addressed your comment in the article, http://bibleqna.com/salvation/is-it-ever-too-late-to-be-restored/.
Thank you and I’m looking forward to discussion it further on that post.
Dear Brother Norm:
I have some doubts regarding praying:
1.-Is it scriptural to pray to Jesus?
2.-Must we address Jesus directly in our prayers?
3.-Is it demanded to pray Jesus? or allowable?
4.-When Stephen was stoned and he was calling on God and saying, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” Does he pray to Jesus because the church was not completely established?
5.- If we pray to Jesus do we eliminate our mediator?
Eliud Gamez Sr.
member of Church of Christ
Monterrey Mexico.
Short answer is that we pray to God through Jesus.
Jesus gave us a model prayer (commonly, and mistakenly, called “The Lord’s Prayer) in Matthew 6:9-13.
The address- “Our Father which art in heaven”
Praise for God- “Hallowed be thy name.”
Prayer for the church- “Thy kingdom come” Of course, we no longer need to pray for the church to come as it already has come. However, we can still give thanks and make supplication for the church.
Acknowledgement of God’s will- “Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Supplication for physical needs- “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Request for forgiveness, and help to forgive- “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.”
Supplication for spiritual strength and protection-”And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil:”
More praise for God and for the church- “For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever.”
Close- “Amen”. Of course, we should aknowledge that Jesus is our mediator, and that our prayers go through Him, by saying something like “In Jesus name” prior to saying “Amen”.
Anyways, I hope this helps. Maybe Norm, or someone else with more than my limited Bible knowledge, could add more.
I think Jeff said it well, we pray to the Father through Jesus Christ, our Mediator.
The activity of the Godhead in our worship, including prayer, is outlined somewhat in Eph. 2:18. Notice, we have access to the Father through Jesus by the Spirit. That is, because of what Jesus did for us (1 Jn. 2:1-2), we are able to go the Father (Heb. 4:16) according to the instructions of the Holy Spirit in the inspired word (Eph. 6:17). We worship the Father in spirit and in truth (Jn. 4:24). “Spirit” there is our attitude of love and devotion because of what God did for us in giving us his Son (1 Jn. 4:19, Jn. 3:16). “Truth” means that we worship the Father according to the Holy Spirit inspired word (Jn. 17:17; 1 Cor. 2:13).
Remember what I said in the articles regarding the necessity for biblical authority. We know that the practice of praying to Jesus is unscriptural because we cannot find where disciples are ever taught to do such and it would contradict what we do find regarding biblical teaching on prayer. People get into a lot of trouble with their interpretation of Scripture when they appeal to extraordinary circumstances for their ordinary practices.
I’m going to do a post addressing all the points of Eliud’s question in more detail. Look for that in the next day or so.
Hello Norm!I am responding to the comment you made to Mr. Gamez in regaurds to Christ not teaching His disciples to pray to Him? I believe that through the scriptures we can see that praying to Jesus is ok, biblically, according to the following passages; John 14:13-14, Acts 7:59,II corin. 12:8-9.
In the gospel of John He states, “Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.”
James,
In John 14:13-14 Jesus doesn’t say to pray to him. He says that whatever we ask in his name. If we were asking him directly then why would we need to ask it in his name? Not to mention the fact that in this passage Jesus is talking to the apostles, not disciples in general.
In 2 Cor. 12:8-9, it is obvious that Paul is not talking about the same kind of prayer the disciples were instructed in. This is a two way conversation! How many times have you prayed to Jesus that he spoke back to you in an audible way? (Maybe I shouldn’t ask). This passage is talking about the kind of special revelation the apostles received and not the typical prayer of disciples.
In Acts 7:59, Stephen looked into heaven and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God. He had a miraculous vision of the Lord and spoke to that vision. I guess the next time you have a miraculous vision of Jesus then it would be o.k. to go ahead and talk to him. Of course, I’m being facetious. People do not receive miraculous visions today (1 Cor. 13:10). Paul said he was the last one to see Christ (1 Cor. 15:8). Trying to use Acts 7:59 to authorize prayer to Jesus is an attempt to use an extraordinary event to authorize the typical conduct of Christians in prayer. It is a misuse of the passage, to say the least. Instead of looking to the passages of extraordinary events for how we pray, we should look to those passages that are actually given for that purpose (Luke 11:1; et. al.).
Let’s just do things the way the Bible says to do them instead of looking for ways around it to justify whatever we want to do.