Evidence for God from Science

This is something I read about all the time in the bible and hear a lot about from preachers and ministers. But how do you know you are doing it right? When a person who for instance, has a problem with lying. Let's pretend before he became a Christian he was a habitual liar. He then hears the gospel and is told to believe in Christ and repent of his sins. He knows he has a problem with lying. In order for him to be a true Christian and not have a "false faith" or be a "false convert" and be truly forgiven by God does he have to either make a honest effort at not lying for the rest of his life or not just make an honest effort but successfully keep himself from telling another lie for the reminder of his life?

Sometimes I get the idea that pastors think that when a person becomes a Christian he makes a contract with God to no longer sin the rest of his life but if he makes a mistake and does, that's it and he no longer is saved and can no longer reconcile himself with God after that one sin. But is that what true biblical repentance is?

No, remember what the lord told us

"Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us." Forgiveness is cyclic thing in Christianity as long as you are repentant at heart. One may have a habit of habitual sin and this will affect his spiritual life but I would not think he has just lost his salvation, there is always door to come back. Although on a general note I tend to think that continuous sin in a long run - if it makes our heart un-repentant - then it is dangerous ground to walk on. As long as we are humble and realize our mistake, not a token apology but a true shame of our deed, acknowledging that it is a direct violation of our relationship with God then we are forgiven, because a token apology is nothing as God knows our hearts. Consider Jesus' words

Matthew 5:20
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:22
But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca,' is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell.

Now lets see what Solomon said,

Proverbs 6:16-19, "These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren."

Proverbs 12:22, "Lying lips are abomination to the LORD: but they that deal truly are his delight."

In Romans Paul argue that nothing can separate us from the love of Christ and that is true so I will say, hold on to your faith if you find yourself in such a condition because even if you fail to over come your sin initially and you may loose heart, remember the only reason you still care is that light of God, that voice of God still inside of you, may be a bit faint but its still there and if its there then God is waiting for you with open arms. Because if you had been truly lost, you would not have cared at all.

Repentance is not a one time thing, it is when we turn and officially become a christian but being mortal men, we sin and fall over and over again. And honestly the lord doesn't expect us to be perfect in real life, he expects us to do our best. A lot of people try to fight sin without praying, but a careful approach is given in the scripture, "Lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil". Paul tells us that the Holy Spirit is our intercessor as well as Jesus to God. so if that is established that my friend there is a lot of hope.

There is just one sin which is not pardonable, that is the blasphemy against the Holy spirit.

Thank you very much, that helped greatly.

God bless you

I'm so glad this post is under Theology, lol!!!

Anyways I'd like to give a brief answer as well. I'd say "repentance" is a gift and an ability to accept and use under another gift "free-will". Repentance is conviction of the Holy Spirit literally meaning "to feel regret for sins or crimes". Now I used to hold the stance that Repentance was literally turning away from your sin and never doing again, however after studying and reading a few thread posts, I now hold the position that one should want to turn away from sin and never doing again. However we do fall short of the glory, but this is not to be used as an excuse, for we have the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome if we are that obedient. It takes obedience on our part to be overcomers and walk in the power of the Holy Spirit; for even greater works will we do. Yet we see dead churches and those who don't even heal the sick, raise the dead, much less anything more radical then this. Most times this is the adversary our enemy and accuser telling us we can't, can't, can't, yet we know that we can do all things in and through Christ who strengthens us. We need to stop living defeated... we need to quit justifying sin, and/or justifying sin with the fact we have the gift of "repentance". We have another awesome gift called "grace" and the "fee-will" choice to chose "grace" by another gift called "faith", however should we sin and/or in this case continue to repent over and over again because "grace" is abound... "GOD forbid"!!! You can't continue beating a dead horse, if so its to no avail. Without purpose, ignorant.

I'm headed out the door and would love to add just a little more and would love to elaborate some more as well. I hope this isn't in vain and that it may bless the readers, hearers, and doers.

How did I miss this thread?
http://www.cocoris.com/Topical%20Pages ... %20PDF.pdf
If you really want to sink your teeth into an in-depth examination of the word then this is it.
A more concise example
http://www.hitland.net/07-article-repent-meaning.htm

But is that what true biblical repentance is?

The short answer is, 'no!' I think it is a great observation.

This has recently come up in many threads, and obviously we hear the word used all the times. I can personally say that I misunderstood the word for a good part of my Christian life, thanks to listening to the preaching and teaching of other people who did not rightly understand the word themselves. After reading several commentaries on the word itself, I think I am still learning. Like many words, metanoeo is contextual. That doesn't mean the definition of the word changes, but the object of the it changes. I think in the previous post, meaning is being ascribed to the word that it doesn't inherently carry.

After reading links

Question: If faith is the only requirement for salvation, is not the powers and principalities, demonic realm, and satan himself since they believe in Jesus and God... saved??? Can you mix righteousness with unrighteousness, can sin enter Heaven, can you continue to be a habitual sinner without the least care or trying to work on particular sin (have remorse, turning away, repent) and still be saved; as long as you just believe? Can you be a homosexual Christian? I'm not asking to be smart, I'm asking with genuine curiosity!

Repentance pdf. "In fact, the word “repentance” only occurs once in the book of Romans (Rom. 2:14) and there it is a virtual synonym for faith." Please show me the word "repentance" in (Rom. 2:14) "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:" However considering the topic even if the word was in the scripture I find his wording "is a virtual synonym for faith" meaning the same yet he is proposing the case they are different, separate, and not directly related (conditional).

If you have a changed mind or your mind changes, "the fool became wise", would the evidence not be present in and through ones life or lifestyle. I have a changed mind, I repent, how can you tell... righteousness hates unrighteousness and vice verse; I no longer sin, I chose, had a changed mind, I repented, did I not?

continuing my above post to definition:
1 John 1:9 "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."
Acts 2:38 "Then Peter said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost."
Luke 13:3 "I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.

Luke 15:7 "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance."
Matthew 3:8, Luke 17:3-4, Acts 3:19, 8:22, 17:30, 26:20, 2 Timothy 2:25, Revelation 2:5, 2:16, 3:3, 3:19,
2 Corinthians 7:10... repentance leads to salvation

Here is a awesome link as well...

http://gospeltranslations.org/wiki/Bibl ... Repentance

However please don't take for granite no one's effort. I've read the previous links, all of the contributions have biblical truth and we should all take into consideration. Ultimately you will have to chose what repentance means to you. As for me of course I have my own opinion, but all I know is Jesus and Him crucified. I know I know a lot but I know there's a lot more I don't know, and when I think I really know something I really know nothing at all. But... I am fully persuaded and convinced in my own mind...



http://www.evangelicaloutreach.org/repentance.htm

Looking at this subject and the post here and reading about it more, I am beginning to think that a good way to define repentance and explain it would be to say that it is a:

Life Altering Change of mind
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zacchaeus wrote:Repentance pdf. "In fact, the word “repentance” only occurs once in the book of Romans (Rom. 2:14) and there it is a virtual synonym for faith." Please show me the word "repentance" in (Rom. 2:14) "For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:" However considering the topic even if the word was in the scripture I find his wording "is a virtual synonym for faith" meaning the same yet he is proposing the case they are different, separate, and not directly related (conditional).

Its just a typo. Try Romans 2:4. Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance

If you have a changed mind or your mind changes, "the fool became wise", would the evidence not be present in and through ones life or lifestyle. I have a changed mind, I repent, how can you tell... righteousness hates unrighteousness and vice verse; I no longer sin, I chose, had a changed mind, I repented, did I not?

It all has to do with the object of repentance. I would say one placing their faith in Christ is evidence. One can repent of their sins. The object is sin. One can repent of their unbelief. The object is belief.

Okay, again just asking for studying purposes.... is it your stance the two are separate and do not have to be inner twined. Have one and not the other... why would one ever repent (change their mind) of their unbelief, because the only reason they would-would be because now they believe (faith) in God, otherwise if there is no GOD as in the stance of (so-called atheists, and agnostics) then there would be no change of mind to begin with (repentance). I hold myself right now that they are so connected... they are inseparable. Not saying that my theology couldn't change after in depth study. But not just for argument sakes, lets say an unbeliever realizes he is a sinner (so at that instance a change of mind and even heart is taken place), but at the same time for him to even start having that change that means simultaneous that he is or already has started to come unto the knowledge of Christ... (faith)... believing without seeing... turning from sin, trying not to continue in sin, accepting Christ as Savior who died for those sins giving me the grace to cover and allow me to choose Him, becoming a Christian. I'm not sure repenting from an object has anything to do with the fact that you have to repent of your sins (object) in order to be saved. Otherwise we could just believe (faith) and continue in sin without ever repenting... God forbid though. And if the argument can be made that because one does now have faith because he had a (changed mind; repented) than that one did repent in order to have faith. Unrighteous to righteous, lost to saved, dark to light, change mind (repentance). They coincide. Again, I'm still studying cause I do find the very topic quite intriguing and we should edify and encourage one another. Scripture is for teaching... so I'm listening, but just haven't "repented" yet, lol, having a changed mind!!!

[quote="zacchaeus"]Okay, again just asking for studying purposes.... is it your stance the two are separate and do not have to be inner twined. Have one and not the other... why would one ever repent (change their mind) of their unbelief, because the only reason they would-would be because now they believe (faith) in God, otherwise if there is no GOD as in the stance of (so-called atheists, and agnostics) then there would be no change of mind to begin with (repentance). I hold myself right now that they are so connected... they are inseparable. Not saying that my theology couldn't change after in depth study. But not just for argument sakes, lets say an unbeliever realizes he is a sinner (so at that instance a change of mind and even heart is taken place), but at the same time for him to even start having that change that means simultaneous that he is or already has started to come unto the knowledge of Christ... (faith)... believing without seeing... turning from sin, trying not to continue in sin, accepting Christ as Savior who died for those sins giving me the grace to cover and allow me to choose Him, becoming a Christian. I'm not sure repenting from an object has anything to do with the fact that you have to repent of your sins (object) in order to be saved. Otherwise we could just believe (faith) and continue in sin without ever repenting... God forbid though. And if the argument can be made that because one does now have faith because he had a (changed mind; repented) than that one did repent in order to have faith. Unrighteous to righteous, lost to saved, dark to light, change mind (repentance). They coincide. Again, I'm still studying cause I do find the very topic quite intriguing and we should edify and encourage one another. Scripture is for teaching... so I'm listening, but just haven't "repented" yet, lol, having a changed mind!!![ Ponder...[/b]

Points to Ponder

Notice that Ephesians 6: 15 (NKJV) says, “…having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace…”

People wear one shoe on the right foot and on the left foot for a total of two shoes worn per person. If only wears one shoe, how long before ones takes it off and goes barefooted?

Would much of the modern church be guilty of teaching that only one shoe is necessary?

Wonder if that is why much of the modern church limps along without life altering power? After all look at what Jesus said in Luke 6:47, 48, 49c
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Zac

Good question. Let's look at this verse.
Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 20:21)

In this case, repentance and faith are separate yet inseparable. This is a personal salvation verse. The modern gospel. Paul summarizes his entire ministry in this one verse to the Ephesians. It makes no distinction of Jew and gentile. The same thing is required. Repentance towards God, and faith toward the work and life of Christ.

I should have been more specific in my example, because one can have unbelief about a myriad of things. For example, I use to believe in Santa Claus. In fact, in my childhood I believed in the Tooth Fairy, Santa, Jesus, and plenty of other things. Was I saved? No. I wasn't trusting in Christ anymore than I was trusting in Santa Claus. It isn't just believing 'that', but trusting in. I then had an encounter with God. The reality of my sin met the reality of Christ's life. Wham!! Preceding that event was a mind shift regarding what I thought about God and this Jesus.

Stephen Hawking needs to repent of the idea that there is no creator. If if became a Theist, would he be saved? No. He still hasn't trusted Christ. But it is impossible for him to be saved if he never repents of atheism. He can never see himself as a sinner needing saving if he never concedes the possibility of a moral law giver. This is one of the reasons I believe atheism is becoming so popular. It renders sin null and void. (at least in their minds.) Then everything in the Bible looks like foolishness. God will never appear just in His judgments to these people because they are righteous in their own eyes.