Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

To all concerned...I have decided to quit arguing about the nature of God..

I do not concede my stance, just have had my fill of endless repetition of opinions.

I won't convince anyone of anything and no one will change my mind.

If anyone sees this as concession, then my point is well proven that it was just long sessions of meaningless argument.

May God bless everyone with His truth.

Canuckus Deploracus Loc: North of the wall

I hear you.... Amen

Rose42

May God bless you too Michael.

TexaCan Loc: Homeward Bound!

God bless you too, Michael! I have always enjoyed and respected your passionate defense of the conservative/Republican beliefs……….back to our battle on the main!

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Agree.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Thank you.

Armageddun Loc: The show me state

Amen

Armageddun Loc: The show me state

Amen and Amen

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Did you forget or think your first amen didn't take?😀

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Amen indeed, Christian friend!

The Hebrew and Greek words for amen appear hundreds of times in the Bible and have various uses. Amen is a transliteration of the Hebrew word amen [em'a]. The verb form occurs more than one hundred times in the Old Testament and means: "to take care, to be faithful, reliable or established, or to believe someone or something." The idea of something that is faithful, reliable, or believable lies behind the use of amen as an exclamation on twenty-five solemn occasions in the Old Testament. Israel said "amen" to join in the praises of God (1st Chronicles 16:36 ; Nehemiah 8:6 ; and at the end of each of the first four books of Psalms, 41:13 ; 72:19 ; 89:52 ; 106:48).

Amen is never used solely to confirm a blessing in the Old Testament, but Israel did make use of it to accept the curse of God upon sin (twelve times in Deuteronomy 27, and in Nehemiah 5:13 ), and once Jeremiah affirms God's statements of the blessings and the curses of the covenant with an amen (Jeremiah 11:5). It can also confirm a statement made by people (Numbers 5:22 ; 1st Kings 1:36 ; Nehemiah 5:13).

These kinds of uses lie behind the popular, basically correct, dictum that amen means "So be it." Within contemporary Christianities' current usage, the term "amen" is a common conclusion to prayers.

Amen has other uses. Jeremiah mocks the words of a false prophet with an amen (28:6). Because God is trustworthy, Isaiah can call Him "the God of amen, " in whose name His servants should invoke blessings and take oaths (Isaiah 65:16 ; see also Revelation 3:14). But Jesus' use of amen is the most striking innovation.

Jesus introduces His teaching by saying "amen lego humin" [ajmhvnlevgwuJmi'n], that is, "truly I say to you," on nearly seventy occasions in the Gospels (thirty times in Matthew, thirteen in Mark, six in Luke, and twenty in John, where the amen is always doubled). Where the prophets often said, "Thus says the Lord," Jesus often says, "Amen I say to you." Although some scholars see the formuLam only as a method of giving emphasis to a statement, it actually constitutes a significant part of Jesus' implicit teaching about Himself.

Consider Jesus' use of the term "amen" in company with His other implicit claims to deity, - His claim of the right to forgive sins and to judge humankind, and His custom of performing miracles on His own authority. No mere human has the right to forgive sins, yet Jesus forgave sins.
God is the judge of humankind, yet Jesus judges.
God's agents ascribe the will and the glory to God when they perform miracles, yet Jesus performed miracles on His own authority.
Likewise, prophets never spoke on their own authority. They say, "Thus says the Lord;" or, like Paul, they say they received a revelation from heaven.
Jesus, however, says, "Truly I say to you" dozens of times, asserting that His words are certainly true because He says them.

Jesus often uses the formuLam when He corrects errors or is engaged in disputes. When Jesus instructed Nicodemus, for example, He appealed not to Scripture but to His own authority, saying "Amen, amen, I say to you" (John 3:3, 5; see also Matthew 6:2, 5, 16; 18:3; Luke 13:35; John 5:19, 24, 25; 6:26, 32, 47, 53). "Amen lego humin" also punctuates the teaching of truths unknown in the Old Testament, and acclimates startling sayings for which Jesus offers no other proof than His own authority.

Here the amen implies that Jesus' words, just as the Father's, are true simply because He utters them (Matthew 24:34; 26:13; Mark 3:28; Luke 12:37; John 10:1). So in Matthew 5, Jesus comments on the Old Testament or Jewish interpretations of it six times in the chapter, saying, "You have heard that it was said, but I tell you..." He concludes the first section with the amen in 5:26, and in doing so asserts that His authority exceeds the Jewish interpreters', and even brings a revelation that surpasses that of the Old Testament law itself.

In this way, whenever Jesus says "amen lego humin" [ajmhvnlevgwuJmi'n], He shows awareness of His own authority, His own deity. This evidence of Jesus' messianic self-consciousness is important because it resists skeptical attacks on the faith. Critics try to exclude many texts that present Christ's deity on the grounds that they are unauthentic. But implicit claims to deity, whether they be Jesus' use of the amen or other ones, appear in virtually every paragraph of the Gospels, and cannot be explained away.

Paul's use of amen in the New Testament returns to the Old Testament world, - EXCEPT that he utters amen only to bless, NOT to curse. Many times Paul's letters burst into praise of God the Father or God the Son and seal the confession with the amen (Romans 1:25; 9:5; 11:36; Galatians 1:3-5; Ephesus 3:21; Philippians 4:20; 1st Timothy 1:17; 6:16; 2nd Timothy 4:18). A doxology appears at or near the end of several letters, and all close with the amen. Other letters end with a blessing on his readers, again completed with amen (1st Colossians 16:23-24; Galatians 6:18).

Paul also invites his readers to say amen to the promises of God (2nd Colossians 1:20; see also Revelation 22:20). Amen also closes spontaneous doxologies in Revelation; there, however, the object of praise is more often the Son than the Father (1:6-7; 5:14; 7:12; 19:4). In all this, Paul and Revelation resemble the Jewish custom of the day, in which Jews said amen when they heard another bless the Lord whether in private prayer (Tobit 8:8) or in worship. But they surpass it in the sheer spontaneity and enthusiasm of their praises.

Several other New Testament epistles follow Paul by praising God and/or calling on Him to bestow the grace the readers need (Hebrews 13:20-21; 1st Peter 4:11; 5:10-11; 2nd Peter 3:17-18; Jude 24-25; Revelation 22:21). As in Paul, these final words often recapitulate the main themes of the letter, which the writer seals with the amen that both declares and pleads, "So be it! May God indeed be praised for bestowing the gifts His people need."

Daniel Doriani; Baker's Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology; Walter A. Elwell, Editor

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Thank you, Armageddun.

Because the promises of God find their true fulfillment (their 'yes,' their 'amen') in Jesus Christ, He may be called 'the Amen.' He is in the Old Testament called 'the God of truth,' 'the God of the amen' (2nd Corinthians 1:20; Revelation 3:14; cf. Isaiah 65:16). Christians acknowledge this by adding their own 'amen' (2nd Corinthians 1:20). By introducing many of His statements with ‘Amen’ (i.e. 'Verily' or 'Truly'), multiple times, Jesus guaranteed those statements to be true, certain, reliable and authoritative (Matthew 8:10; 10:15, 23,42; 11:11; 13:17).

'Amen' is a transliteration from a Hebrew word meaning 'surely, truly, certainly, trustworthily'. It was used as a formula expressing agreement to a variety of statements or announcements; for example, an oath (Numbers 5:19-22), a blessing or curse from God (Deuteronomy 27:11-26; Jeremiah 11:5), an announcement (1st Kings 1:36), a prophecy (Jeremiah 28:6), an expression of praise (1st Chronicles 16:36; Psalm 41:13; Jude 24-25), a prayer (1st Corinthians 14:16), a statement (Revelation 1:7) or a promise (Revelation 22:20).

Armageddun Loc: The show me state

Amen

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

Don't forget to pass the plate, reverend.

Zemirah Loc: Sojourner En Route...

Your comment is Scripturally uneducated, inaccurate, and to the Triune God who can see your heart, possibly inappropriate.

Bible believing Christian women do not serve as pastors/ministers/pastors/reverends, and the Christian men who are ordained to do so do not "pass the plate."

Deacons do.

“Paul and Timothy, the servants of Jesus Christ, to all the saints in Christ Jesus which are at Philippi,
with the bishops and deacons.” Philippians 1:1

The Bible uses three terms for the duties of the same office: elder, pastor and bishop. In the original Greek language of the New Testament, these words describe different functions of that office, but not different men (Acts 20:17-28;1 Peter 5:1-5), i.e., a church elder also serves his congregation as pastor and bishop.

A pastor (Reverend) should pray for, minister to, disciple and provide godly servant leadership for the people of the church.

The qualifications for men who serve as pastor are found in 1st Timothy 3:1-7; Titus 1:5-9. The qualifications fall generally into two categories - character and gifts for ministry. The office of pastor is used to serve others, not in selfish or self-promoting ways.

Deacons: Whereas pastors are most often selected from persons outside the immediate membership of the congregation, deacons are selected from within the membership.The biblical qualifications for a deacon (1 Timothy 3:8-13) focus primarily on character and relationships within the church, family and community. Deacons are to be persons of impeccable character and deep faith who rely on the Holy Spirit.

Acts 6:1-6 records the beginning of the role of deacons. They are to care for the physical needs of the congregation so that pastors can more fully concentrate on spiritual needs. The deacons are not viewed as servants of governance, but as servants of assistance.

Michael Rich Loc: Lapine Oregon

So why give sermons on OPP?