I encourage you to keep studying especially the Scriptures. As you get older and especially as you experience church and God’s people (especially as a pastor) there will be things that bring you comfort in the years ahead. I have learned that experts, professionals and even the theologians only do the best they can with what they have learned. Ultimately, God is the authority over all and His wisdom trumps all doctrine, all ideas and theories. This life requires us to work for our understanding of Him and you have to start somewhere.

“You have shown me the way of life, and you will fill me with the joy of your presence.” -Acts 2:28

Amy

I pray God’s blessing for your ministry. Have a blessed day.

Are you doing distance education at CTS? I’m not one for putting sprinkles on babies donuts, but to each his own!

I live in West Lafayette and I served with Justin Hutts (one of your fellow seminarians at Faith) at Battle Ground Bible Church for about a year. Also I was a member of Faith for several years prior. Great people there and great learning environment.

However I am happy to say that I am now a presbyterian (sprinkling babies, we like sprinkles!) serving and worshipping at Immanuel RPC in the west side and attending Covenant Theological Seminary. I thought it was neat to have come to know about you this way and hope the best for you as God leads you in your studies and ministry.

Amen Alan! “There is a story that says in the latter years of the life of the Apostle John that he spoke very seldom but one thing, “children love one another”. He would repeat the phrase over and over to everyone he met. One day a young man asked him why he was always saying this and nothing else. John’s response was, “because it was the Lord’s command and if we would do but this one thing, it would be enough.”

I say take all the professional theologians, put them in a room and let them impress each other with their BS.

However, the main point of the article was less to oppose trichotomy and more to demonstrate the danger in Andrew Wommack’s approach to the Bible, so that people would be more careful about believing what he says. I’m glad to see that you are willing to carefully consider what the Word of God says, so even if we disagree, I believe it is for good reasons.

Thanks,

Dave

John 4:24
God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.”

John 3:5-6 (New King James Version)

5 Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

You response to the above scripture is:

“the passage is referring to the fact that we are not children of God by human descent (i.e. because we are Jews or Gentiles) but by the work of the Holy Spirit (see also John 1:9-13)”

I entirely agree. We were born once in the flesh, by our parents. Then we were born again, we were born again in the Spirit, by God. So, if flesh begets flesh. And Spirit begets spirit, how are we not spirits?

I think Jesus made it pretty clear. There is flesh, and there is spirit. The word spirit is not some cute metaphorical rhetoric, just like flesh isn’t.

According to Jesus, if we are born of the Spirit, we are spirit. End of story.

God would not begot something defiled, impossible. It is obvious that our minds, emotions, consciousness, psyche, etc. need some working on. God did not begot those things, and those things sure aren’t flesh. Flesh is flesh. Spirit is spirit. Those are concrete realities. What about everything else? That is why there must be another part to man, what is referred to as the soul.

Romans 12:2 says that our minds need to be renewed. Our spirits are fine, because they are begotten by God. He didn’t beget junk, so then if spirit and soul are the same, why do we need to change our thinking?

I say all this in love. You are my brother Dave and I’m not attacking you or accusing you of having some religious spirit or something. I’m doing my best to follow Christ and it seems to me you are too. So, may the Lord reveal to both of us more of the knowledge of Him, the only knowledge that matters.

And you got me on the temple thing.
And God can live in a sinful body because technically the body was crucified with Christ.

In the context of, “I sinned today”, we are sinners, just like someone who plays football is an athlete.
In the context of our relationship with God, we are holy and blameless before Him in love, accepted in the Beloved.(Eph. 1)

The later context is all that matters.