Spiritual Q & A

At last week's Watershed Worship Gathering, we had a "Spiritual Q&A". People could write down any spiritual questions they had, and I took my best shot at mutilating an answer. To listen to the mp3, click the link in sentence #1.

However, even though I wasted 45 minutes of everyone's time, there were so many good questions that we just couldn't get to them all. So I promised to post them somewhere, and this is the place. A huge thanks to my administrative assistant Gina for typing all these up for us! Some of these I answered during the night, but most I just couldn't get to. Enjoy wrestling with these questions and God yourself!

P.S. These were typed "as is", so any mistakes you see (especially grammatical) are from the original written question.

Doctrine/Theology/Biblical Passages

? Other than there being a commandment, why should one not steal?
? Thou shall not murder- does this mean ?murder? in a war? Should there be war?
? Do you follow the government that may be against a commandment and support it?
? Does God support liberalism?
? What does it mean to follow God? Ultimately the answer usually includes something that equates to ?listen and He will guide you? but if you can?t ?hear? God, how are you supposed to follow His leadings?
? What do you think ?the Kingdom of God? is? How much attention should we give it and how should it influence the rest of our spiritual lives?
? What does the Bible say about inter-racial marriage?
? Can a believer that has accepted Jesus into their hearts be possessed by a demon? Why or why not?
? Why does the Catholic Church believe we have a connection to/with the dead and the Protestant church doesn?t?
? What is the meaning behind baptism & why do we practice it today?
? Angels- can they be saved, if not, why? If so, can Satan? Does God love Satan, his enemy? What?s the difference between man and angels?
? How do you recognize the baptism of the Spirit?
? Are spiritual gifts (such as tongues, prophecies, etc) necessary to prove salvation?
? Should you give to God first or erase your debt first?

Forgiveness/Sin
? Can we truly believe that someone who believes in Jesus, our Lord, does something horrible like kill someone, repent, kill another man out of hate & repent will go to heaven if he truly repents as opposed to someone who believes in one Lord, does not believe or know of Jesus but live a happy, fair, helping life?
? How do you confront a friend without hurting their feelings? They know they are sinning but they don?t care to change-but they?re in leadership positions.
? Often we are told to guard our hearts, yet how do we do this when we are to forgive over and over an offense which can harden our heart?
? What passages would you point people to who are questioning God?s love for the church-the importance of us being dedicated to one church body?
? How do you claim the forgiveness & grace of God when there?s not an ounce of you that believes God could ever forgive, restore & love you again?
? What is the best way to approach a Christian who continues to engage in obviously sinful behavior even when he/she knows it is sinful?

Prayer
? Define the Holy Spirit and how it relates to prayers
? What the difference between praying directly to God vs. Jesus?
? I struggle with praying that God would help people who aren?t believers in Christ overcome difficult situations in their lives (ex: lost a job, family problems, sickness, loss of a loved one). How much will God do to ?help? them other than to draw them to Himself? I find myself praying that God would not make everything better, but that He would use the situation to help them see their need for a Savior. What are your thoughts/suggestions?

Surrender
? Scripture teaches that God cares for us and provides for us-and I see that in my daily life- yet I?m held back from completely rejoicing in that because I think of other people whose needs are not met (dying in accidents, starvation in 3rd world countries, those who die unsaved). How do we deal with these things?
? What does it look like to trust God with your whole life? Complete surrender?
? How can I fully open my heart to God and friends?

Witnessing
? How do you talk to a person about a personal relationship with Jesus who considers themselves already a Christian, but does not attend church or seem to live a true Christian lifestyle?

Sovereignty of God
? If God knows all that is to come, how can there be such a thing as free will?
? Pre-destination stuff
? Why did God plan that Judas would betray Jesus? If he loves us, how was He showing love to Judas? Why did He harden Pharoah?s heart in front of Moses? How was He showing love by sending plagues (as opposed to softening Pharoah?s heart so he would release the Israelites right away)? I?ve heard these things were to show God?s power but it scares me because it seems like Judas?s & Pharoah?s free will were taken away & they were used (by God) to do bad things?my point is that they weren?t in control & had to do bad things? could this happen to me? I want to do good for God so badly, but sometimes I get scared that God may harden my heart.

Relationships
? Why do I pick at my impurities about myself? What can I do to stop?
? Should I worry if I think no one likes me?

Misc. Questions
? Can you share any new insights that God has given you lately?
? Practically speaking, what does it mean to do things ?in God?s strength?, rather than our own? Doesn?t our strength come from God? If so, then what?s the difference?
? So often I hear people say it says in the Bible, ?I give to you my seed bearing plants? and so many people argue that marijuana is such and so it?s okay to do.
? Can there be too much pumpkin pie? (note from me: this one was an inside joke from something I said during the announcements)

Thanks to everyone who asked a question! I will pray that God will continue to guide and answer you on your honest search. And no, I'm not going to tackle these on here: I'm taking the next couple weeks off and I'm sure when I get back I'll have other things I'll want to blog about!