God’s Existence and Nature

The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

Ian Johnson December 8, 2022 3 Comments

When Jesus says that he has chosen us to bear fruit that will last, the fruit he has in mind is the fruit of the Spirit–that is, the work the Holy Spirit does within us as we yield to him to make us like Christ. It is not our work, our “fruits,” at all–it is all his work.

Changed treatment of each other, Complex unity, Compulsory Christianity, Emotions, forgiveness and mercy, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Human Rationality, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be in his image, To bear fruit, To live in unity

bearing fruit, Fruit of the Spirit, fruitbearing, God's work, Holy Spirit

Of Abiding, Growth and Fruitfulness

Ian Johnson November 28, 2022 3 Comments

God wants us to bear the lasting fruit he has placed within us. But this does not require our effort to bear fruit, it requires only that we remain in Jesus, pay attention to his words, and let him work through us. His only command is that we love one another as he has loved us, so letting his love reach others through us.

A God who Speaks, God is Love, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's Voice, His Children, His Friends, In prayer, Love each other, Promises, To bear fruit

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God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

Ian Johnson November 13, 2022 2 Comments

God is slow to bring the day of justice because he is patient, determined to give us all the time we need to repent and return to him. If we do not, it will be our choice, not his, to remain in the present world when he removes his care from it and it disintegrates under the weight of sin.

A God who Speaks, Consequences, Free will, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, judgment, patience, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Repentance, reprobation, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Sin, The Problem of Evil, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word, What is sin?

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Top-Down or Bottom-Up Repentance? The Shift Toward Mass “Evangelism” and Group “Conversions”

Ian Johnson November 4, 2022 0 Comments

Introduction to the historic process by which the Early Church, a collection of outcasts bound together by a personal relationship with Jesus, within a few centuries became the chief bastion of worldly power and order held together by legally enforced adherence to a creed.

Church purpose versus church growth, Compulsory Christianity, Divisions in the Church, Jesus the Son, Mass Conversion, Mass Evangelism, Peril of Seeking Numbers, Peril of Seeking Power, Peril of Seeking Respectability, Salvation, Social control and statecraft, Son of Man, Trinity

alliances, authority, Christian history, Christianity, Church unity, Greek philosophy, Jesus, mass conversion, mass evangelism, order, paganism, power, the Faith

Repentance Series Index

Ian Johnson October 23, 2022 0 Comments

An index to the series of blog articles on the subject of repentance.

An abuse of God's image, Confession of Sin, Consequences, Desire to have our own way, Forgetting God, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, patience, refusal to repent, Refusing to hear, Rejecting God, Repentance, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Problem of Evil, To live in unity, What is sin?

forgiveness, rebellion, repent, repentance, sin, sins, unforgiveness

Anger

Ian Johnson October 12, 2022 0 Comments

I write this post to myself. I was once a very angry man. But I believed I now had anger under control. More recently, I’m not so sure. Manipulative people and manipulative institutions both deliberately goad the anger of those they want to control–anger is a great motivator. The media, celebrities, politicians, organizations and advertisers do the same thing. Other people, though, habitually but unconsciously manipulate by continually rehearsing their angry reveries for others to hear, wishing either to bring their hearers into their angry world or to intimidate by fear of what they might do in anger. And I am weak to all of these ploys. So I present the following study, which consists only of quotations from Scripture about human anger, its causes and antidote.

Changed treatment of each other, Conversation with others, Desire to have our own way, Divisions in the Church, Emotions, Forgive as we forgive, forgiveness and mercy, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, Free will, God is Love, God's purpose for us, His Children, Human Rationality, Injustice and Lawsuits, Language and Speech, patience, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Restoration of our Relationships, Salvation, To be his ambassadors, To live in unity

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Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

Ian Johnson September 10, 2022 3 Comments

Hebrews 6:1-6 has nothing to do with losing our salvation through sinful acts. Instead, it teaches that we must repent from our rebellion and from our own dead works as a way of becoming acceptable to God. Further, when we do sometimes fall back into relying on our own works, we cannot repent of this in our own power. God must provide both the initiative and the power.

Confession and Repentance, forgiveness and mercy, Free will, God is Love, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, Losing salvation, Pride in accomplishments as our own, refusal to repent, Repentance, Repentance versus Remorse, Replacing Relationship with Morality, Salvation, self-serving worship, Sin, Sins versus sin, What is sin?

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What I Believe–stated simply

Ian Johnson July 24, 2022 7 Comments

In this post, I give a short, one web page, summary of what I believe, in language as simple as I can manage. It gives only a quick, “big picture” of my understanding of God, my relationship to him, and my role on Earth. Comments are invited.

Church purpose versus church growth, Complex unity, Conversation with God, Divisions in the Church, Eternity, Free will, God Acts by Speaking, God is Love, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God was never our enemy, God's Existence and Nature, God's purpose for us, God's rationality, God's sovereignty, His Children, His Friends, Immanence, Islam as a Consequence, Language and Speech, Male and female, Merit, Omnipresence, Reconciliation, Refusing to hear, Regeneration, Rejecting God, Repentance, Restoration of God's Image, Salvation, Show us the Way of Truth, Sin, Sins versus sin, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom of the Heavens, The Problem of Evil, To be his ambassadors, To be in his image, To live in unity, Transcendence, Trinity, Ultimate reality, Unity, Wars as consequences, What is God's Word, What is sin?

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The Implications of Jesus’ Humanity, Revisited

Ian Johnson April 24, 2022 2 Comments

Jesus came as a man–fully human–and lived under the control (“filling”) and power of the Holy Spirit, in exactly the same way we can, if we will permit him to do it. In this respect, the only difference between Jesus, as a human, and us, is that Jesus was never anything but fully under the Spirit’s control. Jesus invites us to live as He did, obeying the Spirit’s direction and living by the Spirit’s power.

A God who Speaks, God Acts by Speaking, God Never Stopped Speaking, God Speaks to Us, God's purpose for us, His Children, His Friends, Holy Spirit, Jesus the Son, Promises, Show us the Way of Truth, Son of Man, The Invisible God's Self-Existence, The Kingdom of the Heavens, Through Jesus, To be in his image, Trinity, Ultimate reality, What is God's Word

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Paul’s Mourning over those who have Not Repented, 2 Corinthians 12:21

Ian Johnson April 3, 2022 2 Comments

When Paul wrote his second letter to the Corinthians, he feared he would later come to them and find that they had not repented of their underlying mixed motives and attitudes of self-centered worship and sensual focus. The result would be the same strife and disorder he had reproved in his first letter.

Desire to have our own way, Desire to have our own way, Divisions in the Church, Forgetting God, Forgiveness and Unforgiveness, God's Other Attributes, Greed, Pride in accomplishments as our own, refusal to repent, Repentance, Salvation, self-serving worship, What is sin?

attitude, attitudes, Corinthians, disorder, immorality, mixed motives, mourning, not repented, Paul, repent, self-centered worship, sensual, sensuality, strife, uncleanness

The Fruit of Righteousness and the Fruit of the Spirit

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Of Abiding, Growth and Fruitfulness

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God’s Patience and Our Repentance, 2 Peter 3:9

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Top-Down or Bottom-Up Repentance? The Shift Toward Mass “Evangelism” and Group “Conversions”

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Repentance Series Index

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Anger

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Foundational Repentance and Falling Away, Hebrews 6:1-6

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What I Believe–stated simply

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The Implications of Jesus’ Humanity, Revisited

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Paul’s Mourning over those who have Not Repented, 2 Corinthians 12:21

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God’s Existence and Nature

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