In your answer entitled, “Are Joseph’s and Mary’s Lineage Incorrect?” you stated that there is no word for grandfather or father-in-law or mother-in-law in the Hebrew, but Matt 8:14 relates a story about Peter’s mother-in-law. How is this reconciled?

I screw up every day! What a surprise, huh? I feel bad and ask for forgiveness as soon as I mess up. I know the Lord forgives me, I just have a hard time forgiving myself! I never want to hurt my Father’s feelings, or cause Him shame, but sometimes I act before I think. Am I the only one who does this?

As long as I have been a Christian (42 years), I have been taught that our priorities, as Christ-followers, are: our personal relationship with God, through Christ; our husband/wife family; our job; the rest of our life/relationships, etc. Do you agree with that? If so, do you believe it is different for those called to ministry, such as pastors, elders, missionaries? That their calling fits between God and their family? That they should put ministry before husband/wife? I personally have seen several marriages break up because of this belief. Are there scriptures to support this?

Sometimes in Christian circles, you hear the phrase “a seared conscience” and it is used as the result of ignoring God’s word and disobeying. The concept is that if you ignore God enough, you lose the ability to hear him, you become insensitive. That may be true. But the actual scripture that this phrase comes from has a different lesson. It shows they are not ignoring godly boundaries, but are actually creating a stricter morality. How can being stricter sear the conscience?

In one of your answers you mentioned that we’ll be reigning with Jesus in New Jerusalem. Now, my question is this: How can we reign with Him? Does He need our assistance or advice? Maybe we’ll represent him in some part of the planet to other peoples and tribes? If so how can we then be at the same time in the New Jerusalem? Or will we just enjoy His presence and eternal fellowship as He will be simultaneously with us in the New Jerusalem and on the surface of the planet Earth?

Re: Daniel 2:41. ” And whereas thou sawest the feet and toes, part of potters’ clay, and part of iron, the kingdom shall be divided; but there shall be in it of the strength of the iron, forasmuch as thou sawest the iron mixed with miry clay.” I once heard a speaker say, “Iron mixed with miry clay; how else would someone in Daniel’s day describe something being built of reinforced concrete? “

I have heard arguments that Gen. 12:3 applied only to Abram and not to his descendants. What is your response?

In order to be considered an apostle, one had to have been personally taught by the Lord and have seen Him in a post-resurrection appearance. Paul did see a post resurrected Jesus, but he was never personally taught by Jesus before His resurrection, right? Couldn’t a person today say the same thing? They could say that Jesus came to them in His post-resurrection body and taught them revelation pertinent to us today.

Throughout the Bible, the angels have been seen as males. Is there any scripture that portraits angels as females?

It seems to me that we really do not know what we will look like in the spirit in heaven. But I doubt that we are just blobs of light without faces. I look forward to seeing my husband of 35 years. And all my family. Very few are left now. We are surrounded by a “cloud”, those who have passed on, Paul said. Is this where the idea came from that we will look like ghosts or wisps of smoke? Jesus did say to His disciples when He appeared to them after He rose, that he was not a ghost or spirit. So they must have believed that a spirit or ghost would look like a person. And He did not correct that did He?