Thank you for your wonderful site. I attempt to lead an adult SS class and there are questions we have about 1 John 5:16,17. When John says that we should pray for those committing a sin that does not lead to death, (what is that sin? – I thought all sin lead to death) and then he is saying that we should not pray for our ‘brother’ who commits the sin that is leading to death – (what is that sin?).

My question is, how were Gentiles saved before Christ? and how did they receive the message of who God is if God worked through the Jews? In Eph 2:13 what is it referring to? It confused me because it appears to indicate that the Gentiles were not offered salvation previously.

My entire life, I have never cheated on anyone. Not a girlfriend, not anyone. I have been married for a little over 3 years, and now I constantly wrestle with wanting to cheat. Even though the sex has declined in my marriage over the past year, I am still very happy with my wife. I am, however, getting sick of always having the thought of cheating enter my head, whether I am awake or asleep.

I just want it to stop. My second problem is related to the first. I find that since the sex has declined, I view pornography more. I feel bad sometimes, but when I do view it, it seems to quench the cheating urge for a little while. Am I just fooling myself with this idea?

God has created people who are deaf, dumb, blind, crippled, etc. Why? I can not understand, why he created these people, what is the real message behind this creation and what does God want from us? What is the logic behind this whole thing?

Could you please explain why war, sickness pain and misery?

I have recently quit my job because I was lusting over a married woman there. I have never in my life had such a strong sexual desire for a woman – it was driving me crazy, I couldn’t hardly think of anything else. She had suggested that her marriage was all but over and I had hoped that we would be together when they divorced. Also I had hoped her husband would die while alternately being guilt ridden and telling the woman we must stop and that I would pray for her marriage. Long story short: I became obsessed with this woman and it consumed my whole life. Finally I quit the job and told her not to ever contact me again – and I meant it.

But during all this affair, I have entered into a spiritual darkness that I cannot even begin to describe. I wonder if I have quit the job so that I will not sin or so I will not be miserable with frustration.

My whole life has been marked with seasons of sin and turning from sin. So now I am here in this deep anguish of soul wondering why, if I am a believer, have I lived such a life with so many episodes of blatant, willful sin? Am I now just heartbroken over my circumstance and running to God? Is that what I have always done? I wonder if I am just a big fraud.

A Pastor spoke today on having images in the house like birds, fish, and of course, statues. He said they are to be removed so as not to defile the house and ourselves.

I can understand that if one has images of dragons or anything satanic for sure as that opens up the doors to the occult. I don’t have any of those. I do have gifts given me for decoration i.e. ceramic angels, cats etc. Needless to say I don’t ‘worship’ them. But the fact they are here, should they be removed?

I read an article with the theme “Not Everyone Will Have the Same Status in Heaven”. It said that although God loves each of us without end, some will be given positions of higher status, authority, and responsibility than others, citing Matt 5:19 and 19:30 (NLT).

It also said, “All who trust in Jesus Christ will experience eternity in His presence. In heaven, there will be no sorrow, death, crying, or pain. However, there is no guarantee that we will not experience regret.”

Do you agree with the writer of the article? The quoted verses backing the writer’s opinion? I know I asked a similar question before about a preacher’s idea about hierarchy in the church in heaven and you said it’s pure guessing. But what do these verses truly mean then?

I am a born again Christian and have been for many years. I love the Lord and I know he is the only answer. However, I know how God loves a humble heart and can’t stand people who are high on themselves. By us worshiping God forever and all the time, is God saying he wants us to be humble but yet he covets all the worship all the time? I know no one else deserves worship, but does God have any humbleness about him? Will we get to do other things in heaven and not just worship him all the time? I know this question might sound bad of me, but i was just hoping that God wasn’t someone who wanted to be exalted all the time.

I was taught in the past and understood that the verses saying “no-one knows the day or hour” refer to the rapture. I would think that once the temple is desolate, most people can count 3 years. Where have I gone wrong?

Thank you, as always, for the time and effort you put into this website and the help you provide to so many people.

My question is kind of two fold. Jesus, during His time physically on earth, was said to be perfectly human and perfectly divine. My first question is, in His humanity, did he retain his sense of identity as God, or did it not come until the advent of His ministry. This came to mind when I read about the time that He stayed behind in Jerusalem conversing with scholars. Was he inquiring in an effort to learn that which God should already know, or was he quizzing and in a sense educating them?

Also, if limiting Himself to only doing the things a normal believing human can do, is this to say that every act that has been passed down through the generations as “miraculous” and evidence of His deity are actually all things a believer can do by the power of the Holy Spirit and through their faith?

I know I’ve heard you talk about this some, I just wanted to clarify. It seems if this were the case it would follow then that His identity as God would be retained and it is the perfect knowledge of God that would allow Him to have the faith to do things that we could do if we had the same faith. It also would explain how He knew what was in people’s hearts, not because he was reading their mind, but because he was the author of the human psyche and would know the cause and effect reactions to what was going on. Am I off base here and if not can you help me nail this thought down via scripture?