I don’t understand the apparent contradiction in 1 John 1:8-10 versus 1 John 3:6-9. Am I misunderstanding something, if we claim we have not sinned we make God out to be a liar, but if we continue to sin this is evidence that we are not born of God? I know that I am a saint who sins … but please enlightenment me on these verses.

I have been troubled over a book I started reading (and decided not to finish) a couple of weeks ago. I believe the author is grossly misinterpreting the Kingdom Parables, the Bema Judgment and the Church’s place/role in the Millennial/Heavenly Kingdoms. Furthermore, our sanctification “process” is equated with our Kingdom rewards, and actually states that the “outer darkness” and “weeping and gnashing of teeth” is about “believers” who are cast out of the presence of God after the Bema judgment because they failed to achieve a certain level of sanctification.

The focus is on Matthew’s parables from chapters 8:11-12, 22:13, 24:50-51, 25:12, and 25:30, and before listing these parables the author states, “Always remember the ones who were not able to inherit:”. Then the author says, after the list, “These passages are all talking about Christians! And yet none of them inherited the Kingdom. Yes, they were all in it. But they were in some other region, some other place -the darkness outside – and thus separated from the light of the Lord’s presence.”

The book goes out of its way to state that the person is still saved, and still goes to Heaven, but because they did not follow Christ faithfully they will dwell in a part of Heaven away from Him and forfeit any rewards of reigning with Him in His Kingdom.

I have a question related to something Jesus said in John 14:12. “Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” Some take this scripture to mean all sorts of things that just don’t square with my own understanding of God’s word. I’m not sure their doctrine is sound. What do you think He meant by that?

Does the Holy Spirit leave us when we die? Does giving up the ghost mean separating from the Holy Spirit or merely separating our body from our spirit? What about all the people that have died? Do they get the Holy Spirit back when they are resurrected, or were they never separated?

I am having a discussion with friends, and they don’t believe that Christ died for everyone. I believe He did die for everyone, but it’s only good for those who accept it. Unless you believe and accept it, His death means nothing. His blood is of no effect to those who refuse it. Do you think that’s correct?

A friend of mine posed a question about how they used to keep track of the years. We read that Adam was over 900 years old when he died. How did those keeping track of the years know this? I know in Genesis it says that the sun and the moon and the stars were there for signs and such…is this how they kept track of everyone’s number of years?

When I pray I almost always pray in my mind and not aloud. Is it necessary to pray aloud and does it make any difference? Also should you pray on your knees when praying? Is there any scripture to support any of this? I would like to be most effective when praying and should think it’s how sincere you are and what you’re praying for that counts.

I have a question about salvation that is basically about motives and where we place God. Should a person question their salvation if they do indeed love God, but a lot of the time love other things or people above Him? And what about when people first get converted, but their joy and delight are more in the benefit of being saved, than in God’s character in saving them. Because these motives are present, should a person question their salvation?

What is the full story about good works? I know Paul says in Romans 3, “there is none that doeth good”. I’ve also heard preachers talk how our works are as “filthy rags” before God. I know good works are completely out of the salvation equation, but was a little confused about how their can be good works if there is “none that doeth good”, and they are like “filthy rags”.

I know there are several verses that talk about not being friends with people who are unbelievers or who are living in sinful lifestyles. I have acquaintances that I spend short periods of time with occasionally who definitely live in ways completely opposite of how I would ever live. Some are homosexual and some are sexually promiscuous. But, when hard times hit, I am the one they always call and I point them to the truth of the scriptures and encourage them to change how they live. So, my question is, am I not permitted to be acquaintances with such people according to scripture?