dangerous knowledge

Dale Cresap's picture

Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 24, 2017 - 23:26

Daily Devotional Journal

Have you ever heard it said that a little knowledge can be a dangerous thing? Did you think this applied only to skills and academics? Could it be true for spiritual knowledge? Have you met believers who know enough to think that everyone below them is in darkness and everyone above them is in false doctrine? My word says that knowledge puffs up, and this is particularly true of spiritual knowledge. On the other hand, love is edifying. Which do you think is the goal of the Christian life? There isn’t anything inherently wrong with gaining spiritual knowledge. Let yours make you more loving instead of less. 

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being right?

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 23, 2017 - 23:37

Daily Devotional Journal

Is it important to you to be right? Do you suppose that everyone else feels the same way? Yet you do not agree with one another. What then? Here we have conflicting principles. What does the Bible say about being right as opposed to being loving and gracious? Eating meat offered to idols may not be an important issue today, but it once was, and the same principles still apply. Your superior knowledge does not allow you to cause your brother to stumble, or to correct him by force. If your knowledge is superior, then let your love and grace be also, and know when to keep silent and when to speak. 

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Bible Study?

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 22, 2017 - 22:15

Daily Devotional Journal

How do you study the Bible? Have you been to Bible studies where the prevailing idea was that I gave you a Bible and a brain, and if you apply yourself with enough fervor you can figure it out? This is the attitude of your rationalist culture. Does the Bible itself support it? I told my critics to search the scriptures in which they thought they had eternal life, but they would not come to me to have life. The issue here isn’t being smarter or working harder. I promised to send the Comforter to lead you into all truth. Do you understand this to include the meaning of the Bible? It should mean this more than anything else. Do you study the Bible from this perspective? 

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saved or transformed?

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 21, 2017 - 22:06

Daily Devotional Blog

Do you think the primary consideration of the Christian life is deciding who is saved? The Bible points the way to salvation, but it also says, do not say, even in your heart, who shall ascend into heaven, and who shall descend into hell. Salvation is important, but it is not your job to decide who is in and who is out. The Bible also speaks of transformation. Can you conceive of people being saved but not transformed? Conventional Christian thought is that salvation is an event and transformation is a process. Should you judge people by their transformation? You are not to judge at all, but the Bible does also say, you shall know them by their fruits. 

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Written on your heart

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 18, 2017 - 21:40

Daily Journaling Devotional

My law was originally written on tablets of stone, but I spoke of a time when they would be written on the hearts of my people. Stone has given way to paper for the written word, and now you can read the same words as an electronic image, but do you see that the same principle still applies? Modern technology has not changed it. Do you believe in the existence of eternal truth? Does it amaze you that it can be captured on paper? Have you internalized it so  that it lives within you? The word that was from the beginning, which dwells in you, is eternal and would endure even if the book were absent. 

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Hunger?

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 17, 2017 - 21:42

Daily Journaling Devotional

I told the devil that man does not live by bread alone. Do you remember the rest of the passage? If you do without food long enough you will be hungry, but there are types of hunger that food will not satisfy. The argument concerning bread can be extended to all material things, and you do not live by them alone either. The rest of the passage is: but by every word that proceeds from God. You live in a material world. Can you really be satisfied by something so abstract? I know your needs, and that you cannot live without bread. Do you know and seek to satisfy your spiritual cravings?

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timeless truth

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Submitted by Dale Cresap on October 16, 2017 - 21:31

Daily Journaling Devotional

Do you consider yourself to be well-informed? You have information at your fingertips for current events from around the world. Do you have a larger context into which to place this news? The people who report it pretend that everything they say is important, but is it really? This is the truth of the moment, as opposed to timeless truth. Have you noticed that enduring concepts from old books, including the Bible, remain universally applicable regardless of time and location? It is good for you to know the times and seasons in which you live. It is even better to be grounded in timeless truth which will make you even better informed. 

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AMAZING Testimony of Left/Right Hemisphere Brain Functions from a Stroke Victim

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Submitted by Mark Virkler on October 16, 2017 - 15:41

by Mark Virkler "Jill Bolte Taylor got a research opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: She had a massive stroke, and watched as her brain functions — motion, speech, self-awareness — shut down one by one."   Jill's is an astonishing story, which she shares in this TED talk. Settle back and be amazed.
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