...We Answer

Not every answer might comply with everybody's way of seeing things. Then I kindly ask you to hold it with Paul, who said in 1 Corinthians 13 that we now see in part. All of us answering here, stick to the basic faith statements as defined in the Apostle's Creed, yet further to that we know that there are also Biblical topics not related to salvation itself, that different people understand and see differently. So please keep this in mind in case you "stumble" over a certain answer - we would like you to be blessed by the challenge of different aspects!

Answer Set 2

Question: Will God condemn or take salvation away from a Christian if he/she elects to have cremation when their physical body dies--because they do not want to be a financial burden to their children? (They themselves do not have the assets for the cost of a regular funeral w/casket and plot of land for the casket--and their children do not have the finances either)

Answer from Polly: John 10:27-30 and Romans 8:38-39 tells me that God will not take away your salvation. Although the biblical people were buried, I find no scripture for or against cremation.

Answer from Elizabeth: The soul never dies and our old body goes back to dust. I agree with you that the Bible doesn't say how we should be buried. Our soul leaves the body just before we die. In heaven we will have a new body that never gets sick or old. Praise God. Yes in the Bible people were buried but we won't have these old bodies when we get to heaven. thank you and God bless you.

Question: How does a Christian have the passion for Jesus, when it seems like they have lost it? Thank you.

Answer from Polly: Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks, do not put out the Spirit's fire (1 Thessalonians 5:16-19). God will strengthen your heart (1 Thessalonians 3:13); He forgave all your sins and this is reason for rejoicing with or without what the world calls passion (Colossians 2:13-14). Set your heart on things above and do not worry about a show of passion (Colossians 3:1-3). Through His strength (Philippians 4:13) you will find the peace of God (Philippians 4:6-7).

Question: Dear Sister, What is the difference in the believe of Mormons and the Seventh-Day-Adventist compared to the rest of the other denominations? Thank you. God bless, G. from Singapore

Answer from Birgit: The Mormons are based on the false teachings of someone called Joseph Smith, who in the beginning years of 1800 claims to have received golden plates from an angel called "Moroni" with allegedly "new revelations" of God, which he later transformed into the "book of Mormon". This goes completely against God's word in Revelation 22:18, where God warns us not to add to His word. So this makes the Mormons a cult, a sect.

The Seventh-Day-Adventists are different. They don't base their faith on false teachings but on sort of "special teachings" (this is what we call them here in Germany). They hold the Shabbat instead of Sunday. And they have Ellen G. White, a prophetess also of the 19th century, who claimed to have received special revelations. For a long time, these "revelations" were sort of a doctrine in the Adventist's teachings, which made them officially a cult or sect. But a few years ago, they abandoned these "doctrines", decreasing them to level of so-called "encouraging" literature and testimony. Since then, the Adventists are officially no cult or sect anymore. Some people look at them still as such, though. But officially, they count as a normal denomination.

This is a short outline of the main basics and differences. Hope it is of any help to you!

Question: What does God say about how we should be at our job?

Answer from Polly: Every command to obey God should also apply to the job force. Ephesians refers to this in terms of slave and earthly master; 'obey your earthly masters with respect and fear and with sincerity of heart just as you would obey Christ' (Ephesians 6:5-9). Colossians tells us that in whatever we do, work at it as working for the Lord, not for men. Other scripture on this subject may be found in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12, James 1:19, 1 Peter 5:8 and Psalm 141:3 asks the Lord to set guard over our mouths.

Question: In the book of Amos, chapter 5, verses 10,12 & 15 "the gate". What does the word gate represent?

¹⁰ They hate him that rebuketh in the gate, and they abhor him that speaketh uprightly.
¹² For I know your manifold transgressions and your mighty sins: they afflict the just, they take a bribe, and they turn aside the poor in the gate from their right.
¹⁵ Hate the evil, and love the good, and establish judgment in the gate: it may be that the LORD God of hosts will be gracious unto the remnant of Joseph.

Answer from Polly: I think this could best be explained in Luke 11:52; "Woe to you experts in the Law, because you have taken away the key to knowledge. You yourselves have not entered and you have hindered those who were entering". And also in James 2:1-9; "Suppose a man comes into your meeting wearing a gold ring and fine clothes and a poor man in shabby clothes also comes in. If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, 'here's a good seat for you', but say to the poor man, 'you stand there' or 'sit on the floor by my feet' have you not discriminated"?

This is what the court officials were doing in Amos. They were picking and choosing the ones who had wealth and allowing them to enter through the gate to the court in order to be included in the functioning of judicial procedures. The corrupt judges accepted bribes of the rich and deprived the poor of justice.

Question: Do you know a good verse about the damage that jealousy can do, like start with you and spread to others like a plague?

Answer from Polly: You might start at the beginning of jealousy where Lucifer was jealous of God and this jealousy spread into 1/3 of the heavenly angels (Isaiah 14:12-15, Revelation 12:4), resulting in all of them being kicked out of heaven. Then go to Cain killing his brother Abel (Genesis 4:1-8), the brothers selling Joseph (Genesis 37:11-28), and straight into the New Testament where jealousy drove the Jewish officials to kill Jesus and persecute His disciples (Acts 13:45, Matthew 27:18, Mark 15:10, Acts 5:17, 7:9). James says that where there is envy (jealousy) and selfish ambition there you find disorder and every evil practice. He adds that an evil, jealous tongue starts a fire and is full of deadly poison (James 3:5-16).