Blessings JAK,
You have far more questions than answers. You need to study out a lot of these questions for yourself.
Where the hell do ya think those questions came from, idiot.
From studying.
Don't tell me to go "study it for myself". I did. Now I'm asking the questions, which, by the way, no one can answer. Including you.
JAK, my personal situation is such that I no longer attend organized church and there are no home based churches where I live. I joined this forum a short time ago in order to have some form of interaction and fellowship with brothers and sisters who share a similar worldview.
I see this site as a place where we can help one and other grow toward the Light: a place to safely discuss that which the outside world does not comprehend; at times a place of passionate, even heated discussion, perhaps. Still, a place where we can reach past our differences and learn to see the Spirit of our Lord hard at work, perfecting each precious soul. It is in this Spirit of fellowship and love that I reach out to you now.
My Gandolfian friend, observing many of your posts has led me to believe that you are highly intelligent and extremely observant, but also quite bitter and filled with anger...
Though, your frustration is directed at members of this site, I wonder if it might be the image of God in their hearts that you are truely upset with?
As one who has been forced to deal with anger and its consequences all of my life, I recognize that spirit and know the hold of its stubborn grip all too well. You are not alone! I urge you with all of my heart, my Brother, do not give up the battle. Cast yourself upon the Rock. Broken, you will find Peace and realize at last you have brothers and sisters who understand and care...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."
Galations 5:22-23
"Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples."
John 15:8
How incompatible these two spirits are!
"But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, 'Raca', (vain, empty, worthless) is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, 'You fool!' will be in danger of the fire of hell."
Matthew 5:22
By the way, here is the answer to all of the questions you asked Alchemy:
"Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day [that] I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the LORD:
But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people."
Jeremiah 31:31-33
No one, whose conscience is not seared, can fail to be moved at the sight of the innocent Lamb of God, The Face of Infinite Love made flesh, writhing in agony on the cross to tear us from the rising flames. It is in this moment of Love and Pain, that the crude reflection of animals and altars vanishes, and we come face to face with the true meaning of Sacrifice.
At that moment of awsome insight, the crushing weight of sin and the terrible import of the Law are written by the Father's finger, not in cold dead stone, but within our warm, beating, heart. And at last we know that He is our Savior, He is our God.
Now JAK, I have one question for you.
It is the most important question you will ever be asked.
How do you and those around you, know that you follow Christ?
"By this shall all [men] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another."
John 13:35