Can you tell me what the flower that is "the lily of the valley" symbolically referred to Christ? I would like to know if this is the same 'lily' promoted as the 'Easter lily'. After examining some of the roots of the holiday called "Easter", it is easy to see that most of this 'holiday' has nothing to do with the Resurrection of Christ. I have read information that the "Easter Lily" falls into the category of non-Christ related holiday decorations... however, my mother says Christ was the Lily of the Valley. Can you tell me more about this flower and whether or not it truly is Biblical with the "Easter" celebration?
I read about the 14 steps of losing your salvation and I totally agree, but one of the arguments some Christians have is, What about your free will? Can you give the free gift of salvation back once have received it from God by announcing that you don't believe and want it anymore? Will God accept his free gift back? Is our Free Will so strong and powerful, that God has to honour it?
I recently read an interpretation of Ephesians 2:8-9 that said, "faith there is not the gift - salvation (the subject of the entire passage) is the gift of God. Faith is a feminine noun, while the demonstrative pronoun that ("it is" is not in the Greek) is neuter and could not refer to faith. The Greek will not permit "faith" to be the gift." How do you interpret this passage?
Could you help me refute the teaching of soul sleep?
Was Jesus born with a sin nature? If He is truly human and truly God, what is it about Him besides His body of flesh and blood that makes Him human? How can it be truly said of Him that He was tempted in every way that we are if He didn't inherit the sin nature from Mary? Why did Satan bother in the wilderness unless he knew that there was something in Jesus to which he could appeal? What makes it so remarkable that He didn't sin if He wasn't even born with the sin nature?
