Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

In the book of 2 Corinthians, the apostle Paul is writing. He says:  So we do not lose heart. Though our outer nature is wasting away, our inner nature is being renewed every day. For this slight momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison  2 Corinthians 4: 16-17 He is pointing out the eternal significance of the spiritual dimension and how much more valuable that is than any discomfort in the temporary physical dimension. When he uses the word "affliction", he is talking about feelings of discouragement that many new believers felt then. It could equally well be used to describe more severe problems in the physical world such as social ostracism or even persecution faced by new believers in some areas of the world today. Continuing on, Paul keeps his focus on the eternal and makes it clear that the eternal spiritual dimension is more valuable than the current physical dimension: because we look not to the things that are seen but...

As I was reading the Bible, I came across a verse referencing Jesus in the future. I was a little surprised because I had not noticed before how early on in the Bible Jesus is referenced. In my head, I thought it was one of the later prophets. But no, I was reading the foretelling of Jesus in the book of Genesis.  Even at the time, to the speaker, it wouldn't have been noticeable as to why those words were spoken, they wouldn't necessarily have seemed remarkable. It's only with hindsight that we can see this. Here is the Bible verse: “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations...

Thermodynamics can tell you whether (under a set of physical conditions of temperature and pressure) a chemical reaction will proceed in the forward direction. But it's important to know that thermodynamics will not tell you anything about how quickly or slowly a reaction will happen,  only whether or not it will happen.  In a different field, the study of chemical kinetics examines the speed of reactions, but makes no statement about whether it's possible thermodynamically or not. One example of a thermodynamically favorable reaction is the conversion of carbon in coal form to carbon in diamond form (again, under a specific set of temperatures and pressures). However, kinetically, it is a very slow reaction. It can take many, many years for this reaction to happen. Just because a reaction is thermodynamically favorable tells you nothing about how fast or slow it may be. The Bible, and God, can be thought of as more akin to thermodynamics than kinetics. By reading the Bible an...

The events of the last day of Earth are described in several books of the Bible. The most in-depth is the book of Revelation, where most of it is about end times. I don't know how I overlooked this before, but reading through the Bible I saw that the book of Joel, which is quite brief, also contains information about end times: I will show portents in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and columns of smoke. The sun shall be turned to darkness, and the moon to blood, before the great and terrible day of the Lord comes. Joel 2: 30-31 Therefore, on the last day when the Lord comes, it is clear that it will be an event similar to an astronomical phenomenon, affecting both outer space and Earth. It may resemble a meteor strike or may even involve a meteor strike. It will certainly have a massive magnitude. Let's see how this compares with what's written in the books of Mark and Revelation: But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun will be darkened, and the moo...

Earlier this year, I read an article on AP News, titled " In wrangling dark matter, some scientists find inspiration in the Torah, Krishna and Christ ". The article, which I encourage you to read in the link given above, talks about how dark matter is still largely a mystery to us. The authors interview physicists working in the field of dark matter, and many (but not all) of these scientists feel that dark matter and faith are complementary to each other, not oppositional. What I particularly liked was that they interviewed physicists of different faiths - not just Christian. The Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist religions were represented in these interviews. There was no one-size-fits-all answer to the precise details of how each of these scientists viewed how dark matter intersected with their faith. But one common thread in a broad sense was that they each viewed dark matter as simply one part of how the world was created by the deity they believed in. Extending from t...

I had never noticed this before, but on my yearly read through of the Bible, I noticed that the word "Understanding" comes up a lot in the book of Proverbs. This indicates that it is something important. Here are just a few examples: My child, if you accept my words  and treasure up my commandments within you, making your ear attentive to wisdom and inclining your heart to understanding; if you indeed cry out for insight, and raise your voice for understanding; if you seek it like silver, and search for it as for hidden treasures - then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom;  from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; Proverbs 2: 1-6 Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold. Proverbs 3: 13-14 Wisdom is at home in the mind of one who has understanding, but it is not known in the heart of fools. Proverbs 14: 33 How...

I was considering what was the biggest problem that was getting in the way of people accepting being saved by Jesus. At first, I thought it was selfishness, but then realized that it couldn't be just that, because it's in our own self-interest to be saved!  Certainly there is an element of selfishly wanting to live life on our own terms which might not involve reading the Bible or praying. But still, there must be something other than selfishness - because even with selfishness alone, people would still realize that being saved is in their interests. Eventually, I realized the biggest problem getting in the way of being saved is actually hubris, which means pride. People who don't accept being saved by Jesus may have various reasons or motivations for that. Some might not believe Jesus existed and/or that He was not capable of saving people. Other people might believe they don't need to be saved because they think they're a "good person" - but the pitfall ...