Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

For years, I had known of the following Bible verse without really understanding it: Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:4 I used to assume that this meant living on bread alone (i.e. concerning ourselves purely with the physical) was a bad idea and that we should read the scriptures. Just yesterday, I realized that it matters on which part of the sentence the emphasis is placed.  I realized that the scripture might equally well have been stating "Man shall not live on bread alone" (author's italics).  This changes the whole meaning of it. Read this way, it suggests we would not get eternal life if we ignore our spiritual being. So is it "Man shall not live on bread alone ", or "Man shall not live on bread alone" ? It makes a difference. If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: Why Doesn't...

The issue of proof is addressed here.  In the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man gets all the good things in life while Lazarus goes hungry outside the rich man's gate.  After they both die, the rich man is in torment in Hades while Lazarus is in Heaven with Abraham.  The rich man begs Abraham to send Lazarus back to warn the rich man's five brothers so they won't come to this place of torment.  Abraham refuses. ""But Abraham said, 'They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.' " 'No, father Abraham,' he said. 'But if someone from the dead goes to them, they will repent.' "But he told him, 'If they don't listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. Luke 16: 29 - 31 If you are demanding more proof from God than He is willing to give, does that mean he doesn't exist? The issue of proof is probably one of the biggest things that divide ...

God is stronger than anything else in the universe.  Therefore, He is capable of vanquishing Satan.  In that case, why doesn't God just kill Satan to abolish evil and temptation?  As a little girl I used to wonder about this.  After reading the Bible, it became clear how much God values Free Will.  He values it so much he even lets Satan, his enemy, have it ( see my earlier post here about Free Will and why it's important).  Therefore, although God has the power of killing Satan, he chooses not to use it. C.S. Lewis adds a corollary to this observation: he indicates that God chooses not to kill Satan for now.  He writes: "Why is God landing in this enemy-occupied world* in disguise and starting a sort of secret society to undermine the devil? Why is He not landing in force, invading it?  Is it that He is not strong enough?  Well, Christians think He is going to land in force; we do not know when.  But we can guess why He is delaying....

Sometimes it can be easy to think that salvation is for others but not for ourselves. In fact, no-one is beyond salvation .  Jesus came to Earth to die so that all could be saved.  Reading the Bible made it easy to see that all of us are equally valuable in God's eyes.  For example, consider the apostle Paul.  Previously called Saul, he used to persecute and kill Christians.  Then God spoke to him one day as he was walking along the road.  Imagine his shock! He converted to Christianity and spread the word of God far and wide over many lands. If you are tempted to think that you are not 'good enough' for God, don't worry! Salvation is a turning over of ourselves to God, putting our (imperfect) selves into God's hands, just as we are here and now.  Think about it.  Paul, who used to kill Christians, was chosen by God as an instrument of spreading the news about Jesus. None of us are beyond salvation.  Remember, a church is a hospital fo...

One thing which has become abundantly clear as I become open about my religion, is that some (but not all) atheists assume Christians use religion as a crutch (i.e. believers believe solely because of 'benefits' such as hope, a sense of comfort in times of crisis, etc.)  All I can say is, touche- ! - this is something I tended to believe of the atheists (that they were using religion as a crutch!) I suspect that while in both camps religion may be used as a crutch, I don't believe this is going on to the high extent that people tend to think it is.  Speaking for myself, I am seeking the underlying truth to things rather than believing purely because it is comforting.  How funny though that the judgment I tended to pass on atheists has travelled back to me.  It really brings it home that it's not my place to judge, it's God's.  I think it is a common mistake for Christians to think that atheists use their atheism as a crutch (e.g. atheists feel they have ...

Reading the Bible has made it clear that none of us 'deserve' to be saved.  This is because our sins are too great for any amount of work on our part to pay back that debt.  Fortunately, Jesus came down from Heaven and died then rose again so that all of mankind's sins could be forgiven.  We are forgiven only out of love, not out of any idea that we are 'good people' that 'deserve to be saved'.  Before reading the Bible, that idea doesn't seem particularly amazing.  But after reading the Bible, it is absolutely astounding.  The Bible gives us a glimpse of God and Jesus.  They are sinless and to them sin is abhorrent and repulsive.  Therefore, for Jesus to die on the cross displays unbelievable humility, during which he took on all of our sins, causing his Father God to turn away unable to bear the sight.   This would be a bit like if you were healthy (and disliked illness in any form) and came to help a leper colony, all of w...

Since this blog is mostly about very serious theological questions, I felt it would be good to have something funny to read every now and again.  I firmly believe God has a sense of humor. He made us, after all.  I mean, of all the things he could make.... humans ?  Anyhow, since I can't write a humorous entry myself, I'll link here to an article by another author on a different site.  Here is " The 7 Habits of Highly Obnoxious Christians " by David Price.  (The link will take you away from this blog but you can hit the back button to return) If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: Why it's Not a Good Idea to Get Mad at Adam and Eve The Myth of the Mayan Calendar Predicting the End of the World in 2012

I was fortunate enough to take part in a conversation with two other biochemists once. We all came from different religious backgrounds (one Hindu, one Jew and one Christian). We posed the question "Can science explain everything? [about the universe]". This was quite an interesting question, especially as we didn't already know the others' viewpoints (we were only working together briefly). The discussion didn't last long because we all had exactly the same viewpoint, which was that "Science can explain a lot… but only up to a certain point. Beyond that there is something more." In my scientific career, I've noticed a few scientists having the poor logic of "Everything can be explained by atoms, therefore God doesn't exist". Even if you could explain all of the physical laws by atoms and quantum mechanics (which in itself is a matter up for debate!), this is not necessarily proof that there is no God. It's simply a discovery of t...

I'll preface this post by saying that this is not something I discovered during my Bible reading, rather it is an idea that I first saw put forward by C.S. Lewis.  In his book 'Miracles', C.S. Lewis says that one problem we can run into when reading the Bible is the preconceived notion that because we can't physically grasp or touch spirituality, that all things spiritual can seem ghost-like to us .  This is a grave error for us to make, because there is nothing in the Bible that would indicate God is ghost-like.  It is hard for us to remember that it is in fact our physical bodies which are tenuous, shadowy and ghost-like .  We are here for such a short time relative to the timeframe of the universe.  Our physical bodies of today are made of ashes and dust (atoms) and will return to the ground (atoms again) when we die.  Of course, those who know Christ will get to have union with God after we die - but it's made clear in the Bible that this won't...

There is often confusion about whether we are saved by our works or our faith. This debate is pointless, because the true answer is that we are saved by the grace of God (although faith plays a critical role at our end of things). God's grace can be thought of as an invitation extended freely to everyone to know him through belief in Jesus. Yes, that's right – an invitation to all of us sinners. Faith is the means by which we accept this invitation . It is true that without faith, we cannot be saved. So faith is critical, but make no mistake – if God hadn't issued this invitation by His grace, all the faith in the world wouldn't save us. Let's move on to works. Works are a way God knows us (provided we are doing the works for His glory). In contrast, if we are doing good works without a thought of God, this alone certainly won't save us. If we truly have faith, truly believe, then our actions will be in line with the Bible and this will be evident in an ou...

One of the more difficult theological questions is: Why did God make Adam and Eve knowing that they would fall? Reading the Bible helped me get a little more information on God and on how free will was really important to Him (click here for my earlier post on that topic). But, this is where it got tricky. If God knows everything, then why did he make Adam and Eve, knowing that they would lead themselves into temptation at great cost to them and to the rest of humanity? C.S. Lewis's theological writings offer an excellent perspective on this. He believes that man redeemed through the death of Jesus is somehow intrinsically better than unfallen man . "For God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo. Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity would have been..." - C.S. Lewis, Miracles 1947, in Chapter 14 "The Grand Miracle". This viewpoint falls in line with two Biblical readings: So He told them this parabl...

When I was a schoolgirl, a friend of mine remarked "God only knows what would have happened if Adam and Eve had not eaten from the forbidden tree."  I still think this is very true.  Before reading the Bible, I used to get mad at Adam and Eve for snatching away a paradise from us.  Now I realize that attitude is a bit ridiculous, because it implies that I could do better.  When I really asked myself, could I do any better than Adam and Eve? - the asnwer was simple: I don't think so.  To do better than them, I would have to be perfect and resist any and all temptation.  That is not me.  I am an imperfect human being, a sinner.  Furthermore, to do better than Adam and Eve, I would need to resist eating from the forbidden tree for my whole life.  The temptation wouldn't just be a one-time test.  After thinking about it, I realized I almost certainly wouldn't be any better than Adam and Eve at resisting temptation.  To tak...

The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints All too frequently, organized religion (i.e. a church) can seem pointless and boring.  I certainly found it this way before I started reading the Bible.  Often, the lack of interest in church may be caused by one of two main things: 1. The person has had a bad experience previously in organized religion 2. The person feels uncomfortable about realizing that they are a sinner In the case of the first problem, it is quite possible that differences in Christian denominations has confused the person.  It is confusing!  It is important to go to a church whose teachings are in line with the Bible.  Identifying such a church oneself does require a) attending a church and b) reading the Bible. In the case of the second problem, that isn't actually a problem at all for attending church.  All of us are sinners.  It is as simple as that. For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of G...

When I was younger, I thought that Christians were too heavy-handed about telling people about Jesus.  In fact, I thought they gave a bad name to the rest of the Christians! I puzzled as to why Christians couldn't just leave people alone about this. I only figured this out in the past year.  To Christians, the news that Jesus has come to save us is simply good news! In an era of bad news, from violence to war to tsunamis, the Christians see the news of Jesus as good news.  They would tell friends, family and even strangers about other good news, so why not about Jesus?  Therefore a Christian who is enthusiastic about telling others about Jesus is about as unremarkable as a mailman who likes to be sure the mail gets delivered. I have to admit that it took reading the Bible for me to be able to 'see' this though. If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: My Christmas experiment - freedom of religi...