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...