Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

A lot of people have no problem accepting the credit themselves for good things happening (or just attributing it to 'good luck'), but the minute something bad happens, they blame God.  This is a bit like having your cake and eating it too.  In fact, some atheists use it as a (flawed) argument for why they don't believe God exists! According to the Bible, Satan also exists.  Wouldn't it be smarter and more accurate to blame Satan for the bad things and credit God for the good things?  Our own free will is also a big part of the equation.  I have free will, therefore I could go out tomorrow and punch someone.  From the point of view of the person being punched, this would be a bad thing.  I would hope that this person would blame me and my choices for doing the punching, instead of God.  A lot of the question of bad things happening comes down to free will.  Yes, God could have created us to be machines incapable of making choices ...

I was reading a little bit about spiritual warfare. Spiritual warfare is about using God's love to resist evil. It is not about using physical weapons, nor is it about harming anyone or initiating combat. The instruments of spiritual warfare are those of peace, and are described in the Bible as follows: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. Ephesians 6:13-17 Therefore, spiritual warfare involves using the belt of truth, the breastplate of righteousness, the g...

Spiritual warfare is a means of using God's love to resist evil. It is defensive, not offensive. The Bible reading below shows that there is a battle is fought over spiritual matters: Finally, be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Ephesians 5: 10-12 What do we do when we are under spiritual attack? The Bible reading below says we must use the armor of God: Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes...

All too frequently, people are hesitant to accept salvation through Jesus even at the point when they believe in God and Jesus .  In hesitating, they are falling into one of the two biggest traps of deception Satan would have us believe. One of Satan's deceptions is that we need to have our lives in order before we can be 'ready' to be saved by Jesus.  The other deception is that salvation may be offered/intended for other people but not for ourselves .  Nothing could be further from the truth.   Jesus meets us where we are, and salvation is available to all who accept.  No matter our life situation, God will save us if we: believe that Jesus is the Son of God, believe that Jesus died for our sins on the cross and rose again, accept the salvation that God freely offers us through Jesus' sacrifice.  Usually, the sticking point is the third one. In theory, the third point simply stems naturally from the first two (i.e. if we believe points ...

There are not so many song lyrics designed specifically for Palm Sunday.   Here are some lyrics especially for Palm Sunday which reflect the atmosphere of Lent instead of the post-resurrection feeling of Easter.   Feel free to use them, although you would need to set them to music.   Regardless of how you plan to use the lyrics, please do not acknowledge me; these lyrics are for God's glory alone. They came to Jerusalem And found a donkey Said "The Master needs it" And it was untied Cloaks and branches Of palm made a path For Jesus to ride on Through the crowd Did people know That it was to be This man, Son of God Here to save them Rejoice daughter of Zion Shout, shout, shout Daughter of Jerusalem Your king comes Righteous and victorious Humble and riding On the foal of a donkey Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord God Hosanna in the highest Pharisees didn't know Who Jesus was They asked for quiet Stones would have shouted ...

After having read the Bible, it became clear that humans are so, well... human! We are all sinners.  This is why I am constantly surprised at people who give the appearance of believing that the political party they follow has all the correct policies and a spotless character, while the opposition is evil and corrupt and must be avoided at all costs - this point of view is almost hilarious in a modern-day democracy! After reading the Bible, I had even less understanding of how anyone could hold this point of view.  I suspect that all the political parties in most modern democracies are somewhere between spotless and pure evil.... like us humans! I find it virtually impossible to get passionate about any human leader.  Why? They are imperfect beings, like me.  Of course, it's important to take our civic responsibilities seriously such as voting in elections.  But after making what you believe is the best decision for your country, ...

Yes, Satan is very real.  A heavenly creature who rebelled against God, there are many references to Satan throughout the Bible.  In view of this, it is interesting how many people refuse to acknowledge that Satan exists.  It is even more interesting that many people get mad at God when bad things happen , but refuse to consider that a) our own free will or b) Satan may be responsible for those things instead! Then war broke out in heaven. Michael and his angels fought against the dragon, who fought back with his angels; but the dragon was defeated, and he and his angels were not allowed to stay in heaven any longer. The huge dragon was thrown out - that ancient serpent, named the Devil, or Satan, that deceived the whole world. He was thrown down to earth, and all his angels with him. Revelation 12: 7-9 The good news is that Satan is not omnisicent, nor is he omnipotent, nor is he omnipresent.  While we shouldn't underestimate him (or any enemy for that matter),...

Until last night, I was always puzzled by this particular scripture: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God Matthew 5:8 This verse always seemed very generic to me.  What was it really saying, if anything? I figured it had to be saying something important, as these words were spoken directly by Jesus as part of the beatitudes during his famous Sermon on the Mount.  Last night I arrived at the answer, but from the reverse perspective.  I wasn't even thinking about this scripture at the time.  In fact, I had been contemplating the nature of forgiveness.  I had come to the conclusion that forgiving a fellow human is critical for one's relationship with God.  This is because holding onto feelings of anger and resentment will surely cause a barrier to communicating with God.  I realized that if I constantly held anger and resentment toward someone who had hurt me, it was equivalent to saying that I was choosing the negat...

A frequent complaint by atheists (and some Christians too!) is the question of if God is real, why doesn't He reveal himself more clearly and easily?  This is an intriguing question.  One part of the answer seems to come from God, another from us.   Let's look at God's part first.  Evidently, he doesn't wish to make himself visible to us easily.  Is this because he wanted us to have as much Free Will as possible? Or is it because we are too sinful to handle the sight of him? Or is it because (after the fall of Adam and Eve), we we are living in enemy-occupied territory - which surely cannot be a pleasing environment for him? On the other hand, recall that he sent his only son Jesus to live among us sinners (and not only to live among us for a time, but to die and rise again so that we may live). So while the current Earth is an abhorrent and sinful environment, it cannot be the sole reason that God doesn't reveal himself to us readily.  A clue i...

A period of worldwide suffering will occur at the End of Days just prior to the return of Jesus.  This suffering is due at least in part to oppressive governance that will occur here on earth and a dire economic situation  at that time.  Yet, there will be plenty of physical suffering that is additional to this.  Just a few of the many Bible verses describing the end of days say: Another horse came out, a red one.  Its rider was given the power to bring war on the earth, so that people would kill each other.  He was given a large sword. Revelation 6:4 I looked, and there was a pale-colored horse.  Its rider was named Death, and Hades followed close behind.  They were given authority over a quarter of the earth, to kill by means of war, famine, disease and wild animals. Revelation 6:8 Then those who are in Judea must run away to the hills.  Someone who is on the roof of a house must not take the time to go down and get any belongings ...

The Mary and Martha scripture is one which many people frequently find difficult to understand.  I was one of those people, until I heard a good sermon about it which was explained in a way that was easy to grasp.  Here is the Bible reading below: As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 38-42 Many people find it very easy to identify themselves with Martha in this scripture. After all, if Jesus came to your ...

Almost everyone has seen someone, or a group of people, do works in the name of God or Jesus which don't fit with the teachings of the Bible. The best way to describe these works is that they would not be consistent with a natural outpouring of faith in the form of works. Sometimes it is the aim of the work that is at odds with the Biblical teachings; other times it is not the aim but the way in which it is carried out that is inconsistent with God's teachings.  In either case, the root of this is usually the person's 'preconceived' view of God rather than really getting to know God by reading the Bible. This observation raises a very important question: how do we know whether our works are consistent (or inconsistent) with God's desires? Are our works are in line with God's plans for us? There were so many different types of 'big' things that happened in the Bible that were clearly consistent with God's desires (like Noah building an ark)...

Earlier, we found out about misguided works in Misguided Works Part 1: How Do We Know These?   Here, we'll find out what happens to the misguided works of someone who mistakenly but genuinely believes that these are God's desires.  At first this may seem like a complex theological question.  Misguided works surely cannot please God, but would he be pleased by the reverence and desire to serve that is evident in the person's heart? Fortunately, this question of what happens to such works has a direct answer to it from the Bible in the book of 1 Corinthians, which was written by the apostle Paul : For we are co-workers in God’s service; you are God’s field, God’s building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should build with care. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, c...

Jesus' suffering on the cross was surely in part physical.  The tortures to which his body was subjected must have felt indescribably painful, to say the least.  The son of God being tortured by us humans, all of us sinners who were 'not good enough even to carry his sandals' [from  Matthew 3:11] and 'a people of unclean lips' [from Isaiah 6:5] must also have been a horrifying concept mentally. However, this is not the sum total of the incalculable sacrifice that was made when Jesus died for us. Instead, by far biggest suffering must have been the spiritual pain experienced when his Father had seemed to desert him in his final moments on the cross:   At three o'clock Jesus cried out with a loud shout, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why did you abandon me?" Mark 15:34 Jesus had clearly had more than an inkling of how horrible this would be, because he had previously prayed in the Garden of Gesthemane to have ...

Imagine if Noah hadn't bothered to listen to what God wanted.  Instead of building an ark (which admittedly would have sounded like a crazy idea to most people at that time - or even today!), suppose Noah had decided to do 'something good'.  For example, started a soup kitchen for the poor.  Or countless other possibilities, all of which were very helpful at that moment but wouldn't be of any use to anyone once the flood came.  Noah clearly listened to God's wishes and spent his time on that project, even if this meant that he would be ridiculed by his neighbors.  So it's equally important that we a) determine what it is that God is asking of us and b) listen to him and follow through on that task, even if we don't understand or see the eventual outcome of the work. With so many 'generically helpful' things out there to do, it is important to ensure that we are doing is part of God's appointed task for us.  I'm not suggesting we give up o...

Who is God? This is one of the biggest questions anyone can ask.  So many people have preconceived notions of what God 'should' be like (and some get very confused when they find out that the Bible isn't in agreement with their personal prejudices!)  If you want to find out who God is, this is where I would really recommend trying the experiment of reading the Bible without any preconceived ideas.  God is our creator , as is made clear in Genesis.  He made not only us, but our world and our Universe. (Here people tend to get bogged down about evolution vs creationism - they are not mutually exclusive!) God is good (here people get bogged down about why bad things happen if God is good; read more here ).  God is all-knowing and all-powerful (yet again, people get bogged down about whether we actually have Free Will - yes we do; read about Free Will here ).  God hates sin , yet all of us humans are sinners.  Sin is just the most horrible thing ...

No, it is not possible to simultaneously be a Christian while following a different religion.  Why? Because Christians believe that Jesus is the son of God.  Other religions, even the Abrahamic faiths (Muslim and Jewish) who recognize Jesus existed as a person, do not believe he is the Son of God.  Since this is one of the tenets on which Christianity depends, it is impossible to reconcile these viewpoints.  If someone claims to believe another religion at the same time as Christianity, he or she cannot have truly examined the beliefs of Christianity.  However, we can still be respectful of other religions without believing in them.  So for example, a Christian may quite well respect their Hindu friends' beliefs, but that is not the same thing as believing in Hinduism. If we say we are Christian, we should make sure our beliefs match this.  For example, no-one who claims to be of the Christian religion should ever say 'Jesus was just a good p...

With all the bad things happening in the world, plenty of people find themselves drawn to ask why God created a Universe that can become so chaotic (for example, where volcanos or tsunamis can happen). The answer to that is due to the consequences of Adam and Eve disobeying God and losing the Garden of Eden: To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ “Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, and you will eat the plants of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat your food until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return.” Genesis 3:17-19 Thus, some of the difficulties of nature that we have to deal with (such as thorns, thistles, weeds) are a direct result of Adam and Eve disobeying God and therefore having...

The chapter of Revelation describes economics at the end of days.  To put this in context, this will occur during the reign of a powerful despotic multi-leader government which we studied earlier in " Government at the End of Days " who persecutes those who do not agree with it. During this time, food will become extremely expensive: I heard what sounded like a voice coming from among the four living creatures, which said, "A kilo of wheat for a day's wages, and three kilos of barley for a day's wages.  But do not damage the olive trees and the vineyards!" Revelation 6:6 This Bible verse is interpreted by scholars to indicate an exorbitantly high price for food.  Will there be a food shortage in those times, or is the government in power simply raising the price artificially?  Either way, food will become expensive. Furthermore, in order to buy or sell anything at all, people of this time are required to have an identifying mark in the beast's na...

The chapter of Revelation, a vision given to John, tells us quite a lot about government at the end of days:  I saw a beast coming out of the sea. He had ten horns and seven heads. There were ten crowns on his horns. On each head was an evil name that was displeasing to God. The beast I saw looked like a leopard. But he had feet like a bear and a mouth like a lion. The dragon gave the beast his power, his throne, and great authority. One of the beast's heads seemed to have had a deadly wound. But the wound had been healed. The whole world was amazed and followed the beast. People worshiped the dragon, because he had given authority to the beast. They also worshiped the beast. They asked, "Who is like the beast? Who can make war against him?" Revelation 13:1-4 The beast has been suggested by Christian scholars to be a form of government.  This is because Revelation 18: 9-10 explains that the seven heads represent seven kings, and the ten horns are ten kings ...

With plenty of bad thing happening in the world, it is tempting to think that this might signal the end of days.  Are we really living at the end of days described in the Bible chapter of Revelation?  The answer is no, as of the time this post was published, in January 2011.  Right now we may very well be in the preceding stage that Jesus described in the gospel of Matthew: You will hear of wars and rumors of wars, but see to it that you are not alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be famines and earthquakes in various places. All these are the beginning of birth pains. Matthew 24:6-8 Out of interest, as grim as this may sound to us now, living in this stage would have seemed a lot grimmer to those living at the start of World War II, during which (having not so long ago finished with World War I) no-one knew how long WWII would last or whether it was going to be ...

Before reading the Bible, I thought it would instantly make everything immediately clear.  Yes, The Bible gives us the best and closest understanding we can about God and Jesus - better than any other book, any blog, any speaker can.  But, it is still limited by the bounds of language. There are some things that are difficult (not impossible, but difficult) to express with mere language.  What we need to do is remember that we're like babies trying to learn calculus.  We need to slow down and not make any more assumptions than are absolutely necessary.  Essentially, the Bible is a message from God.  It is the most important message he has for us.  A message, by its very definition, is sent through an intermediary. It is not the same as a direct conversation with God.  (This is why prayer is also important if you want to find out more about God). Does this diminish the importance of the Bible? Of course not! God evidently fel...

The issue of God intervening by miracles is a big point of contention between Christians and atheists.  Are miracles the bound between the natural and the supernatural? And if so, why even have a 'supernatural'? Is it because God has to 'jump in' occasionally and 'save the day' to prevent things form getting out of hand?  Or maybe (as other atheists might suggest) miracles are simply Christians conveniently attributing to God mysterious phenomena which we can't yet explain? C.S. Lewis had pondered this question and written an entire book on it called 'Miracles'.  In this book, he argues that what we call miracles (which some would call the 'supernatural') are 'not exceptions nor irrelevancies'.  Instead, miracles are simply God's usual powers used in accordance with the 'rules behind the rules' (C.S. Lewis, Miracles 1947, Chapter 12 'The Propriety of Miracles').  C.S. Lewis likens God's use of miracles to art...

Here we'll find out what miracles mean for the big picture of God's work.  In Miracles Part 1 , we studied the argument put forward by C.S. Lewis in his book 'Miracles' that miracles are a form of artistic license used by God (and not a device to rescue out-of-control situations), and they are not exceptions to nature, although they occur infrequently.  C.S. Lewis puts forward the notion that if God is using artistic license for miracles and it is an infrequent event, then this evidence should tell us that these are the parts of his work that he wants to emphasize, which in turn lets us know that these parts of the story are hugely important.  In his book 'Miracles', C.S. Lewis goes on to have us question what we think of the big picture.  In Chapter 12 "The Propriety of Miracles", he states: "If you have hitherto disbelieved in miracles, it is worth pausing a moment to consider whether this is not chiefly because you thought you had discover...

"God isn't real if I don't believe in him" "I can't believe in a God who lets X or Y happen" The above are sentences which are heard frequently.  Curiously, these people seem to think that if God doesn't match up to THEIR specifications, He can't be real.  I think the root of this is the lack of ability we humans have to 'prove' or see the existence of God (or from the opposing viewpoint, to prove a lack of existence). The difficulty with which we can detect spiritual things compared to the ease with which we can detect the physical world makes it very easy for us to think we make the rules and that if God doesn't appear to follow 'our' rules (expectations), He can't be real. Consider a hypothetical creature of spirit visiting Earth for the first time.  This creature has no way of directly measuring anything physical.  Although unable to sense gravity itself, it realizes from reading minds that humans have measured...

When I was young, I wondered why Jesus spoke in parables.  Did he think that people were too uneducated to understand any other type of teaching? Why not just tell them directly yet simply about the message he was trying to get across? After reading the Bible, my question was answered. I admired the parables for their ability to get the message across for all peoples and all time: 1.  The parables would have been easier to translate into other languages than the direct message would have been, since some of these messages handle complex and otherwise abstract theological concepts.  We have to remind ourselves that we are among the many beneficiaries of this ease of translation - the Bible wasn't originally written in English! 2.  Parables offered less chance that the messages would get distorted over time , whether uninentionally or for self-serving political or other purposes. 3.  These agriculturally based messages can be readily unde...

I have noticed that many people feel they are unable to believe in God when they live in a world where bad things happen.  (Here is a link to my other post: If God is Good, Why Do Bad Things Happen? ).  I've already covered the issue of a lot of the bad things there (comes down to us having Free Will and using it badly, e.g. murders, violence, etc).  The bigger issue here is that people are blaming God for the sins of man!   I'm not denying that there are horrific things happening in the world.  Some people have seen and experienced things that no human being ever ought to.  By all means, blame man for the sins of man.... but don't blame God for the sins of man.  The blame doesn't lie there, no matter how much anyone might 'want' it to.  An even bigger issue that I realized after reading the Bible, is that of arrogance and pride if we start blaming God for the sins of man.  Not only does this thought imply we want him to 'take...