Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

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...

The Bible is strongly supportive of charitable giving. The effective altruism movement, or EA, is focused on charitable giving. But that is where their similarities end. EA is not in line with how the Bible says we should donate our money or time.  I am not saying that EA is intrinsically unethical - I'm simply saying that its aims are in conflict with what the Bible says we should do. So it's therefore a very secular approach to giving - which may not be a problem for you if you're an unbeliever. But for believers, it simply doesn't line up with the Bible.  Here we will take a look at what the Bible says we should do with regards to donating time or money. Then we will look briefly at EA. Disclaimer : Although I have done some research on EA for the purposes of this blog post, I am by  no means an expert on it. It's entirely possible I have missed some of its nuances. Nonetheless, even with those caveats, I still don't see how EA is compatible with Christianit...

It is clear from the Bible that Jesus came to save all people. In Revelation it says there will be people from all nations, tongues and tribes in heaven.  Far right ideology is not compatible with the Bible and with Christianity. Here I'm talking about the far right ideology of white supremacy where its adherents believe that white people are superior to other races. This belief is clearly shown to be wrong in the Bible. After this I looked, and there was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, robed in white, with palm branches in their hands. Revelation 7:9 We can see from the verse above that people from all nations, tribes and languages will know God.  Furthermore, if there was to be one race that is deemed special in God's eyes, it would be the Jewish people. They are God's chosen people. Jesus still came for all people - first for the Jews, then for the ...

Some people might be scared of accepting the free gift of eternal life in Heaven that Jesus offers us. This is in many ways a normal (but not a good) reaction - the fear of the unknown. You might wonder if there is a long list of things you need to do as a Christian, or other constraints upon your life.  To untangle all of these things, the main things you can do (that you maybe didn't do before) are to  read the Bible pray This is so you can get to know God better. But God won't strike you down if you don't do it.  This is for your benefit, not God's! In other words, God isn't improved by getting to know you - YOU are improved by getting to know God. You can find out more about that here . Those 2 things aren't so onerous, especially when you think about the fact that you probably like the idea of getting to know God better. Reading the Bible and praying are the best ways to do that. There's not really a bunch of obligations you need to do. Yes, you should ...

Some people think that Jesus is just for certain people but not for them. Nothing could be further from the truth! Jesus came for all people. No-one is beyond salvation, no matter what they have said and done in the past, no matter their social standing, no matter how disliked or well-liked they are by others. If they believe in Jesus and repent of their sins, they are saved. Here are some verses that prove that Jesus came for all people . Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered. Isaiah 56:8 The above verse shows that even those who might consider themselves outcasts, or those who others might consider outcasts, are still gathered to God. Do not let the foreigner joined to the Lord say, ‘The Lord will surely separate me from his people’; and do not let the eunuch say, ‘I am just a dry tree.’ For thus says the Lord: To the eunuchs who keep my sabbaths, who choose the things that please me...

God still wanted to be with us, even though we are sinners. Let's take a look at when Moses led the people out of Egypt. As they trekked through the desert, God gave instructions to Moses: And let them make me a sanctuary, that I may dwell in their midst. Exodus 25: 8 I was struck by how amazing that was. God didn't say "well, I'll keep a good distance away from these crazy sinners of humans." Instead he told Moses to make him a sanctuary so that God might dwell among us. Among us?! That's amazing that He would want to do that! He is perfect and we are not, yet he still desires to be with us. This is why He made a path for us to be with him in heaven through Jesus. That way, we can be with Him. Yet He wanted people to choose this path freely. God did not force us to accept the sacrifice Jesus made. This is why it is so important to make our own choice about this. Don't wait until it's too late! If you found this post interesting, you may also like thes...

I know I've covered a bit about forgiveness before; what it is and isn't. But here, I also want to cover more about why and even more importantly, how we should forgive. I have mentioned before that forgiveness forgives someone for a past hurt. It does not require you to have that person in your life again . The person does not necessarily even need to know you have forgiven him or her; that's between you and God. It also does not require you to put any future trust in that person. Here I'd like to cover the motivation for forgiveness. It's simple: we should forgive because God forgave us first. Consider all the sins I've done against heaven; there are countless of those. Because these sins are forgiven via Christ's death on the cross, then surely likewise I should forgive those who have sinned against me. Indeed, the Lord's Prayer says ..."forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us." The word "as" is key here....

I think that one of the reasons that the Jewish leaders did not recognize Jesus as Messiah was that they simply didn't expect that it would happen during their days. This sort of thing was to be so special that surely it could not have been for their day and age.... could it? And yet it was. But because they did not consider that possibility, they dismissed Jesus as a scoundrel and heretic. But be warned: Jesus will be coming again: “So when you see the desolating sacrilege standing in the holy place, as was spoken of by the prophet Daniel (let the reader understand), then those in Judea must flee to the mountains; the one on the housetop must not go down to take what is in the house; the one in the field must not turn back to get a coat. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a sabbath. For at that time there will be great suffering, such as has not been from the beginning of the worl...

...but the church is the bride of Christ. The reason I wanted to talk about this is that sometimes church can seem unnecessarily complicated. Usually, this is just us making it complicated for ourselves. Firstly, it's important to remember that the church is not God. Far from it. The church is a family of people, none of whom are perfect. That's to be expected, since we are all human and all sinners. So, we shouldn't be trying to worship the church itself, or get the church confused with God. The church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints. Our worship should be directed only to God and Jesus. At the same time, the church is very dear to God. Of course it is: Jesus died on the cross for our sins. He surely wouldn't have died on the cross for our sins if he didn't care for us and was just ho-hum about the human race in general. Make no mistake: he didn't choose to die for us because of anything inherently good in ourselves, or because we in any w...

I have been attending a small group Bible study, and have been learning a lot from Christian women who are more spiritually advanced than I am. One important concept which I learned from attending this group was that we should get to know God better first, and then we will know what to ask Him for. All too often we ask God for something but we have no idea if that's something he would want for us. Instead, knowing God (through prayer and reading the Bible) leads us to then knowing what He wants for us, which means we will know what things to ask Him for. Without that knowledge, we would be asking God for things which are not necessarily in line with what He wants for us, which means we are wasting our time asking for those things. As a related concept, in church I also learned that God is more concerned with developing our character than our level of comfort. While this seems painful (and often is), it is less painful to go with the character development than to resist it. Al...

At the End of Days, there will be a situation where people are required by some power other than God to be marked on the right hand and forehead in order to buy or sell. See the verse below: Also it causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell who does not have the mark, that is, the name of the beast or the number of its name. Revelation 13: 16-17 We don't yet know what form this mark will take (a tattoo? an implanted radio-frequency ID tag?). But to understand a little better the events leading up to this, let's read a little of the preceding context of the chapter: Then I saw another beast that rose out of the earth; it had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all the authority of the first beast on its behalf, and it makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose mortal wound had been healed. It performs gre...

In the Bible it makes it clear that Adam and the human race were created to be the caretakers of the earth. Would God be happy with the mountains of trash on the planet?  Obviously, some trash is always going to be created no matter how conscientious the human race is going to be about the environment.  But when people do not make any effort to even consider the environment (either in the things they create or in the things they purchase), we wind up producing more trash or more emissions than we need to. I don't think that is being a very good caretaker. I'm not intending this to be a politically-slanted topic at all. I dislike politics myself and can't bring myself to identify with any type of political party. I'm talking purely from a Biblical perspective, I feel like we as humans have not done a great job at being caretakers of the planet. What is even more puzzling to me is that there are many individuals who are Christian but who readily admit ...

I was recently reading the fiction novel "The Book of You" by Claire Kendal. Disclaimer: this book has nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity, whether for or against. Its plot is about a woman who is being stalked by a man she has no interest in, and what she does when she realizes that the stalking is escalating. This story made me think about the nature of love. The male villain in the story professed to be in love with the female protagonist. However, his treatment of her (stalking, and worse) was far from what anyone would call love. In reality, love is a two-way street, requiring the permission of both (not just one). You don't tell someone "Surprise! We're getting married today!" You ask, nicely. And you would understand that no means no. Likewise, Jesus wants us to come to him freely, out of choice. God will not inflict himself upon us like a crazy stalker who doesn't want us to have a choice. He gives us the greatest gift of all; the po...

Note: This may be a controversial topic for some. I am not telling everyone else how they should do anything - we are each responsible for our own parenting decisions. I am merely explaining my own thoughts on the matter. Regardless, if this topic does seem a contentious issue, we should keep it in perspective that this should not be a big deal so long as each person follows their own beliefs. If this does seem like a big deal, bear in mind this is a "first world problem". Why this Christmas I'm finally not worried about spoiling it for other kids if my 5 and 7-year olds accidentally blurt out the truth about Santa: I chose to tell the truth to my kids right away about Santa, from when they were really little. I never let them think that Santa was real. I was brought up that same way too, and I can assure you I never felt that I missed out. I definitely find the story of Santa to be fun, for sure! But it is just that: a story, a fairytale. So I tell my kids the st...

I am a worrier. I suspect I am not alone in worrying about things which don't need to be worried about. For the longest time, I used to grapple with this problem. From a spiritual standpoint, we should not worry about things that are not significant in the big picture. Worrying can indicate a lack of faith or too much preoccupation with the things of this world. In theory, Christians should not worry, because the important thing is that Jesus died on the cross to pay the price of our sins so we could have everlasting life with God and Jesus in heaven. Everything else should pale in comparison. But what happens when the things of this world do not pale in comparison to Jesus's sacrifice? I know that this is a big problem for me. For a long time I would try to use the verse in Matthew which exhorts us not to worry.  This is indeed an extremely helpful verse (see below), but I could not seem to let myself put it to use. After reading and re-reading this verse, I would berate...

We complain about the fast pace of life today.  I understand.  When I was working 50 hours a week regularly (and I realize this isn't all that much compared to the 60+ hours a week worked by some), it seemed I never had time to take care of even the basics. Things like laundry, groceries, washing dishes, cooking food, cleaning, and so on seemed to use up what little time I had left over in the day.  How, then, could anyone expect to have any time to think about any of the big questions, like whether God exists? Even for Christians (believers), how can any of us make time to study God's word? It seemed like the business of just living took up all my time! Yes, I made time to attend church and Sunday School each week.  I did volunteer activities.  Somehow, I fitted this in.  Yet, with or without these, I still felt sorry for myself and for our generation. I felt we didn't have enough time to think about God and study His word. But when I stopped to real...

... fight on God and Jesus's side against evil. Humanity has fallen via Adam and Eve.  But despite being in our fallen state, we dare to fight spiritually on the side of God and Jesus.  In a sense, we are a very unique species in our sheer daring.  Make no mistake: this is no airy-fairy theoretical battle.  This is a real fight, and the biggest most significant fight that we can fight, with huge ramifications.  Entire souls hang in the balance.  All other fights on our planet involve merely our corporeal bodies: the ephemeral.  In this fight, the long-lasting - the eternal - is fought over.  God and Jesus and his messengers (angels) and human Christians are on one side, and Satan and his minions on the other. A huge battle is going on between God and Satan on this Earth, this enemy-occupied territory.  (See my separate post on why God doesn't just kill Satan and be done with it ).  Every time we resist temptation, every time we lead ...

One of the things which helped me immensely after having kids was that it gave me a tiny inkling of what God has to put up with about us. My kids, when they were very little, would simply not understand why I didn't want them doing things that they thought were fun, like running out into the middle of the road.  I loved them so much that I didn't want them running out to play in the middle of the road, so I wouldn't let them.  I would pull them back every time they tried to do this.  To them, this didn't feel like love.  It felt restrictive to them. Yet, I only did what any loving parent would do to keep their child safe. I was frustrated that my children just couldn't seem to understand that I was doing this out of love and to stop them from getting hurt or killed.  Then I realized this must be very similar to what God has to put up with when dealing with us. And God has had to put up with all this (our ingratitude, incomprehension and disobedience) not j...

If I choose not to believe in God, would that make Him any less real? What if we asked the same about gravity? The important thing is to seek the truth.  All too many people say they are busy seeking the truth, yet are blind to what is under their very eyes.  You won't necessarily find God merely by investigating the physical laws of the universe: this tells you a lot about the universe, but very little about whether there is a Creator.  You could, however, seek God by asking Him if He is there - and then listening.  Surprisingly, many unbelievers have never actually tried the asking, and even fewer of those try the listening. If you are really truly a seeker of the truth, why not try talking to God?  If there is no God then truly you have nothing to lose (except a few minutes in the privacy of your own home or other area).  If there is a God, then you have everything to gain - everything.  You will not lose a thing if there is no God....

One thing I have noticed in my scientific career is that those who have a religion tend not to invoke it during scientific conversations.  In contrast, those who are atheist (or at least who see science and religion as incompatible) tend to mention religion the most often. To me, that is interesting and unexpected. This topic is timely because my husband and I were watching a DVD lecture series by a prominent scientist.  Although incredibly gifted at explaining his own topic, I watched his scholar-ship fall down several times by commenting (negatively) about religion and its role in scientific history.  I was puzzled, because, although I do believe in Christianity, it would never occur to me to mention religion (whether positively or negatively) during a scientific talk.  The reason is not that I would be ashamed to do so, but rather that I take it for granted that as a scientist I am investigating the physical laws of this universe that God made. This universe ...