Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

I was thinking about light and darkness, and realized that darkness cannot extinguish light. Yet light can pierce darkness. In a way, this is an analogy for good and evil.  The light of God's word - the good news of Jesus - cannot be extinguished by darkness (i.e. by Satan or by anyone else). Sure, evil can oppress people, but it does not change the fact that once you have heard the good news, you've heard it. Once you accept the gift of eternal salvation, this light cannot be extinguished by darkness . By contrast, light can pierce darkness. A small amount of light is visible in pitch-black surroundings relatively easily. In the same way, the good news can still be spread even in oppressive times and places.  It's actually quite reassuring to realize that a light in the darkness cannot be put out by the fact of the darkness. In other words, light can change darkness but darkness cannot change light.   If you found this post interesting, you might also like these rel...

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...

I was reading the parable of the rich man and Lazarus. You can read the full parable in Matthew 16: 19-31. There, a rich man who feasted each day did not share even scraps with a poor man called Lazarus who was hungry. They eventually both died, and the poor man went to heaven and the rich man to Hades (hell).  There, the rich man was in agony and asked Abraham in heaven to relieve him, but Abraham said there was a great chasm between the two places so it was not possible. Then the rich man pleaded to Abraham to at least send Lazarus to the rich man's father's house to warn his five brothers so that they would not wind up in hell. Let's examine what happens next: Abraham replied, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; they should listen to them.’ He said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ He said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.’” Matthew...

 As Jesus was dying on the cross, he said some important words to the disciple whom he loved, thought to be the youngest disciple John. but standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw his mother and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to his own home. John 19: 25-27 After Jesus died and rose again, he was later seen by his disciples and he had an important commandment for them: Now the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain to which Jesus had directed them. And when they saw him they worshiped him, but some doubted. And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Sp...

Lately, I found myself wondering exactly what I would say to a close friend if I was to explain what the Christian beliefs are.  It is actually pretty simple to explain. God the Creator God is the creator, and created everything in the universe. He also created Heaven. Heaven is a real place, a place of happiness where there is no sickness and no death. The one thing that can separate us from God There is only one thing that can separate us from God: sin. Sin is when we do bad things. God hates sin (he does not hate us , he hates our sin) and does not want to be around it. This is a problem for us, because we all have a sin nature. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, fell into the temptation of sin. We all have that same nature, so we all sin, even though we try to be good. None of us are perfect. None of us can meet God's standards. A path for us to be saved While this sounds like quite a hopeless situation, it's not, thanks to God. This is why: God made a way fo...

Even if you are not concerned about your own soul, what about your children's? Did you know that there is a huge battle going on, over your child's soul? I know that to you, it seems literally unbelievable. But if you will, just for a second, pose the (admittedly scary) question "What if?" Just because you don't believe in something doesn't mean it's not real. Imagine us trying to explain the existence of the atom to someone from the Middle Ages. We can understand why that person simply won't believe it, but the atom was still 100% real in the Middle Ages - regardless of whether the people of that time could a) detect it or b) believe in it. Let's switch over a little. Have you ever watched the movie "The Matrix"? It is set in what seems to be a very real world, but in fact turns out to be a virtual world surrounded by an external, real, world. Right now, the Earth, planets, galaxies and everything in it are like the inner world o...

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...

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 ...

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....

When it comes to religious matters, we Christians believe our very souls are at stake.  Atheists do not believe there is anything so serious at stake.  Anyone would therefore expect that Christians would shout their message the loudest, since they believe there is the most at stake.  However, it seems that both 'shout' similarly loudly.  Why is that?    Both camps genuinely believe that their version is the underlying truth (although of course, both cannot be right).  Therefore, both camps have the truth at stake; they think of themselves as campaigners for the truth.  In addition, Christians believe our souls are at stake.  Why then do atheists shout so loud when they believe there is less at stake?   This is a question which is difficult to answer.  However, we should be aware that Christianity can actually benefit from these loud shoutings of the atheists.  Why is that? It is because the atheists give us spec...

This is the long-promised post on the issue of those who reject the Bible because it isn't "complete" (by their standards).  The Bible isn't meant to be a science textbook The Bible is sufficient to generate faith.  The Bible is not meant to contain all the answers to scientific questions, nor is it meant to be a manual on how the universe works.  It is a guide to God and Jesus.  Just as a music textbook needn't include for instance a section on English literature, neither does a book on God and Jesus have to include sections on music, engineering, science, etc.  However, it is surprising how many atheists expect that the Bible should do all these things!  What would happen if the Bible DID contain 'everything'? Let's consider for a moment what would happen if the bible was very "complete" (by atheist standards).  This would result in a huge and lengthy tome which no-one would ever read! Even with the life expectancy of today, even a B...

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 ...

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...

The word 'Christmas' has often been replaced with the generic 'holidays'. I'm not saying everyone should convert to saying 'Christmas' (after all, there are a lot of atheists, Jews and so on who don't believe in Christmas or have their own holidays of different nomenclature). However, I realized I personally had got to the stage where I was almost afraid to say 'Christmas' for fear of offending someone. I needed to address this in a way that was (hopefully) non-offensive to others, but where I am clearly standing up for my beliefs. Here started my Christmas experiment, which was to wear a T-shirt saying 'Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus' during my Christmas travel (two flights each way). I was curious. Would anyone say anything to me at all about this? Would anyone take open offense? The result? No-one said anything to me either way. My belief in fellow man's tolerance for freedom of speech and of religion was largely regained ...