Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

We are well equipped for detecting things in our 3 dimensions of space and 1 of time, but poorly equipped for detecting things in the spiritual dimension, even though the spiritual dimension is more real and solid than the physical one .  In other words, our God detection sensors are bad. In the book of Hebrews, the meaning of faith is clearly described for us: Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Indeed, by faith our ancestors received approval. By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible. Hebrews 11: 1-3 In particular, the last part of it is what we need to remember: what is seen was made from things that are not visible. This means that what we so easily detect with our eyes (the physical dimension) is made from things which are not visible (the spiritual dimension). The spiritual dimension clearly exists, and came first before the physical di...

In this high tech day and age, it's tempting to think we are enlightened. We like to think we keep an open mind. Almost everyone in this era believes in the existence of atoms. In part, of course, this is because of the large amount of evidence for atoms. This evidence has emerged as our technology has been able to produce instruments capable of testing hypotheses about the existence of atoms. But supposing we were able to somehow communicate without language barriers with a very intelligent Stone Age person. We could explain atomic theory to him or her. But no matter how well we explain atoms, and the lead-up to the discovery of atoms, and all of the scientific discoveries therein, the Stone Age person isn't very likely to believe in atoms. This is because he or she has no personal experience with atoms and no context in which to put this. They might think it's a conspiracy theory or a lie. Even if we describe the chemical process of combustion (for example in the case of ...

While it appears that both Creationism and Intelligent Design have some reason behind their different stances, from where I see it, it seems like Creationism is being used as a political pawn, which is unfortunate. I don't think that all proponents of Creationism are involved in this, but at least in my field of vision in today's world, I'm seeing it be used as a political pawn. I feel that is a danger area, where getting involved in all that might make us like Sadducees or Pharisees, who put political agendas ahead of God's word. The Creationism in and of itself is not the issue: if anything, the proponents are going very literally by God's word, for which they can hardly be faulted. No, the problem lies where atheists claim that evolution is proof that the Bible is untrue. (That itself is a flawed argument - read my other post about why ). Instead of calling out atheists and pointing out that evolution does not tell us one way or another about whether the...

Some Christians believe in Creationism (that the earth was created in exactly six days, and evolution did not occur) while other Christians believe that God designed us through the process of evolution, also known as Intelligent Design. The reason for this divide is because of different ways of interpreting the Bible. Proponents of Creationism believe that the beginning of Genesis should be interpreted literally, taking six 24-hour periods to create the earth and everything in it. Proponents of Intelligent Design believe that the beginning of Genesis should be interpreted figuratively, with the six days representing 6 ages. Let's take a look at that portion of Genesis: In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the ligh...

On my third time reading the Bible all the way through, I noticed that there is some description of where the Garden of Eden was located. Due to the fact that Adam and Eve were sent away from the Garden of Eden, it's not something we would be able to find if we went looking for it. However, it's certainly interesting to find out generally where it was located. Let's examine what the Bible has to say about this: And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east; and there he put the man whom he had formed. Out of the ground the Lord God made to grow every tree that is pleasant to the sight and good for food, the tree of life also in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, and from there it divides and becomes four branches. The name of the first is Pishon; it is the one that flows around the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold; and the gold of that land is good; bdellium and onyx ...

These days so much has changed since the days of Adam and Eve. To them, today's life and culture would be almost unrecognizable. About the only thing that has not changed since then is nature (in the post-fall period). The sky, mountains, valleys, trees, oceans and seas would be similar. Of course, huge amounts of time has gone by since then, including events like seismic shifts, so the landscape won't be the same. Still though, whenever I see tree leaves against sky, I remind myself that at least this is the same type of thing as what Adam saw. This is one way I have that helps remind me that the Bible is truly relevant to us. We are all human just as Adam and Eve were, and although culture and technology has changed, we are still on the same planet. Another way that makes me feel linked to Adam and Eve is whenever I work in the garden. Planting seeds always reminds me that this is the way things have worked since the days of Adam. God has given us a wonderful environm...

Besides Jesus, there are 3 other people in the Bible I would most like to ask questions of. These are Eve, Lazarus, and the apostle Mark. How I wish that more had been recorded in the Bible from each of these people! But of course I have to remember that the fact that there wasn't more is because it wasn't strictly necessary for us to hear more from them. The Bible is sufficient to generate faith. Eve For Eve, the questions I'd want to ask are not "why did you do it?" because I too disobey God every day. The question of why she ate the apple is exactly the same question we could ask ourselves "Why was I judgmental toward this person?" "Why did I not listen to God about this situation?", "Why did I allow myself to fall into temptation?" and so on. After thinking about it, I knew it would be hypocritical of me to blame Eve for mankind's fallen state ( see my other article about that ). What I would ask is that I would be real...

One beautiful day this summer, I was walking on a trail with my oldest son (aged 5).  It was so great to be outside and see the beautiful trees and flowers. This captivating sight led me to pose the question: "What does our world tell us about our Creator?"  First, to clarify, I'm posing this question from the believer's point of view.  I've already written a post saying that merely observing our surroundings will not, on its own, tell us whether or not we have a Creator .  However, if there is a Creator, then there is something we can infer about this Creator by observing our surroundings: Our Creator sees beauty and delight in non-uniformity, at least in the natural world. However, it is difficult for us to know which things appear are as the Creator originally wanted them, and which are a consequence of the Fall. Let's expand on these two points: 1. Our Creator sees beauty and delight in non-uniformity Trees have irregular shaped branc...