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...

It's hard to exactly put a definition of faith. I am not a theologian. Ultimately, what faith means to me (which is not necessarily a theologically correct definition of faith) is this: Knowing that God is still there, is still with us, and that His plan is still going to work. Even at times when earthly happenings make it seem like this is not the case. A biblical definition of faith is given in this Bible passage from Hebrews: 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 As we saw from this Bible reading, faith is about the things unseen (to humans). Likewise, my own definition also comes down to things that we can't see ourselves. Just because we can't see something, it doesn't mean it's not there. I have covered this concept ...

There are many references in the Bible showing that Jesus will come to Earth again. But this is not a second chance for us. He is not here to teach us and to conquer sin - he already completed that the first time around.  Even though those alive today were not here at the time he came to teach, we have all his teachings available to us! These are written in the Bible. So we have access to all of that. Do not make the mistake of thinking that when he comes again, it will be for another chance. That already happened the first time he came. When he comes next, it will be to gather those who are waiting for him. so Christ, having been offered once to bear the sins of many, will appear a second time, not to deal with sin, but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him. Hebrews 9:28 This is why the end of days has not already happened - God is delaying in order to give us time to decide if we will follow Jesus. Indeed, Jesus himself told his disciples that the end of days would come...

This question came up from my son, after we had prayed to God for a sick family member in hospital to be healed and she was healed. I was rejoicing that God answered the prayer, when my son asked me the very good question "How do we know that God answered our prayer and that it wasn't just coincidence or the doctors doing a good job?" It's true that we may never absolutely know beyond a shadow of a doubt. Yet I believe that if our prayer is in line with God's wishes (whose wishes we know more and more by getting to know God more), and if the prayer was answered, then it was God doing the action.  I still noted that my son's question was a very good one, and my answer went like this: "Not everything in life we will know for certain. But we are always most likely to be correct when we credit God for all of the good things and blame Satan for all of the bad things." In any one particular situation we may not necessarily know for 100% sure beyond a shado...

I was reading the book of Exodus, and as always, was amazed at the logistics of how that many people were all traveling together. The number of Israelites were 603,550. This number came from a census that was taken while traveling in the desert: So the whole number of the Israelites, by their ancestral houses, from twenty years old and upward, everyone able to go to war in Israel— their whole number was six hundred three thousand five hundred fifty. Numbers 1: 45-46 Imagine over half a million people all traveling together. There are many passages in Exodus where logistical details are mentioned, for example that they would make camp when it was time to rest somewhere, and break camp when it was time to set off again. Nonetheless, I wondered how it worked for food, bathroom breaks, and so on. Having so many people go through an area would surely make it hard to get food, even when in areas where fruit and grain were growing naturally. Indeed, the Israelites started grumbling about the ...

Mary was a young woman of immense faith. She had been told by God through the archangel Gabriel what was going to happen, and even when things looked difficult for her, she didn't waver. When it was nearly time for her to give birth, there was no room at the inn, and yet she never doubted God's plan . I'm sure that most of us would have started doubting, if we had been in her position. After Jesus was born, she raised him in the way that she knew, and he learned the trade of his father, a carpenter. During this time, she may have been tempted to wonder "Why is he not with the priests and leaders?" And "Where is his special purpose?" Yet, she knew indeed there was a special purpose for Jesus, even if she didn't know herself what it was. Jesus didn't start His ministry until nearly 30 years of age. During this time, Mary didn't doubt. Indeed, she asked him to help the couple who ran out of wine during their wedding, and he turned water into win...

A major question for most Christians is "How do I know if I'm doing God's plan under the protection of God, or going against His plan and protection?" In all times, but especially in Covid times, this is a question many people grapple with.  There are many examples in the Bible where God has made a plan and revealed it to a person or group of people, who can choose to either go with God's plan or not.  Going with God's plan offers His divine protection during the plan. By contrast, going one's own way does not offer this divine protection, because no protection is needed since the person isn't participating in the plan. Being unprotected does not necessarily mean the person will drop dead there and then, but it means they will be much more susceptible to attacks from Satan. One example of both aspects of this situation is when the Israelites went out of Egypt. The Israelites spied out the land which God had made it clear that it was his will to be thei...

At the end of times, Jesus will come again. It will be sudden when it happens. Here are some scriptures about this event: “But about that day and hour no one knows, neither the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. For as the days of Noah were, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day Noah entered the ark, and they knew nothing until the flood came and swept them all away, so too will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two will be in the field; one will be taken and one will be left. Two women will be grinding meal together; one will be taken and one will be left. Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this: if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore you also must be ready, for th...

If the Bible is sufficient to generate faith, then after we have faith, is there any point reading the Bible? Yes there is: a really crucial reason for reading the Bible (besides it being the Word of God and crucial for that reason alone) is that we actually get to know God better. We can see more and more consistencies in His attitudes toward things. After my experiment of reading through the Bible with no pre-conceived notions , I used to think that the main thing about the Bible was that it was sufficient to generate faith. This is of course the important thing, but as I read it over more times, I realized I was also getting to know God more and more. In my first reading, I would sometimes be puzzled as to why God acted a certain way to certain happenings. In the second reading, many of those started to make sense. This was because I was getting to know God more. If I had not been reading the Bible, chunks of it might seem incomprehensible or confusing. There will always be ...

It's all too easy to feel that the Old Testament is out of touch. I used to feel like that for a long time. I would read the New Testament, and I felt like I could see the relevance. For that reason, the New Testament felt more "real" to me than the Old Testament. After reading the Bible all the way through a few times, I know that the Old Testament is just as relevant and "real" as the New Testament. I'll explain this here using an example. First though, the best way to consider the New Testament is as a continuation of the Old Testament; not as an alternative or something that is supplanting it. I find it helpful to think of the Old Testament as the "First Testament". For our example, remember when Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt? At first they were joyful, but then they started grumbling during the long journey. During this time, some of them even started worshiping other gods. God didn't like this, and he punished them. Then t...

I had a revelation recently. In previous posts, I did not understand how people like Jesus's mother Mary and other people in the Bible had so much faith. When they were told there was a plan from God, OK, then it seems straightforward to have faith, but when things go wrong - like when there was no room at the inn for Mary - it's easy to have doubts. Yet Mary didn't doubt, she still had faith in God's plan. To me, that was (and still is) absolutely amazing. I'm certain I would have had a lot of doubts in her place. Yet recently, it was revealed to me that the ground is in fact rock-solid-steady during those times. It's that it only  seems less steady when something unexpected-to-us happens, like when there was no room at the inn for Mary. Still, God had made provision for her. None of this was unexpected to Him. If you know for sure you are doing something according to God's plan, then Satan will make the ground appear shaky. But actually, the grou...

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...

These last few weeks at church we've been learning about healing, and how in order to be healed through faith we must never embrace sickness, for it is very dangerous. This means instead of saying " my headaches" we should say " the headaches". We also should not pray to God asking him to cure the sickness. We can do that, but it's not what will get us results. What will get us results is having authority for the healing in the name of Jesus. Just like the apostles, we too can cast out sickness from ourselves, but we should remember the healing happens only in the name of Jesus (i.e. not by our own name). It is the Holy Spirit that provides this healing. Jesus did not ask God to heal people, nor did the apostles. We need to use that same delegated power. The power is from God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit; we simply use that power from them to provide the healing. But it is much harder for healing to occur when the person has claimed (i.e. embraced) the...

I am sure I am not the only one that has struggled a lot with worries and negativity (and still do).  I have been reading the devotional of "The Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer over the past few weeks. This has helped me a lot. Certainly, reading the Bible is incredibly helpful in a general sense, but I have also felt immensely helped by Joyce Meyer's book for that specific problem of the battlefield of the mind. In that devotional, I learned that it is deceptively easy for us to get tricked by Satan into turning our attention away from God and into the worries of the world. Sometimes this can even happen due to good intentions on our part, e.g. a desire to empathize and be compassionate. However, if we are not careful, we can all too easily become distracted with all of the negative things that are happening around us, without any thought for a) God and Jesus, or b) any of the positive things that are also happening. Now I realize that God never meant for us ...

The events predicted in the Bible have so far all come to pass, except of course for the ones yet to happen in the future. However, some people are upset that every detail of the predicted events is not made available to us in the Bible. This is true that every detail is not available. But that does not mean the Bible is false. The Bible tells us that something will happen, but does not usually tell us how or exactly when. There is good reason for this. As mentioned in a previous post , if every detail of every predicted event were to be revealed, the Bible would wind up as a lengthy tome which no-one could reasonably manage to read in their lifetime. Instead, just the parts that are important for us to know are in there.  When a prediction is made, it does not make it any less true if it happens by highly unusual means. Likewise, it also does not make it any less true if the prediction occurs via what might seem like "ordinary" or "explainable" means. One...

Every Christmas season, I reflect on the great faith of Mary. She was told by the angel Gabriel that she was to bear Jesus. In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?”  The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon y...

Do you frequently hear people advocating long-term planning, yet theirs does not go beyond the point of their death? That is not long-term planning; it's short-term planning! Long-term planning should go far beyond our deaths, and it is far more important than any will or inheritance we plan to leave to our loved ones. One day we will leave this world, and go to a world beyond, where we will meet God. It's crucial that we are prepared for that time. Getting our earthly affairs in order is merely short-term planning; dealing with spiritual matters is long-term planning which has eternal consequences. If we expect to plan for the long term, our focus must be on the long term, not on the short term. This means keeping a focus on spiritual matters. This is not always easy to do, as day-to-day living can quite easily take up 110% of our time, effort and energy. Also, it is necessary to work in the earthly world, raise our children, and so on. I am not advocating taking tim...

I came across a Bible verse that to me was very powerful. I read it three times because I was so struck by it: Seek the  Lord  while he may be found,      call upon him while he is near; 7  let the wicked forsake their way,      and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the  Lord , that he may have mercy on them,      and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8  Isaiah 55: 6-7 This verse is immediately followed by what to me was a much more familiar verse: For my thoughts are not your thoughts,      nor are your ways my ways, says the  Lord . 9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth,      so are my ways higher than your ways      and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55: 8-9 Verses 6 and 7 in the first passage spoke to me so much. This was because the importance of seeking the Lord now (an...

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...

It is only relatively recently that I have glimpsed that prayer is powerful, and seen why prayer is powerful. Here I'll share what I have learned. Before this, for the longest time, I used to believe that the quickest and most effective way to bring about positive change to a situation, was to use direct physical action, without necessarily involving any prayer.  Part of this was probably a lack of faith.  Although I believed in God, I felt a need to be useful via direct practical action.  I didn't really question whether my desire to be useful was in order to help the situation/person affected, or whether it was out of a desire of self-worth, or out of a desire to honor and help God (e.g. by doing good works).  I really don't know, and couldn't tell you.  The book of James has always stuck sharply in my head, too, which has tended to make me lean heavily toward works - probably as a way of showing my faith and my love. But I didn't have the balance of p...