Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

Most people are familiar with at least some of the content of the end time prophecies in the books of Daniel, Revelation, and some of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John).  Yet Isaiah also had a very specific prophecy about Egypt: 1 An oracle concerning Egypt. See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud      and comes to Egypt; the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,      and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them. 2  I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,      and they will fight, one against the other,      neighbour against neighbour,      city against city, kingdom against kingdom; 3  the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,      and I will confound their plans; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead      and the ghosts and the familiar spirits; 4  I will delive...

I was reading in the news media about someone who had betrayed someone else. If I had been the victim, I confess I would have had difficulty with keeping my focus on the main thing (God and Jesus). It would have been all too easy to fall into the trap of bitterness and misery in that situation.  Even if I make a conscious effort to rise above the bitterness and misery to keep my focus on God and Jesus, I would still have not liked the person and would have avoided them. Which is OK! Christianity says you should forgive the person, but you need not continue any relationship with them (I talk more about that here ). Your forgiveness is in your heart, between you and God. There is no requirement for you to see the person again or for them to know of your forgiveness. You can cut off contact with them for the sake of your future physical and/or mental health, even if you have forgiven them. Forgiving someone for a specific past event does not equate to you needing to place any trust in...

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 realized that it is easy to be straying from God without even being aware of it, which is why I have called this post "Straying blindly." This is what happened to me for a while. I think in a way, this is a lot more insidious that when we knowingly stray. When we knowingly stray, we might not be going to church for awhile, and/or not be praying or reading the Bible daily - not making the time to have a relationship with God. Or perhaps we might be involved in unethical activities. Either way, when these situations happen, we often feel guilty and are aware this is happening. Sometimes we even feel trapped. In any case, in these situations, we know we're straying. However, it can also happen that we are straying without really being aware of it. Like the sheep who thinks the flock is nearby, we might wander off a little further each time, never really realizing that we are away from the Shepherd. In a sense, that is more dangerous because we don't know we have st...

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...

One thing about which Christians can rejoice is that no-one can strip you of your religion.  Although this fact sounds obvious, there are many people who try to act as though they can forcibly remove religion from people.  The truth of the matter is that they are absolutely powerless to do so.  Unlike for example a jacket or a pair of shoes, no-one can take your beliefs away from you.  Even if a law were to be passed abolishing all religion, you are still free to have your own beliefs.  (You may be persecuted for them, but you can still have those beliefs - no-one can physically locate and grab your beliefs and take them away against your will.)  As an example, suppose a dictator didn't like the notion of, say, gravity, and said that believing in gravity was illegal, as was talking about it to others.  Well, whether or not you talk about it to others, odds are that you will continue to believe in gravity. If someone thinks your religion is a l...

Christians believe that this earth (and outer space) are created by God.  In addition to this universe we have managed to detect using physical measurements, there is another Universe, which contains basically everything else that isn't here, such as angels and Heaven.  Our universe is nested within the other Universe. We are a universe within a Universe.  This is not a surprise to Christians, but some atheists find it hard to believe. The difference between the universes: Our universe is enemy-occupied territory (Satan has considerable, but still limited, power on Earth).  Our universe is ephemeral and will not last forever (a really long time, but not forever).  In contrast, the outer Universe is permanent and out there somewhere in it there is a big battle between various heavenly beings over each of our souls (yes, a battle is being fought over us, strange as it may seem).   Some secular themed examples of the concept: This concept of a univ...

There is often confusion about whether we are saved by our works or our faith. This debate is pointless, because the true answer is that we are saved by the grace of God (although faith plays a critical role at our end of things). God's grace can be thought of as an invitation extended freely to everyone to know him through belief in Jesus. Yes, that's right – an invitation to all of us sinners. Faith is the means by which we accept this invitation . It is true that without faith, we cannot be saved. So faith is critical, but make no mistake – if God hadn't issued this invitation by His grace, all the faith in the world wouldn't save us. Let's move on to works. Works are a way God knows us (provided we are doing the works for His glory). In contrast, if we are doing good works without a thought of God, this alone certainly won't save us. If we truly have faith, truly believe, then our actions will be in line with the Bible and this will be evident in an ou...