Thinking about God, Jesus and The Big Questions

I was considering what was the biggest problem that was getting in the way of people accepting being saved by Jesus. At first, I thought it was selfishness, but then realized that it couldn't be just that, because it's in our own self-interest to be saved!  Certainly there is an element of selfishly wanting to live life on our own terms which might not involve reading the Bible or praying. But still, there must be something other than selfishness - because even with selfishness alone, people would still realize that being saved is in their interests. Eventually, I realized the biggest problem getting in the way of being saved is actually hubris, which means pride. People who don't accept being saved by Jesus may have various reasons or motivations for that. Some might not believe Jesus existed and/or that He was not capable of saving people. Other people might believe they don't need to be saved because they think they're a "good person" - but the pitfall ...

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...

I was reading the passage of Mary and Martha again. While I have talked before about it , an additional angle on it was revealed during the most recent reading. This is the Bible passage where Jesus visits Mary and Martha: Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’ Luke 10: 38-42 It is clear from the message that if we have a choice between ministering to Jesus or hearing what he has to say, we should pick hearing what he has to say (which I covered in...

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...

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 ...

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...

This past autumn, I was cutting down annual plants which had finished producing and placing them on top of the soil to eventually decompose.  I was rejoicing that this decomposition process would improve the soil. I thought to myself "Decomposition into existing soil improves it so that it is much better than soil that has never been used."  This struck a memory for me of a quote from C.S. Lewis: "For God is not merely mending, not simply restoring a status quo. Redeemed humanity is to be something more glorious than unfallen humanity would have been..." - C.S. Lewis, Miracles 1947, in Chapter 14 "The Grand Miracle". In other words, C.S. Lewis believed that man who is redeemed through the death of Jesus is somehow intrinsically better than unfallen man. I found it a bit easier to see this viewpoint using the gardening analogy. It's not a great analogy, but it was concrete enough to help me. Soil that has never been used is never going to be as good ...

Doomsday bunkers will not protect anyone at the End of Days. Between now and the End of Days, there will be natural disasters, war, and other horrible things. Although doomsday bunkers will exist, they certainly won't protect anyone from the End of Days. Two prophets in the Bible have clearly prophesied about people hiding underground at the End of Days. Let's take a look at these two different readings from the Bible. One is from the prophet Isaiah, before the birth of Jesus, and the other is from the prophet John of Patmos, in the book of Revelation, the final chapter of the Bible. These different prophets from distinctly different time periods both have the same message for us: Enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground, from the terror of the Lord, and from the glory of his majesty, when he rises to terrify the earth. On that day people will throw away to the moles and to the bats their idols of silver and their idols of gold, which they made for th...

Keeping the main thing, the main thing is a challenge. It is all too easy to look backward and forget to keep our eyes on what is important. The writer of Philippians makes this very clear for us: that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead. Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 3: 11-14 I particularly love what he wrote "But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead"... This is a vision we should all have. Our goal should be always to go forward toward God. In fact, often we don't feel like we can or should go forward to God because our sins are too great. But this t...

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...

 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...

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....

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...

Whenever there are times that I don't have the best attitude about life (e.g Monday mornings), I remind myself of the following. Any that have links refer to an experience that you can explore in more detail: I'm alive! I'm on the planet! I'm human, which means I'm one of God's chosen people . Jesus paid the price for my sins already. It's already been paid up. My chains are broken, and I've been set free . Evil has no long-term power over me unless I choose to let it. My chains are broken! I have nothing to lose (except for earthly things which are anyway ephemeral) and I have everything to gain. I need to live accordingly! By the time I've gotten through this checklist of reminders, WOW, I feel like a whole new person all over again. If you found this post interesting, you might also like these related posts on this blog: Straying Blindly Does Reading the Bible and Praying Have Results? Are We Today Those to Whom Much Has Been Given...

On Good Friday this year, I decided that, in keeping with this somber day, I should deny myself some things on this particular day.  These are very small sacrifices, but they were something I felt I wanted to do. My sacrifices were: No coffee and no drinks other than water No snacks Simple meals at breakfast, lunch and dinner, little to no meat. Do not  check email or go on the computer or other device whenever I feel like it.  Limit device-checking to certain intervals during the day, with at least a few hours between times. Actually, of these, only the first 3 actually felt like sacrifices of any sort.  The fourth one gave me abundantly more useful time in my day! It turned out to be a benefit, not a sacrifice.  I'll be implementing this rule most days from now on! The other thing I did that made Good Friday special for me (but was not a sacrifice to me) was to participate in the church's Easter Vigil.  This involved spending an hour ...

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...

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...

The movie "The Matrix" (1999) is probably the best-known secular fictional illustration of the concept of a universe within a universe.  In the movie, people think they are living life, yet in reality their bodies are actually in a state of suspended animation while their brains are engaged in a virtual reality simulation of the real world.  Naturally, this simulation (the Matrix) appears so real that you cannot possibly realize that this is not in fact the real world.  It is only when the main character, Neo, is told the truth (still within the Matrix) that this is not the real world and that there is a more real one out there, that movie viewers realize what is going on.  In fact it is not until he is physically removed from the Matrix that Neo has proof and finally believes what is happening. Like the Matrix, our world of Earth and outer space is a universe within a Universe .  There is a bigger reality out there: God's realm.  Our universe, includin...

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...