Wait! Don't click back! Stick around for a second or two.
Yes, yet another topic you don't talk about in church, yet many people in the pews are victim of.
I should try to do an article about this, but haven't been sure about how to do it. In the meantime, here's a link to help you get free from porn. Revelations Radio network did a podcast on this and this link is from there. Check out the below links.
http://revelationsradionetwork.com/uploads/somebodysdaughter.mp3
http://www.somebodysdaughter.org/
If yound this using some of my keywords below, please check those links out and consider that pornography is an addiction. If you have this addiction, God can help you stop. Ask Him to help you. Ask Jesus Christ into your life, accept what He did on the cross and believe in His resurrection. This will make you right with God. As ask God for forgiveness for this, and other sins ask Him to help you overcome this addiction. I can't promise immediate results, but you can take the right steps today.
Update 6/8/12
Many people in porn may be there due to human trafficking. While it deserves a better look than this, here is a resource that helps victims of human trafficking.
Free for Life
http://www.freeforlifeintl.org
They help victims of Human Trafficking (modern day slavery), something that Jesus would definitely be for.
I guess the best things that can be done to help
* awareness (become aware, inform others)
* prayer (against human trafficking, salvation of victims and even perpetrators. Exposure and justice)
* financially (they accept donations which are tax deductable. Even $10/month can be used to great effect)
Interview with the founder:
Future Quake
http://www.futurequake.com/Audio/FQShow120.mp3
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
Monday, June 27, 2011
Reflecting Christ: Portrait of a Real Christian
I have been incredibly blessed by the Revelations Radio network on an almost daily basis. Today was no exception. I have been listening to a recording of Corrie Ten Boom and she's speaking of the amazing things God has done in her life.
The message speaks of:
Her time in a WWII concentration camp, and how she shared the Gospel with her abusive guards and some came to Christ.
She also speaks of how she forgave the man who had betrayed her into the camp. As a result, she was able to share Jesus with this man as he was about to be executed after the war for crimes he committed in the war. He too came to Christ.
She also tells of how she ministered to a believer in an African prison and helped him forgive his betrayers.
And much much more.
If you are a believer, this will edify you, and give you hope. It nearly brought me to tears.
If you are not a believer, then this will show you what a true believer in Jesus is like, and will answer many questions you may have about Jesus.
So, here it is, it may change your life. I know for sure that Corrie is one of those saints that I can't wait to meet in Heaven. She is a true warrior in Christ's army.
http://revelationsradionetwork.com/uploads/01_THE_GREATEST_OF_THESE.MP3
The message speaks of:
Her time in a WWII concentration camp, and how she shared the Gospel with her abusive guards and some came to Christ.
She also speaks of how she forgave the man who had betrayed her into the camp. As a result, she was able to share Jesus with this man as he was about to be executed after the war for crimes he committed in the war. He too came to Christ.
She also tells of how she ministered to a believer in an African prison and helped him forgive his betrayers.
And much much more.
If you are a believer, this will edify you, and give you hope. It nearly brought me to tears.
If you are not a believer, then this will show you what a true believer in Jesus is like, and will answer many questions you may have about Jesus.
So, here it is, it may change your life. I know for sure that Corrie is one of those saints that I can't wait to meet in Heaven. She is a true warrior in Christ's army.
http://revelationsradionetwork.com/uploads/01_THE_GREATEST_OF_THESE.MP3
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
The Top 50 Questions Christians Can't Answer, Answered by a Christian
This is a work in progress, I was too excited not to post it. I will be going through doing a quick edit and adding scriptures as needed.
Sorry for the delay in blogs here. I’ve had some things going on, and then when the dust settled I wasn’t sure what to write about. Maybe I’m still not sure. So, to kick back off with a bang, I thought, “Why not find questions that Christians supposedly cannot answer, yet should have an answer for anyways.
That led me to this site: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/107211_top-50-questions-christians-cant-answer
Yes, 50 questions that Christians supposedly can’t answer. Well, with God’s help, I think I’ve got some decent answers for many…nay ALL of these questions. Maybe Christians can’t answer them all, but God can! Hopefully I picked up the answers that please Him. Don’t let me get in the way.
Before answering these questions, I want to establish a few things. First, some of these are questions that the natural man cannot understand. Only those with an understanding of spiritual things, the spiritual man, as the Apostle Paul says can understand these things fully, and admittedly we even see some of these things through a glass darkly.
To me, the most foolish thing someone can do is approach the Bible as merely a human effort, or simply a decent moral code. Analyzing it as such, from a finite fallen human perspective will not make sense. (Recall that God's foolishness is greater than our best wisdom.) When looking at, and God forbid, criticizing the Bible, one must consider a long-term, eternal spiritual perspective. A lot of these questions seem to neglect the fact that God knew the end from the beginning, and the questions also don’t seem to take into account the Ephesians 6:12 side of things.
As LA Marzulli says, the Bible is the guidebook to the supernatural. It addresses the spiritual side of man’s time on Earth, and all questions can be answered once we discard a wholly humanistic Earthbound perspective.
So, without further adieu, let's plunge into
"The 50 questions Christians can't answer"
Courtesy of http://www.bukisa.com/articles/107211_top-50-questions-christians-cant-answer
Q) If God is omnipotent (all-powerful), why did he take six days to create everything? Why not speak everything into existence all at once?
A) I can’t fully speak for God, but thinking of it logically here are a few possible reasons. First, God took six days to make creation because He felt like it.
Second, creation was a symbolic example for our benefit so that we would know the benefits of working for a number of days, then having a day of rest, and a day to delight in the Lord. God blessed us by giving us a day of rest, but first He wanted to show us by example.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Exd&c=20&t=NKJV#11
“For [in] six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that [is] in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Third, as a creative person myself, I can say that sometimes the joy of creating something is taking more time to do it. The joy is in the creative process. I personally think this shows that God has more love and care for us and our world because He took the extra time to make our world. The other planets and stars were "merely" spoken into being, but Creation as a whole, and earth particularly, God wanted to take more time with. Then, Adam and Eve He sculpted out of clay! The people He would fellowship with He handmade.
Why’d He do that? He could have just spoke us into being? Because He cared about us when He created us.
Indeed, as you read the Bible, you'll see just how much He does care for the earth and its people. The books of the prophets, the things that made God angry is that they were doing things harmful to themselves and others, in addition to other evil thing.
Q) Why won't God heal amputees?
A) Better question might be, "why aren’t you and I doing more to make their lives better. Not to mention that if God healed every injury of every person as we are now in our fallen state, I think our society would grow bored with His miracles.
Recall the Israelites as they wandered for 40 years. God was before them day and night, they could hear His voice from mt Sinai, and they still doubted Him and what He could do. They ate manna (which was basically a daily miracle) daily, and soon grew tired of it, even though it was a miraculous provision.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Num&c=11&t=NKJV#6
"but now our whole being [is] dried up; [there is] nothing at all except this manna [before] our eyes!"
Q) If God is so perfect, then why did he create something so imperfect allowing pain, suffering and daily atrocities?
A) God created everything perfect, but then sin happened. But, God knew in advance what would happen once satan was made, and people too. He knew a rebellion would occur, yet He made us all anyways. He knew His perfect creation would get messed up, but He wasn't worried about it. He knew He could fix it.
He wasn’t surprised when Adam sinned, and He's not surprised when you and I do it. He's not happy, but he's not shocked.
God also knew what He would have to do to fix it, and He did it anyways. He became a human being-Jesus Christ- and He died to pay the price so that we humans could restore our fellowship with Him.
As Chuck Missler said once, something like "how else do you show that God is infinite love? That He created us knowing what would happen, and what the solution would be."
For more on that, I would look up Robert Luginbill’s "satanic rebellion" over at http://ichthys.com/SR1copy.htm (Put on your discernment hats though, I believe much of what he writes is very debatable, and I disagree with some of it, but it does answer a lot of questions.)
Q) Why did the little old lady that God healed one Sunday need her walker to get around again next Sunday? Was she only temporarily worthy of a healing?
A) What lady?
Just kidding. I assume this is talking about those TV faith healers. The answer is simple, she probably wasn't really healed. There’s a story that Todd Bentley kicked an old lady in the face to heal her, supposedly in the name of God. Todd Bentley’s theology is a tad whacky, and he has no real power to heal people, but especially by kicking people. So, if this sort of event is what is being discussed, then there was no healing, because it wasn’t of God.
God can and does heal people, but we see it rarely here in the “civilized” world. I do hear occasionally that there are true healing miracles in the mission field.
Not to mention that God usually seems to only permit true miracles when doing so is needed to bring people to faith. In Europe and America we're so jaded that we'd likely ask what the catch is and how much money they want before getting healed. Not to mention that if God healed every little boo boo we got, again we’d probably react like the Israelites did in the wilderness.
Q) How did Noah fit the millions and millions of species on this planet into his ark?
If Noah did fit all of these species on the ark for forty days and forty nights, how did the penguins make it from Mt. Ararat to the Antarctic? How did the koala bears make it to Australia with no eucalyptus to eat along the way?
A) Take a look here: http://www.gotquestions.org/Noahs-ark-animals.html
This article estimates perhaps no more than 50,000 animals were aboard the ark.
As for how they spread out, here’s my theory. I may be stealing it from someone else, but here goes. After the flood the earth was one land mass, basically Pangaea. Once God got the animals where they needed to be, the continents then began to move. The animals then went away with their respective continents. If God can lead them to the ark, why not to the tight place and time before the continents split?
Q) Why do innocent children have to suffer with terminal diseases such as cancer? What part of 'God's plan' is this exactly?
A) The fact is that we live in a fallen world. As a result of what happened when Adam sinned in the garden, the earth became cursed. That means that things would be harder, work would be less fulfilling and that people would be subject to "unfairness". People would die unfair deaths.
It also doesn’t help that satan is more or less in charge of the world (2 Corinthians 4:4: "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them")
There are others too. http://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-god-world.html (I should just quit this blog and send people there! Just kidding)
Because we gave dominion to him, we have to endure suffering and death. None of Adam’s descendents can escape death (except Christ, and He died willingly).
So being that we sinned, we are all subject to "unfair" deaths. Even children are bound to this rule as even children have a sin nature. I lied as a child, lying is a sin. It was my nature. When kids die, sadly, it is part of the curse we on earth live under.
The other thing to consider is that with satan and his demons active in the world, they may indeed be playing some part in making kids sick unjustly. That is speculation on my part, but in the Bible, many of the people Christ healed were afflicted because of demonic involvement.
Lastly, we have polluted our planet so much that many kids can be exposed to disease causing things at early ages. Again, this is part of the fallen world we inhabit. Our world is under a curse until Jesus Christ returns.
Q) How is it that the bible explains the earth to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old when we know that dinosaur bones are at least 65 million years old? The 'missing link' fossil 'Ida' found recently is estimated to be at least 47 million years old.
A) Do we really "know" this? Were the scientists in a time machine verifying that indeed millions of years had passed?
No.
Did you personally see it? Then how do you know it happened? Must be faith in evolution.
The millions of years theories are more or less propaganda.
In fact, here are some very skilled and good explanations which debunk the millions of years theories. The diamonds article is quite good.
http://creation.com/deep-time-illusion
http://creation.com/radiometric-dating-questions-and-answers
http://creation.com/diamonds-a-creationists-best-friend
http://www.gotquestions.org/fossil-record.html
The "gotquestions" articles are excellent because they demonstrate that mainstream science resorts to dishonest methods and data to fit their theories. They need to get rid of God, so they invent millions of years and evolution and force everything into that mold.
To show that mainstream “science” has an agenda, there is an excellent example of someone creating an ape-man from a single pig tooth. Creation.com has a number of other articles that are worth reading.
Seeing that someone had to resort to skullduggery to sell the evolutionary theory, I would call into question the other evidence.
Q) Why can't the all-powerful God not forgive someone of their sins after they die? Example: A Christian man that is seemingly on God's good list makes a stupid decision and decides to drink a little too much at the fish fry. On his way home he crashes into a mini-van killing a mother and her two children and himself. This man led a very faithful life and made one stupid, yet grave mistake. If this man did not ask for forgiveness of his sins before the electrical activity in his brain ceased, then God will judge him and send him to hell to burn for eternity.
A) Because God is interested in how we act and what we believe in while we are in this physical world. He is pleased by faith
Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=11&t=NKJV#1
Here’s a scenario.
A man becomes a Christian and is forgiven for the horrible things he's done. Maybe he lied alot, maybe he was a thief. Perhaps he's murdered even. Or had adulterous affairs. But, one day, he sincerely repents to God through the salvation of Jesus Christ. Then he dies. This man can now go to Heaven because he had faith now without seeing the reality of God.
Now, here's another example. Adolf Hitler dies, and is presumably unrepentant about killing millions of people. As he sees God, is it fair that God should give him a chance to repent after death?
If God could forgive everyone after death, Universalism would be right, and God would not have sent His Son Jesus to die for us. God is completely good and perfect, and as such cannot tolerate the presence of evil. So, the one man who repented accepted God's solution to get rid of the evil in him. He had faith in what He could not see. God saw him as righteous because of what Jesus did in his life and the faith he had.
On the other hand Hitler died evil (presumably) and God cannot tolerate his presence when Hitler arrives after death. If God could allow forgiveness after death, to someone who never repented in life, then He would not be just.
Hebrews 9:28 - 29
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=9&t=NKJV#27
Q) God wants everyone to worship and follow him and if they don't, they burn in hell for all eternity. What does this type of attitude say about his character? By definition, he would be described as a tyrant.
A) First, worship is much more than phony piety, and ritual. Ritual and sacrifice USED to be part of worship, but it was symbolic of what Christ would do. The pagan forms of worship were and are a perversion of this.
Worship definitely does include reverence, praise and lifting up, and this does please God. If you are a parent, aren't you pleased when your child says they love you, and mean it? Or when they give you a gift out of their love, or when they place their trust in you? How about when they rejoice in a gift you give them?
Our worship of God also includes a relationship. He is our Father figure, and to praise Him for caring for us and redeeming us is a good thing.
Not to mention, when humans in the Bible encounter a spirit being, they try to worship them. Just by being in that higher presence we are motivated to worship, how much greater will it be to see God? In Revelation (script...) john encounters God and falls like he's dead in the presence of God. It’s our natural reaction.
The punishment of Hell and burning for eternity is not some cruel punishment God invented for people. He designed it for satan and the angels that rebelled against Him. (Rev. Script...) it was designed for beings who had seen God face to face and rebelled.
As a perfectly just being, God must punish rebellion and sin. I don’t know if Satan was given a chance to repent or not. I bet he would have refused it anyways. When your children disobey you, it must be punished.
Because we humans joined satan in his rebellion, we had to share in his punishment. But God, in His infinite love, gave humanity an out. Jesus Christ. We have the choice to either remain in rebellion with satan thru our sin nature in place. Or, we can choose to accept God's payment for our sin, Jesus' death on the cross and choose to worship God: 1 out of thanks for saving us, 2 because He is our creator who is good and loving, and 3 because that’s why we were created.
These are less the motives of a "tyrant" and more those of a kind, just ruler and creator who wants to have peace and fellowship with His creation.
Q) If Jesus died on the cross and spent three days in hell to pay for the sins of the world, then why would we have to go to hell ourselves and pay for them again? God is then, in essence, being paid for our sins twice. With that said, was Jesus' sacrifice not worthy enough? If that is the case, why should we care that he died for our sins if his sacrifice means nothing at all?
A) God is being "paid" only once for our sins. We either pay for them ourselves and go to Hell. Or we can choose to accept Jesus’ payment for our sins.
His sacrifice is more than enough, but the problem comes when we reject God's payment of sin and insist to pay it ourselves. If we refuse the payment Christ paid, then God allows us the choice to pay our own way, which is an eternity in torment in Hell.
As rob skeeba said in a recent interview, God gives us a choice. Emphasis mine.
"You can choose life (Christ) or choose death (paying for sins ourselves). By the way. Choose life." God wants us to escape Hell, we only have to accept His solution to do so.
Q) If God wants us all to follow and worship him, why didn't he create us as such? *Your expected answer will be addressed in the next question.
A) He did create us as such, but we chose to disobey. Now, I will address the next question.
Q) (long question....I think I’ll divide it up.)
What good is it for us to have free will if the intention is for us to not use it? Sure, we can use our free will, but we will burn in hell for eternity if we do. Russian roulette, anybody? It sounds like a set-up to me.
In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, why would God kill Lot's wife, Sarah, by turning her into a pillar of salt for simply looking in the wrong direction? *Warning of impending sarcasm.*
A) first, put on your discernment caps and go read Robert Luginbill's "Satanic Rebellion". http://ichthys.com/SR1copy.htm. In my opinion, this deals with the free will issue quite well. Here’s my thoughts.
If God created us with freewill, we'd basically be robots, unable to choose anything. We would follow God blindly and it would cease to have meaning.
I don’t want to put words in God's mouth, but if I had choice less people following me around, I'd grow tired of it. God, in my opinion gave us free will because He finds it more interesting and fulfilling to have a relationship with someone who can think.
Think of it this way. So many people may be interested in dating or being with a super model because he/she is beautiful. The model would grow bored with that and seek the companionship of someone interested in something more than physical.
God gave us freewill because He wants the fellowship of beings who choose to be with Him.
I think when we recognize are fallenness and choose to follow God through Christ, we are GRATEFUL. Without freewill, we wouldn’t understand that. We would expect it.
Q) God is a merciful God, right.What purpose does hell serve? If it is punishment for sinful actions, shouldn't it be used for correctional purposes? Seeing as though you burn forever, you will never get out of hell to show that you have learned your lesson.
A) see previous question that addressed Hell. It was designed for Satan and the fallen angels and demons. Why is it the way it is? It is not a correctional punishment, but my guess is that its capital punishment designed for beings that are immortal. To deserve such a punishment, Satan must have done something incredibly horrible.
Q) Would it make since to live a faithful Christian life glorifying the Lord and to accidentally sin by saying a curse word the instant you smash your car into the back of a tractor-trailer, thereby being condemned to burn in hell forever?
A) I don’t think that’s a qualification for Hell. If a saved person did that, my guess is this would be loss of reward, not loss of salvation.
Q) We know that we feel physical feelings through electrical impulses that send information to our brains through our nervous system. Once we die, we no longer feel pain due to the lack of a physical nervous system and, oh yeah, a brain. How could we 'feel' the excruciating flames of hell for eternity? Does God make you feel this torment for all eternity out of pure malice because you wouldn't worship him?
A) humans are body and spirit COMBINED. When the resurrection happens, the physical body fro everyone will be raised from the dead into a body similar it what Christ exhibited after He rose again. Therefore, those going to Hell will be doing so in a physical body.
In the interim, see the story of Lazarus and the poor boy. (Script.) even without the original body, it seems we get a temporary body until the resurrection.
Q) If God is omnipotent, why does he not just show himself to all of us, all at once, thereby ending this game of free will and temptation?
A) what does omnipotence have to do with us seeing Him and ending our philosophical/moral/spiritual hang-ups about His existence? God knows He exists. Its precisely His omnipotence that keeps Him from "having" to do such a thing.
In the past, when people have seen been close to God in a fallen state, they couldn't handle it. The Israelites had just this opportunity, and asked for it to be taken away! In fact, they had only heard His voice!
Deu 5:23 NKJV - "So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
Deu 5:24 NKJV - "And you said: 'Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he [still] lives.
Deu 5:25 NKJV - 'Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.
Deu 5:26 NKJV - 'For who [is there] of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we [have], and lived?
Deu 5:27 NKJV - 'You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do [it].'
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Deu&c=5&t=NKJV#1
Not to mention, if He did do so now, we would react the same way. But wait, one day God show us, and this is what our reaction will be:
Rev 6:14 NKJV - Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
Rev 6:15 NKJV - And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
Rev 6:16 NKJV - and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=6&t=NKJV#16
Is that enough reason?
Q) If God is perfect and his creations perfect, why did he fail several times? He had to impose suffering upon the human race because Adam and Eve defied him by eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Failed! He had to flood the planet 1,600 years later wiping out all but eight humans. Failure! He had to confuse human language after Nimrod and the Tower of Babel incident so that they could not effectively communicate with each other. Failure! How is this a track record of a perfect being?
A) how exactly are those failure? From mankind's perspective, they appear to be. Viewed individually from a fallen human viewpoint, these look like failures. BUT, viewed from an eternal viewpoint, these things are actually part of a larger gameplan. As LA Marzulli calls it, "The Cosmic Chess Match."
Those "failures" were satans's attempt to make God a liar. Adam and eve, God allowed them to choose. Follow Him and have life, or follow satan, and eventually die.
The flood. Satan and the fallen angels were possibly attempting to thwart God's plan to send the "seed of the woman" to destroy satan. God allowed satan to do these things, perhaps, as if to show satan that nothing that he did to rebel against God would amount to anything. God was allowing satan to take his rebellion to its fullest, deadliest extent.
Perhaps so that at the end, when satan realizes that he gave it everything he had, in the end, he was never a match to take on God.
Again, this is a great reason to read robert luginbill's work, it explains all this alot better than i can.
Q) If, in the beginning, there was only God and he created everything, why would he create angels that had the propensity to defy him? This very fallacy led to Lucifer challenging his authority because he desired to share the same power as God. This led to the rise, or fall depending on how you look at it, of Satan, the most notorious enemy of God and his followers. Failed, again!
Why would you trust 'God's plan' given his track record of many failures?
A disciple of Christ, Thomas, was a skeptic. He walked with Jesus during his time on earth and physically witnessed with his own eyes certain miracles performed by him such as raising Lazarus from the dead and so forth. However, after the crucifixion, Jesus supposedly rose three days later. Thomas did not believe it was truly him despite being told, prior to the incident by Jesus, that he would rise again in three days. Thomas required physical proof. Jesus allowed him to touch him and feel the wounds in his body to offer proof. Why doesn't god extend the same proof to humans alive today? Those that doubt his existence are no different than Thomas, requiring physical proof and he was a disciple of Jesus himself. If Thomas had been born one generation later, or even living today, he would have burned in hell for all eternity because he would not believe for the lack of physical proof. Paul was born after the death and ascension of Christ. Throughout his life, he did not believe that Jesus was the son of God and even went out of his way to persecute Christians thinking that their religion was a dangerous belief system to practice. Lo and behold a flash of light came out of the sky and Jesus Christ himself appeared to Paul explaining to him that he is actually the one true god. Jesus told him that he was persecuting the followers of the only true faith. From that point on, Paul was a converted Christian. Again, if God was willing to go out of his way to physically prove to Paul that he actually exists, why is this not done today? Why isn't God willing to show those that doubt today the same degree of physical proof? Why should we be any different than Thomas and Paul?
A) wow.
First, see the argument about why God doesn’t show Himself.
Next, consider that Christ's death and resurrection was prophesied hundreds of years ahead of time. Even down to the details of how He would die, some 600 years before crucifixion was invented! Psalm 22, go read the whole thing real quick.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=22&v=1&t=NKJV#top
Also consider that Christ has the most documented death in recorded human history.
I would also submit that in choosing Paul, it was because his testimony would be of huge impact. He was specially equipped to put it all together and make sense of it for everyone. Paul, for being given that much was then expected to do much.
Would you be willing to take on the responsibility and suffering that Paul did, just to see Jesus so you can believe?
Last there are many stories among missionaries to Muslims where the Muslims have dreamed of Jesus or a bearded man. There’s even a story of a Muslim man being given a near word for word copy of the gospel of Luke by Jesus Himself.
So, just because Jesus hasn’t appeared to you, doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to believe. You and I have the gospel. We have access to the good news and more study resources than anyone else in history. Those that don’t have that access, seem to get a lighter break.
Also, look into the shroud of Turin. LA marzulli has an awesome idea on this. It's God's calling card.
The question you should be asking is "why am I not spending more time investigating the copious amount of evidence that already exists?"
Q) Christians argue evolution by asking why there aren't any half-ape half-men walking around today, right? Why don't we see giants, fiery talking serpents, talking donkeys and many other mythical creatures that are described in the Bible?
A) giants are reported occasionally, and perhaps some of those are Bigfoot sightings which are dismissed. not to mention that a good amount of the giants were all killed.
But here’s a decent site
http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/index2.html
Also Google la marzulli's blog and listen to his show sometime. Giants may have taken on new forms these days. I don’t know that I agree with everything he says, but he does have good reporting on strange giantish phenomena.
The talking donkey was a one time thing. Same with talking serpents. Perhaps when we are on the new earth, animals may talk again. I hope so, I have a lot of talking to do with old pets that have passed on.
Other mythical creatures....there are alot of cryptozoological sightings and investigations, but many of them are laughed off and dismissed. Not to mention that humans like to kill things. Theres no dragons/dinos because people killed alot of them.
Q) If we are to only have sex for the purpose of pro-creation, and to do so outside of the scope of pro-creation is sinful, then why would God create us with an over abundance of nerve endings in our reproductive organs making sex extremely pleasurable? It sounds like yet another set-up.
A) where, chapter, text and verse does it say that sex is only for procreation? Read the song of Solomon. Sex is designed for a man and his wife, to develop intimacy and pleasure each other. Procreation is a benefit of that. Sex is another thing that satan has perverted and made people feel unduly guilty about.
Q) Why do Christians share the same statistical rate of divorce as everyone else? "What God hath made, let no man put asunder." How could Christian marriages fail if they are sanctified by God? Hmmmm.... interesting.
A) because many Christians are probably luke-warm in their faith walk, and not committed to God. Churchianity, anyone?
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=2Ti&c=3&v=1&t=NKJV#top
2Ti 3:1 NKJV - But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2Ti 3:2 NKJV - For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 NKJV - unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
2Ti 3:4 NKJV - traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2Ti 3:5 NKJV - having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Also, many of us are likely hard hearted, which is sad. Following Jesus isn’t easy, and many Christians, myself included, could do alot better in being less selfish.
Q) In the book of Luke chapter 19 verse 27, Jesus says, "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." This seems pretty clear that Jesus would have Christians kill all non-believers. How do you explain this?
A) first, read the whole thing in context.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=19&v=1&t=NKJV#top
Jesus is telling a parable, not giving us a command. This is the parable about 3 servants entrusted with money while the master's away. This "killing" portion seems to relate to a judgment about how we act in this life and use or abuse the resources we're given.
This punishment will be used for those who misuse their resources here, or those who reject Christ and don’t put their resources to use for His kingdoms.
I also recommend reading some of the commentaries on Blue Letter for this one.
Q) If God created everything, why did he create AIDS, influenza, Ebola, ecoli and so on and so on? These, as viruses, are living things. You definitely can not use the free will card for this one. Is this another part of 'God's plan'?
A) why did God make lions, and tigers and bears? They're just as dangerous.
Here’s a thought. 1) they were created in the beginning, but dormant until they became part of the curse. 2) my guess is they were made/reshaped in a lab by the elites to facilitate population control. E. Coli, maybe not, but e.coli's mutation into deadly strains may be part of the human curse, or the result of genetic tampering.
Q) How can God answer a prayer giving a working-class man in the United States a raise at his place of employment so that he can move his family into a larger house, but he does not answer the prayers to stop the starvation and disease of millions upon millions of children around the world? This must be another infinitely wise part of 'God's plan'.
A) without playing the “God's plan” card, all I can say is that for those with less, we Christians should be taking better care of those in need. We do a poor job of ministering and caring for the poor.
God may be answering the prayers to end hunger through His servants, but there are strong forces opposing those prayers as well.
Eph 6:12, and (Daniel’s prayer) perhaps our prayers are not persistent enough.
Q) If God's word is supposed to be the accurate word of God himself, how are we supposed to trust it enough to model our lives after it 100% when hundreds of books were excluded from the original text throughout so many translations and revisions in history?
A) Chris White, I believe, has some excellent youtube videos on this and "was the Bible changed" look thru this page, there is a link.
http://conspiracyclothes.com/nowheretorun/videos/
Q) Why is there no evidence of any of the miracles performed by God? None whatsoever.
A) why is there no evidence that my wife made dinner for me last week?
Many of the Bible's miracles were a one-time event, and often times that miracle was not "saveable" for archive purposes.
But, there are a few that were.
The manna from the exodus was preserved in the ark, which is now lost.
But, the shroud of Turin, again, could be the biggest evidence of all. If it is evidence, then the rest of the miracles must have happened too, because all the other miracles symbolized Christ to begin with. In that regard proof of the greatest miracle, should validate the ones that preceded it.
Q) If God and Jesus are the same, having the same mind, knowledge and power, then why would Jesus beg himself in the garden of Gethsemane, to spare himself from having to be crucified? Furthermore, why would Jesus ask himself why he has forsaken himself by allowing himself to be crucified?
A) this is a tough question...
First, check here...
http://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=how+can+God+and+Jesus+be+the+same&search.x=0&search.y=0
Here
http://www.gotquestions.org/hypostatic-union.html
Here
http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-say-my-God.html
and here
http://www.gotquestions.org/good-God-alone.html
In the end, to answer part of the question, Jesus was asking God, that if there was any other way to save humanity, to take it. But rather than let Him escape, let God's will be done.
How can Jesus ask Himself (God)? God has 3 different aspects, or emanations maybe the rabbis might call it. These "personas" are God, but yet distinct. One, but three.
Here’s a bad example, and egg is one egg. Yet it too has three separate, distinct parts. Each part is still "egg" even when separate. Shell, white and yolk. If the shell is separated from the yolk and white, is it no longer an egg? we call them egg yolk, egg shell and egg white when separate, the same way, there's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He's one God, but He has three separate parts that are distinct, yet He's still one.
So, in this bad example, if the shell asked the yolk to do something, its asking part of itself a question, yet its not asking the egg white, or the shell part of itself. It's asking a different part of itself.
Its a bad example, but it serves as an illustration. I don’t mean to imply that God is an egg, merely that God's 3 separate and unique parts can make one whole.
Q) If you believe that your eternal life is more important than your physical life and you believe that all children are innocent in the eyes of God, why not kill your children so they are guaranteed to go to heaven? You can't tell me that it is because killing is a sin. First of all, you could repent thereafter and be forgiven. Secondly, if you would sacrifice your life for your child who is about to be hit by a train, and you believe your eternal life is more important than this life, then it would stand to reason that you should kill your children to ensure their entrance into heaven before they are old enough to be held accountable for being a creature of sin, right?
If you do believe that children are innocent in the eyes of God, wouldn't it be reasonable to suggest that abortion doctors are winning more souls for Christ than Christian missionaries? Why not bomb a pre-school? That would surely win a lot of souls for Christ.
If you do not believe that children are innocent in the eyes of God, wouldn't it be fair to suggest that God is a monster? Do you see the conundrum here?
A) that is some messed up logic. Before we enter eternal life, we are judged upon how we have lived this life. Murder was expressly forbidden, and knowing you can repent afterwards is no excuse to engage in a sin. That in itself is a sin, sinning so you can repent.
Rom 6:1 NKJV - What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 NKJV - Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=6&t=NKJV#1
Also note, that there is no guarantee in the Bible that children go to Heaven when they die. I'm not saying they don’t, but we don’t know for sure.
Even if kids and unborn babies go to Heaven upon death, the people sending them are still violating God's laws and also playing God. Not to mention that abortion doctors are robbing a human life of the chance to live a full life and impact the world for greater good. Even if that unborn baby goes to Heaven, they were robbed of a full lifetime of experience here.
Winning souls for Christ cannot be accomplished by killing innocent children, rather coming to Christ has to be an act of conscious decision.
What about kids and unborn babies?
God is fair, and will judge people fairly.
Q) It is a common belief among Christians that the only unforgivable sin is consciously rejecting Christ as Lord and savior. With that said, it is also believed by Christians that those who have never heard of Jesus and the Christian faith, i.e. individuals within an isolated tribe, babies and so forth, have no concept of Christ and can not, therefore, be in the position to consciously reject him. This would allow them entrance into heaven by default. With that said, why would you tell anyone about Christ? Why would you spread the word if that would put them in the position to consciously reject him? If they are already going to heaven due to their ignorance of the word of God, why not just let that be? You would, in effect, be losing more souls to Satan by spreading the word. You might want to rethink that whole "fishers of men" thing.
A) I fell into this trap myself. Ignorance of God and Jesus is no excuse.
Rom 1:17 NKJV - For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Rom 1:18 NKJV - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19 NKJV - because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown [it] to them.
Rom 1:20 NKJV - For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Rom 1:21 NKJV - because, although they knew God, they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=1&t=NKJV&q=Romans
Creation declares the glory of God, so everyone, even in an isolated tribe, should be able to see and accept their is a God. Indians believed in a Great Spirit. The Chinese believed in Shang Di, a monotheistic God that some believe was their name for the God of the Bible.
These people, seeing evidence of a just God would likely also feel convicted by sin and realize their need to repent. If they died in this state, having repented of their sins to the Most High God, i believe God would judge them fairly. But would they be saved?
In new guinea, the natives had a creation story much like ours. There was a tree, with a rope that people could climb to go meet with God. But one day, people did something bad, and the rope to God was cut.
This is before they ever heard the Gospel.
They knew they were cut off from God. As a result, they were then subject to demonic spirits and false religions. When missionaries came and shared Jesus, they rejoiced, because thru Jesus, the rope had been restored. They knew before that, that they were separated.
I'll let you draw your own conclusions from there.
Q) Imagine that I had the power and ability to feed millions and end all suffering. Now, imagine that I simply chose not to do so because these millions of people that are suffering did not like me. You would probably like me even less then, right? Then why does God get a 'get out of jail free card'? Wait a minute, 'God's plan,' right?
A) again, we live in an age where the Church is to be the hands and feet of Jesus. (The poor will always be....) We should be doing the ending of suffering. We should be going and letting God work through us. God wants to work with us.
I wouldn’t blame God, but rather those in power who abuse their subjects. Sometimes Christians are to blame for not being salt and light. And other times we are to blame ourselves.
Chuck missler recently said something that "in India people are starving everywhere. Yet, they are surrounded by cows which they can't eat for religious reasons."
So, God has the power, but as the Israelites proved in the wilderness, if God continually provided for us in our fallen state, we would grow tired of it.
The key is to have Christians solve these needs, and show people the love of God that motivated them to care.
Q) Why are more atrocities committed in the name of God than anything else?
A) because people are evil, and sadly one of the easiest ways to fool people is to tell them they’re going to Hell if they don’t obey. This would work alot less nicely if people actually compared what the false leaders and teachers to what God's word really says.
Much violence in God's name would cease if people actually read their Bibles and emulated Christ our Savior.
Q) The bible states that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. If it is fairly impossible for the rich to go to heaven then why are there wealthy Christians? Why wouldn't these rich Christians give up all of their wealth to make it easier for them to enter the kingdom of heaven?
A) theres a big difference between having riches and riches having you. There were rich Christians early on. Lydia was one. If a Christian is rich, they should be using that wealth to futher God's kingdom.
What Christ is condemning is an elevation of wealth above the welfare of others. Read some of the blueletter commentaries on this.
1 John 3:17
"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?"
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Jo&c=3&v=17&t=NKJV#17
The point seems to be that we should be willing to get rid of our stuff, if doing so would help someone in need.
Q) Building upon the previous question, if it is almost impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, then why would God create heaven as having pearly gates, streets of gold and many mansions? It sounds like he wants us to be poor in life so that we will want to be rich in the afterlife, maybe? Does this make any real sense?
A) you almost got it.
Not to mention, those precious things are beautiful and can show God's glory. But notice, God used gold for pavement. 1) we'll be walking on it. And 2) the rest of the riches will be easy for all to see, not hoarded away. The riches are for all to enjoy.
Q) If God is perfect then his creations should be perfect, right? Then that would mean that the earth is a perfect creation. Then why would God have to create another perfect place, heaven, and use it to entice us to believe in him? What kind of assurance do we have that heaven would be any better than his other 'perfect' creation, earth?
A) Go read randy alcorn's "Heaven". Heaven and earth will be remade. Earth was perfect, then cursed, but will be redeemed because of Jesus.
Seriously, go read it, he does it much more justice than I can here.
Q) God allowed Jesus to be tempted as a human by Satan in the wilderness of the desert. Again, if God and Jesus are the same entity, then what kind of sense does it make for God to allow himself to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness to see if he would give in to the temptation? In addition to that, if he were all-knowing, he would have already known the outcome and, therefore, could have avoided the whole thing all together.
A) indeed, the fact that He could have avoided it and didn’t should say something.
But, Christ was tempted maybe for a few reasons. 1) to show that He really was worthy, incapable of sin and to show that He is God. 2) was for our benefit, not His. This so that Jesus could relate to us in our moments of temptation. 3) to show us how to resist the devil: with God's word.
Q) If heaven is to be a place free of sadness, pain and suffering, then how can you be happy in heaven knowing that the vast majority of humankind is painfully burning for eternity, especially when some of them may be your loved ones?
A) again, go see Randy alcorn's book.
My guess is that we will know that these people had chances to repent, and finally justice was served.
Read again the story of Lazarus Luke 16:19 - 31. Chuck missler pointed out that he knew he belonged there. If someone in Hell knew they deserved to be there, then those of us in Heaven will know too.
Luk 16:19 NKJV - "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
Luk 16:20 NKJV - "But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
Luk 16:21 NKJV - "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luk 16:22 NKJV - "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
Luk 16:23 NKJV - "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24 NKJV - "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'
Luk 16:26 NKJV - 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
Luk 16:27 NKJV - "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,
Luk 16:28 NKJV - 'for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'
Luk 16:29 NKJV - "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
Luk 16:30 NKJV - "And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
Luk 16:31 NKJV - "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=16&t=NKJV#20
Q) Seeing as though everything we, including Christians, enjoy in the modern world is a product of science, why do Christians so fervently deny factual scientific evidence that disproves so many aspects of the bible and their religion as a whole?
A) what evidence? I would argue that with quantum physics, the Bible and God Most High are indeed quite easy to believe scientifically.
Michio kaku's hyperspace was a good intro for me, though I disagree with His views on the supernatural.
Q) If Christianity is the only true religion, then why do practitioners of all other religions feel fulfilled in their faith and achieve the same desired results as Christians?
A) do people of other faiths feel fulfilled? Where is the evidence of that?
My thoughts are that since every other faith seems to be works based, theres always the question of "have I done enough?" Muslims know that even if their good works outweigh the bad, Allah could still not allow them into paradise if he's in a bad mood that day.
There are Buddhists who make long pilgrimages, hundreds of miles, by traveling on their knees and kowtowing down to the road. They rise, advance, then kowtow again onto the rough road. They make these pilgrimages to obtain cleansing of their sins, the pain of their journey, they believe, cleanses them.
Moonies and Raeliens are held captive by their cult masters. Harold Camping's followers were depressed after his rapture-date-set failed, some considered suicide.
Jehovah's witnesses (I think) believe that only 144,000 people can get into Heaven. If I was one, I would have anxiety wondering if I was going to make the cut.
Do any of these sound like fulfilling religions?
Q) If God created everything, then why did he create the tree of knowledge of good and evil and put it right in the middle of the garden of Eden for Eve to eat of it's fruit if he didn't want her to? Furthermore, why did God create the serpent that tempted Eve? Uh-oh, it sounds like another possible set-up.
A) refer back to the freewill questions, and Luginbill's work. It may not be THE answer, but it does make some sense.
Q) In the beginning God created Adam and Eve, right? Then Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. What happens next? How did the species propagate itself? Incest is genetically detrimental to offspring. It is also seen as being terribly immoral among the majority of people alive today, including Christians. There was either some incest going on or God created more people from scratch and we weren't told about it. The same scenario applies to the flood incident. Sure, Noah's three sons had wives, but that would still mean that, out of the eight remaining individuals on the planet, there is only a 50% variation of genetic code. Mathematically, inbreeding was sure to be necessary to replenish the earth.
A) to be sure, there was incest going on to some degree among Adam and eve's children, but Adam and eve were genetically pure. As stated, when intermarriage occurs, birth defects happen, but I believe this would have taken alot of time for adam and eve's descendents to begin mutating sufficiently to cause problems.
God outlawed incest later because things had changed.
I borrowed slightly from this article, but this is where my own theory was to start with.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Cains-wife.html
Q) Why does God allow things to happen among his followers that he has already deemed to be sinful, i.e. incest example above, "thou shalt not kill" and so forth, and it is alright as long as it is done in his name? Remember, more deaths have occurred in history in God's name.
A) if God didn’t allow us to commit things He's outlawed, He would be a tyrant. This goes again with the whole free will thing from earlier. We can choose to obey God, and accept His solution for sin, or we can choose to disobey His standards.
God is not "OK" with people doing things in His name, especially killing.
Where are the stats proving more people have been killed in God's name than for any other reason? Lets see some hard numbers, with sources.
The only way I would buy that more people were killed in God's name is if you mean that God's followers were the ones who were killed. Christians are one of the most persecuted populations in the world, and I would say the most throughout history. The Jews also. Taken together, more followers of God have been killed for following Him than there have been followers of God killing people.
And anyone claiming to be a Christian, or following God when they kill someone is not following the God of the Bible. The crusades were perpetrated by those who called themselves Christians, but seemingly failed to live out a Christian life.
Lets turn the tables. Don't forget that many pagan practices involved human sacrifice, like the Mayans. They were doing thousands on a daily basis, or so I hear.
Other pagan religions involved child sacrifice, Moloch, etc.
And abortion kills many millions in the name of convenience. Do we include their numbers in this comparison?
I speculate, with no real numbers, that more people kill their babies every year for convience sake than Christians and Jews have killed "in God's name" for the past 1000 years combined. Even if you add those killed by extremist Muslims (which are a minority of Muslims) I would guess that abortions still kill more annually than the last 1000 years.
And if you want to talk about the Jews killing those in Canaan, there are several justifications for this.
1) the Canaanites did alot of wicked things, including child sacrifice and other pagan worship, and other things God hates. God used Israel to judge them. When Israel did the same kinds of things, God sent other nations against them to kill and capture them in judgment.
2) God had promised Israel that land, and the inhabitants wouldn’t leave. God also wanted the Israelites to not pick up the Canaanites' bad habits, so they had to be destroyed.
3) and a controversial theory. The Canaanites were of Nephilim bloodlines and there were not fully human. Recall that many inhabitants of Canaan were said to be giants.
Q) How did Adam live to 930, Seth 912 and Methuselah 969 years old when anthropological evidence show that we have progressively increased our longevity throughout history? If they did live that long back then, this concept would be reversed and our longevity should have been decreasing throughout history, right? That would mean that people 500 years ago should have lived to at least 200 years old. Why do we not find evidence of this throughout written historical birth and death records as well as archaeological and anthropological evidence?
A) early humans like Adam, etc were far more pure genetically and thus less susceptible to disease.
The earth was also alot less polluted, so poisons were not getting into people. Not to mention, the earth's ozone layer protected from the sun's rays. Some also believe that there was a layer of water vapor above also that kept more harmful cosmic rays out. After the flood, the earth's atmosphere changed drastically.
The evidence for these old ages was destroyed in the flood.
Q) God has killed more people than Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Sadam Hussein, Milosavic and Jim Jones combined. Why would you not follow them instead of God? Based on this standard, these monsters are compassionate compared to God.
A) again, where are the numbers to support this? And are we talking people that God actually killed or were killed by those allegedly following Him?
Yes, there are times when God intervened and killed people in the Bible, but they were always evil. Not to mention that God created life, and as God He has the authority to decide when a life should end.
I would not follow those others because they are monsters, while God gave Jesus Christ to pay for my sins so i wouldn’t have to go to hell. The others wouldn’t have done that.
These monsters also killed masses of people for selfish reasons, God has only done so as judgment, and after an extended period of offering people a chance to repent. The flood didn’t happen overnight, Noah had more than 100 years to build it. In that time, many could have repented, but they didn’t.
Q) Why is it that when a Christian is faced with questions that have huge negative implications towards the logic of their faith, they conveniently say that it is in God's plan? Judging by the above mentioned failures, God's plan does not seem to be a very good one.
A) I never said that.
I could ask the same of atheists.
Why is it when I ask an atheist how Jesus could prophesy the things in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and why we are seeing these things now, they always tell me He got lucky and hit the right formula?
Or that these things always were around and that He just randomly decided to say that near His return these things would happen?
So, on top of random conditions randomly making the universe, then random planet formations, then random chemicals making life, which randomly mutates, and randomly becomes intelligent, I’m also supposed to believe that Jesus randomly hit the right formula to basically tell us our news headlines? That takes more faith than believing the Bible is true and Jesus is who He said He is.
As Kurt Vonnegut said in "Timequake" (Paraphrase) Believing that random chance created the universe and life randomly is like believing that a tornado can rip through a junkyard and whip all the pieces together into a fully functional automobile.
Now, which takes more faith:
1) Believing that millions upon millions of random events happened just right under the right conditions and created the universe, us and everything that we know of
or
2) God planned and created everything as it says in the Bible, knew and planned the end from the beginning and redeemed us through Jesus Christ because He wants to spend eternity with us
Christians who answer "It's God's plan" haven’t done enough homework, and should be better equipped to answer those kinds of questions.
Q) Why would God give us the capability of logic and reason and expect us not to use it when it comes to belief in him and his word?
A) go to Futurequake.com and listen to tom bionic's testimony. He logically thought about Christianity, and came to Christ as a result.
I believe that if one really follows true logic, it will lead you to God and His word.
I began to believe a few years ago that aliens created us and gave us religions for social benefit. Then logic had me thinking, who created the aliens?
In the end, if all of the evidence is viewed logically, and from an eternal, spiritual perspective, it should be easy to find God and the truth about Him. It's in the Bible after all.
This concludes the 50 questions.
hopefully soon I'll be back to shorter posts on weirder things.
I hope you've enjoyed this.
Sorry for the delay in blogs here. I’ve had some things going on, and then when the dust settled I wasn’t sure what to write about. Maybe I’m still not sure. So, to kick back off with a bang, I thought, “Why not find questions that Christians supposedly cannot answer, yet should have an answer for anyways.
That led me to this site: http://www.bukisa.com/articles/107211_top-50-questions-christians-cant-answer
Yes, 50 questions that Christians supposedly can’t answer. Well, with God’s help, I think I’ve got some decent answers for many…nay ALL of these questions. Maybe Christians can’t answer them all, but God can! Hopefully I picked up the answers that please Him. Don’t let me get in the way.
Before answering these questions, I want to establish a few things. First, some of these are questions that the natural man cannot understand. Only those with an understanding of spiritual things, the spiritual man, as the Apostle Paul says can understand these things fully, and admittedly we even see some of these things through a glass darkly.
To me, the most foolish thing someone can do is approach the Bible as merely a human effort, or simply a decent moral code. Analyzing it as such, from a finite fallen human perspective will not make sense. (Recall that God's foolishness is greater than our best wisdom.) When looking at, and God forbid, criticizing the Bible, one must consider a long-term, eternal spiritual perspective. A lot of these questions seem to neglect the fact that God knew the end from the beginning, and the questions also don’t seem to take into account the Ephesians 6:12 side of things.
As LA Marzulli says, the Bible is the guidebook to the supernatural. It addresses the spiritual side of man’s time on Earth, and all questions can be answered once we discard a wholly humanistic Earthbound perspective.
So, without further adieu, let's plunge into
"The 50 questions Christians can't answer"
Courtesy of http://www.bukisa.com/articles/107211_top-50-questions-christians-cant-answer
Q) If God is omnipotent (all-powerful), why did he take six days to create everything? Why not speak everything into existence all at once?
A) I can’t fully speak for God, but thinking of it logically here are a few possible reasons. First, God took six days to make creation because He felt like it.
Second, creation was a symbolic example for our benefit so that we would know the benefits of working for a number of days, then having a day of rest, and a day to delight in the Lord. God blessed us by giving us a day of rest, but first He wanted to show us by example.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Exd&c=20&t=NKJV#11
“For [in] six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that [is] in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it.”
Third, as a creative person myself, I can say that sometimes the joy of creating something is taking more time to do it. The joy is in the creative process. I personally think this shows that God has more love and care for us and our world because He took the extra time to make our world. The other planets and stars were "merely" spoken into being, but Creation as a whole, and earth particularly, God wanted to take more time with. Then, Adam and Eve He sculpted out of clay! The people He would fellowship with He handmade.
Why’d He do that? He could have just spoke us into being? Because He cared about us when He created us.
Indeed, as you read the Bible, you'll see just how much He does care for the earth and its people. The books of the prophets, the things that made God angry is that they were doing things harmful to themselves and others, in addition to other evil thing.
Q) Why won't God heal amputees?
A) Better question might be, "why aren’t you and I doing more to make their lives better. Not to mention that if God healed every injury of every person as we are now in our fallen state, I think our society would grow bored with His miracles.
Recall the Israelites as they wandered for 40 years. God was before them day and night, they could hear His voice from mt Sinai, and they still doubted Him and what He could do. They ate manna (which was basically a daily miracle) daily, and soon grew tired of it, even though it was a miraculous provision.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Num&c=11&t=NKJV#6
"but now our whole being [is] dried up; [there is] nothing at all except this manna [before] our eyes!"
Q) If God is so perfect, then why did he create something so imperfect allowing pain, suffering and daily atrocities?
A) God created everything perfect, but then sin happened. But, God knew in advance what would happen once satan was made, and people too. He knew a rebellion would occur, yet He made us all anyways. He knew His perfect creation would get messed up, but He wasn't worried about it. He knew He could fix it.
He wasn’t surprised when Adam sinned, and He's not surprised when you and I do it. He's not happy, but he's not shocked.
God also knew what He would have to do to fix it, and He did it anyways. He became a human being-Jesus Christ- and He died to pay the price so that we humans could restore our fellowship with Him.
As Chuck Missler said once, something like "how else do you show that God is infinite love? That He created us knowing what would happen, and what the solution would be."
For more on that, I would look up Robert Luginbill’s "satanic rebellion" over at http://ichthys.com/SR1copy.htm (Put on your discernment hats though, I believe much of what he writes is very debatable, and I disagree with some of it, but it does answer a lot of questions.)
Q) Why did the little old lady that God healed one Sunday need her walker to get around again next Sunday? Was she only temporarily worthy of a healing?
A) What lady?
Just kidding. I assume this is talking about those TV faith healers. The answer is simple, she probably wasn't really healed. There’s a story that Todd Bentley kicked an old lady in the face to heal her, supposedly in the name of God. Todd Bentley’s theology is a tad whacky, and he has no real power to heal people, but especially by kicking people. So, if this sort of event is what is being discussed, then there was no healing, because it wasn’t of God.
God can and does heal people, but we see it rarely here in the “civilized” world. I do hear occasionally that there are true healing miracles in the mission field.
Not to mention that God usually seems to only permit true miracles when doing so is needed to bring people to faith. In Europe and America we're so jaded that we'd likely ask what the catch is and how much money they want before getting healed. Not to mention that if God healed every little boo boo we got, again we’d probably react like the Israelites did in the wilderness.
Q) How did Noah fit the millions and millions of species on this planet into his ark?
If Noah did fit all of these species on the ark for forty days and forty nights, how did the penguins make it from Mt. Ararat to the Antarctic? How did the koala bears make it to Australia with no eucalyptus to eat along the way?
A) Take a look here: http://www.gotquestions.org/Noahs-ark-animals.html
This article estimates perhaps no more than 50,000 animals were aboard the ark.
As for how they spread out, here’s my theory. I may be stealing it from someone else, but here goes. After the flood the earth was one land mass, basically Pangaea. Once God got the animals where they needed to be, the continents then began to move. The animals then went away with their respective continents. If God can lead them to the ark, why not to the tight place and time before the continents split?
Q) Why do innocent children have to suffer with terminal diseases such as cancer? What part of 'God's plan' is this exactly?
A) The fact is that we live in a fallen world. As a result of what happened when Adam sinned in the garden, the earth became cursed. That means that things would be harder, work would be less fulfilling and that people would be subject to "unfairness". People would die unfair deaths.
It also doesn’t help that satan is more or less in charge of the world (2 Corinthians 4:4: "Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them")
There are others too. http://www.gotquestions.org/Satan-god-world.html (I should just quit this blog and send people there! Just kidding)
Because we gave dominion to him, we have to endure suffering and death. None of Adam’s descendents can escape death (except Christ, and He died willingly).
So being that we sinned, we are all subject to "unfair" deaths. Even children are bound to this rule as even children have a sin nature. I lied as a child, lying is a sin. It was my nature. When kids die, sadly, it is part of the curse we on earth live under.
The other thing to consider is that with satan and his demons active in the world, they may indeed be playing some part in making kids sick unjustly. That is speculation on my part, but in the Bible, many of the people Christ healed were afflicted because of demonic involvement.
Lastly, we have polluted our planet so much that many kids can be exposed to disease causing things at early ages. Again, this is part of the fallen world we inhabit. Our world is under a curse until Jesus Christ returns.
Q) How is it that the bible explains the earth to be 6,000 to 8,000 years old when we know that dinosaur bones are at least 65 million years old? The 'missing link' fossil 'Ida' found recently is estimated to be at least 47 million years old.
A) Do we really "know" this? Were the scientists in a time machine verifying that indeed millions of years had passed?
No.
Did you personally see it? Then how do you know it happened? Must be faith in evolution.
The millions of years theories are more or less propaganda.
In fact, here are some very skilled and good explanations which debunk the millions of years theories. The diamonds article is quite good.
http://creation.com/deep-time-illusion
http://creation.com/radiometric-dating-questions-and-answers
http://creation.com/diamonds-a-creationists-best-friend
http://www.gotquestions.org/fossil-record.html
The "gotquestions" articles are excellent because they demonstrate that mainstream science resorts to dishonest methods and data to fit their theories. They need to get rid of God, so they invent millions of years and evolution and force everything into that mold.
To show that mainstream “science” has an agenda, there is an excellent example of someone creating an ape-man from a single pig tooth. Creation.com has a number of other articles that are worth reading.
Seeing that someone had to resort to skullduggery to sell the evolutionary theory, I would call into question the other evidence.
Q) Why can't the all-powerful God not forgive someone of their sins after they die? Example: A Christian man that is seemingly on God's good list makes a stupid decision and decides to drink a little too much at the fish fry. On his way home he crashes into a mini-van killing a mother and her two children and himself. This man led a very faithful life and made one stupid, yet grave mistake. If this man did not ask for forgiveness of his sins before the electrical activity in his brain ceased, then God will judge him and send him to hell to burn for eternity.
A) Because God is interested in how we act and what we believe in while we are in this physical world. He is pleased by faith
Hebrews 11:1
“Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.”
Hebrews 11:6
“But without faith [it is] impossible to please [Him], for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and [that] He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.”
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=11&t=NKJV#1
Here’s a scenario.
A man becomes a Christian and is forgiven for the horrible things he's done. Maybe he lied alot, maybe he was a thief. Perhaps he's murdered even. Or had adulterous affairs. But, one day, he sincerely repents to God through the salvation of Jesus Christ. Then he dies. This man can now go to Heaven because he had faith now without seeing the reality of God.
Now, here's another example. Adolf Hitler dies, and is presumably unrepentant about killing millions of people. As he sees God, is it fair that God should give him a chance to repent after death?
If God could forgive everyone after death, Universalism would be right, and God would not have sent His Son Jesus to die for us. God is completely good and perfect, and as such cannot tolerate the presence of evil. So, the one man who repented accepted God's solution to get rid of the evil in him. He had faith in what He could not see. God saw him as righteous because of what Jesus did in his life and the faith he had.
On the other hand Hitler died evil (presumably) and God cannot tolerate his presence when Hitler arrives after death. If God could allow forgiveness after death, to someone who never repented in life, then He would not be just.
Hebrews 9:28 - 29
“And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,
so Christ was offered once to bear the sins of many. To those who eagerly wait for Him He will appear a second time, apart from sin, for salvation.”
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Hbr&c=9&t=NKJV#27
Q) God wants everyone to worship and follow him and if they don't, they burn in hell for all eternity. What does this type of attitude say about his character? By definition, he would be described as a tyrant.
A) First, worship is much more than phony piety, and ritual. Ritual and sacrifice USED to be part of worship, but it was symbolic of what Christ would do. The pagan forms of worship were and are a perversion of this.
Worship definitely does include reverence, praise and lifting up, and this does please God. If you are a parent, aren't you pleased when your child says they love you, and mean it? Or when they give you a gift out of their love, or when they place their trust in you? How about when they rejoice in a gift you give them?
Our worship of God also includes a relationship. He is our Father figure, and to praise Him for caring for us and redeeming us is a good thing.
Not to mention, when humans in the Bible encounter a spirit being, they try to worship them. Just by being in that higher presence we are motivated to worship, how much greater will it be to see God? In Revelation (script...) john encounters God and falls like he's dead in the presence of God. It’s our natural reaction.
The punishment of Hell and burning for eternity is not some cruel punishment God invented for people. He designed it for satan and the angels that rebelled against Him. (Rev. Script...) it was designed for beings who had seen God face to face and rebelled.
As a perfectly just being, God must punish rebellion and sin. I don’t know if Satan was given a chance to repent or not. I bet he would have refused it anyways. When your children disobey you, it must be punished.
Because we humans joined satan in his rebellion, we had to share in his punishment. But God, in His infinite love, gave humanity an out. Jesus Christ. We have the choice to either remain in rebellion with satan thru our sin nature in place. Or, we can choose to accept God's payment for our sin, Jesus' death on the cross and choose to worship God: 1 out of thanks for saving us, 2 because He is our creator who is good and loving, and 3 because that’s why we were created.
These are less the motives of a "tyrant" and more those of a kind, just ruler and creator who wants to have peace and fellowship with His creation.
Q) If Jesus died on the cross and spent three days in hell to pay for the sins of the world, then why would we have to go to hell ourselves and pay for them again? God is then, in essence, being paid for our sins twice. With that said, was Jesus' sacrifice not worthy enough? If that is the case, why should we care that he died for our sins if his sacrifice means nothing at all?
A) God is being "paid" only once for our sins. We either pay for them ourselves and go to Hell. Or we can choose to accept Jesus’ payment for our sins.
His sacrifice is more than enough, but the problem comes when we reject God's payment of sin and insist to pay it ourselves. If we refuse the payment Christ paid, then God allows us the choice to pay our own way, which is an eternity in torment in Hell.
As rob skeeba said in a recent interview, God gives us a choice. Emphasis mine.
"You can choose life (Christ) or choose death (paying for sins ourselves). By the way. Choose life." God wants us to escape Hell, we only have to accept His solution to do so.
Q) If God wants us all to follow and worship him, why didn't he create us as such? *Your expected answer will be addressed in the next question.
A) He did create us as such, but we chose to disobey. Now, I will address the next question.
Q) (long question....I think I’ll divide it up.)
What good is it for us to have free will if the intention is for us to not use it? Sure, we can use our free will, but we will burn in hell for eternity if we do. Russian roulette, anybody? It sounds like a set-up to me.
In the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, why would God kill Lot's wife, Sarah, by turning her into a pillar of salt for simply looking in the wrong direction? *Warning of impending sarcasm.*
A) first, put on your discernment caps and go read Robert Luginbill's "Satanic Rebellion". http://ichthys.com/SR1copy.htm. In my opinion, this deals with the free will issue quite well. Here’s my thoughts.
If God created us with freewill, we'd basically be robots, unable to choose anything. We would follow God blindly and it would cease to have meaning.
I don’t want to put words in God's mouth, but if I had choice less people following me around, I'd grow tired of it. God, in my opinion gave us free will because He finds it more interesting and fulfilling to have a relationship with someone who can think.
Think of it this way. So many people may be interested in dating or being with a super model because he/she is beautiful. The model would grow bored with that and seek the companionship of someone interested in something more than physical.
God gave us freewill because He wants the fellowship of beings who choose to be with Him.
I think when we recognize are fallenness and choose to follow God through Christ, we are GRATEFUL. Without freewill, we wouldn’t understand that. We would expect it.
Q) God is a merciful God, right.What purpose does hell serve? If it is punishment for sinful actions, shouldn't it be used for correctional purposes? Seeing as though you burn forever, you will never get out of hell to show that you have learned your lesson.
A) see previous question that addressed Hell. It was designed for Satan and the fallen angels and demons. Why is it the way it is? It is not a correctional punishment, but my guess is that its capital punishment designed for beings that are immortal. To deserve such a punishment, Satan must have done something incredibly horrible.
Q) Would it make since to live a faithful Christian life glorifying the Lord and to accidentally sin by saying a curse word the instant you smash your car into the back of a tractor-trailer, thereby being condemned to burn in hell forever?
A) I don’t think that’s a qualification for Hell. If a saved person did that, my guess is this would be loss of reward, not loss of salvation.
Q) We know that we feel physical feelings through electrical impulses that send information to our brains through our nervous system. Once we die, we no longer feel pain due to the lack of a physical nervous system and, oh yeah, a brain. How could we 'feel' the excruciating flames of hell for eternity? Does God make you feel this torment for all eternity out of pure malice because you wouldn't worship him?
A) humans are body and spirit COMBINED. When the resurrection happens, the physical body fro everyone will be raised from the dead into a body similar it what Christ exhibited after He rose again. Therefore, those going to Hell will be doing so in a physical body.
In the interim, see the story of Lazarus and the poor boy. (Script.) even without the original body, it seems we get a temporary body until the resurrection.
Q) If God is omnipotent, why does he not just show himself to all of us, all at once, thereby ending this game of free will and temptation?
A) what does omnipotence have to do with us seeing Him and ending our philosophical/moral/spiritual hang-ups about His existence? God knows He exists. Its precisely His omnipotence that keeps Him from "having" to do such a thing.
In the past, when people have seen been close to God in a fallen state, they couldn't handle it. The Israelites had just this opportunity, and asked for it to be taken away! In fact, they had only heard His voice!
Deu 5:23 NKJV - "So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders.
Deu 5:24 NKJV - "And you said: 'Surely the LORD our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he [still] lives.
Deu 5:25 NKJV - 'Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the LORD our God anymore, then we shall die.
Deu 5:26 NKJV - 'For who [is there] of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we [have], and lived?
Deu 5:27 NKJV - 'You go near and hear all that the LORD our God may say, and tell us all that the LORD our God says to you, and we will hear and do [it].'
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Deu&c=5&t=NKJV#1
Not to mention, if He did do so now, we would react the same way. But wait, one day God show us, and this is what our reaction will be:
Rev 6:14 NKJV - Then the sky receded as a scroll when it is rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved out of its place.
Rev 6:15 NKJV - And the kings of the earth, the great men, the rich men, the commanders, the mighty men, every slave and every free man, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains,
Rev 6:16 NKJV - and said to the mountains and rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the face of Him who sits on the throne and from the wrath of the Lamb!
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rev&c=6&t=NKJV#16
Is that enough reason?
Q) If God is perfect and his creations perfect, why did he fail several times? He had to impose suffering upon the human race because Adam and Eve defied him by eating of the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Failed! He had to flood the planet 1,600 years later wiping out all but eight humans. Failure! He had to confuse human language after Nimrod and the Tower of Babel incident so that they could not effectively communicate with each other. Failure! How is this a track record of a perfect being?
A) how exactly are those failure? From mankind's perspective, they appear to be. Viewed individually from a fallen human viewpoint, these look like failures. BUT, viewed from an eternal viewpoint, these things are actually part of a larger gameplan. As LA Marzulli calls it, "The Cosmic Chess Match."
Those "failures" were satans's attempt to make God a liar. Adam and eve, God allowed them to choose. Follow Him and have life, or follow satan, and eventually die.
The flood. Satan and the fallen angels were possibly attempting to thwart God's plan to send the "seed of the woman" to destroy satan. God allowed satan to do these things, perhaps, as if to show satan that nothing that he did to rebel against God would amount to anything. God was allowing satan to take his rebellion to its fullest, deadliest extent.
Perhaps so that at the end, when satan realizes that he gave it everything he had, in the end, he was never a match to take on God.
Again, this is a great reason to read robert luginbill's work, it explains all this alot better than i can.
Q) If, in the beginning, there was only God and he created everything, why would he create angels that had the propensity to defy him? This very fallacy led to Lucifer challenging his authority because he desired to share the same power as God. This led to the rise, or fall depending on how you look at it, of Satan, the most notorious enemy of God and his followers. Failed, again!
Why would you trust 'God's plan' given his track record of many failures?
A disciple of Christ, Thomas, was a skeptic. He walked with Jesus during his time on earth and physically witnessed with his own eyes certain miracles performed by him such as raising Lazarus from the dead and so forth. However, after the crucifixion, Jesus supposedly rose three days later. Thomas did not believe it was truly him despite being told, prior to the incident by Jesus, that he would rise again in three days. Thomas required physical proof. Jesus allowed him to touch him and feel the wounds in his body to offer proof. Why doesn't god extend the same proof to humans alive today? Those that doubt his existence are no different than Thomas, requiring physical proof and he was a disciple of Jesus himself. If Thomas had been born one generation later, or even living today, he would have burned in hell for all eternity because he would not believe for the lack of physical proof. Paul was born after the death and ascension of Christ. Throughout his life, he did not believe that Jesus was the son of God and even went out of his way to persecute Christians thinking that their religion was a dangerous belief system to practice. Lo and behold a flash of light came out of the sky and Jesus Christ himself appeared to Paul explaining to him that he is actually the one true god. Jesus told him that he was persecuting the followers of the only true faith. From that point on, Paul was a converted Christian. Again, if God was willing to go out of his way to physically prove to Paul that he actually exists, why is this not done today? Why isn't God willing to show those that doubt today the same degree of physical proof? Why should we be any different than Thomas and Paul?
A) wow.
First, see the argument about why God doesn’t show Himself.
Next, consider that Christ's death and resurrection was prophesied hundreds of years ahead of time. Even down to the details of how He would die, some 600 years before crucifixion was invented! Psalm 22, go read the whole thing real quick.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Psa&c=22&v=1&t=NKJV#top
Also consider that Christ has the most documented death in recorded human history.
I would also submit that in choosing Paul, it was because his testimony would be of huge impact. He was specially equipped to put it all together and make sense of it for everyone. Paul, for being given that much was then expected to do much.
Would you be willing to take on the responsibility and suffering that Paul did, just to see Jesus so you can believe?
Last there are many stories among missionaries to Muslims where the Muslims have dreamed of Jesus or a bearded man. There’s even a story of a Muslim man being given a near word for word copy of the gospel of Luke by Jesus Himself.
So, just because Jesus hasn’t appeared to you, doesn’t mean you have an excuse not to believe. You and I have the gospel. We have access to the good news and more study resources than anyone else in history. Those that don’t have that access, seem to get a lighter break.
Also, look into the shroud of Turin. LA marzulli has an awesome idea on this. It's God's calling card.
The question you should be asking is "why am I not spending more time investigating the copious amount of evidence that already exists?"
Q) Christians argue evolution by asking why there aren't any half-ape half-men walking around today, right? Why don't we see giants, fiery talking serpents, talking donkeys and many other mythical creatures that are described in the Bible?
A) giants are reported occasionally, and perhaps some of those are Bigfoot sightings which are dismissed. not to mention that a good amount of the giants were all killed.
But here’s a decent site
http://www.stevequayle.com/Giants/index2.html
Also Google la marzulli's blog and listen to his show sometime. Giants may have taken on new forms these days. I don’t know that I agree with everything he says, but he does have good reporting on strange giantish phenomena.
The talking donkey was a one time thing. Same with talking serpents. Perhaps when we are on the new earth, animals may talk again. I hope so, I have a lot of talking to do with old pets that have passed on.
Other mythical creatures....there are alot of cryptozoological sightings and investigations, but many of them are laughed off and dismissed. Not to mention that humans like to kill things. Theres no dragons/dinos because people killed alot of them.
Q) If we are to only have sex for the purpose of pro-creation, and to do so outside of the scope of pro-creation is sinful, then why would God create us with an over abundance of nerve endings in our reproductive organs making sex extremely pleasurable? It sounds like yet another set-up.
A) where, chapter, text and verse does it say that sex is only for procreation? Read the song of Solomon. Sex is designed for a man and his wife, to develop intimacy and pleasure each other. Procreation is a benefit of that. Sex is another thing that satan has perverted and made people feel unduly guilty about.
Q) Why do Christians share the same statistical rate of divorce as everyone else? "What God hath made, let no man put asunder." How could Christian marriages fail if they are sanctified by God? Hmmmm.... interesting.
A) because many Christians are probably luke-warm in their faith walk, and not committed to God. Churchianity, anyone?
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=2Ti&c=3&v=1&t=NKJV#top
2Ti 3:1 NKJV - But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come:
2Ti 3:2 NKJV - For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy,
2Ti 3:3 NKJV - unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good,
2Ti 3:4 NKJV - traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
2Ti 3:5 NKJV - having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!
Also, many of us are likely hard hearted, which is sad. Following Jesus isn’t easy, and many Christians, myself included, could do alot better in being less selfish.
Q) In the book of Luke chapter 19 verse 27, Jesus says, "But those mine enemies, which would not that I should reign over them, bring hither, and slay them before me." This seems pretty clear that Jesus would have Christians kill all non-believers. How do you explain this?
A) first, read the whole thing in context.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=19&v=1&t=NKJV#top
Jesus is telling a parable, not giving us a command. This is the parable about 3 servants entrusted with money while the master's away. This "killing" portion seems to relate to a judgment about how we act in this life and use or abuse the resources we're given.
This punishment will be used for those who misuse their resources here, or those who reject Christ and don’t put their resources to use for His kingdoms.
I also recommend reading some of the commentaries on Blue Letter for this one.
Q) If God created everything, why did he create AIDS, influenza, Ebola, ecoli and so on and so on? These, as viruses, are living things. You definitely can not use the free will card for this one. Is this another part of 'God's plan'?
A) why did God make lions, and tigers and bears? They're just as dangerous.
Here’s a thought. 1) they were created in the beginning, but dormant until they became part of the curse. 2) my guess is they were made/reshaped in a lab by the elites to facilitate population control. E. Coli, maybe not, but e.coli's mutation into deadly strains may be part of the human curse, or the result of genetic tampering.
Q) How can God answer a prayer giving a working-class man in the United States a raise at his place of employment so that he can move his family into a larger house, but he does not answer the prayers to stop the starvation and disease of millions upon millions of children around the world? This must be another infinitely wise part of 'God's plan'.
A) without playing the “God's plan” card, all I can say is that for those with less, we Christians should be taking better care of those in need. We do a poor job of ministering and caring for the poor.
God may be answering the prayers to end hunger through His servants, but there are strong forces opposing those prayers as well.
Eph 6:12, and (Daniel’s prayer) perhaps our prayers are not persistent enough.
Q) If God's word is supposed to be the accurate word of God himself, how are we supposed to trust it enough to model our lives after it 100% when hundreds of books were excluded from the original text throughout so many translations and revisions in history?
A) Chris White, I believe, has some excellent youtube videos on this and "was the Bible changed" look thru this page, there is a link.
http://conspiracyclothes.com/nowheretorun/videos/
Q) Why is there no evidence of any of the miracles performed by God? None whatsoever.
A) why is there no evidence that my wife made dinner for me last week?
Many of the Bible's miracles were a one-time event, and often times that miracle was not "saveable" for archive purposes.
But, there are a few that were.
The manna from the exodus was preserved in the ark, which is now lost.
But, the shroud of Turin, again, could be the biggest evidence of all. If it is evidence, then the rest of the miracles must have happened too, because all the other miracles symbolized Christ to begin with. In that regard proof of the greatest miracle, should validate the ones that preceded it.
Q) If God and Jesus are the same, having the same mind, knowledge and power, then why would Jesus beg himself in the garden of Gethsemane, to spare himself from having to be crucified? Furthermore, why would Jesus ask himself why he has forsaken himself by allowing himself to be crucified?
A) this is a tough question...
First, check here...
http://www.gotquestions.org/search.php?zoom_sort=0&zoom_query=how+can+God+and+Jesus+be+the+same&search.x=0&search.y=0
Here
http://www.gotquestions.org/hypostatic-union.html
Here
http://www.gotquestions.org/Jesus-say-my-God.html
and here
http://www.gotquestions.org/good-God-alone.html
In the end, to answer part of the question, Jesus was asking God, that if there was any other way to save humanity, to take it. But rather than let Him escape, let God's will be done.
How can Jesus ask Himself (God)? God has 3 different aspects, or emanations maybe the rabbis might call it. These "personas" are God, but yet distinct. One, but three.
Here’s a bad example, and egg is one egg. Yet it too has three separate, distinct parts. Each part is still "egg" even when separate. Shell, white and yolk. If the shell is separated from the yolk and white, is it no longer an egg? we call them egg yolk, egg shell and egg white when separate, the same way, there's God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He's one God, but He has three separate parts that are distinct, yet He's still one.
So, in this bad example, if the shell asked the yolk to do something, its asking part of itself a question, yet its not asking the egg white, or the shell part of itself. It's asking a different part of itself.
Its a bad example, but it serves as an illustration. I don’t mean to imply that God is an egg, merely that God's 3 separate and unique parts can make one whole.
Q) If you believe that your eternal life is more important than your physical life and you believe that all children are innocent in the eyes of God, why not kill your children so they are guaranteed to go to heaven? You can't tell me that it is because killing is a sin. First of all, you could repent thereafter and be forgiven. Secondly, if you would sacrifice your life for your child who is about to be hit by a train, and you believe your eternal life is more important than this life, then it would stand to reason that you should kill your children to ensure their entrance into heaven before they are old enough to be held accountable for being a creature of sin, right?
If you do believe that children are innocent in the eyes of God, wouldn't it be reasonable to suggest that abortion doctors are winning more souls for Christ than Christian missionaries? Why not bomb a pre-school? That would surely win a lot of souls for Christ.
If you do not believe that children are innocent in the eyes of God, wouldn't it be fair to suggest that God is a monster? Do you see the conundrum here?
A) that is some messed up logic. Before we enter eternal life, we are judged upon how we have lived this life. Murder was expressly forbidden, and knowing you can repent afterwards is no excuse to engage in a sin. That in itself is a sin, sinning so you can repent.
Rom 6:1 NKJV - What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
Rom 6:2 NKJV - Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=6&t=NKJV#1
Also note, that there is no guarantee in the Bible that children go to Heaven when they die. I'm not saying they don’t, but we don’t know for sure.
Even if kids and unborn babies go to Heaven upon death, the people sending them are still violating God's laws and also playing God. Not to mention that abortion doctors are robbing a human life of the chance to live a full life and impact the world for greater good. Even if that unborn baby goes to Heaven, they were robbed of a full lifetime of experience here.
Winning souls for Christ cannot be accomplished by killing innocent children, rather coming to Christ has to be an act of conscious decision.
What about kids and unborn babies?
God is fair, and will judge people fairly.
Q) It is a common belief among Christians that the only unforgivable sin is consciously rejecting Christ as Lord and savior. With that said, it is also believed by Christians that those who have never heard of Jesus and the Christian faith, i.e. individuals within an isolated tribe, babies and so forth, have no concept of Christ and can not, therefore, be in the position to consciously reject him. This would allow them entrance into heaven by default. With that said, why would you tell anyone about Christ? Why would you spread the word if that would put them in the position to consciously reject him? If they are already going to heaven due to their ignorance of the word of God, why not just let that be? You would, in effect, be losing more souls to Satan by spreading the word. You might want to rethink that whole "fishers of men" thing.
A) I fell into this trap myself. Ignorance of God and Jesus is no excuse.
Rom 1:17 NKJV - For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."
Rom 1:18 NKJV - For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth in unrighteousness,
Rom 1:19 NKJV - because what may be known of God is manifest in them, for God has shown [it] to them.
Rom 1:20 NKJV - For since the creation of the world His invisible [attributes] are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, [even] His eternal power and Godhead, so that they are without excuse,
Rom 1:21 NKJV - because, although they knew God, they did not glorify [Him] as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened.
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Rom&c=1&t=NKJV&q=Romans
Creation declares the glory of God, so everyone, even in an isolated tribe, should be able to see and accept their is a God. Indians believed in a Great Spirit. The Chinese believed in Shang Di, a monotheistic God that some believe was their name for the God of the Bible.
These people, seeing evidence of a just God would likely also feel convicted by sin and realize their need to repent. If they died in this state, having repented of their sins to the Most High God, i believe God would judge them fairly. But would they be saved?
In new guinea, the natives had a creation story much like ours. There was a tree, with a rope that people could climb to go meet with God. But one day, people did something bad, and the rope to God was cut.
This is before they ever heard the Gospel.
They knew they were cut off from God. As a result, they were then subject to demonic spirits and false religions. When missionaries came and shared Jesus, they rejoiced, because thru Jesus, the rope had been restored. They knew before that, that they were separated.
I'll let you draw your own conclusions from there.
Q) Imagine that I had the power and ability to feed millions and end all suffering. Now, imagine that I simply chose not to do so because these millions of people that are suffering did not like me. You would probably like me even less then, right? Then why does God get a 'get out of jail free card'? Wait a minute, 'God's plan,' right?
A) again, we live in an age where the Church is to be the hands and feet of Jesus. (The poor will always be....) We should be doing the ending of suffering. We should be going and letting God work through us. God wants to work with us.
I wouldn’t blame God, but rather those in power who abuse their subjects. Sometimes Christians are to blame for not being salt and light. And other times we are to blame ourselves.
Chuck missler recently said something that "in India people are starving everywhere. Yet, they are surrounded by cows which they can't eat for religious reasons."
So, God has the power, but as the Israelites proved in the wilderness, if God continually provided for us in our fallen state, we would grow tired of it.
The key is to have Christians solve these needs, and show people the love of God that motivated them to care.
Q) Why are more atrocities committed in the name of God than anything else?
A) because people are evil, and sadly one of the easiest ways to fool people is to tell them they’re going to Hell if they don’t obey. This would work alot less nicely if people actually compared what the false leaders and teachers to what God's word really says.
Much violence in God's name would cease if people actually read their Bibles and emulated Christ our Savior.
Q) The bible states that it is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. If it is fairly impossible for the rich to go to heaven then why are there wealthy Christians? Why wouldn't these rich Christians give up all of their wealth to make it easier for them to enter the kingdom of heaven?
A) theres a big difference between having riches and riches having you. There were rich Christians early on. Lydia was one. If a Christian is rich, they should be using that wealth to futher God's kingdom.
What Christ is condemning is an elevation of wealth above the welfare of others. Read some of the blueletter commentaries on this.
1 John 3:17
"But whoever has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?"
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=1Jo&c=3&v=17&t=NKJV#17
The point seems to be that we should be willing to get rid of our stuff, if doing so would help someone in need.
Q) Building upon the previous question, if it is almost impossible for the rich to enter the kingdom of heaven, then why would God create heaven as having pearly gates, streets of gold and many mansions? It sounds like he wants us to be poor in life so that we will want to be rich in the afterlife, maybe? Does this make any real sense?
A) you almost got it.
Not to mention, those precious things are beautiful and can show God's glory. But notice, God used gold for pavement. 1) we'll be walking on it. And 2) the rest of the riches will be easy for all to see, not hoarded away. The riches are for all to enjoy.
Q) If God is perfect then his creations should be perfect, right? Then that would mean that the earth is a perfect creation. Then why would God have to create another perfect place, heaven, and use it to entice us to believe in him? What kind of assurance do we have that heaven would be any better than his other 'perfect' creation, earth?
A) Go read randy alcorn's "Heaven". Heaven and earth will be remade. Earth was perfect, then cursed, but will be redeemed because of Jesus.
Seriously, go read it, he does it much more justice than I can here.
Q) God allowed Jesus to be tempted as a human by Satan in the wilderness of the desert. Again, if God and Jesus are the same entity, then what kind of sense does it make for God to allow himself to be tempted by Satan in the wilderness to see if he would give in to the temptation? In addition to that, if he were all-knowing, he would have already known the outcome and, therefore, could have avoided the whole thing all together.
A) indeed, the fact that He could have avoided it and didn’t should say something.
But, Christ was tempted maybe for a few reasons. 1) to show that He really was worthy, incapable of sin and to show that He is God. 2) was for our benefit, not His. This so that Jesus could relate to us in our moments of temptation. 3) to show us how to resist the devil: with God's word.
Q) If heaven is to be a place free of sadness, pain and suffering, then how can you be happy in heaven knowing that the vast majority of humankind is painfully burning for eternity, especially when some of them may be your loved ones?
A) again, go see Randy alcorn's book.
My guess is that we will know that these people had chances to repent, and finally justice was served.
Read again the story of Lazarus Luke 16:19 - 31. Chuck missler pointed out that he knew he belonged there. If someone in Hell knew they deserved to be there, then those of us in Heaven will know too.
Luk 16:19 NKJV - "There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.
Luk 16:20 NKJV - "But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
Luk 16:21 NKJV - "desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
Luk 16:22 NKJV - "So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried.
Luk 16:23 NKJV - "And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
Luk 16:24 NKJV - "Then he cried and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.'
Luk 16:26 NKJV - 'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.'
Luk 16:27 NKJV - "Then he said, 'I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house,
Luk 16:28 NKJV - 'for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.'
Luk 16:29 NKJV - "Abraham said to him, 'They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.'
Luk 16:30 NKJV - "And he said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.'
Luk 16:31 NKJV - "But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.' "
http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=16&t=NKJV#20
Q) Seeing as though everything we, including Christians, enjoy in the modern world is a product of science, why do Christians so fervently deny factual scientific evidence that disproves so many aspects of the bible and their religion as a whole?
A) what evidence? I would argue that with quantum physics, the Bible and God Most High are indeed quite easy to believe scientifically.
Michio kaku's hyperspace was a good intro for me, though I disagree with His views on the supernatural.
Q) If Christianity is the only true religion, then why do practitioners of all other religions feel fulfilled in their faith and achieve the same desired results as Christians?
A) do people of other faiths feel fulfilled? Where is the evidence of that?
My thoughts are that since every other faith seems to be works based, theres always the question of "have I done enough?" Muslims know that even if their good works outweigh the bad, Allah could still not allow them into paradise if he's in a bad mood that day.
There are Buddhists who make long pilgrimages, hundreds of miles, by traveling on their knees and kowtowing down to the road. They rise, advance, then kowtow again onto the rough road. They make these pilgrimages to obtain cleansing of their sins, the pain of their journey, they believe, cleanses them.
Moonies and Raeliens are held captive by their cult masters. Harold Camping's followers were depressed after his rapture-date-set failed, some considered suicide.
Jehovah's witnesses (I think) believe that only 144,000 people can get into Heaven. If I was one, I would have anxiety wondering if I was going to make the cut.
Do any of these sound like fulfilling religions?
Q) If God created everything, then why did he create the tree of knowledge of good and evil and put it right in the middle of the garden of Eden for Eve to eat of it's fruit if he didn't want her to? Furthermore, why did God create the serpent that tempted Eve? Uh-oh, it sounds like another possible set-up.
A) refer back to the freewill questions, and Luginbill's work. It may not be THE answer, but it does make some sense.
Q) In the beginning God created Adam and Eve, right? Then Adam and Eve had Cain and Abel. What happens next? How did the species propagate itself? Incest is genetically detrimental to offspring. It is also seen as being terribly immoral among the majority of people alive today, including Christians. There was either some incest going on or God created more people from scratch and we weren't told about it. The same scenario applies to the flood incident. Sure, Noah's three sons had wives, but that would still mean that, out of the eight remaining individuals on the planet, there is only a 50% variation of genetic code. Mathematically, inbreeding was sure to be necessary to replenish the earth.
A) to be sure, there was incest going on to some degree among Adam and eve's children, but Adam and eve were genetically pure. As stated, when intermarriage occurs, birth defects happen, but I believe this would have taken alot of time for adam and eve's descendents to begin mutating sufficiently to cause problems.
God outlawed incest later because things had changed.
I borrowed slightly from this article, but this is where my own theory was to start with.
http://www.gotquestions.org/Cains-wife.html
Q) Why does God allow things to happen among his followers that he has already deemed to be sinful, i.e. incest example above, "thou shalt not kill" and so forth, and it is alright as long as it is done in his name? Remember, more deaths have occurred in history in God's name.
A) if God didn’t allow us to commit things He's outlawed, He would be a tyrant. This goes again with the whole free will thing from earlier. We can choose to obey God, and accept His solution for sin, or we can choose to disobey His standards.
God is not "OK" with people doing things in His name, especially killing.
Where are the stats proving more people have been killed in God's name than for any other reason? Lets see some hard numbers, with sources.
The only way I would buy that more people were killed in God's name is if you mean that God's followers were the ones who were killed. Christians are one of the most persecuted populations in the world, and I would say the most throughout history. The Jews also. Taken together, more followers of God have been killed for following Him than there have been followers of God killing people.
And anyone claiming to be a Christian, or following God when they kill someone is not following the God of the Bible. The crusades were perpetrated by those who called themselves Christians, but seemingly failed to live out a Christian life.
Lets turn the tables. Don't forget that many pagan practices involved human sacrifice, like the Mayans. They were doing thousands on a daily basis, or so I hear.
Other pagan religions involved child sacrifice, Moloch, etc.
And abortion kills many millions in the name of convenience. Do we include their numbers in this comparison?
I speculate, with no real numbers, that more people kill their babies every year for convience sake than Christians and Jews have killed "in God's name" for the past 1000 years combined. Even if you add those killed by extremist Muslims (which are a minority of Muslims) I would guess that abortions still kill more annually than the last 1000 years.
And if you want to talk about the Jews killing those in Canaan, there are several justifications for this.
1) the Canaanites did alot of wicked things, including child sacrifice and other pagan worship, and other things God hates. God used Israel to judge them. When Israel did the same kinds of things, God sent other nations against them to kill and capture them in judgment.
2) God had promised Israel that land, and the inhabitants wouldn’t leave. God also wanted the Israelites to not pick up the Canaanites' bad habits, so they had to be destroyed.
3) and a controversial theory. The Canaanites were of Nephilim bloodlines and there were not fully human. Recall that many inhabitants of Canaan were said to be giants.
Q) How did Adam live to 930, Seth 912 and Methuselah 969 years old when anthropological evidence show that we have progressively increased our longevity throughout history? If they did live that long back then, this concept would be reversed and our longevity should have been decreasing throughout history, right? That would mean that people 500 years ago should have lived to at least 200 years old. Why do we not find evidence of this throughout written historical birth and death records as well as archaeological and anthropological evidence?
A) early humans like Adam, etc were far more pure genetically and thus less susceptible to disease.
The earth was also alot less polluted, so poisons were not getting into people. Not to mention, the earth's ozone layer protected from the sun's rays. Some also believe that there was a layer of water vapor above also that kept more harmful cosmic rays out. After the flood, the earth's atmosphere changed drastically.
The evidence for these old ages was destroyed in the flood.
Q) God has killed more people than Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Sadam Hussein, Milosavic and Jim Jones combined. Why would you not follow them instead of God? Based on this standard, these monsters are compassionate compared to God.
A) again, where are the numbers to support this? And are we talking people that God actually killed or were killed by those allegedly following Him?
Yes, there are times when God intervened and killed people in the Bible, but they were always evil. Not to mention that God created life, and as God He has the authority to decide when a life should end.
I would not follow those others because they are monsters, while God gave Jesus Christ to pay for my sins so i wouldn’t have to go to hell. The others wouldn’t have done that.
These monsters also killed masses of people for selfish reasons, God has only done so as judgment, and after an extended period of offering people a chance to repent. The flood didn’t happen overnight, Noah had more than 100 years to build it. In that time, many could have repented, but they didn’t.
Q) Why is it that when a Christian is faced with questions that have huge negative implications towards the logic of their faith, they conveniently say that it is in God's plan? Judging by the above mentioned failures, God's plan does not seem to be a very good one.
A) I never said that.
I could ask the same of atheists.
Why is it when I ask an atheist how Jesus could prophesy the things in Matthew 24, Luke 21 and why we are seeing these things now, they always tell me He got lucky and hit the right formula?
Or that these things always were around and that He just randomly decided to say that near His return these things would happen?
So, on top of random conditions randomly making the universe, then random planet formations, then random chemicals making life, which randomly mutates, and randomly becomes intelligent, I’m also supposed to believe that Jesus randomly hit the right formula to basically tell us our news headlines? That takes more faith than believing the Bible is true and Jesus is who He said He is.
As Kurt Vonnegut said in "Timequake" (Paraphrase) Believing that random chance created the universe and life randomly is like believing that a tornado can rip through a junkyard and whip all the pieces together into a fully functional automobile.
Now, which takes more faith:
1) Believing that millions upon millions of random events happened just right under the right conditions and created the universe, us and everything that we know of
or
2) God planned and created everything as it says in the Bible, knew and planned the end from the beginning and redeemed us through Jesus Christ because He wants to spend eternity with us
Christians who answer "It's God's plan" haven’t done enough homework, and should be better equipped to answer those kinds of questions.
Q) Why would God give us the capability of logic and reason and expect us not to use it when it comes to belief in him and his word?
A) go to Futurequake.com and listen to tom bionic's testimony. He logically thought about Christianity, and came to Christ as a result.
I believe that if one really follows true logic, it will lead you to God and His word.
I began to believe a few years ago that aliens created us and gave us religions for social benefit. Then logic had me thinking, who created the aliens?
In the end, if all of the evidence is viewed logically, and from an eternal, spiritual perspective, it should be easy to find God and the truth about Him. It's in the Bible after all.
This concludes the 50 questions.
hopefully soon I'll be back to shorter posts on weirder things.
I hope you've enjoyed this.
Monday, June 13, 2011
revised Ramble-thon
We're all going through rough times, and I think that as time progresses it will only get worse. At least until Jesus returns. I can't even express how much I'm looking forward to that.
First I would like to thank Tom Dunne of PrayerWatch Radio (on the Revelations Radio Network) for his podcast the other day. The episode was about increasing our faith. Long story short, I needed to hear it and it helped me alot. If you haven't listened to it, go check it out. It was an awesome episode and his reading of Hebrews 11 was timely.
While you're at it, please also pray for me to have more faith as well. I'm in the middle of a trial, a small one by God's standards, but for me it's huge. I have been praying steadily for something to happen, but it's not yet occured. And I realize that perhaps God doesn't want it to occur. At any rate, please pray for God's will to be done in this situation, and that He will grow my faith and the faith of others.
I've also been reading "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. This book is amazing. Go buy it. He has renewed my sense of awe, wonder and imagination about Heaven and what we will all do there. I can't even begin to answer the questions he's raised there. It's a Biblical look at what Heaven and the New Earth and Randy dispels many of the myths that we've built up in our walls of Churchianity. I could review it, but what's the point? GO READ IT! If you want to know what Heaven is like, or might be like, this is the book for you. The Bible is obviously better, but he takes everything from the Bible anyways.
Lastly, I found out that a Christian friend of mine, his wife is a Yoga teacher. I sent him some of what I've written here and he and I disagree on Yoga. He thinks it's purely exercise. Please pray for him and his wife that they will see Yoga for what it is, repent and reject it. Hindus maintain that all Yoga develops Kundalini energy and/or is the worship of Brahma. The physical and the spiritual are intertwined.
That's all I have for now. Please keep me in prayer. Hopefully I'll have a miracle to report. And if I don't, the miracle will be that God carried me through this situaion.
Peace
Update 6-18-11
I'm working on very long piece for here, stay tuned! I hope that it will be of great value and be a resource to answer skeptics and atheists. Of course, people who want to remain unbelievers will deny any explanation if their hearts are hard,but my hope and prayer is that it will open a few eyes.
Hang in there everyone!
I hope we can be together with the Lord soon! Keep looking up!
First I would like to thank Tom Dunne of PrayerWatch Radio (on the Revelations Radio Network) for his podcast the other day. The episode was about increasing our faith. Long story short, I needed to hear it and it helped me alot. If you haven't listened to it, go check it out. It was an awesome episode and his reading of Hebrews 11 was timely.
While you're at it, please also pray for me to have more faith as well. I'm in the middle of a trial, a small one by God's standards, but for me it's huge. I have been praying steadily for something to happen, but it's not yet occured. And I realize that perhaps God doesn't want it to occur. At any rate, please pray for God's will to be done in this situation, and that He will grow my faith and the faith of others.
I've also been reading "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn. This book is amazing. Go buy it. He has renewed my sense of awe, wonder and imagination about Heaven and what we will all do there. I can't even begin to answer the questions he's raised there. It's a Biblical look at what Heaven and the New Earth and Randy dispels many of the myths that we've built up in our walls of Churchianity. I could review it, but what's the point? GO READ IT! If you want to know what Heaven is like, or might be like, this is the book for you. The Bible is obviously better, but he takes everything from the Bible anyways.
Lastly, I found out that a Christian friend of mine, his wife is a Yoga teacher. I sent him some of what I've written here and he and I disagree on Yoga. He thinks it's purely exercise. Please pray for him and his wife that they will see Yoga for what it is, repent and reject it. Hindus maintain that all Yoga develops Kundalini energy and/or is the worship of Brahma. The physical and the spiritual are intertwined.
That's all I have for now. Please keep me in prayer. Hopefully I'll have a miracle to report. And if I don't, the miracle will be that God carried me through this situaion.
Peace
Update 6-18-11
I'm working on very long piece for here, stay tuned! I hope that it will be of great value and be a resource to answer skeptics and atheists. Of course, people who want to remain unbelievers will deny any explanation if their hearts are hard,but my hope and prayer is that it will open a few eyes.
Hang in there everyone!
I hope we can be together with the Lord soon! Keep looking up!
make disciples of all nations
Hey everyone.
Here's a good opportunity to reach others with Christ. Its an online missions organization. So if you are a Christian and meet their criteria, please consider joining their prayer list, becoming an online missionary, or getting your church involved.
http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/
Later
Here's a good opportunity to reach others with Christ. Its an online missions organization. So if you are a Christian and meet their criteria, please consider joining their prayer list, becoming an online missionary, or getting your church involved.
http://www.globalmediaoutreach.com/
Later
Sunday, June 5, 2011
...Let God Sort 'em out! "Acceptable" Violence, How Far Can Christians go?
(DISCLAIMER! This author does not condone violence (lethal or otherwise) of any kind for any reason! The author is interested in reducing the violence and acceptence thereof in the body of Christ. Many Christian seem quick to justify war or lethal measures for criminals and invaders to our homes. As a Christian, I would like to challenge you to question what you think is "acceptable" violence.)
It's the middle of the night, and you get woken up by a noise. Perhaps it's a floorboard creaking. Maybe it's a vase breaking.w You get up to go check it out. Perhaps you've grabbed a flashlight. Maybe you've also grabbed a baseball bat, a golf club. Or you might grab your gun. You investigate the noise and your flashlight reveals an intruder. Is the intruder armed? Or are they just doing a quick smash and grab?
Here's another one. You're walking down the street and suddenly some shady character starts attacking some random person on the street, beating them senseless so they can rob them. Or there's a misunderstanding, and a couple people start fighting, maybe some attacks you. Or in the worst case, a crazed, lone gunman starts shooting at people in some public place, only to kill as many people as he can, then himself. Doing nothing will result in unnecessary death, but so too could trying to stop the attacks. What's the right way to react?
Or you could be a Christian who wants to serve our country by joining the armed forces. This decision could lead to serving in battle. Who knows who the enemy is. It could be Muslim terrorists, or reaching further back fellow believers in Christ with a different philosophical outlook. The American Civil war, WWI and WWII. Undoubtedly there were points when Christians served in opposing armies in a war. How should a Christian deal with serving in an army during war?
What if one day, Christianity becomes illegal, or society collapses and you are arrested? Or if you need to defend your family from societal chaos. To lengths can you go?
These are all difficult situations to deal with and hard questions to answer. In other words, are Christians justified in using violence in any situation?
I want to first issue a disclaimer. This is a hard issue, and I would not say to use anything I say here to make your own final decision to any of these issues. I strongly encourage you to read God's word and pray about it. He will lead you to the right path.
I would also like to say, that I do not condemn those who serve in our military, as I know you do serve with honor, and are doing your best to help protect our country. I care for you and so does Jesus. But my father, an army veteran, as come to realize that some of the wars we are in now are not justified and so he now supports veterans for peace. I think we should defend the country from invasion, but all too often our fighting men are sent off to fight wars that may not be just.
I bring this topic up, because all too often I see on Christian message boards and bumper stickers, a rationalization or an attitude of violence first. Or I'm a Christian, let's duke it out. On one blog I frequent, I hear people say things that bear a shoot first and ask questions later attitude. I often see bumper stickers like "Keep honking, I'm reloading" on the same car with an Icthys.
Something doesn't add up.
So, I would like to present a few scriptures that should help guide us when we are confronted with horrifying situations like those listed above.
In many situations it may be difficult to act appropriately to a threat of violence.
So let's start at the most extreme and work back. We all know the commandment "Thou Shalt not kill." Many are quick to point out, it means murder. That is, premeditated murder. I believe this is correct, and that the Lord does not want people going around killing people for no reason, or for petty jealously.
Exd 20:13 NKJV - "You shall not murder."
Even though the Old Testament does indeed have justification for ending the life of other human beings in certain situation, I would argue that God does not see that as an ideal situation. We are ALL created in God's image. So if one were to end another life in war, on duty as a policeman or through some other self-defensive means I don't think God would be happy about it. Once a person's life is gone, their chances for coming to faith in Christ are now gone. Think about it. By taking life through any means, we are in effect acting as God and determining someone else's eternal fate if they are not saved.
So, do you want to make that decision to "get the bad guy" then have to stand before the Lord and have to give an account for how a person's chance to get right through Jesus was taken away? Granted, there are extreme circumstances, but I would like to posit that Christians in police, military or who find themselves in a self defense scenario pray far ahead of time for God to show them an alternative to these fatal decisions. Especially when there are non-lethal ways to subdue people or solve problems.
This thought ran through my head when news of Bin Laden's death came out. Many rejoiced, I'm sure many Christians rejoiced as well, I even saw Biblical justification for rejoicing over this "wicked man's" death. Yes, Bin Laden was an evil man and deserved to die, BUT in God's eyes, so did I before I came to faith in Christ. Now, Bin Laden will never have the chance repent and know Jesus. That is why I think his death is a mixed thing. My biggest feeling was that it was tragic that he can never repent. Perhaps ten years ago, I would have rejoiced as well.
A few more notes on war, or other "justified" violence. War is often motivated by those in power to make a profit in some way. Smedley Butler ("War is a Racket") wrote about this, and I highly recommend people read his book and hit the Future Quake Archives to listen to that episode. But aside from that, I think Jesus gives us some pointers on where that road leads.
Mat 5:9 NKJV - Blessed [are] the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Mat 26:51 NLT - But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest's slave, slashing off his ear.
Mat 26:52 NLT - "Put away your sword," Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will die by the sword.
Mat 26:53 NLT - Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?
So as you serve in the army, or police, or just generally favor lethal violence to take care of the bad guys, please consider those points.
Now, what about persecution, or places where Christians are arrested and beaten? What about if authorities come to your house and arrest you for believing in Jesus? What if looters are coming to your house to take your stuff? Is it worth you taking another life to try to stop them?
This sometimes gets me some guff on the message boards. People respond to my pacifism by saying things like they're not that spiritually elevated to react in this way. I don't know if I would be when the chips come down to it. I'm not saying what I would do or would like to do, but just trying to emphasize what the Bible tells us. Which is:
Mat 5:10 NKJV - Blessed [are] those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 NKJV - "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Mat 5:12 NKJV - "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great [is] your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Mat 5:13 NKJV - "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
That's right. If you're arrested for being a Christian, I would argue that we should offer minimal resistance.
Mat 24:9 NKJV - "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Mat 24:10 NKJV - "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Mat 24:13 NKJV - "But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Luk 12:11 NKJV - "Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
Luk 12:12 NKJV - "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
That's right. It goes against our every instinct for survival. Many people, including many Christians have this instinct for self preservation and plan to resist any attempt at the above. But Jesus provides an excellent example for us. He allowed Himself to be arrested, abused, tortured and killed. He also tells us that it should not be a surprise if you or I were arrested for faith. Instead this sort of persecution is our chance to share the gospel with our oppressors. The Apostle Paul did it. For anyone who has trouble in this area, I would recommend checking out Richard Wurmbrand's "Tortured for Christ." You'll find that accepting persecution is probably still what God wants us to do and applies to present day Christianity. I don't think God will change His mind because our society has accepted violence in the case of self preservation.
Another great look at what a Christian should do when faced with unlawful arrest and persecution is Corrie Ten Boom's story. She hid Jews in WWII and went to a concentration camp for it. Despite this, she was able to forgive the man who had betrayed her and her oppressive guards and reach them for Jesus Christ.
http://revelationsradionetwork.com/uploads/01_THE_GREATEST_OF_THESE.MP3
What about a situation where we are being held up and robbed? Or maybe someone is robbing a bank?
First, I would argue that playing hero in this situaton is not advised by law enforcement. That's my guess anyway. You and I, Joe Average, untrained are more of a danger if we try to stop a robbery or a burglary. Granted, the police are slow to act, but in many cases action would lead to more danger.
But there's more. The Bible I think would tell us to go along with unreasonable people. So let's say that someone wants to start a fight with you and hits you. Most of us would hit right back. But that's not what the Bible says.
Mat 5:39 NKJV - "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Or if someone wants to rob you. This one is hard to deal with, and I would even say that I can't honestly say how I would react here. But here's what God says.
Mat 5:40 NKJV - "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have [your] cloak also.
Mat 5:42 NKJV - "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Mat 5:43 NKJV - "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
Mat 5:44 NKJV - "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
Mat 5:45 NKJV - "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 NKJV - "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Mat 5:47 NKJV - "And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more [than others]? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Mat 5:48 NKJV - "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Perhaps I'm taking this out of context, and I've been guilty of not following this myself, but this is the high calling God has told us to follow as those who belong to Christ.
So, thus far I hope that I've demonstrated that most of what our society accepts as justified violence has little or no place in the walk of a Christian. But are there points where it is OK to respond with violence? What if there's a shooting massacre? Or maybe an innocent person is being attacked or raped. What about the intruder coming into a house at night? What then?
First I would argue that anyone perpetrating a shooting massacre is likely demon posessed. If you don't believe me, go ask Russ Dizdar. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would say that many are. I would maybe first try praying or commanding the demon in Jesus' name to stop. That is if you are a Christian. If that didn't work, well then that's a whole different animal. The praying or rebuking can likely be done in a way also that does not bring harm. I would not condone getting into harm's way to put it to the test and this is a rough guideline. I would first advise seeking cover and helping those you can, then praying, etc.
Well, let's move on. If a burglar breaks in at night, what sort of action should be taken? What about an attacker or murderer or rapist? Can a Christian defend themselves?
I would say yes. If someone is about to murder you or rape you then you should defend yourself, however this can be done without lethal force. I have taken Tae Kwon Do, and though I'm not much to fight, I do know it's possible to protect yourself without causing your attacker permanent damage. I would argue if possible, that would be most desirable. In this way, I would recommend taking some basic self defense training (be discerning not to get into some sort of mystical/New Agey thing!) and learn how to do some basic moves especially if you are a woman. You'd be amazed what hitting the right pressure point can do stop an attacker, and 99% of the time, it does no permanent damage.
I would be less violent against an average burglar. After all, is someone stealing my physical belongings worth death? I would say not. I can buy a new TV, or whatever but I can't bring that person back to life.
Here is a brief article on self defense.
http://www.gotquestions.org/self-defense.html
So to sum up, I would encourage everyone to pray and read God's word. Ask Him for wisdom and discernment for how to deal with these sorts of situations. Ask Him to help you to know how to respond should these situations arise. Ideally, He will let you know far ahead of time how to react.
Please keep in mind that my whole purpose here is to 1) demonstrate to everyone (and Christians in particular) that lethal violence should very rarely be an option. Let alone the first option. 2) I also want to get the body of Christ to use wisdom and discernment in reacting to action-scenarios rather than just going James Bond on every criminal. 3) I wanted to also let the body of Christ know that God is very likely not a huge fan of "justified" violence in war or police action.
I realize that in many situations in the real world it's not so easy to divide black and white. So my call here is to get Christians (especially you gung ho "Is there life after death? Trestpass here and fidout" Christians). I just see to often in Christendom a call to arms for things that I think God would see as minor issues. At any rate, thanks for reading, and remember, take this to God, His Word, and pray about it. This is article is merely a suggestion and guideline...perhaps a primer to further study on your own.
Addendum:
Another reason I wanted to bring this up is because there are rumblings of a bad nature. Not to keep plugging Future Quake, but they've had a number of articles implicating that people in high places are trying to corral Christians and Muslims into a Holy war. Obviously Jesus would not be pleased. If you want more information, go peruse the last 2 months of Future Quake episodes.
It's the middle of the night, and you get woken up by a noise. Perhaps it's a floorboard creaking. Maybe it's a vase breaking.w You get up to go check it out. Perhaps you've grabbed a flashlight. Maybe you've also grabbed a baseball bat, a golf club. Or you might grab your gun. You investigate the noise and your flashlight reveals an intruder. Is the intruder armed? Or are they just doing a quick smash and grab?
Here's another one. You're walking down the street and suddenly some shady character starts attacking some random person on the street, beating them senseless so they can rob them. Or there's a misunderstanding, and a couple people start fighting, maybe some attacks you. Or in the worst case, a crazed, lone gunman starts shooting at people in some public place, only to kill as many people as he can, then himself. Doing nothing will result in unnecessary death, but so too could trying to stop the attacks. What's the right way to react?
Or you could be a Christian who wants to serve our country by joining the armed forces. This decision could lead to serving in battle. Who knows who the enemy is. It could be Muslim terrorists, or reaching further back fellow believers in Christ with a different philosophical outlook. The American Civil war, WWI and WWII. Undoubtedly there were points when Christians served in opposing armies in a war. How should a Christian deal with serving in an army during war?
What if one day, Christianity becomes illegal, or society collapses and you are arrested? Or if you need to defend your family from societal chaos. To lengths can you go?
These are all difficult situations to deal with and hard questions to answer. In other words, are Christians justified in using violence in any situation?
I want to first issue a disclaimer. This is a hard issue, and I would not say to use anything I say here to make your own final decision to any of these issues. I strongly encourage you to read God's word and pray about it. He will lead you to the right path.
I would also like to say, that I do not condemn those who serve in our military, as I know you do serve with honor, and are doing your best to help protect our country. I care for you and so does Jesus. But my father, an army veteran, as come to realize that some of the wars we are in now are not justified and so he now supports veterans for peace. I think we should defend the country from invasion, but all too often our fighting men are sent off to fight wars that may not be just.
I bring this topic up, because all too often I see on Christian message boards and bumper stickers, a rationalization or an attitude of violence first. Or I'm a Christian, let's duke it out. On one blog I frequent, I hear people say things that bear a shoot first and ask questions later attitude. I often see bumper stickers like "Keep honking, I'm reloading" on the same car with an Icthys.
Something doesn't add up.
So, I would like to present a few scriptures that should help guide us when we are confronted with horrifying situations like those listed above.
In many situations it may be difficult to act appropriately to a threat of violence.
So let's start at the most extreme and work back. We all know the commandment "Thou Shalt not kill." Many are quick to point out, it means murder. That is, premeditated murder. I believe this is correct, and that the Lord does not want people going around killing people for no reason, or for petty jealously.
Exd 20:13 NKJV - "You shall not murder."
Even though the Old Testament does indeed have justification for ending the life of other human beings in certain situation, I would argue that God does not see that as an ideal situation. We are ALL created in God's image. So if one were to end another life in war, on duty as a policeman or through some other self-defensive means I don't think God would be happy about it. Once a person's life is gone, their chances for coming to faith in Christ are now gone. Think about it. By taking life through any means, we are in effect acting as God and determining someone else's eternal fate if they are not saved.
So, do you want to make that decision to "get the bad guy" then have to stand before the Lord and have to give an account for how a person's chance to get right through Jesus was taken away? Granted, there are extreme circumstances, but I would like to posit that Christians in police, military or who find themselves in a self defense scenario pray far ahead of time for God to show them an alternative to these fatal decisions. Especially when there are non-lethal ways to subdue people or solve problems.
This thought ran through my head when news of Bin Laden's death came out. Many rejoiced, I'm sure many Christians rejoiced as well, I even saw Biblical justification for rejoicing over this "wicked man's" death. Yes, Bin Laden was an evil man and deserved to die, BUT in God's eyes, so did I before I came to faith in Christ. Now, Bin Laden will never have the chance repent and know Jesus. That is why I think his death is a mixed thing. My biggest feeling was that it was tragic that he can never repent. Perhaps ten years ago, I would have rejoiced as well.
A few more notes on war, or other "justified" violence. War is often motivated by those in power to make a profit in some way. Smedley Butler ("War is a Racket") wrote about this, and I highly recommend people read his book and hit the Future Quake Archives to listen to that episode. But aside from that, I think Jesus gives us some pointers on where that road leads.
Mat 5:9 NKJV - Blessed [are] the peacemakers, For they shall be called sons of God.
Mat 26:51 NLT - But one of the men with Jesus pulled out his sword and struck the high priest's slave, slashing off his ear.
Mat 26:52 NLT - "Put away your sword," Jesus told him. "Those who use the sword will die by the sword.
Mat 26:53 NLT - Don't you realize that I could ask my Father for thousands of angels to protect us, and he would send them instantly?
So as you serve in the army, or police, or just generally favor lethal violence to take care of the bad guys, please consider those points.
Now, what about persecution, or places where Christians are arrested and beaten? What about if authorities come to your house and arrest you for believing in Jesus? What if looters are coming to your house to take your stuff? Is it worth you taking another life to try to stop them?
This sometimes gets me some guff on the message boards. People respond to my pacifism by saying things like they're not that spiritually elevated to react in this way. I don't know if I would be when the chips come down to it. I'm not saying what I would do or would like to do, but just trying to emphasize what the Bible tells us. Which is:
Mat 5:10 NKJV - Blessed [are] those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, For theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Mat 5:11 NKJV - "Blessed are you when they revile and persecute you, and say all kinds of evil against you falsely for My sake.
Mat 5:12 NKJV - "Rejoice and be exceedingly glad, for great [is] your reward in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.
Mat 5:13 NKJV - "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.
That's right. If you're arrested for being a Christian, I would argue that we should offer minimal resistance.
Mat 24:9 NKJV - "Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and kill you, and you will be hated by all nations for My name's sake.
Mat 24:10 NKJV - "And then many will be offended, will betray one another, and will hate one another.
Mat 24:13 NKJV - "But he who endures to the end shall be saved.
Luk 12:11 NKJV - "Now when they bring you to the synagogues and magistrates and authorities, do not worry about how or what you should answer, or what you should say.
Luk 12:12 NKJV - "For the Holy Spirit will teach you in that very hour what you ought to say."
That's right. It goes against our every instinct for survival. Many people, including many Christians have this instinct for self preservation and plan to resist any attempt at the above. But Jesus provides an excellent example for us. He allowed Himself to be arrested, abused, tortured and killed. He also tells us that it should not be a surprise if you or I were arrested for faith. Instead this sort of persecution is our chance to share the gospel with our oppressors. The Apostle Paul did it. For anyone who has trouble in this area, I would recommend checking out Richard Wurmbrand's "Tortured for Christ." You'll find that accepting persecution is probably still what God wants us to do and applies to present day Christianity. I don't think God will change His mind because our society has accepted violence in the case of self preservation.
Another great look at what a Christian should do when faced with unlawful arrest and persecution is Corrie Ten Boom's story. She hid Jews in WWII and went to a concentration camp for it. Despite this, she was able to forgive the man who had betrayed her and her oppressive guards and reach them for Jesus Christ.
http://revelationsradionetwork.com/uploads/01_THE_GREATEST_OF_THESE.MP3
What about a situation where we are being held up and robbed? Or maybe someone is robbing a bank?
First, I would argue that playing hero in this situaton is not advised by law enforcement. That's my guess anyway. You and I, Joe Average, untrained are more of a danger if we try to stop a robbery or a burglary. Granted, the police are slow to act, but in many cases action would lead to more danger.
But there's more. The Bible I think would tell us to go along with unreasonable people. So let's say that someone wants to start a fight with you and hits you. Most of us would hit right back. But that's not what the Bible says.
Mat 5:39 NKJV - "But I tell you not to resist an evil person. But whoever slaps you on your right cheek, turn the other to him also.
Or if someone wants to rob you. This one is hard to deal with, and I would even say that I can't honestly say how I would react here. But here's what God says.
Mat 5:40 NKJV - "If anyone wants to sue you and take away your tunic, let him have [your] cloak also.
Mat 5:42 NKJV - "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away.
Mat 5:43 NKJV - "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.'
Mat 5:44 NKJV - "But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you,
Mat 5:45 NKJV - "that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.
Mat 5:46 NKJV - "For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?
Mat 5:47 NKJV - "And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more [than others]? Do not even the tax collectors do so?
Mat 5:48 NKJV - "Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Perhaps I'm taking this out of context, and I've been guilty of not following this myself, but this is the high calling God has told us to follow as those who belong to Christ.
So, thus far I hope that I've demonstrated that most of what our society accepts as justified violence has little or no place in the walk of a Christian. But are there points where it is OK to respond with violence? What if there's a shooting massacre? Or maybe an innocent person is being attacked or raped. What about the intruder coming into a house at night? What then?
First I would argue that anyone perpetrating a shooting massacre is likely demon posessed. If you don't believe me, go ask Russ Dizdar. Maybe I'm wrong, but I would say that many are. I would maybe first try praying or commanding the demon in Jesus' name to stop. That is if you are a Christian. If that didn't work, well then that's a whole different animal. The praying or rebuking can likely be done in a way also that does not bring harm. I would not condone getting into harm's way to put it to the test and this is a rough guideline. I would first advise seeking cover and helping those you can, then praying, etc.
Well, let's move on. If a burglar breaks in at night, what sort of action should be taken? What about an attacker or murderer or rapist? Can a Christian defend themselves?
I would say yes. If someone is about to murder you or rape you then you should defend yourself, however this can be done without lethal force. I have taken Tae Kwon Do, and though I'm not much to fight, I do know it's possible to protect yourself without causing your attacker permanent damage. I would argue if possible, that would be most desirable. In this way, I would recommend taking some basic self defense training (be discerning not to get into some sort of mystical/New Agey thing!) and learn how to do some basic moves especially if you are a woman. You'd be amazed what hitting the right pressure point can do stop an attacker, and 99% of the time, it does no permanent damage.
I would be less violent against an average burglar. After all, is someone stealing my physical belongings worth death? I would say not. I can buy a new TV, or whatever but I can't bring that person back to life.
Here is a brief article on self defense.
http://www.gotquestions.org/self-defense.html
So to sum up, I would encourage everyone to pray and read God's word. Ask Him for wisdom and discernment for how to deal with these sorts of situations. Ask Him to help you to know how to respond should these situations arise. Ideally, He will let you know far ahead of time how to react.
Please keep in mind that my whole purpose here is to 1) demonstrate to everyone (and Christians in particular) that lethal violence should very rarely be an option. Let alone the first option. 2) I also want to get the body of Christ to use wisdom and discernment in reacting to action-scenarios rather than just going James Bond on every criminal. 3) I wanted to also let the body of Christ know that God is very likely not a huge fan of "justified" violence in war or police action.
I realize that in many situations in the real world it's not so easy to divide black and white. So my call here is to get Christians (especially you gung ho "Is there life after death? Trestpass here and fidout" Christians). I just see to often in Christendom a call to arms for things that I think God would see as minor issues. At any rate, thanks for reading, and remember, take this to God, His Word, and pray about it. This is article is merely a suggestion and guideline...perhaps a primer to further study on your own.
Addendum:
Another reason I wanted to bring this up is because there are rumblings of a bad nature. Not to keep plugging Future Quake, but they've had a number of articles implicating that people in high places are trying to corral Christians and Muslims into a Holy war. Obviously Jesus would not be pleased. If you want more information, go peruse the last 2 months of Future Quake episodes.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Japan earthquake
I know I'm behind the times here, but for anyone who visits here and wants to help victims of the fukushima quake I have a link for you. I heard james on future quake, or some other Revelations radio podcast and he has a way people can donate money to help the quake victims. I also heard he has ties to a local church in the area affected by the quake.
So if you feel led to help the japanese quake victims, you can check out: http://fuzzyradiox.com/japan/
He also has a link that goes directly to the church if you'd rather do that. So, give a helping hand and perhaps the gospel can reach japan which is considered an unreached people group. Only 2% or less of japanese people in japan are considered Christian.
Please keep them in your prayers, and consider helping them thru the Fuzzy radio link.
Peace!
Update 10-31-11
Bible in Japanese
http://www.biblica.com/bibles/japanese/
So if you feel led to help the japanese quake victims, you can check out: http://fuzzyradiox.com/japan/
He also has a link that goes directly to the church if you'd rather do that. So, give a helping hand and perhaps the gospel can reach japan which is considered an unreached people group. Only 2% or less of japanese people in japan are considered Christian.
Please keep them in your prayers, and consider helping them thru the Fuzzy radio link.
Peace!
Update 10-31-11
Bible in Japanese
http://www.biblica.com/bibles/japanese/
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)