East 2 West Ministries

What’s Wrong With Your Life? (Part 2 of 2)

2010-11-03T12:12:00.002-06:00

Introduction
Previously we discussed self-esteem issues. We talked about how our culture is bent on having a high self-esteem, rather than humbling oneself and holding God above all things. We call this God-esteem or fearing God. The Bible tells us that fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge. (Proverbs 1:7). We also learned that the problem people call “low self-esteem” is really just guilt (Ezekiel 20:43). We feel guilty for all the sins we have committed because we have a conscience. We feel bad as a result of behaving badly.

But what about depression? Is it a result of our sin? Can’t some of the problems in life be someone else’s fault or a result of environment? What about medical problems that cause depression? Let’s look at these issues and see what the Bible has to say about them.

Depression
These days we are bombarded by psychological terms. We often lump these into a general category we call depression. Webster’s defines it as “A state of feeling sad” or “A psychoneurotic or psychotic disorder marked especially by sadness, inactivity, difficulty in thinking and concentration, a significant increase or decrease in appetite and time spent sleeping, feelings of dejection and hopelessness, and sometimes suicidal tendencies.” Ultimately, it is an incredibly general term for being in a negative state of mind.

As we all know, Christians are not immune to this problem. However, being a depressed Christian often raises some major questions and concerns. Let’s take a look at a few of these issues.

Is depression a result of sin? This question has two different answers. Yes and possibly. Depression, like all forms of suffering, are in fact a result of the fall of man (Genesis 3). It is a warping of natural God-given emotions which would not happen in a perfect sinless existence. However, each individual case of depression is unique. In our fallen world some depression is normal if we are, for instance, grieving or going through changes in our development due to age (puberty, mid-life crisis, etc.). It can also be caused by illnesses or problems in the brain. However, depression is a result of personal sin in the following cases.

Depression often arises when we suffer as a consequence of sinful choices and choose to continue without change. The Bible says that repentance and confession leads to healing. The other side of this coin is that without turning from our sin we cannot heal. I John 1:9 says, If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Likewise, as Christians, depression comes when we avoid taking the necessary steps to grow in relationship with God through reading scripture, prayer, and fellowship. Psalms 107:20 says that God’s word can heal us and James 5:16 says, Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. Depression can also come from holding on to negative feelings such as anger, self-pity, and resentment. Proverbs 14:10 says, The heart knoweth his own bitterness.

You know the old saying, “Misery loves company”. This is very true! Depressed people tend to, often unknowingly, use their depression to manipulate others. We have to push these negative feelings aside and not pour them out on others. Ephesians 4:31-32 says, Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you. And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

Oftentimes, people tend to become depressed by playing the “blame game.” Most people when asked, “What is wrong with your life?” will answer with something like: “It’s my parents, my job, my spouse, my church, God.” This has been the case since the beginning of time. Let’s examine the “blame game” a little closer.

The Blame Game
When I said this has been around since the beginning of time I meant it literally. It all started right after the fall. Here is the context: God created Adam and Eve and placed them in the garden of Eden. He had one rule, Don’t eat the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Well, Satan tempted them and they ate the fruit. They realized they were nude and covered themselves with fig leaves. Then, they ran and hid from God in some bushes.

God confronts Adam about eating the fruit. In Genesis 3:12 Adam responds, “The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.” Adam blames the woman and God for what he did. Then, God asks Eve about it and verse 13 she responds, “The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.” She blames the serpent, Satan.

Now let me ask you, were they lying to God? No, not really. God did create Eve and she did give Adam the fruit. Does that make it any less Adam’s decision? No. Satan did tempt Eve, but she still made the choice to eat the fruit. The same is true of us.

Say your “problem” is with your spouse. God gave you that spouse. He made you for each other. Does that make your problems with them His fault? Of course not! God is perfect and without fault. Is it your spouse’s fault? Well, they choose their own actions and have their own sin, but ultimately the answer is no. Your problems are always your fault! Especially if they are based on sin. This is called personal accountability.

Playing the “blame game” in relation to depression brought on by sin can also be called a “surface problem.” It is a form of avoidance and misdirection. It is the beautiful lie we tell ourselves.

Breaking the Cycle
There is hope. If you are depressed use the information above and ask yourself and perhaps someone close to you probing questions to determine if sin in your life could be the cause of your depression. If it is not sin related please seek professional counseling and, if needed, medication. Despite what some think, taking medication is not admitting spiritual defeat and is not unbiblical (Ezekiel 47:12).

If sin is the cause of your depression, there is a simple to understand biblical method you can use to identify the source problem and begin healing. The first, and often most difficult, part is identifying the source. Here are three steps to aide you with this:

Identify the surface problem: Ask your self, “What is wrong with my life?” The answer you come up with (job, spouse, etc.) is you playing “the blame game.” Accept that your problems are your fault and no one else’s. A good way to make this real is to tell somebody you care about that you have chosen to take responsibility in this way. Also, use “I” statements to identify the surface problem. For example, “My job is awful, I need a better one.” will turn into “I am unsatisfied with my job.” Proverbs 14:15 says, The simple believeth every word: but the prudent man looketh well to his going.
Identify the sin: Ask yourself probing questions about your surface problem. Ask who, what, when, where, how, and most importantly why you feel the way you do. Use these words to convert your “I” statement into a question. For example, “I am unsatisfied with my job.” becomes “Why am I not satisfied with my job.” Colossians 3:17 says, Whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. Ask yourself, “Am I giving glory, honor, praise, and thanks to God by feeling this way about this situation?” Then ask yourself, “What type of sin am I committing?”
Identify the idol: Here is where it gets theological. When anything takes your attention away from God it is a form of idolatry. Therefore, it is sinful. The great commandment says to love God with all of your heart, soul, and mind. Anything detracting from that is idol worship. Ask yourself, “What is my idol?” In our example, this person has created a picture in his mind of the ideal perfect job. This perfect job is his idol. He focuses so much on comparing his current job to this ideal one which doesn’t exist. This makes him depressed. His sense of significance comes from his job rather than from God.

Replace the Idol with Jesus
Remember how I said that there are three God-given inner needs that each of us have: love, significance, and security. I said that sin is trying to fulfill these legitimate needs in an illegitimate way. I pointed out that the reason we feel depressed or bad is because we have behaved badly and that we put other things, including ourselves, before God. This is our idol fully exposed!

How can we fight this idol? With the only thing that holds true power on this earth, the gospel. If you know me or have read anything that I write this may seem very, very redundant to you. Good! It is the responsibility of every Christian to ground themselves in the gospel. The gospel is simply this: That Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) We have sinned and there is nothing we can do to justify ourselves. We are saved by grace alone through faith alone in Jesus Christ alone.

I have said that this is ultimately a trust issue. To mortify our idols we must repent and put our trust in the savior. We must understand the depth of His love for us. Psalms 103:10-12 says, He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us. We must fear God and understand that He loves us beyond our understanding. We begin to understand this by reading scripture, praying, and being in open honest fellowship with other believers.

Conclusion
Charles Spurgeon once said, “I find myself frequently depressed, perhaps more so than any other person here. And I find no better cure for that depression than to trust in the Lord with all my heart, and seek to realize afresh the power of the peace-speaking blood of Jesus, and His infinite love in dying upon the cross to put away all my transgressions.” The gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ is the cure for depression. There are many ways to treat the symptoms but only one cure!

Finally, when things seem dire. When your depression seems more than you can handle. Remember 1 Corinthians 10:13, No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, that you may be able to endure it.

What's Wrong With Your Life? (Part 1 of 2)

2010-10-27T16:24:00.005-06:00

Introduction
This is the question everyone seems to be asking themselves. “What’s wrong with my life?” “What is my problem?” These are good questions. They help us to look inward and reflect on who we are and what is really going on. However, there is a big problem with the answers we come up with. “It’s my spouse, my kids, my parents, my job, the world, God!” We blame everyone and everything else. We shrug off any responsibility we have.

Secular psychology teaches us to look inward and evaluate ourselves. Finally, some sound advice, right? You’d think so but in actuality it is the worst advice ever devised. Why? Because psychology says to look inward and evaluate ourselves to build up self-esteem and learn to love ourselves more. Is that really the answer? Does it help? Is this really our problem?

Self-Esteem
To answer these questions we must first understand what self-esteem is. Webster’s modern dictionary defines self-esteem as 1. a confidence and satisfaction in oneself : self-respect or 2. self-conceit, which is defined as an exaggerated opinion of one's own qualities or abilities . It also lists ego and pridefulness as synonyms of this term. So in short, self-esteem means thinking highly of yourself. Now, with this definition in mind let’s ask ourselves a few questions and use the Bible to answer them.

Are self-esteem issues really a problem? Ephesians 5:29 says, For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it. So, according to the Bible, no one really hates themselves. There are only two options here: Either the Bible is right and psychology is wrong, or vise-versa. Stay with me now it goes deeper.
So what is it that people perceive as “low self-esteem”? Ezekiel 20:43 says, Ye shall loathe yourselves in your own sight for all your evils that ye have committed. We don’t hate ourselves, we hate the sin we have committed. Even if someone is not Christian, they still feel guilty for what they have done wrong. Why? The Bible says that God wrote basic moral law on our hearts (Jeremiah 31:33-34). We call this our conscience.
Is loving myself more wrong? The world says we don’t love ourselves enough. In reality, we love our flesh and our sin all too much. Romans 6:6 says that, as Christians, our old man is crucified with {Christ}, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. Understanding that even after salvation we still sin in the flesh so we should not hold the flesh (ourselves) in high regard. In other words, yes, self love is wrong.
Why do we feel so depressed and bad all the time? When we sin we feel bad for the simplest of reasons: We have behaved badly! In the “Counseling through your Bible handbook”, June Hunt tells us that sin is meeting a legitimate need in an illegitimate way. There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death. (Proverbs 14:12)

What are our Needs?
We have two need categories: Outer or physical needs such as food, sleep, etc. and inner or spiritual needs. Sin can find its way into physical needs but they always have their roots in our spiritual needs. This is where we want to focus.

According to the “Counseling through your Bible handbook” by June Hunt there are three God-given inner needs shared by every human being. Some will argue that there are more or that the following list over-simplifies our needs. Ultimately though, all our needs really do boil down to the following three:

Love: To know that someone is unconditionally committed to our best interest. This kind of love comes from the Greek word ἀγαπάω (agape). Jesus commands that we love each other in this way in John 15:12.
Significance: To know that our lives have meaning and purpose. This is something everyone is seeking. No one is immune to this quest in life.
Security: To feel accepted and have a sense of belonging. This is especially strong among teenagers but is true of everyone throughout our lives.

God created each of us with these three core needs and a basic moral compass. People often will ask why God created us with these needs if He knows all of us are sinful and would unsuccessfully attempt to meet these needs ourselves. Why would He put people in our lives, our well-intentioned friends, family, and spouse, that would ultimately fail to meet these needs for us? The answer is that God created us to be dependent on Him. He is the only way we can get our needs met. The Bible tells us that God alone meets each of these needs:

Love: Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with loving kindness have I drawn thee. (Jeremiah 31:3) God draws us in with his unconditional love. 1st John 4:8 says that God is love. The great commandment is to love God first and then to love others. The Bible says that we can love because God first loved us. John 3:16 says that God sent his son to die on the cross because He loves us.
Significance: Genesis says that God breathed life into man at creation rather than just speaking him into existence like the animals. Jeremiah 1:5 says, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee. God made you personally. In Jeremiah 29:11 God tells us he has a plan for each of us.
Security: Proverbs 14:26 says, In the fear of the LORD is strong confidence: and his children shall have a place of refuge. God wants us to fear Him? Not in a scary way, but by putting Him first because He is authoritative. In Hebrews 13:5 God says, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. He wants us to come and live in Heaven with Him forever.

God-Esteem
Self-esteem will not really help us. God is the almighty creator of the universe and He is personally interested and invested in our lives. He alone deserves our undivided attention. He alone can give us the love, significance, and security that we need. What can we do to get God to meet these needs?

Learn, live, and share the gospel! The good news is that God came to this earth as the man, Jesus Christ and died on the cross for our sins, was buried in a tomb, and rose from the dead three days later. We need to repent and trust in Jesus alone to save us. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)
Understand that this is ultimately a trust issue. We must trust God, not only to save us and keep us, but to sanctify us. Every day, moment-by-moment, we have to learn to put everything in God’s hands. That doesn’t mean we should sit in front of the TV and do nothing. It means we need to put all we do at God’s feet. Pray and listen to God before we act and trust Him to guide us through the scriptures and the Holy Spirit.
Humble yourself rather than building yourself up. Read the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12. These are qualities of a humble person. Self-esteem is pridefulness and the Bible says, God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble. (James 4:6)

Conclusion
Now I’m not saying to hate yourself, I am saying hate your sin with a deadly passion and love God with all your might. Be humble and love yourself and all other people equally. This is the great commandment. Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. (Matthew 22:37-39)

In short, don’t be like this post-modern secular world. Instead, humble yourself and hold God above all else. Low self-esteem is a myth created by the world to draw us away from Christ. What is severely lacking in today’s world is God-esteem or fear of God and humility. God alone deserves to be glorified and praised.

Trusting God (Part 1 of 2)

2010-08-19T14:53:00.015-06:00

There is a very heavy and difficult problem that weighs on each and every one of us every single day that, quite frankly, is one of the least acknowledged and cared for problems that we as a race have to face. The problem is that IT, in and of itself, brings us to the point where those that suffer from it are so affected by it that they are unable to ask anyone else for help. And, chances are, the one that they ask would be so affected by it that they would not be able, or maybe even willing, to help. This would only serve to reinforce the problem in the first individual, rather than help anyone at all. And the fact that this particular problem runs so far out of check has caused us to come to the point that we have simply begun to ignore it in ourselves and others.

What, you may be asking yourself, could this horrible problem with such devastating consequences possibly be? Am I affected by it? If I am, what do I do? I absolutely intend to answer all of those questions, and I shall begin with the first.

The problem, dear reader, and by that I mean THE problem, is trust. What?…you may be asking yourself…That’s it? How anti-climactic! But in that very statement you would help to prove my point. Trust is probably the most widely ignored problem there is, and as such has grown to be an epidemic of global proportions. Every single one of us, whether we acknowledge it or not, struggles with this issue on a daily, and sometimes even hourly basis. And yet, how often do you think about it? How often do you say to yourself, “Yep, there’s that trust issue, getting in the way again.” I would venture to say rarely, if ever.

Trust, as rarely as it is thought of, can be linked, at least in part, to the basis of every issue that we have as a people. An attitude of mistrust leads the heart of a person into a deep darkness where it can grow like a fungus into paranoia, self-deception, and hatred. It leads us into a profoundly selfish way of thinking wherein we are the only one worthy of our trust. But it doesn’t stop there. It whittles away at you from the inside out until we don’t even trust ourselves anymore. We become consumed with depression, but we are so thoroughly convinced that we can’t trust others that we keep it inside and refuse to let anyone help. This cycle becomes so deeply ingrained that many of us, and more of us everyday, are diagnosed with Chronic Depressive Disorder. Depression rates are higher now than they have ever been in the history of mankind and are growing by leaps and bounds every year.

What, you might ask, does this have to do with me? Allow me to make some examples and see if any of them might apply to you or to someone you know. A woman can’t seem to get any peace at home because she is constantly fighting with her husband, which she doesn’t understand, because she does just fine around anyone that doesn’t live with her. A man is struggling at work because he is sure that someone has it out for him. A girl is struggling in her faith because her relationship with God feels so strained. A boy is having a difficult time making solid decisions about life because what he wants is more important to him than what is right. We tell white lies, we avoid painful topics, we try to look good to others, we disregard advice without even thinking about it, we get fighting mad at anyone who even remotely challenges our way of thinking, we feel drained and worthless and hopeless…. Is any of this sounding familiar?

I suppose your next question would be “What do those things have to do with trust?”. Well, the first step in discovering such information would be to define trust. Trust is defined as: 1. Relying on somebody or something: to place confidence in somebody or in somebody's good qualities, especially fairness, truth, honor, or ability 2. Confidently allowing somebody to do something: to allow somebody to do something, having confidence that the person will behave responsibly or properly.

Now, I don’t know about you, but I have not met one human being who has the ability to live up to such qualities all the time. Have you? I mean, everyone has some of these things sometimes, but no one has all of them at all times. It is this very fact alone that proves that all of us have a lack of trust in people. If we don’t, then it is not actually trust so much as denial of the truth. NO ONE lives up to this standard at all times , and so no one can really be fully trusted. It is a simple, indisputable fact.

So, what does this have to do with the example that I gave above? If you look at each of those circumstances individually using the given indisputable fact as a “lens” through which to view them, you can begin to distinguish the areas where trust might be affecting the situation.

Let’s look at the woman who gets no peace at home. If you acknowledge the fact that her husband is a human being whose flaws can lead him to make mistakes, then you understand how the woman is within logical boundaries according to the dictionary definition of trust to refuse to apply the term and inherent principles to her relationship with him. But why, then, does she get along well with everyone else, but not her husband? Does that mean that she trusts everyone else more than she trusts her husband? As a matter of fact, it is pretty much the opposite. When we are living with family there is a connection there that, while it still doesn’t necessarily give us grounds for trust, allows us to feel a certain freedom that we don’t have with our other acquaintances. Basically, if our friend dislikes something about us they just leave, but if a husband or wife doesn’t like something about us it takes a little more work to leave. If our family doesn’t like us they still have to be our family.

How many of us make a habit of displaying our flaws for all to see? Like, maybe none of us? Those flaws that can be seen by others are not seen of our own choosing. None of us wants to be known as “that angry guy” or “that self-hating chick”. We are so concerned what others think about our appearance, the way we live, the way we raise our children, that we are willing to go to extremes to make sure that we “look good” in every sense of the words. The fact of the matter is that we don’t trust others to respond well to us in light of our flaws. If they knew what we were truly like behind closed doors, or even behind closed thoughts, then they wouldn‘t like us. We are certain that if we trust others enough to let them see this side of us, then we will most definitely be hurt. Well, the truth is, we are right.

If we are honest with ourselves, we know that even when we try not to we think negative thoughts about others’ flaws, at least occasionally, we still do. And I would say that the majority of people think such thoughts much more than just occasionally. We judge each other. None of us wants to be judged, and so the thought crosses our minds often enough that we shouldn’t do to others what we don’t want done to ourselves. But, in reality, none of us are perfect, and so none of us do anything perfectly. The point is, when we put our trust in any human being, that is any human being, at some point or another we will be disappointed. There is no skirting around it. At one point or another, and probably at lots of points, we will be disappointed in someone, or we will do the disappointing. Humans are just not perfect and so cannot be trusted to be. There is absolutely no way to avoid an attitude of mistrust when we deal with other humans.

Well, crap, you might say, if that is all true, then what is the point? Dear, dear reader, I do not tell you these things to sadden you or rob you of hope, but in order for you to find joy and hope you must first realize that we as a species are hopeless. I know that sounds like crazy talk, but I promise you that if you read the rest of this article I will explain to you why it is true.

I would hope that by now you would agree with me that humans are not perfect. Not a single one of us can be relied upon completely. But I have some wonderful news for you. There is someone that you can trust completely. There is only one that is perfect enough to deserve our trust. He is the only one who is completely good and completely just and completely free from sin, and therefore, sinful actions and thoughts. Do you know who this wonderful being might be? That’s right, God!

God is the only perfect being in existence, the only one who can be relied upon without fear of disappointment. He is righteous, and so you can trust that all that He does is good. He is just, and so you can trust that all that He does is fair. He is loving, and so you can trust that all that He does is from a caring heart. He is all-knowing, and so you can trust that all of His decisions are well thought out. He is ever-present, and so you can trust that He knows what you’re going through. He is merciful, and so you can trust that He will forgive. He is all-powerful, and so you can trust that He can do anything. He is true, and so you can trust that He will keep His promises. He is gracious, and so you can trust that He will give.

Now, you may say that these are attributes that can sometimes be found in humans. Yes, that is true. But no human does them all the time. And some humans never do any of them. These are the unchanging attributes of God. They have been forever, and will be forever. Numbers 23:19 says, God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it? God’s mind is not subject to change.

What it really comes down to is this. Do you believe that God is good? Do you believe that He knows everything? Do you believe that He loves you? These are what the Bible tells us are true, and so if you do not believe these things about Him, than your trust issues run deeper than this particular issue and should be examined further. However, if you believe these things about Him, then what logical sense would it make to mistrust Him? A lack of trust comes from fear, and if God is the embodiment of all things good and His will is to bring about that which is good, then what is there to fear? Proverbs 29:25 says, The fear of man lays a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD is safe. Yes, God is also all powerful, and so we should fear Him if we are the enemy of God, but if we have asked for Him to save us and have turned from our sin, then we are His and there is nothing to fear. 1 John 4:18 says, There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

All of this is not to say that bad things will never happen. They undoubtedly will and you should plan on them. It is easy enough to say that you trust God when everything is great and happy. The point is that if you believe all of those attributes of God then you must trust that He knows what He is doing in all things, good or bad. He is good and all powerful and all knowing, and so His best is an eternity better that the best that we could ever imagine.

We could try to reason this out for the rest of our lives, however there is one final point that I would like to make. Our God should not have to earn our trust because He is the Sovereign, Loving, Faithful, Just, and Righteous God. He is the only being in the universe that deserves it outright, simply on character alone. And yet, to prove to us that He is deserving, to prove His divine understanding, and to prove His love for us which is greater than all else, He earned our trust by humbling the enormity of His being into this lowly human existence, and not only that but laid down His delicate human life for us, so that we might be saved from an eternity of everlasting torment and instead give us everlasting life. I can think of no reason that would in any logical realm justify a lack of trust in our Lord.

Why Must We Avoid False Teachers?

2010-06-22T13:17:00.003-06:00

In recent articles, we learned how to use some important Christian terminology correctly. We also learned about some of the most common false teachings we find in and around the church these days. Now let’s briefly look at how to recognize these false teachings on our own and then how to deal with those who teach them.

How Can I Recognize False Teachers?
Jesus and the apostles warned us that there would be false teachers and false prophets from both inside and outside the church (Matthew 24:23-27; 2 Peter 3:3; Jude 17-18). As believers we are called to “correctly handles the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15) and carefully study the Bible, both hermeneutically for narrative and systematically for correct Biblical doctrine. This way we can easily identify false doctrines. For example, any true believer who has hermeneutically studied the activities of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit in Matthew 3:16-17 and systematically compared that passage to verses such as John 1:1,14 would immediately call into question any doctrine that denies the deity of Christ or the Trinity.

When looking at a doctrine or a new church or teaching it is vital that they correctly view the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus once asked his followers, "Who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter replied, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." (Matthew 16:15-16 ESV) The Bible teaches that Jesus is the literal son of God conceived of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 1:20; Luke 1:35), who must thus be God. The Bible also teaches that there is only one God (Deuteronomy 4:53, 6:4; Ephesians 4:6; 1 Corinthians 8:6) and that Jesus Christ is God (John 1:1,14, 10:30). So God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all one God according to the Bible.

So if a church or teacher holds to a doctrine that is contrary to the Trinity, he is absolutely contradicting the Bible and is a false teacher. The Bible says, Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 9) Basically, teaching that we are saved by the saving grace of Jesus Christ alone through his redeeming work on the cross alone is vital. Anyone who teaches anything different is a liar. Who is the liar but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ? This is the antichrist, he who denies the Father and the Son. (1 John 2:22 ESV)

Good Biblically sound teachers will always preach the true gospel of Jesus Christ. What is the true gospel? Paul says, Now I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preached to you--unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures. (1 Corinthians 15:1-4 ESV emphasis added)

As good as they might seem, false gospel statements like: “God loves you.”, “God wants us to feed the hungry.”, and “God wants you to be wealthy.” are not the true Biblical message of the gospel. Paul warns us, There are some who trouble you and want to distort the gospel of Christ. (Galatians 1:7b ESV) No one, not your friends, not your family members, and not even a your pastor; has the right to change the message that God gave us. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:9 ESV)

Most importantly, Jesus told us exactly how to recognize a false teacher. “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorn bushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:15-20 ESV) Bad fruit does not always appear in the form of sin and poor behavior. It can appear in the form of preaching false doctrine, false gospels, and works based salvation, all of which contradict to Bible.

How Should I Deal With False Teachers?
For many deceivers have gone out into the world, those who do not confess the coming of Jesus Christ in the flesh (1). Such a one is the deceiver and the Antichrist. Watch yourselves, so that you may not lose what we have worked for, but may win a full reward. Everyone who goes on ahead and does not abide in the teaching of Christ, does not have God. Whoever abides in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting, for whoever greets him takes part in his wicked works (2). (2 John 1:7-11 ESV Emphasis mine)

1. First we must understand what John means here when he says “the coming of Jesus in the flesh”. He addressed this issue in his first letter. By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already. (1 John 4:2-3 ESV) A teacher of the word must proclaim that Jesus came to earth as a man and is both the Messiah and is God incarnate (John 1:1,14). Not a god, not half-God/half-man, but fully God and fully man. He must teach that Jesus preached and performed miracles that no mere man could, that he was arrested and tried without cause, that he was crucified on a cross as a sacrifice for our sins, was buried in a tomb, and rose bodily three days later, and that he ascended into Heaven to sit at the right hand of God and make intercession for those who faithfully and repentantly call on him to save them.

2. So what should we do when these false teacher and false prophets send their servants out to share a false gospel with us? John says very clearly, “If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not receive him into your house or give him any greeting”. We must not do anything that would give the appearance that we approve of their beliefs. People often try to debate endlessly with these false teachers. They bring them into their homes for Bible studies, witness to them at work or in public, or even online. I have tried the online method before. It doesn‘t work. God doesn’t call on us to do these things. In fact, He commands us to avoid false teachers altogether.

Wait a minute here, aren’t we supposed to witness to everyone? No, the Bible clearly teaches us not to engage false teachers. Jesus Himself says, "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.” (Matthew 7:15 ESV) Paul teaches us to avoid them (Romans 16:17) and says that they are accursed (Galatians 1:8).

For the most part this only applies to the supposed prophets, preachers, teachers, and the servants they send out to talk to you on the streets and to knock at your door. However, most regular members of these religions want nothing to do with real Christianity. These people may be your friends, relatives, neighbors, coworkers, or customers. Learn about what they believe, preferably not from them. Talk to them as you would anyone else, witness to them when you see an opening, but tread lightly to avoid a major conflict. Peter teaches us to: Always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect. (1 Peter 3:15 ESV)

Conclusion
Remember, we must always speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4:15), but we are not to cast our pearls before swine (Matthew 7:6). If someone isn’t ready to talk then just wait because God is all-knowing and all-loving, He is always at work in the lives of every person, saved or not.

If there is interest. If God has softened their heart to hear the truth, then present the gospel message to them. If the person is someone close to you do not be above pleading with them! If you truly care for the soul of this person and want them to be with you in Heaven than let the emotion and the tears flow. But only after a clear presentation of the gospel has been made. If they are still unsure about what to believe invite them to do some research (in books, not on the internet.), invite them to church, and/or to talk to your pastor.

Some Common False Teachings

2010-06-19T20:03:00.003-06:00

In the last article we discussed some popular Christian Terminology and how they are defined, both in our post-modern world and in reality. Those terms have a correct use and thus a place in Christianity.

In this article we will look at a few of the most common, and dangerous, false teachings. Where did these teachings come from? Do they have any truth to them? How should we deal with false teachings and those that hold to them? Let’s see if the Bible has any answers for us.

Restorationism
The term “restorationism”, which isn’t really a word, refers to a group of otherwise unrelated 19th century movements from within Christianity based upon the premise that the true faith and practice of the church had been lost. They believe this was due to apostasy and that the church needed to be restored to the New Testament model, hence the funny name.

The various religions that are categorized as restorationists, which we will not name or discuss, all have very different theologies and practices. Most of these religions believe that they alone are the true “Christians” and that all other Christian religions are currently in an apostate condition. This often stems from the fact that they claim to have the “correctly translated” version of the Bible or additional “scriptures”.

The problem is that these religions always have to change or add to scripture to make their case, which isn’t really a case at all. Some of the restorationists have done away with Biblical doctrines like the Trinity, Hell, and salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone.

Every one of them makes changes to emphasize works. This completely misses the point of the gospel message! If human beings could work their way to Heaven then there would be absolutely no need for Jesus Christ. The Jewish people had God’s laws and could not possibly follow them. That is the whole point.

Sure there has been apostasy in the church, pretty much from the beginning (Judas) and to this very day. Just take a look at some of the modern doctrines in supposedly “Christian” religions today. Things such as purgatory, prayer to the virgin Mary, the veneration of saints and prophets, baptism for the dead, the use of temples, priesthoods, and sacrifices, idol worship, belief in being able to achieve godhood, multiple levels of Heaven and/or Hell, integrating evolution, pantheism, deism, and more. Not to mention the prosperity and social gospels, which we will talk about shortly, that are prominent throughout Christianity today. All of these things are completely unscriptural! We can all agree that, in many cases, church tradition has overwritten the Bible as authoritative.

Why is this way of thinking dangerous? Ultimately restorationism states that God lacks the ability and/or willingness to preserve His word and thus the Christian faith. Jude 3 tells us that God delivered to the saints the Christian faith once for all time. The Bible also tells us that all scripture is God-breathed (2 Timothy 3:16-17) and that the Holy Spirit dictated it’s writing (1 Peter 1:21). Jesus tells us, “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished.” (Matthew 5:18 ESV) It is clear that the Bible and the Spirit of God cannot be taken from us. God came to earth as Jesus Christ and died on the cross for the sins of everyone in the world. Those that accept this gift will be saved and those that don‘t will not. This choice has been available to us for the past 2000 years.

Do we have any proof of this? We have two very strong pieces of evidence that help us with this. The first helps to debunk restorationism, while the second shows that true believers have existed on this earth since the time of Jesus.

The first piece of evidence is known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. How does this help us? Basically, it gives us the oldest known copy of the Jewish Bible, or Old Testament. You see most of the restorationists claim that both the Old and New Testament were tampered with after the apostles died and thus need to be retranslated. Due to the dead sea scrolls we have copies of all but one book of the Old Testament that predate the birth of Christ by about 400-800 years, depending on the scroll. They are nearly identical to the later copies used to translate most Bibles, such as the King James. This proves these “restored” translations to be incorrect and untrustworthy.

The second point I want to make is that there were people who held correct Biblical doctrine all throughout history. Most people think that for much of history the only “Christian” church was the Roman Catholics. This is absolutely not true. As early as the 2nd and 3rd century A.D. all the way up to the time of the protestant reformation we have record of people known as the puritans or the Anabaptists (Re-baptizers). These people rejected the idea of infant baptism and instead taught the idea of the believer’s baptism. That means you get baptized after you believe the gospel as a symbolic act, rather than for the remission of sin. This is what Christians believe today.

During the Inquisition, the Catholic church ordered that Jews, Muslims, and Anabaptists conform to catholic rule or be deported and often killed. It was several years later that the Inquisition shifted it’s focus to paganism and witchcraft. A good book that tells all about the Anabaptists is The Trail of Blood by J. M. Carroll.

The Prosperity Gospel
Unlike restorationism, the prosperity and social gospels exist directly inside mainstream Christianity. It for this reason we must be very careful not to get caught up in this false teaching.

The prosperity gospel, also known as the “Word of Faith,” is a view in which the believer is told to use God. Word of Faith or prosperity theology sees the Holy Spirit as a power to be put to use for whatever the believer wills. The prosperity gospel movement closely resembles some of the destructive sects that infiltrated the early church. Paul and the other apostles were not at all kind to the false teachers who preached these heresies. They saw them as dangerous false teachers and urged Christians to avoid them.

True Biblical Christianity is the exact opposite of the prosperity gospel. The Bible teaches us that God uses the believer for His glory and for the greater good. It teaches us that the Holy Spirit is the helper who enables the believer to do God's will. The Bible actually teaches us that we will suffer in this life for our faith. The prosperity gospel is actually failing to trust in and submit to God’s will.

Paul warned Timothy about such men (1 Timothy 6:5, 9-11). He said that these men are of corrupt mind and supposed godliness is a means of gain and their desire for riches is a trap that will bring them into ruin and destruction. Paul explains that these types of men are idolaters and instructed us to avoid anyone who brought a message of immorality or covetousness (Ephesians 5:5-7).

This movement has coined the term “positive confession”. This refers to the teaching that human words themselves have creative power. They teach that what you say determines everything that happens to you. Your confessions, especially the favors you demand of God, must all be stated positively and without wavering. Then, God is "required" to answer you. This idea gives man power over God.

The Bible teaches us the exact opposite. James wrote, Come now, you who say, "Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit", yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, "If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that." As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16 ESV)

So why do people fall for the prosperity gospel? Well, it is because it appears to work much of the time. Let me explain. When we turn to God in repentance and faith in the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ, we effectively turn away from sin. A lack of sin in our lives produces obviously good fruit most of the time.

For example, say someone stole money from their work, got caught, and got fired. Stealing is a sin and has natural earthly consequences. Say that same person turned from his sin and put his faith in Jesus, he got another job, he chose not to steal from his employer, prayed for increased income, and he got raises and promotions over time. He would be prospering in that area of his life. This does not mean that he was “granted his wishes” by God. This is simply the nature of sin and salvation playing itself out. Sin brings rotten bad fruit and the Spirit indwelling in the saved brings good ripe fruit.

However, anyone who has ever stood up for and stuck to his Christian convictions could tell you that the straight and narrow path does not always lead to prosperity. For example, a Christian man is asked by his boss to take some money from the petty cash by forging receipts. In other words, he asks him to lie and steal. No one else heard the boss say this so it is his word against the boss’. If he does it, the boss will favor him. If he does what is right, the boss will likely turn on him. Let’s say he refuses to steal and lie for his boss and two days later he is laid-off. His boss says it is “due to cutbacks”. Is this prosperity? No, of course not. Is it the will of God? Yes, because the man did what God’s word teaches us is right.

What does the Bible tell us about the life Christians will lead? Jesus said, "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace, but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. And a person's enemies will be those of his own household. Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not take his cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Whoever finds his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.” (Matthew 10:34-39 ESV) This sure doesn’t sound like prosperity. It sounds to me like struggle and hardship for the faith.

The Social Gospel
The Social Gospel is defined as a religious social-reform movement in the U.S., prominent from 1870 to 1920 among liberal Protestant groups. The movement focused on applying moral principles to the improvement of industrialized society and particularly to reforms such as the abolition of child labor, a shorter workweek, and factory regulation. Many of its aims were realized through the rise of organized labor and through legislation of the New Deal. Definition courtesy of the encyclopedia Britannica.

This movement has resurfaced among liberal Christians today who are more concerned with the things of this world such as disease, poverty, racial issues, public education, and civil rights than they are the eternal salvation of the individual. All of this things are important but they are meaningless compared to matters of the soul. Salvation should be our primary concern.

The social gospel attempts to treat the symptoms of the problem by trying to make "Christians" via social reform. We who preach the true gospel treat the spiritual disease known as sin (Acts 2:38; Romans 6:23), the cause of the social problems. This method creates reform in society by making Christians (Titus 2:11-14).

It is like that old saying: If you give a man a fish he’ll eat for a day. If you teach a man to fish he’ll eat for a lifetime. We must make disciples in an area so that they make more disciples and become a church. Then, the fruit of the Spirit will deal with these social injustices. This is not to say that mission work should not include things such as feeding the hungry and healing the sick. The fruit of the Holy Spirit will drive us to do good works for people while we are witnessing to them.

The social gospel movement is motivated entirely by a desire for a better earthly life. Those who share the true gospel are motivated by desire for an eternal home with God, to help others avoid eternal punishment in Hell, and love and gratitude to God for all He has done for us so that we can have eternal joy (I Peter 1:3-12; I Timothy 4:6-8).

Of course Jesus healed and helped people. He even says that we should too, "For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, ... 'Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’” (Matthew 25:35, 40 ESV) This is just one of many examples. However, Jesus also said, "Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26 ESV) We shouldn’t worry about earthly things because God will care for us.

Rather than being concerned with the matter of this world (1 Corinthians 1:20-21) we should focus all of our attention on the wisdom of God (James 3:13-17; I Corinthians 1:25). The social gospel, like the prosperity gospel, emphasizes mankind’s material well-being. Whereas those who share the true gospel stress only the individual’s spiritual well-being (Matthew 6:31-33).

Conclusion
These are just three of many false doctrines and teachings both inside and outside the church. In the next article we will discuss how to recognize and deal with false teachers and false prophets.

Corrected Christian Terminology

2010-06-04T14:38:00.003-06:00

In this article series we will very briefly discuss some of the common terms we hear in Christianity, what they really mean, and how they are misused. As always, the Bible will be our only true source of correct information. I will divide this article series into two parts: Corrected Christian Terminology and False Teachings.

Evangelical
This is probably the most misunderstood term used by believers and unbelievers alike. People tend to connect this word with a religious denomination, a conservative political movement, and/or TV evangelists or faith healers. The problem comes from the fact that all of these groups have improperly used the word and created an association with it and
themselves. What does the word Evangelical really mean? The modern dictionary actually gets it right and wrong at the same time, as is usually the case in post-modern versions.

Evangelical:
Adjective
1. Pertaining to or in keeping with the gospel and its teachings. From the Greek word meaning “Good News”.
2. Belonging to or designating the Christian churches that emphasize the teachings and authority of the Scriptures, in opposition to the institutional authority of the church itself, and that stress as paramount the tenet that salvation is achieved by personal conversion to faith in the atonement of Christ.
3. Designating Christians, especially of the late 1970s, eschewing the designation of fundamentalist but holding to a conservative interpretation of the Bible.
4. Pertaining to certain movements in the Protestant churches in the 18th and 19th centuries that stressed the importance of personal experience of guilt for sin, and of reconciliation to god through Christ.
Noun
5. An adherent of evangelical doctrines or a person who belongs to an evangelical church or party.

Numbers 1, 2, and the first half of 5 are in fact the correct definition of the term. Evangelical, correctly used, describes one who shares the gospel of Jesus Christ and lives by His teachings. These Evangelicals come together as a group that we call the body of Christ or the Church, which literally means the “called-out ones”.

So when you hear people say things like, “I have turned away from mainstream evangelicalism.” or “Evangelicals don’t understand true Christianity.” ask them if they really understand what Evangelical means because it is quite likely that they don’t.

The “evangelical doctrines” mentioned in definition number 5 above, also known as the four distinctive principles, are:
1. A belief in the need for personal conversion or being born again. (John 3:3, 7; 1 Peter 1:3, 23)
2. An expression of the gospel in effort, often called living faith or fruit of the Spirit. (Luke 6:43-45)
3. A high regard for absolute Biblical authority. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21)
4. An emphasis on teachings that proclaim the death and resurrection of Jesus. (1 John 2:2; Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 2:17, 3:1)

Doesn’t this seem like the very basics of Christianity as taught by the Bible? Aren’t these very thoughts found all through Acts and the epistles?

Fundamentalist
This word brings some odd thoughts to mind for most of us. We think of backwater families living without electricity and following strict out-dated rules. But in reality this is not what the word really means. A fundamentalist Christian is someone who follows the fundamentals of the Christian faith. These beliefs, though clearly stated in the Bible, became popular when a group of Theologians published a thirteen volume set of books entitled “The Fundamentals”. These books are still in print today, usually in two large volumes.

Fundamentalism is built around the "five tenets of the Christian faith", although there is much more to it than that. These main five tenets with supporting Bible verses are:

1. The insistence that the Bible is to be taken as literally true. Along with this is the belief that the Bible is inerrant, which means without error and free from all contradictions. (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:21)
2. The virgin birth and deity of Christ—the belief that Jesus was born of the virgin Mary (Matthew 1:23) and conceived by the Holy Spirit and that He was and is the Son of God, fully human and fully divine. (John 1:1,14; 10:30)
3. The doctrine of substitutionary atonement through God’s grace and human faith, the belief that Christ was crucified for all the sins of man, and because of His perfect sacrifice, all men can find salvation through faith in Him. (John 3:16, Romans 3:23-25)
4. The bodily resurrection of Jesus—the belief that He was crucified and died and on the third day, He rose from the grave and now sits at the right hand of the Father. (1 John 2:2; Acts 1:9-10; Hebrews 2:17, 3:1)
5. The authenticity of the miracles of Christ as found in Scripture and His second coming.

In addition fundamentalists believe that Moses wrote the five books of the law and that we must use Biblical Hermeneutics to understand scripture. Most fundamentalists believe in the pre-tribulation rapture but not all do.

Christian
This one may seem kind of obvious but surprisingly many people do not interpret this term correctly either. So what does our trusty dictionary say on the subject? Again it has added a very post-modern flare to an ancient term used in the first century (Acts 11:26).

Christian:
Noun
1. One who professes belief in Jesus as Christ or follows the religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus.
2. One who lives according to the teachings of Jesus.

I only used the noun in this case since someone either is or is not Christian. Most of the adjective definitions either repeated this information or were way over the top and quite incorrect. The correct definition is basically the first half of number 1 and all of number 2. It should read something like this:

Christian: Noun One who professes belief in Jesus as the Christ and lives according to His teachings and commandments.

Many people today claim to be Christian but do not practice the commandments and teachings of Jesus. Jesus Himself tells us that to be in His adopted family we must actually do as he teaches us (Luke 8:21). There are only three sources that teach us to do this. The law of Moses which teach us what our sin is, the Gospels of Jesus Christ which tell us of the teachings of the Messiah, His sinless life, and His perfect self-sacrifice for our sins, and the epistles written from the apostles to the early church with instruction on how to live as a called-out believer in Christ. The rest of the Bible is either history, poetry, or prophecy; which mostly talks about the first and second coming of Christ.

The Bible teaches us the following about Jesus Christ:
1. That scripture is the true word of God.
2. Jesus was born of a virgin and conceived of the Holy Spirit. That He is 100% God and 100% man.
3. Jesus lived a sinless life, died on the cross for our sins, and rose from the grave three days later.
4. We must repent and put our faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord, God, and Savior and that we must be born-again of the Holy Spirit.

Conclusion
In reality, all Christians should be evangelical fundamentalist Christians. These terms are synonymous. The Bible is consistently instructing us to be witnesses of the good news (Matthew 28:18-20; Acts 1:8; 1 Corinthians 16:1-4; 1 Peter 3:15). There is no better news than Jesus! There is no higher calling than evangelist.

There is no doubt that holding to the fundamentals of the Bible will result in a certain worldview and likely certain political beliefs. However, this does not demand that a Christian join a certain political party, denomination, or buy into TV preachers and faith healers.

Think About It
Below is John Wesley’s methods for bearing good fruit, which later became the basis for the Methodist Church. Do you think they echo the same concepts as talked about in this article? Why or Why not?
1. Do no harm, by avoiding evil of every kind.
2. By doing good of every possible sort, and, as far as possible, to all people.
3. By keeping all of the commandments of God to the best of one's ability.

Who's Your Messiah?

2010-05-26T20:48:00.002-06:00

We have all heard the famous verse countless times. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV) Many Christians can recite it without even thinking about it.

But what does this verse really mean to us? Who is this only begotten Son? We know by reading the Gospels that the Son who this verse refers to, and is spoken by, is Jesus Christ.

In this article we will look at who Jesus really is and why He is so important. We will look briefly at the reason He came to this earth and discuss some of the over 300 prophecies that were fulfilled in His life, death, and resurrection. Let’s start at the beginning, the very beginning!

In the Beginning…
Way back at the front of the Bible in the first three chapters of the book of Genesis we are told why God would need to send us a Savior. God created the universe and our planet. He filled it with life, both plant and animal. He made man and then woman. These first two humans were called Adam and Eve. They lived in a perfect garden in Eden.

In this garden there was only one rule. God said, "You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die." (Genesis 2:16-17 ESV) Why do you think would God set such a rule? He is God the creator and man is the created. God was setting boundaries. He gave us free will so that we could love Him wholly even though He knew that we would choose to fall away from Him. Sorry, I got sidetracked. Let’s get back on track.

One day Eve met a talking serpent in the garden. A talking snake! That’s not normal. It is also my understanding that serpents had legs at this point, but more on that later. The serpent filled her mind with doubts about God’s good and holy intentions in setting just one rule. She was deceived and ate the fruit but Adam was not deceived yet he ate the fruit. We may never know why Adam followed Eve into the realm of sin. Nonetheless, together they brought sin into our world.

And with it they brought nudity! As soon as they ate the fruit they realized they were nude and were ashamed. In other words, Adam bit into that fruit, paused for moment, and his face turned bright red. It would feel something like being at the mall in front of tons of people and suddenly your clothes all just disappeared. So Adam and Eve covered themselves with fig leaves. Itchy!

When God found out what they had done he had to act so He went to find them. The Bible says when they heard His footsteps they hid in some bushes. Yes, they hid from God behind some bushes! He scolded them and then banished them from the garden and told them that they could no longer eat of the fruit of the tree of life. People tend to think that was a harsh punishment. He wasn’t punishing them by taking away their eternal life. Without it they would die rather than live forever in sin. Finally, God clothed them in the skin of an animal, foreshadowing the sacrifice Jesus would make on the cross (Genesis 3:21). More comfortable than fig leaves I bet.

Now that we got a bit of background let’s look closely at what God said to the serpent who by the way was being controlled by Satan. The LORD God said to the serpent, "Because you have done this, cursed are you above all livestock and above all beasts of the field; on your belly you shall go, and dust you shall eat all the days of your life.” (Genesis 3:14 ESV) See what I mean? Serpents had legs and God chopped them right off!

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel." (Genesis 3:15 ESV) This is the first reference to a Savior in the Bible. Eve’s offspring (born only of a woman) will attack the head of Satan’s offspring dealing a fatal blow. However, Satan will strike his heel.

Did you know that crucifixion is the only death sentence that damages the heel? It is because of the nails that were likely driven through the side of His heel. The story of Jesus found in the Gospels tells us of his crucifixion at the hands of sinful men that He called snakes and vipers (Matthew 23:33) and of his bodily resurrection. So this was not a fatal blow for Him in the end. But rest assured, Jesus defeated sin that day.

This alone is not very compelling evidence but when you look at this as one piece of a very large puzzle it becomes incredibly important. This is why we must take the Genesis account literally and as some sort of metaphor or allegorical tale.

Think About It!
Read Genesis 3, Romans 5 and 8, and 1 Corinthians 15. What is Paul saying about Christ in comparison to Adam? After reading these passages do you think it is important to believe that Adam was a real man who brought sin into the world?

Covenant with Abraham
Just a few chapters later we come to the time of Abraham. God calls Abram to leave his country and seek a new home. At that time God says, “I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you; I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Genesis 12:2-3)

He promises that Abram, later known as Abraham, would father a great nation. He also says that through him all the people on earth will be blessed. In Luke we see in the genealogy of Jesus, we see that He is a descendent of Abraham. The son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, (Luke 3:34).

Tribe of Judah
Still in Genesis, we fast forward a few more chapters to when Jacob (Israel) speaks to his sons one final time. He places Judah in charge of the house of Israel. He tells him, “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.” (Genesis 49:10 ESV) This is a reference to the future line of kings through the house of Judah and reference to the mighty king of kings.

The House of David
The people of Israel asked for a king. In a way, they were telling God that He was not enough for them. In 1 Samuel we learn that God gave Israel a king named Saul to show them the error of their decision. Then, God gave them a great king. He was a man after God’s own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). This king was the shepherd boy David who defeated the philistine Goliath (1 Samuel 17:17-50). David is the human archetype for the future Godly Messiah.

“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son. When he commits iniquity, I will discipline him with the rod of men, with the stripes of the sons of men, but my steadfast love will not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.” (2 Samuel 7:12-16 ESV)

God made a covenant with David that his house would never fade away and would live on forever. He also says that He will raise up a king that is like a son to Him and that this king will reign on the throne forever. This is the first direct prophecy of the Messiah. It is through this and later prophecies that we can look back at the pieces mentioned above and see that God was working through one race, one nation, one tribe, and now one family to bring about the salvation of all mankind.

Think About It!
Read Psalm 22. Is this Psalm a prophecy of Jesus Christ‘s final hours? Why do you think God would give us this kind of information through the songs and poetry of king David?

Lots of Prophecies
All of the prophets, especially Isaiah and Jeremiah, foretold many things about the coming of the Messiah more than 700 years before Jesus was even born. Let’s take a closer look at just a few of these prophecies.

The Messiah was to be born of a virgin. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14 ESV) Well in Matthew 1 Mary, the mother of Jesus became pregnant of the Holy Spirit. Her fiancé, Joseph, thought she was either lying to cover her adultery or was off her rocker. He was going to leave her quietly because he loved her and didn’t want her to get stoned to death. However, an angel appeared in a dream and said to Him, "Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins." (Matthew 1:20-21) All of this happened as Isaiah said it would.

Matthew 1:1 tells us that Jesus Christ is a direct descendant of King David. In Matthew 1:20 Joseph is referred to as son of David. This tells us that Jesus fulfills this prophecy just by being born to Mary, the wife of Joseph. Luke tells us that Mary is also a descendant of David. Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. (Jeremiah 23:5 ESV)

A voice cries: "In the wilderness prepare the way of the LORD; make straight in the desert a highway for our God. (Isaiah 40:3 ESV) This verse foretells the ministry of John the Baptist, cousin of Jesus Christ. He said to prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. (Luke 3:4) He preached that Jesus was coming to take away the sins of the world. (John 1:29) John also told his followers to repent because the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. (Matthew 3:2)

But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. (Isaiah 53:5 ESV) Jesus died on a cross for the sins of the world. He is compared to a lamb in John 1:29, which was used as a sacrifice during the time of the Old Testament. He was beaten across His back by the roman soldiers. Could these be the stripes Isaiah spoke of?

These are just a few of over three-hundred prophecies fulfilled by Jesus, most of which He could not fulfill of His own accord. This is why He is referred to as Jesus Christ. He was and is the Messiah that came to save the world from sin. The authors of the Gospels weren’t making this stuff up, they were connecting what Jesus did to the prophecies they had been taught all of their lives. They even came to understand that He is God’s beloved Son and bodily incarnation on this earth.

What’s in a Name?
Jesus Christ has become one of the most popular names in the modern world. Regardless of what you believe you have likely heard of him. But what does this name mean? Why does he get such a strong reaction from people, both in his time and today? Where did this guy even come from?

Let’s start with the name and go from there. Jesus is the Greek name for Joshua, pronounced Yeshua in Hebrew. This is his first name and it means the Lord saves (Matthew 1:21). Christ is not his last name. In that time he would have been identified by where he lived. He was known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus the Nazarene because he lived in Nazareth.

Christ comes from the Greek word Christos which means Savior of the World. The Hebrew word for this is Messiah. It also means the anointed one or king. So when someone refers to Jesus Christ they are in effect saying that the man named Jesus is the Savior and King of all of God’s creation.

By His followers claiming Him as Messiah, in the minds of the Jewish people, they were saying that He was the one sent by God to free them from Roman rule, which He did not ever even say he would do. At least not in the way they thought of being saved. To the Romans they were saying he was going declare himself King, or above Caesar. This was not exactly what Jesus was saying either but it got the people of the time all fired up. These people were quite wrong about who Jesus really is.

These days when people hear his name, Jesus Christ, they think of the horrible things throughout history done in the name of Christ. They think of uptight, racist, gun-toting, rednecks from the south who worship a guy unjustly nailed to a cross about two-thousand years ago. These people are also incredibly wrong about who Jesus Christ really is. He is our only true hope for salvation!

Conclusion
Jesus came to save mankind from the eternal death and destruction brought about by our sin and rebellion. As John 3:16 states, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. (John 3:16 KJV) When we repent of our sin, turning away from it and towards God, and put our faith in the saving grace Jesus Christ alone we can have eternal life in the glory and love of the Father.

If you have not given your life to Christ, or if you haven’t given all that you could give, or if any of the information in this articles is new to you than please take a few minutes to pray about it. Ask God to forgive your sin and to reveal the truth of Jesus Christ to you. Most importantly, quietly wait for a few minutes at the end of your prayer contemplating the true nature of Jesus Christ, because prayer is not you leaving God a voicemail. It is a two-way conversation between you and your creator.

Creation vs. Evolution

2010-05-13T20:38:00.003-06:00

Many modern Christians think that the Biblical creation account and evolutionary theory are compatible. This simply is not the case. Why? Because to make them compatible one must use pieces of each to create a sort of “Frankenstein” origin story. This type of thinking involves cherry-picking all the bits of information that are favorable and discarding information that is not. It stands to reason, then, that this type of thinking strives to make the truth subjective, which cannot be done. Either something is true, or its not. We won’t even get started on the more recent attempts to blend in intelligent design, a directly opposing view to evolutionary theory.

On that same note, it goes against the strict rules-based processes of science and logic to pick and choose the pieces we want from a theory. One must take the theory as is and attempt to prove it or to discard it and start over. In this article we will discuss the origins of the universe and, more specifically, the origin of life on Earth. We will look at these topics from both the evolutionary and Biblical creation perspectives.

What is Evolution?
Evolution is defined as a gradual process in which something changes into something different, usually in more complex or improved form. The Theory of Evolution is currently the most popular concept of how life reached its current state.

Evolutionary theory is favored by many scientists to explain phenomena in nature, so much so that it is generally assumed as factual, rather than theory, in most studies. However, in-depth analysis of evolution raises doubts that the scientific community is hard pressed to answer. Evolution has never been fundamentally proven, and most scientists admit as much. Ironically, many evolutionists defend the theory using arguments such as, "it just makes the most sense," and "because I choose to believe it," or "because I refuse to believe the opposite." These scientists fill in the gaps in the evolutionary model with faith statements, something for which non-evolutionists are often criticized.

There are three main parts that make up evolution: Natural Selection, Micro-evolution, and Macro-evolution.

Natural selection is the process in nature by which, according to Darwin's theory of evolution, only the organisms best adapted to their environment tend to survive and transmit their genetic characteristics in increasing numbers to succeeding generations while those less adapted tend to be eliminated.

Micro-evolution is a succession of relatively small genetic variations that often cause the formation of new subspecies. Neither side of this issue disputes Micro-Evolution. It is universally agreed that wolves, coyotes, dingoes, jackals, foxes, and the hundreds of different domestic dog breeds probably all came from an original pair of canines. This is Variation within a Kind, NOT upward evolution from simplicity into complexity as supposed by Darwinian Evolution.

Micro-Evolution, or variation within a Kind, is observed and well documented. But macro-evolution is not and thus is highly disputable. Macro-Evolution is transition from one Kind of plant or animal into another, such as the idea the some dinosaurs evolved into birds or that some fish/reptiles eventually became mammals.

Macro-evolution involves large or important changes in the basic function of an organism. This cannot happen during a single organism's life, so it is theorized that it can only be the result of a series of random genetic mutations. Every genetic mutation involving form or function observed in laboratories has either been fatal, crippling, or self-reversing. For instance, some bacteria with genetic deviations have survived antibiotics better than those without, but died out quickly once the antibiotics were gone. There is an overwhelming tendency of organisms to suffer, rather than benefit, from mutation.

The balance of earth's ecosystems, including the relationships between species, is nearly impossible to explain under evolution's ever-changing view. In an ecosystem, all things are reliant on one another for any of them to survive. If one thing is changed or removed, it causes a cascade wherein all things are eventually removed. In reality, evolution is not really different than other philosophical or religious opinions about the origins of life. It seems to be supported by some facts and seems to be refuted by others.

The Big Questions
Evolutionary theory fails to give a satisfactory answer to our two biggest questions. “How did the universe come into existence?” and “How did life come into existence?” Let’s take a closer look at what both evolution and Biblical creation have to say about these topics.

How did the universe come into existence?
Though evolution does NOT deal with the origin of the universe it does require there to be a scientific theory to explain the origin of the matter that would make up everything in the universe, including life-forms.

The “Big Bang” theory is the one most evolutionists believe. The big bang is a cosmological theory holding that the universe originated approximately 20 billion years ago from the violent explosion of a very small agglomeration of matter of extremely high density and temperature. This raises the question, where did the matter come from the sparked the big bang? The short answer is that scientists just don’t know.

"It is only fair that we still have a theory without a beginning." - Joseph Silk (Ph.D. Astronomy and Professor at University of Oxford)

"The universe burst into something from absolutely nothing- zero, nada. As it got bigger, it became filled with even more stuff that came from absolutely nowhere.” -Discover Magazine (volume 23, page 35)

"..astronomers have not the slightest evidence for the supposed quantum production of the universe out of a primordial nothingness." -Sten Odenwald (Ph.D. Astrophysics for NASA)

There are really only three possibilities to explain the existence of the universe. Either the universe created itself, it has always existed, or it was created. Any scientist will tell you that nothing can create itself. The rule is “ex nihilo nihil fit” or nothing comes of nothing. So that one rules out the big bang theory.

All scientists agree that the universe has not always existed. How do we know that? The second law of thermodynamics states that if the universe is losing it's usable heat energy, and it is, then it has not always existed. This law is actually part of the basis for the big bang theory.

The only option left is that the universe was created by a creator. The Bible does have the answer to our question, even if it is beyond our human understanding. How did the universe come into existence? God created the universe by speaking it into existence. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 KJV)

The most common objection here is, “Where did God come from?” The Bible clearly answers that one for us as well. God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." (Exodus 3:14a ESV) “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." (Revelation 22:13 ESV) God is eternal and everlasting and has always been.

How did life come into existence?
Again there are only two possibilities as to how life began. Either life evolved by natural processes or life was created by someone. Often people will try to suggest that there are other possible origins of life. There aren’t ANY other possibilities. Some might say that “life came from outer space.” That only moves the original location but does not give any other possibility as to how life began. Let’s look at how evolution tries to answer this question.

Evolution states that the Earth formed 4.6 billion years ago. Then, over time, chemicals formed in a pool known as "primordial soup". More time passed and these chemicals bonded together to make molecules. Finally, after even more time, the molecules bond to make the first living cell.

Does this theory mix with scientific fact? Well let’s start by quickly going over the basics of biology.

Atoms- basic unit of matter.
Molecules- specific arrangement of bonded atoms.
Amino Acids- specific arrangement of bonded molecules.
Proteins- specific arrangement of bonded amino acids.

The well known Miller experiment was an attempt to recreate this “primordial soup” in a laboratory. Our textbooks tells about how successful this experiment was. Yes, Miller managed to create something in his “soup”, but was it the building blocks of life? Though there are many problems with the Miller experiment we will only focus on two aspects, the use of oxygen and the amino acids he produced.

Miller did NOT use any oxygen in his experiment. Why? There are two reasons. First, scientists at that time thought that primordial earth had little to no oxygen. More recently, scientists have discovered evidence that oxygen was present in spades during the primordial timeframe. If there wasn’t oxygen then there would be no ozone and our planet and all possible developing life-forms would be burnt to a crisp by the sun.

Second, life cannot be produced in the presence of oxygen. Why? This is because oxygen forces molecules to break down preventing them from bonding and forming amino acids. These factors make the entire experiment useless because life could not form with or without oxygen. Scientists have yet to figure a way around this fact.

Even if we continue to look at the Miller experiment we are again disappointed with the results. Yes, the experiment yielded amino acids. But the really important question is what kind of acids did we end up with.

There are over 20,000 differing amino acids and only 20 of them are present in life-forms. Amino acids also come in two different shapes that are mirror images of one another. We call them left and right-handed amino acids. Every amino acid found in life-forms are left-handed. Miller got about half left and half right-handed amino acids. This mixture is poisonous to life-forms. Probably something akin to a person drinking motor oil.

No known experiments have had any better results to date. Without using oxygen scientists are not simulating the correct circumstances for the formation of life. Producing random amino acids does not get the result that is needed to verify the origin of life.

To do that scientists would need to recreate the correct circumstances, including the use of oxygen. Then, they would need to successfully make within their “soup” all left-handed amino acids that are only the 20 kinds used in life. To involve any of the right-handed amino acids would poison life before it began. Next, they would need to have the amino acids form into eight specific kinds of proteins. Finally, Over 100 sets of these eight proteins would need to arrange themselves into a specific order, known as DNA sequences, to begin the long process of becoming a single cell. The odds of just this last step happening are 10 to the 40,000th power (That’s 10 with 40,000 zeros after it). Anything more than 10 to the 50th power is considered scientifically impossible.

The other possibility is that life was created. The Bible tells us that For by him all things were created (Colossians 1:16a ESV). Genesis chapters one and two are an account of the creation of all things.

To Evolutionists;
The Bible gives us one more important piece of information. It tells us that everyone knows deep down that God exists and is our creator. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. (Romans 1:19-20 ESV) The Bible also tells us that only a fool says, “There is no God” (Psalms 14:1). Every person on this Earth, whether they admit it or not, knows that God exists. Unfortunately, they selfishly want to continue in their sin, so they deny Him.

To Modern Christians;
Modern Christians often try to answer the two big questions above with the Bible but let evolutionary theory fill in the rest. Is this acceptable? No it is not! The reason I say this is that evolution states that all things happen by chance and are due to random mutations. The Bible says that God created all things (Genesis 1-2, John 1:1, etc.), constantly holds all things together (Colossians 1:17), and knits us together individually in the womb (Psalms 139:13). In this God is the constant action, not evolution.

Another approach that some Christians take is to suggest that the creation account is allegorical and holds spiritual truth not literal truth. To those people I ask, do you believe that Jesus literally lived a sinless life and died on the cross for the sins of mankind? If you answered no, then you are not a Christian. If your answer is yes, then you must believe that Jesus fulfilled the law of Moses including the ten commandments, right? If you believe this fully then I would like to cite to you where the ten commandments makes specific mention of the literal creation. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. (Exodus 20:8,11 ESV Emphasis Mine)

In short, to believe in salvation through Jesus Christ one must believe that Jesus kept the law of Moses and died as a perfect sacrifice, sinless in His Father’s eyes. The law affirms that the Genesis account is literal. In fact, the Jewish consider the Genesis account as part of the law itself.

Conclusion
Why should we accept evolution when there is no evidence for it? Evolution is based on a leap of blind faith wherein time + chance = life. Christianity is based on the historically correct Bible and, due to this fact, requires a much smaller step of faith.

Bibliography: Information for this article was gathered from Webster’s Dictionary, National Geographic, allaboutscience.org (Secular) answersingenesis.org (Christian), and the Bible via e-sword.

Marriage takes Three

2010-04-21T12:55:00.004-06:00

Marriage is one of the most important things that God created for us. It serves so many purposes in our lives and it represents several important spiritual truths. However, our culture has deeply corrupted almost every aspect of relationships, marriage, and sex. It has turned from a beautiful thing into an ugly monster that is hardly worth our time.

The next few articles are going to be all about relationships, family, marriage, and sex in relation to God. We will find many of the answers about these things in His revealed word, the Bible. This article will focus mainly on the three roles involved in a marriage: the husband, the wife, and God. But first we must go all the way back to the Garden of Eden to understand what marriage really is.

What is Marriage?
The LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him." (Genesis 2:18 ESV) This verse reveals a lot about the role of a spouse in marriage, not just women but men too. We are meant to be helpers to each other. So God puts Adam to sleep and creates Eve from his rib. Then the man said, "This at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man." Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. And the man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed. (Genesis 2:23-25 ESV)

God created us to have partners or helpers. He did not want us to be alone. God knew all that was going to happen to us. He knew about the fall, the sin, the addiction, and the cancer. I think He wanted us to have someone to go through this fallen life with who is going through the same struggles we are.

Adam and Eve were the first couple to ever get married. Therefore a man shall leave his father and his mother and hold fast to his wife, and they shall become one flesh. (Genesis 2:24 ESV Emphasis Mine) A man leaves his parents and becomes one flesh with his wife. Two people become inseparably connected. To separate them would be like cutting one person in half. The person could not function and would likely die. Is this how we view marriage today?

Marriage is defined in the dictionary as the legal union of a man and woman as husband and wife. Though the legality of marriage is a social and economical necessity this definition sounds so cold. The word love does not appear in it at all!

In our modern world people think they can get married to “try out” a relationship and if it doesn’t suit them they can simply get divorced. In the Bible, Jesus tells us something very different about marriage. “So they are no longer two but one flesh. What therefore God has joined together, let not man separate." (Matthew 19:6 ESV) So I would define marriage something more like the following.

Marriage: The permanent union between one man and one woman who have fallen in love and chosen to spend the remainder of their mortal lives together.

Husbands in Marriage
In today’s world most men simply are not fulfilling their duties in marriage. They are lacking love and compassion, kindness and understanding, as well as largely lacking the Holy Spirit. Men are instead obsessed with money, power, greed, envy, and most of all lust. It is true that this has always been the desires of men but the modern world provides easy outlets for each of these things. For lust we have pornography and for money, envy, and greed we have credit cards and loans. The Bible warns against all of these things.

What does the Bible say that a man’s role is in marriage? Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. (Ephesians 5:25-28 ESV) We are one flesh with our wives. It simply makes sense to treat our own body with love, kindness, and respect.

Men tend to have trouble showing their emotions but women often judge the strength of their relationships on how loved they feel. God, having created these emotions, knows that men need to show how they feel about their wives. Husbands, love your wives!

Wives in Marriage
The Bible’s views on women in marriage are often misunderstood and are usually considered to be sexist or at least “meant for a different time“. However, like many things in the Bible, these verses are pulled out of their context and are misrepresented.

The most commonly used passage is this. Wives, submit to your own husbands, as to the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV) When people see the word submit they get very uncomfortable. We have enough trouble submitting to God and to earthly authorities. To say wives must submit to their husbands is just too much! It is sexist, right?

It is absolutely not sexist! If we look a few verses back we find something interesting. Give thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ. (Ephesians 5:20-21 ESV Emphasis Mine) The Bible says that we should submit to each other. It is a two way street. But why does Ephesians 5:22 specifically say that wives should submit to their husbands?

Though everyone wants to be both loved and respected, men often judge their relationships on respect. Women will more often show men a lot of love but not make him feel like he is respected. The Bible tells us to love and submit to each other. But it also tells men to emphasize love and women to emphasize respect through submission.

There is one more thing to point out to couples about this passage of scripture. The wife is compared to the church. For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit in everything to their husbands. (Ephesians 5:22-24 ESV)

Christ is the head of the church. However, He has graciously given the church both authority and responsibility on earth. He also sent us help by the Holy Spirit (John 14:16, 26). What I am saying is that submission is about showing respect to each other and not about having to be a slave with no rights.

Note: If your spouse is treating you poorly by Christian moral standards (cheating, lying, harming, etc) then they don’t deserve your respect. Follow Biblical standards to confront them. First, kindly tell them how you feel about it. Second, if it continues bring two or three witnesses with you to talk to them. Third, pursue church discipline and, if necessary, non-civil legal action.

God in Marriage
Marriage is first and fore most about commitment between two people. There is a song that most of know quite well that says “All you need is love”. Well, to be totally honest, this is a naive half truth. All we need is God and God is love (1 John 4:8).

When we talk about love it can mean so many different things. In the Greek language there are several different words for love. Each of them focus on a specific type of love. The three types we are going to examine are phileo which is friendship, eros which is sexual love or lust, and agape which is unconditional committed love.

What I am about to say is very shocking. Most couples do not have true unconditional love for one another. Why do I feel comfortable making such a statement? There are two main reasons:

First, any relationship that has broken up, married or otherwise, has ended because of some type of condition(s). Often by only one of the people, who obviously had conditional love for the other. Usually, this comes from having a phileo friendship love combined with an eros sexual attraction for someone.

Second, there are a lot of people who do not know God. In fact, the truth is that most people alive today fall into this category. You have all the non-religious people, people that believe in multiple gods, all works-based religious people, all godless religious people, and all Christian false converts. Remember that the Bible says that anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 John 4:8 ESV) One must love to know God and must know God to love completely.

I am speaking from experience about this. My wife has always been my best friend, my lover, and more recently the mother of my children. But it was only after we both came to Christ that I truly began to love her regardless of the circumstances. The difference is that I choose to love her all the time rather than only when she does and says what I want. That is agape love.

God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8 ESV) This verse shows us the greatest, deepest form of agape love. We don’t deserve what Christ did for us. He did it out of unconditional love for each and every one of us, despite anything that we have done. God gives us this gift freely and gives us plenty of opportunity to share that grace with others. But it is with our spouse that we can most deeply share this graceful love of God.

How to Have an Agape Marriage
There are three steps to ensuring your marriage is filled with agape love:

First, each person must come to true salvation in Jesus Christ. This is done by faith and personal repentance through intense prayer. Both husband and wife must do this on their own with no interference from their spouse.

Second, make sure your love for each other is based entirely on Biblical principles. A great way to do this is to have couple reading and prayer time as often as possible. If you have children set separate times for couple and family study and prayer. Another thing you can do is get a couples devotional book to help you. I recommend “The Love Dare”. It is a 40 day devotional aimed towards changing how we think about marriage and love.

Third, periodically check your martial love to make sure it is healthy. How do we do this? Well, like the law of Moses tests and convicts us of our sin, the Bible also has a test to gauge our love found in 1 Corinthians chapter 13.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. (1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ESV)

Conclusion
A healthy marriage is like a house. A solid foundation is required to keep it safe and strong. God is the foundation of a good marriage. A good Christian husband and wife are the support beams connected by walls of unconditional love. Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit provide the roof, covering the house and protecting it from the elements. This strong house will be the perfect place to raise a family

Repentance

2010-04-09T11:54:00.004-06:00

In today’s churches, by which I mean local congregations, denominations, and other “Christian” religions, true Biblical repentance has become an afterthought. Even several otherwise good Bible preaching churches avoid the topic like it is the plague. Many of these churches say that it just pushes people away instead of drawing them in.

What do I think of that? I say that it should. It is not our place as the church to draw crowds or to tell sinful men what they want to hear. Rather, we must tell them what they need to hear. We must tell them that we are all sinners and doomed to death and eternal damnation. And that only by deep personal repentance of sin and a true honest faith in the saving grace of Jesus Christ can we be spared this fate.

If we teach faith without repentance then we are dooming ourselves and those we teach to an unimaginable and horrible fate. With that in mind, let us take a closer look at what the Bible has to say about repentance.

Repentance Defined
Repentance is incorrectly defined in the dictionary as a change of thought and action to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged. Why is this modern definition wrong? It is a selfish reason for a correct action.

In the Old Testament one Hebrew word for repent is nacham. It means to change the course of action or to comfort. God chose to repent in this way several times throughout the Old Testament (Jeremiah 18:8, 10, Joel 2:13). What I mean by that is He chose to change his course of action towards individuals, usually because they ceased their evil deeds and repented of their sins. This leads us to the next Old Testament Hebrew word for repentance. Shuv means to return to the correct way. In the instances above the correct way is God’s way.

There are several New Testament Greek words for repentance. The first ones we should look at are the verbs metanoeo which means to perceive afterwards and metamelomai which means to care for afterwards. The other Greek word we will look at is the noun metanoia. This is the noun form of metanoeo and means afterthought and change of mind. Now lets combine all these definitions and compare our result against the dictionary version.

Correct Repentance: To perceive personal wrongdoing after the fact and change our thinking and course of action towards God’s correct way. To comfort and care for those we may have wronged by our actions.

Incorrect Repentance: A change of thought and action to correct a wrong and gain forgiveness from a person who is wronged.

Notice from the correct definition that the purpose of repenting is to do the right things rather than the wrong things. We choose God’s way because it is right and is best for us and others, not to please God because nothing we do in this sinful life can please Him. In the incorrect definition the purpose is to seek forgiveness and likely approval from those you wronged. One is centered on self image while the other centers on correctness which serves the greater good.

Note: All definitions and Greek and Hebrew words were found in Webster’s Dictionary and Vine’s Concise Dictionary of the Bible.

Repentance in Salvation
John the Baptist baptized those who made a choice to repent of their sins (Matthew 3, John 1). The baptism was not what forgave their sins. Water, even if it is blessed, cannot do that. Their sins were forgiven because they confessed and repented of their sins and had faith in God.

Like those who were baptized by John in the Jordan river, we must remember that it is our repentance and faith in Jesus Christ that opens the door to grace. It is not a work of repentance since no works can earn us God’s favor (Ephesians 2:8-9). It is simply the exercising of our God given free will. Remember that no one can repent and come to God unless God pulls that person to Himself (John 6:44). The Bible tells us that repentance is something God gives us and it is only possible because of His grace (Acts 5:31, 11:18).

Repentance and faith can best be understood as two sides of the same coin. It is impossible to place your faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior without first changing your mind about who He is and what He has done. Also, our sins are actually a rejection of God. They are the opposite of His ways. Biblical repentance, in relation to salvation, is changing your mind from rejection of Christ to faith in Christ and from sinning in rejection of God‘s ways to letting the Holy Spirit make God’s ways into your ways. Jesus shows us a great example of sin and repentance in the prodigal son parable.

"There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.

And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. "But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

“I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’” And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.
Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.' But he was angry and refused to go in.

His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!' And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'" (Luke 15:11-32 ESV)

Jesus told another parable about two men praying to God that shows us what true repentance looks like. "Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortionists, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.' But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, 'God, be merciful to me, a sinner!' I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted." (Luke 18:10-14 ESV)

We need to repentantly confess our sins to God with guilt, shame, and humility. God will forgive us all of our sins and lift the burdens of them off of our shoulders. From that time on we must have faith in all that He is and all He has done. From that moment He will faithfully love and care for us for all of eternity.

So in conclusion, deep sincere repentance to God is a required step for everyone in order to have that true honest faith God wants us to have. Repentance is a vital and completely necessary step towards salvation in Jesus Christ.

Does God Exist?

2010-04-04T12:05:00.004-06:00

The Bible tell us that we can not know that God exists. That we must follow Him by faith (Hebrews 11:6, John 20:29). However, there are many evidences that God has graciously left us so that we may grow in our faith and believe in Him whole heartedly. Let’s look at some of these evidences.

Biblical Evidence

We see one of these evidences every single day. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Their voice goes out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world. In them he has set a tent for the sun. (Psalms 19:1-4 ESV) Nature declares the existence of God.

God has also told us in our hearts that He exists (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Deep down we all can feel that there is something beyond this life. Our minds, corrupted by our sin nature, try to tell us otherwise. The Bible tells us that the fool says in his heart, "There is no God." (Psalms 14:1 ESV).

There are many more evidences for God throughout the Bible, such as the internal proofs of historical accuracy and prophecy as well as external proofs such as correct science, scholarship, and archeology. However, let’s move on and look at some of the logical evidences for God.

Logical Evidence

Most people around the world throughout history have believed in some kind of God. There must be something that causes this belief. This is called the ontological argument. The ontological argument uses the concept of God to prove God’s existence.

This argument defines God as a being that which no greater can be conceived. It is then argued that to exist is greater than to not exist, and therefore the greatest conceivable being must exist. If God did not exist, then God would not be the greatest conceivable being, and that would contradict the very definition of God. We won’t focus much on this argument as it tends to cause headaches.

The second logical evidence is the teleological argument. It states that since the universe displays such an amazing design, there must have been a divine Designer. For example, if the Earth were the slightest bit closer or farther away from the sun, it would not be capable of supporting much of the life it currently does. The other planets in our solar system are strategically placed to protect Earth.

If the elements in our atmosphere were even a few percentage points different, nearly every living thing on earth would die. The odds of a single protein molecule forming by chance is 1 in 10243, that’s a 10 followed by 243 zeros. A single cell is comprised of millions of protein molecules.

God provides the best explanation for fully functioning biological organisms, systems, and subsystems that couldn’t come about through gradual evolutionary process without totally ceasing to exist at lower, evolutionary levels. The alternative theory is that biological systems took huge, unseen leaps from simple to complex without any guided process or forward-looking instructions.

God also provides the best explanation for the absolute complexity inherent in cosmological, stellar, planetary, chemical and biological systems. The alternative theory is that random chance engineered apparent design.

That leads us to the third evidence called the cosmological argument or causation. This is the logic of cause and effect. Everything in the universe must have a cause. Thus, the universe itself must have a cause. Whatever caused the universe be exist outside of the universe and be uncaused. This uncaused being must all-knowing and eternal to have caused the universe. God is described in the Bible as an eternal, all-knowing, uncaused being.

God provides the best explanation for the existence of the universe and all that's in it. The alternative theory is that "nothing" exploded and resulted in everything that we see.

The fourth logical evidence is called the moral argument. Every human culture has had behavioral law. Almost every human being has a basic sense of right and wrong. We all know that lying, cheating, stealing, killing, etc. are bad. Where did this inherent morality come from if not from a pure and perfect God?

In other words, God provides the best explanation for the existence of humankinds emotion and inherent moral values throughout the world. The only alternate theory is that unguided materialistic processes evolve higher human consciousness

Conclusion
Despite all of these, and many other, evidences the Bible tells us that many will reject belief in God in exchange for belief in a lie and worldly things (Romans 1:25). That sounds exactly like what is going on in the world today. The Bible also tells us that there is no excuse for not believing in God (Romans 1:20).

A couple of great books to read on this subject are The Case for a Creatorby Lee Strobel and Evidence for Faith 101by Bruce Bickel and Stan Jantz. I gathered much of my information from these books. Believing in God is not a blind leap of faith. It is a small step towards what we already feel deep down is the truth.

Check out our upcoming video series on Genesis for lots of evidence for special creation.

Faith VS Works?

2010-03-25T10:54:00.003-06:00

Let me start off by saying that the very argument of faith versus works is completely absurd to me. What do I mean by that? It is one of those things that bug me so much. Faith versus works is not the correct terminology. Why?

What Is Faith?

We all have faith in various things every day of our lives. Faith is defined as the confident belief or trust in the truth or trustworthiness of a person, concept or thing. We have faith that the sun will rise each morning, our alarm clock will go off, and our car will start. We get this kind of faith from our personal experiences.

Let’s say you buy a brand new car. That car runs great for over a year. Each day you get in the car expecting it to start and it does. Over time you would naturally trust that the car will start because it always has. The car’s history has proven it trustworthy and thus you gain faith in that car. The car is not your faith but it is a pillar of that faith. This is the pillar of historical consistency. In the case of a car it is your only pillar and will eventually fail.

Now one day that car would eventually have problems and not start. But, for the sake of our comparison, let’s say that you sell the car before it ever has problems. Your memory of that car would be of it always starting and running great. The Bible is like that memory. It is a window into the past. It is externally proven by correct science, archeology, and other ancient writings. In other words, the people, places, and events are historically accurate. This requires absolutely no faith because it is in the past and we need not have faith in the past.

The Bible is also self-proving internally by prophecy, consistency, and miracles, the latter of which does require some degree of faith. Why? It is because most of us have never seen miracles such as these. I have never seen a blind man suddenly regain his sight or a cripple standing up and walking across the street. Have you? This is another pillar of faith. It is trusting in what we can’t see from the past.

Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, is hope. Hope is defined as (1) a belief in a positive outcome related to events and circumstances in one's life or (2) the feeling that what is wanted can be had or that events will turn out for the best. So hope is for the events that have yet to happen. Those of us that have ever had car problems in the past know all about hope. We hope the car will start each morning. Hope is the most important pillar of faith.

The Bible describes faith in this way. Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1 KJV Emphasis mine) Faith is made up of Trust from the historical consistency of the Bible and Hope for the unseen, both past and future.

The perfect example is that both the Bible and extra-biblical sources tell us that Jesus died on a cross. That is historical truth and can be trusted. The Bible says that he did it to save us from our sins and give us eternal life in Heaven (John 3:16-17). We must choose to believe that this is true though we cannot see it directly. This is hope in both the unseen past (Atonement) and future (Heaven).

Why do we need faith? The Bible tells us that the purpose of faith is to please God (Hebrews 11:6) and in doing so we gain salvation for our souls (1 Peter 1:8-9). The object of our faith is the saving grace of Jesus Christ.

Faith and works can co-exist and thus are not in opposition to each other. Many people in other religions have true honest faith that their works can please God and get them to Heaven. The Bible does not teach this. So the true opponent of works is not faith. It is grace!

What is Grace?

Grace is defined as unmerited divine assistance given humans for their regeneration or sanctification. This means that we cannot do anything to deserve salvation (Romans 3:10-12, 20-23). Biblical Christians call this the free gift of God (Romans 3:24). This is the absolute cornerstone of Christianity. That is why many religions or denominations are not considered Christian even though they use the Bible and/or believe in the person of Jesus Christ.

Grace is a loving merciful gift from God (Ephesians 2:4-5). It was paid for by the blood of Jesus Christ on the cross (Romans 3:24-25). Grace thus becomes the opposite of sin. Again, it is a free gift. We must simply claim that gift. The Bible is how we discover the gift of Grace. Faith and repentance are how we claim it.

Grace VS Works

For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9 ESV Emphasis mine) This verse directly shows us that we are saved only by the grace of God through faith in Jesus Christ and not by anything we can or will ever do or not do.

Paul explains it better than I ever could. And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work. (Romans 11:6 KJV) What he is saying here is that grace and works are in direct opposition to one another. Grace is free and work means to earn. You cannot earn that which is free. You can only accept the free gift.

Many would argue that James paints a different picture when he says; Faith apart from works is dead. (James 2:26) The problem comes from people thinking that faith and grace are synonymous. Faith is what we have in Jesus to gain salvation. Grace simply states that salvation is a free gift from God. They are two completely different things that both relate to salvation through Jesus Christ.

Faith and works are indeed closely related. In the writings of Paul we can begin to piece together the relation. First we must understand that by accepting God’s gift of grace through Jesus Christ we are justified by Him. But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to his own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by his grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life. (Titus 3:4-7 ESV Emphasis mine)

This opens the door for the Holy Spirit to enter us and sanctify us. But we ought always to give thanks to God for you, brothers beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first-fruits to be saved, through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth. (2 Thessalonians 2:13 ESV Emphasis mine) When the Spirit of God dwells inside of us is it any surprise that good works will follow? Jesus refers to this as good fruit and says it requires His presence or else it means nothing (John 15:5, Matthew 7, 12).

Truly good works that are acceptable to God will happen when we are saved by grace because the Holy Spirit creates them and they are not our own doing. James was saying that those who truly have faith in Jesus Christ will bear good fruit, or works. These are not works of the law but works of love (Matthew 22:37-39).

Legalism

Notice that I said that sin is the opposite of grace and that works are in direct opposition to grace. Does that mean that works are in fact sin? There is a lot of sin that can come from works-based thinking but the works themselves are not sin. This is known as legalism.

Our works by themselves are filled with pride, fear, ambition, envy, and many other sinful ideas. God called them filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6). The Bible tells us that not one of us does truly good works (Romans 3:12). When works are done under our own steam, they are also done under our own motives.

The nation of Israel was not saved by keeping the law (aka, works) but by the yearly sacrifice on the Day of Atonement that temporarily covered their sin. Jesus is the ultimate and final sacrifice.

God does not simply want us to follow His commandments to try and earn our way to Heaven. Isaiah and Jesus put this way, “This people honor me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” (Matthew 15:8-9 ESV) He wants us to love Him with every fiber of our being. He wants us to believe in Him wholly and have faith in His saving work on the cross, His free gift of grace.

Christians and non-believers both need to unload the heavy burden of trying to save their own lives. We can’t do it ourselves! Jesus Christ has already done it for us. His hand always has been and always will be reaching out toward you, but you are the one that has to grasp it.

All About Hell

2010-03-22T12:28:00.004-06:00

The Bible talks a lot about a place called Hell. Jesus spoke of it over 100 times! He did not skirt around the topic of Hell and neither should we. Is Hell real? If so, what exactly is it and why did God create it? Will all non-Christians go there and what will it be like? Let’s look at what the Bible has to say and see if it answers these questions for us.

Understanding Hell

I write a lot about the love, forgiveness, and grace that God offers us through His son Jesus Christ. Sometimes people read about an all-loving God and get the idea that He would not send people to Hell. Some think that Hell is just a scare tactic, created by man or God, to get people to repent.

Others think that God will simply let everyone into Heaven. This is the key principle of the world view and religion known as universalism. The problem with thinking like this is that it trivializes sin. Instead of being totally depraved and in need of a savior humans are just biding time until we all go to Heaven. The Bible clearly tells us that this is not true.

Jesus said, "I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6 ESV emphasis mine)

The Bible teaches us that all of have sinned (Romans 3:23) and that sin leads to a spiritual death (Romans 6:23). All of our sins, no matter how small or well-intentioned are sins against God (Psalms 51:4) who is sinless and holy.

God is a kind, merciful Being who loves us dearly. He is not only a loving God, He is love itself! (1 John 4:8) However, this does not override His other attributes. God is all-loving but He is first and foremost a holy and righteous God. So holy in fact that He can’t tolerate sin at all. He is a God whose anger burns against the wicked and disobedient (Isaiah 5:25, Hosea 8:5, Zechariah 10:3). The Bible tells us that God hates all type of sin (Proverbs 6:16-19). So He must judge us accordingly.

On the Day of Judgment everyone will be raised from the dead, judged, and sorted by the Father like a shepherd sorts his sheep from his goats (Mathew 25:32). Those who go to Hell will know that they were judged fairly by God (Psalms 76:10) and that they alone are to blame for their actions and punishment (Deuteronomy 32:3-5).

When believers die we go to be with Jesus in Heaven until our bodily resurrection (2 Corinthians 5:6-8, Philippians 1:23). At that time we will be judged as righteous because we have been credited with His righteousness (Romans 3:22, 4:24). Why? Because Jesus has bought us with His blood (1 Peter 1:18-19, Hebrews 10:3-4), justified us before the Father (Romans 5:8-9), and sanctified us so that we can be holy and blameless (Hebrews 10:9-10).

Those who did not accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus Christ are judged based on their own works. They are still under the law of Old Testament (Galatians 3:10, Romans 3:19-22). Since all are sinful and even one sin means eternal death. Then, those people will go to Hell, which is an eternal punishment in the absence of God.

God is an infinite and eternal being (Psalms 90:2). Hell is described all throughout Scripture as “eternal and unquenchable fire” (Matthew 25:41, 3:12, Mark 9:44-49), “shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2), a place of “torment” and “fire” (Luke 16:23-24), “everlasting destruction” (2 Thessalonians 1:9), a place where “the smoke of torment rises forever and ever” (Revelation 14:10-11), and a “lake of burning sulfur” where the wicked are “tormented day and night forever and ever” (Revelation 20:10). Jesus says that Heaven and Hell are both eternal (Mathew 25:46). In the Old Testament God’s wrath is described as burning like fire.

Some people believe in a temporary Hell that is much like prison. You serve your time, suffering, and then go to Heaven. This is often called purgatory. The Bible teaches that there is no purgatory or temporary Hell. We do not need to suffer for our sins in order to get to heaven because Jesus suffered for us (Romans 5:8, Isaiah 53:5, and 1 John 2:2). Jesus makes it clear that there is not another chance to repent after we die (Luke 16:19-31).

Why Was Hell Created?

Hell was created to house Satan and all of his followers. This includes Satan himself, demons (the former angels that follow Satan), and all sinners who have not accepted Jesus Christ. The unrepentant are slaves to sin (Romans 6:16-17, 20-21). Let’s look a little closer at Satan so that we can see why he deserved to go to Hell.

Satan defied God and fell from Heaven. This is symbolically described in scripture (Isaiah 14:12-14, Ezekiel 28:12-18). These events describe the evil deeds of two kings of Babylon. They also refer to the spiritual power behind these two men, Satan.

We don’t know exactly when Satan fell from Heaven but we do know that the angels have existed since before the earth was made (Job 38:4-7). We also know that Satan must have fallen before he tempted Adam and Eve in the garden (Genesis 3:1-14). It is unclear how much time had passed between the fall and the temptation.

In these scriptures the angels are called “morning stars”. One of these angels, Satan, decides that he should have a throne higher than that of God. Satan says, “I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.” Yet thou shall be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit. (Isaiah 14:13-15 KJV)

What we see going on here is Satan using his free will to rebel against God. He tempted Adam and Eve into rebelling against God in the Garden of Eden. Today, we follow our sin nature rather than God’s perfect will for us just like Adam and Eve did. In the long run we see that Satan will get exactly what he deserves for that rebellion, a one way ticket to Hell. And because we are sinful, which is rebellion against God, we deserve the same fate.

Does God allow us to continue to live in sin and be tempted by Satan? Yes He does (Job 1:6-7). If He didn’t it would violate our free will, our freedom to choose to love and follow God or to sin against Him. He wants us to choose to follow Him or our affection for Him would not truly be love.

There is Hope

But there is hope! God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:8-9 ESV) We must repent of our sins and faithfully believe that Jesus died on the cross for our sins and to give us eternal life (John 3:16-17). Then we will be justified by faith and sanctified by the life of Jesus and the continuing work of the Holy Spirit in us.

I don’t like discussing Hell and Satan. I much prefer that people come into Christ out of love, desire, and personal need rather than by fear of eternal Hell. If you are reading this and are not already in Christ then please pray to Him to forgive your sins and grant you eternal life. But, believer or not, pray also for God to show you that there is nothing to fear because He has His hand on you and will never let go of you (John 10:28-29, Romans 8:38-39 Ephesians 4:30).

Moral Grey Areas

2010-03-17T11:35:00.007-06:00

There is thought by so many to be a very fine line between that which is good and that which is bad. And that line is so easily blurred by circumstances or feelings or the fault of others that there is an enormous gray area in which one can cast away all personal blame and count it as “ok”, or at least as “not that bad”. How are we to know what really is ok and what is not? Are there truly areas in which circumstances can explain away guilt in what would otherwise be considered a shady matter? And if there are exceptions to the rules, then how are we to know what those exceptions are? Who gets to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Why can’t I decide? Anything is ok, as long as I’m happy, right? Maybe, as long as no one else gets hurt? Maybe, because they did it first? Maybe, because everyone is doing it? Maybe, as long as no one knows?

This world is built upon selfish desires. To be considered acceptable as a woman one must fill the selfish desires of men by fitting into the stereotype (skinny, pretty, fashionable, etc.). To be considered acceptable as a man one must fill the selfish desires of women (rich, muscular, handsome, etc.). When one plans out what they want in a mate they do not think of things such as “someone who is happy with themselves” or “someone who I can strive to make happy”. They list things such as “someone who can take care of me financially” or “someone my friends would be jealous over”. No matter what is on the list, however, all of them can really be boiled down to one. “Someone who can make me happy”.

This selfishness that is in all of us permeates our very existence. It is what drives everything in our modern culture. Advertisements put forth their products with a promise of “what you can get out of it”, and with relish we have taken this attitude into everything in our lives. Work, family, finances, love, hate, activity, leisure…. You name it. We have come to the point where our personal happiness is paramount above all else. We leave our spouse because they no longer “make me happy”. We get mad at our kids because they don’t do what “I want” them to do. We justify our actions by what we want, or, more often, by what we feel. Even our so called “acts of selflessness” are done to bolster ourselves in one way or another.

Our entertainment reflects this selfishness in movies, sitcoms, reality TV, music, and even art. Not only that, but they teach us that the ends justify the means. As long as its all ok in the end, we don’t have to feel bad about how we got there. A movie that I saw the other night makes a great example, and is actually the inspiration for this entire blog.

Before I go into that though, let me ask you a few questions. I want you to think about the morality of these questions. Are they right or wrong? Are there feelings, circumstances, or fault of others that could justify these situations? Is there any other way that these things might be considered “ok”?

Is it ok to spend time alone with someone of the opposite gender when you are not single? Should you be allowed to feel “ok” about kissing that person if you refused further advances? Should your partner have the right to be upset even though you didn’t sleep with that person? How upset should they be allowed to get? If your partner throws you out of the house, would it be wrong to take that person up on their offer, since refusing did you no good? If your partner finds out that you went back and slept with that person anyway, should they have the right to be upset, since it was their fault for kicking you out in the first place? If you were honest about the things that happened and were truly sorry, should your partner forgive you? How quickly?

Now the story…

A man is in a long term committed relationship, but refuses to marry the woman that he is with. They are expecting an unplanned child. He is concerned about how this child will affect his way of life. By chance he meets a younger girl that shows him a lot of interest, despite the fact that he told her that he is in a relationship. He was, however, reluctant to give this information at first. They walked to a nearby tree house and spent some time alone talking. He treated interactions with this girl as though he were not in a relationship at all, let alone one that was so serious. He purposefully put himself in the position to be tempted by her.

He went out with her and lied to his girlfriend about it. He kissed the girl several times, but his red flags didn’t go up until she offered for him to come back to her place. Then he resisted. In the meantime, his girlfriend became aware of the fact that he wasn’t where he was supposed to be. When his girlfriend “unjustly” threw him out, he returned to the girl and finished what he had started.

It was only the next morning that he realized that he didn’t want to be with the girl, but truly did love his girlfriend. And so he went to get her back. They talked and were on the verge of a reconciliation, but, having been warned that lying would drive her away, he admitted to returning to the girl the night before. She got upset all over again, and locked him out of their house. But now he was determined to get her back. He refused to leave their porch until she let him back in. He waited for several days, patiently portraying a truly redemptive behavior. Finally, she opened the door for him and let him in.

I was astonished by this scenario, not so much by the actions taken by the man, but by the lack of definition in morality. He put himself alone with the girl thinking that there was nothing wrong with an innocent interaction, but innocence was lost the moment that he felt a physical attraction to her. He went out with her, lying to his girlfriend, but felt that there was nothing wrong with it as long as nothing happened. He kissed her, driven purely by selfish desire, but felt that it was ok as long as he didn’t sleep with her, and as long as his girlfriend never found out. He denied her invitation to her place and built up this act as “the right thing”, justifying away all the wrongs that he had done up to this point.

When his girlfriend got upset and threw him out, he figured that for the good thing that he had done he had gotten in trouble anyway. He didn’t take time to think about what he really wanted until after he had taken deliberate steps away from it. Then he sought to rectify his “one mistake”. Now he was truly apologetic. When he spoke to her he was sure to be honest with her, as he had been warned to do. However, when she got upset at him again, he felt that she was over reacting. He had just told her the truth and felt that he should have been rewarded, not punished. The next thing he did had redemptive qualities. He waited. Without any knowledge of how long it would take or how he would get through it. He stayed despite personal cost of comfort, schedule, and pride (all the neighbors were very aware of his presence on the porch).

In the end she took him back and they were able to carry on their lives together, presumably to build their family. Does this happy ending truly justify all the questionable things that had happened? Allow me to ask the questions again. Is it ok to spend time alone with someone of the opposite gender when you are not single? Should you be allowed to feel “ok” about kissing that person if you refused further advances? Should your partner have the right to be upset even though you didn’t sleep with that person? How upset should they be allowed to get? If your partner throws you out of the house, would it be wrong to take that person up on their offer, since refusing did you no good? If your partner finds out that you went back and slept with that person anyway, should they have the right to be upset, since it was their fault for kicking you out in the first place? If you were honest about the things that happened and were truly sorry, should your partner forgive you? How quickly?

Does this story change the way that you would answer these questions? What is it, if anything, that changed your mind? If nothing changed, why do you think that is? If it were you in this story what would you have done differently? Why? What if you were the role of the “girlfriend”? What would you have done in her situation? Would it be the same or different? Why?

The reason that I am asking all of these questions is to help give you some insight into your personal moral compass. As I continue on, I would like you to keep in mind the things that you have discovered about yourself.

One thing that I hope that this story and these questions have shown you is that in our current world, what we perceive as a moral gray area is subjective for us as individuals, and yet we expect to be able to hold others to our standards, denying them the right to have their own subjectivity. This moral gray area that we are faced with every day is blurred even further by the subjective grayness of those around us. Trying to figure out right from wrong is made absolutely impossible by the very existence of these “Moral Grays”. What I intend to prove from here on out is that these grays, in all honesty, are nonexistent, as well as to point out what the Bible says about the difference between right and wrong.

Good vs. Bad

First, I would like to explain what “good” is, and what “bad” is. As it turns out, these words are difficult to define. The dictionary has lengthy explanations of these words and can be used to explain a lot of things, such as the state of fruit, or the amount of skill one has. Even when discussing only morality there are multiple definitions for each that we can apply. The following are the closest proximity to what we are looking for. A “good” action is one that is “likely to produce the right results or conditions”. A “bad” action is one that is “likely to cause unhappiness or disappointment”. I would like you to note that the dictionary does not define these as actions as “likely to produce the right results or conditions for you” or “likely to cause unhappiness or disappointment for you”. A good action is likely to produce the right results for all of the parties involved. This is because if there is a likelihood of unhappiness or disappointment it must be classified as a bad action.

So what does this tell us about the actions taken in the scenario that we discussed above? We have to look at each action that was taken and determine who it is that is involved in the action and whether the results are likely to produce right results or cause unhappiness for any of the parties involved. I will not go through the entire scenario, but let’s just look at one of the decisions that this man made.

The first decision that he made within the story was the decision to spend time alone with a girl to whom he had an attraction. This decision obviously includes the man and the girl, and were they the only two that could be affected by the decision, this might have been considered a good action. However, the fact that the man was in a relationship means that his girlfriend would also be affected by this decision, and so she must also be included. The end outcome of this situation for her would be one of two. She would either be lied to or dumped. There is a high likelihood of leaving her either unhappy or disappointed. And so, due to that likelihood, this would be classified as a bad action according to the dictionary definition.

It is fairly simple to see how these definitions can be applied to each and every decision that the man made. These definitions give us a much better understanding of good and bad, but there is still a question of gray area. Since we are speaking in likelihoods here, doesn’t that automatically mean gray area? What about a situation where he spent time alone with the girl and the girlfriend wasn’t unhappy? We would have to look at why the girlfriend wasn’t unhappy. Was it because she didn’t know? If this were the case, then we have to examine the decision to lie to her. Was it a good action or a bad action? We could say that it would be a good action to lie to her because telling her the truth would make her unhappy and therefore would make it a bad action. However, since this result would be due to the original decision, and since the truth about that action would make her unhappy, this would make it a bad action.

I was a little surprised to find that what Jesus said about the subject was remarkably like the dictionary definition. In the book of Matthew Jesus gives us two examples. He says,

“Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit.” (Mathew 12:33 ESV)

“The good person out of his good treasure brings forth good, and the evil person out of his evil treasure brings forth evil.”(Mathew 12:35 ESV)

Jesus was well versed since childhood in the scriptures, known today as the Old Testament. He knew from them what was good and what was bad. He is also the only human being ever to have lived perfectly according to that standard. He is authoritative in these ways, aside from his being God himself, and so it is safe to say that this is sound Biblical doctrine.

What these examples teach us is that if an action is good it will bring forth good, and if an action is bad it will bring forth bad. So we must wait to see the fruits of our actions to know for sure if our actions are good or bad. I think, though, that if you combine the dictionary definition with the biblical definition, you put the forethought in to prevent the infliction that would cause our actions to become bad, and then we can be verified by the fruits of those actions. If we think it through and determine that it is a good action to take, but the fruits of that action turn out bad, then it was a bad action. If you figure that it is ok to spend time alone with someone of the opposite sex that is not your partner and it ends up leading to you getting kicked out of your house, then it was not a good action. If it was not a good action the first time, it would certainly not be a good action the second time!!

Logic denotes, and the Bible verifies, that if an action is not good, then it is bad. If the fruits of the action are not good, then the action is not good. From a Christian perspective, God is the epitome of goodness (Deuteronomy 32:4). In fact, He alone is good (Mark 10:18). Everything good comes from Him (James 1:17). Anything that is not in line with Him is not good. The old WWJD (What Would Jesus Do) adage, while often miss- or over-used, can help us to better determine what is good and what is bad. If it is not in line with the teachings of Jesus, then it is not something that we should have any part in.

This is where any argument for a “Moral Gray Area” is rendered completely moot. God gave us a very specific list of rules to refer to for us to determine what is good and what is bad. He left no area undetermined. In the Law (See Deuteronomy, Leviticus, Numbers) He has given us all that we need to know on the subject. Nonetheless, there is not one single Christian that I know that can quote the Law. There are over 600 rules listed! No one could remember all that!

God, all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful, knew this and made provision for it. He sent His Spirit to dwell in the hearts of those who love Him. The Spirit puts the knowledge of God into our hearts (1 Corinthians 2:10-12, 2 Corinthians 3:3). The Spirit tells us when we are in danger of breaking God’s law or when we have already broken it. With the Spirit in our hearts, we have immediate access to this knowledge. There are times when we try to argue our side, but any argument that we might have is wrong. The Spirit, who speaks the heart of God, is always right, as He is always right. In His infinite wisdom, He left no room for “Moral Grays”.

Missy

The Bible is not Subjective

2010-03-16T14:18:00.001-06:00

Many people believe that the Bible is subject to their own interpretation. This is absolutely not true and frankly can be a very dangerous way of thinking. Let’s take look at some of the reasons why people might try to use the Bible in this way and how the Bible can be correctly interpreted. Keep in mind the following verse while we look at this topic.

And we have something more sure, the prophetic word, to which you will do well to pay attention as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the morning star rises in your hearts, knowing this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture comes from someone's own interpretation. No prophecy was ever produced by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:19-21 ESV Emphasis mine)

Postmodern Thinking

Postmodernism brought about two things that have damaged the correct interpretation of the Bible. They are deconstructionism and relativism.

Deconstructionism is the theory that no text has a single definite meaning. This theory is divided into two parts. First, no text can possibly convey a single consistent, coherent, reliable message to all readers. Second, the author is not as responsible for the content of the text as his personal environment, culture, and language.

Deconstructionism may be useful for interpreting music or poetry. However, it quickly becomes apparent that deconstructionism directly opposes the teachings of the Bible (John 1:17-18, 14:16, 15:26-27 Galatians 2:5). As with many other forms of thinking that came out of postmodernism, deconstructionism is simply a denial of absolute truth. It gives humans control over determining what is true.

This brings us to our second postmodern view. Relativism states that no way of thinking is right or wrong. This is not at all the view of Christianity and thus is not compatible with Biblical interpretation.

The problem is that most people do not realize that their worldview is actually postmodern relativism, even most Christians today. So they read the Bible, take what they can handle, and write the rest off as an allegory with a moral message.

An example of this is the doctrine of Hell. Jesus talks about Hell over 100 times in the Bible but many Christians today deny Hell exists, probably because it scares them. They will say that Jesus was speaking metaphorically. This is relativism at work. Christians should take the word of God as absolute truth (2 Timothy 2:15).

These views are not what the Bible teaches us. The Bible says that our way of thinking is foolishness to God (1 Corinthians 3:19) and that only His way of thinking is just and perfect (Deuteronomy 32:4). So how can we interpret the Bible correctly?

Important Tools for Understanding God’s Word

There are several things we can do to make sure we are correctly interpreting the Bible. We will cover a few of these things but first we must point out the most important tools to correct Biblical understanding.

The first one I want to cover is the Bible itself. Of course you need a Bible to be able to read it. But you also need make sure you have a trustworthy translation. Here are a few trustworthy versions that I know of. The King James (KJV, NKJV), New International (NIV), English Standard (ESV), and New American Standard (NASB) are great direct translations. The Message and New Living Translation (NLT) are great paraphrased versions for young readers. These translations all put emphasis on correct translation of Greek and Hebrew words to ensure correct doctrine. A Bible dictionary that includes Greek words and definitions can be helpful for serious study.

The second thing is the Holy Spirit. He is by far the most important tool in understanding the Bible. Just as the Bible was created by God’s Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16-17, 2 Peter 1:20-21) so too must it be interpreted by Him.

We must have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us to understand scripture. To have the Spirit we must have faithfully and repentantly accepted Jesus Christ. It is the gospel that leads people to Christ. Thus, someone with the Spirit must preach the gospel and witness to us for us to gain the Holy Spirit.

The next tool is prayer. When we sit down to read the Bible we should pray for the Spirit to help us to understand God’s word both as a narrative and as a guide for life. If we come across something we don’t understand we can stop reading and pray for understanding. Then we can reread the passage in context (3 verses before and 3 after). I like to say short thankful prayers when I gain knowledge or understanding from the Bible.

The Method for Understanding God’s Word

Believe it or not, there is actually a scientific method for studying the Bible. It is called Biblical Hermeneutics. Biblical hermeneutics is the science of knowing how to properly interpret the various types of literature found in the Bible. For example, a psalm should often, but not always, be interpreted differently than a prophecy. A proverb should be understood and applied differently from a law. This method helps us to know how to interpret, understand, and apply the Bible in our lives.

The first law of Biblical hermeneutics is that the Bible should be interpreted literally. This means that the Bible says what it means and means what it says. This is in direct opposition to deconstructionism.

A second crucial law of Biblical hermeneutics is exegesis which states that a verse or passage has to be interpreted historically, grammatically, and contextually. Historical interpretation refers to understanding the culture, background, and situation in which the author is referring to. Grammatical interpretation is recognizing the rules of grammar and nuances of the Hebrew and Greek languages and applying those principles to the understanding of a passage. Contextual interpretation involves always taking the surrounding context of a passage into consideration when trying to determine the meaning. The general rule is three verses before and after or the whole chapter.

Some think that this method of Bible study stifles the Spirit’s ability to give us personal revelation through scripture (Hebrews 4:12). Hermeneutics does not diminish the Spirit’s ability to speak to us personally through the word of God. Nothing could do that. It just keeps us honest.

God-Breathed

2010-03-15T11:50:00.004-06:00

The Father promises that His word will never fade (Isaiah 40:8). It will always be here and will always be relevant to our lives. That is why it is extremely important that we understand that the Bible is valid and true. It is the very word of God.

Christians believe that the Bible is the true word of God and is in fact Theopneustos as Paul put it in 2 Timothy 3:16. Theopneustos is Greek for God-breathed. That is to say that God knew what would be said about Him, his son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and the events accounted in the Bible. He also knew what books or letters would later become the Bible that we know and use today.

All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness. (2 Timothy 3:16 NIV)

God only allowed the forty plus authors and the members of the council of Nicaea to write and use what he wanted them to. I also believe He played a major role in the reformation of the church. However, as Jesus himself said, there will always be a path to the Father through Jesus Christ from the time he died on the cross until this very day. That path will always be open until the end of the age.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)

What does it really mean to be God-breathed? It means that the Holy Spirit helped these authors to see what the will of God was.

For no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. Men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit. (2 Peter 1:21 ESV)

The Bible is purely a book of history, law, and prophecy. It is the history of God’s relationship with man. During that history he gave his chosen people of Israel the law and the prophets.

The law was to show us how far we had fallen from God’s presence. It was a list of our shortcomings and a list of how to live correctly. But the truth was that none could follow the law, in practice and thought, all of the time. God knew this and showed what our sin cost us through the sacrificial system.

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 ESV)

For the wages of sin is death. But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 ESV)

This system foreshadowed the sacrifice Jesus would make for us on the cross. For instance, the way the blood was poured out by the high priest in the holy of holies in the shape of a cross. Jesus was called the “Lamb of God” by John the Baptist. The spotless lamb was considered a very important sacrifice.

The next day he saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, "Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! (John 1:29 ESV)

The other thing God gave the Israelites was the prophets. Prophets served two main purposes. To warn the people when they strayed from God’s law and to speak the prophecy of God’s plan. Often no one, not even the prophets, knew exactly what some of these things meant at the time.

That is one of the most interesting things about the Bible. It is self-proving. There are over 300 prophecies in the Old Testament that came true in the life of Jesus Christ. Many of which he could not have made happen himself.

Jesus Christ told us of the most important thing through the Gospels of his Apostles. He told us about what will happen when we die! If the wage of sin is death, then we are in the absence of God and his creation when we die. This is what we call Hell. However, if we accept the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the son of God himself, then we are saved by his Grace through our Faith in Him. This too is prophecy.

But you might ask, “What is the word of God?” In other words, “How do we know that the Bible is the correct scripture?” Well, Jesus Himself confirmed the Old Testament scripture. He believed in the Father, Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, David, and the prophets including Jonah.

Then he said to them, "These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you, that everything written about me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled." (Luke 24:44 ESV)

Jesus also trusted in the Apostles. They too believed in the Old Testament as well as the Gospels they wrote and the epistles of Paul. Also, in 1 Timothy 5:18 Paul quotes both Deuteronomy 25:4 and Luke 10:7.

And count the patience of our Lord as salvation, just as our beloved brother Paul also wrote to you according to the wisdom given him, as he does in all his letters when he speaks in them of these matters. There are some things in them that are hard to understand, which the ignorant and unstable twist to their own destruction, as they do the other Scriptures. (2 Peter 3:15-16 ESV)

The Bible says that certain people did certain things in certain places at certain times. Archeology tends to agree with the Bible most of the time and has yet to prove even one person, place, or event to be incorrect.

Scholarship shows us that these writings are indeed over 1900 years old. New artifacts and ancient writings are being discovered and put to the test all the time.

External sources, such as the writings of Josephus, back up the historical claims of the Bible.

All of this can only take us so far. The Bible is historically accurate. There is no reason not to trust that it is true. However, faith is required to do the rest.
How do we get that kind of faith? We read the Bible and pray for God to show us its truth. He will because he loves us and wants relationship with us. It doesn’t happen overnight and often works slowly over time. Here are some signs that I felt when I was rescued by the Father, though it is different for everyone.

1. I grew tired of the way my life was going. I wanted something to change but I didn’t know what. I started feeling guilty for the things I did both in the past and current things. Some things which had always been normal for me now brought with them a deep sense of shame. I wanted to rid myself of these burdens I was carrying, such as the guilt and shame.

2. I could feel an emotional pull. Much like when you begin to fall in love with someone. But in this case there was no visible person. So I talked to a friend who told me to pray and read my Bible. I did and something inside me changed. I learned that these feelings of shame and guilt were the Father convicting me of my sins. He was drawing me into relationship with Him.

3. I discovered that the Bible told me that Jesus Christ had died on the cross for my sins and I needed to pray with all of my heart for Him to forgive me. I did and the shame and guilt started to lift off of me. It took many prayers and lots of reading but soon I felt it lift completely. This was what we call Justification.

4. I sought fellowship with those who understood my situation and I began attending a non-denominational Christian church. Though congregational church is not a biblical mandate I do think it is the best way for us to come together in worship and praise and to share our faith with each other.

5. One night, during an intense prayer, I felt something indescribable inside of me. It is not like something out of a movie or book. It was more subtle and personal. Since that day, I have never felt alone. The Holy Spirit moved inside of me. Then, I gave myself over to the will of the Father. I learned to live in relationship with Him. I learned to walk through life one day at a time, trusting God to guide me. This is the process of sanctification.

Texual Accuracy in the Bible

2010-03-04T21:26:00.002-07:00

Many would say that the Biblical texts are not trustworthy. I have heard several arguments as to why people think that the Bible cannot be trusted. Most of these ideas are based on vague and often false information. They tend to fall apart after taking a closer look at the Bible and where it really came from. Let’s look at some of the more common objections people have.

Were the authors of the Bible biased?

Some would argue that you can’t trust the Bible because the authors were believers in God and/or Jesus Christ, and so are inclined to embellish the truth. For this argument I have three points.

First, most events in history are recorded by those close to the situation. If we can’t trust these types of accounts then we can’t trust journals, biographies, autobiographies, or history books at all. That would be very bad! Science, archeology, accounting and history all rely very heavily on these types of writings.

Second, these authors, namely in the New Testament, sure made themselves look pretty bad at times. If they were lying why would they do this? I would write that I understood everything perfectly and did everything right if I were writing something untrue. I certainly wouldn’t make myself look bad! Would you?

For instance, the night Jesus was arrested Peter denied knowing Him three times (Mark 14:66-72). Peter and the other apostles were also rebuked by Jesus on several occasions (Mark 8:33, Luke 9:42, 18:16, Matthew 8:26, 26:52). These are not fabrications but are honest, truthful accounts from repentant men.

Finally, if I wanted to fabricate a hoax I would make it as credible as I could. This is not what the writers of the New Testament did. They wrote that women, who at that time were not credible witnesses, found Jesus’ empty tomb three days after He had died (Mark 16:4-6). That didn’t help them convince people. So why did they write it that way? Because it was the truth!

Are our copies of the Bible accurate?

This is a very good question. People should be thinking and asking questions about this sort of thing. Coming to faith is not a blind action. For the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding; he stores up sound wisdom for the upright; he is a shield to those who walk in integrity. (Proverbs 2:6-7 ESV).

Let’s start off by taking a quick look at some information about the earliest manuscripts. These are not the original writings but rather the earliest known copies we have. Historians look at the number of copies produced of an ancient writing and how close to the time of the original writing they were copied. Then they compare the copies to each other for accuracy. Let’s look at the New Testament in this way.
Notice that over 24,000 copies were made of the New Testament in about a 25 year time span. Remember, that the longer the time span between copies the more chance there is for error.

The 24,000 copies we have were written in over 15 different languages, most of the early ones are in Greek, and they are all virtually identical in translation.

There are about 20, 000 textual line variations or small problems like misspellings and minor word or punctuation changes among these 24,000 copies. The Iliad for instance has 15,600 textual line variations among its 643 copies.

There are 40 textual corruptions in the 24,000 manuscripts of the New Testament. The Iliad has 764 corruptions in its 643 manuscripts. Not bad at all!

Modern translations of the Bible such as the NASB and NIV use the earliest known manuscripts to ensure accuracy. However, when you compare the Latin translations, such as the King James Version, they are doctrinally identical anyway. God has never allowed His word to fall away. The Bible has stood the test of time.

A good book to read and find out more about this information is “Evidence that Demands a Verdict" by Josh McDowell.

How do we know who wrote the books of the Bible and when?

We know these things through scientific and archeological methods such as dating the manuscripts, comparing known world events against the events in the Bible, comparing the books of the Bible against each other as well as outside sources, and examining the locations and landmarks listed in the Biblical manuscripts.

The oldest readable Old Testament manuscripts date from about 200 B.C.-70 A.D. and were mostly found in the Dead Sea scrolls. It is assumed that the Old Testament was written around 1500-400 B.C. Most historians believe Abraham would have been called by God around 1875 B.C.

The oldest New Testament manuscripts date from about 100-125 A.D and were found all over the Middle East and in Africa. The New Testament was written around 45-95 A.D. and recall the events of Jesus’ life and the early church. Many of the New Testament books are written by eyewitnesses. How do we know this?

The Gospel of John claims to be written by the disciple of the Lord named John. Recent archeological research has confirmed both the existence of the Pool of Bethesda and that it had five porticoes (John 5:2). This correct reference to a small detail lends a lot of credibility to the claim that the Gospel of John was written by John himself.

Paul signed each of his epistles or letters with his own hand. He was writing to churches who knew him personally. These churches were able to authenticate that these epistles had come from his hands (Galatians 6:11). Clement, an associate of Paul's wrote to the Corinthian Church in 97 A.D. urging them to heed the epistle that Paul had sent them. This letter is not found in the Bible and thus is an outside source.

The following facts strongly suggest that both the Gospel of Luke and the Book of Acts were written prior to 65 A.D. This lends credibility to the Luke's claim to be an eyewitness to Paul's missionary journeys. If this is correct it would date Mark prior to 65 A.D. and the Pauline epistles to about 49-63 A.D.

Acts records the formation of the early church with persecutions and martyrdoms being mentioned repeatedly. Three men; Peter, Paul, and James (Jesus’ brother) all play leading roles throughout the book. They were all martyred by 67 A.D., but their martyrdoms are not recorded in Acts.

The church in Jerusalem played a central role in the Book of Acts, but the destruction of the city in 70 A.D. was not mentioned. The Jewish historian Josephus cited the siege and destruction of Jerusalem as befalling the Jews because of their unjust killing of James the brother of Jesus. Josephus’ writings are also an outside source that mentions Jesus several times.

The Book of Acts ends with Paul in Rome under house arrest in 62 A.D. In 64 A.D., Nero blamed and persecuted the Christians for the fire that burned down the city of Rome. Paul himself was martyred by 65 A.D. in Rome. Again, neither the persecution of the Christians in Rome or Paul's martyrdom was mentioned.

The books of Luke and Acts were written while Luke was there to eyewitness many of the events, and he was able to research the events that took place before he was an eyewitness. Luke also mentions drawing from existing Gospels (Luke 1:1-2). Many Biblical scholars believe that this was likely Matthew and Mark.

The point of all these dates is to show you that the times that these events were written are so close, both to the times of the events themselves, and to the earliest known copies of the writings. As I mentioned earlier, this leaves very little time for things to be “lost in translation”.

God has always carried His word to the hearts of men. It has never been corrupted or destroyed. The Bible is without any doubt true and trustworthy. Check out our upcoming video overviews of Genesis, Exodus, and John as well as our video “Creation vs. Evolution”. They are packed with scientific and archeological evidence that the Bible is true.

Our Wounds can Heal!

2010-02-25T23:09:00.004-07:00

I have planned on writing this article for a long time. However, the recent loss of my dad, who I never really knew, has given me a lot of insight into the topic of forgiving yourself and others. God has shown me some deep wounds that I never knew were there and now they have begun to heal. Sometimes healing is the hardest part.

We all have a troubled dark past. Before finding salvation in Jesus Christ we were all sinners sentenced to death. Once we have confessed our sins to Jesus Christ and faithfully accept the forgiveness he offers us then we are saved from this fate. However, I know it is still very hard to forgive ourselves.

It is also very hard to forgive those that we believe have wronged us, whether they really did or not. Have you ever been lied to, hurt, cheated on, let down, or abandoned? I know that I have. There are so many ways sinful people can hurt one another.

Sometimes, it can even be a group or organization that hurts us. Our family, school groups, sports teams, or even our religious institutions can inflict deep wounds. The very groups or individuals we should be able to turn to at any given time can often hurt us deeply.

Personal Wounds

Sometimes we think that someone else is hurting us. When pain is physically inflicted by another person it is easy to recognize the source. However, our emotional pain is much more complex. Others can hurt us on purpose or by accident. But, deep down, the truth is that most of our emotional pain is self-inflicted. This is what I call personal pain. I know that many will try to disagree with me on this. I even tried to disagree at first but God wanted me to see and understand this fact.

I have spent my whole life thinking and feeling as if my dad was a bad man. This was helped along by my mother but I quickly learned to think on my own. “He abandoned me when I was a child! How could he do that? I am a dad now and could never leave my children.” My heart wanted to be loved and was hurt because my sin told me that I wasn’t. My heart is sick and it had been deceiving me (Jeremiah 17:9).

I became bitter and resentful of a man I knew nothing about and this bitterness buried itself deep in my heart where no one could find it (Proverbs 14:10). “I don’t need him! I am fine by myself. I’ll show him!” I felt a burning need to be more, to prove myself. I did not know at the time how self-destructive my behavior was becoming. There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death. (Proverbs 14:12 ESV)

As I got older the truth began to surface. My dad didn’t leave because of me. He divorced my mom because she was unfaithful to him. He thought that I was not his child. Looking back now how could I blame him for that? He should have found out for sure but the doubt was there and he dealt with it the only way he could. Now I blamed my mom and my dad for everything that went wrong in my life, even the dumb decisions I made as a teenager. I had a huge log in my eye (Matthew 7:3-5) that made everything look like it was someone else’s fault but never mine. It couldn’t be mine.

You see, I looked at the sins of others and never noticed my own. I had that old thirst to prove myself better than anyone else. In some this leads to earthly success that never really fills that gaping hole in their hearts. For others it leads to failure and depression. For me it started out as pride and then eventually led to failure and depression. That leads us to the next type of emotional wound which we receive from outside sources.

Social Wounds

These are wounds from our peers but in truth they tend to become personal wounds when we internalize them. If we develop good boundaries as children then we learn to keep the bad out and let the good in. However, most of us let too much of everything in. We do not sort the good from the bad at all and then we either release it poorly or not at all.

Social wounds can be from friends, family, school, church, or even the world in general. Do you think that advertisers think about the negative effects of teaching girls that they should look like skinny models and guys that they should be jocks? This leads to being teased at school for looking or acting different from the way things are on TV. For me it was having one parent. People have some mean words for fatherless children!

Sometimes our wounds come from social clubs or even our church. The church is meant to be the Body of Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12-13). Why then does it seem like the church hurts many people rather than helping them? How can we separate the shortcomings of men from the Body of Christ? We will cover this more later on but for now we just need to realize that each and every one of us is sinful and has deep personal wounds.

For me social wounds just drove me deeper into my delusion. I thought everyone else was bad and that I was good. That went on for a while but God would eventually show me how wrong I was. I faithfully turned to Jesus Christ and began to understand many things about myself.

Spiritual Wounds

This is the most dangerous and deceptive type of wound. Why? Because they are not really wounds at all, at least not at first. These are little lies that lead to a lot of pain. The ultimate example of this is found in the book of Genesis.

The serpent said to the woman, "Did God actually say, 'You shall not eat of any tree in the garden'?" And the woman said to the serpent, "We may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden, but God said, 'You shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it, lest you die.'" But the serpent said to the woman, "You will not surely die, for God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." (Genesis 3:1-5 ESV)

That day in the garden Satan cast doubt on the intentions of God. He imprinted a fake wound on Eve. He basically said, “God doesn’t want you to be like Him!” In truth, God wanted to prevent the pain sin would inflict on us, even though He knew we would fall into sin.

God never inflicts emotional pain on us. However, He is there with each and every one of us through it all. Satan wants us to sense God’s presence and blame Him for our struggles so that we will turn away from God. We perceive these lies as truth and then we internalize them effectively creating a very real personal wound.

When we begin to turn to God and accept all He has done for us these wounds tend to surface. This sometimes deters people from giving their hearts entirely to God. It is the enemy’s last line of defense.

It’s Time to Heal

In my situation, I discovered that nothing I could or couldn’t do would make me more loveable. Around this time my sister got in contact with my dad. She discovered that he wasn’t the person we thought he was. He had tried to help me by providing child support for me. He wanted me to have a good life regardless of whether I was his son or not. I am deeply thankful for that.

God made sure that I knew the truth before my dad passed away. I felt like God was saying, “Chad, it is time to let these old wounds heal.” I have a Father! He is God and He adopted me into His family (Ephesians 1:5) and is healing these deep wounds that nothing else could. He fills that hole in my heart. The most important part of this journey is that God is teaching me how to forgive others and myself.

Do we really need to forgive everything bad that was ever done to us? The truth is yes we do. It is a key part of our salvation. Jesus says, “For if you forgive others their trespasses, the heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” (Matthew 6:14-15 ESV) God has forgiven us and it is our duty to forgive others. This can be very difficult but if we let Him, God will heal our wounds and teach us how to forgive.

Who has hurt you? Who have you hurt? What do you blame yourself for? Prayerfully ask yourself these questions and face the answers head on. God is there with you and He will help you through the tough times if you will only let Him.

This can be a long and exhausting journey but it is completely worth it. The reward is eternity with a Father who loves you completely! Below is a list of some great books, other than the Bible, that could help you on your journey.

“Wild at Heart” (Men) and “Captivating” (Women) by John and Stasi Eldredge

“So You Don't Want to Go to Church Anymore” and “He Loves Me!” (People who are tired of religions that emphasize works) by Wayne Jacobsen

“The Love Dare” (Married couples) by Stephen and Alex Kendrick

“Boundaries” (Everyone) by Dr. Henry Cloud and John Townsend

“Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die” (Everyone) by John Piper

Inner Change

2010-02-22T18:48:00.006-07:00

In the last several months I have undergone dramatic internal change. As I last posted, back then I was angry. I yelled. I cussed. I threw things. I was generally unpleasant to live with. I also mentioned how two-faced I was. I was generally pleasant to be around as long as you didn’t have to live with me and see me behind closed doors. I may have also mentioned my self loathing which, no matter who I was with, was always with me. This is the person that I was every day. EVERY day.

I talked about how I had been struggling with this inner monster of mine. I would feel as though I had been making great progress, such as entire days, maybe several in a row, where I’d had no outbursts, no cussing, no uproars of any kind. However, it seemed as though the very moment that I took note of this progress, something would happen and I would get raging mad all over again.

This would send me spiraling into self doubt. I wondered fiercely if I was truly saved. How could I act this way if the Spirit of God was within me? This is not how God would have me act. Maybe I hadn’t really done what I needed to do to be saved. Maybe I had missed some crucial step that would allow the Spirit entrance into my heart. Maybe I wasn’t committed enough. Maybe this would be like everything else in my life and I would quit on it, too. If that were the case, since God knows everything, maybe he wouldn’t even bother with me.

Of course there were logical thought processes happening somewhere in my brain, especially after my last post, that told me that none of that was remotely true. There was no act that I could do that would earn me my salvation. And there was no way that God would ever give up on me, or “not bother” with me. He had drawn me to Him in the first place, and He never leaves a job unfinished. I had truthfully begged God for my salvation, as He well knew. He had extended it to me long ago, but you see, it is impossible to take a gift if you have your back turned to it.

And so I spent several months arguing with myself over this topic, all the while doing what I knew to be right regardless of how I tried to talk myself out of it. As was evidenced by…well, my entire life, what I was feeling was obviously not getting me anywhere that I wanted to be. I had tried everything that I could on my own, but since I counted myself pretty much worthless that didn’t go very far. Then I had tried everything that I could think of that others could do for me, such as therapy and medication. While that had helped on a minor level, the progress was temporary and superficial. Deep down I still generally thought of myself as pitifully disastrous, which undermined it all anyway.

So, I decided that the only option left to me was to ignore my feelings and do what was right. I refused to lose faith in my Lord. I knew that He had died for me. For ME. I knew that He had saved me long, long before I had let Him. I knew that He was great and powerful and magnificent and loving and that all things are possible for Him, even changing a horrible, angry, mean, awful person like me into someone worthy of Him.

It wasn’t until last Sunday, while I was sharing my testimony with my friends in class, that I realized what He had really done in me. I knew that the anger had been getting better, but I then realized that outbursts are now very rare. Cussing, even when I do have one of those rare outbursts, has also become rare. Before, it was literally impossible for me to calm myself down once I got upset, and it didn’t take much to upset me. Now, even if I do get upset, most of the time I am able to acknowledge my over-reaction and actively counter it. This was nowhere near my realm of understanding before!! I can more easily apologize when I over-react. All of this has improved my interactions with my husband and my kids immensely! I have also noticed that things outside of my home that would upset me before (such as traffic) are now of very little concern to me.

As I mentioned, though rare, I still have occasional irrational freak-outs. As a matter of fact, at the end of that last paragraph I paused for the evening last night and proceeded to do every horrible thing that I had just finished saying that I was doing so much better on. I am still human. I am still susceptible to my sinful nature. I get the feeling though that perhaps the adversary is not very happy with the fact that I am having this amount of success with my spiritual growth. I would also imagine that he is extremely unhappy with the idea of others gaining hope through the knowledge of my struggle.

It is so funny that I would even write that. The best trick that the devil can play is convincing us that he doesn’t exist. I had a hard time last night admitting that he could be responsible in any way for my outburst. It felt like a cop out. However, when I told Chad that I had just gotten done writing my progress in the areas that I had just gotten finished ransacking, he suggested to me that this might be the case. That Chad had come up with the idea as well helped me to accept the possibility without feeling as though I was coping out of blame. I know that these problems are mine. They are a part of my sinful nature. But perhaps my nature was helped along a little. All it would really take is a malicious little nudge.

So I make mistakes, like everyone else. I still refuse to lose my faith in my King. The adversary may be stubbornly persistent, but so am I. I suppose that God knew I’d need it.
These struggles have shown me so much. First of all, if I am getting opposition from the adversary, then I must be on the right track. Second, I need to leave myself a little lee-way. I will never, in this life, be perfect. The thing that has struck me the hardest recently is that I could not do it. Self-help books couldn’t do it. Therapists couldn’t do it. Pills couldn’t do it. But God is doing it.

Not a whole lot has changed in my life. I started going to church, but did that do it? I get great advise and it helps me to get together with my fellow believers, this is true. But never once have I been pulled aside and told, “You know all this yelling and cussing and hating yourself crap? Knock that off!!” And even if I had been, I wouldn’t have listened. I have been reading the scriptures and praying, but truthfully, not nearly as often as I should. I cannot attribute this change in me to any of these things. None of them have made dramatic enough changes in my daily life to have the kind of impact that I am seeing.

I mean, I have gone to church before. I have received good advise before, as in therapy. I have read scriptures before (though I must admit that it wasn’t the Bible), and as I have said I don’t do that nearly as much as I should. I have prayed before. And before, these things did not change me. There is just no way that these things could be the cause.

The only difference this time is that I have truly allowed God into my heart. I have truly come to Him and I have truly begged Him to make me into what He wanted me to be. I begged Him to use me, and in His infinite wisdom He knew exactly what in me needed to change for Him to be able to do so. For example, I knew that I treated my family poorly and have asked for help with it on occasion. But my self-hatred had been such a deeply rooted part of me that I never even thought to ask for help with it. That is why it surprised me the most.

After revealing my testimony to my friends, I began to think on what He has really done for me. Two days later, as I was driving in the car I realized something. Something huge. I don’t hate myself anymore! I have hated myself as long as I can remember! I never ever thought that that would change! Nothing had ever even touched that in me before. Not ever. Chad had helped me over the years with some of my self image problems through sheer persistence, but not all of them. And even so, my hatred for myself had been more than skin deep.

The undeniable truth is that God has changed me. There is no other explanation for it. Nothing on this Earth has ever really done that. I don’t think there are even terms to describe how big a deal this is to me. Nothing on this Earth!! NOTHING!!! The glaring truth here is that there is absolutely no denying Him now. Not that I had been doubting Him. I had always reserved that for myself. But the fact that the unchangeable me has changed means that He is more real than anything else on this Earth. He is more… well, more everything!

He is stronger than anything; stronger than everything that I ever tried to use to change myself, stronger than my anger, and stronger than my own hatred. He is more powerful than anything; more powerful than all the condescending comments, all the self-depreciating imagery, and all the deeply buried subliminal messages in the world. He is more than anything; more soothing than all the self-help, all the gurus, and all the “chemical-balancing” medications in the world. And He has more wisdom than anyone; He knows what is best for us, more so than we do or anyone else does.

I have grown extremely fond of the passage in the Bible where it talks of Jesus calming the raging storm that was tossing the boat that carried Him and His apostles. With a wave of His hand He said, “Peace, be still.” And the waves obeyed Him and slowed to gentle undulations and the storm ebbed into a whispering breeze. That was all it took. This story tells so much of Him. With very little effort, He can take a situation that seems dire and inescapable and bring peace to it. We can be clinging on for dear life, but He remains in complete control. We can be crying out saying, “Lord, don’t you care that we’re drowning?” and He replies “Why are you afraid? Don’t you know that I am with you?” (Mark 4:36-41)

As I write this I must fight to see through the tears that well in my eyes, because I know that despite all that I have been through in my life and how I have had anywhere from moments to years to a lifetime of weakness, He reached out His hand, and with a few choice words, He has calmed the storm in me.

Missy

A New Look at the Cross

2010-02-14T19:53:00.005-07:00

If you were raised Christian than you probably learned to fear the wrathful and vengeful God of the Old Testament and to faithfully love Jesus Christ for saving us from God’s wrathful judgment by dying on a cross. You likely also learned that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are all one triune God. However, when you look at the Biblical story from that perspective it seems like God was playing both the good cop and the bad cop. This creates a major problem!

Some of what I am about to say may sound a little different from what we are taught. Note that I do not believe this perspective replaces the doctrine of appeasement of God’s wrath at all. In fact, I feel it simply expands on it and shows us that much more happened at Calvary than we could ever imagine.

The Problem
Here is what we know. God is unchanging and always consistent in all that He does (Malachi 3:6). Jesus was around since the beginning of time and is in fact God in human form (John 1:1, 14) and has always been God’s plan for our salvation as evident throughout the Old Testament. The law was God’s way of showing man that they were sinful and needed a savior (Romans 7:7-12). God sent Jesus to die on the cross as the payment for all sins past, present, and future (Romans 3:23-26).

So then how do we look at the cross of Christ? Is it simply an appeasement for God’s wrath? I think it is much more! If God is like a just and fair judge in a courtroom then making him happy is not truly the goal. Jesus paid for our sins. Making the judge happy through payment would be like bribery.

However, if the Judge set a guilty party free then that would not be just either. But if the judge felt compassion for the guilty party and paid their debt for them then the judge would be both just and happy with himself. The law would be satisfied, the judge would be pleased, and the guilty party would owe their freedom to the judge.

What I am trying to say is this. The appeasement of God’s wrath happened on the cross but there was so much more to it than that. Let’s look at some of the things the Bible says about God’s wrath and what Christ truly accomplished on the cross.

The Two Cups
After the last supper Jesus and His disciples went into a garden where Jesus wandered away from the others and prayed to God about the events that were about to take place saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." (Matthew 26:39 ESV) Later, when the guards came to arrest Jesus and Peter cut off one of their ears Jesus says to him, "Put your sword into its sheath; shall I not drink the cup that the Father has given me?" (John 18:11 ESV) What is this cup He is talking about? Is it a metaphor, and if so what for?

To answer that question we must jump all the way to the book of Revelation where we find the word “cup” used as a metaphor for God’s anger and wrath. He will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger. (Revelation 14:10 ESV) Could the cup Jesus spoke of be the one here described as God’s anger filled with His wrath? I am certain that it is.

But who is God angry with? He is angry with sin. Jesus was brutally tortured by sinful men who nailed Him to a cross. While on that cross Jesus became sin for us. For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. (2 Corinthians 5:21 ESV) This is probably one of the most horrible moments in history. And it should be. He did not deserve any of what happened to Him because He never sinned and yet He became sin on our behalf.

This was God’s plan; He condemned sin in the flesh (Romans 8:3). The sin of the entire world (John 1:29) past, present, and future was put into Jesus Christ as He hung on the cross. He became the object of God’s anger, which is the cup Jesus was talking about (Matthew 26:39, Revelation 14:10).

On the cross something beyond our understanding happened. All of the sin in the world was poured into Jesus. Then, God’s entire wrath was poured into Him as well. A war had begun to rage inside of Him. It is no wonder that Jesus lost sight of His Father when He cried out, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" (Matthew 27:46 ESV) He was never truly alone but He felt as if He was because of what was taking place within Him.

The mother of two of Jesus’ disciples once requested, "Say that these two sons of mine are to sit, one at your right hand and one at your left, in your kingdom." Jesus answered, "You do not know what you are asking. Are you able to drink the cup that I am to drink?" They said to him, "We are able." He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father." (Matthew 20:21-23 ESV)

What are these two cups He is referring to? The first seems to be a cup that Jesus can drink but that we cannot. This is likely a reference to God’s wrath again. We could never pay for our sins but Jesus Christ can. The second time He refers to a cup he says, “You will drink my cup”. He is talking about a different cup which belongs to Him. But what does this cup represent?

Jesus answers that question for us at the last supper, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.” (Luke 22:20 ESV) This cup represents Jesus and is filled with His atoning blood. Paul puts it this way. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace, which he lavished upon us, in all wisdom and insight making known to us the mystery of his will, according to his purpose, which he set forth in Christ. (Ephesians 1:7-9 ESV)

The Cross is Love
Add the fact that God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are indeed one eternal triune God to all that I just talked about. This means that God created this divine plan to save the creations that He loves, even though we disobeyed Him, and then He carried it out personally as Jesus Christ. This is an act of love beyond our understanding.

Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:8-10 ESV) Remember, propitiation is the atoning sacrifice the Christ made to the Father on our behalf as payment for sin. God is love and thus overcame sin once for all time on the cross.

Paul said that the cross would be a major stumbling for many people (1 Corinthians 1:22-24). How can such a brutal death portray love? The most honest answer is that the cross alone isn’t. Jesus said, “I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father." (John 10:17-18 ESV) Nothing men could do could kill Jesus Christ.

Crucifixion usually takes about two to three days to kill someone, maybe less for Jesus since He was tortured first. However, He died at about the 9th hour or 3pm. He was still speaking and there is no known record of him bleeding from His mouth or having broken bones.

When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, "It is finished." and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit. (John 19:30 ESV) When the battle inside Him was won Jesus let us know and died by His choice and rose from dead three days later. I think it was so that the Father could restore and replenish Him.

Conclusion
The sacrifice Christ made was the act of love, not the crucifixion itself. The cross is where it happened and thus became the mercy seat God used to carry out His plan. This is why the cross has become a symbol of our faithful devotion to Christ. I think Paul put it best when He wrote: May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. (Galatians 6:14 ESV)

The Big Ten

2010-02-10T20:35:00.003-07:00

When you think about the Ten Commandments what comes to mind? If you are a Christian you might think of them as part of the old covenant that is irrelevant now that Jesus made a new covenant. It is not quite that simple! Let’s take a quick look at each of the Ten Commandments, what Jesus said about them including the great commandment, and how they relate to Christians.

1. You shall have no other gods before me. (Exodus 20:3 ESV)

God was saying here that He is the one true God and that we should worship Him alone. There are many variations as to how to carry out God’s command. Should we just simply know that He is the only true God? Should we shun the beliefs of others? Should we do as the Hebrews did and never speak the names of false gods? The only answer I can truly give is this. Give God the respect and love He alone deserves, because he alone knows your heart, mind, and actions.

2. You shall not make or worship any graven images. (Exodus 20:4-5 ESV)

Do not worship anything but Him. What I mean by that is don’t hold anything to a higher standard than God, not even a little, not even for a second, not even by accident. God must come before all other things. He must come before money, power, status, sex, objects, or any other person such as you, your friends, parents, siblings, spouse, or children. This is really hard, even for the most devoted Christian. In fact, due to our sin nature it becomes impossible. That is a recurring theme of the law of God, as we will see.

3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. (Exodus 20:7 ESV)

Most look at this commandment and think it means they shouldn’t use God’s name when they curse or talk dirty. Again, this is true but barely scratches the surface of what it means to use God’s name in vain. Anytime anything is said, done, or thought in the name of God that is wrong or sinful it is a violation of God’s law. If someone prays to God, but does not believe in Him, they are using His name in vain. Anytime we “swear to God”, even when Bibles were used in courtrooms, we use His name in vain. As a professing Christian, anytime we do anything that is a sin, even without using His name verbally or mentally, we are using His name in vain.

4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. (Exodus 20:8 ESV)

The Sabbath for Christians is the 24-hour period of Sunday because Jesus Christ was found resurrected on a Sunday morning. For Jewish people it is from Friday night at dusk to Saturday night at dusk. The point is not to honor a certain day, that would be idolatry, but to honor God fully at least one day each week. In our modern lives this can be extremely difficult to do. Remember, God wants you to love Him the way He alone deserves but He knows we are broken and has extended His Grace to help us.

The Great Commandment- Part 1

Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment”. (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV). All of the first four commandments come together in this single commandment.

Love God more than anything and with all you can muster! This is hard and was once impossible. Once you gain an understanding of the love God has for us, which He overflowed with on the cross, then it is no longer impossible. His love fills us and makes us capable of more love than we ever thought possible. That is why we exist, to love and glorify God (Colossians 1:16, Revelation 4:11).

5. Honor your father and your mother. (Exodus 20:12 ESV)

By thinking back to our own childhood or looking at our own children it is easy to see that most children do not always do this. In fact, I think it is safe to say that no child does this during childhood. This is yet another task that is impossible for us to do because we are born sinful.

As a side note, parents are meant to be God’s representatives on earth for their children. The best thing a parent can do is to teach kids about the Bible and God’s plan. Honoring God honors the parents and vice versa.

6. You shall not murder. (Exodus 20:13 ESV)

The word used here as murder is the Hebrew word ratsach, which means to kill a human being. The worst form of this is murder, of course. Murder was indicated by the word being used three times in a row, from my understanding. This means that taking the life of another human is indeed a sin. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances are. Killing humans is a sin against God.

Jesus seriously altered our understanding of this command when He said, "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder; and whoever murders will be liable to judgment.' But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, 'You fool!' will be liable to the hell of fire.” (Matthew 5:21-22 ESV) Our anger is like murder to God! I know this seems very harsh and it is, but why? The law was dictated to Moses by a perfect sinless God who cannot tolerate sin at all. We are consumed by sin and are unable to keep the law. Jesus said this to show those who still believed they could keep the law that they can’t.

7. You shall not commit adultery. (Exodus 20:14 ESV)

Traditionally this means a person who breaks the bond of wedlock. The phrase we use now is “cheating on your spouse”. Jewish tradition also states that one should remain sexually pure for their future spouse so that God will bless their marriage. Christians believe that since God exists outside of time that pre-marital sex is adultery in the eyes of God.

Again Jesus shows us that how we think matters to God. "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall not commit adultery.' But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” (Matthew 5:27-28 ESV) All of us, men and women alike have looked on others with lust both in and out of wedlock.

8. You shall not steal. (Exodus 20:15 ESV)

The word used as steal in this verse is the Hebrew word ganab. Most scholars agree that in this verse it means not to kidnap someone. In Leviticus 19:11 it means not to steal money. Likewise, theft of belongings is covered many other places in the Bible. For the sake of the Ten Commandments it is simply generalized in both verses as theft of something that belongs to another person.

9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (Exodus 20:16 ESV)

What does it mean to bear false witness? Solomon says, “A faithful witness does not lie, but a false witness breathes out lies” (Proverbs 14:5 ESV). So we should not lie about people or to people, including ourselves and to God. He knows our hearts and our minds and so He knows the truth behind all of our lies. We have all told lies to avoid hurting someone or even to make them feel good. Are those lies acceptable? Certainly not! All lies are sins no matter what the intention.

10. You shall not covet anything that is your neighbor’s. (Exodus 20:17 ESV)

Both this and the last Commandment raise the question, who is your neighbor? Jesus answered this in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:29-37). Your neighbor is everyone in the world. They could be your friend, family, enemy, or a stranger.

Coveting is something our modern society is built on. Advertising is designed to make you want things you don’t have. Cars, clothes, and houses look cool on the outside so people will see them and want them too. The media makes us want to be wealthier, sexier, thinner, taller, more muscular, and more attractive.

All of this is just gasoline on the ever burning fire of our sin nature. Paul tells us that all of us have sinned (Romans 3:23) and that the price of that sin is death (Romans 6:23). But there is hope! That same verse tells us that the free gift of God is eternal life found through Jesus Christ.

The Great Commandment- Part 2

Remember when I told you that Jesus said, "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment”. (Matthew 22:37-38 NIV). Well, right after that He said, “And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:39 ESV) What He says here brings the final six Commandments together into a much simpler notion. Love everyone as much as yourself. But, this only becomes easier when we are saved by grace alone through Christ alone and faithfully accept the love only God can provide, which will flow through us to others around us.

The Ten Commandments are just the basics of the law. There are over 600 laws given to Israel by Moses and the prophets. Jesus had one more thing to say on this topic. “On these two commandments depend all of the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:40 ESV)

Do the Ten Commandments, and the other laws, apply to Christians?

If someone is not saved by the works of Christ then they are still under the law (1 Timothy 1:9) that they cannot possibly keep (Romans 3:20-31, Galatians 2:21, 3:10-11). The Ten Commandments are a great way to witness the gospel of Christ to someone who is lost.

To the Christian, the law is no longer written in stone but is written on our hearts (2 Corinthians 3:3). It is useful for earthly moral behavior, learning how to love others, and learning what God, through His son Jesus Christ, has done for us. The law is NOT a required work to earn passage to the kingdom of Heaven (Ephesians 2:8-9).

Some of you may say that Jesus said we must keep the law. People get this from the following verse. "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15 ESV) When people see this verse they tend to read it backwards, “You will keep my commandments, if you love me.” That sounds like a guilt trip to me.

Look at it again! "If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” He is saying that if we love Him wholly then we become able to and desire to keep His commandments. He will make us sinless through His love and the sanctification from the Holy Spirit. This is called the law of love!

Christ-Like No Other

2010-02-04T23:24:00.004-07:00

I will start out with a personal confession. I do not like the term Christ-like. There are two reasons for this. One is really a grammatical reason and the other is the common misuse of the term. You know what I mean! “You should be more Christ-like.” Or “That isn’t very Christ-like behavior.”

That being said, some people do use the term in a better way. If this is you, please still read this article as the ultimate goal is not to bash the term but to show that the term is useless to you as a follower of Christ.

Not So Christ-like Grammar

Let’s go ahead and get the grammatical part out of the way. I am pretty into the use of correct grammar as my wife can tell you. It drives her nuts when I correct her!

Christ-like means likened to Christ. Christ means Messiah, savior, king, priest, and holy by definition and as the Bible shows us mediator, sacrifice, son of God, and God incarnate. It is for this reason that I disagree with anyone trying to be Christ-like.

I did a search on my e-sword Bible software for the terms “Christ-like”, “Christ like”, “like Christ”, and “Jesus like”. None of these terms appears in the King James, NIV, ESV, or NASB versions of the Bible. The closest hit I got was “…Christ, like…” in 1 Peter 1:19.

I know that most people use the term Christ as a reference to Jesus Christ, almost like a last name. So in effect they are saying Jesus-like or likened to the human persona of Jesus. Others use the term in reference to the fact that Jesus upheld the Law perfectly. This is something that we can never do and actually should not be trying to do. I know that sounds bad but stick with me to the end of this article and you will understand what I mean.

Misusing Christ’s Name

Each of us fails quite often. As Christians, we know that this is our sin nature at work. Only God is perfect. We should help each other through tough times and rebuke only when it is the only option we have. Even still we should do it as gently as we can and use scripture (2 Timothy 3:16), rather than our own opinions.

That means that we should not say things like, “You’re not acting very Christ-like.” Or “What Would Jesus Do? Not what you just did.” My point here is, do not use Jesus Christ’s name to tell someone that they are wrong or bad. When we do this we are both being a hypocrite and using God’s name in vain. Sinning will never help someone else out of a sinful situation.

“Do as I say, not as I do!”

I know the phrase above is used in a negative way most of the time. It refers to a hypocrite. In this case though, it is good, as we will see. Jesus Christ is the perfect man because He is the perfect God. Therefore, certain things that He did, such as rebuke the Pharisees (Matthew 23:1-36) or chase moneychangers out of the temple (John 2:13-22), were His right alone to do because the law they preached was His word and the temple was built as His earthly dwelling for a time.

However, certain things Jesus did as a human, such as prayer and moral behavior are good things to emulate. Though that is not why He did them! He did them to fulfill the law (Matthew 5:17). We already had the law in our possession so we did not need to know how to live. What we needed was to be taken out from under a law that we could not possibly keep (Galatians 2:16). This is why Jesus died on the cross for our sins.

What Jesus did do is talk a lot! His teachings show us that the law is applied to our minds and hearts as well as our actions. This was the opposite of what was being taught by rabbis at that time. They taught that, “If you can’t say something nice don’t say anything at all. But thinking it is okay.” This is not in the Bible at all! Jesus compares our anger and hateful thoughts to murder (Matthew 5:21-22). He taught us that the law that seemed so hard to follow before becomes impossible when applied this way.

Another thing Jesus talked about were the things He commanded us to do. He said to love God wholly and love everyone else as much as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:37-39), to love our enemies (Luke 6:27), and to give freely to the poor, sick, and imprisoned (Matthew 25:40).

Do you know what Jesus said to His disciples before His ascension into Heaven? He said to teach others to obey all of His commandments (Matthew 28:20). He did not say for us to be just like Him because that isn’t possible. Jesus said for us to do what He commanded us. In other words, we should do what He said, not what He did!

Grace Stands Alone

God sent His son to save us from our sin by dying on the cross as the perfect sacrifice for the sin of the world. Jesus Christ died and was resurrected so that we may live in the love of the Father forever. This is called grace because we did not deserve it but received it as a free gift from God (Romans 3:23-25). In other words, nothing you can ever do earns you the right to eternal life (Ephesians 2:8-9).

This seems like a simple concept on the surface, but people have a real hard time viewing grace like this. Nevertheless, it is true. Over the years, people have added to grace.

We try so very hard to add to grace with our works. You are saved by grace, but you have to go to church and follow certain rules. You are saved by what Christ did, but you have to be Christ-like. Christian author Wayne Jacobsen puts it this way:

“By embracing this “but” theology, we end up right where we began, with a performance-based relationship with God. We have to live every day concerned about whether we have done enough to be good Christians and judge others around us with the same standards. This takes away not only the joy of knowing God, but also the encouragement of our relationships with one another.

Whenever we add anything to God’s work on the cross, the message is distorted and we rob it of its power. Paul made it clear that the cross alone had totally transformed him: “May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14).

Grace doesn’t need any add-ons. Even though Paul watched people who used their newfound freedom as an excuse for the flesh and warned them not to do so, he knew he could never change them by adding human effort to God’s grace.

God still cares about sin- deeply! Sin destroys what he loves. He wants to change you by teaching you how to live loved every day. When you learn to recognize his voice in your ear and his hand in your life, you will want to be even more like him.”

- Wayne Jacobsen “He Loves Me!” page 145-146

My point is that you do not need to try to be more like Christ. You need to let Christ cover and protect you so the Spirit can enter and change you from the inside out. God will then, by His grace alone, make you holy and blameless in your resurrected body.

Let God’s grace lead your actions and not your own works because no matter how much you emulate the outward behavior of Jesus Christ you cannot be saved without the saving grace of God gained only by repenting and faithfully accepting Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross as the full payment for your sins.

For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith. (Philippians 3:8-9 ESV)

The Trinity

2010-01-28T23:19:00.007-07:00

Some people really struggle to understand the Triune nature of God. It is an incredible notion that seems to defy logic. In reality, it makes perfect sense in that the Bible states clearly that there is only one God, that Father God is God, Jesus is God and should be worshiped in a way that God says is only for God Himself, and that the Holy Spirit is referred to as the Spirit of God and has many of God’s unique attributes.

Let’s look at what the Bible says about these matters. First, is there really just one God? The nation of Israel believed in one God only. He is the great I Am (Exodus 3:14). He created the universe and everything in it. The following verses are just some of hundreds that state that there is only one God.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. (Deuteronomy 6:4 ESV)

Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. (Isaiah 46:9 ESV)

."You are my witnesses," declares the LORD, "and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, I am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior." (Isaiah 43:10-11 ESV)

God is Plural

To understand the plural nature of God we must look at His title and name used in the Old Testament. In most translations, such as the NIV, ESV, NKJV, or NASB, this is easy to identify. When the Old Testament uses the word God, capitalized, it is referring to the Hebrew name for God, YHWH. This is often translated to English as Yahweh or Jehovah. This is God’s name and is not a plural word.

When the word LORD is used in the Old Testament with all capital letters it refers to Elohim. This is God’s title in Hebrew. The letters I and M at the end of this title do indeed imply a plurality. Now, look again at Deuteronomy 6:4 above. The plural is singular? That makes for a very improper sentence when you translate it literally.

Now we will take a close look at the very first chapter of Genesis. God is creating the earth and the things on it. Then, on the sixth day God said, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness.” (Genesis 1:26) So the singular name of God says let us make man in our image, after our likeness. But then He tells us in the Bible, even elsewhere in Genesis, that there is only one God. If all of this wasn’t explained for us in the New Testament it would be very confusing indeed.

Jesus is God

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. … And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. (John 1:1, 14 KJV)

Now, I should explain that Jesus is being referred to as the Word here. This word in Greek is Logos. Logos means the sum expression of thought, motive, and emotion. The word used for God here is the Greek word Theos, which means the supreme divinity or in the case of the Jewish people it became the new term for YHWH.

When interpreted literally verse 1 above makes it incredibly clear that God and Jesus were with each other as two separate beings and yet were the same being. Verse 14 shows us that this being became flesh. That is Jesus Christ as the book of John goes on to say.

And with this Word, God created all things. Nothing was made without the Word. (John 1:3 CEV)

This verse takes us back and shows us that when God said let us make man in our image in Genesis He was talking to and referring to His son Jesus Christ who was the sum of all expression.

Jesus said to them, "Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am." (John 8:58 ESV)The verse above again sounds like bad grammar if you do not know what Jesus is referring to. He should have said I was instead of I am, right? Not at all! He is referring to the event in Exodus when God appeared as a burning bush to Moses and told Him his name is I am who I am (Exodus 3:14)! Jesus is also saying that He existed before Abraham was even born. That thousands of years earlier!

Jesus also said, “I and the Father are one." (John 10:30 ESV) The Jews were outraged by this and wanted to stone Him for making Himself out to be God. If He was not God but said this then something was really wrong with Him. C. S. Lewis puts it this way:

“I am trying here to prevent anyone saying the really foolish thing that people often say about Him: "I'm ready to accept Jesus as a great moral teacher, but I don't accept his claim to be God." That is the one thing we must not say.

A man who was merely a man and said the sort of things Jesus said would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic, on a level with the man who says he is a poached egg, or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice.

Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God. But let us not come with any patronizing nonsense about His being a great moral teacher. He has not left that open to us. He did not intend to.”

- C.S. Lewis 'Mere Christianity' page 56

The Apostles also all believed Jesus to be God Himself. Paul said, “For in him the whole fullness of deity dwells bodily.” (Colossians 2:9 ESV) The whole fullness of deity! What a statement. Below is one of my favorite verses Paul wrote about this subject.

Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. (Philippians 2:5-8 ESV)I think these verses make it very clear that Jesus is the son of God but is also God Himself. He has been around since before the beginning of creation.

Here is a little food for thought: Who was it that walked and talked to Adam in the garden? Who was it that Abraham met and had as a guest alongside the two angels that would destroy Sodom and Gomorra? Who protected Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego from dying in the furnace? Here is what Nebuchadnezzar had to say about that man. “But I see four men unbound, walking in the midst of the fire, and they are not hurt; and the appearance of the fourth is like a son of the gods." (Daniel 3:25 ESV) I think that these earthly appearances of God are actually Jesus Christ.

Some early Israelites believed God created a body out of clay; much like Adam was created from the dust of the earth, and used it to walk around. In the early Christian church people came to view Jesus in this way to some extent. The word Incarnation, which means into flesh, became the title Christians gave to the view that Jesus was both totally God and totally man at the same time. He was God dwelling inside a human body. This was and still is one of the main creeds of Christianity.

The Holy Spirit is God

This is a much less obvious truth but can still be found in the Bible. The Spirit of God came upon people at select times in the Old Testament. After Jesus died on the cross for our sins, was resurrected on the third day, and ascended into Heaven the Holy Spirit came upon all believers, baptizing them by spirit and fire. Now, when we faithfully believe in the saving work of Christ we are saved, justified, and sanctified. Only after all of that can the Spirit enter us and dwell in our hearts.

But is the Holy Spirit God? Well, let us go back one more time to the creation in Genesis. The Bible says that the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters (Genesis 1:2). The Spirit was present at the creation of the earth.

The Holy Spirit has many of the same powers and attributes as God does. The Spirit is eternal, is everywhere, and is all knowing just like God (1 Corinthians 2:10-11). He creates life which only God can do (Job 33:4). He performs miracles just like God and Jesus do (Matthew 12:28). The similarities are endless. This could lead one to believe that the Spirit is one and the same as God or Jesus but the Bible points out that they are indeed different people (John 15:26).

Conclusion

So what does all of this mean? We have one eternal God who exists eternally in three persons. Does this happen elsewhere in our universe? Yes it does. One great example is water!

Scientists call the substance of water H2O because it is made of tiny particles called molecules which are made of 2 even smaller atoms of Hydrogen joined to a single atom of Oxygen. However, H20 can take on a liquid form called water, a solid form called ice, and a gas form called steam. It remains H2O though no matter what form it takes. In the same way God is God whether He is in the person of the Father, the Son, or Holy Spirit. He is still one God just as water is still H2O regardless of the form.

The Triune nature of God is the true definition of love. The Father wants us to be included in that relationship of love. He has gone to the greatest of lengths to bridge the gap between us and Him. Another way of looking at it is God gave all of Himself in three parts to us: The Father to love us, the Son to save us, and the Spirit to lead us home.

What does it mean to be born again?

2010-01-20T11:57:00.004-07:00

Jesus said, "Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God." (John 3:3 ESV)

The Bible tells us that we must be born again to go to heaven? What does this mean? In this article we will discuss the truth about our sin nature that most Christians even do not understand as well as what it really means to be born again. We will also look at the three stages of our rebirth: Salvation, Justification, and Sanctification.

For the sake of space I simply listed the verses that support what I am talking about at the end of that sentence. Please feel free to look up any or all of these verses as it will help your understanding of the topic.

Total Inability
All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags; we all shrivel up like a leaf, and like the wind our sins sweep us away. (Isaiah 64:6 NIV) Since the fall of man (Genesis 3) sin has entered and overtaken us like a cancer. It affects our bodies, minds, hearts, and souls without fail. It makes even our best deeds and intentions worthless. I know this can be hard to swallow. Even when I try my best, even when I succeed, it is not good enough. You might be saying to yourself, “This can’t be true!” Well it is true and Jesus gave us a simple test to see if it is true.

So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. (Matthew 7:17-18 ESV) Notice that he says a healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit. How many times have you had good intentions and still ended up with things going wrong? It could be an unexpected argument, someone taking your good intent the wrong way, or even discovering that you had selfish motives for your good deeds. That last, if we look deeply inward, is almost always true of all of us.

The total inability of mankind is seen throughout the Bible. Man’s heart is deceitful and desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9) and the thoughts of our hearts are continually evil (Genesis 6:5). The Bible teaches us that we are born dead in our transgression and sin (Psalms 51:5, 58:3, Ephesians 2:1-5). We call this original sin. I view it like a sickness we are born with.

Because the lost man is dead in his transgressions (Ephesians 2:5), they are held captive by their love for sin (John 3:19, John 8:34). This is why we will not seek God ourselves (Romans 3:10-11). We love the darkness too much (John 3:19) and we don’t understand the things of God (1 Corinthians 2:14).

Therefore mankind suppresses the truth of God in unrighteousness (Romans 1:18) and continue to willfully live in sin. Because man is totally depraved this sinful lifestyle seems right to us (Proverbs 14:12) so we reject the Gospel of Christ as foolishness (1 Corinthians 1:18) and our minds are “hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is unable to do so.” (Romans 8:7). For more information please read Romans 3:9-18. Paul really sums this topic up for us in that passage.

Total inability does not mean that man is as wicked or sinful as he can be. It doesn’t mean that man is without a conscience or any sense of right or wrong or that man does not or cannot do things that seem to be good when viewed from a human perspective or measured against a human standard. It doesn’t even mean that man cannot do things that seem to conform outwardly to the Law of God. What the Bible does teach and what total inability does say is that even the “good” things man does are tainted by sin because they are not done for the glory of God and out of faith in Him (Romans 14:23, Hebrews 11:6).

Jesus gave us some great insight about this when He said that lust was equal to adultery (Matthew 5:27-28) and hatred equal to murder (Matthew 5:21-22) in the eyes of God. The commandments apply to our hearts and our minds as well as our actions and God should get all of the glory for the good things we do.

Salvation
That is why God the Father sent His son to die in the cross in our place. We need help! We need a savior! God knew this and He planned a strategic strike against sin. Some think that we are children of God from the day we are born. We are not! Jesus Christ died as the unblemished sacrifice for the sins of the world to adopt some of us into God’s family (John 1:12).

Jesus equated being saved with entering the kingdom of God (Matthew 19:24-25). He took every bit of pain and suffering, all the negative thoughts, all the sexual immorality, all the lies, all the cheating and stealing, and all of the idolatry and sins against God. He took it all for you! And one of the saddest parts is that He knew not everyone would accept this gracious gift of life.

So we know why we need a savior. But what did we need to be saved from? We are being saved from wrath, that is, from God’s judgment of sin (Romans 5:9, 1 Thessalonians 5:9). Our sin has separated us from God and the consequence of that is death (Romans 6:23). This goes back to the total inability above. Biblical salvation refers to our deliverance from the consequence of our sin and therefore involves the removal of that sin.

God must judge us because He is just and completely good. He can’t just pardon us all and say everyone gets into my house. No, He must have our sin debt paid in full. The Bible teaches that God, and only God, can deliver us from the penalty of sin (2 Timothy 1:9, Titus 3:5).

How does God save us? The Father has rescued us through His son Jesus Christ (John 3:16-17). Specifically, it was Jesus’ death on the cross and subsequent resurrection that achieved our salvation (Romans 5:10, Ephesians 1:7). The Bible is very clear that salvation is the gracious, undeserved gift of God (Ephesians 2:5, 8) and is only available through faith in Jesus Christ (Acts 4:12).

How can we be saved from this fate? We are saved by grace alone in Jesus alone through faith alone (John 14:6, Acts 4:12). First, we must hear the gospel or good news of Jesus’ death and resurrection (Ephesians 1:13). Next, we have to believe by fully trusting our Lord Jesus (Romans 1:16). This involves repentance, a changing of mind about sin and Christ (Acts 3:19), and calling on the name of the Lord (Romans 10:9-10, 13).

In other words, pray for God to forgive you of your sins past, present, and future. For some this may take repeated prayers. When you feel the burden of those sins lift off of you that is when you are saved. Your old self dies and you are reborn.

Justification
Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. (Romans 5:18 ESV) Salvation and Justification are not the same thing. Your salvation happened on the cross in about 33 AD. Justification happens at the moment you accept the saving work of Christ.

To put it plainly, Justification is the Father declaring those who receive Jesus Christ by faith to be righteous, based on Christ’s righteousness being credited to the accounts of those who have received Him (2 Corinthians 5:21). The best passage to read regarding Justification is Romans 3:21-26 though it is found repeatedly throughout the Bible.

Note that some Christians believe that you must be baptized by water or other rituals to be justified. The Bible says that baptism by spirit and fire (Matthew 3:11) will happen to those who are born again. Jesus also commands the apostles to baptize by water (Matthew 28:18-20). Water baptism is a symbolic reenactment of the baptism of your soul by spirit and fire.

Sanctification
They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. (John 17:16-17 ESV) Sanctification is a process of separation unto God and cleansing of our body, mind, and soul. This is a onetime separation and lifelong cleansing. It is an intricate part of our salvation because it is our connection with Christ (Hebrews 10:10).

Once you are born again as a child of God and set apart for His sake you are ready to be entered by His Holy Spirit. The Spirit, as well as the word of God and prayer, will help us and guide us through this life and into eternity where we will be holy and blameless before God. (Colossians 3:4). This does not mean you will not sin. What it does mean is sin will not have a hold on you and you can escape its icy grasp.

A glorified state, our resurrected body and sanctified soul, will be our ultimate and final separation from sin, total sanctification in every aspect. (1 John 3:2). There will be no more sin, or pain, or suffering, or sadness, or death in Heaven. Only peace and love for us as we share in God’s glory by praising all He has done.

Conclusion
This is why we must be born again. Not only so that we can save ourselves but to allow God to make us clean and holy in His sight so that we can love Him, and He us, for all eternity.

God is All-Loving

2010-01-15T22:42:00.005-07:00

Is the God of the Bible All-Loving?
It is hard for many of us to grasp that God is love (1 John 4:8). We tend to look at the world and our relationships and think that that kind of love is impossible. Or we read the Old Testament and go to church and think we must fear God. Fear is in no way love!

It is time we take a deep look at God’s infinite love for us. He desperately seeks our love and attention. He has done so much to show us that and most of us, even those who are Christian, miss it completely. It is time for us to know that all that God has done for us has been an act of love.

In the Bible, we are taught that if we sin and do not repent and put our trust in Jesus Christ we will truly die (Romans 6:23). That eternal death is referred to as Hell. Many people think that Hell is a place of fire and brimstone. This is not the case. The fire is a metaphor for God’s anger that we chose sin over Him (Mark 9:43). Although it may also be a physical fire too. The Biblical references to the eternal or outer darkness means God, who is light, is not present (Matthew 8:12). The Bible NEVER refers to Hell as a torture chamber created by God. In other words, Hell is absence from God and perhaps His creation as well.

God does not send us to Hell! We decide, with our own free will, to send ourselves there. God has done everything, without violating our free will, to save us from this fate. He sent His only begotten son, literally a third of Himself, to live a mortal life and die a horrible death on a cross because He loves us. God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. (Romans 5:8-9 ESV)

God is the ultimate example of love. He didn’t say, “Stop sinning and I will consider saving you.” No, what the Father said is, “First, I will pay your sin debt myself by sending my son to die in your place. Then, I will send my Spirit to help you stop sinning and purify you so we can be together forever.” This is a kind of love that we can never fully understand. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 ESV)

What does God want in return for His love?
As we all know, love is a two way street. The Father wants two things in return for His love. He wants us to love Him back and to love others. We Christians have something we call the great commandment. You have likely heard it before but let’s look at it in light of what we learned so far.

Jesus said, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37-39 ESV) What Jesus is saying is to love God with all that you are and all that you have. Then, show others the kind of love that God has shown us. Love other people as much as, if not more than, we love ourselves.

God’s love is so deep and so pure that it is intoxicating and overwhelming. As much as we try to love Him and other people it will never be as intense as the love the Father, Son, and Spirit show us. So then, are we doomed because we cannot fully return that love?

By no means! To illustrate this let’s look at an event that took place after Jesus rose from the grave found in John 21:15-18. Jesus had appeared several times to the apostles. One of these times he appeared by the Sea of Galilee while the apostles were fishing. He helped them catch many fish and they had breakfast by the shore.

After the meal, Jesus turned to Peter and said, "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" The word for love Jesus used here was agape. Agape is a Greek word meaning to love completely and unconditionally. It is comparable to a Hebrew term that means to “breathe after” someone.

Peter answered Him, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." The word Peter used for love is different. He used the Greek term phileo which means affection or brotherly love. What Peter was saying was, “I like you a lot but I don’t love you that deeply.” Jesus responded, “Feed my lambs.”

Then Jesus asked peter again, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" Again He used the word agape! Peter responded the same as before, "Yes, Lord; you know that I love you." Again he used the word phileo. Jesus replied, “Tend my sheep.”

You can tell something deeper is going on here. Peter likely feels guilty for betraying Jesus by denying Him three times the night He was arrested. Maybe he feels like he can’t possibly love Christ in that way after what he has done.

A third time Jesus asks, "Simon, son of John, do you love me?" This time He uses phileo as Peter had used. He was saying give me what love you can and we will go from there. This grieved Peter greatly but he responded, "Lord, you know everything; you know that I love you." As if to say, this is all I have to give right now.

Jesus answered, “Feed my sheep. Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were young, you used to dress yourself and walk wherever you wanted, but when you are old, you will stretch out your hands, and another will dress you and carry you where you do not want to go." What Jesus was saying here is that Peter will grow to love Him so much that he will not deny Him but instead will die for Him. Later Peter would only use the word agape when referring to loving Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, (1 Peter 1:8 ESV Emphasis Mine)

Conclusion
What this means for you is turn to Jesus Christ, confess your sins, ask for forgiveness, and because He loves you He will forgive you. Then, love Him with all that you have and all that you are. Over time that love will grow because the Holy Spirit of God dwells inside you and helps you to love the way the Father loves us. Not of your own doing, but of His. Not for your benefit, but for God's glory.