At work I was thinking about something that has come up.
I think you all should know by now that I believe that it is only human arrogance that makes us think God has to tell us everything. It is after all in my last blog.
But the thing is let’s look at what evidence there is to support this. Oddly enough I will start with the opposite view.
God wants us to grow, he wants us to be able to learn. In order to achieve his wish for this to be so he tells us about the cases of others. Adam and Eve is about the creation of earth and the universe, right?
Well what use is there for us in knowing how they were kicked out of the Garden of Eden?
See here is the thing, we need to know the nature of God. By telling us the plane he had for Adam and then for Eve, he is giving us insight into how things were supposed to be. In fact I would go further and say he is giving us insight into where he wants us NOW.
But there was a problem, the serpent! This “individual” comes along and whammo we are screwed as a people.
God allows us to know the details of that. Why? Because we can use those details as an opportunity to learn.
Think about it.
First Eve listened to the serpent instead of following God’s word and she entered into sin. What is the lesson for us? Get into God’s word. If we know his word we will not be easily swayed.
Second We also learn that there are those who will try to draw us away from God. And they will succeed if we let them.
Third. When the Serpent approached Eve she was alone. This shows us that when we are separated from God AND from fellow believers we are easy targets for evil.
What happened next? She told Adam “Hey this stuff is good!” and so Adam eats. What do we learn here?
First we learn that we need to listen to God. Adam had the benefit of talking to God directly but instead of listening to God he chose to listen to his wife instead.
Second we learn that we need to be faithful.
Third we learn that we will be punished when we fail to live up to the rules set.
Again in the story of Cain and Able it is the same thing. We are being taught a value system that God has in place.
See the point is all these things are in there to teach us and to grow us. The fact that something ISN’T in there though does not mean that it is not so.
The Bible does not say anything about the sun being the center of the galaxy, or the Mayans living on the other side of the world or… but these things are true.
Like I said before, we need to read the word of God and understand it. And that means ALL of it. Too many people will be ready to tell you what the Bible says and or doesn’t say.
For example, I know of a radio host who likes to goad Christians by telling them they have to follow the Old Testament laws. He brings up that argument every time a Christian starts worrying about what might happen because of the extremism in other religions.
His point is that the Old Testament supports extremes just as much as any other religious text and that if we do NOT follow the Old Testament laws to the letter then we are hypocrites.
The problem is that the NEW testament brought to us by Jesus Christ, while it does not cancel out the way we OUGHT to live it DOES cancel out the debt penalty that is owed.
As I have said before Jesus pays the penalties for our sins. Paul points out that we are still to live our lives as best we can, however the payment is made for what we do wrong
This is something that he cannot understand. God sent his son to earth. Jesus said he came “to fulfil the law and the prophets”. And therefore the parts in the Old Testament where it demands things like stoning of adulterers WE DO NOT HAVE TO DO. “Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord.” God will deal out the punishment/s.
Some people will tell you this is a difference from the God of the Old Testament but it isn’t. Everything God has done has been an act of love.
He could have/should have allowed Adam and Eve to die instantly for their sin. But he let them live and have offspring. Why? He loved them.
God could have destroyed Cain on the spot but no. why? Love.
God could have destroyed ALL the people in the flood but God loved Noah.
At any point in the history we see God could have killed all of mankind and started over. But love stayed his hand every time.
Again, he could have left his people the Israelites in captivity in Egypt, but instead he set them free because he loved them.
He could have let them stay in the desert but he loved them enough to feed them, give them water, part the red sea and finally lead them to a land that was good for them.
ALL of that for love.
So, to me, there is no doubt that the same God who showed love in all those things would also show love towards us “in that while [we] were yet sinners he sent his son to die for us.” (John 3:16)
We need to read his word and know it then we need to test the people who are telling us about him through his word and know if they are honest or not.
There was once a time when the Bible was written in a language that few people still knew how to read. God gave us men (and women) to faithfully translate his words so that they could be read by all. We need to do that (read his word) so that the efforts of those people do not go to waste.
One of my favorite verses is psalm 119:11… look it up and memorize it.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Wednesday, January 4, 2012
What about the things the Bible doesn’t talk about?
I would like to preface this with a disclaimer…
I do not have an opinion one way or the other about what might or might not be in this world or out of this world. I am merely trying to point out that we need to understand things before we go jumping to conclusions. As Shakespeare said “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Yup that’s right there are things that the Bible leaves undiscussed.
One night at work I heard a man on the radio telling the listeners that “the Bible does not say there are aliens so therefore they cannot exist.”
He was rather adamant that this was the case. And my first thought was “how unbelievably arrogant of him.”
I mean think about it. Who are we as humans to think that we know better than God, and further what is it about us that is so important that God has to kowtow to us and tell us “EVERYTHING”?
God, not man, is the creator of all that we see. God not man, laid out the plans before everything was made and it is God, not man, who still is in control of his creation.
Who are we to say that it must be done OUR way?
How many times do we see the example of how much more God knows over how much we know?
God is omniscient and omnipresent. There is no man on the face of this earth who can make the same claim.
But this man had his ideas and points about why there couldn’t be some things.
So let us consider...
“Just because the Bible doesn’t talk about aliens they don’t exist.”
Well the Bible never mentions the Maya or the Native Americans. It doesn’t even mention that the America’s exist. But here they are. What a surprise that must have been.
The Bible never mentions that the earth is round or spherical (to be more accurate) but we know better. In fact Jesus said go into the Four Corners of the world and spread the gospel. Taken literally this would signify a square or flat earth.
The Bible never tells us that the earth revolves around the sun but we now know this to be true.
In each of these cases someone at sometime stood up and said “well it doesn’t mention it in the Bible so it cannot be.” The church even excommunicated some pioneers in science for these theories.
He also said that in order for us to be saved Jesus had to take on the form of man. (true) and that therefore he could not have taken on the form of an alien (?) which means that aliens cannot be saved so this proves there cannot be any aliens (???.)
First of all we are shown in God’s word that we are created in God’s image. We do not have any idea what physiology aliens might enjoy… they may also look like us, they may also have feelings like us and since we were created in God’s image he might have done the same for any aliens.
Second of all Original sin came through Adam and Eve. Whether there is a penalty or sinful nature to the aliens is beyond our knowledge or understanding, they might not have needed to be “saved” if they did not participate in the sin. This seems very unlikely, consider Romans 3:23, and also because we see that all of animal kind also experiences death, which is the penalty for sin.
Mankind dragged down all the rest of creation with that mistake so it is likely that we dragged down aliens too, If they existed and If they didn’t actually sin themselves (and if they have souls). So it is very likely that the aliens would need salvation too, if it were possible.
Maybe the aliens do not have saving grace and that is why they keep abducting people and scaring the snot out of us is because they blame us for this state of affairs.
Anyway, since death is the penalty of sin maybe saving grace would be needed for them but this brings me to my final point on the subject.
The Aliens might not be saved at all; to make his claim that, "the only option is that they had to accept Christ in order to even exist". Well this isn’t true, they may exist but be destined for hell. Just because they have not accepted Christ does not mean they do not exist. Any man on earth (or woman) who rejects Jesus is going to face hell. That doesn’t mean they all of a sudden cease to exist here and now.
The thing is that it is God who knows it all and it is God who runs it all. We do not get that much say in the whole thing. We need to stop second guessing him and his word and simply live our lives trusting him. Trusting that he knows best. And in that trust when/ if something happens trust that he will see us through it.
There is also the point that it could simply be a case of "none of [our] business". There is a book I like a lot titled a horse and his boy. Written by C.S. Lewis. at one point in the book a character asks Aslan about what happened to someone else. Aslan responds with "that is her story not yours. the point being it was none of her business. and I think the same could be said of any "aliens" that might be out there. Maybe, just maybe the Bible doesn't talk about them because, at least till now, it has been NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
What we need to focus on here and now is where we stand with God. that is our primary concern and that is what we need to focus on.
When you make certain declarations as a faith, and there is nothing in God’s word to actually verify it, then there is the very real chance that you will mislead someone to doubt God and thus drive them away.
And that is something we should not do. How much was the faith of our ancestors tried when some churchman or church stood up and said, “It isn’t in the Bible so it cannot be.” Just to find out that it so very much can be and is.
God doesn’t fit in our boxes, so quit trying to put him there.
I do not have an opinion one way or the other about what might or might not be in this world or out of this world. I am merely trying to point out that we need to understand things before we go jumping to conclusions. As Shakespeare said “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,
Than are dreamt of in your philosophy.”
Yup that’s right there are things that the Bible leaves undiscussed.
One night at work I heard a man on the radio telling the listeners that “the Bible does not say there are aliens so therefore they cannot exist.”
He was rather adamant that this was the case. And my first thought was “how unbelievably arrogant of him.”
I mean think about it. Who are we as humans to think that we know better than God, and further what is it about us that is so important that God has to kowtow to us and tell us “EVERYTHING”?
God, not man, is the creator of all that we see. God not man, laid out the plans before everything was made and it is God, not man, who still is in control of his creation.
Who are we to say that it must be done OUR way?
How many times do we see the example of how much more God knows over how much we know?
God is omniscient and omnipresent. There is no man on the face of this earth who can make the same claim.
But this man had his ideas and points about why there couldn’t be some things.
So let us consider...
“Just because the Bible doesn’t talk about aliens they don’t exist.”
Well the Bible never mentions the Maya or the Native Americans. It doesn’t even mention that the America’s exist. But here they are. What a surprise that must have been.
The Bible never mentions that the earth is round or spherical (to be more accurate) but we know better. In fact Jesus said go into the Four Corners of the world and spread the gospel. Taken literally this would signify a square or flat earth.
The Bible never tells us that the earth revolves around the sun but we now know this to be true.
In each of these cases someone at sometime stood up and said “well it doesn’t mention it in the Bible so it cannot be.” The church even excommunicated some pioneers in science for these theories.
He also said that in order for us to be saved Jesus had to take on the form of man. (true) and that therefore he could not have taken on the form of an alien (?) which means that aliens cannot be saved so this proves there cannot be any aliens (???.)
First of all we are shown in God’s word that we are created in God’s image. We do not have any idea what physiology aliens might enjoy… they may also look like us, they may also have feelings like us and since we were created in God’s image he might have done the same for any aliens.
Second of all Original sin came through Adam and Eve. Whether there is a penalty or sinful nature to the aliens is beyond our knowledge or understanding, they might not have needed to be “saved” if they did not participate in the sin. This seems very unlikely, consider Romans 3:23, and also because we see that all of animal kind also experiences death, which is the penalty for sin.
Mankind dragged down all the rest of creation with that mistake so it is likely that we dragged down aliens too, If they existed and If they didn’t actually sin themselves (and if they have souls). So it is very likely that the aliens would need salvation too, if it were possible.
Maybe the aliens do not have saving grace and that is why they keep abducting people and scaring the snot out of us is because they blame us for this state of affairs.
Anyway, since death is the penalty of sin maybe saving grace would be needed for them but this brings me to my final point on the subject.
The Aliens might not be saved at all; to make his claim that, "the only option is that they had to accept Christ in order to even exist". Well this isn’t true, they may exist but be destined for hell. Just because they have not accepted Christ does not mean they do not exist. Any man on earth (or woman) who rejects Jesus is going to face hell. That doesn’t mean they all of a sudden cease to exist here and now.
The thing is that it is God who knows it all and it is God who runs it all. We do not get that much say in the whole thing. We need to stop second guessing him and his word and simply live our lives trusting him. Trusting that he knows best. And in that trust when/ if something happens trust that he will see us through it.
There is also the point that it could simply be a case of "none of [our] business". There is a book I like a lot titled a horse and his boy. Written by C.S. Lewis. at one point in the book a character asks Aslan about what happened to someone else. Aslan responds with "that is her story not yours. the point being it was none of her business. and I think the same could be said of any "aliens" that might be out there. Maybe, just maybe the Bible doesn't talk about them because, at least till now, it has been NONE OF OUR BUSINESS.
What we need to focus on here and now is where we stand with God. that is our primary concern and that is what we need to focus on.
When you make certain declarations as a faith, and there is nothing in God’s word to actually verify it, then there is the very real chance that you will mislead someone to doubt God and thus drive them away.
And that is something we should not do. How much was the faith of our ancestors tried when some churchman or church stood up and said, “It isn’t in the Bible so it cannot be.” Just to find out that it so very much can be and is.
God doesn’t fit in our boxes, so quit trying to put him there.
Saturday, December 17, 2011
So how are Christians supposed to act?
I have to tell you that I am ver y worried about the way that people behave in the here and now while calling themselves Christians.
For those of you who are not Christian I would ask you that you would give those who are the benefit of the doubt. Just like many of you are trying to do with Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus or… See just like it was a small subset of Muslims who attacked and destroyed so much on September 11 it is a small but obvious group of people who call themselves Christian who give the rest a black eye.
Many of these people have no clue what it really says in the bible. They never read theirs though they may have 5 or 6 in their homes.
Some of us try to read our bibles but get easily distracted. And some of us manage to get into the word of God regularly. It does not help when people who are NOT Christian try to tell everyone what is in the bible when all too often it is taken out of context.
How would you like it if I told you all about your favorite idea/s but never really learned what those ideas really were?
So give the Christians you know a bit of a break. They are not perfect they are people too just like you, they make mistakes just like you. And while some of them might seem to be a little quick to hold things over others, haven’t you done the same thing once or twice?
As it says in Roman’s “all have sinned and fallen shirt of the glory of God.” Even those who are Christians.
For those of you who are not Christian I would ask you that you would give those who are the benefit of the doubt. Just like many of you are trying to do with Muslims or Buddhists or Hindus or… See just like it was a small subset of Muslims who attacked and destroyed so much on September 11 it is a small but obvious group of people who call themselves Christian who give the rest a black eye.
Many of these people have no clue what it really says in the bible. They never read theirs though they may have 5 or 6 in their homes.
Some of us try to read our bibles but get easily distracted. And some of us manage to get into the word of God regularly. It does not help when people who are NOT Christian try to tell everyone what is in the bible when all too often it is taken out of context.
How would you like it if I told you all about your favorite idea/s but never really learned what those ideas really were?
So give the Christians you know a bit of a break. They are not perfect they are people too just like you, they make mistakes just like you. And while some of them might seem to be a little quick to hold things over others, haven’t you done the same thing once or twice?
As it says in Roman’s “all have sinned and fallen shirt of the glory of God.” Even those who are Christians.
Friday, June 24, 2011
Predestination or not?
There is a debate out there about whether we get to choose God or does God choose us. There is some difficulty that people have with the things that God has in his book.
For example, God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites go free. But then God tells Moses but Pharaoh will not listen for “I will harden his heart”.
How do we reconcile this?
Did God choose who will end up where before we were born? Are we stuck? Or do we get to choose our own paths.
And if it was God’s choice then doesn’t that absolve us of sin? It was God’s choice not mine. That makes God capricious and cruel.
If it was “my” choice then doesn’t that mean that when I choose to follow God it is not by any action on his part? And doesn’t that, by inference, mean that he is a weak God who can be ruled by MY whim?
Well I do not see the God of the bible sitting around wringing his hands going “gosh I sure hope they pick me.”
At the same time I know that God’s nature means that he is NOT cruel but a loving God. And my “sense of fairness” means that I think it would be wrong of anyone to force someone to commit a crime and then punish them for it. (“If you who are sinners provide good things for your children, won’t God, who is perfect, do more so?”)
So how do we reconcile this?
In my humble opinion it comes down to "free will" (again this is my opinion).
I believe that God wants us to freely choose to obey and follow him. Else why put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden with Adam and Eve?
As a parent I know that it pleases me when my children choose to obey me rather than when I have to "make" them do what I want/need them to do.
Sometimes in order for them to learn the lesson of obedience I have to allow them the chance to disobey.
If God is our perfect heavenly father then how much more is it the same way with him?
Of course the Fact is that God, as I understand it, is omniscient. ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.") He transcends time and knows what will happen in all times. (Thus the ability to give people the gift of prophecy.)
So he knows already what choice/s we will make he has seen it. But because he has given us the option to choose he cannot correct it.
By the way when I say he cannot correct it, what I mean is that while he is the creator of the heaven and the earth and all that exists he cannot go against his own rules.
It seems to me to be very dangerous to make blanket type statements. IE: there isn't anything that He cannot do or accomplish.
A simple (ridiculous) question shows that to be a difficult position to maintain. "So then can God make a rock that he can't move?”
If you say no then obviously he cannot "accomplish" anything. He cannot make a rock he cannot move.
Then again if you say yes, then he cannot accomplish "anything" because there is a force in the universe greater than he is. (The hypothetical rock).
God will not go against his nature, his rules. Therefore since one of his rules seems to be to let people choose for themselves whether they will serve him or not (Joshua 24:15) he will not interfere in that. But because he has the ability to know the choice we will make, he can "call" those who will choose him.
Which, by the way, also means that since he is the one actively seeking us, it is by his mercy through his grace that we are saved so that Paul was able to say "we might not boast".
For example, God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and tell him to let the Israelites go free. But then God tells Moses but Pharaoh will not listen for “I will harden his heart”.
How do we reconcile this?
Did God choose who will end up where before we were born? Are we stuck? Or do we get to choose our own paths.
And if it was God’s choice then doesn’t that absolve us of sin? It was God’s choice not mine. That makes God capricious and cruel.
If it was “my” choice then doesn’t that mean that when I choose to follow God it is not by any action on his part? And doesn’t that, by inference, mean that he is a weak God who can be ruled by MY whim?
Well I do not see the God of the bible sitting around wringing his hands going “gosh I sure hope they pick me.”
At the same time I know that God’s nature means that he is NOT cruel but a loving God. And my “sense of fairness” means that I think it would be wrong of anyone to force someone to commit a crime and then punish them for it. (“If you who are sinners provide good things for your children, won’t God, who is perfect, do more so?”)
So how do we reconcile this?
In my humble opinion it comes down to "free will" (again this is my opinion).
I believe that God wants us to freely choose to obey and follow him. Else why put the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the garden with Adam and Eve?
As a parent I know that it pleases me when my children choose to obey me rather than when I have to "make" them do what I want/need them to do.
Sometimes in order for them to learn the lesson of obedience I have to allow them the chance to disobey.
If God is our perfect heavenly father then how much more is it the same way with him?
Of course the Fact is that God, as I understand it, is omniscient. ("I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.") He transcends time and knows what will happen in all times. (Thus the ability to give people the gift of prophecy.)
So he knows already what choice/s we will make he has seen it. But because he has given us the option to choose he cannot correct it.
By the way when I say he cannot correct it, what I mean is that while he is the creator of the heaven and the earth and all that exists he cannot go against his own rules.
It seems to me to be very dangerous to make blanket type statements. IE: there isn't anything that He cannot do or accomplish.
A simple (ridiculous) question shows that to be a difficult position to maintain. "So then can God make a rock that he can't move?”
If you say no then obviously he cannot "accomplish" anything. He cannot make a rock he cannot move.
Then again if you say yes, then he cannot accomplish "anything" because there is a force in the universe greater than he is. (The hypothetical rock).
God will not go against his nature, his rules. Therefore since one of his rules seems to be to let people choose for themselves whether they will serve him or not (Joshua 24:15) he will not interfere in that. But because he has the ability to know the choice we will make, he can "call" those who will choose him.
Which, by the way, also means that since he is the one actively seeking us, it is by his mercy through his grace that we are saved so that Paul was able to say "we might not boast".
Where does God want us?
Some people see the title of today’s blog as a real question. I mean in a locational sense. (yes I made up a word with locational.)
The thing is that God seems to not be worried about location of our physical selves it is with our SPIRITUAL selves that God has issue.
Oh sure he will lead us to a physical location sometimes. He will do that through desire and circumstance. After all look at what he did with the Israelites when he led them out of Egypt. But God is most concerned with the heart.
To that end we ought to seek to read his word. I myself have immersed myself in the Bible recently and I have found some interesting stuff.
I found, for example, the relationship between Abraham and Lot. I found some interesting points about Noah and I found several people who had the same name… I never really thought about how there were two Lamechs…
Anyway. There is more to it than that And I hope that you will join me in this journey. Open your Bible/s and learn.
Learn where it is that God wants you.
The thing is that God seems to not be worried about location of our physical selves it is with our SPIRITUAL selves that God has issue.
Oh sure he will lead us to a physical location sometimes. He will do that through desire and circumstance. After all look at what he did with the Israelites when he led them out of Egypt. But God is most concerned with the heart.
To that end we ought to seek to read his word. I myself have immersed myself in the Bible recently and I have found some interesting stuff.
I found, for example, the relationship between Abraham and Lot. I found some interesting points about Noah and I found several people who had the same name… I never really thought about how there were two Lamechs…
Anyway. There is more to it than that And I hope that you will join me in this journey. Open your Bible/s and learn.
Learn where it is that God wants you.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Bible versus world views
Well, well, well… this one’s gonna rock the boat.
I heard a pretty good sermon recently. I ALSO heard a very… interesting response.
The sermon was talking about how, as Christians, many of us pick and choose what we want to believe. This has always been true mind you but the speaker was trying to make his point using recent studies, polls and reports.
According to his research (and the point he was trying to make) many Christians today will accept the “teachings” of other religions kind of like they were picking and choosing what they want to eat from a salad bar. They will fall into many spiritual errors because they don’t focus on the Bible and make it central to their understanding of God in their lives. (The Bible the whole Bible and nothing but the bible.)
The thing is… I agree! He was right. This has been going on for a long time. I think the most obvious example is Thomas Jefferson and the way he would actually cut out parts of the Bible that he didn’t agree with. But we are doing the same thing.
I enjoy martial arts. (Karate, Kempo, Tai Kwan Do.) But I learned very early on that I had to be super careful because all of these have a spiritual component. ALL OF THEM. Tai Chi, a slow stretching variation of a martial art, ALSO has a spiritual component, Seeking inner harmony through the manipulation of your body to open up your “Chi” or “Chakra”.
None of these are biblical! But Christians are following these teachings. We subscribe, as a people, to teachings that don’t exist in the Bible because we don’t read our Bible. (This is one of the points that the sermon I heard was getting at.)
The speaker stated that the Bible is the word of God given to us directly from God. I agree with him. I also think we need to know God’s word and follow it.
But here we find an interesting issue. I heard someone, a leader in a church themselves, from another denomination, who was upset with the sermon.
First this individual declared that the Bible was NOT written directly by God. (It may have been inspired by God but written by fallible men, who are prone to making mistakes.) That the Bible was not really that pure a book (it has been translated, again by men and Obviously errors had to enter in because of that fallibility.) and besides people who do Tai Chi have to be doing it ONLY to stretch they are not putting any “pseudo spiritual factors” into their practice.
O.K. as I like to do I will take the last point first.
As I said before I am very familiar with the realm of martial arts. And they ALL have a spiritual emphasis. They have to because they incorporate morality within their teachings. (“This is not to be used as an offensive tool Grasshopper.”) They ALL have some value or another that links directly to our spirituality. Tai Chi, the example used by both the original speaker and the denouncer, is specifically created to inspire “peace in our souls” through awareness of our body/ies and the holistic approach of opening up our bodies to inner wellness through allowing our “spiritual energies” to flow freely.
There are very few practitioners of martial arts who will make a claim that there is NO spiritual component. Let me try to explain that… There is the moral component as I said already, and there is the holistic wellness idea, in order for you to get out of your “training” what they want you to get you have to accept the spirituality of it, or it does you no good.
I have to pause here for a point of my own. Does this mean that Christians should just sit around and get flabby? No. Does this mean we should not learn to defend ourselves? No. the thing is we need to find ways of doing these things that are BIBLICAL. For example I found a Karate class that taught that our spirituality and “inner peace” came from God. Comes from outside us from the Lord and Maker of Heaven and Earth. Not from inside of us. Instead of breathing and opening our “Chakras” we would instead Pray to God.
We can look to sports and such like these to promote health and flexibility. But we have to watch for the invasiveness that comes from the spiritual components.
So the point of the speaker was that we need to KNOW the Bible! All of the Bible! So that we don’t fall into the trap of alternate religion/s(that is what I got NOT necessarily the point the speaker was trying to make.
Now as to the fallibility of the Bible. Here is an interesting point. According to my “opponent” in this debate, the Bible was Not written by God but by men who make mistakes. The thing is that Jesus himself was wont to use the old testament to prove his claims about being the messiah. If the original Word of God was wrong… then Jesus was wrong. But Jesus is supposed to be the incarnation of God here on earth. God himself in the flesh. He proved this by referring to the Old Testament and the writings of Moses.
“I come to fulfil the law AND THE PROPHETS”. He told us that we have to believe in him because Moses wrote of him. In other words the very point of whether Jesus is,
(a) The very son of God and therefore,
(b) The messiah, savior of the world, and as such,
(c) Able to pay the penalty for our sins
All these points depend on the Bible being 100% true through and through.
That means that it has to come from God, NOT man else all the prophecies concerning the messiah would be suspect at best and outright wrong more likely.
There is also the point that Jesus himself, while sired by God, was still born of a human. A FALLIBLE human and so if the WORD of God is suspect because of being opened to mankind through fallible people then isn’t the very Birth of Christ suspect the same way?
How about the translation point that my “opponent” raised? You know I like archaeology, sometimes I think how cool it would be to go back in time and see what life was like long ago.
Archaeology helps us to get a glimpse of those times. Thing is it also helps us to understand recent times. A few decades ago a shepherd was wandering around, for whatever reason, and he found a cave. Inside that cave he found relics, pots and scrolls, archaeologists presented with this veritable treasure-trove and soon dove into the find looking at “papers” that were thousands of years old. Some of those papers turned out to be old “copies” of the torah. What we call today the Old Testament. Thing is they were proof that the Bible, at least that part that they matched in those caves, is the same today, as it was thousands of years ago.
There were few, if any, changes to the substance of the works. In other words, if we brought a Hebrew guy up from the past, and showed him our Bible, after teaching him English, he would recognize the old testament and have no problems with the veracity or continuity of the word as we see it today.
I think that the arguments raised were really because the point hit home. I think that this was a natural and normal attempt by the person arguing against the point/s of the speaker, to justify the alternate spiritual activities of people today.
What we need to do. All of us. Is read God’s word, All of it, cover to cover, and try to understand it. I have said many times that The best way to argue in favor of your faith is to know your faith. We need to KNOW.
Please people read your bible/s understand the word of God, accept no substitute.
I heard a pretty good sermon recently. I ALSO heard a very… interesting response.
The sermon was talking about how, as Christians, many of us pick and choose what we want to believe. This has always been true mind you but the speaker was trying to make his point using recent studies, polls and reports.
According to his research (and the point he was trying to make) many Christians today will accept the “teachings” of other religions kind of like they were picking and choosing what they want to eat from a salad bar. They will fall into many spiritual errors because they don’t focus on the Bible and make it central to their understanding of God in their lives. (The Bible the whole Bible and nothing but the bible.)
The thing is… I agree! He was right. This has been going on for a long time. I think the most obvious example is Thomas Jefferson and the way he would actually cut out parts of the Bible that he didn’t agree with. But we are doing the same thing.
I enjoy martial arts. (Karate, Kempo, Tai Kwan Do.) But I learned very early on that I had to be super careful because all of these have a spiritual component. ALL OF THEM. Tai Chi, a slow stretching variation of a martial art, ALSO has a spiritual component, Seeking inner harmony through the manipulation of your body to open up your “Chi” or “Chakra”.
None of these are biblical! But Christians are following these teachings. We subscribe, as a people, to teachings that don’t exist in the Bible because we don’t read our Bible. (This is one of the points that the sermon I heard was getting at.)
The speaker stated that the Bible is the word of God given to us directly from God. I agree with him. I also think we need to know God’s word and follow it.
But here we find an interesting issue. I heard someone, a leader in a church themselves, from another denomination, who was upset with the sermon.
First this individual declared that the Bible was NOT written directly by God. (It may have been inspired by God but written by fallible men, who are prone to making mistakes.) That the Bible was not really that pure a book (it has been translated, again by men and Obviously errors had to enter in because of that fallibility.) and besides people who do Tai Chi have to be doing it ONLY to stretch they are not putting any “pseudo spiritual factors” into their practice.
O.K. as I like to do I will take the last point first.
As I said before I am very familiar with the realm of martial arts. And they ALL have a spiritual emphasis. They have to because they incorporate morality within their teachings. (“This is not to be used as an offensive tool Grasshopper.”) They ALL have some value or another that links directly to our spirituality. Tai Chi, the example used by both the original speaker and the denouncer, is specifically created to inspire “peace in our souls” through awareness of our body/ies and the holistic approach of opening up our bodies to inner wellness through allowing our “spiritual energies” to flow freely.
There are very few practitioners of martial arts who will make a claim that there is NO spiritual component. Let me try to explain that… There is the moral component as I said already, and there is the holistic wellness idea, in order for you to get out of your “training” what they want you to get you have to accept the spirituality of it, or it does you no good.
I have to pause here for a point of my own. Does this mean that Christians should just sit around and get flabby? No. Does this mean we should not learn to defend ourselves? No. the thing is we need to find ways of doing these things that are BIBLICAL. For example I found a Karate class that taught that our spirituality and “inner peace” came from God. Comes from outside us from the Lord and Maker of Heaven and Earth. Not from inside of us. Instead of breathing and opening our “Chakras” we would instead Pray to God.
We can look to sports and such like these to promote health and flexibility. But we have to watch for the invasiveness that comes from the spiritual components.
So the point of the speaker was that we need to KNOW the Bible! All of the Bible! So that we don’t fall into the trap of alternate religion/s(that is what I got NOT necessarily the point the speaker was trying to make.
Now as to the fallibility of the Bible. Here is an interesting point. According to my “opponent” in this debate, the Bible was Not written by God but by men who make mistakes. The thing is that Jesus himself was wont to use the old testament to prove his claims about being the messiah. If the original Word of God was wrong… then Jesus was wrong. But Jesus is supposed to be the incarnation of God here on earth. God himself in the flesh. He proved this by referring to the Old Testament and the writings of Moses.
“I come to fulfil the law AND THE PROPHETS”. He told us that we have to believe in him because Moses wrote of him. In other words the very point of whether Jesus is,
(a) The very son of God and therefore,
(b) The messiah, savior of the world, and as such,
(c) Able to pay the penalty for our sins
All these points depend on the Bible being 100% true through and through.
That means that it has to come from God, NOT man else all the prophecies concerning the messiah would be suspect at best and outright wrong more likely.
There is also the point that Jesus himself, while sired by God, was still born of a human. A FALLIBLE human and so if the WORD of God is suspect because of being opened to mankind through fallible people then isn’t the very Birth of Christ suspect the same way?
How about the translation point that my “opponent” raised? You know I like archaeology, sometimes I think how cool it would be to go back in time and see what life was like long ago.
Archaeology helps us to get a glimpse of those times. Thing is it also helps us to understand recent times. A few decades ago a shepherd was wandering around, for whatever reason, and he found a cave. Inside that cave he found relics, pots and scrolls, archaeologists presented with this veritable treasure-trove and soon dove into the find looking at “papers” that were thousands of years old. Some of those papers turned out to be old “copies” of the torah. What we call today the Old Testament. Thing is they were proof that the Bible, at least that part that they matched in those caves, is the same today, as it was thousands of years ago.
There were few, if any, changes to the substance of the works. In other words, if we brought a Hebrew guy up from the past, and showed him our Bible, after teaching him English, he would recognize the old testament and have no problems with the veracity or continuity of the word as we see it today.
I think that the arguments raised were really because the point hit home. I think that this was a natural and normal attempt by the person arguing against the point/s of the speaker, to justify the alternate spiritual activities of people today.
What we need to do. All of us. Is read God’s word, All of it, cover to cover, and try to understand it. I have said many times that The best way to argue in favor of your faith is to know your faith. We need to KNOW.
Please people read your bible/s understand the word of God, accept no substitute.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Ooopssie
I realize that there has been a hiatus from my blog/s of late.
I would like to apologize for that hiatus.
Really there were a number of contributing factors including the break down of all the computers in our house, and a lack of motivation on my part.
The good news is I am back; and while I may not be to strenuous about posting to my blogs for a while at least you know I am still here and I will be trying to get my words out there again.
I would like to apologize for that hiatus.
Really there were a number of contributing factors including the break down of all the computers in our house, and a lack of motivation on my part.
The good news is I am back; and while I may not be to strenuous about posting to my blogs for a while at least you know I am still here and I will be trying to get my words out there again.
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