Q: Can God be all forgiving? Can He let serial killers and child molesters into heaven? Or is there a point that comes when even HE cannot forgive?
A: God can be and is all forgiving. He is the epitomy of grace and He tells us in the often quoted verse John 3:16 that He loves us SO much that he gave His only son, Jesus Christ, that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but will have eternal life. Nowhere in this verse does he make a stipulation...
on an individual’s history of sin.
Daniel did a message not long ago where he talked about “a little thing” he “likes to call justification by comparison.” It’s where we look at individuals and compare ourselves…”well, I’m not as bad as that person”. It is human nature to assess how bad certain sins are. When, in reality, God doesn’t set varying levels of sin. Sin is sin. Lying, using God’s name in vain, murder, cheating on your taxes, cheating on your spouse…it’s all the same. While the pain and earthly consequences of those actions are obviously different, the impact they have on our being righteous enough to enter heaven are the same. We are all sinners and have fallen short of the glory of God. Without God’s grace, NONE of us are worthy of the Kingdom of heaven. But the beauty of it is…with God’s grace, ALL of us are capable of entering that Kingdom.
The hard part, I think, is recognizing the above statement as “beauty”. Jesus actually tells a great parable- the story of The Prodigal Son. (Luke 15:11-32) If you’ve not read it, take a moment and check it out. In the story, the older brother represents the Pharisees, who at the time were really angry and bitter that “sinners” were being welcomed into the kingdom of God.
I think it’s just as easy for us to fall into the same trap as the Pharisees – where we actually resent God’s forgiveness of others who are “way worse sinners” than we are. Instead, we are told to rejoice and celebrate when others come to Jesus. Our focus should not be on the past of others but rather on Luke 15:32 “…celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Serial Killers in heaven?
Forgiving the Unaware Offender
Q: When you are angry with someone, how can you forgive them if they don’t even know you’re upset?
A: Forgiveness is something we are told to do throughout the Bible – in fact we are told in Matthew 6:14-15 that if we do not forgive others, God will not forgive our sins. Forgiveness is an act of letting go. It is something you do for you as much as for someone else. Being angry with this person who doesn’t even know you’re mad is...
corrupting your heart, not theirs. It is creating an environment for bitterness, anger and hurt to fester…all the while having no effect whatsoever on your offender. Letting go of this anger, truly forgiving this person – in your heart - which means understanding the impact and working through it…not dwelling on it anymore…seriously letting it go – allows you to move on and creates room in your heart for love, peace and grace…the things that are supposed to be there.
When I find myself struggling with forgiveness or dwelling on something in the past that I allegedly had already forgiven, I always think of a line in The Lord’s Prayer that says, “forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those that trespass against us”. My interpretation of that line is – “Father, please forgive me for all of the things I’ve done to hurt You – the same way that I forgive those that hurt me.” In that context, it is more important than ever that I not only forgive those who hurt me, but I do so with the grace and compassion that I am asking for from my Father in heaven.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
What is Salvation?
Q: I don’t understand “being saved.” How do I know I’m ready? Can you shed some light on this? Can you fall from this and have to be re-saved?
A: "Saved" is one term among several that the New Testament uses to describe the change that occurs in a person's relationship with God after encountering and choosing to follow Jesus Christ. Other terms include...
... "made right with God," "justified," "peace with God," "born again," "converted," "redeemed." The noun is “salvation.” Salvation is deliverance from the power and effects of sin. To be saved is to be forgiven of our sins and placed in a right relationship with God.
We are saved by faith in God’s work in Jesus Christ. God’s just punishment for our sin is...
absorbed by Christ on the cross. To accept Christ’s payment is to be saved. It is what Bob Tuttle calls, the great “I give up.” We give up on our righteousness, on our own efforts to gain God’s approval, on all attempts to justify ourselves. We acknowledge we are sinners in need of God’s grace. We admit we need a Savior.
If you acknowledge you need God, that you can’t atone for your own sin, that your righteousness isn’t sufficient, then you are ready. Make no mistake, it is not a step to take lightly. It is unconditional surrender. With it comes all the benefits of being a child of God: forgiveness, peace with God, the joy of relationship with God, eternal life, a new power to live life as God wants it lived.
You are free to accept or reject this gift. This is true before salvation and after. No one in God’s creation can take God’s salvation from you. But, you can choose to walk away from Christ. Our love for God must be freely given from a willing heart.
What happens at death?
Q: When we die as a faithful Christian, does our spirit go right to heaven? When Jesus comes back, the dead in Christ will rise first so then our earthly body is lifted up?
A: When a follower of Jesus Christ dies, his or her spirit immediately goes to heaven. Paul said, "absent in body, present with the Lord." Jesus promised the thief on the cross who trusted in him, "Today you will be with me in paradise." You are correct in noting that the reference to "the dead in Christ rising first" (found in I Thessalonians 4) is to the resurrection of the body; when the spirits of those in Christ who have died will be clothed with their new bodies, like the body Jesus had after the resurrection. "Soul sleep," the belief that we sleep in the grave until the Day of Judgment, is not a biblical idea and is held by only a small minority of Christians.
Christmas
Q: I have heard conflicting reports about Christmas being a pagan holiday. I would like some clarification on that.
A: We do not know the exact date of Christ's birth. The December 25 date comes from the position that Jesus died on March 25 coupled with the Jewish belief that a prophet died on the same day he was conceived. Add nine months to the date of conception and you come up with December 25. There were pagan holidays celebrated around that time (like Saturnalia) and, because of that, the assumption is that it was originally pagan. There is some evidence that the Christmas tree was originally used in pagan settings. It appears first in the Christian community in the eighth century and continued to evolve over time. Legend has it that the Reformer Martin Luther began the tradition of adding lights to the Christmas tree. The history can be debated. The essential question is, "Can an object of this world be used for God's purposes and designs even if it was originally used for non-Christian purposes?" I believe the answer is yes. In the first century Christians wondered if it was acceptable to purchase meat from the marketplace since, in many situations, that meat was first offered to pagan gods. Paul said a believer was free to eat it. The Psalmist declares, "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it." If Christmas was originally pagan, that matters little now for what God redeems is holy.
Read More...
Dear readers-
Since we have started this blog, we have wanted to have it formatted so that just the first portion of the entry was shown with a link that says, "Read More..." on which you could click to read the rest of it. This way, if you didn't want to read or respond to that particular question, you didn't have to scroll down forever to find the rest of them. So, without any further ado, please click on the blue "Read More..." link below...
See what I mean? Now isn't that better. Our hope that this makes this blog more accessible and readable to you. If you have any other comments or suggestions, please let us know so we can take them into consideration.
Tuesday, January 29, 2008
A Question About Questions
A: I’m not sure if this is a general question or one specific to this blog. Here, we have answered questions regarding creation, God’s existence, the Bible, homosexuality, abortion, suffering and suicide. I can tell you these are not easy topics to address; so if there is a particular question or topic you feel we are sidestepping, could you let us know through comment here? Thanks.
Judgment of Those Who Have Never Heard of Christ
A: In the first chapter of Romans, the Apostle Paul says that God, His qualities, have been clear to his creation from the beginning; God is imprinted on the heart so to speak. The implication that follows (and is given in a few other passages) is that the person who has not received the Good News of Jesus Christ will be dealt with gracefully by his or her response to that understanding of God. So, no, God does not send people ignorant of Jesus to hell based on a lack of acceptance to what they don’t know.
Someone may ask, then, “Why tell people about Jesus if those who never heard about him have a way outside of him to be judged?” The answer is twofold. First, we are told to do so by our Lord. Second, the Good News is not just for judgment day, rather Christ has the power to transform our lives with healing and truth. If we don’t send kids to school, their intelligence will never be evaluated the same way, but that doesn’t mean that education isn’t incredibly important to have.
Alcohol
A: There is nothing in the Bible that prohibits drinking alcohol. However, the Bible says quite a bit about drunkenness. It says that drunkenness leads to debauchery and ungodly living. Also, the Apostle Paul says that while there are things that are not wrong in and of themselves, they become wrong when they cause a brother or sister to stumble (fall into sin). I think a direct application of this is drinking around a recovering alcoholic.
Some Christians then make a decision that abstinence from alcohol is the best choice since drinking CAN lead to drunkenness (certainly more so than not drinking can) and since they can never be sure who might stumble because of their actions.
Monday, January 28, 2008
Be Fruitful and Multiply
Q: God said to man, "Be fruitful and multiply", yet his only son had no children. Does not God lead by example?
A: I have never actually thought about this before. But when you look back at the times that God told man to 'be fruitful and multiply,' it was not to man in general, necessarily. It was at specific times in which the earth or a people group needed to be populated. The first instance was during creation. God created all of the creatures and Adam and Eve, then empowered them to populate the earth by being fruitful and multiplying. The next instance was after the Great Flood. Every person and creature on earth was destroyed, save Noah and his family and the animals that were taken on the ark with them, so again the need was there to populate the earth. Finally, the line of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob was to be God's chosen people, which would eventually be the line that Jesus came from. God promised Abraham that his descendants would outnumber the stars (Genesis 15:5). In order for them to do that, they had to be fruitful and multiply. So it was not a general command that God gave to people, such as worship Him alone or do not murder, but to a specific person/people in a specific circumstance.
Regarding Jesus leading by example, His whole life was the ultimate example. When He would tell people to follow Him, He was inviting them to do as He did and live as He lived. He showed us what it looks like to be a believer in God. If we call ourselves Christians, our primary goal should be to model His life. The fact that He wasn't married and didn't multiply physiologically is not necessarily an example that we should feel the need to follow, any more than Him being a carpenter or wearing robes are. It is simply a social construct that, in itself, neither violates nor fulfills God's commands or desires for life.
