This weekend we celebrate the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Approximately half the world knows the story of how Jesus died and rose again. (Sadly, there is still half our world that has not even had a chance to reject Him because they have not even heard of Him. That is what missions and CTEN is all about.) But what happened to the other apostles? How and where did they die? ** Continue reading
Category Archives: Bible
Banking on the Bible
I am in Berlin, Germany today spending time with a couple who are missionaries with Commission To Every Nation (www.CTEN.org). Why missionaries in Germany? After all, this is the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation and there are churches in every town. Germany is also the birthplace of liberal theology and, believe it or not, some of the people they are reaching are seminary students who do not believe the Bible.
Does that sound astounding that you would go to seminary and not believe the Bible? Weirder still is that some seminaries teach that you cannot fully trust the Bible. After all, it has stories about fish eating people, guys rising into the clouds, a person turns into salt, blind people seeing and deaf people hearing – nice little tales but not really meant to be believed.
Satan’s first attack has always been against God’s Word – “Did God really say …?”. That is why cults always have their own versions of the Bible (i.e. JW, Mormons, Biblical Universalists) or their own supplemental material that you have to read to “really understand” the Bible.
If we cannot fully trust God’s Word then we have nothing to stand on, our entire understanding of God is just conjecture. We can know there is a God because of the complexity of nature and the order we see in the universe but is He friendly and involved or angry and distant. The only way we can know Him is that He has chosen to tell us about Himself. Take away the Bible and your guess is as good as mine, which is only as good as anyone else’s. Without the Bible as our authority, throwing young women as sacrifices into volcanoes to please this unknown God is as legitimate as loving your neighbor as yourself.
What a treasure of infinite worth we have in the Bible. A God we can only know if He chooses to reveal Himself to us has, in its pages, pulled back a curtain to allow us to peek into eternity and catch a glimpse of Him. We can know what pleases Him and what displeases Him only because He reveals it to us. We can know how to find peace with Him only because He reveals it to us. Most importantly, we can know what path leads to eternal life and what path leads to death because He has revealed it to us. Take away the Bible and we are all just guessing and when it comes to something as crucial as our eternal destiny, I do not want to be just guessing.
Everybody is betting on something. Muslims are betting that Allah will have mercy. Hindus are betting on their good works. Atheists are betting there is no God. I’ll put my hope in what the Bible says. It has been proven over and over again to be dependable.
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2 Peter 1:20-21 (NIV)
Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet’s own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.
5/26/2011
Why Crucify?
Question:
What was the big deal about Jesus being crucified that in 1 Corinthians 1:23 Paul said that is what he preached? It seems he should have said “but we preach Christ” risen from the dead. Wouldn’t it have been the same if they stoned him or killed Jesus with a sword?
Answer:
You are right that a major message of Paul was not just that Jesus died but that he was “crucified”. He should have been stoned. At his trial he was convicted of blasphemy (Matthew 26:65) and Scripture clearly teaches a blasphemer should be stoned (Leviticus 24:16). Continue reading
How old is the earth?
QUESTION:
The Bible says the earth is only 6000 years old but carbon dating and other factors indicate it is much older. Is the Bible wrong about how old the earth is? Continue reading
Is sex before marriage a sin?
I was recently asked this question via a FaceBook chat. The “friend” who asked it was someone I did not personally know but who had visited the church. I anticipated after my answer they would sign-off with a quick “thanks” or less. I was pleasantly surprised. Here is what I told them: The Bible is very clear on that issue. Continue reading
Are all Jews going to be saved?
Question:
In Romans 11:26 the Bible clearly says “all Israel shall be saved.” Does that mean we should not waste our time witnessing to Jews since they will be saved anyway? Also, does that mean they will be saved just because they are Jews without having to trust in Jesus?”
Answer:
Often when we don’t understand a passage of Scripture a little diligent study will reveal that the Bible is the best interpreter of the Bible. Questions we have are often answered somewhere else in God’s Word. Continue reading
Jesus’ Folded Napkin
Question:
A pertinent question for Easter came to me from my daughter, Charis. She received an email that told this tale and wondered what I thought of it. I’ve summarized it here (and corrected some of the grammar):
When Peter arrived at the grave of Jesus the Bible says the napkin that covered Jesus’ face was neatly folded up. To understand the significance of that you have to understand a little about Hebrew tradition.
Can God Make a Rock So Big He Cannot Lift It?
When I was in the Navy I remember a young lieutenant asking me this “profound” puzzler. “Can God do anything? Can He make a rock so big he cannot lift it?”
This is a rather common question asked by pseudo-intellectuals who think they have stumbled across a great chink in the Christian’s belief about the omnipotence of God. The answer to the question is quite simply, “No, there are many things God cannot do.”