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Archive for the ‘God’ Category

Does God Kill Babies and Hate Women?

In Bible, Books, God, People, Theology on February 24, 2010 at 9:12 pm

by Elizabeth K

Did the God of the Bible, like the god Molech, demand the sacrifice of babies? And does God have a very low disregard for women? One would certainly think so after reading the Bible:

‘When you are living in the towns that the LORD your God gives you, you may hear that some worthless men of your nation have misled the people of their town to worship gods that you have never worshipped before. If you hear such a rumour, investigate it thoroughly; and if it is true that this evil thing did happen, then kill all the people in that town and all their cattle too. Destroy that town completely. Bring together all the possessions of the people who live there and pile them up in the town square. Then burn the town and everything in it as an offering to the LORD your God. It must be left in ruins for ever and never again be rebuilt’ (Deuteronomy 13:12-16).

‘[W]e captured and destroyed every town, and put everyone to death, men, women, and children. We took the cattle and plundered the towns’ (Deuteronomy 2:34-35).

‘We destroyed all the towns and put to death all the men, women, and children, just as we did in the towns that belonged to King Sihon of Heshbon. We took the cattle and plundered the towns’ (Deuteronomy 3:6-7).

‘When the LORD you God gives you victory in battle and you take prisoners, you may see among them a beautiful woman that you like and want to marry. Take her to your home … Later, if you no longer want her, you are to let her go free. Since you forced her to have intercourse with you, you cannot treat her as a slave and sell her’ (Deuteronomy 21:10-14).

‘So the assembly sent twelve thousand of their bravest men with the orders, “Go and kill everyone in Jabesh, including the women and children. Kill all the males, and also any woman who is not a virgin”‘ (Judges 21:10-11).

‘Babylon, you will be destroyed. Happy is the man who pays you back for what you have done to us – who takes your babies and smashes them against a rock’ (Psalm 137:8-9). Read the rest of this entry »

Who Are The Dogs Outside Of God’s Kingdom?

In Bible, God, Gospel, Heaven, People, Theology on February 24, 2010 at 7:14 am

by Elizabeth K

In the last book of the Bible, in the last chapter, after it’s all said and done, this is what we read:

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying.”

Elsewhere we read in the Bible that no unrighteous person such as drunks, people who get angry, the envious, those who idolize something or someone other than God, etc. (Gal 5:19-21) will inherit the kingdom of God.

I’ve noticed in my Facebook discussions that Christians tend to quote these special verses when the subject of unconditional grace arises….

In light of the fact that God is love, how are we to understand Bible scriptures which seem to portray God as being so holy, that no unrighteous person can get near Him, unless they are covered by the blood of Christ (after his father killed him, that is.) Although that last statement is full of absurdities, it seems to be partly why the above quoted verses cannot be logically reconciled with unconditional love.

Let us first understand that God is not what is so commonly understood to be as a heartless tyrant who demands to be worshiped, plays favorites, wipes born-sinners out of existence if they screw up and tortures souls with unimaginable and unthinkable suffering without escape for eternity. That is man’s idea of God, I believe, and you can find this human perspective all the way through your Bible if that is what you think about Him. Read the rest of this entry »

The Scribes and Pharisees Thought God was Full of Wrath… And They Were Wrong

In Bible, God, Theology on February 19, 2010 at 9:14 pm

by Elizabeth K

Growing up in church, I always had the general view of God as a distant or even unknown being whose wrath must be appeased.  Although Christ supposedly took care of this appeasement on the cross, I still felt this wrath hovering over me, especially if I did not live up to Christian standards.

After a series of unfortunate events, stories for other posts, I realized that my former understanding was nothing new under the sun.  Religions and gods of all eras and cultures resembled the same exalted being who must be worshiped in certain ways so that he will send rain for the crops, or help me not to lose my job, or cure my grandmother of cancer.

Now-a-days, I have a different view of God, or rather I view a different God entirely.  The God I believe I know is much more merciful, kind and loving. In fact, He loves me, as well as the whole world, with a love that has no conditions. He shows no partiality with his love and his love will never give up, on anyone.

Interestingly, the above statement seems to disturb many Christians.  What about the God of the Old Testament who smote His enemies and the enemies of His people? What about the God who killed His own people on the spot if they misrepresented Him? What about the fact that God hated Esau? What about hell? Ah, good questions. Questions I have been pondering for a while myself in confusion.

From my understanding, having “ears to hear” these Bible stories will reveal a hidden truth, one that cannot be read from the surface of words, many of which may be mistranslated and misinterpreted anyway. And this hidden truth seems near impossible to explain without sounding like a heretic, but that has never stopped me before… so here is my explanatory attempt: Read the rest of this entry »

Can we Preach the Gospel without Hell?

In Bible, Church, God, Gospel, Hell, Jesus on September 4, 2009 at 6:14 am

By Marc

Most Gospel presentations today will begin with, or at least include, the idea of Hell whether explicitly or implicitly. The strategy of good “old-fashioned” Gospel preaching requires that the preacher first convict the audience of Sin and then offer Jesus as the solution. The conviction is accomplished by highlighting the fact that all humans do sin and attempting to show that a perfect God must punish these offenses (perhaps infinitely). John Piper (The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World) says:

Because God is holy, we are sinful, justice is beautiful, and God will not be mocked, we must contend for the conscious, eternal torments of hell and invite everyone to avoid its clutches by turning from sin to Jesus, who speaks of hell more than anyone in Scripture. (p 139)
…
If you strip that [hell] away from Jesus, he’s a local guy. He’s just no big deal. (p161)

Even preaching which focuses on God and His Holiness, will eventually come around to Man’s sinful state and will often fail simply because the Conviction was not convincing – the challenge to produce a problem (guilt) and a need (forgiveness) which post-modern people do not, of themselves see is often too great for our preachers. Certainly any mention of Hell is bound to have a critical audience thinking: “What kind of God sends folk to hell for not believing?”. Read the rest of this entry »

Is Protestant Christianity Biblical and Faithful To Jesus?

In Bible, Church, God, Gospel, Jesus, Life, People, Theology on August 24, 2009 at 8:47 am

by Marc

The question is provocative but important and needs continually asking as we are called to first be self-critical before we critique others. We must ask ourselves: What is a true Christian according to Jesus will as taught in the Bible? We could answer this question by asking an even more risky one: what would happen if all the people who stopped being Christians nevertheless continued being disciples of Jesus? Is that possible? Well, it is clear that there are such people, who have rejected key doctrines, yet nevertheless live more like Jesus than much of the Church is doing.

The fact is the world would be a better place if most people lived as Jesus taught and lived than if most people were simply good Believers. Whereas the Christian Faith has been reduced to belief in certain creeds and doctrines, Discipleship is submission to Jesus as a teacher and master, a life led His Way. What began as “The Way” has become “The Faith”. What began as a walk became a teaching. At times, the Protestant Church borders on Gnosticism (saving knowledge) and yet we wonder why it’s in decline. Read the rest of this entry »

Is The Trinity Doctrine Biblical?

In Bible, God, Jesus, The Spirit, Theology on August 16, 2009 at 3:05 am

by Elizabeth K

Is There One God Or Are There Three?

While protestant churches today continue to seek to lay their foundations upon the Bible, they also continue to teach traditions and doctrines of men that are found nowhere in the scriptures.  One of these man-made doctrines, which began centuries after the Bible was written, is the belief that God the Father, Jesus the Son and the Holy Spirit are three distinct persons that are co-equal and make up one God… and this confuses a lot of us.

Wouldn’t three persons be three gods?  The Bible is clear that God is one God and He is the Father.  He is the only God and no one has ever seen Him (except the Son) and no one has ever heard his voice (John 5:37).

“For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom are all things and we exist for Him….”  ~ 1 Cor 8:5-6 Read the rest of this entry »

A Woman’s Role in Ministry

In Bible, Church, God, Jesus, Life on May 4, 2009 at 5:52 pm

The question of a woman’s role in the church is one which can be very controversial. Almost all churches nowadays openly acknowledge an equality in terms of the worth of a person (it was not always so) but most traditional evangelical churches remain convinced that Paul’s letters, seen more or less as a clear and complete guideline for how churches should operate, discriminated or, to put it more politely, prescribe different roles for different genders. In practice this means: no women as elders and no women preachers.

These two limitations (leadership and teaching) are based mainly on such shockers as “women should remain silent in the churches” (1 Cor 14) and “I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.” (1 Tim 2). For many these 2 passages are sufficient to forbid women being pastors or elders.

1 Cor 14 is not as straightforward as one would imagine at first glance because Paul clearly does allow, even encourage women to speak in the congregation (1 Cor 11) where he provides guidelines for prophecy. This provides room for debate as to how 1 Cor 14 is to be limited in scope and application.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Gospel for a Rich Post-Modern Couple

In God, Gospel, Life on March 30, 2009 at 7:51 pm

By Marc

I had the opportunity this week of visiting a terminally ill man in hospital, playing a few songs and speaking to him and his wife about our hope and belief. It was a strange discussion because, although the husband had perhaps a few days left to live, the wife insisted on being his mediator and interrupting the discussion. Even though her husband was clearly interested in what we had to say she would speak on his behalf and constantly send the signal “that’s not for us“. Very reminiscent of some characters in The Great Divorce.

Having said that, it was an interesting and moving evening and we touched on most of the objections a western, postmodern, well-to-do person can come up with. That means we hardly spoke about evidence for God at all but rather about whether God is existentially satisfying, a nice guy, egalitarian and democratic, worthy of being my God etc.

Hell became an acceptable destination if God can’t “take me as I am” after all, “he apparently made me as I am”. If God doesn’t want me then I don’t want God and I won’t be alone in Hell. I’m not a bad person! And isn’t God in everything as our Yoga instructor taught us? Jesus, Buddha it’s all the same.

Read the rest of this entry »

Which Gospel?

In God, Gospel, Jesus, Theology on February 28, 2009 at 9:36 am

By Marc

Consider the following two candidates for the title of “The Gospel”:

  1. Jesus died to pay for your sins so that you can go to heaven and escape hell apart from moral attainment.
  2. Jesus is the Messiah, God’s anointed King. Through Him God is restoring and renewing all creation.

As Christians we believe both these statements but which is the “Gospel” Jesus and the apostles proclaimed? Both these messages are, in different senses, good news. Let us consider both messages from a Christian (believing) perspective. Read the rest of this entry »

25 Things About God

In God on February 4, 2009 at 6:27 pm

There’s a motion on Facebook to write 25 things about yourself. I found it quite tough but with God it’s fairly easy to go on all day about what He is and what He has done. Why aren’t more of our conversations about Him and His wonders?
Read the rest of this entry »