Stumping Again
Having been inspired by Tommy's comment on the last post, I am opening the comment area for "Stump the Pastor" questions. Feel free to ask any question regarding the Bible or the Christian life and I will do my best to offer an answer.
Tommy, I will be replying to your question shortly.
posted by Pastor John @ 10:05 PM
11 Comments:
Hi Tommy,
I found a good link to a man online who makes it a habit to witness to Jehovah's Witnesses. He points out a few things regarding the deity of Jesus Christ as shown to us in Scripture. I think this would be a good place for you to start with your friend. Hope this helps. http://www.equip.org/free/DJ703.htm
OK Pastor John, I have another one. This kid in my math class says he is a believer and he reads the bible a lot... however, what's holding him back is free-will vs. an all-knowing God. He says that if God knows what is going to happen, there is no such thing as free-will. I was trying to explain to him that free will and an all-knowing God are two separate things that don't influence the other. For example, your parents know you're doing something you shouldn't but that doesn't prevent you from choosing whether or not to do it. Does that make sense? I was wondering what your thoughts on the subject are. He said he doesn't understand why God would allow people to be born who He knows are going to Hell. I kind of said that if He only let those who were going to Heaven to be born, we would be there already. I don't know if this was a correct statement to make. But that is his main "issue" with Christianity.
I have one quick question, what is Apologetix? And then I have one quick, loud statement, "The Office" Season Premiere is in like 7.5 hours!! Can you feel the excitement!!!!? lol.
Hey Pastor John! My question is along the lines of Erin's. sort of. Do we believe in predestination? In american cultures class we were discussing it and I was confused as to what we believe. If God already predestined people to go to Heaven, then how could we have a free will? How could we "choose" God if it was already chosen for us before time. I think we might have talked about this in youth group or camp, but please refresh my memory. Thanks, Era.
pastor john i have yet another one......Does God still dwell on mount Zion (or is it Sini, what ever mountain moses went up to and came back with his hair all white and stuff) is that stil a place where God is and would the same thing happenen to us as did moses
Holy cow. Good questions everyone. In case you're checking back to find the answers all day (Erin), I thought it would only be fair to let you know when to expect them.
I will be responding to each of the questions up to this point before the end of Wednesday. Check back Wednesday night for the responses.
Thanks everyone.
haha, you got me. Thanks for the warning. :)
Hi Erin,
Let me take the topics you mentioned one at a time, starting with free will. This is a tricky
and confusing issue and something that causes a lot of debate among Christians. I believe we all have a “will,” but I don’t believe we have a completely “free” will.
Apart from Christ, we are in bondage and slavery to sin. Adam and Eve, had free will prior to eating the fruit because they were not in bondage to sin. Once they ate the fruit, they no longer enjoyed the same freedom. Because our will and every other aspect of our lives was in bondage to sin, Christ came to offer us freedom from sin like Adam and Eve enjoyed originally.
Acts 17:26-27 tells us, “From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out
for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.” It isn’t God’s desire that any man should eternally perish. That’s why He gives us so much opportunity to respond to the light He has revealed to us. It seems to me that if we respond to what He has revealed to us, He will make sure that we get the rest of the message and further
revelation so that those who are interested will have the opportunity to respond to Christ.
God is seeking us because in our bondage to sin, we never would have initiated that process.
Because God knows both the past and the future, he knows whether or not we will respond to the freedom He offers through faith in Christ. He doesn’t decide for us, but gives us the option to accept or reject Him.
Scripture tells us that Hell was not created for us, but rather for the Devil and the demons. However, if we choose to follow Satan (by never trusting in Christ), we will go to the lake of fire where the our pain will never be quenched so that we could essentially spend
eternity with the one we followed in this life. If we trust in Christ, we will likewise spend
eternity with Him.
I hope this helps.
Hey Barama,
"Apologetix" as you spelled it, is a Christian rock band that does parodies of popular music.
I'm assuming that you meant to write "apologetics." Apologetics is the "defense of our faith." Josh McDowell does a lot of apologetic writing where he answers the questions of people who are critical or sceptical of the claims of Christianity.
My favorite book of his is called, "More than a Carpenter." In that apologetic book, Josh McDowell gives a defense of the fact that Jesus is God come in the flesh and that His claims and miraculous power are historically verifiable.
Usually you can buy that book for under $5 in soft-cover. I would HIGHLY recommend reading it.
Hi Era,
I don't claim to understand predestination fully (and I expect I won't until I get to Heaven), but I do believe it is true.
In Ephesians 1:5 we are told, "In love he predestined us to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will..."
Ephesians 1:11 also says, "In him we were also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of him who works our everything in conformity with the purpose of his will."
Scripture also tells us that anyone who trusts in Christ will be saved. That being the case, I look at it like this. Everyone is invited to respond by faith to Jesus Christ. When we get to Heaven we will see that those who did respond were somehow predestined to be adopted into God's family.
Like I said, I don't understand predestination fully or exactly how it coincides perfectly with God's offer to save anyone who trusts in Christ, but I do believe it is a real thing because Scripture brings it up one more than one occasion.
Hi Tommy,
The Scripture I believe you are referring to is found in Exodus 19:10-11 where it says, "And the Lord said to Moses, 'Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes and be ready by the third day, because on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.'"
Basically, I believe this was a temporary thing that God did to illustrate to the people of Israel that He had designated Moses as their leader. Earlier in the chapter we are told that the Lord wanted the people to trust and listen to Moses. He said in Verse 9, "I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will always put their trust in you."
I don't believe that if you were to touch that mountain today or climb it, that you would have the same experience Moses had. This was a visitation of God whereby He exalted Moses and then later delivered the Ten Commandments to him.
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