Monthly Archives: May 2015

Free Will

Leave a reply

Okay, we all know that God is sovereign! He has the right and ability to rule over all of creation, to do with it as He wishes. After all most of creation was done by Him simply commanding, speaking it into existence. I say most because man was different, God formed mankind with his own hands, then breathed life into him. There is a clear distinction between the creation of man and all the rest of creation as it exists.

God created mankind in His own image. That doesn’t mean that we look like Him, but rather we are like Him in spirit. Things that set us apart from all other created living things. Creativity, Communication, Desire, Love.

Yes, mankind is God’s special creation, we also do things, act differently from all of creation. The Bible teaches that all of creation glorifies God, all of creation speaks to His existence. All of creation is created to do just this, all except man. We have been given a choice to decide weather or not we will gorily our creator, again a special privilege.

Adam and Eve were given a special place to live. In this special place were places two trees that were also special. One of the trees was forbidden to them for food. To eat the fruit of that tree would be to disobey God, to sin. This was the first choice given to mankind. It was a simple choice, to leave the fruit alone, or to eat it. It didn’t take long for a poor choice to take place. Was this God’s doing? Was it Eve’s doing? Was it Adams doing? We have been living with the consequences of that one bad decision for the rest of our history, and we will continue to live with it for the rest of history future, until God brings the history of earth to an end.

Genesis 3:1-3 The question is put to Eve do you eat of the forbidden fruit or not? Is God holding out on you? We like to blame Eve for this poor decision, but if you read on Adam must have been standing there with her and he offered no resistance to her trying it. The decision was made by both of them. The consequences of making a poor decision did not delay long in coming. God Put them out of the garden, killed animals in order to clothe them, and started the clock of death that would come. Did She exercise her free will to eat of the fruit, did Adam? Yes!

God sometimes hardens a persons will, usually to force a point to be clearly understood. We see this clearly in the case of Pharaoh while Moses was trying to get him to set the people of Israel free in Exodus. God hardened Pharaoh’s heart so that He, God, could show the entire world that He is who He says He is and will do what He says He’ll do.

We have the will to obey or not to obey God. Joshua near the end of his life told the people of Israel to make up their minds who they would serve. They had seen God work mighty works, but still some dabbled in sin. Joshua 24:14-15

We have the will to believe him or not to believe him. Jesus gives us the same teaching. John 3 Jesus explains to Nicodemus, a learned man in the scriptures, that one must believe on Jesus to attain everlasting life. This is your privilege, to believe on not to believe. There is no other created thing that has this privilege. Will you believe Him? Will you live?

Belief in God

Leave a reply

Belief in God

What is meant by the phrase believe in God? What is belief at all? We live in a time when we find it hard to “believe” what anyone has to say and this affects the entirety of our lives. What about Abraham, it is said about him in Genesis 15:6that he (Abraham) believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. What does this mean?

belief: a feeling of being sure that someone or something exists or that something is true

So let’s put this definition to work with God. Belief in God is a feeling of being sure that God exists, and that God is true. This characterised the life of Abraham. God told him to leave his country to go to a place that He(God) would show him once he arrived. Abraham did that, he picked up his entire family along with all his possessions and left. God told Abraham that he would have so many descendants that they would number like the grains of sand. Being Old, Abraham still believed God. Sure he made errors, really Abraham and Sarah tried to “help” God out, mistakes were made, and Abraham still believed God. Sure there were times of doubt, but he believed God. It’s hard for us to accept that God will do what He says He’ll do, but we can believe Him.

We have a term “system of belief” which refers to the core beliefs a person holds concerning life and all there is. Each of us has a system of belief, there is no exception to this truth. Some would try to remove themselves from having a system of belief because at it’s core this screams religion. The Atheist too has a system of belief, he/she believes there is no god, no divine influence on life as we know it. Therefore he/she tries to live life as if there is no God, no right or wrong, no definite truths. After all there is no God to which we are accountable. This kind of thinking is in direct contrast to the christian way of thought.

Each person holds his/her system of tightly, and we jealously guard against all those around us who would challenge this system. We all feel uncomfortable when our system is challenged, but it will be challenged. This is when our “belief” holds our world perspective together. We also have the tendency to be sure that our system is the only correct, logical system and we defend it as such. We tend to gather with people who share our beliefs and we strengthen each others beliefs, whatever they are. Christians call this fellowship or church.

My Belief in Jesus

I believe that Jesus Christ is God’s son, sent to die a sacrificial death to pay the debt of sin we all hold John 3:16. Jesus being God himself was able to die as our substitute because he was perfect and suitable to make payment for my great sin debt. God alone, Jesus Christ alone, was sufficiently good to pay the debt, anyone else, anything else is dirty before God (mares by sin) and therefore unacceptable as payment (sacrifice). I believe that simple faith in this sacrificial death is sufficient to make me acceptable to God, and able to approach Him as an adopted son, seen by him as perfect based on the payment that Christ has made on my part through his death. I believe that He desires all mankind to believe Him, believe Christ, because that is Gods way for us to be made pure (sinless) before God. I believe that those who believe Him will in-fact spend the rest of eternity with Him after death takes us from this world.

Proofs for my beliefs

So what is it that makes me sure of my beliefs? Lets look at a few of the simple truths that make me absolutely sure of my system of belief.

I know with out a doubt that I sin Romans 3:23. I know for a fact that when I do sin I feel shame even if no one sees me sin.

I am always impressed that each time I write the date, or take notice of the date, that I am in fact taking notice to and agreeing with the fact that Jesus Died a bad death just over 2015 years ago, that is what A.D. means, (After Death).

God’s spirit is ready to comfort me at all times John 14:26. This comfort comes most easily in extremely intense, impossible times. The comfort of God for example in the face of imminent death is not explainable except for Gods power in our lives. There are men women and children all over this world, but especially in the middle east at this time who, in the face of horrific death lay down their lives refusing to deny the existence of Jesus Christ. (This is not my situation) I live in a place where beliefs are challenged in other ways that are less extreme, but also true and I’m afraid more damaging.

Life for us is too plastic, we don’t face starvation, stoning, beheading. In fact we don’t even see death of our loved ones in the realty that is death! Everything is made pretty, hardships are removed from us in a way that insulates us from them. We complain about the difficulties we face, the lack of things usually, while in other parts of our country and world people face the growling of their children’s bellies, or the treat of death for following Jesus. I wanted once to take a photo of a person I know, and through the translator he said “don’t take a photo of me being so hungry.” He didn’t want the memory of him being hungry to be remembered. In that part of the world they rely on God each day to give them the things they need. I will tell you that when they have food they are grateful because they understand that it comes from the hand of God!

Where are the Atheists

I have never met an Atheist in places where life is a battle. I have only met atheists in 1st world countries where everything is easy to come by. The ironic thing is these are the countries that have benefited from a long history of Christian influence, and the prosperity that results from that influence. The communists have tried to rid their countries of faith, to make their countries atheist, but in every instance they have failed. I know one gentleman who spent his whole life up to one event convinced that he was atheist, trying to convince others that there was no God. One day he found himself floating in the Gulf Stream between the USA and the Bahamas after his boat went down under him, leaving him alone, drifting and afraid. It wasn’t long until his cry went out to the God who he had spent his life trying to deny. Great adversity strips away the arrogance that allows us to think we can deny God. Being alone in immanent danger has a sobering effect. That gentleman has walked with God ever since that event, because he found God when all his comforts were taken from him. He knows without a doubt that God is real, and that God cares for us.

Abraham’s Belief

Abraham believed God and it was counted to him as righteousness. He simply had confidence that God would do exactly what He said He’d do. Abraham was so sure that God would do the things He said He’d do that Abraham acted on whatever God told him. Our actions come out of our system of belief, therefore our actions are a manifestation of that system of belief. Do you believe God? Do you believe Him enough to act on those beliefs?

True faith is not a complicated thing. It is not a hard thing to accomplish or attain to. It is the simple belief that God is God and He will do exactly what He says He will do!

A really interesting problem, for those who deny God is He is still there, and He is still God. The Bible teaches that one day every knee will bow to Him recognising Him as God. To not believe Him in this life will leave a person in a real pickle, there will be no do-overs.