Archive for September, 2016

What Does the Bible Say About Love, Marriage, and Sex?

Friday, September 9th, 2016

God made us as physical, spiritual, and sexual beings. It’s completely natural for teenagers to become attracted to the opposite sex, and for young adults to contemplate marriage. Dating is the process that we use for this, but it isn’t just a game where we pick a winner from a pool of prospects based upon our preferences and self-interest. For each one of us, God has designed a single person who will suit us best, and with whom we can bring the most glory to God. Our job in the dating process is to seek out that one right individual. Fortunately, the Bible gives us direction for this process of finding the specific mate that God has chosen for each of us. 

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Should the Book of James be in the Bible?

Friday, September 9th, 2016

The book of James in the New Testament is a controversial book, and there are those who believe that it should not have been included in the Canon of Scripture.  One of the main controversies is justification by works, and the argument that James presents irreconcilable contradictions with Paul’s writings on the subject of justification. We’ll look at both sides of this debate, and attempt to form an objective conclusion.

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Is Killing Ever Right?

Friday, September 9th, 2016

One reader wrote that his nine-year-old son had asked him this question, and it’s a great question. He wanted to know how people in the army can kill other people if one of the Ten Commandments in the bible says, “Thou shalt not kill.” Wouldn’t this imply that the soldiers were sinning when they kill the enemy on the battlefield? Also, the father asked if I would take this question even further by considering those unfortunate incidents when policemen kill people, because he anticipated that this is the next question his son would be asking. So, I will address the various conditions when killing is justified, by providing support from the Scriptures.

Many people have misunderstood the Bible on the subject of killing primarily because of an incorrect translation in the old King James Version of the Bible. The sixth commandment, in Exodus 20:13, does not actually say, “Thou shalt not kill” as translated in the old King James. A more accurate translation is provided in many of the newer versions, such as the NIV, which says, “You shall not murder.” The Bible forbids the act of murder, which means the unjustified taking of a person’s life (including suicide, abortion, and euthanasia), but it doesn’t forbid all killing. In fact, it is sometimes very adamant that killing is the right thing to do, but it must be justified in God’s eyes. The Bible allows for three situations where killing is justified:

  1. Killing in warfareThe Bible offers many examples where God commands His people to kill their enemy aggressors in warfare. In Genesis 10 through 12 (specifically 10:5 and 11:9), God created the institution of nations, and determined that people would be divided according to national entities. God condemned aggression from one nation against another, and he sanctioned warfare as a means of protection from aggressors. The Old Testament is filled with commands from God to Moses, Joshua, David, and many others, to kill their enemy aggressors. Deuteronomy 20:1 says, “When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the LORD your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you.”Sometimes God even commanded the unmerciful annihilation of evil nations. Deuteronomy 2:33-34 says, “The LORD our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time we took all his towns and completely destroyed them–men, women and children. We left no survivors.”
  2. Self-defenseBy the same principles as for killing in warfare, we know that God wants us to defend ourselves, and if an aggressor is too threatening and persistent, especially if we are in fear for our lives, then we are justified in killing the aggressor. This is actually what is happening in warfare, when a nation becomes an aggressor and sends its troops to take over another nation, and the troops killing that nation’s innocent citizens. This is what Saddam Hussein did in Kuwait in 1990. This principle can be extended to apply to individuals as well as nations. If a criminal threatens someone’s life with a gun, then we are justified in killing that criminal on the basis of self-defense, and our courts definitely respect this argument as well. This is also why policemen are justified in killing criminals when the criminal has put someone else’s life in danger, and he will not submit to arrest.
  3. Capital punishmentGenesis 9:5-6 says, “And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” This passage tells us that God commands that murderers should be executed.Again in this case, killing is not only justified, but commanded by God. This passage can also be applied to the situations of warfare and self-defense as well.

Living the Christian Life

Friday, September 9th, 2016

Contact with God is made first of all at the point of believing the gospel.  Our God has removed the wall which once separated every human being from Himself.  This wall was made up of several distinct blocks.  It included the fact that everybody is a captive in the slave market of sin; that everybody is under the penalty of spiritual death; that everyone is born physically with an old sin nature; and thus separated from God; that we are in a state of sin that violates the holiness of God so that His justice and His righteousness condemn us; and, we find ourselves in the sight of God in the position that the Bible calls “in Adam” which is the position of eternal death and separation from God.

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How to Go to Heaven

Friday, September 9th, 2016

It is only natural to wonder what really happens to a person after he dies. When you close your eyes in death, is that the end of consciousness and existence for you? If not, what kind of realm does one enter and who is out there? Is there a living, personal, holy God to face? Is there a Heaven of exhilarating happiness and a hell of excruciating suffering forever? If so, what determines which place one enters? How can we know the true answers to such enormously important questions? This is a reasonable concern and requires a reliable source of information to give the answer. No one can afford to be wrong about conditions beyond the grave and the eternity that follows.

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True Christianity – The Doctrines of the Epistles

Friday, September 9th, 2016

There is a certain subset of the books of the Bible that contain truths which are more directly applicable to our everyday lives as Christians, namely the epistles (letters), from Romans through Jude.  The major doctrines of the epistles can be categorized as follows:

  • Grace
  • Salvation
  • Newness of Life
  • Pleasing God
  • Learning
  • Prayer
  • Humility
  • The Church
  • Judgment
  • The End Times

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What is Repentance?

Wednesday, September 7th, 2016

The biblical definition of repentance “metanoia” as used in the Greek bible is quite different from our definition of the English word “repentance” we use today.  If this isn’t understood correctly, it can lead one far astray in his study of Bible doctrine.

Our English definition of repentance is “deep sorrow, compunction, or contrition for a past sin, wrongdoing, or the like,” or “regret for any past action.”

However, the biblical definition of repentance is “to change one’s mind,” or “to change one’s purpose,” or “to change direction.”  We can think of it like the mental equivalent of what a soldier does when he is given the “about-face” command.  He is facing in one direction, and he turns completely around by 180 degrees in order to face the exact opposite direction.  So, for example, Acts 20:21 says, “I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.”  This means that the sole requirement for being saved is to have faith in Christ.  This happens when we “turn to God in repentance.”  Our minds were initially turned away from God–toward man (Romans 5:12-21).  However, we changed our minds (repented) and pointed our minds in the opposite direction, toward God.

But please understand that this biblical repentance for salvation has nothing to do with feeling sorrow, compunction, contrition, regret, or remorse.  (Although 2 Corinthians 7:9-10 tells us that sorrow can lead to repentance.)  Sometimes people are taught that they must change their actions and even stop sinning in order to be saved, but, on the contrary, faith (in our minds) is the only requirement for salvation (John 3: 16); i.e. just accepting God’s grace (Ephesians 2:8-10).  In other words, some people teach that one needs to first clean up his life, and then he can be saved.  However, it’s the other way around:  First he just accepts (in his mind) what God has already done to cover his sins through Christ’s death on the cross, and then (once saved) he has the power of the Holy Spirit to overcome sin (in his actions).  However, we must also remember that 1 John 1:8 tells us that believers continue to sin, because the flesh (the old sin nature) is not removed at salvation, and we will never become perfectly sinless in this life.