Posted in Atheism • Authority • God • Relevance • Theology

Can God Make a Rock Bigger (Heavier) Than He Can Lift?

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The question, “Can God make a rock bigger (or heavier) than He can lift?” is asked by skeptics and the willfully ignorant of Christians on a regular basis. It is intended to mock the existence of God, and the supposed lack of knowledge and understanding of believers. On the surface, the question appears unanswerable. However, with a little thought and a smidgen of reasoning, the answer(s) are apparent. We just have to remember there is more to God than creating and lifting.

First answer: Of course He can. Jesus only had the strength of His human body. There were lots of rocks around that He made yet couldn’t lift. This answer focuses on Jesus and His incarnation, and the fact that He gave up some of His abilities in order to be as we are. He even submitted to death, a death that was necessary to atone for sin.

Second answer: Let me clarify. What is the reason for lifting? Is it just to show off muscles? Or is it to show off creating ability? He is not in the habit of doing things just to show off. He has a lot more intelligence and wisdom than that. It would not make any sense to make a rock bigger than He could lift, anymore than it would make sense for me to try and lift a rock when I could go around. His creation obviously was put together with much more practicality and purpose than that.

Third answer: God could make a rock that would fill everything. Then what? Who would care if He could lift it? There wouldn’t be anyone left to care!

Fourth answer: God could make a big rock, but why lift it? Wouldn’t it make more sense to simply reduce the rock to gravel with a word? And if that was the case, wouldn’t it make more sense to make the gravel in the first place, if indeed gravel were needed? This puts the spotlight on His forethought and planning. His omniscience includes what we might call “common sense.” Indeed, He is the author of common sense.

Fifth answer: God made everything, including physical laws such as gravity. I have no doubt that He has many other laws we know nothing about. So would He make the rock without mass? Could it be physical yet not weigh anything? (As we think of weight with our current knowledge of physical laws.) So if the rock was large, yet had no mass, then He obviously could lift it. If it was heavy, how big would it have to be before He couldn’t lift it? Doesn’t He hold planets in the palm of His hand, or are held up by the word of His power? The rock would have to be really, really huge, and I don’t think we can even conceive of just how huge. This puts the spotlight on the ignorance of the questioner, especially since the average atheist (and it is mostly atheists who ask this question) worships science yet has very little understanding.

I’m sure there are other answers to this question too. In fact, it is a fun exercise for believers to use our wider and deeper understanding of God to see just how many ways this foolishness can easily be answered. I would also add this warning to the answers: “God is not mocked. Whatever one sows, that he shall also reap. Was I you I would be extremely careful about my questions. Because God might decide to answer you Himself.”

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Cults • Daily Living • Demons • Faith • Feast and Festivals • Idolatry • Judgment • Relevance • Worship

Reading Omens

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Genesis 24 has the account of Abraham’s servant searching for a bride for Isaac. Abraham instructs the servant to go to the “land of my kindred” and makes him swear not to get Isaac’s wife from the Canaanites. The servant gets to the land of Abraham’s extended family and stops by a well outside the city to get some water for his camels. He prays that God would help him identify Isaac’s bride as the one who would not only give him water but also his camels.

Let the young woman to whom I shall say, ‘Please let down your jar that I may drink,’ and who shall say, ‘Drink, and I will water your camels’—let her be the one whom you have appointed for your servant Isaac. By this I shall know that you have shown steadfast love to my master.” (Genesis 24:14, ESV)

So Rebekah shows up and does what the servant was hoping. Turns out she was also from Abraham’s kindred. He gives her gifts, meets the family, and with everyone’s agreement goes back and presents Isaac with his bride. So this means we should all learn to read omens, right? No. God tells us not to read omens.

“You shall not eat any flesh with the blood in it. You shall not interpret omens or tell fortunes. (Leviticus 19:26, ESV)

But many people (who should know better) do just that. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard someone say, “If (such and so) happens, then that means God wants me to do (such and so).” This is what we call “reading omens.” We express uncertainty when things happen to impede the direction we want to go, then we wonder if “God is telling me not to do that” (or to do it). First, if God doesn’t want something to happen, it won’t happen. If He does want something to happen, it will. Second, it is the enemy who is ineffective. The deceiver can’t stop you if God is moving you, and can’t get you going if God is saying wait. Satan would be the one to throw all kinds of dumb omens at you to try and get you to stop doing what God wants or start doing what the enemy wants. I think that is one of the reasons God says not to read omens. Just stick with His Word and you can’t go wrong.

Did Abraham’s servant read omens? No. He prayed a specific prayer with a specific qualification. If a girl would not only give him water but also offer to draw water for the camels it would indicate the condition of her heart. She would be a generous person, soft of heart and concerned for others. Drawing water was probably hard, because one would have to dip a container into a hole or spring then pour it out for the camels to drink. And 10 camels drink a lot of water. In addition to the “sign” that the servant was looking for, the family (and the girl) would have to agree. So the servant wasn’t just throwing out a random request just to see if God would miraculously jump through hoops for his gratification.

The servant also had a specific, God given task. He wasn’t just trying to figure out if he should go to the local high school dance. I remember a trip a long time ago where it just seemed everything was going wrong. One thing after another happened to delay us. A strap broke on the car-top carrier (a big container for luggage). We forgot something. A belt broke on the car engine before we left. Things like that. At one point my wife asked me if I thought God was telling us not to go. I thought about it for a minute then said, “No. If God didn’t want us to go, we would not be going. These nagging attacks are from the enemy most likely.” So we went. It was an enjoyable trip.

Believers are not to read omens. God has given us a large amount of guidance through His Word. We strengthen our ability to sense when He is talking to us by reading His Word and doing everything He says. We practice hearing with the small things in His Word which teaches us how to recognize His voice when He speaks directly to us. Abraham’s servant didn’t need omens, and neither do we.

“When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominable practices of those nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who burns his son or his daughter as an offering, anyone who practices divination or tells fortunes or interprets omens, or a sorcerer or a charmer or a medium or a necromancer or one who inquires of the dead, for whoever does these things is an abomination to the LORD. And because of these abominations the LORD your God is driving them out before you. You shall be blameless before the LORD your God, for these nations, which you are about to dispossess, listen to fortune-tellers and to diviners. But as for you, the LORD your God has not allowed you to do this. (Deuteronomy 18:9–14, ESV)

Shalom

Posted in Clean & Unclean • Daily Living • Relevance • Whole Bible Christianity

Judging with Righteous Judgment Pt. 7 – Fight Back

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There are no specific obscenity laws in the Scripture. Perhaps that’s one reason modern society feels free to define it any way they choose. And the frequent choice is there is no obscenity. Everything is fine. Public nudity, sex in movies, jamming the homosexual lifestyle choice down everybody’s throat, foul language, baby killing, pornography in campaign videos and every place else they can get away with it – it seems nothing is clean anymore.

I’m no angel when it comes to some related issues. I’ve been known to cuss a blue streak when I hit my thumb with a hammer or I’m talking about the latest liberal pile of smelly stuff. I like a good action movie. And I don’t think we should necessarily go around telling people to stop watching R rated movies or give up their subscription to NFL Sunday Ticket.

I can’t tell though if it is that unclean things are getting more invasive and bold, or if I’m just getting more sensitive to it. Could be both. Maybe, in part, I’m just growing up a little more. The more I read the living Word, the more I try to put it everywhere in my life, the more worldly things bother me. I think that’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s why we affirm whole Bible Christianity and try to reach people with it instead of preaching at them to give up their favorite things. Get the Word into them, and there’s no room for anything else.

In a little way then I suppose I have a partial responsibility for some of what is out there because I don’t preach fire and brimstone. But it has gone way too far. So in my personal life I am starting to fight back. It’s not just obscenity. It’s also the many people who are actively working against biblical values in entertainment and politics. I’m especially tired of all the profanity and perverted themes in music, TV, movies and political campaigns. Particularly music, because we play songs more often than watch particular movies or vote.

Apparently there are many who think like I do. I found it hilarious that most of this summer’s biggest bombs at the box office had liberal themes. I’m just rolling on the floor laughing now that Matt Damon is king of the box office flops. He is taking over for the second place George Cloony. Maybe Hollywierd is getting the picture that most of us are tired of them smashing liberal lies into our faces.

So to fight back I’m not buying any of the products. I won’t go to a movie if it’s got filth for filth’s sake. If I get a chance to vote on a law against it I will do so. I’ve stopped buying cable TV and use subscription services from the internet. I won’t buy the music that glorifies sex and gratuitous violence. I refuse to purchase movie tickets for the dreck that passes as entertainment. We bagged some door hangers recently for our school board election (though my kids are grown and my grandkids are home schooled), and I am helping make a database for calling conservatives to get out and vote. The candidates might not be perfect, but we can keep trying.

If you are tired of it too, fight back. Get the Word inside of you. Read it and do it. Take His diet recommendations, change your holidays, rest on Sabbath, and use those as steps for learning more mercy, justice, and compassion. Share from the Word as much as you can, mostly with actions. This is the main thing. The emphasis is on what you do, not trying to jump on others about what they do. Get involved in the Word, then let that motivate you to get involved in your local politics. Help find candidates that will stand up for the values you’ve been given from God. There are more of us than there are of them, and if we all get together we can maybe change things for the better. Probably not, because the world is going to hell in a handbasket and it won’t be dissuaded from it’s ordained goals. But I can fight back a little wherever I can. The world might insist on going down the tubes, but it won’t be because I stood by and didn’t try to stop it.

Posted in Grace • Judgment • Love • Relevance

Integrity of the Heart

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In Genesis 20 Abimelech the king of Gerar takes Sarah from Abraham for a wife, because Abraham said she was his sister. Sarah was close to 90 years old, yet I’m guessing she was still beautiful and desirable. Abimelech and his household suffered sterility (and perhaps illness) and was risking death because of it. God appears to him in a dream and tells him the cause. Abimelech replies that he had taken Sarah “in the integrity of my heart and the innocence of my hands.” He hadn’t “approached her” yet (a euphemism for sex). God said that was why Abimelech was getting a warning instead of getting toasted.

Abimelech was blameless in taking Sarah for a wife. There was no malice, no intent to harm. We might even say it was an “accident.” Yet he and all his household still got sick. He was under the death penalty in spite of his integrity. At his arraignment he pleaded his innocence, and rightly so. But if he kept Sarah as a wife then the Judge was still going to carry out the sentence. Ignorance was not an excuse.

Doing something wrong, even when we do it in the “integrity” of our heart, is still enough to get us the death penalty. We may not know something is wrong, but that doesn’t excuse guilt. A police officer won’t buy ignorance of the speed limit as a reason for speeding. We’ll get a ticket anyway. God won’t buy alleged ignorance of His Law either. We are responsible for knowing right and wrong, and for choosing right. This is one of the fruits of the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Eating that fruit carried with it the responsibility for our actions regardless of integrity of the heart.

There are those who think that sinning is okay, because we have the cosmic eraser of Jesus to eliminate the consequences. Some go so far as to use lip service to some nebulous Jesus as cover for doing whatever they want – in the integrity of their heart. Just ask them. Instead of following specifics of God’s Word, they will say they “follow their heart.” Really? What’s in the heart if we ignore what God says yet claim to follow Him? Do you think Abimelech “had Jesus?” Was he perhaps exercising his “freedom in Christ?” He certainly was innocent of a crime (in this instance anyway) yet he was still experiencing the consequences as if he had. He would even die if he kept going.

Integrity of the heart is fine, if your heart has been “fleshasized” by God. If it isn’t, a person can have a wrong “integrity of the heart” because they act in accordance with a heart of stone. Integrity simply means “wholeness,” meaning consistent thoughts and actions. Stone heartedness with accompanying stone-type action is still integrity. A bad guy can have integrity within himself, since he does “bad” actions in tune with his “bad” heart. A good person has integrity because he does “good actions” in tune with his “good” heart. The only wholesome and healthy integrity, however, comes from a good person who has a heart in tune with God. Those in between, the ones who claim a good heart while ignoring God’s Word, are those God calls “lukewarm” and serve only to cause Jesus to yak (spew, throw up, or vomit; for those readers in other countries not familiar with American figures of speech).

“ ‘I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth. For you say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” (Revelation 3:15–20, ESV)

Shalom
Bruce

Posted in Jesus • Name • Relevance

Distractions Part Three, Names

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This distraction is sort of a part of the “Hebrew only” distraction I talked about earlier. A section of people who are trying to follow Torah (the Law) as part of their walk with Jesus don’t like to use the name Jesus. They prefer the Hebrew version, Yeshua. But how much of this is a desire to honor God, and how much is simply pretentious?

 

On the one hand, it is right to call someone by their correct name. I get called Bert every once in a while and I correct the speaker right away. We all do this. So it makes sense to try and call Jesus by His “correct” name. Problem is, He’s got a lot of “correct” names, names which are also titles, and His names also are translated into different languages.

 

Yeshua is a variant of Yehoshua (Joshua) and means “YHWH saves” or “YHWH is salvation.” Jesus is the English version of the Greek transliteration (probably from Yeshua) Iesous (ee ay sooce). Many times a word or name in one language is hard to say in another language. For instance, in Judges 12:5-6 the word Shibboleth was used to find people of Ephraim who couldn’t enunciate the ‘h’ and said Sibboleth instead. Japanese people (or maybe Asians in general) have a hard time with the letter ‘L’ and say ‘R’ instead. Sometimes a name or word has to be translated because of pronunciation difficulties. After all, we are still suffering from the effects of the confusing of languages at the Tower of Babel. My last name is in a British form, but it also has a Spanish form, a French form, and I’m sure there are others too.

 

Jesus has many names and titles. He liked “the Son of Man” (85 times in the gospels) as a title or description Himself (used quite a bit for Ezekiel). When He comes back, He will have a name no one knows.

 

His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. (Revelation 19:12, ESV)

 

We are going to get a new name eventually too. One that means something instead of just a collection of sounds as most modern names are.

 

He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give him a white stone, with a new name written on the stone that no one knows except the one who receives it.’ (Revelation 2:17, ESV)

 

I prefer to use words that other people can understand. Names are important, but sometimes we make a big deal out of them for reasons other than communicating a Bible message. If I had to pick another name for Jesus, I prefer Immanuel which means “God with us,” because it is used fewer times (so is more unique) and only for the Messiah in the Bible. It is also a direct pronunciation (im maw noo ale) for the Hebrew. Jesus is not a bad name, it’s just a different form for Yeshua. As Paul said, “I would rather speak five words with my mind in order to instruct others, than ten thousand words in a tongue” (1 Corinthians 14:19). This applies to other thinks too, such as the name of Jesus.

Posted in Bible • Church • Fruit • Relevance

Relating to People in the Bible

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There are different Bible people I identify with at different times. But probably the one I most identify with is John the Baptist. He was “the voice of one crying in the wilderness” and called out for repentance saying “prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight” (Matthew 3; Mark 1; Isaiah 40). There is no record of him healing anyone, or raising the dead, making blind people see or casting out demons. All he did was preach the Word and baptize. Out in the desert. With funky garments and a slim diet of grasshoppers and wild honey (imagine arguing with killer bees for THAT). I could stand to go on a diet, but grasshoppers and wild honey?

I might not be eating the same stuff or wearing the same clothes, but I definitely feel I’m out in the desert preaching repentance to rocks. But the message needs to go out. And Jesus is coming, and I think coming soon. The church I think is by and large succumbing to philosophies of men so somebody has to do it.

So which biblical figure do you relate to, and why?

Posted in Clean & Unclean • Daily Living • Diet • Feast and Festivals • Idolatry • Law • Love • Paganism • Passover • Relevance • Whole Bible Christianity

Passover 2013

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The Passover meal is Monday March 25th. Tuesday the 26th and Monday April 1st are Sabbaths. From Monday night through Monday we will be eating unleavened bread with our meals. Before Passover we will remove all the food products with leaven in them from our home.

The Passover meal is a family time with a lamb barbecue. The lamb we roast with a marinade discovered by Susan and some allspice. We have walking sticks (staffs) and coats close by, and we don’t dally over the meal. We also eat some cheroseth (apples and cinnamon) and we use horseradish for the lamb (bitter herbs). There is some prayer and bread from His Word (Bible reading) to remember what Jesus did for us with His death and resurrection. He is the one who makes Passover and all it means possible. That’s why we burn up all our leftovers, and return a small part of His love by abiding in His commands.

If you’ve been celebrating the godless whitewashed pagan fertility feast of Easter, nowhere to be found in Scripture, consider abiding in His whole Word instead. Let the pagans have their day back, and worship with us in the God-anointed festival of Passover instead. Touch God and be touched through the new covenant of love from a heart of flesh for every Word from His mouth.

Posted in Bible Verse • Daily Living • Humility • Love • Relevance • Repentance • Reward • Whole Bible Christianity

Return with All Your Heart

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“Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering for the LORD your God? (Joel 2:12–14, ESV)

Posted in Holy Spirit • Humility • Law • Natural Man • Relevance • Whole Bible Christianity book

The Natural Man and Spiritual Relevance

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From ‘Whole Bible Christianity’ chapter 4 ‘The Natural Man and Spiritual Relevance’

For who knows a person’s thoughts except the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. And we impart this in words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, interpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual. The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ. (1 Corinthians 2:11–16, ESV)

The “natural person” does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him. The Word (the Law) looks foolish, so he refuses to do anything God says. God’s Law is spiritual (Romans 7:14) so a natural man does not think it is relevant. It is as if a starving man were at a banquet but refusing to eat because it isn’t served on china. All he has to do is reach out his hand and partake of God’s blessings, but he won’t because it is served on wood plates. Only when we humbly submit to God do we see that His knowledge is not foolish. When we reject the knowledge of God given in the Law, it shows that we are not spiritual. A new heart of flesh written with the Law by the Spirit recognizes the blessings in the Law freely given us by God.