Heyo kiddies, and....not so kiddies! :P Herro up from HK. While up here I was attending Island ECC (the church that my ext. Family goes to in HK) and we had a pretty interesting message.

So the passage was 2 Kings 5:1-19, and it’s the story of Naaman! Good ol’ Naaman, a familiar story from our days in Sunday school no doubt. Aaanyway, a bit of a refresher, Naaman, who’s this mighty warrior who serves under the King of Syria, sudden comes down with leprosy, and a slave girl, taken from Israel by Syrian raiders, suggests that her master goes and visits the prophet Elisha to seek help and to be healed. This is all in 2 Kings 5:1-5.

Ok, so now to analyse the passage. I know I know! I won’t go into too much detail :P Verse 1 is basically Naaman’s resume. And man, what an impressive resume it is. With everything there, being a might warrior, a great man, highly respected and captain of the army to the King, this guy is pretty much number 2 to the King of Aram (Syria). So he’s a big shot, basically the equivalent of the Governor General to the Queen (to put it into perspective). However, at the very end, the verse says “BUT” he was a leper. Those 5 words may seem small, but it apparently makes all the difference. We have to remember, that leprosy was one of the worst diseases that one could contract in those days. In modern day terms, it would be equivalent to getting AIDS. You were allowed to stone a leper to death if he walked towards you. Lepers were shunned from society and cast out of their house and homes. Not a nice thing to happen to anyone, let alone a person of Naaman’s calibre. Verse 2 is introducing the little slave girl from Israel, verse 3 is where she tells her mistress that Naman should go and see Elisha and verse 4 is Naaman telling the King of Syria what she said. Finally, verse 5 shows what the king is going to do to help Naaman and the wealth that he leaves with: “tent talents of silver and six thousand shekels of gold and ten changes of clothes”.

Now when you have a look at the numbers, you’ll say: Wow, Six thousand shekels of gold that must be heaps. You’d be right, but in those days, probably even more than you think. Doing the math, in today’s monetary terms, Six thousand shekels of gold goes for $2,727,577.08 USD, the silver goes for $6,872.80 USD and for all you metrosexuals out there, you guys would have a good idea of how much 10 changes of ultra-high class clothes with be. Shoes and everything! :P Basically, in today’s money, approx. $3,000,000 ( I just like putting the zeroes :P) and probably worth even more than that in those days. That is a huge amount of wealth, so you can tell that Naaman and his king weren’t messing around. Apparently, smaller countries nearby and all their wealth combined wouldn’t have been worth that much. Fairly sure that half of us wouldn’t be worth that much even on Facebook!

We’ll jump ahead to verse 9, because I don’t’ want this post getting TOO long (too late). Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house with all his wealth and chariots. Now we have to remember that Elisha is prophet and he doesn’t live in the fanciest of establishments. In all his magnificence, Naaman arrives at Elisha’s house and lo and behold, Elisha’s messenger to him to tell him: “Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh will be restored to you and you will be clean”. To put this into perspective, let’s imagine that 10 black SUVs rock up at you place, and the Governor General is waiting in his car to speak to you personally.......and you send your son to go tell him: Sorry, Dad’s too busy playing Starcraft, but here’s what you should do...”. I don’t know about the rest of you, but as the Governor General, I’d be pretty peeved, such as Naaman is in verse 11: “Naaman was furious and went away and said, “Behold, I thought, ‘He will surely come out to me and stand and call on the Name of the Lord his god, and wave his hand over the place and cure the leper.’” I’ve emphasised the word ‘his’ because the Bible makes it clear that Naaman does not believe in God, as he refers to God as Elisha’s God.

The servants of Naaman manage to coax Naaman in verse 13 into doing as Elisha said, and of course, as the story goes, he did so and was cured of his leprosy. But the main part of this verse is what the servants say to Naaman: “My father (Naaman), had the prophet told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more then, when he says to you, ‘Wash and be clean’” Interesting...Let’s have a look

This is applicable to our lives today. We can relate to the “Naaman attitude”, the attitude that says: We’re worth something, we’ve achieved something with our lives and we should be worth meeting God face to face and to be put to face something magnificent or be set up to a task that will make use of our great potential. However, the story of Naaman and voice of the servants rings with us. We have no right to be furious with God when he asks us to do something simple instead of something complex. Are we that proud that when we have something simple asked of us, we walk away, furious that we weren’t given a harder challenge? That’s the pride in us talking, and it’s that pride that influences us to question God and his methods, his plans.

In Mark 1:40-42, a leper comes to Jesus and says: “If you are willing, you can make me clean”. Note that in saying “If you are willing”, the leper is in fact acknowledging that Jesus is the Christ, and asking, that if it is in God’s will if he could be healed. The leper is rewarded with the return of his health. This guy had the right idea. It is not up to us to question God’s will or methods, like Naaman, in his pride, tried to do by storming off, even after arriving with his chariots and wealth, but merely to follow his will and reap the consequences of his will, like the humble leper that Jesus healed.

P.S: In Luke 4:27, it says: “And there were many lepers in Israel in the time of Elisha the prophet; and none of them were cleansed, but only Naaman the Syrian.”

Why do you think that is? Interesting ne? :3

Lot vs Abraham

Hello everyone!

Thank you all for the birthday wishes and thanks for signing that big ass card. Where Grace got that is beyond me.

Today at SBS (at church not the tv but theres been alot of good stuff on SBS atm) we read Genesis 13-14 and we read how Lot who only sees the immediate rewards of being in the awesomeland even if it's near the Sodomites who are dodge. And then we compared it Abraham who only is looking at God and kinda following his instructions lol.

Then Uncle Ken picked on me cos I was the youngest there....*shakes fist at DN and Andrew* so I had to give a 1 minute sermon on what we had learnt in front of of all the old people including deacons and elders...............................

Well here's what I thought about the passage:

Sometimes we only look at the immediate rewards and in computer science terms it's called greedy search. As students we sometimes put aside God for the time being and focus on what seems like the best choice at the moment. This could be like friends, relationships and even extends to our studies. Like Lot, we only see the immediate rewards and sometimes forget to listen to God and even cut ourselves away from him temporary. THat's what Lot did and put himself in a crappy position and 2 Peter 2:7 says he was not a happy chappy being there. He put himself away from God and suffered for it. :( So sometimes we see things that may seem like the best choice but in reality it might put ourselves away from God. It might be like "I'll go watch some dramas and read my bible later" or "Let's go to this party and pray when I get back". It could even be "Hey I need to study for this exam so I might give bible study a skip tonight".

It's a pretty hard thing to think about really. I'm not saying read all of chronicles and fail your exams but if we're thinking like this... "Hey the footballs on tonight. I'll just study after that and maybe I'll find time to read my bible..." then we're setting up camp near Sodomites. I've been a student for about 17 years now and there's been alot of "Oh look what's on TV" "Georgeeeeeee ... this is God. You have an assignment due in a week" "Nah don't worry I'll jsut watch this and get that started..." then BAM. It's 12 hours away from the deadline and I have fifty of these things:

which means I panic and cry and get a bad mark.

So God was right. I should have got that assignment started ages ago (maybe I was too over confident in my programming l33tness?). But how can I even hear the warning from God?

Well that means you have to listen for God's voice. That means reading your bible, praying to God and encouraging and learning from your brothers and sisters. I'm not having an attack on us bailing on YF to study cos I know what it feels to feel the pressures of exams and assignments. But I'm more directing my attack on the attitude that puts us in a situation that we have to skip bible study or our devotion for our studies. Maybe we picked the wrong choices and didn't listen to God when he said go this way, and now we're in a position we don't like.

So I hope you guys in this time of exams and assignments, I hope you guys don't neglect your time with God. It's far more important that getting good marks (but getting good marks should be like your 2nd or 3rd priority >: ( ) and pray to God to help you with your studies. Listen to God and he will guide you in your time of stress.

Another week, another study- I probably should have said this earlier, but if there's anything you don't quite understand or just flat out disagree with in these things, let me know. I promise I won't bite your head off (immediately).

Genesis 3

3:1-24

Discussion: think about times you have been caught doing things you knew you should not have been doing. What is your first reaction when caught?

Read Genesis 3:1-24

1. Who is the serpent? What do the following passages tell us about this serpent?

Romans 16:20

God’s superiority over Satan, the fulfilment of the curse in Genesis Gen 3:16

Revelations 12:9

Satan explicitly named the ‘ancient snake’, his role as the one who leads the whole world astray

John 8:44

A murderer and father of lies- notice the connection how those who refuse to believe in Jesus are called Satan’s children.

2. How does the serpent convince the woman to eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil?

Firstly, Satan assumedly approaches Eve when she is apart from Adam. We are so much more suspect to falling into sin where we believe we are by ourselves- remaining in the body of Christ that is the Church is a powerful insurance against falling in sin.

Secondly, Eve is made to doubt the truth of God’s commands (Gen 3:1-5). While Satan does not begin with a bold invitation in disobey God, he ends by directly contradicting what God has previously told Adam and Eve that if they ate from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil that they would surely die (Gen 2:17). This is part of the reason why it is so important have a biblical foundation for our beliefs. As to whether doubt is bad, all the time- I can only speak on my own opinion, not having found a reliable source (bad time management…). I think doubt is an inevitability in this life, and in of itself is not a sin. How we respond to that doubt defines whether or not we have made the right or wrong choice- in my opinion!

Finally, Eve was swayed by the apparently attractive nature of the forbidden fruit (Gen3:6). It is always easier to resist temptation when we turn away from it at the instance of it appearing, rather than to turn back at the last possible moment. For many of us (at least, me), the question is not ‘what is sinf?’, but rather ‘how far can I go without sinning?’- this is the wrong perspective to take, we should be wary of the situations we put ourselves in if there is even a slight possibility that we might end up doing the wrong thing.

3. How does the woman respond to the serpent’s prompting?

Again, Eve allows herself to fall into a dialogue with Satan. As I wrote previously, it is often better to disregard the sort of discussion that leads to sin sooner, rather than later. In the last study we did on Titus, Paul in no uncertain terms instructs Titus to as soon as possible take out the individuals who are spreading false teaching (Tit 1:10-16). Contrary to what we are taught today, not everything has an equal value, and not everything is of the same moral worth- we should refuse to recognise perspectives that dispute biblical truth from the get go.

4. Where is the man in all this?

In Gen 3:6, Adam appears to be next to Eve as she eats of the fruit. In this verse, we can see Adam abdicating the responsibility he has for his wife- even though she was eating the fruit which God had told them not to touch, Adam did nothing to stop or admonish Eve. The sort of headship that a man is supposed to show towards his wife, mirroring Christ’s headship of the Church (Eph 5:22-24) is nowhere to be seen in Adam’s example.

A bit more relevant to us unmarried types (read; the dota guys)- how do you act in your life? Will you be made complicit in something you know is wrong, or will you speak out? Sometimes, by following Adam’s example and not protesting against something we know to be wrong can lead to heavy consequences.

5. How did the man and woman answer to God?

When Adam and Eve heard God coming, they hid. Eventually when they were called out to by God, they both cast the blame to someone else (Gen 3:8-13). When we look at this passage, we see the typical human response when confronted with their sin. Either we try to conceal our actions, or we attempt to blame someone else for our own actions.

6. What’s wrong with this picture/chain of events?

From Satan, Adam and Eve the common thread in each of their respective downfalls is their disobedience against God. Adam and Eve both presumed to know better than God, in principle seeking to become their own individual ‘god’s’ in their own right. We see that from the original perfection that God intended His Creation to exist in the consequence of Adam and Eve’s actions by listening to Satan was to corrupt that setting.

7. How did God respond to this chain of events…

…in relation to the serpent?

God condemns the serpent to crawl on his belly and to be in enmity against Eve and her descendants. While we are destined to remain in struggle with Satan in this life, we are reassured that in spite of Satan’s efforts to bring us down, Jesus’ death and resurrection has struck Satan on his head, dealing a fatal blow that puts us beyond Satan’s offence beyond our ‘heel’ (Rom16:20)

…in relation to the woman?

To Eve, God punished her with pain during child-birth and submission to her husband (Gen 3:16). While Eve was created to be a helper to Adam (Gen 2:18), in their fallen state no longer would that service be under perfect leadership from Adam, nor in complete contentment with Eve. By mistakenly believing that we could decide our lives better than God could, everything that was supposed to be nice and pleasant became hard and arduous. In other words, God’s punishment is not the sort that rains down like fire from heaven so to speak, but in discovering Man’s belief that he can govern his own life, abandons us to our ‘sinful nature’ which corrupts God’s intended image (Rom1:25).

However, God’s punishment of Eve is merciful and measured- the pain of child-birth gives way to a newborn, and the submission/companionship of a husband pulls her into situation where she might not be so easily led into sin again.

…in relation to the man?

Again, although Man is consigned to the fields in order to live and through toil and tears to make his living (Gen3:17-19), God metes out his punishment in measure. While, the wages of sin are death, Man was not instantly sentenced as such, but only to a temporary separation from God. What was meant to be a joy in stewarding over creation become a painful chore, and our lives ultimately end with our bodies returning to the dust whence they came. It is not the additional sentence that makes all these things so, but the disobedience and arrogance coming from the belief that we can manage our lives without God.

…in relation to both the man and woman?

8. Why do you think God responded the way he did?

As we can see in the previous question, God tempered his punishment in relation to Adam and Even with mercy. But we must still be subject to punishment- God and sin are incompatible concepts, and it is an indispensable part of God to punish sin.

God also barred the way to the Tree of life in Genesis 3:22. This verse initially gave me some trouble- instead of a loving and just God, v 22 seemed to paint and image of a God acting out of jealousy of humanity’s potential rather than genuine care. But a careful examination of this verse reveals God acting in his eternal mercy. It was through eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that Man committed his original sin. Through that sin we were separated from God- so to have eaten from the Tree of Life would have consigned us to an eternity away from God. More commonly, this is known as Hell. God’s actions in Gen 3:22 was not an attempt to bar us from eternal life, but to save us for the eternal life that God originally and always intended for us.

Reflection/Application

9. What does Genesis 3 teach us about sin?

10. How do the people around you consider sin? (Your family, schoolmates, workmates, friends, etc)

11. How do you view sin in your own life? Are there excuses you make? Or have you been deceived by the serpent?

Spend some time in prayer.

For the people with exams- good luck. Your proof-of-Asian card with be returned upon confirmation of a HD average.

Genesis 2

2:4-2:25

Just for fun (pick one):

1. Draw an animal that doesn’t actually exist. Name it.
2. God has just created the first man/woman to be your husband/wife. Write him/her a poem/song (for inspiration read Gen 2:23).

B; It’s not like you have any other choice… (trust me, this works.)

Application: deliver your poem/song as appropriate and report on the results. (No, I’m not serious… I think.)

Read Genesis 2:4-2:25

1. What is man’s purpose? What has God set for him to do?

Reference to Man’s purpose in the Garden of Eden is made explicitly inGen2:15 and Gen 2:20.

V15 tells us that Man was “work it (the garden of Eden) and take care of it”- God’s original intention was neither that we remain idle, nor that our stewardship over creation be an exploitative relationship. For many of you, exam period is either already upon you or close round the corner- time to open those textbooks and faithfully undertake the responsibilities that God has entrusted to us!

In v20, God delegates the privilege of naming the creatures of creation to Man. It was to Man that God entrusted a particular position within Creation, attached to which was a special responsibility to care and cultivate the things that God has given to us.

2. Describe the garden that God created. What is its purpose?

While God could have been content in creating an environment that provided the bare minimum necessities, He populated the Garden of Eden with all kind of trees. Moreover, all that had been created- creatures of the land, birds and trees- had been given over to man to use as nourishment.

In short, God created an environment which would meet the needs of Man not the bare minimum, but in exceeding abundance.

In the middle, God put two special trees- the Tree of Life, and the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil…

3. What do you think is the significance of the two named trees?

Since Creation, God’s intention has always been to allow Man to enjoy an eternal life with Him. The significance of the Tree of Life is that Jesus’ sacrifice was not a haphazard thought on the part of God, but as a part of His plan to restore to us what He originally had intended to give to us all along.

Whether the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil actually conferred the knowledge of its namesake to whoever ate its fruit is unclear. It was certainly not the case that Adam was unable to think for himself before eating the forbidden fruit- how else could he have named the animals, or chosen what to eat from the abundant provision that God had place in Eden? Perhaps the best explanation I’ve read as to what the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil represented is from a commentary by a man called Matthew Henry (it’s online and free- check it out). What is good? To listen to God. What is bad? To ignore his commandments. Whatever else the Tree may have been, at the very least the choice it posed to Man in his free will whether or not to obey God’s commandments captures the moral foundation upon which every Christian should base their decisions on.

4. Why was the man naming the animals?

Partially as an indication of the authority God conferred to Man, Adam was given the opportunity to name the animals. What we should take away from this is that as human beings, we possess a limited ability to discern the mechanics and means of the environment around us, stemming from this authority. Obviously not letting this authority over the rest of creation give way to arrogance, we are nonetheless blessed with the ability to control and manipulate our surroundings.

The other reason that God had Adam name the animals was to find a ‘suitable helper (Gen 2:20). To re-iterate, up till not that point nothing in creation fulfilled the unique role until woman was formed..

5. For the first time in creation, something is not good (v18). What is not good? How does God resolve this?

‘It is not good for man to be alone…’ (Gen 2:18). As silly as it sounds, it is not an uncommon perception for non-Christians to view the Christian lifestyle as a monastic singular state of being. While singleness should not be seen as a negative (See 1 Cor 7:25-40), a majority of people will end up marrying at some point in their life.

The other point to be made here is the absolute provision that God has in store for us. Despite a suitable helper within the entire breadth of Creation unable to be found, Genesis does not record anything about Adam’s anxiety concerning God’s ability to provide. Rest easy in the knowledge that our needs are well kept in God.

6. Describe the man and the woman in relation to each other.

Consider:

How are they the same?

How are they different?

What are their roles?

What is the significance of Eve being created from Adam’s rib/side?

7. Genesis two provides us with God’s creation intention for marriage. What does this chapter tell us about marriage and sexuality?

To begin with, God created woman to fulfil the role of Man’s helper. Nothing else in the scope of Creation fulfils her position quite like she does- which goes against so much of what we are told by today’s gender-conflicted society. Does the subservient role of a woman place her in an inferior position? To take such a position must invariably lead to an equal perspective of Jesus’ character as a servant! To say that women cannot hold positions of authority in society is also flawed, in my opinion- God created Eve as a helper of Adam, not men.

In Genesis 2:23, where Adam accurately describes Eve as being of the same bone and flesh that he is, he describes the perfect attitude we are to have towards our spouse. The description that man and woman become ‘one flesh’ (Gen v2:24) has important lessons as to how we should view marriage.

Firstly, our love for our spouse is to be equal to the love that we have for our self. I think that the reason why many people balk at the idea of a woman submitting to a man is that all too often our world provides us with examples of an abuse of leadership that lead to the injury of those subservient. The leadership that is demanded from Christian men is the same sort of loving authority that Jesus has for His church, to the extent that he died for our sins. As men take up the responsibility in marriage then, we are called to make similar sacrifices in the name of Christian leadership.

Secondly the union God created was between a man and a woman. God did not mention any variation on this, so to call anything outside this example ‘marriage’ is wrong and directly contradicting God’s will.

At the same time, Genesis 2:25 points to the physical intimacy that should be seen inside a loving Christian marriage. Adam and Eve felt no shame being unclothed in front of one another. The enjoyment of physical intimacy is reserved for marriage- there is nothing unclean or dirty about this at all (although I will concede talking to your parents about this may get slightly awkward… especially if they start using sock puppets.)

Reflection/Application

8. What of God’s character do you see most strongly from chapter 2? How can you better respond to God in this?

9. What does Chapter 2 tell us about…

Work?

Worship?

Marriage?

Reflect on what this means for your own attitudes and perspectives on these things.

Spend some time in prayer.

Hi guys from Sydney!

I guess this is the first time that I've posted anything up here, so yay! :P I thought I'd share this particular Bible study that I've just had on campus. Be warned, may be slightly confrontational, thought-provoking and hopefully discussion worthy.

God's Judgement: Questioning and Understanding

The particular passage that was addressed was Ezekiel 25-33. Yes, 8 chapters, I know, but thankfully, you don't have to read through all 8 chapters to get the gist of things. In these chapters, God has spoken through Ezekiel and prophesied that he will judge the surrounding nations around Israel. Let's just step back for a bit. In this particular section of history, Babylon has just conquered the nation of Israel for Israel's attitude towards God, and yet, God is punishing the nations around Israel?

In chapter 25:6-7, the Lord says: "Because you have clapped your hands and stamped your feet, rejoicing with all the malice of your heart against the land of Israel, therefore I will stretch out my hand against you and give you as plunder to the nations. I will cut you off from the nations and exterminate you from the countries. I will destroy you, and you will know that I am the LORD."

As we can read here, the surrounding nations revelled in Israel's judgement and celebrated. Think about it, when you see someone else's misfortune, is it not part of our thought process that thinks: "at least it wasn't me". Some may ask themselves, "Why isn't it me?", and our logical, human conclusion is: Because I didn't do wrong, because I'm better than them, and in this, comes the main idea of how these chapters apply to us today

First of all, as Jesus said in Luke 13: 2-5, when Pilate had horrifically murdered some Galileans (Gentiles):"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

We are all equal in sin, so Jesus tells us not to look at others' misfortune, but to look within ourselves, and put ourselves in their shoes. Again in Romans 3:9: "What shall we conclude then? Are we any better? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin".

Looking back at the passage in Ezekiel, Tyre and Egypt are both centres of great power and the kings of those nations have proclaimed themselves powerful! How can we not see ourselves as having power, especially when we have accomplished so much, and in their case, conquered many nations, gathered much wealth and prosperity. Perhaps we don't see things to such an extreme, but we do see ourselves as having a great deal of control, and the world tells us that

The world tells us, very early on that we have the power to do what we want with our lives, we can change the world! We all have once looked up to people who have achieved something magnificent, such as winning a gold medal in the Olympics, or won a worldwide Starcraft tournament (to put into perspective :P), and when interviewed, they tell us of their determination, their struggle to achieve, the hardships that they faced and won over along the road to achievement. Not to belittle achievement, but 95% of the time, it is due to circumstance, opportunity and God-given talent. We attribute these positive achievements to our own doing, to our own reasoning and our own efforts, and I'm sure that we have all felt like this at least once in our lives. This is the heart of human arrogance. No matter how small, it is in human reasoning that the world decides to rely on today, and in human reasoning that the world prides on.

the world prides itself on human reasoning, and through that, we think that it is the greatest force. One example of this is Darwinism, and the theory of evolution; one of the fundamental views in atheism. Using this example, can we find the human reason? Darwinism proclaims "survival of the fittest" and in order to survive, one must continue reproducing the "fittest" of the species. Now for another look on Darwinism. If you posited to an atheist, the idea of culling the "bad, stupid and ugly" from society to create a far superior gene pool in order to continue "survival of the fittest", I'm sure that they would find the idea abhorrent, and yet that is the reasoning behind Darwin's theory of evolution, and by human reasoning, we have to establish that, in order for our species to survive, we must become the "fittest". Why, then, do we have the moral set that we do? Why is it that we must be a "good person" to function in society? Is this not against human reasoning? Is this not illogical according to Darwin's theory of evolution?

The not-so-simple answer is: Human reason is malleable, it is open to change. A prime example of this is the comparison of our society today, and the Holocaust. On branch of human reasoning leads to a moral community and the ethical and moral treatment of other members of society, whereas the other leads to the massacre of millions of people based on physical characteristics in order to create a superior race. Which of these is more logical? In fact, both outcomes are derived from human logic and reason, with each step as logical as the next, and yet we look upon one situation as vastly different and horrific. Yet we pride ourselves on our logic and reason and demand explanations from God for his actions.

The kings of Tyre and Egypt in Ezekiel saw their own power and pretty much proclaimed: "I am God". Although not to this extent, this is the demand of human reason. Some of the big questions are: Why does God let suffering continue? If he's so loving towards us, why does he punish us? Perhaps slightly more ignorantly: Who is God to judge us? Is it fair for God to judge us? Is God just not a bully by judging us? I found this short story online. Please have a read, and if you guys are at Tehillah, provoke some discussion at this point? :)

http://atheistblogger.com/2008/12/19/short-story-an-atheist-on-judgment-day/

There are many answers to these difficult questions, but the answer could go something like: Who are we to question God? Who are we to put God into a box and limit him to human reasoning? Has the world's pride in human reasoning and logic grown to the capacity in which we think that our reasoning surpasses that of God? The short of it is: God has no need to explain himself to us, as expressed by Jeremiah 18:3-4, he is the potter, and we are the clay. He is the creator, we are the created. If anything, it will be us who has to explain ourselves to God when judgement comes. God cannot be placed in a box, and cannot be limited to the finite boundaries of human reason.

From all that I've said here, it seems like that there is a lot of negativity surrounding God's judgement and the puffed up concept of human reasoning. However, amidst all the judgement, fire and brimstone in the passage that is Ezekiel 25-33, there is a small space, and eye of the storm that gives a small bit of consolation. This is found in 28: 25-26:"This is what the Sovereign LORD says: When I gather the people of Israel from the nations where they have been scattered, I will show myself holy among them in the sight of the nations. Then they will live in their own land, which I gave to my servant Jacob. They will live there in safety and will build houses and plant vineyards; they will live in safety when I inflict punishment on all their neighbours who maligned them. Then they will know that I am the LORD their God."

These two verses in the midst of a long list of judgement shows the restoration of God's people. God is no bully! He takes no delight in the death of the wicked. He knows just as well as we do the pain and suffering that we experience when he judges us. How does he know? He's felt it. Through Jesus. When he gave us his son to die on the cross, he came down to earth as a man and experienced the suffering of man. God knows the extent of his judgement upon man, and takes no delight in it, unlike the nations surrounding Israel.

God knows that he must judge the wicked, but he also gives hope for his people. God's judgement is in his own logic, his own reasoning, and as such is beyond the comprehension of man. Would a creator be obligated to explain himself to his creation? No, and as such, it is not the place of a creation to question his maker. The message of this is: Do not fall into the pride of human reasoning. Do not look on at misfortune of others and see the human reasoning of who has done wrong and who has not. Instead, look at yourself and see what would be the case if you were the one being judged. How would you answer to God for your actions? What will his judgement be? Be not afraid for your body but for your soul, for that is what is important, as Jesus said in Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell". God will not let the arrogance and the pride of the human heart continue. Look into yourself, and look at how you will answer to God.

Hope this has made you guys think, I only summarised what i heard and wrote down what i got from notes and memory.

for further reading have a look at:

http://www.1timothy4-13.com/files/proverbs/potter.html

http://www.forananswer.org/Top_General/Schaefer_questions.pdf

Love from sydney!

Tim

An article that I received in the mail

Hey guys, just thought I'll share with you an article I got in my mail. It's just a newsletter from my campus bible study back in UNSW, to keep me updated on things. Thought the article was encouraging -

"Note from Carl:

I met Joseph, a young guy of Eastern European background, at orientation week last year because his Muslim friend wanted to have an argument with me. Joseph and I met and chatted about Jesus twice after that and then I was heartbroken to hear that he had dropped out of university in about week 2. Can you imagine my surprise when I met him again in week 1 this year and he told me the story of what had happened in the previous year!"

Joseph’s Story

My family always called themselves Catholic but did not go to church or do anything religious; I had never even read the Bible. I more or less believed in the existence of God but I just never had an interest in him.

Less than a year ago my life pretty much fell apart. My two year relationship with my then-girlfriend Radha ended, and I was devastated. Radha was from a strict Hindu family that was very opposed to our relationship. After sneaking around for a long time we were open about our relationship and they used all kinds of emotional blackmail to force her to leave me. In the end she decided to listen to them.

My attitude to life completely changed. I went from having a high distinction average and being on the Dean’s list to dropping out of university. I didn’t know where to turn. My desire to find a purpose to my existence led me to search for God and, as the Bible promises, I got answers.

I decided to go to Campus Bible study (which is the equivalent “FOCUS” group in UNSW) where I met several Christians. They were so approachable and friendly. I met Carl a few times and he was always willing to talk and pray for me. He gave me a book to read: “A Fresh Start” by John Chapman.

I began reading and researching Christianity to make sure I wasn’t just being gullible because of my emotional state. Eventually I was convinced. Through a friend from high school I went to a church close to my home. It struck me how comfortable I immediately felt even though I was a stranger.

I have been committed to God for almost a year now. I have a personal yearning for God and a thirst to read his word, the Bible. I now have a purpose and a guaranteed future with God. As a result I have had an uncontrollable urge to tell people about him, and any of my friends and family can testify to that.

A few months ago, Radha contacted me after months of being apart. We started to talk again as friends. Naturally, our conversations revolved around God. I know she just wanted me to shut up sometimes, but that didn’t stop me in any way. Her attitude completely turned around through the changing power of Christ, and she committed her life to him. Our relationship also resumed, with both of us now living for God. That decision for Christ led to her family disowning her and that is one of the challenges we face together. We have recently married with the support and love of our wonderful Christian friends and I have started studying again.

God used our circumstances to lead both Radha and myself to a faith in Christ, giving us the gift of eternal salvation through his death on the cross, and has brought us together in a loving, Christian marriage. I am full of thanks to God.

**********************

I thought this part of the newsletter was quite encouraging for us, esp. now when we always talk about evangelism. A lot of times when I talk to some of you guys, we tend to think that some ways of evangelising aren’t effective or just extreme or stupid. But here we can see a simple example that every little bit we do counts. Here was the guy who wanted to argue. But by just having the contact point with a Christian, it lead to all this trail of things that happened which eventually lead him to Christ. Sometimes by just saying Jesus to someone may actually be prompted up in times of desperation or devastation as seen with Joseph. Instead of saying that doing walk up, advertising or Bible bashing is ineffective and then doing nothing about it, we should really be thinking of what we could do, regardless of effectiveness. Ultimately as Joseph said, it is the changing power of God that changes people’s hearts. We are just God’s vessels to do his work. It is God’s work and power that draws people to believe in him. So for us, instead of worrying about God’s part of work, i.e. the whether people will end up believing or not, we should start thinking about our work and what we should be doing.

It may be talking to every stranger you meet on the street about Jesus so that they will know who to turn to when they are in need. It may be directly talking with someone you have in mind and continue to pray and talk with this person. It may be to organise events, or go out and meet lots of new people so that you can have contact with strangers and build up a relationship. At least, we are doing something and this is done with a purpose in mind.