As I introduced last week, I’m going to be going through each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer as recorded in Matthew 6:9-13. The first phrase is, “Our Father in heaven.”
But even before we get to that, it’s important to note the first phrase of verse 9: “This, then, is how you should pray.” Jesus is not giving the exact words of what everyone should pray, but it’s more of a model - how we should pray. This is a structure or format we can use to model our prayers. He’s not saying we shouldn’t use these words, but we don’t have to use them; they’re simply a guide.
Now, on to looking at the introduction to this model prayer. In the original Greek, it literally translates to, “Father of us, the one who [is] in the heavens.” Our NIV English translation (quoted above) basically just smooths that out and makes it a little less clunky. The NASB, which is generally considered to be the most literal English translation to the original Greek, gives this phrase as, “Our Father who is in heaven.”
While we commonly think of God as Father, that is not one of the central themes of God in the Old Testament. There are no direct references to God as Father, but there are a few indirect ones where the term “father” occurs relating to God. Some of these can be found in Deuteronomy 32:6, Psalm 103:13, Isaiah 63:16, and Malachi 2:10. The pagans of the day would sometimes address their gods as father; for example, “Zeu pater” (literally, “Zeus, father”) became the god name Jupiter in Latin. But the one true God was not typically addressed as Father until Jesus walked on the earth.
But what did that mean to the people of His day when Jesus began to call God “Father”? For those who did not see Jesus as being the Son of God, this would be seen as anything from presumptuous to blasphemy by declaring Himself a direct relation of God. For those who were following Jesus, this was seen as evidence of the truth that Jesus was also God.
Jesus would have likely used the term “Abba” to speak of His Father. This term actually comes from the Aramaic language, which would have been the commonly spoken language of the day among the Jews. We see this specifically in Mark 14:36 when Jesus is praying in Gethsemane: “‘Abba, Father,’ he said, ‘everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.’” We see that the early Christians adopted using Abba in reference to God as Father like we see in Romans 8:15 and Galatians 4:6.
The next thing to note is that Jesus uses the pronoun “our” in front of Father. This establishes the relationship that exists between Jesus’ disciples (who Jesus was addressing in this context) and God. It shows specifically who this prayer is directed toward. God is a personal God, and He is a caring God. He’s our Father not in the sense of being a tyrant, but He is the truest example there is of fatherhood. Ephesians 3:14-15 says, “For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.” All fathers should base their relationship with their children on the relationship between us and God.
However, we know that earthly fathers don’t live up to this Biblical standard. Even the best earthly father is still a sinful human being who is not perfect. Many people have a very negative view of their earthly father, often for good reason. Perhaps their father abused them, treated them in a hurtful manner, often broke promises, didn’t provide as he should have, or wasn’t even in their life for some reason. It is important that we do not compare God as our Father to these earthly models, but that we turn to the Scriptures to find out God’s true character. We know that God as our Father is perfect and can be fully trusted in all ways.
The “our” here also reminds us that no believer is alone in our faith. If the prayer was “My Father…” then it would feel more solitary. But we as believers in Christ are meant to be in community with other believers, and this “our” indicates that. While we can say this prayer on our own or with others, we are all a part of the great family that encompasses all believers.
We also see where our Father is located - in heaven. This reminds us that He is no mere earthly father, but the one true God. He is our heavenly Father. His nature is completely holy and perfect and good, as no sin can exist in heaven where our Father is located. However, it is also important to note that God is not merely residing in one place like we do with our human bodies; being omnipresent, God is everywhere at all times. So designating God as being “in heaven” does not mean He is only located in heaven but that His perfect nature allows Him to be in heaven while He rules over the entire universe.
No matter your view of earthly fatherhood, know that this prayer addresses God as our perfect Father in heaven. We are called to put our trust in Him and pray to Him, knowing with confidence that He will protect us, guide us, and provide for us.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
“You shall not covet…” -Exodus 20:17
This is the last of the Ten Commandments. You shall not lust after that which belong to your neighbor. Not his wife, nor house, nor car, nor children, nor things, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor. Not even their skills and talents, and interestingly enough, some people covet other people’s trials because they think they could handle them more easily than their own.
Covetousness had multiples causes; greed, control, jealousy, and lack of being content are the first four that come to mind. Greed, because you want things and if someone else has something you don’t, you want it too. Control, because if someone else has something you want and you don’t have control over it, then you can’t control that person either. Jealousy, because someone else is happier than you are, even if you have more stuff. Lack of being content, because “stuff” never satisfies and always leaves us wanting more. One could argue that covetousness is a root of breaking the other horizontal commandments, and I’ll make the argument that it can also be a root of idolatry. Unlike the other commandments where idolatry either is the violation of the commandment or leads to the violation of the commandment, violation of this commandment of covetousness leads to idolatry.
Few stories showcase covetousness more than Ahab. I give credit to David Wilkerson for pointing this out to me. Jezebel is perhaps the most wicked woman recorded in Scripture to the point where her name means “false teaching” or “false spirit.” She was the one who manipulated Ahab and controlled him. She led him into an even greater level of idolatry than Jeroboam had done, and as a result Ahab was considered the most wicked king of Israel. Ahab saw a vineyard owned by Naboth and because it was convenient and looked good, he wanted it. Naboth could not sell it according to the Law, and so Ahab threw a fit before Jezebel, and Jezebel did her thing to kill Naboth and give Ahab the land. In Ahab’s greed and covetousness, he turned to a false god and a false prophet to get it. His covetousness led to idolatry, turning to someone (in this case Jezebel) other than God.
During the time of the Judges and the Kings, the people of Israel and Judah kept turning to the gods of their neighbors. Why? 1) They wanted to be like their neighbors. Hint: that’s a form of covetousness. That’s why they asked for a king. Their neighbors had something they wanted: a physical ruler to represent them, rather than God. 2) The false gods offered something they didn’t believe God offered: fertility, rain, money, prosperity, etc. The gods offered all the people desired there and then, out of God’s will and out of God’s timing. There’s one big problem with all that: God DID promise He would provide everything they would need and above and beyond that. They just needed to trust Him.
Covetousness leads to turning to sources other than God for our needs, and that leads to idolatry. At the same time, already having an idol in your heart produces covetousness as well. When we have an idol, it means we don’t trust God to provide for us. And when we don’t trust Him, it means we end up seeking something that caters to our flesh instead of trusting God for what we need. Remember what Jesus faced in the wilderness? You can summarize the temptations in three words: health, wealth, and prosperity. That’s what Eve saw in the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It’s also the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. That’s what Satan offers, and it’s what the coveter seeks in his lusts. When a man seeks something, he will seek that which will give it, even if it is an idol and even if it means a deal with the devil. And Satan will gladly offer it, but it won’t last nor endure.
If we instead seek God, He will provide all we need and above and beyond that. But it will be in His timing and it won’t be for the purpose of satisfying our lusts. I have never seen God fail to deliver on His promises, though He will intentionally delay them to test us to see if we will prove faithful. There are many times where man may jump the gun and go too early where if they had only waited, the right thing or the right person would be in place to direct them. God often allows a counterfeit to go first to see if we will take the bait, but if we trust Him, there will be no need to seek after the other gods to give us what we think we want.
There is always a cost when we covet, and that cost is not merely failure of our endeavors. People have lusted after fame and fortune, coveting the lavish lifestyle, the media love, the popularity, the money, the expensive toys and large houses, etc., and many of them got it. They turned to their gods and their gods delivered them. But their gods also have their own “quid pro quo” terms. It often comes in the form of serving the gods in demonic ways. If the people of Israel turned to performing sex orgies, drunkenness, and child sacrifice to serve their idols, how much more so are people doing that now? When Jesus said, “If you gain the whole world but lose your soul…” this kind of thing could very well be part of that. Jesus knew what went on behind the scenes, behind the publicity and the paparazzi. History books don’t tell you those things and the few who are allowed to speak out, are allowed because they won’t be a threat to those pulling the strings.
When it initially dawned on me how idolatry can be or is involved in the breaking of all Ten Commandments, I was still thinking surface level, but as this series began to come together, it’s hit me on a greater level how deep and how dark idolatry is. I am seeing more and more now why God took it so seriously. There is absolutely nothing good that can come out of idolatry. However, every one of us has engaged in idolatry is some way shape or form, and in that idolatry, we’ve broken these Ten Commandments from mere dwelling of hatred of our brother or lusting in our hearts to the actual deeds themselves. And as a result, every one of us are guilty before God of treason deserving of death. Next week, I will talk about how idolatry is the root of all evil, but fortunately there is hope for us, which I will write about after that.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Steve Risner
The universe is huge. In fact, it’s far beyond any sort of human comprehension just how large it is. Even a light year is more than the human mind can conceive. A light year is just short of 6 trillion miles. The observable universe is a sphere around the earth that is 93 billion light years across. That’s 5.5 x 10ˆ23 miles in diameter (5.5 with 23 zeros following it). Very big. I think this is very interesting because of the time factors necessary for the Big Bang which leads into chemical evolution, stellar evolution, and the forging of heavier elements which eventually allegedly led to the formation of our solar system. Let me explain.
After the initial expansion began from a singularity, some cosmologists suggest there was a time of inflation that was exponential in nature. What that means is for a fraction of a second, the universe expanded really, really fast—much faster than the speed of light. They invented this idea out of nowhere to deal with a few issues that the Big Bang had. Problem solved. Just like dark matter and energy – these things were invented to account for the fact that the numbers don’t add up at all when calculating various things in the universe. In fact, we know so little about how the universe actually works that we need dark matter and energy as a fudge factor to account for 95% of what we observe! That means we know 5% of how things work, so we need to add in something we cannot see or measure or even know exists to make the math work. I think that’s profound.
But this blog post isn’t about all the made-up stuff they have to insert into the story to make it seem plausible. In this writing, I wanted to focus on what needed to happen and how long it took. A little backstory is needed.
Immediately after the Big Bang, it is believed no elements existed. According to exploratoium.edu, “About one ten-thousandth of a second after the Big Bang, protons and neutrons formed, and within a few minutes these particles stuck together to form atomic nuclei, mostly hydrogen and helium. Hundreds of thousands of years later, electrons stuck to the nuclei to make complete atoms.”
So, it took several hundred thousand years for the elements of hydrogen, helium, and possibly a little lithium to form. These are the first three elements on the periodic table. This is the beginning of chemical evolution, or the evolution of elements from their basic parts and then into heavier elements. They then would condense, for some unknown reason, into what are called Population III stars. These are stars (which have never been found and exist only in theory) that only consist of hydrogen, helium, and small amounts of lithium. That’s because there were no other chemical elements for them to consist of at all. The idea is that after millions or billions of years, depending on the size of the star, these Pop III stars would burn out and expel their contents. While they burned, these stars were turning these 3 elements into other elements like oxygen, carbon, calcium, magnesium, and eventually iron and other heavy elements.
This is where the time issue might come into place. It takes about a million years or so to form a star, it is believed. So we’ve got hundreds of thousands of years for elements to form. Then we have millions of years for the first stars to form—some sources suggest 100 million years to as much as a billion years before these stars formed. These stars would live for millions of years if not billions of years before they went supernova and spewed their newly manufactured elements into the surrounding space.
Realize, as I mentioned in the first paragraph, that the universe is incomprehensibly large, but the entire universe has stars throughout in huge clusters we call galaxies. None of the stars we have observed are Pop III stars—those stars that are comprised solely of hydrogen and helium. Not one. Many of the stars we see are Population II stars which contain a small amount of other elements. Still others are Population I stars which have the highest metal content. But they are everywhere. Don’t believe me? Look up at the night sky on a clear night and see how many stars you can see—and that’s just in our galaxy which is one of around 125 billion galaxies we’ve spotted. Every one of those stars is a Pop II or Pop I star.
So we are to believe, that after these stars (which may never have existed) were born, burned, and died, they spewed their contents of heavier elements into space. It then gathered again into another star after an immense amount of time and lit the fuse in another star. And this has happened billions of trillions of times since it’s estimated that the universe has over one billion trillion stars (that’s 10ˆ21 stars). No one has an issue with this?
Come on. We are to believe that a star (more like trillions of them) vomited out its contents and these condensed over and over to generate all the stars, planets, and debris we see all over the universe? How is there enough time for this material to have expanded all across the universe? When ejected, at its fastest, the material from a supernova might travel 10% of the speed of light but in many cases it’s much slower than this. The shockwave also slows down over time. One such supernova remnant (what’s left after a star dies and explodes) was recently found to be expanding at 8 miles per second. That might sound fast in terms of an earth vessel like your car, but it’s hardly moving in terms of a universe that is 93 billion light years across. At that speed, it would take 135 days to travel from the sun to the earth. Light makes this trip in 8 minutes. That 8 miles/sec speed is .004% of the speed of light and rescuing devices like an inflationary period had to be invented to explain how light has made it 93 billion light years in less than 14 billion years. How much less plausible is a universe replete with galaxies which are packed with billions of stars each to have come about in 14 billion years after these Pop III stars, which no one has ever found, were born, burned all their fuel and exploded, sending their newly forged elements through space? It boggles the mind to see thinking people will buy this.
Using some average numbers, we can see the silliness in this core belief that the Big Bang hangs on. Galaxies are, on average, about 100,000 light years across. If ejected material from a Pop III star in the area of where one of these galaxies would eventually be, at a top speed of 10% the speed of light (being generous to this belief since that’s a higher speed and not a likely speed), it would take 1 million years for that ejected material to spread out over this entire space a galaxy would later occupy if it never slows (but it does). But it wouldn’t be very dense at this time. We need more stars that would happen to be nearby and happen to go through the same processes. At the above-mentioned speed of 8 miles/second, we would have to wait about 24 million years for the material to expand out over the entire galaxy we’ve imagined. Then we would need millions or billions of years for new stars to form and then “turn on” and later die and spew out their material and so on. Now, I realize that the belief doesn’t say one star died and all the billions of stars in a galaxy were formed from that exploding star. So we would have to have billions of Pop III stars live and die and eject their contents close together so they could be reborn as Pop II stars which would live and die and reincarnate as Pop II and Pop I stars (the only two types we see). But the point is there simply isn’t enough time and we’re talking about just one galaxy. The universe is brimming with billions of galaxies. Keep in mind as well that we are talking about average sized galaxies. Some galaxies are literally 50 times larger than this so all of these numbers would need to be multiplied by 50 (50 million years to expand at the speed of light and over a billion years at the rate of 8 miles per second).
There’s a great deal more to say about this topic, but I’ve run out of space (no pun intended). I will pick this up next time. Until then, think critically and trust God’s Word. According to Genesis 1:16, God created the stars on day 4 of creation. This was just about 6000 years ago, if we trust what the Bible says about it. We should trust in the One who created the stars and us and who made a way for us to know Him for eternity. Isaiah 40:26 says, “Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”
God is awesome and out of His mind the stars of the galaxies were birthed to declare His glory! Praise Him.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
As followers of Jesus, we know that prayer is the method we can use to communicate with God. We at Worldview Warriors have written on prayer multiple times; for example, I wrote on how to pray and if God hears our prayers. Charlie Wolcott wrote a series on prayer a few years ago that starts here. But for this series, I want to focus on one specific prayer: the Lord’s prayer.
We find the Lord’s Prayer twice in Scripture, in the gospel of Matthew and the gospel of Luke. Here are those two versions for comparison:
“This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.’” (Matthew 6:9-13)
“He said to them, ‘When you pray, say: ‘Father, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come. Give us each day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins, for we also forgive everyone who sins against us. And lead us not into temptation.’” (Luke 11:2-4)
After reading both of those, you may notice a few things. First, those two versions are different; some scholars believe that the one in Matthew happened around a year earlier than the one in Luke, and that those were two different occasions. How do they know? Check out the context.
Based on the introduction in Matthew 5:1-2, chapters 5, 6, and 7 in the book of Matthew are what’s commonly referred to as the Sermon on the Mount, and you’ll notice that this prayer is right in the middle of that. Immediately before it, Jesus is teaching on giving to the needy, and then on prayer in general. From there, He launches into this specific prayer with the instruction of “This, then is how you should pray.” It’s not enough to tell people that they need to do something; it’s much more helpful to actually give an example of how to do it. After this prayer, Jesus goes on to talk about forgiveness, fasting, and more.
The introduction in Luke 11:1 says, “One day Jesus was praying in a certain place. When he finished, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Lord, teach us to pray, just as John taught his disciples.’” Immediately before that in the gospel account, Jesus is at the home of Mary and Martha. So, the context makes it pretty clear that these are two different instances.
You’ll notice that the wording of both prayers is actually somewhat different too. This is true in the original Greek as well as in our English translations. If you were to teach something twice, chances are you may say it a little bit differently the second time; that’s what’s going on here. It could also be the difference between Matthew and Luke recording the words of Jesus at different times in their separate manuscripts.
You may have also noticed that perhaps neither of those line up exactly with the way you were taught to say the Lord’s Prayer. The version in Matthew is likely closer to what you learned than the one in Luke, but I would guess there are still differences. That may be due to the version I quoted (the NIV) being translated in 2011; perhaps you learned it from the older NIV translation or even from the King James Version.
So… which version is correct? Did Jesus speak the words of the version in Matthew? I believe so. Did Jesus speak the words of the version in Luke? I believe so. Which English version is the “right” one? That depends on how you define “right.” We all have our preferences, but a preference doesn’t make it correct or incorrect. If you gauge that by being the closest possible to the words that Jesus spoke, then no English version is “correct.” It’s likely that Jesus spoke those words in Aramaic (the commonly spoken language of the day), but as far as scholars know, it was first written down in Koine Greek in both the Matthew and Luke accounts, though there are even slight differences in those Greek texts. There has been much scholarly study done on how the Lord’s Prayer transitioned from the most original written words we have to the common forms we know it in today, but I’m not going to focus on that here; you can check this out for an overview.
The fact of the matter is that there is no wrong way to pray - for the Lord’s Prayer or any prayer. There are no specific words that make your prayer “right” or “wrong.” The most important issue with any prayer, including the Lord’s Prayer, is the state of your heart. Is your attitude one of desiring true communication with God? Are you just repeating the words because you have to for participating in a church service? Is your attitude a self-serving one, thinking that you’ll get something from God for saying these words?
The specific words that you say when you speak the Lord’s Prayer are less important than the attitude of your heart. I grew up reciting the Lord’s Prayer at least weekly in church services and in the Christian school I attended as well. For much of that time, it was just saying the words because that’s what you’re supposed to do. After I graduated college, the church I attended at the time had a tradition where toward the end of the service, everyone would hold hands and recite the Lord’s Prayer together. The pastor explained it once by saying that when we hold hands to pray, those who are spiritually “higher” will lift up those who are spiritually “lower,” and we all encourage one another. It also unifies us as part of the body of Christ. Having that closeness to my fellow believers while praying these words of Jesus really brought them alive to me and made them mean so much more.
Over the next few months, I will be focusing on each phrase of the Lord’s Prayer based on the account in Matthew 6:9-13. Each week, we’ll dig into one phrase in Koine Greek, what it means in English, and how we can apply it to our lives today.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
“You shall not bear false testimony against your neighbor.” -Exodus 20:16
No one likes being lied to. But it sure is amazing how in reality, a person will lie to either make themselves look better or to protect themselves from scrutiny. Lying is a sin that no one is taught; it’s an instinct. That’s the sinful nature easily on display. The first recorded lie told by man was Cain covering his tracks for his murder of Abel, and man hasn’t stopped lying since. Lying lips are the second thing listed by God in the things he hates the most behind a proud look/haughty eyes. Pride is why we lie, because it’s all about self-image. When we exaggerate, we are lying (the use of hyperbole is not a case of this). Those white lies are still lying. Guess what? It does not take much for me to know that I am a liar. I have told lies. I generally am truthful, however all it takes is one lie and by definition I am a liar. I’ve broken this commandment. And guess what? So have you. I don’t have to know your heart or your lifestyle. I just know how mankind is and what Scripture say about us.
Idolatry in regard to lying is like murder or adultery: idolatry leads to it. Now before I go further, I want to make clear that many people are truly sincere in what they believe, and they actually believe it. So while like murder, not all idolatry produces lying, but it certainly plays a role in the practices of idolatry.
Perhaps the clearest example of lying as a direct result of following an idolatrous practice is in Islam with the practice of taqiyya. It is the teaching that in the face of persecution or if it helps the cause of Islam, you can lie to the face of an “infidel.” It is important to realize that Islam teaches conquest and there truly is no such thing as a “moderate Muslim.” They are only “moderate” when they are in the minority, but the moment the majority is Muslim, suddenly they become “radical” in part because the last thing they want is for the “radicals” to think they aren’t Muslim. So they will lie to your face and not think twice about it.
The occult practices are heavy on lying. Remember, a lie is not just a blatant falsehood. It’s also a withholding of the full truth, and it’s speaking partial truths. In the occult, people seek the “advice of the spirits.” They are literally communing with demons. You don’t mess around with that stuff. To the youth reading this or to the parents of youth reading this: things like Tarot Cards, Ouija Boards, Palm Readings, Crystal Balls, the “Charlie Charlie ‘game’,” etc. are talking with demons. These aren’t games. These spirits will talk to you and they will tell you what you want to know. They are skilled observers, and they know things about you that you likely don’t know yourself. They’ll tell you partial truths to suck you in, but it won’t be the whole truth. They will say they are guiding spirits, your imaginary friend, or whatever, but they are demons. And they will get you to believe lies and once you start to believe the lies, you will start to speak them as though they are facts.
Identity politics has taking lying and blown it up to excessive proportions. We have men identifying as women, women identifying as men, blacks identifying as white, whites identifying as “Native Americans,” a grown woman identifying as a cat, and a man identifying as a 6-year-old girl, just to name a few. This is not only insanity; it’s lying. It’s lying to yourself and lying to public about yourself.
Don’t think the church is exempt from lying either. There is a lot of disillusionment in the young community about the church in regard to hypocrisy. Hypocrisy is a form of lying, and in many cases the hypocrisy comes from an idolatrous view of God. A recent book I read is “The Ten Commandments of Progressive Christianity” by Michael Kruger. It’s an excellent exposé of ten of the major teachings of this movement, but what he points out is that there are a bunch of half-truths in each of these tenets. The Progressive Christian movement does have some legitimate complaints about how the evangelical church has been, but their solution is to ditch truth, ditch facts, go by emotion, “love everyone” (without addressing sin), and forget any real relationship with God or that we have a sin problem. They want gracious behavior but not sound doctrine, and in reality, you can’t get gracious behavior without sound doctrine. They teach we should be loving towards each other and be good people, but when it comes to sexuality, how dare anyone question that. How can they have it both ways? They have an idolatrous view of God, coming out of post-modernism, and as a result they are not being truthful about what they actually believe. Kruger points out that this is not Christianity. It’s something else entirely.
One thing that pushes my buttons when it comes it evangelism is the idea that we can “agree with the world” on a number of things so they will know we are on their side, and then we can tell them the truth about Jesus. This is a classic bait-and-switch, and frankly it’s a deception. Whoever does this is lying to whomever they are trying to convert. They teach in practice that it is fine to move them from one lie to another lie only then to reveal the actual truth. Here is a modern example of this. The world believes that the earth is 4.5 billion years old and they think the idea of the earth only being 6000 years old is silly. So, if we say that God created the heavens and the earth as the Bible describes, the “educated” won’t listen to us, therefore, we need to agree with them about the age of the earth so they will not shut us down and we can tell them about Jesus. I’ve heard this many times. They are sincere about it. They truly think that is the best way to approach it. But they are lying to everyone they speak to in doing so. The rest of the world can read the Bible too and they KNOW it teaches 6-day creation with only a 6000-year history.
So, what happens? Either the evangelist who does this is dismissed, or they get the person to believe a half truth. And that half-truth includes what it means to be a Christian. Now I am not saying you must believe in a 6-day creation and a 6000-year history to be saved. I am saying you must believe the Bible means what it says if you are saved. Otherwise, you have the Holy Spirit within you saying it’s okay to not believe His inspired message when it comes to a controversial topic. It may take a while for the Holy Spirit to get deeply ingrained lies rooted out of you. I give grace for that. But any person who actively and openly questions the clarity of Scripture is not operating by the Holy Spirit, very likely is not saved, and has a false image of God. It’s idolatry, and such positions lead to lying about God, lying about your standing with God, and lying to others about God
John MacArthur makes a harsh statement about those who do not accurately represent God (he was specifically talking about those whom in current post-modern thought teach that God cannot be known or His word is not clear): “They hate the true God and are scared to death if anyone finds out who He really is.” I can say from my encounters with such people that they don’t just hate God, they also hate all who speak correctly about Him. They are idolaters and don’t want their delusions shattered, so they lie through their teeth about God, feigning a form of godliness but denying it.
Idolatry leads to lying – lying to others, lying to God, and lying to yourself. The only way to deal with it is to get rid of your idols and tear down your high places. Then return to the True God who speaks only truth and will deal with all forms of error. I have one more commandment to address next week: covetousness.
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
by Chad Koons
In my post last month, we looked at the definition of and the need for repentance. Now we ask the question: what does repentance look like? Thank God that we have excellent examples given by Jesus Himself! Although these two examples are different, they are very much the same.
In Luke 15, we find the story of the Prodigal Son.
To me, however, it seems more the story of the Joyful Father. You’ll see why in a minute. Anyway, it is here that we see not only a picture of true repentance, but also a demonstration of it. A father has two sons. The younger son requests his inheritance early, only to skip town and waste it all on a sinful lifestyle. Eventually the funds run out and he hits rock bottom. In his exhausted and wasted state, something stirs inside of him. He thinks to humble himself and return to his father. He planned to humbly confess, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” In this way, he would throw himself upon his father’s mercy.
It is important to recognize that the son had made a decision followed up by actions. He had rejected his sin, changed his mind, turned around, and began journeying once again back to his father’s house. This, my friends, is where repentance begins.
Upon eyeshot of his homeland, something nearly unheard of happens. His father sees him, and pulling up his robes, his father actually begins running down the road to meet his wayward son! He catches him up in an embrace and kisses his cheeks. The son, still compelled to humble himself as he should, confesses to his father, “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son…” But the father, already knowing the sincerity of his son’s actions, immediately begins yelling to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” In this amazing display of reconciliation, the father not only meets and welcomes his son, but he ushers him in, forgives, restores, and honors him with celebration and gifts beyond anyone’s expectation! This is true repentance accepted. The Lord will do the same thing with you.
Repentance is also seen with the woman caught in adultery.
In John 8, Jesus was teaching a crowd of people in the temple. The religious leaders saw this as an opportunity to test and condemn Jesus, so they conveniently found a woman caught in adultery and threw her down before Jesus. “Now in the Law Moses commanded us to stone such women,” they said, “So what do you say?” Jesus famously stated; “Let you without sin cast the first stone.”
Some seem to interpret this story as a “do not judge” sort of thing – that love and grace are more important than our actions, that sin is unimportant, that repentance is not necessary, and that if Jesus canceled judgement, then so should we. Yet given the context of this story, the above interpretation could not be any more wrong! To say that Jesus ignored her sin completely devalues their encounter and entirely misses the point. Jesus did not ignore her sin, nor did He cancel it or treat it lightly. Jesus recognized a sinful woman in dire need of mercy. He expected her to reject her sin, and then He led her to repentance. After all, every sinner needs repentance, always and forever.
This woman had repented, and this is what caused Jesus to extend His forgiveness and invite her to follow Him. Otherwise, she would not have been forgiven. How do we know this? Because of what He said. Jesus stood up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She said, “No one, Lord.” Notice that she called Him Lord, implying that she had rejected her sin, repented, and had submitted to His Lordship. Therefore, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and sin no more” (John 8:11, emphasis mine). The Bible doesn’t tell us anything more about this woman, but I believe that she completely abandoned her sinful lifestyle and faithfully followed Jesus. Broken as she was, she had repented before Him, and His words of “Go, and sin no more” opened the door to her freedom!
Here’s something that completely overwhelms me. In each of these stories, there was a response initiated by both parties – by the sinner and by the Redeemer. It is absolutely amazing to me how the Lord will turn His attention toward us when we repent. He is so very loving and patient. His goodness leads us to repentance. No greater love exists. Come with your whatever scraps you have left, come with your addictions, come with your raw and bleeding wounds, come just as you are, but please come.
If the Lord is drawing you to repentance, act upon it immediately before it is too late. The Lord is commanding people everywhere to repent. He will run to you and make you His own.
If I could sum this up, here is what I would say; there is freedom, dear reader. No matter the struggle, no matter the depth of root, no matter the abuse that has bound you, no matter the heartache, no matter the chains digging into your skin, freedom is available, and it begins with true repentance. Come to Jesus and He will not cast you aside. Forgiveness and new life await.
“Lord, I come before You in need of forgiveness. I have sinned against You and I have sinned against others. I know that I need to serve You with my whole life, so therefore I make the decision to repent; to turn away from my sins and to turn towards You. Cleanse me from my sin, create in me a clean heart, oh God. Renew a right spirit within me. Jesus, You are my Lord and Savior.”
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
One of life’s great mysteries is what will happen in the end times. The primary reason it’s a mystery is that it hasn’t happened yet. How will the world end? When will it happen? What will those events look like? These concepts are alluded to in the Scriptures, but the answers given are not clear and detailed - at least in our limited understanding while on this earth.
One related topic that we do have slightly clearer answers on is what happens to a person when they die. The Bible does tell us about heaven and hell (click the links for more on each). Roman Catholics also believe in purgatory as a place people go after this world but before they go to heaven or hell. While we don’t know the details of heaven and hell, we know that heaven is where we will exist with God, and hell is the complete absence of God.
How does the timing work after a person dies? Are you immediately sent to your “final destination,” or do you exist in some other space for a while, or do you have no sense of time at all? There are a lot of opinions on these matters, but we don’t have clear answers to these questions from Scripture. There are 3 primary positions held by Christians on this topic. The first is that a person goes immediately to purgatory. When their sin is “taken care of” by enough prayers being offered for them by those who are still alive, that person goes to heaven. If a person has committed a mortal sin, however, they go directly to hell; they would also go to hell if they’re still in purgatory when Christ comes again. The second position is some sort of intermediate state between earthly life and the new heaven and the new earth that will happen in the future. The third position is that a person is immediately judged upon their death and then proceeds to heaven or hell depending on their relationship with Jesus Christ.
Now, onto the bigger topic - the end of the world. When will it happen? Jesus tells us in Matthew 24:36: “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.” This is mind-blowing when you look at it in the context of the Trinity; the Father, Son, and Spirit are three persons yet one God, and there’s this one piece of information that is not shared among them; only the Father knows it! So, anytime someone claims to know the day or the hour that the world will end, the world will definitely not end at that day or time, or else that would go against this passage of Scripture.
One commonly disputed point regarding the end of the world is that of the millennium, a period of 1000 years that is introduced in Revelation 20. There are also 3 positions on this: amillennialism, premillennialism, and postmillennialism. Amillennialists believe that the 1000-year period does not represent a specific time period but the reign of Christ in heaven during the current age of the church. Christ will return again at the end of history, so the church presently lives in the final era. Premillennialists believe in a literal interpretation of the book of Revelation regarding the last times, including a rapture of believers, a seven-year time of tribulation, a reign of Christ on earth for 1000 years, and a final victory over evil. (This is the view held by the authors of the popular Left Behind series.) Postmillennialists believe that the millennium is a time period of undetermined length where the world is at peace, and Christ will return at the end of this period.
Various theologians over the years of church history have held each of these positions, and they each have Scripture passages that they use to support their views. So which is actually true? That is the ultimate question.
Personally, I’ve been asked which view I hold, and I had to write a paper stating my view on it as part of a theology class when I was in seminary. My official belief is that I don’t know, and I’m really glad that God does know how it’s all going to play out! Many people worry about the end times and what’s going to happen, but I’ve landed on this position of really not caring about it. Sure, I’m looking forward to being in heaven and meeting Jesus face-to-face someday; but it’s because of Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection that I know I don’t have to worry about how this world will end. I am living in this world for whatever the span of my life here ends up being, whether I die a natural death or if Jesus comes again before my time comes, but my true home is in heaven, thanks to the work of Jesus on the cross.
If we’re currently living in that 1000-year period, then I will still end up in heaven for all eternity because of Jesus. If there will be a rapture, tribulation period, etc., then I will still end up in heaven for all of eternity because of Jesus. If there will be 1000 years of peace before Christ returns, then I will still end up in heaven for all eternity because of Jesus. That’s all that really matters. Sure, it’d be great to know the details, but that’s clearly not something that God wants to reveal to us just yet.
What do you believe about what happens after death? What do you believe about what will happen in the end times? If you do not yet have that faith in Jesus Christ that you will end up with God for all eternity, please reach out to us at Worldview Warriors; we’d love to talk with you about that!
While today is very likely not the end of the world, this is the end of my blog post series on theology. I hope you have enjoyed digging into all of these topics with me!
This forum is meant to foster discussion and allow for differing viewpoints to be explored with equal and respectful consideration. All comments are moderated and any foul language or threatening/abusive comments will not be approved. Users who engage in threatening or abusive comments which are physically harmful in nature will be reported to the authorities.
