Christian Questions Bible Podcast

Our world is in great need of many things. We need to learn to listen to those with whom we disagree, we need to be merciful and understanding, yet we also need to be firm and just. We also need to find light. Not just any light, we need to find the purest life-giving and revealing light of truth that is available… As Christians we know that the light of the world is Jesus, but what we need to learn is how to use that light, how to be clear reflections of that light and how to be worthy vessels of that light.

The Ebola virus. War between the Palestinians and Israel. Iraq being plundered by ISIS. Christians in the middle east being persecuted and killed. Worldwide anti-Semitism on the rise. The tenuous problems with Russia and Ukraine. In our country – lawlessness on the southern border, Government scandals over the IRS, the Health Care system and Benghazi, a skyrocketing National Debt… Shall I go on? It certainly seems that chaos and unrest are spreading faster than ever before. What should we be doing? Should we be afraid?

God is Almighty. He is all knowing and all seeing. We believe He is the very embodiment of wisdom, justice, love and power. As our Creator, we believe He has a plan - a detailed plan - that He will see accomplished for the good of all mankind. How do we think we know these things? The Bible. We believe that His Plan and its details are revealed in the Bible. Now, depending upon our brand of Christianity, we will come up with several contradictory interpretations of that plan unless we are willing to subject our understanding to a rigorous series of tests that will point us to Truth and not tradition. There are five rigorous tests, five ways of finding the mind of God in Scripture! Are you ready?

Resurrection. It is synonymous with the most basic tenets of Christian belief, no matter what denomination, sect or group one may come from. For most of us, we think about Jesus and the fact of his resurrection and we think about the prospect of our own resurrection. On the surface it sounds pretty simple – be faithful, die and then go to heaven – but – what if the doctrine of resurrection entailed more than that? What if what we normally envision with our “resurrection eyes” was only the beginning of something much bigger and even more amazing? Stay with us!

In just a few days the costumes will come out, the candy will be distributed, the parties will roar on! The ghosts, the goblins, the skeletons – the superheroes, the princesses, the ballerinas – all will engage in a happy celebration of Halloween – ironically the night where pagan tradition says the veil between the spirit world and our world is thinnest and therefore can be crossed by evil spirits…great! Halloween is based on paganism – Wicca - white witchcraft - is an outgrowth of paganism. So, is Wicca something that we should be afraid of?

Religion is a powerful thing. It wields a sword of conviction with which humanity will go to face great challenges. Depending on its purity, the results of this conviction can be very good or very bad. Religion can also wield a spear of bigotry that can be passionately thrown at a perceived enemy who is far away…unfortunately, Christianity and Islam both carry such weapons and have both been known to use them for harm. Is it possible that God is behind both of these religions?

"Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain." It is one of the Ten Commandments, so it must be important. But, what does it really mean? Is it just about the words we use or is there more to it than that? Can our thoughts and actions also be a manifestation of taking God’s name in vain? What is the end result of carelessly handling God’s name? How do we become more aware of ourselves so we hold the name of God with reverence, honor and respect?

There are many accounts in the Bible that really run along the edge of reality for many of us here today. Think about it – Balaam’s donkey talks, the sun stands still for Joshua in a battle, Jesus rises from the dead and goes to heaven… These are fantastic and unbelievable to many. And then there is the story of Noah. Here is a man around 500 years old who builds a boat to save his family and the animals from a devastating flood! Now THAT is amazing! So, what is there about this story of Noah that rings true for us today? Is his experience a warning for us here and now?