Wait, who did Cain marry? And that was the second Biblical "marriage"?

Funny that people who fight the most about the sanctity of marriage go the "incest route" and also hold that the Bible is literal and have no issue with Cain having a sister for a wife... or that Isaac had a half-sister for a wife and Jacob with is half-sister wife. So, what isthe definition of Biblical marriage? No, I am not saying that is good. However, here is the thing. God allowed divorce because of the hardness of man's heart so really I could build a case for it. Nevertheless.

Incest damages a person. The psychology of a child is damaged in ways that will affect that child as they grow. While being Gay is something more of a self-realization, incest is a choice made by an adult against a child. Not to also mention that if a child is conceived it has a 42% chance at being born with some serious birth defect. Some argue that just make sure they are sterile... 
Another reason against incest is that it is gross. But morethis. It is linked to mental illness.
http://articles.latimes.com/1992-12-13/news/mn-3971_1_sexual-abuse 

From this article:

"In their study of 75 area women receiving psychotherapy, Dinwiddie and Pribor found the 52 incest victims in that group each, on average, had suffered seven psychiatric illnesses, more than twice the number suffered by the 23 women who hadn't been sexually abused as children."
Mental illness, birth defects, abuse of power in relationships... all lead me to say incest is not good and is different than being born LGBT even if the second biblical "marriage" was Cain and his sister and our biblical patriarchs married their half-sister and no one seems to worry about that at all.

If you think I am a bit overboard here check this site out.

Some thoughts on Philippians 2: 5-11 and its relation to Multiple Universe Theory

Philippians 2: 5-11

 ⁵ Have this attitude in yourselves, which was also in Christ Jesus, ⁶ who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, ⁷ but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. ⁸ Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. ⁹ For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, ¹⁰ so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, ¹¹ and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. 

Photo source

I have been thinking about this passage for years. It is one that holds my interest as it unpacks a little about Jesus’s deity and what He gave up to come to us to save us. There are some tough word choices that I think have messed up many people’s theology. To start it states Jesus “existed in the form of God”. Some take that to mean Jesus was not God but merely a form of God. Jesus was fully Man and fully God. However, this “form”, I believe, is in reference to the pre-incarnational existence of Jesus and not His earthly attributes.

Next, Jesus did not grasp for His equality with God. Why would He? Being God incarnate, Jesus would still be God but only as a human being. However, here is where it gets tricky. Jesus emptied Himself of His divinity to become a human being. This is a bit hard to grasp unless you begin to study about multiple dimensions.

According to science, there are at least 10 dimensions, (some state there is even more). They are 10, according to this PBS article. [1]

Now, watch this video:[2]

I know that is a lot to take in, and I may have lost many of you. However, this is important as I begin to unpack this idea of how/why Jesus emptied Himself by becoming a human. First let us look at the idea that there is a two dimensional person. This person can only see things from the perspective of a plain or two points. It would be like drawing a stick-man who can move right or left or up and down on a page. However, this stick-man cannot move in the 3D world. Now say, this 2D stick-man encounters a simple orb from the 3D world. The stick-man would not grasp what an orb is. Instead, from his perspective he would only see a circle with a dot in the middle of it.

Now, imagine being a 3D being, (as you already are) who wants to show a 2D person what an orb is. In a way, this is impossible. There are two possible ways to do this. One is to become a 2D person and use metaphors and other tools to explain within the 2D world what a 3D world is like. This would be much like how Jesus would state, “The Kingdom of God is like…” Jesus taught in parables that revealed higher meaning to the hearer if they had ears to hear. Jesus also performed miracles within our world. The first miracle being, Jesus emptying Himself and became a human otherwise known as the incarnation.

Another way that a 3D being would show a 2D being is to help the 2D being become a 3D being. I think this is much like the Biblical teaching of the idea of being "Born of Heaven" that is now, and the "New Creation" that is to come. In a sense, I see the idea of the multidimensional universe as an intriguing tool to show that science can open a deeper understanding for our faith. While many who have developed this multiple universe theory are atheists, I see that there is at least the possibility of a higher being that does exist in another dimension that we would not even begin to grasp. In some sense, this being might not be God or a god, but would appear to us as if they were. However, there is in my opinion the huge possibility that if there is a Higher Being it is God the Creator of all.

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[1] http://www.universetoday.com/48619/a-universe-of-10-dimensions

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p4Gotl9vRGs

Dr. David Gushee: Ending the Teaching of Contempt against the Church's Sexual Minorities

Watch the whole video before you comment. I know it is long but you may have to rethink a few things afterward.

Dr Gushee is calling out that the Church rethink their position on the LGBT community. We have been wrong before and we could be wrong again. Thanks to Rachel Held Evans for bringing this to my attention.

So many Christians have told me I am weak on sin. Here is my response.

So many Christians have told me I am weak on sin. Here is my response.

A word that is mistranslated and watered down is, "sodomy". If you trace that word, it of course goes back to the story of Sodom and Gomorrah (SG). Many claim the story is about “homosexuality” but if one truly studies out the story, they find that it goes deeper than that. In fact, Sodomites were not necessarily “homosexual” but rapists. A Sodomite would go to anyone who visited their town and abuse, rape, (male, or female)… in other words, as God stated, “As I live”, says the Lord GOD, “neither your sister Sodom nor her daughters have done as you and your daughters have done. 49 Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. (Ezek. 16:48).

The issue is in how we treat one another. The issue is not about one “sin”. In fact, the translations watered down the horror that was committed by Sodomites. To water their actions to “homosexuality” diminishes the real “sin” SG committed against God. There is an infection in the Body of Christ that has allowed a citizen classism, which, in turn leads to inequality of believers. We deem some as lesser Christians than ourselves or while they may be “saved”, we put out the claim they “must change”. The unfortunate “must change” is not about God working within LGBT people the same as straight people but by our own standards of "change". The real “sin” is that we created a theology of exclusion – while Jesus preached inclusiveness. This is a weaker gospel that is not The Gospel. By making a class of people change, (do works), to be acceptable to God, we usurp the Gospel and make it no gospel at all.

We create a lie as to how to become “born from above”. We commit the error that Paul warned:

Gal. 3:1 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed among you as crucified? 2 This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? 3 Are you so foolish? Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by the flesh? 4 Have you suffered so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

The US suffers from not comprehending the evil of sodomy and has watered it down to someone being gay. This has made the true evil of (SG) reduced to a single “sin”. Sorry to say, meanwhile the US has fallen into the same sin of SG in our blood thirst for war, mistreatment of the poor, and has become the ones that persecute those that Jesus came to save. We have embraced what some call the Republican Jesus, but I call the Political and Corporate Jesus. This false Jesus is all about the bottom line -- making money and not about Salvation. By worshipping this false Jesus, we water the Gospel down and rob it of its power to save. I am calling for a New Reformation and deeper repentance that draws others deeper into Christ Jesus.

#sodomy

You can biblically believe in evolution and here is how.

You can biblically believe in evolution and here is how. Part 1

The debate over evolution has raged on for years. Atheists as well as well-meaning believers state that a person cannot believe in evolution and the Biblical account, as they are incompatible. It is also stated, that if a believer does believe in evolution they are not true believers. However, what if the Bible speaks clearly on the topic, but we miss it. What if one misinterpretation or teaching that started early in the church is actually just plain wrong. I also understand if someone cannot allow himself or herself to see outside of what he or her have been taught this will be hard to grasp.

When I was about ten or eleven, I remember family travels where fossil museums were places we would visit. I was infatuated with T-Rex as well as Triceratops and even ate a brontosaurs burger in a restaurant that was in a town that had a dig. The dig was where it seemed many dinosaurs had been swept away by a sudden flood. The burger was really a huge hamburger that I took on as a personal challenge and as I recall, won. I was a bit saddened when it was the announced Brontosaurs may have not existed and were possibly two other fossils spliced together. Now, recently Brontosaurus has made a comeback like Classic Coke.

I remember in one museum looking at a picture of a hairy ape-like man labeled, the Neanderthal, and I turned to the woman next me and stated, “He was one of our ancestors.” She huffed at me and stated, “Maybe yours, but not mine.” This baffled me. I had no idea what she meant until later when I became a believer and was taught evolution was a lie. As a young believer, I took that at face value and read all the creation stuff I could. However, there were things bothering me even back then as I read Genesis…

“In the beginning…Ex nihilo?”

It struck me one time that this was “the beginning” but seemed that it was not stating it was the “only beginning”. It is the beginning of this creation – the age of God’s image. Many state that there was only God and nothing, and out of nothing God spoke, (Ex nihilo), thus creation happened. I see how people get this but there was something with God “in the beginning” – an element called water.

Evolution claims life came out of water. Interestingly, it appears that this matter – water—is with God in the beginning and is used in creating. God speaks and creates the heavens and the earth yet it was out of water God created. Do you think I am crazy here? [1]

2 Peter 3:5 For they deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, (ESV).

The earth was formed out of water… as Peter clearly states... Water was with God in the beginning and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of the Lord which would be more accurately creatio ex materia (creation out of some pre-existent, eternal matter). While we can go on some majorly fun red herrings here about baptism,  being born of water and Heaven, and many other great things, I will force myself to just say, when I noticed this element was present with God, that maybe God used eternal elements to create. Just maybe God, being The Creator God He is, has created many times before, and as stated, will create a new heaven and earth in the age to come. (Rev. 21:1)

The age to come.

"The age to come" is an interesting phrase that many seem to gloss over. We have the "now" this present age and "the age to come", that being the new heaven and new earth. These seem to, as the bible shows us, come out of this creation. The bible has many interesting phrases like “ancient of days”, which has an overly otherworldly quality to it. It is used in the book of Daniel a few times but it seems to be in a different realm or dimension. [2] Daniel seems to have trouble describing what he sees and uses words like “like” a few times, for example, “like a son of man”. We take this as the pre-incarnate Jesus sitting in his heavenly realm. It appears to Daniel as an eternal realm beyond this creation.

What would an eternal God who loves creating do? I bet He would create… not just once but eternally. Who is to say that God did not create many different ages before “In the beginning...”? For instance, look at evolution. There are gaps between the “ages” where the animals seem to change, die, or go missing. Then other animals appear and there is a new age. I am saying, just between the Paleozoic Era and Mesozoic Era, there are millions of years. However, we move from finned fish to T-Rex with no real connection between the two ages. While maybe fish or other animals seem to pass between ages, there is a huge gap going from a fish to a T-Rex. Unless--- one is one age and then there is a new creation, a new heaven, a new earth, new animals, and other things including humans but changed according to that age or period. 

What I am getting at is that we have the Bible teaching that God is a creating God and that there is this age and the age to come and like the Bible states, the New Creation will be something entirely different from this one and yet somehow, we all will be a part of it.[3] With that thought, it would appear that since all life came from water and through water, then we are all somehow connected together. Remember how God made man out of the dust of the earth? With a little creative license here, the Potter made us out of the creation's clay. Now, I am not talking about pantheism and acknowledge I am treading into panentheism territory. However, I am not stating we are all divine or that the eternal matter is God or equal to God. While this appears to be closest to Panentheism, I feel that there is a difference in that while the eternal element is eternal it is not equal or in God but still separate. However, saying this, there is still the idea that we are now “in Christ” and a “new creation”, which may be a hint at the change in relationship between God and the eternal element or as N.T. Wright states often, “inaugurated, but not yet consummated. It is now and not yet.”[4]

 I see it as an extension of God more like a potter with clay. Who is to say that God did not already create human-like creatures before Adam and Eve and that Adam who, as the bible states, was “created in God’s image”? Perhaps, Neanderthal man was just a prototype homosapien with DNA close enough to mix with homosapiens, and fossils are just remains of past creations.

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[1] Oord, Thomas Jay. The Nature of Love: a theology. www.chalicepress.com: Chalice Press, 2010.

[2] Daniel 7:9

[3] Matthew 19:28-29

[4] N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church

(HarperOne, 2008), 79.

Works Cited 

N.T. Wright, Surprised by Hope: Rethinking Heaven, the Resurrection, and the Mission of the Church HarperOne, 2008, 79.

Oord, Thomas Jay. The Nature of Love: a theology. www.chalicepress.com: Chalice Press, 2010.

Want one of my books for free?

Want my book for free? Be one of the first 10 people to contact me and get my book JOB AND THE DIVINE SPEECHES OF GOD (digital proof version). One catch. you need to read it and review it on Amazon.com  

The problem with "moral" Christians

I don't know who Lex Looper is (only that he has a twitter popular twitter account but I agree with the statement in this meme. This is why I state that Christianity is not about being moral. It is about being like Jesus. Morality is based on societal acceptance while believing in Jesus is based on loving God and others. Morality places whomever's standard is the most powerful while love is bound by no laws. The call of Love is one of ethics and not "being moral". It is about living the ethics of love and placing others before yourself. Just because it is legal does not make it ethical or loving.

1Cor. 13:8   Love never dies. Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit.  9 We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete.  10 But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.

1Cor. 13:11   When I was an infant at my mother’s breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.

1Cor. 13:12   We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!

1Cor. 13:13   But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly. And the best of the three is love.

Gal. 5:22   But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.  25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.  26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.

Responsibility as a believer: How to end evil

Picture source

I came to realize a while back that often we blame God for things and have forgotten He created us in His image to represent HIm. So, were do prison born babies or sex slaves fit into that idea? No where. However, who is to blame. We are. God is not to blame for what we do. In fact, God forgave us of these atrocities so that we could have a relationship with Him and restore us to what we were created to be. 

We are called to love God and love humanity. Love does not coerce or enslave others. Love does not starve or kill... BTW atheists usually end their argument with me when I say this. God gave us to end evil and we are the issue when we keep evil alive instead of ending it and loving others as He commanded. 

Taking responsibility is part of the answer the other is stop doing the evil that we hold so dear in our own hearts. To me, God is not to blame as He created us as good. We chose to do evil instead of good and that is what entrapped us since Adam and Eve. God gave Adam and Eve over to their delusion of separation and lie that God would not forgive and set things right. Now, with Jesus, who took away out sin, we have nothing left but to choose to believe in Jesus and see the truth of what we are and what we do and end it and return to loving God as He loved us and then loving others as we have been loved. In that way evil loses.

Sad news today... remembering Brother Smethers

It seems like such a long time ago but around 2005 I was ordained through the United Christian Ministries International. I was trying to start at church here in Billings and did some research on different organizations that would ordain me for ministry. The biggest reason was to be accountable to someone in my venture.

Long story short, I decided that I no longer needed the ordination and sort of let it go. I made friends with a guy on Facebook who let me know that the head of UCMI had died in June. I am sort of sad as since his death the website is gone. I did make a few friends there so to see part of my past (in a way) gone. Here is Brother Smethers's obituary. http://hosting-24048.tributes.com/obituary/show/Steven-B.-Smethers-101459106 

Am I the only one that sees this?

1. A man is selling single cigarettes on the street and is confronted by police who in the situation choke him to death.[1]

2. People are upset as to how this tragic situation is handled and create signs and t-shirts saying, "I can't breathe". [2]

3. Police of the NYPD wear t-shirts saying, "I can breathe". One is asked what they meant by it. "If the man had not resisted arrest he would not have been choked and would still be breathing.[3]

4. Two police have just been assassinated in NYC. [4]

5. To add to this stupidity the chief of police stated, "I hope there are marches for these two officers like there was for the others." I am like WHAT? Is he that stupid? I agree there should be something to honor the officers. Of course, now people are asking for an apology for his stupid statement. [5]

Does anyone get this? Is the NYPD (as well as other PD around the US) this stupid? Why not apologize for a sad situation where a life is lost EVEN IF YOU MAY BE RIGHT. I just see this is not the end-- that there is going to be more escalation of violence toward police in general. I know there are good cops out there--but corruption is making harder for police and the public.

Fan the flames NYPD's finest... fan those flames and get more officers killed. Just apologize for the death of anyone even if it is a clean kill. A life is a life, black, white, red, yellow, brown, civilian, or police officer. I am one American that fears the police more than I do any terrorist. Do you think that is crazy? Do you realize you re eight times more likely to die in the hands of a police officer that from a terrorist? [6]

No one has to die if people just stopped to think instead of seek to harm others. This country is so polarized that it is only "either/or", but it is not only "either/or"... all it takes is some common sense and respect for others. How can we change this America?

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[1] http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2014/dec/04/i-cant-breathe-eric-garner-chokehold-death-video

[2] http://www.commondreams.org/news/2014/12/04/i-cant-breathe-eric-garners-plea-becomes-rallying-cry-justice

[3] http://bossip.com/1081863/heartless-nypd-supporters-wear-i-can-breathe-t-shirts-to-mock-eric-garner-protesters-following-murder-of-police-officers/  and 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/dec/20/i-can-breathe-thanks-to-the-nypd-shirts-flood-pro-/

[4] http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/cops-shot-brooklyn-sources-article-1.2051941

[5] http://rightwingnews.com/culture/police-commissioner-asks-officers-shot-will-get-marches-protesters-demand-apology-video/

[6] http://www.cato.org/blog/youre-eight-times-more-likely-be-killed-police-officer-terrorist

The problem with OUR experience: Love, God, and Science

I have come to believe this is not the world that God created. OK. While God created it, we have become mad with our sights on ourselves. We lost sight of the true creation and creator. We have fallen into a mental illness that separates us from reality. I call this the insanity of humanity. We want to cover our illness with anything that we see comforts us. This means that even religion that people use to buffer our failings by works as we attempt to appease a god that we perceives hates us for our failings.

We also go so far as to say, “God is not real” as we puff up our pride and arrogance and relish the idea that we are so much like a god we know everything. That is called delusion and it is a mental illness. If someone were to say to you, “I am God” or even, “I am a god” you would assume he or she are insane. I know I would. However many do this every day when they proclaim there is no God. The delusion they experience is the non-realization that they are no God as they are finite beings who have a limited knowledge as to what is scientifically known. Not only is there knowledge limited by what they scientifically do not know, but by his or her ability to understand things like love.

If there is not God, there is no love. Love would only be a chemical reaction in the brain that makes you desire sex. How romantic is that? Yes, I would be reduced to some chemical reaction in my brain and love would not be a reality. The logical reasoning that there is no God reduces love to nothing. Love become no more a reason to do good for others, but only a functional adaptation to procreate. All motives are selfish as they come from our own desires that the chemicals in our brain created.

The bible states, “God is love.”, and every person has an innate desire to be loved. [1] Children die from lack of loving contact. [2] The latter is a scientific and observable fact. The only reason we love others is that we once were loved. While some may say that is a learned process, it still does not explain what love is. Science cannot explain what love is. It can tell you the physical and chemical reactions that may cause a ‘love” response, but it cannot explain what love really is. Love must be experienced to be understood. For example, a frog can be dissected and science can tell you that a frog has a heart, lungs, and other parts. However, is that all a frog is? Tell a boy or girl who are at a pond that a frog is just some biological parts as they chase the frog and experience what a frog is.

There is also more to our life than mere experience. One person’s experience is the same and yet also different from another. Imagine as humans our experience is that the world is round. However, if we were a muon traveling faster than the speed of light we would experience the world as flat. Why then is our own experience greater than another’s is? The video that is posted with this blog post asks that same question. [3] If our own experience can be questionable then to state with certainty “there is no God”, become delusional. To say there is love also become as delusional without there being a way to experience it. I found love when God found me. I sought out love but found there was more pain than love. Love covered pain. Being loved taught me truly to love others. The thing that I found true is that without God, love is just a chemical reaction in the brain that stimulates my sexual desires... Damn, ain't that romantic?

However, when I was found by God and began to understand His Grace, love became real to me. Love is real and without God, it means nothing. I might as well be a dog in heat but instead, love compels me to tell my story of faith, love, mercy, grace, and redemption. For me, love has no meaning without God. An atheist wants to take that away. Love over experiential science? While science is great, people need love over the limitations of science.

 I am not saying the earth is flat, but then again, it is only a matter of perspective... I am not saying God's existence is provable, but then again, that is a matter of relationship and experience through faith. My experience states God is real. 

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[1] 1 John 4:16

[2] Szalavitz, Maia. Psychology Today. 6 1, 2010. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/born-love/201003/touching-empathy (accessed 12 8, 2014). 

[3] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNqNnUJVcVs&feature=youtu.be

Some tips on using social media

       

This article does a good job at explaining how to build a good foundation for your social media use. 

Personally, I would rather have a few great people to interact with than thousands of followers for the sake of numbers. Social media is not about how many people follow you, but how much those people help grow as a person. Some people may have thousands of followers and if they never posted again, no one would miss them. That shows the shallowness of numbers. However, some people can have few numbers and add depth of quality to your media stream. 

Different social media forums have different styles and get different results. One needs to tailor their posts to fit the forum and audience. While Twitter is great for ideas, news, and casual exchanges, it is weak as far as real discussion. Other forums allow more depth and intimacy in the way you can communicate your ideas and thoughts. Whether you are a fan of FB, G+, or a blogger (or any other social media), look for ways to draw others deeper into conversation. By drawing others into a deeper conversation, your ideas and thought will be more fully appreciated. In addition, true friendships can start.

For me, I have worked hard at making Facebook my "safe" social media. This means making the hard choices sometimes in blocking or unfriending people. Over the years, I have tried to make Facebook the place where I can express myself and not have a ton of judgment come my way. While some may accuse me of making an echo chamber that is far from true. I do have many people I disagree with. The key is to keep the people who discuss and do not argue or do name-calling. I will be quick to unfriend or block anyone who is a bully.

Google+ is more of a free market for me. G+ is a place that I most probably allow myself to take the most beatings. I tend to post public that allows anyone to interact with my post. I have been poked fun by atheists and other religions However; it keeps me on my toes and ready to have a real discussion when it happens. If someone is way out of hand, I will call "Troll" and block him or her. Again, abuse in not tolerated, but discussions from other points of view are desired. 

Personally, I have given up on sites like Myspace or a few others I have signed up with over the years. I do think there have been some great sites, but sometimes there just is no audience there. Truthfully, after viewing a list of social media sites, there is just no way to keep up with them all so choose wisely as to which ones help promote your ideas the best. 

My examples in how I used Facebook and Google+ may be different from your own. In fact, some people say that the opposite is true as far as my example. Likewise, I do on occasion use Klout.com and LinkIn.com though I do limited posting at the latter. The bottom line is having fun and experiment. Remember, trolls will roll you wherever you go but you have the choice as to whether they bother you or not. All this also takes time, but in the end, you will not waste money by paying someone who guarantees thousands of followers instantly. You will find that in time, your social media sites will be a place to grow as a person by interacting with others in a deeper level. 

Some fleeting thoughts around the question of evil

Picture source

 Some fleeting thoughts around the question of evil

              First off, this was taken from my side of a conversation on Google+. I tried to edit it to make sense. I hope that it does.I have heard this question many times. 

“There is no way an omniscient and omnipotent god would have to kill people to do away with evil.”

             There is some bad theology you there and you address it well, however, there is good theology that gives good answers to your points. The sad thing is most people tend toward the bad theology and miss the big picture that the Bible is showing. Most of the issues you bring out are humans being religious instead of seeking a relationship with God. Instead, they desired to serve God by keeping Laws that were designed to separate believers in the One True God from pagan and idolatrous beliefs.

The story of the bible is often the retelling of the same story of the unfaithfulness of humanity and the faithfulness of the One True God. Often, if the scripture is read for what it states instead of what someone says it say, it tells a very fascinating story of God allowing man to choose to be god-like in the quest of good and evil while faithfully stating that the only true way of knowing is to know the One True God. Again, sadly, many misread and misapply passages and in the end misunderstand what the Bible is showing us.

I do not believe I will change an atheist /agnostic’s mind in any way and do appreciate someone who can have an actual discussion about God without invoking fairies and elves. I do get what they are saying as to things in the bible that may not match up with history, as we understand it. Believe me, when the bible is understood only as morality is becomes arbitrary. Morality is arbitrary as it depends on the cultural ideas. The bible however is not based on morality, but ethics. The difference is like this, “Do not lie.” That is a moral issue. So normally, you or I will not tell a lie. However, you or I have Jews (or other humans) in our house and someone knocks on the door asking if you have Jews. I would lie and say no as that is a higher law of loving others (Jews or others), and holds to the holding others higher than myself. I did learn this from the Bible.

Historians may not look at a “religious book” for sources, but a good historian will look to understand culture. While the Roman gods may have been fiction, they help historians understand how the Roman Empire worked. So, one cannot have a complete disconnect with history and mythology. If you understand the purpose and reasons, some stories are told as they were. I do not have to believe in actual events to learn the truth the story contains. However, historically, there is a story of a Noah before the biblical record. The retelling of this story is a story pointing to the One True God.

The story of Noah is a perfect example of what I am stating. What if there is a story that shows the One True God in a bad way. However, what if you know that same God in a relational way? You found in your relationship that the idea that the One True God was not out to harm people but to do away with evil. While one Noah story had the One True God as evil, the Hebrew version shares a story of grace and mercy given to a chosen family while evil is wiped from the earth. I might mention that arguments seem circular for some unbelievers. On one hand, an all-powerful God who can stop evil and does not is not all-powerful or loving. One the other a God that wipes out evil and kills people does not love and is therefore evil. This is a catch-22 argument that seems not to recognize it is one way or the other.

In addition, while some archeological digs do not back up the biblical text many do. However, whether the text was written before or after the event does not mean it was not accurate. I might add that there are many historians that do believe the bible as historical accurate (I know that is contrary to whomever you are listening to, but it is true). Whether the walls of Jericho fell before the Hebrews came or after, does not negate the walls of Jericho fell.

The idea in the bible is always, this god is this way; our God is that way and superior (a side note here is that I found atheists use this same argument about truth… I just refer to Truth as a Person named Jesus.)  I may also mention that anyone historically who would mention Jesus, Tacitus, or anyone Jewish writer for example, especially in a negative way, as living, seems very contrary to the idea that Jesus never existed. 

You have to ask yourself. Does the question of good versus evil even mean anything without a Supreme Being who is good or loving? Better yet, as the question of good and evil is a false dichotomy as we find out with the biblical text, and a better question is whether it is of wisdom or folly? Without a God, these questions are meaningless, unless one believes himself to be God. However, then we must as of ourselves, if we are gods, are we all knowing and all-powerful?

While we are powerful in many ways, while using our own limited power, can we restrain from using all our power? If we hold a small animal, we have the power to crush it, but do we still restrain from doing so? Cannot an all-powerful God have the knowing power not to crush something weaker?

In addition, if there is being a creature, and a state of being that is outside of creation, then do you really think a creature can fully understand a Being that is beyond and outside creation? However, what if God in some way limited Himself in a way that was relational… such as allowing Himself to partake in human suffering to show us He understands and desires us to come out of our collective insanity. Being all-powerful means knowing how to restrain as well as being all knowing means understanding that not all will understand that knowing in and of itself must be limited. It is like the saying, “It is not what is said that makes a conversation, but what is understood.”

Now being that humans are a limited finite being how would we know what an omniscient and omnipotent God knows as to what is best? In addition, a person may be limited in a type of theology. I am an open theist of sorts, so see God as allowing humanity to make free will choices and while knowing all the possibilities, will work with the choice humanity makes. Meaning, evil is what man does and God works out the best solution for us... even if it seems cruel. The real question really is; is God through with a New Creation? Maybe we are in process and not finished yet and we cannot understand until we see the finished product.