One thing I noticed today as I was reading. In Gen 35:2 Jacob is beginning to "get it", he is starting to understand that the God who has been "following him around wherever he goes" has a plan. It is starting to dawn on him that because God is the one who has protected him, guided him and blessed him and He is the one that Jacob should be worshipping. So he gives instructions to his entire household and all who are with him to prepare themselves to enter into God's presence. He tells them 3 things to do. These 3 things are also good guidance for us as we prepare to daily enter into God's presence and worship Him.
1. Put away the foreign gods: What are those things in our lives that we give most importance to? What are the ideas and attitudes that we bow to each day? Anything that separates us from God, anything that keeps us from complete surrender to the One True God must be put away.
2. Purify yourselves: We have been given the opportunity to do just this through the sacrifice of Jesus. He has offered the perfect sacrifice and through repentance we can be purified, made clean in God's sight.
3. Change your garments: Change on the outside represents the change on the inside. When we put away the foreign gods and repent, we are transformed on the inside. Then our outward appearance, actions, and words will change to reflect the inward change.
Jacob was beginning to understand that walking with God makes us different, makes us better, makes us happier, makes us more like His Son. Let's enjoy the walk.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
The Order of Melchizedek
In today's reading we see Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of God Most High. Abram gave him a tenth of everything that he won when he recovered Lot from being captured. Abram recognized Melchizedek, as the priest that he was, and gave him the tithe (10%) as a blessing to the Lord. We see Melchizedek mentioned in Psalm 110:4 and Jesus is called a priest after the order of Melchizedek in Hebrews Chapters 5 - 7.
A priest is one who does not take the glory of men to himself but serves both men and God as a mediator between them. And we have a Great High Priest (1 John 2: 1-2) who is ever before the throne of God lifting up our needs and seeking our forgiveness; not through the blood of goats and lambs but through the offering of Himself as the one pure and perfect sacrifice. Therefore our hope in not in our ability to be perfect but in Jesus who perfectly covers our sin with His righteousness. What a wonderful Savior, what a glorious Priest, what an awesome Friend, what a loving God!
A priest is one who does not take the glory of men to himself but serves both men and God as a mediator between them. And we have a Great High Priest (1 John 2: 1-2) who is ever before the throne of God lifting up our needs and seeking our forgiveness; not through the blood of goats and lambs but through the offering of Himself as the one pure and perfect sacrifice. Therefore our hope in not in our ability to be perfect but in Jesus who perfectly covers our sin with His righteousness. What a wonderful Savior, what a glorious Priest, what an awesome Friend, what a loving God!
Thursday, January 7, 2010
The Beginning of Evil
Wow what a great start on our reading and discussion!
Billy Graham wrote a book called Angels that I used as a foundation to create a study about angels. The study is 22 questions that we want to know about angels. How does this fit into the discussion? The serpent in the garden was Satan. The term serpent and/or dragon is used throughout the Bible to refer to Satan. I don't know if it was Satan disguised as a serpent, or embodied in a serpent or exactly what physical form Eve saw.
The short version is: God create angels and mankind and they were both good. Because of God’s love He gave us free will, He didn’t create robots. Along with Michael, Satan (Lucifer) may have been one of the two archangels. Ezek. 28: 12 – 17 tells of Lucifer’s beauty. Isaiah 14: 11- 15 tells of Lucifer’s pride in desiring to be God. He led a rebellion against God, lost the battle and was thrown out of heaven. 1/3 of the angels joined him in this rebellion; Rev 12: 3 – 4. From that point on Satan’s goal has been to keep mankind from knowing and loving God.
The difference between angels and mankind is that, Satan sinned by his choice, his free will. No one else tempted him. His own pride caused him to sin. Mankind was tempted by Satan into sin. It did not come from within but was produced by the lies of Satan. But because of God's love for us He gave Jesus - the One who is above the angels and all created things - as a sacrifice for the sin of mankind. The Glorious creator was give for the humble creation and through Him we become joint heirs with Him in His heavenly home.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world. Angels (both good and bad) are part of that spiritual world. We have an impact on the spiritual world through our prayers, our obedience and our resistance to Satan. The spiritual world has an impact on our lives as the battle rages, but we do not need to fear. He who is for us is greater - much greater than he who is against us.
If you would like to see more details the study is posted at:
http://www.pamnoelstudio.com/Angels%20-%20expanded%20study.pdf
The above starts with Question 16.
Billy Graham wrote a book called Angels that I used as a foundation to create a study about angels. The study is 22 questions that we want to know about angels. How does this fit into the discussion? The serpent in the garden was Satan. The term serpent and/or dragon is used throughout the Bible to refer to Satan. I don't know if it was Satan disguised as a serpent, or embodied in a serpent or exactly what physical form Eve saw.
The short version is: God create angels and mankind and they were both good. Because of God’s love He gave us free will, He didn’t create robots. Along with Michael, Satan (Lucifer) may have been one of the two archangels. Ezek. 28: 12 – 17 tells of Lucifer’s beauty. Isaiah 14: 11- 15 tells of Lucifer’s pride in desiring to be God. He led a rebellion against God, lost the battle and was thrown out of heaven. 1/3 of the angels joined him in this rebellion; Rev 12: 3 – 4. From that point on Satan’s goal has been to keep mankind from knowing and loving God.
The difference between angels and mankind is that, Satan sinned by his choice, his free will. No one else tempted him. His own pride caused him to sin. Mankind was tempted by Satan into sin. It did not come from within but was produced by the lies of Satan. But because of God's love for us He gave Jesus - the One who is above the angels and all created things - as a sacrifice for the sin of mankind. The Glorious creator was give for the humble creation and through Him we become joint heirs with Him in His heavenly home.
We live in both a physical and spiritual world. Angels (both good and bad) are part of that spiritual world. We have an impact on the spiritual world through our prayers, our obedience and our resistance to Satan. The spiritual world has an impact on our lives as the battle rages, but we do not need to fear. He who is for us is greater - much greater than he who is against us.
If you would like to see more details the study is posted at:
http://www.pamnoelstudio.com/Angels%20-%20expanded%20study.pdf
The above starts with Question 16.
God and Evil
Chris and Dani, I almost laughed out loud at your posts...not because they are funny but because those were exactly the questions we discussed, wrestled with, even struggled with in our theology class. Isn't that THE question: "If God is good, how can evil exist?" So I don't have a clear and easy answer, and our entire class and Dr. Bart Box agreed there isn't one, but I have some thoughts that might be worth pondering.
1. Before my theology class, I had read a little on this question and one point was made (by Lee Strobel I think) that, philosophically speaking, in order for good to truly exist, evil must exist. Without evil, good is meaningless and everything in the universe is really morally neutral. Again, philosophically speaking.
2. The other thought I've always held (without giving it a whole lot of consideration) is that for humans to be truly free and be able to choose God, there has to be an alternative. We can't truly love God (which is His desire) if we don't have any other choice. So evil must exist.
3. In our class we agreed that it is difficult to fully understand God's relation to evil and we admitted that as finite humans we will never fully understand an infinite God (not even in heaven!). But here's what we do know:
- Nothing exists apart from God's will. God has ordained that evil exist. Otherwise there is a force out there outside of His control and that is not at all what the Bible teaches.
- God is all-powerful in the sense that nothing happens outside of His ultimate will. However, He does have one limitation - He cannot behave in ways contrary to His character. He cannot sin. He cannot commit evil.
- In the end, all things occur for God's glory (and ultimately our good).
So we must conclude that God allows evil to exist, God does not ever directly cause evil, and that He works all things, good and bad, for His glory.
Chris, I'm giving you a run for your money on lengthy posts here...
A couple more thoughts (aren't you glad you asked? :)
1. As a parent, I've found one analogy very helpful for understanding God's relation to our suffering. I remember taking our girls as babies to get their shots. I knew this was for their good. That in the end I was doing what was best by subjecting them to the pain and suffering of 3, 4, even 5 shots at once. But oh how I hated to see them hurt. And how hard it was that I could not possibly explain to my infant why they were hurting...why I was allowing them to hurt...appearing to just stand by and watch them suffer, or even worse appearing to participate in their suffering. All I could do was offer love and comfort and assure them (even though they couldn't understand) that it was for the best. I often believe that God feels just this way when suffer because of the evil in the world. He allows it knowing in the end it's for our best...but our small minds can't comprehend it. And I do believe He hurts with us. Jesus cried when Lazarus died because His friends were hurting, even though He knew He was going to raise Him from the dead. Sometimes I cried while my girls got shots even though I knew it's what they needed. God detests evil (more than I detest needles being poked into my babies) and He never delights in our suffering, but He does allow it and direct it and I believe someday we will better understand how it all fits together. For now I'm trusting that He is in control, that He is good, and that Satan's dirtiest schemes will only serve to bring God great glory in the end.
2. Finally, yes, finally, Randy Alcorn, one of my favorite authors has a new book out and I think the title is "If God is good..." and it addresses this issue. No idea what he says but it's on my list.
Just my thoughts...
:)
-holly
1. Before my theology class, I had read a little on this question and one point was made (by Lee Strobel I think) that, philosophically speaking, in order for good to truly exist, evil must exist. Without evil, good is meaningless and everything in the universe is really morally neutral. Again, philosophically speaking.
2. The other thought I've always held (without giving it a whole lot of consideration) is that for humans to be truly free and be able to choose God, there has to be an alternative. We can't truly love God (which is His desire) if we don't have any other choice. So evil must exist.
3. In our class we agreed that it is difficult to fully understand God's relation to evil and we admitted that as finite humans we will never fully understand an infinite God (not even in heaven!). But here's what we do know:
- Nothing exists apart from God's will. God has ordained that evil exist. Otherwise there is a force out there outside of His control and that is not at all what the Bible teaches.
- God is all-powerful in the sense that nothing happens outside of His ultimate will. However, He does have one limitation - He cannot behave in ways contrary to His character. He cannot sin. He cannot commit evil.
- In the end, all things occur for God's glory (and ultimately our good).
So we must conclude that God allows evil to exist, God does not ever directly cause evil, and that He works all things, good and bad, for His glory.
Chris, I'm giving you a run for your money on lengthy posts here...
A couple more thoughts (aren't you glad you asked? :)
1. As a parent, I've found one analogy very helpful for understanding God's relation to our suffering. I remember taking our girls as babies to get their shots. I knew this was for their good. That in the end I was doing what was best by subjecting them to the pain and suffering of 3, 4, even 5 shots at once. But oh how I hated to see them hurt. And how hard it was that I could not possibly explain to my infant why they were hurting...why I was allowing them to hurt...appearing to just stand by and watch them suffer, or even worse appearing to participate in their suffering. All I could do was offer love and comfort and assure them (even though they couldn't understand) that it was for the best. I often believe that God feels just this way when suffer because of the evil in the world. He allows it knowing in the end it's for our best...but our small minds can't comprehend it. And I do believe He hurts with us. Jesus cried when Lazarus died because His friends were hurting, even though He knew He was going to raise Him from the dead. Sometimes I cried while my girls got shots even though I knew it's what they needed. God detests evil (more than I detest needles being poked into my babies) and He never delights in our suffering, but He does allow it and direct it and I believe someday we will better understand how it all fits together. For now I'm trusting that He is in control, that He is good, and that Satan's dirtiest schemes will only serve to bring God great glory in the end.
2. Finally, yes, finally, Randy Alcorn, one of my favorite authors has a new book out and I think the title is "If God is good..." and it addresses this issue. No idea what he says but it's on my list.
Just my thoughts...
:)
-holly
The Plan
I wonder what God’s plan was for the creation? I mean God is the “all knowing” so he had to know that number 1, there was a serpent out there with some not so good intentions, number 2, he had to know that when persuaded, Eve would take the bait, and that Adam would as well, right? He also would have had to know that as he walked up to them, they would scatter and be ashamed. He gave them a choice, a garden with ample amounts of “safe” nourishment, a tree of life, that basically was morality, and a tree with the knowledge of good and evil. As I was reading I didn’t think of him as the “all knowing” until Dani and I were chatting afterward then I realized it was part of his plan. So there was the answer to my question. He knew that he would give them the choice, he knew there would be an adversary, and he probably knew they would disobey him. (Basically the same choices that each and every one of us have to make every day)
(Here is where I was wondering if gdad bumped his head when he asked me to be a part of this cause I can make this go on for a long time :))
Was this is divine plan? Or was he really disappointed when Adam and Eve betrayed him? Was his plan to have people running and playing in the garden, eating from the tree of life, shamelessly happy, with no disease, no death, eternally standing in a light of morality, worshiping the Lord God? Wait….Sounds like heaven. :)
(Here is where I was wondering if gdad bumped his head when he asked me to be a part of this cause I can make this go on for a long time :))
Was this is divine plan? Or was he really disappointed when Adam and Eve betrayed him? Was his plan to have people running and playing in the garden, eating from the tree of life, shamelessly happy, with no disease, no death, eternally standing in a light of morality, worshiping the Lord God? Wait….Sounds like heaven. :)
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
The beginning of evil
I sure do wish Genesis was longer (or at least more detailed), because the beginning of time is a pretty big subject! I'd like to hear your thoughts on when and why evil began. The serpant appears to be evil, however he is one of the creatures that God created and deemed good. Everything that "is", is created by God right?
Also, did people really live to be 900+ years old??
d
Also, did people really live to be 900+ years old??
d
God the Creator - response
Yes, I was noticing that about God's name(s) too. It was once pointed out to me that Elohim reminds us of God's greatness (power) and YHWH reminds of us God's goodness (love/relationship with His people). Interesting to note that when the serpent tempts Eve, he only refers to Him as God, not LORD God. Isn't that always true of Satan, to make us question God's goodness? Yes God is great and powerful but does He really love me? Does He really want what's best for me? Praise God, LORD God, that He is not only all-powerful but that He is LOVE and we can trust His goodness.
- holly
- holly
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