How the pagan influences of Ephesus corrupted sound Biblical doctrine and led to the removal its lamp stand.
Why Ephesus Lost A Lamp Stand to Paganism and Violence.
Why Ephesus Lost A Lamp Stand to Paganism and Violence.
Category: Apologetics
The Biblical Congruency of Godly Sorrow
Godly sorrow is the work of the Holy Spirit, it humbles us by confronting our arrogance through brokenness and then produces repentance that leads to…
The Biblical Congruency of Godly Sorrow
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The Biblical Congruency of Rebellion
The congruency of rebellion by Adam and Eve, birthed the virus of sin into the world, giving way to corruption, pollution, disease and finally death.…
The Biblical Congruency of Rebellion
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The Biblical Congruency of Sin
Examination of Sin Through Scripture. In the last year, I have witnessed the confusion within the church to biblically address the issue of Sin. …
The Biblical Congruency of Sin
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The Biblical Congruency of Evil
The congruency of evil has existed throughout humanities existence. It is rooted in the desire to rebel against a holy and just God, who created all …
The Biblical Congruency of Evil
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The Bible, A Living Truth
The congruence of scripture, demonstrates the harmony of its writers with God’s plan of redemptive love. It flows throughout, singing of the joy of knowing a relational God full of grace and forgiveness, who has designed you with a purpose. God is love.
“For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12 NASB
In the past few months, I have been asked, “Do you really believe that the Bible is true?” The answer is simple, “Of course I do.” The two reasons for my knowing that the Bible is true are love and logic. Yes it is an emotional understanding, that is illogical; because, when is love logical? It is also a logical reasoning that causes me to accept the Bible as true, yet moves me into an emotional relationship with God.
When you super impose the Old Testament with the New Testament, you find harmony, agreement, and corresponding prophecy and testimony that all point to the loving redemptive, and unchanging plan of God. So let’s take a look at the truth of the Bible through love and logic.
“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11 NASB
The truth of the Bible is revealed in love.
There are many times in a marriage that one spouse needs to rekindle the romance by pursuing the other romantically. In my own marriage, my own wife needed to know how much I loved her. I pursued her by knowing her, anticipating her needs, understanding how she wanted to be loved, and being extremely patient. This describes God and his love for us.
The love of God permeates throughout the scriptures, like a sweet fragrance, scenting every verse and chapter with a reckless and illogical desire to be relational. God’s desire to know us is embodied in His loving plan to rescue us from sin and to restore us to eternal life and peace with Him.
It starts with Genesis and how God clothed Adam and Eve, even after they rebelled against Him. It is demonstrated through the love story of Ruth and Boaz. His love is broadcasted by the emotional writings of David in the Psalms. It is prophesied by Isaiah and Zachariah and boasted by the marriage of Hosea. It is fulfilled in the Gospels by Jesus His Son, who on His own, obediently sacrificed His life on a cross for the salvation of humanity. It is bound in the free will given to everyone, so that they can choose to love God or reject Him. God’s love is free.
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.” 1 John 4:15-16 NASB
It is by this example of unconditional love, that in my own life, I have tested it and found it to be true. When I have put aside selfishness and loved others unconditionally, have I seen this Godly love transform lives, create forgiveness and produce healing. God is relational and has designed us with a purpose. (Read: You Have A Purpose!)
The truth of the Bible is revealed in logic.
“Now He said to them, “These are My words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things which are written about Me in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms must be fulfilled.”” Luke 24:44 NASB
These words were spoken by Jesus after His resurrection and just before His ascension. Jesus wants us to understand, that He is the main Character in God’s love story. He came to be the sacrifice to mend the broken relationship. There are two points that Jesus is making. The first point is that all scripture is relevant, because of the second point; which is that not every prophecy and scripture corresponding to Jesus has been fulfilled, because the full redemptive plan of God is not finished. The Apostle Paul specifically instructed Timothy that all scripture was relevant. He even argued that the sacred writings of the Bible, provide wisdom and lead to salvation through faith. This Salvation is because God wants to rescue us from sin.
“You, however, continue in the things you have learned and become convinced of, knowing from whom you have learned them, and that from childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:14-17 NASB
The disciple Peter also reiterated this, when he wrote: “But know this first of all, that no prophecy of Scripture is a matter of one’s own interpretation, for no prophecy was ever made by an act of human will, but men moved by the Holy Spirit spoke from God.”2 Peter 1:20-21 NASB
It is because of this passage that we know that nothing in God’s word is irrelevant. The person who knows that the Bible is true and views it as an inspired love letter from God is a Biblicist. The Biblicist must examine all scripture as congruent, to be in harmony. The one who follows Jesus, allows God’s word to prove itself. He does not add to it, or take away from it. The real Christian lets scripture stand on its own merit. If done with humility and reverence, the life of the Christian will shine with God’s word, a Holy life, filled with the Holy Spirit, soaked with the blood of Christ and saturated with love. This is what a repentant person, joyfully changed by God’s love, looks like. The Psalmist understood this very well, when he wrote:
“The law of the LORD is perfect, restoring the soul; The testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the LORD is clean, enduring forever; The judgments of the LORD are true; they are righteous altogether.” Psalms 19:7-9 NASB
It is through scriptures, that the Christian, can align their theology with love. It is through this harmonic relationship with God and His love, that one can answer the question, “How do I know the Bible is true?”
Voddie Baucham Jr, a famed author, preacher and theologian, simplified the answer in a Biblical manner.
“The Bible is a reliable collection of historical documents. (Verified by Archaeology) It was written down by eyewitnesses, during the lifetime of other eyewitnesses. (1 John 5:13, 1 Corinthians 15:3-8, Deuteronomy 6:6-9) They reported supernatural events that took place, in fulfillment of specific prophecies. They claimed that their writings were Divine and not of human origin.” (Deuteronomy 29:29, Romans 15:4, Revelation 21:5)
The Biblicist accepts the supernatural, because Christianity is supernatural. The true Christian believes in God, who is supernatural and unchanging in His nature. Christianity is supernatural; because through the scripture it changes the heart, renews the mind and transforms the individual.
“So that you will walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, to please Him in all respects, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all power, according to His glorious might, for the attaining of all steadfastness and patience; joyously” Colossians 1:10-11 NASB
The Christian does not just believe in the Bible, they know it to be true, because of the evidence that God’s word transforming their lives. They live with truth and love, choosing the way of a disciple. This is the proof of their faith.
“A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”” John 13:34-35 NASB
Thank you for reading, leave a comment and share the post.
Love,
Stephan
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You Have A Purpose!
God has a plan for your life. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.” God imprinted His image on our DNA, so that we would know how much He loves us. The encoding information points to an Intelligent Design.
“For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Ephesians 2:10 NLT
Atheists often ask the question of Theists, “Where did God come from?” The better question to ask is, “Where did spontaneous generation come from?” Spontaneous generation is the belief that the universe came from nothing. Where in science has this theory ever been duplicated? It hasn’t. Something cannot come from nothing. The Big Bang theory is flawed for this reasoning, as well as the fact that no explosion has ever produced any kind of life, rather explosions produce death, destruction, and chaos.
Dr. Harold Morowitz, a world renown physicist from Yale University and author of Origin of Cellular Life (1993), stated, ‘The odds for any kind of spontaneous generation of life from a combination of the standard life building blocks are one chance in 10E100000000000.”(That is a 1 followed by 100,000,000,000 ZEROS.) Morowitz, Harold J. Energy Flow in Biology. Academic Press, 1968.
If the improbability of spontaneous generation coming from a combination of standard life building blocks is unlikely; what are then the chances that this would happen from nothing? The reasoned explanation is to conclude what the Bible says:
“In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form, and void; and darkness was on the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light”; and there was light.” Genesis 1:1-3 NKJV
God created the universe, He brought it together with His Word. The disciple John gave us greater insight into creation, when he wrote:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” John 1:1-4 NKJV
What John is telling us; is that the life force of the universe is Jesus, and that all life comes from Him. Since God created us then we can have can have the joyful understanding that we have a purpose. Compare this to the atheist philosophy.
When I see a quote like this, I am drawn to thoughts of my friend Jorri. No one I know is a more compassionate animal lover than her. She is particularly attuned to the suffering of animals. Her anger towards the indifference that others show to animals is only contrasted by her compassion and pity that she demonstrates to God’s creatures. Her disposition is not just another random act of the uncaring evolutionary process. Jorri’s purpose, design, emotions and characteristics were all carefully coded and imprinted into her DNA by a loving God. Jorri, as well as all of us were created with a purpose. This purpose was understood by The Psalmist David; he grasped the complexity in which he was created. David wrote these words:
“For You formed my inward parts; You wove me in my mother’s womb. I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.” Psalms 139:13-14 NASB
Our cell structures are literally woven by our DNA. Only God could have revealed this to David 4,000 years ago. What was once called the simple cell, by evolutionists, is now being called complex. The incredible complexity of our cells and DNA, demonstrates the thoughtful engineering of an Intelligent Designer. It is a deliberate, robust and unique pattern. Contrast this with the theory of random chance; that somehow miraculously happens again and again. The blind faith of atheists in their religion, evolution, is astonishing and misguided. Science through the understanding of our DNA is disproving Darwinian evolution. Darwin practically predicted its inevitable downfall.
“If it could be demonstrated that any complex organ existed, which could not possibly have been formed by numerous, successive, slight modifications, my theory would absolutely break down,” — Charles Darwin
Dr. Stephen Meyer argues this exact point. He believes that the encoding information of our DNA points to an Intelligent designer and not a random material process. It is too complex, too well organized and too intentional to be random.
“The DNA molecule is literally encoding information into alphabetic or digital form. And that’s a hugely significant discovery, because what we know from experience is that information always comes from an intelligence, whether we’re talking about hieroglyphic inscription or a paragraph in a book or a headline in a newspaper. If we trace information back to its source, we always come to a mind, not a material process. So the discovery that DNA codes information in a digital form points decisively back to a prior intelligence.”— Dr. Stephen C. Meyer (Meyer, Stephen C. Signature in the Cell: DNA and the Evidence for Intelligent Design. HarperOne, 2010.)
In today’s world we are ignoring our need and purpose to engage in relationships. Society has become technology dependent, replacing human interaction, with texting. We have reduced relationships to social media comments. We delude ourselves with the lie calling this community. This is destructive and it is not our purpose!
The Apostle Paul, wrote this warning to us:
“Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” Romans 12:9-10 NLT
Obviously, social media fails in this obligation. God made us to live together, in face to face relationships; to love, laugh, cry, and grieve with one another. This mirrors, how God desires to be in a relationship with us. God created us in His image, so our need to be relational must mean we received, this imprinted purpose, from Him by design in our very DNA.
“How precious are your thoughts about me, O God. They cannot be numbered! I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand! And when I wake up, you are still with me!” Psalms 139:17-18 NLT
So, what does this all convey to us? It is simply, that each of us was meticulously thought out and intended to live with a purpose. It demonstrates that God is relational, and wants a relationship with us. God loves us and built our genetic code to be a representation of His Image. We have a purpose! We have a reason to live. It is because of God’s love that I choose life. I choose to live a life that is pleasing to the one who created me. It is God who divinely planned humankind to have a relationship with Him. When life becomes difficult, it is in God that I trust and not a process. I do this because because He understands me. He created me with a purpose.
“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.” John 3:16-17 NLT
Thanks for reading, please leave a comment I will respond. Please leave a like if you enjoyed the post and as always share this post with someone else, it may change a life.
Final Note: Many geneticists and chemical engineers are now moving to Intelligent Design as a rational explanation of the complexity of our biology. (See the links below)
Intelligent Design Wins Another Nobel Prize
This Book Changed My Mind On Intelligent Design
