My prayer journal

My prayer journal has been a great source of comfort and inspiration over the past few months. I keep a notebook by my bedside, where I write my prayers, notes to God, and reflections on my day. It’s a place where I can go when I need to talk to God or when I need to hear his voice. It’s a quiet time where I can be alone with my thoughts, and it has brought me closer to God than I ever thought possible.

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Comments on Genesis 1: 13

Genesis 1:13
And the evening and the morning were the third day.

Commentary

Once again we the term “evening and the morning” denoting this third day as an ordinary Earth day.  

A Christian Perspective on Death

For the Christian death is not last we will see of our believing loved one for we not only expect to see them in heaven upon our death but the hope of the Christian is the resurrection and glorification of our physical bodies.

According to the Bible all humans are born as sinners in rebellion against God. The resulting evil makes us unfit for heaven. If we die in this state God can not allow us into heaven since we would ruin it as we have the Earth and God’s respect for free will prevents God from forcing Himself on us so he has no choice but to allow the unredeemed sinners to a place with out God called hell. We can only go to heaven by accepting God’s gift of redemption and then he can change us so that we are fit for heaven. The reason for this is that when sinners rejects God’s gift of redemption they are saying that they don’t want to be with God and so at death God lets them go to a place with out him and that place it called hell. God’s gift of redemption was made possible by Jesus (God in the Flesh) dyeing on the cross so as to pay for our sin. If we accept God’s gift of redemption go to be with him at death. For the dyeing this is actually the most wonderful event we have ever experienced as we see the resurrected Jesus face to face and see our saved loved ones that died before us.

Death however is not the end of the body for when Jesus returns for his church the dead in Christ will be resurrected and those Christians living at the time will allow with them be taken up to meet the Lord in the air with these bodies taking on a glorified form will no long be subject to death.

A Christian Perspective on Life.

Life from a Christian perspective is a serves to Jesus Christ in gratitude foe what He has done for us. This  includes not only things like helping others to find salvation through Jesus but it also means using the talents and abilities God as given us to reach people for Jesus. This can be something as dramatic and adventurous as going to some remote primitive village to something as mundane as working to be able to help support such missionaries. The key is in finding how God would have us use our talents for Him.

The Christian life also means living a life that is separated from those pleasures of the world that are not pleasing to God. This is not about fear of God striking us down out of anger but out of Love and wanting to keep a close relationship with Him.

To a faithful Christian this not drudgery by the greatest joy a Christian can have.

Here is Proof of the Existence of Absolute Truth

The fact that Absolute Truth exists has come under attack by people trying to claim that all view points are equally true this claim is particularly made a bout religion in attack on the Christian doctrine that Jesus is the only way to God. However the fact is that Absolute Truth exists regardless of what it is can be easily proven on two basic points.

1. The claim that there is no Absolute Truth is self refuting since it is itself a absolute claim about truth and there it is self disproving.

2. There are many points of view that are polar opposites of each other such that both can not be true. As a result all positions on any topic can not be equally true unless they are all equally false.

As a result some possible view point on every must be the truth even if no one holds the true point of view so there for Absolute Truth must exist.

Introducing the Bible

The Christian cannon of scripture is called the Bibles. The Bible’s Old Testament is also the cannon of Jewish scripture. The Bible is a collection of 66 books. The Old Testament consists of 39 books and the New Testament consists of 27 books. The Bible is most printed widely distributed book ever both on and off line and it has been translated into more languages than any other book.

 The Bible is more than a collection of religious writings. It is not a collection of myths nor a mixture of myth and history. The Bible is consists of history, law, poetry, prophecy, wisdom, doctrine and theology. No other ancient historical document is as well persevered as the Bible since it has been carefully copied from the originals and carefully translated into many languages. The Bible’s historical accounts are unusually honest for ancient historical accounts since it lacks the flattering distortions of leaders found in other cultures. The Bible openly depicts the failings of even the godliest of kings such as David.

The Bible is the most beloved loved book ever written being cherished by millions of Christians who read and live by the Bible. Ironically the Bible is the most heated book ever written since those who hate Christians also tend to hate the Bible. It contuses to exist despite numerous efforts to destroy it by burning it, banning it and attaching its legitimacy

The Bible is the Word of God written by God through human authors through divine inspiration of their vary words making it infallible. God’s preservation of his word explains why it is so well preserved.

A Christian Perspective on Birth.

According to the Bible unborn babies are human beings and they are treated as such in the Mosaic Law.  Since no starting point in the pregnancy is given the implication is that life begins at conception which is why Christian’s tend to be pro-life.

Do to Adam’s sin in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3) every baby that is born has a sin nature. In other words we are all barn with the tendency to sin. This is why Jesus died on the Cross to save us from out sin. The Bible does indicate that a baby that dies before being capable making a decision to accept Christ goes to heaven.

Children are considered a gift from God to the parents even though some kids may qualify as gag gifts. While not all married couples have children from a Christian perspective children are greatest blessing God can bestow on a married couple so a birth is considered a cause for great joy.

The Christian Church

What the Church is not

The church is not  the building ypu see and it is not even the organization that owns the building. A church is actualy the people that make it up. It is a fellowship of Christians that gathers together to worship God.

The Church

In the broader since the Church refers to all Christians from the time of Christ until his return to take that church to be with him. The church in this sense is the fellowship and ultimate gathering of all Christians with Jesus.

The Local Church

The local church is a local group of Christians the meet, worship and fellowship together. This is what is generally considered a church. This local group of Christians gathers together in a building that is commonly referred to a church.

The Hope of Resurrection

The eternal hope of the Christian is not being a disembodied spirit floating around heaven. The real Blessed Hope of the Christian is the resurrection of our physical bodies from the dead in glorified form; like that of Jesus Christ; that will be free of pain and death. When this happens in what is known as the Rapture those the bodies Christians alive at the time will be instantly transformed glorified form with dieing.

This wonderful reunion of all Christians in our glorified physical is what the Christian longs for. Particularly those of us with believing loved ones that have died.

How and Why God Deals with Sin

Once evil (sin) entered into God’s creation God had to deal with it. If He let evil run amuck it would ruin His creation. If he destroyed it in an act of raw power in would violate free will and be tyrannical. If he forcibly removed the evil from infected beings it would violate both free will and justice.

So God executed the plan that would stratify both free will and justice while not being tyrannical. The second person of the trinity (Jesus) would come to Earth as a man and die to pay the penalty for our sin such that all who accepted God’s gift of redemption could save from their sin and go to heaven to be with him.

Since God can allow any evil into heaven since it would be ruin heaven, God could remove the evil from the redeemed before they enter in to heaven because they had chosen to be with him and have it removed.

However those that rejected God’s offer of redemption were saying that they did not want to be with God and so God will one day give them what they want to be sent to a place with out God. This place called Hell is the worst place imaginable, with eternal burning. However it is not God’s fault if in giving those who reject salvation what the want if it is not what they expect.

Click here to learn how to accept God offer of redemption.

How Sin Entered God’s Creation.

As states in the previous post sin is essentially another term for evil. When God created both man and angels, God gave both us and them free will. God did want a bunch of robots that just behave them selves because they had no choice. He wanted being that would love, worship, and serve Him of our own free will.

Evil entered God’s creation when the chief angel called Lucifer decided that wanted to be God and Now called Satan he has been causing trouble ever since. Fist he recruited a third of the angels into his rebellion and the enlisted man kind.

When God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, He basically gave them one rule. Don’t eat the fruit of one of the trees called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and that violation that rule would bring death. At first glance this may seem rather severe but there are two points that need to be made.

1.      Adam and Eve had little opportunity to sin and by eating that fruit they were rebelling against God as much as they had opportunity to do.

2.      In the Garden of Eden Adam and Eve knew good and so when they eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil they were deliberately seeking evil.

Some time after God placed Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and Lucifer rebelled Satan approached Eve using a snake. He successfully got her to eat the fruit of the trees called the tree of the knowledge of good and evil and then used her to get Adam to eat it.

This is how evil came into the world and once it was present God had to deal with it.

What is Sin.

Sin is disobedience to God. This is not just a list of do’s and don’ts it is a heart attitude. That does not mean that there are not specific acts that are sinful, the Bible makes it clear that there are sinful acts but there are acts God has specifically told us not to do. Sin however is in essence of evil, and both the heart attitude and actions are evil. Even those sinful acts often considered small or not so bad are evil on a small scale but still evil.

What is Prayer?

A common misunderstanding about prayer is too thing that it is about asking God for things. This false attitude has been a source of ridicule from scoffers and anguish among Christians. While true prayer does involve bring petitions before God that is only a small part of it. It is like say that cars exist to burn gasoline.

True payer is about communing with God not just asking him for stuff no matter how important that stuff may be. True payer involves praising and worshiping God and it is effective even when we make no request of any kind. It is about getting close to God in a personal way and having a relationship with him.

So next time you pray don’t ask God for a single thing, just praise and talk to Him like you would any Earth bound friend.

What is a Christian?

Being a Christian is not about following a set of rules or going to Church. It is about a relationship with Jesus Christ.  

To be a real Christian one needs to accept Jesus Christ as you personal Savior. This is done by accepting Christ/s death on the cross as payment for our sin and repenting of tour sin in prayer. This can be done by any one at any place any time.

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