Head-dibs

Someone actually came up with 17 reasons as to “Why God Never Received a PhD.” While my initial thought was “who would award it to Him?” here are my responses to each point: 1. “He had only one major publication.” This is like saying a Library only has one book. There are sixty-six books of the Bible, each “published” over the course of time. 2. “It was in Hebrew.” There are doctoral students who do publish dissertations in languages other than English. (I can’t believe I actually had to mention this). Besides, the Bible was written in Aramaic and Greek as well. 3. “It had no references.” What is one to do with Ancient Near Eastern law code (such as “the goring ox” law) and the other extra-biblical books referenced there (such as those mentioned in the books of Kings and Chronicles)? 4. “It wasn't published in a refereed journal.”  The quotations of scripture in the works of early Christian writers alone are so extensive that the New Testament can be reconstru...

Paul writes, “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort”.  (2 Corinthians 1:3) Here we find reasons why God is praised as well as some truths about the God of all comfort. God is praised because He is God of our Lord Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus has a God. After the resurrection, “Jesus said to her, ‘Do not cling to Me, for I have not yet ascended to My Father; but go to My brethren and say to them, “I am ascending to My Father and your Father, and to My God and your God.”’” [Jn 20:17] When Jesus died, the disciples needed comfort. Jesus comforts Mary with the truth that God has not forgotten anyone. He sends her back to the disciples with a message concerning His ascension: The same God who raised Jesus from the dead is our God by reconciliation which is rooted by faith in His death, burial and resurrection. Who is the God of Jesus? Notice that I did not ask, “who is God to you?” Who God is and our idea of God may not be...

( part 4 ) When the Apostle Paul was inspired to conclude his greeting to the Corinthian church, we find that greetings are extended “ from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. ” GOD OUR FATHER What comes to your mind when you think of God as Father? Homer (the ancient Greek philosopher, not the cartoon character) reflected how his culture thought that mankind was the “paignion theon” (plaything of the gods). Ideas like this show the huge difference between our personal idea of God (who we eventually find is no greater than ourselves, and we get disgruntled with that image and blame him) and what God revealed about Himself by revelation. We are designed to receive greater ideas than we can imagine. One can’t help but wonder: if we live in a world of fate, how can we know peace? If God does not care, how can there be peace? A god who has not revealed Himself cannot be our “Father.” Just think of all a Father can do: He is a Lover; the family founder; the marriage-arranger;...

( part 3 ) Some say he means nothing by it, but what if he really does? The Apostle Paul was inspired by God to start nearly every letter he wrote the exact same way: " grace to you and peace ". It’s difficult to imagine how God would inspire someone to write empty words that mean nothing more than, “howdy.” Would he not have used different words other than "grace and peace" if he meant something other than these? “Grace to you.” John R.W. Stott defines grace as “Love that cares and stoops and rescues.” This describes a goodness of God that man can never earn because man does not deserve it. What is most striking about grace is that grace is not a “thing” but is an attribute of God -- grace is part of who God is. God has two kinds of attributes: those He shares, and those He does not. Attributes God does not share include Omnipresence (He is present everywhere all at once); Omniscience (He is infinite in knowledge); Omnipotence (He is all powerful and does wh...

“ But the LORD sits enthroned forever; He has established His throne for justice, and He judges the world with righteousness; he judges the peoples with uprightness .” (Psalm 9:7-8) Ever play that game where you say a word over and over and over again until it sounds like a different word,? The game involves a sort of a mind trick where the repeated word seems to lose its meaning. Say the word repeatedly until the mind sort of “clocks out” and the word sounds foreign. Children at that moment laugh when they realize what happened. I think this has happened with “forever.” What does “forever” mean? Well, the word as we know it has been around since at least the late 17th century, combining the concept of “before” with “at any time” or “always.” The Hebrew word is “o-lam” which carries the idea of “hidden time, long” or simply “ancient.” So how long has the LORD been enthroned? Since ancient hidden time. How long will He remain? Will He ever leave the throne? Lo...

" My Presence shall go with thee ." (Exodus 33:14) Cherish no doubt of it, Ever abide in it, Travel about in it, Rest and reside in it, Walk in the midst of it, Work in the might of it, Let your whole life be lived Full in the light of it. (Beatrice Cleland)

(ht: Recover the Gospel )

Question: The Bible says that God walks (Genesis 3:8; Deuteronomy 23:12-13), stands (Exodus 34:5), has a face (Exodus 33:11, 20), hands (Exodus 33:22-23), has loins and “backparts” (Exodus 33:23; Ezekiel 1:27, 8:2) and there are other passages refer to his eyes, breath, feet, even wings; yet Jesus says that God is spirit (John 4:24) and does not have flesh and bones (Luke 24:39). Does God have a body, or not? Answer: Let’s approach from this direction: God is a living person with intellect, sensibility, emotions, volition (power of will) and attributes. He is also immaterial. These and other texts use anthropomorphic language to describe God, apart from those instances when God appeared in human form as the Angel of the Lord. Jesus is God in observable form. Since He is unlimited and independent of time, space, matter and motion, God is unrestricted in how He chooses to manifest Himself. These anthropomorphisms help us makes sense of his interests, powers and activities. Here i...

Well, some of you kept telling me to see “The Book of Eli” and I finally have. We don’t rush out to see movies right when they come out for a few reasons, one of which is to let the dust settle—get the hype out of the way and watch the piece without distraction. We saw the film and here are my observations (and yes, I am intentionally repetitive): The characters of the film are Eli, Carnegie, Solara, Redridge (Carnegie’s “right-hand man”) and Claudia and their symbolism is tied directly to the plot The main character is Eli (Denzel Washington) who is on foot, making his way to some destination in the west to deliver a special book he is guarding with his life. Eli literally translated from the Hebrew is “My God,” so the title of the film is really “The Book of My God.” Eli is The Bible in a way appreciated by fans of Ray Bradbury’s “Farenheit 451.” Carnegie (Gary Oldman) just so happens to be looking for a specific book. Despite the “survival mode” demanded by the setting (he ma...

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“ Far from enjoining men to listen to such tales are we, who avoid the practice of soothing our crying children, as the saying is, by telling them fabulous stories, being afraid of fostering in their minds the impiety professed by those who, though wise in their own conceit, have no more knowledge of the truth than do infants. For why (in the name of truth!) do you make those who believe you subject to ruin and corruption, dire and irretrievable? Why, I beseech you, fill up life with idolatrous images, by feigning the winds, or the air, or fire, or earth, or stones, or stocks, or steel, or this universe, to be gods; and, prating loftily of the heavenly bodies in this much vaunted science of astrology, not astronomy, to those men who have truly wandered, talk of the wandering stars as gods ?” (Clement of Alexandria, “Exhortation to the Heathen”) I quote Clement once more because our thoughts are centered on the matter he here presents: people are soothed with fabulous stories that are n...

“The LORD, He is God; the LORD, He is God,” was the reply of the worshippers of Baal when fire fell from heaven and consumed the sacrifice, the alter, the wood and all the water they themselves poured over everything so as to prevent any fire from starting. They started the day by saying Baal was God. They ended their day by meeting the true and living God. Elijah said to all the people, “ How long will you hesitate between two opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, follow Him .” The people did not answer (1 Kings 18:21). So who is God? The English Word we render as “LORD” is the Hebrew name that God revealed of Himself to Moses, YHWH. This is to distinguish from the very different Hebrew word for “Lord,” or “master.” God is who He has revealed Himself to be, or He is something else altogether. “ For the LORD is the great God, and the great King above all gods . . . the sea is His, for He made it; and His hands formed the dry land .” (Psalm 95:3, 5). Those things people...

I received this question from a reader in Nigeria. This is how God Himself answers the question: "To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when He blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To who...

Psalm 33:10-11, "The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of His heart from generation to generation." The 9th Article of Faith of the Mormon Church reads, "We believe all that God has revealed, all that he does now reveal, and we believe that he will yet reveal many great and important things pertaining to the kingdom of God." The difficulty with this statement is that God's Word is rooted in His person and neither change. Mormonism is one group (among others) that thrives on the evolution of deity, which is why there is also a history of changing theology. The God of the Bible does not "progress" as the LDS god does, and will be the same in the future as He was in the past (Numbers 23:19; Psalm 90:2; Habakkuk 1:12; Malachi 3:6; Romans 1:22-25); The God of the Bible does not "achieve holiness" as the LDS god does (Deut. 32:4; Psa. 119:142;...

"Beneath this question is a fundamental failure to see what the universe is about. It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made man small and the universe big to say something about Himself. And He says it for us to learn and enjoy--namely, that He is infinitely great and powerful and wise and beautiful. The more the Hubble Telescope sends back to us about the unfathomable depths of space, the more we should stand in awe of God. The disproportion between us and the universe is a parable about the disporportion between us and God. And it is an understatement. But the point is not to nullify us but to glorify Him." John Piper, " Don't Waste Your Life ."

Louis XIV died September 1, 1715. This same Louis who called himself "the Great" is also the same monarch who declared, "I am the State!" His court was the most magnificent in Europe (he reigned for 72 years), and his funeral was said to be quite spectacular. During the funeral, as his body lay in a golden coffin, orders were given that the cathedral would remain dimly lighted, and a single special candle was set above the coffin. Thousands waited in hushed silence. Bishop Massilon began to speak: slowly reaching down, he snuffed out the single candle and said, "Only God is Great!" The dying words of "the Great" were, " Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina (O Lord, make haste to help me)."

On one hand, I was surprised to hear this question come from a Kenyan pastor at the Pastor's Conference; but, on the other hand, remembering the animistic background and influences of the culture, this was a very important question from the student. We can easily turn in our Bibles to John 4:24 and say, "See there, Jesus says, 'God is Spirit,'" and be satisfied (for the most part) with the answer. Realize that we Westerners do not view the spirits in the same way as most others in the world, so this question comes as a "loaded" one. Interestingly, even the Western (neo)pagan, witch or other interested party should be interested in this question. I owe my good friend, Dr. Phil Steyne of Columbia International University , credit for the following: First, those outside the biblical worldview believe that all objects contain an impersonal power, or life-force. This "charge" flows from one object to another and is meant to be used and manipulated b...

[This is an excellent question not asked in the spirit of a disagreeing argument, but of serious investigation. When the Kenyan student asked this question, the whole room got silent as everyone went to their thoughts. I don't even remember exactly how I answered the question during the conference, but I'm sure it went something like this (as I think about this all the time):] God exists outside time and space; therefore, He was "where he was" when He created the world. This is very much in relation to His very name, "I AM." He IS, and that's where He was--where He was "being." Have you ever noticed that God never says, "I was," or "I will be"? His being is found in His name, "I AM"; that is, He is always contemporary. Only those who worship Him call Him "who Is, who was and is to come." This is not a statement of chronological linage, like moving from point A to point B in order to get to point C...

"Arthur C. Clarke: Luminaries Pay Tribute" By Clara Moskowitz , Staff Writer posted: 19 March 20080 1:16 pm ET As news of Arthur C. Clarke's death spread through communities of scientists, writers and science fiction fans, many people shared their memories of how the visionary writer, inventor and futurist inspired and influenced them. Clarke is famous for his book, "2001: A Space Odyssey" (he also co-wrote the screenplay for the movie), for coming up with the idea for the communications satellite and for predicting space travel long before humans left Earth. "I think the passing of Arthur C. Clarke is really epical," said Alan Stern, associate administrator of NASA's Science Mission Directorate. "There is no one of his caliber or vision on the scene today ... Clarke's contribution was to motivate people to go after careers because they wanted to help shape a certain kind of future, to be at the beginning of something of millennial impo...

" [God is not] served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything ." Acts 17:25 The difference between Uncle Sam and Jesus Christ is that Uncle Sam won't enlist you in his service unless you are healthy and Jesus won't enlist you unless you are sick. What is God looking for in the world? Assistants? No. The gospel is not a help-wanted ad. It is a help-available ad. God is not looking for people to work for Him but people who let Him work mightly in and through them. ************ Piper, John. "Brothers, Tell Them Not To Serve God." Brothers, We are Not Professionals . Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2002.