Questions about Christianity -If God planned for Jesus to die for us, why did the Ten Commandments and sacrifice come first?
God used the Ten Commandments to show us our sin. It was necessary to help us understand how bad we really are. Otherwise, we wouldn’t understand our need for a savior in any way. The Ten Commandments constantly point us towards the fact that we do not live consistently under God’s law. We always want to do things our own way. Paul tells us in Romans 7:7-8 that it was only because of the law that he understood how sinful he really was. The law is just one of God’s ways to help us realize our need for a Savior. It shows us that we cannot save ourselves because we cannot properly follow God’s directions.
God gave the Israelites the system of sacrifice in order to point to something greater that was coming, the sacrifice of his own dear son. In the ancient world, anything important in the way of a promise or covenant involved the shedding of blood and the killing of an animal. God used this in order to point to the shedding of blood that would be required for the forgiveness of our sins in Christ. Jesus came and died on a cross in order to show us how greatly God loves us. All the sacrifices that came before Jesus were pointing us to the great sacrifice that Jesus would perform for us. In theological terms, this is called a “foreshadowing”, something that points toward something else in the future. The sacrificial system was pointing toward the coming of Jesus and the once and for all sacrifice that God was giving us in Jesus. This is why, in John 1:29, John the Baptist can look at Jesus and say, “Look, the lamb of God that takes away the sins of the world!” John realized that Jesus was going to be a sacrifice for the sins of humanity.
Questions about Christianity – Will we know if our loved ones aren’t in heaven when we are there?
This is a great question and one that hits close to home for all of us. There are a lot of people we love that don’t follow 
Jesus. When we think about this, it causes sadness. Sometimes we wonder if we will still be sad in heaven when we think about them. It is natural to think and feel this way now.
The Bible does not give a direct answer to this question, but it does give us clues. One of them is found in I Corinthians 13:9-10 “Now our knowledge is partial and incomplete, and even the gift of prophecy reveals only part of the whole picture! But when full understanding comes, these partial things will become useless.” These verses seem to indicate that when we get to heaven we will know much more than we know now. Some great Christians have speculated that perhaps our knowledge in heaven will so closely resemble God’s view of things that we will feel as he feels. God loves everyone who has ever lived. He loves even those people who reject him. That is the message of John 3:16. However, even though God loves those people, he understands that they have freely rejected his gracious and loving offer of salvation. Therefore, he is able to enter into loving those that have accepted him with his full love with the understanding that this is not what everyone chooses. Because of his greatness and glory, God is not drawn into depression or anxiety over the decisions of those that reject Jesus. Knowing that when I get to heaven I will be like Jesus comforts me and helps me remember that I will someday think, act and feel just like Jesus. I don’t know how, but he will make heaven a place of greater knowledge for me, greater love, greater understanding and greater fellowship than anything I have experienced here on earth.
This answer does not satisfy our heartfelt feelings for those people who reject Jesus, but we must remember that we will think and feel much differently in heaven than we feel right now. Also, as you feel hurt or sad regarding those in your life that do not know Jesus, take time to do two things. 1) Pray for them to be saved. the prayer of a righteous person accomplishes much. 2) Share the gospel with them again. Give them another chance at coming to know the love of God in Jesus. this type of heartfelt love and action pleases God.
Questions about Christianity – Does God know who will accept him and who won’t?
The short answer is yes. God knows. God possesses all knowledge about every event and possibility, past, present and future. There is nothing that he does not know and nothing that he could not know. All knowledge is his. However, the question usually lurking behind today’s question is “if God knows who will accept him and who won’t, then why does it matter what I do since God already knows?” Implicit in this is a sort of determinism that leaks into our thoughts because it seems like everything is already determined.
Without going into a lot of philosophy and theology about God and predestination, let me just say this: Just because God knows does not make you less accountable for what you do. The Biblical worldview is one in which God knows everything AND one in which the Bible calls us to make decisions that honor God, beginning with submitting to Christ as Lord and Savior. the Bible has not given us the information as to how to put together the fact that God knows what will happen and our responsibility to respond to the Gospel message. But what God has given us is the knowledge that we are to respond to it. That should be enough for us. Standing on the sideline and questioning God about it isn’t going to get you anywhere. The better response is to submit to Jesus as Lord and Savior and allow God to lead and guide your life, since, he knows…right? 
Questions about Christianity – Hasn’t Christianity killed more people in the name of religion than any other faith?
This question has various names and facets, but basically, it comes up as “Christianity teaches love and peace, so why is it responsible for more deaths than anything else in this world?” This is a penetrating question in terms of why a teaching would be ignored by people who supposedly embrace it, but before I answer it, I need to clear away some of the misinformation.
First, Christianity is not responsible for more deaths than any other religion or movement in world history. If you take the communist dictators of the 20th century, they account for over 26 million deaths alone. In fact, nobody knows for sure what the exact toll is for Russia alone, whose communist leadership slaughtered untold millions in the last century, all in the name of a movement that purported to be for the good of the people. For more information on this subject, just read Jonathan Glover’s “Humanity: A Moral History of the Twentieth Century”
Next, many incidents in the past have grown larger than their actual importance or statistics because of an ability to use them as examples against Christianity. Two of the most popular are the Crusades and the Salem Witch Trials. Both of these circumstances are used to condemn Christianity and all organized religion. In reality, these events are indeed stained with instances of religious violence, but also with the reality of nation, race and historical circumstance. What I mean is that we look back on those events with a certain perspective that has been created for us by those that are against Christianity itself and the facts of the matter are much deeper than simple propaganda.
Regarding the crusades, I would encourage you to look to the writings of Dr. Christopher Tyerman, a professor at Oxford, especially his book, ”Fighting for Christendom.” Tyerman brings together some of the complex circumstances that were involved in the events of the crusades. Whatever your perspective, his writings will challenge the notion that the crusades were simple religion masking as imperialism.
The same can be said of the Salem Witch Trials. In all, a sum total of 25 people were executed as a result of the trials. This is a tragedy, but not on the scale of how the trials have been portrayed as evidence of the faults of religion. Some people think that thousands of people were executed as a result of what they have been told or read in history books. Additionally, though the trials themselves occurred in 1692-1693, as early as 1705-1710 entire churches and communities were apologizing for their role in the trials themselves. So, if it was Christianity that produced the trials, it was also Christianity that produced the repentance and sorrow to the families of the victims of these trials. Along with this, it must also be noted that the modern hospital system, university system, the model of the non-profit organization and other humanitarian organizations that exist today were overwhelmingly created by people who were explicitly Christian in their beliefs and actions. Therefore, the good that Christians have done must be thought of as well as the bad.
In just these two instances of the Crusades and the Salem Witch Trials, an objective inquiry will reveal that although followers of Christ have been at times guilty of gross injustice, there are also forces at work which seek to distort those events for the purpose of vilifying Christianity.
However, even if these historical events have been distorted for use against Christianity, it does not thereby excuse the events themselves. Indeed, Christians must deal with the question of why Jesus’ followers don’t often seem to follow Jesus teaching about violence. The Christian doctrine of Sanctification teaches that as Christians grow in their faith, they become more and more like Jesus. But, Christian doctrine also teaches that we all continue to fall prey to sin, temptation, greed and evil. The history of the church it full of examples of people who sacrificially gave up everything: money, possessions, ease of life,etc.. in order to help others. The history of the church is also full of people who continued to pursue their own selfish gain after claiming to be converted to Christ.
Jesus told us that a tree would be identified by its fruit. A good tree will produce good fruit and a bad tree would produce bad fruit. At the end of the day, people to do wretched things cannot be associated with Jesus and his movement. Even though Christianity is a movement of heart change, it is also a movement where Jesus said, “they will know you are my followers by your love for one another.” Actions reflect heart intentions. Anyone who commits vicious acts of violence against others in the name of Jesus is not associated with him, even if they say that they are.
Jesus himself claimed the right to separate those who called themselves his followers versus those who really are his followers in Matthew 25. In that chapter, Jesus says, “Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord” but they won’t get into heaven. It is the people who actually do the will of Jesus that will be granted entrance into heaven. This is not a works based theology, but a doctrine which teaches that heart salvation will eventually be reflected in outward actions that reflect Jesus himself.
So, in conclusion, it cannot be claimed that Christianity is guilty of the worst atrocities in world history, it simply isn’t true. There have been people throughout history who have done terrible things, even in the name of Christ, but this can’t be placed at the feet of Jesus himself, who taught and lived a perfect model of God’s love.
Questions about Christianity – Why God?
For all the breadth of human experience, there are probably a thousand questions we humans could ask God in the “Why??” category. This story by some dear friends of mine, Thadd and Kelly MacNeal, re-tells one of their most challenging experiences, when their daughter went through a major medical issue. Read their story here and think about how God is at work even in the most difficult of life circumstances.
Questions about Christianity – I feel useless in this world. Why am I here and how can I find the faith I need to continue?
We live in a very big world. Sometimes we feel like we are lost among all the people, all the cities, all the nations. How could God care about us when there are almost seven billion people on the planet? In ancient times, people didn’t know some of what we know today. They didn’t know how many people were in the world, they didn’t have the ability to watch media all the time like we do to see what was going on in other places. They lived in their villages and in their cities and connected with their families and with those close around them. However, today we live in a much different scenario. Some of this is what adds up to us feeling very, very alone at times. Our American culture has become disconnected and we don’t feel that sense of community which most people used to feel. Families are fragmented by divorce, people move from church to church, and from community to community for other jobs. Sometimes the people we are connected to the most are the other parents from our kids little league team. We spend more time with social media and at times feel that connection that we long for, but mostly it disappoints us. Studies have recently shown that people are becoming depressed by looking at snapshots of their friends lives on Facebook. Social media only presents us with a flat screen, one second version of another person’s life, but it can never give us the true story. We feel like authenticity does not exist and that we are all putting up a front so that others can believe that we are doing better than we really are. But there is another way.
Jesus said in Revelation 3:20 – “Look, I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in and we will share a meal together as friends…” Jesus Christ, God’s son, comes to us as the one who desires to enter into relationship with us and spend time with us. I have been following Jesus for many years now, and I can tell you that his words are the truth. He desires more than just the veneer of a relationship. He wants to enter into what the Bible calls “communion” with us. Communion is not just what Christians do when we remember the body and blood of Jesus, communion is the deep fellowship and friendship we have with God when we submit to him. This is not putting up a front with God, but knowing that He knows everything about you and has accepted you 100% because of Jesus. Through Jesus, God enters into friendship with us. It is true. You don’t have to feel useless in this world. God does have a plan for your life, but that plan begins when you submit to him and come into relationship with him through Jesus. Then, God reveals his will for your life, step by step. Romans 12:1-2 have more to say about this. To find the faith to do this, cry out to Jesus and tell him that you need him. He will always answer you and he will come to you in relationship. Then, commit to that relationship by spending time with him every day in prayer, reading the Bible and growing in relationship with other believers. This process takes time, but as you commit to it, you will find that God will lead and direct you. He will give you the faith that you need to continue. He will give you your purpose in this life and he will show you why you are here.
Questions about Christianity -How does God comfort you when you are in a bad situation and need someone?
God has many ways to comfort those that cry out to him. In fact, many people come into a relationship with God during very hard times in life. There are times in life when we realize important things. We realize that we just can’t depend on ourselves, or that we let others down, or that others let us down. People betray us or we betray them. Accidents happen or relationships are broken. Loved ones get sick and die or unexpected events happen. Whatever it may be, there are times when we feel utterly alone. And yet, in those times, we sense, or feel, that we are not alone. We know that no human person can help us. Yet, we sense a need to cry out to someone bigger. It is important to recognize that this is not just a longing for someone to fix the problem, but a basic human understanding that God has placed within us. We understand intuitively that God really is there and would like to comfort us.
It is how we react in those situations that allows us to come into a relationship with God or further harden ourselves against him. If we allow him to comfort us, we enter into relationship with him, person to person. God is not a person like a friend, but he is a personality that has the utmost loving and wise interest in you. He desires for you to allow him to give you peace and comfort. The experience of many Godly people has shown us that God does this in a number of ways:
1) A feeling of his presence with us, even when we hurt the most. We can tell that he is actually there with us and loves us despite what is happening. If you have harmed others, he desires to forgive you and restore you through Jesus to purity and wholeness.
2) A comforting passage from the Bible. God uses his word to comfort, protect, and lead his people. Many, many generations of Christians have received the comfort they have needed by reading and drawing close to God through his Word.
3) The visit of a close friend or someone who just happens to know that we are suffering. Oftentimes, through the visit of this friend, we feel that God has sent them and that he recognizes the pain we are in.
These are just a few of the ways that God comforts us through hard times. God is not limited to these, but I have found that he often uses these as he comforts his children. If you need God’s comfort, begin by crying out to Jesus. Find a place where you can be alone and talk with God, telling him all about your trouble. Ask him to give you Jesus and ask him to bring you the comfort you need. Every good thing that God has for us is found in Jesus. As God’s son, Jesus understands what it is like to be human and to experience the highs and lows of being human. Because Jesus can understand, he is truly able to comfort you.
Questions about Christianity – Based on Leviticus 19:28, if I am tattooed or pierced, will I get into heaven?
There are some people who legitimately worry about this question when they encounter the Old Testament verse, Leviticus 19:28, which says, “ 28 “Do not cut your bodies for the dead, and do not mark your skin with
tattoos. I am the Lord.” Because this was a command to the Israelites, people wonder if God still wants us to keep our bodies free from tattoos.
The key to understanding God’s heart in this matter is to understand what he was doing with the Israelites when he made them a nation that was to follow his law. Remember, God was not only God to the Israelites, he was their king as well. their nation was supposed to be a light to all the gentile nations around as they reflected God’s holiness and love. God commanded certain things for them that are not commanded to us who now follow Jesus. This is because God was drafting civil, moral and legal guidelines for the Jews to live by, as well as religious rules for them to follow. They had to obey God because he was their king as well as God. There were civil consequences to disobeying God for them, unlike us.
God told the Israelites not to mark their bodies because he did not want them to LOOK like the surrounding nations. He told the Israelites to dress a certain way in order that they might appear different to the nations surrounding them. There is no intrinsic value to getting or not getting a tattoo. The Israelites were commanded not to because they had certain codes to follow as a civil society under the lordship of God himself. Now in the New Testament, we don’t follow the guidelines of the law because Jesus fulfilled the requirements of the law perfectly for us. We have been set free in order that we may follow the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of the law of God, rather than the letter. For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. Since Jesus has fulfilled the law, we are allowed to live in the freedom of the children of God. So, if you have a tattoo, don’t worry, God loves you!
I wrote a book on how to understand the different sections of the Bible and included a section on interpreting the Old Testament law. you can buy my book here.
Questions about Christianity – Why does religion look down so much on the Gay and Lesbian community?
This question is asked toward Christians more and more because the cultural acceptance of gays and lesbians has increased dramatically in the last fifteen years. Most people in society look at the issue of sexual freedom through the lens of civil rights. It is common to believe that someone who is gay or lesbian was genetically coded that way from the womb and therefore, should embrace the way they are. Christians are seen as guardians of repressive morality if they object to homosexual behavior. This is a multifaceted discussion, but allow me to give you some brief bullet points to think about:
Christians have often done themselves a disservice in the way they have singled out homosexual behavior as a “special” sin or perversion. According to the Bible, sin is what separates us from God. All of us have sinned and are in need of God’s grace. We can’t work to get it but must receive it freely. We can’t be good to deserve God’s favor. Once we have God’s favor we have no room to look down on any other group because we are just as bad in God’s sight.
The belief that homosexuality is genetic has not been proven. Look to the writings of Dr. Jeffrey Satinover, who holds degrees from M.I.T., Harvard and the University of Texas. His landmark book on the subject is Homosexuality and the Politics of Truth.
There is a very powerful lobby among the homosexual community to force all facets of society to accept homosexual behavior as normal. This puts pressure on people in education, politics, media and culture to feel the pressure of conforming to what is considered “acceptable social behavior.” But this pressure is not backed up by scientific facts. It is backed up by litigation. When people are afraid that they will be sued for discrimination, they back down very quickly. the gay and lesbian agenda has used litigation and lobbying very effectively.
As I said earlier, most people simply accept that homosexuality is a civil rights issue. Because they believe that homosexuality is genetic, it doesn’ t make sense to censor it in any way, after all, “they can’t help it.” But, what if it isn’t a civil rights issue at all? What if it is simply a group of people who want different sexual mores? Civil rights in America is usually defined as pertaining to something about a person that cannot be changed: skin color, gender, etc….But there are literally thousands of testimonials of people who have changed their sexual identity from homosexual to heterosexual and from heterosexual to homosexual. This is HUGE evidence that it is a choice, not a genetic identity. This is not to say that there are not dispositions, circumstances, and experiences that clearly “help” people choose in one direction or another. It’s not always as easy as saying someone chose to be a certain way. However, the argument that “I was born this way” is a big distortion of the family, circumstantial, sexual and environmental factors that usually lead someone to down the path to a homosexual lifestyle. But this should serve to hold us back from bringing the homosexual agenda into the civil rights movement. For, if things that we can change about ourselves are now considered civil rights, that could lead to many, many uncivil things. It would also trivialize the work of the civil rights heroes who worked so tirelessly on behalf of people groups and women’s rights to gain equal footing in American society.
Much of the discussion in America has centered on the issue of marriage and whether homosexual couples should be given the ability to marry. The obvious missing element in most people’s thoughts about the matter is this: Where does the concept of “marriage” begin and end? Homosexual activists would usually say, “two loving individuals.” However, what about three loving individuals? Do you see the point? Once marriage is opened to anything other than a man and a woman, it becomes void of any meaning at all. When something loses it’s meaning, it doesn’t mean anything. If marriage can mean two men as opposed to a man and a woman, then it can mean two men and a woman as well. Don’t think things won’t end up going this way either. Our society has already proven its ability to push the limits of freedom of expression.
Christians believe that any sexual relationship outside of the marriage relationship is a sin. So, in that sense, to the Christian, it is just as wrong that a man is living with his girlfriend than that his neighbor is involved in a homosexual relationship. Both are sexual sin. And, in addition to that, Christians have done a poor job modeling sexual purity as we seek to advance the morals of sexual purity found in the Bible.
For the Christian, this discussion really centers on the issue of a Christian’s role in society. In the past, Christians have tended to view America as a “Christian nation” and fought to keep it that way. While I believe righteous laws are the best kind of laws, I also believe that Christians should not try to push specifically Christian beliefs on a public that is clearly not Christian. If the majority of the people in America were Christian, then it would make sense for a greater number of our laws to reflect Christian morality. That was America in our past. Presently, Christians are a large minority in American culture, so we must be willing to respect the beliefs of others, even though we argue in the public square to convince society of the logic of our beliefs. That being said, it needs to be pointed out that the statistics homosexuals use to promote their agenda are grossly exaggerated. They usually claim statistics that about 10% of the population displays tendencies toward homosexual behavior. The real statistics are somewhere around 3.5% for men and 3% for women.
At the end of the day, Jesus came to save lost souls. Everyone of us, regardless of sexual practice, is a lost soul. Jesus would never have condemned people who were lost for their lostness . He would have called them out of it to the light. the people in scripture that received the highest condemnation from Jesus are the people who thought they were better than everyone else. This should give all us Christians pause to think about how we relay our beliefs to others. As Christians, we do believe that certain things are right and certain things are wrong. This is what Jesus did. but how he communicated to those outside the circle of religious belief was a lot different than it is for us. He usually showed huge compassion and sympathy for people caught up in sin. We need to do the same. If we spend all our time fighting for our rights, we may get them and lose people’s souls in the process.
Questions about Christianity – Death in Children, WHY??
In our continuing series regarding the questions people have about Christianity, one of the reoccurring themes that came up again and again is the issue of God allowing (or not allowing) certain things to happen, mostly questions about suffering, evil and death. This question was so popular that I will be addressing it this Sunday morning, 05.29.11 as the topic of my next sermon. But, since this question was specific to children, I wanted to address it individually.
Being the father of six children, I can attest to the fact that there is nothing more beautiful than a young child or baby in a safe and loving environment. I think all of us cringe when we hear stories of pain, disease or death involving children. If God is a God of love, why would he allow suffering and death among children and even babies?
I mentioned this in a previous blog, but at its base, we must return to the current condition of the world and why it is the way it is. The world has sin, suffering and death because humans (Adam and Eve) chose to sin against God’s directions in the Garden of Eden. Every sinful or evil action, intentional or random, that has happened since then is a direct result of what theologians call “The Fall”, the sin of Adam and Eve.
An objection is usually presented at this point: “That seems like an incredible amount of pain and suffering because of 1 bad choice!” I agree. The consequences of what they did are literally disastrous. Seeing the pain that Adam and Eve cost the entire human race is enough to make one descend into depression. However, we must remember that they could not have seen the awful consequences ahead of them as they descended into sin. Indeed, who of us does when we sin? In that way, we are exactly like Adam and Eve. We cause ourselves and others tremendous pain in our lives because of our evil and sinful intentions, words and actions. So in that sense, we are more like Adam and Eve than un-like them.
Secondly, British writer and apologist G.K. Chesterton pointed to something greater in the midst of the pain of horrible things like children dying. He said this, “Whatever game God is playing with the universe, he is playing by the rules.” He meant that God, in sending Jesus, is playing through the same reality of pain and suffering as we are. God’s precious son Jesus was given over because of our sin and was allowed to die a horrible and painful death at the hands of wicked people. God didn’t have to do things this way, but because we had chosen a life and a reality of pain, God descended into that pain with us, to the point of giving over his own son as a sacrifice to save us. He loved us enough to allow his own son to be murdered so that we could be made right with him. At least God is not standing far off, observing our pain but refusing to enter in. He is entering in to our pain, far more than most of us have to endure. Most of us have not lost a child to murder, but God has.
So, as we look back at the question of children dying, we desperately wish that God would stop things like this. But if we play the situation out, we see that from God’s perspective, a child is not more valuable than an adult. Please bear with me as I explain some thoughts. These thoughts are in no way an attempt to comfort anyone who has lost a child or loved one. They are simply part of the reality that occasions the human spirit as it deals with loss and the afterlife.
Both babies and adults are human souls that will live for eternity. In fact, many adults perish who have no relationship with God and by choice will end up apart from God for eternity. However, the Bible gives us implicit hope that children and babies may end up with him. Therefore, the death of a baby, from God’s perspective, although it causes absolutely inconsolable pain for the parents and family, may actually be less evil in the long run than an adult, for the child may go to be with God, but the adult, if they don’t know God, will certainly perish apart from him. Additionally, sometimes babies cannot understand what is happening to them as fully as an adult. Part of the pain of dying as an adult is that we know we are going to lose relationships and experiences and we fear losing these things. A baby or young child, although they can be anxious and fearful, many times cannot even understand that those things are coming to an end.
At the end of the day, the pain that accompanies the death of a child or baby is mostly on the part of the parents. It is, by and large, one of the worst things any parent will ever have to deal with. the pain that overtakes a parent who has lost a child is unique and can only be comforted over time through a deep and abiding relationship with God. God does not tell us the specifics of why he does what he does regarding each situation. This is especially hard on the parent of a child that has died. But, although we are not given the “why” from God, we can generally trust in God, who knows what is happening in our lives and has promised to never leave us or forsake us in Christ. God cares about each and every human soul. He is conscious of the pain that we are in and he loves us dearly.
About
Matt was born and raised in Carlsbad, Calif. Although he grew up in a devout Christian home, he struggled and rebelled against the Lord as a teenager. However, at eighteen, Matt gave in to God’s love and submitted to Jesus. Soon after, he met and married his wife Kelli. They now have six children and love the role that God has given them as parents.
In 1998, Matt graduated from Vanguard University with a degree in Ministry and Leadership. He is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Biblical Studies from Westminster Seminary, California. For the last eighteen years, he has worked for a variety of Christian ministries including Horizon Christian Fellowship, the Christian Research Institute, and Carlsbad Community Church.
In 2005, the Lord called Matt to plant Rancho del Rey Christian Church in Carlsbad, California. Matt’s heart desire is to help people see Jesus in all his glory. He and his wife are passionate about parenting, adoption, The Bible, missions, discipleship and helping people see Jesus in every aspect of life. His life’s calling is to present the Jesus of the Bible to people who don’t yet believe, and to encourage fellow Christ-followers to live in complete, life-altering obedience to God. He recently authored his first book, Read the Word: The Bible was written for you.
