Question: What does it meen to put God first, and how do you do that?
When we accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour He comes into our life. God is not someone who is far away but He is deeply interested in every area of our life. He is concerned about every decision we come. The Bible teaches about the Lordship of Christ in the lives of the believers.
When Jesus is our Lord we give Him the total control of our life. That means we put God first over everything else. Normally, people put their interests above everything else. But as Christians we have to give priority to God's interests even if it is at the expense of our own interests. Jesus affects the way we live our life radically. He calls us to align our life according to His will and His word. One may think that the Christian life is so boring because we have no place for ourselves. But sooner we will realize that our life becomes so exciting and meaningful when we learn to give God the priority over everything else and die to our 'self'. When God takes the centrestage we will be full of His joy and peace. None of us are perfect and therefore we will fail sometimes because the flesh within us is still active. But we will slowly progress in our spiritual maturity and learn to yield more and more to Christ.
Friday, January 16, 2009
Monday, January 5, 2009
Miscellaneous
Isn't it unjust to let someone suffer for the sins others did? It is not our fault that Adam sinned so why are we guilty of it? What is the relationship between god and Isa? Why is the holy spirit included in the trinity?
Answer:
Let me answer your questions one by one. Many persons suffering the consequences of one person's act of sin seems like injustice in our eyes. But we see it in our day to day life all the time. The very nature of sin is destructive and therefore because of one person's sin many do end up paying the price. When a husband is an alcoholic the wife and the children suffer because of it. When one terrorist gets brainwashed with false teachings many people die. A drunkard riding a car rashly ends up killing an innocent mother. Such instances in day to day life tells us that when one person commits a serious sin it is inevitable to prevent the consequences of that sin from affecting others.
Adam was a representative of the entire human race and therefore his act of disobedience affected the whole human race. On the other hand Jesus Christ also became a human being and paid for the sins of the entire human race so that all of us can receive the benefit of His act of obedience.
I assume by Isa you mean Jesus Christ. This will help me to answer your second and third question together. The Bible presents God as a triune person. God is one but He has revealed Himself in the form of three distinct persons - Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three of them are part of the Godhead and are equal to each other and same in essence. But they are distinct in personality. Jesus Christ is God and so is the Holy Spirit. It is not that we have included them in the Trinity. Our Triune God has always existed from everlasting to everlasting in this manner. While the Christian faith is Theistic (belief in one God) but yet we believe in the Trinity. Our One God has revealed Himself in three persons.
Answer:
Let me answer your questions one by one. Many persons suffering the consequences of one person's act of sin seems like injustice in our eyes. But we see it in our day to day life all the time. The very nature of sin is destructive and therefore because of one person's sin many do end up paying the price. When a husband is an alcoholic the wife and the children suffer because of it. When one terrorist gets brainwashed with false teachings many people die. A drunkard riding a car rashly ends up killing an innocent mother. Such instances in day to day life tells us that when one person commits a serious sin it is inevitable to prevent the consequences of that sin from affecting others.
Adam was a representative of the entire human race and therefore his act of disobedience affected the whole human race. On the other hand Jesus Christ also became a human being and paid for the sins of the entire human race so that all of us can receive the benefit of His act of obedience.
I assume by Isa you mean Jesus Christ. This will help me to answer your second and third question together. The Bible presents God as a triune person. God is one but He has revealed Himself in the form of three distinct persons - Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. All three of them are part of the Godhead and are equal to each other and same in essence. But they are distinct in personality. Jesus Christ is God and so is the Holy Spirit. It is not that we have included them in the Trinity. Our Triune God has always existed from everlasting to everlasting in this manner. While the Christian faith is Theistic (belief in one God) but yet we believe in the Trinity. Our One God has revealed Himself in three persons.
Eternal Security
Salvation is granted as a gift, not because of our deeds. As such it does not depend on our acts, so we cannot lose it by because of our acts.
Now a second case. If it is given as a gift, can the Almighty father take that gift away from us? What if the basis on which the gift is granted changes? We get gift of salvation because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. What if we stop believing in him?
For example there is a person, who at the age of 25 comes to the lord and as such receives salvation. Then till the day he dies he commits crimes over crimes. He rapes women, kills children spread hate. By the time he dies, he has long stopped believing in Christ. Will he still have salvation?
Help me understand this.
Answer:
Thank you so much for your insightful question. One of the major difficulties people have in believing in the doctrine of eternal security is not because we do not have enough verses supporting it in the Bible. On the other hand our difficulty comes from our experience because some time or the other we have seen a person who professed he is a believer but turned away from the faith. Once we understand the truth of God’s word correctly we will be able to overcome such doubts that come forth from our experiences.
The Bible says in Eph 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.” The tense of the phrase ‘you have been saved’ suggests a completed action with emphasis on its present effect. No human effort contributes to salvation but it is entirely a gift of God. The source of our salvation is the grace of God. Our faith is only a channel of our salvation and certainly not the cause. Because salvation originates from God, He is the one who begins it and completes it. So Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God takes the responsibility of completing the salvation work he has started in us. That is why a believer’s salvation is secure and cannot be lost. The entire package of salvation including our faith which functions as a channel to receive it is a gift of God.
Now what about some people who seem to have trusted in Christ and lose their way after a while and backslide totally? First of all, we need to understand what ‘believing in Christ’ really means. Our faith in Christ is not just a mere intellectual experience but an experience that brings a radical transformation. The Bible uses the term ‘born again’ to describe a person who has trusted in Christ and received the gift of salvation. God Himself declares him as righteous and makes him a part of His family. Now true belief is evidenced in the works or good deeds of an individual. The Book of James deals with this issue. A person who considers having faith but does not demonstrate it in his life has never really trusted in Christ. (James 2) It is not a true faith but a mere emotional experience without a genuine change of heart. So faith in Christ is authenticated by righteous deeds. A saved person has a transformed heart and he can never go back to a life of ongoing sin. The security of a believer’s salvation does not give us a licence to sin. It rather should cause us to fall on our knees before God with gratitude. The person whom you cited as an example who got saved at the age of 25 and commits crime after crime has never really trusted in Christ because a true believer can never commit such terrible acts of sin without feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit who lives within him. A truly born again person who has received God’s grace will not lose his salvation. Even if he were to fall God promises to bring him back (Jude 24,25). The Lord is our Shepherd and the job of the Shepherd is to bring back the wandering sheep.
Jesus said it so clearly in John 10:27-29, “27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[d]; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."
Our salvation is secure because it does not lie in our hands but it is safe and secure in the hand of a God who keeps His promises.
Now a second case. If it is given as a gift, can the Almighty father take that gift away from us? What if the basis on which the gift is granted changes? We get gift of salvation because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. What if we stop believing in him?
For example there is a person, who at the age of 25 comes to the lord and as such receives salvation. Then till the day he dies he commits crimes over crimes. He rapes women, kills children spread hate. By the time he dies, he has long stopped believing in Christ. Will he still have salvation?
Help me understand this.
Answer:
Thank you so much for your insightful question. One of the major difficulties people have in believing in the doctrine of eternal security is not because we do not have enough verses supporting it in the Bible. On the other hand our difficulty comes from our experience because some time or the other we have seen a person who professed he is a believer but turned away from the faith. Once we understand the truth of God’s word correctly we will be able to overcome such doubts that come forth from our experiences.
The Bible says in Eph 2:8, “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by works, so that no one can boast.” The tense of the phrase ‘you have been saved’ suggests a completed action with emphasis on its present effect. No human effort contributes to salvation but it is entirely a gift of God. The source of our salvation is the grace of God. Our faith is only a channel of our salvation and certainly not the cause. Because salvation originates from God, He is the one who begins it and completes it. So Paul says in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.” God takes the responsibility of completing the salvation work he has started in us. That is why a believer’s salvation is secure and cannot be lost. The entire package of salvation including our faith which functions as a channel to receive it is a gift of God.
Now what about some people who seem to have trusted in Christ and lose their way after a while and backslide totally? First of all, we need to understand what ‘believing in Christ’ really means. Our faith in Christ is not just a mere intellectual experience but an experience that brings a radical transformation. The Bible uses the term ‘born again’ to describe a person who has trusted in Christ and received the gift of salvation. God Himself declares him as righteous and makes him a part of His family. Now true belief is evidenced in the works or good deeds of an individual. The Book of James deals with this issue. A person who considers having faith but does not demonstrate it in his life has never really trusted in Christ. (James 2) It is not a true faith but a mere emotional experience without a genuine change of heart. So faith in Christ is authenticated by righteous deeds. A saved person has a transformed heart and he can never go back to a life of ongoing sin. The security of a believer’s salvation does not give us a licence to sin. It rather should cause us to fall on our knees before God with gratitude. The person whom you cited as an example who got saved at the age of 25 and commits crime after crime has never really trusted in Christ because a true believer can never commit such terrible acts of sin without feeling the conviction of the Holy Spirit who lives within him. A truly born again person who has received God’s grace will not lose his salvation. Even if he were to fall God promises to bring him back (Jude 24,25). The Lord is our Shepherd and the job of the Shepherd is to bring back the wandering sheep.
Jesus said it so clearly in John 10:27-29, “27My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. 28I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. 29My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all[d]; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. 30I and the Father are one."
Our salvation is secure because it does not lie in our hands but it is safe and secure in the hand of a God who keeps His promises.
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