Questions for Phil
These questions and answers have come from internet discussions between Phil and his friends – enjoy!
QUESTIONS: Click on the Question for what Phil says.
Jewish calendar year 6000 - will Jesus come back then?
I was thinking: for the Jewish people the current year is 5768. I know that nobody, not even Jesus knows the exact time of His return; however, could it may be possible that on the year 6000 of the Jewish calendar Jesus will come back to earth?
Thank you.
Science says that the universe is forever expanding (great!) and I can understand this. Does the Bible say anywhere something like that?
After a recent talk on Angels, can we commission angels or do we have to ask God to?
Why is theology like every other ology? Over our heads? A logical explanation for everything?
haha um Phil why is theology like every other ology? Hence Sociology or Physiology, Psychology and every other ology way over our natural heads. Is there really a logical explanation for everything? See wikiology for reference! :P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ologies#List_of_-ologies
What does this mean? It’s a Greek word. Today God is raising up a strateuma in Rugby, and it’s so exciting!
Okay Phil, recently I have been singing at home more and am questioning whether I understand what am singing about!!
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God.”
What does this mean? Does it mean that the river-water from the throne washes us like I think it does?
Sorry its probably easy to explain but I want to know that I am on the right lines for the whole song - and I do love it. I don't think I have got it all and I really want to. I don't want to miss anything - I think I only get a fraction of it. and I want it all!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
God is a loving God, but why do things like illness and murder and stuff like that happen to innocent people, especially children?
Bit deep I know.
Another one for you...why is Satan beyond forgiveness? If God loves unconditionally then why is there a condition for Satan? So maybe he'd never ask for forgiveness but if God truly loved unconditionally he wouldn’t need the request right? Wouldn't it solve a lot of probs if God forgave Satan? Kinda like the prodigal son.
Is there anyone else out there?
When watching Men in Black, it shows in theory that a whole solar system/galaxy could be in a tiny object hanging around someone’s neck and therefore our galaxy could be one of many.
So could God be trying out different ways of making companions for him or would he get the same mess of a world time and time again (not his fault but ours) or perhaps after this planet is finished will he start all over again otherwise his creative side would become unused.
The angels he had when he started this planet, were they his loyal followers from a previous planet?
Sorry about the many very deep questions, but a creative mind produces them!!!
When we go to heaven and have the big feast with Jesus, what sort of things will we have? Cos surely all things that are REALLY nice and tasty are bad for you, so does that mean they won’t be in the feast as we are in heaven so bad things won’t be there?
Trust me to ask a food based question!!
If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it does it still make a sound!
If for example Phil's best guess is fairly accurate and that the Rapture happens in 5 years time, does that mean that the whole world would have heard the gospel as this is one of the things that need to happen before Christ returns? Or could that be fulfilled after the Rapture in the last 3 1/2 years before he returns to rule for a thousand years? You have probably preached on this before but I don't remember your answer.
When someone gets to heaven, do they still have a choice to be able to turn away from god as satan did and other fallen angels and if so, would that mean satan will always have a kingdom of fire and torment but won't have access to heaven for temptation etc... after the world has ended.
When discussing the 144,000 youths you said one twelfth were Jews because they were from the tribe of Judah. If Jews are all from this tribe where are all the other tribes and what are they called now? Not sure this makes sense but then again neither do I.
A new Islamic document circulating - Should we sign it?
I was asked to give my opinion on a document which is in the news.
Christians are being invited to sign up to a document produced by Islamic Scholars who are responding to the Pope's speech at Regensburg.
The document is called "A Common Word" and can be found here: http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en
After a long heated discussions on many occasions about dinosaurs, I was just wondering what other peoples’ thoughts on the subject are:
Did they exist?
If not where do their bones come from?
If they did where do they fit in with the Bible and its timeline?
What is your opinion on what happens to people who haven't heard the gospel when they die, do they go to heaven? And what about young children/babies who die who are too young to make a decision on becoming a Christian?
Creating what we can't explore and lots of other questions!!
I hope I ask this question correctly!
Why did God create the Solar System when we only need or can live on one planet. We can't even see all the planets.
Part of me thinks that it is so that we could create sci-fi films to watch.
It is the same with the galaxies, they look great but you need to invest in thousands of pounds just to see most of them.
Also, does the world end? Is there a wall at the end of the solar system or just blackness?
Sorry if this goes on and there are too many small questions in a big question. I would be interested to know that when he put the stars in the sky, did he like them so much he couldn't stop himself?!?
In our brief chat the other day I was asking about the situation of someone having several husbands/wives ( one after the other) on earth, so what would their relationship be in heaven and would they know who is who etc?
And would we know who we used to be on earth? Plus would we know of the sin we had? Also would you be able to go space traveling to explore his wonderful universe and not just living in the new Jerusalem, other wise it is such a waste if you don't have the benefit of viewing it?.
On the subject of heaven, is there sadness in heaven? Because I would be gutted if I found out some friends and family weren't in heaven. So maybe the question should be would we recognise people in heaven?
Why does the Millennium have to be a 1000 years? It seems a very long time to have to wait till the new heaven and is at least ten generations of people. Surely even a couple of generations would be enough or - as we would have heavenly bodies - could we just speed ahead in time to the end? Would we also judge the people we rule over and send them to satan’s prison?
I presume that we would get our resurrection bodies at the point of rapture, so what happens when we come back to the earth with Jesus to rule for a thousand years? Do we have these new bodies in this fallen world and what would our purpose be?
Would we still benefit from what is in heaven during that time (eat all you wanted, never get ill etc...) and I presume that one thing we would do is try and bring more people to know Jesus, and when they accepted, would they then get their new bodies?
Hope this makes sense.
When we come back with Jesus to rule, will there still be marriage? So will I come back with my husband? And any of our future kiddies?
Also at the end of the 1000 yrs will there still be children being born? Or is there no more new life, just what is already here?
Not sure this makes sense?
Will we be able to do the things that we enjoy on the earth as long as they do not involve any sin? E.g. could you carry on playing your banjo? And could I do all of my engineering stuff and make things?
Will we wear clothes in heaven or will it be like Adam and Eve in the garden before they sinned?
At the end of the thousand years, you say that satan will gather his armies for the final battle against God, but in this day and age it would be much easier to send a couple of nukes to finish it quickly.
This is where I will probably answer the question for you! I would presume that during the time of Jesus's rule all weapons would be destroyed as there would be no reason to fight in a peaceful world. So when it came to the time, all that could be used is manual weapons and what ever power satan has left?
PHIL’S ANSWERS
Jewish calendar year 6000 - will Jesus come back then?
I was thinking: for the Jewish people the current year is 5768. I know that nobody, not even Jesus knows the exact time of His return; however, could it may be possible that on the year 6000 of the Jewish calendar Jesus will come back to earth?
Thank you
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Phil says:
Hi, the problem for me here is that the Jews date their calendar from the Exodus. So it has been 5768 years since the People of Israel left Egypt.
For them, that was, and remains, a very significant date, yet very significant things happened before that date too.
So Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and the fathers of the Twelve Tribes of Israel were all dead and gone hundreds of years before Year Zero on this calendar.
And very significant things happened to them, too! The whole Human Race came out from a flood through Noah; all Semitic peoples came out of Ur through Abraham, who also settled the Land of Canaan; Isaac was saved from death at Abram’s hand by God’s intervention, if he had died, there would have been no Israelite nation.
Was any of these less significant than the Exodus? Debatable. So that is why I have a problem dating the return of Jesus from the Jewish Calendar.
The idea of 6000 years, however is not a bad one. To set the scene, let me tell you about James Ussher
Bishop James Ussher (1581-1656) was the Anglican Bishop of Armagh, and eventually he became the Primate of All Ireland. He was seriously clever, and worked on the text of the Bible, trying to calculate backwards down the genealogies to find out the date of the Creation week. He deduced that Creation began in the evening preceding October 23 4004 BC.
Several other scholars had been doing similar calculations at this time, ending up with dates such as 3929BC and 3949BC. However, they were not the first, Bede had calculated 3952BC, 900 years earlier.
However, calculating based on the presupposition that the Genealogies are complete in Hebrew is a distinctly dodgy business.
It is normal in Hebrew thought to refer to any of your ancestors as your “Father”. In Matt 3 9, Jesus criticises the Jews for claiming Abraham as their FATHER, yet not repenting of their ways. So, what they meant by “Generations” was not necessarily the same concept as we use in these years of Registration of Births, Marriages and Deaths.
Some say Ussher was influenced by the fairly accurate, corrected, estimate of the date of the Birth of Jesus. When the modern calendar was produced, a guess was taken as to when Jesus had been born, and the number of years it had been since then was taken as the actual date AD.
But later, further more accurate calculations were done, and the actual date of Jesus birth was then reckoned to be 4 BC by our calendar.
In Ussher’s day, the idea was popular that the earth would have a lifespan of 7000 years, 4000 from Creation to the Birth of Jesus, 2000 after his birth, and 1000 years of the Millennium. That meant that there was a lot of pressure to come up with a date of Creation in BC 4004, which Ussher duly supplied.
Many Christians have accepted Ussher’s chronology, almost as an Article of Faith, theough the Bible does not require it. The difficulty is that 1997AD was, on this Chronology, exactly 6000 years after Creation. And we are still here!
Actually, IF I were to work out this sort of Chronology, I would much prefer to take into account Daniel’s prophetic words from the angel in Daniel 9 26. The angel does not date God’s Chronology to the BIRTH of Jesus, though that is mentioned, but to his DEATH.
Now! That is more interesting! 2000 years after Jesus’s death would work out to around 2030, give or take a few years.
No, you are right, we won’t really know till much nearer the date, and it could still be hundreds of years off. But it COULD be then, or even sooner.
Be Ready!
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Expanding Universe
Science says that the universe is forever expanding (great!) and I can understand this. Does the Bible say anywhere something like that?
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Phil says:
You're trying to catch me out, aren't you?;-O
Isaiah 42 v 5 "This is what God, the LORD, says - he who created the heavens and "stretched them out"
Many writers have pointed out that the tense of "created" and "stretched" in Hebrew is actually the same as the tense of the word "says", in other words, the Hebrew present continuous tense.
We have got a present continuous tense in English, and using this, these verbs would read "is saying", is creating", and "is stretching".
So here, from 1000 years before Jesus is a verse from one of the most comprehensive Biblical prophets which says that God "is (still) creating and (still) stretching out" the universe.
Modern Science - HA!
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Angels
After a recent talk on Angels, can we commission angels or do we have to ask God to?
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Phil says:
This, you understand, is not a definitive study of “angelology” it only deals with the question of where authority over angels resides; is it only God who commissions and commands angels directly, or can we do it too?
I'll set some background first:
In many instances, beings perceived and recorded in Scripture as angels are really God himself appearing or speaking.
(See Gen Gen 48 15, 16)
A couple of useful references provide good background information:
1. Angels have duties towards God’s people
Hebrews 1 14 Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to serve (for) those who will inherit salvation?
2. Angels specially have duties to children, apparently all children.
Matthew 18 10 “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.”
Now, can we command angels?
We can know, if God reveals it to us, that an angel is going to help in a particular task (Gen 24 7).
I find no record in Scripture of human-initiated contact with angels themselves, though there are plenty of instances where humans ask many questions of angels who have already appeared to them, and Manoah asks God to send an angel a second time to explain more about what he and his wife had been instructed to do (Judg 13 8).
So it is not wrong for us to ask God to deploy angels for a particular situation. However, I find no instance of humans – even Jesus when he was on earth, commanding angels to perform a given task. Ps 103 20 says that it is God’s bidding which the angels obey (implying that if we want them to do something, we must ask Him.)
Jesus, when on earth, refused to leap from the Temple at his temptation by satan, as this action would have demanded that angels be deployed to halt his fall.
In Matt 26 53, Jesus explains that he has access to the command of angels, though he would have to call upon his Father to get that access. However, he points out that that would be against the will of God for his life, suggesting that while he was living as a human on earth, it was inappropriate for him to use the authority over angels which really belonged to his position as the second person of the Trinity in heaven.
However, when back in Glory, at the “end of the age” he “sends out His angels” (Matt 13 41 and Matt 24 31). And when that great day comes, we, like Jesus, will be given authority over the angels! (1 Cor 6 2)
Till then, it looks like we must ask God.
The only other reference which may be relevant is in Ephesians 1 20, 21 together with 2 6, which suggest that we, like Jesus, are seated at God's right hand, far above all any other (spiritual) authority or power.
Some would point out that we are seated in the same place and therefore must have the same authority.
Others would warn that Eph 2 6 says we are IN Him, and while that gives us the same position as Him, there remains a difference in authority between Him and us. He is not seated at the right hand of God IN US, it is His position by right, and only ours by mercy.
I think this latter view has most biblical support.
(I would be most interested to hear from others who can give scriptural arguments for a contrary view. If it can be shown that we do have authority over angels directly, I would be seriously impressed!)
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Why is theology like every other ology? Over our heads? A logical explanation for everything?
haha um Phil why is theology like every other ology? Hence Sociology or Physiology, Psychology and every other ology way over our natural heads. Is there really a logical explanation for everything? See wikiology for reference! :P http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ologies#List_of_-ologies
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Phil says:
Hi, your question is really interesting, but it has got several parts, each of which needs special treatment:
IS Theology the same as all the other –ologies? You suggest it is, but is that right?
Then, if I read your subtext correctly, the problem you pick out is that it is “way above our natural heads”.
Then you ask a rather different question: “Can we just explain everything logically?”
As a background, let’s use Wikipedia’s information on what Theology means: the word comes from θεός, theos or God PLUS λόγος or logos, "words", "sayings," or "discourse"
So, are you ready – let’s do it!
I’m not sure if I agree, right at the beginning, that Theology IS the same as all the other –ologies.
From Acarology (the study of ticks and mites -to save the rest of you looking it up) right through to Zymology (the study of Fermentation) virtually all of these subjects refer to man’s attempt to extend and codify his knowledge on a particular subject by scientific enquiry.
In its turn, scientific enquiry demands that observations are made, hypotheses follow on, and then some scientific test is devised and used to asses whether the hypothesis is correct. Then theories are produced and tested in a similar manner until everybody agrees on what is really “the Truth” about a subject.
Now you can, if you want, just treat theology the same way, head knowledge, go to Uni and get some tutorials, attend some lectures, read what other people say, write some essays, and pop out the other end with a nice qualification.
But actually, for a Christian, what I like to think of as Real Theology is a whole different ball game.
And what makes all the difference is God.
I had gone to church for 20 years before I sat in a meeting and found God – or I should really say, “God found me” because that is what happened. I had sat in R.E. lessons all through a grammar school education with no observable effect. By the time I was at University I thought I had studied God, and had firmly decided he wasn’t there.
Then he broke right into my life and changed me in every fibre. He planted within me an experience of Him – only tiny at first, like a baby experiences its mother. Gradually the knowledge of Him increased, just like the baby gets to experience more of its mother, and we start to say it “knows” her.
I could talk to you about my wife, give you all sorts of information about her, but not much of it would have come from scientific study, most of it comes because I know her and we have been together for 35 years.
In Galatians 4 8, 9 (look it up!) Paul speaks about knowing God, then rephrases it as: “or rather, are known by God”. This is the heart of the subject, It is GOD who is in control of the knowing process!
So you get Jesus telling parables to prevent just anybody from understanding; only those with hearts turned to God can see the truth (Matt 13 10). Paul says of his hearers in Acts 28 26, 27 (quoting Isaiah) that because their hearts are not turned to God, then as far as God is concerned, they are deaf and blind.
So just to try to study God, without a heart turned to him, is one of the few things in the world that God actually prevents!
Why is this?
Let’s look at Genesis 3 22-24. We learn that if only Adam had taken of the Tree of Life, he would have become immortal! But he decided he would rather rule himself than have God rule him, and took from the other tree, the forbidden one.
What was the worst thing that could have happened at that moment? Look at what God says: “I’ve got to stop him getting to the Tree of Life, because if he does, We will have an immortal rebel on our hands!”
So he puts the angel at the entrance to the garden, to stop anybody from getting in to eat of the Tree of Life …
Unless…
Unless he or she has turned their heart back to God, rejected Adam’s disobedience, and accepted God’s right to rule in their life. (Of course this only became legally possible with Jesus, but that’s a whole other story, and you’ve done very well to get this far!)
So you can ologise as much as you want, and it cuts little ice with God till your heart is right.
AH - BUT THEN!!!
THEN, your brain can start to understand the God whom your heart is starting to know.
And now your heart is right, God’s strategy goes into reverse; He actively helps you to understand, by putting His Holy Spirit inside of you to enlighten your mind. Check out Romans 12 2 and the whole chapter of 1 Cor 2 for detail on this – I can never exhaust the implications of the latter passage.
Notice it’s the mind which is getting the makeover; we tend to concentrate on the heart, and that is fine, but God wants our minds involved, our mental processes, our deductive and analytical powers, so we can look at scripture and say, “Well if that is true, then it follows that that must be true as well…” and so on.
Is that theology? Yes, but it’s not dry and dusty theology which “goes way over our heads”, it springs from our experience of knowing our Father God. It’s alive! And fun! And meaningful! And real! And relevant! And helpful!
I think I’ve just used up all the exclamation marks in this computer. Oh no! there goes another one.
Anyway, there’s just one more part to your question, “Is there a logical explanation for everything?”
Yes.
And who will give that explanation?
Only one person is able to, and it will be a very long time before we understand even the tiniest fraction of what He will tell us.
But he delights in revealing mysteries (Rom 16 25, 26). He does that all the time.
Of course we can't understand or explain it all.
But we can try!
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What does this mean? It’s a Greek word. Today God is raising up a strateuma in Rugby, and it’s so exciting!
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Phil says:
A Strateuma is a small, highly trained, military force with special weapons - a SWAT Team (Special Weapons And Tactics).
“Stratos” is the name for the whole army, and if I “Strateuo” then I am fighting in a “Strateia”, which is a battle.
Herod’s personal armed guard is a strateuma in Luke 23 11. In Acts 27, a strateuma is sent to rescue Paul from being lynched by the Sanhedrin.
In 2 Cor 10 3, Paul says we do not Strateuo like the world does - our weapons are spiritual, and are backed by God’s power.
Paul instructs Timothy in 1 Tim 1 18 to follow his instructions - then he’ll be able to Strateuo the good Strateia - fight the good fight.
We get our words Strategy and Strategic from this Greek word.
Where did you get the quote from? - it certainly does sound exciting!
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Okay Phil, recently I have been singing at home more and am questioning whether I understand what am singing about!!
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of our God.”
What does this mean? Does it mean that the river-water from the throne washes us like I think it does?
Sorry its probably easy to explain but I want to know that I am on the right lines for the whole song - and I do love it. I don't think I have got it all and I really want to. I don't want to miss anything - I think I only get a fraction of it. and I want it all!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks
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Phil says:
This is a long story - enjoy!
Hi! Welcome aboard! You will be sleeping in the downstairs cabin till you are acclimatised to the rolling of the ship, make yourself at home, then you can come on deck with the rest of us.
If you look over the side, you will see the River. It is the same one as in the quote you gave from Ps 46, and it is a very strange river.
If you look just over there, no, just a little to the right of that, you will see the heart of the sea (Ps 46 2 – I hope you are not just reading this without looking up the references – otherwise what am I doing all this work for?).
Anyway, notice how the heart of the sea has mountains which fall into it,(Ps 46 3) which makes the waters roar – as it would wouldn’t it? And then the “surging” of the waters, which seriously shakes the mountains (getting its own back, I presume).
And now the weird thing, this river (Ps 46 4), just dip your hand in – feel it? Now take a mouthful from this pot we dipped in – can you feel the surge of Gladness? Like a sudden rise in the level of your emotions, the Gladness – I have to use a capital “G”, because the effect is too strong for a small one – this Gladness swells inside you when you come into contact with it.
Just contrast the waters of Ps 46 2 and 3 out there – frightening, making everything shake – with this river just here from Ps 46 4; calm and placid-looking, until you taste it, then it fills you up inside till you feel like shouting for Joy – I need another capital letter for that one.
Now notice that the River has this effect for the whole City – you didn’t notice the city? It’s there, no, look the other direction from the sea, filling the whole horizon on both sides of the River – are you blind? Oh, you were fascinated by the River – yes it’s a well known effect.
Anyway, drag your gaze off the River for a moment and look over there – hundreds of millions of people, maybe billions, live in that city.
Did you know that’s where we are heading? Yes, you are going to join them, you are carrying the correct invitation, your name is down on our passenger list – all the favourites of the Ruler of the City.
Too big? Why, Lord bless you, my dear, the City isn’t too big, everyone who lives there is another one – a favourite, just like you. The City is just like home to all of you, all the same, all favourites.
Ah, I understand, you were wondering how you could find everything you need to live in that huge City, Well I suppose you’ll have to look very hard before you find a Supermarket! Har Har Har Har – sorry, that’s just an old sailor’s laugh, you know.
Well, let’s deal with it a bit at a time – see those trees? Well from this distance you can just see if you look very hard, there is only one Tree, but it spans over the River. You won’t see from here, but from every branch hang the most amazing fruit – they taste like everything you’ve ever wanted to eat.
And you’ll find more variety in that fruit than all your old earthy food – what? - chocolate? No, not a patch on this, you can roll up all your cream cakes, chips, fudge, pork pies, mashed potatoes, biscuits, meat and two veg and everything, and you’ll happily drop them over the side when you taste this stuff.
And the leaves – there is a major industry shipping the leaves out to the Nations, (by the way, we are in Rev 22 1 now – check it out). They are being healed as we speak.
And to drink? Now we are getting nearer – can you see those channels – they run under the city, to every part. Wherever you are, you can reach down your cup, and dip it in this water – here, let me show you, take another sip – STEADY! – you nearly went over that time, just notice how the effect is much stronger than the first sip – can you start to taste the sweetness this time? It gets stronger every time, by the way; the taste doesn’t lessen as you drink it like earthy drinks do.
Anyway, wherever you are in the city, you can just drink this water – we call it “Life Water”, by the way. I understand – you wonder how anybody gets anything done with this stuff to drink – well that’s the interesting part. Your earthy drinks tend to put you to sleep, but this Life Water makes you more alive! You should be noticing the effect by now – Yes?
So, if you want to see what you’ll be getting as soon as we land in the City, O Chosen One, check out Ps 36 8, “They feast on the abundance of your house; you give them to drink from your River of Delights”.
You should be getting a bit of the Delight around now – here, have another glass.
So where did this water come from, you ask? Well it has been around for a long time, Look back in Gen 2 10 for the prototype.
Then Moses got some – you remember he got water from a rock? Well that was just God’s little joke. This River is the real Water from the real Rock! God likes doing that sort of thing – it’s his sense of humour. You’ll get it after a while here.
Oh, so you want to know where it comes from? Your curiosity does you credit, O One Honoured by God. Well, Ezekiel saw this River with his Prophetic eye, I think it was his left one – no, sorry, that was my own little joke, we all get it here – it’s the Gladness that does it - you’ll learn. He noticed that it came from under the Temple – that’s the Place of God’s Throne, of course. It’s all written in Ezekiel 47, 1-12 – Didn’t they give you Bibles where you came from?
Then Daniel got in on the act, he was a special one, Daniel, and he saw the River right at it’s beginning, right from under the Throne of God. (Dan 7 10) As you’d expect, that close to the Presence, the River looked more like fire than water, but this is all the same stuff. You finished that glass already? How are you at standing up? Pretty good! You’ll be an old hand by the time we get to the City.
You’re still curious? OK, I’ll give you the real low-down, just because you insist, mind, it usually takes several weeks in the City before people find this out – ready? Well the River is none other than God Himself! It’s His own Holy Spirit. Look that way, and see how He is shaking up the Nations of the world with that sea you read about in Ps 46.
Now look the other way and see how the very same River of Life is nourishing the people of God in the City. Same Water, totally different effect, depending on whether you choose to be one of the Chosen, or not. You chose, and here you are – Look we’ll be landing soon, you can just see someone there on the bank to show you how to eat from the Tree of Life – and seeing as I’m revealing more to you because you’re curious, I bet you already know who the Tree of Life is? Just think who it is you can “take from and live for ever”; Genesis 3 22 will help if you’re stuck.
Well, it’s been a pleasure to talk to you at last, O Most Favoured One of God, - Oh, sorry, of course, you didn’t know – yes, I’ve known you for a long time, a very long time, but you’ve not been aware that I was around, so I know you considerably better than you know me, and of course this is the first chance we’ve had to talk so you can hear me. Yes, I’m an angel, and yes I was the one assigned to you through your whole life, to watch over you and bring you to this City. I’ve loved being with you – and d’you know what I enjoyed most? It was when you were singing about God and worshiping Him, because that is the nearest you can get on earth to drinking from this River.
Now, will you have another glass before we land?
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God is a loving God, but why do things like illness and murder and stuff like that happen to innocent people, especially children?
Bit deep I know.
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Phil says:
Phil says...now you didn't expect a short reply did you?
God has to choose whether to control everything that happens in the world, or to allow man freewill to choose his environment.
A long time ago Man told God to leave him alone and stop interfering in his life, and everyone who has ever lived, except one person, has echoed that opinion. It's called "original sin" by theologians.
That means that man gets to choose, but also has to live with the consequences of his choice.
That means that things happen which would not happen if God ruled.
They don't just happen to the "innocent". They happen to everybody. It's just that we see the evil consequences of our decision much more starkly when they suffer. That should send us back to God, to mend our ways, to put the world right, to put ourselves under God's protective umbrella.
But the heart of man is so blind that instead of turning to God, they turn away. They shout at God himself, blaming him for the consequences of the decisions made by us!
If we would let him into our world, then he would change it.
I was listening to a story today from an American man who lives with his wife in Papua, among the tribes, and they have a story of a baby being brought back from the dead in front of the whole tribe. It was a major breakthrough, and instead of the tribespeople resisting God, as they had been doing, they turned to him wholesale, and now 80% of the tribe are Christians, and they are planting churches in other tribes' villages.
The man said there was not a man of his age and older in that tribe who did not know the taste of human flesh! Usually it would have been people from another tribe. Now they catch them for Jesus instead of dinner!
So there is an area which has put itself back under God's protective umbrella, and their suffering has been much reduced.
Does that mean there will be no suffering at all for them? No. They, and we, still live in a fallen world, in a fallen society, where many diseases and other evils have been brought upon us by our own hands.
Yet there are still other disasters which happen which are not so easy to relate to particular evil in men's hearts, things like volcanoes and other natural disasters. What about them?
Even then we still must bear some responsibility. Many people who died in the Mount Helen Volcano eruption of a few years ago, had chosen to live on its slopes, knowing the possibility. Some even refused to leave their homes and possessions behind when it was clear there was something happening. We saw the same with the hurricane over New Orleans. If people had left when the danger surfaced, they would have been OK, but many chose to ignore the possibility. Their possessions were more important to them.
And natural disasters are, in any case, a consequence of our racial decision to remove ourselves from God's protection. So they are going to happen - to Christian and non-Christian, to young and old alike. They are part of a fallen world.
Yet even after all that, there are still occasions when children suddenly die, or some equally tragic circumstance happens, and there is no way it could relate to our sin. It's not easy to understand these things, but there are a couple of things to be said.
God is a God of life and death. No-one lives or dies without his permission. And he does give his permission on a regular basis! Since 1900, one and a half BILLION people have died! Do you ask, "That is terrible! What evil natural disaster wiped out so many people? Why does the world not know of this? Why have we not had it reported?" No you don't. The population of the whole world 107 years ago was one and a half billion, and only one century later, they are all gone!
So although any individual death fells tragic to those left behind, (because they miss the person who has died,) death is a normal part of life. We don't realise that so much these days, because our modern society has insulated us from death - yet another instance of trying to deny that there is anything wrong, so no-one will get so worried they will cast themselves on God for his mercy.
So the fact that somebody has died is not a cause for complaint against God.
Another thing is that we do know that God is just. His justice is perfect. So the things which seem to us unjust only seem so because our eyes do not see much of what God does.
None of this means that, when faced with someone who is suffering, we should make light of it or try to explain it away. Suffering is real. But God has put us there to be with others in it. We now bear responsibility for encouraging them to turn to God IN their suffering, and being with them ourselves through it all, because he is the one who can give them peace in all circumstances.
And there will always be the possibility of praying for them, and maybe with them. God certainly does intervene in human affairs, when he is invited to. Maybe you will see a miracle! You certainly won't if you don't pray.
There's much more to be said. Whole books have been written on this subject, but I hope this has given a background to your thoughts, I'd be glad to hear comments, and further ideas!
Much Love
Phil
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Another one for you...why is Satan beyond forgiveness? If God loves unconditionally then why is there a condition for Satan? So maybe he'd never ask for forgiveness but if God truly loved unconditionally he wouldn’t need the request right? Wouldn't it solve a lot of probs if God forgave Satan? Kinda like the prodigal son.
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Phil says:
It's interesting that angelic beings are never promised forgiveness in the Bible.
I can only conjecture that the principle of " To him who has been given much, much will be required" is in operation here.
Angelic beings have no need of the proof of the existence of God.
So any decision to reject His authority over them would not have been taken through ignorance, misunderstan ding or spiritual blindness (as our human decision always is), it will have been taken in the full understanding and awareness of the consequences of that decision.
For them, there has never been a "wall of separation" which has dimmed their understanding of the spiritual world.
They ALL have the memory of being in the intimate presence of the Creator of the Universe.
So what about "forgiveness"? Is it "legal"? You might think that a strange question, but we understand God to be a God of Justice. This means that he is Just in all his doings. In our society, that is called being "legal".
No equivalent suggestion about angel's sin exists in the Bible.
Sounds harsh, but I think it relates to their previous privileged position, as above.
And you have also to wonder whether an offer of forgiveness, if it were possible, would be accepted by an angelic being (satan) who considers he has made an irrevocable decision to rebel against his creator, and replace him.You might think that is too much wishful thinking on satan's part, but he has already persuaded man to cede all authority over the created world, and all authority over the minds and hearts of all uncommitted people, to himself.
As far as he knows, he is still winning.You have to realise, satan is NOT omniscient.
He does not know the end of the story, as you and I do. He is spiritually blind, ever since he left God's information chain behind.He may suspect he is going to be in trouble one day, and he may know the direction the trouble is going to come from (the church and Israel) but he still thinks he is going to win - or if not, at least to hold God off for as long as possible.So satan is not about to do a prodigal son act, realise his mistake, and rush home to father.
Hope this helps
Much Love
Phil
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Is there anyone else out there?
When watching Men in Black, it shows in theory that a whole solar system/galaxy could be in a tiny object hanging around someone’s neck and therefore our galaxy could be one of many. So could God be trying out different ways of making companions for him or would he get the same mess of a world time and time again (not his fault but ours) or perhaps after this planet is finished will he start all over again otherwise his creative side would become unused. The angels he had when he started this planet, were they his loyal followers from a previous planet?
Sorry about the many very deep questions, but a creative mind produces them!!!
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Phil says:
You've been reading too much sci-fi!
To answer, let me take you on a philosophical journey - rather similar to the one you have tried....
--- And you and I COULD be just brains in a glass jar, being fed nutrients through to keep us alive, and information through wires attached to our senses inputs on our cranial nerves.You COULD think that seeing as ALL our information about the outside world comes through our senses, some superior being with good wiring skills and a half-decent computer COULD be the source of all we know about the outside world. Philosophers have conjectured so for years.There have been one or two films based on this idea, with people escaping from their cocoons and starting to lead a rebellion against their former masters.The fly in the ointment of this philosophy is that we do NOT only have information about the OUTSIDE world, we have information about OURSELVES, inside.Was it Sartres who said "I think, therefore I am"?
He didn't mean that thinking was the process which called him into being, he meant that if he could observe himself thinking, that proved to himself that he existed. There was no other conclusion possible.This deep level of consciousness - the level of knowing we exist - is called the "id" by philosophers. The overlying character which we show to the outside world is what they call the "ego".Now, have a think about yourself, for you as a Christian, at what level does your awareness of God come in?
Most people say at the level of the id - we know God's presence at the same deep level that we are aware of our own existence.And that fits with the Bible accounts of how God lives "IN" us, not at a superficial level, but at a deep level.
Feels right, doesn't it?
Now, are there alternate Universes, and is our universe contained in a pendant round the neck of a being in another existence?
Here’s some discussion about Men in Black from a Christian website – worth going online at http://www.christiananswers.net/spotlight/movies/pre2000/i-minblack.html to read some more:
*****************************************
Nowhere in the Bible does God even mention the existence of alien beings, much less any provision for their salvation. The world is having a field day with U.F.O. obsession due to current speculations concerning Mars. New movies focusing on U.F.O.'s seemed to be cranked out every day. Still, it is great to know that Christ is on His throne, and He will only let mankind go so far with challenging God's Word with scientific speculations.
K. White, age 23
*****************************************
A bit "black and white" for me - I'm a Sci-fi fan and love the fun speculation about other dimensions and stuff - but in the end, he's right, the Bible is totally silent on such matters. If aliens landed in my garden tomorrow and said "Take me to your leader", the first questions I would ask them would be about whether they had sin in their world, and if so, had they had a Saviour come to die for them?
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MMMMmmmmm!
When we go to heaven and have the big feast with Jesus, what sort of things will we have? Cos surely all things that are REALLY nice and tasty are bad for you, so does that mean they won’t be in the feast as we are in heaven so bad things won’t be there?
Trust me to ask a food based question!!
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Phil says:
So, you think all the tasty stuff in heaven is going to be WORSE than our food here? - -in a fallen creation? I don't think so!And what about the marriage feast of the Lamb?
When was the last wedding you went to when the food was BAD?And what about your new body?
It is called a "Spiritual" body, but it will be physical too, because it will be modelled on Jesus's resurrection body ("We will be like him when we see him..."). OK. What about this body? It will be in a condition known, in technical terms, (by those "in the know" (---theologians, and stuff)) as "perfect".
That means, in ordinary everyday English - - - "perfect".So there won't be much room for anything which might be termed "Imperfect" I suppose---
So will it get unhealthily obese? Not a chance. What about "fat"?
Well it's interesting that it is only recently that "fat" has become a pejorative (-not very nice) term.
If you look up a book called "The Secret Garden" (You can find it online at the Gutenberg Project. -Google Gutenberg Project) you will find the word "fat" used to denote someone who was unhealthy, and has now become healthy.
This book was written less than 100 years ago, and speaks of a time when thin people were either ill, or desperately poor.
People who were healthy and wealthy were "fat".
It's no co-incidence that phrases like "living off the fat of the land" are considered to be speaking of good things, not bad things.So, I think that when we get our Spiritual Bodies (which will be at the Rapture - could be within 5 years from now as a minimum, by my reckoning) we will be healthily "fat".
I think my bum won't look big in that, and my body image won't be dysmorphic (look it up!), but I do SERIOUSLY NOT expect to look "Catwalk thin".So I think that when Jesus has said Grace at the Marriage Feast of the Lamb, and he says "Enjoy!", he will really mean it.
Good Question!
Much Love
Phil
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Noisy tree!
If a tree falls in a forest and there is no one around to hear it does it still make a sound!?
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Phil says:
This is an ancient philosophical question, which has been brought back to scientific popularity by Quantum Physics, which shows that some experiments do not have a result until someone observes them. Then they suddenly result in one conclusion or another.
There is a famous theoretical poser, called "Schroedinger's cat". This is a thought experiment in which a theoretical cat is put into a theoretical box with a radioactive atom. The atom has a 50-50 chance of radioactive decay. If it does, it triggers a mechanism which will kill the cat. If it doesn't, the moggie lives!
So the cat is in the box, and the scientists are all stood round looking at the box, wondering if the cat with a 50-50 chance is still alive or not.
Schroedinger conjectured that the cat is neither alive or dead till the box is opened and somebody from the outside observes, only then does the cat suffer its fate.
Now what does the Christian have to say to this?
If it is true (and scientifically it seems to be so) that certain physical processes do not occur unless they are observed, and moreover, some of these physical processes are ones which underpin the existence of the universe, how can it be that the universe stays in existence when we (the only rational observers) are not actively observing them?
Perhaps the universe can only stay in existence if there is ANOTHER rational observer - one who is capable of observing EVERY process of Cosmic Physics?
Now who might that be?
So, my answer to the tree question is that God has ears!
However, my favourite version of this has still got to be:
If a man says something in a forest and there is no woman there to hear him, is he still wrong?
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If for example Phil's best guess is fairly accurate and that the Rapture happens in 5 years time, does that mean that the whole world would have heard the gospel as this is one of the things that need to happen before Christ returns? Or could that be fulfilled after the Rapture in the last 3 1/2 years before he returns to rule for a thousand years? You have probably preached on this before but I don't remember your answer.
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Phil says:
Just before I try an answer, remember that I'm not saying there IS only 5 years to the Rapture, just that 5 years seems to be the MINIMUM time possible from now. The maximum time is unguessable - even by me!
If you check out Revelation Ch 11 v 3 and following verses, you will find that two "witnesses" are due to be on earth for three and a half years.
I think (Phil's best guess!) that this is the last 3 1/2 years of the seven year Tribulation period, and that these two witnesses arrive on earth after the Rapture of the Church (which, in this view, happens after the first 3 1/2 years - called "Mid-Trib Rapture").
(Their job is to replace the witness of the church upon the earth - seeing as all the Christians have gone, God would have nobody to witness for him upon the whole earth otherwise.)
The passage makes it plain that everyone on earth will know about them (see Rev 11 v 9 - from every people, tribe, language and nation - fairly comprehensive!).
At the end of their 3 1/2 years they are killed, then resurrected and taken up to heaven.
Very soon after this Jesus returns with all God's people, routs the Antichrist's forces (himself, not us - we don't fight) then he goes from the Mount of Olives through the newly opened Golden Gate in the centre of the Eastern Wall of Jerusalem.
This opens straight onto the Temple Mount, so we follow him in to the newly-built temple where he takes his throne and deploys us to rule the world for the next millennium.
The work of the witnesses fulfills Jesus's prophecy that the whole world will hear the Gospel before the "End" comes.
Of course, the traditional understanding of those words has been that the church will eventually send out enough missionaries so that every "people, tribe, language and nation" will hear the Gospel before any part of the End-Times come upon us, and this fuelled the Missionary expansions of the 1800s and 1900s. This certainly was not wrong, but it may not of itself be the whole truth.
Similarly, the Gospel is right now available on the internet in almost every language, to almost every people group - very few left who don't have access to the internet. The explosion of info technology has made it possible to preach the Gospel all over the world without leaving home. Was this what Jesus meant? Well, possibly yes, but again it may not be the whole fulfillment by itself.
For me, the two witnesses are the final fulfillment of this prophecy, with the Missionary work and the InfoTech Gospel spread being preparatory signs of their work.
What do you think?
Much Love
Phil
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When someone gets to heaven, do they still have a choice to be able to turn away from god as satan did and other fallen angels and if so, would that mean satan will always have a kingdom of fire and torment but won't have access to heaven for temptation etc... after the world has ended.
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Phil says:
You ask about someone who gets to heaven, so I'm going to assume we're talking about Christians here.
When a Christian dies, they are immediately, consciously, with Jesus in his throne room. Jesus called this "Paradise" to the dying thief.
Of course they do not at that time have bodies.
There are three things that make us fall into sin, "the World, the Flesh and the Devil". At the point of death all three things cease to have any effect on us. We are not in the world, we do not have flesh, and the Devil has no authority where we are.
So we pass from a state of being able to sin to NOT being able to sin. Everything which comes into the mind of God for us to do, we will obey completely. He will rule our every moment.
If we had not given God our conscious permission while we were alive, it would be unjust for him to impose this on us, but we become Christians by surrendering to God in this very way, so it is not only just, it is also our own desire that it should be so.
This continues for us after the Rapture and on into the Millennium and beyond, because at the Rapture we get our new resurrection bodies, which are untainted by sin and powerful enough to never fall. Remember what we get is to be like Jesus - "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is".
So that is one half of the question - we WON'T sin.
The other half is what happens to satan - will he have a kingdom.
The answer is "no".
Revelation 20 shows that the end of the Seven Year Tribulation period is effectively the end of any reign that satan will ever have.
He is captured and bound for the thousand years of the Millennium, and though at the end of that time he is released again, it is only to provide the final legal evidence that he is irremediable (he cannot be put right), because he goes and tries to deceive the nations again and turn them against God.
He is then thrown into the "Lake of Fire". We don't know what that means, but it is certainly a place where he is held permanently, and unable to have any power whatsoever.
All this, you will see, gives the lie to those cartoons and popular myths, which imagine the end times as God ruling in a nice place up above, and satan ruling his own nastier kingdom down below.
It won't be like that. The place of the ungodly dead will not be ruled by satan, and neither he nor his fallen spirits will have any influence there. “God's will” will be done there, as it will be in the rest of the new heavens and new earth.
God rules! We rule with Him! satan doesn't!
Great question!
Much Love
Phil
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When discussing the 144,000 youths you said one twelfth were Jews because they were from the tribe of Judah. If Jews are all from this tribe where are all the other tribes and what are they called now? Not sure this makes sense but then again neither do I.
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Phil says:
You're right in saying that the 144,000 were from all the Tribes of Israel. There were twelve tribes (actually the make-up of the twelve varied very slightly, but that's a different story), so from each tribe you'd expect 12,000 people.
Some members of those tribes are recognisably living among the Jewish community right now. They are "Jews" which originally means from the tribe of Judah, but among them are a minority originating from the tribe of Benjamin (originally a very small number, and now unrecognisably intermarried with Judah) and some from the tribe of Levi, who were priests and so were scattered among all the tribes.
So three of the twelve tribes are found among the "Jews", what of the rest?
The Tribes in the North had split from Judah and Benjamin (in the South) after Solomon had died, and had formed a separate Kingdom with its own line of Kings.
Generally they followed the idolatrous ways of the nations round about, and rejected God. God warned them through the prophets that they would come to grief over this, but did they care? Not a bit!
So eventually the Assyrians invaded the North of Israel in 722 BC and took all those tribes into slavery. Generally they have been lost to history, though occasionally a group of people will pop up claiming to be from them. They are referred to as the "Lost Ten Tribes" (yes I know that makes thirteen overall, but it got complicated).
It's fascinating to speculate who these people are now. Some strange sects have claimed that the English are such a race. (British-Israelites are one such sect). Even if you don't support such an idea, it's probable that many people from these tribes are part of the church.
The most important point to remember is that God's promises to Israel are STILL in operation for this group - who do not even know they are Israelites!
So hidden in society, probably also hidden in the church, are a group of people who only God can know about, who stand under a special blessing of God because of their ancestors.
One day they will come into the fulness of their inheritance - just as if you got a knock on the door and were told a rich person was related to you and had left you a fortune!
Some of these will be the rest of the 144,000 who will play such an important role in the tribulation period.
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A new Islamic document circulating - Should we sign it?
Posted by Phil.
I was asked to give my opinion on a document which is in the news.
Christians are being invited to sign up to a document produced by Islamic Scholars who are responding to the Pope's speech at Regensburg.
The document is called "A Common Word" and can be found here: http://www.acommonword.com/index.php?lang=en
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Phil says:
Summary
I have given a summary here, then a more detailed examination of the document as an answer.
On the face of it, this document can look very appealing, with an emphasis on Common Ground between major world religions, love for God and one's neighbour, the opportunity for better relations, and a more peaceful world. Who would not sign up to that?
However, alongside all these worthy concepts is a major subtext: statements which verify the Unity of God by affirming also that "he has no 'partner' or 'associate'".
In the Qur'an this theme is more openly expressed as "Allah has 'no son'" (9:30, 31) (18:4-6) (23:91).
Visitors to the site are invited to submit their name to "fully endorse" the document. There is no opportunity to endorse some parts without also effectively also signing your name to denying that Jesus is divine.
For some this will not be a compromise, but for Christians, belief in the divinity of Jesus differentiates us from all others. This is a significant Christian teaching, which should not be abrogated by carelessness in examining this document closely.
IN DETAIL
I am convinced that if we were asked to give our views on vandalism, crime, illicit sex, and the like ills of society, Muslims and Christians would speak with one voice.
The document says - and we would agree - "So let our differences not cause hatred and strife between us. Let us vie with each other only in righteousness and good works. Let us respect each other, be fair, just and kind to another and live in sincere peace, harmony and mutual goodwill."
But this document goes further, and asks us to recognise that when we speak of our God, Muslims and Christians are speaking of the same thing.
It says, "The central creed of Islam consists of the two testimonies of faith or Shahadahsi, which state that: There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God. These Two Testimonies are the sine qua non of Islam. He or she who testifies to them is a Muslim; he or she who denies them is not a Muslim."
It quotes Mohammed "He who says: 'There is no god but God, He Alone, He hath no associate,". What does he mean by "associate"?
The document explains Islam's attitude to Jesus: "Muslims recognize Jesus Christ as the Messiah, not in the same way Christians do (but Christians themselves anyway have never all agreed with each other on Jesus Christ's u nature), but in the following way: .. the Messiah Jesus son of Mary is a Messenger of God and His Word which he cast unto Mary and a Spirit from Him.... (Al-Nisa', 4:171)."
This attitude permeates the document: "Say: O People of the Scripture! Come to a common word between us and you: that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God."
What does this mean - "no partner"?
And later: "Finally, as Muslims, and in obedience to the Holy Qur'an, we ask Christians to come together with us on the common essentials of our two religions . that we shall worship none but God, and that we shall ascribe no partner unto Him, and that none of us shall take others for lords beside God ."
Around the inside of the Dome of the Rock on the Temple Mount, is written five times the words, "There is only one God, and he has no son."
Wikipedia's articles on Islam are revealing: ******************************************************** Prohibition of Idolatry and polytheism Islam says that Allah is only one God, and anyone worshipping more than one God is a polytheist. This is taken to include the Christian concept of the Trinity. To affirm this belief, Muslims have to repeat the following in their daily prayers: [1:5] "You alone We worship, and only Your aid We seek."[2]
Other Qur'anic verses that show this position are:
[3:62] Verily! This is the true narrative (about the story of Isa/Jesus), and Laa ilaaha illallaah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the One and the Only True God, Who has neither a wife nor a son). And indeed, Allah is the All Mighty, the All Wise.
[5:73] They disbelieved who say: God is one of three (in a Trinity): for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word (of blasphemy), verily a grievous chastisement will befall the disbelievers among them.
[6:101] Wonderful Originator of the heavens and the earth: How can He have a son when He hath no consort? He created all things, and He hath full knowledge of all things. **********************************************************
Conclusion. The document invites us to agree that there is only one God, but every time this is said, it ties in references to "he has no partner".
Quite plainly, the references to God having "no partner" are a veiled (but not very veiled) reference to our belief that Jesus IS God.
So signing up in agreement with this document is responding to an invitation to deny that Jesus can be "God"
Finally, we might ask, "So who is this god who has 'no son'? Is he just the same God, whose followers have not got (or have got - according to your persuasion) quite the correct understanding of the fiddly details of theology?"
Or is the god who has no son a DIFFERENT god from the one who HAS a son?
That might be the subject of further writing, but you can see from the above that there is sufficient reason for Christians to avoid signing this document - notwithstanding our desire to stand with people of other religions and none to propagate peace and goodwill among mankind.
Much Love
Phil
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After a long heated discussions on many occasions about dinosaurs, I was just wondering what other peoples’ thoughts on the subject are:
Did they exist?
If not where do their bones come from?
If they did where do they fit in with the Bible and its timeline?
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Phil says:
ANOTHER Good Question!
Check out Job 40 15 to 41 34. Ask yourself what sort of animal is being described. Then ask yourself how Job knew about this sort of animal which evolutionists say disappeared long before man existed.
Creationists believe that God created everything – including the creatures we now call “Dinosaurs”.
As the word “Dinosaur” wasn’t coined till the 1800s, what were creatures of this nature called before that? The Bible words used are Dragon (KJV – meaning “large creature with nasty teeth”), Leviathan and Behemoth. Go here for more info: http://www.sixdaycreation.com/facts/dinosaurs/nov2001.html
http://www.sixdaycreation.com/facts/dinosaurs/nov2002.html contains good info about how Creationists reconcile God’s creation with fossil remains.
http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/2.asp is also helpful.
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What is your opinion on what happens to people who haven't heard the gospel when they die, do they go to heaven? And what about young children/babies who die who are too young to make a decision on becoming a Christian?
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Phil says:
Hi, Good Question! This is one you’ll regularly meet when talking to non-Christians, so it’s a good idea to have your own thoughts clear on it.
The non-Christians’ objections come from a (usually unacknowledged) desire to “catch God out” being UNjust.
They say, “how about this situation”, then when we give them a satisfactory answer, they then say, “OK then how about that situation?”
If they can keep alive the idea that God might be UNfair, that gives them an excuse not to listen to his voice.
Remember also that “Going to Heaven” is a Folk-Religion concept. The Bible talks about entering the Kingdom of God. We can do that while on this earth, and if we do, then we experience the presence of God right here, and (as we remain in the Kingdom when our earthly body “drops off”) we remain in God’s presence after this life. It is the consequence of what we have chosen. We choose to be in His presence.
The subject has lots of aspects, some of them quite complex. However, there are certain things we can say for sure:
1. God is a Just God
This means that he will never do an Injustice.
Romans 2 11 says he does not show favouritism.
So we can trust him about the way he administers his Kingdom.
2. We are judged by the light we have (Rom 2 12-16)
When Gentiles, who do not have the Law, (says Paul) do by nature what the Law requires, they show that the requirements of the Law are written on their hearts.
This isn’t necessarily a guarantee of salvation; their thoughts will one day be judged, and may accuse them on that day, or “even may defend them” says Paul (Rom 2 15)
3. All mankind can see the Glory of God, so there is no excuse (Rom 1 19-21)
So those Gentiles (and all others) have no excuse for not acknowledging God.
And there are plenty of instances of the “wonder of the Universe” being the catalyst of someone coming to faith.
4. Jesus said “I am the way”, “No one comes to the Father except by me” and similar phrases.
Peter preached “Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name…by which we must be saved” (Acts 4 12).
John says, “God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life, He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. (1 John 5 11, 12)
Some objectors are offended that God would require them to fulfil a condition before he accepts them.
They think that they should be allowed to believe in whatever THEY want, and still obtain all the benefits of the commitment to the Saviour Jesus whom they reject.
Society brings people up to think that they have “a right to choose”, and they think that goes for EVERY aspect of life.
Well it does and it doesn’t.
Generally when we choose, we have to take the consequences of that choice. People don’t like this, but it’s true.
They usually want to choose one thing, and have the consequences of another.
They want the convenience of an easy choice and the benefits of a harder one.
I call this “This train is going to London”. This is how it works:
This train is going to London.
It’s free to get on.
You’re on the platform.
If you don’t get on the train, you won’t get a train ride to London.
Why is that surprising?
But people still stand round on the platform shouting “They won’t let me go to London on the train, JUST because I don’t want to get on!
Like it or not, the Bible is quite clear, Jesus is the only way. John’s statement above is one of my favourites because it is so clear.
5. Children below the “Age of Accountability”
All are agreed that there is an age below which it is impossible for a child to consciously reject God. The exact age will vary, but the principle remains.
Jesus taught that children can give quite a few lessons to adults about trusting God (Mt 18 3-4). He always accepted children (Mk 10 13-16). King David, whose baby died, was certain that they would meet again in a future life. (2 Sam 12 22-23). God judges Israel for sacrificing children to the Canaanite god, Moloch, calling this an abomination, yet calls the children “My Children” (Ezek 16 21). In the prophecy about the children slaughtered by Herod after the birth of Jesus (Jer 31 15-17), God promises that they will “come back”.
Some Christians object to this teaching because they are too lazy to preach the Gospel to people.
We need to be ready to speak out for Jesus at every opportunity.
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Creating what we can't explore and lots of other questions!!
I hope I ask this question correctly!
Why did God create the Solar System when we only need or can live on one planet. We can't even see all the planets.
Part of me thinks that it is so that we could create sci-fi films to watch.
It is the same with the galaxies, they look great but you need to invest in thousands of pounds just to see most of them.
Also, does the world end? Is there a wall at the end of the solar system or just blackness?
Sorry if this goes on and there are too many small questions in a big question. I would be interested to know that when he put the stars in the sky, did he like them so much he couldn't stop himself?!?
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Phil says:
Hi, It seems to be a cosmological night tonight!
ANOTHER great question!
I've broken your question down into 2 parts, one dealing with what the Universe is doing here in the first place, and another part about what will happen in the future.
Here's some thoughts;
1. The Universe – why is it there?
Romans 1 19-20 tells us that God uses the Universe in all its glory, to be a witness to his eternal power and divine nature.
In other words, people with hearts which desire to turn to God will look at the Universe, see his nature and surrender their hearts to him. This is what The writer refers to in Rom 2 14-15 about Gentiles, who at that time, had not heard about God – they were still expected to see and respond to his nature.
And what does our knowledge of the Universe tell us about the nature of God?
Words which spring to mind:
Power
Design
Joy in creativity
Eye for beauty
Extravagance (Any God who enjoys making every snowflake different has got to be having a whale of a time with quasars, pulsars, black holes, dark matter, galaxies, and other chocolate bars.)
Infinite provision
Desire to bless Man with more than he could ever comprehend
OK, I’m sure I could think of more, but I’ll be sitting here all night!
The other part of your question asks why ever create something which nobody will ever observe?
Ah, but will they?
2. The End
God created this universe for a spotless bride people to live in.
Unfortunately, the earliest members of that race gave away to satan the authority over the universe that they had been given.
(If they had taken of the Tree of Life, instead of the other tree, they would have received resurrection bodies, as we shall do one day, and I think they would have had access to the whole of the Universe.)
But they didn't and the "whole creation" fell into decay (Rom 8 21) -presumably because the authority to take care of it had been surrendered.
And as it turned out, we're told by both Peter and John that there will be, in the end, a "new heaven and a new earth" (2 Peter 3 13 and Rev 21 1).
Jesus tells us that the stars will fall from heaven Mk 13 24
Whether this really means that the whole Universe will be replaced, or just our small part of it, I don’t know, I would suggest the whole will be replaced. However it is certain that this earth will disappear along with at least some part of what the ancients would have termed the “Sky”.
(I think that will mean Sky Sport will go too Rachel! {:-O)
So what will it be replaced by? I would suggest that the old will serve as the pattern for the new. This would fit the way in which God works, examples being the Temple being a pattern for the throne room of God in heaven, marriage being the pattern for the relationship between Jesus and the church, sacrifices being the picture of His death for us and so on.
Whatever way it works, there will be a Universe there, just as wonderful, or maybe more so, than the one we have now.
Why?
So we can explore it!
If you now read my post to a question called “What would Heaven be like?” you’ll find info about this in section 5.
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In our brief chat the other day I was asking about the situation of someone having several husbands/wives ( one after the other) on earth, so what would their relationship be in heaven and would they know who is who etc?
And would we know who we used to be on earth? Plus would we know of the sin we had? Also would you be able to go space traveling to explore his wonderful universe and not just living in the new Jerusalem, other wise it is such a waste if you don't have the benefit of viewing it?.
On the subject of heaven, is there sadness in heaven? Because I would be gutted if I found out some friends and family weren't in heaven. So maybe the question should be would we recognise people in heaven?
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Phil says:
I'm afraid this is a long reply, because there are FIVE questions here!:
1. What relationship do people have “in heaven” compared to that which we have on earth?
2. Will we recognise each other “in heaven” (=will we be recognisable as the same people we are here?)
3. What memory would we retain of ungodliness on earth (both ours and other people’s), and would we regret?
4. Will we be aware that some of our nearest and dearest chose not to be in God’s presence?
5. Will we be able to explore the rest of the Universe?
I hope you get charged extra for trying to get all these questions into one space on the discussion board!
So here goes:
1. In Mt 22 24-30, Jesus tells us that “at the resurrection” we will neither marry, nor be given in marriage. Instead we will resemble the angels.
Jesus uses the idea of “at the Resurrection” for us, rather than our concept of “In Heaven”, which he uses of the angels.
By talking about resurrection, he underlines the fact that we will by then have PHYSICAL bodies. The Bible says our resurrection bodies will be like his (1 John 3 2 and several other places)
However, these physical bodies will not be made to reproduce, so presumably will not need to be either male or female.
So I won’t be married to my wife, nor she to me then.
So what of our intense and loving relationship – and if I can be personal here, what about the depth and intensity of a sexual union? Will we be denied that “after the resurrection”?
Will God give, to a fallen and corrupt people on earth, better things here than they will get when they are restored to the fullness of his presence? Surely not! Surely the blessings of being there will be BETTER than we have here, not worse.
When we think of the picture the Bible paints of God’s bridegroom love for his people, we must accept that the intensity of our marriage relationships here on earth is only a PICTURE of the real relationships in the life to come.
So the relationship I will have with my wife, though not a marriage relationship, will be MORE intense than it is here on earth. Yahoo! Augustine had the opinion that the joy that we will receive from God in our souls will "overflow" into our resurrection bodies in a "voluptuous torrent" of pleasure.
But what about you – will you be excluded from that? No! Because my wife and myself will no longer have a marriage relationship, we will relate to all of God’s people equally, (though undoubtedly my wife and I will share more memories than we share with others – provided we recognise each other--- which takes us to the next question.)
So your relationship and mine – whoever you are - will be even deeper than my earthly relationship with my own wife.
2. Will we know each other, and will we be who we are now?
We are told that, after his resurrection, Jesus’s followers generally did recognise who he was, (though at one time his identity was hidden.)
So if we have the same resurrection body as his, we shall be able to recognise each other.
The resurrected Jesus also had the same character and personality which he had before his death, so we can expect that our character and personality will survive into our new bodies.
(That means I will still have the same weird sense of humour – beware!)
Paul tells the Thessalonians not to grieve for their loved ones who had died, because they will be restored to them at the resurrection. (1 Thess 4 13). If they couldn’t recognise them, what would be the point?
So we will recognise our friends and they will recognise us.
We’ll take 3 & 4 together. What is the nature of the Life God has for us after “the resurrection”.
On the one hand…
If, after we die, we have no memory of what happened in this life, how can God call us to account or for reward for what has happened?
We will remember our level of commitment to God (some will say “Lord, Lord did we not … and so on. Matthew 7:21-23) Similarly in several other stories Jesus tells (Mt 25 35-40)
And when we are given rewards for what we have done in this life, we won’t be standing there saying “OK, What’s this for then? We will remember.
So our memories will be intact, in fact if we didn’t have them, how would we recognise God, or Jesus?
On the other…
To the dying thief, Jesus called it “Paradise” - a place of happiness and contentment, where every need is met, and nothing is wanting.
God will wipe away every tear from our eyes, and there will be no more mourning or crying or pain (Rev 21 4)
Somehow, although there will be memory, there will be no pain for us.
So, for those we love who are not committed to Jesus, let these thoughts spur us on to claim them in prayer and tell them in person.
And if they are already dead, remember that no one knows what interaction God has with the human soul in those last moments of life. They might seem only seconds long to us, the onlooker, but to God a day is like a thousand years. We can never say of any person that they died without God.
5. Jesus had a resurrection body which could disappear from one place and appear in another. He could disappear on one side of a locked door and reappear on the other side.
We will have bodies which work in the same way.
I call this “Beam me up, Scotty”!
I don’t think we will be restricted about where we explore in the whole universe – what else would it be for?
When I have a bit of work done in our house which makes it a nicer place to live, I can’t wait to show my closest friends.
God had had to wait a long time to show us – I bet he’s itching!
Great questions - enjoyed doing these!
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Why does the Millennium have to be a 1000 years? It seems a very long time to have to wait till the new heaven and is at least ten generations of people. Surely even a couple of generations would be enough or - as we would have heavenly bodies - could we just speed ahead in time to the end? Would we also judge the people we rule over and send them to satan’s prison?
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Phil says:
Funnily enough, maybe it will only be a couple of generations to fill the Thousand Years; one of the Prophecies about this time is Isaiah 65 20 says people will live much longer (understandable when we remember that satan is prevented form having any effect on the human race).
It says a person who is only a hundred years old wil be thought a mere youth.
So a youth for Isaiah's day was what? Say 12 to 15 years old? And an old person would have been five or six times that age?
So if we now think of a hundred as a youthful age, what is old age? Five or six hundred years.
People will be restored to the longevity (look it up!) of the early Old Testament, living for hundreds of years.
In those days it could be attributed to lack of time for genetic damage to cause life-shortening disease.
In the future, to state it again, it will be attributed to the removal of satan, possibly allowing better cures - or perhaps people will just get better naturally, because of God's healing presence on the earth. Psalm 41 1-3 hints that God's people "after a time of Trouble" (=Tribulation) will be restored if they get ill.
So maybe the whole Millennial age will contain few generations.
So why it is a thousand years?
I don't know exactly, but...
satan has to have opportunity to convict himself of his sin. Even with satan's condemnation, God is Just, and he has to act with perfect Justice.
Perhaps only that length of time will be enough for all those to die off who have lived through the Tribulation and remember the days of satan's rule.
So a new generation will arise, and every single one will have been born under the complete and total rule of God.
And the ultimate proof and condemnation will be when even this generation will fall straight into satan's deception, as I said in a previous answer, and form huge armies to move directly to destroy Jerusalem, which by then will be the seat of the Throne of Jesus.
As for judging the people we rule over (in the sense of passing judgment and prescribing sentence) , I don't see that for us during the Millennium.
Our word will be law, however, as we will take our instructions direct from God. Jesus will judge, with us, at the end of that time.
The only point I haven't dealt with is your kind suggestion that I have a heavenly body. You are so nice to a poor old man...
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I presume that we would get our resurrection bodies at the point of rapture, so what happens when we come back to the earth with Jesus to rule for a thousand years? Do we have these new bodies in this fallen world and what would our purpose be?
Would we still benefit from what is in heaven during that time (eat all you wanted, never get ill etc...) and I presume that one thing we would do is try and bring more people to know Jesus, and when they accepted, would they then get their new bodies?
Hope this makes sense.
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Phil says:
ANOTHER good question! Have you got a book of them, or something? ("Now which one should I give him this time? Oh here's a good one from Chapter 2...")
Anyway, on to the details:
We certainly would get our resurrection bodies at the point of "meeting Jesus in the air" - the Rapture (1 Thess 4 17).
So on any Rapture scenario (pre-Trib, mid-Trib, post-Trib) by the time the Millennium starts, immediately after the seven tribulation years, we will be safely and permanently in infallible bodies with unusual (for our minds now) powers.
The start of the Millennium is marked by the continuation of this world and all people who are left over from the Tribulation, certainly the non-believers, and possibly some believers too.
It is also marked by the imprisonment of satan - and all that belong to him - for a thousand-year spell in chokey (called "The Abyss" in Rev 20 1-3).
So we then rule over this Millennial world jointly with Jesus. (I think I will be assigned to Tahiti!) Travel to our location of rule would be immediate, using the powers of our new bodies (see previous answer).
We, with our new bodies, will not sin of course, but for all the people over whom we rule, sin will not be tolerated, for Jesus will rule "with a rod of iron" (Ps 2 9, Rev 2 27, Rev 12 5, Rev 19 15).
All other powers of our new bodies would also remain - they are permanent. The one which means most to Aubyn is obviously the first he mentions above - eating. Relax, Aubyn, you'll be fine!
On your last point, I have to confess ignorance. I don't think the Bible tells us what happens to people who become belivers during this thousand year period. It is fairly silent on a lot of detail here.
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