A Glimpse of Heaven

This evening, I lost my mobile phone. Not only that, I wasn't even aware of the lost of my phone. About 3:00 in the morning, I received a phone call from the guy who found it.

The guy turned out to be a homeless guy that I had helped some time last year. Although I haven't seen him since that time, I've often think of him, wondering if he's ok.

Too often, homeless people would either die from exposure or from being hit by a passing car or from being attacked by mischievous teens. And often, their death would occur without any notice from society. So, after not seeing this guy for all this time, I had feared the worst and hoped that we would at least meet again in heaven.

This morning, the homeless guy, that I had been worrying about, stood before me alive and doing well. (And he's got himself a little blue scooter.) But this time, it's him helping me and not the other way around.

I don't know how to explain it but it was a perfect moment. The phone that I had lost and not even aware was lost is returned. The man that I had feared dead is alive. And he is no longer indebt to me for my kindness; this morning, the exchange of kindness is complete.

That moment was like a glimpse of heaven.

Why do we, Christians, call God, our Father, and not our Mother?

Someone started a thread in one of the Christian forum with the following:

Why is God a father?

In the bible it says that God is a father, but why? A mother can be just as good as a father.

Later in the thread, he posted the following:

God is genderless, being that God is outside all of time and space that we know it, and it's really our chosseing to rufur to God as anyway we want. Even to be able to call God a goddess, and a mother, so I really don't have any problem having chirstens call God a father. All I'm doing is asking why christens ask call God father.

My reply has two parts. First of all, we don't arbitrarily call God our father instead of mother; we do so because we are commanded to do so. Secondly, there's a reason that God commands us to do so.

The Bible contains almost 170 references to God as the "Father"; about 900 verses use the word "theos"—a masculine noun in the Greek and not use the word "thea"-a feminime. However, one would be hard pressed to find a single verse that refers to God as the "Mother".

While, some people have argued that the use of the word "Father" is the result of a male dominated culture, I disagree.

Matthew 6:9

This, then, is how you should pray:

'Our Father in heaven,

hallowed be your name,

Jesus, who is God incarnated, said that when we pray we are to address God as, "Our Father who art in heaven." And that has nothing to do with cultural context. It's an explicit imperative.

The only way we can go around that one is to refute the accuracy of the quotation in the gospels; and if you disregard this part of the scripture, then what's to stop you from disregarding any other part of the scripture. And if every part of the scripture is suspect and we are allow to pick and choose from the scripture as it suits us, then we might as well just make it up as we go along.

See the slippery slope that we are sliding down?

So, why does God refers to Him self in the male gender?

In the scripture, when God refers to Himself in the male gender, it is not to be taken as a reference to physical features. God is spirit.

John 4:24

God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth."

In fact, both men and women reflect the image of God.

Genesis 1:27

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.

God chose to refer to Himself in the male gender because it defines his role in his relationship with us.

Throughout the Old and New Testament, God describes His role as the Bridegroom and His people as His bride. He is the suitor pursuing His beloved, his people. We, in our sin, do not pursue God; instead we give ourselves to own selfish desires, our own "gods". It is because He pursues us that we are able to repent (turn around) and see God as the only one worthy of our worship. (e.g., See Solomon's Song of Songs)

God also describes His role as the husband who gave himself up for his wife to make her holy.

Ephesians 25-27

Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

God's use of the male gender, to define his relationship with us, cuts to the heart of the Gospel.

How to Receive the Holy Spirit

Someone started a new discussion thread in one of the Christian forums. Here is her post:

Do you believe the holy spirit is a free gift?

A lot of christiuan's believe you must recieve it via baptism or laying on the hands?

what do YOU guys think?

And, can you provide scripture?


Thanks! God Bless :)

Here is my response:

Acts 2:38
Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.

While Acts 2:38 seems to say that if you are baptized, you will receive the Holy Spirit. That is not the case in Samaria:

Acts 8:14-17
When the apostles in Jerusalem heard that Samaria had accepted the word of God, they sent Peter and John to them. When they arrived, they prayed for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come upon any of them; they had simply been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus. Then Peter and John placed their hands on them, and they received the Holy Spirit.

While Acts 8:14-17 may lead one to believe that one receives the Holy Spirit by the laying of hands, there were no laying of hands or baptism before receiving the Holy Spirit in the case of Cornelius and his household:

Acts 10:30-48
Cornelius answered: "Four days ago I was in my house praying at this hour, at three in the afternoon. Suddenly a man in shining clothes stood before me and said, 'Cornelius, God has heard your prayer and remembered your gifts to the poor. Send to Joppa for Simon who is called Peter. He is a guest in the home of Simon the tanner, who lives by the sea.' So I sent for you immediately, and it was good of you to come. Now we are all here in the presence of God to listen to everything the Lord has commanded you to tell us."

Then Peter began to speak: "I now realize how true it is that God does not show favoritism but accepts men from every nation who fear him and do what is right. You know the message God sent to the people of Israel, telling the good news of peace through Jesus Christ, who is Lord of all. You know what has happened throughout Judea, beginning in Galilee after the baptism that John preached—how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power, and how he went around doing good and healing all who were under the power of the devil, because God was with him.

"We are witnesses of everything he did in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen—by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. He commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one whom God appointed as judge of the living and the dead. All the prophets testify about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."

While Peter was still speaking these words, the Holy Spirit came on all who heard the message. The circumcised believers who had come with Peter were astonished that the gift of the Holy Spirit had been poured out even on the Gentiles. For they heard them speaking in tongues and praising God.

Then Peter said, "Can anyone keep these people from being baptized with water? They have received the Holy Spirit just as we have." So he ordered that they be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ. Then they asked Peter to stay with them for a few days.


One receives the Holy Spirit when one becomes a believer:

Galatians 3:2-5
I would like to learn just one thing from you: Did you receive the Spirit by observing the law, or by believing what you heard? Are you so foolish? After beginning with the Spirit, are you now trying to attain your goal by human effort? Have you suffered so much for nothing—if it really was for nothing? Does God give you his Spirit and work miracles among you because you observe the law, or because you believe what you heard?

But is the gift of the Holy Spirit free?

Galatians 3:14
He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit.

No, it was paid for, by Jesus.

So, why did Peter and John place their hands on people in Samaria? Since the pre-condition for receiving the Holy Spirit is to believe, I would have to assume that the people in Samaria who were baptized, required more faith and that Peter and John's prayer during the laying of hands promoted faith among the people in Samaria who were baptized.

And what about Peter's speech in Acts 2:38? Again, I'm assuming that faith is pre-condition for receiving the Holy Spirit and that repenting and being baptized is an act of faith.

Learning 2 Corinthians 12:9, again.

With all the stuff with which I have to deal (taking of my mom who had a stroke, taking of my brother who has a chemical imbalance, my diminished kidney function, my torn ligament on my right shoulder/upper arm, etc.), just when I thought it couldn't get worse, an extremely heavy security door at work slammed on my hand, today.

WHY, LORD? How much more do I have to take?

2 Corinthians 12:9
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

Your grace is sufficient? What is that supposed to mean? I'm in agony here! My entire right arm from my shoulder down to my fingers is throbbing with pain!!!!!

The Lord is right, of course. My body will tolerate the pain and adjust to the limited mobility. Both will diminish in time.

But most importantly, the boundaries of what I thought I can withstand is once again expanded.

Another Response to "Do we really want Jesus to return?"

There is another response to "Do we really want Jesus to return?" While the language, used in this post, is... well... a bit hysterical, the post raises two important points. Here is the post:

You are acctually gonna wait for jesus to come back? And what happens when he does? will you believe it is him? Will you follow Satan to your own destruction? You need a serious reality check here man. You need to read the book of revalations. Satan is coming first. And he will try and trick you into believing he is Jesus. If you follow him there is no turning back. Why would you listen to fools and think jesus is returning first? You should never listen to men over gods word. You need to check this out for yourself. And please don't fall for him.

The first point, that he raises, is that we should not wait for Jesus because Satan is coming first.

The second point, that he raises, is that by waiting for Jesus we would be fooled into following Satan.

Here is my response:


Yes, I am, the Bible tells us to long for His return.

2 Timothy 4:8
Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.


No, I will not be deceived by Satan. He can do all the tricks he wants but he can not do what Jesus will do upon returning: raising us up into heaven.

1 Thessalonians 4:13:17
Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.

Genesis 1:22 and Mark 11:22-25

Tonight, while I was browsing through a Christian forum, I encountered two posts that I found intriguing. One concerns Genesis 1:22 and the other concerns Mark 11:22-25.

Genesis 1:22
God blessed them and said, "Be fruitful and increase in number and fill the water in the seas, and let the birds increase on the earth."

Here's the first post concerning this verse:

"Be fruitful and multiply."

Just an observation - but we have problems with famine, war, disease, drought, population explosion, etc.

I believe these problems can all be traced back to the "be fruitful and multiply" command. But that's just human instinct / nature / as well as God's command to us as a creation.

OF COURSE He knew this would result and we would decay or deteriorate as time goes by, and His provisions are what would keep us safe if we would all keep them, but apparently - we can't.

So, what do you think, is Gen 1:22 a command with some deeper meaning to it (the culmination of it leading to the 2nd coming of Christ and Armageddon). Creating something that can and will multiply has its limit and God has a solution for eternal life and preservation and that's only in the Son and through the Cross.

So, looks kind of bad that we have to face problems but who's to blame?

God commanded us to multiply...

We multiply (some w/out caring what God thinks)...

Now we have problems but we couldn't keep the planet in order. Eh I think we're to blame.

What am I getting at here... mmmm... that "Be Fruitful And Multiply" is foreshadowing what we'll be needing before we leave earth - Jesus. :)



Here's my reply:

This thesis is based on a flawed assumption: It assumes that the world's major problems are the result of over-population. More particularly, they resulted from the lack of resources necessary to support the population.

This assumption is simply not true.

If one looks at how much food is produced and how many people live on earth, one will see that there is more than enough food for everybody. The problem is a matter of distribution (or rather the unwillingness to distribute).

Consider this: Americans compose of less than 20% (very liberal estimate) of the world population yet we consume more than 65% (very conservative estimate) of resources consumed by the world (in dollars).

The main problem is greed not over-population. And that has to do with sin.


Here's the other post:

What do these scriptures mean?

Mark 11:22-25
22"Have[f] faith in God," Jesus answered. 23"I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

Matt 21:22
22If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."

Someone responded with the following:

I kind of think "Who can honestly ask a mountain to move into the sea without any doubt"? Because of what we know and what we've experienced, it's impossible to believe.

For that reason, I think it means don't pray for stuff outside of what you believe, because if you doubt you wont receive because you don't really believe you will. With the measure you use you will be measured (hence why you should forgive others if you're asking God to forgive you).

But we shouldn't be limited in prayer forever because of our limited experience. We should constantly be seeking to grow in our knowledge and understanding that God can do the impossible if only we would just ask.

So yeah, I try not to pray for something I don't believe that God would do, but I also try to mature and see God can do all things... so eventually I hope to pray for the impossible knowing full well God can do it.

Hope that makes sense/is not too heretical :)


Here's my reply:

huh?

Are you saying that we should only pray for things that we know would happen?

So if someone is on a ledge on a mountain and you see an avalanche coming towards this person and you know that the only way this can end is this person being creamed by the avalanche, you would pray that this person be creamed by the avalanche?


OK, let's start with the first verse:

"Have faith in God, " Jesus answered.

That's the main point of the passage: Have faith in God.

It, of course, begs the question: "Have faith in God to do what?"

The implicit answer is: To do what He promises to do.

So, if the Lord asks you to cause the mountain to crumb to the sea by saying to the mountain, "Go, throw yourself into the sea", have faith in the Lord and do it while believing the mountain would crumb to the sea.

For example, the Lord told the Israelites to march around Jericho, blowing trumpets and yelling; then, the wall would crumble. The Israelites did it while believing that the walls would crumble. And because they believed, the wall crumbled.

Mark 11:25
And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.

The last sentence is a qualification of "receiving whatever you ask".

God promises that you'd be forgiven if you ask for forgiveness.

However, for this special case, just asking is not enough.

To receive forgiveness, you must not only ask for forgiveness, you must also give it.

Responses to "Do we really want Jesus to return?"

There were two notable responses to "Do we really want Jesus to return?". One was an objection to what my original post implies and the other was a personal reflection.

Here is the objection:

This type of thinking drives me nuts, especially since I come from a tradition that has bought into it hook, line, and sinker. Absolutely, we must take the Gospel to all peoples in the world, but if our motivation in doing so is to somehow force Christ to return, we are missing the boat. Back before WWII, they thought that through working for social justice, they could create Heaven on earth and thereby force the Second Coming. Hence, all of the parachurch organizations that started in the late 1800's and early 1900's. They were wrong, and I truly believe that this new approach is wrong as well. Again, we must evangelize, but our motivation needs to be pure in doing so.

Here's my response to the objection:

It was never about forcing Jesus to come. And no where in my post was there the mentioning of creating a heaven on earth.

It is about Jesus waiting for us help complete the task of fulfilling the Great Commission.

The problem that I am pointing out is that a lot of Christians sit around speculating on date and time of Jesus' return and NOT participating in the Great Commission.

That's why I quoted from Acts 1:6-8. The disciples are all excited about finding out when Jesus would establish His kingdom. To which, Jesus reply "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority... be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth".

Jesus has already instructed them (in Matthew 24:14) that "this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come."

So, Jesus was basically telling the disciples, stop wasting your time concerning yourself with when the end would come. It is not for you to know. Concern yourself with doing what you are called to do: fulfilling the condition that God had set. The end would not come until that condition is fulfilled.

This post is about yielding to Jesus' call and not just sit around and speculate on the date and time of His return.

Here is the response to my response to the objection:

You may not have explicitly stated it, but the implication is definitely there: "We can affect the time of Christ's return through our actions." I then mentioned the Social Gospel movement as an example of this type of thought. They were wrong then, and those who think that we can affect the date of Christ's return through mass evangelism are wrong now.

Absolutely we must reach out to those who have never heard, but there are many (not you, perhaps) who seem to think that the moment a group of people from the last unreached people group accepts Christ, He will return. This type of cause and effect thinking is rather dangerous, but it seems to be growing in prominence. This may not have been what you meant to say with your post, but the message is there. We must be very careful in how we think, say, and write. I applaud the message quoted above, and, if you had posted that message with that Scripture alone, there would have been no mixed signals.

My final response to the objection:

I stated that a condition must be met before Christ return. I did not state that meeting the condition would invoke Christ to return. To draw that conclusion would be an application of flawed logic.

e.g., There must be sufficient oxygen in the atmosphere before a fire can be started. It DOES NOT mean that as soon as there is sufficient oxygen in the atmosphere there would be fire.

It DOES mean that there WOULD NEVER BE fire as long as there is insufficient oxygen.

Like wise, Christ WOULD NOT return before there are believers among all the nations.

I'm simply urging the fulfillment of that precursor condition.

I believe that we agree on this issue. Our only disagreement is in how it is communicated. For some reason you believe that my statement imply that the fulfillment of that condition would force the return of Christ.


I wanted to post the response with the personal reflection because I believe there are many that share this sentiment. Here is the response:

Heck yeh I want Jesus to return to bring forth a new world without suffering, corruption, sin, rape, murder, etc.. put an end to the chaos.

However, I want to be ready When He comes back I do not to be in sin or struggling with the same strong hold sins.

I looking forward to the savior coming back.

I like the message and I do want to get involved.

Here's my response:

LOL! I hope He doesn't wait until you are not in sin and not struggling with sin before coming back. Then, He'd never come back because none of us would ever reach that state.

1 Corinthians 15:51-53
Behold, I show you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed,
In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.
For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.

Luckily, we will all be changed (perfected) when He returns.

Yes, we are to pursue becoming more like Him. However, we do so by yielding to His call.

We sin because we lack the faith that He would provide for us and we grab whatever we think we need or want for ourselves.

It is by getting to know Him in which our faith is built up.

He does not need us to reach the world. He can do it Himself.

He invites us to participate in this activity with Him so that we would walk more closely with Him and get to know him.

Knowing Him more results in having faith in Him more.

Having faith in him more results in we not being as desperate and grabbing whatever we think we need or want for ourselves. Thus, we sin less.

Haven't you noticed that the ones, who throw themselves into following His call, mature much more quickly?

The cause and effect is: following His call yields maturity; not the other way around.

Actually, it's more like a chicken or egg cyclic process. Following His call yields greater maturity which yields more following His which yields greater maturity, etc.

However, the initial bootstrap step is following His call.

One can not obtain spiritual maturity on one's own; one can study on one's own to get a lot of head knowledge but that's not the same as spiritual maturity.

Why Is Homosexuality Wrong?

Someone posted the following in a Christian forum:

Here is a question and if you can answer it with a logical answer other than "because God says so in Leviticus", then I might agree. But why is homosexuality wrong? What makes it so wrong in the eyes of God? Why is it wrong? Why does God say it's wrong?

If you can answer that without saying,
"Do not lie with a man as one lies with a woman; that is detestable." -Leviticus 18:22


Here's my answer:

Think of the universe as a masterpiece art created by God. Part of this masterpiece is the creation of a man and a woman (a husband and his wife). That relationship was created to represent God's (Jesus') relationship with the church.

Ephesians 5:25-27
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless.

You'll find that analogy in many other places in the Bible (Old and New Testament), starting with Genesis "Let us make man in our own image." to many of the Psalms to the "Solomon's Song of Songs"... etc.

For man to have homosexual relationships would be a rejection of God's purpose of using the husband/wife relationship as the image of God's relationship with His people.

Do we really want Jesus to return?

As I browse the Christian forums, I continually find discussions speculating on when the end will come.

God does not want us to know the times or date of Jesus' second coming. Jesus tells us the condition ("gospel must first be preached to all nations") and wants us to work towards that condition.

Acts 1:6-8
So when they met together, they asked him, "Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to Israel?"
He said to them: "It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority. But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth."

Mark 13:10 And the gospel must first be preached to all nations.

Matthew 24:14 And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations, and then the end will come.

Matthew 28:19-20
Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."


Why? Because in the end, there would be saved people from all nations in heaven:

Revelation 7:9-12
After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice:

"Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb."

All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying:

"Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!"


In the bible verses, mentioned above, the word "nation" is translated from the Greek word "ethnos" (Strong's G1484) which means race or "people group". The Jews people today use the word "Gentiles".

The "people groups" or Gentiles are identified in Genesis 10 (The Table of Nations).

According U.S. Center for World Mission, the number of unreached "people groups" (those without a viable indigenous church) are dwindling. We are very close.

If we truly love Christ and want Him to return, we would all be putting most of our resources into making this condition happen, helping to bring the Gospel to the last of the unreached "people groups".

Dealing with A Painting of Jesus

Long ago, someone noted that I do not have a picture of Jesus on my wall and gave me a painting of Jesus. The reason that I didn't have a picture of Jesus is because no one knows what Jesus looked like so any picture of Jesus would be a misrepresentation of who Jesus is. However, not wanting to upset the donor of this painting, I accepted it and place in over my piano in my living room.

Recently, someone noticed that picture of Jesus over my piano in my living room and tried to persuade me that having a picture of Jesus was a violation of God's commandments. While I don't believe that it is a violation, I took it down for this person's sake. (The donor of this picture had since moved to California so it would not upset this person if the painting is no longer over my piano since this person would not be here to see it.)

I was going to let this topic drop and not bother to write about it in my blog, but the following post appeared in one of the Christian forums:

Isn't a painting of Jesus a 'graven image?'

Someone else posted this response:

According to 1 Corinthians 8:4-6 I would say no. This scripture says there is but one God but many have made gods that are in the heavens or earth. Our worship is given to God and Jesus. I'll take my chances with a painting of the One who died for me. I know what Exodus 20:4-6 says and it is complimentary of the 1 Corinthians scripture. Just my belief.

This is my response:

While I agree that having a picture of Jesus does not constitute the violation of the God's commandment (since it is referring to worshiping idols), one has to also consider how one's action can effect the spiritual health of others.

1 Corinthians 10:23-24
"Everything is permissible"—but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible"—but not everything is constructive. Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others.

Romans 14:19-21
Let us therefore make every effort to do what leads to peace and to mutual edification. Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All food is clean, but it is wrong for a man to eat anything that causes someone else to stumble. It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or to do anything else that will cause your brother to fall.

While these to verses refer to keeping kosher, it can also be applied to other ways in which we can cause others to stumble even though we are doing something that is permissible.

Let's assume that you hang an image of a Caucasian Jesus and it causes someone of African origin to subliminally categorize Christianity as an European religion, would you not be causing someone to stumble while doing something that is permissible?

Let us not just be legalists; let us conduct ourselves with love.