The Bible states that without faith, it is impossible to please God (Hebrews 11:6). Every day, our society, culture, and global events challenge whether God exists or if the Bible is true. Is it possible to have faith in any god, let alone the God of Israel from the Bible, in a fallen, dangerous world, growing ever more secular?
Continue readingEternal life is promised to those who believe, but what happens if they stop believing? What about someone who believes but struggles with sin? Is there a difference?
Continue readingWhen studying investing and the Bible simultaneously, some interesting metaphors for salvation came to mind. God’s order of salvation can be compared to a Cosmic Corporate Bond or a Heavenly ESO.
Many religions offer a promise of salvation from life’s challenges. Most beliefs teach that we must work for freedom. While others provide no hope of release from suffering for humanity, they simply accept life as it is. Various methods of salvation involve natural works to accumulate good karma or merit points with God. It’s like climbing a mountain to reach God or deliverance from life’s struggles. Still, while climbing, the climber faces an eruption, an avalanche, a thunderstorm, and mountain lions, making it humanly impossible. In contrast, in Christianity, Jesus (the Messiah) ascends the metaphorical mountain himself for us. He walks through fire and magma unburned (Dan 3:1-30), parts the wall of snow and ice (Ex 14:15-31, Josh 3:9-17), even walks on rushing water (Mark 6:45-56), quiets the storm (Mark 4:35-41), and shuts the lion’s mouth (Dan 6:1-28). He reaches the top for us and moves the mountain (Mark 11:22-24) by mediating a New Covenant relationship with God where his sacrifice covers our sin (failures to keep God’s law), so we are saved from sin’s eternal consequences. In other words, we can’t save ourselves, so we must trust God for it.
Continue readingWhy does God give us a choice in the first place? Doesn’t he want absolute obedience? If he wished for absolute obedience, then he would have made us robots, pre-programmed to say ‘I love you’. The Bible often compares God’s covenant relationship to human ones, such as a parent to a child (Creator to creation) and a husband to a wife (God to His people). Most people can understand the view of God as a Father, but seeing God as a husband seems strange to some. What is the difference between the two kinds of relationships?
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