 
Frequently Asked Questions...
1. Do you think the Bible should be read literally?
Much of it CANNOT be read literally. The cup spoken of by David and Jesus was a poetic cup -- not one made of tin or china. The bread of affliction or bread of sorrow in the Old Testament was preliminary to the Living Bread we read about in John 6.
2. Where did Cain's wife come from?
He married his sister! This was prior to the time of the Law against incest, and Adam & Eve had
other sons and daughters (Gen5:4), and the record of the generations makes it clear that no other
couples were involved. People who don't have any problem with understanding how a pair of
rabbits can populate an island should have no problem accepting the Bible truth that begins
with one male and one female. - "For I will cleanse their blood that I have not cleansed..." Joel 3:21. In those early days of mankind the bloodline
was pure enough to allow inter-marriage.
3. Where did Satan come from? If man had not been created, there would be no Satan, so from that perspective it's God's fault!
However, Satan isn't an individual wearing a red suit and carrying a pitchfork. He doesn't leave footprints, and he's just as active today in Pakistan or New York as he is in
Mayberry or Hollywood. The Bible describes Satan as Lucifer and 'Son
of the Morning' in Isaiah 14, as well as King of Tyrus and Anointed Cherub in Ezekiel 28. From the serpent in the garden, to the
accuser of Revelation, he has many different descriptions: devil, adversary, dragon, etc. and the Amalekites are a specific
people who personify the prideful Satan. It was said of him: "Thou wast perfect in thy ways from
the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee". Ezek 28:15. Imagine that! Just
like our babies!
Semantics and reciprocals and our confounded language also comes into play here. One side says that since God created everything including evil, that He must be evil too. The other side takes the
position that there is no such thing as darkness (that it's only the absence of light), and that there's no such thing as cold (only the absence of heat), and therefore God can be Light and Heat and Good, but
not the opposite.
- The word "umbrella" is not found in the Bible, but figuratively there's an umbrella of Truth and also an umbrella of Untruth--which is 'No umbrella at all'.
4. Why did God do all those dreadful things in the Old Testament?
Using hindsight, and realizing that those things were written "for our learning" (Rom 15:4), we
acknowledge the difference between the permissive and the causative Hebrew text. You can't
blame Henry Ford when your car slams into a tree and you weren't wearing your seat belt. Neither should
you blame God for the gift of life, when something upsets your applecart. He has, after all, given us the
Manual so we'll know how it's supposed to operate.  - The Old Testament characters were fighting bloody battles against real people (just like today in many parts of the world) and they knew
very little about Satan. They didn't know him as the serpent in the garden nor as the "god of this world" (little 'g'), and the brief
account in the Book of Job has Satan there in heaven (!!) along with the Sons of God. Now we
recognize those battles as precepts for guiding the New Testament saints in our non-lethal struggle against
ignorance and wickedness. God didn't do or cause the ugly things -- Satan is the culprit!
Some have concluded that Adam had the authority to expel the serpent in the Garden, and his failure to do so was a type of deliberate disobedience (treason, perhaps..) and also
a pattern which continues to this day.
5. Why doesn't God speak to us today?
When he spoke from heaven, Jn12:29, others around didn't hear, but just thought it thundered. He has told us
that his Word is more sure than if an angel spoke to us, and without enough faith to spend time in
his Word, all you'll hear is thunder."My words are spirit", said Jesus in John 6:63, and they are
the 'God-breathed' word, 2Tim3:16, needed for those who would be sons of God. Times have
changed--Jesus has come and gone, but will be coming again. Will you be ready?-
There's no guarantee you'll ever hear God speak in this world, but as long as your faith is in some person or denomination instead of in
the God-breathed Word, don't count on it. You have a right to read the Bible for yourself!
6. Why do bad things happen to good people?
Isaiah 57 tells us "The righteous perish...and merciful men are taken away...none considering that the righteous is taken away from the evil to come".-
Not all the hatched out turtles make it from the beach to the sea -- the birds feed on some. And "Satan goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour", 1Pet5:8. A kind of survival of the fittest, but we're talking Spiritually-Fit!
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We've been warned that we're in Satan's territory, but good people and good-old-boys aren't taking advantage of the Refuge and the Strength
of the Lord God Almighty -- they go right ahead either willy-nilly or bare-fisted, instead of "submitting to God and resisting the devil" as the Bible says.
Granted they may be church-goers; but membership in a church is NOT what it's all about!
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Having said that, I hasten to add that learning the truth about the sacrifice and miracle of Christ is exactly what it's all about, and
usually that will be at a church. Use wisdom, because they are MANY "churches" (Gr: ekklesia, 'called out') and for sure you can't for sure tell a book by its cover. Amen? Exactly!
7. Why did a loving God allow a wicked Satan?
Think of it as spiritual friction or something like the angels climbing the rungs of a ladder, or the Ultimate Competition of Life. YOU BET YOUR LIFE, because everyone, no matter their talents, can make this bet or sign this IOU, regardless of how much they have in the bank.
Without some incentive we'd all just lay around getting fatter and lazier. Now I realize how a lot of it is hurtful and bad news in the here and now, but we have to consider how it's only for a short time comparatively, and of the prospects for a great reward
both now and later! Gamblers take notice!
8. Why do some churches think homosexuality is OK?
They just ignore the plain truth written in Romans chapter one, "For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the
natural use into that which is against nature..", Rom1:26.- They are the unholy ones who will say "Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name?", and the Lord will reply "I never knew you; depart from me, ye that work iniquity".
- Many are the 'believers' giving lip-service to God in church, but few are aware of the fullness of the Truth & Logic of His Word.
9. Were there dinosaurs on Noah's Ark?
Not likely. It's important to note the two(2) floods spoken of in the Bible and God's instructions about "replenishing" the earth. That old world perished according to 2Pet3:6, along with the dinosaurs, no doubt. We don't know how old the earth is, but
scripture records how Adam was created about six thousand years ago.
10. Why don't the Jews recognize Jesus as the Messiah?
(1) They don't want to admit their own kind (especially "priests") are guilty of the crucifixion atrocity. (2) They're only familiar with the
Jewish commentary, the Talmud, so they haven't seen how the Old Testament and New Testament are two halves of a whole. "My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge"! Hosea 4:6.
11. What about all the Hindu's, Moslem's, and Buddhists? Will they all go to hell?
Our God is not going to punish anyone unjustly -- He is a God of Mercy, Love, and fairness. Too bad, I think, for them to go
through life without knowing the One True God of the Bible instead of a big lie.
12. Why do intelligent people claim the Bible is bunkum?
Mostly they're too lazy to check it out for themselves, and the clergy haven't really told it like it is --
we'd be in bad shape today if Judas hadn't betrayed Christ to be crucified, and it would be difficult to recognize
Jesus as the 'Lamb of God' if that Egyptian Pharaoh hadn't kept on being hard-hearted until the time of the Passover Lamb. Those precepts were
for our learning!- Jesus told us about the coming of the Holy Spirit, yet many "religious folk" deny or oppose the plain teaching of the New Testament epistles.
13. Why do many Christians claim the world is only 6,000 years old?They've ignored some vital clues in Genesis: like when God told Adam and Eve to "replenish" the earth, Gen1:28, and how He never explained how far back The Beginning occurred -- long before that first flood (prior to Noah's) whereby "..the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished". 2Pet3:6.-
In the Darwin-based "Monkey Trial" movie, Jack Lemon mocked the Bible and made it seem ludicrous, primarily because the defenders didn't know the difference between figurative, poetic, and literal truth.
- The ape-to-man theory accounts for the popular notion that Adam was a dunce, instead of allowing him great intelligence as inferred by his ability
to name all the animals.
What did they THINK would happen, when they expelled the Bible? Fewer sexual predators?
More patriots? |
14. Why does the Bible include details of violence, polygamy, rape, incest, etc?
For my money, the Bible is for the believer "a table prepared in the midst of our enemies", and is purposely meant to confound the unbelievers who aren't prepared to give the Author any benefit of doubt or to "study to show themselves approved". Rather than admit being sinners, or confessing to a higher intelligence than their own, they declare that NOBODY or nothing can wield authority over them.- And, after all, aren't those things all "facts of life"? Don't we read about those things in the newspaper, or see them on the TV, on a daily basis?
15. Why are there so many hypocrites in church?
Seems reasonable to me that the devil wants to undermine the church and distort the Word of God any way he can. He's had nearly two thousand years
to hack away at it, but "the gates of hell shall not prevail" and devout Christians continue to follow the Lord Jesus Christ despite the antics and shenanigans of the devil's crowd. Sorry if this sounds
too frivolous, because the consequences are so fierce, but it seems to me that much of the damage has been done through ignorance and apathy rather than deliberate premeditation.
16. Which version of the Bible shall I read?
I recommend the King James Version (KJV) because so many study aids are keyed to it. The old-English words serve to remind me that I'm reading God's Word and not just
something from a mortal author. The newer versions use contemporary English and thus may have more appeal, and I've found that the discrepancies or differences of any facts are few and far-between.
Because some wordings are clearer than others it may help to compare other versions (the Amplified perhaps) when you desire better understanding.
DREAMER
When I see it in the Bible then I think it has a purpose
'cause my Father's not a man to mince his Word..
If this present life is like a dream, then I'll soon be
waking up, and I'll expect to hear the chirping of the birds..
It's going to be a New Day! A special for-a-few Day,
and maybe like a visit to the farm..
We'll be gathered all together like birds of the same
feather, and ...oops, there goes the alarm!
Bob is duxrowQ@Qcswnet.com
(omit the Q's)
Use 'website' in subject..
My way of trying to thwart the web crawlers who harvest addresses for the spammers..
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