Things I have learned from studying the Bible

Mr. and Mrs. Brown were faithful members of their church and the taught their sons, Harry and Tom, to be faithful too. When the sons grew up Harry rejected his parents’ teaching and stopped attending church. Tom continued to be active in church. The time came when Harry was about to die. He realized that he was not ready and finally repented of his sins and put his faith in Jesus Christ. His life had been wasted because he had lived for his own pleasure but in the end he was saved. Tom also reached the end of his life. Looking back he realized that he had tried to live a Christian life but in fact he was not a Christian because he had not repented and believed in Christ. Near the end of his life he finally took this step. His life had been wasted because he had trusted in his church and his service to it rather than in Christ but in the end he was saved. When we think of deathbed salvation we generally think of someone like Harry rather then Tom. The Bible gives us an example of such s

The last two chapters of the Bible describe the creation of a new heaven and a new earth which will be the home of all whose sins have been forgiven through their faith in Jesus Christ. There will be no more sin or temptation to sin. All that is evil will have been removed. Some people think of this time as being like retirement. We have finished our work and now we are able to begin living a life of leisure. Nothing can be further from the truth. This is not the end of our service to God but its true beginning. When God created Adam and Eve he had great plans for their future. We don’t know what those plans were because they ate the fruit that God had forbidden and so brought sin and death into the world. All that has happened since then is God’s efforts to remove these two invaders and restore the creation to what he intended it to be. Once that has been accomplished he will begin to carry out the real purpose for which he created us. The Last Battle , the last book of the  Chronicle

The Israelites were often tempted to worship the gods of the Canaanites and the surrounding nations.  One of those gods was called Molech or Moloch.  He required that his worshipers sacrifice their children to him.  Here is what Wikipedia says about him. Rabbinical  tradition depicted Moloch as a bronze statue heated with fire into which the victims were thrown. This has been associated with reports by Greco-Roman authors on the child sacrifices in  Carthage  to  Baal Hammon , especially since archaeological excavations since the 1920s have produced evidence for child sacrifice in Carthage as well as inscriptions including the term MLK, either a theonym or a technical term associated with sacrifice. In  interpretatio graeca , the Phoenician god was identified with  Cronus , due to the parallel mytheme of Cronus devouring his children. Moloch It seems inconceivable that anyone would be willing to kill their own children.  Perhaps it makes more sense when we understand the power behind i

There will be a final judgment just before God creates the new heaven and the new earth. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them.   And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done.   And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done.   Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.   And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.   (Revelation 20:11-15) Books containing a record of what the dead had done will be opened and the dead will be judged by what is written in them.  Another bo

It is a popular belief that in the past everyone thought the world is flat.  I have heard it said that Christopher Columbus proved the world was round when he discovered America.  The peasants might have thought the world was flat but the educated people knew it’s true shape.  They didn’t think Columbus would sail off the edge of the world.  They thought it was impossible to reach Asia by sailing west because the distance was too great.  If the American continents didn’t exist they would have been right. Columbus believed the world was smaller than it actually is and that Asia was larger.  That is why he thought the land he discovered was in the East Indies.  That is also why the aboriginal Americans are still called Indians. There is also a widespread misconception that the Bible teaches that the world is flat.  I haven’t studied much of what the Bible says on this subject but there is one thing I know for sure.  Jesus knew that the world is round.  Here is what he said about his retu

Everyone knows that human life begins at conception.  A new person comes into existence, created in Gods image, with his unique DNA, with a God given plan for his life.  The new human isn’t yet able to survive on his own so he must spend the first nine months of existence in his mother’s womb. Actually the first sentence isn’t accurate.  What I should have said is, “Everyone knows that human life begins at conception,  except those who believe a woman has the right to abort her baby .”  All of us believe that murdering a human is wrong so abortion can only be justified by claiming that the unborn child is something less than human.  Some “Christians” even quote a verse of the Bible to prove this point. The  LORD  God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.   (Genesis 2:7) They say this proves that life begins when the baby takes its first breath and so there is no sin in aborting it before then.  Th

Answers in Genesis   is an organization founded and led by  Ken Ham   that is dedicated to proving that the Bible’s account of creation recorded in Genesis is true and can be supported scientifically.  It has aroused a great deal of controversy.  It is strongly supported by many Bible believers.  It is disliked by unbelievers who accept the popular idea that life evolved over millions of years and even by some Christians who also accept this belief.  (For a long time I was in this group.  I was a Christian but I also believed that the theory of evolution had been scientifically proven.  If I had known of Answers in Genesis I would probably have believed that what it was teaching was false.  In the last few years I have come to realized that in fact there is no evidence supporting evolution.) Recently a thought occurred to me.  What is Charles Darwin’s opinion of  Answers in Genesis ?  Darwin died in 1882, but his soul still exists.  How have his views changed since his death? In his ea