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Source of Faith

Posted by aurorawatcher on Thursday, May 31, 2007 4:18:05 PM

 Valiant asked the question, and he's right. We've talked a lot about who in the Old Testament showed faith and had it counted as righteousness without reviewing where faith comes from.


The simple answer is that faith comes from God.  But, of course, a complex God Who is  3-in-1, large enough to create a universe and small enough to live in a person’s heart, and both disciplining Father and redeeming Son, would be expected to have a more complex theology than that.

All things come from God (I Corinthians 11:12); therefore, faith comes from God.  More of an issue is man’s response to faith.

“For God loved the world in this way: He gave His  One and Only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world that He might condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.  Anyone who believes in Him is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe is already condemned, because he has not believed in the name of the  One and Only Son of God.”  John 3:16-17

Listen! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and have dinner with him, and he with Me.”  Revelations 3:20

Grace is God’s still small voice that calls in the darkest recesses of our tiny little minds – “Psst, I’m over here!”  It’s Jesus knocking on the door.  My personal belief, based upon John 3:16-17, is that God calls all of His creation in this way.  Most of mankind will choose not to hear it.  Yes, I said “choose”.  The Bible says in Psalm 96:12 and Luke 19:40 that nature itself will testify of God if nobody else does. The call comes to all of us in one way or another.  Yet, most people will choose to ignore that little voice that says there’s something beyond what they see and what they believe.  Grace is a gift of God. It’s something He does for mankind when we’re still sinners, when we haven’t earned any attention from Him, when we’re still in rebellion toward Him.  It’s the same voice that spoke to Adam in the garden and said “Where are you?” God knew they’d sinned and were hiding in shame, but He still reached out to them.

A second gift of God is faith.  Think of that as a package He presents to all of us.  When first glanced, there is a lot unknown and unseen about faith. We have to accept the package before we can truly know what’s in it.  We don’t have to accept it, but we may choose to do so if we wish.  Adam and Eve chose to sin and they never chose to be reconciled with God. Cain chose to sin and he never chose to be reconciled with God.  Abel sinned, and yet chose to be reconciled with God.  He accepted the package and got the reward waiting inside, thus becoming the first to answer the roll call of faith.  Enoch sinned and chose to be reconciled with God, answering the roll call of faith.  Noah is the first of those listed in the roll call of faith whose sins are recorded in the Bible, yet he chose to be reconciled with God, answering the roll call of faith.

Faith doesn’t come from us.  It’s a gift of God.  He comes and knocks.  Our response to His overture, however, is our choice.  We don’t have to open the door.  Yes, God as Creator has every right to toss His creation on the trash heap just as a potter might dump a pot that displaces him.  Romans 9:19-24 clearly suggests this.  However, many other verses agree with Romans 11:11-15 that suggest that God never stops calling us and sending His missionaries to us, as He continued to do with Israel even as He sent His missionaries to the Gentiles.  Faith is a very complex issue, as befits a very complex Deity.  I reject no verses and give no less weight to some over others.  I see balance and complexity in Scripture and I believe that we mere humans will never completely understand what is written there until we go to be with God in paradise.  In the meantime, we may debate some issues as long as we Christians are able to agree on the central theme of the New Testament -- salvation by faith in Jesus Christ.

God knew from the very foundation of the universe who would accept Him and who would reject Him. He knew this by virtue of being eternal, outside of time and space, which exist for our benefit.  This is not the same thing as Him creating puppet-people who respond or reject faith because that’s how He programmed them.  When He created Adam and Eve, He gave them a choice to obey or disobey.  That choice was completely within their control. They could leave the fruit alone or eat it. They chose to eat it.  God granted them the dignity of their choice. He provided consequences as He had previously promised He would, but He also provided relief from their shame in the form of clothing.  He accepted their choice to break fellowship with Him and granted them the dignity of free-thinking people to choose very wrong paths.

There is a similar choice before each of us.  We can choose to remain in our sins, to never know God on a personal saving level.  He will allow us to live in that choice and in the consequence of that choice.  Yet, He gives us a way out.  Through grace, He calls to us and points to the gift of faith.  If we accept that gift by believing that Jesus is Savior and confessing the same, we are saved and we live in the dignity of that choice.  If we say there is no God, we live in the dignity of our choice.  If we seek salvation in any number of ways other than what God has ordained through Jesus Christ, we live in the dignity of our choice.  That our choice has horrific consequences for the final disposition of our soul grieves Him, but He grants us the dignity of choosing eternity in Hell over an eternity of worshipping and serving Him.  We are not puppets unable to choose to accept or reject faith. Even the rocks and trees call out that there is a God.  If we listen to that call of grace, we answer the roll call of faith.

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Con Artist Becomes Hero

Posted by aurorawatcher on Tuesday, May 29, 2007 12:39:17 PM
 

“By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau, concerning things to come. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, he worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff.  By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the sons of Israel and gave instructions concerning his bones.” Hebrews 11:20-22

It would be easy to bypass these two verses as placeholders.  Everyone knows the stories of Isaac two sons Jacob and Esau.  We know that Esau sold his birthright for a bowl of soup and that Jacob inherited Dad’s promise.  But to hurry past this is not to acknowledge who Jacob was in his younger days.

Jacob didn’t start out as a man of faith.  Jacob started out as a scoundrel.  He took advantage of Esau’s hunger to steal the birthright.  There were two things that fathers passed onto their eldest sons in those days – the birthright, which meant they were first in line to inherit all Dad had, and the blessing, which was more than just a well-wish, but carried the full force of Dad’s commendation.  Esau, as the twin born first, was automatically in line for the birthright, but he could sell it or give it away, if he chose.  Esau sold his cheap. Yes, Esau majorly messed up, but Jacob was equally guilty in his part of the thing.  Worse, he fooled his blind and elderly father into giving him the blessing that belonged to Esau. The blessing was Isaac’s to give to whomever he wanted to give it to, but he could only give it once, so Jacob not only defrauded Esau of the preferred position that his father wanted to give him, he defrauded Isaac of the right to choose whom he would bless.  In this, Esau was not a participating party. Jacob and his mother were the guilty ones.  Later, Jacob got a little taste of his own medicine when his father-in-law tricked him into marrying the wrong sister, but Jacob paid him back by taking his less perfect sheep and goats and breeding huge flocks from them.  He made Laban a rich man, but he made himself an even richer man, gaining some enmity from Laban.  Jacob was not a good person.  He was a con artist and a trickster. He left the Promised Land on the run for his life because he’d stolen from Esau. He returned to the Promised Land thinking he was on the run for his life because he’d alienated his father-in-law (Laban turned out to be much more forgiving that Jacob had realized, but that’s a different lesson).  Yet, something odd happened on the way to a fateful encounter with his estranged brother.  Jacob got saved!

Jacob probably knew his days were numbered. He had pulled a few too many con jobs and he really didn’t have anywhere to go that was safe.  He technically owned the Promised Land, but Esau didn’t have to let him claim it.  Jacob was shaking in his sandals as he approached the fateful encounter (Genesis 32).  If you know anything about 12-Step programs, you know that prior to making amends to those you’ve harmed; you first inventory your life.  Jacob was at that stage, praying that God would rescue him from the wrath of Esau.  In the midst of wrestling with himself, he encountered a “man of God.”  Most scholars assert this “angel” was actually Jesus come to earth to confront Jacob with his ungodliness.  Jacob wanted a blessing from the angel and instead he got a new name.  This would begin a theme that runs throughout the Bible of people taking or receiving a new name when they become saved.  Names had power in the Middle East of that time, thus to change your name meant to change your life.  Jacob’s new name, Israel, would become attached to the nation he would father, but nothing in his past life had suggested he could be the father of a godly nation.  In fact, it looked as if he wouldn’t survive the week.  With Esau fast approaching, Jacob had no way of knowing what would happen next.

Jacob had always been a man of cunning. His works weren’t always good, but he was smart and quick on his feet.  Yet, now, all he could do was send a peace offering to his brother, organize his family so that his least favorite would die first, and pray.  It took an incredible amount of faith to stand there and wait for Esau to approach and yet I think Jacob probably had only a mustard seed of faith. He thought Esau was going to exact a fitting revenge.  Yet, because he had no choice, he waited as Esau approached.

Faith is the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.  Jacob hoped his brother would be forgiving.  He had no reason to believe he would be, but he hoped.  And, Esau was indeed forgiving.

What had Jacob done to earn Esau’s forgiveness?  Given a few hundred heads of livestock?  Sent a note saying he wanted to make amends?  Well, with all due respect, Jacob had stolen everything that was of importance to the first born son of that time.  His amends were inadequate and he seemed to know that.

Yet, God intervened.  God told Jacob to return to the Promised Land, that He had plans to prosper Jacob there, yet Jacob had every reason to believe that Esau was going to cut those promises short.  Jacob chose to believe God, to exercise faith.  And God turned aside Esau’s wrath.  Because Jacob exercised faith, God saved him from Esau.

Faith is not about how good we are. Jacob was not a good man. He was a con artist and a really bad guy to have as a relative or business partner.  But he had faith and God gave him a get-out-of-hell-free card because of it.  Faith is about how good God is that He would save even no-good con artists like Jacob and let that faith transform them into good men worthy to father holy nations.

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Mother Sarah

Posted by aurorawatcher on Saturday, May 26, 2007 1:44:00 PM
Contrary to some modern popular opinion, some of the great heroes of faith were not men. Far from being hapless slaves who followed five steps behind their husbands through plenty and dearth, women were also called to have faith and it was counted as righteousness to them. Sarah, the wife of Abraham, is listed as one of the heroes of faith.

"By faith even Sarah herself, when she was barren, received power to conceive offspring, even though she was past the age, since Abraham, even though he was past age—and Sarah herself was barren—received the ability to procreate since he considered that the One who had promised was faithful. And therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore."  Hebrews 11:11-12.

Genesis tells us that when Sarah was given the news that she was pregnant, she laughed.  It was not a laugh of joy, but of derision. Sarah didn't believe the news because she knew that women of her age were a long time past childbearing. She had accepted her fate and did not want to believe that God could intervene and make her pregnant.  One wonders what she secretly thought of her husband as he moved her and all they had from one of the largest cities of the known world out into the wilderness, claiming that God had promised him he would become the father of a great nation if he only obeyed God's leading.  I think that laugh said it all. Sarah was no doubt shaking her inward head and thinking "my husband's gone a bit soft in the head from old age."

Paul wrote of Abraham  in Romans 4:17-22, "He believed in God, who gives life to the dead and calls things into existence that do not exist.  Against hope, with hope he believed, so that he became the father of many nations, according to what had been spoken: So will your descendants be. (Genesis 15:5)  He considered his own body to be already dead (since he was about a hundred years old), and the deadness of Sarah's womb, without weakening in the faith.  He did not waver in unbelief at God's promise, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, because he was fully convinced that what He had promised He was also able to perform.  Therefore, it was credited to him for righteousness."

Sarah was past childbearing.  She had accepted her fate and given her handmaiden to Abraham to father a son.  She found that not to her personal liking, but she apparently assumed that this was the plan God had given them to follow.  Yet as the baby grew within her, she believed God and tried to obey His promises.  Hebrews made it clear that it was Abraham's faith that made it possibly for them to have a child, yet Sarah believed too and her mustard seed of faith was enough for God to work with.

What works did Sarah do that earned her a place in the roll call of faith?  Other than bear Isaac (which doesn't sound like fun at her advanced age), she did no godly works that are listed in the Bible.  In fact, there were times when she was downright cruel and heartless – just ask her handmaiden, the mother of Ishmael.  Sarah did not EARN God's favor through great works. She RECEIVED God's favor because He decided to gift her with it.

That's how faith works.  We believe and we confess our belief.  Later (but not much), the desire to do godly works grows from our salvation.  Faith that does not show evidence of itself (works) is at best suspect, but works are not required for salvation.  Only faith is required.  Sarah had faith, fleeting and not always heroic, and that was all the righteousness she needed to be listed as one of the heroes of the faith.

Again, salvation is not about what we do, but what God does through us.
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Father Abraham

Posted by aurorawatcher on Friday, May 25, 2007 4:33:47 AM
"By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed and went out to a place he was going to receive as an inheritance; he went out, not knowing where he was going.  By faith he stayed as a foreigner in the land of promise, living in with Isaac and Jacob, co-heirs of the same promise.
For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.  Hebrews 11:8-10

Our subject remains faith, but as we turn toward Abraham, many people think of works.  Even James, the brother of Jesus and pastor at the church in Jerusalem stated, " Wasn't Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?  You see that faith was active together with his works, and by works, faith was perfected."  James 2:21-22.

Surely, Abraham is proof that works saved the heroes of the Old Testament.  Even James said so.

Abraham's story takes up a great deal of space in Genesis, so I will have to ask my readers to turn there and read it for themselves.  Abraham did many things, but it is important to realize that his actions were preceded by faith.

By faith, Abraham left Ur of the Caldeas and ventured into unknown territory because he believed God that, if he would just obey God, he would receive an inheritance.  By faith, he remained in the promised land, living in tents with his descendants, because he believed that God would establish a kingdom there one day.  By faith, he took Isaac out into the wilderness to sacrifice him because the Lord had told him to do so.

Ah, so there we see it – his works saved him.  No!  Abraham believed God first and then acted upon his beliefs.  Abraham never actually sacrificed Isaac and though he came prepared for a sacrifice, his response to Isaac's question of "where is the lamb?" indicates that he expected God would provide a sacrifice other than Isaac.  Genesis 22:8 shows this clearly.  "Abraham answered, "God Himself will the lamb for the burnt offering, my son." Then the two of them walked on together."  Abraham was right. God provided a ram just as Abraham prepared to offer Isaac.

Abraham believed God and left Ur because he had faith in His promises.  Abraham believed God and sojourned in the Promised Land because he had faith in God's promises.  Abraham was willing to prepare his only legitimate son for sacrifice because he believed God's promises.  That's faith, not works.  Had Abraham actually sacrificed Isaac, perhaps we could praise his works, but since another sacrifice was made, no work was accomplished.  He is praised for his faith, which resulted in works.

Paul further stated this in Romans 4:1-5, "What then can we say that Abraham, our forefather according to the flesh, has found?  If Abraham was justified (or acquitted by works), then he has something to brag about—but not before God. He has no reason for boasting in God's presence.  For what does the Scripture say? Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him for righteousness. Now to the one who works, pay is not considered as a gift, but as something owed.  But to the one who does not work, but believes on Him who declares righteous (or who acquits or justifies) the ungodly, his faith is credited for righteousness."

In other words, if I work for something, I have a right to expect something, but if I am given a gift, I am the one who owes for what is given.  Jesus did it all!  Abraham obeyed God, but God provided that which Abraham needed.  Abraham's works meant no more to God than my works mean to Him.  It was Abraham's faith that mattered.

It is our human desire to earn salvation that causes us to look at the Bible's heroes and praise them for works when in reality, at the heart of any works they may have done, they were men of faith.  Faith is believing that Jesus is God and confessing that belief.  Faith, however, has consequences, and one of those consequences is a desire to obey God and to do what He wants us to do.  Works is the outgrowth of our gratitude for His salvation.  They don't save us. They are the fruit of our salvation.  God saves us and that creates within the saved the desire to do godly works.

Abraham is our example.  He believed God and then he acted.  Far too often, we act expecting something from God, when if we would just sit still and silence before Him in reverence, He would give us a fine and unearned gift – the gift of salvation.  God doesn't need our works. Why would the Creator of the Universe need anything from the little breathing dirt balls He created?  No, God gave us everything we have – from the breath in our lungs to the thoughts in our heads to our spiritual salvation.  We have no place to boast, no more than did Abraham.

Abraham was a man of faith.  Don't denigrate his great achievement by turning him into a braggart whom God's owes somewhat to.  Abraham believed and that was counted as righteousness.  The ram came before any work was done.  It was the essence of things hoped for and the evidence of what Abraham could not see.
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Which Came First?

Posted by aurorawatcher on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 4:48:22 AM
"By faith Noah, after being warned about what was not yet seen, in reverence built an ark to deliver his family. By this he condemned the world and became an heir of the righteousness that comes by faith."  Hebrews 11:7

In the roll call of faith, the first one to answer with works appears to be Noah.  His story is found in Genesis.  Here's this guy – he's the Lone Ranger – a virtuous man in an evil world.  He believes in God.  His neighbors apparently know this.  He has satisfied Romans 10:9-10.  He has believed and confessed, therefore, he had faith.  But, we remember him for his works, right?  He built a big boat and saved the human race.  That's works. But is that what saved Noah?

Hebrews 11 suggests that we shouldn't remember Noah for building the ark so much as for his faith.  Try to imagine a world that had never seen rain.  I don't know if it was a desert. I think it could have been anywhere in the world, because the world did not know rain. Yet, it knew dew, so Noah did not have to live in a desert.  Noah is sitting in a world where rain is unknown and floods apparently are as well.  God tells him, "I'm sending a flood."

Now, Noah could have had any number of reactions.  He might have laughed in God's face.  He might have moved to higher ground.  He might have done a lot of things.  Instead, he believed God.  He had absolutely no evidence for believing God.  It didn't start raining and then he built the ark.  He started before the first drop of rain ever fell, when rain was a total unknown to him. He had years to wait while God worked His plan.  His neighbors laughed at him as the big boat grew ever bigger.  Noah may have questioned in his heart, but he didn't stop building the boat.  He had faith in what he could not yet see.

Before the work of building the boat, Noah had faith.  Without faith, the works never would have started and Noah would have drown with everyone else.  Noah had faith first and then works followed.

Thus, Noah is listed in the roll call of faith because of his faith that produced works rather than his works that were counted as righteousness.

What's more, Noah didn't continue in good works.  He failed miserably after the flood when he took the fruit of his newly planted vineyard, made wine and got passed out drunk and apparently naked.  Yet, he is still listed in the roll call of faith.  Hmmm, interesting.
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Walking into Paradise

Posted by aurorawatcher on Monday, May 21, 2007 4:35:00 PM
"By faith, Enoch was taken away so that he did not experience death, and he was not to be found because God took him away.  For prior to his transformation he was approved, having pleased God.  Now without faith it is impossible to please God, for the one who draws near to Him must believe that He exists and rewards those who seek Him."  Hebrews 11:5-6

I'm actually enjoying the roll call of faith because it is forcing me to learn about the Old Testament heroes whose names I know, but whose life details I didn't care to commit to memory.  This is a good thing, for Enoch was a great Christian, and it is good to know why that is.

I said Enoch was a great Christian.  Yes, he lived a good deal before Christ's time, yet, he lived by faith and that was counted to him as righteousness.  He believed that God existed and he sought Him.  And, that is all that a Christian does to become a Christian. The essence of salvation is belief and confession.  Thus, Enoch was a great Christian.

Genesis 5:24 tells us, "Enoch walked with God, and he was not there, because God took him."

Just like with Abel, we don't know a lot about Enoch.  He was the great-grandfather of Noah. His son Methuselah was the father of Lamech, who was Noah's father.  The Bible tells us only a couple of snippets about this man.  He walked with God.  God took him from this earth so he did not experience death.  Jude identifies him as a prophet of the end times.  Hebrews 11 states that he pleased God and was approved for this reason.  It further goes on to explain that without faith it is impossible to please God because faith leads one to believe in God and seek Him out.

Not to belabor one verse too much, but Romans 10:9-10 states "if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation."  That is the essence of faith – to believe, which makes one right with God, and to confess that belief, which results in salvation.

Enoch disappeared from this world's realm before the Flood, yet he undoubtedly knew Jesus in his heart and walked with Him as we should seek to walk with Him.  Remember that Jesus existed as part of the Godhead from eternity.  He didn't have a physical body yet, but He could still be known.  Enoch was a great Christian.  He knew Jesus pre-incarnate.  He walked with Him and learned from Him and worshiped Him.  And this was counted as righteousness.

There is no list of works that Enoch did to win God's favor.  He simply "walked with God."  Hebrews tells us that faith is the only means by which we can know God.  Thus, we can know that Enoch's faith in God was such that he earned an immediate trip to heaven – not death or grave required.  To my logical mind, the Bible that is often so rich in the details of its heroes lives did not accidently leave out something so important as the works Enoch did to earn such a privilege from God.  It is not to say that he didn't do any works, just that the works weren't what was important.  Enoch had faith.  He didn't need anything else!
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Answering the Roll Call

Posted by aurorawatcher on Sunday, May 20, 2007 8:34:59 PM
"By faith Abel offered to God a better sacrifice than Cain. By this he was approved as a righteous man, because God approved his gifts, and even though he is dead, he still speaks through this."  Hebrews 11:4

We don't know a whole lot about Abel.  He was the second human being born on this planet, the son of Adam and Eve and the younger brother of Cain.  He was the first shepherd and the first murder victim. In fact, he was the first person ever to die on this planet.  But, we don't have as detailed a portrait of him as we do of Cain.  Yet, we can know from Hebrews that he lived according to faith.  Thus, I turned my attention toward the Old Testament where I found that works had little to do with why Abel's sacrifice was more acceptable to God than Cain's.

"Now Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land.  In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the Lord. And Abel also presented an offering—some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering, but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. Cain was furious, and he was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you furious? And why are you downcast? If you do right, won't you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it."

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field." And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him."  Genesis 4:2-8

The Bible does not describe Abel's sacrifice as better than Cain's.  Rather, it says God favored Abel and his offering rather than Cain and his.  It doesn't say why this was the case.  The Bible doesn't specify a degree of offerings, but it does describe Cain's attitude and I think that is where the answer lies.

Cain's attitude stank!  He clearly gave his offering expecting a pat on the back for it and thinking that he would be told he was better than Abel. Maybe it was because Dad was a farmer also and God had accepted his offerings, maybe there was some other reason.  We don't know.  And, the Bible is often very deliberate in what it leaves out.  We don't need to know, because the offering itself was not what was important.  Cain's attitude and reaction were what was important.  When he didn't get what he wanted (what he thought was his due), he became angry. God warned him not to sulk.  He warned him to control his anger.  Cain did not heed that warning.  He harbored hatred in his heart, he plotted the murder of his brother, and he drew him to a secluded spot to do the deed.

Abel's attitude apparently was a righteous one.  Hebrews identifies him as righteous.  Righteous means simply to be right with God.  Abel made his offering to God without his focus being on the praise Abel would receive.  He gave with his whole heart, expecting nothing from God in return.  Apparently he knew Cain was angry over God's differing reaction, but he continued to trust his brother enough to follow him to a secluded spot.

I admit to not having a wide knowledge of shepherds, but my friend Syl grew up among them and she says they're not stupid people. A shepherd, in order to protect his flock from predators, must be "wily as a dingo," she says. Apparently Australian wild dogs make coyotes look sleepy.  I'll defer to her greater knowledge and say that Abel was probably not a stupid or naive man.  He obviously had no experience with murder or murderous rage, but he and Cain would quickly become experts.

We know something about Cain that reflects on Abel. Cain never repented.  There is nothing in the Biblical narrative that indicates that Cain ever told his parents he was sorry for killing their son or told God that he was sorry for lying to Him, or even that he felt regret that his brother was gone.  He became a lifelong wanderer because of God's curse upon him, but he doesn't seem to have learned anything from it.

One cannot help but think that Abel would have learned from this experience had he lived through it.  Hebrews 11:4 states that his righteousness speaks to us through the ages, even though he is dead.  His offering was approved by God.  We know from the Mosaic law that the fruits of the field are as acceptable to God as the first-born of the flock, so it wasn't the offering that was righteous, but the one who did the offering.

By faith, Abel offered a better sacrifice.  With his whole heart, with love and gratitude toward God, without malice or self-aggrandizement as a goal, he offered a sacrifice and God took it for the excellent offering of a righteous man.  Thus, he is counted as the first to answer the roll call of faith.
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Cosmic Faith

Posted by aurorawatcher on Friday, May 18, 2007 3:39:58 AM
"Now faith is the reality (or assurance) of what is hoped for, the proof (or conviction) of what is not seen.  For by it our ancestors were approved.  By faith we understand that the universe was created by the voice of God, so that what is seen has been made from things that are not visible" Hebrews 11:1-3

The writer of Hebrews wanted his readers to understand that the heroes of the Jewish religion had lived by faith.  They were approved by faith rather than the works that the Jews so highly praised.  Yet, there is so much more to the history of faith than just what had happened since Abraham.. Thus, verse 3 is there for us in the 21st Century to know something of great importance.

The universe was created by the voice of God.

I am by no means a scientist, but several of my family members are.  For most a decade, three of my cousins who are all working scientists have enjoined in a debate about origins and things more mystical and I have been their scribe and Miss Manners consultant. Two have big careers, so I won't identify any of them.  For most of their debates it's been the born-again Christian biologist pitted against the atheist paleontologist with the agnostic research doctor playing Devil's advocate and me tasked with keeping them civil and calling foul when they take liberalities with the books they read as part of this debate. This means I've been reading the books too. When I get in over my head, they dumb it down for the journalist, but as a journalist part of my training was in grasping concepts outside of my field.

Thus, I have a layman's understanding of some of the science of universe origins.  Basically, they say the current best theory is that the Big Bang created it all.  Billions of years ago, the universe came into being in a brilliant flash of energy, gas and light.  This incredible event propelled ill-defined matter out in all directions.  Over time, as momentum slowed and the universe cooled, matter formed into loose collections of stars and planets, then the planets cooled and formed rocks.  From the interaction of water with rocks, chemical pools were formed and somehow, in these chemical pools, the building blocks of life joined together to form proteins which further formed together to create simple life forms that evolved into the many species we have on planet Earth today.  As one of my cousins is wont to say – that's the Reader's Digest version.  It is an incredibly complex process to boil down to a paragraph, but there you have it.

There is a lot of evidence supporting the Big Bang theory, but make no mistake, like all theories of origins, it remains a theory. Any theory that cannot be reproduced under carefully controlled laboratory conditions is not, according to these professional scientists, legitimately anything but a theory. "Science is the observation of the knowable world," one of them explained. "Scientists can make some pretty good guesses about what occurred in the past based upon available evidence, but they cannot repeat the experiment of the Big Bang and prove the theory." What's more, they explain to me, the evidence for the Big Bang can only take them back to the moment of the Big Bang. They don't know what caused it and they don't know what was there before this cataclysmic event.

I started out a born-again Christian who presupposes God's existence.  Anyone reading this blog would not think I had changed my mind one iota about that.  However, I believe the Big Bang is a viable description of what happened at the moment of creation.

The universe was created by the voice of God and everything sprang from nothingness.

That's the theistic Big Bang in a nutshell. It's interesting to note that when the universe sprang into existence, in those brief seconds right after the process began, the evidence indicates the universe would have gone from utter blackness to incredible light.  Genesis Chapter 1 tells us that when God created the universe, He started the process by saying "Let there be light."  My cousins report that between all the stars and planets there is energy that vibrates in the sound-wave range.  I guess that's why radio telemetry (which first encountered evidence of the Big Bang) is used so much in astronomy. In other words, simplistically, all the empty spaces of the universe are filled with sound.  I find that interesting, that a universe my Bible tells me was created by God's voice in a flash of light is filled with sound and started with flash of light.

Again, my atheist cousin would (and HAS) said we are simply seeing metaphysical evidence where none exists.  The biologist and I have stated repeatedly that he is refusing to see the metaphysical evidence that is as plain as the nose on his face.  We've convinced the researcher.  His field makes him uniquely qualified to consider matters of the human brain.  He joined the debate because he was curious about what makes people believe in something they cannot see.  He rather thought it was a delusion, except that he knew so many rational people who believed in God. Rather than dismiss us out of hand, he sought to figure us out.  He has now and has become a Christian recently.

Faith is the evidence of the very thing faith is hoping for.  Otherwise sane and intelligent people embrace a belief in God everyday, so why do some insist that faith is insanity?  Because they themselves do not possess it.  They want something they can see with their eyes, feel in their hands, distill into their test tubes, and taste with their tongues.  They refuse to believe that their methods are inadequate to experience anything that exists; therefore, they are certain that what they cannot experience cannot exist.

Yet faith is the evidence of what we do not see.  Why would otherwise sane people believe something they cannot lay hold of exists if there truly is nothing that exists that we cannot experience?  That would be irrational.  Yet a person wracked with delusions of any sort is unlikely to be otherwise rational in other life arenas.  In fact, some prominent atheists today would contend that anyone who believes in God should be prevented from public office and positions of responsibility simply because they (the atheists) believe they (the believers) cannot be sane if they believe in God. Yet, there are a lot of us and I know I'm sane. The biologist is sane. The researcher is sane.  The atheist is sane too, except he doesn't believe. Faith or the lack of it doesn't seem to have much to do with rationality.

Perhaps the answer is that the atheists are mistaken and that belief in an existent God is as rational as belief in air.  Before more-or-less modern science was able to actually analyze air, humankind knew it was there and they knew that there were circumstances where it might not be available and that was bad.  At the time they couldn't prove the existence of air, but they knew it existed.  I cannot bring God to the witness stand to prove He exists, but if I am a rational, intelligent person and I believe, shouldn't that be reason to pause and give the God hypothesis consideration?

Because of faith, I know that God brought the universe into being by His voice, in a brilliant flash of light.  By faith, my atheist scientist cousin believes that the universe came into being by random chance in a sudden burst of energy and light.  I look around at the seeming-order of the world around me and I think, how much faith does it take to believe this was an accident?  I don't have that much faith!  I prefer to believe in God because I see the evidence of His handiwork where ever I look. Maybe it's just a matter of which evidence you choose to accept and a lot of time accepting the evidence is simply a matter of faith.
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Calling the Roll

Posted by aurorawatcher on Tuesday, May 15, 2007 2:37:11 AM
(Alaskan summers are brief and glorious, so it's easy to get distracted by the great outdoors and the 24-hour sunlight. Thus, I have embarked on a Bible study series for my youth Sunday School class that I will mature for my readers here. By sticking to a series, I hope to keep blogging without missing the summer.)

The subject will focus on Hebrews 11 – the New Testament Roll Call of Faith. The writer of Hebrews employed a hindsight 20/20 technique in looking at the ancient heroes of the Hebrew faith and recognizing that, contrary to most Judaic teaching, these men and women had lived lives of faith and that faith had accounted them as righteous far more than any works they may have done.

The chapter opens with my absolutely favorite verse of the Bible – Hebrews 11:1.

"Now faith is the reality (or assurance) of what is hoped for, the proof (or conviction) of what is not seen."  I personally like the King James version that says "faith is the essence of things hoped for, the evidence of things unseen," but the point is that faith is proof that something beyond our physical experience exists.

Here in Alaska we are surrounded by magnificent scenery.  In the winter it's covered with glistening white snow broken by pockets of green evergreens so dark they might be black and grey stone. In the summer there's every shade of green. Spring happens in a space of a couple of weeks, from melt to leaf-out, and autumn is an incredible burst of yellow, scarlet and purple before fading away to grey that is quickly covered by white.  In all seasons, there is wildlife within feet of the roads and moose browse on the trees in my back yard, all with a backdrop of majestic mountains.  Here, God makes His presence very evident through the example of nature, where mankind has not had time to tame it and make it seem like we had something to do with it.  All Alaskans stand in awe of nature, but more so every Christian I know because here we see evidence of God's creative hand at every turn.

Every March we drive the youth of our church to Anchorage, the next largest city, for a student conference.  Along the Parks Highway in the major pass between the two largest cities, there's a line that marks an inter-mountain valley that splits the Alaska Range in half for hundreds of miles in either direction.  This is the Denali fault line. A few years ago, it shook my town with 7.9 on the Richter Scale when the southern half of the valley moved a half-inch further west and rubbed its rocky foundations against the northern half of the valley.  Standing there looking from the highway, you can see how mountain has shifted from mountain, creek from creek, over the millennia.  Some call it an accident of nature, but it seems so contrived, so engineered, that it's hard for those of us with a presupposition of God not to see His hand in it.

Thus, faith is its own evidence.  I've seen atheists stand in that same spot and try to explain what they saw based upon geology, and certainly geology plays a role in that valley.  Plate techtonics is a viable scientific theory and that valley is strong evidence for it.  Yet, why did random chance make such a powerful force upon the land so utterly beautiful, so incredibly awe-inspiring?  Some would say its just coincidence, but after 30 years of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ, I think God simply made it beautiful for human beings to enjoy ... and to puzzle at, because He knew that He would  make us uniquely inquisitive and intelligent.  Look at any awe-inspiring natural vista in your circle of life and ask yourself -- why is it beautiful and awe-inspiring?  Some would say I'm stretching for a metaphysical answer, yet I think that they are perhaps stretching for a completely materialist answer.

That I have faith that something beyond what I can see exists is evidence that something beyond what I can see exists.
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Why Not Works

Posted by aurorawatcher on Friday, May 11, 2007 11:30:11 PM
The desire to complicate salvation by mixing it with or making it dependent upon works is an all-too-human characteristic.  Someone told me recently that "Paul taught salvation by faith alone, but Jesus and James taught salvation by works."  First, to separate out Paul from Jesus and James makes the New Testament nothing more than a collection of wise teachings without any authority; something that would find the Christian faith standing upon shifting sands at its very heart. Second, there are many examples of Jesus teaching salvation by faith without any evidence of works.

Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery before she had done anything to deserve being forgiven (John 8).  The father of the prodigal son (Luke 15) ran to greet his repentant offspring before his son had done anything to deserve readmittance to the family (a fact the older brother complained about).  Yet, one of the clearest example for me is the following passage from Matthew 20:1-16:

    "For the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who went out early in the morning to hire workers for his vineyard.  After agreeing with the workers on one denarius for the day, he sent them into his vineyard. When he went out about nine in the morning, he saw others standing in the marketplace doing nothing. To those men he said, ‘You also go to my vineyard and I'll give you whatever is right.' So off they went. About noon and at three, he went out again and did the same thing. Then about five, he went and found others standing around and said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day doing nothing?' ‘Because nobody hired us,' they said to him. ‘You also go to my vineyard,' he told them. When evening came, the owner of the vineyard told his foreman, ‘Call the workers and give them their pay, starting with the last and ending with the first.'

"When those who were hired about five came, they each received one denarius. So when the first ones came, they assumed they would get more, but they also received a denarius each. When they received it, they began to complain to the landowner: ‘These last men put in one hour, and you made them equal to us who bore the burden of the day and the burning heat!" He replied to one of them, '‘Friend, I'm doing you no wrong. Didn't you agree with me on a denarius?  Take what's yours and go. I want to give this last man the same as I gave you. Don't I have a right to do what I want with my business?  Are you jealous because I'm generous?'

"So the last will be first, and the first will be last."

Jesus provided a clear example here of salvation by faith rather than works and He carefully noted that this "is like the kingdom."  The workers who came at the end of the day were paid exactly the same as the workers who started in the afternoon.  The early risers worked hard all day in the blazing sun and when they saw the johnny-come-latelies getting a full measure of wages, they figured they'd get more than the contracted amount. After all, hadn't they earned it? But the landowner (clearly an archetype for Jesus) disagreed.  The amount of work didn't matter to him. What mattered was that he had hired them and he chose what he was going to pay them.  It was his business, not theirs, how he conducted his employment affairs.

These relying on works for salvation are much like those early workers, thinking they can dictate to God whom He will save and why.  It seems right to us that those of us who have worked longer or harder should get a bigger reward and that those who show up late and do little should not get anything at all.  That's how human business is conducted and that's what seems right to us. Yet, who are we mere humans to tell the Creator of the Universe how to conduct His business. Paul explained it this way, in I Corinthians 1:26-31:

"Brothers, consider your calling: not many are wise from a human perspective, not many powerful, not many of noble birth. Instead, God has chosen the world's foolish things to shame the wise, and God has chosen the world's weak things to shame the strong.  God has chosen the world's insignificant and despised things – the things viewed as nothing – so that He might bring to nothing the things that are viewed as something, so that no one can boast in His presence. But from Him you are in Christ Jesus, who for us became wisdom from God, as well as righteousness, sanctification and redemption, in order that, as it is written: The one who boasts must boast in the Lord."

We like the idea of salvation by works because it gives us bragging rights. "My exemplary behavior has given me an honored place at God's right hand," we want to say.  Jesus cleared all that away.  He turned the concept of what was wise and powerful on its head when He chose to die on a cross – a very hated and despised form of first-century capital punishment. Jesus opposed the Pharisees to their faces, saying their works were just window-dressing for dead men's souls.  He lifted up the sinners to the highest honor, eating with them, teaching them, even healing them.  The servant became the master and the Master became the servant. The tax collector would become a missionary and gospel-writer. The Pharisee would be a tent-maker. And those who showed up at the very last got paid the same amount as those who worked hard all day.

Where is the bragging possible if all my years of service are no more meaningful than that of someone who does nothing?  Ah, but that's the point!  My works don't mean anything to God. Only the condition of my heart.  With my salvation based solely on what Jesus accomplished on the cross, the only bragging I'm entitled to is about what a great Savior He is.

It's not about me!  It's not about you!  It's about Jesus!  He did it all and all we did was accept what He did.  When we try to based our worthiness before God on what we've done, we are saying that His sacrifice on the cross was not sufficient to wipe away our sins.  As the Bible says that it was more than sufficient, to say otherwise would make the very words of God into lies.  I don't know about you, but I think I'd be cautious about calling to Creator of the Universe a liar.

Either Jesus is enough for us, or we don't need Him at all.  As for me, Jesus is enough and works I have performed in the 30 years since He and I entered relationship are a fruit of what He has done in my life -- something I have done out of love for and gratitude toward Him, not an attempt to earn His favor, which (truth be told), I can't do anyway.

In saying this, I am not saying that works are unimportant or wrong.  I am simply putting them in their proper perspective.  All our works won't get us one step closer to heaven if we haven't already been saved.  Works are the fruit of salvation, not a means to it!  Works follow salvation. They don't earn salvation!
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God's Sheep Pen

Posted by aurorawatcher on Thursday, May 03, 2007 3:38:41 AM
Why does the order in which things of faith are done matter?  Why does the manner in which things of faith are done matter?  Surely God understands when we do it our own way, in the time-honored traditions of our forefathers.  He knows we mean well. So what if we don't follow His example and obey His Scriptures?  It can't be that big of a deal!

I hesitated to bring this subject to its completion, but felt God's strong calling to write what needs to be written before moving on.

"I assure you: Anyone who doesn't enter the sheep pen by the door but climbs in some other way, is a thief and a robber. The one who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. The doorkeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out." ... So Jesus said again, "I assure you: I am the door of the sheep. All who came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn't listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.  A thief comes only to steal and to kill and to destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance."  John 10:1-3, 7-10.

Note: In the above passage, Jesus uses the term "I assure you" twice (in the King James, the same phrase is translated "verily, verily").  This is a term used in the Gospels only by Jesus and it gives whatever He said an emphatic tone. It's like He's saying "This is very true and very important. Listen up!"  Whenever you see this phrase, Jesus was commanding the full attention and obedience of His audience.

I will admit to not possessing a vast personal knowledge of sheep, but I have a friend who grew up on a sheep station in Australia's Outback. She tells me that anyone trying to get into a sheep enclosure over the fence (as opposed to entering by the gate) would be shot. Her father, grandfather and uncles wouldn't ask for ID. They'd simply kill the thief.  Syl went on a mission trip to Africa a few years ago and there she saw the sort of sheep enclosure with which Jesus might have been familiar. It's built of thorn bushes gathered on site. The gate is constructed of the same material, but in a way so that the gatekeeper can open and close it without getting stuck with thorns. Nobody from the outside would find an easy hand-hold.  Syl assures me that these African tribe people would not have allowed anyone but the shepherds into the enclosure through the gate and they would have attacked anyone who risked squeezing through the thorns from the outside.  She watched them stone a lion to death for this offense.

In the strongest possible language, Jesus told His listeners that He is the only way to God and that everyone else who has claimed the power to let people into the kingdom were thieves and robbers. Jesus did not mince His words and Christians who truly want to obey God should not mince theirs.  God's a narrow-minded guy, intolerant in many respect. He insists that those who would claim the name of His Son would walk according to His rules and not their own. We enter by the gate. All other routes lead to failure.

Jesus is the Shepherd; we are His sheep. Salvation is the sheep gate. It is through this gate and this gate alone that we may enter the sheep enclosure – the family of God.  We may not crawl under the fence or jump over it, and we're not free to cut our own gate. We must go through Jesus and allow Him to admit us.

Syl noted that sheep enclosures usually have a big watering tank in the middle of them. You may desire the water all you want, but you must enter by the gate in order to drink from it. Any other means for entering the sheep enclosure will result in death.

If we want what God has to offer, then we must enter His family by way of the means He has already established.  We don't get to set up special rules for ourselves.  In John 14, Jesus told his disciples, "I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me."  Works, time-honored traditions, membership in the right church, etc., won't get us there. Only Jesus gives us a way to God.

In Romans 10:9-10, Paul assured his readers, "This is the message of faith that we proclaim: if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. With the heart one believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth one confesses, resulting in salvation."

Nothing could be more clear or more singular. With the heart (or mind, if we take the proper Greek meaning of the word) we believe that Jesus is Lord and that God raised Him from the dead. This belief makes us righteous (we go from not being right with God to being right).  When we confess that belief where others can hear it, the belief and the confession together result in salvation.

Nothing more is required for salvation.

No ceremonies, no mission trips, no creeds, no Bible verses to marry or prayers to say – simply believing that Jesus is the Messiah (Savior of our souls) and confessing the same – that is all that is required to be saved.

There is a risk in putting anything else before salvation or adding anything to salvation. I will continue that discussion later.
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Order, Please!

Posted by aurorawatcher on Wednesday, May 02, 2007 1:05:11 AM
"But everything must be done decently and in order." I Corinthians 14:40

I will admit this verse is speaking about order in our church meetings, but it also speaks to the larger concept of order in life.  My farm-girl mother would have said "Don't put your wagon before the horse."

There are many things in life that are process-driven and if you try to do the steps of the process out of order, the process will fail.  I could put my clothes in the dryer before I wash them, but they won't come out any cleaner than when they went in.  I need to wash them and then dry them for the process to work as it should.

Such is the process of salvation.  There are steps and these steps are discussed throughout the Gospels and the Book of Acts.  In all the many salvation experiences recounted there you will find always the same basic journey.  The apostles (or Jesus, before His ascension) would talk with the person, the person would usually become convicted of their sin (they would feel guilty and desire to change), the person would accept Jesus as Savior and then they would be baptized.
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