Tag: Physical

  • Who Owns Death? (Part II)

    I left off this topic in part I with Satan having stolen the spiritual life of humanity from God.

    13 In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise, 14 Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory. 15 Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, (Ephesians 1:13-15 KJV)

    Ephesians 1:13-15

    The redemption of the purchased possession is our spiritual life. And why would our spiritual life need to be purchased? Paul tells us for the praise of His glory. God’s entire plan from the outset was for His glory and His honor. He could not have redeemed us, nor would we be a purchased possession, unless He had first lost us, or allowed us to be stolen away by Satan. This was God’s opportunity to demonstrate how far He would go for His creation not our opportunity to demonstrate some loyalty to the creator.

    In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (I John 4:9-11 KJV)

    1 John 4:9-11

    In God’s plan, there was nothing we could do on our own to keep our spiritual life. It was His love towards us and His action of sending His only begotten Son into the world that we then have the opportunity to live through him. Otherwise, we are dead in sin:

    24 Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed. (I Peter 2:24 KJV)

    1 Peter 2:24

    God clearly had to take physical action on the part of His creation, in order for us to regain our spiritual lives. And that would not have been necessary if we were not already spiritually dead. And we are spiritually dead because we chose the lie of Satan over the truth of God, and through those actions God allowed Satan to steal away our spiritual life.

    But what about our physical life? Who owns that? And we are going to physically die, right? It should be pretty evident that everyone that has lived, has died. Even Jesus Christ, God incarnate in the flesh, who was born into this world as a man, and lived as a man, died on the cross. Did Satan steal away Jesus’s physical life on the cross? And if Satan had dominion over the physical life, why wouldn’t he have just stopped Jesus from coming into the world in the first place?

    The plausible answer is that Satan does not own our physical death. He has no control over it, nor can he influence it, nor does he know the time, the place, or the method by which we depart this physical world.

    Consider Satan’s discussion with God concerning the servant Job:

    And the Lord said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause. And Satan answered the Lord, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life. But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face. And the Lord said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. (Job 2:3-6 KJV)

    Job 2:3-6

    Note that Satan first suggests that God put forth His hand and touch the bone and flesh of Job so that he would curse God to His face. And this was after making the argument that Job’s integrity was due to God preserving his physical life. If Satan had control over that physical life, why wouldn’t he have just taken action on his own? And then note that God gives Job over to Satan but does not allow him to take his physical life? How could God have protected Job’s physical life unless he first owned it?

    Obviously, He could not have. And yet He did because God owns our physical lives and our physical death. The Angel of death is an emissary of God. Likewise, God owns physical life as He demonstrated in raising Lazarus from the dead and more than 500 when Jesus Himself walked out of the tomb. When Jesus Christ prayed in the garden to not have to drink of the cup, it was not the death of the cross that burdened His soul, rather it was the impending spiritual death He would take on when He was separated, for the first time ever, from God the Father and God the Holy Spirit.

    But why is all of this important to us today? And who cares if Satan owns our Spiritual death while God owns our physical death? Well, I believe it is important because we tend to get the two mixed up and place the emphasis in the wrong place. And I have even heard this preached incorrectly at times, or at least with great confusion. There is one passage that confounds the atheist:

    And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. 24 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. 25 For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away? (Luke 9:23-25 KJV)

    Luke 9:23-25

    Jesus was saying if you strive to save your physical life, you will lose your spiritual life, but if you lose your physical life for His sake, you gain spiritual life.

    There are some things that I can absolutely guarantee you today. And one of those is that you will physically live forever. Oh sure, you will physically die in this world because of the sin curse and God keeping us from partaking of the Tree of Life, however, God will raise you from that death, all of us, believers and unbelievers alike, in order to stand in judgement before Him. And if you are still spiritually dead in that day, your physical life will be lost in Hell forever, however if you are spiritually alive in that day, your physical life will be spent as part of God’s family for all of eternity.

    Don’t lose your spiritual life over this physical life, nor lose your eternal physical life by not gaining your spiritual life in this physical life. You simply need to believe on the name that is above all names, the name of Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, who died on the cross for the sins of the world and sits at the right hand of God the Father today.

  • Who Owns Death? (Part I)

    Death is a subject that may not interest very many people. For some it may be something that looms over their head that they just don’t want to think about. For others it may be a mystery that grips the heart with fear. Still others have some morbid fascination with death that defies logic and explanation. But one thing is for sure, it is something that is universal and affects each and every person who lives.

    Given that death may be such an uncomfortable subject that most people don’t want to get into, or even think about, why would I devote a BLOG post to it? Especially since my BLOG purports to talk about Life/Religion/Politics/Science/and Philosophy? And while there may not seem to be any connection with death in that topic list, death is something we deal with in life, and it has very serious and important consequences in the Religious (Spiritual) realm. But my purpose for bringing it up today is to hopefully have people, especially, Christians, think about it a little bit differently than what is typically put forth in mainstream conversations. I believe that we treat several conversations about death incorrectly and that concerns me for a number of reasons. So that is why I’d like to share my thoughts on death today.

    When we talk about death, the very first thing we should consider, and the most important thing we should clarify, is Which death are we talking about? For the atheist or agnostic, there is probably surprise (or disbelief) at the concept of multiple deaths. But for the theist, and especially Christians, two deaths should be known and understood. Scripture makes it very clear that there are two deaths (Revelation 2:10-12, Revelation 20:5-7, Revelation 20:13-15, and Revelation 21:7-9 King James Version Bible). If there is a second death mentioned, it would only follow that there is a first death. Christians know these two deaths as the physical death and the spiritual death.

    Everyone knows of the physical death regardless of your world view. Things live and die. It is the cycle of life. For the evolutionist this is the end. Nothing else happens (by-the-way, if you are an Evolutionist who believes in some type of afterlife or spirit world, you are at odds with evolutionary theory which does not allow for any type of god or higher being).

    For the agnostic, you might believe in reincarnation, so something that allows the spirit to still inhabit the earth (as in ghosts, ghouls, or goblins), but there is little rational thought around those ideas, and they lack purpose, meaning, or hope.

    For the theist however, there is an afterlife, perpetuated by a god. And for Christians that God is Jehovah God. And the part of the being that carries forward is the spirit. And most theists, Christians included, believe that God (or gods for polytheists) provide a new body when this this present physical body dies.

    The second death, or spiritual death is unique to Christians and Judaism, and has no meaning to either atheists, agnostics, or most other religions.

    So far, I believe that about 80% – 90% of people are understanding of at least one, some, or all of these concepts and think there is nothing new here. So, let me ask you a question, Who owns death? And let’s be even more specific and identify who owns each death.

    This is where I believe so many people begin to get things wrong (even in some churches). Because believe it or not, I believe they are not the same.

    In Genesis 2:17 the death talked about is clearly spiritual death. This is obvious because when Adam ate of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he did not immediately physically die. But at the same time Adam sealed the fate of humanities mortality to physically die. And we know this because in Genesis 3:22-24 God clearly indicated that He would honor His original design should Adam eat of the tree of life. And God clearly took steps to not allow that to happen.

    So here we see God exercising control over physical life and death. Both in the fact that Adam and Eve did not immediately physically die when they sinned against God, and by not allowing them to live forever by eating of the tree of life.

    But what of spiritual death? Satan was the one who deceived Eve with a lie. We see this in Genesis 3:1-7. Yet God did not intervene. He allowed Adam and Eve to make a choice. Free will. To either gamble on Satan’s lie, or to adhere to the truth. And he allowed Satan to deceive because he gave over the spiritual life to Satan.

    I am sure there are Bible scholars screaming at their screens right now. God did what!?! OK, OK, the proper way to describe it in the words of Paul is that Satan stole humanity away from God (Ephesians 1:13-15, Hebrews 9:11-16). But I’m going to maintain that no one, not even Satan, can steal from God that which He does not allow to be stolen. Allow me a few verses to illustrate. Christians know that humans start their physical lives dead in trespasses and sin (Ephesians 2:1-3, Colossians 2:12-14). That is, we inherit the sin nature, and its condition, from Adam (Romans 5:6-21). And in this passage, we even see Paul explain that even though we did not sin in the same manner of Adam, we are still sinners (Romans 5:14).

    What we see here is that from Satan’s initial lie to Eve, humanity has been trapped in sin (spiritual death). And we all see that God sent His Son in order to pay our sin debt (buy us back). And why would God need to buy back that which was stolen from Him? And what does any of that have to do with physical death? And what is the relevance to you today?

    Come back and read Part II to find out.

  • Do You Have An Affliction?

    Are you afflicted by something in your life?  Perhaps it is a physical affliction.  Perhaps it is an emotional affliction.  Or perhaps it is a spiritual affliction.  Maybe you are one of those rare cases where it is multiple afflictions.  Whatever your affliction may be, it would seem that the world today has an answer.

    My real question today though is not what your affliction is, but rather what your treatment of that affliction is.  For you see, I have a hypothesis that the world today is full of answers to our afflictions that make us feel good, but perhaps don’t actually treat the afflictions themselves.

    You can see evidence of this through a simple Google search.  Try it.  Google your affliction and count the responses you get back that offer a world view that is non Theistic in its foundation as opposed to those that are.

    Now before I go any further, let me make it plain that there is nothing wrong with treating afflictions through medical, psychological, or therapeutical means.  If you have poor eyesight you need glasses to correct that.  If you have a cold, medicine can help you.  If you are heartbroken, counseling may be a path to recovery.  My problem with the world today is where our focus is.  And I perceive that to be more on our afflictions, and the cures for them, than on the Creator and the sin cursed world that has brought about the afflictions, that we suffer, in the first place.

    We seem to think that we have all the answers to our afflictions, or at least more answers than have ever been available before in history, yet we never consider what God has to say about them.  In other words we never consider the Biblical approach to our afflictions but rather only what medicine or psychology has to say about them.

    Afflictions are not new in the world.  They have been around since Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden of Eden.  Paul of Tarsus told us of his afflictions (2 Corinthians 12:7-10), Job was afflicted, I’d argue that both Cain and Abel were afflicted.  And perhaps there are those around us that may not be as normal as we perceive them to be.  Some may hide their afflictions very well.

    Certainly our afflictions today cannot be so great as to compare to the afflictions of the early church, those that have experienced hardship during times of war, and certainly not the thieves on the cross (Mark 15:27).  But many will still cry out about how they were born with their afflictions or else cursed with them through no fault of their own.  Perhaps they should consider the blind (John 9:1-3), or the lame (John 5:5-9), or the deaf (Mark 7:31-37), or even the spiritually tormented (Matthew 8:28-34).

    Personally, I know of no other living person today whom I would consider more greatly afflicted than those that have had all possession of their faculties compromised.  Such as those that may suffer from Down’s Syndrome or are in a coma.  I have long contemplated the thoughts those that suffer from such afflictions must possess.  Imagine living out your entire life, or even a piece of it, unable to express your deepest and innermost desires or dreams.  And yet, but for the Grace of God, there go I.

    But as I stated, I am not interested in what your affliction today is, but rather your treatment of that affliction is.  I am more than sure I could survey enough people to come up with a book full of afflictions that each and every person thinks is the greatest burden any living person has ever had to bear.  However, the number of people that have met their afflictions head on through Faith and Grace, those are rare and hard to come by.

    Today, there seems to be a cure for all of our afflictions.  We have adult play doh, adult coloring books, puppy therapy,  Dr. Phil, and a whole host of other so-called treatments for all of our self-diagnosed woes that I neither have the time, nor the inclination to parade before you.  We have cures for our illnesses such as have never been available to mankind before in the history of the world.  When did the Disciples of Jesus Christ ever get to stop at a local drug store and pick up some aspirin?  You want to consider some folks that must have had some colossal headaches for their day, the Disciples of Jesus would have been perfect candidates.  Just as I’m sure that the people dying from the plagues of the middle ages would have loved to have penicillin and some of the other miracle drugs that are available to us today.

    People in the past had to cope with whatever came their way because they did not have anywhere near the arsenal to draw upon to fight their afflictions that we seemingly have today.  And yet, in some ways, I’d argue that people in the past fared far better when facing their afflictions, than we do today.

    My problem with the treatment of our afflictions today is not that there is a treatment, but rather that we consider the treatment to be the paramount answer in the cure of our afflictions.  We have traded Faith in God for faith in some man made, non-theistic world view, cure to all our ills.  I could care less if coloring therapy does wonders for you or not.  If it does, great!  That is if it really and truly does.  What I care about is whether the coloring therapy is keeping you from spending time with the God of the Universe.  Whether it is compromising your Faith in the Creator.  And whether or not it has become a crutch to replace seeking after him.

    Consider the blind man, who had sinned that he should be blind from birth?  The answer was “No one”.  Not he, nor his parents, nor anyone else in his life.  His affliction was solely for the Glory of God.  What about our afflictions today?  Are they for the Glory of God?  Or are they just some annoyance to keep us from seeking after Him?

  • Why Did Peter Have A Sword?

    I’ve heard a number of sermons on the passage found in  John 18 over the years.  In this Chapter of the Bible, John recounts the point in Jesus’ life where he is taken into custody by the Roman Guard at the insistence of the Jewish Religious Leaders of the day.  In all of the sermons I’ve heard or read or studied on this passage, no one has ever asked the question “What was Peter doing with a sword?”

    Say what you will, but the fact remains that Peter, who was consistently in the presence of the Son of God, carried a weapon on his person.  And we must assume here that at no point did Jesus Christ ever instruct Peter to do away with his sword.  Jesus knew that Peter carried the sword.  And Jesus knew the purpose of the sword.   And I don’t think Jesus was surprised at all that Peter drew his sword and used it to cut off the ear of the high priests’ servant.  The idea that the Son of God did not know what was going to occur within the garden that night is a fallacy in the understanding of God himself.  And yet Jesus allowed Peter to accompany him to the garden that night carrying his sword.

    The idea that we are not in a battle and are to protect ourselves and our loved ones is simply an egregious one.  Jesus Christ came to this earth in peace being born of a virgin, but he will come again as a God of justice and of war.  And his servants will accompany him armed and prepared for that battle.  I will be numbered among that army.  And the only reason for that army is to fight a battle.  A very real battle that will, unfortunately be fought within the physical realm.

    And so I am curious as to why no one wants to ask the question “Why did Peter carry a sword?”  There might be many answers to this question.  A sword, after all, could have been a very useful tool in Peter’s profession.  Peter was a fisherman and a sword might have had all kinds of uses.  However, Peter was in the Garden of Gethsemane and was many miles from any body of water.  Furthermore, a sword might have required more upkeep in the harsh environment around water than a more simple knife.  A sword would have also been a more expensive option for Peter during that time.

    My speculation is Peter carried the sword because he was prepared to defend and to fight.  A cause and a purpose that obviously was with justification and was not counseled against.

    There are Governments today that want to control the sword.  Because when you control the sword, you keep the people in subjection.  Here in the United States of America we have the specifically identified right to “keep and bear arms”, the right of the sword.  Or in today’s world, the gun or firearm.  This is a right that is not afforded many in the world today.  But it is one that I hold precious and take very seriously.

    There are those in the world today that want to remove the sword from the hands of the people, however they don’t want to give up the sword, they want to keep the sword in the hands of those that govern or control the people.  And they have many reasons or arguments for making this case.

    They argue that possession of a firearm leads to accidental injuries or deaths.  And this is true.  But possession of a car, or fire, or chainsaws also lead to accidental injuries or deaths.  And the Governments are not out to control or take those items away.  In some cases, a lot of cases, there are items in our everyday lives that lead to many more injuries and deaths than a firearm and Governments do not call for them to be banned or even as heavily regulated.  The one difference is unlike a car, or fire, or a chainsaw, the firearm gives the individual the power to rise up and take their destiny into their own hands. The sword allows people, as has been demonstrated many times in history, to rise up and fight a just fight for a just cause.

    I appreciate the role that Governments play in protecting the people.  I myself have served in armed units of the United States Military and I work for the United States Department of Defense today (and have for many years).  But I also recognize that when the thief comes in the night that Police may not be there in time to protect me or my family.  There is a time when I may need the equalizer that is the sword to ward off a would be attacker that wants to do harm to myself or my family.  I also understand the deterrent that is the sword should an unjust regime rise up and try to control the people.

    And so I, like Peter, own a sword.  I, unlike Peter, do not live in a State that allows me to freely carry (bear) that sword, but it is still a right that I believe in and strongly support.  The sword potentially allows me to be part of the good fight should the need ever arise.

    We know there are Spiritual battles in today’s world, but Spirtual battles spill over and manifest themselves in the physical realm.  And we need to be prepared for both our Spiritual and our physical battles.  The last battle will certainly be fought in the physical realm even though it will be among Spirtual forces.

    There will certainly come a day when our swords will be beat into plowshares and the lion will lay down with the lamb, but until that day comes, we should be good soldiers in both the physical and the Spiritual realms.  And I, for one, stand ready with my sword.  I may die by the sword, but I am much more likely to die in a traffic accident out on the nations highways, and the fact that I may die by the sword is not reason enough to willingly lay down my sword nor do I believe it is just cause for those that would take that sword away.

  • My Tastes In Food

     

    Have you ever known a picky eater?  And by picky I do mean finicky.  I have.  Some peoples culinary standards simply cannot be met.  Other people are fastidious in their selections of food as well as its preparation.  Many people in America will cite health reasons as the primary driver behind their particular eating habits.  Some people go absolutely nuts counting calories, checking sugar content, evaluating ingredients on packages, and carefully questioning food preparation (was this dish grilled or fried?).  Some folks stick with what they know and are comfortable with, they are not willing to branch out into new areas and try new things.  Some people only eat according to religious guidelines and govern their eating through close religious standards.

    The commercial world plays off of these eating peculiarities in advertising and marketing.  The Food Network has programming in 150 countries around the world and 24 hour programming in America, Great Britain, India, Asia, and Africa.  Japan has its Iron Chef, Julia Child’s was billed as The French Chef (even though she was American), while All Recipes will bring you cooking techniques from around the world.  And check out this organic food craze from World Cuisine.

    Food.  It is a stable of our lives.  We need food to survive and yet at the same time we immensely enjoy good food.  For the Judeo Christian world food is an interesting thing.  Most Christians around the world do not stop and think about the very first commandment given by God to mankind.  Many hundreds of years (perhaps as long as two or three thousand years) before the Ten Commandments were given to Moses and the nation of Israel, a commandment was given to Adam and Eve (Note: the Wikipedia article erroneously and foolishly refers to Adam and Eve in conjunction with creation myths.  The same weak thinkers that unequivocally establish the story of Adam and Eve as mythical, will just as quickly point out that most mythical stories have some basis in fact.  Except for, apparently, Adam and Eve.  Although they may never quite establish either the basis or the fact in the other stories.  In reality, they believe what they want to believe without any basis in fact simply because it meets their world view.  The difference between them and the religious people of the world is they are not brave enough to admit it.  But I’m chasing rabbits here.)  in the Garden of Eden.  And that commandment was “But of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it:” Genesis 2:16-17.  This is greatly interesting to me.  The very first commandment ever given is embodied in the words “thou shalt not eat“.  And the one thing God said could not be eaten was the fruit of a tree.

    This must have been greatly perplexing to Adam and Eve.  After all, God had told them that he had placed every herb bearing seed and every tree that had fruit that yielded seed, on the Earth for them to eat.  Genesis 1:27-30.  And all of a sudden God is telling them ‘ What I really meant was you can eat of just about any tree in the Garden.  Just don’t eat of this one.  Because this one is kind of poison and if you eat of it, you will die’ (my paraphrase).  Talk about a setup.  The Garden of Eden must have been the equivalent of putting a child in a candy shop and telling them they may eat any of the candy in the entire shop, except for the chocolate bars on this one rack in the center of the store.  Unfortunately Eve’s taste in food was pretty open and she saw the fruit and thought it must be good.  Genesis 3:6.

    And thus the very first commandment ever broken was eating food!  Have you ever considered why food is so important?  And why in the world would God structure the very first test mankind was ever to face around eating, and refraining from eating, food?  And here we are, six thousand years later, still wrapped around our culinary peculiarities.

    I believe the answer is because God specifically designed us to be creatures of replenishment.  God designed us to be renewed in so many ways.  Both Spiritually, Emotionally, and Physically.  And eating is one of the primary ways we are renewed physically.  We are dependent upon food for survival.  And yet Jesus tells us to take no thought of what we are to eat.  Matthew 6:25.  Why?  Because our Father in Heaven knows we need these things and wants to be the supplier of them in our lives.  Matthew 6:32.

    God knows, and God wants to supply the very needs of our lives.  And he wants us to keep coming back to him over and over and over again to have those needs fulfilled.

    Choosey eaters turn me off to some extent.  Because if people display habits or traits in one area of their lives, you can pretty well bet that they exhibit those habits and traits in other areas of their lives.  If we are hard to please in our Physical lives, we are probably hard to please in our Spiritual lives as well.

    God wants us to be renewed in all facets of our beings.  And that means being renewed Spiritually.  Constantly, and consistently, and through wondrous experiences he has designed specifically for us.  And just like eating, when we come to God’s table for Spiritual replenishment, we can get ourselves into trouble.

    We can miss out by being picky and not experiencing all God has for us.  We can over indulge by being chocoholics and not eating our vegetables.  And we can end up unhealthy by not eating a well balanced meal.

    So are you a picky eater?  Because I believe God wants us to be hungry and then filled, hungry and then filled, over and over again.  Each time enjoying a great meal that he has prepared just for us.  And if we are picky eaters, we might miss out on God’s specific treats for our lives.

    As for myself, I’ll eat just about anything.