CAN YOU DEFEND YOUR FAITH?

The sad truth is most Christians can't even defend their faith because they themselves are ignorant of God's word.

Don't let anyone capture you with empty philosophies and high-sounding nonsense that come from human thinking and from the spiritual powers of this world, rather than from Christ. -- Colossians 2:8
"My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Hosea 4:6

Articles

Sunday, March 28, 2010

THE ACCIDENTAL PLANET?


Toss a kilo of flour in a pan, add a cup of butter, dash a tbls of pepper and salt, pour 2 cups water....just toss all the element inside...shake all the ingredients together, just shake and do not use your hand...continue shaking...shake, shake...shake, shake, shake...let us say keep shaking till 1 million years. What is the change of creating a perfect loaf of bread? Okey we forgot something, place the mixture near fire....hmmmm, are we making progress now? Do you see a lump forming...or just burning concoction like ashes...

What's the point of the experiment. It simply shows how impossible the probability of dust particles in space forming into planet earth by mere chance. Stressing the perfect design as we now see & having all the good stuff in it.

A large percentage of scientist believe the formation of our planet is the product of unplanned accidents. There is the Big Bang Theory for one.

Isn't it more easier to believe that a designer was at work here? Or isn't easier to make a perfect loaf of bread when there is a baker molding the ingredients?

"Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?" God asked in Job 38:4

Creation or Evolution? Which is more believable?

If his name is Yeshua why do we call him Jesus?

Yeshua is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is "Joshua" . Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is "Jesus". Thus, the names Joshua and Jesus are essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek names for the Lord. (For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see Acts 7:45 and Hebrew 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Jesus refers to the Old Testament character Joshua.)

In German, our English word ¿book¿ is buch. In Spanish, it becomes a libro; in French, a livre. The language changes, but the object itself does not. In the same way, we can refer to Jesus as Jesus,Yeshua, or YehSou (Cantonese), without changing His nature. In any language, His name means "the Lord Is Salvation."

We refer to Him as "Jesus" because, as English-speaking people, we know of Him through English translations of the Greek New Testament and to us Filipino we call him Hesus. Scripture does not value one language over another, and it gives no indication that we must resort to Hebrew when addressing the Lord.

The command is to "call on the name of the Lord," with the promise that we "shall be saved" (Acts 2:21, Joel 3:32). Whether we call on Him in English, Korean, Hindi, or Hebrew, the result is the same: the Lord is salvation.

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Is Christianity "Anti-Science" ?


Before anything else, let me clarify that I have nothing against science. I believe that science may even help out in our quest for the meaning in life.

Science has many Christian roots. Most of the early scientists were Christians (Copernicus, Galileo, Pascal, Isaac Newton, Carl Linnaeus, Johannes Keppler, Robert Boyle, Louis Pasteur, Jean Henri Fabre, Michael Faraday, John Ambrose Fleming, etc.). The faith of these great scientists was not a separate part of their thinking; indeed, it was integral to their thinking as they operated within a Christian framework. (See the book How You Think the Way You Do by historian Glenn S. Sunshine.)

An interesting fact is that the vast majority of all scientific development has come out of western civilization, which has Christianity as its basis. Christianity views God as rational and trustworthy, which implies that His creation is rational and orderly and thus can be examined. Nature in the Christian view (as compared to non-Christian worldviews) was no longer an object of fear and worship.

The idea of laws of nature came from Christianity. And the concepts of subduing nature and being stewards of nature are right from the first book of the Bible Genesis

THE DANGER OF EVOLUTION THEORY

Why Evolution in particular? First, evolution is not just a theory or a principle in science. It is in itself a Religion. A dictionary definition of Religion can be sum up as "A cause, principle, or system of beliefs held with ardor & faith." Therefore, Charles Darwin's evolution is a religion in itself because "..it is trying to answer and tackle the meaning of life." in fact, evolutionist had even tried with this conclusion: There is no meaning or purpose in life since we are merely an accident.

Evolution does not merely dismiss a Creator, it rejects any spiritual meaning for our existense.

OK. What is it to me? It wasn't a big deal? Evolutionist can reject God. I can go my way with my religion & worship God. But wait....

Sir Julian Huxley, a leading evolutionist of the 20th century admitted "Many people assert that this abandonment of god hypothesis means the abandonment of all religion and all moral sanctions," he wrote "This is simply not true. But it does mean, once our relief at jettisoning an outdated ideological furniture is over, that we must construct something to take its place."

Evolution as a religion does not do away with God -- it merely replaces Him with human gods. That is why for the past days I've been sharing to you the holes of evolution, so that you may not be misled. A drastic new world order may appear base on these principle. Some Hollywood movies & even literature had been preparing us for this new ideologies for many years now. Harry Potter is inter-mingling science & sorcery (spiritual); Dan Brown's novel had been bombarding the foundation of our faith thru myths. Star Trek, star wars, ET....presenting technology as our Final frontier. Animation brought as lies too...movie such as WALL E just a couple of month ago, presented hope of new earth without the idea of God.

Think about it...evolution theory has gone a long long way, deceiving us in the name of false science.

Can Satan Read Your Mind?


The Bible does teach us that Satan indeed is very powerful. Likely he was the highest ranking of all the fallen angels, as he was persuasive enough to convince one third of the angels to join him in his rebellion (Revelation 12:4). Even after his fall from heaven, not even Michael the archangel dared to confront him without the Lord's help (Jude 1:9). 
   Satan is the "the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient" (Ephesians 2:2b). 
   Believers are exhorted "Resist the devil, and he will flee from you" (James 4:7b).
   Now to answer the crucial question: 
   Can Satan and/or his demons read our minds? 
   Scripture does not say specifically whether or not Satan can read our minds. First, it is important for us to remember that Satan is not omnipresent; he cannot be in more than one place at a time. Only God is everywhere, only God knows everything, while Satan must rely on his army of demons to do his bidding. The Bible gives us no reason to believe Satan and his demons can read our minds. Clearly that would take a measure of omnipresence and omniscience, which they do not have. 
   However, Satan and his demons have been observing and tempting human beings for thousands of years. In addition, they can overhear our speech when we talk to others (and to ourselves!). Surely they have learned a few things about us over the years. Even without the ability to know our thoughts, they can probably make a well-educated guess as to what we are thinking, and then attempt to use it to their advantage. That is why we are commanded to "Submit yourselves, then, to God" (James 4:7a), before we are told to "Resist the devil" (James 4:7b).

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

The Historical Record of Jesus

Considering that Jesus' ministry was largely confined to a relatively unimportant area in a small corner of the Roman Empire, a surprising amount of information about Jesus can be drawn from secular historical sources. Some of the more important historical evidences of Jesus include the following:

The first-century Roman Tacitus, who is considered one of the more accurate historians of the ancient world, mentioned superstitious “Christians” (from Christus, which is Latin for Christ), who suffered under Pontius Pilate during the reign of Tiberius. Suetonius, chief secretary to Emperor Hadrian, wrote that there was a man named Chrestus (or Christ) who lived during the first century (Annals 15.44).

Flavius Josephus is the most famous Jewish historian. In his Antiquities he refers to James, “the brother of Jesus, who was called Christ.” There is a controversial verse (18:3) that says, “Now there was about this time Jesus, a wise man, if it be lawful to call him a man. For he was one who wrought surprising feats....He was [the] Christ...he appeared to them alive again the third day, as the divine prophets had foretold these and ten thousand other wonderful things concerning him.” One version reads, “At this time there was a wise man named Jesus. His conduct was good and [he] was known to be virtuous. And many people from among the Jews and the other nations became his disciples. Pilate condemned him to be crucified and to die. But those who became his disciples did not abandon his discipleship. They reported that he had appeared to them three days after his crucifixion, and that he was alive; accordingly he was perhaps the Messiah, concerning whom the prophets have recounted wonders.”

Julius Africanus quotes the historian Thallus in a discussion of the darkness which followed the crucifixion of Christ (Extant Writings, 18).

Pliny the Younger, in Letters 10:96, recorded early Christian worship practices including the fact that Christians worshiped Jesus as God and were very ethical, and he includes a reference to the love feast and Lord’s Supper.

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 43a) confirms Jesus' crucifixion on the eve of Passover and the accusations against Christ of practicing sorcery and encouraging Jewish apostasy.

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

The Long Hair of Jesus ?

   While we don't know what Jesus looked like, we do know that He didn't look like the common depictions of Him with long hair. After all, this same Jesus inspired the apostle Paul to write in 1 Corinthians 11:14: t "Does not even nature itself teach you that if a man has long hair, it is a dishonor to him?"
   In addition to this instruction regarding long hair on men, the Bible also contains circumstantial evidence that Jesus didn't have long hair.
   Perhaps the most telling is that when Judas betrayed Jesus, he had to identify Jesus by a kiss. That was the prearranged signal Judas had given so that the guards could identify Jesus. Why did Judas have to do that? Because Jesus looked just like any average man of His day, and they wouldn't have been able to identify Him if Judas hadn't betrayed Him with a kiss.
   This incident shows us that Jesus looked like any ordinary, average Jew of His day; there was nothing distinguishing about Him. The messianic prophecy of Isaiah 53:2 (NIV) says of Him: "He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him."
   A Feb. 24, 2004, Associated Press article reports: "'Jesus didn't have long hair,' said physical anthropologist Joe Zias, who has studied hundreds of skeletons found in archaeological digs in Jerusalem. 'Jewish men back in antiquity did not have long hair.' 'The Jewish texts ridiculed long hair as something Roman or Greek,' said New York University's Lawrence Schiffman" ("Jesus Scholars Find Fault in Gibson's 'Passion'"). However, it wasn't at all typical among even the Greeks and Romans, as plenty of statues and coins from the time attest.
   "Along with extensive writings from the period, experts also point to a frieze on Rome's Arch of Titus, erected after Jerusalem was captured in AD 70 to celebrate the victory, which shows Jewish men with short hair taken into captivity" (ibid.).
   The Gospels tell us that on at least two occasions Jesus slipped away into the crowds when people were trying to kill Him (Luke 4:30; John 8:59). He was able to escape harm because He was simply an average-looking man of His day and blended in with the other people around Him.
  Who wanted him to wear long hair? They made him to appear like the Roman god...
   Below let us compare the images of Roman God Jupiter with the depiction of Jesus by the Pagan Rome.







 

Monday, March 22, 2010

THE SPIRITUAL WARFARE

People will believe what they want to believe.
Luke 12:56 Hypocrites! You know how to
interpret the appearance of the earth and
the sky. How is it that you don't know
how to interpret this present time?

No matter how good you present the fact, you can not force anyone to believe what you are saying. Forcing someone to believe you, will most likely increase the possibility of the other party fighting back. That is why in 1 Peter 3:15 we are advise to present our faith with "gentleness & respect". It is not a Christian's job to convict people. John 14:27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. If you notice, Jesus added this advise after Judas (not Iscariot) asked why Jesus Christ share the truth to them plainly and not to others. Jesus knew it would be a very difficult task to convince people, there would be heated arguments, so He reminded them on how He preach. Jesus want his disciple to present the truth with utmost respect to a person, unlike how the world forces someone to believe. He assures us also that a comforter will come to our aid (v. 26 But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have said to you.)

All we can do is present the word of God. And let God do the rest through the help of the Holy Spirit.


WHY WE NEED THE ARMOR OF GOD?


Critics of Christianity are becoming more and more vocal recently. Especially with the advent of technology where there is an easy access to information, most of these loud-mouth non-believers can launch their attack on Christians straightforwardly and by the comfort of internet can conveniently accuse faithful believers as “ignorant,” “stupid,” “brainwashed,” or otherwise suggest that those who have faith are less intelligent than those who do not. When a Christian puts up a good fight by standing up intelligently for his faith, the terms change to “bigot,” “extremist,” or “zealot.”
The sad truth is most Christians can't even defend their faith because they themselves are ignorant of God's word. 1 Peter 3:15 says
“But in your hearts set apart Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect.”
There are two things a Christian should do to stand up for Christ -- Live a life according to Christ Word and also grow our own knowledge of Him. In fact, most unbelievers or atheist themselves have read the entire Bible, word for word, selecting ammunition to hurl against Christians. So, it is best for Christian to equip himself with The Full Armor of God (Ephesian 6:10) so that he can defend and counter the attack of the enemy.
This is what I will try to share to you thru this blogsite....how we can fight back. Actually, it is the other way around, it was the unbelievers ignorance why they attack Christians, "My people are being destroyed for lack of knowledge..." Hosea 4:6