The Questions That Need Answering
Introduction: - (CJB)*
The purpose of this study is to explore questions that people ask which may not be as straightforward as it may seem. It is not my intention to present myself as any authority but is my attempt to offer my understanding as I have attempted to find answers that have come across my path.
Let me from the start be clear about the basis that that I will be making my attempt to offer an answer to these questions. At base of my discussions is that I hold the firm view that Bible, the Holy Scriptures, gives much of the foundation to the view that I will present.
Your view of the validity of the Bible to be source of truth and wisdom may vary from mine, but I ask you to temper your opinion and see if my discussion has merit.
The fact that the Bible has a long history of people having honoured its value does get it some weight to its value. Many a scholar have tried to discredit the Bible, and most have changed their original view after their dissertations.
To take this journey it will be necessary to have a set-of-tools to help in unlocking some of the not so easy to see concepts that are contained in the scriptures.
- We need to take onboard the understanding that many scholars will present that the Bible is God’s Revelation of Himself and what He desires that Mankind should respond in relation that Revelation.
- When I use the term God, I am referring to way he has revealed Himself to the Patriarchs of Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. For brevity I will just use the God as we continue along our way.
- Given the above a basis of ‘fact’, then the Bible is a very unique book which has to treated as such and that it has to validate itself from within itself. What am I saying. Proof that the Bible is a true Revelation of God it has to bring that proof from within the writings it presents to the reader. For example, there are many predictions of future events that have conclusively been shown to have come to past. The number of these predictions that have been shown to have been true is mathematically impossible to be just chance.
- Another important point that needs to be kept in mind is that God see the end from the beginning. Which simply means in His Plan He knows what He will do based on knowing the end result will be before He acts.
This is just a foundation of concepts that we need to begin our journey. Here are a few more thoughts that will set the stage of where I am heading. As you continue reading remember to keep these thoughts in mind, I will refer back them many times as we take this journey.
- We need to establish the nature of God so that we don’t come to false conclusions. Moses when he asked to see to Glory of God heard God say that He would declare His Name before him. In the concept of the time a person name said a lot about that person and a good name was to be valued. When God declared His Name, He said; “The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth, “. In another passage it states that God is light and there is no darkness in Him. From these two instances we know that God is not able and will not do anything the is evil or corrupt. His whole purpose in revealing Himself to mankind is for man’s benefit.
- So, as we take this journey keep in mind that God is looking for anything and everything that is good for mankind and he is making every opportunity to bring this about.
- We will look into what is Sin. How it came about. His solution to deal with it and more.
- Why does God allow evil in this world and why God does not just do away with it.
- A very important point to watch out for is that God always had a witness of His Goodness all the way down throughout history. Why this is very important.
- A topic that we will look into is why Adam is called ‘The First Adam’ and Jesus is called ‘The Last Adam’.
- What is the role of the Church and who is part of The Church. As well as Israel’s role in the history of mankind.
So, let’s make a start on the problem of Sin.
This a such a vast subject that only a brief intro will be given here, more will continue in the next posting.
In todays thinking Sin has so many different meanings.
The Bible’s view, I suggest, is that Sin is missing God’s Mark. It comes from archery in that not hitting the target is a sin.
So, what is God’s Mark? Well, anything that misses being what He is. In Genesis it states that Mankind was made in the image the Godhead, in other words made with same nature at God. It makes sense that if man was made with God’s nature hitting the mark would be no problem.
The issue was that Man did not keep to the instructions that He was given from the beginning about not eating from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. – I will go into this more later but for now we are determining what is Sin.
By disobeying God’s clear instruction about refraining to eat of that tree Adam stepped out of the Nature of God as he was made originally. This disobedience resulted in Adam loosing the part of himself that had a deep connection with himself and God.
This is the first part of the thread that we will find winding its way through the rest of the bible.
Let’s continue this in the next posting: -
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(CJB)* The Complete Jewish Bible" used with permission.