This should have been posted before Thanksgiving Day. All the same,
“Better Late than never,” and on thanksgiving week,
I heard one radio announcer say:
“Thanksgiving is not a day, it is an attitude of the heart.”
Photo by nappy on Pexels.com
T – THANK and PRAISE God
for all things BIG SMALL
And do not forget
the precious people in your life!
H – HEALTH AND
are things we can all be thankful for
even if we are ill at a hospital
A – APPRECIATE and ADMIRE
the beauty of God’s creation
N – NAME and NUMBER
your blessings
its a rewarding experience,
including the precious people in your life.
K – KINDNESS and THANKSGIVING
in the heart
are twin siblings in the same home.
S – A SMILE and a CHEER;
want to see it on the face of the deserving?
Just say, “Thank You!”
from the heart
and with a warm smile
G – GIVING and RECEIVING:
The one exists not without the other
I – ICTUS;
Five Greek letters for ‘fish
Jesus, Christ, God, Son, Savior:
at least one reason to “give thanks!”
V – VISION and VALUE:
Nothing says:
“I see and I value what you have done” like when you say
I – INSIDE and OUTSIDE:
A thankful heart outwardly
N – NICE and NEW:
Thanksgiving is always that
Photo by Panos Sakalakis on Pexels.com
G – GOOD to GREAT:
‘Good Gifts’ ‘GREAT GIFTS,’
when it is received with a heartfelt:
What Should the Christian Make of Near Death Experiences (NDEs)?
When Colton Burpo was four
he died and went to heaven, where
he met his grandparents and a sister
His story was made popular by
both a book (“Heaven is for Real” ), and
a movie by the same name.
Colton (now 20) had knowledge about his grandparents, and stillborn sister
that could only have come to him supernaturally,
that is through an NDE.
Recently also, my wife and I saw a documentary called ‘Afterlife ‘ by Paul Perry,
which details the stories of people who experienced NDEs.
Perry clearly sees NDEs as proof of the ‘life after life’ and
the experience led us to examine Biblical teaching about the after life and
how that aligns with what is known about NDEs.
Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com
If you are interested, the International Association of Near Death Studies (IANDS) website
contains a large collection of stories and information about NDEs;
the stories sometimes differ in the particulars; but
they also share strong similarities:
Out of body experience Moving towards an unconditional loving light Heightened senses, consciousness, peace and harmony
Self-awareness – People experiencing NDEs
were aware of who they were as individuals
But there are others who believe that the experience is
Some descriptions of NDEs sound like
the product of vivid imagination and dreams
delirium
caused by malaria and other illnesses,
(an experience common to many people in the tropics
including me, my wife, and I am sure, many others); or
hallucination
Some texts in the Bible appear to relate to NDEs:
Paul (2 Corinthians 12) was caught up into the third heavens
he said he could not say whether he was
“in the body or out of the body” (verse 3 ESV);
he also saw and heard wonderful things he could not describe.
Could this have been and NDE
after he was beaten up and left for dead
at Lystra (Acts 14.19-20)?
Or could this have been after one of the many beatings he had suffered
as seen in 2 Corinthians 6.2-10?
John the Beloved experienced visions
detailed in the book of revelation while fasting.
Could this also qualify as an NDE?
Please see Revelation 1.9 -20.
Many other prophets in the Bible received visions
Daniel (10.2 ff); Peter (Acts 10.10 ff; ), Stephen (Acts 7.55 ff) etc.Were these NDEs? Are NDEs the same, similar to
what is called a ‘vision’ and a ‘trance’ in the Bible?
Jesus spoke about Lazarus and the Rich Man in the afterlife
(the story does not appear to be a mere parable
but a description of historical events );
how similar are the details of this story
to the common elements of NDEs?
SO WHAT THEN?
At the minimum, I believe NDEs confirm
what the Bible clearly teaches:
that Human existence goes beyond the physical realm.
In fact humanity generally and instinctively believes this
hence the universal prevalence of religion
one way or another, all societies ‘pray; ‘
although some (atheists, and skeptics, and naturalists etc.)
But NDEs are not the source of our hope;
the Bible’s teaching of the Resurrection is the source of our hope.
We must be careful not to develop doctrines
about the afterlife
based on NDEs, who gets saved, how they are saved etc., or about
who God, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit is;
The Bible is our source of doctrine for all things Christian
(Jude 4; Galatians 1.7-9; 2 Timothy 3.16,17)
God wants us to live by faith and by the already provided word of God
Jesus said to him, “Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” Luke 16.27-31
The Rich man’s brothers must accept the teachings of scripture
Hebrews 11.6
Faith not NDEs (or other types of miraculous signs)
must be he basis of our walk with God.
Paul – 2 Corinthians 5.7
“for we walk by faith and not by sight”
There are three sources of Evil and Suffering in the World:
A BROKEN NATURAL ORDER
According to the second law of thermodynamics:
matter always tends to the lowest state of order
meaning, in nature all things tend towards decay.
The start and sustenance of ‘life’ itself
proceeds in the opposite direction;
living things autonomously draw energy
(in the form of ‘food’)
from the surrounding environment,
but then eventually succumb to this law,
when it ends in illness, accidents, and death!!
For example, storms, earthquakes, and volcanoes
occur on the other planets and in other parts of the universe!!
When these happen on earth,
where human beings live,
they cause suffering!!
A PERSONAL EVIL BEING CALLED SATAN
Personal experience with a presence
outside of human beings,
possessing the ability to reason with and influence individuals,
and whose sole purpose appears to be
to instigate, encourage all things
evil, painful, and
opposed to goodness and to God’s purposes;
demonstrated in real ‘supernatural’ and demonic encounters, and
described in the events and exhortations in the scriptures,
is a source of much of the evil, and suffering upon the earth;
OUR FALLEN HUMAN NATURE, THAT IS,
the evil tendencies in everyone of us and/or combined with
our human limitations
(limited in knowledge, memory, ability etc.)
to use our God given freedom,
for selfishness, opposition to goodness and God,
as individuals or together as members of communities;
causes evil and suffering
upon ourselves,
upon one another,
and upon the earth.
The ULTIMATE RESOLUTION (HOPE) FOR ME! AKA: I HAVE PEACE BECAUSE OF THE FOLLOWING *:
I KNOW GOD LOVES ME in the face of all the evil and suffering in the world:“but God demonstrates his own love for us [ME] in this: While we were still sinners [I WAS STILL A SINNER], Christ died for us [ME].”
Paul in his letter to fellow Christians at Rome
GOD HAS A PLAN FOR A FALLEN CREATION:
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, …3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” …
“I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Jesus’s BFF, John in his letter to some very young churches in first century AD
SATAN, (THE DEVIL) WILL BE DEFEATED FOREVER
10 And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.John the BFF of Jesus
MY FALLEN HUMAN NATURE:
In Christ we are a New Creation
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation new Paul in his letter to believers at Corinth
In Christ we have a New Heart New Covenant
33 “This is the [NEW] covenant “I will put my law in their minds and write it on their [NEW] hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people. 34 No longer will they teach their neighbor, or say to one another, ‘Know the Lord ,’ because they will all know me, from the least of them to the greatest,” declares the Lord . From the writings of the famous Jewish ‘weeping’ Prophet
We now and will have only one NEW COMMANDMENT: LOVE!
“A new command Jesus according to his BFF John
THEREFORE I LIVE BY FAITH TRUSTING IN GOD THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!
7 For we live by faith, not by sight. Paul to his believer friends at Corinth
*All quotes are from the New International Version (NIV).
Where does Satan Sinful Nature
in explaining the evil that is in the World Today?
As a Christian
I learn about the existence of ‘Satan Sinful Nature
I have not fully resolved
how those two (sinful nature and Satan) interact to bring evil in the world.
Photo by Martin Damboldt on Pexels.com Regarding Satan
Is he present everywhere at the same time?
everyone appears to be constantly being affected or
How is he able to tempt each person individually?
How come he knows what we are thinking?
How come he knows so much
about our individual histories, personalities and weaknesses?
If Satan
can tempt, deceive, dissuade, discourage, destroy individuals
even as the human population on the earth
continues to grow and
has reached over 4 billion; and if he
can work his evil from generation to generation for thousands of years;
the way some people say he does,
does not that make him a very powerful person
with some attributes like God(!)?
But he is NOT GOD!
This brings us to another source of evil in the world:
Photo by Engin Akyurt on Pexels.com
The Sinful/Evil Nature
A ‘celebrity’ (in the early church) once said this about himself:
(in the first century)
“For I know that good itself does not dwell in me,
that is, in my sinful nature. For I have the desire to do what is good,
but I cannot carry it out.
For I do not do the good I want to do,
but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”
Photo by sebastiaan stam on Pexels.com This is what that sinful nature
He(She) is lazy, slow, and a procrastinator.
He(She) lies, exaggerates, and deceives
He(She) is incredibly selfish;
He(She) is greedy, proud, boastful, and self-promoting
He(She) can be lewd, nasty, and insensitive
He(She) is utterly against God
He(she) does not want to submit to God’s rule or to worship him;
He(She) does not like to humble himself before God;
He(She) does not like to pray;
He(She) does not want to read sacred scriptures;
He(She) does not like limits
if the speed limit is 40 mph, he(she) wants to go at 45 mph or
if the speed limit is 55 mph, 65 mph seems attractive to him/her
He(She) lacks self control, prefers excesses,
he(she) does not want to wait or to accept limit on him/herself
whether it’s with regard to food and drink, or
in relation to social interactions,
including sex, and marital fidelity;
he(she) does not want to go to bed or to wake up early;
with regards to words and conversations,
he(she) can be mean, insensitive, inconsiderate, gossipy, and crass.
He(She) is never satisfied, always wants more.
He(She) works against the interest of the person in whom he dwells;
the excesses of the sinful nature may cause
disease, physical harm, crime and punishment;
auto accidents, fire, financial ruin,
ruined relationships and broken families,
loss of face and status, loss of power, etc.;
but this does not stop him or cause him to change direction .
Photo by Lennart Wittstock on Pexels.com I believe that
this sinful/evil nature
it can be conditioned/tempered by
parental discipline and personal experiences;
Christian (religious) conversion and education, and by
custom, and the laws of society;
this sinful nature
it is a part of but
not the totality of who we are as individuals
because he(she) appears to operate by ‘reason’ and ‘persuasion’
to our minds and/or to our will
(See Paul above in Romans 7.15-25);
as individuals we have still have the ability
TO MAKE A CHOICE
the persuasion of what the sinful nature wants and what
commons sense, conscience, laws of society, and the dictates of our faith, tell us.
(Personally, I refer to this sinful nature as “THE BEAST”
Bring a community of people together
with this sinful nature and its tendencies,
we then have endless possibilities for evil,
NEXT POST: BRINGING THE TWO TOGETHER:
SATAN, OUR SINFUL NATURE, AND THE PREVALENCE OF EVIL IN OUR WORLD!!
We are Designed by God to Reach out to Him and to Others; To Reach Out for Love and Towards our Dreams!
Reach!! 