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Welcome to our blog page. Here you can find Ministry Leader blogs (often also found on their ministry page), youth blogs, Pastor's blogs, and pretty much anything. We keep an eye on content but don't restrict good discussion about our world, our God, our church, or whatever topic we hit upon.
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Location: Blogs Strange Land |
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| Posted by: Paul Graham |
Thursday, July 27, 2006 |
As I drove to pick up Isaac today I was tuned into 570 News. They happened to have a guest on the phone-in show discussing the Israel-Lebenon situation. It goes without saying the complexity of this is imense, and not solvable on a blog. But I felt compelled to phone in as a drove and got a chance to respond to a some of his (I feel) mistaken or misleading points.
Its easy to lose sight of the forest for the trees in the Israel situation, whether with Lebanon or Palestine or any neighbour of theirs. To examine every incident starting from today and working backward through the decades to 1945 is not going to be a profitable exercise. At least not a place to start. If you want to sort out where you might stand in the middle east situation you have to look at first principles. The world-view, the fundemental principles that are driving the participants. They have all made unwise decisions, and acted or reacted poorly from a moral point of view... but looking at the base-line motivations you can at least begin to sort out where you stand.
Its worth doing some homework.
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Re: 570 News |
By Nanette Norris on
Wednesday, August 16, 2006 |
| Paul, you taught me that the Bible has forseen all situations. The present-day Israeli situation is part of a larger concern, as we all know, of terrorism. If we ask the question, 'Can terrorists be stopped?' we are led to the answer that try as we might they will breach security at some point or another if only because they are willing to sacrifice themselves and their earthly lives for their cause. However, the attempt to stop them inevitably involves curtailing rights and freedoms we have enjoyed here in the West, in liberal democracy. Ulitimately, it is a win/win situation for the terrorists as the world gradually becomes more closed in, more paranoid, less receptive... less liberal. Perhaps what we are seeing is a manifestation of prophecy, the exact passage for which I cannot call to mind at this moment, but which I'm sure you know: the world is to be taken over by the forces of darkness and ruled by an autocrat, a dictator. Perhaps, instead of the dictator being a single person, it is actually an attitude which overcomes us... like the narrowing of vision we are being driven towards by terrorism. |
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Re: 570 News |
By paul on
Friday, August 25, 2006 |
Or vise verse, terrorism is part of a larger concern which is "what will the world do with Israel". The bulk of terrorist activities revolves around the mid-east conflict, and the mid-east conflict is about the existence of Israel. Regardless whether its political (A US supported democratic presence), economic (influence over oil rich nations) or religious (Muslims vs Jews), the fous is on Israel, which is what we should be expecting. The choices natoins have made about what they will do about Israel have consequently shaped global politics. Every nation has that choice to make, and they get a new chance to make the choice every day. Will they support Israel? Bomb Israel? Befriend Israel? Hate Israel? Recognize Israel? Ignore Israel?
There have been unwise decisions made, plenty of rash reactions and over-reactions on all sides of the conflict. But if you go back to first-principles, to the choice nations make about what to do with Israel, you can start to sort out why those nations exist in the state they are today.
There is a lot of blame, and not much self assessment.
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Revelation |
By Kurian on
Tuesday, October 24, 2006 |
Hey! Pastor Paul, I loved your message on Sunday. I always learn a lot when you teach, and you do a great job at just getting to the point and proving it with several verses. I was just reading through the book of Revelations and had a few questions about it. If you could help me out that would be much appreciated. The first question I had was about the third seal.
Rev 6:5-6; The Lamb broke open the third seal. Then I heard the third living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there in front of me was a black horse! Its rider was holding a pair of scales in his hand. Next, I heard what sounded like a voice coming from among the four living creatures. It said, "A quart of wheat for a day's pay. But don't spoil the olive oil and the wine.
Just out of curiosity, what does this mean? It’s slightly off of topic, sorry about that lol. |
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Re: 570 News |
By paul on
Monday, November 13, 2006 |
Hey Kurian - Sorry for the late reply... just fixed the blogs to tell me when a comment is left... I am not exactly sure what part of the two verses you are refering to by "what does this mean" .. but I suspect it is the bit about wheat and not spoilng the olive oil and the wine.
Its not always easy to get a perfectly clear picture from prophetic statements, but the generally accepted view of that line is that famine will follow the war, as it usually does, and a man will have to work all day for just a survival amount of food.. not to mention family members food, and other things like shelter and clothes. The reference to the wine and oil not being touched would indicate that at the same time.. the rich are not affected.. the luxury items are not spoiled - the rich get richer.. or at least seem to, as the poor suffer more. There are a signficant portion of other references to the end times that indicate a growing disparity and injustice with regard to the distribution of wealth in the end times. (Almost all the minor prophets for instance make some mention of God's anger at this.)
Hope that helps, and thanks for the feedback! |
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Re: 570 News |
By Kurian on
Monday, November 20, 2006 |
Hey! Thank you for your reply! I hope you don't mind, I have multiple questions to ask lol. I love spending time in the word and learning as much as I can . . .
As I was talking to a few of my friends I found that many of them believe that hell is a place where the unsaved souls go and burn...forever. While watching a preacher on television the other night, I found that his take on hell was that souls will not eternally burn in hell. Eternal life is only for the saved. The souls that go to hell will just burn up and essentially their soul will be eliminated. Is this accurate? |
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Re: 570 News |
By paul on
Monday, November 20, 2006 |
This is a pretty heavy topic.. I won't pretend to answer it fully in a blog comment.. but perhaps I can drive straight to some practical difficulties any teaching on hell raises.
As Christians, we would be concerned about this answer, not for ourselves, but especially for friends or family members who we may know who were not or are not currently believers. Obviously we would prefer that hell was not eternal... not only for them, but for everybody. But as Christians, we would also be aware that for ourselves, we need not be concerned. Hell can be eternal, or instant.. in either case we won't be there. Spending a great deal of time dwelling on it isn't productive in accomplishing our purpose.
For the nonbeliever this topic is of significant personal concern. A nonbeliever would certainly prefer a short (even instant) version of hell, ending in a total loss of consciousness. This position is generally arrived at logically, rather then exigetically. (that is, its arrived at by building a case for God's character and then inferring His actions, rather then by purely what is revealed in the text of the Bible) That is not to say that there is absolutly no exegetical support for final destruction, but it requires a lot more work to arrive at then an eternal hell (see blelow).
In a very practical sense the "problem" with a limited hell is that it offers a compromise for people desperatly looking for one - and we should not trust our own opinions on issues where we have such a clear preferece. its human nature to emphasize what we prefer, and minimize what we don't.
If we work hard against the text of the Bible, and find some loopholes to convince ourselves that hell is limited.. then we have created a kind of "theistic atheism" in the sense that the "after-life" is atheistic in nature (we eventually simple cease to be) with a short detour that allows God to spank us for being naughty (theistic). As non-believers, this is the kind of compromise some people would love to be true.
But that is dangerous thinking in many ways. It can easy lull us into thinking that no matter what we decide to do about God, we can deal with the consequences. The results are either great (heaven) or nothing (okay). The short stay in hell seems tolerable if we are selfish enough to not bother dealing with our sin.
It is also dangerous (and this is far more important) in that it assumes a characteristic of God's nature that is a lie. That the purpose of hell is punishment, rather than the result of unrighteousness being seperation from God. God did not "create" hell in order to spank bad children forever. Hell is a result of created beings (angels and men) who have chosen to leave God's presence (angels) or have chosen to ignore God's invitation to be cleansed and made holy, able to enter His presence (men).
Now this is where it takes more then a blog to answer all the systematic theology that lies behind that statement... but I will just wrap up with a few things Jesus said, that speak directly to the eternal nature of hell, and the difficulty of trying to invent a new kind of limited or short-term hell that ignores clear teaching by Jesus.
Matthew 18:8b "It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire."
Matthew 25:41 "Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels."
Jude 1:7b "They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire."
And there are many others... I was focusing on the "eternal" nature of hell in these references.
Come out some Sunday night after supper... I'll be around to chat. |
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