Tough questions - Theological issues

The Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil is an amazing sight. It stands over 100 ft. tall and overlooks the beautiful city of Rio De Janeiro. It serves as a beautiful reminder that God is watching over us as we stand there and look out at His beautiful creation. It amazes me how simple everything can look from that high up, but how complex it really is when you get up close. The same is true for a lot of theological issues we face. At first, we accept them as truth, but as we draw closer to God in our relationship with Him, we begin to realize how complex these issues can be.

Two of the most complex ones can be God Himself and Eternity. We all have some questions about those things that we want to know the answers to. A couple Wednesdays ago, we wrapped up our Tough Questions series where we answered some really great questions about those topics.

One question you guys had dealt with where God comes from? The short answer is nowhere. God has always existed, and always will exist. No one created Him. Revelation 1:8 tells us "I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty." This is a foundational truth for God's character and for who He is as our Lord and Savior.

Another great question y'all had was why did you (God) sacrifice yourself for me? What a great, loaded question that a jr. high student asked! Sin had to be dealt with, and it was dealt with by sacrifices in the Old Testament before Christ, but Hebrews 10:11 tells us that those sacrifices could "never take away sins," so Christ had to come and offer a one-time sacrifice for sins to make "perfect forever those who are being made holy." (Hebrews 10:14) Second, He sacrificed Himself, because He loved us. John 3:16 could be the most popular verse in the Bible, and it's one that taps into God's heart for us. The context is a Pharisee, Nicodemus, is coming to Jesus in the middle of the night, and Jesus knows that he wants to talk about entering the Kingdom of Heaven. After a little discussion on that topic, Jesus says something to him that I hope speaks to all of us. He tells Him that "God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should no perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16) What a great and powerful statement! God loves us enough, and wants to know us so much, that He is willing to put His own Son through intense agony knowing that it was the only way for Him to have an intimate relationship with us, and it was all because of His love for us!

Finally, there were a few questions about eternity. There was a great question about how Jesus can be in Heaven if He took our sins. It's because He took sins to the grave with Him and defeated sin with His death on the cross, and He defeated death when He was resurrected from the grave. Sin did not come with Him, "because anyone who has died has been freed from sin." (Romans 6:7) Next, there was a question about what our bodies will look like when we die. Well, if you're a Christian, 1 Corinthians 15:35 - 49 gives us a glimpse of that future body. Our physical body will be transformed into a spiritual body, just like a pumpkin seed transforms from a seed into a pumpkin rather than just growing into a larger seed. Finally, the last question dealt with what hell is going to be like. Between the lake of fire mentioned in Revelation 20:15 and the everlasting destruction mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 1:9, it doesn't sound like a fun place to spend eternity at all! However, the worst part of that is the end of verse 9 where it says that those who don't know Christ will be "shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power." The worst part about Hell is going to be not having the joy and pleasure of being in a relationship with God! These were all great questions asked by you, our very own junior high students! All of you are incredible, and I encourage you to keep asking these tough questions and keep seeking to draw closer to Christ and love and know Him more! It's an honor to be a part of your lives. God bless all of you, and I hope I get to see everyone this Wednesday after what I hope was an awesome Thanksgiving filled with a ton of food, family, and giving thanks to God for everything we have. See ya!

-Kyle

Tough Questions - Does God Care?

The past few weeks have been tough. There have been shootings at Fort Hood where 13 people were killed and about 31 wounded. Shortly after that incident there was an office shooting in Florida where 1 person was killed and 5 people were wounded. The jobless rate in our country is at an all time high and more than likely, a lot of your parents have been affected by that. Swine flu continues to wreak havoc and there seems to be constant unrest in the middle east.

It might raise the question, "Does God Care?" Well we asked that question in a variety of different ways last night. The answer of course is "YES" God cares. As a matter of fact, God cares more than we do. But it doesn't always feel that way. Another way to phrase the question might be "Why do bad things happen to good people?" Last night I asked the question, "Why do good things happen to bad people?" Which I think is a fair question.

There was this guy named Henry Cavanaugh who had serious anger problems, to say the least. One day this ex con decided to mug an elderly lady, so he did. After mugging her, for a whoppin' $28, he hoofed it (that's Texanese for "he ran"). He ducked into a camera shop on a nearby street and was greeted by....cheers! You see Henry was the 1 millionth customer and had won 1million dollars! What tha heck? Are you serious? Instead of getting apprehended by authorities he became a millionaire. Not cool.

The crazy thing is that we are sort of in the same boat with Henry. We often like to lump ourselves in the "good person" category when the Bible has a different view of us. If you take a quick look at Romans 3:10-12, you'll see that man kind isn't really considered "good". BUT we still have a hard question to answer don't we? If God is good, how does He allow suffering?

This really is a tough question because I can't answer why certain things happen. Like I can't explain why a child gets cancer. I can't explain why certain people die way before "their time". What I do know is that God is good. 1 John 1:5 states that God is light and there is no darkness in Him at all. There is no trace of evil in God. 1 Peter 3:12 goes so far as to say that He is against anyone who participates in darkness. God hates evil!

So when something bad happens, God is grieved. When a school shooting takes place, God did not make it happen but allowed it because He allows us to make choices for good and for evil. I also know that God warns people who commit acts of evil that they will have to face Him. The example that I gave last night when we were talking about child abuse was from Matthew 18:5-7. Jesus warns His listeners that if anyone misleads one of his little ones, I realize that Jesus was talking about His disciples but it includes children, that it would be better for a millstone to be tied around their neck and thrown into the ocean. A millstone was a huge stone used for grinding grain so that is a pretty strong statement. God takes His children, both old and young, seriously! He loves them and wants the best for them more than we do.

So, that being said, God cares about you! He cares what happens to you! When we go through tough times, God can use the bad stuff to help us grow stronger in Him (Romans 5:3-5). He also promises us that when the waves of suffering hit us and knock us down (Psalm 69:1-3) that He is our anchor (Hebrews 6:19), He alone keeps us from being pushed around by the bad stuff that happens in our life. When we cling to Christ during times of suffering, He is there, even when it doesn't feel like it.

Matt Snellings

Junior High Pastor

Chase Oaks Church