(53) Christmas Gifts

Before you read this lessons take a look at this thought first; http://ideasoftimreligion.blogspot.com/2011/12/lxxi-gifts-that-never-keep-on-giving.html

Why do we give gifts during this time of the year?  Well, we do give gifts for birthdays but we usually give it to the one having the birthday.  So even though this may be part of it it is not the full reason.  If we look at the story of Christmas, we read that Jesus was given three gifts by the three Magi.  This is probably the reason why we have Christmas gifts today.

It is not the gift but the thought that counts.  That may be a lie.  Gifts should not be given just because you feel the need to give something.  They should not be given because someone gave you something first.  They should not be given to outdo other people's gifts.  They should be given with a purpose and meaning.  What were the gifts given to Jesus?  The Magi presented Jesus with gold, frankincense and myrrh. These gifts had a purpose.  They tell the story of who Jesus was.  They were prophetic.  They showed Jesus was going to be King.  They showed that He was going to be the High Priest.  And they showed He was going to be Savior of the world.

GOLD:  A precious metal, meant for decoration.This carries obvious significance. It's precious and worthy across all cultures and times. It's a gift fit for royalty. It says to the Christ child, You will be a King.

FRANKINCENSE: The name for this resin likely comes from incense of Franks since it was reintroduced to Europe by Frankish Crusaders. Although it is better known as frankincense" to westerners the resin is also known as olibanum, which is derived from the Arabic al-lub ("the milk") a reference to the milky sap tapped from the Boswellia tree. Frankincense has been touted for its medicinal and soothing properties. Herbalists say it is calming, restorative, gently clarifying, and meditative. Frankincense oil is thought to have stimulating, toning, and warming properties. The ancient world used it for treating depression. We recognize the word incense in its name. Ancient people burned frankincense, believing it to carry their prayers to heaven. Its use as incense illustrates His role as our Priest.

MYRRH: This is perhaps the most mysterious of the Gifts. It is a resin produced by a small, tough, scraggly tree that grows in semi-desert regions of North Africa and the Red Sea. Myrrh is an Arabic word for bitter, and it is considered a wound healer because of its strong antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties. Calling it mo yao, the Chinese used it for centuries to treat wounds, bruises and bleeding and to relieve painful swelling.  The Egyptians made it famous in Biblical times, having acquired myrrh about the fifteenth century B.C. from Africa where cammiphora trees were abundant. It was used in incense, perfumes and holy ointments and also medicinally as recorded in the Ebers Papyrus. But its most notable use to them was that of an embalming material, used in Egyptian mummies. As an embalming ointment it signified that He was born to Die for the world.  In fact, Myrrh was one of the burial spices of Jesus (John 19:39).

Point being.  Don't just give gifts because of the time of the year.  Don't just buy things that are electronic because that is what the rich are doing and you want to keep up.  Don't just buy brand names so you look better in someone else's eyes.  Buy the gifts that have meaning, that show who the person is and what they mean to you.  Make Christmas real again.

(52) The Cain Dilemma

One of the biggest obstacles for people to believe that evolution is not real or that Creation was done in six days is the Cain issue.  The Bible says Cain had a wife when he was dispersed into the world and that there were other people in the world.  This causes confusion for the weak minded.  Genesis 4:14-17

• 14  Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence; I will be a restless wanderer on the earth, and whoever finds me will kill me.
• 15  But the LORD said to him, “Not so; anyone who kills Cain will suffer vengeance seven times over.” Then the LORD put a mark on Cain so that no one who found him would kill him.
• 16  So Cain went out from the LORD’s presence and lived in the land of Nod, east of Eden.
• 17  Cain made love to his wife, and she became pregnant and gave birth to Enoch. Cain was then building a city, and he named it after his son Enoch.

Where did Cain get his wife if he went and found her in another land?  Who were these other people?  These are easily answered but one can not think with a 2011 mindset.  Well, first of all he never found her in a different land.  Cain's wife was from the family of Adam and Eve.  No one knows exactly when this episode took place.  All the Bible tells is that Seth replaced Cain as a son for Adam and Eve.  But that was 130 years after Creation.  Cain could have been 129 years old by this time or he may have been only 18.  His wife could have been 18 (hopefully at least).  Adam and Eve could have had hundreds of children who in turn could have had hundreds of children.  Cain could have taken his third cousin thrice removed as his wife.  This was not necessarily his own sister.  But even if it was so what? 

The law for incest was not passed down until another 2000 years with the time of the Exodus.  There was no law because it was not needed.  Scientifically speaking if Adam and Eve were perfect in genetics, i.e., no physical flaws or deformities yet, then their offspring had the greatest of chances of keeping "good" genes.  This is why people could live for hundreds of years.  Eventually, those recessive and flawed genes would find their way into the human genome.  Then it would start causing defects and things like we know today.  It's like making a copy of a copy of a copy.  But the original copy can still do well.  This also answers the other dilemma for these individuals who can not see past their own mind.  The "other people" Cain is talking about is generations of offspring who will hear of his action.  Some of them are already in the world since Adam and Eve perhaps had many children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, and so forth. 

But if they had many children how come Seth is only the third male?  It is only the third male we read about.  Seth may have been number 162 for all we know.  The problem is when people read this passage they read as though all of this took place right away just because it is only four chapters into Genesis.  That is not necessarily true.  We are not told one way or another.

Once one really looks at and understands these passages the dilemma of Cain no longer remains a dilemma, except for the stubborn.

(51) The Unborn

Here are the results from last month's poll:  Can an abortion ever be justified, morally speaking?  More than one choice was allowed to be picked since some have more than one reason why they feel this way.

• No, it's murder (58%)
• Yes, if baby is ill conceived  (47%)
• No, there is a bigger picture to see (47%)
• Yes, if threatens mother's life (35%)
• No for other reasons (35%)
• Yes, for other reasons  (17%)
• Yes, it's a woman's right (11%)
• Other (11%)

(50) The Sabbath

Old Earth, Young Earth?  Active God, inactive God?  These questions boil down to one topic; the Sabbath.  What is the Sabbath all about?  The Hebrew word for sabbath is "to cease".  But what did God cease doing that day?  To understand you have to read not Genesis 1, but Genesis 2. 1  And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2  And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. 3  And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made. Here are the results to last month's poll:  When the Bible says that "on the 7th day, God rested", what does it mean? 40% said God no longer creates.  This is the correct answer.  When God rested, He ceased creating.  All that we know, all that we see and don't see has been created.  Things since have gone extinct.  Things have been discovered, but they have always been here.  Things may have adapted to the environment (in a non-evolutionary way), but they have always been here.  Phil Fairchild, a minister of Christ in West Virginia (http://str8heartphil.blogspot.com/), says this, "I had trouble with this (topic) until I read the whole text...God rested or finished creating because He was finished, thus the correct answer is God no longer creates...". He goes on to say that he belives a better answer to this question is God is finished creating, meaning He is done with all the beginning stuff, not making things new like new borns and changing lives of people, hence you are a new creation. 40% said Other.  What???? 13% said God no longer gets involved with His creation.  This is what Deists believe.  People from the Enlightenment times like John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Francois-Marie Arouet (Voltaire), and even Thomas Jefferson had this idea that God created and has walked away leaving the laws of nature to run time, space, and lives.  They believed everything could be explained.  Then why do we sin?  Why do we die?  Why do we live?  What is our purpose?  They may have had an answer for these questions but they could not prove it by their own standards.  How do we explain the super-natural if God does not get involved? 6% said The whole thing is just a metaphor.  This answer is by those who are stubborn as a mule. 0% said God doesn't exist so what does it matter.  Says the atheist.  You have the answer twisted.  It's not God doesn't exist so what does it matter, it is if God doesn't exist, then nothing matters. 0% said God literally let the world alone for awhile.  This is actually the second best answer.  God does intervene here and there.  But the main problem with this it is not Biblical.  When He said I AM, it just doesn't mean that He exists in the here and now.   It means He is everywhere, omniscient, and omnipotent. The Sabbath is all about what God did during the days of creation.  He spent six literal 24-hour periods, or something equivalent to that, creating the universe, galaxies, earth and all life as we know it, and then some.  He is the Creator, the Almighty.  Most who believe in an old earth also believe in an inactive God.  One who may have created but took 15 billion years to actually do something else or allowed the laws of nature to run its course.  Most who believe in a young earth also believe in an active God, one who never leaves, Hebrews 13:5. The Sabbath is now a holy day because God rested, or finished His creation.  It is a day of celebration.  It is a day to look back and marvel in what has been done.  Here is an interesting article on the Sabbath, http://www.truthseek.net/sabbath.html.

(49) The Book of Galatians

Church of the Proselytes.

Galatians was the first book that Paul wrote that we have still in our possession.  If he wrote anything earlier, we do not have access to it anymore.  It was written around 49 AD.  This is about 20 years after the Resurrection of Christ and about  10-15 years after Paul's conversion to follow Christ.  It was sent from him to the church in Galatia while he was in Antioch.

It has often been called the Magna Carta of Christian liberty and can be considered the sister book to Romans.

Galatia was a Roman province named after Gaul since many of its inhabitants were Gaulic (Celtic).  An early king of Asia Minor (Bithynia), Nicomedes, invited the Celts to help him conquer the land from his own brother and to capture the throne in 278 BC.  Rome took it over in 28 BC.  Galatia was easily taken over by Rome since the area was not unified due to the attitude of the Galatians.  They usually aligned themselves with the ones who were "on the winning side".  Rome did not trust their allegiance so they attacked them and took them over.

The Church in Galatia was started by Paul (Acts 16:4-6) and included the cities of Iconium and Lystra, but just like their attitude of switching allegiance so easily, the Galatians had a hard time holding on to the faith.  They were constantly trying to win their salvation by human effort, even though Paul had taught them that they were saved by Grace.  He wrote this letter to remind them not to fall back into their old ways.

Some main points in the book are:

1. Although we live in a physical world, we should be spiritual (2:20-21)
2. We are not better than Israel but we are part of God's chosen people, we are heirs to the Kingdom (3:36-4:7)
3. We are free since we have grace but that does not give us the right to abuse this freedom and "get away with things" (5:13-14)
4. The Spirit produces its fruit in believers (5:22-25)
5. Our actions have consequences (6:7-10)

It was written to correct false teachings about the law of Moses.  The Jewish believers were saying that faith in itself was not enough and that the ceremonies of the law were still needed.  And if anyone wanted to be a true believer in Jesus one must first be converted to Judaism first.  Neither of course is what Jesus taught.

(48) Don't bet on it!

Do you know that many people use the verse "the wages of sin is death" as scripture against gambling?  How dumb can you be?  All this is referring to is that you do not want to risk your eternal salvation by living a life of sin and thinking you are going to be okay.  It has nothing to do with gambling.  Some use the scripture about lazy hands making a man poor but diligent hands bring wealth as being against gambling.  This is a little closer.  Those who gamble try to get money without earning it and most walk away from the table/machine poorer than when they came.  But the best scripture that can be used against gambling is Proverbs 28:22.

• He who is greedy rushes after riches, not knowing that want will overtake him.

Of course, there is no scripture that supports gambling but notice, it does not call it a sin.  It just means that if all we focus on all the riches of money then we lose our lives.  Not that we die because of gambling or going after riches, but that we lose things that are important to us.  It is a warning that if all we do is focus on our greed then greed will control us.   This is where the sin comes in; if we allow anything to control us then the action gets in the way of doing what we are supposed to be doing, hence a sin of omission by commission.

Here are the results from last month's poll:  Is gambling a sin?

• 37% said yes.
• 37% said maybe.
• 12% said no.
• 12% said it depends.

Now if that isn't clear then what is?   Here is an interesting article  http://bible.org/seriespage/money-money-money.

(47) You're going, whether you like it or not.

With all of our troubles we tend to blame other people.  If we commit a crime, it was the way our parents treated us when we were younger.  If we turn to substances it must have been the way our relationships have gone.  If we fail at something it must have been someone else we were working with on the project that did not do their part.  If we forgot to do something it must have been because no one reminded us to do it.  If you stub your toe, did you do it because you were forced to do it or because you are too stupid to watch where you are going?  Here are the results to the last poll:  Do you believe in predestination?

• (50%)  No. We have complete free will.  As predicted, since most who come to this site are Christians, most people would have answered this way.  There are many clues in the Bible that point us to this thinking.  Such as: if my people, who are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.-1 Chronicles 7:14, And if it seem evil unto you to serve Jehovah, choose you this day whom ye will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were beyond the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land ye dwell: but as for me and my house, we will serve Jehovah.-Joshua 24:15, and even the whole Sermon on the Mount tells us not to do and not to do certain things.  If we did not have free will then Jesus would never have told us what was right and wrong.
• (30%)  Not sure.  Good answer.
• (11%)  Yes. But only a certain few.  Judas, Jesus, Adam, Paul.  Some things in their lives seem like they were destined to do, as if they had no choice. Father, if You are willing, remove this cup from Me; yet not My will, but Yours be done.- Luke 22:42, Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me-- to keep me from exalting myself!- 2 Cornithians 12:7, and The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.- Matthew 26:24.  But no where in scripture does it say that the average person can not choose his own destiny.
• (7%) Yes. Our lives were predetermined. We have no control.  The Bible does not teach that all have no control over their destiny.  This would defeat all purpose of creation.  If God predestines His creation then there is no love there.  Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.   Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8.  If love is patient, then  it is not forced on you.  If love is kind, then it is not vengeful.  If love is not proud, then it is not demanding.  If is is not self-seeking then it allows other to choose.  Scritpure says God is love.

Fore knowledge is not the same thing as presdestination.  Yes.  God knows what your decision will be but in all situations there are choices for you to make.  Some people quote scripture as saying God never changes.  That is true, but the meaning of that is that God is always God.  His values never changes.  His Word never changes.  His standards are never dropped.  His love does not fail.  But nothing points to Him not changing His mind.  In fact scripture says He did change His mind, a couple of times.  Maybe in those incidences, His heart was so full of compassion for His creation that He intervened.  If He intervenes then thagt gives us the power and freedom to ask Him anything.  But be careful what you wish for, you just might get it.