Resonance

Tag: Bible

  • Why Did God Put The Tree In the Garden?

    Why Did God Put The Tree In the Garden?

    God creates man in his image and likeness. Man has no sin in him and no knowledge of sin and doesn’t even know how to sin. Then God creates two special trees; the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He puts them right where they cannot be unseen.

    Then, He tells man to eat from any other tree but the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Really? It’s like telling a kid not to switch on the TV. It only sparks more curiosity. Did God actually expect Adam not to eat from the tree?

    God is always revealing a side of Him we have never known. He’s the same yesterday, today and forever but to our limited capacities, today we understand Him as El-Shaddai, tomorrow He reveals Himself as El-Elyon. Our capacities are very limited in comparison to an infinite God.

    So God created Adam with the ability to grow and be more like God. Adam wasn’t fully like God. He had to grow everyday to be more like Him. How do I know this? Because even as completely new creatures in Christ, we still need to grow. To understand this more, check out my blog post on the Revelation of Mystery.

    So just as you’re born with a sex drive but you have to mature to a certain stage before you can “taste the fruit”, God put the tree there as a remembrance of further things to come and as a motivation to mature.

    Trust me, there are things that already belong to you that God gives you but still asks you to wait for the kairos moment. Just like kids gotta wait till Christmas Day to open their presents. You can open it 2 days before Christmas. It satisfies the curiosity but takes the fun out of the whole idea.

    Adam was like God. God has all knowledge of good and evil. (After all, He’s the judge of the universe. How will he judge evil if He had no knowledge of it?) But Adam wasn’t like God yet in that sense; he didn’t have “the [experiential] knowledge (recognition) of [the difference between] good and evil” yet.

    How do I know this? Because after eating the fruit, God Himself admits that Adam now has the knowledge of good and evil. The Lord God said, “Since the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil….” in Genesis‬ ‭3:22‬.

    The sin Adam and Eve committed had little to do with the fruit. The actual sin was choosing the word of the devil over the Word of God. It was believing and obeying the devil. The sin was disobeying God. Alhough they had become enlightened, they became naked and ashamed and vulnerable. They hid from God, why not the devil? That’s what sin did and does to us all the time, no matter the kind of sin.

    God does not and cannot be tempted. God wasn’t tempting man. If this was so, Adam and Eve would have eaten the fruit long before the serpent (the enemy) came along. Adam and Eve had everything they needed. What did the enemy do? He tried to draw their minds to the only thing they couldn’t have at the moment.

    Are you being motivated to pursue the things of God while being patient with His perfect timing, or you’re focusing on what don’t have and desire to have it contemptuously?

    I love you ❤️

  • Does the Bible Inferioriate Women?

    Does the Bible Inferioriate Women?

    He (Paul) writes the same way in all his letters, speaking in them of these matters. His letters contain some things that are hard to understand, which ignorant and unstable people distort, as they do the other Scriptures, to their own destruction.
    2 Peter 3:16 NIV

    One may ask after reading what the New Testament letters got to say about women, “was Paul trying to downgrade the place of women?”. Certainly not. Paul was a radical person. He can be easily misunderstood, especially by those who want to do what they want but need Scriptural backing.

    Paul’s message about Grace has been misunderstood by generations as a license to sin instead of a license from sin. People say Paul said it is good for man to be alone (1 Cor 7:8) when God had said that it is not good for man to be alone (Gen 2:18). People say Paul said only “holy” people can take communion (1 Cor 11:27) when Jesus had said communion was for the remission of sins (Matthew 26:28).

    Paul is not a controversial person. It is just how we read the Bible. The fact that the Bible is the Word of God does not necessarily mean we shouldn’t know who the writer’s original audience was. Because aside from Logus (a general Word applicable to everyone) there is Rhema (a specific Word to specific people). To one man, God can say, “Go”. To another man, He can say, “Wait”. Yet to all of us, He says, “Love”.

    Mind you, John the Baptist was not to drink wine (Luke 1:15) but Jesus’ first miracle was turning water into wine (John 2:9). In one church, Paul instructed women not to teach (1 Tim 2:12), and in another He instructs them not to even speak in church (1 Cor 14:35). Yet in another, Paul instructs them to teach what is good (Titus 2:3).

    Am I saying we should be selective with the Word of God? Or that we should throw away what doesn’t favour us and keep those that do? Certainly not. All I’m saying is that let’s understand the context so that we know when to apply what. The Bible is such that – when you throw away the context – you can find a verse to support you. We have to make sure that we are not applying a Scripture because it favours our stance. Rather because it is the Rhema for the context we are living in.

    In my post about Feminism and Submission, I debunked some popular misquoted Bible verses used to undermine the place of women in society. The post on Jesus calling God a woman made Pharisees angry – ironically, the post also made the religious people angry. So you see, it is necessary to understand the context. Context is key! Paul happens to be the most controversial because he is most misunderstood. My post about Understanding Biblical Context concerning women explains why, for instance, Paul tells the church of Corinth that women should not speak in church (1 Corinthians 14:34).

    This is not about gender equality. This is about matriarchy and their God-given place. Once God’s purpose for matriarchy falls on this generation, women of this generation are going to do exploits. Exploits no other generation has ever seen. This collaboration between males and females is yet to be fully realized. Women are not below men in any way. Women were always meant to stand beside, not behind. This same Paul said it beautifully, “Nevertheless, in the Lord woman is not independent of man, nor is man independent of woman.”
    1 Corinthians 11:11 NIV

    I love you ❤

  • Is the Bible the Word of God?

    The average Christian believes that the Bible is the Word of God. If asked why, there will be no reason given other than “it is what it is”. When tough mind-boggling questions are then asked, seeds of doubts will eventually be sown in your mind concerning the infallibility of the Bible. Thus, the need to know what makes the Bible the Word of God.

    When reasons why it is NOT the Word of God is presented to you, you may begin to water the seeds of doubt in your mind. Just as the cornerstone became a stumbling block for many, the Bible has started wars and brought peace. It has been used as a reference to perpetuate evil, preached as a message of hope, quoted as the basis of fierce debates and misquoted in the quest for propaganda.

    The Bible started off as a library of books than as just one book. We know the Bible has 66 books, but some of these books are also collection of books in itself. In 1229, chapters and verses were added for easy quotation. Written by about 40 authors within a 1500-year period, the coherence of the book is humanly impossible. However, the ultimate question remains; is the Bible the Word of God?

    The Word vs the Spirit

    When the Spirit of God leaves a body of believers, what is left is just an organisation. They have a form of godliness, but lack the power thereof. One thing you’d realize is how the Holy Scriptures all of a sudden replaces the Holy Spirit as a member of the Trinity; Father, Son and Holy Bible. Whatever you say or do, such people ask, “was it done in Bible times?”. Such people believe that everything is in the Bible and that the Bible has an answer for everything. They are quick to label unbiblical things as secular or outrightly demonic.

    Not everything is in the Bible. The Bible does not also provide an answer to everything. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, not necessarily the Bible. He is the One to lead us into ALL truths. Such mindsets are what make us slowly replace the Holy Spirit with the Holy Scriptures. Yes, the Bible has a say on a lot of issues of life and they tell us the mind of God but if you need someone to teach you, go to the Spirit and He will lead you the Word. The Word of the Spirit is the Spirit of the Word. The Bible can be misinterpreted in a billion ways. Go to its Author. Simple!

    Proceedings vs Preceedings

    There are two words for “Word” in Greek. Logus, which is the Logic of God, the Mind of God, used in John 1:1, Jesus. Another is Rhema, a specific Word for a specific person/people, at a specific time for a specific purpose. It’s not that God’s Rhema has an expiry date, but when God speaks, it is established, fulfilled and returns to Him “unvoided”. To one He says “go”, to another He says “stay”, to all He says “love”. If you’re not abreast with God, you’ll pick His “go” Word in a season you had to “stay”.

    The Logic of God

    What God said tells us how God thinks but what God is saying shows us what God is thinking. This is so important that I can’t stress it enough. Why? Because sometimes what God is saying now may be the exact opposite of what He said then. Imagine if Abraham wasn’t always checking for God’s updates. Isaac would have been dead had Abraham still held on to God’s initial words of sacrificing Isaac to him. Centuries later, the same God gave the Israelites a command not to sacrifice their children on any altar, the exact opposite of what He told Abraham to do.

    Jesus said man shall live by the Words that proceeds of the mouth of God. Not preceed. God speaks, His Word is accomplished and returns to Him. If you’re not current with God, you will be pouring your energy to establish a Word that has already been fulfilled. This lack of understanding is responsible for half of the Christian denominations today. They read something God said 8000 years ago and has been fulfilled and then make a doctrine out of it.

    You read the books of Moses and declare that believers have to sacrifice cows because God says so? Honey, where have you been? Jesus already fulfilled that. “But it’s God who commanded it?” Yes please. That preceeds what He is saying today. Today, He is saying that if you simply believe in Jesus’ sacrifice, your sins will be atoned for once and for all.

    The Word vs the Bible

    All truths are not the same. Some are more essential than others. Isaiah 28:10 says, “For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept, Line upon line, line upon line, Here a little, there a little.” So it is important what we emphasize. Obedience is more important than sacrifice; loving one another is more important than speaking the language of angels. The Truth is as important as the Order of Truth. To understand this more, read on the Mystery of Revelation.

    The Mystery of Revelation: Whatever Doesn’t Change You Unmakes You

    That’s why it’s wrong to overemphasize the Bible more than the Author. Paul himself said that the letter killeth. We read the Bible to encounter the Word. The Bible is a book but the Word is a person. The Bible is the Word of God but the Word of God is not the Bible. The Word of God is God Himself. The truth is, you can read the Bible and miss the Word. This is very dangerous, but many have walked this road of perversion.

    Now that you’ve carefully read all this, I would like you to re-read it from time to time and use to check some things in your own life. Am I holding on a “preceeding” Word or “proceeding” Word? The Bible is the Word of God alright but have I made the Book more supreme than the Author? Remember, “the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life”.

    It is the Spirit of God that makes the Bible the Word of God. He makes it comes alive. Without Him, the Bible is a book. With Him, you encounter the Word.