FAQ - 20190602 - EP 03
FAQ BIO
Do you ever sit around wondering about certain spiritual questions like…
“Is it wrong to go dancing?”
“Should a Christian get a tattoo?”
“Will we be married in heaven?”
“Do people turn into angels in heaven?”
“Is it wrong to trust in horoscopes?”
“Is it OK to spank your kids?”
“What’s up with the whole dinosaur stuff?”
“Is there ‘for real’ an unforgiveable sin?”
You’ve got questions? The Bible has the answers. And where the text is unclear, we will give you our opinions and what has formed them. Some of life’s most fun, most interesting, most shocking, and most trivial questions will be discussed with real questions from real people.
Q&A RULES:
The Bible is the STANDARD OF TRUTH
Wherever the BIBLE SPEAKS CLEARLY, I will stand with it and will not waiver a bit
Where the BIBLE DOESN’T SPEAK DIRECTLY to an issue, I will look for PRINCIPLES TO APPLY
If I CAN’T FIND PRINCIPLES that apply, I will give MY OPINION
Let’s do it all with a SPIRIT OF GRACE, compassion, empathy and shared experiences. Nobody is a “STUPID IDIOT!”
1 PETER 3:15 NIV Always be PREPARED TO GIVE AN ANSWER to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with GENTLENESS and RESPECT.
2 TIMOTHY 3:16-17 NIV All SCRIPTURE is God-breathed and is useful for TEACHING, REBUKING, CORRECTING and TRAINING in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.
TOPICS IN FAQ SERIES - FOUR CATEGORIZED TOPICS
God’s Love, Salvation & Eternity
Bible Interpretation, Faith & Science
Church Community & Relationships with Unbelievers
Moral Behavior & Sexuality
TODAYS MESSAGE - BIBLE INTERPRETATION, FAITH AND SCIENCE
1. CREATION & EVOLUTION
How OLD is the EARTH?
How LONG were the 6 days of CREATION?
Is there any validity to EVOLUTION?
Where did DINOSAURS come from?
5 VIEWS OF CREATION
Biblical-Poetic Symbolism
Young-Earth Biblical Literalists
Old-Earth Biblical Literalists
Naturalistic & Mythological
Old-Earth Gap Theorists
GENESIS 1:1-2 NIV “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Now the earth was (became) FORMLESS and EMPTY (Tohu), DARKNESS was over the surface of the deep…”
ISAIAH 45:18 NIV “…God Himself that formed the earth and made it; He…created it NOT IN VAIN (Tohu)…”
ISAIAH 14:12-16 KJV How art thou FALLEN FROM HEAVEN, O Lucifer, … which didst weaken the NATIONS!
EZEKIEL 28:11-19 KJV Thou [art] the ANOINTED CHERUB that COVERETH; … 16 By the multitude of thy MERCHANDISE they have filled the midst of thee with violence, …therefore I will CAST THEE AS PROFANE OUT OF THE MOUNTAIN OF GOD:
GENESIS 1:28 KJV And God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and REPLENISH the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.
MICRO VERSUS MACRO
MICRO – Variations WITHIN the Biblical KIND
MACRO – Changing FROM one KIND to ANOTHER (All organisms descend from common ancestral form)
2. ALIENS - Are ALIENS real?
UFO POLLS
50% of all adult Americans believe
6-12% claim to have seen one
90-95% are natural phenomena, hoaxes or man-made crafts
5-10% defy such explanations
RESPONSE
IRRELEVANT to Christian truth
IMPROBABLE for unqualified intelligent life to exist
THEY ARE PROBABLY angels and demons
3. TITHING – Are we supposed to TITHE (10% Giving) from our GROSS income or our NET income?
4. BLESS YOU – Is it okay to say, “BLESS YOU” when someone SNEEZES?
LUKE 6:28 NKJV [Jesus said] BLESS those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
5. WHAT IS SUCCESS – What does SUCCESS look like for a CHRISTIAN versus the SECULAR definition?
MATTHEW 25:21 NKJV [Jesus said] "His lord said to him, 'Well [done], good and FAITHFUL servant; you were FAITHFUL over a few things, I will make you RULER over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord.'
FAITHFUL isn’t PERFORMANCE;
it is PARTNERSHIP-DEPENDENCE
to do everything in life with God.