Wrestling with Scripture

We profess our Christian faith by reciting the Creed, However I know many people feel uncomfortable reciting one particular statement from the Creed which is "He descended into Hell". They often think it is some mistake and needs to be changed. However, all it needs is a little understanding of the concept of Hell aka Sheol in Hebrew or Hades in Greek. Before Jesus opened the gates of Heaven, by his death and resurrection, it was believed that both the righteous and the unrighteous went into a common place called the realm of the dead known as Hell/Sheol/Hades. It was thus named because it was deprived of the vision of God, they were still awaiting the Saviour. While we often imagine Hell as this dark and steaming place flooded with devils, it basically refers to an absence of God and that's exactly what the realm of the dead signified. Although both the righteous and unrighteous were to abide there, it was believed that their experience there was very different,...

Almost every Good Friday, we hear people ask, why is it called 'Good Friday' when Jesus died such a horrible death? Why did he have to die, couldn't God find another way? What is the significance of his death? If we had to answer it in one sentence, we would say 'he died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures.' But to a non believer and also to many Christians, this might not explain enough. We need to travel back in time to truly understand the significance of the cross. The problem of sin and the origins of sacrifice When sin enters man's heart, he struggles to maintain his relationship with God. Just like Adam hid himself in the garden of Eden after he disobeyed God, man is unable to face a Holy and pure God in a sinful state. This separation from God is unbearable for man. Our ancestors who were mainly sheepherders or farmers, used sacrifice as a way to tell God how sorry they were. They sacrificed to God their livestock or their grains w...

With all honesty, let me admit, I am also afraid in the face of the outbreak of the Coronavirus and I am sure you are too. However, the situation we are in right now reminds me of the disciples who after the death of Jesus were filled with fear of the Jews who were out to kill them. They hid indoors just as some of us have isolated ourselves. While they faced an enormous threat from outside, the bigger problem lay inside each one of them and that was "fear".  But think for a second, why were they really fearful? One of the reasons could be that they thought that Jesus had left them and they felt helpless, another could be that they were doubting if he was truly who he said he was and yet another could be they were fearful of death because most of them had denied Jesus and were living with guilt. This could explain why one of the first things Jesus did after he rose from the dead was to appear to them and say "Peace be with you". Have we also lost our peace in t...

There is a new trend among people these days, claiming to be spiritual but not religious. They find religion to be unnecessary and also consider it to be the cause of most problems in the world. One of the popular understanding among spiritual people is that each one can practice their faith in private instead of coming together in an organized institution. We know that there is nothing wrong in being spiritual, all religious people are in fact spiritual as they deal with the spiritual dimension. However, why is being religious, frowned upon by many? By the very definition, religion simply deals with the worship of a God or gods. According to Christianity it would be defined as the worship of the one true God, but the definition wouldn't stop there...If we go back to the Biblical understanding of religion in the letter of St James, he says "If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. Religion that...

Oscar Wilde, once said "I can resist everything except temptation." However the Bible would disagree, "God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it (1Corinthians 10:13) Temptations on their own are not the problem, it is only when we give into them that they lead us down the path of sin. On the contrary, resisting them actually makes us stronger and holier. The reason we fall into sin is because temptations appear in the disguise of something good. Greek mythology speaks of Sirens, which were dangerous monsters that used to sing sweet enchanting music to lure sailors on to rocky shores resulting in shipwrecks and death. In the same way even sin entered the world when Eve, decided to eat the forbidden fruit, which on its own seemed harmless and was probably tasty but in her doing so, she defied God, bringing destruction to herself and to the h...

Recently I read about the famous Hillsong worship leader who said he is losing his faith. I also know a few friends who said they were faithful Christians but lost their faith along the way due to questions they had or circumstances in their lives. There have been times when I myself felt like I am not as enthusiastic or faithful as I used to be. However, here is the thing, faith is a gift according to Ephesians 2:8 " For by grace you have been saved though faith. And this is not your own doing, it is the gift of God". Since it is a gift given, it cannot simply go away on its own. A gift however can be kept in a corner and never used, it could be ignored or it could be given away. Faith is something that needs to be constantly exercised or it weakens like any muscle in your body would without exercise. Let's look at some of the common reasons why people feel they are losing their faith and what to do it those situations. Going through a dark time in your life ...

In a world where one night stands, live-in relationships and casual sex is common talk, many do not even know the meaning of the word, chastity. Even if they do, its often looked down upon as an ancient concept and also frowned upon in many circles. To remain chaste is to avoid all forms of sexual intimacy and the temptation towards such, outside the bonds of marriage. Chastity is the opposite of lust and lust is the opposite of love. To lust over someone is to see what we can get out of the other inorder to fulfill our own desires. But to love is to die to ones own selfish desires, for the well being of the other. To observe the virtue of chastity is to avoid looking at a person as a means to an end, instead to look at the other with love. Why is  fornication (sex outside marriage) considered a sin by the Church ? Sex outside marriage is considered a mortal sin and this is based on Jesus' own teachings where he says "I say to you, everyone who looks at a woman wit...

"For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven" -Ecclesiastes 3:1 We know that God can do anything, anytime, anyplace as there is nothing impossible for him, then why does he sometimes not give us what we want as soon as we ask for it. In my own experience, I have had many prayers answered and seen the impossible happen, yet many times I have gone through a phase of desperation, pleading with God, anger, hopelessness, surrendering, learning to trust and finally having my prayer answered. And in all honesty, there are still some prayers yet to be answered and I am simply waiting on the Lord. But the question is, why the wait? Do you remember the story of Lazarus? When Jesus heard that Lazarus was ill, he didn't rush to him and heal him, instead he stayed two days longer in the place where he was. The result of his decision was the death of Lazarus. Jesus would have definitely known that this would cause great pain to Martha and Mary who ...

If you believe that the Bible alone can teach you everything you need to know about your faith, then why are there so many interpretations of the same Holy Bible among different denominations of Christians? Let's be humble to admit that it is not easy to understand scripture and just like the Eunuch in Acts 8:26-40 needed Philip to explain the meaning of a scripture passage, we too need a trusted source to give us the correct interpretation of scripture. Does the Bible endorse itself as the only rule of faith? Not at all, in fact you will not even find the word Bible in scripture, that is because the New Testament of the Bible didn't even exist until around 393 AD - 397 AD. It was the Catholic Church that undertook the task of deciding which books were inspired and handed it over to the world. Most denominations will defend 'sola scriptura' ( scripture alone) by quoting 2Timothy 3:16-17 "All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for repr...

Recently I encountered a Christian from a breakaway group who kept telling my friends that they need to be saved and all they needed to do was to proclaim Jesus as their Lord and savior. I couldn't help but think, "Is that really all one needs to do? I could clearly remember a scripture passage from Matthew 7:21 "Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven." However, most Christians still hold on to the notion that you can be saved by faith alone.  So who can enter the kingdom of heaven?  Luckily for us Jesus already answered this question in Matthew 19:16-22 when the rich man asked him what good deed he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus tells him that if he wants to enter heaven he must keep the commandments and he goes on to narrate all the commandments relating to ones neighbor. From this it is clear that good works are essential. The rich man, knew it and he kep...

  One of the objections other denominations of Christians have with Catholics is the use of the term 'father' for priests. You will find them quoting Matthew 23:9 "Call no man your father on earth, for you have one Father, who is in heaven". For them, calling the Pope 'Holy father' is almost blasphemous.  If you take what Jesus said literally, we wouldn't be able to address even our biological father as 'father'. Forbidding it would rob the essence of God's role as Father as we would have no earthly way of understanding it. Again it cannot prevent us from calling our ancestors as fathers or addressing someone out of respect, as the Bible refers to "our father Abraham" (Acts 7:2) "our father Isacc" (Romans 9:10). Should we forget Elisha crying out " My father, my father!" to Elijah as he was taken up to heaven in 2Kings 2:12. Then again we have Job calling himself "father to the poor" (Job 29:16) ...

Our cribs during Christmas, paint a pretty picture of Jesus, Mary and Joseph smiling with joy, but we often forget the struggles they went through up to that point. Do we forget that while at one side we have shepherds, wise men, angels and parents who joyfully welcomed the child Jesus, not far away we have King Herod who wanted him dead and orders the killing of thousands of innocent children when he hears of the birth of the Messiah because he fears his own power and reputation. The situation in our world today is no different, we have those who welcome children but at the same time there are those who may view children as a burden or a disruption to their lives. For Herod, even the thought of this child gave him sleepless nights. His whole reign was filled with insecurity as he knew the people would never accept him as their rightful king, because he wasn't from the line of David. He feared the child who was called 'The King of the Jews' because this child was pro...

Most people often accuse Catholics of idolatry by quoting Exodus 20:4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth." This verse is in the context of the first commandment 'I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. Since the Israelites never seen God, they resorted to making images of created things and worshiped it as god which was prohibited then and still holds true for us today. However, does it mean that God prohibited the making of all statues? God himself ordered the making of statues Just 5 chapters after the prohibition on making idols, God orders the making of enormous gold cherubim on the mercy seat of the Ark of the covenant in Exodus 25. The Ark of the covenant was revered by the whole of Israel and was considered most sacred. Hence it is clear that, God did not have an issue with all statues, but only ...

We have all heard about the 'agony in the garden' but have you been there? As I meditated on Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, I received strength in my weakest moment and that is something I would like to share with you. Since I was struggling in my own life, I could imagine how heavy Jesus' heart was that night. How could he find the strength to take upon himself, sin, he who never knew sin? It would be like having to suffer, for someone else's mistakes, or being blamed for something you never did. So often we feel our suffering is undeserved just like Jesus, yet he took it upon himself so that the undeserving didn't have to suffer. It reminded me of the time when I was very ill in hospital and I heard my mom praying that she suffer and die, instead of me. That must have been how Jesus felt, when he seen how much we would have to suffer as a result of sin. The worst part about suffering is the temptations and discouragements. This hour was probably the w...

Sooner or later, in your spiritual life, you end up battling with God as I often have when faced with an illness that has no cure or a problem that seems to have no solution. It's in moments when you desperately need God that he seems to be silent and the longing for him to act gets unbearable. Where is he at such times? Does he not hear your prayers? Does he not see your tears? At such times we can easily relate to the disciples in the boat amidst a raging storm who go and find Jesus sleeping in the stern. They seem terribly upset to find him so unaffected by the chaos around and they wake him up, just as we often shout out to God for help when he doesn't seem to respond to our problems. The disciples address Jesus saying, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" To answer their doubts, Jesus calms the storm in an instant saying "Peace! Be still!" How can Jesus give peace when there is chaos around? The key is in the next two words, "Be...

I have heard more and more people argue that there in no such thing as good and evil, right and wrong, they claim that each person can decide for themselves what is right or wrong. What I find even more alarming, is that nowdays, the line between good and evil is so blurred that we call good, evil and evil, good, the exact same thing that the Bible warns us not to do. If we gave each individual the freedom to decide for themselves what was right, even Hitler would be justified because he thought he was doing the right thing. Yet again even an alcoholic considers alcohol to be good but it might be self destructive or even worse destructive to their family and society around. We clearly need a moral law that is not man made, in order to survive in harmony and that means we need a moral law giver and that can only be the one true God. The dangers of wanting to decide for ourselves what is good and evil, goes right back to the beginning of time. God told Adam and Eve to stay away ...

Doubt is not the same as unbelief, doubt is questioning what you already believe in whereas unbelief is the refusal to believe. Unfortunately, when people have a doubt they feel like everything they believe in has come crashing down. It is human nature to doubt and often doubts are an opportunity to search for answers and deepen our faith but if we remain in doubt for too long, it begins to weigh us down, leading to despair. I should know this, because I have fallen into this trap before and it brought me much gloom. Why do we fall prey to doubt? The passage of Jesus walking on water towards his disciples threw some light on this question. I found it rather significant that the gospel of John mentions that it was dark, even Matthew says it was early morning, a time when the sun hasn't yet risen and visibility is low. It is often when we are going through dark times in our life that we are unable to see things clearly and we do not realize that God is present. It is the...

Once a self proclaimed Atheist asked me "What if Jesus was just an ordinary human being who claimed to be God much like any other god man in history?" Definitely, If God was simply to send someone without any prior notice, it would be impossible for us to identify him, also it would be very easy for an impostor to come and enjoy the limelight. Which is why God in his wisdom left us with numerous ways to identify his son. Many Jews converted to Christianity because they realized that everything that was written about the Messiah in the Old Testament was fulfilled in Jesus. Moreover it was not just the Jews but also the Gentile nations that were expecting a child who would be the king of the Jews. Remember the 3 Kings who came all the way from the East to see if there was a  fulfillment  of what they had read.  Firstly it is important to understand that a prophecy is not a mere prediction of the future. It had relevance to the generation in which it was spoken,...