Wrestling with Scripture

When I was much younger, I was asked to come along for a prayer meeting, it was my first so I went with a bit of hesitation. Everything was going well, until the person conducting the meeting, asked the congregation to pray in tongues. It was literally the first time I heard about it and being curious, I took a look around the room only to end up terrified as I seen people's hands trembling and heard them speaking in a language I couldn't understand. That day I decided I would stop going for any further meetings as I didn't know what to make out of that experience. I remember thinking, they got to be making it up, how is this even possible? Growing up, I struggled to understand how we profess to believe in One God, when there are three persons of the trinity, God the Father, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. One explanation which really helped me came from a priest who asked us to think of the trinity as an olive tree. Imagine God the Father as the roots, Jesus as the branc...

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 ...

There is one verse in the book of Job, which I battled with for many years. "The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” It is the latter part of the sentence which I used to find most difficult. The reason is because this man Job was a righteous man, who did everything in his power to please God. Yet when everything he loved was taken away from him including his children, his livelihood and his health he still managed to say 'blessed be the name of the Lord'. Try saying it when life knocks you down and you will know that it is one of the most difficult things to do.  When I read this for the first time, I said to myself, I can never be Job. Being someone who has experienced loss of dear ones and been severely ill a couple of times, my first response was usually to battle with God, doubt him and even give up on prayer, on a number of occasion. But over the years, I began to realize something. Even when I was knocked down, somehow I f...

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...

When I was in my teens I hated going for mass. I spent the hour looking out of the window or at people around me. I was always zoned out, never responding to prayers and never singing hymns. The problem was, I just didn’t understand why I was there and had no clue what was going on during mass. However, things changed over the years as I began to understand why we do what we do during the Eucharist and the more you know, the more you begin to fall in love with it.  Why do we go for mass? Firstly, let us understand why a person of any religion goes to a place of worship. Well, they go for just that, WORSHIP. It is the purpose of any holy place or the foundation on any religion. But who is worship for? Is it for you? Is it important that you feel uplifted, or that you like the preaching or you feel like the hymns touched you? Not at all, worship is for God alone! Hence, it would be important that we worship in a way that is pleasing to God. However, In order to understand how t...

Over two years back I left a comfortable job in search of something closer to home and I found a job in a pretty fancy Fashion eCommerce place and was pretty pleased. However from the very first day I realized things weren't going to go as per plan. Being a senior designer and having won awards for my work in my previous organization, I was confident in my skills, however, here I was constantly criticized by my senior and that came as a shock to me. Nothing I did seemed to be good enough and I found myself reworking on the same creative over and over again, which resulted in me working late on numerous occasions and it was getting to me. Being someone who is not used to criticism, I would go home crying almost everyday and dreaded going to work in the morning. To top that I wasn't able to relate to anyone there as the culture and atmosphere of the place was very different to what I was used to. But my breaking point came just a month into the job when my senior basically t...

"Wives, be subject to your husbands, as is fitting in the Lord." - Colossians 3:18 You can feel the uneasiness when this verse is read out from the pulpit. If you haven't heard it yet, it is probably because most preachers avoid it, fearing the backlash. At the risk of receiving criticism, I will attempt to explain this text to the best of my ability because I believe that it has the cure for most broken families and should not be avoided. Firstly, it is important to understand how God sees both man and woman. In Genesis 1:27 we read " So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them." From this it is clear that man and woman are created equally, none lesser than the other. St Paul is also in agreement with this when he says ".... there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus." However, we must not confuse equality with similarity. With our plain sight we ca...

"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...