“I became a Christian 7 years ago, however, during those times when I struggled to decide whether to become one or not, I was constantly challenged by the same thought: Why is it the the Bible is interpreted literally or figuratively depending on the point to be made? The inconsistency kept me from becoming a Christian for many years and still plagues some friends and family. Thanks!”

The Bible should not be interpreted to fit the point — the point should come from accurate interpretation of the Bible.

The question of whether or not a passage is literal or figurative comes from studying the passage itself, and especially its context and surrounding circumstances.  Specific questions should always be asked when trying to understand what a verse or passage is communicating:

1. Who was the audience?  This can be very significant, especially when something said comes in conflict with a culture, law, or belief system.

2. When was it written?  Cultures, beliefs, knowledge and practices vary wildly from era to era, and the Bible covers a span of approximately 5,000 years.  “When” plays a very big role for interpretation.

3. Where was it written?  A message given in Egypt will have very different meaning from one given in Rome, or Jerusalem.

4. Who is doing the talking?  Something Moses said is going to have a different motivation and purpose than something Jesus said, or one of the apostles, or a random king.

5. What writing style is used?  The Bible contains several different styles of writing, including poetry (think Psalms), prose (the Gospels), parables (Jesus’ teachings), and itemized lists (Numbers, Proverbs).  Determining the writing style will deeply affect what a passage is actually communicating.  For example, this issue is at the heart of the “young earth” vs. “old earth” debate that’s been at the forefront of Christian apologetics the past few years.

These are just some of the questions Biblical scholars need to address before reaching a true understanding of Scripture.  Those who pick and choose verses to serve their own purposes are not communicating Biblical truth.

–Eric

“i for a very long time have been so very in love with a man, my best friend. but in 2004 married another…. i now what to be with my best friend… i love him. i am catholic, and have been told my hole life when you marry it is for ever. and a devorce is a sin. and i want to live by god. and be happy. how can i do both….. am i a selfish person. to want to live the rest of my life with the other man. or do i live by god and make the best of my bad desison. tell me the truth, about how i am to live by god.”

The idea for a Christian is to live happy by living according to God’s will, not instead of according to God’s will…

 “The thief’s purpose is to steal and kill and destroy.  My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life.”  –John 10:10 (NLT)

What you’ve been told is correct — marriage is forever, and divorce is a sin, according to the Bible.  But there is cause for hope — love is a choice, not a feeling.  If you commit yourself to your marriage in obedience to God, and if your husband is just as committed, you may find your happiness growing and growing. 

Strong, healthy marriages — the kind that enrich your life and make it greater than it could ever be alone – are the result of a continuing, mutual commitment.  It’s a living thing that has to be cared for, fed, shaped, and rooted to grow and thrive.  As soon as it’s neglected, it begins to grow sick.  If neglected long enough, it may even die.  But even so, God has the ability to raise the dead back to life — even in a marriage. 

–Eric

“What are your view on Hailie Selassie and the Rastafari movement?  Is it possible that he really was a second coming of Christ?”

The Rastafari movement was/is a false doctrine.  In no way, shape, or form does Emperor Selassie resemble the prophecies regarding the Second Coming of Christ.

–Eric

“Can you list basic belief differences between someone who is catholic and someone who is christian? Are the Sunday services different? etc.”

First of all, Catholics are Christians.  They believe in Jesus as Messiah — God in the flesh and Savior of all mankind through His crucifixion and resurrection.  That is the gospel message, and Catholics embrace it as truth.

The Catholic church is much larger, much older, and therefore has many more traditions than Protestant churches.  The elaborate rituals, prayers, dress, and practices are mostly done to honor God to the utmost level they can manage.  Other practices, like Catechism and confession, are intended to keep believers accountable and living in right relationship with God. 

One of the reasons for the Protestant movement (which broke away from the Catholic church in the 16th century) was the belief that the church had become too powerful and more like a government than a place of worship.  Another reason is that Catholic doctrine tends to want to “micromanage” the Christian faith.  There are rules for who can be a saint, what to eat, what to pray, what Bible to use, how to worship, how to repent, and how to serve.  The Gospels include none of these restrictions, which is why the Protestant movement rejected them. 

Another issue of contention is the lofty status given by the Catholic church to Mary (Jesus’ mother) and Christian saints, and the practice of praying directly to them, as well as to angels.  The Catholic explanation is that these acts are no different than asking another Christian to pray for you. 

Another major difference in beliefs revolves around baptism.  Catholic doctrine suggests that anyone — including infants — who is not baptized will not be accepted into heaven.  The Catholic church also does not baptize by immersion, but usually by sprinkling, which changes the symbolism of baptism radically.  Immersion is a picture of death, burial, and resurrection — both of Christ, and of the believer (through being ‘born again’), and is the literal interpretation of Scripture.  Sprinkling is a picture of anointment, a way to identify or ‘mark’ a person as a child of God.  Neither of the Catholic doctrines regarding baptism are Biblical.

–Eric

“I’m a P.K. (preacher’s kid) and have been surrounded by religion my whole life.  I’ve considered myself Christian even though I’ve been away from church for 10 years.  Now I have a family of my own and I realize it takes more than ‘being good’ to be a commited Christian.  How do I figure out what’s holding me back without over-analyzing everything?”

You’re right in saying that it takes more than “good” behavior to be in right relationship with God.  You’ve also experienced for yourself that faith by association doesn’t work, either — even for the family of a preacher.  So what does work?

The one desire of God’s heart from the beginning of creation was to have close, meaningful relationships with all of mankind.  Every single one of us!  The kind of intimate parent-child relationship only happens on a one-to-one basis, and with complete and consistent honesty. 

Our choice to live on our own terms instead of on His creates a break in our relationship with God.  It is up to us to approach Him and admit that it’s our fault that we’re separated from Him.

The next step is to ask Him for forgiveness, and ask Him to accept us back into His family as His child.  This has to be sincere, and straight from the heart.  No relationship can be healed with magic words or just going through the motions.  You have to mean what you say, and only you and God will know if you really do.

The only obstacle left to clear before being totally and eternally reunited with God is holiness.  The problem is, people don’t live holy lives.  The Hebrews/Israelites/Jews have spent several thousand years proving that even if we’re given a set of rules and guidelines to follow, our innate desire to be in charge of our own lives makes living a holy life almost impossible. 

The good news is that God sacrificed His own holiness on our behalf, so our unholy lives are covered by His righteousness.  But God won’t force Himself on us — we have to ask for His sacrifice to cover our shortcomings.  But like the good father He is, He will always say yes.

 Now our relationship with God is re-forged, what’s next?  Basically, we spend the rest of eternity building up and growing that relationship.  Intimacy doesn’t happen overnight — it takes time, energy, and effort.  And no one else can do it for us.  I mean let’s be honest — how close can you get to someone else through a third person?

There are many, many different ways to develop closeness and comfort with our heavenly Father and because each relationship is unique, there is no single “right” way to do it.  Just be absolutely certain that whatever methods you choose, you’re getting to know the REAL God.  Here are some suggestions that many people have had success with:

1. Spend quality time with God.  Time and focus (or attention) is essential for any relationship.  It’s what relationships feed on, and need to grow.  Cut off the attention, and the relationship will wither and die.

2. Develop relationships with other Christians.  Jesus told His disciples that whenever three or more gather together in His name, He will be there.  We can see His heart, character, and love reflected in the lives of other believers.  Plus, we need others to keep us on track and to make sure we’re getting to know the real God.

3. Get familiar with the Bible.  The Bible is simply the best resource on earth for getting to know who God is, what He wants, how He feels, how He thinks, and how He works.  The more we read, listen to, study, and memorize the Bible, the better we’ll know God.

4. Serve.  Serving in some form of ministry — whether it’s mission work, teaching, singing, playing music, mowing the lawns or working in the office — enables us to experience God on a level of intimacy that just isn’t possible sitting in church on a Sunday morning.  It’s one thing to hear about God.  It’s another thing to emulate Him by putting our faith into action and letting His love flow through us to others.

Clovis Hills offers a 3-week class called GROW every month that goes into much more depth to help Christians build up their own relationships with God.  If that sounds interesting to you, just contact the church office or write it on a communication card.

–Eric

“If God created everything, and everything God created is good…then how does Satan and evil come into being?  Is evil just a neccesary opposite to good?”

Not exactly.  Evil does not have to exist.  The potential for it, however, does. 

 The reason is simple — love is a choice.  It has to be.  Therefore, there must be an option not to love, and that is how the potential for evil is born.  Keep in mind that evil was never God’s intent for His creation.  And even though God loves all His creation unconditionally, that’s why He created heaven and hell.  Heaven is a place for those who choose to love Him and be with Him.  Hell is for those who choose not to.

This is how God made Satan:

 ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says:
       ” ‘You were the model of perfection,
       full of wisdom and perfect in beauty.

 You were in Eden,
       the garden of God;
       every precious stone adorned you:
       ruby, topaz and emerald,
       chrysolite, onyx and jasper,
       sapphire, turquoise and beryl.Â
       Your settings and mountings were made of gold;
       on the day you were created they were prepared.

 You were anointed as a guardian cherub,
       for so I ordained you.
       You were on the holy mount of God;
       you walked among the fiery stones.

 You were blameless in your ways
       from the day you were created
       till wickedness was found in you.

–Ezekiel 28:11-15

We can see from this passage that Satan didn’t start out as Satan.  He started out as one of God’s best and brightest creations.  He became the devil because of the choices he made, not because God made him evil.

–Eric

“Lots of people claim to have spoken to God and know what he wants. So how do we know that the people who wrote the Bible were truly inspired by God?”

It’s been said that the strongest evidence for the integrity of the Bible is the Bible itself.  The vast time span (literally several thousand years from the oldest parts of the Old Testament to the newest parts of the New Testament), the number of contributing authors (more than three dozen), should work against the continuity of the Scriptures but they don’t.  Instead, from Moses to the apostle John, every author in every book and every generation agree on the message, character, teachings, and prophecies of God.  The odds that any of those authors were writing without some kind of supernatural connectedness are astronomical, especially considering the extremely limited forms of shared communication in their respective eras.  It’s not like Matthew, Mark, Luke and John copied and pasted each other off a website.

In my own search for faith, I spent years studying religions from all over the world.  One difference I noticed between Biblical Christianity and the other religions was consistency.  The other religions I studied changed over time because of politics, convenience, culture, or just the whim of whomever happened to be in charge.  Not so with Christianity.  The differences between the Old and New Testaments aren’t changes, really.  Jesus said Old Testament law would never go away (Matthew 5:17-18), and He was right.  Old Testament law didn’t go away — it was completely fulfilled by His life and sacrificial death. 

People today still claim to hear from God, but the test of their messages is to compare them to Scripture.  If they agree, fine.  If they don’t, they didn’t come from God.

–Eric

“After the service on Sunday, my boyfriend and I of almost 2 years now, which we have been in a committed monogamous relationship, have now decided to refrain from sex until we are married. Is it too late in God’s eyes to wait now even though we had sex but now are going to wait? Can we still be forgiven and be blessed in our marriage?”

God will absolutely honor your decision to be abstinent until you’re married.  Any time any sin is acknowledged and repented of, our Father in heaven offers His abundant grace, blessing, and encouragement to continue following His will.  As long as we’re breathing, it’s never too late to repent of our sin and receive God’s love and mercy. 

–Eric

“God forgives us of our sins because we are his children and he loves us. Do you think this is why so many people continually sin because they know we will be forgiven by Him?”

I think that’s true of some people.  In fact, that’s been true of some people since the beginning of the Christian church.  Paul wrote to one of the early churches:

“What shall we say, then?  Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase?  By no means!  We died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?  Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death?  We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.”     –Romans 6:1-4

There is no limit to God’s grace, but the question needs to be asked — does a person who takes it for granted really know and love God at all?  Ultimately, no one can know the true answer to that but the person and God Himself.  But our actions speak loudly about the relationship we may or may not have with God…

“In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.  But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’  Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.“     –James 2:17-18

Isn’t it harder to look your loved one in the face after you have sinned than to worry about God forgiving you?

Certainly — if he actually is a loved one.  That’s why God takes sin so seriously — it’s the one thing that separates us from Him.  And that anguish we feel before admitting our sin is an indicator of how much we really do love God. 

But for those who think they can live life their own way, going through the motions of asking for forgiveness occasionally, there is no real love there.  It’s a game — a superficial strategy to get a “get out of hell free card” or some “fire insurance”.  But Jesus gave a stern warning about anyone who tries to play that game with Him:

“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.  Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’  Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you.  Away from me, you evildoers!’”     –Matthew 7:21-23

–Eric

“I read that there are over 600 sins mentioned in the Bible.  How can anyone possibly live life and not sin?”

For born again Christians, the number and type of sins isn’t as important as understanding what sin really is, and what effect it has.

Sin is a Latin word that literally means “without”.  That’s basically what it is — thinking, speaking, and acting without God.  It’s knowing what He wants, but saying, “Thanks, Lord, I’ll take that under advisement,” and doing what we want to do instead.  Once that initial decision is made, everything that follows will fall under the category of “sin”. 

So to answer your question, to live life without sin is to live life putting God’s will above our own.  It’s understanding what He wants for us, and living in agreement with that. 

Of course that’s far easier said than done, due to our naturally intense desire to live life our own way.  The good news is that our Father in heaven knows that, and because He loves us so much, He is willing to offer forgiveness every single time we ask for it.

–Eric