10 Truths About Christians Who Do Not Tithe.

The ONLY way one may interpret the tithe as NOT NECESSARILY 10% of one's income is to redefine what tithe means and to presume that you know better than God.

1. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, most probably, you cannot live with 100% of your income either. Most probably, you are even borrowing money to pay some of your obligations. (Romans 13:8)


2. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, most probably, you have items in your budget that God does not really approve of. (James 4:3,13-17)


3. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, your values may be a lot different from God's values. "Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Matthew 6:21, Luke 12:34).


4. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, most probably you are not active in supporting the needs of your pastor and your church perhaps forcing your pastor to find other means to survive and preserve his family. (Nehemiah 13:10-12).


5. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, you must be very stressed out trying to find more ways to earn more money to fund your needs and wants. (Ecclesiastes 1:3,Matthew 6:33)


6. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, you know you are robbing God of His 10% and most probably, you may be in the practice of robbing others of what is due them. (Malachi 3:8-10)


7. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, you may have mastered the art of making a living but have entirely missed out on knowing how to live. (Ecclesiastes 6:1-2)
   


8. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, most probably you cannot discipline yourself in many other aspects of Christian life like Prayer, Bible Study and Christian Love. (John 14:15)


9. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, most probably you are disobedient in other things that God wants you to do. (James 2:10)


10. If you cannot live with 90% of your income, you have not graduated from selfishness and may have the same values as the non-Christian. (Micah 6:8)

Let's face it Christian, terrorists and suicide bombers are willing to give their lives for a lie and you cannot sacrifice 10% of your income for the truth!!! What does that make of you? Worse than a terrorist?

Jesus Is Coming Back to Earth Again!

Pamphlet Reference:
Jesus Will Come Again (p.8)
Jesus Will Come Again (p.9)

Please take some time to read the given material. It will give us a background on one of the most interesting topics of Scripture: Eschatology is the Doctrine of Last Things (Future Events).

The Resurrection and Ascension

Pamphlet Reference:
The Resurrection and Ascension (p.7)
The Resurrection and Ascension (p.8)

"The Christian faith stands or falls on whether or not Jesus Christ rose from the dead. Our faith is either based on historical facts or it is only fairy tales.
If Christ had not risen from the dead our faith would be a mere delusion and we would still be lost in our sins (1 Corinthians 15:17). But the truth is that Christ did rise from death, and because He did He is able to put us right with God (Romans 4:25).
The resurrection of Jesus Christ completed His earthly work of redeeming mankind. His victory over sin and death was the ultimate proof here on earth that He is who He said He was – the Son of Man and the Son of God (Mark 9:9; Romans 1:4)." - From our Basic Doctrine Pamphlet

1. What shows us that Jesus appeared physically, as a real person, not a ghost? Luke 24:36-43
   Note that there are three very important phrases in this passage:
   
   1. "Now as they said these things, Jesus Himself stood in the midst of them, and said to them, "Peace to you." " This teaches us that the resurrected body can pass through walls. John 20:19 says, the door to the room were shut tight because the disciples feared the Jews, so nobody can go in or out of that room unless they opened the door.
      
   2. "Handle Me and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see I have." This clearly teaches us that the resurrected body which all Christians will have after mortal death is SOLID. It can be touched. We can still feel each other and enjoy touch. According to Christ it is made of at least flesh and bones but can still pass through walls and can travel at the speed of thought!
      
   3. " "Have you any food here?" So they gave Him a piece of a broiled fish and some honeycomb. And He took it and ate in their presence. This tells us that we can still continue to eat and enjoy food in our resurrected body. Note that although Jesus would not tell us everything about heaven and our new bodies, He took advantage of this unique situation to show us glimpses of what it would be like. We will not really be like "angels playing harps in the clouds" like Hollywood tries to portray out of their ignorance. In John 14:2, Christ says that he would be preparing mansions or dwelling places for us and that doesn't sound like a piece of cloud at all! Imagine that. We will have our very own piece of Real Estate in heaven!
      


2. How many others saw Jesus after His resurrection? 1 Corinthians 15:5-8
   Cephas is the Aramaic name for Peter, the "twelve" refers of course to the rest of the disciples where Judas Iscariot was replaced my Matthias (Acts 1:23-26). There were 500 others who witnessed the resurrected Christ and apparently experienced not only hearing Him speak or preach again but also touched Him and see Him eat with them. James, in this passage, refers to the earthly half-brother of Jesus Christ and not James the Apostle (The gospels say that Mary had other children, in fact, other sons and daughters [see Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Finally, Paul himself saw Him on the Damascus road (Acts 9:1-7).
   The implications of these number of witnesses cannot be overemphasized. Today we know about people like Alexander the Great, Confucius, Cleopathra, etc because of the account of ONLY one or two witnesses. The resurrection of Christ had MORE THAN 500! Most of the news that we read everyday normally have only the reporter and one or two other witnesses to the event and we all accept what they say without a doubt. Isn't it really surprising that with the preponderance of witnesses and a lot of corroboration, many people still doubt that Jesus Christ actually died, was buried, and rose from the dead as He promised?!!!
   
3. For how many days after His death did Jesus appear to His apostles? Acts 1:3
   Forty days. Remember that Christ was tempted by Satan in the desert also for 40 days. Like the numbers 1, 3, and 7, 40 seems to be a divine number. I would surmise that the underlying connotation of 40 is intensity. The fact that Christ was tempted by Satan for 40 days implies that He was tempted intensely to the point that had He been any less than God, Christ would have succumbed and fallen to temptation. In the same way, the fact that Christ spent 40 more days on earth after His resurrection and before His ascension signifies the intensity of His proving His being alive by His continuing presence and perhaps the intensity of His re-education of His disciples in preparation for the Great Commission. Note that Christ wanted to prove to His disciples that they were not dreaming. Otherwise, they would have had 40 days to wake up! Jesus Christ indeed is risen from the dead!
   
4. How would your faith in God be affected if the resurrection of Christ were not true? On the other hand, how does the truth of the resurrection affect the way you believe or live?
   Recall 1 Corinthians 15:17-19. "If in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are of all men the most pitiable". If Christ is still dead like Confucius, or Buddha, or the other religious founders of the world, I would not be a Christian today. I have always hated the futility of religion. I have always looked at religious people especially those who are not Christian to be wasting their life away. Why believe on something that has no life nor future? Why believe on someone who is dead? For what? If Mohammed promised a paradise of 72 virgins or Buddha promised Nirvana, WHAT IS THEIR PROOF??? THEY ARE VERY VERY DEAD!!! However, my Jesus Christ rose from the dead. It is an irrefutable historical fact. It proved once and for all that He is who He claimed to be, My Lord and My God!!! I have hope, I have a future. I can look forward to heaven because Christ has gone ahead to prepare my mansion for me. If He claimed that He can rise from the dead three days after He was killed and then literally fulfill it, then we can believe Him for ANYTHING and EVERYTHING He says and promises. He claimed to be God Himself. His resurrection has proven it.
   

The Bible clearly teaches that upon the completion of His work on earth, the Lord Jesus Christ returned to His place at the right-hand side of God in heaven. The event of His ascension is recorded in Mark 16:19, Luke 24:50,51 and Acts 1:9-11.- From our Basic Doctrine Pamphlet
Please read and answer the last questions on this section from the Basic Doctrine Pamphlet. Nevertheless, I would like us to focus on the following questions:

1. Whom did Jesus send to take His place? John 15:26
   The Holy Spirit. An entire lesson will be devoted to this. It would be appropriate to point out that whereas the divine salvation plan included the accurate portrayal of a very concrete and personal God Who we can look up to and gaze and worship and bow down to, perhaps to capitalize on man's idolatrous nature; this same salvation plan seeks to portray God's omnipresence which can be individually experienced and enjoyed. Note the following key words in the given text: Helper, Truth, Testify (prove, give evidence of).
2. What is Jesus' position in heaven? Matthew 28:18; Ephesians 1:20-22
   This passages describe the opposite EVENTS of what happened at the Kenosis (Christ emptying Himself before or at the Incarnation) which we discussed in the earlier topic on Jesus Christ. Christ has taken back ALL of his powers! Note that He actually forfeited and LOST some of His powers. These passages show how He got them back: "ALL authority WAS GIVEN (back) to Him by the Father; God the Father RAISED Christ up from the dead, God the Father SEATED Christ at His right hand, God the Father PUT ALL THINGS under Christ's feet, God the Father GAVE Christ to be Head of the church. Paul was NOT playing with words here, he cannot. Otherwise, the Bible becomes quite vague in many of its wordings. Paul meant exactly what He said and what was revealed to him by the Spirit of Truth.
   
3. What is His ministry there for those who follow Him? Romans 8:34; Hebrews 7:25; Hebrews 9:24; 1 John 2:1
   Very simply put, Christ has now become our Intercessor and Advocate before the Father. If we are already saved, why do you think we still need an intercessor? Why is this concept NOT in the past tense (neiter aorist nor present perfect nor past perfect) but has a present continuing nature? If Christ's work for our salvation is finished at the cross as the traditional view puts it, why is He continuing to work for us?
   The answer is what sets Creative Love Theism apart from Calvinism. God is not only interested in the legal aspects of salvation. He is actually just as concerned, if not more so, with the reality of our continuing relationship with Him. He is not just concerned with our justification. There are a lot more passages in Scripture that concerns our sanctification. We will deal with this in detail when we get to these subjects in future lessons.
   Read Hebrews 4:14-16. Through the cross and the atonement, Christ has opened the door for man to eternity in His presence. However, He continues His work as our Intercessor because He intends to take care of us, His sheep, while we are not yet in heaven.
   

Who is Jesus Christ?

Pamphlet Reference:
I Believe in Jesus Christ (p.4-5)
I Believe in Jesus Christ (p.6)

This would be one of the most interesting lessons. Our starting reference is John 1:1-14.
There are several aspects of the Person of Jesus Christ that we would like to address. We will start with the following questions. Please try to answer any of them as short as you can.

1. How much of Christ was God and how much was human when He came to earth? Would you say he was half-God, half-man? Why? Why not? Answer:Well, for starters, how can one conceive of a half-man? Much less a half-god? So there is NO SUCH thing as a half-man nor is there such a thing as a half-god. Having said that, Jesus Christ is FULLY GOD (Colossians 1:15,19) and FULLY MAN

   Jesus was a normal human being with a body like ours. He lived and died as a real person.

   Mark 4:38 * John 4:6 * John 19:33,34

   Luke 4:2b * John 4:7

   He had emotions and was tempted.

   Matthew 26:37,38 * Luke 10:21

   Luke 4:1,2 * John 11:35

2. Which part of Cardinal doctrine (use the Apostle's Creed for reference) would become false or contradicted if Christ were not God? If Christ is not God, he cannot "sit at the right hand of God", He cannot "judge the quick and the dead" because these are the rights only of God Himself. The phrase "His only (begotten) Son our Lord" cannot be true of Jesus Christ unless He is God Himself. Like begets like and only God can beget God. God will not beget pure man since He created man. More importantly, if Christ were not God, then Christ's sacrificial death on the cross is NOT PERFECT (since it is the death of an imperfect human) and God WILL NOT accept that and Christians would still be in their sins, unforgiven and condemned.
   
3. Which part of Cardinal doctrine (use the Apostle's Creed for reference) would become false or contradicted if Christ were not man? If Christ were not human, the following phrase would be false: "born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried" since this can only be true of someone who is human. If Christ were just God and NOT man, He CANNOT die! Note that if Christ never died for our sins, then Christians are still unforgiven and condemned to eternal death. It is Christ's death on the cross that satisfied the requirements of God's righteous judgments upon man's sin, "The wages of sin is death..." (Romans 6:23).
   

Now that we've answered the basic questions above, here are some more:

Read Philippians 2:5-11. This passage was written by St. Paul and he was trying to explain the circumstances by which GOD could and would become man.

1. Paul says that Christ "emptied" Himself. How can God empty Himself? What do you think Christ emptied Himself of (In other words, what part of His being God did he give up to become a man and still be God)? Let's lead your thinking, here are some sub-questions and note that the point of this discussion is NOT academic. The mission of this blog site is for members to enjoy their relationship with Christ. When Christ came in human form, was He OMNIPOTENT? Was He OMNISCIENT? Was he OMNIPRESENT? Did He become LESS than GOD???

   OK, for a clarification of terms, by "OMNI" we should mean 100% or it's not OMNI at all. In that case, Christ was not OMNIPOTENT when He came down as man. At the garden of Gethsemane, after some time of prayer He uttered, saying, (Luke 22:42). "Father, if it is Your will, take this cup away from Me; nevertheless not My will, but Yours, be done." If Christ were OMNIPOTENT at that point, it would have been OK to follow His Own will, since it would have been the will of GOD!! Christ was not OMNISCIENT either since he said in Matthew 24:36,Mark 13:32, ""But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father". Finally, since Christ came in human form, He most definitely was not OMNIPRESENT. He was not and could not be in China and Jerusalem at the same time. Note, however, that according to the doctrine of Kenosis (i.e., Christ emptying Himself of the divine powers BUT NOT DIVINE ATTRIBUTES AS WE WILL LEARN LATER), the emptying was Christ's own volition and He was simply living up to it.
   
   Now, the logical question in one's mind is therefore, if Christ emptied Himself of many of these powers, DID CHRIST CEASE TO BE GOD???? The answer is, NO WAY, Christ remained GOD, yes, God in the flesh. But one would ask, this seems to be a contradiction. How can Christ remain God and lose many, if not all, His divine powers? Don't despair, Christian, for the answer is actually Biblically simple and logical.
   
   God is LOVE! Yes, God is PERFECT, UNCONDITIONAL LOVE. (John 3:16) This includes God being merciful, God being full of lovingkindness. If God loses the attribute of love, He ceases to be God, and this is an attribute that Christ did not lose at all nor could He give it up. God may willingly lose or suspend all His powers but He cannot lose the attribute of Love. Losing such attribute is what makes Him cease to be God.
   
   This is quite profound. All over the gospels, even to the point of death on the cross, Christ is love as God is love. "Father, forgive them for they know not what they do." is a clear expression of love and forgiveness to those who have thoroughly treated Him quite unfairly. It is this attribute of love which makes possible the PERFECT God subsequently forgiving AND accepting sinful man into His loving arms and granting Him undeservedly, ETERNAL LIFE!!! (Romans 5:8)
   
   God is SINLESS, perfectly SINLESS. God would not be God if He had or committed sin. Christ would not be God, if He were not sinless Hebrews 4:15, 1 John 3:3,5
   
   God is constantly Faithful. If Christ lost this attibute, He ceases to be God and Christ did not lose this nor did He empty Himself of this attribute. "If we are faithless, He remains faithful..." (2 Timothy 2:13)
   
   God is perfect and pure Truth.If Christ lost this attibute, He ceases to be God and Christ did not empty Himself of this attribute.John 5:33, John 8:32, John 14:6 are very solid verses that attest to this. God is full of grace. John 1:14 declared that Christ was "full of grace and truth"
   
   Note that Scripture demonstrates, contrary to what most theologians believe, that power does not necessarily define divinity. According to the Bible, since God was in Christ and in Him dwells the fullness of the Godhead bodily, what Christ gave up and empty Himself of were not the essentials of divinity.
   

2. If Christ has the power to "empty" Himself at least to a certain extent, Could God the Father ALSO have the capability of EMPTYing Himself of something or anything?

   Wow, that question was thoroughly loaded, huh? The basic orthodox doctrine of the Trinity is that God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit ARE ALL CO-EQUAL. Each person is FULLY God. This means that what God can do, Christ CAN do. And what Christ CAN do, God CAN do!!! YES, God CAN and DID empty Himself.
   
   God the Father, according to many passages of Scripture, has decided to empty Himself of the power to predetermine our future. YES, He has predetermined a lot of things, like how man was going to be saved, How redeemed man was going to relate to God for all eternity, etc. However, God HAS CHOSEN, not to know if I am taking the bus to work tomorrow, or driving my car to work. God HAS CHOSEN not to know if I am drinking Vanilla Nut coffee from 7-11 or Latte from Starbucks 49 days from now. Our Loving God wants surprises. Like man, surprises excite Our God of Love. God also takes risks. He took a risk that man would not love Him when He thought of creating man. Note that TRUE LOVE involves RISK. If risk was never involved, true love cannot be proven.
   

3. Can Christ (or God) empty Himself of anything and still be GOD? Why? Why not? How?

   Provoking questions, huh? Please try to give any comments (or even questions) related to any of the above. We have a point here that we want you to think about (or rethink) in order to appreciate your personal relationship with the God of Love.

   The difference between this last question and the previous one is important. Now that we have seen that God has the capability and will to empty Himself of some of His powers (temporarily at least), we need to determine if with less of His powers, IS GOD STILL GOD? Although the earlier discussions have proven this both Biblically and logically, it is important to make this particular point obvious.
   
   To summarize our points so far, we know that God remains GOD, even if He decides to empty Himself of (or suspend the use of) some of His known powers, particularly the OMNI's (omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent). However, He has attributes that define His very being which He cannot empty Himself of: Love, Faithfulness, Sinlessnes, etc.
   
   And here is one of the important points of the lesson on Kenosis (Christ emptying Himself of divine powers to make Himself fully human and yet not sacrificing what would still retain His being fully God). Boy, if you understand and remember that definition of Kenosis, you beat most of the most of the learned theologians of all time in my book. Most Calvinist's try to deny this concept (because their implication of Kenosis tends to make Christ less than God) or skirt around it (they are almost claiming that Christ pretended to empty Himself and that He had ALL His powers during the incarnation).
   
   For those familiar with the following terms, Open Theism has been constantly under attack as bordering on the heretical, and perhaps, rightly so. Many of their flavors seem to portray God as powerless against some things. For example, they would say that God CANNOT know the unknowable, e.g., God CANNOT know the future. Although it seems logical that God cannot know what cannot be known for otherwise He has predetermined it, these statements should be rephrased or restated to include the implication that God has so decided to empty Himself of knowing all of the future so as not to predetermine ALL of its outcome. Declaring this as a volitional intent on God's part protects His overall sovereignty (and omnipotence).
   
   With the flavor we have proposed, the burden of proof that our view of Open Theism is wrong now rests with the Calvinists and doubting Arminians. Note that Calvinists would try to counter the implications of Kenosis by pointing out verses of Scripture that declare otherwise. However, they miss the hermeneutic point of failing to correctly interpret the specific passages we have pointed out. They also tend to forget that our view IN NO WAY contradicts those counter-passages they present.
   
   God has made the future "open". Although He has predetermined many things especially as it relates to His overall salvation plan, God has so chosen not to predetermine most things that are especially personal to each of us. If God wanted to, He could predetermine that you would use 112.345 milligrams of toothpaste when you brush your teeth 11 days from now. However, the Bible seems to demonstrate that God prefers NOT to do this. The Bible also shows that God created us with a free will, as free moral agents able to chose right from wrong and co-partners in the working out of His will in each of our lives and even His will for the rest of the world. This means that EACH OF US HAVE A PART in creating God's will for our lives or destroying it.
   
   This means that the results of our actions today have consequences which God may never intervene to change. There would be times when we can blow it for ourselves and God would not do anything about it and we could lose out on some area of our life (or perhaps all of it) forever. We as humans have been granted the power to either make or ruin our future. The teaching that we could mess up and God will always wipe the slate clean may be true ONLY in the sense of forgiveness, but RARELY in the sense of CONSEQUENCES for our deeds. This is a very important concept as we live the Christian life. This teaching, I believe, separates the Christian achievers from the Christian losers.
   
   The corollary implication of this is that God rejoices with us when we are victorious over our circumstances and He grieves with us when we blow it, AND THE ONLY REASON THIS IS POSSIBLE IS because God has so chosen to open the future such that He gets surprised in various degrees with the outcome of our actions whether they be good or bad. We will deal more extensively with the concepts of "man being a co-agent to the working out of God's will" in a future study on PRAYER. In that section we will explore how God may intervene in the Christian's life, whether God changes His mind about His will for our lives or about "detours" in His will for our lives, etc.
   

Traditional Views of God

Pamphlet Reference:
I Believe in God (p.2-3)

The following words have traditionally been used to describe some of the attributes of God. Try to define or give your concept of what each means in a sentence or two. If possible, find some verse in the Bible that would support your view and share a comment or more. Answers will be posted starting March 29.

We have to immediately interject at this point that there are attributes which define God and there are attributes which even if God suspended or gave up would not make Him less than God. YES, God is powerful enough, omnipotent enough to even control, suspend, de-activate some of His powers (non-defining attributes only).

The "defining attributes" of God are those qualities which He can never limit nor surrender (e.g., Love, Truth, Life, Light, Faithfulness, etc). Otherwise, He actually ceases to be God. On the other hand, the "non-defining attributes" of God are those which He either He has the option to suspend, to limit or to dispense as He wills (e.g., omnipresence, omniscience, even omni-potence!).

Note also at this point that we do not agree that some qualities attributed to God by classical theology are biblical. For example, impassability which means that God has no passions does not have any foundation either in the Old Testament or the New Testament. Furthermore, the attribute of immutability ("God does not change") only applies to God's non-defining attributes.

We will attempt to put (ND) or (D) after the attributes below to classify it as Non-Defining or Defining.

God is OMNIPOTENT (ND) - This means that God is ALL(Omni) POWERFUL(Potent). God CAN do ANYTHING he desires to do. Note that divine omnipotence may mean absolute unlimited power. However, that is not the way the God of the Bible has chosen to manifest His sovereignty. Jesus Christ demonstrated that omnipotence or power can be witheld or liimited and yet power or omnipotence may still reside in Him who can limit it. Compare this to the divine attribute of LOVE. Love that is witheld is not true love. Hence, this is an attribute that can cannot limit without losing it. On the other hand, God can limit His power and still remain powerful.

God is OMNIPRESENT (ND) - This means that God is ALL-PRESENT. God CAN be ANYWHERE He desires to be. (Note here that the traditional view actually proposes that God IS EVERYWHERE. It implies that wherever God is absent, that place may not exist. This is subtle and Biblically an erroneous concept. Eternal life is living in the presence of God continuously, eternally. Eternal Death or Eternal Condemnation is living outside of God's presence. Hence, there are places where God's presence is not manifest or felt NOT because God cannot but because He HAS CHOSEN not to be there.)

God is OMNISCIENT (ND) - This means that God is ALL-KNOWING. God KNOWS anything and everything that He desires to know. (Note that the traditional concept of omniscience is such that God knows EVERYTHING including EVERY DETAIL of the PAST, PRESENT, and FUTURE. Hyper-Calvinists, for example, believe that God knows exactly what time you will be drinking coffee tomorrow, how much sugar or cream to the last milliliter, how much you are going to drink, how much will be left over and whether or not you're going to clean your cup thoroughly, etc, etc. The definition we gave may include that. However, we proposed the qualifier "...that He desires to know." This is important to note when we explore the concept of the Biblical God. It will surprise you to know that according to Scripture, God has desired NOT TO KNOW everything. So He MAY NOT know that tomorrow you will choose to drink milk instead of coffee ONLY BECAUSE He HAS NOT desired to know that. Our wonderful and personal God DESIRES TO BE SURPRISED!!! There are many passages in Scripture that demonstrate this. So, take note of this nuance in definitions in our future discussions as they will really come in handy in our quest to know The God Whom we worship.)

God is OMNICOMPETENT (ND) - God is able to accomplish anything He sets out to do in the best possible way with the best possible means and methods with the most effective use of resources, not only because of His sovereignty and wisdom, but IN SPITE OF THE RISK He took in giving man free will such that man may choose to go against God's will.

This concept is new to theology and is a radical alternative to the concept of sovereignty (as compared to predetermination). God has sovereignly chosen to open the future even to Himself. Although there are many things that He has chosen to predetermine, He has not exhaustively predetermined everything. He has chosen not to know whether you will be faithful to Him in the next few hours or if you chose to go your own way apart from His will. Obviously, He has not predetermined what brand of soda you are going to drink 77 days from next Tuesday.

This indeed introduces an element of risk which an all-wise God has chosen to tread. But this risk exists and has continuously been depicted in Biblical literature as God showing genuine surprise and grieving over Israel's sins, and God rejoicing and blessing as a response to His children's faith and faithful obedience to specific commands.

Omnicompetence is a more spectacular display of sovereignty than that of the traditional veiws of Omniscience. Omnicompetence implies that God IS ABLE to multi-plan and muti-task and multi-undertake using the BEST POSSIBLE courses of action in response to events and actions that His children or the world undergo. It also proclaims that as a display of absolute sovereignty, God chose to be weak and powerless in the Incarnation and still be victorious in the end. Of course, the Bible also demonstrates that time and again God choses to intervene in human events and personal affairs, and then again mostly in loving response to the pleas and prayers of His children.

God is the ALPHA and OMEGA (D) - This means that God is eternal (He has an eternal past and an eternal future). He has no beginning. He has no end. Actually in Scripture the Old Testament (Isaiah 44:6 et al) makes this an attribute of God, while the New Testament (Revelations 1:8 et al) declares this as an attribute of our Lord Jesus Christ. Herein lies one of the reasons why Christians declare Christ to be God. Now, the subtleties of this concept - According to the traditional view which again is erroneous, this implies that God is timeless, He has NO PAST, PRESENT, nor FUTURE time frame of reference. Everything to God is as "real" as it is current or present. Everything God sees and knows is to Him a PRESENT reality. Hand in hand with the traditional concept of omniscience, God is NEVER surprised because everything to Him is a present reality or occurence. As we will learn in our quest for truth, this traditional concept has terrible implications or repercussions with our relationship with God. So please note that although we believe that God is eternal, we DO NOT believe that He is timeless according to the traditional view.

God is a PERSON (D) - This means not only that God has personality, but he has "human qualities" and we can relate to Him as one person to another. Note that I used the traditional view of saying "human qualities" but this is really erroneous. The Bible says that God created man IN HIS OWN IMAGE! Hence, before we say that God has human qualities (the traditional view calls this "anthropomorphism" or "like the form of man"), more accurately, we should Biblically declare that MAN HAS DIVINE QUALITIES (we call this "theomorphism" or "like the form of God")!!! It is very important to distinquish the difference. God has ALL HUMAN qualities EXCEPT THOSE HUMAN QUALITIES that are temporal or part of the curse during the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Hence, sin is NOT a divine quality since it was part of that curse. Mortality and disease are not DIVINE qualities. Humorously, pregnancy was part of the curse and sex is temporal. Hence, they are not divine qualities of God's personhood either.

The following two attributes of God are presented to show the difficulty of defining these properly if one held on to the traditional view that God is everywhere, knows everything, is timeless and is anthropomorphic. In contrast, we will show that because we believe that God has intentionally limited His powers and attributes and therefore has decided NOT to be everywhere, decided NOT to know everything, is eternal but not timeless, and that He created man in His own image, then the following two attributes have very deep personal meanings to anyone who desires to have an intimate relationship with God.

God is LOVE (D). This attribute is what separates the Judeo-Christian God from any other god. Pagan gods are known to be selfish, continually critical and angry with man, ready to dispense curses or judgments, beings who treat humans as their toys or trivial objects with no thought for their welfare or happiness. In stark contrast, the God of the Bible loves man. John 3:16, Romans 5:8 and John 15:13 give an idea of the extent of this love, that through Christ, God loved us to death.

There are at least three different and specific Greek words for "love", eros, phileo and agape. Eros, where the english word erotic comes from refers to love that is of the emotional and sensual kind. Phileo, where the word Philadelphia or english word filial comes from refers to affection or brotherly concern. Agape is the Greek word for charity or unconditional love. To compare and contrast the three kinds of love, we may simplify by saying, Eros implies "I love you IF..."; Phileo implies "I love you BECAUSE..."; while Agape implies "I love you IN SPITE OF..." This demonstrates the unconditional nature of agape love. In the three verses given above, the Bible uses agape. Note that in John 15:13, Jesus used agape for the the word "love" while He used the root word phileo for the word "friends". Note also that while this verse show Jesus love for His friends, Romans 5:8 shows His love for His enemies, and finally, John 3:16 shows His love for the whole world - - pure and unconditional. It doesn't matter who you are, God loves you anyway, and God loves you to the death! God loves because God is love. It is exactly who He is.

Finally, before we leave the attribute of LOVE, we have to note that TRUE LOVE involves RISK. If God was absolutely sure that He would never lose our love or devotion to Him regardless of what He would do to us whether good or bad, then there is no risk involved and His love for us would be in doubt. If I could totally control my wife and kids to love me, then I may not truly love them since I am risking NOTHING.

God is a JEALOUS (D) God. This is an obvious attribute of God because God declares it Himself in many passages of scripture starting with the Torah. Traditionalists simply are not able to deal with this attribute and demote this attribute to being an anthropomorphism.

Behold the following defintions of Jealous from http://www.selfknowledge.com/51802.htm:

1. Zealous; solicitous; vigilant; anxiously watchful. "I have been very jealous for the Lord God of hosts." Kings xix. 10. "How nicely jealous is every one of us of his own repute!" Dr. H. More.
2. Apprehensive; anxious; suspiciously watchful. "'This doing wrong creates such doubts as these, Renders us jealous and disturbs our peace." Waller. "The people are so jealous of the clergy's ambition." Swift.
3. Exacting exclusive devotion; intolerant of rivalry. "Thou shalt worship no other God; for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God." Ex. xxxiv. 14.
4. Disposed to suspect rivalry in matters of interest and affection; apprehensive regarding the motives of possible rivals, or the fidelity of friends; distrustful; having morbid fear of rivalry in love or preference given to another; painfully suspicious of the faithfulness of husband, wife, or lover. "If the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife." Num. v. 14. "To both these sisters have I sworn my love: Each jealous of the other, as the stung Are of the adder." Shak. "It is one of the best bonds, both of chastity and obedience, in the wife, if she think her husband wise; which she will never do if she find him jealous." Bacon.

This is indeed a divine attribute but it has to be qualified in terms of the rest of Scripture. Paul says in Ephesians 4:26,27a, "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil." Yes, even God sets the example for anger. Anger is a divine behavior but it is not necessarily sin.

Likewise, Jealousy has its divine elements. We accept those common definitions sans the human sinful aspects of it. When we are jealous or zealous in protecting what we love, we display a divine attribute (we are made in God's image), but when we sin we demonstrate our mortality and human-ness not God's.

Note that these insights go directly against the grain of classical theology which tends to rationalize God's "human" behavior as anthropomorphisms (research this term!)

Other attributes

The Bible describes God in many ways. Here are some and use the Bible Gateway link to look them up.

1. He is perfect (D) and just (D) in all His ways; faithful and true. Deuteronomy 32:4
2. He is forgiving (D), gracious (D) and loving (D), slow to be angry, merciful. Nehemiah 9:17b
3. He is all-powerful (ND), righteous (D), just (D). Job 37:23; 42:2
4. He is great and mighty (ND); His wisdom cannot be measured (ND). Psalm 147:5
5. He is holy (D) and glorious (ND). Isaiah 6:3
6. He is eternal (D). Isaiah 41:4
7. He is everywhere (ND). Jeremiah 23:23,24
8. He is the Creator (D); nothing is too difficult for Him ND). Jeremiah 32:17
9. He is a righteous judge (D). 2 Timothy 4:8
10. He knows everything; nothing can be hidden from Him. (ND) Hebrews 4:13
11. He is the source of all good; He never changes, on His defining attributes. (D). James 1:17
12. He is light (D). 1 John 1:5
13. He is love (D). 1 John 4:8
14. He is sovereign. However, the execution or exercise of God's sovereignty is determined by His love, grace, and mercy. This is in direct contrast to the classical view (which is really unbiblical!) which presupposes that God's love is totally controlled by His sovereignty. (D)
    

Some of the most beautiful and comprehensive descriptions of God are found in the Psalms.What do the following Psalms say about Him?
Psalm 36:5-9 Psalm 103:1-14 Psalm 139:1-6

Doctrine: Cardinal vs. Peripheral

Let's make this an interactive discussion. What is CARDINAL Christian doctrine and what is PERIPHERAL Christian doctrine? Let's get your thoughts on this. We'll post the answer(s) on the 7th day of the original post (March 22).

March 20 - While waiting for the others to check in, let me start by re-introducing to you the Apostle's Creed:

"I believe in God the Father Almighty; Maker of Heaven and Earth; and in Jesus Christ His only (begotten) Son our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried; He descended into hell; the third day He rose from the dead; He ascended into heaven; and sitteth at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost; the holy catholic Church; the communion of saints; the forgiveness of sins; the resurrection of the body; and the life everlasting. Amen."

So, is the Apostle's Creed a statement of Cardinal doctrine? or Peripheral doctrine? Why? Why not?

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Cardinal comes from Greek word “kardia” meaning heart. Technically, these are doctrines that are directly related to a set of Christian beliefs which are necessary for personal salvation. In the history of the Christian church, rejection of any one of the cardinal doctrines condemns a member of the church as a heretic. Heretics during the Roman Catholic Inquisition were normally burned at the stake.
Peripheral comes from the Greek word "peri", the same word as perimeter, meaning "around". In computers, peripheral devices are not necessary for a computer to operate. Hence, peripheral doctrines are mostly traditional beliefs or practices of the church which have no direct bearing on one’s salvation. A Christian may or may not agree with these doctrines without endangering personal salvation.

The Apostle’s Creed was so named not because the apostles wrote them but it evolved in the early church as a summary of the doctrines that their immediate disciples believed was cardinal doctrine. Rejection of any one of its salient points puts one's eternal life in jeopardy. Its early originals were mostly baptismal confessions, i.e., candidates for Christian baptism were required to declare these set of beliefs in the same way that an oath is administered by our judicial system when a person takes the witness stand.

For our blog, please study the phrases of the creed carefully as we will be dealing with many of these in our future discussions. One good example is the phrase "born of the Virgin Mary".

Implicit in the phrase are the following cardinal beliefs:


1. Christ became fully human (This is called the Incarnation of Christ). Christ had to be human, otherwise, he could not die on the cross for our sins.
2. Mary was a virgin before Christ was born. Note that if she was not, then the divine lineage of Christ would be doubtful. God can accept ONLY a PERFECT sacrifice which no human can offer. Since Christ is God, then He is able to offer a PERFECT sacrifice. Christ is the spotless Lamb of God.

Why do we need to know the difference between Cardinal vs. Peripheral doctrine? Mainly because we need to determine everytime there is a discussion on doctrine whether we need to defend our faith or not. If someone disagrees with us on Cardinal doctrine, he is in danger of condemnation and we do our utmost to convince them otherwise. On the other hand, if someone disagrees with us on peripheral doctrine, we know we are just engaging each other in the arena of ideas and hence do not need to fight over it unnecessarily.

Each one is really free to believe what he thinks is right when it comes to peripheral doctrine. Everyone is also free to discuss his beliefs. However, no Christian has the right to impose peripheral beliefs on each other. Most churches have divided resentfully over peripheral issues and lost the blessing of true fellowship.

Examples of peripheral doctrine (NOT in the Apostle's Creed) are what food to eat (crabs or vegetables), whether or not to drink wine, what type of baptism is right (immersion, sprinkling, etc), whether a male baby should be circumcised or not, what clothes to wear in church, is it sin to wear make-up, pierce our bodies, wear tatoos, etc.

So let this be clear: a violation of Cardinal doctrine is heresy because it eliminates important and necessary components in God's Salvation Plan for man.

Solid Rock

Solid Rock is a Bible-based blog. It encourages a earnest seeking of God's presence and a passionate study of His Word, the Bible.

God CANNOT be known apart from revelation neither can His will be known apart from revelation. This means that all we know about God has to be something that has been revealed in Scripture. Because of this, the discipline we shall apply in the search for answers is called "a posteriori" reasoning.

In contrast to the "a priori" method of reasoning when it comes to learning God or Scripture, we do not approach Scripture with pre-conceived notions or ideas about God nor do we lose the beauty of His revelation by presuppostions or pre-empting His message with our opinions, no matter how well-intentioned they are.

A correct concept of life emanates from a correct concept of God. Those who miss out worship a God who has attributes that are "created" by their opinions of how God should be instead of who He really is. They miss out because they approach Scripture with colored lens that filter out so much of the TRUE colors of the Wonderful God Whom we worship and Who is finally revealed through Jesus Christ.

Through this blog site, we wish to lay down solid doctrinal and interpretive foundations for a meaningful, personal and independent study of God's Word, the Bible. With the help of God, we will try to simplify what seminaries teach and give each one of us the confidence to discuss the great truths of Scripture and the boldness to share these with others.

By the way, in all our discussions, any comments you wish to contribute are appreciated. Note that you don't need to contribute answers, you can also contribute questions. However, it would be best to limit your questions to the topics I presented. If you wish to suggest other topics to discuss, you can email me at rsarcos@yahoo.com and we will try to line it up for future discussion. If you believe, your suggested topic has some urgency, go ahead and mention that in your email.