Q&A…Question # 11

“What is fasting? Why do we do it?”

Sorry for being very slack in posting blogs. We have been entering a very busy time for us, and many things have been brought to us that deserve our full attention. Nevertheless, I want to be faithful to you guys in answering some of the questions that you guys have. And I think his question about fasting would be the most appropriate right now, considering the fact that we are beginning to fast once a week for a building. Now what is fasting and why do we do it?

Now fasting is a practice that goes back even into the times of King David and even Moses. Now what exactly is fasting? Well fasting, basically, is when you do not eat food for a period of time. We see this with Moses when he says that when he received the Ten Commandments he “neither ate bread nor drank water.” (Exodus 34:28, Deuteronomy 9:9,18 ) Also we see this with Jesus. “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.” (Matthew 4:2) During the fast of Jesus, He was tempted by Satan to make bread out of stones. So we see that fasting is denying your body nourishment.

Q&A…Question # 10

“Explain the doctrine of election.”

This has to be one of my favorite topics. Since the Lord opened my eyes to this, my whole life and walk with the Lord has been completely different. He has drawn me closer to the cross and to Jesus through all of this… To fully understand the doctrine of election, we have to go into the Calvinism and Arminianism debate. The first thing that we must look at is to see what is election? Is it conditional or unconditional? Finally, we will look at how our conclusion should affect our daily lives. (Please note that this is my view and the view of the other leaders of Housechurch, and it does not necessarily reflect the views of everyone who worships with us. Even so, we, as leaders, do believe we are being biblical with our conclusions. We think this issue should not divide, but we also think we should stand for the truth of Scripture openly.)

First, we need to define what election is. Now every Christian believes in election. Over and over again in Scripture, Christians are referred to as “the elect,” meaning chosen. (Matthew 24, Mark 13:20-22, Luke 18:7, Romans 8:33, Romans 11:7, 2 Timothy 2:10, Titus 1:1, 1 Peter 1:1, 2 John 1:1, and 2 John 1:13) Also the Bible speaks of God’s “election” of Christians. (Romans 9:11, Romans 11:28, and 2 Peter 1:10) So the question is not whether God elects Christians. The question is what does that mean. There are two main teams. The first team is the Arminians (named after Jacobus Arminius). Arminians believe what is called conditional election. This means that God’s election of Christians is conditional on something, namely faith. This is also called election based on foreseen faith. What this means is that since God knows everything, He saw who would have faith in Him and elected those to salvation who would have persevering faith in Him. They rest on verses such as Romans 8:29 and 1 Peter 1:2. This theory is historical Arminianism and is what Jacobus Arminius himself taught.

Q&A…Question # 9

“The only unforgivable sin is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit, so would that be someone denying the Holy Spirit and continually doing so until they die or until the Holy Spirit stops coming to them? (do people only have so many times the Holy Spirit comes to them?) If that is the case (which I think it is, but that not based on me reading scripture) then that is soooo stinking cool!!!”

What a great question… What is blasphemy against the Holy Spirit? What does that even mean?!? It is even mentioned in all of the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew 12, Mark 3, Luke 12). So what is it? (Now please note: when we look at this, we must throw all emotional presuppositions out the window. Just because we want something to be true does not make it true. There are a lot of people who throw this passage out because they can’t fit a loving God with it. It is not politically correct… But it is true and we must stay biblical, not emotional.) Let’s take a glance at one scripture pointing to the answer:

Q&A…Question # 8

Question:

Could Jesus have sinned if He wanted to?

Answer:

First, I just want to say this. I learned this in my freshman English class before I dropped out. My English teacher told us to NEVER debate and argue over something that has already happened and whether it would have turned out differently. It has already happened… so debating over it won’t solve a single thing. So my answer to this question is this: it doesn’t matter…. My answer is this: Jesus did NOT sin! He was perfect!!

But just for fancy, I will just say what I think… But I will not try to back it up very convincingly or debate over it. IT DOESN’T MATTER!! And I know the arguments… On one side, some say that since Jesus was God, it was impossible for Him to sin. The other side says that since Jesus was human and was our substitute, He needed to at least have the ability to sin in order to be our substitute or God would not accept the sacrifice… Well the truth is that Jesus was raised from the dead and the sacrifice WAS accepted!! He was vindicated by His resurrection! And just so you know, you can disagree with me and I promise I will not lose sleep over it!

Q&A…Question # 7

Question:

What does Romans 5:12-14 mean?

Answer:

This is one of the most confusing passages of Scripture! I remember one time spending hours just reading Romans 5:12-21 and being utterly confused… But as with most complex passages, usually the most profound and beautiful truths are found in them. Most of my explanation is credited to Dr. John Piper on his preaching of the text. His explanation is most useful.

While this whole passage is worth looking at, verse 12-14 is the focus of the question at hand. Before we dive in, we must understand what Paul is doing here. We find the answer in verse 14 when it says, “… Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.” Paul is doing a comparison between Adam and our Lord Jesus Christ. Now verses 12-14 are where Paul is showing us the similarities between Jesus and Adam. Now in my mind I would be thinking, “What in the world do Adam and Jesus have in common?” Verses 12-14 answer that for us.

Q&A…Question # 6

Question:
“In light of certain scriptures, what role does the Law play in the life of a believer? In other words, are we under the Law.”

Answer:
Ok so I am going to give you a brief answer to the whole law question. There are really 2 questions that must be asked. 1) Are we under the Law? 2) What role does the Law play in the life of a believer?

1) Let me first just tell you that we are NOT under the Law. It is repeated many, many times in many ways. I know Romans says that we are not under the Law (Romans 6:14-15; 7:4). Galatians says that we have died with Christ to the Law and the Law only has power as long as we are alive (Galatians 2:19-20; Romans 7:1). Other verses include 1 Corinthians 9:20, Galatians 3:23, Galatians 5:18. Now what does it mean that we are not under the Law… It simply means this: Christians are no longer under the curse of the Law nor are they punished by breaking the Law, but we have been punished in Christ and have died with Christ so that now we are alive apart from the Law (Galatians 3:10-13). So when a Christian breaks the Law, they are not punished by going to hell or by the specific punishments of the Law.

Q&A…Question # 5

Question:

When we are saved, are we still sinners? Do we become perfect or do we continue to sin?

Answer:

When we talk about things like sin and sinners, it’s important to have a good solid definition of what sin is. The best definition is given to us in scripture, found in 1 John 3:4 – “Everyone who commits sin also breaks the law; sin is the breaking of law.” Another definition (certainly unnecessary but helpful) would read something like this: Sin is any failure to conform to the moral law of God in act, attitude, or nature (Grudem, Systematic Theology). Sin can be something we do that goes against what God has commanded (commission), or it can be something we don’t do that God has asked us to do (omission).

Q&A…Question # 4

Question:

Why do good people die?

Answer:           

Believe it or not, the Bible gives us a wonderful answer to this question. The answer: good people don’t die. That’s right! Only bad people die. Throughout the Bible we see that sin and death are necessarily tied together. In Genesis 2, God says to Adam, “for in the day that you eat of it (a.k.a. sin) you shall surely die.” So Adam’s sin is the cause of his eventual death. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death.” If what we earn from sin is death, then death is only brought about through sin. Also in 1 Corinthians 15:56, sin is called the sting of death. Now clearly these are talking about spiritual death, but it also concludes that these talk about physical death as well. Hence “it is appointed for man to die once.” Everyone will taste death, unless Jesus comes back before you die.

Q&A…Question # 3

Question:

What did Jesus do while He was dead for three days?

Answer:

There are many varying views on this question and many Christians have different opinions (mostly without scriptural support) on this issue. Some say that Jesus went to hell; others say He went to “Paradise” – a place unique from heaven – and still other Christians argue that He remained in the grave until He was resurrected. The answer is actually quite simple and is clearly evident in scripture.

Q&A Blog….

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to remind you to check back every Tuesday and  Friday for answers to the questions that you asked.  Also, leave your comments and let us know what you think of the answers so far.  We will be posting a new question and answer  tomorrow so check it out.  Hope to see you downtown on Friday.  Love you guys.

Love and Justice

Brandon