Ho is God and important issues about God

The Word of God is absolute authoritative. The Scripture is the Word of God. The origin of this Scripture is not in man, but in the unchangeable God. The origin of the Scripture lies in heaven, in eternity.

Jesus says in John 12:47-50 that His Words come from the Father in heaven.

Who wrote the Scripture and who composed it?

The Bible is a unique book that is subdivided in 66 books and is written during approximately 2000 years by about 35 writers. Yet all books fit together. There are prophecies that have been written hundreds of years before the life and dead of Jesus Christ, yet describing His life and dead literally. For example look at the prophet Isaiah, chapter 53 and David’s psalm 22.

The Bible-books have been preserved always very carefully. There have even been special copiers that have spelled out these books very precisely counting every individual character. Such a person was called a ‘Sopherim’ (=counter). Also these books have been preserved carefully. There have been found hundreds of thousands of books during archaeological excavations that contain the same text we have today. Many meetings and considerations have taken place to collect those books and bind them together to our present Bible.

Which books had to be included in the Scripture? That was a very important question. For the Old Testament, the following rules had to be succeeded: a book should be prophetic, it should contain true historical facts in every detail and it should be factually and dogmatically right. For the New Testament the book must have been written by one of the apostles or by someone who knew the apostles personally, to receive approval.

Jesus Christ’s statements about the Scripture.

In Matthew 5:17-19 Jesus says “Do not think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets” He lives according to the Old Testament. The Old Testament is as much important as the New Testament.

In Luke 16:17 Jesus says that “it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away than for one tittle of the law to fail”. God has wanted His Word in every detail.

Mark 7:5-9, 13: this text part handles about traditions of the elders, which people think is in line with the Word of God. This is similar to the present situation in traditional churches. Jesus considers tradition to be highly dangerous, because it is built on doctrines of men and not of God. Doctrines of people are also very changeable and they vary over time. God wants men to serve Him in His way, not in a men-made way.

Matthew 7:24-25 This scripture is handling about the consequences of the Word of Jesus in your life. First Jesus speaks for a long time to the people; this is called the Sermon on the Mountain (Matthew 5-7).

He finishes the sermon with the parable of the house on the sand. When you compare this house to your own life and a storm appears, what will happen with your house? Your life will end in an eternal destruction, if you have not done what Jesus told you. But there is another option. You can give your life to Jesus and you can apply His Word in your life. Even then there will be a flood or a storm in your life now and then that attacks your house.

It is important to read the Bible yourself to check what I have said to you.

Acts 17.11: The Jews had the Old Testament. In two synagogues (= Learning house) Paul and Silas told the Messiah, Who was promised in the Old Testament, had come, His Name was Jesus of Nazareth. The responses were very different. Even some Jews were very hostile. But later, when the same message was proclaimed in Berea, the attitude of those Jews was different. They were open, "they adopted the Word with all readiness". They searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were written indeed. They took responsibility themselves to study the Holy Scriptures in order to verify what Paul and Silas proclaimed. God appreciates that, because in Acts 17:11 is written about them: “these were more fair-minded". Therefore, it is very important to read the Bible yourself.

2. Creation and the fall of man. Genesis 1-3

God created every human being and has longed for every one of them.

God, the Creator, is the origin of all authority. Therefore, everyone has to justify him-or herself before Him. The fall of man is an historical event; directly connected to death. That's why there is hope, since death does not originally belong to creation.

The message of Genesis 1-3 is:

Genesis 1:1-2:4: God as Creator at the beginning (Gen. 1:1).

He creates heaven and earth out of nothing by His Word (Psalm 33:9).

Creation of earth in its bare structure (Gen. 1:2).

Then the logical dressing of the earth (Gen. 1:3-31):

Light
Atmosphere (with hydrosphere)
Dry ground - continent and vegetable world
The universe
Living creatures in the water and in the air as well
Animals on earth and human beings

The latter deeds of creation are the results of the first ones; climate and environment. But also the fact that God takes care of His Creation and maintains it.

Gen. 2:5-25:

Men living in harmony with God
God’s authority over mankind by His commandment
There is no sin nor death

Gen. 3:1-24

Transgression of the commandment of God by temptation: rebellion
Curse of death over mankind and creation
Curse over nature, life becomes troublesome
First hope (Gen. 3:15). The seed, the Savior, Who brings the solution and will destroy the enemy

Conclusion: we live in a totally abnormal world, in which disaster and death flourish.

Through men: the transgression of the will of God, sin.

Death does not belong to creation; it has a historical beginning in sin. That's why there is also hope. That is if a historical-future solution for death exists; a solution for sin also exists.

Or in more simple words: if sin is the cause, the beginning of the presence of death, then death will be gone, when sin has gone.

3. The untenableness of evolution theory.

It is presupposed that matter has always been and is eternal. The proof for that must still be provided.

The principle of development 'up' is especially contradicted by the second law of thermodynamics; a system that is left to itself, tends to disintegration. Life does not arise spontaneously and is demolished afterwards. There is a 'rectifier', or some form of intelligence.

For example: When you have cleaned your house you must, however, be aware that you lay down your stuff at the correct place, otherwise it will turn into an enormous mess in no time. So you are the ‘rectifier’ for your house.

Mutations, development of new species

The, so-called, proof of evolution concerns developments within a species – in a variety. Signs of mutation were considered as proof for transmutation. This is based on philosophy of an inferior kind, it is certainly no science.

Thus it is possible that a new dog type can arise, but a dog does not become a cat.

The extinction of the original species.

The real observation is that the biodiversity is decreasing, not increasing. This reality is straightly opposed to the theory. We live in a deteriorating world, not in a world that flourishes.

The lack of an abundance of intermediate life forms that the theory predicts

The developing process from low primitive forms to highly developed forms is in fact a statement that declares that the superior comes from the inferior. This contradicts every observation ever done.

Fossils do not develop under normal circumstances, as stated by the ‘slow development’ concept. A dead animal becomes decomposed and disappears entirely. Fossils do not come into existence nowadays. The conditions for the development of fossils are: lack of oxygen, warmth and moreover high pressure. Only at calamities fossilization is conceivable, e.g. the eruption of volcanoes or the Flood.

The existence of layers of earth as an argument for ‘development of fossils’ is hard to maintain since very frequently the ‘elder’ animals lay in higher layers than the ‘younger’ animals. The diagram is too good to be true. Also the use of extremely long periods of time is intolerable, because, for example, there have been found erected trees that go through several layers. In the evolution model that is impossible. This indicates that deposition of layers of earth happened during a short period of time.

In itself the dating of the evolution system is based on circle reasoning. The dating of fossils happens by the earth layers. The dating of the earth layers happens by means of fossils. Other dating methods have been developed much later, when the theory was already established.

4. The credibility of the creation / flood-model.

Creation means: something comes in existence (by God) in a very short time (one day). A living being is one complex functioning entity and is entirely complete. At the reproduction within the species, however, endless varieties are possible, but the –on itself- very wide borders cannot be passed. Each renewal proves to be a deteriorating and cannot survive on itself or spontaneously. Even at a junction, like at a donkey and a horse, the hinny is not fertile. Other junctions between different species, like lion and bear, are totally unthinkable. Genesis 1 clearly points out that God made the animals 'after their kind'. All observations concerning genetic change and constancy support Creation and variety within species and not evolution, 'really' new species.

The flood.

Genesis 6-9 talks about a worldwide water calamity that causes the whole world become flooded. Everything and everyone perished except a number of people (Noah and his family) and representatives of all types of the animal world who survive in a huge ship. By breaking open the crust of the earth (Genesis 7:11) together with the large quantities of water that were released, the total earth must have been changed in a ravage. The earth layers are in fact deposition layers of the flood which have been formed for a great part in a rather short time, one year. Also the perished animals 'have been massively stored' here. The dead bodies are immediately turned off oxygen and afterwards fossilized by the high pressure. Having a wide imagination we can explain the arising of the earth layers and fossils, the order and the deviations. The earth layers lie on each other without weathering influences or erosion. This is unexplainable within the evolution model, but it is very appropriate in the creation/flood model. After the flood, the climate has become significantly worse. The protecting water vapor-zone (hydrosphere) of Genesis 1:6-8, has collapsed by the flood and has come down to earth in the forty days of heavy rainfall that followed. That explains the enormous abnormal rain fall of the flood. But it also explains why the life span of people afterwards has decreased more and more. A protection layer against cosmic radiation has disappeared. Although all types of animals have survived the water calamity in the Ark, the process of extinction is supposed to have started that time. At the time of Job (Job 40) the dinosaurs, which now have become extinct, still lived.

5. The necessity of the existence of a personal – infinitive God

Dr. F. Schaeffer once said:”A philosophy that respects itself shall answer the following questions:

The existence of the universe; there is something in stead of nothing.
The complexity of what is.
Organization and unity in that complexity.
The personality of human.”

In fact there are only three answers that explain ‘the existence’:

There was nothing, and suddenly there was something.
Everything has come into existence out of an impersonal beginning.
Everything has come into existence out of a personal beginning.

It sounds strange, but there are only three answers and all answers and diversities can be placed within this three.

There was nothing, and suddenly there was something. Only a few individuals choose this point of view. For you have to accept something that is in contradiction with everything you observe.

Everything has come into existence out of an impersonal beginning. People excepting this point of view do have the following problem. First there was something impersonal and after a while there was suddenly personality, for people are personal. Everyone considers personality as a higher level than impersonality. To say it simply: a human is more than a stone. But, if this is true and you look closer, then you have to conclude that the superior should have come forth from the inferior – which is against every observation. For example: Consider you are in the mountains of Switzerland. And somewhere you see a small lake and far below that lake you see a sharp valley. Suddenly the valley starts to fill up with water just as far as the level of the lake. How can you explain this?

At first: Does the water come from the lake, or does it come from an invisible source, that has exactly the same level as the lake? Let’s say: the valley starts to fill up and the level of the water becomes higher than the lake. Which conclusion do we draw? Well, we do not know where the water comes from, but we know for sure that it does not come from the small lake we have just discussed, because of the fact that the water level in that small lake is much lower. Therefore, the superior never originates from the inferior. Instead, the inferior originates from the superior. Also for this reason the second answer, that all existence has its origin in an impersonal beginning, is unsatisfactory.

Everything is funded on a personal beginning. This is the last option and the only justified one. The foundation of all things is to explain by a personal beginning. But 'who' and 'how' is that 'personal beginning'?

The gods of the Greeks for example were personal, but had no infinity. Moreover their moral behavior was of a very doubtful quality.

The god of the oriental religions is, however, infinite, but not personal. Only the God of the Biblical-Christian belief does not have that problem: He is both infinite and personal. Moreover this God is of a special quality. He does not have the problem of an Allah or of the God of the witnesses of Jehovah. Those have a God that is One-only. So before He made everything, He was only and solitary. That is a very unsatisfactory starting point. In that picture of God He would make people to overcome His loneliness.

The God of the Biblical-Christian belief does not have that problem. There is indeed only one God, but He is a triune God. Before creation, there was already real communication and an intense love-relationship within this triune God, see John 17, verse 24. There Jesus says to the Father: “For You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” Before creation, God the Father loved Jesus. Within the triune God a love relation was experienced. And people have been created to participate in this already existing love relationship. (John 17:23-26). The Biblical-Christian answer on the origin and the purpose of everything is therefore not just the best answer; it is also the only answer.

6. The person of Jesus and the reliability of the Gospel

The doctor and evangelist Luke writes a report about the life of Jesus. In the introduction of his story in the gospel of Luke and in the Acts of the Apostles he tells us about the scientific methods he has used. He starts by telling that writing a report of the life of Jesus is not unique. Many have done that before him. Even so, he thinks there is a need for him to do the same.

Luke is the only one of the four evangelists, who is not a Jew. Matthew, Mark and John are Jews. Luke is a Greek from Antioch and he is a doctor (Col. 4:14). So he is an intellectual in the Greek-Roman society of that time. He has started preaching because of the journeys of the apostle Paul. And he is also the only one of the four evangelists, who is in the same position like us; we neither have seen Jesus.

This Greek intellectual felt the need to investigate everything about Jesus personally. He has written the gospel of Luke and the Acts of the Apostles as well. In the Acts of the Apostles some ‘we’-tidings occur. These are happenings in which Luke himself was involved, and then he speaks about “we”, “this person and that person” and “I”. From this parts we know, that he has accompanied Paul on his third mission-journey to Israel (Acts 20 and 21). There Paul has been captured and has been put in jail for two years (Acts 24:27).

After that Paul was sent to the emperor of Rome and Luke accompanied Paul on that journey too (Acts 27:1-2). So Luke has been in Israel for at least two years during Paul’s captivity. During that time he has done the investigation he is reporting about in Luke 1: 1-4. His remarks shall be viewed from that context.

In verse 3 he says that he has examined everything closely from the start. We can say in fact, that Luke has been a kind of interviewer and has examined all those people that were involved at the events of Jesus. We notice this for example by the change of style. The Gospel of Luke has originally been written in Greek. The Greek style is a style with head- and subordinate clauses. But he must have spoken with Jewish people, because suddenly we meet a change of style to only head senses which are linked by the word 'and' to each other. About the history of the birth of Jesus we rather notice a female style and way of expression. We get the impression that Luke has spoken with Maria, the mother of Jesus. In verse 1 Luke is concerning about ‘those things which have been fulfilled among us’. In other words, it is not handling about wishful ideas, but about plain facts. In verse 2 Luke appeals to people, that have been eye witnesses and servants of the Word from the beginning. Eye witnesses is a legal term, thus from the jurisdiction. How can a judge ascertain that an event actually happened in the past? Only an eye witness can tell you. An eye witness is someone who has seen a certain event with his own eyes. As two or three witnesses give the same testimony of a certain event, for the judge this is the proof that it has really happened. On account of that, someone can be cleared or condemned.

Moreover: we can only know something about the past because of eye witnesses, while those eye witnesses have written a report. In fact, the Gospel of Luke is such a report.

According to verse 3 he has examined everything closely, or, in other words, he has examined everything very well. And afterwards he has put it in a book in regulated order. He has written a thorough and well-balanced report concerning a historical research that he carried out. Initially, he dedicated his work to a certain Theophilus, who is called ‘most excellent’. Furthermore we don't know anything of him; he may be someone from the Roman nobility. This man was already a Christian, who wanted to know more about Jesus. The purpose of this work was that Theophilus would recognize the reliability of the matter, in which he had been instructed. So that he would recognize the intellectual credibility of faith in Christ.

For this, the Biblical-Christian faith is unique in the world. If you would investigate the foundations of other religions, then you find yourself in the unverifiable, in a vacuum. The foundation of such a religion is an unverifiable experience in the founder's mind.

Mohammed had a vision and Buddha had an inner enlightenment. In other words, if you want to believe that, it is like a jump in the fog, a step with blinded eyes. It is intellectually doubtful and existentially dangerous to build your live on an unverifiable brain experience of someone else.

How totally different is the Christian belief. The events on Jesus have taken place really in time and space, according to the way we live. The events itself are quite striking and exceptional, but still very trustworthy. If God intervenes visibly in history, then events extend far beyond daily routine. But this matter concerns facts. Luke has examined facts, observed by hundreds of witnesses, and put them in a book. Therefore the biblical-Christian belief is unique in the world. Here too people are required to put a step in faith. Not randomly, in the dark, but based on real facts. For this reason it is the only really reliable religion.

7. Jesus, before His birth as a human

John 8:56-58: ‘Before Abraham was, I AM’. This man who walked on earth, had existed already 2000 years before this statement was declared.

John 1:1-3, 14: We are going far back in history. Jesus, Who is called the Word, is Creator. By Him everything has arisen. Nothing with a beginning point of existence has come to pass without Him. The Word, the Creator, has become man and has simply lived and worked as man among us. How amazing! More lately His disciples must have been deprived after they have realized, with Whom they have lived for about 3½ years. Amazing!

8. The birth of Jesus

Luke 1:26-38: The events around the birth of Jesus are quite special, but His procreation is even more special. His mother was not married but engaged, when she became pregnant of Him. An angel of God suddenly appears before her, saying that she will become pregnant and will give birth to the Son of the Almighty. Maria does not understand it at all and tells the angel very openly: "How can this be, since I do not have any sexual encounter with a man?" The remarkable answer she gets is, that “the power of the Most High will overshadow her”; and that “therefore, also, the Holy One, Who is to be born will be called the Son of God.” Only after she agreed, the angel leaves. God does not do something against the will of people. The impact has been socially very difficult. The Jewish society watched over purity. And sudden a young, unmarried, Jewish girl becomes pregnant.

Matthew 1:18-25: The first one who is confronted with these event, is her fiancé, Joseph. That must have been grievously for him: “My fiancée is pregnant, but not of me.” And he draws a logical conclusion. He wants to cancel his engagement contract in all silence, without putting shame on her. But God intervenes and gives insight concerning the context and therefore the innocence of Maria. Consequently he marries her. Of course the community must have developed their thoughts after some time, that is clear. Both are prepared to carry this social shame.

9. The reason for Jesus to come to the earth.

Matthew 20:28 “Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” Therefore the origin of His human life was aimed at dying in deputy for others.

Hebrews 4:15 Jesus is the Mediator, who can sympathize entirely with us people. He was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. And because He is without sin, He can carry in deputy the punishment of sin for other people.

10. The resurrection

1 Corinthians 15:1-6 Paul makes the true Gospel known. The believers in the congregation of Corinth have already converted themselves to Christ and already 'stand' in the gospel. As a result, they are saved, if they at least hold on to this way, as Paul has taught them. And what is that rescue message? Jesus has died for all sins. Three days later He has risen from the death. Just this resurrection proves that He has died as an innocent and sinless person at the cross and that for this reason His death is rescueing for others.

Afterwards we get an enumeration of people who have seen Jesus as the Living after His death and resurrection. Finally there are more than 500 people at the same time. That is very striking. Some of that 500 have died in the mean time, but the majority was still alive. Corinth is a seaport and in fact what Paul says is the following: People, if you do not believe it, take a ship and sail to Israel. You can ask hundreds of people and they will say to you: “We have seen Jesus, vividly alive after His resurrection.” If Paul had not been sure for 100% then he would not have written this, especially because of the many Greeks with critical attitudes. If some would actually go to Israel and find no witnesses over there, Paul would have been enormously blamed and it would be over with him. But nevertheless he writes in full conviction. Why? Because Jesus had risen and at that moment there were hundreds of witnesses still alive. If there is something historically certain, it is the fact that Jesus has risen from the death.

John 20:20-28 Special is the event with the 'unbelieving' Thomas. This man is interesting for us, because he was someone who was mentally not able to believe, he even did not want to believe. The human experience is: dead is dead and that’s it. For him the matter with Jesus of Nazareth had, sadly but true, definitively come to an end. After His resurrection Jesus appears to ten of His disciples, without Thomas. The doors were closed. From one second to the other Jesus suddenly and unexpected stood in their midst. Very excited they run to Thomas: "We have seen the Lord". Thomas, the down-to-earth Jew, does not want to accept this. Sometimes it happens that people see things that do not exist. Hallucinations, etc… He wants to deal with controllable facts. Dead is dead. Only after he was offered the option to physically investigate it himself, he is prepared to believe. Nails were punched through the hands of Jesus, a spear put in His side. Only after he can determine that, he will believe.

Jesus, the risen Lord, has heard the words of Thomas. And eight days later the disciples were together, including Thomas. Again the doors were closed. Suddenly Jesus stands in their midst. He invites Thomas: “Thomas, you wanted to examine? Please, go your way.” And so does Thomas. And the down-to-earth Jew is so down-to-earth, that he does not deny facts and he surrenders to Jesus and comes to the understanding, Who this Jesus is: “My Lord and my God!” he proclaims. Psychiatrists have worried about the character of Thomas. From his mental personality structure he is someone who could not believe and who says that so honestly and openly. A week later he believes and confesses to Jesus: "my Lord and my God". A couple of weeks later he goes everywhere in Israel, while jeopardizing his life, to declare: “Jesus is the Savior and the Lord of this world, because He rose again from the dead. I am a witness of that.” Something like that is psychologically unexplainable. For this reason only one justified answer remains:

Jesus rose from the dead and has physically appeared to Thomas.

Jesus rose from the death and that has enormous consequences!

Agnès Laurey
Pastor