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 Posted: Tue Feb 09, 2016 8:41 am
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 8:03 am
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Posted: Wed Feb 10, 2016 1:38 pm
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Total Moon It's hard for me at times to defend my faith in God and Jesus when I'm up against ignorant, rebellious people who carelessly like to mock and question how I can follow a "fairytale God" who is invisible and we can't hear. I be wondering how to get them to believe and avoid their constant blaspheming. Sometimes, I try to defend, but the non-believer always tries to fight back, with the facts of all the horrible things that's going on the world, or through their own experiences, saying, "Where was God when I needed Him?!" or "Believing in God is like believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny." There are also those who reaally grind your gears to actually do something non-Christian to them. What am I suppose to do with tough non-believers and tempting bullies?
To Defend Your Faith
The best thing you can do is study the bible, read it firsthand, and know it well, pray for wisdom and discernment to understand the text, so whatever they ask you, you'll have a proper response. Naysayers, who may have started out with an insult, tend to flee and/or calm down (and respect you back) when you're able to give them a reasonable answer that demonstrates (1) that you're not crazy (2) that there is love and protection behind our Heavenly Father's every command—and they see that you manage to explain it with gentleness. On top of that, when they actually see you living by it, all of it (thus your lifestyle is not in contradiction to the commands), they will be silenced. They can't call you out on hypocrisy because there is none; you're blameless. No accusation can be lifted. And if they still try to accuse you of evil-doing, then it will be baseless. Your innocence will be evident to whomever has eyes to see the way you think, speak, behave, interact with others & live your life.
1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1 Peter 2:15 (NIV)
15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
1 Timothy 1:8 (NIV)
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
Romans 7:12 (NIV)
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Evil in the World
When people point out "bad things happening in the world": alert them that the evil happens when one of two things are true:
...either
(1) mankind is refusing to live by God's instructions, which in and of themselves, are the proper way to interact with God's creation (thus, what helps us avoid unnecessary pains we cause ourselves by our thoughts, words, and behaviors with the rest of creation—be it the soil, fellow human beings, and whatever else God created). This includes the protective commands that speak of eliminating evil and the government punishing wrong-doers. Otherwise...
(2) God himself is sending evil / disaster.
(A.) as punishment (to punish evil-doing in everyone—believer and unbeliever alike—and get the survivors to repent from their sinful ways [He only left them alive out of His mercy; they're just as evil as the ones who perished in the calamity, be it a natural disaster, attack by enemy nations or attack by wild beasts/infestations of insects]).
Luke 13:2-5 (NIV)
2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 2:18-23 (NIV)
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
or
(B.) to refine the faith of the righteous. YHWH provides opportunities to demonstrate what's in us (are we for YHWH in every area of our life or still against Him in some areas [or all]? Are we really for righteousness or corruption [as defined by God's commands]? In order for someone to be proven, with evidence, that they are faltering, and where, they have to be put through trials; ergo, a world where disaster happens—and however we react to that disaster proves whether we're evil or righteous. Do we resort to sin to save ourselves (and others) or do we continue obeying God, knowing that our Heavenly Father will provide if we choose righteousness, or even if He doesn't provide, we'd rather die than disobey His commands and become evil)? How much of His nature is reflected in us? Are we still carnal and thus in Adam's nature? or do we walk in the Spirit in Christ's nature?). That will be proven by the affliction He sends and how we react to the temptation.
Isaiah 48:10 (NIV)
10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Daniel 11:35 (NIV)
35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Daniel 12:10 (NIV)
10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
So, let people know, that either the evil is caused by man (for doing what violates His commands), or God is the source of the evil / disaster (which serves as punishment / justice against mankind for not obeying OR as refinement of the believer—in many cases He's accomplishing both at the same time: sending the merited response for evil-doing and refining the loyalty of His believers to His instructions and nature/attitudes. Chiseling our nature to reflect His is not painless).
Sometimes, He'll lead you straight into the midst of belligerent people who don't submit to our Creator's instructions—knowing they'll hurt, insult and believe the worst about you (erroneously)—but God knows that by sending you, He'll be able to silence them through you [if/when you heed the Holy Spirit's nudge to speak the truth boldly, without fear of ridicule, and do so with respect] and thus make them realize they are wrong and He is right. It's like we're volunteering to be sent in for crucifixion knowing that, despite the discomfort, some soul in the crowd will have their heart softened to the truth by the display of care and reasonableness you're showing, and so save them from the false worldview they're living in. Their hostile reaction to the peaceable person will be one of the biggest proofs against them (thus why we must stay gentle with the ignorant). With Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus called them sons of the devil and brood of vipers, thus was a little more harsh, because they have the written revelation of God, but they're simply deciding to side with man's tradition instead of what's written, even at times when the tradition nullifies a command our Heavenly Father gave.
Defense Against Santa and Easter Bunny associations
In order to guard our Heavenly Father's (and His Son's) reputation against false allegations that say He's just like the Easter Bunny or Santa, we—as holy (set-apart) people, who have been separated from the world's ways—cannot walk with Santa and the Easter bunny, or any other myth, any more—even if they were/are a part of our culture.
1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)
26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Leviticus 18:3 (NIV)
3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.
Our job is to reflect God and His commands, not the spiritual practices of the nations.
Myths, and the practices in our culture that honor them, are not suppose to be in our lives because that ruins our testimony about YHWH / Jesus: that He demands exclusive worship, that He is unique, that He is true and thus, unlike what the pagans esteem or believe—even if we don't give the myth and cultural practice the spiritual meaning that the pagans are giving it. The appearance of the myth is still there and it has its history.
Plus we ruin our own credibility: for example, the tooth fairy isn't real, no one believes she's real, but they still pass on the tradition of the tooth fairy because, hey, it's culture, the practices of our ancestors; but God says no, you shouldn't be supporting that myth, or telling your kids she exists, or engaging in the ritual that celebrates the superstition (putting the tooth under the pillow to receive money); it is a lie. You become a false witness about what actually happens in reality. Thus, you ruin your own credibility when you try to witness to people about God later on, in other areas of your life. You're a known liar / deceiver by that point.
And aside from being the lie that they are, myths are, in and of themselves, idolatrous: they paint this image of someone, an idol, whose very nature does not live up to His righteous standards perfectly. The idol doesn't think, speak, or do like our Heavenly Father. The mythological character is immoral / evil in some area; what they symbolize is something against the commands of God or something that contradicts how our Heavenly Father created the world to function (e.g. the myth that there's an easter bunny laying eggs that hatch out chicks; reality, rabbits give birth to live bunnies, and a kind brings forth after its own kind; we may not believe the myth/superstition behind the easter bunny, but by adopting their costume, we silently approve of the myth to anyone who looks at our decoration; or the myth that on the same time every year, the spirits more easily cross over to this realm of the living; reality, the dead cannot come out of the realm of the dead out of their own volition; either you're summoned up by God, or you're being resurrected, it's not an annual, fixed time of the year that you can come out; but by putting on their costume, we silently agree with anyone who holds to that myth, and even if we say we don't, they won't believe us because we have their paganism on [it's not from the bible; it came from culture]).
So, we shouldn't be idolizing the myth, nor incorporating / keeping the tradition that honors the myth, nor pass them on to our kids as something to be desired. It's a lie. And an idol. Even if you're not directly and outright telling a kid: look up to this myth as the truth and epitome of morality, that is in essence what we do when we express approval of the character/myth/idol by our participation in the tradition that honors them; by our example we give off the appearance that we are idolators to someone who is undiscerning. And that ruins our testimony that our Heavenly Father and Jesus is not an idol or, as many believe, a sun god, the way the pagans worship a sun god and idols. So we need to rid ourselves of all myths and idols from our lives, and any tradition that indirectly honors them.
We, as His people, need to reflect His biblical truth. When we don't, He afflicts us (and the world) with disaster for not adhering to the truth but cherishing idolatrous lies.
Leviticus 18:28 (NIV)
28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
Leviticus 20:23 (NIV)
23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
Jeremiah 25:31 (NIV)
31 The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord will bring charges against the nations;
he will bring judgment on all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword,’”
declares the Lord.
When God hates something, it doesn't matter if a believer or a gentile is doing it. He will punish the individual. He punished all the nations, including Israel for it.
In summary:
✞ To defend the faith: study the bible, read it, know it well, so that you're able to provide an answer to any and all questions/curiosities that you cross paths with (even if they asked or just insulted with the intention to trap you and ridicule you or Him); many people just need to see the practicality, wisdom, and care behind each and every command; answer with respect and gentleness. And pray: for the boldness to speak the truth, for patience and gentleness, and to be led into the full, accurate, and truthful understanding.
✞ To explain evil: let people know that the reason evil exists is either because it's the natural result of not living by God's loving instructions, which tell us how to properly interact with His creation, or God is sending disaster to either punish evil-doing or refine us (or both).
✞ To avoid Santa / Easter Bunny/ myth allegations: rid myths / idols—and the practices and traditions that honor them—from your life, your household and family so that you don't ruin your own credibility when you do try to speak of the truth. It gives people a visible representation of someone who abhors myths/lies/the ways of the nations but wholeheartedly believes in the Most High God and His commands. Plus, you're in harmony with what the commands demand of you: to have no other gods besides Him, only reflect allegiance to your Creator, not the idols of the world, not the myths of the world, and that He is unlike what the nations worship.
Other threads that will be of help to you:
[Holiness: what is it?]
[Details in the New Testament that Get Ignored] |
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Posted: Sat Mar 31, 2018 7:32 pm
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cristobela Total Moon It's hard for me at times to defend my faith in God and Jesus when I'm up against ignorant, rebellious people who carelessly like to mock and question how I can follow a "fairytale God" who is invisible and we can't hear. I be wondering how to get them to believe and avoid their constant blaspheming. Sometimes, I try to defend, but the non-believer always tries to fight back, with the facts of all the horrible things that's going on the world, or through their own experiences, saying, "Where was God when I needed Him?!" or "Believing in God is like believing in Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny." There are also those who reaally grind your gears to actually do something non-Christian to them. What am I suppose to do with tough non-believers and tempting bullies?
1 Peter 3:15-16 (NIV)
15 But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect, 16 keeping a clear conscience, so that those who speak maliciously against your good behavior in Christ may be ashamed of their slander.
1 Peter 2:15 (NIV)
15 For it is God’s will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish people.
1 Timothy 1:8 (NIV)
8 We know that the law is good if one uses it properly.
Romans 7:12 (NIV)
12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good.
Evil in the WorldWhen people point out "bad things happening in the world": alert them that the evil happens when one of two things are true:
...either
(1) mankind is refusing to live by God's instructions, which in and of themselves, are the proper way to interact with God's creation (thus, what helps us avoid unnecessary pains we cause ourselves by our thoughts, words, and behaviors with the rest of creation—be it the soil, fellow human beings, and whatever else God created). This includes the protective commands that speak of eliminating evil and the government punishing wrong-doers. Otherwise...
(2) God himself is sending evil / disaster.
(A.) as punishment (to punish evil-doing in everyone—believer and unbeliever alike—and get the survivors to repent from their sinful ways [He only left them alive out of His mercy; they're just as evil as the ones who perished in the calamity, be it a natural disaster, attack by enemy nations or attack by wild beasts/infestations of insects]).
Luke 13:2-5 (NIV)
2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Revelation 9:20-21 (NIV)
20 The rest of mankind who were not killed by these plagues still did not repent of the work of their hands; they did not stop worshiping demons, and idols of gold, silver, bronze, stone and wood—idols that cannot see or hear or walk. 21 Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts.
Revelation 2:18-23 (NIV)
18 “To the angel of the church in Thyatira write:
These are the words of the Son of God, whose eyes are like blazing fire and whose feet are like burnished bronze. 19 I know your deeds, your love and faith, your service and perseverance, and that you are now doing more than you did at first.
20 Nevertheless, I have this against you: You tolerate that woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophet. By her teaching she misleads my servants into sexual immorality and the eating of food sacrificed to idols. 21 I have given her time to repent of her immorality, but she is unwilling. 22 So I will cast her on a bed of suffering, and I will make those who commit adultery with her suffer intensely, unless they repent of her ways. 23 I will strike her children dead. Then all the churches will know that I am he who searches hearts and minds, and I will repay each of you according to your deeds.
or
(B.) to refine the faith of the righteous. YHWH provides opportunities to demonstrate what's in us (are we for YHWH in every area of our life or still against Him in some areas [or all]? Are we really for righteousness or corruption [as defined by God's commands]? In order for someone to be proven, with evidence, that they are faltering, and where, they have to be put through trials; ergo, a world where disaster happens—and however we react to that disaster proves whether we're evil or righteous. Do we resort to sin to save ourselves (and others) or do we continue obeying God, knowing that our Heavenly Father will provide if we choose righteousness, or even if He doesn't provide, we'd rather die than disobey His commands and become evil)? How much of His nature is reflected in us? Are we still carnal and thus in Adam's nature? or do we walk in the Spirit in Christ's nature?). That will be proven by the affliction He sends and how we react to the temptation.
Isaiah 48:10 (NIV)
10 See, I have refined you, though not as silver;
I have tested you in the furnace of affliction.
Daniel 11:35 (NIV)
35 Some of the wise will stumble, so that they may be refined, purified and made spotless until the time of the end, for it will still come at the appointed time.
Daniel 12:10 (NIV)
10 Many will be purified, made spotless and refined, but the wicked will continue to be wicked. None of the wicked will understand, but those who are wise will understand.
So, let people know, that either the evil is caused by man (for doing what violates His commands), or God is the source of the evil / disaster (which serves as punishment / justice against mankind for not obeying OR as refinement of the believer—in many cases He's accomplishing both at the same time: sending the merited response for evil-doing and refining the loyalty of His believers to His instructions and nature/attitudes. Chiseling our nature to reflect His is not painless).
Sometimes, He'll lead you straight into the midst of belligerent people who don't submit to our Creator's instructions—knowing they'll hurt, insult and believe the worst about you (erroneously)—but God knows that by sending you, He'll be able to silence them through you [if/when you heed the Holy Spirit's nudge to speak the truth boldly, without fear of ridicule, and do so with respect] and thus make them realize they are wrong and He is right. It's like we're volunteering to be sent in for crucifixion knowing that, despite the discomfort, some soul in the crowd will have their heart softened to the truth by the display of care and reasonableness you're showing, and so save them from the false worldview they're living in. Their hostile reaction to the peaceable person will be one of the biggest proofs against them (thus why we must stay gentle with the ignorant). With Pharisees and Sadducees, Jesus called them sons of the devil and brood of vipers, thus was a little more harsh, because they have the written revelation of God, but they're simply deciding to side with man's tradition instead of what's written, even at times when the tradition nullifies a command our Heavenly Father gave. Defense Against Santa and Easter Bunny associationsIn order to guard our Heavenly Father's (and His Son's) reputation against false allegations that say He's just like the Easter Bunny or Santa, we—as holy (set-apart) people, who have been separated from the world's ways—cannot walk with Santa and the Easter bunny, or any other myth, any more—even if they were/are a part of our culture.
1 Timothy 4:7 (NIV)
7 Have nothing to do with godless myths and old wives’ tales; rather, train yourself to be godly.
Leviticus 20:26 (NIV)
26 You are to be holy to me because I, the Lord, am holy, and I have set you apart from the nations to be my own.
Leviticus 18:3 (NIV)
3 You must not do as they do in Egypt, where you used to live, and you must not do as they do in the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you. Do not follow their practices.
Our job is to reflect God and His commands, not the spiritual practices of the nations.
Myths, and the practices in our culture that honor them, are not suppose to be in our lives because that ruins our testimony about YHWH / Jesus: that He demands exclusive worship, that He is unique, that He is true and thus, unlike what the pagans esteem or believe—even if we don't give the myth and cultural practice the spiritual meaning that the pagans are giving it. The appearance of the myth is still there and it has its history.
Plus we ruin our own credibility: for example, the tooth fairy isn't real, no one believes she's real, but they still pass on the tradition of the tooth fairy because, hey, it's culture, the practices of our ancestors; but God says no, you shouldn't be supporting that myth, or telling your kids she exists, or engaging in the ritual that celebrates the superstition (putting the tooth under the pillow to receive money); it is a lie. You become a false witness about what actually happens in reality. Thus, you ruin your own credibility when you try to witness to people about God later on, in other areas of your life. You're a known liar / deceiver by that point.
And aside from being the lie that they are, myths are, in and of themselves, idolatrous: they paint this image of someone, an idol, whose very nature does not live up to His righteous standards perfectly. The idol doesn't think, speak, or do like our Heavenly Father. The mythological character is immoral / evil in some area; what they symbolize is something against the commands of God or something that contradicts how our Heavenly Father created the world to function (e.g. the myth that there's an easter bunny laying eggs that hatch out chicks; reality, rabbits give birth to live bunnies, and a kind brings forth after its own kind; we may not believe the myth/superstition behind the easter bunny, but by adopting their costume, we silently approve of the myth to anyone who looks at our decoration; or the myth that on the same time every year, the spirits more easily cross over to this realm of the living; reality, the dead cannot come out of the realm of the dead out of their own volition; either you're summoned up by God, or you're being resurrected, it's not an annual, fixed time of the year that you can come out; but by putting on their costume, we silently agree with anyone who holds to that myth, and even if we say we don't, they won't believe us because we have their paganism on [it's not from the bible; it came from culture]).
So, we shouldn't be idolizing the myth, nor incorporating / keeping the tradition that honors the myth, nor pass them on to our kids as something to be desired. It's a lie. And an idol. Even if you're not directly and outright telling a kid: look up to this myth as the truth and epitome of morality, that is in essence what we do when we express approval of the character/myth/idol by our participation in the tradition that honors them; by our example we give off the appearance that we are idolators to someone who is undiscerning. And that ruins our testimony that our Heavenly Father and Jesus is not an idol or, as many believe, a sun god, the way the pagans worship a sun god and idols. So we need to rid ourselves of all myths and idols from our lives, and any tradition that indirectly honors them.
We, as His people, need to reflect His biblical truth. When we don't, He afflicts us (and the world) with disaster for not adhering to the truth but cherishing idolatrous lies.
Leviticus 18:28 (NIV)
28 And if you defile the land, it will vomit you out as it vomited out the nations that were before you.
Leviticus 20:23 (NIV)
23 You must not live according to the customs of the nations I am going to drive out before you. Because they did all these things, I abhorred them.
Jeremiah 25:31 (NIV)
31 The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth,
for the Lord will bring charges against the nations;
he will bring judgment on all mankind
and put the wicked to the sword,’”
declares the Lord.
When God hates something, it doesn't matter if a believer or a gentile is doing it. He will punish the individual. He punished all the nations, including Israel for it.
In summary:
✞ To defend the faith: study the bible, read it, know it well, so that you're able to provide an answer to any and all questions/curiosities that you cross paths with (even if they asked or just insulted with the intention to trap you and ridicule you or Him); many people just need to see the practicality, wisdom, and care behind each and every command; answer with respect and gentleness. And pray: for the boldness to speak the truth, for patience and gentleness, and to be led into the full, accurate, and truthful understanding.
✞ To explain evil: let people know that the reason evil exists is either because it's the natural result of not living by God's loving instructions, which tell us how to properly interact with His creation, or God is sending disaster to either punish evil-doing or refine us (or both).
✞ To avoid Santa / Easter Bunny/ myth allegations: rid myths / idols—and the practices and traditions that honor them—from your life, your household and family so that you don't ruin your own credibility when you do try to speak of the truth. It gives people a visible representation of someone who abhors myths/lies/the ways of the nations but wholeheartedly believes in the Most High God and His commands. Plus, you're in harmony with what the commands demand of you: to have no other gods besides Him, only reflect allegiance to your Creator, not the idols of the world, not the myths of the world, and that He is unlike what the nations worship.
Other threads that will be of help to you:
[Holiness: what is it?]
[Details in the New Testament that Get Ignored]
I didn't need the long forever story about myths on Santa and the Easter Bunny! I pointed out that line in terms of how non-believers picture God as just a fairy tale character! Seriously, you don't need to be writing me these long notes! I hope you can take simple cues of what people write in this guild. |
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