Before I was baptized with the Holy Spirit in 1970 , I was reading the story of the plagues in Egypt and the demise of pharaoh [Exodus7 till Exodus 14], I thought that pharaoh was very stupid.
After all, even though he had experienced the miracles and having seen the power of the Lord with the Israelites, he still wanted to pursue them through the Red Sea. Did he never get the Lord's message to let them go ?
Now however, I am reminded how stupid I have been myself, not perceiving a clear message from the Lord about my overeating. This is what happened ;
Clazina my departed wife, who always took excellent care of me, made me daily a good lunch in a brown paper bag, which I took to work every morning. I would eat it around noon, but then walk to the closest fried chicken place to get a 2 piece snack. Of course I did not tell Clazina about this because I knew she would disapprove strongly.
So this went on for quite some time and I grew slowly fatter. One day, the chicken place had a good low priced special on a 4 piece meal and I could not resist [unbiblical according to 1Cor.10:13]
I took the box with chicken to a nearby park and sat down at a bench with a table.
Amazingly, as soon as I placed the box with chicken on the table, a strong small tornado[whirlwind] lifted my box up in the air and it went over the tree tops. ! Then it fell down about 50 meters away on the paved road.
I went to pick up the broken box and cleaned up the spilled out pieces of chicken and still ate them !
Obviously I did not get the Lord's message that I should not be eating so much. This to my shame and own hurt, because I became grossly over weight and now suffer from high blood pressure and diabetes
The Lord has forgiven me because I did repent and in His mercy He still let me become eighty years 0ld. I have learned my lesson, not to be too hasty to think someone else stupid. We might be prone ourselves to make the same mistakes.From the elderly bridge playing people I have learned to say however; " we elderly do not make stupid mistakes any longer. We only have some senior moments "
Yours truly, Johannes G Weiss
Monday, August 25, 2008
Friday, August 22, 2008
Coersion
A different look at coercion:
Thinking about the controversial subject of men's free will, the word coercion came to me. When I learned English, I perceived that the general connotation is very negative.
Looking now in the Webster dictionary, I found that this not necessarily always true. Because Webster states as explanation number 1 ;" to restrain or dominate by nullifying individual will ". However the second and third explanation are mentioning the use of force and threat. No wonder that the English speaking people do not like to be coerced this way and the connotation is as something undesirable and bad.
If we take Webster's first definition of restraining and dominating, could we not use this concept in relation to the acts of God in our lives ? Do we not need to be restrained and dominated by our God ?
As for me, I certainly have the need in my life for God's restraint and domination in my life! And I believe that it is very biblical. Our sovereign God can and does use any method of His choice to bring us to repentance!
Where does this leave us as far as our so called free will? Some time ago I wrote an article and made the statement that may be men's free will is a misnomer. I pointed out that even in our decision making our Lord is involved. The surprising statement of Jesus in John 15:16, that He has chosen us and we did not choose Him, did make me look into the doctrine of our free choice.
I found out from Bible research that God indeed wants us to make choices. Joshua 24:15 is the clearest verse. It says " choose you this day whom you will serve "
Praise His Holy Name ! God also let David chose which of the 3 options to punishment he would prefer.
However John 15;16 and other Bible verses indicate that the Lord is directly involved when we have to make choices. Even to the point, so that we chose what He wants us to chose!
I really wonder how it is possible that we still remain responsible for our own choice. However this is absolutely also a biblical fact ! It seems that Our Lord is unfair, however I know that this is not true because our God is always just and fair. the Bible indicates this and we must accept and believe God's Word.
From Bible stories like the one in 2 Chron.22:23, where it states that the Lord did send a lying spirit, we can deduct that the Lord does coerce. Also other stories like the refusals of Pharaoh in Exodus 9 is telling us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart many times! and Pharaoh was still sinning! There is no doubt however that we remain responsible for our choices.
We must understand that our God is all knowing and may be He coerces people who are already bent on sinning and have an evil heart. Considering all this, we can understand that we only have a limited free will and that the Lord is involved in everything we chose.The Lord is conducting us continuously. We can trust Him that all things work for the good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.
I am glad that our Lord restrains and dominates me. But I pray that I will grow more in the likeness of Jesus so that I will always obey Him out of my love for Him. How about you ? Johannes G Weiss
Thinking about the controversial subject of men's free will, the word coercion came to me. When I learned English, I perceived that the general connotation is very negative.
Looking now in the Webster dictionary, I found that this not necessarily always true. Because Webster states as explanation number 1 ;" to restrain or dominate by nullifying individual will ". However the second and third explanation are mentioning the use of force and threat. No wonder that the English speaking people do not like to be coerced this way and the connotation is as something undesirable and bad.
If we take Webster's first definition of restraining and dominating, could we not use this concept in relation to the acts of God in our lives ? Do we not need to be restrained and dominated by our God ?
As for me, I certainly have the need in my life for God's restraint and domination in my life! And I believe that it is very biblical. Our sovereign God can and does use any method of His choice to bring us to repentance!
Where does this leave us as far as our so called free will? Some time ago I wrote an article and made the statement that may be men's free will is a misnomer. I pointed out that even in our decision making our Lord is involved. The surprising statement of Jesus in John 15:16, that He has chosen us and we did not choose Him, did make me look into the doctrine of our free choice.
I found out from Bible research that God indeed wants us to make choices. Joshua 24:15 is the clearest verse. It says " choose you this day whom you will serve "
Praise His Holy Name ! God also let David chose which of the 3 options to punishment he would prefer.
However John 15;16 and other Bible verses indicate that the Lord is directly involved when we have to make choices. Even to the point, so that we chose what He wants us to chose!
I really wonder how it is possible that we still remain responsible for our own choice. However this is absolutely also a biblical fact ! It seems that Our Lord is unfair, however I know that this is not true because our God is always just and fair. the Bible indicates this and we must accept and believe God's Word.
From Bible stories like the one in 2 Chron.22:23, where it states that the Lord did send a lying spirit, we can deduct that the Lord does coerce. Also other stories like the refusals of Pharaoh in Exodus 9 is telling us that God hardened Pharaoh's heart many times! and Pharaoh was still sinning! There is no doubt however that we remain responsible for our choices.
We must understand that our God is all knowing and may be He coerces people who are already bent on sinning and have an evil heart. Considering all this, we can understand that we only have a limited free will and that the Lord is involved in everything we chose.The Lord is conducting us continuously. We can trust Him that all things work for the good to them that love God and are called according to His purpose.
I am glad that our Lord restrains and dominates me. But I pray that I will grow more in the likeness of Jesus so that I will always obey Him out of my love for Him. How about you ? Johannes G Weiss
Friday, August 01, 2008
Intolerant Christianity?
The word tolerance and the practice of it is very popular today. It is so called very" political correct " And under this concept every thing goes. They even tolerate homosexual pastors in our churches and legalize abortion. ! The word tolerance as such is not in the Bible. However, Romans 2:4 and 3:29 is telling us that our God has "forbearance". The word tolerance is widely used in the mechanical sense, indicating then a clearance between parts and usually moving parts. Like a roller bearing forinstance.If there is no sufficient tolerance in between the rollers, and also too much clearance, either way friction will produce heat which will destroy the bearing.In addition for a right operation Lubricant {oil} is often needed.
We can use these mechanical facts also in our Christian lives as applying to our human relationships with others. The Bible does teach us to forbear one another.[Eph, 4:2]. The lack of Christian forbearance [tolerance] and also too much of it will cause lots of friction. Heat in the form of human anger will destroy many relationships.I believe that love is the required lubricant, taking the place of oil, in order to have good relationships.
While evangelizing, I often run into unbelievers who are accusing Christians of being intolerant. They often ha.ve heard about the claim of Jesus in the Bible, that He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father,but by me."[John14:6]this seem to be a stumbling stone for many unbelievers. Recently, a relative of me said to me, "I believe in Jesus but this Scriptures is wrong, Jesus never could have said this"
He was taught that when you read the Bible, you have to judge what is right and what is wrong. Because the Bible is written by humans and there are wrong things in it . This kind of thinking is very displeasing to Father God because He inspired the writers of His Word and there are no mistakes !
Lately I heard another argument. Quoting Mark 10:5 to prove that sometimes the Bible is wrong. Jesus says that because the hardness of our hearts Moses instituted a letter of divorce, but in the beginning it was not so.So his conclusion was that Deut.24:1 was wrong !
Instead of mistakes in the Bible this scripture to me show the great tolerance of our God ! He is the ultimate example of Mercy and Grace !
The word "longsuffering" is mainly used in the Bible and also the word "forbearance". It shows that these are the character traits of our God.
Psalm 86;15 sums it all up "But thou oh Lord art a God,full of compassion and gracious, Long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth ".
An example of His tolerance we find in 2 Kings 5:19. When the Prophet Elisha allows Naaman to bow down with his king in the temple of Rimmon. He said "go in peace ". I find it also remarkable that Ruth who was a Moabite woman, was uses by God to produce David and Jesus in the family line. ![Ruth 4:22]
There are many more scriptures showing the great forbearance of our heavenly Father. Jesus, on the cross praying, "Father forgive them , for they do not know what they do ". This is an ultimate example of His great mercy and forbearance. How can the world say that our God and our Faith is intolerant ?
God states in 2 Peter 3:9 " the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count it slackness; but is LONGSUFFERING to us-ward.
Nor willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He is postponing His return and His final judgement of this sinful world, in order to give more souls a chance in Gal. 5:22 to repent.
Many times, when I observe the terrible sins being committed by the human race, I think , that I would wipe them all out at once. Of course this shows a lack of forbearance in me. Forbearance is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Thus as Christians, we should have it also. Please pray for me that I may be more like Jesus in kindness and longsuffering.
Are you may be one of them for whom Jesus is waiting to repent? Please do not postpone it, the Lord is coming soon !.
Johannes Weiss
We can use these mechanical facts also in our Christian lives as applying to our human relationships with others. The Bible does teach us to forbear one another.[Eph, 4:2]. The lack of Christian forbearance [tolerance] and also too much of it will cause lots of friction. Heat in the form of human anger will destroy many relationships.I believe that love is the required lubricant, taking the place of oil, in order to have good relationships.
While evangelizing, I often run into unbelievers who are accusing Christians of being intolerant. They often ha.ve heard about the claim of Jesus in the Bible, that He said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh to the Father,but by me."[John14:6]this seem to be a stumbling stone for many unbelievers. Recently, a relative of me said to me, "I believe in Jesus but this Scriptures is wrong, Jesus never could have said this"
He was taught that when you read the Bible, you have to judge what is right and what is wrong. Because the Bible is written by humans and there are wrong things in it . This kind of thinking is very displeasing to Father God because He inspired the writers of His Word and there are no mistakes !
Lately I heard another argument. Quoting Mark 10:5 to prove that sometimes the Bible is wrong. Jesus says that because the hardness of our hearts Moses instituted a letter of divorce, but in the beginning it was not so.So his conclusion was that Deut.24:1 was wrong !
Instead of mistakes in the Bible this scripture to me show the great tolerance of our God ! He is the ultimate example of Mercy and Grace !
The word "longsuffering" is mainly used in the Bible and also the word "forbearance". It shows that these are the character traits of our God.
Psalm 86;15 sums it all up "But thou oh Lord art a God,full of compassion and gracious, Long suffering and plenteous in mercy and truth ".
An example of His tolerance we find in 2 Kings 5:19. When the Prophet Elisha allows Naaman to bow down with his king in the temple of Rimmon. He said "go in peace ". I find it also remarkable that Ruth who was a Moabite woman, was uses by God to produce David and Jesus in the family line. ![Ruth 4:22]
There are many more scriptures showing the great forbearance of our heavenly Father. Jesus, on the cross praying, "Father forgive them , for they do not know what they do ". This is an ultimate example of His great mercy and forbearance. How can the world say that our God and our Faith is intolerant ?
God states in 2 Peter 3:9 " the Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some men count it slackness; but is LONGSUFFERING to us-ward.
Nor willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. He is postponing His return and His final judgement of this sinful world, in order to give more souls a chance in Gal. 5:22 to repent.
Many times, when I observe the terrible sins being committed by the human race, I think , that I would wipe them all out at once. Of course this shows a lack of forbearance in me. Forbearance is a fruit of the Holy Spirit. Thus as Christians, we should have it also. Please pray for me that I may be more like Jesus in kindness and longsuffering.
Are you may be one of them for whom Jesus is waiting to repent? Please do not postpone it, the Lord is coming soon !.
Johannes Weiss
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