A:
Jesus
Christ was a man, so therefore many
people first think of God
as being male. The truth is God carries many of the characteristics that
both males and females have. Man's characteristics are seen as being
strong and courageous. A female's characteristics are seen as loving and
having tenderness. God carries all of those qualities. In the Bible, the
Gospel of Matthew 23:37 states that God is like "a hen gathering her
young." The big point to be made is God is neither male nor female.
Travis
Q: What does the Bible say about Homosexuality
A: When you go into what the Bible states about Homosexuality, there are a few
verses that speak about it and I will give you those and do my best at a brief
description of them and how they relate to Homosexuality.
I Corinthians 6:9-11(NKJV) "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be decieved. Neither fornicators,
not idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you
were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
In this I get from saying that these things cause people to become unrighteous
in the eyes of God and hence make them unable to inherit the kingdom of God.
In the latter part of these verses it talks about how the people in which Paul,
the apostle, is talking to were guilty of all these things but that they were
washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. This shows
that even though they had been in these things they were still able to be
cleansed and enter into the kingdom of God. I would also like to share another
verse which deals with the attainment of righteousness itself.
Although I have said this, the only reason I have said this was to answer your
question, I would rather talk to you about what Christianity is all about. The
fact that you do things that are considered sins does not make you different
from Christians, because I have never met a Christian who didn't sin and I
continue to struggle in my life with sins. Now while I sin and many Christians
sin, don't think I am proud of that because I am just being honest, but I am not going
to worry about it because God doesn't want us to dwell on the past because we
can't change it, instead I try to learn from things and try not to continue in
things. Since we all have sinned, what makes someone righteous?
I found another verse that pertains to this. In Galatians 3:6(NIV):
"Consider Abraham: He believed God and it was credited to him as
righteousness'"
What this is essentially saying is that what you need to achieve righteousness
is just to believe God and as you will find in other verses in the Bible, to
believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You find this in John 20:30-31
(NIV):
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples,
which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing
you may have life in his name."
The word Christ there means Messiah which is also savior, because he came and
died in order to save us from our sins. The point I am trying to show is
that God loves us no matter what. And the point of Christianity is not to focus
on the things we may or may not be doing wrong but instead on trying to get
closer to God, and believe me its a good thing, because my life has been so
much better since I turned to him.
Charles
Q: Why do good things happen to bad people?
A: In order to answer this question you must know what the meanings of the word
"bad" and "good" are. Now we all know how we use it each time but what we also
know is that we use it differently nearly every time we use it. This being
given you must take into account that just because you see things you consider
"good" happening to a person, that person may not consider those things to be
"good." Consider a person winning the lottery, most people I think would
consider this to be a "good" thing, because having never been in this situation
we can only think of all the good that could and should come of it. But a
person who wins the lottery is somewhat like an athlete in that when you become
rich all of a sudden your family may seem to have doubled and everyone wants to
help you spend the money. This is a small inconvenience you might say to
winning millions of dollars, but again there are many other things that come
with it such as how to spend the money, or even how to save
the money, and so there is a lot of stress and problems that arrise from
winning the lottery. Now I don't expect saying that to anyone is going to
convince them that they don't want to win the lottery but after having won it
they might not consider it as much of a good thing as they did in the
beginning.
One thing people tend to do when looking at other people's fortune is to tune
out the "bad." An example of this is when a poor person has a rich friend.
The poor person who has not had much money in their life is going to envy the
rich child because he has many things he doesn't have, for instance a nice car
and spending money or something of that sort. Where the Rich person may envy
the poor person because all the rich person's parents do for him is buy him
stuff instead of spending time with him, whereas the poor parents cant spend
money and instead spend more time with him. Now we as humans tend to take for
granted certain things which we have in abundance, such as the rich person
spends his money on whatever he wants at the moment, the poor person tends to
take for granted all the time his parents spend with him by mistreating them
and not worrying about it because he knows they will forgive him. Now if you
were to put yourself in either of these two peoples shoes
you could find reason to call the other "bad" and say that "good" things happen
to them when in fact they are just "good" things in your eyes, money for the
poor person, family for the rich.
Now if you were to take a murderer which almost everyone will agree is a "bad"
person. You may say it is a "good" thing for him if he got away with it. Well
in some ways yes but in others no. Now Prison is not a "good" place by no
stretch of the imagination, but for someone like O. J. Simpson it might not
have been a "good" thing for him to have gotten off. I will say that it is
probably "good" in comparison but its not "good", he has completely had his
life ripped away from him, everything he holds dear has been taken, his Heisman
Trophy (best college football player award, very prestigious) had to be
auctioned, he is constantly made fun of and ridiculed, and everyone knows he
did it so they don't treat him very nicely. He is poor now (civil trials that
he lost took most of his money which is why he had to sell his trophy), but not
just as far as money is concerned, no one likes him as I have stated before and
he has to go on living with the fact that he killed two innocent people.
Also in Prison a guy like O.J., who was loved by many, might
have lived quite well in prison and been protected, I am still not going to say
he would have had a "good" time there but maybe it may have been "good" in
comparison to how he is treated on the outside.
In the end the important thing to remember is that God is Just, he is going to
make sure everyone gets what they deserve. It may not look like it now but it
did not look like there were any problems with the Enron Corporation, from the
public eye, a year or so before that whole incident, but they were found out
for what they were and were accordingly punished.
Charles
Q: What does Jesus look like?
A: There is not a specific area in the Bible that gives a good description of what
Jesus looked like. We know that there was nothing unusual about the way he
looked because people pondered at the time how such an ordinary looking man
could be the Son of God. Another fact we do know is that Jesus was a carpenter
which involved some hard physical labor. With this we can say that he was a
physically fit individual. The following quote is from the Bible in Isaiah
53:2-5:
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance
that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and
afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His
wounds we are healed."
The sources I've used for answering this question are the Bible and this
website: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/looklike.htm. I recommend you to look at
this site; it is very helpful in looking at this question.
Travis
Q: Was Jesus nailed to the cross through his palms or his wrist?
A: Jesus was nailed to the cross through his wrists. For any person to be
crucified, the only way that they would be able to hang on the cross is for the
Romans to drive a stake throught their wrists. If they nailed Jesus through his
palms, His skin would have torn and He would have fallen off the cross. One
source says that most paintings of Jesus being nailed to the cross show the
nail through His palms. Painters do this because it is more "appealing to the eye."
Some of this answer comes from this source:
http://www.raptureready.com/faq/faq382.html
Travis
Q: At what point during the Mass does transubstantiation occur?
A: Apparently this is a pretty big debate among Catholic theologians. The following
comes from Jamie Stultz, an apologetic, "Some say it happens during the
preparation, some say its during the prayer of blessing over the elements, some
say it happens when the person partakes, and some say the bread and the wine
(or juice)becoming Christ's body and blood is simply figurative and symbolic.
Scripture is pretty quiet on the details of the subject, except to say that
partaking in communion should be a part of our regular spiritual discipline."
Q: Friedrich Neitche believed that Christianity turns
Christians into slaves. What do you think?
A: I don't agree with Neitche because God created all of us not to be slaves but
to be free, free from sin. The world we live in today is full of sin. Every
where we turn people are falling into the ways of the world. In a sense,
they're becoming slaves to this world. If you turn on the television, connect
to the internet, and even just look at the things that surround you, you'll notice the
sins that engulf this world: greed and lust are just a couple of sins that come to mind.
Being saved through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, frees us from
all sins of the world. After we have salvation, we don't have to be kept in bondage,
and God will forgive us of our past sins. God doesn't want us to follow the
sinful nature of the world, but to follow His ways. In doing this, we are
forgiven and we can live a rewarded life here on earth, and Jesus will prepare
a place for us in Heaven for when we leave this world (John 14:1-4).
One other point to make is that when someone asks for forgiveness and asks to be
saved, that doesn't mean that that person will become completely free of sin.
Sinful desires come across all men whether you are saved or not, but being
saved lets you grab the tools of God to protect you. It allows you to put on
the full armor of God and sheild Satan from tempting you into sin (Ephesians 6:10-11).
Some may argue that Christians are still slaves to God. Well, if that's the
case, I'd rather be a slave to God then to this world.
Travis
Q: How can God be ok with different versions of the Bible? Which one is the right one?
A: First of all a little history of the Bible. It was originally written in Hebrew,
Aramaic, and Greek, and the Bibles we have today are translations. Although
they may differ in the wording used, most translations are not different in
substance or meaning. The different versions of the Bible, such as the New
International Version, make it easier to read and understand.
The following comes from The foundation for knowing God:
Although they may differ in the wording used, most translations are not
different in substance or meaning. The differences result from 1) the age of
the original manuscripts the translators used (the older the manuscript, the
more accurate) and 2) whether the translators are translating word for word,
thought for thought, or freely (as in paraphrased).
"All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching and for showing people
what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching
how to live right." 2 Timothy 3:16
Even with different translations, the meaning is still concrete.
Q: Is the Prince of Persia another name for Satan?
A: As with any apocalyptic or prophetic passages, its sometimes difficult to
pin down the actual, concrete interpretation, until after the event takes
place, of course. And this passage is no different. The Prince of Persia
could very well refer to Satan, but some biblical commentators believe that
it is a lower demonic "officer" or even a demonic stronghold conprised of
numerous demons. The idea that multitudes of demons are actively at work in
the world is a chilling concept but is very likely given their treatment in
scripture. So the Prince of Persia does likely refer to a demonic spiritual
being or beings, but without being identified explicitly, it might be
difficult to link him directly with Satan.
But the presence of Michael the archangel actually stands in favor of the
view that the Prince of Persia is Satan. In Revelation, Michael is
described as leading the forces of heaven against Satan and seems to be
Satan's equal on the "good angel" side. Its good to remember that even
though Satan tempted Jesus when he was on earth, Satan is no match for
Jesus, and it wouldn't even be a close fight.
Jamie Stultz
Q: About Baptism...
A: Baptism is a form of outwardly expressing your inward feelings about God. I was
baptised as a child as well in like 7th or 8th grade or something like that. All that baptism is
saying is that you believe in Jesus and want to follow him for the rest of your
life. It is very symbolic of Jesus' death on the cross and his being raised
again. As you enter the water, it is symbolic of Jesus' death on the cross and
your dying to yourself, as you come back out of the water it is symbolic of
Jesus resurrection and your birth into Christ.
I do not believe and the Bible does not say that you need to be physically
baptised into Jesus. If you did this as a child before you understood what it
meant, then it was more for your parents then you, that would essentially be
their pledge to try and raise you for Christ. Now again I say that I do not
believe that you need to be physically baptised and cannot find anywhere in the
Bible where it says this, but I would reccomend it even though it is not a
requirement just as a way of saying to God I promise to follow you. There is no church that is
right in saying you HAVE to be Baptised at their church or otherwise it doesn't
count or that you have to be Baptised or you aren't going to Heaven. The
Bible does not teach that. The Bible says in Acts 16:30-31:
30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household."(NKJV)
There are no if ands or buts, so if you believe these things then you are saved
and are going to Heaven.
Charles
Q: I've heard that the Bible doesn't have a complete account of all of Jesus'
life, only some of the more significant events. Is this true, and if so, do
any documents exist that describe the missing years?
Its very true that the Bible doesn't give a complete account of Jesus' life. In
fact, in a few places in his book, John writes:
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which
are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in
his name." (John 20:30-31)
"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I
suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would
be written." (John 21:25)
So even John realized that he was giving a truncated account. However, its key
to see that in 20:31, John tells his purpose for writing what he did. Jesus
did lots of other stuff that was not recorded, but John chose only to write the
important stuff.
Its entirely possible that other books exist that record the missing years or
that contain suppliments to what's written in the four gospels. But its HIGHLY
unlikely that this is the case and if any documents appear with this claim
about them, I would be highly skeptical. This is for the simple reason that
even with the proponderance of evidence and multiple manuscripts for the four
gospels, many people still question their authenticity (though not necessarily
with good arguments). So if additional writings about Christ were discovered
in a cave somewhere in Israel, there had better be lots of manuscripts of the
writings, and they had better date to the first or second century AD. Even
then, the questions regarding why they have been hidden for so long would make
it very difficult to accept them as canonical.
Some books do claim to possess additional info on Jesus (Gospel of Thomas,
Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter), but none of them pass muster
regarding reliabilitty. They were all likely written by people who were
associated with pseudo-Christian sects in the late 2nd century or later.
But I guess the possibility does exist, however slim.
Jamie Stultz
as being male. The truth is God carries many of the characteristics that
both males and females have. Man's characteristics are seen as being
strong and courageous. A female's characteristics are seen as loving and
having tenderness. God carries all of those qualities. In the Bible, the
Gospel of Matthew 23:37 states that God is like "a hen gathering her
young." The big point to be made is God is neither male nor female.
Travis
Q: What does the Bible say about Homosexuality
A: When you go into what the Bible states about Homosexuality, there are a few
verses that speak about it and I will give you those and do my best at a brief
description of them and how they relate to Homosexuality.
I Corinthians 6:9-11(NKJV) "Do you not know that the unrighteous will not
inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be decieved. Neither fornicators,
not idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor
thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners
will inherit the kingdom of God. And such were some of you. But you
were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name
of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God."
In this I get from saying that these things cause people to become unrighteous
in the eyes of God and hence make them unable to inherit the kingdom of God.
In the latter part of these verses it talks about how the people in which Paul,
the apostle, is talking to were guilty of all these things but that they were
washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus. This shows
that even though they had been in these things they were still able to be
cleansed and enter into the kingdom of God. I would also like to share another
verse which deals with the attainment of righteousness itself.
Although I have said this, the only reason I have said this was to answer your
question, I would rather talk to you about what Christianity is all about. The
fact that you do things that are considered sins does not make you different
from Christians, because I have never met a Christian who didn't sin and I
continue to struggle in my life with sins. Now while I sin and many Christians
sin, don't think I am proud of that because I am just being honest, but I am not going
to worry about it because God doesn't want us to dwell on the past because we
can't change it, instead I try to learn from things and try not to continue in
things. Since we all have sinned, what makes someone righteous?
I found another verse that pertains to this. In Galatians 3:6(NIV):
"Consider Abraham: He believed God and it was credited to him as
righteousness'"
What this is essentially saying is that what you need to achieve righteousness
is just to believe God and as you will find in other verses in the Bible, to
believe in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. You find this in John 20:30-31
(NIV):
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples,
which are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may
believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing
you may have life in his name."
The word Christ there means Messiah which is also savior, because he came and
died in order to save us from our sins. The point I am trying to show is
that God loves us no matter what. And the point of Christianity is not to focus
on the things we may or may not be doing wrong but instead on trying to get
closer to God, and believe me its a good thing, because my life has been so
much better since I turned to him.
Charles
Q: Why do good things happen to bad people?
A: In order to answer this question you must know what the meanings of the word
"bad" and "good" are. Now we all know how we use it each time but what we also
know is that we use it differently nearly every time we use it. This being
given you must take into account that just because you see things you consider
"good" happening to a person, that person may not consider those things to be
"good." Consider a person winning the lottery, most people I think would
consider this to be a "good" thing, because having never been in this situation
we can only think of all the good that could and should come of it. But a
person who wins the lottery is somewhat like an athlete in that when you become
rich all of a sudden your family may seem to have doubled and everyone wants to
help you spend the money. This is a small inconvenience you might say to
winning millions of dollars, but again there are many other things that come
with it such as how to spend the money, or even how to save
the money, and so there is a lot of stress and problems that arrise from
winning the lottery. Now I don't expect saying that to anyone is going to
convince them that they don't want to win the lottery but after having won it
they might not consider it as much of a good thing as they did in the
beginning.
One thing people tend to do when looking at other people's fortune is to tune
out the "bad." An example of this is when a poor person has a rich friend.
The poor person who has not had much money in their life is going to envy the
rich child because he has many things he doesn't have, for instance a nice car
and spending money or something of that sort. Where the Rich person may envy
the poor person because all the rich person's parents do for him is buy him
stuff instead of spending time with him, whereas the poor parents cant spend
money and instead spend more time with him. Now we as humans tend to take for
granted certain things which we have in abundance, such as the rich person
spends his money on whatever he wants at the moment, the poor person tends to
take for granted all the time his parents spend with him by mistreating them
and not worrying about it because he knows they will forgive him. Now if you
were to put yourself in either of these two peoples shoes
you could find reason to call the other "bad" and say that "good" things happen
to them when in fact they are just "good" things in your eyes, money for the
poor person, family for the rich.
Now if you were to take a murderer which almost everyone will agree is a "bad"
person. You may say it is a "good" thing for him if he got away with it. Well
in some ways yes but in others no. Now Prison is not a "good" place by no
stretch of the imagination, but for someone like O. J. Simpson it might not
have been a "good" thing for him to have gotten off. I will say that it is
probably "good" in comparison but its not "good", he has completely had his
life ripped away from him, everything he holds dear has been taken, his Heisman
Trophy (best college football player award, very prestigious) had to be
auctioned, he is constantly made fun of and ridiculed, and everyone knows he
did it so they don't treat him very nicely. He is poor now (civil trials that
he lost took most of his money which is why he had to sell his trophy), but not
just as far as money is concerned, no one likes him as I have stated before and
he has to go on living with the fact that he killed two innocent people.
Also in Prison a guy like O.J., who was loved by many, might
have lived quite well in prison and been protected, I am still not going to say
he would have had a "good" time there but maybe it may have been "good" in
comparison to how he is treated on the outside.
In the end the important thing to remember is that God is Just, he is going to
make sure everyone gets what they deserve. It may not look like it now but it
did not look like there were any problems with the Enron Corporation, from the
public eye, a year or so before that whole incident, but they were found out
for what they were and were accordingly punished.
Charles
Q: What does Jesus look like?
A: There is not a specific area in the Bible that gives a good description of what
Jesus looked like. We know that there was nothing unusual about the way he
looked because people pondered at the time how such an ordinary looking man
could be the Son of God. Another fact we do know is that Jesus was a carpenter
which involved some hard physical labor. With this we can say that he was a
physically fit individual. The following quote is from the Bible in Isaiah
53:2-5:
"He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance
that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of
sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces
He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took up our infirmities and
carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and
afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our
iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His
wounds we are healed."
The sources I've used for answering this question are the Bible and this
website: http://www.keyway.ca/htm2002/looklike.htm. I recommend you to look at
this site; it is very helpful in looking at this question.
Travis
Q: Was Jesus nailed to the cross through his palms or his wrist?
A: Jesus was nailed to the cross through his wrists. For any person to be
crucified, the only way that they would be able to hang on the cross is for the
Romans to drive a stake throught their wrists. If they nailed Jesus through his
palms, His skin would have torn and He would have fallen off the cross. One
source says that most paintings of Jesus being nailed to the cross show the
nail through His palms. Painters do this because it is more "appealing to the eye."
Some of this answer comes from this source:
http://www.raptureready.com/faq/faq382.html
Travis
Q: At what point during the Mass does transubstantiation occur?
A: Apparently this is a pretty big debate among Catholic theologians. The following
comes from Jamie Stultz, an apologetic, "Some say it happens during the
preparation, some say its during the prayer of blessing over the elements, some
say it happens when the person partakes, and some say the bread and the wine
(or juice)becoming Christ's body and blood is simply figurative and symbolic.
Scripture is pretty quiet on the details of the subject, except to say that
partaking in communion should be a part of our regular spiritual discipline."
Q: Friedrich Neitche believed that Christianity turns
Christians into slaves. What do you think?
A: I don't agree with Neitche because God created all of us not to be slaves but
to be free, free from sin. The world we live in today is full of sin. Every
where we turn people are falling into the ways of the world. In a sense,
they're becoming slaves to this world. If you turn on the television, connect
to the internet, and even just look at the things that surround you, you'll notice the
sins that engulf this world: greed and lust are just a couple of sins that come to mind.
Being saved through the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, frees us from
all sins of the world. After we have salvation, we don't have to be kept in bondage,
and God will forgive us of our past sins. God doesn't want us to follow the
sinful nature of the world, but to follow His ways. In doing this, we are
forgiven and we can live a rewarded life here on earth, and Jesus will prepare
a place for us in Heaven for when we leave this world (John 14:1-4).
One other point to make is that when someone asks for forgiveness and asks to be
saved, that doesn't mean that that person will become completely free of sin.
Sinful desires come across all men whether you are saved or not, but being
saved lets you grab the tools of God to protect you. It allows you to put on
the full armor of God and sheild Satan from tempting you into sin (Ephesians 6:10-11).
Some may argue that Christians are still slaves to God. Well, if that's the
case, I'd rather be a slave to God then to this world.
Travis
Q: How can God be ok with different versions of the Bible? Which one is the right one?
A: First of all a little history of the Bible. It was originally written in Hebrew,
Aramaic, and Greek, and the Bibles we have today are translations. Although
they may differ in the wording used, most translations are not different in
substance or meaning. The different versions of the Bible, such as the New
International Version, make it easier to read and understand.
The following comes from The foundation for knowing God:
Although they may differ in the wording used, most translations are not
different in substance or meaning. The differences result from 1) the age of
the original manuscripts the translators used (the older the manuscript, the
more accurate) and 2) whether the translators are translating word for word,
thought for thought, or freely (as in paraphrased).
"All Scripture is given by God and is useful for teaching and for showing people
what is wrong in their lives. It is useful for correcting faults and teaching
how to live right." 2 Timothy 3:16
Even with different translations, the meaning is still concrete.
Q: Is the Prince of Persia another name for Satan?
A: As with any apocalyptic or prophetic passages, its sometimes difficult to
pin down the actual, concrete interpretation, until after the event takes
place, of course. And this passage is no different. The Prince of Persia
could very well refer to Satan, but some biblical commentators believe that
it is a lower demonic "officer" or even a demonic stronghold conprised of
numerous demons. The idea that multitudes of demons are actively at work in
the world is a chilling concept but is very likely given their treatment in
scripture. So the Prince of Persia does likely refer to a demonic spiritual
being or beings, but without being identified explicitly, it might be
difficult to link him directly with Satan.
But the presence of Michael the archangel actually stands in favor of the
view that the Prince of Persia is Satan. In Revelation, Michael is
described as leading the forces of heaven against Satan and seems to be
Satan's equal on the "good angel" side. Its good to remember that even
though Satan tempted Jesus when he was on earth, Satan is no match for
Jesus, and it wouldn't even be a close fight.
Jamie Stultz
Q: About Baptism...
A: Baptism is a form of outwardly expressing your inward feelings about God. I was
baptised as a child as well in like 7th or 8th grade or something like that. All that baptism is
saying is that you believe in Jesus and want to follow him for the rest of your
life. It is very symbolic of Jesus' death on the cross and his being raised
again. As you enter the water, it is symbolic of Jesus' death on the cross and
your dying to yourself, as you come back out of the water it is symbolic of
Jesus resurrection and your birth into Christ.
I do not believe and the Bible does not say that you need to be physically
baptised into Jesus. If you did this as a child before you understood what it
meant, then it was more for your parents then you, that would essentially be
their pledge to try and raise you for Christ. Now again I say that I do not
believe that you need to be physically baptised and cannot find anywhere in the
Bible where it says this, but I would reccomend it even though it is not a
requirement just as a way of saying to God I promise to follow you. There is no church that is
right in saying you HAVE to be Baptised at their church or otherwise it doesn't
count or that you have to be Baptised or you aren't going to Heaven. The
Bible does not teach that. The Bible says in Acts 16:30-31:
30 And he brought them out and said, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?"
31 So they said, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved,
you and your household."(NKJV)
There are no if ands or buts, so if you believe these things then you are saved
and are going to Heaven.
Charles
Q: I've heard that the Bible doesn't have a complete account of all of Jesus'
life, only some of the more significant events. Is this true, and if so, do
any documents exist that describe the missing years?
Its very true that the Bible doesn't give a complete account of Jesus' life. In
fact, in a few places in his book, John writes:
"Jesus did many other miraculous signs in the presence of his disciples, which
are not recorded in this book. But these are written that you may believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in
his name." (John 20:30-31)
"Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I
suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would
be written." (John 21:25)
So even John realized that he was giving a truncated account. However, its key
to see that in 20:31, John tells his purpose for writing what he did. Jesus
did lots of other stuff that was not recorded, but John chose only to write the
important stuff.
Its entirely possible that other books exist that record the missing years or
that contain suppliments to what's written in the four gospels. But its HIGHLY
unlikely that this is the case and if any documents appear with this claim
about them, I would be highly skeptical. This is for the simple reason that
even with the proponderance of evidence and multiple manuscripts for the four
gospels, many people still question their authenticity (though not necessarily
with good arguments). So if additional writings about Christ were discovered
in a cave somewhere in Israel, there had better be lots of manuscripts of the
writings, and they had better date to the first or second century AD. Even
then, the questions regarding why they have been hidden for so long would make
it very difficult to accept them as canonical.
Some books do claim to possess additional info on Jesus (Gospel of Thomas,
Infancy Gospel of Thomas, Gospel of Peter), but none of them pass muster
regarding reliabilitty. They were all likely written by people who were
associated with pseudo-Christian sects in the late 2nd century or later.
But I guess the possibility does exist, however slim.
Jamie Stultz