Tag: gospel

Apologetics · Church · Theology

God is eternal and unchanging.

Bob Snyder5 Comments

Biblical ignorance is one of the biggest obstacles for the evangelist to overcome. There are many false doctrines and misconceptions being propagated in society today. We have to answer so many false claims while practicing apologetics. Hopefully we can fix one of those problems today with this article.

God is eternal and unchanging. God has always been, and He has always been just as He is. He has never not been, or been in any different state.   He does not change. The nature of being uncaused and eternal is what we call, “the aseity of God.” The nature of not changing is what we call, “the immutability of God.” Both of these qualities are important when understanding God’s eternality and many of His other attributes. For today we are going to focus on His eternality, aseity, and immutability.

How do we answer, “If God is unchanging, didn’t He change when He turned into Jesus?” This demonstrates a woeful ignorance of theology. Children in the Puritan era might have asked this, but certainly not adults. It is true that if God’s nature changed during the incarnation we would have a problem. An eternal Creator that was not immutable could not be counted on to always be just, or good. So the fact that God is immutable is a blessing for us. God did not turn into Jesus at the incarnation. God was always as He is, Triune. He is one being in three persons. At the advent of Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity, the eternal Son, joined Himself to human nature without mixing, or mingling His deity with His humanity. This is what we call the hypostatic union. It means that the incarnate God is 100% God and 100% man, joined together perfectly in accord with the will of God. The incarnation did not change God. This misinformed idea reveals how little we are trained in theology and Biblical truths.

The Mormons say that God was once a man, who was created by a father and mother god through natural means, who themselves were once mere humans, who were created by a father and mother, and on and on perpetually. This is how they understand their god to be eternal. How does our God differ? Our God is explained by His word. We know that He created everything. We know He didn’t just move matter around to form some things on this planet. If He created everything, and is the source of all things, then He would have no pre-existence as a man. He would not have been created by other gods, who were once human. He would be eternal all in and of Himself. I would ask the Mormons, “Who was the first god who made the first man, who later would become a god? Why wouldn’t you worship this first god who supposedly made the first man? Why would you worship a being who is not the creator of everything?” The God of the Bible is truly a transcendent being. He is above, and beyond any imaginings a person would have in conceiving a false god. That is why when you encounter a false religion it is easy to spot problems. Of course this is only true if you are a person who has been saved, and knows the true God. Once you know Him you can spot a fake. How could anyone worship such limited beings as the ones they imagine? It should blow us away when we hear some of these descriptions.

The God of the Bible created everything there is without diminishing Himself. He created it out of nothing. There was nothing there for Him to build things out of versus the god of Mormonism who just reformed matter and was the great great great great great great great great grandson of some other little god.   The winner is, the God of the Bible. This is one of the many reason that Mormons are not Christians. They might claim to be, but if they believe the doctrines of their cult, then they are not Christian. We obviously worship a different God than they do. Their god is a finite creature, created by others.

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Ours is NOT! We need to be happy about this, and correct them when they publicly claim to worship the same God. They cause confusion, and draw support when we don’t explain the differences.   A god who was created is not a god at all. Only a God who is transcends creation, who made everything without diminishing himself, who made everything from nothing makes sense.

What does it mean to be, “eternal?” Have you ever thought about this? Most of us have thought about what it would be like to live forever, but all we can really conceive of is living a very long time. We can’t imagine what it would be like to have no beginning or end. It is something that only God can understand fully.  Another idea about eternality, is that it is unseen.  We are in a temporal creation.  What we can see is limited by our nature.  God is being eternal.  We might ask, “Is it possible for any other being to be eternal outside of God?” The Bible says we will live forever with God if we are saved, but that isn’t being eternal. That is just being resurrected to everlasting life. We had a beginning. God created us, and He keeps us alive.  We were caused to exist, and He is the one who upholds our existence.  Even after we have left our temporal existence behind, and step into eternity, it will be because we have been made to do so by God.

It doesn’t it make sense to have another eternal being outside of God. If there was then God would not be alone and unique in His deity. There would be other Gods with separate wills, and equal power. We know that God says in His word that He is the only one, and that He is not a liar.

What about the gods of other faiths, are they eternal? This is simple, No.  They have never been.  They can’t be. For something to be eternal it would have to have always been, is being, and always will be.

If they are false, because they are not eternal, or actual, then what is going to happen to their worshipers, and why? If they never repent, and put their faith in Christ, then they are under the condemnation of their sin. They will die, and be found guilty of their sins. They will be in Hell suffering the torment of God’s wrath being poured out on them, not because they believed different, or because they didn’t grow up here, but because they are guilty sinners just like us.

How can they be saved? We must preach the gospel of Christ to them. They must repent of their sins, and trust in the work of Christ on the cross solely.  When they find out that they are sinners, their hearts must be convicted of this. They must be humbled, and become penitent. Then they must confess their sinfulness to God, and ask Him to forgive them. They must submit to God as their new master. They need to accept that they cannot earn favor with God. They need to rely, and fully trust in the finished, perfect,  atoning, work of Christ on the cross.

Church · marriage · Theology

Marriage, as a Typological Representation of Christ and the Church.

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

I-DO-Marriage-Series

In today’s culture, many people are embracing the doctrine of egalitarianism, as it is applied in theology. They go so far as to ignore what scripture says. For them, it is more important to conform scripture to the corrupted and sinful judgments of humans, then to be sanctified in obedience, and humility to the standard of scripture.

Egalitarianism, as it is applied to human equality is noble. In so much as it is not improperly applied. It is true that God is no respecter of persons. In His perfect and holy sight we are all justly damnable. Every man, woman, child, from every race, religion, and creed, are all sinners. In Christ we love and treat all with humility. We should consider ourselves as the worst sinners, while considering others better than ourselves. So does this notion of considering others as better than ourselves fit with egalitarianism? A noble idea is not noble at all when seen in the light of true humility and mercy. Christ left majesty and dwelt among His creations in the flesh. He washed the lowly, sinner’s feet, bore our scorn, made propitiation for the expiation of our sins, by enduring the wrath of God until He declared, “It is finished.” Philippians 2:6-11(NASB)

who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men. Being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also, God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE WILL BOW, of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

In the true faith we are all equally adopted and justified by Christ, but we mustn’t err by taking egalitarianism so far as it offends the word of God. “How far is that?” you may ask. Scripture, I believe is very clear. It is so clear, in fact that I am not going to list every single verse that refutes it. A plain reading of the scriptures, from beginning to end is an overwhelming avalanche of proof, that God has ordained the complimentary roles of male and female.

Marriage, as a typological representation of Christ and the Church is diminished by egalitarianism. The deeper theologies are robbed of their import by such societal concessions. If we understand that man, through sin, is separated from God and that through Christ he is rejoined, it is a marvelous thing. We see this typological example in marriage. Woman was separated from man. She went out of his flesh. In marriage the woman is joined again by the power of God to her husband. They are beautifully unified again part of the same body. Christ is our head and over us he rules. We the Church are His body, and we submit to His loving rule over us, His bride.  Marriage portrays such a beautiful thing. The gospel of Christ is portrayed in each marriage ceremony. When we see a married couple we should be reminded of the work that Christ did on the cross to justify us with God. When we look upon our beloved wife we should see someone who we would lay down our lives for. When our dear wives look upon us they should see someone who is willing to sacrifice all for them. We all should be mortified at the perversion of marriage in the world. It has been perverted by brazen things like polygamy, and same sex marriage, but even the subtlety of egalitarianism should offend us. Instead we embrace all of these. Ashamed of nothing, proud, and arrogant, we tell God how we will understand Him. We tell God how we will do things, and never truly repent with a bent knee and penitent heart.

Marriage is truly ordained by God. It is a union that should preach the gospel to us as believers and be a witness to the world. Let us pray for God to perform His will in our lives against our fleshly desires. Let us affirm His word and be conformed to His sovereign will in all things.

Apologetics · Church · Theology · Uncategorized

If Politics And Government Are Not The Answer, What Is? (Part Two)

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

So to continue from the last article, I concluded that politics and government were not the answer to our problems as a nation. Some of the things that led me to conclude that were the scenarios I ran, presupposing that I would be in government. I thought, what could I do when the nameless representatives of some super-powerful, world-wide consortium, comes to me and says, “Vote this way, or your family will die in a house fire, or we will release these doctored pictures of you to the press, showing you with a prostitute in a hotel room with five pounds of cocaine, or you have a lot of money in your account right now, do what we say or people will find out, and ask questions.” These people are so powerful they answer to nobody. They are above the law. They have people killed, and direct the courses of the nations. They don’t do it for God. They do it for their real masters. I believe these are the powers and principalities of the Bible. Men who are so powerfully, influential who receive their marching orders from the devil, and his legions. As the Bible says, these men are not my enemies, they are controlled by them. If you kill these people, more people will fill their roles. It is pointless. I grew up in an America that no longer exists. We have to wake up to the real problem, it is sin. Mankind is totally depraved, and the only hope for us is Christ. We wonder to ourselves, why anyone would want socialism, acceptance of gay marriage, legalized gambling, legalized drugs, socialized medicine, minimum wages, labor unions, big government, no prayer in school, over-sexualized kids, gratuitous sex and violence on television, blasphemy of God and the Bible in the media, and on and on and on it goes. Total depravity, kidos! Our sinful natures drive us to all kinds of evil. What should we do? Preach the gospel to everyone we meet. Think about it, what would be more beautiful than a country full of devoted Christians who love Christ above all else? God says in His word that if we love Him we will obey His commands. If we all preached the gospel and made disciples of all men, if we obeyed this command, “…’YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND…” or this one, “…YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF…” or if we prayed for our enemies, What if we stayed married and worked it out, or Fathers were more than a paycheck and fix-it-man, or Mothers were more than a cook and shuttle service, what if we took responsibility for ourselves and families instead of insisting on some governmental fix? Think about how it would look compared to the secular Europe or the islamic middle east. Even if the world-wide government continues to work it’s evil will, we still have to focus on Christ and His goodness. We might not be able to ever change the course of the nation, but we are all responsible for our own sins and will be judged. We will be found in Christ or in the world. Personally, I like the famous hymn from Rhea F. Miller,

“I’d rather have Jesus than silver or gold;
I’d rather be His than have riches untold;
I’d rather have Jesus than houses or lands;
I’d rather be led by His nail-pierced hand

Refrain:
Than to be the king of a vast domain
And be held in sin’s dread sway;
I’d rather have Jesus than anything
This world affords today.

I’d rather have Jesus than men’s applause;
I’d rather be faithful to His dear cause;
I’d rather have Jesus than worldwide fame;
I’d rather be true to His holy name
He’s fairer than lilies of rarest bloom;
He’s sweeter than honey from out the comb;
He’s all that my hungering spirit needs;
I’d rather have Jesus and let Him lead “

So while we can, we need to repent and put our faith in Christ, the true hope of man.

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If Politics And Government Are Not The Answer, What Is? (Part One)

Bob SnyderLeave a comment

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For many years, I was a dyed-in-the-wool, hard-core, conservative, Republican. I was so Right-wing, I made Rush look like a moderate. You name the stance, and I was firmly and extremely on the right. I couldn’t watch the news unless it was from Fox. It got so bad I couldn’t even watch Fox anymore. Everything made me frustrated or mad. I vowed to go into politics when I retired from my career in Corrections. I figured that the only way for things to get better was if I got into the game and made some allies. I figured if there is a secret organization behind the scenes pulling the strings, I would make my own cabal to fight them.
For years I considered, “what if” scenarios. I tried to account for variables that could occur. I ran scenario after scenario by my cohorts. It was like the scene from the movie, “War Games” where Matthew Broderick tricks the W.O.P.R. computer into stopping the nuclear attack by playing tic-tac-toe. woprIt came to the conclusion that what it was doing was futile. That’s exactly where I found myself. I realized what I was doing was futile.

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Representations of the sinner, church, and gospel in the Old Testament.

Bob Snyder1 Comment

The chosen people of God in the Old Testament are representative of the individual sinner, and the church. We see how some want to please God. How others seeking their own pleasures only after being judged repent. In 1 Samuel we see the Israelites rejecting God’s rule. They demand a king other than God. Samuel is to warn them but also he is to anoint the one who would be king. Are we mastered by God or sin? Who is your king? When judged and shown the sin in our lives do we repent, then follow God with our entire heart? Over and over we see God’s chosen people sinning, being punished, repenting, and worshiping. They would go on for a while and fall again. God would accept their repentance and worship after they were humbled. God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. It is His mercy to break the sinner. Only in humility can they experience God’s grace. Oh that I could always remember and be humble so as not to sin against my God. I fear the discipline even though I know it is for my good. Like a child I am in regards to it. As one that matures I see the love of the Father in it. Oh how I love Jesus! His grace is sufficient for even me! So as we see the chosen people of God so we should see ourselves the church. How many times have we sinned and in our self-righteousness punished ourselves in the sinful hope of appeasing God’s righteous and holy judgement? How dare we make less of His grace? Did He die on the cross so that we could be our own saviors? Repent of self-righteousness! I to must repent! Don’t let any sin be the churches King. Only Jesus be our king! Like Israel we are God’s people. We were purchased from sins great price by the redeeming blood of Jesus. The Old Testament books display for us the likeness of the individual sinner, the church, and God. We should see the Messiah in all of the word not just the New Testament.