The Truth about Halloween

What is Halloween reallyall  about?

Halloween Brightens up the long dark winter

To many people Halloween is just a bit of fun. The winter is a long, dark and cold season. Imagine there was no Guy Fawkes night with bonfire and fireworks, no Halloween with parties, dressing up, trick or treat, no Christmas with family get-togethers, feasts and celebration - imagine how dull and dreary winter would be. It would be horrible!

Halloween is one of the three main winter celebrations that brightens our winter and makes it far more bearable. 

But isn’t it evil?

For most people, probably for you it really is just a fun time. There is nothing sinister about it at all. Maybe a few kids go too far with their 'tricks', maybe some people wake up the next morning hung over, but that is usually as bad as it gets.

But Halloween trivialises evil. If evil is little red devils with goat feet and pitched forks, then evil doesn't really exist right? Wrong!

We would be naive to imagine there is nothing sinister about it at all. The truth is, some people do have a morbid side. A fascination with death and evil. Halloween feeds that morbidity with horror movies. Horror movies are sinister, they entertain using the most horrible, sick, disgusting and evil ideas and images they can concoct, and the more evil and graphic - the better!  Why do people find it entertaining seeing others getting torn to pieces and horrifically tortured or eaten alive etc? Without pressing the point too hard, I think it is fair to say, there is at least something sinister about that.

Then there are those who really are evil. The truth is, whatever terrible, sick and evil act you can imagine - if it is possible, somebody somewhere is probably doing it. Then there is the general evil in the world. A suicide bomber blows himself and other up! A nation rises up against another in war. This is evil - mass, mass murder! Satan loves that stuff. Evil really exists, we live in a broken, messed up, mad world that is crying out for salvation from evil - but rather than face up to evil, we trivialise it.

Now for the Surprise

Having said all that, the surprising thing is that Halloween is in fact a Christian Celebration, like Guy Fawkes and Christmas.

Now there may be a few druids out there who would argue: “Actually Halloween was originally an ancient celtic festival Samhain”. But the truth is nobody today celebrates Samhain (maybe a few tree-huggers in Lewes), we celebrate HALLOWEEN'.

Halloween comes from ‘Hallows Eve’. You can easily see the similarity. Hallows Eve was celebrated by Christians long, long before Samhain. So what is “Hallows Eve”? Well we know what ‘Eve’ means. Think ‘Christmas Eve’. Christmas Eve is the evening before Christmas Day. Eve means ‘The evening before’. So Hallows Eve is ‘The Evening before Hallows Day”.

So what is ‘Hallows Day?’ Hallows means ‘Saints’. Hallows Eve, or Halloween is the night before ‘Hallows Day’ or ‘All Saints Day’. Many churches around the country, especially Anglican churches still celebrate ‘All Saints Day’. 

‘Saints’ are Christians. All Saints Day is the day that Christians celebrate their champion Jesus’s victory over all the powers of hell, darkness and evil. 

So the Bible tells us concerning Jesus …

15 And having disarmed the [evil] powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.” (Colossians 2). 

Christians used to celebrate this event by dressing their children up to make a mockery of the devil and His demons. It was a way of saying, “We have no fear of you at all, you are powerless”. It was a time to mock and scorn the powers of darkness and celebrate the victory of Jesus, not a celebration of evil. It was an expression of faith that, no matter how dark the world gets, the day will drive the night away, one day, forever, and all because of Jesus.

Hallows Eve is the night before that celebration. It was believed that the night before All Saints Day, the powers of evil would do their worst knowing that the coming day would drive them and their darkness away.

Darkness must always give way to light!

Sadly, Christianity is as real to people today as Halloween. However, just as there is real evil in the world, so Jesus really has defeated the powers of evil. Jesus really does set people free and brings true light to their dark world. In the darkness - without Jesus people are lost in life, many people feel this ‘lostness’, not knowing who they really are or why they exist or what is the point of it all. But nobody needs to be lost. This Halloween could become not only a time for fun and parties, but a time when Jesus the Light of the world comes into your life to bring light to your world. 

Wanna know more? Inbox me.

Gap Year Internships - why you should encourage them!

GAP YEAR Internships

Young people in our churches face an enormous challenge when they finish college and head off to uni. Many churches and parents lament the fact that when their young people leave Home and church for uni, they also leave the Church and God for the world! The story is so common it is tragic.

But it is hardly surprising. Uni is a very hostile environment for a young Christian. Both Brighton and Sussex university boast a great, 24/7 party life in the city with cheap booze, alternative lifestyles and total acceptance - literally, anything goes! The slogan of Sussex uni is ‘Be Still and Know’. They have deliberately left off ‘That I am God’. Sussex uni was one of the first universities to be built on secular humanist values.

Think about it, we take a teenager who has lived at home all their life, been part of a stable Christian family and church, with friends and family within the church where they get lots of support and encouragement in their faith, we then thrust them out, away from just about every bit of support they have ever known, into a totally strange environment, with strangers all around them, with no restraints except their own will - and the environment is friendly in just about every way except one - it is totally, completely and openly hostile to their christian faith. That is not an exaggeration. 

Of course they are desperate to make friends - and you don’t make friends by being a wet blanket. The only way to make friends is to fit in, be one of them, go out with them - just be like everyone else - or be isolated. (Of course their is the CU - but these vary in quality from year to year and are not the local church.)

Then, they secretly seek out a church on Sunday where they find a welcome, but everything is different there. Not many people their age if any. It is another place where they feel awkward and don’t really fit in. The difference between church and uni, is that church is one awkward place they don’t have to go to.

University life is hard enough to adjust to; new people, new classes and learning, a whole new city. To have to go church hunting and try to fit in there too, on top of everything else can just be too much.

It is no wonder our young people go off the rails - we hardly give them a chance, it really is sink or swim, and for far, far too many it is sink!

Brothers and sister, we cannot afford to keep throwing our sheep to the wolves without preparation and protection! Is there anything we can do to help?

Gap-Year Internships on Site

I believe it basic common sense to encourage every 'student to be', to first go to the city of their university and spend a year as an intern with a local church.

This has great advantages.

1. It serves the city they will go to and benefit from.
2. It provides a  strong theological foundation for the student.
3. It give them an opportunity to really focus on God and getting deep roots down into a local church.
4. It give them a head start in getting to know the city and the culture.
5. It enables them to establish strong, gospel relationships with christian friends and church family that will help them through the coming years.

The five points above also mean the student will be more influential than their peers when they start. They will feel more confident and will not have to start searching for a local church when they arrive. As they begin uni, they will have a church family and key friends and mentors who can help them navigate the gauntlet of temptation that university life throws up.

These are some of the reasons we at New Life Brighton offer a Gap Year internship for those planning to study in Brighton. We believe it is basic wisdom to do so. If you know anyone thinking about studying in Brighton, why not encourage them to first do an internship with us? While you’re at it, work on making it part of your church culture that students seek out Gap Year internships in the relevant city.

To find out more, contact me: jrebera.nlc@gmail.com

What kind of God Allows Suffering #2

In my last blog I introduced this subject, you should read the one first if you haven't already. In this blog we begin to see God's perspective on this world. We could not know God's perspective, but He has revealed it in the Bible so that we can know and understand. The Bible reveals the following ... 

1) God created a good world. In Genesis 1, we are told five times that God created this world GOOD. That means, He is responsible for creating a GOOD world and NOT a war-torn, famished, polluted, broken, disease-ridden, messed up, chaotic world of pain and misery. There was none of that in the world He created, nothing in it to spoil it. No sickness, suffering, disease, disaster or death, no human wickedness, no injustice, no pain - just good - that is the world God created. If we are going to complain about the Christian God - then we cannot attribute the creation of a messed up world to Him - that is not the God of the Bible. He created a good world.

2) God created the first ever human couple, Adam and Eve. Their life (like ours) came from God and was sustained by Him. He provided for them a beautiful, harmonious and pristine world to live in and it was only good in every way. He literally provided everything for them!

3) Now this next bit people often don’t like, but it has to be said because it is just true. That is, because He created everything Himself, including Adam and Eve, He rightfully owns everything. He owned Adam and Eve. In fact, since we were all "In Adam", God rightfully owns you and me too. We are not our own, we did not make ourselves. Back to Adam and Eve ... And because He owned them, He had every right to give them His law - and He did. The law was, 

“You are free to eat from any tree in the garden; but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will certainly die.” 

(Genesis 2:16,17)

4) This law was not hard to keep. The fruit from just one tree in the whole world was forbidden. They had everything else. God made everything, He is perfectly right to reserve anything He makes for Himself, since it is His in the first place, He is not obliged to give us absolutely everything and it is unreasonable and ungrateful to expect everything. But anyway, God never gave that rule for nothing. 

5) In giving this rule or law, God did a number of important things.

a) God exercised His authority. God is God! We should obey Him simply because He is the Authority. Our godless, modern thinking hates authority. The idea that we should obey someone just because of who they are strikes at the our prideful hearts. “Give me one good reason why I should obey you!” we say. God’s answer is simple, “Because I Am GOD!”. The Bible tells us that by His word He created the heavens and the earth. Imagine the power of His word. That we would dare defy, reject and rebel against Him would be laughable if it was not so dangerous. We should obey, simply because God has spoken.

b) This rule was necessary for Adam and Eve’s humanity. The fact that God gave them a command, meant that they had a choice about obeying God or not. We have that choice today. There are two reasons parents want their own children to obey them. 

(1) Because parents love their children. The rules parents give are to keep their beloved children safe and for their ultimate flourishing. 

(2) Parents want children to obey them, because the obedience of a child to a parent is an expression of trust in the parent. That is to say, the child obeys because the child loves the parent. Imagine your child only obeyed you because they had no other option. The very fact that they can go against you but choose not to, speaks of their love and appreciation of you. They freely choose you.

That is what God’s law enabled Adam and Eve to do.

5) He gave them the choice of living in that pristine world under His rule and authority, or they could reject His authority. But to reject God’s authority is to reject God Himself, because He is ultimate authority. 

To reject His authority is to take control of our own lives with ourselves as the highest authority. We become God’s of our own lives - the Bible calls this idolatry. We cannot do that without taking control of God’s world too - because, we carry out our defiance and rebellion by doing what we want in His world and with His world - as if it is ours to do as we please. 

The problem here is, though we (human kind) want to act like we are gods, we are not. The truth is, we cannot govern and control this world with justice and in harmony. We cannot sustain it or hold it together. Our limited power, wisdom and understanding means we are ignorant of how to govern this world and our universe. That is why we have so completely trashed it. That is why there is so much human misery. The world is falling apart and so are we. 

It is a strange thing but, this world is in desperate need of God to intervene, yet still mankind denies and rejects Him. No wonder the Martyrs in the book of Revelation cry out … “How long O Lord, How long?” 

Part 3 to follow soon.

What kind of God allows Suffering?

All Suffer
Suffering comes to us all. Possibly the worst kind is the truly heart wrenching experience of helplessly seeing our loved ones suffer. How quickly we would swap places with them. Have you ever experienced that kind of suffering? Do you know what it is to feel pain? Physical? Emotional? Mental? Heart wrenching pain?

What Kind of God?
The sad truth is, the only qualification for experiencing suffering is that we live long enough. Isn't that true? When faced with such cruelty, it is understandable that people blame God. What kind of a God does this kind of thing? What kind of God allows this kind of thing?

Unsurprisingly, the answer most people come to is that God is cruel and unjust, or there is no God. You'll doubtless agree with me that, it is easy to see why millions of people would say that. The thing is, I would entirely agree with them, they would be right ... but only if this life is all there is. 

If there is a God and this life is all there is, then God is unjust, uncaring and pointless. If there is no God at all, then this life is all there is and life is pretty wicked in the evil sense. Hitler, Fred West and the 911 bombers get the same reward as you and I.

More to it
But, there is so much more to it than that. There is a God, and he does care for you very much, so much more than you know, and he makes the world of difference. The problem is, we cannot see it for ourselves, so God has revealed it to us in the scriptures as we will see in a future blog. But for now, let me explain two things God does now.

A Devoted Friend
I love the 'Lord of the Rings". Frodo sets out on an epic journey. The journey has a purpose (destroy the ring) and destination, to take the ring to Mount Doom in Mordor where the ring can be destroyed. The journey is perilous. Frodo endures many hardships, but also experiences laughter, he sees much bloodshed, but also great courage and nobility, he sees much evil, but much good too, watches loved ones slain in the battle and experiences many sorrows, but the sorrows are because of the of loved ones lost, the pain is at the loss of loyal friends. Isn't this like life?

JRR Tolkien was a devout Christian and it is easy to see the influence of his faith in the Lord of the Rings. Frodo is not spared the hurt and pain of the journey, neither are we, but the journey is made more bearable by Samwise Gamgee. Frodo is not alone on the Journey. Samwise is his devoted friend who shares in all Frodo's trials. Frodo knows that Samwise, his devoted friend knows. What tremendous comfort, to have someone we can talk with at any time, who knows exactly what we are experiencing. However, there is a point where Samwise must leave Frodo and Frodo is alone.

This is why Samwise is just a shadow of what God does. God does not spare us the pain of the journey. We cannot avoid it. But the pain is so much harder to bear when we feel our aloneness in it. The promise of Jesus is that, unlike Samwise, Jesus walks with us through it all, he shares in our pain and suffering, experiencing it with us. He is an ever-present comfort in times of trouble so that we need not be alone.

Jesus promises His friends in John 14 ...

15 “If you love me, keep my commands. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another comforter to help you and be with you forever— 17 the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. 18 I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

In this way, by His Spirit, Jesus Himself promises to comfort and strengthens us, He gives us real hope - but the promise is for those who love and obey Him. That is not to say that He doesn't care about those who do not love and obey Him, but of course he will not force Himself on those that don't love Him, that don't want Him. If you don't want Him in your life, He respects that. 

Of course what we want though, is for God to be our servant. A kind of divine waiter. We want Him to stay out of our way while we enjoy our lives, but when we want something we click our fingers and God the waiter to dutifully come at our beck and call. When He doesn't we get angry with Him. But God is not merely our 'Waiter' who runs to our beck and call, He is not there just to be used by us, He is God, and if we shut Him out of our lives, it seems ironic that we then blame Him for not being there.

And the condition of obedience is simply because, if we don't trust and obey Him, He cannot help us - remember, He doesn't force us to trust and obey Him, but He wants us to. Like a small child standing on the kerb of a busy road with cars rushing by, the child is wise to take the hand of a loving parent who can get hm to the other side, but the child must trust and obey that parent to get safely to the other side. But if we are like the child that refuses to trust and obey, that thinks he knows best and insists on going his own way, the Lord allows us to do so, sadly with tragic consequences. Jesus does not want that, He wants us to trust and obey Him.

A Worthy Reward
The second thing God does is to show us what His overall purpose is. It is easier to endure hardship and pain when we know it is worth while. In a superficial way we see this in everyday life. Think about how dull and dreary work is for many people. BUT ... it does become easier if there is purpose in our work. Perhaps we are saving for a holiday in the sun. At lunch time we might look at brochures or go online to explore the hotel, the beeches or nightlife we are looking forward to. The work we're doing, as dull as it is, is what makes the holiday possible. The harder we work, the longer and more enjoyable the holiday - it is worth it!

Of course there are many people who squander all their money on cigarettes and other lesser things so have nothing to show for their work - and never get that holiday because they spent their money on sweeties! We cannot avoid suffering, but it need not be in vain. There is purpose in it all. Even in the helplessness of watching a loved one suffer - we will see How God specifically knows that pain, and how there can be purpose even in that if we will trust, obey and love Jesus.

The Apostle Paul knew about God's purposes and so invested His life in them. As a direct result he suffered intensely, but was able to write ...

1 Corinthians 4

17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

It's not that Paul didn't truly suffer, he did, read the scriptures and you will be left in no doubt about that, but compared with the 'eternal glory' to come, his intense sufferings were light and momentary. Paul understood that when we trust In Jesus, all suffering passes along with this brief life, and God will give an eternal reward that "far outweighs them all".

As the old Hymn goes ...

"Strength for today, bright hope for tomorrow

Blessings all mine with ten thousand beside.

Great is Thy faithfulness!"

In my next blog I will explain what God has actually revealed, that we need to know if we are to make sense of suffering.

How I came to be a Christian

By Faith!

When I was a little boy I always believed there must be a God up there somewhere. I was also captivated by the film shown every year at Christmas for a few years ‘Jesus of Nazareth’.  If you asked my mum, she would say she is CofE and my Dad would say Catholic, but neither of them ever went to church  - I don’t remember seeing a Bible in our home either.

It was not until years later I got converted.  To cut a long story short …

Mum and dad split up, by 15 yrs old I was off the rails. By the time I was 18 I had 3 appearances before magistrates and appeared twice at Chichester Crown court for more serious crimes.

What began the change was years of listening to, and idolising Bob Marley and smoking loads of weed. I learned Bob was a Rasta and I came to the conclusion that Bob must know something I don’t about God so I decided to find out about the Rasta God. I thought, I could handle that, smoking weed and listening to reggae.

I learned Rastas read the Bible so I got myself one and started reading. I was again absolutely stunned by Jesus in the gospels. He seemed so true and good and amazing, I kind of knew He was real. But I also began to see that Rastas and the Bible could not both be true, either both were rubbish or one was true. I was persuaded the Bible was true. I then began really searching and in my search got involved with Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormons. About a year later (I was 20) I got converted - it was life-changing.

I remember that while learning with Jehovah’s Witnesses, Mormons and some Christians I got to know, I became confused, I didn’t know what or who was true. I remember listening to Tracey Chapman's song crossroads ...

Demons they are on my trail

I'm standing at the crossroads of hell

I look to the left I look to the right

There're hands that grab me on every side

I specifically remember feeling like that and praying, 

"Jesus, when you was on the earth I would have followed you, but now you're not, and I don't know which crowd to join. I could study every religion and still not know for certain. It's up to you, take me or leave me to the devil, there's nothing I can do."

It was after that, that Jesus dramatically broke into my life. While I was praying, I heard words spoken to me in the most amazing way and repeated 3 times.

"Jesus died for you"

Although I'd read this many times in my life and knew it, the thought, occurred to me exactly like this … 

 "He died to take away my sin, the way to God is open". 

As I thought “the way to God is open” it is as though heaven was opened up for me at that very moment, I might as well have been there, the joy I was suddenly experiencing was unbelievable.

It is as though the penny dropped and my eyes were opened, I knew Jesus had taken hold of me and saved me. The way to Him was open and my years of searching ended. It wasn't that I found Him, I didn't, I gave up and left myself to Him. It was He who then took hold of me. Then there was joy, it was electric! Uncontainable. The night Jesus saved me was unquestionably the best night of my life so far. He filled me with His Spirit so that I overflowed with so much joy I could not contain myself, I laughed out loud and cried, my belly hurt, I was so happy. I had never known such joy. Then came peace. 

I still didn't know which crowd to follow, which religion was right or even if there was a right one, all I knew is that I found Jesus and He is all I needed. I was walking on air.

The next morning I read my Bible. OMG! I'd been reading it for years but this was different. It was all so new and it spoke amazingly to me and thrilled me. I remember so clearly reading John 1, especially these verses ...

11 He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. 12 Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – 13 children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.

I knew immediately that this explained my experience. I'd been born of God! It dawned on me that I was now a child of God. That was another joyful moment. I don't mean I felt happy, I mean something happened inside as I read and joy welled up and overflowed. I can only describe it as a purifying and cleansing joy.

That same day I arranged to see the Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and told them I have found Jesus. They both told me I had been deceived and smirked at me, but I didn’t care, what I had was simply the best. I told the Christians the same but their reaction was different. They praised God! They told me how they had been praying for me that I would find Jesus. They seemed as excited as me! And again there was so much joy, this time, not only me but them too. Then I began to understand that I wasn't the only child of God, I was part of a family, and these were my brand new brothers and sisters - and they were great, we had something so amazing in common. 

That week I went to church for the first time. It was a tiny little church in Fittleworth. A few old people, a good Christian friend and me. Two things struck me that day. 1) The dullness of the church building. 2) The joy I experienced again as I sang the first song I ever sang as a Christian.

You are the King of Glory

You are the Prince of Peace

You are the Lord of heaven and earth

You're the Son of Righteousness

Angels bow down before You

Worship and adore, for 

You have the words of eternal life

You are Jesus Christ the Lord

Hosanna to the Son of David

Hosanna to the King of kings

Glory in the highest heavens for

Jesus the Messiah reigns!

As I declared those words to Jesus, it was just as though someone had written the words for me to sing to Him, they were perfect! And again, I was filled with joy!

That was a very dizzy week! My major life decisions were settled there and then - I knew I was changed forever, I knew my whole destiny and life was changed forever, my life was devoted to this new person in my life, Jesus.

Since then I have been devoted to following Him. It has certainly not been easy, in fact it is really hard at times, quite a lot of the time.

But that was the beginning of my faith in Jesus. That was the beginning of my walk with Him. 

I have been a christian now for 24 years and I have absolutely no regrets - Jesus is the most wonderful, perfect, kindest and most powerful and wise person in the universe and I feel so blessed that I know Him and that he calls me His friend - that is awesome!

All this sound strange? Well don’t just believe me, find out for yourself. I’d love to meet with you to share the good news with you, help answer questions, my hope is that Jesus will do for you what He has done for me.

Romans 1

16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes: first to the Jew, then to the Gentile. 17 For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed – a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: ‘The righteous will live by faith.’

Acts 2

38 Peter replied, ‘Repent and be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off – for all whom the Lord our God will call.’

If you would like to take a step of faith to find out more, Private Message me and I will be happy to meet with you for a one off chat about it, whoever and wherever you are, then see how it goes form there.

Stephen Fry's rant against God!

Stephen Fry annihilates God

Stephen Fry famously had a good old rant against God recently - you can watch it here: http://youtu.be/-suvkwNYSQo

Does Stephen manage in a few sentences, to annihilate the God of the Bible? unfortunately for him - no! Big fail Spephen. But then, if you rage against what is true, you are bound to failure.

 He annihilates a false God of his own making, one that I certainly don't believe in.

Stephen Fry's rant is an emotional (not intellectual) rant. That is not to say his emotive questions, accusations and objections are not important, they are - but they are, at core, emotional. 

GUESS WHAT?

Now, if someone is going to annihilate the God of the Bible, then guess what? You have to deal with ... THE GOD OF THE BIBLE! Surprise! Fry totally fails to do this. If he was arguing against the God of the Bible he would not say the things he says.

Either he has never read the first few pages of the Bible and so is arguing from total ignorance, or he has read the first few pages of the Bible and is conveniently ignoring it and instead creating a straw man to knock down. Whatever, it is unacceptable to do that and anti-intellectual. Anyone can do that. 

EXAMPLE - Stephen Fry rants against a God who created bone cancer in children and bugs that burrow into children's eyes. He claims he would give God a good telling off, he reckons he would say, and I quote: 

"How dare you create a world with such misery that is not our fault!"

Now, if that is what the Bible tells us about God, then I agree with Stephen! I too would hate such a wicked, cruel God - but that is not the God of the Bible. Any four year old who reads the first page of the Bible could tell you that! Read it. The story of creation appears on the first page of the Bible in Genesis 1. In just 31 verses it tells us about the creation of everything. In those 31 verses we are clearly told that creation was created good.

'IT WAS GOOD' appears four times and 'IT WAS VERY GOOD' once at the end. Now when God says something is GOOD, it means, it is good in every conceivable way. There is nothing at all remotely bad - not a shadow of it.

So, Stephen Fry needs to argue against a God who created a really Good world, a world GOOD in every way - otherwise, he is ranting up the wall and not dealing with the God of the Bible at all.

So, if on that great and glorious day when God judges the world, Stephen Fry does try to take the moral high ground with God and says to Him ... 

"How dare you create a world with such misery that is not our fault!"

God will reply, (hyperthetically) ...

 "Ermmm, I didn't create such a terrible world! I told you that on the first page of the Bible, what are you going on about? Didn't you read it!"

Big fail Stephen Fry!

But there are other problems too.

Stephen Fry's argument is purely emotional - as is so often the case, it is not an intellectual objection, it is not rational, it is not evidential, it is purely emotional. Stephen Fry is clearly very angry with God - that is obvious. Now that is very strange. It is not normal to get really angry with something you don't believe exists. How many people are really angry with fairies because they don't grant everyone's wishes, or Father Christmas because he does distribute gifts fairly and equally to everyone around the world? None! People get angry with people they believe are real!

Stephen Fry is a closet Christian!

Ok, that might be going a bit far - but I have a feeling, Stephen Fry like so many people, knows, deep down inside, that there is, or may well be a God - but Stephen's problem is that God doesn't do what Stephen wants Him to do so Stephen is angry and rejects God and throws all his toys out of the pram. Stephen may well be trying to provoke God to action of some kind - but God will not play Stephen Fry's game or anyone else's. God has revealed Himself to us through JESUS whom He authenticated by raising Him from the dead. JESUS is God's testimony to the world.

But, let's suppose for a moment that God did create the world evil, well then it just means God is evil, it does not mean he does not exist. Not liking him does not make him go away. Stephen knows this and refers to it in his rant when he refers to Thor etc. But his problem is, apparently, specifically with the christian God - all the more reason for Stephen to actual deal with the God of the Bible which he fails to do when he ignores the fact that the God of the Bible created a good world.  A fair question would be, '"Why would a Good God allow His Good world to be ruined?" - that is a good question - but it is not one Stephen asks.

An Intellectual does not equal an Authority

But there is another problem with Stephen Fry. He is an intellectual, but he is not a philosopher, he is not a scientist of any sort, he is not a theologian. Why on earth rely on him as an authority in these matters? He studied English literature! He is no authority on these things at all.

If you want to know about Shakespeare, sure, ask Stephen Fry, he knows about that stuff, but when it comes to cosmology, philosophy, theology (The queens of the sciences) - he is a laymen.

He is very intelligent, but it is not how much you know that counts, it is what you know.

I doubt he is "100 times more intelligent than most of us" as some reckon. He got an UPPER SECOND CLASS honours degree in English lit for goodness sake. My daughter got a FIRST CLASS honour degree in forensic biology - she is a lot more qualified than Stephen Fry. He is very articulate and certainly intelligent - so was Adolf hitter - doesn't make him an authority either. There are literally thousands and thousands of people in Brighton more highly qualified than Stephen Fry. Everyone who has a BA SECOND CLASS (hons) is as qualified as Stephen Fry. Anyone who holds a BA FIRST CLASS Honours, or a Bsc, a Masters or doctorate is more qualified than Stephen.

7) Ricky Gervais - Really??? Stephen Fry was bad enough but Ricky??? The man is a joker - literally. If he lived in medieval times he would have been a jester with a jester's hat and silly bells on his toes - are you seriously suggesting the jester Ricky is an authority? 

8) All the stuff about cancer etc is an argument for, not against the God of the Bible. The Bible explains that stuff. If the Bible is true, then we would expect to find that, plus a whole load of evil.

Like I said above, if people want to disprove THE GOD OF THE BIBLE, then they have to deal with THE GOD OF THE BIBLE.

To Argue against the Christian God, you must argue against a good God who created the world GOOD. A world without death, disease, illness tragedy. One needs to deal with a human race that became corrupt and rejected the God who held the world together in harmony and destroyed the good world God created (and continues to do so).

Most importantly, it is easy to disprove God if he is not true. According to the Bible a protagonist only has to prove JESUS did not live, did not die on a cross or did not rise again. The bible tells us, the whole christian Faith stands or falls on the resurrection of Jesus, and not on some monstrous God who created the world evil as Fry suggests.

This is what the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 15:14-19

And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ are lost. If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

Nuff said.

Random Answers from Ria's Thread #3

4) "Evolution of life, You tube it and learn it."

The fact is, evolution does happen on a micro level. That is, WITHIN SPECIES. This is often called micro-evolution. We know this happens because we can observe it.

There are two elements to so-called Darwinian evolution.

1) Natural selection: we can see this in agriculture in the battle against pests that eat our crops. Scientists develop 'pesticides' to kill the pests. This works for a while, but after a time the pests become immune to the pesticide and become a problem. 

How do we explain this? Well, we are told they have evolved, which is true. How does this happen? 

Imagine we have 150 flies, flying around in a field eating our crops. Scientists develop a pesticide and test it on 10 of those flies, it kills the test flies. Now the scientists use it on the 140 flies left in the field. The problem is, two of the 140 flies already have a natural immunity to the pesticide. This means the 138 have died out but two survive. But nobody notices two flies and the problem appears to have been solved.

But those two survivors with the natural immunity breed, passing on their immunity to their children. As their numbers build, the pesticide doesn't work on them, it seems they have changed to become hardier - but in fact natural selection just killed off all the weaker flies (they were weaker because they didn't have the immunity) and selected the two and their descendents for survival. But they didn't change biologically - but more to the point they are still flies!

In the natural world it is not pesticides that causes natural selection but things like climate change that leads to other environmental changes which select or deselect various species.

2) Mutations: Mutations happen all the time and usually they are unhelpful. However, so the theory goes, the occasional mutation is helpful and gives the mutant an advantage. So for example, imagine a creature is naturally blind. But then it mutates a working eye! Now it can see. It has a massive advantage over the other creatures. Therefore it gets all the food and eats it, the others die out because they cannot compete for food against these mutants. Again, natural selection has done its work.

In fact, I am not aware that a mutation that is helpful has ever been observed. Neither do I know of a mutation that gets passed onto the descendants. Mutated creatures are usually sterile, or if they can breed, their mutant gene gets 'strained out' so that it is not passed on. But the theory certainly exists. 

Certainly natural selection happens, and perhaps there are beneficial mutations - let's assume there are and they have been observed (as might be the case) for arguments sake. 

The problem is, if beneficial mutations have been observed, still they remain within their species. They  do not become something else!

If a dog mutates, it is still a dog! Evolution has never and will never observe the evolution of one species to another. It cannot be observed because apparently it takes millions of years. There is no experiment we can do to.

So why do so many scientist make the claim that evolution is a fact? Well, because it is a fact WITHIN SPECIES, scientists take that fact of evolution within a species and totalises it to include the evolution of one species to another. This is not science.

For this reason evolution of that kind is not science at all. It cannot be tested of falsified (disproved) since the time scales are too great.

All that is to say, creatures can certainly evolve within their own species, so elephants can produce other types of elephant. But elephants cannot produce Rhinos or any other species. Only elephants. FACT.

Random Answers from Ria's thread #2

2) "Adam and Eve had three kids, them had kids, say no more ..."

Actually, Genesis mentions by name three of Adam and Eve's children (Cain, Abel and Seth) because they are the key people in the story. However, in Genesis 5:4 we are told that Adam and Eve "had other sons and daughters". So I'm afraid Chrissie is factually wrong. 

However, I imagine Chrissie is objecting to incest since they refer to it as "F***** up". So how do we answer this?

The truth is, so called "F***** up" things very often are true - that is a fact. This argument at best proves just that, it is "F***** up". Funnily enough, that is exactly what the Bible says man did in Genesis 3 - READ IT!  The argument has no bearing at all on if it is true or not - NONE!

But maybe Chrissie is saying, "But their children would be deformed etc". Two answers to that. 

The chances of some kind of genetic disorder due to incest, are about the same as a 40 year old woman having children. So yes, by current standards, there would naturally be a greater risk. But all this means is that there would have been more deformed people, not that it cannot be true. Our whole world is pretty much "F***** Up" but guess what, it is real!  

But anyway, not all would be deformed. This doesn't prove anything.

The reason incest today leads to genetic disorders is because a brother and a sister share the same DEFECTIVE genes. Two unrelated people will not share the same defective genes (at least not to the same extent) and so the good gene of one cancels out the defective gene of another. 

It is not until the Jewish law is given thousands of years after Adam and Eve that God outlawed incest. It is now a taboo subject. It is deeply and rightly ingrained in our thinking that incest is morally wrong. It is because God has commanded against it. 

Now we are dealing with the Bible so we have to deal with what the Bible actually tells us if it is to be disproven or defended. The Bible tells us that God created man 'GOOD'. That means everything about him was good, which in turn means Adam (and Eve) had no defective genes. The degeneration of genes would take generations. This means that brothers and sisters back then would not have had such defective genes and the risks would be much lower anyway. On that basis, as repulsive as it may sound to us, there would have been no physical dangers. But as the genetic pool of humanity deteriorated to the point of danger, it became plainly wrong to continue, hence, the Mosaic law against it.

Other pointers to the authenticity of Adam and Eve.

As scientists continue their research they have found (not surprisingly) that the human population gets smaller as you go back in time and bottlenecks to a total human population of just 2000 individuals. 

Now I don't want to mislead here. Scientists are not saying that the world population started with just 2000 people. Scientist reckon that the population was bigger, but some disaster meant that only 2000 people survived.

But the important point is this: Scientists do not know if there was such a disaster responsible for that small number. All they actually do know with certainty is that the whole human race is descended from no more than 2000 people! That is what they know! BUT the more scientists learn and the more they discover, the smaller the population pool gets - it is only heading in one direction - towards Adam and Eve!

Think about it, there are about 7 billion people in the world. In 1950 there was about 3 billion! The further back you go, the smaller the number. It keeps halving as you go further back. It doesn't take rocket science to see where it is leading. Here is a non-controversial article on the subject from wiki: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Population_bottleneck .  For an academic paper check out academia.com. 

Scientists have discovered that the whole human race shares one common mother - they call her 'Mitochondrial Eve'. That is a fact. 

Scientists have also discovered, the whole human race shares one common father, they call him 'Y-chromosomal Adam. 

You can read about Y-chromosomal Adam and Mitochondrial Eve by clicking the link below. The article makes for interesting reading. Is claims on the one hand that Y-chromosomal Adam was one of many people alive at his time, but also makes it clear, we all descended from him. http://www.nature.com/news/genetic-adam-and-eve-did-not-live-too-far-apart-in-time-1.13478

Points 4 and 5 do not prove the biblical Adam and Eve, but the fact of Mitochondiral Eve and Y-chromosomal Adam, combined with the ever shrinking pool for the origin of the human race makes Adam and Eve increasingly plausible. This is certainly not "comic book" stuff.

Random Answers to Ria's thread. #1

It is frustrating that so many people comment on what they do not know. If people are going to comment on the Christian God, which is the God of the Bible, they better get their facts straight or lose credibility. They should stick to what they do know. So, to answer Chrissie Stevens statements.

"If you wanna know how it all begun I suggest you watch some science documentarys and not read made up comics #justsaying"

Answer: Science cannot tell you how it all began. The vast majority of cosmologists (That is scientists who study the universe) reckon the evidence points to the universe starting with what they call 'the big bang'. But they admit, though it seems most likely - they do not know.

However, there is in fact good reason to believe the Big Bang did happen so far as I can tell. It is also consistent with the teaching of the Bible. READ IT.

In Genesis 1:1 we read 'In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth'.

With the words 'In the beginning' we have the beginning of time as we know it.

God created the heavens: The Hebrew word for 'heavens' is 'Shamayim' and is used in different ways. It is used to speak of outer space where the stars are, it is used for the sky where the birds fly. It is used to describe the space in a big hall etc.

Basically, it means 'space'.

And the earth: the Hebrew word for earth is 'aretz'. Like 'heaven',  it is used in different ways.mit means our planet, it means soil, mud, it means 'stuff', in fact, it has the same semantic range of meaning as our word 'matter'.

Therefore, in Genesis 1:1 you have God creating time, space and matter! He creates it out of nothing! 

In the Bible, the book of Hebrews puts it like this ...

By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3)

So the Big Bang, if true as most scientists believe, testifies to the words of Genesis 1:1 - pretty amazing in my opinion!

For a long time scientists were divided over if the universe had a beginning or not. If they read the Bible which has been around for thousands of years, they would have known it does have a beginning. The Big Bang backs up the Bible!

However, cosmologists admit, THEY DO NOT KNOW! So they also reckon it could be that the universe has existed forever, that there was A BIG BOUNCE. Others reckon there is an almost infinite number of other universes, the multiverse theory. BUT THEY DO NOT KNOW!

But, it seems the Big Bang is the most likely. However, even it is was The Big Bang, scientists DO NOT KNOW how the Big Bang started.

The Bible tells us that God created it. 

Science studying the universe is a bit like people examining an early Ford car. People can go to a museum, observe a Ford car, learn by observation how it works. But all of their studying and observation will never, ever tell them 1) Who made it or 2) Why he made it.

But, Henry Ford made it, we know that because He told us! 

Science can similarly examine the universe, it can work out how it works, but it cannot tell us 1) who made it and 2) Why he made it. That requires a different approach.

All that I have said is true which means, science cannot tell you how it all started. All you get from science is human speculation on the very start.

But God was there, He did it and He has revealed it to us in the Bible.

So we can and should go on discovering how it works through scientific endeavour etc, that is great, but by our own effort, we will never know who or why!

Chrissie is wrong, science cannot answer how it all began - that is a big question mark for science.

Rastafarianism is a fake religion

Rastafarianism may be a pretty cool religion, after all, if you are a Rasta you can smoke ganja (marijuana, weed, skunk etc) and listen to reggae etc. So if a cool religion is what you are after, Rastafarianism is the one.

However, if you want truth, you should look elsewhere, namely to JESUS Himself. 

The problem with Rastafarianism is their main doctrine, which is that the late Emperor of Ethiopia, Haille Selassie, or Ras Tafari is or was, they claim, the second coming of Jesus. This is the reason they call themselves Rastas. They allegedly follow him (though it is highly doubtful he smoked marijuana!).

So, for Rastafarianism to be true, that claim needs to be true. However, the claim is balantantly false or mistaken, whatever, it is not true.

It is easy to falsify. JESUS Himself, according to the gospel of Matthew 25 said ...

22 “If those days [the last days] had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened. 23 At that time if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Messiah!’ or, ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. 24 For false messiahs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and wonders to deceive, if possible, even the elect. 25 See, I have told you ahead of time.

26 “So if anyone tells you, ‘There he is, out in the wilderness,’ do not go out; or, ‘Here he is, in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. 27 For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

So, according to JESUS Himself, people will try to tell us that JESUS has returned but that we must not believe them. Why? Because when He does return, we will not need anyone to tell us. His coming will not be missed by anyone! "As lightening that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man."

Nobody will need to tell anyone when JESUS returns, when it happens, all will know, there will be no question, no doubt, all will know. In fact, if someone needs to tell you the messiah has bcome, then you know it is not true. This is how we know Rastafarianism is not true.