Eric's Blog

So far, in Alpha, we have talked about Jesus and the Holy Spirit but we have not talked about “Who is God?”  Actually, Alpha does not have a lesson on “Who Is God?” but I think it is important for us to answer this question before we continue.

PJ and Jing have asked why the God of love in the New Testament of the Bible seems so different from the God of anger in the Old Testament.  This is a great question.  There a hundreds of books that try to answer this question but I am going to tell you about the God I know from the Bible.

It is very hard to describe the God of the Bible without including the topic of Evil.  You do not have to be a Christian or even a spiritual person to know that there is both Good and Evil in the world.  All of us have experienced both good and evil and we have also done good and evil.  In general, it is safe to say that Good creates and Evil destroys.  There is a constant battle between Good and Evil, each trying to influence our behavior.

From the first book of the Bible, Genesis or the Beginning, God is the Creator.  The Bible says that God created the Universe, the Solar System, the Earth, and everything that lives on the Earth.  In addition, God defined what is Good.  Every time God finished a piece of creation, He stopped and said that it was good.  Nothing that God created was Evil.  We do not know where Evil came from but it must have existed before the creation of the world because Evil is present in the story of creation.  In the story of Adam and Eve, the serpent encourages Eve to disobey God’s command not to eat fruit from a special tree.

While God did not create Evil, He did create “Choice.”  Only humans received the ability to think about something in the future, determine if it is good or evil, and then choose one or the other.  All other animals in God’s creation can only react.  Only humans can “pro-act”.  Pro-act is a word I use to describe setting a plan for good or evil ahead of time.  We do not always pro-act but we have the ability to do so.

The whole story of the Bible is about the war between God and Evil.  God creates Man in the beautiful Garden of Eden.  Eve’s choice of evil over good destroyed the wonderful world of the Garden.

The Bible is also the story of the consequences of choosing good and evil.  In the Bible, as we can see today, the choice of evil ends in destruction.  Faye and I love to work in our garden.  The world of our garden is very simple: things that help our garden grow are good and things that hurt our garden are bad.  Sometimes insects will take over part of a tree and kill the branch.  If we do not take action, the insects will kill the whole tree.  We cut off the damaged branch and burn it and the insects on it.  This is hard on the tree but it is the only way to save its life.

The story of the Old Testament of the Bible is similar to our garden story.  God builds, Evil invades and tries to destroy the Good and God destroys the evil to save the Good.  Some people in the Bible do evil things to other people.  God comes in, destroys the evil people, and saves the good people.  The story of Israel and Egypt follows this pattern.

The people of Egypt kept the people of Israel as slaves.  They treated them very badly, even killing the boy babies of the Israelites.  God sees this evil and gets involved.  He sends a man named Moses to tell the Pharaoh of Egypt to set the Israelites free.  The Pharaoh refuses and makes life harder for the Israelite slaves.  Moses then tells the Pharaoh that if the Israelites are not set free, God will punish the Egyptians.  Nine times God punishes the Egyptians but still the Pharaoh keeps the Israelites as slaves.  Finally, God warns Pharaoh that if the Israelites are not set free, all of the first-born Egyptian boys will die.  Pharaoh has seen God punish the Egyptians nine times but still he refuses to free the Israelites.  So, God kills the first-born Egyptian boys just as He said that He would.  Finally, Pharaoh does the right thing and frees the Israelite slaves.

There is more to the story but the pattern is clear.  God will punish and destroy Evil.  If God does not cut away the evil, Evil will destroy the Good.  God never destroys without a warning.  Evil people are always given the chance to quit doing evil things.  But, if they continue to do evil, they will be destroyed.  God does not want to do this and gives people many chances to repent, but if they do not repent, they are punished or destroyed completely.

In many ways, we can say that human civilization has become more and more mature.  As Man’s ability to understand has grown, God has given us more information about Himself.  When civilization was young, God gave rules and punishments.  This is what parents do to young children.  The children are too young to understand what is safe and what is dangerous.  Rules and punishments keep the child safe until it can understand enough about life to make good choices.  Parents punish because they love, not because they hate.

At the right time, God sent Jesus to show people that God loves them.  Jesus replaced the old rules with an example of how Good operates.  Christianity is not about rules but about following Jesus’ example.  For those who choose to follow Him, God offers complete forgiveness of evil deeds and thoughts.  For those who choose not to follow Him, God will allow them to receive the consequences of their choice.

BREAK for DESSERT

Discovering God’s Plan for Me

The reason that we spent so much time last weekend on the Holy Spirit is that the Holy Spirit has replaced rules as God’s way of working with people.  The Holy Spirit works for the good of everyone, not just believers.  The Holy Spirit works quietly on those who do not know God.  Its goal is for everyone to have an informed choice between God and Evil.  Like the picture of Jesus at the door, we saw a couple of weeks ago, the Holy Spirit works from the outside of those who do not know God.  When people accept God’s grace, then the Holy Spirit can begin to work from the inside.

God has a purpose and plan for each one of us.  The Holy Spirit helps us see our purpose and make God’s plan for us visible.

Ephesians 2:10

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (NIV)

He creates each of us by Christ Jesus to join him in the work he does, the good work he has gotten ready for us to do, work we had better be doing. (The Message).

God is constantly at work through the Holy Spirit to make His plan successful.  Being a Christian does not mean just sitting around in a church.  God has good work for each of us to do—work that He has already prepared for us.  It is a lot like our lives at work.  Our company has a plan for success.  We are given a piece of that plan to complete.  Our managers link all of our work together to make the business plan a success.

Of course, the problem with God’s plan is the question of what He has assigned us to do.  What are those good works that He prepared for us?  How do we find out what to do next?  When people become Christians, God begins to speak to them in several ways.

The main way God speaks is through the Bible.  The Bible describes Jesus’ life and explains why Jesus did what He did.  This gives us the tools and methods we need to do God’s work with Him.  One example of this is when the Jewish leaders brought a married woman to Jesus for judgment.  They said that she had sex with a man who was not her husband.  The Jewish law said that she should be stoned to death.  Jesus quietly wrote on the ground with a stick as he listened to the leader’s story.  Then Jesus looked at the leaders and said that those who had never sinned could throw the first stone at the woman.  The men in the crowd began to drop their stones on the ground because they knew that they had also done evil.  Finally, everyone was gone except Jesus and the woman.  Jesus told the woman that she was free to go and that she should not sin any more.  The story tells us that we are not to judge and punish the sinner but to help the sinner to get better.

The Bible also gives us principles of a good life.  When God speaks to us through the Holy Spirit, He will never tell us to do something that the Bible says is evil.  One good example is that God would never tell us to hurt our personal enemies.  In the Bible, Jesus says to love our enemies and to pray for them.

Prayer is another way that God communicates to Christians.  Most people think that prayer is a way to ask God for things they want.  While that may be true, prayer is more about listening than it is about talking.  To me, prayer is opening my mind to listen for God’s voice.  I often ask God about how I should handle the problems and opportunities in my life.  As I pray about the problem or question, ideas come to me that are very helpful.  What is amazing to me is that these ideas are not the things that I would normally think of.  I compare the idea to stories in the Bible that are similar to my situation.  Usually the idea I received in prayer fits right into the Bible story.

God speaks to us through other people.  I believe that I am speaking God’s truth to you right now.  Asking for advice from wise people is always a good idea.  Listening with an open mind often brings ideas and desires I did not know I had.  When I first retired, I did not know what I wanted to do.  I was teaching a class at my church about the gifts of the Holy Spirit and how to use them for good.  I asked a woman to come and tell the class about what she was doing with English as a Second Language (ESL).  For some reason, I got very excited about what she was saying.  The feeling was so strong; I knew that the Holy Spirit was calling me to ESL.  Before she spoke, I had no interest in working with people learning English.  In school, I hated English.  By the time God was through with me, I was teaching English in China.

For me, the main way God speaks to me personally is what I call “open doors” and “closed doors”.  When I think that the Holy Spirit may be calling me to do something, I start to look for opportunities to do that thing.  I do not try to “push the door open” but rather see where I am invited.  Teaching in China is an example of an open door.  I had no connections in China and I have no degree in English or Education.  A friend of mine in ESL, Mr. Pan, said that I should teach in China.  I said that I would like to do that but I had no connections.  The next thing I knew, I had an invitation to teach English at Shantou University.  Mr. Pan had made the connections for me.  I believe that God worked through Mr. Pan to open a door that I could never have opened myself.

I was talking to Yan Qing last week.  He said something very important.  He said that as he looked back on his life, everything that had happened to him happened for a purpose.  I agree with Yan Qing.  God has a purpose and plan for each of us.  I believe that God has good works waiting for everyone at this table.  I believe that the Holy Spirit is working on everyone at this table, encouraging us to find and do that good work.  Our next step is to open our minds and hearts and eyes to what the Holy Spirit is telling us to do.  The path ahead will become very clear.

Romans 8:28

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

Vocabulary List

Adam: The name given in the Bible to the first man, the progenitor of the human race. [阿丹  [A1 dan1]  (Adam: name) / 亞當 亚当  [Ya4 dang1]  (adam)]

civilization: culture OR The act of civilizing or the state of being civilized; national culture; refinement. [文明  [wen2 ming2]  (civilization)]

consequences: what happens as a result of an action’ [后果  [hou4 guo3]  (consequences)]

creation: The act of creating or causing to exist. Specifically the act of bringing the universe or this world into existence. [创世  [chuang4 shi4]  (creation: in mythology and Genesis 1-2) / 建立 建立  [jian4 li4]  (creation)]

creator: One who creates produces or constitutes. Specifically the Supreme Being. [造物主  [zao4 wu4 zhu3]  (creator: in Christianity or mythology ) / 創建者 创建者  [chuang4 jian4 zhe3]  (creator)]

destruction: to kill many people OR The act of destroying; a tearing down; a bringing to naught; subversion; demolition; ruin; slaying; devastation. [毁坏  [hui3 huai4]  (destruction)]

disobey: break the rules OR Not to obey; to neglect or refuse to obey (a superior or his commands, the laws, etc.); [违恩负义  [wei2 en1 fu4 yi4]  (disobey: one’s benefactor   ) / 不聽命 不听命  [bu4 ting1 ming4]  (disobey)]

Eden: The garden where Adam and Eve first dwelt; hence, a delightful region or residence.

forgiveness: to show love and not to remember bad things against someone; when God does not remember the wrong things that we do. OR The act of forgiving; the state of being forgiven; as, the forgiveness of sin or of injuries. [宽恕  [kuan1 shu4]  (forgiveness)]

influence: affect how someone behaves OR A flowing in or upon; influx. [感化  [gan3 hua4]  (influence: a malefactor to a better) / 勢力 势力  [shi4 li5]  (influence: ability to) / 潛移默化 潜移默化  [qian2 yi2 mo4 hua4]  (influence: secretly    ) / 影響力 影响力  [ying3 xiang3 li4]  (influence)]

Israelite: A descendant of Israel, or Jacob; a Hebrew; a Jew. [希伯来人  [Xi1 bo2 lai2 ren2]  (israelite)]

Jewish: Of or pertaining to the Jews or Hebrews; characteristic of or resembling the Jews or their customs; Israelitish. [犹太  [You2 tai4]  (jewish)]

judgment: making a choice OR The act of judging; the operation of the mind, involving comparison and discrimination, by which a knowledge of the values and relations of things, whether of moral qualities, intellectual concepts, logical propositions, or material facts, is obtained; as, by careful judgment he avoided the peril; by a series of wrong judgments he forfeited confidence. [审判栏  [shen3 pan4 lan2]  (judgment: bar) / 審判席 审判席  [shen3 pan4 xi2]  (judgment: seat) / 判斷力 判断力  [pan4 duan4 li4]  (judgment)]

Pharaoh: A title by which the sovereigns of ancient Egypt were designated. [法老  [fa3 lao3]  (pharaoh)]

sinner: One who has sinned; especially, one who has sinned without repenting; hence, a persistent and incorrigible transgressor; one condemned by the law of God. [罪人  [zui4 ren2]  (sinner)]

spiritual: something that is real but you cannot see OR A spiritual function, office, or affair. See Spirituality, 2. [神慰  [shen2 wei4]  (spiritual: consolation) / 精神文明 精神文明  [jing1 shen2 wen2 ming2]  (spiritual: culture) / 神枯 神枯  [shen2 ku1]  (spiritual: desolation) / 靈犀一點通 灵犀一点通  [ling2 xi1 yi1 dian3 tong1]  (spiritual: link) / 靈性 灵性  [ling2 xing4]  (spiritual: nature) / 精神財富 精神财富  [jing1 shen2 cai2 fu4]  (spiritual: wealth) / 靈界 灵界  [ling2 jie4]  (spiritual: world) / 心靈上 心灵上  [xin1 ling2 shang4]  (spiritual)]

universe: All created things viewed as constituting one system or whole; the whole body of things, or of phenomena; the <grk>to~ pa^n</grk> of the Greeks, the mundus of the Latins; the world; creation. [乾坤  [qian2 kun1]  (universe)]

workmanship: The art or skill of a workman; the execution or manner of making anything. [做工  [zuo4 gong1]  (workmanship)]

Tags: Alpha, evil, god