Tag: christ

God is not your Grandpa

~ wzippler

Many people had Grandparents that they were able to visit at least a semi-regular basis. Your Grandparents then probably started trying to catch up on all the loving they wanted to give you while you were apart, which included expensive or too many toys, way too much sugar, letting you leave your spinach on your plate, by the time you came back home your parents, no matter how much they missed you, secretly dreaded bringing you back home. The reason for this is that your grandparents had spoiled you rotten! Many kids favorite phrase for weeks afterword was “But grandma and grandpa let me…!”. Your grandparents could afford to spoil you, your parents could not. If you didn’t eat properly most of the time, you would not grow up to be healthy, if you got all the toys you wanted all year, you would never learn the value of hard work and a dollar. or even appreciate Christmas or your birthday. If they said yes all of the time, you would not be able to handle it the first time your boss said “No”…
If by some circumstance you had to live with your grandparents permanently, instead of your parents they would have to start treating you like regular parents pretty quickly, or you would not succeed in life.

Many people seem to think that God is more like a Grandfather, rather than a father. Name your blessing and claim it, just like you did with Grandpa. However, he is our father. He gives us rules, because he loves us, and knows what would happen if he gave us everything we want. We would be spoiled rotten! We have all seen or heard of kids that grew up in the lap of luxury, with few rules or expectations put on them, who never heard the word no. Many of these kids stay kids well past their 18th birthday and are objects of ridicule to many. God knows that a huge portion of us would end up the same way if he gave us everything we want. He does not want us to be objects of ridicule, he wants us to be responsible adults who work for his kingdom. So he isn’t a Grandfather that lets us name it and claim it.

When we are with him in Heaven we will be mature enough to handle a grandfather in heaven 24/7 but not now.

My book recommendation from my Affiliate Amazon.com. If you buy the book via my link SmartChristian.net will receive a portion of the proceeds.

whereisgod
Where Is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey
A book that every believer should read. If you are not facing hard times now, you will at some point. If you have already read this book, it will make the tough times a bit easier to bear.

The Wise Men

~ wzippler


Matthew 2:1-2 After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi[a] from the east came to Jerusalem  and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.”

     Who are these Magi, and where did they come from, and how did they know that the star would lead to? Some have said that they were astrologers, that is possible, but I think that there is a more likely explaination. 

The Wise Men that came to worship Jesus, were from the East. The nearest land to the East was the Babylon Empire, which at one point Isreal was part of. When we read about  Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego we are reading about events that took place in Babylon. 

When Daniel survived in the Lion’s den, King Darius was so grateful that he said

“Daniel 6:26-27  (KJV)
26 I make a decree, That in every dominion of my kingdom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel: for he is the living God, and stedfast for ever, and his kingdom that which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall be even unto the end. He delivereth and rescueth, and he worketh signs and wonders in heaven and in Earth, who hath delivered Daniel from the power of the lions.” 

So to at least some extent, Babylon knew about Isreal and the Jewish religion and would have access to the history of the Jewish people, not only because they once occupied them, but because they were close enough to have contact with each other. . This would include many of the Prophecies made about the coming Messiah.

One of those prophecies was made by the reluctant prophet Balaam (The guy with the talking Donkey)
In Numbers 24:17 Balaam says “I shall behold him, but not nigh: there shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre shall rise out of Israel”
A sceptre is a symbol of Kingship, and a star in the land of Jacob is connected with that king.

One of Daniel’s prophecies particularly sticks out as a foretelling of the coming of Christ 

Daniel 9:24 Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy.

This was understood to mean in seventy weeks of years (490 years)  it would be time to anoint the most Holy.  Which gave the Babylonians a time frame for this to happen. 

Since the Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego had such a big impact on Babyalon, it would only be natural for them to record those events, and thus the Wise Men would have had access to those records

While Babylon did participate in astrology, it’s study of the stars, also led them to lay the groundwork for modern day astronomy. If they had studied the work of Daniel, and then heard of a strange star in the sky durring the time of the prophecy, I am sure they would want to check it out, and since wise men were typically under the employment of the government, it would have been an obligation of the royal house to give a gift to any new born king to help secure peace, thus explaining how the Wise men had such expensive gifts on hand. 

   We should also consider the fact that not long after the Wise Men had given their gifts to Jesus,    Joseph was told to take his family to Egypt to live. Trips like that cost a lot of money. If those Wise Men had not come, I doubt a carpenter would have been able to afford that kind of trip, so I believe that God sent the Wise Men to give the money to Joseph that he was soon going to need. 

     
  If you would like to support Smart Christian, and do more research into this subject. Please consider buying these books from Amazon.com via the links below. 
Finding Jesus in the Old Testament , by David Limbaugh

The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary

The Moody Bible Commentary

And a wikipedia link talking about the origins of Astronomy in Babylon









William Lane Craig lectures on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus — WINTERY KNIGHT

~ wzippler

Here is Dr. William Lane Craig giving a long-form argument for the historical event of the resurrection of Jesus, and taking questions from the audience. The speaker introduction goes for 6 minutes, then Dr. Craig speaks for 35 minutes, then it’s a period of questions and answers with the audience. The total length is 93 […]

Read more at William Lane Craig lectures on the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus — WINTERY KNIGHT

Stand to Reason | Christianity: It’s Either Objectively True or Objectively False

~ wzippler ~ 1 Comment

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Lately, I’ve begun to realize just how much relativism is ingrained in our culture, particularly when it comes to religion. In conversations with people about Christianity, I’ve found that sometimes I am literally unable to communicate the idea that I’m claiming Christianity is an objectively true description of reality. Unfortunately, I’ve even had a conversation or two like this with Christians. But communicating this is what we must do if we’re truly to communicate the Gospel, because the Gospel is centered on an objective event in history. As the Apostle Paul said, “If Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless.” Often, by explaining the centrality of the historical death and resurrection of Christ, you can help someone to understand the objective nature of our claim—that is, the claim that Christianity is the kind of thing that is either objectively true or objectively false—because history is something most people understand as being objective.
Read more at
: Stand to Reason | Christianity: It’s Either Objectively True or Objectively False