Archives for 2009

If you go back to Genesis, you find God telling men to “be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion…” (Genesis 1:28). God wants man to be fruitful. That can mean reproduction in terms of having children, but it also means spiritual reproduction. It means bearing fruit for the Lord, producing love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (see Galatians 5:22-23).

God wants human beings to increase and grow. Artificial limits on growth are not biblical. The concept of zero growth, for example, is not biblical; and the concept of the socialist-type government, which puts arbitrary controls on a man’s ability to make money or create or invent, is not biblical. God wants man to be a fruitful, creative, reproducing individual.

God also wants men to have dominion over Satan. He wants us, as His representatives, to subjugate Satan. Jesus Christ gave us that authority. He wants us to do away with the works of Satan–to take away poverty, to lift the yoke of oppression, and to take away ignorance and lack of faith. He wants us to bring a blessing to people and to liberate them from the forces that would destroy them.

Then, when we have taken dominion over the things that will hurt our fellow man, He wants us to take dominion over the earth. We are to have dominion over the streams and the air, and the fields and the birds, and the animals in our world. We are not supposed to pollute the streams and befoul the air and rip up the minerals in this earth just for personal gain. We are supposed to be intelligent stewards, under God, of all these things. God wants us to manage the world as His sons and daughters. He wants us to bring about righteousness in this world. Our main purpose for being on earth is to be stewards of God’s creation, to grow in God, and to function as God’s sons and daughters.

In the WESTMINSTER SHORTER CATECHISM, the Presbyterians say that man’s chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. The mandate in Genesis to take dominion has no meaning apart from giving glory to God. We are to be subject to Him, to love Him, to walk with Him, and to have fellowship with Him.

The prophet Micah sums it up when he says, “And what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God” (Micah 6:8)?

There will always be people who love their fellow man, people of good will who want to live in peace. Those who truly follow the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ, always want to live in love and harmony with others.

Why, for instance, would any woman want to spend her life in the worst slums of India? Why would she want to devote herself to working among the poor, to giving them a home, and to making their lives easier to bear? Mother Teresa done all these things because she wanted to follow Jesus Christ. She had His love in her heart, and that made her want to reach out in love to the less fortunate.

There are hundreds and thousands of other examples, although Mother Teresa was probably the best known. When people allow Jesus to govern their actions, they stop fighting and start showing love for one another. That is the hope of the world.

Granted, there are people who are not Christian believers who strive for peace, and there are Christian believers still filled with selfishness and hate. But in the final analysis, outside of the love of Christ, there is no hope for true peace. Until those who make the world’s decisions are followers of the Prince of Peace–and until Jesus Christ Himself returns to earth–there will never be true love among men. There will be rivalries, racial hatred, and difficulties of all kinds–and men will not love their fellow men as God would have them to do.

Remember, though, that Jesus Christ is coming back to reign on this earth. When He does come, assuming His rightful role as our king, men of every nation, race, and culture will be able to live side by side in perfect harmony. Not because they have been forced to do so, but because they have accepted Jesus Christ as their king and He has changed their hearts.

In Isaiah 11:6-9, we catch a glimpse of what the world will be like after Jesus returns: “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. The cow and the bear shall graze; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. The nursing child shall play by the cobra’s hole, and the weaned child shall put his hand in the viper’s den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” In that day there not only will be lasting love and fellowship among the people of the earth but also, according to the prophet, among the animals as well!

First of all, God does not cause evil. Evil is a result of two major forces: The first force is a being named Satan. There is a spiritual being who is the enemy of mankind. He is malevolent, very powerful, and he wants to destroy God, so he seeks to destroy men and women, who are made in the image of God (see Genesis 1:26). Much of the trouble that is in the world is a direct result of the evil that Satan himself causes.

The second source of evil is the human heart. God knows that there is a great deal of evil lurking in men’s hearts. Because of the evil in their hearts, they hurt one another; and we have war, crime, injustice, racism, and all sorts of pain and heartbreak.

There is evil, then, because of Satan and because of man’s nature–and evil has a tendency to multiply itself. The more evil men there are, the more society as a whole begins to take on an evil nature. If God did not give men the chance to be evil, there would be no freedom. What would happen if every time a man cursed God his tongue rotted out? God could do that, but then He would be ruling the universe through fear. God is not a dictator. He wants men to choose to love and serve Him, and to do what is good. The other side of that choice is that men may decide not to serve God, and to do what is evil. Giving man the freedom to choose between good and evil has been God’s policy since He created the first man, Adam.

Adam was what we call the “federal head” of mankind. Just as a decision by the Prime Minister of our country can have an impact upon all the country’s citizens, so the decision that Adam made affects all of humankind. We are all tainted by his original sin. When Adam disobeyed God, death came not only to humanity but also to the animals, the plants, and the earth as a whole. From that moment on, man has had to sweat and slave and strain to survive. The fall of Adam introduced pain and suffering into the world, as Genesis 3 details.

A few short generations after Adam, the Bible records that men had given themselves up almost entirely to evil (see Genesis 6:5). That illustrates how fast evil spreads and how it progresses from generation to generation. The human race is linked together in such a way that we are able to draw upon the accumulated wisdom and blessings of those who have lived before us, but we also receive an inheritance from their curses and their evil.

In the beginning, Adam was morally in neutral. He was able to choose to sin–and he was able to choose not to sin. Adam’s sin predisposed all of his descendants toward evil. Therefore, we all have a tendency that pulls us toward sin.

Although we have a predisposition toward sin and evil, we can turn away from sin and turn toward God. God wants us to resist evil. He is willing to help us in the battle. But it is a hard one. Even Jesus Christ Himself was genuinely tempted to sin. It is indeed regrettable that there is evil in the world. The real news, though, is that there is a way to overcome evil. And that way is through the Son of God–Jesus Christ.

Remarkable advances in science have led to the cure of such dreaded diseases as polio and tuberculosis. But, because much of the disease and illness people experience is caused by sin and by ignoring principles of healthy living, there will never be a cure for all disease until Satan’s power is done away with.

Our bodies are only a part of what makes us human beings. We also have souls and spirits (see I Thessalonians 5:23). The body is the physical part of our nature. The soul corresponds to the mind. The spirit is that part of us that sets us apart from the animals, that stamps upon us the image of God. The spirit is the part of us that yearns for communion with God. If the spirit in us is not in tune with God, then you do not have access to the source of healing. If you lived in the perfect presence of God, there could be neither sickness nor death. There would not be infection or disease because such things cannot exist in the presence of God.

Some disease is caused directly by sin. Much sickness is the result of deep-rooted bitterness and uncontrolled stress. When people refuse to forgive or when they let themselves be “stressed out” by the pressures the world puts on them, that frequently leads to sickness. Those who live harried and hurried lives frequently develop ulcers, arthritis, high blood pressure, asthma, and similar ailments. Alcohol and cigarettes are also great contributors to disease because they weaken the human body.

Another reason for disease is that much of the food we eat contains poison and unhealthy additives. Sugar and salt and white flour and other harmful substances weaken our bodies when used in excess. We do not get enough of the natural nutrients we should have. We try to milk too much out of our land, and, in doing so, we wind up damaging the crops we grow for food. When we eat what is contaminated, our bodies are harmed also.

There will never be a decrease in diseases until people learn to eat properly, exercise properly, treat their bodies properly, and stop ingesting chemicals and other foreign substances that hurt their bodies. Nor will disease decrease while people continue polluting the water and air with carcinogens and fighting wars that destroy vegetation, uproot whole nations, and bring about famine. All these things are contributors to disease–and disease, because of infection and contagion, has a way of growing.

Sickness and disease will be a part of life on this planet until Jesus comes back. When He comes, He will set things properly in order, and there will be no more sickness and no more death. That is the promise we have from God. In Revelation 22:2, we are told that the heavenly city of New Jerusalem will contain a tree whose leaves “were for the healing of the nations.” We are reminded in Revelation 21:4 that when we dwell in the presence of God, “There will be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Man, through his own efforts, will never find a cure for all diseases. But Jesus, when He returns to earth, will do away with disease and sickness forever.

Original sin is a theological term that goes back to the fall of man. As I said before, man was created in God’s image, righteous and free. He was a free moral agent, freely able to choose God or turn away from Him. By eating the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, he did the one thing he was asked not to do. Breaking God’s one commandment to him was sin. At that point he was driven from the Garden of Eden and cut off from the tree of life (see Genesis 3:2-24).

From that moment on, the spirit of man was damaged. It is as if man is now born with a moral handicap. He is lame in the most important part of his being–his spirit.

That is original sin. The Bible says, “They go astray as soon as they are born, speaking lies” (Psalm 58:3). There is a rebellious nature in most children. They just like to do whatever you tell them not to do. This natural rebellion stems from man’s original sin. Instead of being morally free, man has a decided tendency toward sin–urged on toward evil by what is called “the world, the flesh, and the devil.”

Only those who come to Jesus can be rid of this tendency. That is the whole concept of being born again. Our spirits are re-created. Our spirits are now joined with God’s Spirit, and we have the ability to live a godly, holy life in Jesus Christ. On our own, we simply cannot do it. The apostle Paul says, “O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death” (Romans 7:24)? He says, the thing that I want to do, I cannot do. The good I would do, I cannot do, whereas evil lies close at hand (see Romans 7:15-20).

Paul struggled against his fallen nature until he realized that “There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:1). He also said, “The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:2). The renewal and change in Jesus Christ can free people from the bondage of original sin.

We should keep in mind that original sin is a tendency to do evil, not an act of evil. Guilt comes when we commit acts of evil. There is no such thing as “original guilt.” God does not punish people for tendencies, only for what they do in light of what they know. Therefore, little babies do not go to hell because of original sin, because babies have never committed any sinful acts.