Questions for God

My friend Tiffany is considering Christianity, reading the Bible. She's in Genesis and is troubled about the last plague in Egypt where all the firstborn die except in those families who followed God's rather elaborate instructions regarding blood on doorposts, etc. Passover. The angel of death passed over some and took others. Why would God do that?

Tiffany is also concerned that God hardened Pharoah's heart, as it is put in Old Testament language. That one is easier to address. In the original language the meaning is that God left Pharoah to the hardness of his heart. It isn't that God MADE the man's heart hard, but that God opted to leave him that way, not trying further to bring him around.

As she reads onward, Tiffany will have more questions. What of Abraham's orders to sacrifice his son? Or the ground opening up to swallow a whole family of folks? Oh, and she already read about the Flood, right? Why did God do those things that seem so extreme to us?

Indeed, doesn't the whole Mosaic Law seem pretty harsh? You know, it started with the Ten Commandments, but then God gave Moses unending regulations covering almost every aspect of life.

Then there are the minutely detailed instructions for building the Tabernacle which was a tent version of the Temple that was to come later after God's people were settled in the Promised Land.

And what about Hell? I have a daughter who says she could not love a God who would create Hell. Hell brings up so many questions, it deserves its own blog. Read on...

Deep theological questions. I am not the one to answer them. I could spend weeks, months, years writing about them, but why do that when the One who has the answers is SO available.

To understand what God was doing in the Old Testament, you need to meet Jesus. While Jesus is woven throughout Old Testament pages, you need a closer look. Instead of starting in Genesis, go to John where you will meet the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. Like Genesis, John starts with, "In the beginning..." "The Word" refers to Jesus.

Next, move through the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke) and Acts. After that study Romans. Merely reading it isn't enough. Then, when you go back to Genesis, you will see with new eyes.

Jesus came to this earth, God with skin on, so we could better understand our triune God: God the Father; God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. But I must caution you that man is not capable of thinking the thoughts of God nor imagining God's ways.

Let me just say this about death and Hell and God. God's creation was perfect. Then man chose to know evil as well as good and sin came into the world bringing with it death, illness, and corruption to all creation. Since then, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

God is fully just. Sin produces a horrid dilemma for Him. He created out of pure love, but because He is just He cannot let sin go unpunished. Justice must be served. He is completely holy, but those He created are now unclean, stained with all manner of sin. They cannot thus be with Him. The sin must be paid for. The sinners must be cleaned up, sanctified, made holy.

Enter Jesus to do both jobs! Amazingly, most will reject Him even though they need do or pay nothing for His great gift.

You see, we don't get it. We don't realize how vile sin is. Sure, we can point a finger at the rapist, the thief or other more overt sinners, but compared to God's purity and holiness, no one able to know right and wrong is clean enough to be in His presence. He gave up everything to fix the sin problem.

We cannot know or judge God's plans and ways. His power and right of ownership give Him full sway. But He is not capricious. I trust His motives absolutly... even when I am too short sighted to see His plans.

There's one last word I'd like you to consider: FAITH.

So, even if you don't know Him yet, ask God to teach you as you read His word. Ask Him to plant a seed of faith and help you water it.