Can We Separate Faith And Repentance?

 Faith and repentance go together hand in hand, to be distinguished but not separated. They are both the gift of God (cf. Acts 5:31;11:18; 2 Tim. 2:24). They are stated in juxtaposition in Scripture and not to be divorced. They can be seen as the flip side of the other. In fact, theologians speak of penitent faith or believing repentance. To see them linked in the Bible, read Acts 20:21 and Heb. 6:1.

Also, the way to salvation is termed with one as well as the other (cf. Luke 24:47; Acts 26:20). Repentance must produce fruits worthy of it.  The first message of the kingdom of God for John and Jesus was to repent! “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand!” (cf. Matt. 3:2; cf. 3:8). If you cannot believe, you need to repent and vice versa! This is the conclusion of the matter: There is no genuine repentance without saving faith!  Soli Deo Gloria!

How To Take God Out Of The Box...

 

1. By worship Him for who He is and not as one-dimensional, having a small God.
2. By knowing Him as Lord and Savior.
3. By experiencing or encountering Him in real-time and living it out. 
4. By submitting to His Lordship via obedience.
5. By learning the doctrines of the Bible that explain God’s divinity, nature, and deity.
6. By refusing to see Him solely as Father, Jesus, Great Spirit, or even the man upstairs, seeing God as too human.
7. By regular church attendance and the “hearing of the Word,” which gives faith.

Soli Deo Gloria!

Some Orthodox Proofs Of God...

 

1. Just like you understand the wind by seeing it in action—you see God in action; that is to say, the proof of the pudding is in the eating!
2. You can tell what God is up to after the fact that He knows best.
3. By being in awe of His creation and recognizing the need for a Creator.
4. We know the sun is up there because we see everything else; likewise, we see because God is light!
5. Why do you think we are God-conscious, unlike the animals who never build chapels or pray?
6. We have a built-in sense of right and wrong proving a God who must care about justice like we do.
7. There are countless ways we are different from animals that we must realize we are not one.
8. Who made us smarter than beasts?
9. Who can answer the ultimate questions of life’s purpose, meaning, fulfillment, dignity?’
10. Why do we need an Answerer? God seems to have them!
11. Wouldn’t a God be a higher being than us? The miracle of changed lives is irrefutable.
12. If God were a force or influence, not a Person, how could He love us? We love Him because He first loved us! God is love!

The old argument from design (teleological) argument is still valid and should be looked at from a logical and commonsensical view: where did the design come from (a Designer?); plans (a Planner?); order (an Orderer?); laws (a Lawgiver?); purpose (a Purposer?; or a beginning (implying a Beginner). Teleology is another word for purpose. In other words, the presence of God is in everything and to think without purpose is unscientific at that.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Can Christians Affirm The Big Bang?

 

1. The Bible doesn’t explain how God created the earth. The know-how is left to science, not religion.
2. The Bible doesn’t make it clear when creation happened, but only “in the beginning," it doesn't start, "Once upon a time," but commences somewhere in the time-space continuum. 
3. There is nothing contradictory in the Big Bang that would directly contradict Scripture,” it admits that the first thing formed was “light.”
4. Even scientists acknowledge that time and space began at the Big Bang or creation.
5. The Bible says God created time and that time “began,” (the energy clock began ticking).
6. Scientists have no answer as to the know-why of the Big Bang but can find out know-how. 
7. Science doesn’t know who fired the Big Bang into existence; who banged it!

Note that ID or intelligent design is necessary for the cosmos; without logos or logic there could be no cosmos for many universal constants were “programmed” into the Big Bang because pure energy has no form or intelligent purpose! The input must be design from a Designer!  Soli Deo Gloria!

How About Providence And Destiny?

 

1. “A man’s heart plans his way, but the LORD determines his steps.” (cf. Prov. 16:9)
2. “I know, LORD, that a man’s way of life is not his own; no one who walks determines his own steps.” (cf. Jer. 10:23).
3. “A man’s steps are determined by the LORD, so how can anyone understand his own way?” (cf. Prov. 20:24).
4. “He will certainly accomplish what He has decreed for me, and He has many more things like this in mind.” (cf. Job 23:14).

HCSB version.

God cannot be frustrated in His plan; He has no Plan B. (cf. Job 42:2). Our free will doesn’t limit His sovereignty. He is in control and Lord of all. We do make choices but God determines the conditions, and what choices we must make—whether between A or B. There are no other opportunities but what He grants. We must choose to serve God because the default god is Satan—we will serve someone or something.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Some Arguments For God's Existence

The teleological one or that everything has a purpose. Design implies a Designer; order, and Orderer; purpose, a Purposer; beginning, a Beginner; intelligence, an Ultimate Mind; thought, a Thinker. We know the universe had a beginning and we must wonder who began it. The Big Bang, for instance, begs the question of who “banged” it. We know the universe is not eternal but began to exist and this implies a Beginner. Who got the ball rolling or is the First Cause because nothing can cause or create itself according to the law of cause and effect. An endless series of finite causes is impossible; it's impossible to cross infinity and infinite regress is nonsensical 

The kalam cosmological argument states that everything that begins to exist, has a cause; the cosmos began and therefore has a cause—most likely God. The existence of the harmony of the laws of nature indicate intelligent design or ID. The Anthropic Principle goes further and says that it shows the cosmos is designed for life.

But these are all secular, scientific, or philosophical arguments. The best evidence literally is that God came to earth and showed Himself in the person of Jesus, proving it by rising from the dead. He claimed to be God in the flesh, the very Son of God.  Soli Deo Gloria!

Old Earth, New Earth

 Contrary to popular interpretation, the Bible doesn’t say when the earth was created. It says merely, “In the beginning…” whenever that was, possibly billions of years or eons ago.  This isn't just a way to begin a story and it doesn't say, "Once upon a time!"  There is a possible gap between verses one and two of the chapter that could have taken this long. Note that a day with the LORD is not always twenty-four hours, such as the day of the LORD and the day of judgment.  The Bible only tells us the earth was created and who did it; namely, God. It wasn’t a fluke or accident and it didn’t evolve or create itself, impossible! 

Nothing can create or cause itself according to the law of cause and effect. Something has to be eternal for anything to exist because everything cannot have a beginning or be created, or there would be nothing now (out of nothing, nothing comes). God is seen as the First Cause or who got it all started. There can be an uncaused cause but not an uncaused effect. Since God is eternal, He can have no cause since then He would have a beginning. Everything that begins to exist has a cause; the universe began and therefore has a cause; most believably God.

The Bible assures us that even time had a beginning and was created by God as a corollary of space and matter. (cf. 2 Tim. 1:9 Titus 1:2). But don’t bet your soul on science getting it right because they have been wrong and cannot answer a lot of questions of the earth’s origin; science is know-how, not know-why. Genesis is not a science lesson and the Bible is not a scientific manual but a way to show us salvation and to know God.

There have been conflicts between science and the Bible before and the Bible has proven right. The theory of an eternal universe is untenable and it had a beginning: this implies a Beginner!  Soli Deo Gloria!

What About Sinning After Salvation?

 

1. No man can live without sin; “For there is no man that sinneth not,” (cf. Prov. 1 Kings 8:46). “There is not a just man on earth, who doeth good and sinneth not,” (cf. Eccl 7:20). “Who can say, I have made my heart clean, and I am pure from my sin?” (cf. Prov. 20:9). “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” (cf. Romans 3:23). This is known as the universality of sin.
2. Jesus is able to save us to the “uttermost” since He ever lives to make intercession for us (cf. Heb. 7:25; cf. 1 John 2;2) When we do sin, we have an Advocate to plead our case. If God marked iniquity, no one could be saved (cf. Psalm 130:2).
3. All our sins are forgiven upon salvation, past, present, and future (cf. Psalm 103:3). He throws them into the sea and deletes them: we have no permanent file! (cf. Isaiah 43:25; 44:22; Micah 7:19).
4. We are justified in God’s eyes: not made just but declared just. As God is both just and justifier and we are justified sinners (cf. Gal. 2:17). God doesn’t hold our sins against us, but does still rebuke us when we do sin to learn righteousness: “As many as I love, I chasten, be zealous therefore and repent.” (cf. Rev. 3:19). He disciplines us to learn righteousness (cf. Heb. 12:5–6).
5. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness,” (cf. 1 John 1:9).   Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Does God Punish Us On The Day Of Judgment?

 “For the LORD is righteous, and he loves justice “ (cf. Psalm 11:7).

“”.. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne,” (cf. Psalm 97:2).

Are you referring to Judgment Day? “it is appointed unto man once to die and after this the judgment (cf. Heb. 9:27; Deut. 32:35). “God is angry at the wicked every day,” (cf. Psalm 7:11; Deut. 32:35) But for our sake, He is not willing that any should perish and is patient (cf. 2 Pet. 3:9). God’s patience with man will end and He is bound to judge the world in justice because He is holy and sin offends Him. The only ones condemned are those who reject Christ as their Lord and Savior. They need not enter into judgment for this reason, but they must repent.

God is unjust to no one and renders to every sinner no more than strict justice demands. He gives sinners their due desserts. But He tempers His justice with mercy (cf. Hab. 3:2) and doesn’t punish as much as people really deserve (cf. Psalm 103:10). There remains therefore a day of judgment the Judge of all the earth may do what is right and avenge the evil done. “Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?” (cf. Gen. 18:25).

No one will get away with sin; they either accept Christ’s forgiveness by believing and repenting or they suffer themselves. God is not obligated to save anyone or it would be justice,, not mercy. God’s mercy is available to everyone who believes and God turns away no sinners. In sum, can we believe in justice without a Judge?  Soli Deo Gloria!

Why Have Faith Instead of Reasoning?

 Faith is impossible to avoid. Faith in science or your own reason is still faith. Faith in the scientific method is also faith. It’s not faith versus reason but faith versus faith. Any system of belief begins with a presupposition that cannot be proven—a contingent fact. All knowledge is contingent--it commences somewhere with a premise.

Faith is merely trusting in what one has good reason to believe. It isn’t the same as blind faith which is for no reason. Faith is rational and not contrary to logic. You cannot disprove God either, so it’s a matter of faith to deny His existence. That’s because it’s impossible to prove a universal negative No amount of evidence will convince a person to believe something he doesn’t want to.

There is no “smoking gun” evidence either way; no amount of evidence will convince a person beyond a shadow of a doubt. But the fact is, is that there is evidence from science, scripture, history, literature, logic, philosophy, and personal testimony. “But a person convinced against their will is of the same opinion still.”

The Bible’s authority is self-attesting and appeals to no higher authority than itself; otherwise, it couldn’t be the final arbiter of truth but science or philosophy would be. You must appeal to some authority and secularists appeal to their own reason and put their faith there intentionally rather than in God. Thus, you can become a Christian without committing intellectual suicide or kissing your brains goodbye. In summation, we’re all People of Faith, faith in what is what matters and differs!  Soli Deo Gloria!