tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69595827664553074562024-03-08T11:36:26.126-08:00Is God Real?My views on God, Creation, Evolution, Science, Religion and Spirituality...Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-62545186647621139652012-10-29T21:47:00.000-07:002013-12-06T20:24:48.926-08:00Why did God Create Everything?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> </span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";"> </span></b><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">He has made everything beautiful in
its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom
what God has done from beginning to end. –Ecclesiastes 3: 11</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">As I was narrating the Adam and Eve creation event from the
book of Genesis, one of my friends once asked me, “Well Pastor, Why did God
create us in the first place? Isn’t it fair to think that all these problems
that we face today started as a result of one small decision of God, the
decision to create mankind?” For the time being I chose to answer the question
with a counter question, “If God did not create mankind would you or I be there
to ask this question? If not, then what is the point in asking it?” All of us
laughed the question off, considering it to be a silly one. However, at the
back of my mind, I knew that I had to answer one of the fundamental questions a
skeptic would ask about creation, “After all, why did God choose to create
mankind?” I did not want to limit my search to human creation so I decided to
dig deeper. As a result, I decided to begin my research with this question,
“What prompted God to create everything?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">As always, I reverted to the Bible to find God’s perspective
on this matter. I began by reading the first chapter of the book of Genesis,
the one that presents the creation account. After two unfruitful attempts of
reading in order to understand God’s mind about creation, a word caught my
attention. I noticed that God said it was “Good” after every act of creation.
Why did God say this each time he created anything? Perhaps, this implies that
God created everything because he thought it was good to create. In other
words, God who had a choice before him, either to create or to refrain from the
act of creation chose to create because he thought it was good to create.
However, a skeptic may ask, why did God choose to do something good? Why didn’t
he do something evil? Elsewhere, in the Bible we read that the word Good
defines God’s character. How could a good God choose to create something evil?
Certainly, He made this choice because it defined His own character.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">The word Good defines God’s character according to the
Bible. In Psalm 100: 5 the psalmist says, "For the Lord is good and His love endures forever; His faithfulness continues through all generations." </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">God created everything as good because He
himself is good. Some people think that God created everything because he
needed something or someone to acknowledge His goodness but the Genesis account
clearly states that God didn’t do it in order to please anyone else rather he
did it in order to please himself which is evident from the statement, “God saw
all that he had made, and it was very good.” Note that none except God himself
acknowledged his act of creation to be good.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Still we may ask, “God created everything good. He created
human beings as good as well. Then, why did this good God allow mankind to fall
in the trap of the evil Satan? Why did he allow Adam and Eve to rebel?” I have
answered this question effectively in the next chapter titled, “Is God a
Sadist?” However, I feel obliged to state the key points here as well.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">In order to make this argument look stronger we may add the
following questions as well, “If God knew that the angel was fallen and would
become the cause of sufferings for mankind, then why didn’t He punish the evil
Satan then and there? Why is he still waiting for the end of the age? If God
knew that Lucifer would become a source of sufferings to mankind, then why did
He allow this devil to enter the garden in order to tempt mankind? And why did
He move away at the crucial time to allow the Satan a free access? Moreover,
why did He plant that dreaded tree in the center of the garden and why did He
create man with an ability to hear Satan’s voice and an ability to make his own
choice?” The answer for all these questions is, “because of Love”, the
quintessential characteristic of our God which makes him different from every
other creature. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">If we examine these questions from God’s perspective we
will find that he had two options before creating mankind. He could either
create them with a free-will or without it. Which do you think is the option
that a good and loving God would choose? We all know that Love is self-less,
and it compels a person to take risks and make sacrifices. Therefore, a good
and loving God would certainly choose to create mankind with a free-will rather
than without it. And, as we all know it’s the freewill that gave man the
ability to make his own choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Then, why did he plant the tree, permit Satan to enter the
garden and move away from the garden at the crucial time? We all know that a
skill is pointless and ability useless if we don’t have the circumstances to
use it. For example, learning English would be meaningless if we live (and plan
to live) in a society where no one else will ever speak this language.
Similarly, a free-will would be of no use if there were no circumstances to use
it. Therefore, God planted the tree, permitted Satan to enter the garden and
moved away from the garden at the crucial time in order to create circumstances
for man to use that free-will. We all know the rest of the story. Mankind used
the free-will to rebel against God for its own destruction. God in His
righteousness was forced to curse and punish mankind whom he loved, because of
their sin. But even in this curse our good and loving God had concealed a
promise to redeem mankind from eternal sufferings and the consequences of their
sin. Certainly, this proves that God who had to make a choice either to be good
and loving before the act of creation or to try to show himself good by
preventing man from using his freewill after the act of creation, chose to show
His goodness and love towards mankind in the beginning itself and this choice
allowed man to rebel against Him. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Lately, one of my cousins asked me, “Why did God create man
in flesh? If man was a spirit being alone (that is, without a physical body) then
he may not have fallen in devil’s trap that worked through the lust of eyes,
the lust of flesh and the pride of life, all of which are essentially the
qualities of the body and not of the spirit?” I found this question interesting
at first but then we all are aware of the fact that it’s the spirit being who
took the decision to commit sin and the flesh just followed the course. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Even then, one might ask, why did God create physical
bodies for human-beings? In the creation account, the Bible says that when God
crated man He said, “Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, and let
them rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air, over the
livestock, over all the earth, and over all the creatures that move along the
ground." I believe that every spiritual living being that was created by
God before this event should have heard this exclusive statement that would
make mankind greater than every other creation in every way. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">In Psalm 8 the psalmist says, “You have made human beings a
little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made
them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their<sup>
</sup>feet: all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild, the birds
in the sky, and the fish in the sea, all that swim the paths of the seas.”
But just before making this statement about mankind he says, “When I consider
your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have
set in place, what is mankind that you are mindful of them, human beings that
you care for them?” The reason why he cares for us even though we are little
when compared to his great creation is that he has made us in His own image and
likeness with utmost care and attention. God did create man’s spirit in his own
image and likeness with great care and affection, but then why did he give us
physical bodies?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Quite often we wonder whether our physical bodies act as a
hindrance to the expression of our love for others but on the contrary from
God’s perspective a physical body is the best way to express one’s love for
another. God, who sought many ways to show his love towards mankind through
direct encounters, signs, wonders and miracles failed to convince them of his
affection towards them throughout the Old Testament period. However, in his
final attempt to reclaim his creation he chose to take on human nature and that
too as a helpless child of a Hebrew maid. In the words of William How, an
Anglican Minister of the 19<sup>th</sup> century who wrote over fifty hymns, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">“Who is
this so weak and helpless, Child of lowly Hebrew maid, <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">Rudely in
a stable sheltered, coldly in a manger laid? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">‘Tis the
Lord of all creation, who this wondrous path hath trod; <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">He is God
from everlasting, and to everlasting God.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">One might ask, what was so special about the human
experiment of the Everlasting One in a physical body? I would like to say, it
was only in this physical body that He could ever express His </span><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;">unconditional love for mankind. For once He
said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one's life for one's friends.”
And, only in this weak physical body could he, the Life of all that is living,
express this great love towards mankind through death. As we all know, a
spirit-being can never die except through sin; and that death too is understood
in a different sense as being a kind of separation from the Holy One. So how
could God who is a Holy, Righteous spirit-being express his love by dying for
mankind? There was only one way, “the human experiment”.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-fareast-font-family: "Arial Unicode MS";">So, if a physical body could be useful for God in order to
communicate his great love for mankind by dying on a cross how much more should
it serve us as a means of effective communication. If we see things from God’s
perspective then we should conclude that a physical body was in fact a blessing
rather than a curse. If human beings had used the physical bodies wisely I am
compelled to think that they were in fact more privileged than perhaps God
himself who did not use a physical body until that time. But, human beings
being led by the devil used it to rebel against God and are now paying the
price for their wrong doings. So is it sensible to blame our physical bodies
for our rebellion? No! Our bodies are a gift from God. He created everything
and also gave human beings physical bodies because he is good and loving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-79426232073729210172012-09-27T03:13:00.000-07:002013-12-06T22:49:42.154-08:00Can God Die?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The reason my Father
loves me is that I lay down my life—only to take it up again.” -John 10: 17<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Recently while I was
preaching the good news one of my friends asked me, “Can God die? God is
supposed to be immortal, right? Why does Christianity present a God who died?”
I thought for a while and felt a little embarrassed because this question
although a very simple one seemed to be very difficult to answer. I did not
know where to start. Yet, I was overwhelmed by the fact that Christianity had
survived a little over twenty centuries despite this great contradiction which
makes it look absurd to anyone who thinks logically. In hind-sight this
question seems to puzzle us but history testifies to the fact that every new
thing or discovery that at first baffled human mind was a gateway to novel
ideas and surpassingly great revelations. We can hence be certain that the idea
of ‘God dying on a cross in order to save mankind’ also has some deep spiritual
mystery behind it. This chapter is an attempt to uncover some of it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my reply I told my
friend that I had some more questions in my mind that would make his argument
look even stronger, “Can God cry for help? Does God need a spiritual son or
partner in order to carry out his eternal plans for the whole creation? And
above all, “Why did God need a human birth to ensure the salvation of mankind?”
I began to answer his question by asking him to view things from God’s
perspective. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God created human
beings and placed them in a garden commanding them to take care of it. At that
time they could communicate with God directly because while in the garden human
beings were fully aware of their own spiritual reality. By spiritual reality I
mean to say that they knew they are spirit beings. How many of us are born with
a realization that we are spirit beings and not just physical bodies? In fact,
we start thinking about our spiritual existence only when others begin to point
it to us. Why is it so? The Bible says that this is because we are spiritually
dead due to sin. How and where did this sin originate? From the Bible we
understand that sin originated when mankind rebelled against God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God had told them that
they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, but they still went on to eat
it and as we all know they did not die physically; they died spiritually and
hence lost the awareness of their being spirit-beings. This is evident from the
fact that man felt ashamed of his nakedness only after committing the act and
never before it. The resultant spiritual death that passed on from generation
to generation is the reason why we are born without spiritual awareness. We all
know and believe that God loves mankind, wants to restore this spiritual
awareness in to us and thereby save us from eternal death in hell. But again,
why should God become a human being for this purpose? Can’t He who can do
everything that He wants to do choose to forgive people for their sins
arbitrarily? Let us examine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is righteous and
just. He cannot leave any sin unpunished. Therefore, he needs to punish sin but
at the same time (because he loves us) He wants to exonerate the sinners. How
can he do both these things? One way that we would suggest is for God to change
his laws. But, if He does so he would be contradicting his own nature. So he
has introduced a new way such that he doesn’t have to change his laws or
contradict his nature. He has brought in the system of redemption through
sacrifice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">At first he commanded
people to sacrifice animals for the forgiveness of their sins. In the Torah,
God revealed through Prophet Moses the idea behind the sin offerings for the
forgiveness of sins. “If the citizens of Israel do something forbidden by the
Lord, they will be guilty of sin. When they become aware of their sin, they
must bring as their offering a goat with no physical defects. They are to lay a
hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it. The priest will then
offer the sacrifice to the Lord. In this way, the priest will make atonement
for them and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4: 27-31) The idea was that the
sin to be atoned for was transferred from the transgressors to the offering when
they laid their hands on it. And the sacrificed animal which has now become a
carrier of the sins was punished (killed) instead of the transgressor. As the
sins were punished in the body of the animal, the sinners could now be pardoned
for their transgressions. Everyone knows that a law breaker cannot stand bail
for another law breaker. Similarly, the animals without physical defects
symbolized the logic that the one who takes up the defect (sin) should not be
of any defect.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">But any man who thinks
will assert, “What is the logic in punishing innocent animals for the sins of
wicked human beings?” Even God is concerned about this statement, but
unfortunately there is no one in the entire human race who is completely free
from any spiritual defect because we all are dead spiritually due to sin. God
knew that since no man qualifies for the act, He himself should take on a human
nature, totally identify with us – except for not rebelling in sin and become a
sacrifice for our sins. Therefore, He took on a human nature as the One who has
revealed the mystery of God to human eyes, the only begotten Son of God, Jesus
Christ. God entered time and space, matter and energy, as a weak, poor human
baby, lived a common-yet-sinless life and died as a rejected good man to pay
the penalty for human sins. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Though He was God, He
did not demand and cling to His rights as God. He made himself nothing; He took
the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. He appeared to be so
weak that he cried on the cross because for his sacrifice to be acceptable he
needed to identify with humanity in every way. He was oppressed and afflicted
yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as
a sheep before her shearers ever so silent. He did not rebel or curse but
became obedient to death – even death on a cross.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He was wounded and
crushed for our sins; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him. In the
Gospel according to St. John, John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old
Testament said to his disciples, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away
the sin of the world! (John 1: 29) He
said this about Jesus Christ. Jesus became the Lamb of God who takes away the
sins of mankind. For a sacrifice to be acceptable to God the lamb to be offered
should be free from all defects. Jesus, being born of a virgin and having lived
a sinless life, was free from all spiritual defects so that the criteria of the
sacrificial lamb could be fulfilled in Him. He is the savior of the world!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus Christ died and
was buried. But, of course, how could death and destruction hold God the
Creator? It couldn’t, so in power he rose to a new life and offers that to his
Creation: “Be reconciled”. “And, again, in weakness, he entrusts this good news
and the message about reconciliation to his human followers, to pass on to all
his creatures by the testimony of our lives and words.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">I believe that this
explains why God needed a human birth, a sinless life, helpless cries and
finally death on a cross to ensure the salvation of mankind. God who cannot die
chose to die because he loved us so much. The Bible says, “For God so loved the
world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not
perish but have eternal life.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Even now, some people
might argue why couldn’t God who is capable of doing anything even if it means
changing his own laws, decrees and ways forgive mankind directly without a
sacrifice? Well, I would prefer to answer this question with a counter
question, “Will God who is infinitely merciful forgive Satan if he were to ask
for it?” If the answer is “no”, I ask, “why so?” Some people suggest that God
in his foreknowledge knows that Satan will not ask for forgiveness. Others
think that God has created Satan in such a way that he can never ask for
forgiveness. Still others believe that Satan cannot ask for forgiveness because
God who is in control of everything doesn’t allow him to do so. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we were to believe
any of the above statements, then it would be a direct contradiction to God’s
characteristic of Righteousness. How can a righteous God who is always ready to
forgive the sins of people punish Satan for his sins without even giving him an
opportunity to repent? If God were to forgive everyone who asked for it
directly (that is without a sacrifice/ mediator) he would certainly be obliged
to forgive Satan as well. But the fact remains that God doesn’t want to forgive
Satan. So, we have another problem before us. God in His love wants to forgive
mankind but if he does so directly that is, without a sacrifice he would be
risking an opportunity for Satan to repent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">We all know that God
having decreed Satan’s punishment the moment he sinned doesn’t want to change
His statement as that would mean He is contradicting His own nature. So how can
God offer an opportunity for mankind to repent but deny it to Satan at the same
time? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus Christ is God’s
answer to this question. Jesus died to pay the penalty for only human sins (as
he was born as a human being) and not for the sins of angels. Only people can
claim the forgiveness through his sacrifice. Satan being an angel has no right
to partake in it. So through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, God has chosen to
forgive mankind and denied Satan the opportunity to repent. I believe that this
explains the logic behind the need for a sacrifice.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">All people are born
sinners. They try to escape the punishment by their righteous works. But just
as a murderer is not left unpunished in our civil society irrespective of the
numerous righteous acts that he might have done in the past or may do in the
future, our righteous works cannot cleanse the stain of our sins. The only way
out for sinful mankind is dependence on God’s loving-kindness and mercy that He
has expressed through the sacrifice of His only begotten son on a cross.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you want the
forgiveness of your sins through Jesus Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you repent for your
sins and receive Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, God will
cleanse your conscience with the blood of Jesus, forgive your sins and fill you
with His Holy Spirit. He will come inside you and remain with you forever. You
will become a spiritual child of God. He will write your name in the “Book of
Life” in Heaven. You will be assured of eternal life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you believe this
message I exhort you to say the following prayer with all your heart. “Lord
Jesus I am a sinner. I repent for my sins and believe that you died on a cross
to save me. Please forgive me and cleanse my conscience with your precious
blood. I receive you in my heart as my Lord and Savior. Please fill me with
your Holy Spirit. Thank you for coming into my heart and making me your child.
Amen!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you have prayed
sincerely, God has forgiven your sins. You are united with Him and have become
His spiritual child. He has written your name in the ‘Lamb’s Book of Life’ in
heaven and you have received eternal life. The Bible also promises all
spiritual children of God a complete redemption of their physical bodies when
Christ returns from heaven.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-31730597855583706302012-09-25T07:43:00.000-07:002013-12-07T05:06:17.368-08:00Who Triggered the Big Bang?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“The
entire universe was formed at God’s command, that what we now see did not come
from anything that can be seen.” [Hebrews 11: 3]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Regarding the origin of
the universe, some scientists suggested that if Einstein's General Theory of
Relativity is correct, there will be a singularity, a point of infinite density
and space-time curvature, where time has a beginning. But, Einstein's theory
cannot predict how the universe will begin, but only how it will evolve once it
has begun. So, it was suggested that entire universe was compressed into a
teeny tiny little ball, which exploded into all space, time, matter and energy
(the Big-bang). The pre-big bang singularity should be infinitely dense and
possessed all the mass in the universe, effectively bringing ‘time’ to a
standstill.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Big-bang theory was
totally rejected at first. But, those who supported it had predicted that the
ignition of the Big-bang would have left behind some sort of 'hot flash' of
radiation. In 1965, without looking for it, two physicists at Bell Labs in New
Jersey found it. Observational evidence
confirmed the idea that the universe had a very dense beginning with the
discovery of a faint background of microwaves throughout space, in October
1965. Robert Wilson was one of the scientists who discovered this radiation.
Wilson said, "Certainly there was something that set it all off.
Certainly, if you are religious, I can't think of a better theory of the origin
of the universe to match with Genesis."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Although there is not
much doubt about the Big-bang it is still not possible to explain who
precipitated it in the first place. The beginning of time would have been a
singularity, at which the laws of physics would have broken down. So the laws
of physics can no longer guide the Big-bang explosion. Besides, this theory
suggests that nothing existed before the explosion. Time and space came into
existence as a result of this explosion or bang! Is it scientifically possible
to prove that nothing exploded under nobody's direction at no point in time and
everything came into existence? Naturally, anyone who thinks logically would
ask, “Who initiated the Big-bang?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">No one knows what/who
could have triggered the Big-bang. And, scientifically it is impossible to
discover this because the laws of physics can no longer guide the Big-bang
explosion. The scientists appear to be saying, "We don't know what caused
the Big -bang, and the question itself may not make sense. We'll keep working on it.” Some Atheists say
that, “There is still no proof of any deities that may have triggered the big
bang explosion. You might as well try and say a giant Cyborg bunny triggered
the big bang. There is no proof.” As a
matter of fact science has not progressed enough to prove the existence of the
One who triggered the Big-bang. However, the one who triggered the Big-bang has
left some clues in the universe to help us find Him. Let us examine those clues.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Big Bang theory
also suggests that the universe expanded to its current form from a basic
subatomic singularity. Studies on the rate of this expansion suggest that if
the universe had expanded a little faster, the matter would have sprayed out into
space like fine mist from a spray bottle - so fast that a gazillion particles
of dust would have sped into infinity and never even form a single star. If the
universe had expanded just a little slower, the material would have dribbled
out like big drops of water, then collapsed back where it came from by the
force of gravity. A little too fast, and you get a meaningless spray of fine
dust. A little too slow, and the whole universe collapses back into one big
black hole. The surprising thing is just how narrow the difference is. To strike the perfect balance between too
fast and too slow, the force, something that physicists call "the Dark
Energy Term" had to be accurate to one part in ten with 120 zeros.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In their paper
"Disturbing Implications of a Cosmological Constant" two atheist
scientists from Stanford University stated that the existence of this dark
energy term would essentially require a miracle … "An unknown agent"
intervened in cosmic history "for reasons of its own." Just for
comparison, the best human engineering example is the Gravity Wave Telescope,
which was built with a precision of 23 zeros.
The Designer, the 'external agent' that caused our universe must possess
an intellect, knowledge, creativity and power trillions and trillions of times
greater than we humans have. Absolutely amazing! Another amazing discovery of
scientists, in recent decades, is that many properties of the universe are
"just right" for life. Most scientists are convinced that constraints
on a life-allowing universe are very tight, that small changes would make the
existence of intelligent life impossible. Based on scientific evidence, there
is little doubt about this conclusion. There are two main theories for why our
universe is "just right" for life, the Intelligent Design theory and
the Multiverse theory.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Intelligent design
means our universe was designed and created by an extremely intelligent and
powerful designer who wanted to create a magnificent world with sunshine,
proteins, and people. Whereas, the Multiverse theory suggests that, “Since the
probability of a life-supporting universe is extremely low, scientists think
that if there are many universes (in a Multiverse) with properties varying
throughout the entire range of possibilities, at least one universe may show
the properties to support intelligent life.” Basically, Multiverse theory is a
way to beat the odds, and it can be used to "explain away" all the
evidence for design, whether this evidence occurs at the level of the universe,
origin of life, or development of life, or you winning ten consecutive
lotteries, because everything will happen if there are enough universes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most scientists are
convinced that constraints on a life-allowing universe are very tight, that
small changes would make the existence of intelligent life impossible. Based on
scientific evidence, there is little doubt that many properties of the universe
are "just right" for life. Isn’t this data sufficient to prove that
the one who triggered the Big-bang is an intelligent designer? Scientists have enough evidence to prove that
everything that exists today has a beginning. They also have sufficient data to
suggest that everything has come out of nothing and has been designed
intelligently. So isn’t it scientifically reasonable to believe that in the
beginning an intelligent designer designed everything to perfection after
creating it out of nothing? Sir Albert Einstein said, “Everyone who is
seriously involved in the pursuit of science becomes convinced that a spirit is
manifest in the laws of the Universe- a spirit vastly superior to that of man,
and one in the face of which we with our modest powers must feel humble."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now the question that
is left before us is, “Who could that intelligent designer be?” The Hindus and
the other religions that have evolved out of Hinduism believe in Advaita, a
highly impersonal consciousness that pervades everything and yet has nothing to
do with anything, which neither creates nor destroys, which doesn’t influence
anything seen or unseen and is least concerned about the condition of mankind
in general, let alone the life of an individual. Advaita doesn't advocate an
intelligent designer but from the way we find the universe we can see that the
Being who has worked behind it has intelligently designed everything to
perfection after creating it out of nothing. Therefore, the so called universal
consciousness that the proponents of Advaita claim cannot be the one who has
triggered the Big-bang.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The only popular
religions that advocate an intelligent designer as creator God are Judaism,
Christianity and Islam. In my opinion, we should compare the lives and/or
teachings of the so-called Gods from the books written by the people who claim
to be their devotees in order to arrive at a conclusion in this matter; e.g.
the Life and teachings of Christ from the Bible and teachings of Allah from the
Qur'an. Since we all know that our conscience by which we would be able to know
and acknowledge God was also created by Him, we should try to figure out for
ourselves the one who represents God’s true nature based on what is acceptable
to our conscience.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">While most of the
religions present a God who hates sinners and then destroys them, The Holy
Bible presents a God who is so full of love that not only does he love the
repentant sinners but also is willing to die for their cause. The intelligent
designer who has designed the Universe to perfection has left one great clue
about His nature in the conscience (which again is designed by Him) of mankind.
We all by instinct know that sacrificing ones’ life is a greater virtue than
killing/destroying others. The one who has triggered the big bang and has also
designed our conscience to help us know him should be a God of love rather than
hatred. The Bible says, "God is Love and Jesus Christ is the ultimate
expression of God's Love for man-kind. </span><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%; mso-ascii-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-bidi-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> For God so
loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him
shall not perish but have eternal life.” This proves the God of the Bible is
the intelligent designer who has triggered the formation of the universe.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The following verses
from the Bible also confirm the same fact. “In the beginning God created the
heavens and the earth” (Genesis 1:1) “... that the entire universe was formed
at God’s command, that what we now see did not come from anything that can be
seen.” (Hebrews 11: 3) “In the beginning the Word already existed. The Word was
with God, and the Word was God. He existed in the beginning with God. God
created everything through him, and nothing was created except through him. The
Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the
glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and
truth.....for the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through
Jesus Christ.” (John 1: 1-3, 14, 16)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written by: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-72208781648194229002012-09-20T19:36:00.002-07:002013-12-06T22:37:52.575-08:00Is God a Sadist?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you have eyes of
flesh? Do you see as a mortal sees? –Job 10: 4<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b><br /></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>Why should we pray to a
God who has created Sufferings?</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Very often we ask, “If
God is omnipotent then why does he need our prayers? If God is all-knowing,
then why should we pray in order to tell Him our feelings and desires? If God
is perfectly good and just, then aren't our prayers asking Him to help others
pointless? Doesn’t the act of prayer show God’s limitations? After all, why
should we pray?” Well, the answer is simple, "we should pray in order to
know/receive/understand the answers to the above questions from God because
prayer is the only means of communicating with God, who is a Spiritual being.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is omnipotent and
doesn't need our prayers but a person who knows God will not stop praying
because he knows that God is kind and merciful and is always willing to listen
to our cry. In the words of a famous person, "Man cannot work without God
and God does not work without man." It’s not that the omnipotent God needs
our prayers in order to work, He has designed everything in such a way that He
does not will to work without the involvement of man (through prayer). Note
that there is a great difference between the words need and will. Any person
who thinks logically would ask, why can’t the omnipotent God work
independently? The reason is the most important attribute of God, The Bible
says, “God is Love”. If we take a view of these things from God’s point of view
we will find that God has two options before him either to do everything
independently or to do everything by involving man in it (shared
participation). Which do you think is the option that a Loving God would choose
to take? Certainly he would choose to work in conjunction with man. That’s why God
doesn’t will to work without the involvement of man, through prayer. He
involves mankind (our prayers) in everything He does because his nature is
Love. Even though God is omniscient, he still responds to our prayers because
his love for us is unconditional. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Our prayers may not
change His plans for us but prayer does prepare us to know and acknowledge His
plans. Prayer helps and prepares us to receive God's purpose of the things that
we do not know and also about the things that we cannot change within our
ability. Prayer does not denote God’s inability but instead it helps us to
understand how God has limited himself, despite his limitless power, for the
sake of communicating with his creation - who has very limited knowledge of His
attributes, plans, purposes and sometimes even questions His existence because
He doesn't intervene in their lives in the way they expected or wanted to. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we think from the
Biblical stand-point; when God created man and placed him in the garden, man
could communicate with Him directly because at that time he was fully aware of
his own spiritual reality. By spiritual reality I mean to say that man knew
that he is a spirit being. How many of us are born with a realization that we
are spirit beings and not just physical bodies? In fact, we start thinking
about our spiritual existence only when others begin to point it to us. Why so?
The Bible says that this is because we are spiritually dead due to sin. How and
where did this sin originate? From the Bible we understand that sin originated
when mankind rebelled against God in the garden of Eden. God had told them that
they would die if they ate the forbidden fruit, but they still went on to eat
it and as we all know they did not die physically; they died spiritually and
hence lost the awareness of their being spirit-beings. This is evident from the
fact that man felt ashamed of his nakedness only after committing the act and
not before it. The resultant spiritual death that passed on from generation to
generation is the reason why we are born without spiritual awareness. This
condition is reversed when a person asks for forgiveness of sins through Jesus
Christ. A person who believes that Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for his
sins becomes born-again spiritually. God promises that he would fully restore
those who are spiritually born-again even to the state in which Adam and Eve
could talk with him directly, after the judgment and the resurrection of the
dead. Until that time prayer is the only means of communicating with God!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If God is Love then why
did he create Sufferings?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Another question that
one would ask is, “If God loves us so much, then why did he create sufferings
in the first place?” If there were no sufferings, then would anyone bother to
pray? Well, the Bible says that God did not create sufferings it’s the work of
the Satan. Naturally we would then ask, “Why did God create the Satan?”
According to the Bible, God did not create Satan. In fact, he created a
beautiful angel named Lucifer. Lucifer used His freewill [the ability to think,
decide and act independently] to rebel against God and became Satan. One would
then ask, “If God is omnipotent and omniscient, then why did he allow the angel
to rebel?” The secret again is hidden in the most mysterious attribute of God,
Love. If we look at these concepts from God’s stand point we would find that he
had two options in front of him before creating the angels. He could either
create them with a free-will or without it. Which do you think is the option
that a loving God would choose? We all know that love is selfless. Then,
certainly he would choose to create angels with a free-will, rather than
without it. So is it sensible to put the blame on God for allowing the fallen
angel use his freewill? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">A man once asked me,
“Well, if God who is full of love knew that the angel would fall then why
didn’t he stop him?” I answered with a counter question, “Well, what use is a
freewill if a person (in this context, angel) has no freedom to use it?” On a
different occasion another person asked me, “Well, God knew that the angel was
fallen, He also knew that this angel would become the cause of sufferings for
mankind, then why didn’t he punish the Satan then and there? Why is he still
waiting for the end of the age? Well, he could have spared mankind all these
sufferings if he had punished Satan at that very moment. So, do you still think
that God loves us?” I added a few more questions to make his argument look even
stronger. I asked, “If God knew that the angel would become a source of sufferings
to mankind, then why did He allow this fallen angel to enter the garden in
order to tempt mankind? And why did He move away at the crucial time to allow
the Satan a free access? Above all, why did He plant that dreaded tree in the
center of the garden and why did He create man with an ability to hear Satan’s
voice and an ability to make his own choice?” Once again the answer for all
these questions is found in Love that one crucial characteristic of God which
makes him different from every other creature.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If we examine these
questions from God’s point of view we would find that he had two options before
creating mankind. He could either create them with a free-will or without it.
Which do you think is the option that a loving God would choose? We all know
that love is selfless, and it compels a person to take risks and make
sacrifices. Therefore, a loving God would certainly choose to create mankind
with a free-will rather than without it. And, as we all know it’s the freewill
that gave man the ability to make his own choice. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Then, why did he plant
the tree, permit Satan to enter the garden and move away from the garden at the
crucial time? We all know that any ability is useless if we don’t have the
circumstances to use it. For example, learning English would be meaningless if
we live (and plan to live) in a society where no one else will ever speak this
language. Similarly, a free-will would be of no use if there were no
circumstances to use it. Therefore, God planted the tree, permitted Satan to enter
the garden and moved away from the garden at the crucial time in order to
create circumstances for man to use that free-will. We all know the rest of the
story. Mankind used the free-will to rebel against God for its own destruction.
God in his righteousness was forced to curse and punish mankind whom he loved,
because of their sin. But even in this curse our loving God had concealed a
promise to redeem mankind from eternal sufferings and the consequences of their
sin. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In Genesis 3: 15 he
tells Satan, “And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your
seed and her seed; He shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on
the heel." This is in fact, the first mention of the gospel and of Jesus
Christ in the entire Bible. You might have missed it because the name Jesus
isn’t in the text, but he is there, nonetheless. Jesus is the “seed of the
woman”, who would one day come into this world in a most unlikely fashion. I
like to think of this verse as the top of a wide funnel. When the promise was
given, no one could have imagined the coming Jesus Christ. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The “seed of the woman”
simply meant that he must be a member of the human race. But after the flood
the line was narrowed to Noah’s descendants, then later to Shem’s descendants,
and later came to rest on one man–Abraham, the father of the nation Israel.
This was passed on to his son Isaac, to Isaac’s son Jacob, then to Jacob’s son
Judah. Centuries later the line was further narrowed down to the house of
David. Finally, approximately nine centuries after that, the line came to rest
on the firstborn son of a virgin named Mary. What started with the whole human
race has narrowed to just one man–Jesus Christ. He didn’t come in the usual
way; he came by means of a virgin birth. No one before or ever since entered
the world as he did. Thus he is the ultimate “seed of the woman” since no man
was involved in his conception.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written by: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-50090804222979848132012-09-20T07:11:00.002-07:002013-12-07T05:30:29.298-08:00Is Jesus the Creator God?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: 150%; margin: 0in 0in 0pt; text-align: center; text-indent: 0.5in;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Through him all
things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made.” –John 1:
1-3<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Bible says that
Jesus Christ is the Creator God. In the first chapter of the Gospel according
to St. John we read, “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things
were made; without him nothing was made that has been made… The Word became
flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the
one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth… For the
law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.” In The
Epistle of St. Paul to the Colossians we read, ‘For by him (Jesus Christ) were
all things created’. Not only does Scripture affirm it, but during His earthly
life and ministry He did the very things we would expect the Creator God to do.
He did them in the way that we would expect the Creator God to do them—by His
word of authority and the exercise of His will. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus resurrected the
dead on three occasions: a widow’s son,
Jairus’ daughter, and his friend Lazarus. Several of Jesus’ miracles involved
the creation of new material. Jesus’ first miraculous sign to His disciples
involved turning water to wine. Other examples are the two times when Jesus fed
a multitude: the first occasion was when he provided food for more than 5,000
people with just five loaves and two fish, and on the second occasion he fed
more than 4,000 people with seven loaves and a few pieces of fish. Some of
Jesus’ miracles of healing, for example, of lepers, the blind and paralytics,
involved the instant repair of tissues, nerves, muscles, etc., and the
instantaneous regeneration or growth of healthy cells. The net result was the
creation of healthy functioning parts of the body to replace diseased,
non-functioning or atrophied parts. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus employed a
variety of means to perform His miracles. These included touching lepers, the
blind, and the deaf; the use of saliva to heal a deaf mute and a blind man; the
use of clay (with instructions to wash) to heal a blind man; and the word of command
to heal, to raise the dead, and to exorcise demons. What happened in these and
in all of Jesus’ miracles was that Jesus willed the event to happen and it did.
Jesus willed the water to become wine, as it was being taken into the wedding
feast in Cana, and it happened! He willed the bread and fish to multiply and
they did, and He willed the ten lepers to become well and they were healed soon
after they had left Him and were on their way to the priests. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">John, an apostle of
Jesus calls His miracles’ signs and in his Gospel He indicates which way the
signs point; “But these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Very often we ask,
what’s significance of a name? Why can’t we approach God in any name? Doesn’t
God the omniscient creator know our innermost desire to know him and can’t he
receive our prayers that are rendered in any name? Most people think that when
they call God by different names, like Allah, Krishna, Rama or Jesus, they are
referring to the same person. Is this true? Let us examine. What is the purpose
behind using a name? Why do we give names to our children? Why do the
scientists give names to different species of plants, animals and even hybrids?
We all know that names help us to make a distinction of individuals, species
and even societies. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Name is a key feature
that helps us to identify a thing and differentiate it from other things. A
name is a word or term used for identification. Names can identify a class or
category of things, or a single thing, either uniquely, or within a given
context. So when we call God by a certain name, we are indirectly referring to
the person who was/is known by that name. We all know that every person has a
unique character, lifestyle and way of thinking. This is also evident in the
lives of the personalities that we refer to as Gods. We can easily point out
that the character, lifestyle, teaching and the way of thinking of these
personalities (whom people claim to be God or incarnations of God) are
completely different from each other and sometimes even quite opposite. Why is
it so? This is because behind every name there is a person, behind every person
there is a character or lifestyle, behind every character there is a teaching
and behind every teaching there is a Spirit. The answer is very simple, “their
Spirits are different” or “they are different Spirit-beings”. So from the above
observation it is clear that we are not calling on the same person when we call
upon God by these different names. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Do you want eternal
life through the name of Jesus Christ?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you repent and
confess your sins to God and receive Jesus Christ as the Lord and Saviour of
your life you can receive this free gift of eternal life. God will cleanse your
conscience with the blood of Jesus, forgive your sins and fill you with His
Holy Spirit. Jesus Christ came into this world to save sinners; he destroyed
the power of death and has brought immortality to light through the gospel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you believe this
message I exhort you to say the following prayer with all your heart. “Lord
Jesus I am a sinner. I repent of my sins and believe that you died and
resurrected to save me. Please forgive me and cleanse my conscience with your
precious blood. I receive you as my Lord and Savior. Please fill me with your
Holy Spirit. Thank you for forgiving my sins and giving me eternal life. Amen!”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If you have prayed
sincerely, God has forgiven your sins. He has written your name in the ‘Book of
Life’ in heaven and you have received eternal life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-54450686952479981222012-09-20T03:52:00.001-07:002013-12-07T05:37:00.939-08:00Is Jesus the Only Way?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div align="center" class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus answered, "I
am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except
through me.” –John 14: 7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">If there is only one
heaven and one God, then why would God create many different ways for people to
reach him? The necessity of God to create ways for people to approach him is
not validated because If He exists then He is the one in authority and has all
the right to command all men to come to him through ‘His way'. Think logically
and ask yourself, if God is seated on His throne (which is in fact the highest
position) then why should He create more than one way for one kind of creature
(that is, mankind) to reach him? Jesus is honored because He is confident that
He is the only way to heaven; ask all other gods but none can make such an
exclusive statement because they are not even certain of their own position. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus said, "I am
<i>the</i> way", and not "I am <i>a</i> way". There are many good ways, people
and philosophies, but there is only one God and one way to heaven. Some people
believe in the ten incarnations of God. But let me ask you a question, “Why
should God be born again and again in this world to solve one problem (that is,
the problem of sin) and yet not solve it even after ten incarnations?” Is God
so weak and is his strategy so fragile? On a closer examination you will find
that the way these so called incarnations were trying to solve the problem of
sin was the 'real’ problem. You cannot defeat sin by destroying sinners, which
is exactly what all those incarnations excelled in doing. Sin cannot be
defeated by destroying sinners; it can be overcome only by destroying the
"sin" that lies within the sinner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For this reason God
came once and for all, (because that was sufficient) in human form and bore the
punishment of all sins on his sinless body to set free all sinners (who believe
in Him) from the prison of sin. First,
by forgiving their past sins and saving them from the punishment of sin (in
hell), then by saving them from the tendency to sin or from "sin"
itself by creating in them a new way of life, and ultimately by residing inside
of them spiritually and leading them according to His plan and purpose for
their lives. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus kills the sin and
not the sinner, that's the difference. When this 'sin' inside a person is killed
he is Born-again spiritually. Which do you think is the better option? God
being born again several times to destroy sinners and finally becoming
frustrated because the sin keeps on increasing or God deciding to die for
sinners in order to forgive their sins and then starts living inside them by
making them Born-again spiritually? I think if I were God I would choose to
give sinners the opportunity to be Born-again spiritually and live holy lives
rather than I being born again and again just to kill a few sinners, yet not
solve the problem of sin.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Immortality is a
fundamental desire of all human beings. According to a popular Hindu belief
Asuras and Devas fought each other for it. The legend goes that both Asuras and
the Devas joined hands in churning a sea called the sea of milk. As they
churned, a variety of gifts were released from the bottom of the sea; the last
of all but the most precious one was “Amrutham,” a sacred fluid that gives
eternal life to all who drink from it. Devas tricked the Asuras and captured
the jar containing the fluid. As they were fighting for it in the heavenly
realms, a portion of it fell to some rivers of the earth. Hence, these rivers
became holy, and there came a belief that those who wash themselves in these
rivers will receive the cleansing of their sins and eternal life. Hindus
believe that all human beings are sinners and cannot acquire eternal life
without the cleansing of their sins. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Holy Bible also
proclaims the same fact. All human beings are sinners and we all need
cleansing. Where should this cleansing take place? Is the cleansing of the body
sufficient to remove our sins? Is it enough that we clean the outside of the
vessel while the inside remains dirty? Think about it. True cleansing should
take place within us: in the conscience, for it is the conscience that makes us
aware of our sins. The Bible says, “The blood of Jesus Christ cleanses our
conscience from all sin.” <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">How does the blood of
Jesus qualify over the water of the rivers?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Blood of Jesus is
Divine: It has its origin in God whereas “Amrutham” came from the bottom of the
sea. Why do we say that the blood of Jesus is divine? The answer is simple,
‘because Jesus himself is divine’. Jesus was born of a virgin named Mary.
Before His birth an angel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and
the power of the Most High will overshadow you, so the Holy one to be born will
be called the Son of God.” Jesus is the Son of God, He is divine and so is His
blood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Blood of Jesus is
Redemptive: Jesus shed his blood on a cross for the very purpose of cleansing
the sins of humanity whereas “Amrutham” fell in the rivers accidentally. Jesus’
blood is God’s payment for human sins. God is Just; man is a sinner. God, in
his justice must punish all human beings for their sins. The punishment of sin
is eternal death in hell. God loves us and so he sent Jesus, His son, in human
likeness, to take the punishment of all our sins and hence save us from hell.
Jesus paid the penalty for our sins by His substitutionary death on a cross.
His blood is the price that God paid for our sins, once and for all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Those who believe in
Jesus can receive the cleansing of their sins by His blood and hence eternal
life or immortality. God will pour out his Holy Spirit into such people. Holy
Spirit is the true “Amrutham”, which God gives freely to all who ask Him in
Jesus name. It is the true living water that satisfies the inner thirst of
every human being and becomes in them a spring of water welling up to eternal
life. Jesus said, “Whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://shalomchristianministry.org/">http://shalomchristianministry.org/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-55272284181319109512012-09-20T03:40:00.000-07:002013-12-07T05:45:12.222-08:00Is Jesus Only a Prophet?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus replied, "If
you knew me, you would know my Father also." –John 8: 19<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus Christ is one of
the most relevant names in history. This rabbi (teacher) from Israel is known,
believed and worshipped by at least one third of the World’s population. How
did Jesus become so famous? How did this ordinary carpenter from Israel become
world famous? How could this prophet who worked only for three and a half years
influence the world for more than 2000 years? All religions and even cults have
something to say, reveal or proclaim about his life, teachings and work on
earth. Christianity and Islam have their
own views about this holy man. The Quran claims that Jesus Christ was a Prophet
of God whereas the Bible claims that He is more than a Prophet. The question
is, is Jesus only a prophet or is He someone greater than that? This article is
an attempt to answer this question and to draw your attention to the
personality, work and purpose of Jesus’ life on earth. Let us begin our
analysis with the two major claims of the Quran about the birth and the
personality of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Virgin Birth of Jesus:
The Quran accepts that Jesus (Isa’ in Qur’an) was born of the Virgin Mary,
without a father. ‘Isa is called as the son of Mary 23 times in the Qur’an. It
even tries to justify Mary and confirm that she did not give birth to the child
out of wedlock. (Sura Al ‘Imran 3:45-47;
Sura Al Maryam 19: 16-23)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Sinless Life of Jesus:
When announcing the birth of Christ in the Quran, Jibril, who is acknowledged
to be a spirit of Allah and the messenger of his revelations, promised Mary
that he would grant her a pure and flawless boy. (Sura Maryam 19:19) Some commentators of Quran
openly write that ‘Isa was born without sin and was holy, because he was born
of the spirit of Allah. According to the Quran, if Christ had been a sinner, he
would have died and would have had to wait in his grave for the hour of Allah’s
judgment, but Christ, according to the Qur’an, was lifted up to Allah. He lives
with him. He is one of those brought near to Allah.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus talks with him in
a personal dialogue (Sura al-Ma’ida 5: 116-118). No sin separates him from the
holy one. The Qur’an speaks of Abraham’s, Moses’ and Muhammad’s sins (Sura
Ghafir 40: 55; Muhammad 47:19; al-Fath 48: 2; al-Nasr 110: 3), but concerning
Christ there is no hint, not even in Tradition, that he might have sinned,
erred or become weakened. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now we have two
questions before us, “Why was Jesus born of a virgin?” and “Why did he lead a
sinless life?” If Christ wanted to serve God as a Prophet alone He could have
done that without a virgin birth or a sinless life like the other prophets like
Abraham, Moses and Muhammad. We all know and believe that God does not do
anything without a purpose. What purpose did God fulfill through the virgin
birth and sinless life of Jesus? The Holy Bible unveils the mystery behind this.
God is Just; all human beings are sinners. God, in his justice must punish all
human beings for their sins. The punishment of sin is eternal death in hell.
God loves us and wants to save us from hell. At the same time, God hates sin
and therefore must punish sin. In order to save the sinners and to punish their
sins God sent Jesus (the meaning of the name Jesus is ‘Savior’) on earth. Jesus
took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. God laid on him
the guilt and sins of all human beings. Jesus did not sin yet he accepted the
death of a sinner on a cross. God punished the sins of all human beings in the
body of Jesus. He became a sacrifice for us. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Once a Muslim asked a
missionary, "If you saw a group of thugs attacking your son and could see
they were going to kill him, would you not go to his rescue? Do you not love
your son? Then how can you say that the Loving God let His only son die on a
cross?" The Missionary replied, "What if you saw me walking down the
road with a knife in my own hand and my son in the other, intending to kill him
myself. Would that not be far worse?" The Muslim friend agreed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">He continued,
"Then how can you believe that Abraham was such a great prophet and father
when that is precisely what he did. He prepared one day to kill his own son
according to the Qur’an (Surah 37.102-103).” “God told Moses ‘You shall not
kill’ - How can you proclaim that Abraham is worthy of honor when he resolved
to do this to his very own son?" The Muslim friend emphatically replied:
"You do not understand. That was different! It was a test of his love for
God. If a man will give his son for God, he’ll give anything for him!"
"Exactly", the missionary replied, "and that is precisely what
we are saying about God. He did not stand by watching, he willingly gave his
Son for us to save us from our sins. It was the greatest proof of His love for
us.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus was oppressed and
afflicted yet He did not open his mouth; He was led like a lamb to the
slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers ever so silent, so He did not
open His mouth. He did not rebel or curse but became obedient to death – even
death on a cross. He was wounded and crushed for our sins; the punishment that
brought us peace with God was upon him. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for our
sins by His substitutionary death on a cross. His blood is the price that God
paid for our sins, once and for all. If Jesus was born normally, like every one
of us, He would have been a sinner himself. A sinner cannot take the bail for
the sins of others. A sinner cannot become a sacrifice. This explains the
mystery behind the virgin birth and sinless life of Jesus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Torah, God
revealed through Prophet Moses the idea behind the sin offerings for the
forgiveness of sins. “If the citizens of Israel do something forbidden by the
Lord, they will be guilty of sin. When they become aware of their sin, they
must bring as their offering a goat with no physical defects. They are to lay a
hand on the head of the sin offering and slaughter it. The priest will then
offer the sacrifice to the Lord. In this way, the priest will make atonement
for them and they will be forgiven.” (Leviticus 4: 27-31) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Gospel according
to St. John, John the Baptist, the last prophet of the Old Testament said to
his disciples, “Look! There is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the
world! (John 1: 29) He said this about
Jesus Christ. Jesus became the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of mankind.
For a sacrifice to be acceptable to God the lamb to be offered should be free
from all defects. Jesus, being born of a virgin and having lived a sinless
life, was free from all spiritual defects. He was the best person suited for
such a sacrifice. Therefore, we can conclude that Jesus was born of a virgin
and He lived a sinless life so that God could fulfill the criteria of the
sacrificial lamb in Him. He is not just a prophet. He is the Savior of the
World!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Qur’an, God
commanded Abraham not to sacrifice his own son. There Allah says to him “And we
have redeemed him with a great (slaughtered) sacrifice.” (Sura al-Saffat 37:
107) This revelation admits the possibility of a divine reconciliation through
a slain offering. The complete redemption of Abraham’s son was not accomplished
by his faith or his good works, but by a sacrifice. Thus the Qur’an indirectly
admits that a sacrifice is sufficient for redemption. Jesus Christ is the true
Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! He came into this world to
save sinners. As Jesus has paid the penalty for our sins we do not need to
suffer in hell. Now, through Jesus our sins can be forgiven, we can be
reconciled with God and inherit a place in heaven. We can be saved from eternal
death in hell.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Let us channel our
focus towards this question “How could this Jesus live a sinless life?” We all
know that God alone is Holy and Perfect. Then, how could this man Jesus claim
perfection? The Holy Bible unveils the mystery behind this as well. In John’s
Gospel Jesus is quoted as saying to the Jews, “Can any of you prove me guilty of
sin? If I am telling the truth, why don’t you believe me?” [John 8: 46] In
verse 54 he adds “If I glorify myself, my glory means nothing. My Father, whom
you claim as your God, is the one who glorifies me.” According to the Bible
Jesus claimed a sinless life because he was the son of God!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Qur’an however
rejects the idea of a biological fathering of Christ by Allah in Mary. All
churches rightly reject this idea too without hesitation! A Christian sect in
the Arabian peninsula had called Mary “the mother of God” and considered the
Triune God to be composed of “Father, mother and son” (Sura al-Ma’ida 5: 116).
This rumor was justly rejected by Qur’an. The Bible does not speak of a
biological fathering of Christ by God in Mary. St. Luke explains the conception
of Jesus in Mary like this, “God sent angel Gabriel to Nazareth a village in
Galilee, to a virgin named Mary. She was engaged to be married to a man named
Joseph, a descendant of King David. Gabriel appeared to her and said, “God has
decided to bless you! You will become pregnant and have a son and you are to
name him Jesus. He will be very great and will be called the Son of the Most
High.” (Luke 2: 26- 31) Mary asked the angel, “How can I have a baby? I am a
virgin.” The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power
of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby born to you will be holy, and
he will be called the son of God.” (Luke 2: 34, 35) Jesus being conceived by
the Holy Spirit is the “spiritual” son of God. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In the Qur’anic version
when Jibril appeared to the Virgin Mary, he confirmed to her that Allah sent
him for only one purpose, to give her a blameless, good son: He said, “Anyway,
I am the messenger of your Lord, to grant you a pure boy.” (Sura Maryam 19: 19)
She said, “How shall I have a son and no man has touched me, neither have I
been unchaste.” (Sura Maryam 19: 20; see also Al ‘Imran 3: 47) The Qur’an
further adds in Sura al-Anbiya 21: 91 “And she who guarded her virginity; so we
breathed into her our spirit and appointed her and her son to be a sign to the
worlds.” This famous verse removes several misunderstandings and clarifies that
Christ was not born of Mary through Jibril as some claim, but it was Allah
himself who breathed into her of his own Spirit! The Spirit of Allah did not
procreate Christ through physical intimacy but through the spirit. The Almighty
did not breathe Jibril, his sent spirit, into Mary, but of his own Spirit. Some
people think that when God breathed His Spirit into Mary it was much the same way
that he breathed in to Adam, a created being. In fact, this verse doesn't say
that God breathed His own Spirit in to Jesus just like he breathed it into Adam
after creating his body out of dust. Instead it says that God breathed His own
Spirit in to Mary, whereas God breathed his spirit directly into Adam. To be
more specific, in Jesus' case, God breathed His own Spirit into Mary’s womb,
and a Spirit being came forth. So we should conclude that the Spirit-Being (the
person) that came forth as a result is God Himself. It is reasonable to
conclude from this verse that the son of Mary is at the same time a son by the
Spirit of Allah, or the ‘spiritual’ son of Allah. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Qur’an states 16
times that Allah has no son. This is true as long as it means that he has no
son sexually. The conception of ‘Isa in Mary was a spiritual act and not a
sexual one; therefore, He was born holy and pure. Further, in Sura al-Nisa 4:
171 we read “…’Isa, the son of Mary, is a messenger of Allah, and His Word that
He put into Mary, and a Spirit from Him…” The Qur’an calls the son of Mary
“Spirit from Allah”. This term testifies that Christ is not an ordinary man,
born of a father and a mother, but He is the incarnation of the Spirit from
Allah. The Almighty put his Word and His Spirit into the Virgin Mary. Jesus is
more than a prophet- he is the incarnation of God’s word! He is the spiritual
son of God!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Jesus claimed to be the
son of God. Apostle John, in his gospel says, “For this reason the Jews tried
all the harder to kill him, not only was he breaking the Sabbath, but he was
even calling God his own father, making himself equal with God.” (John 5: 18)
In the decisive hour of His life Jesus affirmed before the Sanhedrin that He
was Christ, the son of the living God. (Matthew 26: 63-68, Luke 22: 70) For
this confession He was sentenced to death. He did not rebel or curse but became
obedient to death – even death on a cross because his death had a purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God is Holy and
Perfect, all human beings are sinful and imperfect. Although God loves us and
wants us to be one with him, he cannot associate with us directly because of
our sin. In order to unite with us, God sent Jesus, His Son, to earth. Jesus
took the humble position of a slave and appeared in human form. God laid on Him
the guilt and sins of all human beings. Jesus did not sin yet he accepted the
death of a sinner on a cross. God punished the sins of all human beings in the
body of Jesus. He became a sacrifice for us. Jesus Christ paid the penalty for
our sins by His substitutionary death on a cross. His blood is the price that
God paid for our sins, once and for all. As Jesus has paid the penalty for our
sins we do not need to be separated from God anymore. Now, through Jesus our
sins can be forgiven and we can be reconciled with God.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><a href="http://shalomchristianministry.org/">http://shalomchristianministry.org/</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-87962803352066739642012-09-20T03:24:00.000-07:002013-06-18T21:36:00.317-07:00Is Creation a Myth?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">God
stretches the northern sky over empty space and hangs the earth on nothing.
–Job 26: 7<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Evolution is a widely
accepted theory that claims that all higher forms of life such as human beings
have evolved from primitive and lower forms of life such as unicellular
bacteria. A key process in evolution is speciation, in which a single ancestral
species splits and diversifies into multiple new species. There are several
modes through which this occurs. Ultimately, all living (and extinct) species
are descended from a common ancestor via a long series of speciation events.
These events stretch back in a diverse "tree of life" which has grown
over the 3.5 billion years during which life has existed on Earth. This is
visible in anatomical, genetic and other similarities between groups of
organisms, geographical distribution of related species, the fossil record and
the recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Regarding the origin of
life the evolutionists believe that since most amino acids, often called
"the building blocks of life", can form via natural chemical
reactions unrelated to life (as demonstrated in experiments which involved
simulating some of the conditions of the early Earth) in a scientific
laboratory, these amino acids were formed on their own by various chemical
reactions in the primitive earth. These amino acids were organized in to
proteins and nucleic acids which in turn formed the first living things on
earth the protobionts (organic molecules
surrounded by a membrane-like structure) which later evolved into single cell
prokaryotes (which lack a cell nucleus). Many models and explanations have been
suggested to prove various theories of chemical evolution but the problem with
every explanation is that as of 2010, no one has yet synthesized a
"protocell" using basic components which would have the necessary
properties of life. Without such a proof-of-principle, explanations have tended
to be short on specifics.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Evolutionists also
believe in the Big-bang origin of the universe which suggests the sudden
appearance of everything from nothing. The premise of the Big Bang is that the
entire universe was compacted into a teeny tiny little ball, which, after
randomly coming into existence for no apparent reason in the first place,
exploded into all space, time, matter and energy in an instant. This theory
suggests that nothing existed before the explosion. Time and space came into
existence as a result of this explosion or bang.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Just because of
anatomical, genetic and other similarities between groups of organisms,
geographical distribution of related species, the fossil record and the
recorded genetic changes in living organisms over many generations one cannot
assume that every creature evolved from a basic creature. E.g. I have many
books in my book shelf. All of them look alike and are made of similar quality
of paper. All are arranged in alphabetical order, each one was made in
different time period and the quality of paper used for each book has been
improving with every generation but this does not necessarily mean that each
book came out of another book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Isn’t it possible that
every creature was created by God one after another, in a simple to complex
order using similar organic material, the amino acids? Isn’t it possible that
God created living things in their basic form as particular species of
microbes, plants, fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals, and then directed the
processes of natural selection and genetic mutation to determine the course of
things according to his plan?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The creation account in
the book of genesis clearly states that God created every living thing on the
earth. Therefore the source and the material for all living things is the same,
it could be the amino acids that are formed from basic elements found in the
earth. This accounts for the anatomical, genetic and other similarities between
groups of organisms as well as the geographical distribution of related
species. God did not create all the organisms in a single day. Elsewhere in the
Bible we can see that a day of God can be longer than 1000 lunar years. This in
fact is a simile, as we all know, and this would mean that God’s year can be
longer than what we think and hence can account for the fossil record which
suggests that there was a huge time gap in between the creation of different
kinds of species. Further, the bible does not say that there cannot be genetic
changes in living organisms that God has created; in fact the Bible identifies
different species of giants that were produced as a result of union between
human beings and angels. So the Bible does not rule out the possibility of genetic
changes in living organisms over many generations. Regarding the origin of life
and the universe there is no room for confusion in the Genesis account because
it clearly states that God created the universe (heavens and the earth) and all
forms of life.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Imagine a potter
designing pots out of clay. He chooses to make small pots before the larger
ones and arranges the pots according to the time of production from first to
last. An evolutionist who sees the clay, the pots and their arrangement without
seeing the potter would say, “Since all the pots look alike, are made of the
same material, are arranged according to their different sizes and since the
smaller pots came before the larger ones we can easily conclude that the larger
pots came out of the smaller ones in due course of time.” If you show him the
changes taking place in the pots due to environmental factors like heat and
stress he would say that it is an adaptation due to genetic mutation and if he
sees some pots broken he will call it natural selection. If someone asked the
evolutionist about the clay he would say, “There was a big bang; no- where, at
no point of time and the clay somehow came into existence.” Or else he would
say, “The smaller pots have an alien origin”. If you suggest the possibility of
a potter he would say, “Since we have no evidence of the existence of a potter
and because we cannot know who created the potter we should conclude that there
is no potter and that everything that we see here, the clay and the pots are a
result of a big explosion, no-where, at no point of time.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">For evolution to have
some significance the scientists who propose this theory should create a human
being out of a virus or at least out of a mango seed, a living cell out of
non-living substances and something out of nothing. Even if scientists
successfully create a human being out of a virus, a living cell out of
non-living substances and something out of nothing it cannot be counted as an
automatic process like evolution because it would need the work of human
intelligence which would act as a designer, a guide and a creator. Even if man
creates everything out of nothing it cannot be a conclusive evidence of
evolution because human intelligence that directs this process will then become
a starting point, a something!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since God created man
in His own image, with similar intelligence and ability it is very likely that
man may create a "protocell" using basic components in the near
future. Even if man creates a protocell, it need not necessarily be the only
way it could have taken place in the beginning. It will only be one of the ways
in which a protocell can be synthesized out of inorganic substances. Even this
data won’t be sufficient to prove that life began through chemical evolution.
If God permits, man may even create a universe out of nothing but this would
only strengthen the faith in the Genesis account which states that ‘God created
man in His own image’. Evolution can come closer to the truth if someday a
monkey makes a human being out of a virus. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-22607399888879897712012-09-20T03:11:00.000-07:002013-06-18T21:37:43.388-07:00“Where was God before the Beginning?”<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“In
the hope of eternal life, which God, who does not lie, promised before the
beginning of time” –Titus 1: 2<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Before the 1920s it was
generally assumed that the universe was essentially unchanging in time or
eternal, and therefore it had no beginning. If the universe did not have a
beginning it would be absurd to believe in a book that starts with the phrase
“In the beginning” and it would also be preposterous to believe a God who
created everything out of nothing. So most of the reasonable and scientific
people at that time rejected the idea of creation by asking the very question
that forms the title of this article.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">According to some
scientists the most important intellectual discoveries of the 20th century, or
of any century was the discovery of the expansion of the universe. Edwin Hubble
found that stars are not uniformly distributed throughout space, but are
gathered together in vast collections called galaxies. By measuring the light
from galaxies, Hubble could determine their velocities. He was expecting that
as many galaxies would be moving towards us as were moving away. This is what
one would have in a universe that was unchanging with time. But to his
surprise, Hubble found that nearly all the galaxies were moving away from us.
Moreover, the further galaxies were from us, the faster they were distancing
away from us. The universe was not unchanging with time as everyone had thought
previously. It was expanding. The gap between distant galaxies was increasing
with time.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This discovery
transformed the debate about whether the universe had a beginning. If galaxies
are moving further away now, they must have been closer together in the past.
If their swiftness had been constant, they would all have been on top of one
another about 15 billion years ago. Was this the beginning of the universe?
Many scientists were still dismayed of the fact that the universe had a
beginning because it seemed to imply that physics was a failure. However,
scientists today have little doubt about the fact that our universe had a
beginning!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Fourth-century
theologian St. Augustine wrestled with the question, ‘Where was God before the
beginning?’ for a long time. His answer was that ‘Time’ was part of God's
creation, and there simply was no "before" that a deity could call
home. Armed with the best physics of the 20th century, Albert Einstein arrived
at a very similar conclusion. In 1915, he introduced his revolutionary General
Theory of Relativity. In this, space and time were no longer Absolute, no longer
a fixed background to events. Instead, they were dynamical quantities that were
shaped by the matter and energy in the universe. They were defined only within
the universe, so it made no sense to talk about a time before the universe
began. According to Einstein's theory of relativity, time only came into being
as the universe expanded toward its current size and shape.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The General Theory of
Relativity and the discovery of the expansion of the universe shattered the old
picture of an ever existing and everlasting universe. Instead, general
relativity predicted that the universe, and time itself, would have a
beginning. In fact, this is what the Bible had been saying all along,
"Time began with the universe." Time began in the beginning when God
created the heavens and the earth. So there was no 'time' before the beginning
and therefore the question 'Where was God before the beginning?’ was proved to
be absurd. Despite repeated experiments and theorization, all what science
could achieve was conclusive evidence to prove that the first phrase of the
Bible, 'In the beginning', is true!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">The Bible also predicts
that there was a time before the beginning of time. Titus 1: 2 and 2 Timothy 1:
9 says that God had a plan of salvation for those who believe in Jesus Christ
for eternal life, even before the beginning of time. Very soon the scientists
will find evidence for this as well. If the first phrase of the Bible is true
the rest of it should also be true. It’s just a matter of time before the
scientists will accumulate enough evidence to prove God’s Word right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written By: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09117969080036649512noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6959582766455307456.post-46722061076780317602012-09-20T01:51:00.000-07:002013-06-18T21:30:51.899-07:00Is God just an Imagination?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">“For
from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory
forever! Amen”. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">[Romans 11: 36]<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">In my childhood days I
used to ask people about the existence of God. One of my friends introduced me
to Advaita, a popular Hindu belief or philosophy that would help a person to
know God in a better way. Advaita means non-dual or "not two." This
oneness is a fundamental quality of everything. Everything is a part of and
made of one non-dual consciousness. Often the question arises, "If it is
all one thing, why don’t I experience it that way?" This is confusing
oneness for the appearance of sameness. Things can appear different without
being separate. Just look at your hand for a moment. Your fingers are all
different from each other, but are they separate? They all arise from the same
hand. Similarly, the objects, animals, plants and people in the world are all
definitely different in their appearance and functioning. But they are all
connected at their source—they come from the same source.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">This one Being that is
behind all life has an infinite number of different expressions that we
experience as different objects. To continue with the hand analogy, your
fingers are all made of the same substance. They are made up of similar
tissues, cells, atoms, and at the deepest level, subatomic particles.
Similarly, when your experience of reality becomes more subtle, you discover
that everything is just different expressions of one field of non dual Being. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Most people who believe
in Advaita use the expressions of Christ such as, “I and my father are one”, “I
am in my father and my father is in me” and “Kingdom of God is within you” as
supportive evidences of their theory by claiming that Christ was a person who
had this “self realization” and by “I” he meant the realization of the
universal consciousness and by saying that “I and my father are one” he meant
this non duality.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Advaita seems to be
true and looks great on paper as it offers us the unique opportunity for us to
become Gods or realize that we are essentially God himself but the fact is that
this non dual being referred to as consciousness doesn’t have an active role/
involvement in everything that happens in the universe or in the life of an
individual.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Since Advaita believes
that this non dual element alone is the reality and everything else is just an
illusion all actions of mankind whether good or bad become an illusion and do
not have any eternal significance. If we follow this belief, very soon we shall
lose the purpose of our existence and life shall become pointless and
meaningless, the whole mankind shall become lazy for there is no purpose left
for its existence. A series of questions would follow, “If you say that your
life is just an illusion then why do you work, live or do good deeds? If these
deeds don’t have any eternal significance then what’s the point in living good
lives? If both good and evil are illusions then why do good?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Besides, the key point
is that Faith in Advaita means that a seeker should somehow by his own effort
remove all the hindrances [through bhakti, meditation, knowledge or nishkama
karma] in order to realise that his essential nature is this non-dual
consciousness. Though advaita offers a solution to the problem of peace it does
not really bring peace. To realise that all that was there was an illusion and
the only thing that really ever existed [from the beginning] was ‘The Self’
ends up as an eternal quest, there is no assurance whether you will reach that
state and if at all you reach it, when? You may have to take little less than infinite rebirths to accomplish the goal.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">People who believe in
Advaita think that the creator would become imperfect if he needs a
creation....but the point is that the creator has created everything not
because he NEEDS something else in order to become perfect but because he WILLS
[the faculty of conscious and deliberate choice of action] to create something.
Advaita also questions the omnipresence of a creator who has a separate
existence from the creation. But the point is that the creator being a spirit
can still remain omnipresent because his spiritual nature allows him to pervade
the whole creation just like air pervades everything under the sky. The Bible
says that nothing is hidden from him because he pervades the whole creation.
Besides, the Bible doesn’t project a creator who is outside of the creation.
Instead it proposes a creation that is created for, by and within the creator.
“For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory
forever! Amen”. [Romans 11: 36] “For by him all things were created: things in
heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers
or authorities; all things were created by him and for him” [Colossians 1: 16].<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Now, the question we
should ask is which belief is more logical, complete and meaningful, the belief
in an omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient creator who purposefully designs,
maintains and finally absorbs the whole creation within himself and gives
purpose and meaning to everything seen and unseen or the belief in a non-dual,
simple, self–existent, consciousness that pervades everything and yet has
nothing to do with anything, which neither creates nor destroys, which doesn’t
influence anything seen or unseen and is least concerned about the condition of
mankind in general, let alone the life of an individual? Another question we
should ask ourselves is what is easier for us to do, unite with this so-called
universal consciousness by our own effort/works or God to choose us to unite
with him spiritually by sending His Spirit to abide in us?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">From the above
discussion it would be clear that faith in a creator who is personally
interested in an individual’s life on earth sounds more logical and acceptable
than the faith in a certain consciousness whose existence cannot be proven as
it does not influence nor is influenced by anything seen or unseen. The Holy
Bible leads us to such a faith in a creator who loves his creation [man-kind]
unconditionally and wants them to unite with him and become like him. In order
to do that he humbles himself and incarnates as a man named –Jesus [the
Savior]. He makes atonement for the sins of mankind on a cross, resurrects the
third day and ascends to heaven with a promise that he would return to collect
those who believe in him, at the end of days. Then He sends a counsellor, the
Holy Spirit, who works in the life of the believers to help them attain
perfection and finally presents them to the creator at the end of the age to
live with Him and in Him forever. Faith in Advaita means that a seeker should
somehow, by his own effort remove all the hindrances [through bhakti, meditation,
knowledge or nishkama karma] in order to attain perfection but the Christian
faith presents a creator who willingly sacrifices his own life to redeem human
beings from their sins and reunites with them by sending His own spirit in to
them in order to make them perfect, all by His grace and grace alone. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Written by: Dr. Manoj
Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">Copyright © 2012 Dr.
Manoj Kumar Khatore<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">http://shalomchristianministry.org/<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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