God says all gays are going to hell because they are gay, but God also said anyone who eats hoofed animals is going to hell, so does that mean anyone that has ever eaten at McDonald’s, Burger King, etc. is going to hell also?  Also, it says a women has to kill a goat when menstruating.  Isn’t sacrificing animals a pagan thing?  So won’t they go to hell for that, too?  Also, if God gives us free will, why do we even have commandments?  The irony in that is just too blunt.  Free will, then we have laws???  Why is Jesus born for man but made a god?

Sincerely,
Conflicted

Dear Conflicted,

We think you have an issue of receiving a lot of misinformation.  God does say that homosexuality is a sin (Rom 1:26-27), but the dietary habits and sacrifices that you referred to are Old Testament commandments.  First of all, it wasn’t all hoofed animals – just certain types (Deu 14:4-8).  Beef is from cattle and perfectly permissible, even to an Old Testament Jew.  As for animal sacrifice, that was a consistent part of Old Testament worship, but now that Jesus has come, we no longer are bound by the old law (read “Changing Of The Guard” for further information).

Last but not least, let’s address your concerns about Jesus and freewill.  Freewill doesn’t mean that you are incapable of doing anything wrong – it actually means the exact opposite.  Freedom to choose means that you can choose to do the right thing or choose to do the wrong thing.  God didn’t make us to be robots; He gives us the ability to live by His rules or to rebel against them.  He has set life and death before us, and we get to decide for ourselves how we want to live (Deu 30:19).  All mankind has sinned (Rom 3:23), and Jesus, God’s Son, came down from heaven and died on a cross, so we might have forgiveness of those sins.  Jesus is Deity (Jhn 1:1), and He emptied Himself that He might give us the freedom to choose life in Him (Php 2:6-8, Jhn 3:16).  If you would like more information about what it takes to choose Christ and be saved, please read “Five Steps To Salvation”.

Why did Jesus quite frequently refer to himself as the "Son of Man" (Matt 16:13) when it is so essential to our faith and salvation to recognize and confess him to be the "Son of the living God" (Matt 16:16-19)?

Sincerely,
Name Confusion

Dear Name Confusion,

Jesus was both Son of Man and Son of God – it is one of the great and awesome truths of the Bible.  Jesus was completely Deity, and completely human at the same time.  Verses like Jhn 1:1-3 and Col 3:15-17 make it clear that Jesus was and always has been God.  He is eternal and existed before man – Jesus even said so Himself (Jhn 8:58).  However, if Jesus had simply been God pretending to be a human, His sinless life wouldn’t have been nearly as impressive.  Instead, we are told that Jesus suffered in all things exactly as all other people do – yet without sin (Heb 4:15).  In all things, Jesus was a flesh-formed human just like the rest of us (Heb 2:17-18).  Jesus often used the term ‘Son of Man’ because He spent a lot of His life emphasizing His humanity and empathy with the pains of mankind.  Jesus spent little time pointing out His deity – His life did that for Him (Matt 27:54).

What does the Bible say about present-day demon possession?

Sincerely,
Afraid Of The Dark

Dear Afraid Of The Dark,

Evil spirits are real, but they were cast out and their powers greatly reduced by Christ and the apostles.  Demon possession ended not long after the days of Christ.  Jesus made it clear that one of His jobs was to bind the devil and take His strength away by casting out his demons (Matt 12:28-29).  When Jesus’ disciples had come back from their evangelism trips and related to Him that they had cast out many demons, Jesus told them that they were defeating Satan by getting rid of Satan’s demonic minions (Lk 10:17-18).  When Jesus and His disciples cast out demons, they did it permanently (Lk 8:30-33) and bound Satan by their acts.  We no longer have to deal with such overt attacks by the devil because he has been bound by Christ’s sacrifice (Rev. 20:2).  Demon possession no longer exists; the devil must use subtler methods to deceive us now.

Where is the command, example, or necessary inference for a church owning property?

Sincerely,
Book, Chapter, Verse

Dear Book, Chapter, Verse,

Every command that you find in the Bible has specific and general qualities to it.  For example, when God told Noah to build the ark, He told Noah to use a specific kind of wood (gopher wood – Gen 6:14) and build the ark to specific dimensions (Gen 6:15-16), but He left the details of how to cut, fasten, and construct the ark up to Noah.  It would have been wrong for Noah to use oak or birch, and it would have been wrong for Noah to change the dimensions of the ark, but aside from that, Noah had freedom to use his own wisdom in the engineering of the ark.  The things that God was specific on, Noah had to be specific on to… but the things God was general about, Noah had freedom to decide for himself.

Another way of saying this is that anything required to fulfill a command is inherent within the command.  This means that if I ask someone to fill my car with gasoline, by default, I have given them permission to drive my car and take it to a gas station of their choosing.  Why?  Because driving my car and going to a gas station are necessary to fulfill that command, and I didn’t tell them which gas station I wanted, so I’ve left that to their discretion.

Both of these examples lead us back to your question.  The command that gives a congregation the authority to own property can be found in Heb 10:24-25 and 1 Cor 14:26.  In both those verses, the church is commanded to assemble.  We are told that we must assemble, or we will be displeasing to God… but we aren’t told where to assemble; that detail is left to our discretion.  We could meet in homes (if we had ones that were big enough), we could meet in a park (if it were legal and weather permitting), or we could buy some property and a building to use.  All of those options would be permissible, and each congregation has the freedom to decide where they wish to assemble because God has commanded us to meet regularly, but He left the details to us.

In a previous post titled "Big Dreams", you said "there are no more prophets since we have the perfect and complete Word of God (1 Cor 13:8-10)".  How do we know that 1 Cor 13:8-10 is talking about the Bible?  What are some other things people think perfect/complete is?

Sincerely,
Incomplete Understanding

Dear Incomplete Understanding,

The perfect that is described in 1 Cor 13:8-13 is typically thought to be one of two things.  It is either perfect knowledge of God’s Will (also known as the completed Bible) or the Second Coming of Christ.  So, let’s look at the details we are given about ‘the perfect’ and see which one fits better.

1. ‘The perfect’ is something that would replace partial knowledge (1 Cor 13:9).
2. ‘The perfect’ would remove the necessity for prophecy and new knowledge (1 Cor 13:8).
3. When ‘the perfect’ comes, christians will still be expected to have faith, hope, and love (1 Cor 13:13).

The third item on that list is proof that ‘the perfect’ isn’t the Second Coming of Christ.  When Christ returns, we will no longer need hope or faith.  Faith is trusting in something you can’t see (Heb 11:1); when Jesus comes, we won’t need to have faith in Him – everyone will see Him and every knee will bow (Rom 14:11).  Hope is also something that ceases to exist when Jesus returns.  Hope is always in something you haven’t attained yet (Rom 8:25).  For example, if a child is told by his parents that they will take him to Disneyland, the child has faith in the parents’ promise and hopes to see Disneyland… until the day that he walks into the Magic Kingdom.  Hope and faith only exist because Christ hasn’t returned yet.  ‘The perfect’ has to be something that happened after prophecy and miracles ended, but before Jesus’ return.  The most logical explanation is that Paul is discussing the perfect and complete knowledge that can be found in the completed Bible.  Today, with a finished Bible, the church still needs faith, hope, and love, but we no longer have a need for prophecy, and we no longer have only partial knowledge of God’s Will (Jude 1:3).