I am a christian and have a hard-earned doctorate in a prestigious field.  My peers and colleagues think that the idea of God is antiquated and ludicrous.  Meanwhile, christians at my church have little education, menial jobs, and minimal interest in esoteric matters.  This may sound cruel, but I would be embarrassed to bring my colleagues to services.  I am ashamed of my discomfort but am still unwilling to invite my professional friends to church.  Why can't christians seem smarter?

Sincerely, Between a PhD and a Hard Place

Dear Between a PhD and a Hard Place,

You are assuming God defines ‘smart’ the same way as you do. God doesn’t care about esoteric debates and controversial questions – in fact He mocks those who build their lives upon such things (1 Cor 1:20, 1 Tim 6:4).

God defines ‘smart’ as those honest and humble enough to seek Him (Lk 8:15). The intelligent person seeks the truth regardless of whether it is fashionable, impressive, or easy. The intelligent person makes sacrifices in this life, so they might have treasure in the next (Lk 9:23). The intelligent person confesses Christ openly, so Christ will confess him openly before God (Lk 12:8).

‘Smart’ is in the eyes of the beholder. Your colleagues know much more about the ways of this world and academia than the average person does. Yet, does this make them smart considering this world is passing away (2 Pet 3:10)? If I place all of my trust in the knowledge and power of man, will I not be considered a fool before God on the Day of Judgment? Is that not the message of the parable of the rich man (Lk 12:18-20)? It is not the brethren who are dumb but the overly-educated scholastics who deny the need for God.

God says that very few scholars of this age will obey the gospel (1 Cor 1:26)… this makes you a very rare and special gift to your colleagues. You are numbered among the few of academia that have realized the importance of eternal wisdom. This makes your responsibility to your peers all the more poignant. You have a rare opportunity to shine brightly for God’s Word in a world that tries to suppress it. Do not hide your light (Lk 11:33).

Does everyone who goes to Heaven get the same reward, or will some people have a bigger or better reward based on how good their works are in this life?

Sincerely, Preparing For Eternity

Dear Preparing For Eternity,

Yes, some will have a greater reward in heaven than others – though I don’t want you to misconstrue this as meaning heaven won’t be entirely perfect for everyone there. The most important verse on this topic is Matt 6:20. The implication is that heaven uses more than just a pass/fail entry system, but that there is a way to ‘invest’ in heavenly rewards. Jesus reiterates this idea of storing treasures for yourself in heaven when He talks to the rich young ruler (Mk 10:21).

The idea of heaven having various rewards shouldn’t be too foreign to us because God is clear that its counterpart, hell, certainly does. Heb 10:28-29 makes it plain that there is an especially dark corner of hell for those who were christians and rejected Christ later. False teachers also are condemned under a stricter judgment than the average unbeliever (Jas 3:1).

It is easy to see that verses do say that heaven and hell have varying degrees of reward and punishment, but the problem is envisioning how that works. If everyone will be completely happy in heaven (Rev 21:4), how can some have more rewards than others? At this point, we must accept our weakness in envisioning spiritual concepts. Any analogy we make is purely an attempt in our feeble minds to explain a realm too glorious for us to grasp. So take the following analogy with a grain of salt.

The example I use to explain the varying degrees of heaven uses two men with buckets. Two men go down to a river with buckets; one man has a five gallon bucket, and the other has a one gallon bucket. They both dipped their buckets in the river… whose bucket is fuller? Both buckets are equally full, are they not? I liken heaven to filling our buckets. Everyone’s bucket will be full. The only question is -how big will your bucket be?

I have a question about the devil. I was wondering whether or not he knew of God's plan for salvation beforehand or if he thought he was victorious when Jesus died on the cross.  I heard somebody talking about this once; they said Satan believed that he had won when Jesus died on the cross.  I was just wondering if and where the verse was that stated this because I don't want to believe it if I can't find it.

Sincerely, Devilishly Curious

Dear Devilishly Curious,

There is no specific verse that states the devil didn’t know what was going to happen when Christ died on the cross – but there is some really good circumstantial evidence that he didn’t see it coming.

God says that the angels didn’t know what was going to happen when Jesus went to the cross (1 Pet 1:11-12). If the angels didn’t know, I doubt the devil did either.

Another thing is that the devil isn’t stupid. Evil?  Yes.  Stupid?  No. Just read the account of Christ’s temptation by the devil in Luke 4, and you can see how wiley and clever he can be. If he had known that he was causing his own demise by attacking Jesus, he probably wouldn’t have done it. Even Jesus said that it wouldn’t make sense for Satan to attack himself (Mk 3:23).

Instead, we see that the devil had his hour of darkness (Lk 22:53), and in his attempt to destroy Jesus’ life (Lk 22:3), Peter’s faith (Lk 22:31), and the church’s future (Jhn 16:32), the devil was unwittingly defeated. Nope, I don’t think he ever saw it coming.

     What does the Bible say about what people are supposed to achieve in life?

Sincerely,
Successful?

Dear Successful,

There is only one thing that is important in life – the salvation of your soul.  If someone achieves greatness, riches, and power, but loses his soul on the Judgment Day, he has lost everything (Mk 8:36-37).  Everything that we do in this life should stem from our love of God and our love for our fellow man – these are the two greatest commands (Matt 22:36-40).

Whether rich or poor, strong or weak, single or with a large family, the quality of our life will be measured by our level of faith and commitment to God’s Word.  It isn’t so much about what you achieve as it is about what kind of person you become.  We should strive to imitate Christ and purify our hearts (1 Cor 11:1, Jas 4:8).  The person that does this can die having succeeded in life.

     Does the Bible say anything that disproves the theory of aliens on Earth?

Sincerely,
Mork

Dear Mork,

The Scriptures don’t say anything directly about aliens, but they do say several things that make sentient life on other planets highly unlikely.

1. God made mankind in His image (Gen 1:26). That is where we get our free will, reason, emotion, conscience, etc. The whole point of alien life is that there is a species of life among the stars that is equal to mankind. God says that man has no equal.
2. In the creation story found in Genesis chapter one, Earth seems to be the central focus of the story. The stars, heavenly bodies, etc. are given only a brisk overview. The implication is that Earth is the center of all organic life; it is the central purpose of the creation. It would be odd for God to leave out the part where He made other life sustaining planets with other sentient beings.
3. Jesus came to die for mankind (1 Cor 15:3) and the people of this world (Jhn 3:16). If there were aliens that had intelligence, souls, and freewill like humanity, wouldn’t God care equally for their souls? If aliens do exist… it seems that they have been left out of the blessing of forgiveness in Christ.

None of these reasons explicitly deny the existence of alien life; it just makes the chances very, very improbable. Perhaps someday we will find some plants, fungus, or bacteria on another planet, but we doubt we will ever find E.T.