I have made a stupid mistake that has been haunting me for the past few months; I have trouble sleeping and eating a full meal.  It happened when I was working out in our field during planting season.  One of the fertilizer cylinders wasn't working; I don't know what I was thinking, but I thought, "I'd give my soul to make this stupid thing work," and within five seconds, it worked.

Is there no hope for me?  Is my soul damned to hell?

Sincerely,
Petrified

Dear Petrified,

Saying that you would give up your soul to make the fertilizer cylinder work doesn’t guarantee your eternal destiny any more than saying, “I’ll go to heaven if I fix the fertilizer cylinder.”  We aren’t the final judge of our eternal home – Christ is (2 Tim 4:1).  If you have done what Christ teaches you must do to be saved, you will go to heaven (read “What Must I Do To Be Saved?” for specifics on the steps of salvation), and if you turn away from Christ, you will be lost (Acts 4:12).  Everyone deserves to go to hell because of their sins (Rom 6:23), but Christ offers to save us if we love and obey Him (Jhn 14:15).  What you did in the past doesn’t matter; what you do now is what counts (2 Cor 6:1-2).

Having said that, in the future, it would be best to refrain from that sort of language.

Did God make mistakes when he made homosexuals?  Why did Jesus not rebuke homosexuals?

Sincerely,
Looking For Answers

Dear Looking For Answers,

We’ll answer your second question first.  Jesus did rebuke homosexuality, but He didn’t do it specifically.  Jesus answered the question of homosexuality when He taught on marriage.  Jesus said that marriage was intended between a man and a woman (Matt 19:4-5).  Any sexual activity outside of God’s plan for marriage is fornication.  Homosexual behavior, pre-marital sex, adultery, etc. are all sinful and Jesus condemned them all when He taught the right way for men and women to behave.

Now let’s address the issue of people being made homosexual.  God doesn’t force anyone to act upon same-sex attractions, just like God doesn’t force an alcoholic to the bottle or a wrathful husband to strike his wife.  How we act is a choice, not a genetic equation.  There is a lot of debate over why some people have same-sex attractions, but at the end of the day, those temptations need to be mastered.  When Cain was angry, God told Cain to rule over sin or it would devour him (Gen 4:7).  Same-sex attractions are a temptation that stems from within a person, just like anger, unhealthy opposite-sex attractions, and a thousand other temptations (Jas 1:13-14).  The key is that there is always a way of escape from those unhealthy desires (1 Cor 10:13).  God didn’t make a mistake when creating us; it is when we turn from the path He has designed for us and follow our own desires (which are often unhealthy) that we sin (Jer 10:23).

     Did God create Himself?

Sincerely,
Big Bang?

Dear Big Bang,

Asking who created God is kind of like asking, “What color is round?”  The question can’t be answered because ‘round’ isn’t a color.  God isn’t a created being.  The Bible tells us that God was “in the beginning” (Gen 1:1) and that He is “from everlasting to everlasting” (Ps 90:2).  Everything that we see in the physical universe has a beginning and a point of creation.  However, God isn’t a physical being.  God is a spiritual being (Jhn 4:24), and the same rules don’t apply to Him as they do to us.  Apparently, in the spiritual realm, God has always existed and never was created.  He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End (Rev 1:8).

The last shall be first, and the first shall be last... what does this mean?  Does it mean those who suffer, but keep their faith, will have priority over those who believed enough to get in heaven but had wealth on earth?

Sincerely,
Poor In Spirit

Dear Poor In Spirit,

One of the best explanations of that statement can be found in Mk 10:28-31.  Peter asked Jesus what would happen to the apostles because they had left everything to follow Him.  Jesus stated that those who sacrificed things in this life to serve God would receive a hundredfold more from Him as well as eternal life.  This is what it means for the first to be last and the last first – those who sacrifice to serve the Lord will be blessed by God for their service and faith.  God exalts the humble and brings the proud down (Matt 23:12).

I am reading the Bible in one year.  I am 50% through and very proud of myself for finally making this commitment.  However, with reading the Bible, I have come across several confusing and contradicting things... too many to mention.  In Romans, it talks about how God chooses to show mercy to some and chooses to harden the hearts of others, so they refuse to listen.  Doesn't this contradict our free will?

Sincerely,
Feeling Robotic

Dear Feeling Robotic,

The chapter you are referring to is Romans 9, and the controversial verse is Rom 9:18.  The point of this chapter is that God decides whom He wishes to show His mercy to – it is His decision, and those who are saved are saved because of His purpose and generosity.  The apostle Paul, the writer of Romans, gives three examples of how God’s purposes and plans are what matter:

1. God chose Jacob instead of Esau to be the one that Christ’s lineage would come through (Rom 9:10-13)
2. God used Pharaoh, even though he was a wicked man, to glorify His name (Rom 9:17)
3. God, as the master potter, decides what clay (in this case, people) to use and what purpose to use them for (Rom 9:20-21)

This chapter is often confusing to folks because it seems as if the point is that people don’t have freewill, and God manipulates us arbitrarily – however, that isn’t the case.  All of these examples teach that God decides who receives His mercy and who won’t.  Now, here is the B-I-G question:

Who does God say will be blessed?

The answer – “Blessed are they that hear the Word of God, and keep it.” (Lk 11:28)

God will bless all those who choose to live by faith in His Son and follow His Word – we can’t be saved by any other method.  God has decided who He will save.  He will save christians (Jhn 14:6).